The heavy rain over the past few days has finally caused the River Gipping to fill to dangerous levels, and the Environment Agency have issued a flood warning for the river south of Needham Market, as far as Bramford. Here in Creeting St Peter, Mill Lane is flooded near Flint Hall, as Ros discovered on her way home this evening. Then, at around 4.15 p.m., it was passable with care, but we've had more rain since, although I'm pleased to say that it has stopped for the time being. The system of drainage ditches has held up pretty well, especially ...
The picture presented by last week's local elections (see below) contrasts remarkably with LibDem performance in the national opinion polls. I think part of the explanation is that where there is a strong LibDem presence. we buck the trend, and maybe the outlook is better than the media are saying. I also believe that we are starting to be successful in differentiating ourselves from the Tories. a task they are making easier for us by their lurch to the right. We should oppose further welfare cuts, defend the Human Rights Act, and explain the huge advantages the UK gets from ...
Forty years ago today Apollo 17 launched the last manned moon mission. Commander Gene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon and one of only three to go to the moon twice (he was also part of the Apollo 10 crew who flew round the moon). Apparently he left his camera on the moon to be picked up at a later date...
After a stuttering start on Wednesday, the Frontier webcam positioned at the border between Gibraltar and Spain has this afternoon gone live and is freely available to view online at www.frontierqueue.gi. Following the visit of Deputy CM Dr Joseph Garcia to Strasbourg a couple of weeks ago for a series of meetings, the Gibraltar Government took the decision to set up a video live stream of the
Fri 7th
21:20
New LDV members' survey now live: your views on Leveson, the Autumn Statement, Europe and the Coalit...
The new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. Questions we're asking this month include: what you think of Lord Justice Leveson's proposals for the press; what you make of George Osborne's Autumn Statement; what you think about Europe; your views on Nick Clegg's leadership leading figures within the Lib Dems; and what you think of the Coalition's performance to date. Oh, and ...
This is a piece featured in The Libertine 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 ...
December 3 and 4 London witnessed Awami League and BNP law makers sitting together and debating a range of political issues confronting Bangladesh, from how to ensure free and fair elections in 2013 to minority persecution. Two meetings were held in the Palace of Westminster in the presence of British parliamentarians and international human rights organisations. The December 3 meeting in Portcullis House was attended by senior representatives of the AL and the BNP. Hosted by the Conservative Party's Anne Main MP, Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh and chaired by Liberal Democrat Lord Avebury, Vice Chair of ...
Recently your local Lib Dem ward councillors Darren Fower and Julia Davidson paid a site visit to Norwood School, along with local police community support officers, to see first-hand the problems caused by the inconsiderate parking of some parents dropping their children off at school. Following the visit Darren said: "It was a very useful visit and it gave both Julia and me the chance to speak with parents and residents about the issues they face. "This is a problem caused by a handful of parents, some of whom are parking not just inconsiderately but also illegally and putting other ...
As the Christmas shop really kicks in this weekend, I wanted to highlight a scheme that is running in Chorlton until end of business on Sunday (9th December) . 'TAG! Pass It On!' is a Chorlton has a community loyalty scheme ... Continue reading →
Cyclists, hold your breath. Two big cycling improvement projects are being recommended to Cambridgeshire County Council's Cabinet next week: lighting of the Guided Bus cycleway remodelling the Long Road cycleways And campaigners, take heart. Both schemes are the direct result of people campaiging for the improvements they believed were needed: my own Light the Cycleway petition to the County Council earlier this year The transport officers at the County say: The Guided Busway from the City Rail Station to the Trumpington Park and Ride Site is not lit. A petition was submitted raising this matter as a concern, and feasibility ...
UPDATE: Apologies, the original version of this post didn't include the Jumbo application. 122095: Demolish existing structure and build new extension, Margaret Road 122105: Replacement of existing signage, Lion Walk 122151: Advertisement consent for "An interpretation panel displaying historical and other information about Jumbo water tower for the benefit of the public", Balkerne Gardens 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 ...
I was thinking about Alarm Clock Britain today. I'm sorry, I shouldn't remind you of an idea that's hopefully long dead (though I have visions of people in the DPM's office doing the occasional head-desk interface when Clegg decides he wants to try and push it again) but something prompted me to look up a couple of my old posts on it. Those, of course, reminded me of what's probably the most vapid, soulless and content-free article ever published on Liberal Democrat Voice, but if anything, that's got even funnier with the benefit of hindsight. I know it's not really ...
