For the last few days a petition has been circulating on Twitter about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality law. I've been telling people not to sign it when I see them tweet about it, because Ugandan LGBT groups have been saying, consistently, that Western interference has been damaging to them. This morning I tweeted Neil Gaiman saying ...
As the Ripon & District Light Railway was never built, I had to get the bus out to Fountains Abbey on my second day in the city. To my surprise, I was the only passenger both on the journey out and the journey back. There is far more to see than just the Abbey at Fountains Abbey. This is Fountains Hall, built in the early 17th century with stone from the Abbey and at first in the hands of Stephen Proctor. A Protestant and one of the new men who prospered in Henry VIII's reign, he was unpopular with his ...
I've just stumbled across a video of the Hackney Liberal Democrat debate on Black History Month recorded last month. You can watch it below. With fellow guests: Pauline Pearce (event organiser), Chris Richards, Anuja Prashar ...
On Tuesday Shirley Williams asked a question in the Lords about the value of offshore accounts held by British citizens in the Channel Islands and the steps that are being taken to investigate them: Jersey is one of the most secretive tax havens in the world. In a tax haven, neither corporate profits nor other profits of a corporate nature are taxed, nor are capital gains. Will he say whether there is any way in which those large, wealthy corporations which make their profits out of the UK consumer in this country can be persuaded or cajoled by HMRC into ...
You are no doubt wondering how we are getting on after this weeks floods. I took this photograph on the way to work this morning here in Market Harborough - well, Little Bowden actually. As you can see, the road was under water. But even though the mighty River Jordan runs beside the fence you can see, I think that was down to the inadequacy of the drains rather than anything else.
Congratulations to Fiona Ferguson who was this evening voted in as the new leader of the Conservative group on Cornwall Council. Fiona becomes the fourth leader of Cornwall Conservatives in just over a month. Alec Robertson resigned... Armand Toms was picked to be the Tory nominee for the council leadership but withdrew... Jim Currie was voted in ac council, but not group leader... and now Fiona. Rumour has it that if Fiona resigns they are lining up Rafa Benitez next Tweet
Men are supposed to approach tasks single-mindedly, bludgeoning them until they die (the task or the man) while women keep several balls (of the shiny, coloured sort) in the air at the same time and multi-task. Actually, I like multi-tasking. I even read two or three books at the same time (not at precisely the same time, but almost: on a train journey or in a waiting-room I'll read two or three pages of book A and then switch to book B). I was doing this on a train yesterday. The two books were Margaret Attwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and ...
Ladies and Gentlekats, it fill me with great pleasures to introduce the Meerkat Band! After many days of practice we make musical debut as we perform theme tune from telebox show known as 'The Corrie Street':
Here's one half of the Rubber Bishops paying homage...
I just happen to be reading through, at my normal snail's pace, St Paul's letter to the Ephesians. An argument in the women bishops' debate is that St Paul said that women should submit to their husbands. By a funny accident of coinky-dinky, I have, this week, been at the place in his letter where St Paul addresses that very issue. (He also says that husbands should be caring, loving and dutiful towards their wives.) But I have now got to the bit just after the 'women submit' bit. In the very next chapter, St Paul tells slaves how to ...
Sandy doesn't exist !
For once David Cameron has done the roughly right thing in restricting the energy companies to only four tariffs although I would have liked to see even fewer. For years the received wisdom has been that competition – not just in energy, but generally – is a Good Thing; any evidence of that a market ...
Don Foster, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath has welcomed the news that 73,993 homes in Bath and North East Somerset will have their weekly waste and recycling services safeguarded thanks to a new scheme from the Coalition Government. One of 85 Councils to benefit from the Weekly Collection Support Scheme, Bath and North East Somerset Council will receive £2,185, 082 to support weekly waste
Fri 23rd
17:59
My "Three Strikes and You're Out" Policy for emails from Liberal Democrat Party Luminaries
If I get an email from a top table person in the Lib Dems it normally falls into one of two categories. EitherIt's in reply to something I have sent, or it's to an email list I have consciously signed up for, in which case I will read it; orIt's from some party bigwigIf it falls into category two, it is subject to the Three Strikes And You're Out rule. This means that each sender has just three chances to persuade me their emails are worth reading. If, for any reason, an email from a sender pisses me off, they ...
