News that Edinburgh Zoo has artificially inseminated panda Tian Tian with the aim of producing some offspring at the end of the summer, means a rewrite for the Scottish Tories/panda joke. No more will we be able to say there are twice as many pandas in Scotland as Tory MPs...
Back in May of 2010 I included a link to the blog Crying All the Way to the Chip Shop and a post about the 1962 film All That Mighty Heart in a Six of the Best. Looking for something else, I rediscovered that post and the film the other day. The post describes All That Mighty Heart well: A day-in-the-life film about London shot on a hot summer day in 1962 full of gleaming red buses driven by men with shiny Brylcreemed hair, pretty young housewives in modern new shopping centres, tennis at Wimbledon, cricket at Lords, kids enjoying ...
I haven't started with a video in a long time, so first of all, this is a great track - Ya Playin' Yaself by Jeru the Damaja - and a cracking video: To me, the message of the song is keep true to yourself, and don't "play yourself" - i.e. at the end of the day if you start looking outside yourself for validation too much, then you are at risk of playing yourself or deluding yourself. As the lyrics say "Knowledge, wisdom and understanding brings long life and health Think anything else and ya playin' yaself " So, what's ...
That was last week-end with two big events that probably didn't make the papers. On Saturday there was a reunion of 105 nurses who trained or qualified at Shotley Bridge Hospital. They are now based all over the country and travel to celebrate together a professional life that started in our town. Sadly that is something that will not go on into perpetuity as our hospital is a pale, but still important, shadow of its former self. On Sunday the town was awash with Scouts of all sizes who had come for the St George's Day parade at Christchurch. I ...
Being subject to the relentless forward propulsion of the 24 hour newscycle as we all are, it's easy to forget stories from just 3 weeks ago. But even after the death of Margaret Thatcher and the Boston Marathon bombings, the story of how one man visited psychological and physical abuse upon so many, ending in the burning to death of 6 of his own children still sticks in my gullet, and, to my mind at least, warrants some serious thought, not least by national and local government agencies. To recap, Phillpott lived with 2 women, through whom he acquired benefit ...
If you saw Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero on BBC2 last night, you'll suddenly know quite a bit about Victorian naturalist and natural selection theorist Alfred Russel Wallace. You may not know that he was a prominent Liberal, contributing to Andrew Reid's 1885 Why I Am A Liberal. I've just re-read Duncan Brack's 1996 follow-up collection Why I Am A Liberal Democrat, which includes extracts from the earlier book. So, followed by my reaction to that edition, here's Mr Wallace's Liberal creed - with ideals familiar to modern Lib Dems, even down to complaining the party doesn't live up to them... ...
At tonight's City Council committee meetings, I spoke about the following: * Education Committee : I welcomed a really positive initiative for school and family development workers. * Environment Committee : I sought assurances that new electric vehicle charging units will be available for public use as well as for council vehicles. * Policy and Resources Committee : I queried why the Al-Maktoum Foundation is not being given discretionary rates relief and commented that 25+ years after Tayside Regional Council had adopted its policy on rates relief (subsequently carried forward by Dundee City Council), it was perhaps time for an ...
The Identity and Passport Service will not go ahead with the introduction of non-gendered passports, PinkNews reports. This was a proposal whereby people for whom passports tagged as 'male' or 'female' are not appropriate for one reason or another, to have another gender tag option: F, M or X. It seems that to dodge taking any action, they've knocked up an easily-debunked security problem claim: but who would conduct intimate searches on people whose passports were marked neither M nor F? Straight out of the Humphrey Appleby textbook. Now, maybe the IPS honestly don't have anyone suitable on their staff ...
Lochee Road at approach to Rankine Street Following raising my continuing concerns about air pollution at specific sites in Dundee during February's City Council Environment Committee meeting, earlier today, along with ward colleague Cllr Richard McCready, I met with key council officials from Environment and Transportation about the air quality in Lochee Road at the Dudhope Terrace/Cleghorn Street/Rankine Street junction, that Friends of the Earth recently highlighted as being one of the most polluted in Scotland - details below: Top 10 most polluted streets for nitrogen dioxide in 2012 (figures in microgrammes per cubic meter, European standard 40): Glasgow Kerbside ...
