Today with special guest! Because apparently "so you don't have to!" really means "so you can come watch it with her!" And I have promised that any of L's comments will be attributed to her, unless I think they're witty enough to be worth stealing the credit for. Anyway, this is the episode in which it turns out that being stranded on an island for five years is a traumatic experience! And the whole cast goes "... oh" as if they never expected it to be. Slow golf claps all around. Nevertheless, it is a powerful episode, and brings together ...
I've enjoyed a couple of days of travel. Tuesday was spent on Middlesbrough doorsteps in a mixture of heavy and light rain. I'm not often in Middlesborough but enjoyed getting out in support of our excellent by-election candidate, George Selmer. I was struck, as usual, by how pleasant most people are, even when telling you that there's no chance they'll ever vote for your party, and that mostly they welcome the fact that someone has bothered to come to their doorstep. Mind you, the ones who don't come to the door probably wouldn't say the same! If the people were ...
The bus for Ripon leaves from opposite York railway station, takes you through Little Ouseburn and Boroughbridge and makes a stylish entry to the city by sweeping around the market square before dropping you at the bus station. Ripon's market square is dominated by a stone pillar. Ripon Civic Society will tell you its history: Pride in the city was behind the efforts of the city council, led by the MP John Aislabie, at the beginning of the 17th century, when they transformed the rough medieval Market Square into its concept of a Roman forum - the forum populi. They ...
Most residents of Queen Edith's will know that parking is a big problem in this area. Lib Dem councillors have for many years been calling for action from Conservative-run Cambridgeshire County Council, the council responsible for parking management and highways. Last summer the County agreed to set up a parking review group, to look at all of the south of the city, including Queen Edith's, Trumpington, Romsey and some streets in Coleridge. Cllr Jean Swanson and I attended the first meetingabout a year ago, and since then Cllr Geoff Heathcock has represented Queen Edith's on that group. The County officers ...
Channel 4 News this evening was a curious mix. It reported that: From the initial investigation into north Wales child abuse in 1991 to the Waterhouse inquiry in 2000, Sian Griffiths has collated details of every allegation and document surrounding the scandal.More than that, Sian Griffiths revealed something important about Sir Ronald Waterhouse's method of conducting his inquiry. Some insignificant local was accused of abuse, he was summoned to the inquiry to give evidence himself. But if a more prominent or influential figure was mentioned Waterhouse stopped the proceedings and refused to allow any further evidence on that point. Perhaps ...
Here's another of Ros's interventions that I hadn't covered, from 20 June 2011... When transitioning from one regime to another, it is easy to forget that the legislation you had before might stop you from doing what you want to do now. Ros hadn't forgotten... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) My Lords, I want to join this brief exchange because I am developing an increasing sense of Alice in Wonderland. It feels as though we are operating in two worlds: the old world in which local authorities were only allowed to do things that were in statute, and ...
(Question:) Why is (the age threshold) 18 for voting and drinking, 17 for driving and 16 to get married? (Answer:) Because at 16 you can use a condom. It takes another year to figure out a gearstick. And 12 months more to work out the difference between Ed Balls and Nick Clegg. From Big Issue October 15-21 2012 [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
As the years pass, I seem to be developing a taste for vicarious politics. That is, enjoying following politics in other countries. It has none of the direct involvement that can get one down in one's own country. It is strangely liberating. I will be writing shortly about the main subject of my second-hand political enjoyment. But vicarious pleasure number two is Ireland. Goodness, how I love Ireland and the Irish. They get so involved with their politics! Occasionally, I feel like a shot of RTE Radio One on long wave. This morning was one of those times. An Irish ...
This morning I had the regular six-monthly EVAR surveillance. This is to check that the Endovascular Aneurysm Repair performed on July 19, 2010 is still working. The plastic aorta is joined to the main artery coming from the heart at the to, and to the two branches going into the legs at the bottom, leaving the original aorta surrounding it to collapse. They need to make sure there isn't any leakage at the joins, and so far there hasn't been any problem.
