Given that I haven't even been keeping Twitter or Facebook updated with the minutia of my life, there's hardly any surprise if you are unaware of the following things: - We moved apartments! My contact details on Facebook, Dreamwidth and LiveJournal are all appropriately updated. If you want to send me stuff – and why would you want to do that? – and you're not friended in any of those places, then you'll have to be creative. Or ask. - I have escaped from full time education! And am now languishing in beginning of my career mode, searching for jobs ...
Untold Stories is a documentary produced by Birmingham Music Heritage that deals with the city and popular music since the 1960s. This is part one, which deals with the early career of the Spencer Davis Group and the Move. There are six more parts to enjoy on Youtube. An earlier post of mine has a live performance of I'm a Man and a glimpse of the even earlier career of the Winwood brothers.
A win for the Daily Telegraph with: Brian Cox: BBC bosses feared alien discovery could breach editorial guidelines
Nick Clegg's bravura performance earned him many plaudits today from among others: Caron Lindsay on LibDemVoice; James Forsyth at The Spectator; Sam Macrory on PoliticsHome; and George Eaton at the New Statesman.
It was bad night for US conservatives with the comfortable reelection of Barack Obama - with or without Florida. Obama's success clearly got to follicularly challenged right wing tycoon Donald Trump - the man whose pastimes include bullying Scottish pensioners. According to the Daily Mail Trump tweeted that Obama's reelection was a 'disgusting injustice' and claimed the world was 'laughing at us'. No Donald they are laughing at you:
Hello! I can confirm Nadine Dorries MP is in the jungle! I (her daughter) will be covering her Twitter in the meantime! #ImACeleb — Nadine Dorries MP (@NadineDorriesMP) November 7, 2012
The decision to build houses on Windy Ridge, Market Harborough, was always controversial, not least because the site can be seen from such a distance. Harborough District Council did its best to resist this development, but the Planning Inspectorate eventually gave permission. Its report cannot be downloaded from the council website (despite what that page says), but if I recall it rightly it said something along these lines: No, it is not a good site to build houses on, but you haven't granted permission for enough houses to be built in the district, so we are going to allow building ...
European funding has been secured by teams at Cambridgeshire County Council for an employment support project. The IMPRESS project (Innovative & Meaningful Post Recruitment Employment Support Services) is funded by the Interreg 4a 'Channel' programme and will work with 10 partners in the UK and France, sharing knowledge to offer support and guidance to long-term unemployed people who have gained employment and face barriers to maintaining it. IMPRESS will engage with employers to improve staff retention, provide better skills opportunities, develop practical approaches to improve the performance and retention of individuals at work and create strategies for certain sectors to ...
Dr Gerard Briscoe from Cambridge University swapped the lab for the Commons when he joined MP Julian Huppert for a week in Westminster. The visit was part of a unique science pairing scheme run by the Royal Society - the UK's national academy of science. During his visit, Dr Briscoe shadowed Julian to learn more about his work and gave him a behind-the-scenes insight into how science policy is formed as well as an understanding of the working life of an MP. He attended a meeting of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Prime Minister's Question Time and ...
I've long suspected that the Voice's Mark Pack doesn't need to sleep and his clear thinking after a long electoral night kind of backs up my theory. As my neural pathways crumble from lack of sleep, he has already put together five lessons we should learn from both Obama's win and Romney's loss. He talks about the important of the non white male vote. While Romney might have done well amongst white men, he lost many other important groups of voters, including women, who make up the majority. Mark also made a good point about the many emails which came ...
I was very sorry to hear of the death of Clive Dunn. Performers who have been on television for as long as I can remember are rare creatures these days, though in Dunn's case that is chiefly because Dad's Army is still constantly repeated - not that anyone is complaining. Beyond Corporal Jones, there are two ways I should like to remember him. The first is this remarkably frisky interview from the Guardian, published in 2002. The second is with a song from his album 'Permission to Sing Sir'. The Downstairs Lounge will tell you all about it.
As usual the police report for Consett is online here. Number of calls for area:- 274 Number of community related calls:-78 Alcohol seizures: As part of regular patrols alcohol was seized from youths on Genesis way. A full box of lager, cider and a bottle of alcopop was seized There have been no reported domestic burglaries for this period. Other burglary: On 21/10/2012 unknown persons have entered Consett Academy north campus through an insecure window and have made an untidy search. They were disturbed by staff and ran off. A football was stolen and confectionery was consumed within the premises. ...
