Yesterday I received an email from Lib Dem HQ encouraging me to participate in a forthcoming national 'campaign'* centred on jobs. Putting aside the question of how effective the Liberal Democrats in government are when it comes to employment, this prompted three thoughts: 1) In campaigning terms: this seems the wrong way around. Liberal Democrats are doing (relatively) well in areas with strong local networks and personalities: that is what is sustaining support for the party nationally, rather than national messages supporting local networks. So this feels like an attempt to hijack local networks, rather than empower them. 2) In ...
If you don't like trains - and there is a diesel locomotive here too - just enjoy the music.
The awful killing of Drummer Lee Rigby was chillingly horrific and a terrible tragedy, for which my heart goes out to his family. There are roughly two intentional homicides a day in the UK. You can see some of the victims here. None of them normally involve the degree of cold-blooded butchery and the "terrorist" connotations of the Woolwich murder. So, we have all sorts of discussion kicking off about terrorism, hate preachers and "send them back to where they came from" etc etc. That is exactly what the perpetrators wanted to happen. For one single murder, a double daily ...
OK I'm started... Before "Now!" you had K-Tel compilation albums which were, more often than not, the original versions by the original artists, although they did, I seem to recall, sneak in the occasional re-recording. But "Top of the Pops" compilation albums were something else... Cheap cover versions recorded by session musicians. As a sample, here's the "Top of the Poppers" version of "Johnny Reggae": [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
It's the 30th anniversary of "Now!" hit compilation albums. Here's a couple of flashbacks to the staple compilation album diet before them: And don't get me started on the Top of the Poppers.... [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Happy Saturday! It's gorgeous here in Bristol - since you asked - hope you're having a good one wherever you are. But enough of the small talk, here are a selection of blogs and articles to have caught my eye this week. Enjoy! The Very Wonderful Jennie Rigg blogged some thank-yous following the vote passing the third reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill in the House of Commons. On Wednesday, Nick Clegg gave a speech about the importance of the coalition keeping on to 2015, and chastising those who wished to divert it from its central purpose with ...
Today I went to a village which, by my best calculations, I first visited 48 years ago and last visited 42 years ago: Stoke Bruerne near Towcester in Northamptonshire. When I was a little boy my family used to take canal holidays - which was quite daring in those days. And Stoke Bruerne is not only on the Grand Union but also home to a canal museum. That museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, which must mean that it had been open only a couple of years when I first visited it. I did not go round the ...
On Paradise Towers
Islam's the problem. That's what we're meant to say, right? After Woolwich and the soldier who was horrifically and despicably murdered in the street by two men the BBC described as being "of Muslim appearance"? Or are we meant to say it's not the fault of Islam but Muslims need to do more to root out the extremists in their midst? To distance themselves from it? Well, pardon my French, but that's bullshit. It might be what we hear every time this happens - what the media and politicians say, what Muslim "community representatives" say to try and avoid being ...
Here is the latest newsletter from the Friends of Churchtown Library (FoCL). If you would like to join the Friends of Churchtown Library, please email me - Cllr Nigel Ashton, Acting Chair of FoCL, and I will pass your name on to our Secretary. The Champion news article about Churchtown Library can be accessed here.
Lib Dem Cllr. Marianne Welsh reports that at a recent briefing at Bootle Town Hall councillors in Southport heard that proposals are going forward for building a large scale housing development on green belt land in an area where there has already been strong public outrage to this. The area earmarked is off of Moss Lane in Norwood Ward, near to Souhtport Old Links Golf Course. Says Marianne, one of the councillors for this ward 'This development is totally unacceptable and should not be progressed. As well as building on the green belt the immediate area is already heavily populated ...
[IMG: scamarecrimes-eng-web-trans] May is Scams Awareness Month (organised by the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Trading Standards Institute. These are just a few of the scams that the Essex County Council Trading Standards team has come across this month: Emails purporting to be from HMRC in regard to being eligible to a tax return of £288.87 in which the business has to register details. The email address from which the email has been sent is a no-reply and not an HMRC email address. An email to a resident purporting to be from a police force outside Essex. It stated that ...
When it comes to how to deal with ex-gay therapy, I'm deeply conflicted. On one hand: - I'm pretty confident that it does not work. Suppressing your sexuality is not changing it. The evidence seems to back this up and even former ex-gay leaders are starting to admit this. - As it doesn't work, giving "false hope" to those, often vulnerable, individuals who want to change their sexuality is dangerous. It serves only to make them feel even worse when they are told their sexuality can change but it doesn't. - You don't go to a Doctor and expect to ...
The recent shocking murder in Woolwich has understandably taken up a lot of media attention this week, but as ever the wave of commentary after the event has started, and one piece in particular drew my attention this week. At ... Continue reading →
Three weeks after the county council elections, where are the Liberal Democrats in power, and where are they in opposition? This map highlights what influence local Lib Dem parties have and where.
