According to the BFI website this interview was broadcast by ITV on 17 September 1995.
Saturday: Mr Balloon: It's NOT just a lurch to the right! Ms Theresa "Hands on her hips?" Nuts-in-May: Let's ban IMMIGRANTS! Minister of Justice Chris "Penal? Thrust" Grayling: Let's abolish HUMAN RIGHTS! Mr "I've been driven Insane" Balloon: Conservatories will stick to our guns. And speaking of guns... how about shooting some burglars? In related news, Mr William Vague says: "We, ahh-ahh, cannot rule out ahh-ahh-arming rebels in the future..." "...particularly," he might have added, "if they've, ahh-ahh, travelled back in time from, ahh-ahh, the future war with the Internet." Mr Nigel Farrago said: "I vill take the Conservatory's clothes, ...
While I was carrying out the government's review into Barriers to Choice, one of the more peculiar aspects of the whole confusing choice agenda, is finding precisely what has been happening to personalisation. The word choice is still embattled. I sat with one group of doctors during the review who just stayed silent with their arms crossed in protest against the whole idea. But 'personalisation' has always had the support of people and professionals alike. The problem is that every time the innovations are rolled out that genuinely have some chance to give power to disabled people over how the ...
I can't find a source for this theory - can you help? - but I recall that George W. Bush's campaign tactics revolved around his remain the "aw gee shucks" nice guy while everyone else on his team poured vitriol over the opposition. David Cameron seems to be trying something similar. In the aftermath of his party's defeat at Eastleigh, Cameron announced there would be no "lurch to the right". Yet ever since we have seen his ministers doing just that. Withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. An identity card before you can use the National Health Service. ...
Last month Ian Cobain won the Debut Political Book of the Year category in the Political Book Awards for his Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture. When Stephen Howe reviewed it in the Independent last year he began: Legal bans on torture in England, then Britain, go almost as far back as written law itself. It was supposedly forbidden even in medieval times, while modern prohibition can be traced to a law of 1640. But for just as long, governments have in reality allowed it, practised it, and lied about it.
Mon 4th
20:50
Was it a coincidence the news Nick Clegg's eldest child will attend a state school leaked out on the...
I do hope so.
The council has voted for housing at Odd Down. We are very disappointed that the council has decided to build on these green fields. The next stage is that these views are sent to the Governments planning inspector when the core strategy review continues, probably at some point in June 2013. We will be asking the inspector to uphold the governments own planning rules contained in the national
With the late closing polling stations only just shutting, counting has been slow, but Kenyatta's lead is narrowing slightly: Kenyatta: 715,000(56%) Odinga 510,000 (40%) Mudavadi 19,200(2.5%) Kenneth 4,200 (0.5%) Votes counted: 1,250,000 Around 10,000,000 more votes to be counted.
We in Northern Ireland are used to political parties that don't do what they say on the tin. It's the same principle that used to apply to Soviet and Chinese client states. If it calls itself the People's Democratic Republic of Upper Whangoria, you can be damned sure it isn't democratic, a republic, or the ...
..... but for the right reasons. Along with a former MP, a lord and MEP, a fair chunk of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and 4 fellow members of the Federal Executive, I am a signatory to a letter from 116 Liberal Democrat members asking MPs to vote against secret courts today in the House of Commons. The letter says: We are writing to urge all MPs to do the right thing by voting against Part II of the Justice and Security Bill when it has its Report stage in the Commons today.The Justice and Security Bill runs a coach ...
Does anyone at Liberal Democrat HQ ever check the party's website? Obviously they do, as last week all references to Lord Rennard had been swiftly removed from the website's list of party peers. But such diligence is not applied consistently. It is now over three months since the demise of the party's official weekly newspaper Liberal Democrat News and its replacement by the monthly magazine Ad Lib. Despite this, the party's website is still soliciting subscriptions for the defunct newspaper.
Astonishing YouGov finding: more people think the Tories know where they're going (31%) than think Labour does (25%). twitter.com/stephentall/st... — Stephen Tall (@stephentall) March 4, 2013 Data from YouGov poll (28th Feb – 1st Mar 2013)
By William Dyer (Liberal Youth's Policy Officer). Tomorrow (5th March) all Liberal Youth members will receive an email you Liberal Youth's Policy Committee. This is your chance to shape Liberal Democrat Policy. As part of the process of creating Liberal Democrat policy there is a stage when Liberal Youth and other Lib Dem groups can comment and ...