Nick Clegg did Prime Minister's Questions today while David Cameron is schmoozing his way round the Middle East. He was so assured, confident and natural and spoke completely without notes. He even answered the question he was given and not the one he wanted to answer, too. He made David Cameron look like a complete amateur, to be honest, and Gordon Brown, too. My Liberal Democrat Voice colleague Nick Thornsby reminded us on Twitter this morning that four years ago, two days after Barack Obama was elected the first time round, Clegg, then a humble third party leader, questioned PM ...
Nick Clegg did Prime Minister's Questions today while David Cameron is schmoozing his way round the Middle East. He was so assured, confident and natural and spoke completely without notes. He even answered the question he was given and not the one he wanted to answer, too. He made David Cameron look like a complete amateur, to be honest, and Gordon Brown, too. My Liberal Democrat Voice colleague Nick Thornsby reminded us on Twitter this morning that four years ago, two days after Barack Obama was elected the first time round, Nick, then a humble third party leader, questioned PM ...
Five thoughts on Obama's victory (along with the gains in the Senate for the Democrats and what looks at time of writing to be further gains, albeit it small, in the House of Representatives): Women are the majority You wouldn't notice it from looking at the ranks of those in elected office or from the way politicians, pundits and political scientists talk about 'the women's vote' as if they are a minority, different from the norm. But women are a majority of the population, a majority of the electorate and a majority of voters. Romney did well among men, and ...
Like the creation of Champagne, Ed Miliband did something wonderful completely by accident last week. Whilst there was a certain opportunistic edge to Labour's proposition and indeed an opportunity for the Conservative's Achilles heal making its usual appearance there does appear to be an opening to seriously discuss Europe and the possibility of a referendum. It is a subject that we all avoid talking about, both sides are fairly entrenched and no middle ground is achievable - it is either in or out. I'm an idealist when it comes to Europe. I see a lot of potential in the EU. ...
As you probably don't know, this year will see the unexciting election we don't want for a Police and Crime Commissioner we don't need. Given the Police need to be able to carry out there work independently and free from political interference, the CPS need to decide whether a prosecution can be secured independently, the Courts can make there own mind up independently on the appropriate
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by EBuzzing (Wikio as was). Nick Thornsby and Richard Morris drop out this month, whilst Andrew George bounces back in to the list. 1 (8) Liberal Democrat Voice Down 2 2 (18) Mark Pack Down 1 3 (44) Jennie Rigg Down 7 4 (54) Lynne Featherstone Down 1 5 (56) Stephen Tall Down 9 6 (59) Paul Walter Down 9 7 (67) Nic Prigg Up 23 8 (68) Liberal Vision Up 31 9 (69) Neil Monnery Up 8 10 (76) Andrew George NEW 11 (77) Zoe ...
Four more years. http://t.co/bAJE6Vom— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 07, 2012 We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. Thank you. -bo— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 07, 2012 Yes, it's confirmed, President Barack Obama has been returned to the White House for another four years as leader of the free ...
There were many sleep-deprived eyes in the David Lloyd George room at the National Liberal Club this lunchtime when the Global Strategy Forum held a panel debate on US Foreign Policy perspectives the day after the presidential poll. At least we knew the election result, which would not have been the case 12 years ago. And ...
By four votes to three, Cornwall Council's new cabinet today backed the controversial 48,500 target for the number of new homes to be built in Cornwall over the next twenty years. This recommendation now moves to the full council as part of the draft local plan. As I've blogged before, I'm not hung up about the numbers per se. But I want to see a greater emphasis on increasing the proportion of affordable homes - particularly social rented homes and new council housing - that are built as part of any new development. The new plan sets a target of ...
Wed 7th
16:26
Opinion: Three birds, one enhanced programme - beyond the town centre rejuvenation plans
In the wake of both the Government's town centre rejuvenation plan and the Mary Portas initiative, I believe we have a bigger opportunity to build on the interest and momentum created by both these plans to use them to address some wider and related issues. The current plans are very specific to town centres and I fully agree with the intent; however, I believe it could be enhanced to also address 2 additional points - the need to offer people not just the minimum wage, but a more representative 'Living wage' to help them out of any potential Benefits trap ...
The old yoke – The legacy of 1066 and speculation over whether the 'green man' seen in many English churches originated as an act of subtle rebellion against the Normans. Men of aspiration – BenSix on the Pootercrats. "They are would-be intellectuals and sycophants: the hangers-on of men with bigger wallets; better friends and grander dreams for the advancement of their interests or ideologies. They sit on the advisory councils of think-tanks with swanky websites and portentous titles. They write columns that present ambitions of the powerful as if they are nothing more than splendid ideas. They jet off to ...
