Fife's finest, KT Tunstall, on her first UK TV appearance - on Jools Holland - blowing away the rest of the show with Black Horse and the Cherry Tree:
By Paul Hindley It has been a few weeks since the death of Margaret Thatcher and much time as been devoted to debating her legacy. She was clearly an icon for the Right who defined and divided a generation. Thatcher ushered in a new political consensus based on the free market principles of neoliberalism. Thatcherism with its emphasis on free markets, privatisation, deregulation and trade union reform replaced the social democracy of the post-war consensus. On the Right, Thatcher is portrayed as the women who saved the nation from decline almost the female of embodiment of Winston Churchill. The extreme ...
At the start of the month I blogged about the plans of University of Leicester archaeologists to return to the car park where they found the skeleton of Richard III last September. Now the Leicester Mercury has written more about this new dig: A Victorian wall which separates the former Alderman Newton Grammar School from the city council car park, in New Street, will have to be removed in order for the second excavation to take place. As the wall is attached to the buildings at 6-8 St Martin's - which are listed - special consent needs to be sought ...
Why is the public gradually disengaging from democratic politics? Henry Farrell thinks he knows the answer. In an essay inspired by Colin Crouch's influential book Post-Democracy, he writes a depressing epitaph for democracy. Globalisation and neoliberal economics have combined to shift power elsewhere, while the voters are left with less and less choice. In a postscript on the Crooked Timber blog, Farrell laments the current political chaos in Italy. The problem with Farrell's thesis is that he conflates the malaise of democracy in general with that of social democracy or moderate socialism. It is true that democracy is in trouble, ...
Each week the thinktank Centre Forum chooses its Liberal Hero of the Week and, more sporadically, its Liberal Villain of the Week. And this week's Villain is none other than my own MP, Sir Edward Garnier QC MP. He wins the award for his attempts to thwart reform of Britain's libel laws. Considering how often Centre Forum makes a Conservative MP its Hero, this is condemnation indeed.
How do we increase turnout in British elections? Perhaps the parties could abandon their increasingly technocratic pursuit of swing voters in a select group of seats? As Mrs Thatcher's funeral games reminded us, it is not so long since British politics involved big ideas and was merely a career for a narrow elite. And in those days the turnout was significantly higher. That is not the solution that Angela Eagle, Labour's shadow leader of the house, favours. In a speech to the Hansard Society this week she said: "We should consider incentives for voting. How about entering everyone who voted ...
It may sound a nerdish thing to say...and yes I was bored. But YouTube is bursting with airline safety videos from across the world. Trust me. Air New Zealand do the best airline safety videos. There's the one with the hobbits, the one with the All Blacks, the one with the disco and the one with the air crew naked but with their uniforms painted on their bodies (I am NOT making this up). But the airline safety video to end all airline safety videos...the pièce de résistance...la crème de la crème....is this one with Bear Grylls. It is simply ...
At long last (remember its more than a year now since this was first broached with residents) the planning application for the plot of land on Booker Avenue opposite the Greenhill pub (not the former petrol station, the other one) is with the City Council. Local people will shortly be able to send in comments or make comments on line. The details will be available at this link. At the moment (26th April) the details aren't all on line and the comments function isn't open yet but if you know you want to comment it's worth checking the link every ...
Fashion Show of New to You clothes at Consett Methodist Church, Saturday 27th 10.00 onwards. The ladies of Consett Methodist Church are taking to the catwalk in an effort to keep the lights on in their Church. [IMG: Model Methodists] Faced with a £6,000 bill for essential electrical work, the ladies will be modelling a top class range of "new-to-you" clothes and accessories, all of which will be available for sale after their Fashion Show. The show starts in the Church Hall on Station Road Consett at 10.00 a.m. on Saturday April 27th. At just £3 entry fee, with refreshments ...
[IMG: 20130426 SLP - Dulwich CC & housing commission] This week at the Dulwich Community Council the Labour led Southwark Council had officers asking residents if they agreed with the council selling off council housing or having it transferred out of council ownership. They asked whether it should be run by an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO). As the Labour cabinet member stated "We've taken the bull by the horns and are asking the questions that many have avoided, about how councils can continue to deliver good social housing to those in need despite funding cuts and changing demographics". But ...
