The ancient Greek tragedian Euripides (c484BC-c406BC) was a prolific writer with a distinctly political bent and he was composing his dramas during a period of outstanding achievements — but also risks — for his home-state, Athens. We know that one of his most forceful serial works was the Trojan Trilogy, though only the final part, The [...]
To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice. Magna Carta [IMG: Word justice highlighted with a yellow marker] When Chris Grayling was appointed Lord Chancellor in 2012 it raised a few eyebrows. He is the first non-lawyer to hold the post since the seventeenth century. His experience prior to becoming a member of Parliament involved television production, corporate communications and management consulting. It has been suggested that this was not perhaps the ideal background for someone occupying one of the most venerable Offices of State. It is an office that has, until now, ...
Returning from my trip north via London's now sixth airport - Southend - which appears to be a mix of aeroplane graveyard and medieval church. It also has one of the last remaining Vulcan bombers - parked up at the end of its rather short main runway.
Geoff Marshall shares his favourite bits of Tube trivia from the District Line. In which ticket hall can you find a swastika? Which station changes name from one platform to the next? Where does the Underground go over the Overground? Thanks to Londonist.
From chapter 7 of David Copperfield: An unhappy culprit, found guilty of imperfect exercise, approaches at his command. The culprit falters excuses and professes a determination to do better to-morrow. Mr. Creakle cuts a joke before he beats him, and we laugh at it, - miserable little dogs, we laugh, with our visages as white as ashes, and our hearts sinking into our boots.
"Channel 4 in the 1980s is widely credited with breathing fresh life into British television, particularly in comedy, drama, youth programming and scheduling," says Mark Duguid, Senior Curator (Archive Online) of the BFI National Archive. As quoted on the Open Media website, he continues: Less often acknowledged is the extent of innovation in the channel's non-fiction output, which included opinionated current affairs documentaries .... One of the most successful innovations was also the simplest: a late-night, open-ended discussion programme treating a single topic in detail, with no filmed reports, aggressive interviewers, studio audience, political soundbites, computer graphics or video effects.If ...
Members of the Liberal Democrats today received an e-mail from Nick Clegg, informing them that party president Tim Farron MP has been put in charge of the party's 2014 local and European election campaign. His appointment has been added to that of Paddy Ashdown (in charge of the party's 2015 general election campaign); Martin Horwood MP (in charge of the party's 2013 local election campaign); James Gurling (chair of the party's Campaign and Communications Committee, a sub-committee of the Federal Executive); and Hilary Stephenson (no.2 at party HQ and in charge of the HQ directorate for 'Elections and Field'). Meanwhile, ...
My Dundee LibDem colleague Craig Duncan and I spent this morning campaigning with our party's excellent candidate for Aberdeen Donside, Christine Jardine. It was a beautiful sunny morning in Aberdeen and we had a really enjoyable time campaigning in Granholm Village and Danestone. Here's Christine and me - pictured right - at the LibDem campaign HQ in Donside!
This is Cornwall reports: A Cornish farmer found himself forced to break the law after a calf fell neck deep into a badger sett. Jim Candy, who is also a Liberal Democrat member of Cornwall Council, said he realised the action could land him in trouble with both the police and the RSPCA. However, he said the welfare of the cattle on Trerieve, his organic farm near Looe, must come first.There's more about Jim Candy and his farm on the Trerieve Organic Farm site.
A warning for those of you who don't like my Beach Boys posts — the next week or so isn't going to be to your taste. I've now got past almost all the Beach Boys albums with any artistic merit whatsoever (at least the ones covered in volume two of my book — volume three [...]
"The UK court's judgment will have a chilling effect on free speech on Twitter and will likely devolve into an era of social media self-censorship for Twitter users, particularly in the UK. A form of libel chill, or, perhaps 'Twitter Chill'." Charon QC looks at the aftermath of McAlpine v. Bercow. Mary Reid on Liberal Democrat Voice visits the battlefield at Culloden and considers its lessons for the Scottish independence debate. Mark Thompson offers three reasons why he hates self-checkout machines. "The London School Board built some 400 schools in the thirty years of its existence. Together, they represent one ...
Tomorrow's (Weds 29th May) Acocks Green Ward Committee has been cancelled. It's probably a sensible move given that there is very little business to discuss. What isn't at all impressive is that it was done at just 24 hours notice. Cancellations at such short notice should only happen when there are unusual issues that crop up at short notice, such as a sudden illness affecting a majority of the Councillors. The reason given – the lack of business – has been known for some time and should have meant the meeting was cancelled at least a week ago. The next ...
