#Stonecot result Lib Dem Hold with 53.2% of vote and 7% swing to Lib Dems from Cons. #fb — Paul Burstow MP (@PaulBurstow) December 6, 2012
The news that Michael Forbes - long suffering neighbour of Donald Trump's vandals and bullies at his Aberdeenshire golf course - has won the Glenfiddich Scot of the Year award has been almost universally welcomed. But not in Trump Towers needless to say. Forbes's well deserved recognition has led to Trump to 'lose the heid' as his long lost Scottish grandmother might have once said. According to the Guardian Trump has attacked Glennfiddich's owner William Grant and removed all their brands from his hotels and resorts, claiming the award was an 'insult to Scotland' and that Grant's were jealous of ...
Often when I write these reviews, it's because it's an incredibly rare event, a life-changing encounter with musical genius. This year, for example, I've written about Van Dyke Parks performing with the Britten Sinfonia, the Beach Boys playing together for the first time in sixteen years (and their last ever show), and Mike Nesmith's first ...
An easy guide to politics of the island of Ireland written for the benefit of tourists, with thanks to Fr Peter Thompson for sharing it.
Richmond ... was like no other town they had ever seen. When they reached the top of the hill they were in one corner of an enormous cobbled square. In the centre was the squat building of a church, in the sides of which were really built some shops. At the top of the huge market square beyond some parked buses, was a great stone pillar crowned with a ball, round which were some steps on which dalespeople were sitting. Shops and inns were round the four sides of the square and between them, the children noticed, were the narrow ...
Mweeting in Committee Room G on Tuesday December 4, 2012 to discuss the situation of women and ethnic an religious minorities in Bangladesh. Representatives of the Jumma people, the Ahmadiyya Muslims, Buddhists etc contributed, and spokespersons for the AL government and the BNP opposition replied. The Minister for Women's Affairs gave a presentation. We will have a report summarising the speeches ready shortly. [IMG: Posted by Picasa]
Before Doctor Who became the biggest non-soap opera TV drama and demanded a Radio Times front cover even a fortnight before it's next on, it was once in a struggle to survive. Before Sylvester McCoy became a big movie star - will next week's opening beat James Bond to the year's biggest? - he was the Doctor. And exactly twenty-three years ago (checks watch) now, he walked off into the sunset at the end of a gorgeous adventure that was positively not the last of Doctor Who. It felt like a new start. And, in several ways, so it was... ...
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. My goodness, this episode was dull, uninteresting, and failed to live up to all the potential set up last week. I didn't even have L to watch it with this week, so the boredom had to be suffered all on my own. Okay, so after sleeping with Oliver at the end of the last episode, Helena gets out of bed and leaves Ollie behind, riding to a dark and mysterious alley where China White and some Triad guys are getting into a car. Helena raises her gun to shoot, and is interrupted by Ollie jumping on her from a ...
"The Alliance Party says enough is enough. Over a violent 48 hours it has seen one of its representatives forced from her house, others attacked in their home, the shutters brought-down at a string of its offices, and a party advice centre gutted by arsonists. On the face of it, the rampage is linked to loyalist anger over restrictions placed on flying the Union flag from Belfast City Hall. But Alliance now says this crisis follows ten years of intense unionist political campaigning aimed at stifling the liberal party's growing appeal - as well as loyalist paramilitary intimidation that Alliance ...
What would you do with £267? I'm sorry, I'll re-phrase that - what will you do with £267. Add a couple of quid and you could have an iPad mini. Imagine, an extra £22.25 per month in your pocket. Perhaps you'll have an extra night in with a takeaway pizza each month. Or perhaps a night out down the boozer? Or perhaps it'll just take the pressure off all the bills and expenses of everyday life. In yesterday's Autumn Statement, the chancellor announced that the Personal Allowance - the amount you can earn before paying any Income Tax - will ...
We had a useful meeting this afternoon with the development team working on the Barnes Hospital site. They're keen to get something happening very quickly as they want to keep the hospital building and there's concern it may not be saveable if it's left for more than another year or two. The developers will be having public consultations before – they hope – submitting a planning application in the first few months of 2013. Their proposal is to restore the Barnes Hospital building, turning it into around 80 small apartments. To make that work financially, there would be a range ...
Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net Apparently Labour Shadow Health Minister Diane Abbot told BBC News that "we wouldn't have cut spending on the NHS which is what the Government has done". She even Tweeted David Cameron about it. @david_cameron Read this statisticsauthority.gov.uk/reports—corr... and then this conservatives.com/Policy/Where_w... Why are ...