Just two this week: 122034: Listed Building application for change of use etc, North Hill 121742: Change of use from office to residential, Manor 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 a comment or ...
After last week's splurge of local government gains, this week saw another pair of gains, this time in Kent. Tim Prater reports; "Lynne Beaumont was the Councillor for Park ward from 2003-11. the by-elections were held after a Conservative Councillor for Park ward resigned his seats (having not attended a Folkestone Town Council meeting for six months). "The Conservative Shepway District Council have made a number of hugely controversial decisions lately, not least consulting on whether to host the UK high level nuclear waste storage facility (not unsurprisingly, the consultation said no) and introducing on-street parking charges in Folkestone that ...
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 Ed Balls: My starting point is we are going to have keep all the cuts (32 comments) by Mark Pack My 'Super Thursday' Lib Dem post mortem (61 comments) by Stephen Tall The other local elections: Lib Dems gain five and hold three (28 comments) by Helen Duffett PCC elections & Corby by-election results open thread... (51 comments) by The Voice Teather: "Benefit cap is immoral and divisive" (74 comments) by Stephen Tall 5 sample LDV Members' ...
Sorry for the title of initials, but that seems to be the trendy way of communicating these days: these do have the advantage of a little rhyme. The appointment of Lord (Tony) Hall as the replacement Director General for the BBC was swift and appears to be popular and appropriate. I am, however, alarmed to see that, not only is he to be paid the full whack annual salary of £450 000, which we knew about because that was the pay-off for the last one, but in addition her is to continue to receive a pension of £80 000 a ...
Danny Boyle's fantastic opening ceremony for the Olympics highlighted that Great Britain has a great heritage and we can really put on a show - given the right investment! The 'Big Society' fails to provide a suitable framework to rebuild and refocus our future, to re-launch UK plc on the global stage. In short, how are we going to make Britain 'Great' again? We have the opportunity to build the world centre of excellence around a major 'Creative Business' initiative in which we must invest significantly to reshape, our home market, but also re-create a world-leading export-led economy. 1. Creativity ...
Fri 23rd
16:04
Peterborough has 6th highest fertility rate in England and Wales! #MustBeSomethinginTheWater?
According to a City Council report: "Peterborough was recorded in 2011 as having the 6th highest fertility rates (live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44) in England and Wales. Its rate of 86.8 per 1000 places it above the England average of 65.7 and was only exceed by Barking and Dagenham, Slough UA, Waltham Forest, Brent, Newham." (Source 5.7 Page 10) Commenting, local LIB DEM ward Councillor for South Werrington and North Gunthorpe, Darren Fower said: "One question that remains unanswered is why our city has a birth rate over 20% higher than the national average? Obviously some on the ...
Fri 23rd
15:59
A little bit about my job. A whole lot more about the importance of evidence-based policy and RCTs.
A rare work-focused post follows... It's been almost a year since I started a new job, working at the Education Endowment Foundation. It's a new grant-making charity, a rare combination of a start-up with money (you can normally be one or the other). The fact that we have a grant of £125m from the Department for Education has enabled us to get on with things in double-quick time. Every project that's funded has a sound evidential basis in educational research. More importantly, the EEF's funding has an explicit aim of testing the projects: every single one will be independently evaluated, ...
Last night, after my ward surgery at Blackness Primary School, I took part in the latest meeting of the West End Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP), which allows local councillors, council officers across various departments, police, fire & rescue, NHS and local community organisations to get together to discuss West End issues. On this occasion, the City Council Chief Executive attended part of the meeting, which was a welcome development. We were given an update about progress with the proposed new Dundee Local Development Plan from a senior officer from the council's City Development Department. I again highlighted the issues ...
Earlier this month I blogged about the need to legalise cannabis, and was delighted to expand on the subject at a Vox Africa debate with Dr Ben Whalley, a senior pharmacology lecturer at Reading University, Peter ...
Older readers will understand. Younger readers should google. An allotment holder at Blackhill alerted me to this landfall on the Dixon Street playing fields, and council workmen arrived very promptly to fence it off. Just to be clear, there was not a bowler hat in sight, but those who like a little nostalgia should click here.
It would be fair to say that Nigel Farage and the leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, former Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, are unlikely to be close friends. It's rather less likely after this intervention on Wednesday. Sit back and enjoy...
