Three weeks ago I chose Sam Carter as my Sunday music video. So when I found out that he was playing in Market Harborough this evening I had to go along. I can confirm that he is a good singer, superb guitarist and an amiable personality. I chatted to him when buying a CD during the interval, and he was able to keep the audiences attention while retuning his guitar between songs - something some talented performers never master. The first half concentrated on his early songs and the second on his new CD The No Testament. For my money ...
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. 1. Tram Problems Unfortunately work on the trams is causing major problems in Beeston at the moment. The proposal originally was that for 18 months Chilwell Road would be a one way street, but now the construction team want to close the road completely for 12 months. Despite this the City Council are refusing to offer any extra compensation. The problem for traders would not be so bad if the County Council had not ...
Sat 1st
22:30
Mail on Sunday's smears and innuendo against Miriam and Nick: Lib Dem statement released
Well, there's a turn-up for the books — the Mail on Sunday in its first post-Leveson front page decides to play the man (and woman) rather than the ball, and splash on a desperately thin story implying some form of scandalous link between Miriam González Durántez's support for Booktrust and the charity being given a government grant. The paper's baseless accusations get short shrift from the Lib Dems in this statement issued by the party tonight: The decision to continue the funding for Booktrust was made by the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary because it is the only organisation ...
I'm sorry I have no posted for a couple of days but I have been rather busy preparing for the marriage of fellow bloggers Paul Burgin and my cousin Rachel Stalker. Therefore I will be probably be a little late in making this statement but I will make it anyway.Back in July 2011 David Cameron said:"The public want us to work together to sort this problem out, because until we do so it will not be possible to get back to the issues they care about even more"Failure to take on the key part of the report from the Inquiry ...
North East's Lib Dem Euro candidates selected The Liberal Democrats have selected their candidates to replace Fiona Hall MEP, who is standing down at the next European elections. Following a ballot of members across the region, Angelika Schneider, Owen Temple and Christian Vassie have today been announced as the team that will lead the fight to retain the seat in 2014. Commenting on the result, Fiona Hall MEP said: "I'm standing down safe in the knowledge that we have a great team of candidates, each with a proven track record of campaigning here in the North East and winning elections. ...
It's Saturday the First of December, so what does that mean? That all of us faithful followers are looking forward to the very special day when he first came to save us - he looks like a man, but he's a legend, and... And is that enough Advent blasphemy to make up for this morning? I'm counting down weekly to Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary, today with the definition of what gets you coming back next week: the cliffhanger. Before more of them enter my fifty great scenes across the year, here are eleven terrific scary moments to whet your appetite... ...
Sat 1st
18:40
Caught on camera: "Where in the hell did that come from?" - comment from Governor on climate change ...
Imagine. You are governor of one of the hottest places on the planet. Arizona. Hotter than hell. It is surely not unexpected for a reporter to ask you about climate change. – Not if you are Jan Brewer. Watch the video below for the remark at the end when she thinks the camera is not on. Via KTVK-TV and Political Wire. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
As we moved ever closer to the magical Christmas season, the Guardian brings us news that one of the mythical creatures of our legendary past may have actually existed. The paper reports that the Korean Central News Agency has broken the incredible news that archaeologists in Pyongyang have "recently reconfirmed" the discovery of the lair of one of the unicorns ridden by the ancient Korean King Tongmyong, founder of a kingdom which ruled parts of China and the Korean peninsula from the the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD. Rather conveniently, the news agency goes on to state that ...
This weekend, Launceston Foodbank are holding a collection at Tesco. They are after dried, canned and non-perishable goods to make up into food parcels to give to people who are facing a crisis. This afternoon I joined the volunteers for a couple of hours to hand out shopping lists and to collect donations. Many thanks to the hundreds of people who gave us items from our shopping lists. Every single can or packet will help an individual or family who are facing a really tough time. Tesco are donating a lot of staff time to help the effort and they ...
The days of the draft Data Communications Bill (aka internet snoopers' charter) may well be numbered if reports in the last few days are true that Nick Clegg is about to ditch the controversial plans. Here's the BBC's James Landale: Party sources say leader Nick Clegg is ready to use a parliamentary report, due out next week, to oppose the plans. The draft Communications Data Bill would allow police access to details of people's email and internet use, which many Lib Dems oppose. But Home Office sources insist the bill would become law by 2014. At the moment, the police ...
