I am by nature fairly optimistic and in the present climate, both economic and natural, that's probably a good thing. There was really good news a few days ago that Nifco had been granted funding from Regional Growth fund for their expansion. A small research facility with 9 staff, and a much bigger expansion to their manufacturing base will protect the existing jobs and allow for more staff to
Wed 24th
23:00
Tonight I met Tina Cousins and acted very cool and not fangirlish...then I realised I had my flies u...
Seriously I had my flies undone. What the hell is wrong with me? (Please don't actually answer that) So yes the crux of the issue is this evening I met Tina Cousins. Hopefully you all know who she is but if you don't I'll put a couple of her music videos underneath this post: Click here to view the video on YouTube. Click here to view the video on YouTube. I would like to say I was all suave and sophisticated when I met her but I probably wasn't however apparently I was cooler than someone else who met her ...
Wed 24th
21:39
Nick Clegg tells business leaders: Liberal Democrats are a party of business and enterprise
Nick Clegg is at the Mansion House tonight talking to business leaders about the economy. The BBC reports that his speech is covering three main themes: Europe, banking and responsible enterprise, emphasising an approach based on pragmatism, not dogma. It must be a struggle for the man who knows Europe backwards from his time there working for Leon Brittain to have to work with Tories whose ideas are most often borne out of xenophobic, ill-informed prejudice. Nick is not blind to Europe's faults, but he knows how to sort it out. He makes the point that Britain has to engage ...
This video was filmed at Baker Street on Sunday 25 February 2012, says Leon Daniels.
Workmen moved in to improve access for the disabled on Cambridge's Huntingdon Road after a sustained campaign by councillor, Belinda Brooks-Gordon. Cllr Brooks-Gordon who represents Castle ward on Cambridgeshire County Council, took up the fight to help wheelchair user Ian Howell and other disabled residents living on the NIAB development. They were finding it difficult to make the short trip from their homes to the garage shop in Huntingdon Road because the lack of a dropped kerb on the north side of Whitehouse Lane meant they had to go in the road. Ian, of Kings Court, who suffers from Cerebral ...
The news that the Guardian is moving towards compulsory redundancies amongst its journalists strengthens the impression that The Times's paywall represents the future model for quality journalism on the web. So I won't moan too much about David Elstein's article about the BBC and Jimmy Savile being locked behind that wall. It is a very good article and here are a couple of quotes from it: One shudders to think what might happen to hundreds of BBC staff were a fire to break out in Broadcasting House as executives argued whether the evidence of smoke was or was not conclusive ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert's Bill giving greater protection to pubs and independent shops receives its second reading in Parliament on Friday (October 26). The Local Services (Planning) Bill has been drawn up after the idea was suggested by a number of city residents. If given the go-ahead it would give power to planning authorities across England and Wales to prevent the demolition or change of use of a pub or local independent shop without planning permission. Planning permission would also be needed before the premises or land could be used for a supermarket. The new Act would come into force ...
I've just finished reading a book about the European revolutions of 1989, when Communist regimes crumbled one after one in Eastern and central Europe. I lived through that period, albeit in a Western democracy, and the account revived memories. As a History graduate, it struck me very strongly that nothing like this had happened anywhere since the European revolutions of 1848, which were spread by railways above all else (and those of 1989 by TV and radio, while the "Arab Spring" was hugely influenced by the internet. The 1848 revolutionaries' successes were mostly very short-lived. While many of the new ...
Yesterday I posted the first part of the interview the Jersey blog Voice for Children conducted with Lennie Harper, the island's former deputy chief police officer, and senior investigating officer of its recent child abuse investigation. This is the second and final part.
Over at Noahpinion last week a post on the role of maths in economics generated plenty of comment.* This followed the award of the "Nobel Prize" in Economics to Shapley and Roth for work that is, in almost anyone's book, highly mathematical. Noah Smith identified a number of reasons for using maths in economic analysis, each of which could be a good or a bad reason, depending on circumstance. His broad conclusion is that: Math is not always the most appropriate tool in economics. But the more real successes economics achieves, the more good math it will use. He argued ...
Julian Joins Queen Guitarist Brian May Who Is Supporting The Drive To Protect Badgers From A Government Cull A government decision to delay a planned badger cull has been welcomed by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert. Julian has always maintained that a cull should not take place unless that there is absolute certainty that it will prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, and no other working alternative. Julian has received numerous letters from constituents concerned about the government's plans for a badger cull. He met with leading animal welfare and conservation groups, including the Badger Trust, RSPCA and League ...
