Feldmarschall Kesselring's defence of Italy against the Allies was marked by gradual withdrawals to pre-prepared defensive lines up the peninsula. Much like the Libdems in Coalition. We're constantly, or at least portrayed as, constantly falling back to "the final line" and giving up another pledge or stand point. It has to stop. To quote Captain Picard; The line must be drawn here and no further with the Leveson inquiry. Now, I know I've not read the full 2000 page report, I barely have time to read my kids a bedtime story or the copy of Darth Plagius that I bought ...
As a Republican one of my biggest hang-ups with the monarchy is that members of the Royal family are forced to do unnatural and demeaning things. No mother should be forced to announce that they are pregnant at eight weeks. It is an absolute disgrace. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Employees of Starbucks will lose paid sick leave for their first day of illness. All of us know that the first day of illness is when a person is at their most contagious (colds, flus, viruses). People who work at chain coffee stores aren't paid a lot anyway and I can imagine that the fear of losing a day's pay will force them into work. It will be germs with your latte? This is the typical neoliberalistic actions of big corporations. Starbucks will lose money because they have to stop their tax avoidance but they will make up for their ...
You can take a tour from Ripon bus station on one of these vintage buses, but there is really no need. Because the service bus to Richmond will give you all the scenery and interest you could want. It takes you through Masham, with its Black Sheep and Theakston's breweries; through Middleham, whose castle was the childhood home of Richard III (of whom you may have read here); and through Leyburn, which has a station on the Wensleydale Railway. All that and Walburn Hall too. I want to go back to Ripon, not just because I so liked the place, ...
Tue 4th
21:18
Bizarre: case of corrupt policeman leaking data to criminals used to argue police must have more dat...
The Open Rights Group has the story: We await with interest the report from the joint committee on the draft Communications Data Bill, and trust the committee has properly considered the substantial evidence submitted. The debate is hotting up, with Theresa May pitching hard in the Sun. We are very interested to see if the Committee took a look at the submission by Caspar Bowden on page 102 of the written evidence highlighting the testimony given by Peter Davies (Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre), in support of the draft Bill. Mr Davies gave an example ...
The issue of whether to move from the current Black Bag collection system to Wheelie Bins for domestic rubbish has been a topic of discussion for some time now. A year or so back it was discussed at an Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum meeting. Following an in depth discussion those attending the meeting came out very decisively against a move to Wheelie Bins. Now following the allocation of a major government grant, the Labour run Council has decided to move ahead with the development of a Wheelie Bin collection system for Birmingham. At today's Full Council meeting the Lib Dem ...
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When Brian Binley, Conservative MP for Northampton South, attacked the prime minister on his blog back in February - he described Prime Minister David Cameron and his government as a "shady, back-street second-hand car dealership" - the post was soon edited. When he did it again in August - "The time is fast approaching when the Prime Minister needs to get a grip and cease leaving the impression that his agenda is determined by the imprint of the last Liberal Democrat who sat on him" - the post was allowed to stand. Now Binley has done it again - "David ...
MP Julian Huppert has urged Cambridge University to introduce the living wage for its employees. He believes if the university were to pay the living wage of £7.45 an hour in recognition of the high cost of living in the city it would encourage other organisations to follow suit. "The living wage clearly brings economic benefits to recipients who might otherwise be earning less," he said in a letter to the university. "However, a living wage can also be an attractive benefit for employers to offer to staff; companies and organisations which already pay a minimum living wage have reported ...
I'm a bit late to the party here (and that isn't the first time that has ever happened) but I just saw the Asda Christmas advert for the first time and my initial reaction certainly wasn't 'well that is a pile of sexist junk' but more of a 'I fancy the actress playing the mother in the advert – I think I'll Google it to see if I can find out who she is*.' Well I Googled and apparently the advert has created a sexism row based on the fact it showed a mother working hard to put Christmas on ...
Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net Yesterday the highlight of the House of Commons timetable was the debate on the Leveson Report. However, there was something else of significance on the agenda too. The Commons agreed a motion from the Lords that a Joint Committee will look into ...
With Council leader Sue Derbyshire, I had a good meeting with the Fairey Band today. Based in Stockport, the Fairey Band are famous around the world and currently ranked as the fifth best brass band worldwide (I didn't know there were world rankings for brass bands – I do now!). The Fairey Band celebrated their 75th anniversary this year and, having been travelling around the world and the UK, are keen to perform more here in Stockport. As well as traditional brass band music, the Fairey Band have an alter-ego: Acid Brass – playing Acid House Music on brass instruments ...