Ed Davey and the Liberal Democrats in government have secured a good deal for households who are worried about rocketing energy bills. We have secured a good deal for investors who now have the certainty they need to create thousands of ... Continue reading →
In another mis-guided penny-pinching move, Cornwall Council is trying to save money in the Registration Service. One of the proposals they want to implement is to conduct marriages and civil partnership ceremonies in busy council offices. So when the bride walks up the aisle (carefully avoiding the photocopier), she may struggle to make herself heard above the noise of ringing phones and Jim from Accounts going through the latest spreadsheets. It's hardly the special day that everybody wants when they get married. I've heard of office romances, but this is ridiculous. These proposals won't apply to all weddings and civil ...
There is a saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I suppose in my case at primary school it made me faster, that was my way to avoid the bullies that came after me every break time. If I could manage to avoid them for the 15 minutes I would avoid getting hit. Lunch time was somewhat easier as we tended to play football and the guys on my team didn't like it too much if one of their fastest players was distracted by two numpties chasing him down. Because I was bullied at school I ran, I ...
The launch of the Silk Commission's first report this week is a real win for liberalism. The report looks at the financial powers that the National Assembly for Wales should have, how accountable it is for its spending and how we ensure effective economic policy is rewarded. I welcome the report's declaration that a number of taxes, such as air passenger duty and landfill tax, should be devolved. But more significantly, the report also recommends that by 2020, the Welsh and UK governments should share responsibility for income tax paid in Wales – and that the Welsh government should have ...
Commenting on the closure of Westminster Lodge Swimming Pools, Cllr Anthony Rowlands, Lib Dem Leisure Spokesperson said: 'It is embarrassing and worrying that it has been necessary to close the pool facilities less than a fortnight after they were opened. Residents contacted me immediately with their concerns. Officers tell me that there were safety concerns as the floor areas around the pools had become slippery. Whilst it is clearly correct to close the facility until the problem is solved, this episode raises all sorts of questions about why such an obvious and fundamental matter had not been dealt with before ...
Millions of Americans are getting over their Thanksgiving feasts right now, from turkey legs to mashed potatoes (Roast Potatoes not so popular!), many gathered round their dining tables yesterday to commemorate the harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621 at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts following a good harvest. Its the moment of the year when families can recognise their national history, and many do, but also an opportunity to return home to their parents. America is the home of immigrants and many people's work practices take them away from their childhood homes. Equally, its one of the few holidays ...
David Cameron reputedly vowed that prisoners "will be allowed to vote over my dead body". Don't give us any ideas Dave... We know that the current blanket ban has been judged unlawful by The European Court of Human Rights, and we presumably don't want to break the law. I mean, that could land us all in the collective slammer, without the right to vote. Not a clever idea, given that the current UK voter turnout is already among the lowest in Western Europe. So what would Borgen do? Well, nothing actually, as Danish prisoners have enjoyed the unfettered right to ...
"We have some explaining to do," said Rowan Williams, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, after the General Synod of the Church of England failed to endorse the ordination of women by the requisite majority. That is certainly true. Many English citizens, practising Christians and not, and in total despair about whole purpose and meaning of the church. One thing struck me immediately about Dr Williams's televised statement. After saying the Church had some explaining to do, he went on to point out the reasons why he thought women should be admitted as bishops. They were all pragmatic, having to do ...
I was chatting with a friend who expressed what I'm finding is a fairly common opinion. Well, yes, I'd love to move to Android - but all my content is in iTunes. I discovered that it wasn't apps which were the problem - buying them again is a pain, but most are free. It's media content which traps people into staying with services that they no longer want. Music, movies, TV, and podcast subscriptions. All tied up in Apple's little ecosystem. A very pretty noose to keep people chained to its hardware. Imagine, just for a moment, that your Sony ...
Apparently George Osborne and the tories want to freeze unemployment and other benefits in the spring, which, after inflation, is effectively a cut. Their argument for this is that welfare is a huge part of government expenditure and needs cutting in order to close the deficit. But the problem with this is that even if you froze every working age benefit, including ones like disability benefits, which Osborne apparently doesn't want to freeze, you would only save at most £2 billion a year - and probably a lot less than that due to the impact of the cuts increasing the ...