It is an issue I have blogged many time before here is one example or you can read lots here. Many of the problems we face as a nation could be resolved by boosting the supply of housing. The sharp increase in the cost of housing benefit has been due to excessive rents charged by landlords as demand outstrips supply. The potential first time buyers are priced out of the market due inflated
With three of my colleagues while campaigning with Better Together in Dundee City Centre at teatime today:
Alan Johnson was on BBC This Week last night and apparently, he still want the Snoopers Charter brought in. The key passage can be seen here (the first 60 secs or so is the key bit) but as it won't be up for too long, I've also transcribed the key passage below. Thanks to @Glynley for finding the right clip. Alan Johnson "The government are, we hear today, dropping the Communications Date bill...this is not the time to be complacent". When then challenged by Andrew Neil if he thought the government should have continued bringing in a Snoopers Charter, Johnson ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week The Economist's political map of the UK: the north/south divide revealed (35 comments) by Stephen Tall How a spreadsheet error has wrecked the world economy... or not (74 comments) by Joe Otten How Thatcherite are you? (27 comments) by Stephen Tall Opinion: Cash for coffees and rights for shares (53 comments) by Alexander Ehmann Julian Huppert MP writes...I agree with Nick. He's right to kill the Snoopers' Charter (14 comments) by Julian Huppert MP 5 sample LDV ...
Today's news that we're going back to all-male icons on our currency reminded me that I meant to blog about the dearth of lady Who writers (covered here and here, among other places). [IMG: [personal profile] ] magister and I have been chatting about this, and we reasoned it's no good moaning about a lack without suggestions so we thought up some. I'm only going to give you two of the names we came up with because I'd like to see if other people find this as easy as we did. 1, Tanith Lee - from the fantasy/SF/horror side of ...
There have been articles from a number of media organisations recently attempting to list the most influential TV shows of all time. I can't be bothered to look them up or link to them because, as we all know from people on Twitter, old media is dead. But, in the olden days of blogging – and this dear, neglected blog of mine is nine years old this month – we liked to join in a conversation by writing our own posts and linking to someone else's. So, since Laurie has compiled his top 10 most influential TV shows in the ...
With the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill heading for its Third Reading in the House of Commons, it is time to start contacting the members of the House of Lords. Peter Tatchell called for people to start lobbying the Lords yesterday, which was rather coincidental as that is when I began contact the Lords myself. I've already received a positive response from Lord Attlee, and I hope to receive more! The Lesbian and Gay Foundation have also called for lobbying of the Lords to begin. I second Peter Tatchell's suggestion. We need to lobby the Lords and make sure them ...
Back in 2010 Richard in the same place today I some times think I've pushed and pushed for too long arguing that the derelict land site off Upper Aughton Rd should be developed, but today it all seemed worth while when I went to the opening. It all started back in 2009 when I was canvassing the street and people kept pointing out to me that the site had been boarded up for ages. They only thing that had changed was that the council had put up a sign proclaiming 'Coming Soon' . Well it didn't, and not unreasonably the ...
Britain's fraught relationship with the EU is perfectly rational. Think of it this way: - if I have a problem and you solve it for me, I will like you; - if you create a problem for me, I will not like you; - if you solve a problem that I don't have, I might like you, but I don't need you. This is exactly what lies at the heart of Britain's relationship with the EU. Let's consider what problems the EU solves: All nation states need to trade their goods. Membership of the EU provides access to the Single ...
As news filters through that Miss Sarah Harding, lately of this parish, is emerging as the front runner in the election to chair Liberal Youth my attention has been drawn to an editorial in the Southport Guardian that concludes: So the Liberal Part both nationally and locally is acting wisely by paying attention to young politicians. "The hope of the Liberal Party "says one writer, "is its youth" and with "youth at the prow, discretion at the helm" there is no sea in which the ship of Liberalism cannot weather; there is no port we cannot make. Now a Young ...