As some may know I've been an avid Manchester City fan all my life. One of their favourite songs goes like this: "We are not, we're not really here... Just like fans of the invisible ...
Thu 8th
19:02
Phillip Schofield and his Producer are lucky to still be in a job today after his stunt on 'This Mor...
We've all seen the news. We've all seen the clip and we all saw Phillip Schofield decide that the internet was a legitimate source for ITV1′s This Morning and a legitimate enough source for him to decide to potentially throw away his career. How insane? Look Phillip Schofield is about as inoffensive as you can get. Reminds me a bit of Will McAvoy from The Newsroom before his meltdown at Northwestern. Someone who doesn't rock the boat who people trust. However that all changed today when he decided to show the Prime Minister a list of names that he had ...
Thu 8th
19:01
Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal: abduction of defence witness Shukho Ranjan Bali
On November 5, 2012 at around 10.00, defence witness Shukho Ranjan Bali was abducted from the International Crimes Tribunal premises. He was coming to testify for the accused Allama Delwar Hossain Sayedee. As the car taking Bali and the senior defence counsel Mizanul Islam approached the Tribunal, uniformed policemen stopped it for a security check at the entrance. The police said they had instructions not allow anyone except designated lawyers to go inside the Tribunal Room. As Mizanul Islam was explaining that Bali was a defence witness, a group of plain-clothes men approached the vehicle, grabbed Bali and tried to ...
A win this time for This is Nottingham (aka the Nottingham Evening Post): Disabled granny attacked by ferret as she rode mobility scooter in Bingham Well, what do you expect in Nottingham?
A public meeting has been called as part of the campaign to save Churchtown Library from closure. The meeting is on Thursday 29th November at 7pm and is being held at St Cuthbert's Church Hall, Botanic Road in Churchtown (next to St Cuthbert's church). The meeting has been organised by councillor Nigel Ashton, who represents Churchtown. Cllr Ashton said "This meeting has been called to let members of the public have their say. I hope as many people as possible will come along in support of Churchtown Library." Cllr Ashton added "There has been a tremendous response from people throughout ...
Phillip Schofield, in an ill-advised stunt, "confronted" David Cameron with a list of names of people suspected of paedophilia (by people online). I've no evidence they aren't but I suspect Schofield has no evidence they are. If he does he's best talking to the police about his accusations. I'm pretty sure David Cameron already knows who is suspect of paedophilia at this point, I doubt his advisers have been slow to fill him in given how big a story this has become. David Cameron responded, and it pains me to say this, in a dignified and thoughtful way. "There is ...
Update I was not going to post this until I saw this by Tom Chivers in The Telegraph and then heard the way this was reported on the evening news. Phillip Schofield may have ambushed David Cameron with a list of suspected paedophiles on This Morning but it is the PM's immediate response that this somewhat startling. "I am worried this could turn into a witch hunt particularly against people who are gay. "I've heard all sorts of names being bandied around and what then tends to happen is that everyone sits around and speculates about people some of who ...
During a BBC TV news item about the US presidential election, after the result so a bit reflective, a Republican voter, interviewed, said, more or less: "If you believe that government's about helping people, then Obama's OK, but if you believe government's about helping people to help themselves, you worry...". This sounded quite thoughtful and the idea that government's main role is enabling (helping people to help themselves) appeals a lot to a British Liberal. But first of all, even by Abraham Lincoln's quite narrow definition of the role of government (doing what people can't do for themselves) by any ...
So yes your favourite (well I might not be your favourite) loveable loser (or loser in love?) I prefer loser in love ended his 2012 desert in terms of dates last night as I had my first date of the year. That makes it three years in a row I've actually had a date. In your face 2009, 2008 and 2007. Talk about consistency. I mean who else can say they've had dates in three consecutive years? What do you mean 'most people...?' Oh. So anyway the fact that I'm writing about it publicly will hint to those of you ...