Following the repainting, residents have been in touch with us about the fact that the parking bays have not been properly replaced – bluntly there are fewer than there were before. We raised this with the district council yesterday and got this response: Further to your e-mail regarding the above and the resurfacing/repainting of residents parking bays. Under the circumstances I have suspended parking enforcement in these roads which will allow residents to park without hindrance until we can get to the bottom of the problem. The parking team will be looking into the matter and once we are fully ...
It's not often I blog expressing my pleasant surprise that someone is still alive. In fact, I think I have only done it once when I blogged "Good heavens! Mick McManus is still alive" in July 2007. The man in question was blessed with a further six years of life and has now died aged 93. As a tribute, here is that post from 2007 and, below it, a clip from McManus in his prime (for which mention should be made of commentator Ken Walton who was an integral part of ITV World of Sport Wrestling): This will mean nothing ...
Liverpool's planning to start a cycle hire scheme (a bit like the one in London). As part of the planning there's a survey which includes questions about where people would prefer to collect the bikes from. I had originally thought this was mainly about the City centre but the options in the survey include Speke and Garston. You don't necessarily have to be a cyclist to fill it in so please do have a look and respond. The survey is at this link and its open until the end of July.
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London Borough of Camden: Transport Liaison public meeting, June 25 at Swiss Cottage Library, from 7pm - 9pm Each year, Camden Council holds a public meeting to discuss local transport issues in the borough. The meeting is attended by our partners at Transport for London (TfL) and local public transport providers (such as bus and rail operators), and it is an opportunity to discuss directly with them issues that relate to their operations. The types of issues discussed include (but are not limited to), buses, tube, overground rail, cycle hire, traffic signals etc. This year the meeting will be held ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Government behaving badly over 'quietly aborted' lobbying reform » Spectator Blogs A pro-reform lobbyist writes » Government behaving badly over 'quietly aborted' lobbying reform http://bit.ly/125XLjh Eight Golden Rules for Tragedy Tweeting » Spectator Blogs 8 Golden Rules for Tragedy Tweeting http://bit.ly/11kxzzx « Good stuff tho following rules wd leave Twitter silent (not *such* a bad thing) Andrew Grice: It was the right speech for David Cameron. It came from Nick Clegg – UK Politics – UK – The Independent Must-read from Andrew Grice » It was the right speech for David Cameron. ...
This planning application is 13/01920/FUL Radway Service Station 482 Wellsway Bath BA2 2UB We feel that this should be refused as this is over development of the site, 35 students houses represents an increase over the current 4 flats that have been allowed. The area has an issue with traffic, although I am sure that the applicant will say that the students will not have cars this is
Sat 25th
12:58
LibLink... Menzies Campbell MP: Syria needs Britain's help but it does not need our weapons
Menzies Campbell has written an article for the Guardian about our role in the conflict in Syria in which he expresses concern about Government plans to veto an extension of the arms embargo. The first problem he identifies is that of working out who the good guys amongst the opposition are: How would you identify those groups among Assad's opponents who would be legitimate recipients of arms on the ground that their values of democracy and human rights are said to be the same as ours? The range of opponents is both complex and extensive. Radical Islamists are becoming more ...
This year the Festival will take place on Saturday July 6th and Sunday July 7th 12-6.00pm. Although we have traditionally been lucky with the Jester Weekend (apart from the year we had a hailstorm) so far the Spring/early summer weather has not been promising. But if we didnt take weather risks in this country we'd never plan anything and at least we're not likely to see a tornado or an earthquake! So, undeterred, the planning goes on to make this year's Festival better than ever. All the entertainments are booked, stall spaces virtually sold out, new excitements this year include ...
This was a week that put things in perspective. I know I speak for all Liberal Democrats when I say that our thoughts are with the family and friends of Drummer Lee Rigby - the British soldier attacked and killed in Woolwich on Wednesday. And I've made it clear, on the party's behalf, that we are immensely grateful to our police, security services and armed forces, who do an extraordinarily important job. That last few days have reminded me, and probably many of you, of a simple but important truth: when your values are under attack, you have to hold ...
[IMG: rsz_green_ln_tree_23_05_2013] This huge tree came down around 4.15pm last Thursday afternoon, so I am told and it seems from chatting to a resident living nearby that rotted roots may have been the cause. It was one of those trees that looked fine, indeed I must have walked under it hundreds of times over the years right back to when I took my daughter to Green Park School. The tree was much older than anyone reading this posting and it is rather sad to see it down. Fortunately no one was hurt although a property in Green Link seems to ...
