Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. 1. Milan Radulovic Cllr Radulovic, the Labour leader of Broxtowe Borough Council, was cleared this week of allegations of fraud which he has been facing. The DSS, who brought the prosecution, accepted that they had made a mistake and they offered no evidence against him. Cllr Radulovic had stood aside whilst the case was going on but is now free ...

Posted by David Watts on Cllr David Watts

My post on Logopolis is a bit different from my other Doctor Who posts... Tagged: me elsewhere

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

It's not every day I say this. But, this week, I am very proud of my party. Or - to be more precise - I am very proud of a large number of our peers, and our leader Nick Clegg. It's not every day that I wax lyrical about members of our unelected second chamber, and certainly not a frequent occurrence for me to shower our leader with praise (although there have been moments when I have, and when such praise has been fully merited). But this week has demonstrated a number of things: what we can achieve in government, ...

Posted by Andrew on A Scottish Liberal
Sat 24th
21:59

E-Cops - Watch Scam

There is an organised group of males committing fraud across Cambridgeshire and beyond. They are selling cheap items such as watches, jewellery and leather jackets at grossly inflated prices to vulnerable, often elderly members of the public. Their M.O. is to engage members of the public in conversation, usually by asking for directions (often but not exclusively to Newcastle, London or Stansted), then pleading for help by saying they need money for petrol. The victim is then offered items to buy, so the situation appears to be a "win-win". The males will sometimes embellish the story by firstly asking for ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

In last week's Spectator Lloyd Evans reviewed Simon Hoggart's House of Fun: 20 Glorious Years in Parliament. He began by saying "Simon Hoggart has spent 20 years going to Westminster to annoy people." But that is surely an underestimate. Hoggart was writing a Westminster gossip column for Punch when I was still at school. Still, Evans finished his review by offering, via Hoggart, a telling vignette of our prime minister: There's a fascinating snapshot of the 38-year-old David Cameron during the 2005 election campaign. The young MP for Witney had been sent on a day-trip to Dartmoor to support Stanley ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I had the pleasure this evening of opening the Stockport Designer Craft Show at the Art Gallery. The show, which runs to 27th January 2013 gives you the opportunity to see – and buy – top quality craft from professionals across the country – some with years of experience, others starting out on their careers. Art Gallery location and opening times. Stockport Designer Craft Show blog.

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King

So the Daily Fail (apologies for this link) are naming 118 Tory MPs who are liable to vote against marriage equality, in the biggest sign of just how much the Conservative party haven't changed on LGBT issues since the last time Westminster voted on any. So I shall fisk in red each of the statements from those quoted: "I Marvel at why we're bringing this forward. There is no clamour for this at all within the gay community." Conor Burns - Bournemouth West I've already dealt with the Belfast born, gay, MP's comments earlier (see here) "I believe marriage is ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

Message from district council We are now consulting on our revised Pavement Licensing Policy for licensing areas outside a premises as an outside seating area. This consultation starts on 23rd November and lasts for 12 weeks, ending on 15th February 2013. Full details of the consultation and the draft policy can be found on the main consultation page; please see the link here. This page explains how to access the draft revised policy and how to comment on the proposed changes.

Posted by chriswhite on Chris White
Sat 24th
17:14

Saturday Six 15

It's a grey, drab, dreich Saturday afternoon here in Bristol and I'm sat in my reading room listening to Kylie Minogue's The Abbey Road Sessions* with a cup of tea and my book awaiting. So, let's crack on: Choosing to be gay is all about embracing hardships - so why should we introduce Equal Civil Partnerships? Andy West reports... Of course any discrimination and prejudice directed at gay people is magnified many times for Transgendered people - as this press release on the publication of the European Commission's "Eurobarometer" report on discrimination makes clear. The Justice and Security Bill has ...

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world

The cloven hoof as popped out again on the Guido Fawkes blog today as readers of the political gossip site posted a series of appalling comments underneath a story about Respect candidate Lee Jasper's chances ...

Posted by Lester Holloway on
YouGov

We're all waiting for the report of Edwin Simpson, the barrister reviewing the Village Green Application for Belle Vue, and there's no date fixed by which he will come back with his new findings following the High Court judgement. In the meantime I thought readers might like to see what would be left open to the general public at Belle Vue if the council's current plans go ahead. It was one of the more extraordinary claims made by a council officer at a recent meeting that there would be "more open space" at Belle Vue if the Sports Centre and ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple

In the middle Saturday of West End Christmas Fortnight, it was great to see lots of activities across the West End, including: * The West End Christmas Fortnight Primary 5's football competition. It was a great event with 5 teams participating from three of our local primary schools - Ancrum Road, Blackness and St Joseph's. Here's some photographs and a video from the tournament that was kindly sponsored by Good Health and Fitness and run by Riverside Community Sports Club: And the winners are St Joseph's Primary School who won the final against Blackness Primary School. Here's the winning team, ...