Welcome to the former lair of the Celtic Tiger, a city of stories, some of them true, and enough cliche to bury an elephant, Dublin, the host city for this year's ELDR Congress, hosted by Fianna Fail. The focus of this year's event is on energy transition and, given that the EU remains worryingly dependent on imports of oil and gas from some rather unstable corners of the world, it is a subject that might not be obviously sexy, it is one that has a huge impact on European citizens. But why, I hear you ask, aren't we discussing the ...
Liberal Democrat Voice has featured an opinion piece by me on Supporting Local Businesses. Click here to read it.
Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net Number 10 have issue this picture of David Cameron having a nice little chat on the phone. Which is nice. Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net
Charles Hendry and Caroline Spelman wer both apparently told that they had lost their jobs in Government due to their age. Spelman was told that she was part of Sir George Young's generation. Never mind the fact Sir George would return in a more senior role mere weeks later, Spelman is in her 50s while ...
Former Children's Minister Sarah Teather was personally thanked by Citizens UK at Liberal Democrat Conference in September for her role, as Children's Minister, in ending child detention for immigration purposes. She said then that there was much more to achieve on the way the UK Borders Agency operates. This week she's launched an enquiry into the support for families within the asylum system. She wrote about that enquiry and what she wants to achieve for Politics Home: If you have never had a conversation with a young asylum seeker about their life, I recommend it. The countries from which they ...
We're used to seeing sex being used to sell products. We're used to seeing ads built on an unhealthy foundation of sexism. Remember that really irritating washing up liquid ad from the Olympics which suggested that mums were just there to wash dishes while their sons became athletes? All this stuff is quite subtle and when confronted, the companies shrink back in horror from accusations of sexism. However, I wonder if Lord Sugar has branched out today with a new strategy of using sexist comments to get attention for his products. Remember that nice inventor Tom who won the Apprentice ...
If you, like my wife and I, or some of the people I spoke to last week canvassing for the Libdems in Medway have NO idea who is running or what the debates in the Police Commissioner's election (which goes to the polls in less than a week!!!) I thought I'd help people out with a handy guide so here is a collection of links for you. First up; Craig Mackinlay (con) Harriet Yeo (Lab) Ann Barnes (Ind) Dai Liyanage (Ind) Steve Uncles (English Democrats) Piers Wauchope (UKIP) Hope it helps with the voting process. Personally I, nor the party ...
Throughout the life of the Coalition to date, we've been surveying party members to ask what you make of the party's performance in government. There have been five questions we've asked each time. Here's how views have changed in the past two-and-a-half-years... Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives? Do you approve or disapprove of the Coalition Government's record to date? Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? What is your view of Nick Clegg's performance as Lib Dem ...
How do we build an active, engaged and committed membership for IR Cymru? I think this should be done through Activate Weekends where members learn about canvassing, designing Focuses, using Connect, meeting those who have campaigned in elections, hearing campaign stories, and meeting party representatives. Before setting our members loose on the streets, in regular ...
A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood ward as detailed below:- Application number: 55763 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 06/11/2012 Location: 21 Farm Lane, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2RX Proposal: First floor extension to rear and dormer loft conversion. Plans will be available to view on the Council's website (use the above reference number). Please get in touch if I can be of any help. Tim
Below is my speech given to the London Liberal Democrat Hustings for MEP candidates on Sunday 4 November. ------ My message to the voters of London would be twofold. Firstly, the European Union is important to our country's prospects and well-being. There is a lot of negativity about the EU and I expect you have found, as I have, that on the doorstep, the EU is rarely mentioned and it's importance is little understood. I would explain the benefits in simple language. Trade - investment - growth - business - jobs. Secondly, the Liberal Democrats are the only major pro-European ...
Brits are told every year- especially by the anti-EU press- that the EU fails to pass its own audit test. It turns out that this is not strictly true. Each year mistakes and errors are found, but, it turns out that these are most often in the 80% of the EU budget that is administered by the national governments. In fact, the EU budget turns out to be in a far more orderly position than the "failure of the EU court of auditors to approve the budget" implies. David Cameron intends to reduce- if possible- the total EU budget, and ...