Enough is enough. In the face of soaring national debt, the Liberal Democrat leader has this week called for the Central Bank to be made less independent to pave the way for more aggressive and unlimited monetary easing, a dramatic relaxation of the inflation target accompanied by a major public works programme and a supplementary budget. Great news! The tragedy is that the Liberal Democrat leader in question is not Nick Clegg speaking on the eve of the Autumn Spending statement, but Shinzo Abe, Leader of the Japanese Liberal Democrats, launching his general election campaign which he is tipped to ...
This week I took part in the Hansard Society's Digital Wave event, a day-long conference as part of Parliament Week which mixed research findings from academics with reports from the 2012 US elections and the views of online campaigners. Here are some of the highlights of the day. RT @MartaCuanti You can find and download the academic papers on the CODE project website, here: http://tinyurl.com/8mrdgg7 #digitalwave — Alastair Lichten (@AlastairLichten) a day ago "Obama is to the internet what JFK was to telly" #digitalwave — The Dragon Fairy (@Puffles2010) a day ago Turnout down by 7% in US 2012 election ...
Yesterday's Guardian had a very interesting interview with Arnie Graf, a veteran community organiser from Chicago who Ed Miliband brought in to advise on how to change the way the Labour Party works to make it more effective. Graf produced a report with various recommendations on how to improve the way the party works, but his recommendations appear to have stalled somewhere in the party machinery – which is perhaps not surprising, given how critical he is of it. This perspective on it from Mark Ferguson at Labour List is an introduction to the way some Labour people see it. ...
There were reports in the papers yesterday that provided a useful contrast. The first showed that our Corporation Tax intake was down and the second showed why. It showed how companies like Starbucks, Google and Amazon were avoiding paying Corporation ... Continue reading →
Here's a sneak preview of my latest email due to go out to local constituents on my email list: Winter is coming and inevitably, it's getting colder and colder. At this time of year, a warm home is vital, particularly for families, the elderly and vulnerable people. But it isn't always easy - Energy companies have been hiking up prices and have made it difficult for many people to keep their homes warm. That's why my Lib Dem colleague Ed Davey - the Energy Secretary - has developed numerous Government grants and discount schemes to help people with the cost ...
(This essay is very, very rough, but I wanted to get it up today. I'll no doubt have more to say on this over the next few days, especially in the post on Logopolis I'll be putting up on Mindless Ones). One thing that a few people have said about some of my Doctor Who ...
Cambridgeshire County Council is the council responsible for parking management, and they manage the budgets and the authority for parking restrictions, residents' parking schemes, and meters. So it is the Highways people at Shire Hall to whom we turn when we need help to sort out parking problems, not the Guildhall. In response to local demand and campaigning, the County are at last about to advertise parking restrictions, or extensions of existing restrictions in a number of streets in Queen Edith's: Almoners Avenue Almoners Avenue restrictions SAO Baldock Way Baldock Way restrictions SAO Godwin Close & Way Godwin Way Godwin ...
There are two meetings at Blyth Town Council next week. The Events Committee meets on Tuesday 27th, at 6:30 pm, at Ebor House The Planning & Development Committee meets on Thursday 29th at Ebor House
Top marks Haringey Liberal Democrats for taking up my idea on this (properly formatted version here). Simple, practical and providing people with useful information: Dear Mark Having a minister in the form of Lynne Featherstone means we get to hear more about what goes on in government than many people! I also know how many people are after more – both to hear the good news about what we're achieving and also more of the explanations behind the worrying sounding headlines. So I wanted to let you know that Nick Clegg has started up a new weekly email. You may ...
In the by-election held on 22nd November for Folkestone Park ward for Folkestone Town Council, Lynne Beaumont gained the seat from the Conservatives with a 143 vote majority, with the Conservatives slipping into third place. The result was: Lib Dem (Lynne Beaumont): 420 UKIP: 152 People First: 277 Conservative: 263 Labour: 117 Green: 35 Rejected (voting for more than one candidate): 4 Rejected: (unmarked or uncertain): 2 Turnout 25.64% Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY
In the by-election held on 22nd November for Folkestone Park ward for Shepway District Council, Lynne Beaumont gained the seat from the Conservatives with a 141 vote majority. The result was: Lib Dem (Lynne Beaumont): 461 UKIP: 153 People First: 200 Conservative: 320 Labour: 111 Green: 29 Rejected (voting for more than one candidate): 4 Rejected: (unmarked or uncertain): 2 Turnout 25.84% Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY
Last night I went along to a really great show which was all the better for me not knowing what to expect. The Company of Friends is a Liverpool based drama group made up of people with learning disabilties. The members have range of abilities and are all adults. They were putting on a performance of Grease at the Black-E. What a great night! I have never seen so much enegy and enthusiasm in a production. And actually real joy as well. Apparently it's not really possible to learn lines so the scenes have to be ad libbed with a ...
