From the City of London website: During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City. Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of ...
Sat 23rd
22:58
The Lower Paid Pay LESS Tax Under the Coalition than Under Labour and the Rich Pay MORE
[IMG: LvCtaxgraph] The red line on the graph shows the Average Tax on Personal Income under Labour for 2009/10 at different Personal Income levels from £10,000 going up to £2,000,000. The orange line shows the Average Tax on Personal Income under the Coalition for 2012/13 at different Personal Income levels from £10,000 going up to £2,000,000. Notice how under the Coalition the lower paid are paying LESS tax this year than they did under Labour three years ago. Notice too how under the Coalition the higher paid are paying MORE tax this year than they did under Labour three years ...
[IMG: image] All, Most will have heard of Warwickshire County Council's plan to switch of street lights overnight in Shipston (and all over the rest of the County). Shipston Town Council discussed the issue recently, and decided to launch a petition against the move, mainly following concerns about road safety and the risk of crime. Councillor Mel Trapp has been leading the campaign, so all credit should be given to her! Just to help in distributing the petition you can download it below. It can be emailed back to the Town Clerk – clerk@shipstononline.org – or posted back to Shipston ...
Following Tesco's application for a new premises license (a poor quality photo of which is to the right) the clarification below was received from South Cambridgeshire District Council in relation to the application; "Tesco have submitted a new premises licence application form relating to the store on the Bar Hill site. The schedule of the application contains times relating to the (off) sale of alcohol and proposed opening times. I understand that licence number SCDCPL0141 currently relates to the store and allows for alcohol to be sold 24 hours a day. (This licence is displayed inside the door of the ...
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the longest running science fiction show in the world I am taking a weekly look at some of my favourite Dr Who episodes focusing on one Doctor a month. This month it's the Second Doctors turn. This week. The War Games. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land on no man's land in world war one and quickly end up being accused of being German spys. But why have so many people lost their memories, why are generals acting a little suspiciously and who exactly is directing the course of the war? Epic does not ...
[IMG: nick clegg eastleigh] Last night brought news of a Populus poll for The Times showing the Lib Dems ahead of the Tories by 33%-28%, a Lib Dem lead of 5%. But tonight a Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday has shown the Tories ahead of the Lib Dems by 33%-29%, a Tory lead of 4%. Survation conducted an Eastleigh poll a fortnight ago — then they found the Lib Dems leading the Tories by 36%-33%. Here's how the figures compare: Lib Dems 29% (-4%) Conservatives 33% (n/c) Ukip 21% (+5%) Labour 13% (n/c) Only one conclusion to draw ...
One of the many good things about Boxmoor Primary School - in my day it was housed in a long-demolished Victorian building - was that we got read stories at the end of the day. And one of these was set locally. Bruce Carter's Peril on the Iron Road told of the building of the London to Birmingham Railway through Hertfordshire and the attempts of a local aristocrat to prevent it. I wonder if a children's book written today (Peril on the Iron Road dates from 1953) would be quite so firmly on the side of Progress? A few years ...
[View the story "Eastleigh by-election: 23 February - Labour aims high and is falling short" on Storify] Eastleigh by-election: 23 February – Labour aims high and is falling short Storified by Mark Pack· Sat, Feb 23 2013 10:56:37 Right, let's start with the bravest MP spotted so far. Labour MP Tristram Hunt has well and truly stuck his neck out about how Labour needs to do really well in Eastleigh: "Ed Miliband decided to fight to win with a high-profile candidate. John O'Farrell might be a comedian, but we are taking this by-election seriously, because if Labour is not interested ...
The horsemeat scandal continues and now Germany's development minister has asked for the products that have been affected to be distributed to the poor. There is nothing wrong with that if food producers are taking their food off the shelves and there are no health implications to eating the food. If these products are being destroyed simply because they need relabelling then we need to do a lot of 'nagging'. It is simply not right to destroy good food. The question is whether it is good. If I were buying a beef product and horse was given to me then ...
Lib Dem chief executive Tim Gordon summed up the week so far in his weekly email to activists: Liberal Democrats have broken their own party's by-election campaign records with more volunteers, more money raised and more campaign literature delivered in the opening days of the Eastleigh by-election campaign than any other. And today's been no exception: Incredible turn-out from LDs in Eastleigh – 200+ volunteers sign-in at HQ before 10.30am. And almost 1500 donations so far received! — Stephen Tall (@stephentall) February 23, 2013 This is the eight of my round-ups of news from Eastleigh: Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up ...
My focus throughout has been to protect the women who confided in me and, our shared objective, to prevent other women experiencing this kind of behaviour. All the time I was careful to respect their wish for privacy and, for that matter, their right not to be harassed by the press . I took action and ensured that others took action. I told the women who had confided in me what I had done to try to put a stop to any inappropriate behaviour, and encouraged them to let me know if they became aware of any further incidents. I ...