Several days now without ther road being flooded – at last the highways engineers are getting on top of the problem. The road was closed overnight Thursday for surveying and repair work. I have been advised by Hampshire Highways that crews worked until 5:00am Friday morning. They managed to clear the upstream section of pipe of roots and silt and complete the camera survey of the cleaned pipes. Unfortunately there was a lot of silt and tree roots in the pipe so they couldn't clear the downstream section to the River Anton but this is organised for Sunday evening. They ...
In case you've not heard the news, Sheffield Hallam student Richard O'Dwyer was facing extradition and imprisonment in the US for creating a website that allowed users to share files illegally. The debate at the time was whether his actions constituted a crime in the UK, as his website didn't actually host any illegal data. Regardless, Richard has reached a deal with the US in which they will formally drop the extradition request. Sheffield Hallam Uni Liberal Democrats were opposed to the extradition and petitioned on Richard's behalf, and we are delighted with this relatively happy ending to the sad ...
I recently blogged about HIV and AIDs here following my visit to the AIDs Consortium AGM. And of course – today is World AIDs Day. There is a message from Nick Clegg on the DFID website setting out some of our work on HIV and AIDs. And it was good to see David Cameron too raising the issue of the number of people in this country who are infected and don't even know. Whether here or in Africa – the crucial step is to get tested. The world has moved on so far, thank goodness, from those early terrifying days ...
[IMG: Why not try a Brussel Sprout scone?] That was the question at Mobile Maddisons Christmas stall, a stall where they told me the Bovril actually froze at last night's festivities! It's no wonder Santa had decided on a grotto built into an empty shop in the Derwents centre, and he certainly had plenty of happy, and slightly warmer takers. I know it was the real Santa, but I was slightly surprised when he told the children that I wasn't much of a photographer, but was a much better teacher. And finally, the answer to that burning issue of the ...
Now that Movember has ended I said I would update people before I shave off my moustache. I raised (including gift aid) £345 which was below what I had hoped but still a good sum for the charities that will benefit. I am still trying to get a few more late donations. Any kind takers can still donate. Mo: Now For those not aware of Movember check out their webiste. But today the levels of awareness, understanding and funding of male health issues, like prostate cancer, lag significantly behind causes such as breast cancer. Often men are reluctant to openly ...
Today's Leicester Mercury reports that the city's mayor Sir Peter Soulsby has spent £850,000 on a building he hopes to turn into a Richard III visitor centre. The good news is that the building in question is the old school that stands right next to the site. You can see it in a photograph in the post I wrote when this idea was first floated. The Mercury report is confused, talking about a building "a few hundred yards" from where the remains were found that " stands next door to Leicester Cathedral" - I suspect the journalist is thinking of ...
The English Party is today counting the ballot to select our candidates for the nine English Euro Regions for the 2014 Euro elections. The Scottish and Welsh Parties are running their selections separately, and their results will be announced separately. The results are listed below. The detailed STV results will be available later and we'll put the web link in when it is available. East of England 1. Andrew Duff 2. Josephine Hayes 3. Belinda Brooks-Gordon 4. Stephen Robinson 5. Michael Green 6. Linda Jack 7. Hugh Annand East Midlands 1. Bill Newton Dunn 2. Issan Ghazni 3. Phil Knowles ...
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 and
There have been many complaints about the works at Bear Flat, connecting Bloomfield Road and Wellsway. One issue has been the sight lines due to the old toilet block, something is going to be done. Ward: Lyncombe App Ref: 12/04990/REG03Registered: 22nd November 2012 Expiry Date: 17th January 2013Location: Former Public Toilets Bloomfield Road Bloomfield BathGrid Ref: (E)374589 - (N)163776 LB
So, what did we decide upon in Dublin? Here's a taster for you, and i'll try to publish some more as I have the opportunity... The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party convening in Dublin, Ireland on 8-10 November 2012 Whereas the cohesion and stability of the eurozone is an indispensable precondition for the economic recovery of Europe;the limitations of the current system of European Economic and Monetary Union are now self-evident;the efforts of the European Council and Member States to coordinate national economic policies have been insufficient to restore market confidence;the continuing economic problems put the ...