We have received this information from councillor officers Scheme overview From 2 April 2013 residents will need an electronic Recycling Centre Resident's Permit to use any of the Recycling Centres in Bath & North East Somerset. The permit is not something physical that residents will have to carry with them - it is an electronic authorisation based on a vehicle license plate. Registration is
[IMG: ListerSurgicetre] Liberal Democrat County Concillor for Tring & the Villages, Nick Hollinghurst has called for the Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, to act on today's announcement of a damning report from the Quality Care Commission (CQC). This has severely criticised the management of the Lister Surgicentre in Stevenage by Clinicenta, whose parent company is the engineering and construction giant Carillion plc. It is nearly a year since the CQC issued a formal warning to the managers of the surgical unit which is under contract to deliver eye operations and routine surgery to NHS patients ...
Back in 2007, I requested on behalf of residents that Menzieshill Road's pavements be included in the unadopted footways scheme for future adoption. I am very pleased to say that the north side will now see its pavements upgraded and adopted very shortly. The City Engineer recently advised me that the work would start on 22nd March but I have been updated by a Senior Engineer at the City Council late this afternoon as follows: "I have taken the opportunity to commence the footway works in Menzieshill Road tomorrow, 5th March. This has become possible as works ordered by another ...
From today's Daily Mail: No to secret courts: A letter from 116 Liberal Democrats [IMG: Old Bailey] Dear Sir, We are writing to urge all MPs to do the right thing by voting against Part II of the Justice and Security Bill when it has its Report stage in the Commons today. The Justice and Security Bill runs a coach and horses through fair trial guarantees which have been part of our country's constitution since the Civil War and which were first enshrined in the Magna Carta. The secret court measures contained in the Bill could even apply to habeas ...
We've just heard that the committee to decide whether or not to give the go ahead to the takeaway on the corner of Greenhill Road and Melbreck Road is meeting later this month on 12th March. Here's a link to the agenda. The Greenhill Road item is number 14. The bad news for those many residents who wrote to object, is that the planning officers are recommending that the committee says yes to the scheme. That doesn't mean they will, but it makes it more likely. Richard Oglethorpe and I will carry on speaking up for local people and will ...
Below is the text of an Emergency Motion being submitted to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference – to support the motion, please fill in the form below Emergency motion: kickstarting economic growth Conference is concerned that the latest published figures show: ... Continue reading →
I am, I admit, a bit annoyed, as Mid Suffolk District Council required three attempts to correctly calculate our council tax base this year, here in Creeting St Peter, and, as a result, the precept increase is much higher than we had planned. Given that we had already set our precept, and that the deadline for doing so had passed when the new figures became available, I wondered what effect this might have. Luckily, Ros was curious too... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the event of a parish council tax base ...
Mon 4th
17:53
Carillion and the Lister Surgicentre. This article first appeared here on 27th July 2012
Clinicenta - A Private Sector Contractor Letting Down Patients, Letting Down the NHS in Stevenage and Letting Down its own Parent Company, Carillion. [IMG: Clinicenta] Not for the first time, criticism has been levelled at poor organisation by Clinicenta who operate the Surgicentre at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage. In April, 2012, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the care and hospital standards watchdog announced it had issued a formal warning to Clincenta and demanded improvement, or face further action. Following an unannounced visit in February to the Lister Surgicentre, inspectors found that Clinicenta needed to make improvements in assessing and monitoring ...
In a move reminiscent of any good horror movie ID cards have yet again risen from the grave to stalk the land. British citizens could be forced to carry ID cards to access free NHS care as part of crackdown on health tourism - The MailYet again. If there is a problem (perceived or otherwise) and you don't know what to do well the Home Office has a catch-all solution......In the late 1980s ID cards would combat football hooligans.In 1995 Michael Howard would bring in ID cards on a purely voluntary basis (of course!) to combat crime.In 2001 David Blunkett ...
Kenyatta: 485,000(57%) Odinga 328,000 (38%) Mudavadi 19,200(2.5%) Kenneth 4,200 (0.5%) Votes counted: 850,000 Around 10,500,000 more votes to be counted.
