After many years of evidence-taking and consideration and at much expense, Lord Justice Leveson on Thursday 29 November published his extremely lengthy report on the culture, practices and ethics of the press. While the national press revelled in the days that followed at the opportunity to talk about the press and argue at length how any form of statutory regulation was unwelcome, others read
Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net The Autumn Statement given by the Chancellor will not lead to the omnishambles style crisis we saw after the last Budget. He can rightly point to the fact that despite the fact he was giving much bad news, he did it in ...
From the Leicester Mercury: Badgers have been blamed for forcing the closure of a country lane by tunnelling underneath it, causing it to collapse.Two large craters appeared in the surface of the 1.5 mile lane between Somerby and the hamlet of Newbold, making it impassable to most vehicles.Highways engineers examined the damage on Friday and say the road will be shut for at least three weeks.One theory is that the badgers had been told David Heath would be passing that way.
I've been wanting to write this post for a week now, and been putting it off until I'm less tired. But then I realised that if I hadn't been less tired in a week, I probably wouldn't be any time soon. So, here's my Grand Unified Theory Of Time In Doctor Who, as written by ...
Today it was the Autumn Statement - as ever there was a mixed bag of measures: some good, some bad. Here are some of my thoughts on a handful of the key areas: Growth Growth - or the lack of it - is the biggest issue stalking our economy. Labour would have us believe that we could have spent our way out of the aftermath of the 2008/09 recession, created growth and maintained our international standing. The Tories (and the Government) are adamant that we had no choice in the course of action we took, that we are more stable ...
This is the scene tonight in Carrickfergus at the Constituency Office of Stewart Dickson MLA. He is the Alliance representative for East Antrim. Stewart does not represent any part of Belfast, yet the protest against the decision made by the Alliance party to come with a middle ground between no flags and the status quo has not led to criminal damage being caused. There is probably outstanding case work that has been destroyed in the fire and Stewart will certainly be inconvenienced in working for this constituents while this mess is getting sorted out. As Stewart has said: "This is ...
Last week I blogged about the case of Mark and Helen Mullins (1,000 suicides: victims of a failing economic strategy) who committed suicide together after being ground down by poverty including making 12 mile round ...
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My thoughts and prayers are with all Alliance Party representative and their staff at this difficult time following the decision by Belfast City Council to fly the Union Flag on designated days. Reports are coming in this evening that a constituency office for Stewart Dickson MLA, the Alliance representative for East Antrim has been set ...
This evening saw a special meeting of the Launceston Community Network panel on the subject of litter, waste and street cleaning. There was a good turnout from members of the public and two of the contract management officers from the Council came along to explain the new system and answer questions. As readers will know, the new waste and recycling contract had a lot of problems at the start. Many people didn't get their bins emptied for more than two months and thousands more were left without recycling containers. Thankfully, most of those problems have now been sorted - but ...
My thoughts and prayers are with all Alliance Party representative and their staff at this difficult time following the decision by Belfast City Council to fly the Union Flag on designated days. Reports are coming in this evening that a constituency office for Stewart Dickson MLA, the Alliance representative for East Antrim has been set ...
Park Road in Gatley recently had a resurface. Unfortunately part of it is breaking up, which shouldn't be happening. We've chased it up with the Council and the contractors will have to repair the faulty work. It's worth saying something about the reason the work's done this way. With limited amounts of money, councils want to get the best value on road fixing. The way you do that is to use this sort of resurfacing. It can't be done if the state of the road is too bad, but if you can catch the road before it deteriorates too far, ...
Well done to the estimable Chris Abbot: Redcar's refurbished groynes will be restored to their original height And quite right too.
There are lots of reasons why people should not go bonkers over trying to save money to pay for students fees. But why should I bother repeating what is already explained by a renowned Money Saving Expert?
This is a piece written by Callum Morton, previous Campaigns Officer for Liberal Youth, in response to an article by Vice Chair Harry Matthews, entitled 'Where Next' If you've been keeping up with this debate, you'll have noted that at the last Liberal Youth Conference an amendment was approved encouraging us to 'move away from the 'Party ...
Read about my site visit to Beddington sewage works to talk about the rare Tree Sparrow on my local blog here.
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Local Liberal Democrat councillors Julia Davidson and Darren Fower recently attended a presentation at which Tesco explained its long-delayed and changed plans for redevelopment at the Werrington Centre. Both Darren and Julia are 'fed up' with this multi-billion pound company dragging its feet on introducing a roundabout at the junction of Staniland Way and David's Lane. Development of the Werrington Centre cannot start until this accident blackspot has been improved with a new roundabout to deal with the additional traffic which a larger store at the centre will attract. Your councillors are also concerned by the proposed doubling in size ...