UKIP frequently describe the EU as a large, expensive, bureaucratic nightmare, stating that we pay into the EU more than we get out. Yet at a time when the EU seeks to change that, by tackling tax evasion and avoidance, potentially saving member states in total 7 times the EU's annual budget, UKIP vote en masse against it. This week the EU Parliament voted to halve the €1 tn lost due to tax evasion and avoidance by 2020 by closing tax loopholes and tax havens. This is to be achieved by tightening some of the agreements between tax havens such ...
posted The Blood is The Life 24-05-2013 http://t.co/c0ehia2vvb on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) Ilford police raid the homeless and take their sleeping bags and food this is disgusting (tags: ) Nick Clegg and Francis Maude agree to fly rainbow flag from Cabinet Office for Pride week http://t.co/GnqoVFHy7C via @PinkNews #lgbtld (tags: (from twitter) ) Law 'couldn't have stopped Woolwich murder,' says Community Secretary Eric Pickles http://t.co/Gc63XwIHTv (The Independent) (tags: (from twitter) ) @ClaireAgutter https://t.co/nVqrPYnvvn (tags: (from twitter) ) "'We Have Always Fought': Challenging the 'Women, Cattle and Slaves' Narrative" by Kameron Hurley — A ...
Max Atkinson has written an interesting analysis of the decline of political oratory: ...a major change in the past 25 years has been the replacement of political speeches by broadcast interviews as the main form of political communication in Britain - even though interviews hardly ever result in anything other than bad news about the politicians themselves. As a result, effective political speech-making has become a dying art, in which there appears to be a curious collaboration between the media and politicians to continue relegating the coverage of speeches in favour of the broadcast interview.At the same time, the politicians ...
It is Whitsun bank holiday weekend so it must be the Hay Literary Festival. For once it is not raining so some shopping is the order for the morning before Eric Schmidt from Google, Caitlin Moran and India Knight, Sandi Tokswig, Jon Ronson and K.T. Tunstall. Apparently, I have five messages waiting for me on my mobile phone. I am not ignoring you, whoever you are, honest. It is just that as far as O2 reception is concerned this area is a black hole. I am afraid you may have to wait until Monday night before I can return your ...
There is likely to be some emergency works done on the main sewer in Chequer Street, St Albans, beginning this coming Monday (27 May). This is likely to last about 10 days.
There are some very interesting jobs all over the country working for Liberal Democrats, either at party HQs or for parliamentarians. Here's a quick selection – but be quick. Some have closing dates looming large. Do you want to be the person who organises Nick Clegg's visits? This involves a lot of travel, because you have to check venues out in advance as well as accompany him but in turn you get a great deal of job satisfaction as photographs of your work are everywhere. Closing date for this is 3 June – that's a week on Monday. There is ...
I used to love this programme. I think I had a "Man from U.N.C.L.E" gun or something. This video is the "long opening" from series one. It says at the beginning: The United Network Command for Law Enforcement....involved in maintaining political and legal order anywhere in the world. Well they did a great job there, didn't they? The enemy of U.N.C.L.E was, believe it or not, T.H.R.U.S.H. Here are the later opening titles in colour: [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations represents some of the country's most important communication professionals, including those practising the dark arts of political spin. The membership are supposed to be some of the most politically aware and knowledgeable people in the UK. So what to make of the frankly laughable turnout of just 8.8% for its re-run Presidential election? The previous election was cancelled amid confusion over an apparent late nomination, in considerable publicity within the industry. So one would have thought members would have no excuse not to cast their votes. The turnout details from the electoral Refom Society ...
With my colleague Richard Oglethorpe, I send out an e mail bulletin roughly once a month with news about things going on in South Liverpool (mainly L19 and L18) If you want to start getting these you can subscribe by clicking on this link
Back in March, I firstly raised with the City Engineer concerns about a significant amount of water seepage from the retaining wall along Pentland Avenue, towards the Balgay Road end of the wall. This had been raised with me by local residents and by representatives of Community Spirit Action Group. The council has been undertaking tests to get to the bottom of the issue and I have had another update from the Team Leader (Infrastructure) in the City Development Department as follows: "To update you on the seepage issue, as you know we dye tested the drains to determine that ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats' priorities have always been to build a stronger economy in a fairer society, and Liberal Democrat policies in the Queen's Speech are very much delivering on that. Obviously it is not a Liberal Democrat Queen speech and there are many more bills in there I would like to see, but I know that if the Conservatives had formed their own minority government back in 2010, we wouldn't be here today talking about Silk, with its possibility of devolving some taxation powers and borrowing to the National Assembly - powers which I believe will create a stronger ...
As we all know, the West Hampstead area has been plagued by water problems over the last few months, with burst mains in West End Lane and nearby Cricklewood causing disruption to traffic and loss of supply to many of our homes. We think it's time our area got the benefit of the Victorian water mains replacement programme, and we've invited representatives from Thames Water to come to our next Area Forum. This will follow on from the last Area Forum when we discussed flooding problems and lots of criticism was levelled at Camden Council for not keeping the gullies ...
Once upon a time we had a big friendly bus called the 59 whose terminus was West End Green and which went to all sorts of faraway places south of the river. Occasionally it even took us up the hill to Fortune Green on its way home to its garage at Golders Green. Then its route got shorter and it became a single decker bus and it was operated by a different bus company out of Cricklewood Garage - then it was transformed again into a big bus called the 139 and took to travelling empty up and down Mill ...