[IMG: image] Some new polling for the BBC shows no indication of a huge upcoming Romanian-Bulgarian influx. Nigel Farage has obviously frightened them off. I was fascinated by a couple of comments by young Romanians interviewed by BBC News. I've heard (mythically, perhaps) it is usual for some Americans, who haven't been to the UK, to imagine that London is as it is portrayed in the film Mary Poppins. (Presumably they must think that Dick Van Dyke has a real Cockney accent, so that when they get here and listen to real Cockneys (mostly in Essex these days) they think ...
The Department for Transport are changing traffic sign regulations. Fewer repeater speed limit signs would make wide 20mph limit implementation cheaper. Even more places are expected to agree to 20mph limits for their communities. On 16th April at the Traffex conference, Graham Hanson, DfT Head of Traffic signs policy announced a "radical overhaul" of legislation. Plans include significantly reducing 'repeater signage'. Local authorities could have sole discretion over signing speed limit changes and intervals. Changes will be consulted on shortly. Laws would alter in March 2015. Due to the success and popularity of wide-area 20mph limits which are now normal ...
This is Holly (Andrew's wife). I've been asked to tell you that BT have royally fucked up our phone and internet. We're not expecting it to be fixed in less than a week. In however long it takes for it to get sorted, Andrew won't be able to access his blog (I'm updating this from ...
The Birkdale blog has covered the contribution made to Southport Liberalism before by David Bentliff. Today we bring you the front page of the Southport Guardian that reported his death. He died on this day 21st April 1953. It was his unfortune luck to come on the scene at a time when the party was still in electoral decline. He fought the 1951 General Election along with only 109 other Liberals. Most of them lost their deposit. Bentliff did not he polling 8,000 votes. His by election vote in 1952 was the lowest by a Liberal candidate since 1886. Nevertheless ...
Last week's In Our Time dealt with the Putney Debates of 1647. Like all editions of this excellent series, it will be permanently available on the BBC website. A website devoted to the Putney Debates explains the background: From the 28th October to 9th November 1647, soldiers and officers of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army, including civilian representation, held discussions on the constitution and future of England. Should they continue to negotiate a settlement with the defeated King Charles I? Should there even be a King or Lords? Should suffrage (a civil right to vote, known as the franchise) be ...
Is this the worst start ever to a career in television? As Gordon Brown could have told that unfortunate newsreader, it is always wise to check whether you have a live microphone fitted before opening your mouth.
I'm really disappointed that Lib Dem Transport MP Norman Baker has announced that the coalition government will not change Crash Liability. Crash liability in Europe is where the weakest party involved with a crash is assumed innocent until proven guilty. So a cyclist hitting a pedestrian would be assumed guilty unless they prove their innocence. Equally a lorry crashing into a car would be assumed guilty. The govt and UK car lobbyists argument is that everyone should be assumed innocent. But this results in the weaker road users going uncompensated for years if they received it at all. Both parties ...
We have seen Barbara Potter calling for the reintroduction of the death penalty and being banned from a city primary school. Last week came the news that she has been ousted as the whip of the ruling Labour group on Leicester City Council. The Leicester Mercury says a source had told it that her style has not been going down well with fellow councillors in recent months. You surprise me.
Perhaps I'm just old fashioned, but in my experience it's normal when you go camping to pack up your tent when you're done. We're seeing occasional (illegal) campers on Scholes Fields who aren't doing that. A few weeks ago we had a tent burnt after use and today I found one fly-tipped (by the bin, so I guess we should be grateful our campers had made some effort). [IMG: Fly-tipped tent] If you spot any more campers or abandoned tents, please let us know.
When I began drafting my private member's bill to reform the law of libel in early 2010, with the help of the Libel Reform Campaign, the Lib Dems were the only party committed to reform, having grasped the chilling effect on free speech caused by the vagueness and uncertainty of the law, and the extortionate legal costs which accompany it. By the time of the election that year, successful campaigning meant that all three main parties included libel reform in their manifesto commitments. A pledge to reform libel law to better protect freedom of expression was included in the coalition ...
You thought earthquakes were caused by natural geological forces, and the recent earthquake in Iran is no exception. How wrong could you be? It turns out that when you have sex, the earth really does move. Or at least it does according to one senior Iranian cleric: A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.He's obviously not convinced by the theory of plate tectonics, then. "Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem ...
Political Education in the Welsh Curriculum motion passed Subsidised Transport for young people motion passed Fundraising training for youth members Friends of IR Cymru Scheme launched Overwhelming support from Party and AMs/MPs The Liberal Democrats are the only party that enables youth members to form and decide party policy, putting youth issues at the heart ...