The latest figures show that the average English household recycles 43% of refuse. In Stockport it's about 63% – almost a third higher, and still on the up. That's good for the environment and good for our pockets, since we make good money from recycling. Now we want to get to grips with the small-but-significant problem of bin theft. The Council isn't (as was suggested in the local paper) going to recruit an army of people to check everyone's bins – that would be crazy. We're getting the bin men who are going round anyway to check whether someone with ...
Ah Rain Man. A memory that is dug deep into my brain. Back in the day when I was living and working in Aldershot most Friday nights Dawid, Nicky and myself would get together to watch a movie. These movies varied from the good (Garden State, Lost in Translation, 300, Bin-Jip) to the bad (Rain Man, Rain Man, Rain Man). I could easily throw in Die Hard 4.0 in the bad list as Dawid actually just got up and went home after about twenty minutes of that but lets concentrate on Rain Man. I hadn't seen it before and I ...
Just because you're winning around Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity doesn't mean you're winning around America excellent from @DPJHodges If she's such a fan of CSI, how come she didn't seem to know the basics about forensics and investigation techniques?! Why Nate Silver Won, And Why It Matters Oh, Lovely: This Voting Machine in Pennsylvania Isn't Accepting Votes for Obama The GOP thought that the rhetoric and positioning of 1980 and 1984 could win again in the America of 2012. Hurrah for Colorado! 57% vote to legalise and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Was this advert complaining how little money Lambeth ...
Michelle Obama is a formidable woman. She combines intelligence with warmth and is an inspiration to a generation of women not only in the US but worldwide. A magnetic personality, you might say. Who can forget the affection she inspired after her visit to a London girls' school in 2009. Look at this. Three years on, it still makes me cry. She had a message so important for girls to hear: "We need strong, smart confident young women to stand up and take the reins. I want you to know that we have very much in common. Nothing in my ...
One of Android's great strengths is its openness. The source code is (mostly) there for anyone to see. If you're a hardware manufacturer, you can use Android on your devices with just a few mouse clicks. But there's a problem in Android-land, one which has been growing for several years. Open Software has many advantages - one is the maxim "Many eyes make all bugs shallow". If you have thousands of developers looking at your code, it becomes easy to spot and fix bugs. When you have millions of users, it becomes easy for you to collate bug reports and ...
It's a funny old game, local politics. We in Greenwich Lib Dems had a great AGM last night, an AGM at which I was privileged to be elected Chair of the local party and at which we had a first class, enthusiastic team elected to the executive. Nevertheless I pointed out that were an independent observer to weigh up the ...
Not Bradley Wiggins crash The news that Bradley Wiggins has been involved in a crash on British roads while riding his bike shouldn't come as a surprise to any who cycle. The fact that it happened in a relatively quiet village and to the winner of the Tour de France has garnered media attention of this scale. While I was a student in Kingston I soon learnt that not all road users could follow simple rules such as: Lane markings: I once got squeezed between two cars while turning right, the one of my left was in a left turn ...
There's been much joking recently about how part of the wake of the presidential election would be a wave of 'why the US election means we must support my politics' columns and blog posts. Lo and behold, you can probably find one on most comment sites in the country, but I wasn't expecting David Cameron to jump on the bandwagon. He made clear that the Tory right, which is putting pressure on him to campaign on more traditional Conservative themes, should take note of Obama's success. "I believe that elections are won in the common ground - the centre ground," ...
There's a fascinating interview over on the New Statesman site: In February 2011, Ai Weiwei tweeted that he would like to conduct an interview with an "online commentator". Commentators are hired by the Chinese government or the Communist Party of China to post comments favourable towards party policies and to shape public opinion on internet message boards and forums. The commentators are known as the 50-Cent Party, as they are said to be paid 50 cents for every post that steers a discussion away from anti-party content or that advances the Communist Party line... When and from where will you ...