Owen Paterson's announcement on the delay of the badger cull is good news for badgers and for the Liberal Democrats says Andrew Wigley on Liberal Democrat Voice. "The SNP Government is not in a good position two years out from the Referendum. There is no cause for complacency in the Better Together camp but the First Minister's personal and political credibility has taken a huge dent. His glib assertions that everything would be fine in an independent Scotland have been shown not to be nothing more than hot air." Caron's Musings gives Alex Salmond both barrels. Max Atkinson has clips ...
Each year over 25 million Brits choose to go on holiday elsewhere in Europe, using planes, trains, buses and boats. MEPs will today vote in favour of further strengthening passenger rights, in particular obliging carriers to inform passengers about their already existing rights. Commenting ahead of the vote on Tuesday (23rd Oct) evening, local MEP Andrew Duff , said: "Guaranteeing rights for passengers is key to encouraging people to travel within the UK and across Europe. It is a real shambles that many people are not aware of already existing EU rights when facing delays, cancellations and luggage problems during ...
Owen Paterson's announcement on the delay of the badger cull is good news for badgers and for the Liberal Democrats. The ill-conceived policy may have had the backing of significant interest groups such as the NFU – Paterson repeatedly acknowledged their efforts in his speech – but it was always going to be difficult to present and 'sell' this policy to a nation with a strong affection to its environment and wildlife, especially after the debacle of the proposal to sell off the country's forests.Combine public opinion with the collected wisdom of some of the country's leading scientists, including experts ...
First Minister's Questions, about 15 minutes in. http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/wales/newsid_.stm
Andrew Duff MEP Following the vote on the controversial EU-Israel Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) Andrew Duff said: "I regret that this agreement on Israeli pharmaceuticals has been approved by the Parliament - although it is a good thing that Parliament as a whole was finally able to take a decision on this controversial question that had been blocked in committee for more than four years. "I do not think that all the legal uncertainties surrounding ACAA have been resolved. And I trust that the Israeli government will not interpret this decision as being an ...
I've written about the threat to the Centerprise black bookshop in Dalston before, most recently last November, and sadly the 40-year-old charity continues to fight for survival. It's plight is more serious than ever, with ...
Scotland has had its share of political drama these past ten days. First there was the Edinburgh Agreement which saw Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore given an honourable mention by CentreForum. Then the Scottish Liberal Democrats unveiled their vision for Home Rule and a federal UK. Then last Friday, the SNP abandoned their opposition to NATO membership ahead of the Independence Referendum, a decision led to the resignation of two of their MSPs. This leaves Alex Salmond's Government with a tiny single vote majority in Holyrood. In practice, though, the two MSPs will mostly vote with ...
Anti-apartheid veteran Archbishop Desmond Tutu wowed a packed Fairfields Hall in Croydon last night at the finale of his British visit. The archbishop was joined by his daughter, Rev Mpho Tutu, in a wonderful night ...
Scotland has had its share of political drama these past ten days. First there was the Edinburgh Agreement which saw Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore given an honourable mention by CentreForum. Then the Scottish Liberal Democrats unveiled their vision for Home Rule and a federal UK. Then last Friday, the SNP abandoned their opposition to NATO membership ahead of the Independence Referendum, a decision led to the resignation of two of their MSPs. This leaves Alex Salmond's Government with a tiny single vote majority in Holyrood. In practice, though, the two MSPs will mostly vote with ...
Before deciding whether or not Barrett Tillman's biography of controversial American airman Chester LeMay is for you, two things are worth considering. First, it is a relatively short book – under 200 pages even with wide margins, generous line spacing and a good-sized font. It therefore does not have the space for detailed study of the major controversies through his career, such as the fire bombing of Japanese cities, with the raid of Tokyo alone killing more on one night than died on the day in the Hiroshima nuclear bomb attack, his desire to bomb Cuba during the Cuban missile ...
Just under a week ago Tom Watson tweeted this. I've just taken a call. It lasted 10 minutes.Have a hunch it will be my next three year project. I thought I was immune to shock these days. — tom_watson (@tom_watson) ... Continue reading →
Discover more about where and how the EU budget is spent in each of the member countries, courtesy of European Parliament website.