The local area on www.bombsight.org The National Archives, University of Portsmouth and Jisc (look it up!) have released an amazing insight into London in the Blitz. The new website - bombsight.org - maps out where in London was hit. (On the first day of publication the interest in the site was causing it to crash quite frequently. Try visiting another time as it is quite spectacular). Looking at it locally you can see that Agamemnon Road was particularly badly hit. I am not an expert - and its difficult to tell why such a cluster fell there - except that ...
Sefton Council have announced the revised wheelie bin and recycling collection dates for the Christmas period. All households will receive a letter with their collection dates. This year, for the first time, there will be no wheelie bin collections during Christmas week (December 24-28), although there will be a recycling collection during that time. For the first grey wheelie bin collection in the New Year, residents can also leave out up to three black sacks of waste which will be collected. Further details are on Sefton Council's website here You can check the collection dates for your address here
This provides more information about the case.
Being up all night does give me somewhat of an advantage as far as news goes. As I'm writing this even the BBC has not yet covered what's been seen on NBC, CNN, Russia Today and others. Namely, the reports that Assad has had chemical and biological weapons prepared for use. Obviously, at this point we're unable to establish if this is fact, what we do know however is that Syria is in possession of these weapons and Assad's regime is clawing along on its last breaths. I don't need to establish how devastating chemical and biological weapons like these ...
Here's my latest email to constituents in Hornsey and Wood Green - It's getting closer to the festive period, and Labour-run Haringey Council have an unwanted gift in store for vulnerable residents - a 20% increase in their Council Tax bill. Next year, Council Tax benefits will be replaced by a Council Tax localisation scheme. Pensioners will be unaffected, but all adults of working age who were receiving benefit may have to pay the extra money - if the Council refuses to cover the cost. In these tough economic times, the Government cannot give local authorities an endless supply of ...
Firstly, my apologies for missing a few weeks, mostly due to a rather hectic diary. So, where were we?... It has to be said that next week is a relatively quiet week for the Liberal Democrats, with no oral questions scheduled, although Monday does see some Liberal Democrat ministerial action, with Jim Wallace taking the Second Reading of the Partnerships (Prosecution) (Scotland) Bill, which is intended to make provision for the prosecution in Scotland of partnerships, partners and others following dissolution or changes in membership. More important, probably, is Day 3 of the Report Stage of the Crime and Courts ...
Some pre-Christmas cheer for the Liberal Democrats in Sutton today as we won the Stonecot ward council byelection by some distance. Despite claims by the Conservative candidate that he was out in front, the Lib ...
It's Chipping Sodbury Victorian Day today (Friday 7 December) running through until 9.30 pm - see the Chipping Sodbury Lions website for details. Well worth going to - all sorts of stalls, entertainments, music. Shops will be open, with many shopkeepers in Victorian dress. And did we mention the camel? The Living Crib and Lantern Procession will come along the High Street to St John's Church at 5.30pm with a parade of nativity animals including Joseph the Camel. Tomorrow (Saturday 8 December) is Chipping Sodbury Christmas Market, organised by the Sodbury Chamber of Commerce - click here for details of ...
The above paradox is quoted by G.K. Chesterton in the very first of the Father Brown detective stories and attributed to (Edgar Allen) Poe. There was another American who talked about known knowns, known unknowns, unknown knowns and unknown unknowns. I actually think his formulation was quite neat, unlike his legacy. Poe was right. Occasionally in this blog I depart from questions of political philosophy and suchlike to talk about something serious - birdwatching. A few days ago I went on a longish walk along our local river, the Stour, which for much of its course forms the Essex/Suffolk border. ...
On a sunny morning I snapped some roundabout art in Durham City. Think we can compare with Durham?
The English Candidates Committee (ECC) has decided to retain positive action measures to address the under-representation of women in the Parliamentary Party. Clause 24 in the Westminster Rules for Selection of Parliamentary Candidates stipulates that where the ECC has decided to adopt positive action arrangements which affect a shortlist, those arrangements shall be observed by the Returning Officer and shortlisting committee as if they were contained in this Rule. The provision is that: In strategic seats and aspiring strategic seats (those that have 'opted up' to the full selection process): a shortlist of three candidates must contain a minimum of ...
Today I joined a select group who are members of the dual party membership club. I've been a member of the Liberal Democrats since I joined Aberystwyth University in September 2000 - I never thought I would join another. But today I have joined their sister party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland as a show of support after the outrageous recent events that have befallen David Ford and his colleagues in recent days over the Unionist flag dispute. Source: The Guardian It comes after a vote at Belfast City Hall earlier this week in which the nationalists wanted to ...
The Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement on Wednesday that the Government no longer intends to expand regional and local pay, a policy that would have had a detrimental effect on Wales. Over the past year the Welsh Liberal Democrats have led the campaign against regional and local pay. In September, the we took a motion to the UK party conference calling for Ministers to put an end to Tory plans for regional pay. I am delighted that the Liberal Democrats have put a brake on George Osborne's plans for regional or local pay. Yes, we need to rebalance the ...
The Autumn Statement has announced no further cuts to local government in the next financial year, with a 2% cut the following year. We're grateful to Danny Alexander, Don Foster and Nick Clegg for stepping in and saying "no" to further cuts to local services over the next year - in a way we just haven't seen from the DCLG Secretary of State, Eric Pickles. Liberal Democrat Ministers have stopped an across-the-board cut of 1% to local government next year. That means up to £240m extra that will be in council budgets every year which will help fund youth services, ...
It occurred to me that I've been very lucky in my computing career. I had parents who encouraged my love of technology, who were able to teach me BASIC, and buy my brother and I our first computer when we were still quite young. That old BBC Micro served me well and helped springboard me to where I am today. I think it's time for all of us in the technology industry to encourage young people to explore the fascinating world of computers. Our lives are dominated by computers - and knowing how to program them is as essential as ...
Europe fails on carbon storage and capture [IMG: Battersea Power Station] Hopes of Europe becoming a world leader in the development of a key technology to combat global warming have been dashed, and more than €1.5 billion of EU funding available to support carbon capture & storage (CCS) projects will now be diverted to new renewable energy schemes. The announcement today that steelmakers ArcelorMittal will not proceed with their Ulcos project in France means that not one single new CCS scheme is set to proceed. Europe's Prime Ministers declared in 2007 that they wanted to see up to 12 CCS ...
There has been a lot of general discussion about the legacy of the Olympics. The PM has appointed Seb Coe to head up the legacy program, and I have argued that British cycling should stay based in Manchester after 2014. Yesterday, ... Continue reading →
Gibraltar's national football and futsal teams have been included in UEFA competition draws for the first time, in a not so insignificant move towards gaining acceptance as a full UEFA member. Here are the results of the UEFA Futsal EURO 2013/14 Preliminary round draw... twitter.com/UEFAcom/status...— UEFA.com (@UEFAcom) December 4, 2012 In a series of draws carried out at the FIFA HQ in Nyon,
Today Northern Ireland is welcoming Hillary Clinton. The first time she turned up death threats were a common occurrence to our elected representatives and other people who had got on the wrong side of the paramilitaries. Therefore it is with shame that all three levels of local representative today have announced that they have received death threats. The Alliance MP for East Belfast Naomi Long spoke very calmly on The Nolan Show this morning. She was talking about those who had taken to the streets claiming that their rights were being chipped away at, but then came the telling statement: ...
The idea that you or I could just turn up at our local tax office and tell them how much tax we were going to pay them is utterly ridiculous. I'd kind of like to try, just to see their faces. It seems that corporate muscle will allow you to get away with a multitude of sins. I don't see what's wrong with Starbucks working out what profit they make in this country and pay tax on it. It's not rocket science. and it's what, as Christine Jardine pointed out in the Scotsman the other day, the little independent coffee ...
We keep being told that, where we work, we can win. And it's still true, no matter how gloomy the opinion polls are, as this week's by-election results demonstrate. The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats from the Conservatives in a stunning by-election win in Oxford West & Abingdon constituency. Elizabeth Miles and Val Shaw won on a 17% swing from the Tories in Sunningwell & Wootton ward, and their double victory reduced the Conservative majority on the Vale of White Horse District Council to just three. Speaking after the result, Lib Dem Campaign Manager Neil Fawcett said: "This is ...
In a ceremony shown on TV last night, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams was presented with the Welsh Politician of the Year award.
In the past month Kent Police have investigated 2 thefts of garden furniture from the Hospital Hill area, 1 incident of theft from a motor vehicle in Castle Road, 1 incident of theft of building materials in Sandgate High Street, 1 incident of theft of building supplies from Sandgate High Street, 1 incident of burglary in Enbrook Valley and 1 incident of criminal damage to fencing at Saga. There have been 5 calls regarding livestock running free along Pond Hill Road. Vehicle parking continues to be a problem on Castle Road, Meadowbrook Road and Bybrook Field. Police have also been ...
From The Guardian on Wednesday And from The Guardian on Monday...
Big congratulations to Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, who was voted 'Assembly Member of the Year' at the ITV Wales Welsh Politician of the Year awards ceremony in Cardiff on Tuesday. Accepting her award, Kirsty Williams quoted Violet Bonham-Carter saying: I often hear it suggested that women will bring gentleness into politics. I am not altogether sure that this is right. Kirsty was commended for bringing politicians of all hues together, in Cardiff and in Westminster, for the benefit of Wales. Earlier on in the year, the Welsh Liberal Democrat group in the Assembly, under the leadership ...