Uwe Derksen, a research student at the University of Kent, is conducting research into public perceptions of Margate and Folkestone, with particular reference to culture-led regeneration. He has developed an on-line questionnaire, which can be completed in reference to either town and is aimed at those who live and/or work in either Margate or Folkestone. The online questionnaire should only be completed by you if you live, work, or live and work in either Folkestone or Margate. The questionnaire has a number of questions relating to your awareness of the cultural offer in the town relevant to you and your ...
[IMG: Make sure your holiday is ATOL protected] National Fraud Investigation Bureau (NFIB) join forces with ABTA, Get Safe Online and Action Fraud to launch national holiday fraud campaign We all look forward to our holidays, and often they can cost a considerable amount of money, which most of us cannot afford to lose. Unfortunately more and more people are being affected by holiday booking fraud, which means that not only do you not get your holiday; you normally end up losing your money too. New research by the NFIB shows that in 2012 1,000 cases of holiday fraud was ...
From Polish Minister Radek Sikorski, author also of the famous letter about EU myths: [IMG: Radek Sikorski]
Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks at the moment, with the digital pin board boasting more than 48 million users. The site works like a digital pinboard. Users create an account (which can be done using your current Facebook or Twitter account,) and start pinning items in groups known as boards ...
Mon 22nd
15:58
Nick Clegg tells Wales: Liberal Democrat councillors create jobs and fight to protect services
Nick Clegg's speech to the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference has been widely covered. The Guardian led on his push for greater diversity in the Party and mentioned his defence of the Government's economic policy, missing out the massive section on how the Liberal Democrats are delivering fairness in many areas across Government. Why would they do that, I wonder? The BBC led on Nick's assertion that he would not let the Government lurch to the right. Having read the whole speech, I think there's a part that has so far not made the headlines. Nick has spent a great deal ...
My long term friend Nick Hollinghurst is this week trumpeting the signing up of a former Tory candidate to the Lib Dem cause. Great news!
Vile Tory propaganda was on my mind as I trudged up Crow Hill in a state of exhaustion. It was three on a Friday afternoon. Would I ever finish my last minute canvass for postal voters or would I collapse first? The non-stop campaigning was just one reason I felt so tired. The vile propaganda in Tory leaflets was also getting to me. The night before our core team met for an after-canvas drink in the Market Tavern. The consensus was that the campaign was going well. @Demsburybess had taken charge of design, producing a clean, modern look to my ...
Mon 22nd
13:50
regulation for bloggers? Who's in, who's out, who knows? Update....Now with added helpful graphics!
Via Index on Censorship we have more DCMS guidance on the regulation of bloggers including this.... Despite not falling under the definition of relevant publisher, any publication that is exempt as a micro-business as a result of these amendments could still choose to join a regulator and receive the legal benefits otherwise only available to relevant publishers in the regulator. That means protection from exemplary damages. It also means that use of the arbitral arm in the regulator will be taken into account by the court when awarding costs. All very clear but as IoC point out.... If you're exempt ...
The BBC reports: A councillor has been charged with causing an explosion after a series of blasts saw residents evacuated from homes in the north Wales town of Denbigh. Liberal Democrat John Larsen, 46, from Lenten Pool, was arrested on Friday. He is due to appear at Prestatyn Magistrates' Court later on Monday. Residents in Lenten Pool were evacuated from their homes on Friday night and again on Saturday after police and army explosive experts searched a house. The incidents have been concentrated around the Lenten Pool area of Denbigh North Wales Police said Mr Larsen, who represents the Central ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Leveson: Who's in? Who's out? | THE FREE SPEECH BLOG Leveson: Who's in? Who's out? http://bit.ly/15Ba5rY The readers' editor on... the the space we devoted to the late Margaret Thatcher | Comment is free | The Guardian Gdn notes conflict conflict btwn scores of readers who "reached Thatcheration level" + extra sales/online traffic http://bit.ly/14IGNIe Analysis: Demise of Watford Council Conservatives follows long and gradual decline (From Watford Observer) The Watford Observer on The Strange Death of the Conservative Party there http://bit.ly/11vP78m To stay in Europe, vote Conservative – FT.com To stay in ...
Ok there are some things that if you don't actually know me that you need to know. Firstly that I adore takeaway food but hate eating in restaurants. Secondly I still prefer jogging bottoms to jeans (although I have learnt that jogging bottoms should not be seen at any social occasion or even just walking to the shops). Thirdly that I fully believe Sky+ is my most beloved gadget and I fully wonder how we lived before it got invented. Fourthly I have Care Bears and lastly and possibly most obviously I am in no way an alpha male nor ...