I'm about to go on holiday and whilst I am away we will 'celebrate' the first year since the crowning of Joe Anderson as the Mayor of Liverpool. So I thought that it would be worth stimulating a debate before ... Continue reading →
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Fraser Nelson gets it badly wrong it today's Telegraph | Left Foot Forward .@JonnyMedland is right: "Fraser Nelson gets it badly wrong in today's Telegraph" | Left Foot Forward http://bit.ly/15LY17b The pupil premium isn't a quick-fix solution, it's a long-haul policy | Stephen Tall On the pupil premium, I wrote this 6 mths ago > The pupil premium isn't a quick-fix solution, it's a long-haul policy http://bit.ly/15LSoFX The report the Department for Education does NOT want you to read » Spectator Blogs .@FraserNelson's right that how you spend money on schools is ...
There are few issues that galvanise Liberal Democrat members like civil liberties. Since going into coalition, party members have upheld this tradition by campaigning on a range of issues, most notably the so-called snooper's charter and secret courts. However, the party has also traditionally been strongly committed to European co-operation – what happens when these clash? The immediate context is the choice facing the coalition on whether to definitely opt into around 130 EU criminal and justice laws, including the European Arrest Warrant, by 2014. This is part of a wider debate whether it is desirable to cede sovereignty over ...
West End Golf Club has applied to Calderdale Council for an asset transfer to use some of the land on Roils Head. Councillor Evans and myself attended a meeting with the club to understand what they wanted to do. We agreed to carry out a bit of initial informal survey work with residents so we could find out what people think of these ideas. We believe it is important people have as much opportunity as possible to contribute their thoughts and views. We have been carrying out some door to door surveying work but we also thought it useful to ...
[IMG: Rent House Showing Rental Property Estate Agents] One of the central conclusions drawn from the Global Financial Crisis was that the UK economy was too dependent on financial services and unproductive investment in the property market rather than the real economy. So the economy needs rebalancing. One of the main issues facing the housing market is that households overwhelmingly aspire to owner occupation, even as the chances of accessing the tenure become increasingly limited. House prices that seem to defy gravity, stagnating incomes, and difficulties in meeting deposit requirements mean that thousands of households have to reconcile themselves to ...
Me in the New Statesman yesterday; do see the comments for the normal 'helpful advice'..... While the uncharitable among you often suggest I don't know my arse from my elbow, my recent musings could now be interpreted as a carefully constructed scheme to further the cause of civil liberties. On the other hand, it may be wild coincidence. I'll let you make your own mind up.A couple of weeks ago I suggested in these august pages that commentators were more effective at getting stuff done than our elected representatives. And I cited the hero of the Lib Dem grassroots and ...
Some things just make you happy and one of those things, right up near the top of the gardening happiness list along with blue skies, butterflies and birdsong has to be when seeds start to germinate. Nothing is as tantalizingly hopeful as emerging fresh green shoots from the potting compost on a warm April day. sweetpea, hollyhock, gherkin, delphinium and pumpkin aubergines peas (in pigeon-proof container) lupins
Found this gem from The Ellen Show via Graham Cluley: Mind you, judging by one of the comments on the video, knowledge about sensible password safety is in short supply: [IMG: Out of Your Password Minder - YouTube]
Fri 26th
12:55
Fraser Nelson attacks pupil premium using report that, erm, doesn't attack pupil premium
[IMG: fraser nelson] Fraser Nelson is in bold form today: Spending more doesn't improve public services. His basis for this judgement is a report prepared for the Department for Education by Deloitte (available here). If there's a headline conclusion it's the fairly uncontentious point that simply spending money on schools does not, in itself, guarantee good outcomes. It matters at least as much how you spend it. So far, so what? And if Fraser's article had stuck to that basic conclusion it would've been fine. But he wanted to make a different point, so spun the report accordingly. Here's Fraser ...