[IMG: culloden] Yesterday afternoon I was standing on a windy moor in Scotland and reminding myself that, over 250 years ago, my ancestors, the Prices, had stood directly opposite my husband's ancestors from Clan Donnachaidh, preparing for what was to become the last full-scale battle in Britain. After one hour of intense fighting, 1250 Jacobites lay dead on the moor alongside 50 Government troops. The field of battle is still honoured as a war grave. My memories from school history had romanticised Culloden as a confrontation between the Scots – Bonnie Prince Charlie and the brave Highlanders – and the ...
[IMG: Tim Farron] Members have just received this email from Nick Clegg: The 2014 local and European elections are hugely important, so I'm putting one of our best campaigners in charge - Tim Farron. The dust may have barely settled since this May's local elections but it's never too early to start work on the next set. No one embodies that more than Tim, a true 24/7 campaigner, working hard all year round – just ask the people of Westmorland and Lonsdale. Given the critical importance of these elections for Liberal Democrat representation at a local and European level, not ...
The Telegraph say Iain Duncan Smith would cut welfare by a further £3bn to prevent cuts to the forces and police, leaving Nick Clegg in an impossible position. There is no doubt many Lib Dem members are uncomfortable with many of the changes and cuts to welfare that there have already taken place, and would ...
A women as Mayor is today scarcely remarked on-indeed Maureen Fearn has done it three times, but there was a time when such things were fiercely controversial. In deed in Bootle they did get around to having a women Mayor until the 1967/8. Indeed there was only ever one women Mayor of Bootle, Veronica Bray . In Southport things were a little different. Liberal Women were elected to School Boards-Birkdale's Kate Riley was the first women elected to anything when she joined the local School Board at its inception. The first Councillor was also a Kate with the quintessential Southport ...
South West Conservative MEP Julie Girling has been named on the final shortlist for an MEP Award for the second year running. In 2012 she was nominated by EU policy stakeholders for making an excellent contribution in the domain of animal welfare, this year she has been recognised for her work on the Environment. Mrs Girling is a member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)
As world conquests go, this was pretty impressive. While there were dark muttering about Islam taking over the world, neo-liberalism went ahead and did it in less than 50 years. It used the tools of an organised religion. If you wanted to be part of it, you had to forswear all others and commit yourself to a belief in the mystical powers of the Market. You could not question the powers of the Market, despite any evidence to the contrary, and discussion could only take place if both parties took the magical powers that flow from the Market as fact. ...
The next Southfield Ward Forum meeting take place on Wednesday 12th June in Acton Green Church Hall, Cunnington Street, W4 5ER at 7.30 pm. The ward forum, meets four times a year so that residents can discuss local matter with the three local Councillors, Council officers and the local police team. The ward forum also has an annual budget of approximately £40,000 which can be used to to make improvements to our area including parks and pavements. Myself, chair of the Southfield ward forum The agenda is below: Welcome and Introductions 7.30pmRequest for 'Any Other Business' itemsHanding in of local ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story which had been doing the rounds before they made it public. I met Jane Kennedy at the crisis meeting held in Lydiate a few weeks ago when Maghull was being used for target practice by criminals. She came across as a decent sort but knowing some of the people on the watch dog committee I fear that there could well be a significant issue to address here. I must say that having asked in public for the Police and the Commissioner to say what they are jointly going to do to tackle gun ...
Concerns over the DSM are part of a bigger issue concerning the power of the psychological and neurological sciences The relationship of psychiatry to the prevailing political context has always been troubling. In authoritarian environments, such as the USSR, psychiatry has been used as a relatively blunt tool of political repression. This can be paralleled with contemporary concerns about corporate influence. The worry is that a capitalist or overly marketised environment prepares the ground for the diagnostic criteria of psychiatric illnesses to be influenced by the available treatments ie by the available psycho-pharmacological drugs. Although his suggestion that mental illness ...
As a frequent visitor to that part of the world, I am not wholly surprised. The wicker man, says the Shropshire Star, will be set alight as part of the Sin-Eater Festival, which is being held at The Bridges in Ratlinghope from 21-23 June. This promises two dozen musical acts "plus morris dancing, craft workshops, music workshops, photography workshops, performance art, nature walks, films and loads and loads of real ale!" But why is it called the 'Sin-Eater Festival'? You're not a regular reader, are you?