My election leaflet for the Lancashire County Council election, Ormskirk West division, which is currently being printed:
An Electoral Reform Society press release reports: [IMG: TV editing suite. Photo courtesy of echobase. Some rights reserved. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/169507] The Electoral Reform Society has welcomed news that the ban on paid political broadcast advertising is to remain in place following a knife edge 9-8 vote at the European Court of Human Rights. The Society had warned that lifting the ban would escalate the current 'arms race' on political spending and fuel the rise of the British SuperPAC - the interest groups that pour millions into advertising independently of the US parties at and between elections... Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of ...
Mon 22nd
12:13Review: April's AD LIB goes high tech and has Paddy, campaign success and Conference confessions
So, finally, I get around to reading April's AD LIB which has a very clear agenda: getting us out on the doorsteps or on the phones talking to people. This month's edition of the Party's new monthly magazine is also available in digital form to all members. I have it open on my iPad, iPhone and PC as I write. It's a bit fiddly on the phone, and it took me a while to work out how to find my way around. On the iPad it really is a thing of beauty but a bit erratic to negotiate and it ...
None of us were surprised when the ruling Bootle Labour partystarted to downgrade the routes that allowed scruting of their actions Firstly they took the chairs of all the scrutiny committees and filled them with their placemen and women-they even took the chair of Audit which even 'one party states' is usually chaired by an opposition councillor Then they reduced the number of Area Committee meetings-you can see their nervousness because they do not have an overall majority on some of them then the denigrate question time at Full Council by giving mono syllabic answers or not answering at all ...
Mon 22nd
11:35
Five Conservative priorities for Suffolk - education not important to them, apparently
Alright, I did allow Colin Noble to get to me just a touch over the whole manifesto thing. After all, attacking your opponent is designed to draw attention away from your own failings, so it's natural that he should take such an approach. I didn't need to respond though, even if it did end quite well, with our manifesto pledges getting rather more coverage than they might otherwise have attracted. Colin still doesn't like our manifesto, a point he feels necessary to broadcast, although I do wonder under what circumstances he would say anything different. We'll put it down to ...
So, with the Queens Speech looming over the horizon, and an ominous silence hanging in the air over the Communications Data Bill, I thought I'd get my retaliation in early in case anyone in Great George Street was pondering letting any new proposals slip through on the nod. So I wrote this for the New Statesman. It seems others thought the same - The Telegraph ran a piece on the dangers of the bill on Friday, Nick de Bois had this in The Spectator on the same day, and today's Times (paywall so I wont link) is fairly clear on ...
The controversy in recent weeks about whether Violet Asquith flung herself off the cliff for love of Winston Churchill has been preying on my mind - in a mild way, of course. I suddenly remembered that, unread at the back of my bookshelf, I had a copy of a book called Winston Churchill As I Knew Him by the lady herself. I got it down, blew the dust off and started to read. There wasn't anything salacious in it about their relationship (it was published in 1965, and does actually mention the cliff - though not the fall). But it ...
Dear Jeremy, In part 1 I explained why the Interception of Communications Commissioner is a failed regulator and one the Home Office should be fixing, yet your civil servants have been reluctant to do so. That should give a pause for thought about the proposals Home Office civil servants keep on pushing to extend the ability of the government to snoop on what we do online. So too should the way in which the Home Office regularly changes its views of what counts as being in the national interest or vital for the fight against crime, and indeed makes outlandish ...
Mon 22nd
10:15
Manchester Evening News Column: Football creates jobs and growth for Greater Manchester.
The Evening News rightly gave big prominence last week to the report from Enterprise Manchester on the benefits of football to the Greater Manchester economy. No-one was surprised that ...
It's not that often any central government IT system, let alone one from HMRC, gets a glowing write-up in the media. Far too often it's a case of delays and cost over-runs, so kudos to the team who have pulled off this result: A £45MILLION super-computer has helped Revenue officials grab back an extra £2billion from tax-dodgers. But take a close look at the photo in The Sun illustrating the story. What's that on the computer screen? [IMG: New computer system nails £2billion tax dodge cheats - The Sun] It's really just Microsoft Word with one word in a big ...