Andrew reflects on how his work and spirituality has been affected by the work of three great men whose lives were cut short by HIV and wonders what else they would have written if they were still alive.
Not sent on a Sunday. Includes a prompt to join the list. You'd have thought someone involved is reading my posts... So what would be my tip for next time? The linked to video is on The Guardian website, but is available to embed elsewhere, so I would have put it on a party website and then linked to it there. Why? Because that way you help build up the readership for your own site, rather than for someone else's. Moreover once people have come to a site and viewed the content they may look at other content on the ...
People say these things go quickly. But when I got back home, it felt so unfamiliar. Sure, I recognised everything in my head, but that's rather different to it feeling like it's home. The time may have flown to an extent yet somehow so much has passed. It's been great, though. The work has been
As reported in today's Courier, I have welcomed news that my complaint about pavement works disrupting shops in Perth Road (see right) in the run-up to Christmas has resulted in a compromise that will see disruption hopefully now kept to a minimum. I was very critical of a decision by Dundee City Council to allow a utility to dig up pavements outside shops in part of the Perth Road district shopping area, despite the council having an embargo on disruption to shopping areas in the run-up to Christmas. Shops in Perth Road east of Seafield Road would have had the ...
Dear Amber, I am shocked that you have not, to my knowledge, made any public comment following NHS Sussex's decision to accept the ESHT recommendations about the Shaping our Future consultation. My worry is that, as boringly predictable as it was, your bag-carrying responsibilities for George Osborne have led you to take your ...
On the final day of West End Christmas Fortnight, I had the pleasure this morning of attending the Blackness Primary School Christmas Fair this morning. As the photograph below shows, it was really well attended!
Last year (also during NaBloPoMo) I was enthusing about the literary card game Ex Libris. The only trouble with the game, in my opinion, are the limited numbers of cards available in the set. Much like Trivial Pursuit - once you've gone through them a few times the game is exhausted. I had planned on creating my own unofficial cards - but copyright law put the kibosh on that. Luckily, the good folk at Oxford Games have emailed me to say that there are new official cards available as an expansion pack! At only £5.50, Ex Libris - Addendum should ...
I've updated the gender balance spreadsheet again. The figures now are: 23.26% of guests overall and 23.81% of guests this series are women. 22.78% of guest hosts overall and 2 out of 7 this season are women. Last night's show was the second in a row to feature a female guest. Baroness Trumpington is the oldest guest the show has had, and (according to Wikipedia) also the oldest ever female minister. I thought it was quite a good edition last night. It was a bit slow to start, but Jack Whitehall found his feet as host after a while and ...
International Development minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest one..... When I get in and find a little card saying 'we tried to deliver but you were out' - I am always annoyed - because it means extra bother. Currently that bother is either re-organising delivery on another day, organising for it to go to a neighbour or popping into Archway Road post office to collect it at my convenience. With my schedule - only the last of those is a real possibility. But that small bother is about to ...
Good to see Nick Clegg has recorded a message for World AIDS Day. Nick is always keen on tackling stigma associated with various things - his work on mental health shows that - and he mentions here how the stigma of HIV prevents people from seeking help. He says that people with HIV must be treated with dignity and respect.
It's from Nick Clegg's statement to Parliament after the publication of the Leveson report: Let us not forget that of the five Press Complaints Commission chairs, three were serving parliamentarians who took a party whip. Curious that a newspaper industry so busy telling us how politicians must not be let anywhere near their regulation is the very same newspaper industry which invited in with open arms serving politicians to chair its regulatory body.
Waking much too early on the First of December, I've spent the morning in seasonal mood for the first day of Advent with a selection of festive songs - and, impossibly, aiming to list a full ten that won't make me gag! So I racked my brain (nearly a Ringo Starr song, though not a Christmassy one) for the likes of Paul Simon, George Harrison, Kate Bush, Tom Robinson, Gerry Rafferty, the Pet Shop Boys and Timbuk 3 for songs of magic, money worries and total thermonuclear destruction at Christmas. The usual suspects, then. And what else do you spot...? ...