Sat 24th
15:31

Six of the Best 298

Liberal Democrats against Secret Courts welcomes today's editorial in The Times. The paper concludes: "Openness is often difficult for public authorities and some of the issues they are confronting are difficult too. But the principle that justice must be done in the open is a fundamental one and, if the events of the week have shown anything, they have demonstrated that the Government is wrong to proceed with its Bill." Lord Freud is "ignorant of basic economics and psychology," argues Stumbling and Mumbling. "There is a sort of sleaze triangle of academia at work here, with for-profit ghostwriting companies, for-profit ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Just two things from me: 1) Anyone trying to forecast how the Lib Dems will do in 2015 based on extrapolating mid-term opinion polls on the basis of uniform national swing is likely to be as wrong as they would have been at every general election in modern history. 2) My confident forecast for 2015 is the Lib Dems will a) do less well than I'd like and b) do better than our fiercest critics would like. But enough from me. I'm just telling you what you'd expect me to tell you. Over to these guys instead... The Lib Dems' ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Saturday (flashback): It's possible that I may have been unkind to Mr Chris Chibnall, back at the start of season two of "Torchwood", when I suggested in my review that Russell Davies had written "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" for him. It becomes clear from "The Power of Three" that he can at least write a very good pastiche of RTD. All the tropes are here: the emphasis on character; the way they stand around and emote heavily at each other to tell us how very special they are; the kisses to the fans; the adoration of the Third Doctor/UNIT era; ...

The Southfield ward forum is a chance for residents to ask their three local councillors questions and a meeting where Council officers and the local police team discuss local issues. The Forum also has an annual budget of around £40,000 and funds local projects that improve the area like adding new lighting, improving plagrounds and parks as well as installing cycling facilities to encourage more people to cycle. Scout Hut, Rugby Road The meeting takes place at the Scout Hut, Rugby Road, Chiswick. W4 1AT, this Thursday (29th November) from 7.30pm. The venue will be open from 7.15pm so please ...

Posted by Gary Malcolm on Councillor Gary Malcolm

I've updated the spreadsheet after last night's show, and it can be downloaded here. After a couple of weeks of all-male lineups, there was actually a female guest last night, so the figures are now that 23.23% of guests have been women, and 22.91% of guest hosts have been. UPDATE: Sorry, got the link wrong initially, but have fixed it now.

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

I have a great deal of respect for the libertarian position on marriage, a position Steve Baker MP has written about before. Indeed, I was only writing last post about my own dilemma in both supporting equal marriage and wanting Government out of the whole business. So take it as read that I hold no animosity towards those who stand back from the marriage equality debate for some related ideological consideration (be they anti-marriage queer radicals, or purist right-wing libertarians). I even have respect for those who oppose equal marriage because it goes against their personal beliefs. Do not think ...

Posted on Neue Politik

The London Evening Standard carries a feature interview with Nick Clegg, focusing on his and Miriam's home life and its influence on his political views — here's some excerpts: His startling lack of machismo is mirrored in his policies: he wants more time for dads at home, more time for women to chase high-flying careers. From 2015, parents can share up to one year of "parental leave" after the birth of a child. They can take time off together, take it in turns, or the father can take it all. Clegg's commitment to equality in the workplace is strident: "We ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

Twitter makes a lot of money out of me. At least, I assume so. The code I helped write, and the sites I run, are used by millions of Tiwtter's users. I've sent a tonne of traffic their way, and what has Twitter given me? Not even a "thank you." Seriously, no one from Twitter has ever said "Thanks for all the customers. Thanks for helping develop our presence in certain markets. Thanks writing tools that keep our users playing on our service. Thanks!" Compare and contrast to App.net. The owners of that service have just written me a cheque ...

Posted by Terence Eden on Terence Eden has a Blog
eUKhost

In Northern Ireland should a councillor (or for that matter a MLA) die or resign his seat there is no by election but a co-option by the party that held the seat. That change for Councillors came about in 2010. So it was that in March this year Adam Harbinson, who had failed to get elected in May 2011 for Ballyholme and Groomsport was selected to replace the late Tony Hill in Bangor West. Hill had been the Alliance Councillor for 11 years since 2001, Harbinson hadn't even managed 8 months before this morning announcing he was resigning from the ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

Here's today's brilliant and inspiring Times leading article. There are many reasons why a policy, conceived with good intentions, might fall. It could prove to be too complex to administer. The cure might turn out to be, unexpectedly, as bad as the disease. Or its rationale could crumble in the light of events. This week, this last fate befell the Government's Justice and Security Bill. The Bill, which has already been mangled by defeats in the Lords, contains provisions to expand what, in the jargon, are known as "closed material proceedings", known to the uninitiated as secret courts. The Government ...