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... The 'nudge' that could generate £4bn annual bequest to charities – UK Politics – UK – The Independent Old fundraising maxim: ppl only give when asked » The 'nudge' that could generate £4bn annual bequest to charities http://ind.pn/114Q1aH Send to Kindle
I have been drawing attention to another example of Labour waste-the unlet space in Southport Town Hall. The place is practaclly empty and yet the Council is renting rooms elsewher. Now I am informed that at least one essential service has been desperate to move into the empty space but cannot get a response from the Council. The Coroner needs rooms. Matters are moving apace. During July the Coroners and Justice Act, 2009 will come into force. This will require that all Coroner's court hearings are held in public, including the Opening proceedings and Pre Inquest Hearings. They must also ...
Why are academics who advocate government intervention in the economy so hostile to intervention closer to home? Forget the Bullingdon Club. I've stumbled upon a fascinating and hitherto undocumented secret society in Britain's universities. Unlike the famously elitist Buller, this one is much more pervasive, and its members aren't posh undergrads but academics. Before I say any more about it, let me mention something else I've observed. When I ask friends in academia about the government's proper role in the economy, they generally tell me the same sort of thing. They say that hands-off, laissez-faire neoliberalism is a sham. That ...
Episode 60 of the House of Comments podcast "The Woolwich Aftermath" was recorded yesterday and is out today. This week myself and Emma Burnell were joined by parliamentary lobby correspondent and host of the "Hear Hear" political podcast Sean Dilley. We discussed various aspects of the aftermath of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich including the political and media responses. We also covered whether David Cameron should be able to take a holiday and touched upon the recent fortunes of the Conservative Party more widely. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here (note - this is ...
Have you noticed an increase in the number of potholes in your road recently? Or are the ones that have been there for years getting worse? Every month, I receive emails from constituents who are concerned about the state of their roads. And it really is no wonder. Labour-run Haringey Council have neglected our roads for years and years, preferring to pay out compensation for terrible accidents, than actually investing in our road surfaces. Just now, after years of pressure from the Local Lib Dems, the Council have said that they will take action on our roads. I thought this ...
The History Editor of the Blog has contacted me. I notice that once again some inaccuracies are creeping into the stories about Ronnie's 50 years. Oddly they are the same inaccuracies. Tim Farron writing in the Dictionary of Liberal Biography and the Southport Visiter both allege that when Ronnie was elected he was one of only three Liberal members of the Council. He was not. He was one of 27! Both stories go on to say that in a few months he became Leader. Well actually it was 84 months. I'm not sure who is responsible for these attempts to ...
[IMG: jo swinson by paul walter] Jo Swinson, the Women's Minister, has been interviewed by the Daily Telegraph anticipating the progress report due today on the Body Confidence campaign. Her research has shown that 25% of all 11 to 15 year old boys and girls are unhappy about their appearance. 70% of girls think there is too much emphasis on how celebrities look. She said: Parents that praise their sons and daughters for looking "beautiful", wearing a pretty outfit or having a nice hair do risk sending the wrong message to children that looks are the most important thing to ...
Reblogged from Andrew McFarland Campbell: A few weeks ago I was in a Catholic holy shop that sold various things like Bibles, prayer cards, and religious statues and ornaments. I wasn't buying anything, I was just there with Michael as he was browsing. A week or two after that I was in a comic book [...]
Tue 28th
12:00
Day 4529: No New Powers for the Security Services At Least Until They Explain Why They Failed to Use...
Sunday: World War Z is upon us this summer - not the Brad Pitt monster flick, but the return of ZOMBIE LEGISLATION that we thought Cap'n Clegg had laid to rest with his trusty Silver Veto in the Quad (or Crus-he-fix). Let's hammer this point hard: reports suggest that the security services KNEW about the murderers in advance and had all the powers they needed to find out what they were up to but just DIDN'T. And there is a REPORT being prepared to EXPLAIN what went wrong. Until we've had that report, calling for NEW powers is WILDLY IRRESPONSIBLE! ...
I spent the bank holiday weekend immersed in the middle classes, camping in the Wye Valley. You could hear the great middle class call sign wafting across the campsite: "I tell you what, you look after the children and I'll faff around with the tent..." I event ventured into the bastion of middle class life, Tyntesfield, the National Trust extravaganza outside Bristol. The camping was lovely, the weather beautiful, the nights freezing and Tyntesfield was fabulous and magical. It comes to something when you can recognise something extraordinary in among the bric-a-brac, and I recognised a lifebelt from the German ...
Nick Clegg used his Bank Holiday weekend letter to members to reflect on the deeply disturbing Woolwich murder, as well as progress with the Equal Marriage Bill. [IMG: libdem letter from nick clegg] 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 ...