Here's something that's puzzling me. The Tories have 304 MPs in parliament. The Liberal Democrats have 57. Therefore the Tories have a much larger pool of talent to call upon than the Lib Dems. The Cabinet has 22 members of whom 5 are Liberal Democrats - so therefore roughly 9% of Lib Dem MPs are Cabinet members. On the other hand, the 18 Tory Cabinet members represent just under 6% of Tory MPs. So why is it then, with this larger pool of talent and proportionally less Cabinet members, that of the 34 policy u-turns the government has made so ...
Here are the 5 opinion pieces the Telegraph is currently suggesting it's readers might enjoy. Number 2 is what you might expect. The other 4...are the opposite. What on earth is going on.....?
As the party leadership seems to have decided to acquiesce on the proposed new rules allowing employers to make employees give up employment rights in exchange for shares, it's time to take some action. The Government has started a consultation on the proposal, and anyone can take part in it and submit their view. If you want to have your say, then go here and fill it in. As evidence of the fact they're taking their time and considering the options trying to rush this through, you only have until the 8th November to respond. The consultation asks a number ...
It's fair to say that Liberal Reform and the Social Liberal Forum don't always see eye to eye on economic matters, but on the issue of Secret Courts, they speak with one voice. Last month, Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton overwhelmingly passed a motion calling for: The Coalition Government to withdraw Part II of the Justice and Security Bill; and put in place instead a statutory scheme reflecting the current Public Interest Immunity system to be enacted which will retain judicial discretion, be a proportionate means of ensuring national security is not jeopardised by any litigation, and ensure the working ...
This graph from the latest civil service employment statistics caught my eye. Overall, the number of civil servants is falling. However, looked at by what proportion of the civil service is at each level of seniority, we see that the proportion of jobs in the most senior roles is holding up and even increasing. It's the more junior posts that are going at a disproportionately faster rate.
Eight months before Le Grand Depart in Corsica, we now know the full route for the 2013 Tour de France. It's the 100th Tour, and the organisers have clearly set out to make it a memorable one. It follows the approach the Tour organisers have taken a lot in recent years of letting the action of the race reach a crescendo in the final week, with the first two weeks as a steady build up to the finale. There'll be lots of dramatic images in the first two weeks, but a lot of that will cover for the main contenders ...
Brace yourself — you're about the hear the SNP getting some praise. Are you sitting down? Good. Over the summer, the SNP announced something that student groups like the NUS and groups such as Shelter and the CAB had been calling for a long time. They announced that they would issue a clarification on the illegality of any fees that tenants were being charged by landlords, other than a security deposit and their rent. See here. The Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 says that "Any person who, as a condition of the grant, renewal or continuance of a protected tenancy, requires, ...
(My piece from the New Statesman yesterday) Last week, Theresa May did a very good thing when she blocked the extradition of Gary McKinnon to the US, and it's been applauded pretty much universally across the British political spectrum. It was also quite a brave thing, as she has now seemingly been sent to Coventry by the US Attorney General.But really - does that actually qualify her to be the next leader of the Conservative Party? Some Tory backbenchers and media types seem to think so, going so far as to say she has "more than a touch of Margaret ...
Wed 24th
12:25David Cameron's 'a little and often' leadership doesn't suit him and isn't Prime Ministerial
The Telegraph's James Kirkup, one of that paper's few fair-minded political commentators, has written a thought-provoking article, A devil's advocate defence of David Cameron and No 10. His case for the defence is first, that we (public, media) shouldn't assume the role of Prime Minister has always to follow the command/control style of Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair: Implicit - and sometimes explicit - in the various critiques of the Cameron style and No 10 outfit is the idea that a Prime Minister should be gripping the machine, managing the day-to-day business of government and all the rest. But should ...
In 2007 South Gloucestershire Council introduced decriminalised parking enforcement. This means that for certain offences, council officers rather than the police enforce the law. Since then the Department for Transport have introduced a number of new powers, including some which the council can choose whether or not to take up. At the same time, the council has been developing its own "custom and practice". All these are now being brought together in a comprehensive parking enforcement policy. You can read the proposed policy and make comments on the Council's website. The deadline for comments is 14 December 2012.
On Saturday (27 October) I'm off to the South Central Region Liberal Democrat conference, to do some social media training, chair a policy discussion and, just possibly, hand out a few flyers for a certain book. If receiving a piece of paper from me isn't enticement enough, speakers include a trio of MPs – Vince Cable, Don Foster, Tom Brake – and would-be Governor of the Bank of England Sharon Bowles. Details of the conference are over on Flock Together. If you are going to the conference and would like to buy an autographed copy of 101 Ways To Win ...