Last year there were an estimated 2.3 billion bus passenger journeys in England. More people up and down the country get to work by bus than by all other forms of public transport combined, and over 50% of students use them to get to classrooms and lectures. More than that, they provide a life-line for rural communities and just as vital in cities in terms of reducing traffic jams and air pollution by getting people out of cars. But even while people are reducing their carbon emissions by hopping on the bus rather than using their cars, we want to ...
I have been asked what I think of Nadine Dorries going into the jungle, seeing as her constituency is adjacent to ours. Well, not a lot, frankly. I find her jibes at the Tory Party hierarchy amusing, her Tweets often witty, and you know what, I'm a single guy and she's an attractive lady. But I guess, since I've tweeted back to her a few times, and she hasn't responded, maybe she thought she'd better escape my attentions. Good luck to her in her next career, for surely as an MP, this is the end of the road.
For nearly 90 years, The Poppy Factory in Richmond, Surrey, has been making poppies, crosses and wreaths for the Royal Family and the Royal British Legion's annual Remembrance Day appeal. Since 2007, The Poppy Factory has also been placing wounded, injured or sick ex-military personnel of all ages and from a variety of armed forces ...
"I suspect that's the only point I will be cheered by the benches opposite" Maybe so, but it certainly wasn't the only time he was cheered. Obama's re-election was, of course, good news for the US and the UK; the ... Continue reading →
Tempting as it is to suggest that Australia keep Nadine Dorries, her absence from British politics, even for a short period, will actually leave quite a big hole. Today's Independent carries a list of the Parliamentary business the MP for Mid Bedfordshire will be missing whilst she is in the jungle eating bugs. This includes the major show down over the EU budget, on 22 November, which was the cause of David Cameron's Commons defeat last week. And if she is not one of the first to be voted off the programme then it will also include the Autumn Statement ...
"I suspect that's the only point I will be cheered by the benches opposite" Maybe so, but it certainly wasn't the only time he was cheered. Obama's re-election was, of course, good news for the US and the UK; the slightly left right-winger is always more preferable than the right-wing right-winger. But, more importantly, the ...
I have to struggle sometimes to remember that we have so many Northern MPs. That is in part a reflection of how the party uses the talent up here. Chris Davies was up in Southport last week speaking at the excellent Kew Ward meal organised by Fred Weavers. I got to thinking that one option would be to appoint regional spokepersons so that we can improve our media coverage. I am impressed by Michael Moore and Willie Rennie would have a brief that ranges across all departments in Scotland. Kirsty Williams in Wales also exploits her all Wales brief to ...
So can we talk about something else now? Thanks
One of the few tactically savvy moves made by the coalition recently has been its muted response to UK economy's return to growth. This article examines what the return to growth means for the wider economy. The first point to make is that, just as the double-dip phase of the recession was caused by international events, the return to growth has similarly been caused by external factors. The coalition deserves neither blame for the double-dip, nor credit for its ending. Many of those who oppose the coalition's economic policies on political rather than economic grounds question the validity of the ...
Yes, yes PME2013 totally beat me to publishing on this (and is far more eloquent than I am!) but I have other links and other news! It doesn't seem possible, but 4 years have really passed since Proposition 8 was approved by the voters of California. Every leftie liberals happy day as Obama was originally elected was given a little dent. Now it wasn't all bad. We got Prop 8: The Musical, which has Kathy Najimy in it. That almost made it all worth it. I jest, of course, but it was US election day yesterday and, along with the ...
Last week was, behind the scenes, an important one for the future of UK economic reforms. Four reports were published which were, one might say, bang on for the new mantra of 're-balancing the economy'. The first was Lord Heseltine's report on the role and methods of the UK government in 'achieving' economic growth. The other three were reviews conducted via the Bank of England in response to criticisms of its handling of the financial crisis – specifically its bailouts, and its evident surprise in 2007 that much of the UK banking system would collapse without such bailouts. The Heseltine ...
Well, the American elections are over and Obama has clearly won. Even better, the Republican senatorial "rape candidates" (e.g. the ones who had revealed their horrifying views of rape and their contempt for women) during the election campaign have all lost - including Mr Richard "if a woman gets pregnant from rape then it's a gift from god" Mourdock of Indiana, which, as he was standing in a state where I have a close friend living, was personally cheering as well. Additionally, several states in referenda have legalised marijuana and/or equal marriage rights for LGBT people. So, all in all, ...
Maelo Manning, the Lib Dem Child, blogs for us on Cameron's speech at Tory party conference. I have had so many laughs from watching the Eton Gangnam Style Video featuring boys from the school mocking themselves. What has provided equal entertainment for me has been reading the YouTube comments; which show how deeply people feel about ...