That we face immense difficulties economically and otherwise is obvious on the day of Osborne's autumn statement. But how many noticed that on its eve a heavyweight commentator on Newsnight suggested, albeit somewhat tentatively, that we might have to consider alternatives to democracy to deal with the problems? The commentator concerned was Gillian Tett of the ...
So I see that a few holiday card posts have gone up, now, and it's time to repeat what I ask of my friends every year; Please do not send me a card, because I have reasons to not like the practice. You may, if you want to make the gesture, donate to a charity of your choice with the card and postage money you were thinking of spending on me. If you need suggestions, one of the following would be my preference: Great Ormond Street Hospital - the children's hospital in London that saved my nephew's life. Project 826 ...
...some thoughts on the Autumn Statement. Meanwhile, here's something to keep you occupied. Enjoy... Andrew
Houghton Hall Park Survey compiled. Let's hope for some response.
It's easy to see the Lib Dem influence on today's Autumn Statement from the Chancellor. The income tax threshold is going up by even more than was previously planned. That means that, from April the first £9440 that you earn will be tax free. It's tantalisingly close to the Lib Dem manifesto pledge of £10,000 by the end of 2015. The other key wins are: an end to the policy of regional pay - something which the Chancellor proposed last year and Lib Dems battled against. It would hurt areas like Cornwall hardest of all as we have low pay ...
My article in the Globe and Mail: Canadians now have a lower opinion of their own government's commitment to public integrity than do Pakistanis, Iraqis, or Nigerians... Parliamentarians are the watchdogs of democracy, and it is tragic that so many citizens perceive our watchdogs as having muted their bark, muzzled their bite, and been neutered by the very powers they were meant to hold at bay.
Although you can guarantee some things always crop up at the last minute, Stockport Council likes to give good notice of the important decisions to be made. We have a "forward plan" which is all the decisions planned to come up – in this case from January to April 2013. Executive Forward Plan – January 2013 Executive
At today's meeting of Durham County Council, Councillor Owen Temple has confirmed that he has had discussions with Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat minister at the Department of Health. The minister has assured him that the interim formula on which future public health spending will be based, and which has given rise to speculation about £20 million cuts to public health spending in Durham, is not set in stone. Speaking to Councillor Temple, Norman Lamb confirmed that for the future the independent body which recommends how the money should be distributed is keen to work out a more evidence based formula ...
This is something we can be very proud of. Yes, there are legitimate concerns about some of the rest of the Autumn Statement, but this is the good bit. It is a big Lib Dem win. If you haven't yet signed up to the Liberal Democrats Fairer Tax campaign, you can do so here.
It's a key liberal principle that large, powerful organisations whether government or private companies, should not be allowed to abuse that power, to treat those they deal with unfairly. That's why the Liberal Democrats have been so keen to set up a Groceries Adjudicator to ensure that the large supermarkets give a fair deal to their suppliers. The Adjudicator will have the power to arbitrate between retailers and suppliers, and investigate complaints from direct and indirect suppliers and third parties. Crucially, Liberal Democrat minister Jo Swinson has ensured that the Adjudicator will have more power to enforce the Groceries Code, ...
Here is the reply I got in response to my question about the height of the refurbished groynes shown in the above photograph taken and originally posted on Facebook by Philip Chisholm. Dear Cllr Abbott Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry. Mark Hopgood, Team Leader Technical Projects has received the following response from Steve Dunning: The groynes at the Stray had ceased to retain sand effectively due to the missing groyne boards and piles. The accepted scientific method states that for groynes to retain sand they should be no higher than 500mm above up ...
(I wasn't fired up by any of the titles on offer for this assignment, and found this heavy going. I think it shows). The general idea that some form of voluntary pact entered into by individuals explains the origins of or justifies obedience to political authority has a long history in political theory. However, it is generally accepted that the "classical" exponents of this so called "social contract" theory began most famously in the work of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In spite of significant differences between their respective contractarian theories, all ...
Danny Alexander has just emailed Liberal Democrat members about the Autumn Statement, emphasising that the Liberal Democrats have delivered on their key election pledge, to raise the tax threshold to £10,000. From next April, workers will be able to keep the first £9440 they earn, meaning that someone on the minimum wage has had their tax bill halved by the Liberal Democrats. Danny asks members to share the picture on your right on Facebook. Already the Voice's timeline is full of them. The Autumn Statement set out the tough decisions Liberal Democrats are taking in government to build a stronger ...