Mon 4th
17:07
Miriam González & Nick Clegg have decided what school their eldest son will go to - why s...
We shouldn't. Oh well that was a brief blog post. Oh wait I actually have to flesh it out a bit? Oh brain you are a slavedriver to my poor fingers on my right hand. So yes. Antonio is going to a catholic school around two miles away from the González/Clegg residence. His dad is an atheist but his mum is a devout catholic and all the boys are brought up following the catholic faith. The school has around 160 places each year to give out to pupils and the main criteria is that these people are practicing catholics. Well ...
[IMG: David Ward] On his website, David Ward MP carries an article from his local Telegraph and Argus which begins: David Ward has lashed out at his Liberal Democrat bosses – accusing them of wrongly claiming he has been ordered to attend "language classes". The Bradford East MP insisted no such punishment had been imposed, following his controversial comments about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Mr Ward also said it was his understanding that any disciplinary process was now over – despite the Lib Dem chief whip stating it was merely "adjourned". And he spoke of his "anger" at the ...
Results coming in thick and fast as late opening polling stations begin to close and report their results. More than 400,000 votes have now been counted and Kenyatta is leading Odinga by 230,000 to 170,000. In third place is Mudavadi with 7,500 (less than 2%) and Nairobi housewives favourite Peter Kenneth is fourth with 2,200 (0.5%) - but with almost no counting from Nairobi and the suburbs.
The County Council Planning Committee will consider the planning application for the proposed Academy and Leisure Centre in the Council Chamber at County Hall tomorrow, starting at 2.00. I hope as many people as possible from Consett will attend because this is clearly a very important decision for the town, and with all decision making centralised in Durham these days local scrutiny of the decision making process has been diluted.
Dear Sir, We are writing to urge all MPs to do the right thing by voting against Part II of the Justice and Security Bill when it has its Report stage in the Commons today. The Justice and Security Bill runs a coach and horses through fair trial guarantees which have been part of our country's constitution since the Civil War and which were first enshrined in the Magna Carta. The secret court measures contained in the Bill could even apply to habeas corpus proceedings. The stakes for our country could not be higher. The "War on Terror" led to ...
With many polling stations remaining open past 5pm (EAT) to deal with the queues of voters who are still waiting to vote, most of the counts haven't started. But from the the 2.5% of presidential votes so far counted and reported Kenyatta is leading Odinga 68,000 to 57,000. Turnout is reported at 86%. But it is very early days.
In Memphis, Tennessee, I once visited the National Civil Rights Museum, which has been built behind the facade of the Lorraine Motel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. One of the museum's exhibits is a 1950s-vintage bus from Montgomery, Alabama, with racially segregated seating, similar to the bus in which Rosa Parks made her famous protest in 1955. The seat occupied by Rosa Parks is wired up so that, when you sit in it, an automated driver's voice instructs you to move to the back of the bus. I was reminded of this by today's news ...
Regret not standing in the recent Liberal Youth elections? Feel you have something to contribute? Loved Eastleigh and want to help the next campaign? This is a chance to shape the future of Liberal Youth, in what looks to be an exciting few months for the organisation. The following positions are up for co-option: Vice ...
Liberal Democrats! What would you say the Lib Dems stand for? How would you inspire members to stay with us? How would you persuade voters to agree with us? How would you link our philosophy to our achievements in government - and make it clear which bits of government are distinctly Lib Dem? Here's my go at saying what we stand for. Does it make sense to you? Inspire you? Irritate you? Is it good enough, or could you do better? Then look below and join in the meme, sharing your own vision, your own enthusiasm in time for Conference. ...
(Any relation to actual Tory candidates in recent by-elections at which they suffered a crushing third place defeat is, of course, entirely coincidental.) Maria sat forlorn and beat And contemplated her defeat Not only had the Lib Dems triumphed But UKIP had stood there, defiant. From second back in 2010 She'd fallen back to third, since when She'd um-ed and ah-ed and wondered what Had caused the Tory Party's loss. It wasn't her! She knew for sure For she had been a Tory pure Of upper lip stiff, steely eye And resolution undenied. She'd done her bit, she'd met with ...