I am following up yesterday's post about International Day for Disabled People - all over the world except in the UK. Yesterday was a day that every Liberal Democrat in the country should take notice of, because the government - in this case Iain Duncan Smith and the Department for Work and Pensions - is doing dreadful things in our name and with our support. For all the rhetoric Iain Duncan Smith and his department have one objective, which is to reduce the benefits bill. They have no care for how they do so, or for the dreadful impact that ...
Tue 4th
17:35
NXT Police Panel meeting 4 THIS AREA = Mon 17th Dec @ 6:30pm @PboroCops @PeterboroughTel @Peterborou...
If you have a query or question relating to policing in the South Werrington and North Gunthorpe area, then this is the meeting for YOU to attend! Please be advised the next quarterly panel meeting will be held on Monday 17th December at 6:30pm. The meeting venue will be Paston Ridings School. As well as a chance for local residents to come along to discuss any issues you may have in your neighbourhood, you can also expect an update on the panel priority that was agreed at the last meeting. Email: pbne.npt@cambs.pnn.police.uk
A new league table published by Ofsted has revealed that 84% of children in Stockport attend an outstanding or good primary school. The league table showed that Stockport Council is nationally 13th out of 149 English local authorities, second in Greater Manchester and third in the North West. Councillor Shan Alexander, Stockport Council's Executive Member for Lifelong Learning and Achievement, said: "I would like to pay tribute to the extremely strong partnership that exists between teachers, pupils, governors, parents and the Council which has contributed greatly to this success in Stockport. "However, we are not complacent and we are always ...
I was listening to Victoria Derbyshire on Radio 5 this morning and she was presenting the show from an animal research laboratory. We heard descriptions of procedures that were being carried out and we heard the views of those who supported animal experimentation and those who didn't. Those who supported the experiments said they were useful but didn't mention any experiments that had been a waste of time. Maybe they think that negative tests are useful too. Those against said that testing wasn't useful and we shouldn't be using animals anyway. Well either animal experiments are useful or they are ...
So, we've selected our candidates for Europe in England and Scotland, and a pretty good bunch they are too – people who are committed to the concept of a Europe of twenty-seven (soon to be twenty-eight) nations pooling some sovereignty for a greater good. So far, so good. But what are they going to do for the next eighteen months? Past experience says, "not much to do with Europe". Yes, they'll be campaigning to a lesser or greater extent, but what will they be campaigning for? In the past, that's generally meant something little different to how we campaign for ...
George Lyon MEP has been reselected at the top of the list in the Scottish Liberal Democrats' European selections. Although the votes were counted last Thursday, the results were only announced this afternoon because of a delay in contacting one of the candidates. Lyon attracted 80.7% of first preferences which will give him bragging rights over Sir Graham Watson in the South West who must have thought his total of 79% would not be beaten. The full list is as follows: 1. George Lyon 2. Christine Jardine 3. Lisa Strachan 4. Richard Brodie 5. Jade Holden George Lyon's reselection was ...
Commonwealth Realms give final consent to change the Act of Succession — Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) December 4, 2012 Well, at least the Lib Dems have got one piece of constitutional reform through.
The Italian city state of Caprona is home to two great magical families, but torn apart by the intense animosity between the two households, so great that members of the two households cannot meet in the street without violence erupting. Can the love between two children of these families unite them and bring peace to the city? More importantly, can some completely different children do some awesome magic and save the city from the White Devil? Diana Wynne Jones apparently agrees with me – the concept and setting of a certain Shakespearenan tragedy is much more interesting than teenagers acting ...
Tue 4th
15:30
The Lib Dem vote share: not always the best guide to how successful the Lib Dems have been...
An important point, with graph to match, from PoliticalBetting's Mike Smithson: Chart showing how the total of Lib Dem seats has been or not linked to vote share from 1987 – 2010. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st... — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 4, 2012 To illustrate the point further: 1992 general election: Lib Dems won 5,999,384 votes, a vote-share of 17.8%, with 20 MPs elected 1997 general election: Lib Dems won 5,242,947 votes, a vote-share of 16.8%, with 46 MPs elected. Outcome: we lost votes and more than doubled our number of seats. 2005 general election: Lib Dems won 5,985,454 votes, a vote-share of ...
