Julie Burchill's vile and disgraceful article in The Observer, which followed a week in which a throwaway remark in an article by Suzanne Moore spiralled into a Twitter-row in which she a) failed to understand why it had caused offence, b) apologise for said offence and c) used derogatory and inflammatory language, has been exercising my mind throughout today. A summary of events can be found here. Like Stephen Tall, I wanted to write a post - but like Stephen, it's not really my usual domain. I can't begin to imagine what gender dysphoria feels like, how difficult it can ...
In which I discuss the unholy trinity of John Nathan-Turner, Eric Saward and Ian Levine...
Mark Pack has blogged about the latest poll which, after his LBC show, seems to give Nick Clegg a much deserved boost. I have an even less scientific basis for judging the impact: conversation at the school gates. It was remarkably positive. Someone I met even said: "I didn't know he had done all those good things." It makes me wonder whether bypassing the extraordinarily narrow lens of the conventional political media may turn out to be the only way that a politician can now get their message across.
I spent yesterday at the @councillorcamp event discussing how councillors can best use social and digital media, organised by FutureGov and hosted at Facebook's Covent Garden offices. See their Facebook page for more details. It ...
Today's online furore over Julie-Burchill's-column-in-support-of-Suzanne-Moore's-column in so many way typifies what I hate about the internet, and Twitter in particular. Something that was meant to increase our freedom of speech, our ability to share ideas, has actually become quite repressive. Luckily, once again, Stephen Tall has written a blogpost so I don't have to. He says: ...
I'm Shepherd's Bush born and bred and have long felt pride in the fact that the White City estate has been represented by a Black councillor for as long as I can remember. Ron Browne ...
Our Russian sister party, Yabloko, today has joined a march against the Dima Yakovlev Bill, an appalling policy recently signed by President Vladimir Putin banning the adoption of Russian orphans by American citizens - a direct response to the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act is a bipartisan motion passed by the US Congress in December ...
I wasn't going to write about the Moore / Burchill / transphobia storm. Partly because identity politics isn't my thing and I try to write about what I know best. But, if I'm honest, more because I reckoned it wouldn't be worth the hassle. I'm not a trolling blogger looking for link-bait and I've no wish accidentally to offend. I don't think what I've got to say will get me on the wrong end of a Twitter-storm, but then I don't suppose Owen Jones thought that either yet that's what's happened today. It's precisely because I don't know a great ...
Danny Alexander sometimes attracts a bit of criticism from party members for the number of times he's done media appearances where he's ended up spending much of the time defending Coalition policies which are predominantly Conservative. So good to see him out in the TV studios this morning fronting up a policy that the Liberal Democrats have strongly pushed for – and thereby emphasising the Liberal Democrat contribution: Danny Alexander has confirmed that the Coalition's single tier pension policy will be unveiled tomorrow. Ministers will outline plans to introduce a single payment of around £144 to everyone who has worked ...
The corpse of Tory plans to revise parliamentary boundaries has sprung back to life. The Telegraph reports that David Cameron plans to bring back his proposals for constituency boundary changes later this month, despite the refusal of the Liberal Democrats to support these changes in retaliation for the defeat of Lords reform. He will press ahead irrespective of the outcome of the vote in the House of Lords on Monday. To overcome combined Labour and Liberal Democrat votes, the Tories will need the support of SNP and DUP MPs, and the Tories are reported to be negotiating with both parties. ...
Even when I was most interested in the charts in the 1970s, I sensed that the music of the 1960s had been better. When this was re-released in 1976 I went out and bought it with my Saturday job money.When you were 16 you had to really like a single to buy it. Which is why that neglected box of old singles may be a better clue to your real musical tastes than your CD collection or electric iPod thing. As a bonus, the 1976 single had "Pictures of Lily" and "I'm a Boy" on the flip side. It made ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 308th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6 - 12 January, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. John ...
This one, actually, is quite easy. Could it be any other than Love and Monsters, in which Peter Kay played the "Abzorbaloff." Admittedly, it poked fun at the fandom, but it doesn't seem to have stopped us. I didn't really like the way Jackie Tyler was treated in that episode, though. This is an episode that wove tragedy and comedy together. That lovely community that LINDA had developed cast asunder by the evil Skinner who absorbed most of them into his replete alien body. I guess at least they were still able to talk to each other... Peter Kay was ...