It has just been confirmed that each speaker will have only ONE minute to speak in this evening's important debate about the First World War. It really seems quite ridiculous, and rather insulting, that such a grave subject is now being reduced to not much more than an episode of Radio 4's Just a Minute. The case for a change to this system is surely now more compelling than ever.
[IMG: Eastleigh railwayman statue - Some rights reserved by Mr. Ducke] After a superb Eastleigh result, many Lib Dems will be rightly patting themselves on the back for what was a mammoth effort under the most difficult of circumstances. Happy memories came flooding back of the time we used to win by-elections. My first was volunteering in Dunfermline, winning a Labour heartland seat with a 16.2% swing. After an unprecedented beating, the Tories will clearly take a long hard look at themselves - and hopefully draw all the wrong conclusions, as to why they are in such dire straits in ...
The shock of coming third behind Eastleigh has obviously affected the Conservatives badly. The weekend has seen a succession of Ministers throwing out initiatives and ideas to recapture their party's zeitgeist all, it has to be said with little affect. The one constant amongst this flow of consciousness is the re-emergence of the Human Rights as the target of Tory hatred. Both the Home Secretary and Justice Secretary have separately threatened to draw back from the European Court on Human Rights despite the fact that they know that their coalition partners and treaty obligations make this a non-starter. Nevertheless, this ...
It's just been announced that Nick Clegg and Miriam Gonzalez Durantez have decided to send their son Antonio to a state Catholic secondary school. He's been attending a Catholic Primary near his home. Antonio will attend the London Oratory school. Nick and Miriam expressed the wish that now their decision has been made public, the privacy of their son will be respected. Nick has previously said that he doesn't believe in God, but his wife Miriam is a practising Catholic. He recently said: I've never made my kids an issue in politics. My kids are more precious to me than ...
We all of us live with some kind of apocalypse hanging over us. These days it is global warming. In my youth, we used to sit over school lunch, discussing what we should do if the four-minute warning sounded that heralded nuclear annihilation. Before that, it was the threat of apocalypse by aerial bombardment. The idea that we might dwell a little less on the imminent end of the world is not to suggest that these are not real threats - or that we need do nothing about them. We avoided nuclear apocalypse by the skin of our teeth during ...
The Western Mail report that a grant scheme for Welsh buses coming into force next month has not been checked with officials in Brussels whether it complies with European law. Now, Bus industry lawyers have suggested the new grant will be illegal because of restrictions on state aid for companies. The paper says that if the Commission later deems the grant illegal, bus companies, who are already reeling from a 25% funding cut, may have to repay the funding they received and spent, leading to more service cuts. This is not a scenario recognised by the Welsh Government however, who ...
LIBRARY CAMPAIGNERS PUT FORWARD PLAN TO SAVE THREATENED LIBRARIES As many will know Sefton Council holds its crucial budget meeting this Thursday. One of the Labour-proposed cuts of most concern locally is the proposal to close Birkdale Library, together with Ainsdale and Churchtown Libraries. In fact more than half the current 13 libraries in Sefton would shut under the so-called "Option B" plan. Concerned local residents and councillors have been highly active over the past 4 months in campaigning against the closure plan. Petitions containing 12,500 signatures were submitted to Sefton Council's ruling Cabinet 2 weeks ago calling for all ...
The Liberal Democrats could build on their Eastleigh by-election win and gain up to 30 seats from the Conservatives at the general election, the Party President has suggested. Tim Farron, the Lib Dem President, said the result in Eastleigh shows that the Conservatives are "a lot weaker" in many key seats than had been realised. The Liberal Democrats won the Eastleigh constituency in the recent Parliamentary by-election while the Conservatives were beaten into third place. Mr Farron told Sky News that the result showed the Lib Dems can hope to win seats from the Conservatives at the next general election. ...
I have been knocking on hundreds of doors recently to ask if I can help with any council matter and I have found a few UKIP supporters. The conversation has usually started with immigration but when I talked about my daughter's recent move to Australia then that seemed to be perfectly acceptable. There was general agreement that immigration was alright as long as there was work to be had which did not affect local workers. My daughter's move was fine because her skills were in demand and it would also have been alright if employers could not fill their vacancies. ...