The Northampton Chronicle & Echo reports that Stuart McCartney, the Conservatives' political assistant at Northamptonshire County Council, has been appointed as the new strategic adviser to the county's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Adam Simmonds. Not only that: Meanwhile, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition at County Hall, Councillor Brendan Glynane, has reacted with "astonishment" to Mr Simmonds proposing to create 17 new jobs. He said: "I am absolutely stunned at his actions. All throughout the campaign he refused to say what he would do if he was elected. Now we know why. He is creating 17 jobs on ...
Now any observer of flags in Northern Ireland will tell you that there are many variations in the flags that are seen around the Province. But this one, first seen by me on a Facebook page, is a new one even for me. It is placed on a page somewhat dedicated to so-called Loyalism that ...
Now any observer of flags in Northern Ireland will tell you that there are many variations in the flags that are seen around the Province. But this one, first seen by me on a Facebook page, is a new one even for me. It is placed on a page somewhat dedicated to so-called Loyalism that ...
On 27th November we published a post under the headline: Knight: How can we get MPs to take their own fire safety more seriously?. We have now received a letter from Sir Ken Knight (no relation to Stephen Knight, referred to in the headline) who is the Government's Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser and Head of the Crown Inspection Premises Group. He writes: Contrary to the impression given, the Palace of Westminster is not exempt from fire safety regulations and is covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The management at the Palace of Westminster have exactly the ...
This mince pie calculator from Living Streets looks good fun. And there's a prize too.
Jennie's already beaten me to it, but I thought I'd share some thoughts on Ad Lib magazine, the party's replacement for Liberal Democrat News, as it arrived in the post this morning. (I would advise reading Jennie's post as well, of course – her points about the gender balance of contributors are very important) To start off, it turns out that what was advertised as a magazine...isn't. For me, magazine has certain connotations, and they tend to revolve around it being A4 size, and if it's smaller than that it's pretty big and sturdy. This is A5 and 40 pages, ...
The Sun reported that a white "Hip-Hop fan" was cleared of using racist language when he called a black man the n-word. Perhaps unsurprisingly the man who used this term, Christopher Jones, fails to acknowledge ...
Thu 6th
14:54
LibLink: Paddy Ashdown - Fighting climate change is moral, vital, and in our own interests
In the Independent, Paddy Ashdown shares his thoughts on the Doha climate change talks, currently ongoing and being attended by Lib Dem energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey. Here's an excerpt of what Paddy has to say: Despite being in the midst of global recession, it is essential that governments in developed nations recognise that tackling climate change is not just a moral responsibility they bear to those in the developing world but an essential part of their national interest. Climate problems faced by some will ultimately affect us all. Lack of action now will only increase the burden ...
Once again the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer's Autumn statement has provoked a storm of claim and counterclaim among economics commentators. The particular breed of expert whose voice is loudest is the macroeconomist. They have a lot of important things to say. And yet their analysis is often superficial. We end up talking about the wrong things. There is a magnificent imperial power about macroeconomics. It looks at economies in aggregate, and develops a broad sweep. It deals with national income, growth rates, productivity, inflation, unemployment – all concepts that are represented by neat numbers. Their policy instruments are referred ...
December 8, 2012 10:00 AM Chichester Memorial Hall, 70 Sandgate High Street, Sandgate CT20 3AR Christmas gifts, cards, art, jewellery, vintage home ware, plants & more. Refreshments available. Free Entry. For a stall or information please contact Zoesvarian@aol.com. Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY
Thu 6th
14:36
Bob Costas uses his Prime Time TV audience to talk gun control laws after NFL murder-suicide.
If you have any knowledge of the US Sports scene then you'll know of Bob Costas. He has been one of the faces and voices of sports broadcasting in the country for over 30 years. Part of his duties is to front NBC's NFL TV coverage and on Sunday he worked the nationally televised Prime Time game as per usual. Just over 24 hours earlier a Kansas City Chief had killed his wife, driven to the stadium and thanked his coach and the general manager of the team before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide in front of ...
According to Cornwall Council, there are some streets that don't exist - at least as far as street cleaning and litter picking are concerned. One such is Blind Hole in Launceston which runs down to the Orchard Centre, home of the youth partnership and other community organisations. This street isn't classed as town centre and so doesn't get swept every day. But then, it isn't classed as a residential zone two street either (in which case it should get swept every six weeks). According to Cornwall Council's contract with Cory, it doesn't exist at all. Any sweeping or litter picking ...