In Praise Of Mad Norwegian Press (tags: ) Don't play devil's advocate with me This post says very clearly how I feel about the game of Devil's Advocate. (tags: ) 2012 Political Conference Accreditation results Interesting figures. (tags: ) Disabled workers told they face redundancy in new Remploy closures | Society | guardian.co.uk This is one of the most despicable things the current government has done. (tags: ) Dogs taught to drive cars in New Zealand - video | World news | guardian.co.uk Extremely cute video of dogs actually driving actual cars. The bearded collie in particular is very cool. ...
It's been a while since I wrote about my progress on edX 6.00x. However, the course has been fairly uneventful until a couple of evenings ago when I completed problem set 8 (which was part of week 9, due to the US Thanksgiving holiday). It's a little more stressful now, as I'm trying desperately to work out where I might manage to fit in a few hours before 0459 GMT on Monday morning to take the second Midterm exam. Week 8 consisted of a single lecture sequence and a few finger exercises on sampling and probabilities, hashing algorithms and Monte ...
Fri 7th
08:15It's not just this Government that's unpopular: it's the idea of Coalition. Here's what Lib Dems nee...
There are many arguments the Lib Dems are winning in government. But there is one very big debate we're currently on the losing side of with the public: that coalition government is capable of working. And it's not surprising that voters are unpersuaded given we Lib Dems look a whole lot less than convinced by the experience. The known knowns of Coalition Let's get two pieces of mitigation out of the way: 1) Coalition government is always tougher on the junior party: we lack the democratic mandate and therefore the strength in numbers in ministerial posts to have the impact ...
I made the mistake last week of suggesting that it would be a quiet day. Which, I suppose it was, at least until I was reminded that we'd had three pretty poor by-election results overnight and felt obliged to write something about them. It seems that there are still comments being posted... I've checked this week, and there are no parliamentary by-elections to report. There have been six by-elections on principal authorities, however, and the results have been excellent so far, with gains in Vale of White Horse, Brentwood and St Austell, and a good hold in Sutton. So, what ...
Thank you to everyone who came out in what was frankly atrocious weather for santa, christmas lights and carol singing. Special thanks are due to the Rotarians, Gatley Traders (esp Sue and David Fernandez for organising) and everyone on the stalls: I know you were standing there pretty much alone until about 6.45 when everyone else started turning up! A very difficult one given the weather, but I hope that everyone who made it enjoyed themselves. I can say the mince pies and cake was delicious.
From Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee: On Saturday 8th December at 2pm there will be a special event to tie into our latest exhibition in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee, celebrating the 75th birthday of the world's third-longest running comic, The Dandy, created by Dundee publishers DC Thomson. The exhibition looks back over the Dandy's past, with original artwork featuring much-loved characters such as Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Brassneck and Winker Watson by great artists such as Dudley D Watkins, Eric Roberts and David Law. It includes material dating back ...
Anne Heymann From Sheena Wellington: Friends of Wighton complete their 2012 Cappuccino Concert programme on Saturday 8th December with two very special guests! Saturday 8th December at 10.30amWighton Centre, Central Library, Dundee, DD1 1DB Cappuccino Concert. Coffee and newspapers served from 10.30am, music starts 11am. Ann Heymann (harps) and Charlie Heymann (vocals and other instruments) Saturday 8 December from 2pm until 3.30pmWighton Centre, Central Library, Dundee, DD1 1DB Ann Heymann : Harp workshop Ann will lead the regular Saturday afternoon harp class in the Wighton Centre Ann Heymann, the master of the Gaelic harp, is currently living and working in ...
I have spent the last couple of days running a conference in Crieff with my day-job ... weather was more than a little snowy but very scenic! Here's me photographed at the conference exhibition!
Labour's Andrew Jenkins won the by-election in the Neath South ward left vacant by the death of Mal Gunter. (pdf of the declaration here) We congratulate him and trust that he will serve the residents well. Liberal Democrat candidate Charlotte Cross polled 130 votes to Labour's 399, a creditable performance for a first-time candidate in a campaign where we were not able to put out as much literature as we had hoped and in a ward which we had not previously contested since the county borough came into being.
After several illuminating conversations (it turns out I'm actually able to have them), I'm coming to terms with how much there is that I need to improve. I've mentioned in the past how I need to stop being so negative in conversations. But a larger issue is that I actually need to add positives to