Every few months the Holyrood Ward 'PACT' meeeting (Police and Communities Together) helps the local police set priorities for their work. Last time they agreed to two priorities, and have now given us an update: Parking issues near Parrenthorn High School - We have been in the area and advised motorists on their method of parking. We have worked in partnership with Bury Council's Civil Enforcement Officers who have also been in the area. This will be an ongoing situation which is still being monitored by ourselves and Bury Council. Passing attention to Grosvenor Villas - We had been giving ...
No sooner had the flowers begun to accumulate by the side of the road in Woolwich where drummer Rigby was slain last week than an unholy alliance of current and former Home Secretaries, Labour and Conservative, issued their siren calls urgently to implement new, and to many oppressive, security and surveillance powers that have been previously blocked in Parliament. We should hardly be surprised: without even considering ideological or political motives, mere economic incentives for public sector providers of security as well as for politicians make this a likely response to such a tragedy, especially while it is uppermost in ...
Haringey Council has been making much recently of its new blitz on pothole repairs around the borough. That's a big change from its previous approach to potholes – and a victory for the vigorous local Liberal Democrat campaigning on the issue. However, there's still quite a long way to go before Haringey Council really faces up to the scale of the problem rather than claiming things are better than they are (as they did in the case of this tragic accident caused by a pothole). Take Cecile Park. According to Haringey Council's Road Condition Survey, the road is in a ...
The Council has received a premise licence application for Liquor Shop, 88 Bury Old Road, Whitefield. The application is for the supply of alcohol, Monday to Sunday from 9am to 11pm. Any objections, or if you would like me to object as your local councillor need to be in writing to the Licensing Office no later than the 20 June 2013. Tim
Readers of this site will not be entirely taken aback to find that I lack faith in the people who run this county, but even I have been shocked by the situation I have uncovered in the process by which our Belle Vue Village Green application was knocked back. True, I was pretty sure what the outcome would be even before I went to the committee meeting, but it never crossed my mind that councillors for whom the council had no record of training in Village Green law would be allowed to take part in the meeting even though the ...
[IMG: Untitled1] The Five Star Appeal, the children's charity based on Bury New Road in Prestwich, is organising an Abseil on St Mary's Church Prestwich on 29 June 2013. The Charity would like people to help them raise funds for Nicholas Bamforth who is a 9 year old boy from Middleton who has cerebral Palsy, who is receiving treatment in America so he can walk. They aim to raise £10,000 to help towards his treatment. They have raised £3000 so far but need all the help they can get to get to the £10,000 needed. They can take 100 people ...
One of my pet peeves is a particular brand of wooly-political thinking whereby individuals denounce the 'commodification' of things that, according to them, shouldn't be commodified. It's usually things like health care and/or education which said individuals wrap in soppy, emotional rhetoric and reams upon reams of abstract concepts because those things are far too important to be treated like mere commodities. It may very well be the case that health and education are so much more than commodities – in fact, I'm pretty sure they are – but that doesn't change the fact that it requires huge amounts of ...
Brian May with short hair is JUST WRONG. http://t.co/GoyPLFX1es (tags: (from twitter) ) http://classichorrorblog.tumblr.com/image/51459491244 OMG You guys! How ARE you? http://t.co/UgBJqKKXi3 (tags: (from twitter) ) posted The Blood is The Life 27-05-2013 http://t.co/rvMFdWXT5V on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) http://tmblr.co/ZOO-nxlySqHA beautiful. I wanna be like that. RT @Gally_Freya: RT @TheMarySue: Women read comics. 80 year old women read comics. http://t.co/MXgRdUbpMU (tags: (from twitter) ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Former SDP/Liberal Democrat but now Blairite Labour Peer Andrew Adonis has written a book, "Five days in May," in which he describes, from the Labour Party perspective, the hapless discussions with his former party on the remote possibility of a Lib-lab...Read more ›
Every time you go into a supermarket or newsagent to buy a magazine, you are likely to be confronted with the following:A women's section, which contains magazines on, mainly, celebrity froth, sewing, cooking and child-rearing;Everything remotely interesting,like current affairs, photography, fishing, sport, computers and science fiction being displayed elsewhere;Magazines with pictures of half naked women prominently displayed in a way that you can't miss.What does this tell children about the world in which they are growing up? The message seems to be that women are there to keep everyone else fed (while keeping themselves unrealistically thin, of course), that they ...