After a number of years of forecasters telling us we have a temporary baby boom they are now clear we have a permanent problem – we need more school places on a permanent basis. At full Council Assembly 25 January I had it confirm that in the Dulwich area ongoing we need an extra 60-75 reception places every year from 2015. At Council Cabinet 20 November it was confirmed by council officials that the shortage is bigger and increased to 75-90 reception place per year by 2016 for the Dulwich area and for the Nunhead and Peckham Rye area 90 ...
Chris Dillow writes that the richest households spend 20 times more than the poorest households on train fares, but for bus fares there is little difference between the spending of the rich and poor. This is evidence that Philip Hammond was right when he said (to much hand-wringing) the railways are a "rich man's toy". Now, we all hear about how much train fares have increased over the years, with above-inflation rises becoming an inevitability. Every year the announcement of train fare rises is a major news story. Politicians are always keen to be seen taking a stance against train ...
It can be argued that the earth has plenty of reserves of energy. We have enough coal for many many years and gas and oil are plentiful too. This may mean that we have to search further and further afield to get to these reserves but they are there. Then it can be argued that the date when we run out of fossil fuels can be put back because we will use other forms of energy like nuclear. Well there are much less reserves of uranium but they'll help to keep our lights on until the day we invent new ...
Yesterday morning was an interesting one for me as I spent a good proportion of the time with Guide Dogs for the Blind in Bridgend learning about the many obstacles faced by those with sight problems in navigating town centres. A large group of people, along with a number of guide dogs gathered in the library in Bridgend so that a handful of politicians, imcluding myself, could be blindfolded, given a white stick and then let loose in the pedestrianised area. It was a humbling and rather frightening experience. Fortunately, I did not walk into any walls or other obstacles, ...
Today, an influential group of Labour members are launching a new movement within their party: Labour for Democracy. Its aim is to reach out to Lib Dems (and possibly Greens as well) in order to prepare a pluralist agenda around progressive issues. Although it does not explicitly say so, it is presumably also preparing the ground for a possible Labour-led coalition after 2015. Their position is based on polling evidence: On all the major issues Labour and Lib Dem voters tend to give similar levels of support to broadly 'progressive' value statements, with Labour voters giving slightly stronger levels of ...
It was a cold morning on Saturday the first of December as I made my way to the Liberal Democrats headquarters in Great George Street, London. Today was the count to establish all the MEP candidates for England - London were to choose eight of which I hoped to be one. I had enjoyed the campaign over the last six weeks and meeting London's Liberal Democrats, but now it was over and time to see how the London members had voted. There was a distinct 'exam results' feeling - with that mixture of helplessness and apprehension that all former students ...
Liberal Democrats in North West England have picked Euro-MP Chris Davies to lead their campaign to hold on to their European parliament seat. Davies gained 72% of votes from party members in a postal ballot. He will be joined by ... Continue reading →
In September, California's Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1172 which banned ex-gay therapy for minors within the state. A laudable goal indeed. Regardless of ones views on the success, legitimacy or rights to exist of reparative therapy, there is just something rather disturbing about parents sending their kids to such therapists just because of who their children find attractive. Whilst I will happily support the rights (on libertarian grounds) of LGBT people who freely seek to "change" or "control" their sexuality, I am personally deeply opposed to parents sending their children to such programmes or pressuring their kids ...
A Consett man has been penalised for littering with a fine and court costs totalling £365. The man was seen dropping a cigarette butt in the town centre by a neighbourhood warden from Durham County Council. He was later summonsed to appear at Consett Magistrates' Court after failing to pay an £80 Fixed Penalty Notice. The man arrived late for the hearing and was found guilty in his absence. He was fined £110 and ordered to pay court costs of £240 and a £15 victim surcharge.
So, finally, the year is sputtering half-heartedly to a close. At the time of writing, things are not looking good for the party which one senior Conservative (no prizes for guessing who!) once described as 'a bunch of euro-loving road hump fetishists who change opinions in midstream like so many hermaphroditic parrotfish'. According to the ...
The railway bridge at Wallington Station will be repainted in January after a campaign by your local councillors Monica Coleman, Colin Hall and Jayne McCoy In order for the work to be carried out safely the council needs to introduce a temporary way for traffic and pedestrians to move under the railway bridge at the junction with Manor Road and Woodcote Road. The Temporary Traffic Management Order will come into effect on Monday 14 January 2013 with works taking place at night between the hours of 10.00 p.m. and 5.00 a.m. It is expected that the works will be finished ...