Last night a tree from JAGS playing field was blown over and has landed onto Green Dale. I've reported it and a council employed tree team will visit ASAP. What's particularly worrying is that some pedestrians are walking under the fence end where a gap is present – so I've asked the council treat the matter with urgency. It should be fully removed today.
Equality Impact Assessment on decision to drop compulsory Equality Impact Assessments - a Freedom of Information request to Home Office - WhatDoTheyKnow (tags: ) Terry Pratchett: Sex, death and nature Full version of this interview now available on the Staggers. (tags: ) Errata Security: You are committing a crime right now (tags: ) Justin Bieber Grabbed And Kissed By Jenny McCarthy — The Good Men Project Sexual assault is sexual assault whoever the victim. (tags: ) Scenes From A Multiverse - The One True Faith (tags: ) Mark Wadsworth: Killer Arguments Against LVT, Not (254 thru' 281) (tags: ) Discussing ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
Last year, the amazing Burd led a project which raised over £3300 to buy books for kids who otherwise wouldn't have them at Christmas. And she's back this year. I'm sure she won't mind me copying her words shamelessly: Last year, together, we bought books for Christmas for 380 vulnerable children and young people in Scotland. We did this because you helped me raise over £3,300. All of that is worthy of a very big wow. And a huge thank you.So this year, I thought we'd try to do it all again.Because sadly, there are still children growing up in ...
On November 5, thirty-one Bahrainis were deprived of their citizenship arbitrarily, without notice and without judicial process, contrary to customary international law. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to a nationality and no-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality. The victims can appeal these decision, but there is no point. The king has absolute power to grant or rescind citizenship, and the courts wouldn't dream of overturning his decisions. No wonder that hundreds of Bahrainis demonstrate against the government every day. Even after a total ban on meetings they continue ...
It's your bright-eyed and furry-tailed day editor here, with a preview of what's coming up today here at Liberal Democrat Voice. Admittedly, I'm quite possibly not awake – the advantage of pre-scheduling, I guess. It's an international sort of a day, with the noble Lord Avebury writing on the latest outrages against human rights in Bahrain, Bill le Breton drawing an analogy with events in Japan, and Kirsten de Keyser suggesting that what Denmark can do, perhaps we ought to. I've even posted a video nasty from Strasbourg... well, nasty if you're Nigel Farage anyway. It isn't just the far ...
With a one-mile run on the treadmill at the gym at 10pm, day one is complete. Happy Thanksgiving!!
From Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services and Cathy Caudwell, Zoology Curator, at the University of Dundee : A forthcoming special event at the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum in the Carnelley Building, University of Dundee will celebrate the recent centenary of the birth of mathematical genius Alan Turing. Prof Mark Chaplain (Head of Mathematics at the University) will give a talk entitled 'Alan Turing: much more than an Enigma' in the museum on Tuesday 27th November at 5.30pm. Turing is perhaps best known for his work during World War II at Bletchley Park, where he helped break the "Enigma" code ...
So a very happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it. To those who don't, then I'm generally thankful for anyone who has room for me in their life all the time, and that doesn't change. This is my fifth Thanksgiving, and I spent it today with my wonderful roommates and the family of one of them. I'm a fan of this holiday, though I prefer the summer one of daylight and steady snacking and late night fireworks, but this one is good too. I have always been a fan of creative, social or special cooking. Daily do-this-to-eat maintenance ...
Rochdale's abrasive Labour MP, Simon Danczuk has been pursuing allegations of child abuse by former Rochdale Liberal MP Cyril Smith. Most recently at Wednesday's Prime Minister's questions. These allegations (or at least some of them) are not new - Smith was investigated by the police in the early 70s (unlike Jimmy Savile) and the allegations were dismissed. Now I'm not defending Smith if there is new evidence or the old police investigation turns out to be flawed and I hope anyone who does have information indicting Smith makes it available to the police. But at the moment these allegations seem ...