(Praying to Betteridge!) For the last few years, I've been using ergonomic computer input products such as the Microsoft 4000 keyboard and the Evoluent Vertical Mouse. I spend a lot of time on my computer - and I know how crippling the pain of RSI can be - especially for someone who relies on their laptop to earn a living. Recently, I've added a new tool - Oneko! Oneko is a little cat who follows your mouse around the desktop. Neko has a long and illustrious history. I remember using him many years ago on Windows 3.11. Back then, I ...
I learned over the weekend that this morning would see the long-awaited launch of a Government consultation on measures to protect Britain's community pubs and publicans, particularly through a new statutory code and an adjudicator to step into pubco-tenant disputes. The Government is proposing that no tied tenant would be worse off than if they were free of tie. This is unalloyed good news – albeit news that has taken some time to come into being. It would not have happened at all but for Liberal Democrats being in Government – and there have been trade press reports that discredited ...
Last Tuesday the Commons voted 310 - 244 to reject a Lords amendment to keep Section 3 of the Equality Act. In other words they supported the government's proposal to repeal Section 3 which sets out the general duty of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission which says: The Commission shall exercise its functions under this Part with a view to encouraging and supporting the
Mon 22nd
08:55Opinion: Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference supports retention of Section 3 of the Equality Act
At the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Cardiff yesterday, a comfortable majority of representatives carried a motion urging that Lib Dem peers be allowed to vote with their consciences on amendment 35 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. By so allowing, the party will send out the signal that our commitment to equality and human rights is undiminished despite being in coalition with a party whose commitment is at best questionable. Amendment 35 was originally moved in the Lords by disability campaigner Baroness Jane Campbell and passed in March, supported by Labour, cross Benchers, a majority of Lib Dem ...
I have been contacted a few times in recent months about the proposal to install 24 wind turbines that will be around the height of Blackpool Tower on farming land west of Lydiate and out towards Ince Blundell and Altcar. The recent mailing from the company who are promoting the scheme, to many residents in the surrounding communities, seems to have raised the anti of an issue that has been doing the rounds for some months now. The plan will be decided upon by West Lancs Borough Council not by Sefton as the whole of the proposed site is within ...
Today's Times front page is dominated by the news that nine cyber-security experts and academics have issued a stark warning to David Cameron to halt 'sweeping plans to hand the security services the power to snoop on emails, website visits and social media sites': "they remain as naive and technically dangerous as when they were floated by the last government," they warn. [IMG: times web snooping] The paper notes the opposition both of Nick Clegg — who highlighted his disagreement with the draft Bill last December — and of Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, who points out: "Where we lead, ...
Further to my article on 11th April about the travellers' encampment at Riverside Business Park, I have received concerns about the build-up of rubbish on the site - see photo (below) from the weekend:Last Tuesday, I understand a change relative to management of the site took place, with a company from Ashford in Kent taking lease of the site. The airport manager, the City Council and I have been in touch with the new leaseholder about ensuring that necessary legal steps are pursued promptly. I have asked the City Council to have all rubbish removed. I am very concerned about ...
With less than two weeks to go until this year's local elections, the campaigning has really stepped up a notch. I'll be spending the next week criss-crossing the country, knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and hearing about local Lib Dem success stories from jobs we've created to libraries we're keeping open. It isn't just about local stories, though. If I needed a reminder of what we're campaigning for at the national level, it came through loud and clear from Labour this week. They revealed they will stick to the same failed economic policies that led to the 2008 crash if ...
The Western Mail reports on remarks by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander at the Welsh Liberal Democrats Conference yesterday that the UK Government may be set to offer Wales the chance to vote on tax and borrowing powers: Mr Alexander told delegates at the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Cardiff that he would "not allow" a UK Government response to the first part of the Silk Commission that fell short of a proposal for "significant" tax and borrowing powers for the Welsh Government. Mr Alexander said there was a consensus around greater financial accountability for Wales and ...
Delegates at the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference voted yesterday to urge Lib Dem peers to "vote with their consciences" today when the Lords once again debate Government plans to scrap an equalities vision statement. The ...
I'm meant to be asleep, but I'm transfixed by this piece of music. Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending begins with the delicate, almost excruciatingly fragile song of the lark, rising in great, hopeful spirals into a sky, before blossoming into great swelling, rolling sweeps of strings. It is a piece that stirs in me a yearning for England; for her broads and fens, her rolling hills and hot summer days, her tight country lanes and shaded wooded spots. If I had to run into the surf to save one disk then I do believe this would be it.