What if they gave a war and nobody came? Why, then, the war would come to you! -- Bertolt Brecht The current Conservative Government (and their Labour predecessors) are obsessed with the idea of competition. Their theory is that competition lowers prices, improves services, and makes the world more efficient. The free market will arrive at an optimal solution for everything. In some cases, this is correct. In my own field - mobile phones - we see a tooth and nail fight between companies which has dramatically lowered the price of phones, improved them immeasurably, and created a lot of ...
Comedian David Mitchell wrote an article in The Guardian recently in which he was generally disparaging of the police read it here After reading the article I said to my wife 'David Mitchell really doesn't like the police' her response was 'What do you expect? He's a liberal. They don't like the police generally' Is this true? It seems, to a degree, that it is. The police represent authority, discipline and justice. They can appear as the antithesis of the most basic principles of Liberalism: Liberty, equality, freedom and civil rights but my argument is that without the police democracy ...
A Guardian report that three American states plan to legalise cannabis revives an old debate which has historically been polarised between left and right, the religious and the libertarian. What is clear is that prohibition doesn't ...
Album Launch A Fusion of Music, Food and Fun Sunday, 11 November 2012, 12pm to 5pm @ Kashu, 9 Hatfield Road, St Albans AL1 3RR Album sneak preview on Soundcloud More details here. It started with an idea... And the idea was to unite the musical community with the St Albans public in a BIG way. Here's the thing: St Albans has A LOT of talented musicians. You may have heard of some of them, but there are many who have yet to be discovered, not just by the music-listening public but also by their own community. St Albans Calling ...
Living in the country with the freest Internet in the world opens up some interesting and surprising lines of discussion. Now that nearly 25% of the population choose to vote online, there are some very interesting implications that are coming out. Firstly there are the short term implications of more e-voting. The fact of being able to vote, even if you live overseas, keeps the Estonian diaspora far more in touch with home. In the recent Lithuanian election, for example, where online voting does not happen, the nearly a million people who live overseas from Lithuania had to make a ...
2012 is the European Year for Active Ageing and Soldarity between Generations, though unless you read something like the Society pages of the Guardian I'd be surprised if you were aware of the fact, as 'Europe' is such a toxic word for so much of the British media at least. But the concept behind this ...
Wednesday: If you're NOT exhausted by voting yet, you've still got an HOUR to vote in the Liberal Democrats Federal Elections: a last chance to give a first preference to Richard Flowers for the FPC! Can we also say HUGE thank yous to everyone who has voted already, especially to those who gave a "Richard Flowers" first preference! Meanwhile, thank Americaland and thank goodness, President Barry O has been re-elected. We may not be too happy about him EXPLODING bits of Pakistan and Afghanistan with robot drones BUT... robot drones IS an accurate description of his opponent making a speech. ...
With five by-election campaigns, a mayoral election and the police commissioner elections spread all around the country, there's a host of opportunities to get involved in a campaign near you. Last Saturday we ran a series of Regional Action Days for many of these campaigns. Thank you so much to all of you who came. A huge amount of valuable work was done, and hopefully you had fun too! There's another Regional Action Day this Saturday, November 10th, to help our superb candidate, Jill Hope, in the Corby by-election. Details are available at the pre-registration page here. If you can ...
We need to set some basic targets and goals to push things forward. Therefore my pledges for IR Cymru are; Resources: A complete and comprehensive collection of materials for Branches and members. Through consultation with members I would ensure that appropriate materials are produced for members, branches and candidates. I would ensure that every document ...
The Youth Contract is often presented by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats as one of the party's main achievements in government. The headline messages about the Youth Contract are clear and straight-forward, and can be summarised as: The Youth Contract is an ambitious £1bn programme to make sure every 18 to 24-year-old has the opportunity to earn or learn. But what are the details of the Youth Contract? The Youth Contract's main elements The Youth Contract is providing at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds. That is made up of 160,000 places being supported ...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
Come to Stockport on 14th November from 2.30pm: free parking and entertainment all afternoon leading up to Steps turning on Stockport's Christmas lights in the evening. Whether it's at Stockport's historic covered market, Underbanks, Princes Street or Merseyway, there's lots to do and lots to buy! Town Centre Poster
Oh, Lovely: This Voting Machine in Pennsylvania Isn't Accepting Votes for Obama And this is why we still have paper and pencil in the UK. Old technology hard to bugger up. (tags: ) Nadine Dorries: Lessons from seven other reality show politicians (tags: ) The Famous Five back on TV with a time travel twist This seems like a really weird idea to me... (tags: ) Image of the Day: The A to Z of sci-fi movie and TV spaceships | Blastr (tags: ) Nadine Dorries suspended in row over I'm a Celebrity appearance - UK Politics - UK - ...