I see George Osborne is still using the resentment-stoking and ridiculous stereotype of the hard-working person seeing their neighbour's curtains shut in the morning. Reasons people might have their curtains shut: - they work nights - they suffer from migraine/porphyria/photic sneeze reflex/other light-based health issue. - they keep reptiles or other forms of pet that need light regulation - they're photographers and have a dark room - they're sick of nosy, besuited neighbours peering in at them getting dressed every morning. - they died of starvation some weeks ago I bet you lot can think of more. [IMG: comment count ...
On Tuesday, Boris Johnson made his latest thinly veiled bid for the Tory leadership, outlining his own distinctive vision of Britain's relationship with the EU ahead of David Cameron's crucial, defining speech on Europe later this month. He called for Britain's EU ... Continue reading →
Stephen Booth of Open Europe was alone in defending the UK government's plan to opt out of 130 EU police and judicial measure at a Law Society debate last week. Even he pointed to the list of 60 measures of 'practical value' ... Continue reading →
So, the Chancellor has given his Autumn Statement. Liberal Democrat reaction is likely to be at best mixed. Will people feel that the balance of tax and benefit measures is sufficient to support our claims that we are making the system fairer? Osborne painted a fairly gloomy economic picture. The growth forecast is under 3% for the next 5 years. Austerity will continue way beyond the next election. It's in that context that his measures must be judged. Let's take a brief look at the key points from a Liberal Democrat activist's point of view:The good - Lib Dem gainsSteve ...
On the day that the Chancellor performs his celebrated Scrooge act, with a very wintery "Autumn Statement", I noticed that the cost of the House of Lords has risen by a record 38% to £109 million (up from £78m last year), for the most recent 12 month period. Allowances to members have risen by over 20% from £18.7m to £22.6m. Before you comment that the House of Commons has risen by almost as much I am bound to point out that this figure is, according to the explanatory notes, distorted by an abnormally low figure in the previous year because ...
Labour have one of the easiest jobs in modern UK politics. Basically sit back and say they would do things differently whilst slagging off the Tories and the Lib Dems. It is just too easy for them and it is starting to feel like they are Ronnie Rosenthal and having rounded the Aston Villa goalkeeper the open goal that is gaping might not be filled with the football at their feet. You see people aren't stupid. Certainly not people who vote in a General Election. A lot of people get annoyed by it but most who troop down to the ...
BBC-Wales reports that under the coalition government's autumn statement, £227 million extra capital funding, which pays for spending on buildings and infrastructure, is coming to Wales as its share of a squeeze on UK government departments.
So, the Chancellor has given his Autumn Statement. Liberal Democrat reaction is likely to be at best mixed. Will people feel that the balance of tax and benefit measures is sufficient to support our claims that we are making the system fairer? Osborne painted a fairly gloomy economic picture. The growth forecast is under 3% for the next 5 years. Austerity will continue way beyond the next election. It's in that context that his measures must be judged. Let's take a brief look at the key points from a Liberal Democrat activist's point of view: The good – Lib Dem ...
We have just received a letter from Danny Maher of the wonderful CIP (Cricklewood Improvement Programme. They are applying for funding for a Cricklewood History Project and in order to apply they have to show there is a need, or that people would support it/be interested. They have asked people to circulate this as widely as possible - so if you have a few moments, and are interested, please fill in their survey. Their letter reads: We would be grateful if you would complete the survey in the link below and circulate to your network on our behalf. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CIPHistory Many ...
Yesterday's First Minister's questions were instructive if only because it became clear for the first time that the Welsh Government's attempt to censor references on Pobl y Cwm to their policy on a badger cull had been personally authorised by Carwyn Jones. The Western Mail reports that the First Minister told the chamber that the episode contained direct criticism of a government and that this had not previously been seen before in the history of soap operas in the UK. He clearly does not listen to the Archers. He also said that the fact the episode clashed with by-elections in ...
Local LIB DEM ward councillor Darren Fower has described the decision not to allow elected members to Tweet during Full Council meetings as 'preposterous' and 'archaic'! Darren who regularly tweets via the handle @CllrDarrenFower – says at a previous Full Council meeting he asked the present mayor if it would be OK, but was informed that it would not be permitted. The previous Tory Mayor, once famously told off a Labour Councillor for using his mobile phone......when in reality he was not! #Specsavers Commenting, Darren said: "Twitter is now a leading communicative tool in society and if I or any ...
Farmers Market First the really good news - the Farmers Market has received planning permission so it is no longer "temporary"! It received huge support from local residents - nearly 300 letters hugely in favour with only 3 dissenting voices complaining it took up too much of the space outside Thameslink and created a hazardous situation or that it wasn't good for local shops. These were drowned out in the wave of goodwill which has built up since the Market opened in September. Many congratulations to all those involved and a special thanks to local Cllr Gillian Risso-Gill who pursued ...
