Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. 1. By election result May I start by congratulating the Lib-Dem team in Eastwood on a fantastic by election victory for the Town Council, winning a seat from Labour. The result was Lib Dem David Hallam 831, Lab 227, Ind 221. The turnout was 18.4% (dreadful but better than for the police commissioner) and Labour held onto 2nd by 6! ...
[IMG: EoEAmbulanceTrust] Despite hearing reports of progress in keeping the books balanced, councillors at Hertfordshire County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee on 7th February, 2013 felt that they had not received an adequate explanation in the recent sudden deterioration in ambulance response times. In a situation where firefighters were expressing grave concern over delayed ambulance responses, and where police have been reported as ferrying patients to hospitals, councillor's feelings were only inflamed by statements that the Trust was hitting performance targets "extremely well". Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Tring and the Villages, Nick Hollinghurst said, "Hitting tightly defined targets and ticking ...
We look at the Doctor, awkward and impossible in a given place and time, old-fashioned, beset by lace cuffs and red-lined capes and jingoism, and we reverse him. We reverse his polarity until he works the way he's supposed to, over and over and over, and makes us better so that we, in turn, can make him better - bravely, courageously, with conviction. (Amal El-Mohtar on Season 8, ending the book.)A sister book to Chicks Dig Time Lords, this is a set of essays by women on each season/series of Doctor Who, old and new. One or two are sheer ...
[IMG: The Captain of Kopenick] On Thursday I went to see The Captain of Kopenick at the National Theatre. Starring Antony Sher in the lead role this comic play is a satire on German militarism. Essentially the story is about a petty criminal who manages to steal from the local authorities by dressing up as a Captain of the army reserves. It is about just how much you can get away with when wearing the right uniform. I didn't find the comedy side-splittingly funny but it was an enjoyable evening. There were moments that I found reminiscent of Porridge and ...
From BBC News: Nick Clegg has said he is "off the ciggies", but has admitted he fears he may take up smoking again. The deputy prime minister, who has tried several times previously to give up the habit, told Sky News he could not "make bold predictions" about staying the course.Perhaps that is wise. Nick also gave up smoking in November 2011.
Mike Thornton Some news from a little further afield today ... "Mike is a popular local borough councillor, who has lived locally for 19 years, and has kept council tax bills down, while protecting front line local services. He has lead local opposition to Conservative County Council cuts to libraries, children's centres, buses and youth centres. As Eastleigh MP, Mike Thornton will - Fight to protect green spaces from Tory development and gravel extractionWork to bring more jobs and investment to our area - the 500 jobs and £60m a year into the local economy at the Lib Dem Council ...
Good Afternoon, welcome to my 900th published blogpost (on this blog, at least). Although I had some thoughts about doing something specific to celebrate, I've opted to go ahead with the day late edition of Saturday Six which wasn't published yesterday due to a combination of an unexpected but welcome houseguest and the fairer tax action day. First up, two posts on Chris Huhne's demise as MP for Eastleigh: Mark Reckons discusses the tragedy of a confidence built of hubris whilst Richard Morris argues on the New Statesman Staggers blog that, whilst the particular turn of events last week may ...
Good news, since my last E-cops message there has been 0 crime reports effecting Bar Hill residents. Between 1st and 4th February, there have been 3 crime reports from Bar Hill Tesco Petrol Station, where 3 motorists have driven into Petrol Station, filled up their vehicles with fuel and drove off making no attempts to pay. Please note, although Bar Hill has not been affected, there has been a spate of dwelling burglaries in the past two weeks across South Cambs. Please continue to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity you may come across. If you have any information ...
A View from Ham Common is surprised by the Conservatives' choice of candidate for the Eastleigh by-election: "surely the Tories best chance of winning in Eastleigh is to win over disaffected Lib Dems. Maria Hutchings, I would suggest, is more likely to send them the other way." But maybe he shouldn't be. Mark Thompson shows that the Tory intake of 2010 is less liberal socially than their MPs who were elected in 2005. Simon McKay on the legality and morality of police officers using the identities of dead children to conduct undercover operations. Nearly half of all US farms now ...