Eric Pickles is a great populist and masterful at landing a political punch. During Monday's debate on the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, he was being pressed by Hilary Benn. Will he, Benn demanded, name a lagging planning authority that might be brought into special measures under the bill? "I am very happy to name the worst, which is Hackney," Pickles told MPs with evident glee. Poor Labour controlled Hackney, named and shamed as the worst planning authority in England. Except it isn't - by far. The furious mayor of Hackney demanded an apology. He got it, and yesterday Pickles published ...
Just about the only thing that's been said about the Police and Crime Commissioner election is how little people know about it. The poll takes place next Thursday and, here in Devon and Cornwall there are ten candidates standing. Of these, four represent political parties and six describe themselves as independents. Of course, I'm biased. I think that the Lib Dem candidate Brian Blake is the best qualified for the job. He's an ex copper and will bring a wealth of practical experience to the role. But people will want to make their own mind up, so how can they ...
Nick Clegg's performance at Prime Minister's Questions has been widely commented upon in today's press. If you want to see a blow by blow account of the event, then I have collected tweets here and the official Hansard report is here. For me, the absolute highlight of an excellent performance from Nick was how he dealt with a question by Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who asked a question about giving people who had been in care access to their files. Nick's reply was sensitive and genuine as he promised help for those who had been abused. I certainly think ...
The Prime Minister is an Old Etonian The new Archbishop of Canterbury is an Old Etonian The Mayor of London is an Old Etonian The second and third in line to the throne are Old Etonians. We don't appear to be living in much of a brave new world do we? Also Old Harrovians are looking a tad shoddy aren't they?
Thu 8th
09:23
Watch and laugh: Clarke and Dawe - The Surplus. Signed, sealed and should be there Tuesday.
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
I normally can't stand American current affairs news coverage, but the following clip I think is outstanding:
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Protecting workers' rights: Give your views on Osborne's shares for rights (tags: ) 'Doctor Who': Neil Gaiman's new episode to feature the Cybermen - Doctor Who News - Cult - Digital Spy (tags: ) France unveils same-sex marriage bill - PinkNews.co.uk (tags: ) Factcheck: Have apprenticeships been a Coalition success story? | Full Fact (tags: ) Lessons the Tories can learn for 2015 from Obama's victory (tags: ) Todd Akin Election Results: Claire McCaskill Defeats GOP Challenger Read his speech. The man lost justly. (tags: ) Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock fall to Senate defeats | World news | guardian.co.uk ...
A skim-read of Wednesday morning's headlines might have left folk confused as to who had been declared the victor of the US presidential election: Barack Obama or Nate Silver. For those who don't know Nate Silver, he's the analytical guru behind the FiveThirtyEight blog (named after the number of electoral college votes), now housed at the New York Times, which scrutinises and filters opinion polls. He first rose to prominence four years ago after predicting the winner in 49 of the 50 US states during the Obama-McCain presidential contest, and re-inforced his reputation two years later by forecasting correctly all ...
Thu 8th
07:55
76% of Lib Dems reject elected police commissioners - but 73% want there to be Lib Dem candidates
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. Three-quarters of Lib Dem members oppose new PCC posts LDV asked: Elections will be held on 15 November to choose Police and Crime Commissioners who will replace police authorities currently in charge of 41 forces in England and Wales. Do you support or oppose the introduction of elected PCCs? 15% – I support elected Police and Crime Commissioners 76% – ...
Sorry about that: I reckon Romney has already won this election. The leftard misery this engenders will be like eating foie gras to the sound of trumpets. — James Delingpole (@JamesDelingpole) October 16, 2012
Yesterday, I participated in a meeting with the Western Cemetery Association and the City Council's Environment Department to finalise the project to create a new cremated remains section in Western Cemetery - see right. There was agreement on the way forward and costings will be progressed prior to Christmas to enable the new remains section to become reality in the near future. Last night, I attended the latest meeting of Community Spirit Action Group, the community group for the "north" part of West End Ward, covering Pentland, Tullideph, Ancrum and the Cleghorn area. There was an excellent presentation by City ...