Here are my first thoughts on the Autumn Statement 2012, with a mix of tweets and retweets: Osborne says that OBR believes weak growth is down to weak trade due to Euro crisis #EDP24 #as2012 — Joe Watts (@JoeWatts_) December 5, 2012
Cornwall Council is consulting the public on the new parking charges which will apply in Cornwall Council owned car parks from next spring. The major change in Launceston will see the abolition of the first hour parking rate. Instead of paying 50p for up to one hour and £1.60 for up to two hours, the two rates will be merged into a single £1 for up to two hour rate. This was the preferred option of those who came along to our open meeting a few months ago. Of course, the options available all had to be pre-approved by the ...
The Channcellor is up, giving his Autumn Statement.
If you ever wonder why people think government consultations are just a matter of routine that they get out of the way before they go and do what they've always planned, then the Government's response to their 'shares for rights' proposal (PDF file) won't surprise you at all. It's a masterpiece of setting out all the reasons people have objected to the policy and pointed out reasons why it's not needed and why it won't work, then blithely responding that the Government intends to press ahead anyway. As the Guardian reports (and LabourList illustrates with nice graphs) the clear majority ...
The story: Conservative Health secretary Jeremy Hunt 'rebuked' for claiming the Coalition has increased NHS spending in England. The promise: that the NHS budget in England would be increased in real terms during the Coalition. That promise was kept (just) — the 2010 Spending Review committed the Coalition to a 0.1% real-terms annual increase. The reality: the NHS did not spend all its budget in 2011/12. As a result, the out-turn in NHS spending has, probably, marginally fallen since 2009/10. Though the UK Statistics Authority concludes: "Given the small size of the changes and the uncertainties associated with them, it ...
Last year, Liz and I took the plunge and had Solar Panels installed on the house we rent out. I've been tracking their progress, and so now it's time for our yearly update. We based our estimations on the Europa Solar Calculator which estimated that they would generate around 2,700 kWh per year. [IMG: Solar Estimate] Annoyingly, we haven't been able to hook the panels up to the Internet, so I can't get daily readings. So, every three months we have to manually look at the meter. Last month, after a year of operation, it stood at... 03172.42 kWh That ...
Excuse me Miss Chalke would you vote for us??? I was casting my mind back to my student days and my abysmal dating history and then got to thinking about canvassing for votes. Now, some people will resolutely vote for their party whether they performed well in Government or council or whether their policies are any good this time around. During the 2010 election a colleague of mine was complaining that Labour were awful - Gordon Brown had really screwed up as leader of the country but was still going to vote for Labour because he didn't want the Conservatives ...
I never look forward to George Osborne getting up on his feet in the House of Commons. It's not entirely his fault, and I do know that he's not getting to give the statement that he would like to because Liberal Democrats won't let him, but the economy is still incredibly fragile and there's every chance of a triple dip recession. We know that Osborne would love to taking Housing Benefit from under 25s, or restricting benefits to large families. He won't be doing these things because Nick Clegg has put his foot down. That doesn't mean, though, that I'm ...
Many have been outraged that large companies appear to be paying next to no tax, often over periods of many years. Amazon, Google and Starbucks have felt the heat of consumer anger and the media spotlight. There are repeated calls for a clampdown on tax evasion - if there is any - and tax avoidance, whether aggressive or otherwise. At one level it is odd that this has come to light now, because we are talking about tax-minimising practices that have been around for a long time. Scholars who have studied globalisation have noted the scope for these sorts of ...
Christine Jardine was until this Summer a Liberal Democrat Special Adviser at the heart of Government. She is now back working full time in politics in Scotland and writing occasionally for the Scotsman. This week she's turned her attention to the fact that large corporations like Starbucks don't pay tax in the UK and reflects on the good that local, independent coffee shops bring to the community: As I sat there enjoying my Americano, eyeing up the chocolate cake and cinnamon swirls, I began to think about the value that the entrepreneur behind the counter had brought to my community. ...
I have been informed that the Local Government Boundary Commission for England are planning to review the boundaries for Colchester Borough over the next couple of years. (This is the ward boundaries within the Borough, not the size and shape of the Borough as a whole) I was expecting this to happen soon, as the growth within the Borough has meant that the discrepancy in population size between wards was getting rather large in some cases, and even if they hadn't decided to run a review, we'd likely soon reach the point where one would have been automatically triggered. The ...
Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net ...and as offensive as ever: Those women that proclaim "I'm not a feminist" should be paid less than men, have no maternity benefits, no access to refuges, and no vote. — Julie Bindel (@bindelj) December 5, 2012 What a ...
Three years on, I'm still hard-pressed to think of a festive greeting that can top this one.
Welcome to Cambridgeshire ACRE's latest News Digest. Please forward this email to friends and colleagues who you think might be interested in our rural news and events briefing. News: Cambridgeshire County Council publishes its Right to Challenge Procedure Cambridgeshire County Council has published the procedure that voluntary and community bodies, charities, parish councils and groups of staff must use if they wish to exercise their Community Right to Challenge with regard to Council-run services. Read more... Risk management of trees The Forestry Commission has published a useful guidance document entitled "Common sense risk management of trees" which may be of ...
Every week, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here's this week's edition. St Andrew's Day Last week, as Secretary of State for Scotland, I gave the inaugural speech in the annual St Andrew's Day Address which is being established this year at the Scotland Office in London. This annual Address will see individuals in business, education, politics, media, charities and the arts speaking to an audience in London about Scotland and what it means to them. I used the first speech as an opportunity to celebrate our identity ...
Why Osborne is wrong to reject property tax reform AI boffins take on Angry Birds • The Register Leveson and politics: the danger of backing the wrong horse | Media | The Guardian Cicero's Songs: Making the same mistake twice Stoned Again: Jacqui Smith on the decision to re-classify cannabis | Radio Times "The press sound like a recalcitrant abusive alcoholic begging his wife in hospital not to press charges." "PM was forced into creating Leveson because of his closeness to press + rejects its conclusions for very same reason" Nick Clegg is changing the way the government works » ...
Ideal Christmas gifts for scientists | Dean Burnett | Science | guardian.co.uk I want ALL OF THEM. (tags: ) An open letter to Melanie Phillips (tags: ) Tales of the Unexpected: the Communications Data Bill | Open Rights Group (tags: ) Correspondents Report - Hobbit premiere: more unexpected than expected 02/12/2012 (tags: ) Strip Down Science with Us Naked scientists looking for people to help produce their show. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Buried away in the Leveson Report is a denunciation of those parts of the press which systematically misrepresent the European Union. Pro-Europeans like the Liberal Democrats will welcome this recognition of a chronic irritant. Editors of the offending papers rarely if ever give the opportunity to correct errors. Now, although the anti-Europe campaigns will continue, we will be able to use Leveson to point the finger at malevolent editors. That is not press censorship. It is simply warning readers not to be taken in by campaigns of nonsense. Lord Justice Leveson, in the second volume of his report (pages 687-688), ...
Those nice people at Liberal Democrat Voice have graciously allowed me to publish this on their pages. But as I know that there are those of you out there who don't read it... 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 ...
Yesterday the annual survey by the ONS on UK household expenditure was released. Apparently each household spends on average £484 a week, broken down as follows: [IMG: Average weekly household expenditure on main commodities and services, 2011] What I find astonishing is that "recreation and culture" comes second, even though "alcoholic drinks, tobacco and narcotics" are classified separately, as are "restaurants and hotels." Perhaps we should take these figures with a pinch of salt, as the "housing, fuel and power" section does not include mortgages, which seems a bit daft. That apart, if our second highest expenditure is fun and ...
From Dundee City Council: DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL (GLENAGNES ROAD, DUNDEE) (VARIATION OF SCHOOL KEEP CLEAR) ORDER 2012 Dundee City Council in exercise of the powers conferred on them by Sections 1(1), 2(1) to (3), 4(1) and (2) and 32 of and Part IV of Schedule 9 to the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (which Act of 1984 is hereinafter referred to as "the said Act") and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf and after consultation with the Chief Constable in accordance with Part III of Schedule 9 to the ...
Vote Charlotte Cross, Welsh Liberal Democrat, for a fresh voice on Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
Something interesting is happening in Richmond Park politics - certainly for a seat won by multi-millionaire Tory Zac Goldsmith two and a bit years ago by a slightly too comfortable 4,000 votes. Given the current languishing of the Lib Dems, Goldsmith is probably expecting a relatively comfortable ride next time with the Lib Dems concentrating their limited fire elsewhere. But that's not the case - the Lib Dems are in the middle of selecting a PPC and are getting large numbes of activists out on the streets - including this evening Party President Tim Farron - pictured here giving a ...
This blog is from Harry Matthews, Vice Chair of Liberal Youth. At the recent Liberal Youth Conference, we had a policy debate that lasted much of a session, predominately regarding the line "that Liberal Youth should move away from the 'Party within a Party' mentality and become a campaigning operation, supporting candidates in target seats ...