Dear Tim (Farron) The only fate that should befall me... How are you? I hope you're having a good weekend, I'm sorry to disturb you but I thought someone should know this important news. Yesterday I had a Sally Bercow moment on Twitter. I admitted to a Tory Councillor ( Chris Irvine) that... well, this is difficult to say... Well in answer to the comment that Libdems (me on this occasion) were gold on the outside but red in the middle - I said that in reality I'm more blue than red Local Labour tweeter and PPC for Chatham & ...
I, thankfully, have never experienced HIV/AIDS on a personal level. Yes, I've been tested but no one I know personally has been affected by this issue. However when I came out I did get to chat to several men who had been out on the scene in the 1980s and who lost many friends to this awful illness. We must all work together to try and defeat this virus so that no one needs lose any more friends. World AIDS Day is about remembering what is important: AIDS awareness (take a quiz here to learn things you probably didn't know!), ...
A day later than normal, but just one this week: 122030: Change of use from office to hotel, North Station 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 objection. However, my ward ...
Awkward. In reality Savile just sent a telegram - his brother was a Liberal candidate in this election - but at least the first section of this broadcast reminds us that celebrity endorsements are not a new phenomenon n British politics. And the second gives you a hint of what an orator Cyril Smith was in his pomp.
Nick Clegg has recorded a video to mark World Aids Day today. In it, he talks about tackling the stigma still associated with the condition which makes people afraid to talk about HIV-related issues or seek help. He says it's unacceptable in 2012 and that people with HIV should be treated with respect and dignity. He concludes: There is so much more still to be done. Let's work to create a world which is free, finally, from HIV. * Caron Lindsay is Wednesday editor at Lib Dem Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
BBC News - Bend me, shape me: Flexible phones 'out by 2013' (tags: ) UKIP may well be beyond satire (tags: ) Mark Thompson: David Cameron may just have made the biggest mistake of his career (tags: ) BBC News - UK needs northern prosperity to boost growth - report (tags: ) Restaurant Review - Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square - NYTimes.com Hilarious restaurant review, via Andrew Ducker. What the hell IS donkey sauce anyway? (tags: ) OMG Christopher Lee is going to be in NEVERWHERE!!! Also Johnny Vegas. Boo. (tags: ) Autism severity may stem from ...
An aptly named Mr Bone MP tried to prevent Nick Clegg's giving a different view to that of the Prime Minister on the Leveson Report, calling it "something that has never happened before in parliamentary history." Actually he was wrong: it happened in an earlier coalition in 1932, but even had it been true I'm sure the public is far more interested in politicians giving their honest views than they are of breaches in arcane parliamentary traditions. Nick's response shows that he is beginning to learn from his earlier mistakes: "(Mr Bone) still struggles to get coalition . . . ...
Just a reminder on behalf of the Bar Hill Community Market which is taking place today at the Bar Hill Octagon and in the next door Church. Please come along and help support your local community. Stalls will include fruit and vegetables, home-made cakes, jewellery, greetings cards, sweets and other confectionery, locally made jams, knitted items, patchwork, bags, wooden crafts, and other beauty products. There will also be opportunities for raising funds for local projects. Refreshments will be available and (Weather Permitting!) there will also be a BBQ. If you wish to be part of the market and have your ...
One of the community groups that took part in the Community Fayre a fortnight ago that launched West End Christmas Fortnight was Starter Packs. It is an excellent group doing great work for the homeless and needy across Dundee. Earlier this year, on behalf of Barney's Fund, I was pleased to make a donation towards Starter Packs' work. Starter Packs has asked that its work is highlighted and details of its aims are below - you can download a leaflet on how you can help Starter Packs here: STARTER PACKS DUNDEE is a voluntary charity, initiated by Scottish Churches Housing ...
If so, please sign the e-petition. Implement the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry, regarding press regulation, in full We call upon the government to implement, in full, the recommendations of Leveson LJ following his inquiry into the culture, practices and ... Continue reading →