Here is the press coverage following my complaint:
Schadenfreude, the malicious enjoyment of another's misfortune, is not a very noble sentiment, but I shall indulge in it without restraint in relation to George Osborne's humiliation now that Britain has lost its AAA credit rating from one of the three major agencies. The fact that the goal of retaining the "coveted" rating as the principle objective of Osborne's "austerity" policy was the wrong one because: it was based on a lie: there was never any evidence that the UK was about to lose the confidence of the markets: the ploy was and is simply a convenient cover for the ...
Doctor Who! More Doctor Who! And the Liberal Democrats! Given how little I'm writing on here at the moment, it may come as a surprise that you'll shortly be able to read three pieces of writing I've done for other people. It may be less of a surprise that they were all asked for last year (though all now completed, as far as I know). I'm not certain when each of them will be released, though soon, so it's about time I give them each a plug and tell you where you'll be able to read them. I'm quite excited. ...
There was a very chilly meeting of the Acocks Green Ward Committee on Wednesday. Cllrs Bowen and O'Shea attended together with officers and a small but hardy group of local residents. Cllr Stacey sent his apologies. The main items on the agenda were: * A presentation by Phil Beardmore about Birmingham Energy Savers – which aims to insulate 29,000 homes, making it the biggest domestic insulation scheme in Europe. * A presentation by Justin Howell from the Council's Planning Department on current issues in planning. * Official approval of two Community Chest applications: £1,500 to Lakey Lane School for part ...
Many of you will have seen and heard the various media reports alleging serious misconduct by Lord Rennard while he was Chief Executive of the Party and pointing to a failure of the Party more widely to adequately deal with complaints made about this behaviour. It appears that we did not fully live up to our political ideals, and I regret that. I want to assure you that the Party, and I as Chief Executive, are taking these questions very seriously - both as regards the specific allegations that were made, but also about the Party's procedures for handling complaints ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Eastleigh looks to be a two-horse race – FT.com Matthew Engel in the FT > Eastleigh looks to be a two-horse race – http://buff.ly/YjvRuZ Who'd be a Labour or Tory MP right now? Me being (mostly) prescient about Tory MPs in 2009 > "they're worried they're not up to the job of government" http://buff.ly/Xv3XsE
The next edition of my monthly email newsletter about the Liberal Democrats will be about the lessons from Eastleigh for the party. It will also be the first to sport a new name for the newsletter: Liberal Democrat Newswire. Many thanks to the newsletter readers who responded to my previous story about coming up with a name for it. Lots of suggestions were made and opinions voiced. Tempting as it was to go with one of the puns along the lines of "Politics Unpacked..." I've gone for the Ronseal 'does what it says' approach of Liberal Democrat Newswire. If you're ...
Spotted on: Southport KGV Law and Citizenship students love London! [IMG: ots-kgv college law students southport ots onthespot ots otsnews.co.uk_0] Posted February 20th, 2013 by admin & filed under News. On a beautiful St. Valentine's Day in London, thirty KGV students from Law and Citizenship visited the Supreme Court and the Houses of Parliament. The students started with a guided tour of the Supreme Court and were even lucky enough to sit in on a current case. During the tour, students were taken into Courtroom 1 where they were given a talk about the type of cases that are ...
The St Albans West Local Partnership has been allocated a grant of £500 from a local county councillor to help pay for a parenting programme for targeted families. Councillor Chris White (St Albans Central) has allocated the funding to the partnership from his locality budget. The funding will pay for a series of parenting workshops as well as contributing towards training more facilitators. The workshops cover a number of different subjects such as managing anger and building resilience; parenting teens; positive parenting for young mums; and helping children cope with divorce and separation. The St Albans West Local Partnership is ...
Welcome to my latest collection of random blogposts that I've liked over the past week. Before we kick off, though, a quick reminder that inclusion does not, necessarily, mean complete agreement. First up, a report on how one woman took on Archbishop Vincent Nichols and his latest pronouncements on Equal Marriage. This article by the Centre for Policy Studies dates from January and has been reasonably widely shared over the past couple of weeks since Ed Milliband proposed bringing back the 10p tax band. It does deserve further sharing though as it demonstrates the inherent progressive nature of the Lib ...
Somehow, simultaneously, all 10 children in my CodeClub shoot their hands up. "Terence! Terence! Why doesn't this work? "Help! My bird isn't flapping!" "What do I press to set this variable?" I am run off my feet. I dash from workstation to workstation, troubleshooting the problems. In every case, my response is the same. "Did you follow the instructions on the sheet?" I say. "YES!" Comes the howl of protestation. "Even this one where it tells you to click on cat before making the changes?" "Oh... Oh! That makes sense! Thanks." and off they go. I'm quite serious. For five ...