An excellent response to Lords Woolf's letter to in today's Times from David Howarth, former MP for Cambridge. Dear Sir, Lord Woolf's defence of the government's proposals to introduce closed material proceedings ('secret courts') in civil matters is very surprising for a common law judge. Lord Woolf argues that under the government's proposals, judges will be able to control the fairness of the proceedings in front of them. That, of course, assumes that one-sided proceedings at full trial can ever be fair, but there is another problem that should worry anyone who values the way the common law operates. Judicial ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... www.nesta.org.uk Fine @RPuttick quote: "decision makers are entitled to ignore evidence, not entitled to be ignorant of it" http://bit.ly/Yn387C To Hell with the Lib Dems? Nope... The Tory Diary The voice of The Reasonable Wing of the Tory Party, @Pete_Hoskin > To Hell with the Lib Dems? Nope... http://bit.ly/Z0wbz1 NUJ – A charter for cover ups I'm one of too-many-to-count signatories to this #notosecretcourts letter from the NUJ >> "A charter for cover ups" http://bit.ly/XQ8Xsc
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, David Rimmer and Nigel Ashton are holding their next monthly advice centre on Saturday 9th March, from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We hold our advice centre every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month at St John's School, Crossens.
Here's the 'No to Secret Courts' letter in today's Daily Mail with all the signatories by yesterday. If you'd also like to sign Dm @_joshaw on Twitter or e mail Jo at jo@libdemsagainstsecretcourts.org.uk No to secret courts: A letter from 116 Liberal Democrats Dear Sir, We are writing to urge all MPs to do the right thing by voting against Part II of the Justice and Security Bill when it has its Report stage in the Commons today.The Justice and Security Bill runs a coach and horses through fair trial guarantees which have been part of our country's constitution since ...
Mon 4th
12:58
Am I the only person who can't hear Vince saying "I will never be leader' in today's DP Interview?
[IMG: Get Adobe Flash player] According to Mike Smithson over at Political Betting, the above video from The Daily Politics shows Vince ruling himself out of contention for the leadership of the Lib Dems The BBC has picked out some quotes to make the same point. And now the odds on Vince being the next leader have been removed by the bookies.... Yet I've just seen it. And for the life of me I can't hear Vince saying 'no, never'. I can hear him saying 'maybe, in the right circumstances'... Is it just me?
[IMG: Some rights reserved by ztephen] Was "local", I wonder, the most overused word in the Eastleigh by-election? Of all the terms in the Lib Dem lexicon "local" is surely our favourite. A few years ago when the party had one of its periodic embarrassments, it looked like there would have to be a by-election in Winchester. I had a week-old baby at the time and was barely out of hospital when the phone calls started - "Why don't you stand?", "Hampshire bred", "You got a great result in the next door seat at the last election..."... Most of all ...
As you may know, the Justice and Security Bill returns to the Commons today in a move which appears to have been engineered to get it out of the way before the Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference. My latest blogpost on the subject is here. Aside from blogging, I've also supported conference motions (both when debated at Autumn Conference and when proposed for Spring Conference), signed the petition to our parliamentarians, written an open letter to Nick Clegg, written an actual letter to Nick Clegg and signed a letter to The Times. Over the weekend, I also signed a letter, organised ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
At a guess, I reckon there were at least 200 young liberal activists in Eastleigh over the course of the campaign. – Reece I Bursledon, Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and onward, Right through to polling day Worked the two hundred. II Where the hell is Eastleigh? What's it to you or me? Chris Huhne had blundered. ...
Here's a rather nifty security flaw I discovered on Samsung's Android 4.1.2. It allows you - in limited circumstances - to run apps and dial numbers even when the device is locked. Video: This attack works against Pattern Lock, PIN, Password, and Face Unlock. There is no way to secure your phone against your home screen being accessed. Notes HOWTO Lock the device with a "secure" pattern, PIN, or password. Activate the screen. Press "Emergency Call". Press the "ICE" button on the bottom left. Hold down the physical home key for a few seconds and then release. The phone's home ...