I spent several cold hours out in Colchester last Saturday night as part of the Castle Ward night of action. Since I've been a councillor, I've been out in the town centre on Friday and Saturday nights several times to see what happens there, and I know that the issue of the night-time economy is something that generates lots of opinions in lots of different quarters, so here's a few of my thoughts on it. These are based mainly on my experience and knowledge of Colchester and they're not intended to be definitive pronouncements – I'd welcome any comments or ...
In the Guardian today, Vince Cable says that he understands why people are boycotting Starbucks. The business secretary, when asked by the Guardian if he would consider boycotting their products, said: I don't shop at Starbucks so this doesn't apply to me, but I can fully understand why people would vote with their feet as a result of their tax dodging. It seems that the company has paid tax only once in the 14 years that it has been operating in the UK. The good news is that Starbucks has announced that, after public disquiet, it is reconsidering how it ...
A few months ago, my friend Adam Cohen-Rose told me that Surrey Libraries were looking for a volunteer to help teach coding to kids. hey @edent Surrey Library Service in Woking is looking for a @codeclub volunteer... know anyone? http://t.co/Fv8ynV6d [IMG: Coding For Kids Woking Library] Although I've written a few short stories about learning Python, this class will be entirely taught using Scratch. It's been quite fun learning a new programming language. I really appreciate how simple the drag-and-drop interface is. It's also great that the language runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows. More importantly, it can be run ...
Here's how Nick Clegg congratulated the Royal Couple on their announcement yesterday:
Latest from me in the New Statesman - actually getting some interesting comments (and some not so good)(as per) While there's no point trying to pretend last week's by-election results were anything other than awful for the Lib Dems, the silver lining comes from a surprising direction - the success of UKIP. For while the Lib Dems and UKIP are poles apart philosophically, there are some huge in-built electoral advantages to the former in the rise of the latterNationally, a fall in the Lib Dem share of vote is ultimately more likely to benefit Labour in the 2015 election - ...
Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat International Development Minister has been visiting Zambia and blogging about her trip. In her first day she wrote about a UK-funded empowerment programme for adolescent girls. She followed that with an account of programmes in the rural south supporting education, health care, private sector development, social support, and reducing gender-based violence. She spent the final day of her visit with the Minister for Gender, and together they launched 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence in Zambia. I shared with the audience some of our experience of tackling violence against women in the UK - ...
The South Gloucestershire LINk has recently produced a DVD: GPs are there to listen to us. Getting it right for People with Learning Difficulties. They sent postal surveys and had face to face conversations with people with learning difficulties about their experiences of using their GP services. You can view the DVD on You Tube or via their website.
The news of the Royal Pregnancy was probably greeted with celebrations down at Number 10 Downing Street. It's easy to imagine the unholy trinity of Cameron, Osborne and Gove popping open a bottle of vintage champagne in the Cabinet room, filling their glasses and raising a toast to the pending arrival. I imagine such a ...
The Council has produced an update on the savings it proposes to make over the next two years. Because of a number of changes it now estimates that it needs to save an extra £8.7 Million, which is on top of the £17.7 million that was included in its current three year plan for savings. The full copy of the paper is here, but there are a number of proposals that are worth highlighting: By far the largest area of savings or cuts are to 'Support for Vulnerable people' - with these new announcements these savings almost triple to to ...
I try not to get too hung up or ornery about the commercialisation of Christmas. Most shops play dreadful music all year round, and are loaded with brightly coloured tat anyway, so as long as I can avoid it until December, I don't much mind. In truth, I have always loved Christmas. Whether at school, ...
Don't miss out on this years Christmas Fayre on the 8th December held at Downham Leisure Centre. Stalls and activities will start at 11am. More Details on the flyer below.
Certified causes of death inaccurate in fifth of cases, study suggests | Society | guardian.co.uk Terrifying (tags: ) Drug Rape Prevention: DrinkSavvy Color Changing Drinkware | Indiegogo (tags: ) Science jokes "Dr Heisenberg was out for a drive, and stopped by police. "Do you know how fast you were going?" "No, I know where I am."" (tags: ) How one family were brought to their knees by the taxman - Telegraph This is terrifying if true (tags: ) Copyright for a digital age (tags: ) Caron's Musings: Lib Dems stop Tories from taking Housing Benefit from the Under 25s (tags: ...
The next stage in plans to introduce traffic calming to Westerleigh village are up for consultation. Earlier in the year, South Glos asked local people for their views on proposals to reduce the speed of traffic on Shorthill Road and Westerleigh Road. Based on the comments made, officers have been drawing up plans to extend the 30mph limit, put in a raised speed table by the village hall and create road narrowings at the entrances to the village. The first two of these require Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) and the council has just published the Statutory Notice, part of the ...