[IMG: Hornsey Delivery Office] Great news for everyone who collects undelivered parcels from the Hornsey Delivery Office – Royal Mail have abandoned their plans to close the depot next month and make people travel to Holloway. Thanks to the thousands of residents who signed the Lib Dem parcel office petition, the N8 office will be kept open for a at least another 6 months and Royal Mail will search for an alternative free parcel collection point. This is a huge victory for local residents. However, there is less good news for N4 residents. The parcel office at Green Lanes has ...
I recently got a MakeyMakey. It's a sort of ersatz USB keyboard that can be plugged into anything electrically conductive. So, I plugged it into my Raspberry Pi, loaded up the Scratch programming environment, and created a fruit and veg interface. See for yourself! The scripts themselves are very simple. [IMG: Scratch Fruit and Veg Keyboard] The MakeyMakey in its default state, acts like a USB keyboard - so it will send up, down, left, right, and the space key. So, it's really easy to use with Scratch's "Key ___ Pressed" sensor. Download Scratch from MIT (available for Linux, Windows, ...
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was pivotal in the 2008 Californian campaign that successfully passed Proposition 8. Prop 8, for those who have been living under a rock, amended the Californian constitution to allow only marriages between those of the opposite-sex. This overturned a previous Californian Supreme Court decision allowing marriages between same-sex couples. The victory of the Protect Marriage coalition, of which the LDS Church was a part, was quickly marred as LGBT campaigners turned their ire on the Church itself (its huge contribution in time and means meant it was singularly targeted as an icon ...
Day 1 - 8 x 600 w/ 400 rest + 2 warm-up/cool-down (target is 3:10, did my intervals in 3:05, 3:02, 3:03, 3:12, 3:06, 3:05, 3:07, 3:01) Day 2 - REST (but went to the gym) Day 3 - 5 mile tempo + 2 warm-up/cool-down (10:08 pace for the tempo, goal is 10:18) Day 4 - 4 miles easy (11:32 pace - running club, got a slow running buddy) Day 5 - 6 miles easy (11:10 pace) Day 6 - 10 miles long (11:02 pace - goal is 11:05) Day 7 - 4 miles easy (still have to go do ...
The latest edition of Liberator magazine landed on subscribers doormats last week. If you did not receive a copy, you are probably one of those unfortunate people suffering from LLSS (Lack of a Liberator Subscription Syndrome). Fortunately, a simple remedy is available. In the meantime, a summary of the latest edition has appeared on Liberal Democrat Voice.
Congratulations on @mike4eastleigh selected as Lib Dem Candidate for Eastleigh. Get involved to help Mike win here: bit.ly/125N4Xy — Vince Cable (@vincecable) February 10, 2013
[IMG: University of the Third Age, Tai Chi class at Conniburrow, England, 16/9/11 Some rights reserved by ThatPhotoPlace.co.uk ] Monday should see the government publish details of how it will respond to the Dilnot Commission and improve the way people pay for care in their old age. It's a policy the Liberal Democrats in government have had a very large hand in – and one which there will therefore be a bit of a political struggle over claiming credit for. Good then to see Nick Clegg in the Daily Pensioner, sorry Daily Telegraph, setting out why this area is so ...
There is much grumbling amongst the well heeled that the government has decided to cap the maximum amount the elderly need pay for their own social care at £75 000 rather than the £35 0000 recommended by the Dilnot Commission. I don't know how many houses in London, the South East and other affluent parts of Britain are now worth over £1million, but there are certainly enough to scare the Liberal Democrats into raising the "qualification" for our proposed Mansion Tax to £2 million rather than the £1 million originally proposed by Vince Cable. Suppose a couple owning one of ...
I have been watching the Sunday Politics and learning that Cheshire East is freezing its council tax. That may or may not be a good thing but I suppose it depends on the amount of service already being delivered, the quality and efficiency of the service and the opinions of the local residents. Eric Pickles doesn't want a rise in the council tax but I'm not quite sure how he knows all these things about every local authority. I have been helping my son with some DIY in Cheshire East so now I can compare the service given to residents ...