Today's Daily Mail contains a letter from 116 Liberal Democrats asking MPs to vote down Part 2 of the Justice and Security Bill. The signatories include a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, an MEP, 5 members of the Federal Executive, 2 members of the Federal Policy Committee, 6 past and present members of the Liberal Democrat Voice editorial team and a number of parliamentary candidates. The letter says: We are writing to urge all MPs to do the right thing by voting against Part II of the Justice and Security Bill when it has its Report stage ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg and Vince Cable at a factory 2 - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] The Spring Conference will debate the motion on creating a strong manufacturing sector in a strong economy. In Vince Cable, the coalition government has a powerful voice for manufacturing. Significant progress is being made in building a more resilient, diverse and balanced economy. Lib Dems are also becoming confident in charting an interventionist industrial strategy that avoids the twin failures of laissez faire and state support for ailing companies - the two positions characterised by historic Conservative and Labour thinking. The Conference motion ...
A letter against secret courts, being debated today, signed by over 100 Lib Dem members, appears in today's Daily Mail. The Justice and Security Bill runs a coach and horses through fair trial guarantees which have been part of our country's constitution since the Civil War and which were first enshrined in the Magna Carta. ...
This evening we are to have a "dinner hour debate" to discuss the 2014 anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. At the time of writing there are 23 Peers on the Speakers List. Once the mover of the motion and the Minister replying have taken their allocation of some 20 minutes the rest of us will be lucky to get two minutes to cram in whatever we want to say about the calamitous results of unbridled nationalism in Europe a century ago. Occasionally it is claimed that the House of Lords is "self-regulating". This is patent nonsense. ...
[IMG: Some rights reserved by Leo Reynolds] I've had enough. I've had enough of women being seen by far too many people in society as second class citizens. I've had enough of working in the private sector and seeing women patronised for their ideas with a "oh that's a good idea, love" attitude. I've had enough of women having to fight for the right to be heard and then being granted a voice, because it's time to 'let the woman talk'. I've had enough of a pervasive society, which for centuries has degraded women to being the pretty ones who ...
And they appear to be fed up with western reporting of their election according to this from the Daily Nation... Foreign reporters armed and ready to attack KenyaKenya was braced at the crossroads yesterday amidst growing concern that the demand for clichés is outstripping supply...
Mon 4th
09:55
Evidence-based policy is now official government policy. So will they actually follow the evidence?
[IMG: whitehall image] As of today, I officially work for a 'What Works' organisation – the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) – part of the 'What Works Network' Danny Alexander and Oliver Letwin are launching today. Here's the Financial Times report: A drive to link public spending to robust evidence of which policies deliver results will be launched on Monday as the government seeks to target scarce resources in an era of austerity. ... The What Works Network, as it has been dubbed, takes as its template two existing centres of excellence - the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, ...
I must admit that I do like the occasional adventure. Nothing particularly dangerous - I'm an increasingly old man and Ros isn't terribly keen on inheriting yet, not while I can still bring her tea in bed anyway. And for me, the travelling is often as much fun as the destination. So, on discovering that I have to go to Pula, in Croatia, for a meeting in May, and that Ros can't travel with me, the travel urge has struck. I could fly to Pula, via Zagreb, but it involves arriving on the Wednesday evening at 23:00, which sounds like ...
Friday evening, 20.15-21.30, Hall 4 How We Get Growing Again - the Road to 2015 Speaker: The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Chair: Naomi Smith, Co-chair, SLF Saturday lunchtime, 13.00-14.00, Sandringham ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Some rights reserved by Paul Walter] This is my last day as part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. I'd like to thank the team for letting me be part of the team and for all the camaraderie and fun there has been. I'll continue to contribute posts to LDV from time to time, and look forward to paying a little more attention to my own blog, Liberal Burblings. Thanks to all our readers for all your comments and your continued support! * Paul Walter is a LibDem activist in Newbury, Berkshire and blogs at Liberal Burblings
If you haven't seen it yet, have a look at the front page of today's Guardian. In advance of the debate on the Justice and Security Bill this afternoon there is a very significant development in one of the cases the government is facing, and in which the government wants to use the new secret courts being proposed. This development will shine a light directly on the government's key claim that its motivation for this Bill is to avoid making unwarranted payouts to terror suspects. The Libyan government official, Abdul-Hakim Belhaj, is claiming damages against the UK government, Jack Straw ...