You can't really imagine much worse than constantly throwing up, retching, unable to keep anything down. For most of us, such symptoms pass in a couple of days as whatever pathogen responsible passes out of our system. Imagine that it doesn't stop - it carries on for weeks and months. Can you imagine the pain you'd be in, how knackered you'd feel? And then there's the additional worry that if you get any relief from the distressing symptoms, you start to worry that something has gone wrong with the pregnancy that's causing it. It annoys me when I see Hyperemesis ...
We are hearing many rumours about the climb-downs to be expected in Osborne's Autumn Statement, which is due tomorrow, and how the Liberal Democrats are positioning themselves. In the Guardian we learn the welcome news: George Osborne set to drop plan to end housing benefit for under-25s. "Lib Dems revolt against David Cameron's 'unjust' move in runup to chancellor's autumn statement" The Guardian also devotes a whole article to Matthew Oakeshott's comments: Lib Dems urge Nick Clegg to stand up to Tories over spending plans. He said "he wanted Clegg to show the same vigour and forthrightness as he had ...
Back in 2008 when Lynne Featherstone and other Liberal Democrats first started making a serious push to get the rules of royal succession changed by abolishing the 'boy succeeds to the throne even if they are younger than their sister' rule (aka royal primogeniture), there were plenty outside the party – and even a few inside it – who thought there was no chance of this ever happening. As Lynne wrote at the time: Whatever one thinks of the monarchy - and this is not that debate - this is wrong and needs correction. Tackling sexism in the monarchy would ...
We are looking to putting together a list of charities and good causes that people might want to support (money, practical donations, or volunteering) over the Christmas period. There are quite a few lists around, but most of them are national lists. Obviously some of these national charities do cover our area, and there are international causes that always deserve support – but it would be great to hear about local activities closer to home. If you know of any local organisations or groups that are doing useful work over Christmas and need our support please can you let in ...
For my 'official' Facebook page, which now has an easily memorable address: www.facebook.com/nickbarlowcolchester It's where I'll try and post things that are relevant to my work as a councillor, rather than the general theme of this blog which tends to revolve around whatever shiny thing is grabbing my magpie-like attention at the time. I have neglected updates to the Facebook page for a while, but I will endeavour to post as much as I can to the page, to try and keep people informed, so if you're interested in my work as a councillor, then go along and like it. ...
Greater Manchester Police have issued information ("Operation Frosty") to raise awareness of car theft while people are de-frosting their car in cold weather. Please don't get caught out running to defrost – while you watch television, have a shower, sit inside! If you do this and your car gets stolen, your insurance then becomes invalid. Cars have been stolen in Prestwich in this way – so please take care. The Police suggest: Get up 10 minutes early and scrape your car or put de-icer on to help. Put an old sheet over the windscreen and tuck it in between the ...
Last week was the regular meeting of Bury Council's 'Cabinet'. I get to go as one of the two Opposition Party leaders in Bury. There were two particularly contraversial issues on the agenda last week that it is worth sharing with people. Libraries The Cabinet considered a plan to make quite significant savings in the Council's Library service. The savings (which total roughly £750,000) are going to be made in two Phases. Phase 1 was agreed last week, and only really affects the main Library in Bury itself. The changes are significant with a number of staff members now being ...
From Sheena Wellington (see right) of Friends of Wighton: The Wighton Singers will give their annual Christmas Lunchtime Recital at the Wighton Heritage Centre on Wednesday 5th December at 1.15pm. The Singers. who meet in the Centre on Tuesday afternoons, have been working recently with traditional singer Amy Lord and American song expert Sara Grey and their programme will feature songs learned from both. The Wighton Heritage Centre is on the second floor of Dundee Central Library. Admission is free; donations welcome.
Netanyahu ignores the world with his crazed plan for new settlements. Now wait for the attack on Iran, which the USA will deny it knew was going to happen. If we're not very lucky, this bastard will drag us all into a new war in the Middle East.
According to The Independent, there's a new group in the Labour Party preparing to build bridges with the Liberal Democrats. Excuse me, is the same Labour Party that blocked electoral reform and stopped the reform of the House of Lords ? Labour for Democracy ? I wish !
Considering the main lifestyle change is between that of status quo and vegetarianism, rather than that of changing between vegetarianism and veganism, I shall focus on the former and the relevant arguments. Animals are of some value Killing things of some value is morally objectionable. (Therefore, killing animals is morally objectionable) It is more morally