Fri 26th
12:06
"Delayed Bus Pass Renewals Distress the Elderly", Claims County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst
[IMG: BusPass] Liberal Democrat County Councillors across Hertfordshire the have been battling to make sure local people get the bus passes they are entitled to. Local residents across county, including many in Tring, have faced long delays for bus pass renewals, with some facing lengthy waits and having to resubmit documents. County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst said, "Residents in Dacorum and Watford were asked to renew their bus passes early and most Tring residents seem to have their new passes by now. But earlier in the year I received a number of phone calls from distressed elderly people frustrated by delays ...
There's a nasty WordPress hack doing the rounds at the moment. Essentially, it looks for WordPress blogs and then tries to log in to them using common username / password combinations. If you're still using "admin" and "secret" - now is the time to change them! I've started using Better WP Security on my blogs. It automatically takes care of securing WordPress against the most common forms of attack. One thing it does particularly well is lock out people who repeatedly try an incorrect password to log in. Additionally, I've also added CloudFlare to my sites. CloudFlare acts as a ...
On Wednesday, after a four month inquiry, the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group – of which I'm co-chair – published our plan to "Get Britain Cycling". Cycling is fast, safe, healthy, cheap, environmentally sound, and fun. Yet in 2011 less than 2% of journeys made in the UK were by bike. For a nation in which 30% of our children are overweight or obese, and our roads are increasingly congested, this is a serious problem. Our report sets out how, with strong leadership from the top, we can increase the proportion of journeys made by bike to 10% by 2025, and ...
One of the proposals in the coalition agreement in 2010 was to alter the boundaries of constituencies to ensure more equal numbers of voters in each seat. As it happens, this policy fell by the wayside in the aftermath of the Tories backing away from reforming the House of Lords. But for a time it looked like the equalisation of constituencies was going to happen. Labour were dead against this change. They came up with various arguments against it but the term I saw used time and time again was "Gerrymandering". This is a term coined in the 19th century ...
It's a long time since I considered the doings of the 'Owl of the Remove' Mr Pickles. This time he has had a go at Liverpool City Council's Labour Leaders which is unjust. If I thought that his story had ... Continue reading →
Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester are about to submit a bid to the Department for Transport's Cycle City Ambition Grant. We are bidding for up to £20 million of government investment, to be spent over two years, to make cycling safer and easier. This would take the form of a series of more continental-style, largely segregated, cycle routes within the heart of the conurbation, together with the delivery of a number of cycle and ride stations. And to get more people on their bikes using these new facilities, we'd deliver a programme of promotion and engagement ...
Rather over two years ago, I encountered for the first time the out-of-hours GP service in Croydon. I rang NHS Direct about my youngest child, who was worryingly feverish. They eventually put me through to the duty doctor, who advised me to bring him in. It was the early hours of Saturday morning, and I could not believe what I saw when I got to the our-of-hours service. A waiting room completely full of ill-looking people, some of them moaning. It had the atmosphere of a slave ship about it - the dull acceptance on people's faces, the look of ...
It was fitting that, on the 20th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence, the government decided to listen to campaigners and save a key element of our equalities laws. Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) played a leading role in the campaign to save Section 3 of the 2006 Equality Act which provides a vision and mission statement for Britain's equality watchdog. This is known as the 'general duty' and both informs the work of the watchdog – the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) – which itself is responsible for setting the standard for the rest of our public ...
Not a bad hit list of recent results for issues being pushed by Liberal Democrats in Parliament: Snooper's Charter sunk Libel law reformed Royal Assent giving to dropping 'insulting' from offences under the Public Order Act General duty to promote equality saved from abolition
Man Jailed After Comments Made In Atos Assessment | the void (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Before I even start, I know there are many Liberal Democrats up and down the country for whom giving an extra hour to the campaign would mean having to re-write the laws of time and physics and nature. But then, you are not likely to have time to read this post if you're in that situation. This is aimed at those of you who maybe don't have elections or aren't directly involved in a campaign. I'm a great believer in showing appreciation when someone has done something good, even if you think it's something they should have done anyway. It's ...
The welfare system is a vital part of any modern democracy. The general UK public want people protected from absolute poverty. We invented it – arising from our liberal reformist abhorrence of concurrent poverty and extreme wealth. Unfortunately it became central to big-state socialists' social engineering policies. It has become a vast industry, with such complexity that its original aims have been all but lost. Amidst the financial crisis it falls to us, its inventors, to overhaul the sprawling system and propose major post-Coalition reforms.. Current Tory reforms aim to reduce complexity and cut the size of the welfare bill ...