I guess that, in the end, it was quite fitting that Mark Pack's final day with LibDemVoice should have been last Thursday, the day of the Eastleigh by-election: it's always good to go out on a high. For those who missed the news first time round, Mark has — after over six years as my Co-Editor in name/spirit — stepped down from the team to spend more time with his other 73 roles within the party (plus two day jobs). [IMG: caron lindsay] So the end of one era, but I hope also the dawn of a new one. I'm ...
Here is the letter which is printed in today's Daily Mail. It was originally sent to the Times, but they refused us. The Daily Mail has run a long-standing campaign against the Justice and Security Bill. We may not like much of what they say, but on this issue the Mail is absolutely right. I've added in the signatures we received after the noon deadline. There are now 130 Liberal Democrat members, peers, MEPs, Councillors, local party chairs and officers and campaigners who are calling for all MPs to do the right thing when the Justice and Security Bill is ...
Obama's 'Jedi mind meld' reference ridiculed by sci-fi fans President mixes up Star Trek and Star Wars, losing geek credibility. (tags: uspolitics sf ) Athelas On choosing rulers. (Also, must see that film - loved the book.) (tags: religion politics films Netherlands ) "Why are there so many songs about rainbows[,] and what's on the other side?" What do these words actually mean? (tags: songs ) What would happen if the UK withdrew from the European Court of Human Rights? "Politically, the UK would be sending a clear signal to states which lose far more cases in Strasbourg, such as ...
An interesting couple of snippets from an interview with Nick Ferrari – Nick Clegg's interlocutor on LBC's weekly 'Call Clegg' phone-in – in this week's Media Guardian. First, that all three party leaders were approached with the idea, and only Nick bit. And here's Nick on why he agreed: On his way out of the studio a few weeks ago, I asked Clegg the same question. "I enjoy it. There's something spontaneous and authentic about it, which is good in a political world which is in many ways becoming increasingly pasteurised by too much spin and pre-preparation." Clegg said he ...
I have recently been dealing with various constituents' concerns about issues in the Riverside Drive area as follows: + ROAD SAFETY NEAR THE RAIL BRIDGE : In January, I mentioned the concern raised about road safety with respect to the 'crossover' that allows drivers to come down Riverside Approach then cross to carriageway to head west along Riverside Drive. The response from the City Council indicated that closing the crossover was considered fairly recently following an accident that resulted in a bridge strike but was not progressed as "... there was not an ongoing incidence of vehicle collisions." However, there ...
Barbara Dymock From Sheena Wellington: Friends of Wighton's Lunchtime Recital in the Wighton Heritage Centre at the Central Library on Wednesday 6th March features two of Scotland's finest musicians! Barbara Dymock and Christopher Marra are a new duo on the folk scene, with many different musical collaborations behind them and a vast experience of performing. Barbara currently sings in her own band or as one half of the duo, Sinsheen, with Christine Kydd. Dundonian, Christopher Marra is very well known to local audiences through his work in multiple bands over the years, including Skeets Boliver in the 1970's and currently ...
The following exchange follows around thirty minutes of me attempting to persuade Finder to send hidden files back into hiding, after enabling them for what was meant to be a two minute hack. Maz: Lowercase f in finder? Katie: but the command I'm using to hide the files is the exact same one I used to show them, but with a different suffix. Katie: *tries it anyway* Katie: ...the fuck. Maz: Yeh. Katie: Fucking technology. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Over the weekend, there have been reports that the Tories want Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)*. It appears that Theresa May wishes to make this a manifesto commitment for the 2015 general election. This would go further than their 2010 commitment to replace the Human Rights Act (which enshrines the ECHR in British law) with a Bill of Rights. It is also at complete odds with the Coalition Programme which spoke of building on all our obligations under the ECHR, ensuring the rights it bestows continue to be enshrined in law and protecting and ...
Note from First Capital Connect to councillors I want to notify you of some upcoming improvement works on the footbridge at St Albans station. From April we will be refurbishing the footbridge to provide better facilities for users of the station. Due to the nature of the works these will have to be undertaken overnight and as a result this may generate contact between yourselves and local residents if any perceived environmental nuisances are created. It is also possible that these works will be undertaken without any undue disturbance reported. In either event I wanted to personally make you aware ...