More than a year has passed since Nick Clegg launched his flagship £1 billion Youth Contract. The Deputy Prime Minister pinned his hopes on the scheme, hailing it as "a major moment for Britain's young unemployed people". Clegg's scheme, it was promised, would set young people on "the path to work" before the long term damage is done. Yet one year on and youth unemployment remains one of the biggest challenges we face as a nation. The number of young adults seeking a job continues to cling to one million – and it has done for nearly four years. There ...
Tue 28th
08:48
Sefton Council to allow building of 600 new houses in green fields to the north of Churchtown over t...
Sefton Council will allow building of 600 new houses in green fields to the north of Churchtown over the next 10 years, and 1000 new homes around Ainsdale, if Sefton's new Local Plan is passed. This is in addition to homes that they expect to be built anyway within the present confines of the town. But Southport's Liberal Democrat councillors are concerned that the right balance is not being struck. Sefton Council's Local Plan, which will go out to consultation if approved at the Council's Scrutiny Committee in Bootle on Tuesday (28th May), includes these homes and thousands more in ...
I really hate them. Really, really hate them. And I never really thought too much about why until recently. I am a child of the tech generation. I got my first computer (a beloved ZX Spectrum) when I was 9 years old and learned to program on it. I studied Computing at University and have made my living from it. Better still I used to work for a company that specialised in software to print and read barcodes. So you'd think scanning my own shopping would be right up my street. So why isn't it? I mulled this over at ...
[IMG: Home Office logo] In the last few days we've seen a succession of current and former Home Secretaries insist that the government should go ahead with a piece of legislation that detailed pre-legislative scrutiny found was deeply flawed – the Draft Communications Data Bill. No wonder the Home Office is consistently in such a mess if their response to detailed cross-party examination finding an idea to be so badly misplaced is to say, "Go ahead, anyway'.
As part of the Dundee Festival of Volunteering, a number of us, including members of Community Spirit Action Group, are undertaking a graffiti clean-up of the Douglas Street area. Details below:You can download a higher quality PDF version of this poster by clicking here.
Having had a number of residents' complaints about the road condition in Hillside Terrace, I met yesterday with the roads inspector for the area and a local resident on-site. It was agreed that a number of repairs (including at the road damage - see right) could be carried out using the "Rapid Rhino" permanent repair method, which is a most helpful proposal.
Commenting on the launch of the review of quality of life and care of older people in care homes in Wales, Aled Roberts, Welsh Liberal Democrat Older People's spokesperson, said: "There are too many inconsistencies in the way older people are cared for in Wales. Some providers in Wales provide levels of care which are an exemplar but unfortunately we have also been made aware of instances where standards of care have left much to be desired. "In undertaking this work the Commissioner will be able to provide a clear picture of the situation throughout Wales and this inquiry will ...
The English badger cull starts on Saturday and already it is looking like it will be an unworkable mess. I still find it difficult to believe that any responsible Government minister could conceive of a cull method that involves free-shooting marksmen targeting unsecured badgers at night. There is no guarantee that a clean kill can be taken every time, leaving the possibility of badly wounded animals crawling away to die in pain. When you throw in the likelihood of protestors on the scene it seems that we are facing an accident waiting to happen. The Government are seeking to cull ...
Here's my latest piece from the New Statesman, which was meant to be all about why right wing Tory Eurosceptics may have done their party a favour in the run up to the 2015 election, but appears (if the headline is anything to go by) to also suggest that we need to get a little more radical... If anyone thought the best way to herd Tory backbenchers back into line was a stiff telling off from Nick Clegg, then they were always destined to be disappointed. But I don't suppose that was ever the real intention. It was probably more ...
Message to district councillors which we have been asked to pass on We have recently launched the 2013/14 Community Grants Fund application process which will run until Friday 21 June. This fund provides local community and voluntary groups with the opportunity to access flexible funding to support local projects and initiatives. Since introducing the fund in 2011/12, we have been able to support some excellent local projects. These have included: Leadership and skills workshops for young Bangladeshis in St Albans Intergenerational project exploring democracy and community through theatre and digital media. Training for new bereavement support volunteers in the St. ...
Well, what a week it's been. So much to write about - the end of my second year of my degree; terrorist attacks returning to the streets of London; the somewhat uncomfortable debate on same-sex marriage. All deserve a post of their own, so first up, same-sex marriage. Over the past few weeks and months, I've seen some extraordinary justifications as to why libertarians might want to oppose equal rights to marriage for same-sex couples. Not only that, but some even suggest that support for state recognised same-sex marriage is itself promoting the enlargement of the state and therefore thoroughly ...