Plans by the North West Ambulance Service to close their ambulance station in Lydiate's Kenyons Lane and relocate the ambulance housed there to Netherton's Buckley Hill Fire Station have met with big concerns from local Lib Dem Sefton councillors. The worrying news came in a letter to Sefton Council dated 12th March from the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust signed by Bob Williams the Trust's Acting Chief Executive. Says Cllr. Andrew Blackburn "My worry is that not having an ambulance based in the Maghull and Lydiate community will mean that the level of response to emergencies could well be ...
Signpost for Carers is a registered charity which provides free information and support to the estimated 30,000 people caring for a relative or friend in Stockport. The Outreach Project goes out into the community to inform Carers of services and benefits which may assist in making their caring role a little easier. We have regular information points at Stepping Hill Hospital, Clinics etc and attend local supermarkets to provide information to Carers. The Outreach Project organize regular Wellbeing days for carers. This event gives carers the opportunity to have relaxing therapies, health checks, manicures and meet fellow carers. Above all ...
...that Hibs last won the Scottish Cup. On April 26th 1902 they beat Celtic 1-0 with the goal scored by McGeechan. Bizarrely the Scottish football authorities in an early example of bias toward the old firm insisted the game shoud be played at Celtic Park. Next month Hibs play Celtic in their tenth attempt since then to win the trophy again. The Edinburgh Reporter has more information about their last successful attempt.
I have been accused by some of being far too negative about our party leader to which my response has been that when he does do something right, I'll be positive about him. Which is why it was good to see Nick Clegg unequivocally blocking the "snoopers' charter" yesterday. The proposals were the usual Home Office power grab, attempting to expand the power of the state to monitor people while shouting 'Look! Over there! Terrorists and paedophiles!' when anyone raised an objection. I hope this is the start of Clegg exercising his vetoing muscles more often and not attempting to ...
The DailyMail reports..... David Cameron is warning Nick Clegg he will get the blame if he blocks a temporary withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights to enable the deportation of Abu Qatada. They will be plenty of people cheering Cameron on in this and if anyone reading this is one of them I would put this simple proposition to you. Do you think the government would stop there and do you think once the precedent is set that governments can just ignore or 'temporarily withdraw' from inconvenient laws that they won't do it again? Just look at the ...
I recently mentioned the play that service users from Jericho House together with a group of young people are performing at the Steps Theatre tomorrow (afternoon and evening performances). You can get full details from their poster here. The cast is pictured below at its final rehearsal last Wednesday. Don't miss tomorrow's performances!
Back in 2007, I requested on behalf of residents that Menzieshill Road's pavements be included in the unadopted footways scheme for future adoption. Its great therefore to see that the north footway has now been adopted and upgraded by the City Council - see right. It is now important that the south side is upgraded, along with other local pavements. A good number of other West End pavements will be improved and adopted by the council in the coming year, thanks to my proposal agreed by the council to increase capital funding.
Plenary on Wednesday was an unusual experience. A last minute change to the agenda saw a substantial clear-out of Labour members from the Children and Young Peoples Committee including its chair, and a consequent knock-on for other committees. It soon became clear what had happened. Faced with a whole scale rebellion from their members over the issue of putting a ban on smacking children on the face of the social services bill, the whips acted ruthlessly and swiftly to move the dissidents to a committee where they could do no damage. Betsan Powys on her blog outlines some of the ...
All political parties should include an election manifesto commitment to end the system which means the European parliament has meetings in two cities 270 miles apart. For four days a month, the European Parliament leaves its working base in Brussels, the EU's political capital, and descends on Strasbourg, its official 'Seat'. Working in both Brussels and Strasbourg is estimated to cost around €180m a year. It makes no sense for the European Parliament to keep meeting in two separate cities. A Single Seat in Brussels would save money, reduce the carbon footprint and give elected MEPs the chance to concentrate ...