The long-awaited Energy Bill will be published at the beginning of November and will give Ed Davey a unique opportunity to prove that Lib Dems are the greenest of the main political parties. But in the innermost circles of the Coalition Government a battle royal is currently being played out over crucial details of the text. This bill will establish the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) that will shape UK energy policy for decades to come. It therefore offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set the parameters for tackling climate change, the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century. The bill also offers ...
Local campaigners across Andover have backed the Lib Dem campaign to force the County Council chiefs to sort out the school places shortfall and protect our children's centres from cuts. Test Valley Lib Dem campaigner Alan Dowden has supported parents' calls for answers as to why the County failed to listen to warnings that there would be a massive shortfall in school places. Alan said, "It was obvious that there would be a shortfall in places for our children but the County failed to act. Temporary classrooms are not the answer, it's a backwards step." Romsey campaigner Sandra Gidley added, ...
This morning, the new West End Schools' Campus on the former Logie Secondary site has opened (see right) and it was great to see the pupils, parents and teachers of Park Place (now Victoria Park Primary School and Balgay Hill Nursery School) being piped up Hawkhill to join St Joseph's Primary School pupils, parents and teachers at the old St Joseph's site in Bellfield Street and together walk to the new building. Here's a short video of the procession as it walked along Hawkhill earlier this morning:
By dying within weeks of a US Presidential Election George McGovern may have done America, and the rest of us, a great favour. In the 1972 election McGovern was thrashed by Richard Nixon, largely because of McGovern's opposition to the war in Vietnam. Now that Americans have the benefit of hindsight, they may like to reflect that the idealistic peace-nick is to be preferred to the aggressive belligerent. In the present election it would be over-generous to dub Mr Obama as a peace-nick, but he certainly has ideals, for the US and the world, which most humanitarians share. By contrast ...
Independence Referendum Last week, the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, the Prime Minister and I signed an agreement on the terms of the independence referendum which means we can now get on with the real debate over Scotland's future. In the next two years, it is vital that both sides set out their arguments clearly and robustly and last week the UK Government began this process by submitting evidence to the Defence and Foreign Affairs Committees on the implications of Scottish independence. On Defence, the Government outlined that, as an integral part of the UK, Scotland plays an important role ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell has blasted the SNP Scottish Government for its "contempt for the Scottish people" after it admitted that it did not possess any legal advice on EU membership in the event of an independent Scotland. This staggering revelation comes after the Scottish Government have spend vast sums of public money in court to avoid publishing the evidence it said it had, after it was ordered to so do by the Information Commissioner. Sir Menzies, who is Chairman of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Home Rule Commission and is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee ...
BBC News - G4S used force on pregnant woman at Cedars centre (tags: ) BBC News - Badger cull: Government to delay scheme until next year (tags: ) Badger cull: not in this farmer's name | Steve Jones | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk (tags: ) Counting the U-turns in government - Tories 33, Lib Dems 1 (tags: ) Amazon makes UK publishers pay 20% VAT on ebook sales | Books | The Guardian (tags: ) Nail Art Inspired By TV, Films And Music By Kayleigh O'Connor I love the Jaws one. (tags: ) Engendering Change (tags: ) [IMG: comment ...
In this issue of the newsletter; An Interesting Year,Busway Hits The Headlines Again And Again,Ben Hayward Help Cyclists Prepare for Winter,Get Motorcycling And Scootering,RSC Health Week,Abcam Health Week,Qualcomm Commuter Stand, andCambridge Science Park Railway Station Consultation EventsThe newsletter is available here (from the TP+ website), or here (via Google Docs).
If you are a local voluntary or community group in need of a small grant, now is the time to get your applications in. You can apply for up to £3,000 from South Glos's Small Revenue Grants - do it now on the council's website. The closing date is 26 November 2012 and if you need help you can call the Grants Helpline on 01454-865865 for an informal chat. The decision on how much to award each group will be made by local councillors at the spring Frome Vale Area Forum.
At the moment MEPs are debating the EU's budget, the European Commission had asked for an increase of 6.8%, however a number of national governments, including the UK are calling for the rise to be limited to the rate of inflation for the next 7 years. At a time when national governments have to make ...
Written yesterday evening: Today I visited the Yusuf Batil refugee camp in Upper Nile state, South Sudan. From Juba, I took a 90 minute UN plane flight to Malakal, followed by a helicopter ride from Malakal to the refugee camp. The Yusuf Batil camp has nearly 37,000 refugees - out of a total of around 110,000 in the Upper Nile state. They're fleeing fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile – the states of Sudan which lie on the South Sudanese border. During the visit I spoke with women who face serious challenges to their personal security, and to Sheikhs ...