I was in Bahrain on Boxing Day 2004, when the tsunami hit the coast of Thailand. The TV was full of shocking footage over the next few days, but I found it hard to imagine what it must have been like to be caught up in the terrifying havoc. This evening I feel I can ...
I was living in Brussels in 1979 but had the odd experience when visiting Britain of seeing only two television shows, of which one was a parody of the other. On 9th November I went to the early evening performance of Monty Python's Life of Brian. As we left the cinema, I noticed Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the Bishop of Southwark going in. Funny, I thought. Funny, not
It is, I'm told, quite easy to be liberal with somebody else's money. It is, I can confirm, rather harder when it's your money and that of your neighbours. This week, it was time to set the precept for Creeting St Peter Parish Council, and once again, our calculations are complicated by the interventions of higher tiers of local government. With the County handling us a nature reserve, which will have long-term effects, and the District raising bin emptying charges - more than 1% on the precept alone - my responsibility as the "finance guy" means that I tend to ...
Reblogged from audacity in blue: ***Trigger Warning: this post contains references to paedophilia.*** On the 4th December 2012, the world celebrated the UN International Day of Disabled People. The National Union of Students (NUS UK) lent weight toward this by handing over some of their officer blogs for the day to various student officers around ...
There's quite a lot in this article by Suzanne Moore that I can agree with. She outlines the underlying anger many women feel at the barriers they face in life, from discrimination to physical and sexual abuse, to the pressures to conform to a certain body type. It's the latter comment that got her into trouble. She could have made the same point without making a blatantly transphobic description. Unsurprisingly, trans people and those who support them were none too pleased. Twitter turned into a fireball and Moore, not known for being shy and retiring, quit, making another highly offensive ...
My obsessions have always come in cycles. Politics has always stood apart from my bi-monthly obsession change, but it too is the subject of a similar if slightly longer cycle and right now we are heading towards the low-ebb point of my interest in politics. The problem for me is, I believe in principles whereas politics is always about compromise. I find it an unpleasant business. Being honest is described as "negative". Being individual means you aren't "being part of the team". When I talk to someone and ask why they aren't standing up for the principles I know they ...
"This parrot is definitely deceased. It has passed away. It has ceased to be. It is no more. It's a stiff. He's snuffed it, bereft of life, indubitably extinct. This is an ex-parrot!" One Wednesday, exactly quarter of a century ago today, was witness to a episode of such monumental failure, confusion and comic farce that it threatened to not only undermine the respective leaderships of the Liberal and Social Democratic parties but also to compromise the prospect of merger altogether. Indeed, it took some time for the new party to regain its reputation after this absurd event - or, ...
Following Sean Davey's thought-provoking post on the upcoming elections of new Liberal Youth officers, I wanted to offer support and some further thoughts. In agreement, Sean is right to point out that LY cannot allow its incoming officers, along with the existing ones, to indulge in coasting or long-winded bickering and risk over-shadowing the hugely important work of LY in campaigning. Sean also raises the issue of LY's lack of diversity as a problem. I totally agree that we can't allow things to stay as they are, and after some initial concerns I back the Candidate Leadership Program. However, there ...
I've just read a pretty
On Friday I met with the Building Schools for the Future project director, an engineer from the contractors, Carillion, and Councillor Clive Robson to be be briefed in relation to my concerns about particular aspects of the Belle Vue planning application which I have already aired – particularly the question of whether the land was formerly used as a landfill refuse site, and the "anomaly the cause of which cannot be identified" which has been identified under the surface of the Consett AFC pitch itself. I have, quite rightly, been challenged to provide further evidence that the site was used ...
As the primeval urge of the Conservative Right to leave the European Union clashes with Liberal Europhilia it is worth dwelling on what it means to be an internationalist in the light of the present ...