One of the big themes in Scottish politics in recent years has been the Labour and SNP impulse to centralise anything that stands still for long enough. The SNP Government, against all good advice and much opinion, recently merged Scotland's 8 police forces into one. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats under Willie Rennie's leadership have been emphasising giving power to local communities. Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland writes in the Scotsman about how giving more power to community councils could help deliver the sorts of services communities need, including schools.He cites the example of a plan to close a secondary ...
It seems to have been mostly missed, but last night on Channel 4 Party President Tim Farron confirmed who the members are of the review group set up following Channel 4′s allegations this week. So here they are: Tim Farron (Party President, chairing the group) Sal Brinton (Lib Dem peer) Jane Smithard (a barrister by profession) UPDATE: Or rather, the first three members. Tim Gordon has since added on Lib Dem Voice about both this and the other inquiry: Firstly there will be an investigation into the specific allegations under the Party's disciplinary rules. It is important that everyone has ...
Geoff Juby Spoke out against closure A year ago I stood out in the cold with Sophie as part of a march to try and save Nelson's court care home here in the Medway towns... Ultimately we failed. (You can follow the thread of Nelson Court posts here...) Medway Council have officially sold them off now. Councillor Geoff Juby has released the following press release: Medway council came under attack last night at the council meeting over its sell off of Nelson Court and Robert Bean Lodge residential homes for dementia sufferers. Cllr Geoff Juby pointed out that all the ...
There are principally two dimensions to any such event - the political and the economic. Politically, this is bad news for the Coalition, in particular the central leadership of the Coalition and especially among that small group, the Chancellor. Having used the AAA rating as a stick to beat the Opposition at every possible opportunity, the Chancellor now finds it snatched from his hands and gifted to the Opposition to use against him. For Ed Miliband, it must feel like Christmas - a chance to turn the whole economic narrative against the government, shifting the large section of public opinion ...
There I was a week ago, drawing parallels between the way Amazon organises its warehouses and Radio 4's dramatisation of Orwell's 1984. I didn't mean to single out Amazon alone - this is the way modern management is going, and for all of their poor benighted employees. But I really had no idea. I wasn't aware at the time of the German TV's investigation of the Amazon warehouse there, where migrant workers are kept in order by a semi-military cadre of guards, some of them with disturbing neo-Nazi links. If you don't understand German (I don't), you can read about ...
[IMG: evidence_CO2] Yesterday saw yet another climate change denier writing to the Andover Advertiser. The evidence for global warming is irrefutable as is the proof that this warming is a direct result of human activity. NASA reports that "Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position." All this information is freely available. And yet there are those who still will not admit it and demand cheap energy from fossil fuels to power their ...
Football is moving up the political agenda. In 2010 DCMS announced an inquiry into football governance which culminated in a report in 2011, criticising the football authorities for levels of debt and supporter engagement among other things. Meanwhile, Supporters Direct, the body responsible for promoting the values of supporter engagement in the UK, has been busy lobbying parliament for a new rule in club licensing (which allows clubs to compete in the leagues) that guarantees a structured relationship between supporters and their clubs; and secondly the establishment of a Government Expert Group to explore removing barriers to increase collective supporter ...
A signs only 20 mph speed limit in Abbey/Kingsmead(part) and Widcombe(part) areas of central Bath is being proposed by the Liberal Democrat administration that I lead to improve road safety. Local people are being given the chance to have their say about the idea in a consultation that runs until 15th March 2013. A leaflet to households in the proposed restriction area will be distributed shortly. The Council is investing £500,000 into safer speed limits across the district. Abbey, Kingsmead and Widcombe are the next communities being given the opportunity to give their view. Many roads in the immediate city ...
Bristol Channel Has Massive Renewable Energy Potential The proposal for a large scale barrage across the Severn estuary would be an economic and environmental disaster. A recent report shows how a combination of innovative technologies could generate significant low carbon energy, and economic benefits from the Bristol Channel, without the need for a large scale barrage. The report has been issued by renewable energy experts Regen SW and consultancy firm Marine Energy Matters. The discussion document, "Bristol Channel Energy: A Balanced Technology Approach", proposes a new strategy to harness the massive energy potential of the Bristol Channel in a way ...
I have just heard Danny Alexander interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme about the downgrading of Britain's credit rating. It was not a disaster - there was so little time and Evan Davis has such respect for his own opinions that Danny was hardly allowed to say a word. Besides, he is a big boy these days and can look after himself. But where was George Osborne? If he is afraid to face the press then he lacks the authority to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. If he carries on like this he will become a liability and ...