I'm not talking about the voting intention figures. Although, I do think that if Nick Clegg wants to make the LibDems 1 of 3 parties of government, we need to be polling around 20% between elections. This post isn't about those polls though. Lord Ashcroft has had some polling done in Corby where there is ...
Times are tough for people on low to middle incomes. As a group they have seen their quality of life remain stagnate even during times of sustained economic growth. The financial crisis of 2008 and ensuing recession has made getting by much more difficult for large numbers of people who are unable to make ends meet and with no savings to fall back on when the money runs out. Which is why I was delighted when I was asked to chair the Lib Dem Working group on a Balanced Working Life. Our remit is to develop policy which directly helps ...
Labour's response to the AWEMA crisis has fluctuated wildly between embarrassed silence and over-the-top tit-for-tat name calling. A good example is this response from one of their publicly-paid spin-doctors: There was strong criticism of the Welsh Government in the chamber this afternoon when opposition parties forced an urgent question but surprisingly the Conservative, Plaid Cymru and Liberal Democrat leaders didn't raise it in First Minister's Questions. A government source has seized on this, saying: "Opposition parties clearly chickened-out of confronting the First Minister over AWEMA during FMQs this afternoon. The WAO report scuppered their attempt to smear the Government on ...
The consultation on the proposed A6 to Manchester Relief Road (also known as the A555 extension or SEMMMS scheme) is underway, and runs to 25th January 2013. The three councils promoting the scheme (Cheshire East, Stockport and Manchester) are keen to get views from everyone on the overall scheme and six places where there are different design options (e.g. the current Stanley Green roundabout, which could become a larger light-controlled roundabout or a crossroads). You can see all the information on the scheme and have your say here. Twitter users can follow the @SEMMMSA555 account for the latest information. We're ...
I realised that I used to notify people of upcoming Neighbourhood Action Panel (NAP) meetings on the blog, but as I did it through a lot of posts I'd scheduled a long time in advance, I didn't notice when the pre-arranged posts ran out. So, this is to let those of you in Castle Ward know that the next meeting of the Castle NAP is taking place next Tuesday (the 30th October) at 9.30am. The NAP exists to "address crime, anti-social behaviour and quality of life issues throughout the Castle Ward" and meets monthly. The members are councillors, police, residents, ...
I had the great privilege to go to the Greenwich Young Peoples Council Transport event in Woolwich a couple of weeks ago. It was a really inspiring event with loads of events, quizzes, discussions, sporting competitions and more, all organised by the GYPC – part of the Youth Parliament. A great day. It was particularly interesting ...
Currently at the planning stage and due to commence in January 2013, DUO (Dundee Urban Orchard) is a city-wide environmental and socially engaged public art project that supports individuals, organisations and community groups to plant and care for small scale orchards within Dundee. You can read more about the Dundee Urban Orchard here. For further details or to share ideas please contact jb4change@gmail.com or telephone Dundee 540151.
The superfast campaign for better broadband across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is calling for a surge of support to show record levels of demand in the closing stages of registrations. Connecting Cambridgeshire is one of the fastest growing broadband campaigns in the country and is expected to reach a milestone of 20,000 registrations in the next few weeks. Households and businesses are being urged to demonstrate there is countywide demand for better broadband by registering for the campaign at www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk before the end of December, when a supplier will be selected. More than 80 Broadband Champions are helping villages and parishes ...
Yesterday, in addition to visits to constituents, I took part in a walkabout round the Logie Estate with council officers from various departments and a ward colleague to look at issues in the area. An example is damaged fencing (see right). It was good to welcome the Director of Housing to the walkabout on this occasion. Thereafter, I enjoyed a very well-attended general meeting of the Pennycook and Sinderins Courts Residents' Association at which we discussed numerous local issues including parking, noise and the Association's forthcoming Christmas Coffee Morning, taking place on Saturday 24th November, as part of the West ...
The provision of youth activities and facilities across the District is to be analysed by St Albans City and District's Local Services Scrutiny Committee on 30 October. A presentation on youth provision in the District will be given by the Youth Action Group, which brings together youth organisations across the District, and youth councillors. In February, the Committee heard that the Youth Action Group was planning to set up a youth café and a youth forum for young people to discuss issues. It invited the Youth Action Group to report back in October on progress with these and other key ...