We're in a fairly mature phase of social networks now. Broadly speaking, most social networks separate out into a few main groups. Eyes - e.g. services like Flickr for pictures and YouTube for moving pictures. Ears - e.g. AudioBoo for voices and SoundCloud for songs. Feet - e.g. FourSquare for where I am now and RunKeeper for where I have been (running). Hands - e.g. Etsy and Github show what I am creating. Mind - e.g. Twitter and Facebook for what I'm feeling and thinking, and what I "like". Brain - e.g. Coursera for what I'm learning now and LinkedIn ...
I'm having another of my weekends on my own with Barney. Currently managed to get him to sleep, so thought I'd use the time to write up our adventures yesterday. I've noticed he likes buses – I think it's the variety of people he gets to see while he's on there, and also the fact that he can get on them and go somewhere without being tethered down in the same way he is in the car. His nan's also commented on how much he's enjoyed his bus trips with her. So, I thought – if he likes the dull ...
Sun 13th
14:25
What Lib Dem members think about an in/out referendum & the future of the UK in Europe
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. By 2:1 majority, Lib Dems reject new EU referendum [IMG: EU flag - Some rights reserved by European Parliament] Do you think the Government should or should not call a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union? 32% – Should 63% – Should not 5% – Don't know And 92% would vote to remain if there were an in/out ...
Dear Nick, I've been following the progress of the "Secret Courts Bill" with rather more interest than usual, as justice issues are not exactly my area of expertise - I'm a bureaucrat, not a lawyer - but given my wife's multiple votes against the proposals at the Report Stage, I do feel that I have an obligation to take an interest. I'm proud of my Party's traditionally strong stance on civil liberties, opposing ID cards, ninety day detention and so on, representing as it does the support for individuals against an over mighty State. And, I must admit, I do ...
[IMG: Charles Kennedy and Brian Sedgemore] It's a few days before polling day in the 2005 general election. Charles Kennedy has secured high personal ratings during the election campaign so far and the Iraq war has opened up a huge opportunity to eat into Labour's vote. But the party is usually only a couple of points up on its 2001 result in the opinion polls. As one of its final attempts to grab the national news headlines before polling day and eat into the Labour vote, the party unveils a high profile defector from the Labour party – sitting MP ...
[IMG: Indestructible Man] "You're not the Doctor. It's a trick. You're one of those doubles, Mr Mackenzie told me." "I don't know who this Mr Mackenzie is, Jamie," said the Doctor. "But I assure you that I am definitely me." "You're dead." He looked the Doctor up and down. "You're not the Doctor. I want to go back."A slightly unusual Past Doctor Adventure here: the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe end up in a future which is based very strongly on the work of the late Gerry Anderson, the Tracy family of Thunderbirds fame translated into the Sharon family with ...
Archbishop John Sentamu has called for people to continue to remember Mary Seacole in his Sun on Sunday Sermon column today. The pleas from Church of England's second-in-command comes as the petition to reinstate Mary ...
[IMG: The Doctor's Monsters] How much do monsters have a choice about being monstrous, and how much can they outgrow their natures?Getting the year off to a good start with Graham Sleight's analysis of 29 of the Doctor's best known monstrous adversaries, and what they actually mean in story terms. Fellow fans will enjoy Sleight's take on the various creatures, whether we agree or disagree - for instance, he argues that if Kroll had been realised better on screen, The Power of Kroll might have a far better reputation as a story. But mainly he looks at the effect of ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... **PIC AND PUBLISH*** Cameron renews scrap with Lib Dem over boundary changes – Telegraph At risk of #QTWTAIN but T'graph asks if Cam cd win vote over over boundary changes? http://buff.ly/VXChwr The Trouble With Boys | The Sutton Trust White boys from low-income families do worse at school than any group apart from traveller boys, says @conorfryan > http://buff.ly/VYydvP Face it, we only matter to Obama as part of the EU – Telegraph Peter Oborne with some hard truths for Tory right > Face it, we only matter to Obama as part ...
I am a cis white feminist, like Julie Burchill. I have quite a lot of privilege, although perhaps not as much as Julie Burchill, given that national newspapers don't give me a platform for my views. Also like Julie Burchill, I do not pretend to understand the experience or feelings of transfolk Where I differ from Julie Burchill appears to be that I consider trans people to be human beings whose thoughts and experiences are just as valid as my own. I can't understand but I can empathise and I can listen and I can try to not be an ...