Every week Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here's this week's edition. Borders Businesses As the new GDP figures point in the right direction and a return to growth, I am working with local business here in the Borders to ensure they receive the support and advice they need to grow and create jobs for local people. At the moment I am conducting a Business Survey to assist me in this work and I want to encourage any business in Berwickshire which has not yet received one of these surveys ...
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. Party members split on Lib Dem influence achieved within Coalition How would you rate the extent of the Liberal Democrat influence within the Coalition Government, where 10 is highly influential, and 1 indicates no influence. (Comparison with September's figures in brackets.) 1: 1% 2: 7% 3: 17% 4: 15% 5: 11% Lacking influence = 51% (-2%) 6: 17% 7: 23% ...
The US election is nearly done. Obama reelected. More women elected to the senate & the first open gay female senator elected. Stupid republicans who made even stupider rape comments defeated. Marijuana legalised in Colorado & marriage equality brought to more. So what should we learn from the US election? 1) Do not dispute the ...
This week's choice is a bit of a novelty song - or as novelty as I like my pop, anyway. Fountains of Wayne with Stacy's Mom; a song about a MILF from the point of view of an hormonal teenage boy... Andrew
Yesterday, I attended the City Council's Waste to Energy Working Group at which the situation regarding the facility at Baldovie and progress towards its re-opening was further discussed. As a councillor who has continually campaigned for improved recycling facilities for West End constituents, it was good to hear that an increase in the network of neighbourhood recycling facilities is now planned. Last night, I had the pleasure of taking part in the latest meeting of the Perth Road business community, a most productive meeting - and it is now planned to formally launch the Perth Road Traders' Association at a ...
Paul – I'm about to go speak to the crowd here in Chicago, but I wanted to thank you first. I want you to know that this wasn't fate, and it wasn't an accident. You made this happen. You organized yourselves block by block. You took ownership of this campaign five and ten dollars at a time. And when it wasn't easy, you pressed forward. I will spend the rest of my presidency honoring your support, and doing what I can to finish what we started. But I want you to take real pride, as I do, in how we ...
Thank you to everyone who joined in our live blog/tweet following the exciting results from across the Atlantic tonight. Many thanks to everyone who used the hashtag #LDVUSA to join in! It was a great night – to see all the potential Romney paths to victory disintegrating one by one and a EV total of 332 looking on the cards for Obama! Analysis and post-mortems can wait for another day. For now, it's celebration time! WoooooHoooooo! * Paul Walter is Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a LibDem activist in Newbury, Berkshire and blogs at Liberal Burblings
Well, almost exactly where we thought we would. It's close, really close. We've heard that key states like Virginia, Ohio, and Florida are still too close to call. Significantly, Americans seem to have grasped the seriousness of the election and turned out in their droves. Indeed, in Virginia people are still queueing to vote which ...
Has taken me a good four hours this evening. I very carefully ordered every candidate in all the elections, using my own personal criteria. I'm not going to give you the full running order, but for the big three, my top choices were - FE: Caron Lindsay - FPC: Richard Flowers - FCC: Zoe O'Connell My method, if anyone cares, was to group candidates into lettered groups, and then rank them within the group. Candidates who didn't answer my/Andy's questions were ranked n for neutral, and then within n by what I know about them. Candidates whose answers I really ...
Mitt Romney is ahead 3 electoral college votes to 33. However, the critical states of Virginia and Ohio are still too close to call. Looks like this is going to be a long won...
CNN reporting exit poll that 59% support auto bailout with 39% against. It also reports that more Dems than GOP registered voters turned out. Edit - VI exit suggest Obama wins Ohio by 3%
When I visited the Richard Jefferies Museum at Coate in the summer of 2009 I bought a DVD of a short film about Jefferies. I have now found it online at Swindon Viewpoint. This video makes a good short introduction to Jefferies' work. If you want to know more, try the guest post that Rebecca Welshman wrote for this blog.
I'm refusing to watch the taxpayer junket that is the BBC coverage of the US elections. So I started with Sky News and soon switched to Al Jazerra UK - because it is low budget has no adverts (so far) and means it has to rely on expert opinion rather than celebrity flannel. But I fancied seeing what Fox News might be saying - but sadly wasn't allowed to view by my Sky box as I hadn't subscribed to their 'entertainment' package!