ADEYFIELD WEST BY-ELECTION Labour Councillor Keith White who represented Adeyfield West has resigned his seat as a Dacorum Borough Councillor. With local elections planned on 2nd May the by-election could have been delayed however it has been called early, BY LABOUR. Residents in Adeyfield West ward will now have to go to the polls twice, once on Thursday 21st March and again six weeks later on Thursday 2nd May. Details can be found on the Dacorum Council Website http://www.dacorum.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=8096 adw
Suffolk Health and Wellbeing Strategy This strategy is a ten-year plan to improve the well being and lifestyle of everyone in the county. There are four central priorities for Suffolk: Priority one: Every child in Suffolk has the best start in life Priority two: Suffolk residents have access to a healthy environment and take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing Priority three: Older people in Suffolk have a good quality of life Priority four: People in Suffolk have the opportunity to improve their mental health and wellbeing >65's will increase by 56% in next 20 years Up to 12 ...
The day after a crazed man confronted me in Demsbury, Mark, the local community support officer came to see me. I had met him at a number of police and community meetings and we get on well. Mark told me quite a bit about the man who confronted me. Whenever trouble erupted in Demsbury, it was like as not that this man was at the heart of it. Yet, because he mostly engaged in petty crimes and antisocial behaviour, they could do little to control him. It was all rather depressing. Mark was very thorough, giving me advice on victim ...
Despite hearing reports of progress in keeping the books balanced, the Trust has failed to explain the recent and sudden deterioration in Ambulance response times. Firefighters have expressed grave concern over delays, and the police have been reported to ferry patients to hospital. The Trust response was that they were hitting performance targets "extremely" which appeared to ignore the legitimate concerns raised by the County Health Scrutiny committee. Liberal Democrat Councillor Nick Hollinghurst said, "Hitting tightly defined targets and ticking boxes is one thing, but performance and perceptions out here in the real world are what count. Recent press reports ...
It is always good to talk. This week there has been a lot of talking about marriage. Most of it has been done honestly and respectfully. Overwhelmingly Lib Dems have welcomed the proposals for equal marriage and a higher proportion of our MPs supported the Bill than in other parties. Lauren Keith (pictured on the left below taking part in the 'Breakthrough Breast Cancer' charity Crocus walk in Hesketh Park) has written a guest posting on the issue. I'm proud to be a Liberal Democrat this week. Our action in Government, led by Lynne Featherstone MP in her previous role ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Michael Gove's gang perfect the art of fighting dirty| Nick Cohen | Comment is free | The Observer Interesting post by @NickCohen4 > Michael Gove's gang perfect the art of fighting dirty http://buff.ly/WXrdm3 Untitled What's happening in Spanish politics right now is potentially quite scary > Spain's government: Another blow http://buff.ly/WWrZQj George Packer: Hillary Clinton's Diplomatic Legacy : The New Yorker Interesting critique of Obama's foreign policy by George Packer http://buff.ly/W8eYlb Has failed to engage deep or trust Sect/State enough The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England | History Today A fascinating ...
Hats of Mr Mark Thomson, or @markreckons as the twitter world knows him. Mark has done the world a service thanks to a great analysis of how the 2010 Tory intake voted on Equal Marriage - and discovers they are even more socially conservative than the 2001/2005 Tory MPs. Great use of raw data exposing the full extent to which the Tories, far from modernising (as many commentators would like to have us believe ) are in fact more socially conservative than ever... A greta piece of blogging. No wonder he's the Lib Dem Blogger of the Year
The North East Morris Minor Owners Club has given £250 to Villa Real Care. I'm always pleased to see any recognition of our community, and some of the great work that goes on within it, recognised in the wider world, so I was delighted to read about the donation in the latest "Minor Matters" magazine. Villa Real Care is possibly one of the least known of our local charities, though it's parent organisation (Villa Real School) is very widely known and respected for its work with pupils who have severe, profound or complex and multiple learning difficulties, or Autistic Spectrum ...
The Liberal Democrats have little or no credibility on racial issues because they have no black and minority ethnic MPs and have little to say on racial issues. That is the depressing conclusion of Lester Holloway (a Liberal Democrat councillor in Sutton and an executive member of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats), writing on the New Statesman blog: In every area of public life - from education, to health, to criminal justice - there are big issues of racial inequality that demand serious policy answers. Yet despite the Lib Dems wearing equality on their sleeves, the party has singularly lacked ...
This week I had correspondence with the Highway Authority for Bedfordshire, and with Central Bedfordshire Council Development Control officials. Copying in various CBC councillors. I was concerned about the impending works due to start tomorrow in Houghton Regis High Street. When complete, the scheme, a Section 278 agreement, for road works in conjunction with Morrison's new large supermarket, will provide 8 new zebra crossings, where previously there had been just 3 pelican crossings. Part of the scheme is illustrated here. Looking back to the record of the Planning and Licensing committee of the Town Council in October 2010, I can ...
Nick Clegg writes in today's Telegraph on reforms being put forward by the UK Coalition so that nobody will be forced to sell their home to pay for long term care: If you develop cancer, the NHS will pay for your care, no matter who you are and what your income. If you develop dementia, and the care you need isn't radiotherapy or expensive drugs but help with washing, dressing, and going to the bathroom, you could find yourself confronted with bills of more than £100,000. In fact, one in 10 older people ends up paying more than £100,000 for ...
Sun 10th
12:00
Nick Clegg's Letter from the Leader: "If you want fairer taxes, there's only one party for you: the ...
No prizes for guessing which subject dominates this week's letter from Nick Clegg to party supporters: the forthcoming Eastleigh by-election. Nick reflects on his own experiences campaigning in by-elections of yore – "exhilarating, exhausting and exciting in equal measure" – and urges all party activists to help in whatever way we can in the next three weeks. A major feature of the campaign in Eastleigh and across the country will be the Lib Dems' push for Fairer Taxes, and it's great to see Nick's message including web-links to enable readers to take action for themselves on this key message. Here's ...
The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.357 - February 2013) was delivered to subscribers last week. Here's a summary of the new magazine's contents: The editorial column Commentary questions the decision to appoint David Laws to chair the working group drafting the 2015 manifesto. It also considers what lessons we can learn from President Obama's ability to win despite a poor economic performance. The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with the inside story of the Federal Policy's Committee's discussion of David Laws's appointment as chair of the manifesto working group. 'Social pressures' - Policy decisions due in 2013 ...
A position I never feel entirely comfortable in. No complacency everyone. h/t to @MsmithsonPB for the, er, tip
As soon as the last gloopy globs of the anti-grav beam had faded, the Soul Pirates cranked up their hoses and turned them on their latest victims, blasting Susan, the Doctor and the four others into a heaped hotchpotch of limbs and torsos in the corner of the pit. Oh dear. This is the first of the planned 11 short Penguin ebooks to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who, one doctor per month, the books to be released for £1.99 on the 23rd of every month up to November. It is by Eoin Colfer, best known for the Artemis ...
It's Sunday morning, so here are 12 thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from all those I've linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here. In Search of Monsters – Stephen W. Smith looks at the background to France's military intervention in Mali: 'One could even say that they will provide the Saharan Taliban with the very thing they were thirsting for: an expeditionary force of infidels on home turf.' Trident is no longer key to Britain's security – an important article from Des Browne (Blair's defence secretary) and Ian Kearns putting forward the ...
Dear Chris, Do you remember the Eastleigh by-election of 1994? I expect some of you were there nearly twenty years ago, to see our own David Chidgey returned to Parliament as the area's first ever Liberal Democrat MP. But some of you may have started supporting the party more recently than that. You may never have been to Hampshire or even been to a by-election. So let me give you the unvarnished truth from my experiences: the Winchester by-election in 1997 where Mark Oaten turned a majority of 2 into a majority of thousands. The Brent by-election in 2004 where ...
First Minister Carwyn Jones has said that the new EU deal to cut £765bn from the EU budget for 2014-2020 'fails Wales'. "Despite all of our efforts to promote a fair deal to protect Wales' interests, the agreement reached by the European Council is deeply unfair to the poorest parts of the EU." I'd have ... Keep reading →
Kraftwerk have been in the news this week because of their concerts at Tate Modern. I can't claim to have been an early devotee of krautrock - hence this pedstrian choice of The Model, which was a UK no. 1 single in 1982. But I hope the cool kids will be pleased I have chosen the German version.
Were you inspired by the London 2012 Games Makers? Would you like to help make sport happen locally? Sport Makers is one of the Government's 2012 Legacy programmes. It aims to use the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire the next generation of sport volunteers. Sport Makers are asked to give 10 hours of their time to help make sport happen in their community. Free workshops are being held regularly and can be found on the Sports Maker website www.sportmakers.co.uk.
[IMG: Survation Eastleigh poll] The second Eastleigh by-election poll is out today, showing this time the Liberal Democrats ahead of the Conservatives. As with the first poll, the gap between the parties is a statistically insignificant sliver. Notable this time is that Labour is in fourth behind UKIP, despite some of Labour's belated talking up of its prospects: @mrjohnofarrell @anthonypainter John, you'd be a great candidate for Eastleigh and we'll all pile in to help — Polly Toynbee (@pollytoynbee) February 9, 2013 Belated, because we've already had Alan Johnson say Labour won't win and a Labour councillor say the best ...
We have had a few questions about the new lighting. This is the council officers reply. "All new schemes are designed to BS5489 this in turn references a European standard which gives a range of lighting categories. This is then divided in to two main groups' traffic routes and residential streets each are dealt with differently obviously the traffic routes receive higher levels of light. Each
Well, there's another bold hostage-to-fortune type headline. But if the current limited polling is anything to go by, Ed M's in trouble... Labour goes into the by election with no expectations of winning. Eastleigh is no 258 on their target list seat. But on the current limited polling, they should be doing much better than this. The two polls published so far run as follows Ashcroft Private Poll New Poll - Survation for MoS Now, while it's dangerous to read too much into these polls, they tell us a number of interesting things. It's close between LDs and Tories, UKIP ...
The last (so far) of the six two-in-one books featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory, and aimed at younger readers. Extra Time, by Richard Dungworth Syd watched the group of youngsters move off along the street. He shook his head and tutted. 'Look at 'em, officer,' he muttered. 'Right bunch of peacocks, these young 'uns, ain't they? My missis don't approve of them new "miniskirts". Says they're not decent.' The Doctor and friends arrive in 1966 at the World Cup Final, to find emotion-sucking aliens threatening invasion. the Doctor and Amy deal with them while Rory substitutes for linesman ...
Snowmanticism Debi starts off posting about how pretty snow is but it quickly turns into an interesting exposition of the meaning of life. Well worth reading - this sort of post is why I put Debi in my follow Friday a couple of weeks back. (tags: ) Brian May/Sherlock Flash fiction no really. It's good. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The World Decrypted: Mali, and the banks Carne digs into the background. (tags: carneross waronterror )
This week the Open Society Foundation published its report: Globalizing Torture – CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition. As well as setting out the CIA's human rights abuses, the report details the 54 countries who assisted and participated in these operations. Sadly, as we know, the UK is one of the 54, along with Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Zimbabwe It is a proven fact that our government has ...
From the City Council West End Communities Officer: As you may be aware, the West End Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP) meets each quarter in the Tartan Coffee House, 53 Perth Road. The next meeting will take place on Thursday 21st February 2013 at 7pm. LCPPs enable council departments to work together better with partner agencies at a local level with the aim of delivering services and activities in a way which better meets local needs. The partnership meeting is chaired by the City Council's Head of Transportation and is attended by all 4 local elected members, senior staff from ...
The latest letter to members from Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrats Leader, Nick Clegg has dropped into in-boxes: Do you remember the Eastleigh by-election of 1994? I expect some of you were there nearly twenty years ago, to see our own David Chidgey returned to Parliament as the area's first ever Liberal Democrat MP. But some of you may have started supporting the party more recently than that. You may never have been to Hampshire or even been to a by-election. So let me give you the unvarnished truth from my experiences: the Winchester by-election in 1997 where Mark ...