I'm often asked, as a Libdem, how do I sleep at night? I could ask similar questions of Labour activists (how can you believe half of what your party says sometimes?) and Conservatives (How can you believe that some of these policies are actually going to benefit anyone?). That aside, the answer is not well. The last six or so months have been trying. At one point I was managing about 5 hours a night. Lots of staring at the ceiling and thinking; How can one so small make so much noise? Indeed, my conscience is clear. It is only ...
As I type this post the first snow of the year is gently tumbling down. The view from my window looks down on to an ancient cemetery with lots of mature trees and an old gravedigger house which has a number of sloped roofs at different angles. The first fall of snow always prompts a bit of nervousness. The common view is that the British don't prepare well for winter weather. Certainly when we had the worst winter I can recall a couple of years ago the council stung by criticism of a failure to clear roads and pavements quickly ...
F and I made two excursions yesterday and today to the clutch of restaurants around the Zoete Waters near where we live, to try and replicate the settings of various old photographs and postcards. The weather was not with us - the sun was mostly in the wrong place yesterday, and it was actually snowing lightly this morning - but I am fairly pleased with the results. [IMG: St Jean side (old)] The side view of the Brasserie St-Jean give a good sense of the size. [IMG: St Jean side (new)] And a hundred years on, cars are still being ...
It's been a big week for Nick Clegg: the launch of the Government's Mid-Term 'Ronseal deal' Review and his first 'Call Clegg' radio phone-in. His latest letter to supporters focuses on these two issues, but also makes a broader point: that coalition government is starting to become accepted, even by the media; that there's a recognition two parties can disagree on some issues while pursuing a shared agenda on others. This email would have been the ideal way to share more widely the party's (excellent) booklet, 'What have the Liberal Democrats ever done for you?' — it's not mentioned at ...
Concern over the elderly and specialist care homes within Medway council are again under scrutiny. (some bits archieved here and here) Maureen Ruparal, a former Libdem Councillor who led the fight to defend the selling off of the Dementia care home of Nelson's court has again raised the issue with a letter to the Medway Messenger: The ways of Medway council become more and more hard to understand. Residents, staff and relatives of service users in our linked service centres are fed up with sitting in limbo and not knowing what is happening. At a meeting last Autumn, after the ...
I received "The Tynedale and Ponteland Chronicle" a week ago in my mail. This is the Tories latest leaflet in the area. It is almost exclusively a Lib Dem knocking sheet. Funny that they focus on local Lib Dems so much as according to the 1st page article they have "collapsed". Most of the articles reveal a very strange outlook on the world. So here's my take, article by article. "Are the Lib Dems pushing for Two Tier?" (Page 1). The paper alleges that residents are outraged that the Liberal Democrat County Council is pushing for two tier education across ...
Under the headline "Ken Clarke and Peter Mandelson join forces to fight Eurosceptics", today's Observer reports that "Tory and Labour grandees" are to join forces "to turn back the rising tide of Euroscepticism". This is precisely what the pro-EU cause doesn't need. A major reason for euroscepticism is the popular perception that the EU is as an elite project. Putting political grandees (especially exhausted volcanoes like Clarke and Mandelson) at the head of the campaign serves only to reinforce that perception. The support of such politicians is not unwelcome but the campaign has to create the right overall impression. An ...
I spent yesterday in London at the first ever Councillor Camp. This wasn't a group of local government people hanging around in tents and/or pretending to be Kenneth Williams, but a version of BarCamp especially for councillors who wanted to look at ways we could use social media to better carry out our roles. It was organised by the LGIU and Futuregov, and we were very lucky to be hosted by Facebook, who gave us the run of their London training and meeting room, complete with Doctor Who-themed room names. Unlike most local government events that I get invited to, ...
Although current opinion polls might indicate that Labour are on course to win the 2015 General Election two and a half years is a long time in politics and today's Telegraph provides a graphic reminder that they have problems of their own that may well scupper their chances. The paper illustrates the fault lines running through the main opposition party, with yet another story about the estranged Miliband brother and the forces within Labour determined to prevent him returning to support his less-talented brother. They say that Ed Miliband has no plans to replace the current shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, ...