The Guardian reports today that dozens of new life peers are to be appointed to the House of Lords: Political parties are preparing to draw up lists for dozens of new appointments to the House of Lords in a move that will reignite controversy over creating peers just months after the collapse of legislation to dramatically reduce the second chamber. The move, which is expected to create at least 80 new life peers with allegiance to political parties - most of them Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour - is an embarrassment to all three party leaders, who had pledged in ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Another week, another email from Nick Clegg. Last week, having received the third email in this series once again on a Sunday, I asked: Sunday. Really? The timing of these emails doesn't fit what I know about the email reading habits of Liberal Democrat members, which would suggest this is far from the best time to send these emails and means their actual readership is being cut by around a third. However... I'm not privy to the stats for these emails, so perhaps I'm wrong. Astute and punctual readers will note that today is Saturday. (Details of how to sign ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

So reads the headline on a press release from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills: [IMG: Vince Cable] The need for a fundamental change in the culture of investment was endorsed by Business Secretary Vince Cable today in his response to Professor John Kay's independent Review of UK Equity Markets. Dr Cable set out his support for Professor Kay's 10 Principles for Equity Markets, which focus on reversing the culture of short-termism and restoring relationships of trust and confidence in the investment chain. The Government also committed to exploring whether changes in law or regulation are needed to deliver ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

British Youth Parliament votes against campaigning for same-sex marriage - PinkNews.co.uk (tags: ) Nick Clegg: I'm the daddy Holy crap a positive article about Clegg in the mainstream press! THE SKY IS FALLING!! (tags: ) BBC News - South Pacific Sandy Island 'proven not to exist' Cthulhu displeased that his sleep on R'lyeh disturbed by google maps... (tags: ) Call that a ball? Dogs learn to associate words with objects differently than humans do (tags: ) The online highway code: three simple rules to solve the internet | Charlie Brooker | Comment is free | The Guardian (tags: ) Already ...

"More or less" is a programme which more than adequately answers the question: "What is Radio Four for?". It investigates numbers in the news, giving a very refreshing evidence-based angle to media hysteria. You can listen to this week's episode here. One of the items (starting at 14 minutes in) they looked at was the Daily Telegraph headline: Just 100 cod left in North Sea You can still read the story online here but there is a clarifying statement underneath it now. This Telegraph story emanated from the Sunday Times (now clarified) claim that there were 100 adult cod left ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

Great profile of Nick Clegg in the Evening Standard yesterday: "I'm chuffed to bits to finally get this through," Nick Clegg says of his radical reform of paternity leave. "It's something I've been campaigning for all my political life." The Deputy Prime Minister, 45, is sitting on a large cream sofa in the Cabinet Office, looking triumphant. He is holding a cup of tea and wearing a tie the colour of buttercups. A tie? A standard piece of clothing you might think... save that there's no tie in the photo (the print edition holds the answer to that one). On ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

It's Saturday morning, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices... The lottery of life: Where to be born in 2013 – The Economist's annual list of the top quality-of-life countries: 'Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too.' Britain comes 27th. (The Telegraph has a picture-only version here.) The burdens that Israel should not have to bear – Brendan O'Neill calls on the rest of us to leave the Middle East alone and quit projecting: ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

I thought I would make it clear. Because at last night's West Berkshire Lib Dems dinner for Vince Cable it clearly said "Dress: business casual" on the invite. As I wear business casual everyday of the working year, I knew what that meant. So I wore it. Alone. Everyone else was in business informal – i.e gentlemen with jackets and ties. Ho-hum. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

Dundee Independent Advocacy Support (DIAS) is providing a new service for older people in Dundee that was launched in August of this year, through funding we received from the Scottish Government's 'Reshaping Care for Older People - Change Fund'. This provision is a telephone information line called DIAL-OP (Dundee Information and Advocacy Line for Older People). The information line - which is supported by local volunteers - is a fantastic resource for older people, and carers of older people in Dundee, the main strategy being to help signpost callers to agencies and organisations that can help provide them with more ...

Yesterday's Telegraph contains one of the more bizarre political stories I have seen for a some time. The paper says that Rhondda MP, Chris Bryant, the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Russia and a frequent critic of Vladimir Putin's regime, has accused the Russian Embassy in London of initiating a critical online post which featured a picture of him in his underpants. He believes that the Embassy was determined to remove him as chair of the group and had consequently masterminded the article by the Conservative Friends of Russia, which criticised his chairmanship and said the group ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

So I don't know if you've noticed, but after two years of almost complete blogging silence brought on by varying states of my brain, I have managed to go every day (so far) in the month of November with a blog post everyday. It's kind of a Project: Unfuck My Funk which I hope will get my brain active again. Combine this with now 18,000 total words written for Yuletide – main assignment and prompts – and I think I've done pretty well at getting words onto screen, really. Today has been spent hanging with the roommates in various states ...

Posted by Debi on Thagomizer.net

Don Foster has long been one of the most entertaining Liberal Democrat public speakers and since becoming a government Minister he has not lost his touch. Last evening he addressed the AGM of Kingston Liberal Democrats at Kingston Rugby Club, only occasionally letting his eye wander to the screen at the end of the room that ...

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Doctor Who was first broadcast forty-nine years ago yesterday. We've been celebrating. And that means that this is the first minute of the greatest series ever's fiftieth year. So, coming soon... On every Saturday until November 23rd, 2013, I'll be counting down through fifty great scenes from the show. One a week, starting in a couple of weeks. So how better to whet your appetite for a year of celebration than with a selection of the most fabulous Doctor Who trailers? From BBC1, from the DVDs and from the Internet, from William Hartnell to Matt Smith, here come the teasers... ...

Posted by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty