Instead of Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary, this evening I've been thinking about a more personal event. It's thirty-eight years exactly since little three-year-old me was first captivated by Doctor Who with Part Three of Robot, Tom Baker's first story as the Doctor. I've analysed with enthusiasm the Who season that filled the first half of 1975, as well as raving about that year as the series' best ever as a result - and, happily, the new Doctor Who Magazine printed a letter from me saying just that, just yesterday. But if to see the punchline, you'll have to read on... ...
Yesterday a poll of the residents of the parishes of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt was held to gauge views on a proposal to group the two parishes under a single council. Harborough District Council has the results: Kibworth Beauchamp Yes - 549 votes (87%) No - 84 votes (13%) Total votes - 633 Turnout - 19.4% Kibworth Harcourt Yes - 91 votes (31%) No - 211 votes (69%) Total votes - 302 Turnout - 25.5% So it was a yes from Beauchamp and a no from Harcourt. This poll is not binding, but I suspect that means the merger ...
The time is approaching when Stockton council, along with every other council in the country, has to set its budget for the next 12 months. The story being told by the officers who are expert on such calculations is that the budget gap is going to get wider each year for the next few years and that it's going to be increasingly difficult to find ways to cut costs. More services will have to be
"The truth is that the Lib Dems badly need a central organising economic idea. They have survived for too long now on a bundle of issues around fairness and civil liberties, which - although important - are not winning reasons for government." So says David Boyle on The Real Blog. "French actor Gérard Depardieu is in trouble with Russian liberals for his planned move to Russia," reports Simon Titley on Liberator's blog. "This move has earned a stern rebuke from the liberal party Yabloko (a member party of Liberal International). The chairman of Yabloko's Mordovia branch has written an open ...
With the sad news that guitar legend Wilko Johnson is suffering from terminal cancer, I thought it's time for more from his back catalogue...
A month ago I celebrated George Pickles, the Ripon Hornblower. Now, on the Ripon Gazette site, comes news that he has resigned. Which is a shame, because he seemed very good at it to me. Another councillor is quoted as saying: "I am shocked, stunned and amazed."
The Liberator bog has published a letter from Yabloko - the Russian liberal party (not to be confused with the Russian Liberal Democrats) to Gerard Depardieu challenging him on his decision to move to the republic of Mordovia. It's the sort of thing that needs a wider circulation.
We've already heard how the 2014 Tour de France will be starting in Leeds, but that might not be the first British Grand Tour of that year. Reports have come out today that the 2014 Giro D'Italia will be starting in Belfast, with the opening stages taking it from Northern Ireland into the Republic, probably to Dublin. It's all unconfirmed as yet, but perhaps another indication that the UK remains the largest untapped market for professional cycling in Europe. The other interesting part is that according to that Cycling Weekly report, new rules mean a Grand Tour must run for ...
John Leach MP for Manchester has come up with his top ten achievements from the mid term report. I noticed another I thought worth a top ten finish. The Employee Ownership Association reported : Government Progress on EO highlighted in Coalition Audit (4th para on page)On Monday the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister published its Mid Term Review - a 46 page document listing the Government's achievements since the last election across policy areas. It includes points such as reducing the budget deficit, reforming public services, improving school standards, freezing council tax and increasing income tax allowances and says ...
They've just put this 'joke' on their Facebook page: Clearly this is what happens when you appoint Mehdi Hassan as your 'Political Director'
Received a great card from Finland today. 60 years old this year, it advertises what Google Translate tells me are "Ring railway journeys" and advises that "Description booklets [are available from?] stations and travel agencies". The golden age of rail? [IMG: Rautateiden Rengasmatkat] If you'd like to receive great cards like this from all over the World, then Postcrossing is the place to head. Thanks to Perjo for this gem!
The Master, the Doctor's recurring foe. What to choose - the gentlemanly battles between Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado, the pure hynotic, spine chilling evil of Anthony Ainley, who frightened me much more, or the almost painfully deranged John Simm? I don't see why they had to kill off Derek Jacobi just because Tennant was young and fit - those few minutes he played the Master reborn in Utopia were very good. Simm's performance was excellent, but Jacobi would have been great too and I think the contrast might have been good. I think it has to be Delgado, just ...
Friday: Never give up hope. Would I personally have celebrated the halfway point of our shackling to the Nasty Party by voting for a 1% cap on most working age benefits, another miserable compromise, watering down slavering Tory attacks on the less well off, because something is better than nothing? Would I want to be in a place where anyone has even heard the phrase "triple dip"? Would I call the first half of this Coalition a SUCCESS? After TUITION FEES, the NHS bill, the AV debacle, Lords Reform failing, and just Jeremy Hunt... But Hard Labour want to ban ...
The New Year brings the return of Chris's regular week ahead feature. 1. Next week Chris will travel to Strasbourg as part of the regular travelling circus that most MEPs strongly oppose. EU Prime Ministers could stop the practice of ... Continue reading →
And the first proper 2013 applications, with a '13′ at the start of the reference number. 122211: Replace 1960′s style single glazed windows with pvc heritage vertical sliders, Castle Road. 122272: Alterations, demolitions and repairs to existing building including change of use to business centre and cafe, Queen Street. 122273: Listed building consent for 122272. 130013: Listed building consent to improve disabled access, Headgate Theatre. 130045: Removal and replacement of canopy and cladding, Sheepen Place. 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 ...
Got a lovely postcard with a Tardis and an invitation to visit on yesterday. Really made my day * hugs * Doctor Who post coming later. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Your editor has many hats – one of which is membership of Liberal Youth's International Committee. Given that, the Libertine interviewed your two candidates for International Officer, Conor McKenzie and Owen Bartholomew. RON refused to answer his e-mails. 1) What do you think qualifies you for the role of International Officer? CONOR : I think ...
If you think the British Liberal Democrats have a tough fight on their hands, consider our fellow liberals in the Arab world. The Arab Spring has provided much hope and reform, but has also been exploited by the Muslim Brotherhood to try and create strict Islamic states. Fortunately, local liberals are fighting back. In an interview with the Dutch newspaper Metro (English translation here), Rabih Fakhreddine of the Lebanese party Future Movement (a member party of Liberal International) and Vice-President of IFLRY (International Federation of Liberal Youth) is interviewed about the engagement of young liberals in the democratisation processes following ...
I did a short blog post the other day on our Chief Whip's admonishment of Stephen Tall over his, ahem, a less than satisfactory map of Alistair's constituency... (For those who missed it - here's a quick reminder; click to enlarge) Well, the excellent Caron Lindsay was kind enough to post my piece on Facebook, where it elucidated a few comments about Alistair's fearsome reputation. And guess what happened next (again, click to enlarge...) I blogged last year about our glorious President's ability to never miss a trick, speculating that perhaps there were in fact several Tim Farron Prometheus like ...
[IMG: Coding For Kids Woking Library] Last night, I ran my second Code Club at Woking Library - teaching kids how to program using Scratch. We're following CodeClub's syllabus which has loads of kid friendly lessons. The first lesson was a great success. It was held before the Christmas break - so I was eager to make sure that interest hadn't waned. Far from it - we were over subscribed! We had 10 PCs and 12 kids - which lead to some sharing of equipment. Everyone involved seemed to enjoy it (including me) - so I thought it would be ...
Earlier this week, a number of constituents contacted me to query why a section of the pavement in Shaftesbury Road has been dug up and is being resurfaced - see right. Its a reasonably short length on the south side. The City Council has advised me: "This senior engineer who visited the Shaftesbury Road yesterday has advised that this section of footway was identified as the only granolithic concrete constructed section of footway on Shaftesbury Road and had been highlighted from inspections as being in poor condition and requiring upgrade." No-one is more keen than myself to see the many ...
As reported in tonight's Evening Telegraph, I have given my strong support to the paper's campaign to have Caird Park Stadium renamed in memory of Ronnie McIntosh, who passed away earlier this month. I have already had constituents contact me to support this proposal which I think is an excellent one. Ronnie was a truly inspirational Dundonian and it would be a fitting way to remember him. I have been in correspondence with the City Council Chief Executive who has advised me that "... the officers of the Council are now looking into the matter." I think the proposal is ...
A Complex Problem Fandom: The Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy) Rating: General Audiences No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/F (genderswap. With secondary M/F) Characters: Peggy Blakeney, Marguerite St. Just, Armand St. Just, Andrew Ffoulkes, Suzanne de Tournay A Yuletide gift for [IMG: [livejournal.com profile] ] croik A woman's heart is such a complex problem – the owner thereof is often most incompetent to find the solution of this puzzle. The Scarlet Pimpernel This is in total an 18,000 word story, that basically retells the Scarlet Pimpernel, so no canon knowledge required! I'm going to post it over here in installments because ...
I'm pretty rubbish at choose Liberal Villains for my CentreForum series. I think I've chosen three in six months. I generally prefer to say "Well done, good on you" than "You failed, you illiberal bit of evil". That's probably why today I ended up blogging about two folks practising liberalism (in very different ways) rather than one person setting it back. But I hope this tweet needs little further explanation why Chris Grayling would have been my nominee as Liberal Villain of the Week if I had the time to write it... Chris Grayling on privatisation: "The last Government was ...
The government has published its mid-term report, and as expected Media coverage is naturally focusing on parts of the agreement that are not on track. However our own party analysis shows about 95% of the Coalition Agreement is on course. The MTR ... Continue reading →
Announcements come out of the communities department at all times of the day and night these days it seems. Rather before most of us were awake on Thursday morning, the department slipped out a statement that may just breathe life into the flagging localism project. Coming hours after the appearance of planning minister Nick Boles on Newsnight on Wednesday, the statement gave a firm commitment that communities will soon benefit from development on their patch. The plan is that parish and town councils will get a sizeable share of the community infrastructure levy imposed on most new developments. At a ...
Police newsletter for Gatley, including news of a break-in at Tesco and work to recruit dog-walkers to spot crimes. Police Gatley Newsletter, Jan 2013 by Iain Roberts
Ever since the revolutionary train swept across North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) pundits have been asking whether Turkey could offer a model for post-Revolution Arab states to follow, so maybe it was not so surprising that the Turkish Review (for which I occasionally write) should highlight the issue at its UK launch at ...
The Gatley Hill Allotment Society want to expand the existing allotments to take in a corner of Scholes Fields – and they want to know what you think of the idea. People are currently waiting 3-4 years for an allotment. The size of allotment plots has been halved and halved again but still there's a substantial waiting list. So the society have come up with the idea of expanding. This map shows approximately where the new allotment area would be (it's not entirely accurate, not least because I can't see quite where to draw the line on Google Maps when ...
It is a truth often acknowledged that Tony Blair and David Cameron, in moving their respective parties to the centre ground, left a gruelling obstacle on the road to a truly Liberal Britain. But it's not from those leaders that the next generation of Liberal Democrat's must learn, rather it is from a leader who would regard liberalism as a dirty word, and many Liberal outcomes as inimical to her view of society, Margaret Thatcher. The lesson for Lib Dems is that Thatcher understood that the less well off are just as aspirational as those born to wealth. The Tory ...
Report on proposed banking reforms is published The Economic and Monetary Committee has published a report "Banking Union and a Single Banking Supervisory Mechanism", with some expert opinions from European economists on the European Commission proposals to create a single supervisor for European banks. For those interested in the proposals, their viability and some of the arguments for gradations of supervisions – the 200 largest banks in the Eurozone have approximately 90% of the market in that area – the five opinions will provide a lucid, and brief summary of the key issues, the context in which decisions are being ...
I saw this poster earlier on the tube. Is the leader of UKIP moonlighting?
Tesco (Holmfield Road at junction with Aigburth Hall Avenue) parking problems are still apparent sadly. The other day I noticed that the junction was completely parked up with cars literally on the corners. What's more the delivery lorries are still not stopping in a sensible place. A local resident took this picture which clearly shows one of the lorries in the middle of the road. We had hoped that various visits and discussions would have eased these problems but it seems not. I am following this up and will blog again shortly.
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Addressing the Daily Mail and James Delingpole's 'crazy climate change obsession' article « Met Office News Blog Late to this party but neat @metoffice response> Addressing DailyMail & J Delingpole's 'crazy climate change obsession' http://buff.ly/UUbrKj Clegg 'not afraid' of EU vote | Storytracker | PoliticsHome Clegg tells journos he backs both the EU and Chris Huhne. We Lib Dems like our minority causes. http://buff.ly/VRGodt Academies are not all alike | FT data ARK & Jack Petchey come out best, says @XtopherCook > Academies are not all alike | FT data http://buff.ly/VRgTcj David ...
Sadly, yesterday another retailer went into administration, this time Jessops, the high street camera chain. For the time being it continues to trade but the jobs of its 2000 employees in 200 stores are under threat. Surprisingly, Christmas can be a bad time for retailers - rents are due on Christmas Day and if the expected bumper sales don't materialise, the money may not be there to pay them. Obviously it's not going to get any easier for 'bricks and mortar' store chains with the continuing increase in online sales, but there's a more fundamental problem - apart from the ...
The next deadline for applying to the Cressington Community First fund is 8th February. The fund is a pot of Government money which is given to initiatives in Cressington ward. There is a website which includes application details and information about priorities. It also explains where the actual ward boundaries are You can find the website at this link If you struggle to down load a form, please let me know and I will e mail you. In this case I will obviously need an e mail address for you. I am at paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk The fund is chaired by ...
Last night, as BBC News explains, Rutland County Council voted to set aside £90,000 to prosecute three of its own members for defamation. As I have been critical of this decision, I thought it only fair to invite the council to puts its side of the affair... In fact you can find the council's explanation on its website, but I suspect it will bitterly regret this action before it is over - not least because of the media attention its members have brought down on their own heads. Thanks to Matt Buck for the video.
ALDC has brought to my attention an article in the Economist. It says out loud what any realistic activist must know. The time of reckoning is fast approaching.... Labour leads in polls of voting intention but persistently lags behind the Conservatives on economic competence, often a better indication of a party's electoral prospects. Neil Kinnock, the leader under whom Labour lost the 1987 and 1992 elections, learned that lesson the hard way. Given the choice between "mean but smart" and "nice but dim", voters tend to pick the former, says Peter Kellner of YouGov, a pollster. The impression that Labour ...
Landlords and punters across the country should be raising a glass to Vince Cable today after he announced new rules for pub companies (or pubcos) which will help local publicans in these difficult economic times. His plans include the introduction of an independent adjudicator and a new statutory code for the industry - something I argued for in this IPPR report: Tied Down. Pubs are an important part of the community - they're a meeting place for family and friends and host meetings of local clubs and associations, promoting local charities and events. But they've faced serious demise with 16 ...
Mark Pack has written a characteristically intelligent newsletter about the current positioning of the Lib Dems, around the idea of being a moderating influence on both sides. As he says, this has the advantage of being patently true and a good description of an effective junior coalition partner. But there is something about the combination of efficient economy and social concern which doesn't quite cut it as a political message. Yes, it describes the effective position of the Lib Dems and the Liberals before them, just as it provided the message for the most successful of the SDP political broadcasts ...
SFC v Lincoln match highlights from PartOwn on Vimeo. Take a look at the Southport 3rd goal. I predict that you will not see it's like again this season at Haig Ave.I was a a Birkdale Library Action Group (Blag) meeting so couldn't get to the match so I appreciate these video highlights. I really liked the idea of using the BBC local radio commentary from Lincoln as the sound track. It is a subtle demonstration that Southport is poorly served by BBC local radio. As you scan through the commentaries provided by BBC local radio you will struggle to ...
[On 10/01/13 I gave a brief overview of the context facing rented housing as part of an event called Housing Challenges in Exeter organised by Exeter City Council. This is the text to accompany my presentation.] [IMG: Building a Strategy] Our housing system faces significant pressures. Short term pressures generated by the fallout from the financial crisis have been overlaid upon longer term problems. These pressures are felt particularly acutely in the rented sectors. Difficulties accessing home ownership boost the demand for private and social renting. Social housing is only able to rehouse a relatively small proportion of those on ...
[IMG: Outlook calendar] It has become standard advice to anyone wanting to get the most out of Twitter: time your tweets for the most impact. In this case, the standard advice is also good advice - and so has spawned a mini-industry of tools which promise to tell you when the best times to send your tweets are. I have tried out quite a few myself, and the more Twitter-scheduling tools I have tried, the more sceptical I have become. The reason for this scheduling scepticism? The tools tell us very little about how they work, expecting us to take ...
We have become used in recent months to unrelentingly bad news about our relationship with Europe. 'UKIP now the third party', 'Majority would say no to EU' and 'UK heads for the Brexit' have become commonplace headlines. But while the current polls and general debate are still far from positive, several recent developments suggest the tide is starting to turn on the antis - and are enough to give cheer to pro-Europeans from all sides. First - in case you missed it - the Obama administration has made clear in no uncertain terms to its concern about the UK's Eurosceptic ...
On New Year's Day, Liberal Democrat voice launched their annual search for the Liberal Voice of the Year poll, chosen from a shortlist of people who are not members of the Liberal Democrats.And, thanks to some internet wizardry, we get preferential voting this year. The poll closes on Sunday, so make sure you have your say if you haven't already by voting here. The shortlist is made up of nominations submitted via the Lib Dem Voice readers' survey. Again, it is shamefully low in female nominees. Putting a photo up of Naomi Long MP when the actual nominee is the ...
"Like a number of others who have posted I am a life long Liberal/Lib Dem. I first canvassed in the Feb 1974 election and have stood for councils numerous times, and was a County Councillor for 4 years. I used to give thousands to my local party, hundreds to Cowley St. No more. My membership is up for renewal in January and I will be paying the minimum that allows me to be a voting member..." - John Doran, Liberal Democrat Voice (16 November 2010) One of the advantages of being fairly cynical, and having been encouraged to be a ...
Nick Clegg - the jokes | Dot Commons | PoliticsHome I think I like the Double Dutch one best (tags: ) Torture claim redactions 'show dangers of secret courts' And this is why we have Lib Dems against secret courts.... (tags: ) BBC News - Nick Clegg's radio phone-in and the masochism strategy (tags: ) Most MPs think they are underpaid, says survey | News | LondonlovesBusiness.com Much as I agree with them, on the grounds that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, it's REALLY bad timing for this to be coming out just one day after the benefits ...
In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd do my own Mid-Term Review and not keep it secret. Back on the 14th November 2012, I wrote a piece for LDV on how Shinzo Abe, the clear favourite to become Japan's next PM, was telling the Bank of Japan to deliver 3% growth in the money measure of GDP (NGDP) on pain of having its independence withdrawn. NGDP in Japan had been virtually static for twenty years - a sort of Great Stagnoflation. How's Mr Abe doing just eight weeks on? Well, he's Prime Minister, he's told the Bank of ...
French actor Gérard Depardieu is in trouble with Russian liberals for his planned move to Russia. Vladimir Putin granted Russian citizenship to Depardieu last week, following Depardieu's renunciation of his French citizenship in a dispute over France's high taxes. Depardieu plans to settle in the Russian Republic of Mordovia, where the republic's head of government has offered him an apartment or a plot of land on which to build a house. This move has earned a stern rebuke from the liberal party Yabloko (a member party of Liberal International). The chairman of Yabloko's Mordovia branch has written an open letter ...