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by EBuzzing (Wikio as was). No entries, no departures this month. 1 (7) Liberal Democrat Voice Up 1 2 (25) Mark Pack Down 7 3 (35) Jennie Rigg Up 9 4 (46) Stephen Tall Up 10 5 (53) Paul Walter Up 6 6 (60) Lynne Featherstone Down 6 7 (63) Neil Monnery Up 6 8 (64) Andrew George Up 12 9 (67) Alex Marsh Up 14 10 (69) David Allen Green Up 9 11 (78) Liberal Vision Down 10 12 (79) Liberal England Up 14 13 ...
Philosophy Bites has a podcast of an interview with Henry Hardy about Isaiah Berlin and his theory of pluralism. Berlin argued that the tragedy of the modern Liberal is that there is no guarantee that the values we cherish - notably freedom and equality - are mutually compatible. More than that, when those values conflict there is no formula that will tell us which value should trump the other, I think Berlin is right, and no amount being told to read T.H. Green or L.T.Hobhouse by people who have not read those thinkers themselves, will convince me he is wrong. ...
My free copy of Ad Lib arrived today. It was mostly unsurprising, but there were a couple of unexpected things about it. The first surprise was the size; having had it consistently described as a magazine I was expecting something... well... magazine sized. Perhaps this is due to me having worked in a couple of newsagents', I dunno. Anyway, it's not magazine sized. It's not even American comic sized. It's just slightly bigger than my daughter's Kindle Touch. I guess this could be sold as a positive, making the thing more portable. The second surprise was the number of loose ...
Many residents across Ealing are suffering from the continued poor level of service that Labour-run Ealing Council's waste contractor, Enterprise, are providing. Nine months after the contact started we are still left with a large number of streets that are dirty and unclean. Last year my Council postbag contained a majority of complaints about the huge increase in parking charges. Now a huge share is from residents annoyed with the following: Missed collection of waste and recyclablesStreets not swept properlyLeaves not swept upUncollected bags of leavesReports of fly-tipped waste not collected quicklyNew residents not knowing what they can recycle A ...
Yesterday's debate on whether or not to suspend standing orders so as to pass regulations on Council Tax benefit was bad enough, but today's developments have turned a government cock-up into a full-scale farce. In many ways the Welsh Government were their own worse enemy yesterday. Despite the fact that Scotland and many English Councils had put their council tax benefit scheme into place some time ago, Welsh Ministers insisted that they could not do anything until they knew how much money they were getting from Westminister to fund it. There was no pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft regulations, no ...
Voice co-editor Mark Pack made his debut on Newsnight's political panel last night, discussing the politics of the autumn statement. You can watch his thoughts below, or on YouTube here. * Nick Thornsby is Thursday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs here.
Residents in South Werrington and North Gunthorpe are being reminded that if they live in privately-owned or rented homes and have an annual household income of below £26,000, they are entitled to apply for funding and help through the Winter Warmth Partnership! Commenting, local LIB DEM ward councillor Darren Fower said: "The scheme aims to help people stay warm during the winter months, has been funded, for the second year in a row, by the Department of Health's Warm Homes Healthy People Fund. "Last year, it helped more than 400 people access services and benefits available, and saved lives by ...
Nobody was really expecting another rise in the Income Tax threshold in yesterday's Autumn Statement. A significant rise, to over £9,000 had already been announced. When Chancellor George Osborne revealed that there would be a further rise to £9440, he didn't add on the rest of the story - that this would mean that the Liberal Democrats' key pledge of raising the threshold to £10,000 by 2015, looked certain to be met. The tax threshold pledge was right there on the front page of our manifesto. Nick Clegg had talked for years about making the tax system fairer, citing the ...
Had fun doing Newsnight last night, talking about the Autumn Statement with Danny Finkelstein and Sally Morgan. Jeremy Paxman wasn't too fearsome and I did like his introduction... As for the fallout from this: Most important text message of the day received: from party HQ approving of my tie #newsnight — Mark Pack (@markpack) December 6, 2012
An £82m contingency fund to help struggling health boards with their finances has been announced by Health Minister Lesley Griffiths. But Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams said: "The minister is predictably denying that this is a bailout." Griffiths had "plugged a hole in the NHS' finances by raiding its capital budget. I struggle to see how this can be described as anything other than a bailout." Kirsty added: "The basic fact is that this Welsh Labour Government has completely mismanaged our health service and has left the finances of the NHS in complete ruins. Simply rejigging money around is not ...
Unbeleivable! This morning instead of calling for a time out on the issue of flag the DUP's Health Minister has decided to throw more fuel on the flames by calling on a review of the days the Union Flag flies at Stormont. He says we "need to identify a sustainable position" on the issue. At the moment we do not have a sustainable position across the whole country because of a decision made in just one Council area. How on earth can he think that bringing this issue before the Assembly in the next few weeks is going to diffuse ...
George Osborne's Autumn Statement covered the ups and downs of the British economy in appropriately forensic details. Despite this, technology and the digital economy were virtually absent. Nothing on open data. Nothing on broadband. Nothing on video games. There wasn't even anything on the Government's Tech City pet project. Given the importance of the digital ...
View Poll: Playing Devil's Advocate [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Almost every week brings news of the closure of bank branches in rural areas. As an Assembly Member in Wales representing a large rural region, I know at first hand the real effects of bank closures on local communities and businesses. Latest figures from the Campaign for Community Banking Services, published in September, show that in the last ten years just under 2,000 bank branches have closed. There are now 900 communities that have only one bank branch and 1,200 communities with no bank branch at all. The traditional 'Big 4' banks closed 178 branches in 2011. Estimates suggest a ...
Don't panic I'm also still a Liberal Democrat. That is a little constitutional anomaly with the Liberal Democrats not contesting elections here in this part of the UK. It means that members of our party here can join a local party that is in line with Liberal Democrat thinking. There are already a number of members of the local Liberal Democrats who are also members of the Alliance Party. I have never been a member of the Alliance Party, I only joined a political party when I went to University in Kingston, the first time I came back I wasn't ...
I have been given antibiotics, and been told to take paracetamol for pain/temperature, and to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg for vitamins and make sure my fluid intake is high. The eating part could be a problem - I haven't managed anything thicker than milk for two days. Still, at least that explains why everything aches - lungs not working properly, not enough oxygen to tissues, tissues complain. Looks like another couple of days in bed for me till antibiotics kick in :( [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
As a result of Freedom of Information request responses, the figures for all three major political party's conference accreditation schemes have been released. When I looked at the numbers for 2010, Labour conference attendees were around twice as likely to be blocked as Conservative conference ones, with the LibDem conference somewhere in the middle. The results for this year and previous years are as follows: 2012 2011 2010 LibDem 0.018% – 1 / 5,585 0.045% – 3 / 6,650 No accreditation Labour 0.032% – 3 / 9,403 0.19% – 25 / 12,032 0.20% – 24 / 11,988 Tory 0.04% – ...
Friend, colleague, and fellow geek, Sam Machin has introduced me to the wonders of the OBDII port! Essentially, OBD (On Board Diagnostics) is a port which is found on every car produced since the late 1990s. It allows garages to see all sorts of diagnostic information about your car, its engine, and all other manner of petrol-headed goodness. It's designed to be easily accessible and conform to a common standard. So, it's no surprise that a whole cottage-industry has developed around this port. Whereas connecting to OBD used to be something done only by garages, now anyone can buy an ...
Today we witnessed a government and a chancellor with a lack of wiggle room writhing around to the best of their ability. George Osborne was on surprisingly good form compared to the blundered budget, and Ed Balls was insipid in a response that seemed to ignore the forecasts and measures just outlined before him. Nevertheless, even with the chancellor on song and his opposite number off-key, it will be difficult for the coalition to use the statement as much of a turning point in the narrative of this government. Whilst both parties would like the press and the public to ...
Local LIB DEM ward councillor, Darren Fower says he believes that introducing additional bus lanes throughout the city is the only real option to addressing traffic problems and encouraging greater bus patronage. Darren, who uses the number 1 bus, 3 or 4 times a week, says that while this area benefits from dedicated lanes, like the one leading past Welbourne, through to the Werrington Centre, the rest of the city's traffic jams and delays are getting worse with every passing year. Commenting, Darren said: "It's getting worse and I expect this year's Christmas period to emphasise my view. In the ...
The council are proposing some changes to the Youth Services provided in Lewisham and are asking for feedback to their proposed changes. If you have a moment, particularly if you are a parent or guardian of children who use the services at the moment it is your chance to help shape the way these changes are made. Please do pass on this information to anyone you know who may be affected also. More information can be found on the council website: www.lewisham.gov.uk/youngpeople First have a read over the proposals the council have put forward here: And here's how you ...