The following letter appeared in yesterday's paper. In my view it says it all, and deserves a much wider readership than that of the Guardian. If anyone knows how to put it on facebook or something else widely read, it would be a service to civilisation to do so. A lifetime's journey from postwar hope to impotent rage The Guardian, Friday 11 January 2013 21.00 GMT As a middle-class, white, half-Welsh woman of 92, I was in on the birth of the social contract (Suzanne Moore, G2, 10 January). I am already struggling with impotent rage as I witness its ...
International Development minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest one..... [IMG: Lynne Feahterstone visiting a Haringey primary school. Some rights reserved. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnefeatherstone/3010645357/] My mother and father were not that enthused about education. Going out to work as soon as possible and earning a living came higher up on their agenda. When you had known poverty as they had - earning took precedence over learning. I went to my local school – Highgate Primary. (We are talking over fifty years ago). Luckily for me my headmistress, Mrs Jobson, called my parents ...
This weeks Friday flyer is out, and can be downloaded from the following link - Friday Flyer 11 January. Some of the highlights in this flyer, are Saving money on your electiricty bill through Calderdale Fair Energy North Halifax Work Club Have your say on the Council budget
[IMG: Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister] There is a further interesting snippet of evidence about how Nick Clegg's appearance on LBC went down, to go with the online poll I mentioned during the week. This time it is another online poll, but a 'proper' one with weighting, full protection against multiple voting and the like, and it comes in the form of YouGov's latest poll for the Sunday Times. Each week this poll asks the public how they rate the party leaders, and today sees the best net rating for Nick Clegg since March last year and in fact at ...
Changing your password once a month is utterly pointless. "any reasonable analysis shows that a monthly password change has little or no end impact on improving security! It is a "best practice" based on experience 30 years ago with non-networked mainframes in a DoD environment—hardly a match for today's systems, especially in academia!" (tags: ) Overlooked lessons from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame (tags: ) What really powers innovation: high wages (tags: ) Attenborough comic 3 (tags: ) Is it possible to mend fences after the Suzanne Moore debacle? This writer thinks so. And it's a lovely piece. (tags: ) ...
Welcome even if unsurprising news: I am delighted and honoured to have been unanimously reselected by @cambridgeldsto stand again for Cambridge in 2015. Thank you. #fb — Julian Huppert (@julianhuppert) January 12, 2013
This week the Prime Minister and I published the Coalition's Mid-Term Review - setting out the progress the Government has made so far and our plans for the remaining two and a half years of this Coalition. Two things really stand out in my mind. First, how much we've done and how much has changed in the 32 months since we took office. It's a bit like when I go walking with my family in the Peak District near Sheffield - you're heading up a steep climb, and thinking about every step, every loose stone or puddle on the path. ...
Leadership That's Working? Welcome to the Northern Ireland that won't vote itself out of the Union but won't give Unionism majority support. (tags: northernireland ) Aaron Swartz Remember yesterday, when we were all crowing about the wonderfully geeky White House response to the tongue-in-cheek "build a Death Star" petition? Just remember that the same people were in charge of the Federal prosecutors who destroyed Aaron Swartz. (tags: death )
The Alliance party has been targeted by unionist thugs over recent weeks for being the catalyst to a decision by Belfast's city council to fly the Union flag only on selected days. A practice mirrored in the majority of local authorities in other parts of the kingdom. The Alliance's rebuttal Q&A document makes it quite clear what the facts are and should be compulsory reading before anyone takes to the streets with their molotov cocktail at the ready.
A few days ago I posted a few pictures taken in and around Bristol... Here are a few more but these are of the lesser observed and celebrated side of the city: Entrance to Redcliffe Caves "The Matthew" in Dry Dock Lights at Red 1 Lights at Red 2 Reese Andrew Other photographic posts can be found via this link.
A high-quality PDF of this poster can be downloaded here
I feel this post should start with a phrase like 'it's been six months since my last diatribe' but I shall soldier on with all the confidence and lack of awareness of the average blogger. 'Tis time, dear reader, to put my thoughts down in more detail than Twitter can allow about a subject dear to my heart. I have worked in local government since 1994 (Pity me!) and I am now involved in research into care, which is an interesting if vexing subject since it centres around how to help people who need that help but with a pot ...