Ever since I was leader of Wrexham Council I have argued that there is a strong case for a new prison located in North Wales. Many prisoners from north Wales are imprisoned a long way outside of the region, which can then lead to a huge amount of emotional and financial strain for their families who have to travel such a long distance to visit. There are also issues in regard to Welsh speakers. Significant overcrowding issues in prisons within the North West of England could also be tackled by siting a new super prison in North Wales which, together ...
Seriously, do they never learn? As the Western Mail reports, MPs have sparked a furious reaction by telling the watchdog reviewing their pay that they deserve a 32% hike to £86,250. In what alternative reality? The paper says that a survey carried out for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority found 69% of MPs thought they were underpaid on £65,738. The average level suggested for their salary was £86,250. And more than a third believe they should keep generous final salary pensions. These are the same people who are lecturing the rest of us on economic reality and limiting public sector ...
The announcement from the Department of Justice that large chunks of what remains of the probation service are to be privatised is another example of the triumph of ideology over evidence. The highly publicised failure of the private sector company G4s to provide the necessary security for the Olympics, and the way in which the public sector army stepped into the breach at the last minute and did a superb job, should kill once and for all the notion the private sector is inherently and invariably more efficient than the public sector. The private sector probation companies are to be ...
The formal consultation phase 1 has been launched for the proposed Judith Kerr Primary School. I would encourage East Dulwich residents to comment. They're effectively asking whether we want the Judith Kerr Primary School in SE22. With a shortage of primary school places of 75-80 places by 2016 in Dulwich and another 135 in the adjacent Southwakr area we have a coming crisis. Hosting the Judith Kerr school in Dulwich would really help address that coming shortage – along with one or possibly two Harris Federation Primary Schools. The proposed Judith Kerr admissions code isnt ideal. They've said after children ...
Fed up of getting bombarded with calls trying to sell you PPI recovery, convince you that your PC is infected with viruses or sell you any number of things, even if you've registered with the opt-out service? Local MP Mark Hunter says the current rules clearly aren't working – he's campaigning for stronger regulations that work. You can help. Please take a minute to sign the petition to support Mark's campaign. You can read more about Mark's campaign here.
It's very late at night in my icy garret – lucky that I'm clad in particularly warm fur, I suppose, but Liberal Democrat Voice's attack sea otter never sleeps... Overnight, news has reached us of the only known by-election last night, in the Stratton-Whiteway ward of Cirencester Town Council. The result; Mark Harris (Liberal Democrat) 419 votes UKIP 135 votes Green 78 votes Congratulations to Mark, the first Liberal Democrat winner of 2013! As usual, there is a European flavour to today's content, with some news on banking reform, especially for one of our readers who wanted it explained, and ...
While far too many people in Britain are pondering the question "Should the UK leave the EU?", our continental neighbours are more concerned with debating the issue of how the European Union should now evolve. Evolve it must, as the prolonged crisis in the eurozone has highlighted that the current methods of governance are no longer ...
Instrumental and Gaelic song classes: Friends of Wighton instrumental and Gaelic song classes restart for 2013 from Saturday 12th January. Gaelic song, tutored by Wilma Kennedy, runs from 10 am until 11am in the Wighton Heritage Centre. Fiddle Class for improvers is from 11 am to 12 noon, while the beginner fiddle class is from 12 noon to 1pm. Both will take place in the Library crèche on the lower floor and the tutor is Karen Hannah. In the Wighton Heritage Centre, Helen Forbes will take the whistle class from 12.30pm until 2pm and Simon Chadwick's medieval harp class runs ...
Some photos from around Bristol... Swans Sculpture Boat (under construction) Bristol Bridge Brislington Andrew