Last night the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the non-sectarian party, had a number of its constituency offices attacked and several elected members threatened by extremists. In response I have gone to their website and made a donation. I trust others will do the same. Bigotry and sectarianism have no place in politics. socialise this: [IMG: add 'Supporting the Alliance Party' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'Supporting the Alliance Party' a digg] [IMG: add 'Supporting the Alliance Party' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'Supporting the Alliance Party' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'Supporting the Alliance Party' a Twitter]
Stoned Again: Jacqui Smith on the decision to re-classify cannabis | Radio Times Christ on a bike, this person was home secretary? *despairs* (tags: ) Shares for rights: The right to have your opinion listened to has been ignored (tags: ) Metropolitan Police Service - My Decision The met have launched a sexual assault reporting website. How long before it goes down under the deluge of groped-on-the-tube reports? (tags: ) Preventing Unintended Pregnancies by Providing No-Cost Contr... : Obstetrics & Gynecology Best way to cut abortion rates? Provide contraception (tags: ) Want to advertise an unpaid internship? Be quick - ...
Just a quick note here to mention, once again, the absolutely exemplary customer service provided by Lars Pearson of Mad Norwegian. I've already pointed this out before, when because it took him a whole week or so to get a book I ordered shipped, he threw in a free copy of another book as well ...
Both Liberal Reform and the Social Liberal Forum have commented on the measures contained in yesterday's autumn (read winter) statement. First up, Liberal Reform welcomed many of the measures – particularly the faster increase in the income tax personal allowance – but expressed concerns about the party's approach to the negotiations on the statement: Liberal Reform welcomes many of the individual measures outlined in the Autumn Statement. The faster-than-expected increase in the income tax personal allowance and the freeze in fuel duty are particularly welcome, and reflect the Liberal Democrat priority of reducing the tax burden on those on low ...
I hold no brief for George Osborne and think his economic policy wrong, but if I were him I think I would have walked out of the Today studio this morning. Evan Davis repeatedly asked questions and then stopped Osborne from answering them. Finally he blamed Osborne for taking too long. This was all followed by Nick Robinson telling me that I didn't understand the difference between the
Our government is to freeze increases in welfare payments to 1% per year. which is below the rate of inflation, so effectively a cut. This will save the public purse some £3.7bn a year. To make it fair, and so placate we Liberal Democrats, the amount that the wealthy can put into their pension pots free of tax is to be reduced from £50 000 a year to £45 000, thus saving the Treasury £600m a year. I suppose the disproportionate savings to achieve this "fairness" can be justified by the fact that there are a lot more people receiving ...
As far as I am aware, there is only one meeting at Blyth Town Council next week Assets Committee, Tuesday 11th December, 6:30 pm at Ebor House
The Problem With Liberal Democrats In Government – That sound you hear? Jennie Rigg hitting a nail perfectly on the head. Let's end this Christmas Psalms Race – Jim Jepps has some entirely reasonable suggestions for keeping Christmas entirely within December. Welcome to Pyongyang – Simon Titley discusses Liberal Democrat internal democracy on Liberator's blog. The rise of UKIP: what does it all mean? – Analysis from Dr Rob Ford on Political Betting. Is politics impossible for ordinary people? – "Can an ordinary person sustain the disdain bordering on hatred directed at politicians (of all parties) mixed with the irrational ...
Following queries from Logie residents about the sorting of recycled materials in the green boxes, I queried the matter with the City Council and the Waste and Environment Project Team Leader has updated me as follows: "The green boxes are no longer sorted at the kerbside but decanted fully mixed into the collection vehicle and taken to our Baldovie Depot. Once at Baldovie, the dry mixed recyclate (DMR) is then bulked & loaded onto containers for onward transportation to our reprocessors Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where a variety of techniques are used to separate & sort the various materials - ...
Reader, dear reader, I am heartbroken. Once upon a time, I was in love. Now, no more. The objection of my affection has featured on these pages before. Back in March last year they were wowing me with their enthusiasm and theatricality. Oh, I knew that their coffee wasn't the best - but I was in love with an idea. A contrived Americana on every corner. Years ago, at the height of my habit, in one store I used to frequent, they would be making my drink before I'd even got to the till. More recently, I enjoyed a weekly ...
...is that he is just too concerned with political point scoring as this response to a perfectly reasonable question from David Miliband on the Autumn statement shows. (The full debate and exchanges can be downloaded from the Hansard website). David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab): This time last year, the Chancellor told me not to worry about youth unemployment on the grounds that his Youth Contract would take care of it. Now we know that 450,000 young people have been unemployed for more than six months and that 179,000 have gone on to the Work programme but only 5,920 have got ...