UNISON women, the SWP, and the vote to support rape victims | Too Much To Say For Myself An interesting insight into what happens when parties bury sexual assault allegations (or worse) and hope that they will go away. (tags: ) The soundbite stats we need to win the argument on welfare | Robert Sharp (tags: ) Gaming While Female | Paging Dr. NerdLove The comments by Clementine Danger are SO TRUE. (tags: ) Lord Rennard : What next ? I'm not Liberal Vision's biggest fan, but this article makes some VERY good points. (tags: ) Chris Rennard allegations - ...
Gove's proposed history curriculum forgets that we live in 2013, not the 1950s – Anna Claeys explains how the proposed new history syllabus is missing a huge amount of context in the rush to celebrate 'Britishness'. The Man Behind The Brilliant Media Hoax Of "I, Libertine" – How a night-time DJ created a non-existent literary sensation. February 19, 1942 – The day Nazi Germany invaded Winnipeg, Canada. It happened, though maybe not in the way you'd expect. Five Days In North Korea – A report from a trip inside the DPRK. Run For Your Wife review – Possibly the greatest ...
Well, not quite. But there is a new play. Charles Bradlaugh is a hero of several members of the Liberator Collective. He was Liberal MP for Northampton from 1880 to 1891, and an atheist. When he first entered the House of Commons, he asked to be allowed to affirm instead of swearing a religious oath of allegiance. After a protracted battle, including imprisonment and several by-elections, he eventually won the right for members of both houses of parliament to affirm instead of swear an oath. It is thanks to Bradlaugh that non-believers won the right to sit in parliament, and ...
Why the United Nations won't make bold proposals on climate change. "I've been to plenty of depressing UN meetings, and this was possibly the worst." (tags: carneross un climatechange ) The Wiki Game - 'Wikipedia Game' - Explore and race through Wikipedia! Strangely fascinating and frustrating (tags: games wikipedia ) Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of SF and Fantasy, edited by Janet Brennan Croft, reviewed by Liz Bourke "perhaps I wrong the contributors to this volume by suggesting that half of them were either phoning it in or just bloody bad at writing." (tags: writing sf ) ...
Following complaints from residents that the dog bin in the grass area in Black Street (near to the Cleghorn Street entrance) was lying on its side. I contacted the City Council about this and am pleased to note it has since been re-erected - see right.
As I set off to Eastleigh to help the Liberal Democrats hold onto Chris Huhne's former seat, it seems appropriate to highlight this article in yesterday's Independent which sets out the party's ambition to take even more low earners out of tax altogether. The paper says that our next manifesto is likely to contain a plan to raise the tax-free personal allowance to close to £13,000. Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, wants us to ensure that nobody earning the minimum wage should have to pay tax. That is a proposal that shows up Labour's lack of ambition. ...
As excitement builds for Sunday's Wembley appearance by the Swans the Western Mail reports that Wales' second City is seeking to capitalise on the success of the country's only Premiership football team. The local council has Swansea placed around 1,000 promotional panels on London Underground trains and on roads leading to Wembley as the Swans face Bradford City in Sunday's Capital One Final. The paper says that the panels, which combine football and beach imagery, aim to highlight Swansea's seaside location. The caption reads: "Where the Grass Meets the Sea" and the council's official Visit Swansea Bay website link is ...
The next Bar Hill Community Market takes place one week today (2nd March) from 10:30am to 2pm in the Octagon next to the Church (a map, courtesy of OpenStreetView.org, is below). Stalls include Fruit and vegetables, Homemade cakes, Jewellery, Cards, Confectionery, Jams, Knitted items, Patchwork, Bags, Wooden crafts, Beauty products as well as stalls raising funds for local projects. There will also be refreshments and, weather permitting, a BBQ. If you wish to be part of this, or future, markets please contact us. Karen Austen 01954 781085 or Sue Gadsby 01954 200875 Please come and support your local community! Bar ...
Sat 23rd
00:00
Day 4436: Is the Maria Hutchings (No) Show a Taste of Tory Tactics for the 2015 Election?
Friday: Here's a cynical thought for a fluffy toy: the Prime Monster is making a lot of FUSS about the BBC "empty chair-ing" his Conservatory Candidate in the B'Eastleigh By-Election; is this a DRY RUN for the Prime Ministerial Debates? We know he's expressed "doubts" about facing Cap'n Clegg and that Milipede bloke in 2015. Could he have decided - with this by-election slipping from his fingers - to write-off his chances here and instead test the waters, and the BBC's mettle, for a Prime Ministerial no-show in the debates? Would they really have the BALLS to Empty Chair him? ...
