I have written about the possibilities of closing A&Es previously including my local A&E in Lancaster. My MP, David Morris became involved and despite the advice from the NHS Confederation that some A&Es should close David is convinced that there is no local threat. My gut feeling is that there will be no local closure but I have never ruled out the possibility. Earlier in the year we were reassured by the Trust's Chief Executive, Jackie Daniel that there would be no closure at Lancaster, but she couldn't "second guess the future". Well this is the future and last week ...
For years, I have often felt at a disadvantage. The crazy thing is that this perceived disadvantage was in fact because I was very fortunate. You see, all around me at school and later at college, there were friends who had lost grandfathers, or great grandfathers, or other male relatives to The Great War and [...]
[IMG: intcomm] You learn something new everyday. This funny YouTube video alerted me to the existence of the International Boundary Commission, which maintains the border between the US and Canada – the border being a twenty foot-wide gap extending across two-thirds of the American continent. It seems that guys with chain saws spend their working lives walking along the border and chopping off errant saplings which threaten to muddy the Canadian/US border waters. You couldn't make it up. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
...but then I am sad. What happens if the Electoral College is tied? – from CGP Grey, whose YouTube channel I visited to watch the very popular Bizarre facts about the Canadian and US border. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
I have today expressed concern at another travellers' illegal encampment on council owned land springing up in the past 24 hours, this time immediately west of the Riverside playing field to the north side of Riverside Drive. I have received several concerns from residents about this encampment and I have been in touch with the police and council officers about this, to hopefully ensure there is a swift resolution. I have received feedback that council officers today met with the travellers and have also taken appropriate legal steps. A photo of the site is below:
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. Many apologies that the newsletter is a day late, but yesterday was my daughter's birthday so we spent the day celebrating that. I probably also need to apologise to all my neighbours that one of her presents is a drum kit! 1. Hemlock Happening Thank you to everyone who made this year's Hemlock Happening another hugely successful event. Congratulations to ...
Tonight, after my weekly ward surgeries at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre, I participated in the City Council meeting and council committees. * At the City Council meeting, I sought assurances that, should the Belmont Estate be considered for sale (this is subject to parliamentary approval), the sake goes ahead only if the sum likely to be realised for the benefit of the people of Dundee meets market valuation. * At the Environment Committee, I spoke in a debate about domestic waste collection strategy. I emphasised the need for the council to provide appropriate recycling facilities for the ...
[IMG: Lynne Feathestone with Bill Gates] Bill Gates opened the DFID building on Friday. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a real force for good. The work that is being done to vaccinate children in the developing world thanks to the Foundation is phenomenal. And the new (well – adapted and refurbished) No 22 Whitehall is a much better and more modern environment in which to work. Not only that – the move is nearer to parliament and is a great deal cheaper than the building we moved from.
Earlier today, I attended the City Council's Local Economy Monitoring Group, at which senior council officers, councillors and business representatives such as the Chamber of Commerce discuss matters of economic importance to Dundee. We had very positive feedback on the recent Dundee Economic Summit, and also discussed the city's economic strategy, youth employment, progress with the renewables sector and the waterfront project. I asked the Scottish Enterprise representative about progress with and business interest in District 10 at Seabraes and was pleased to learn about the positive response to this initiative.
I have written earlier about the forthcoming loss of the Citizens Advice Bureau on the Kilburn High Road. Well, at the suggestion of a local resident and user of the CAB, Kilburn Lib Dems have put together a petition against the loss of this valuable face-to-face advice service. The petition says: We regret the planned [...]
Well, that was underwhelming. Having been alerted by the Times Higher Education last Friday to expect some real insights into how to address the crisis in part-time higher education (a 40% decline in new part-time enrolments since 2010), the IPPR's report devotes just 4 out of 156 pages (between pages 83-88) to the concerns of the 35.7% of England-resident students who study part-time in higher education. The first of these few pages are recycled statistics and a fairly shallow analysis of material already published elsewhere. To be honest, I think that even I've done a better job of covering the ...
At some point in our lives, almost all of us will find ourselves caring for a relative or close friend. Many of us will one day be reliant on some form of care ourselves. We owe our carers an immense debt of gratitude. In this week's National Carers Week, individuals and organisations are joining together to highlight the invaluable work carried out by UK carers and to raise the profile of the nature and challenges of the role. For too long, the care system in the UK has been designed around the needs of large organisations rather than around the ...
A report on the Guardian website this evening quotes Stephen Williams, the Lib Dem MP for Bristol West, talking about how of Lloyds Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland should be returned to the public sector: "My Lib Dem colleagues and I will not stand by and watch private investors reap all of the benefits once the banks are taken off taxpayer intensive care. The public must get their share."Back in 2011 Stephen wrote a pamphlet for CentreForum which called for every British adult to be given shares in banks that had been rescued by the government. At the ...
Judging by today's Commons statement and questions on GCHQ, while the average Conservative MP does not trust teachers, doctors or the BBC, he or she has an unbreakable faith in our intelligence services. And that faith is shared by the average Labour MP too. It's not the outlook on life you would hope for in a mature democracy, is it?
I was very sorry to hear of the death of Councillor David Holtby today. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr Holtby's family and friends at this very difficult time. On the numerous occasions I bumped into David Holtby he was always very polite and jovial. He had quite a difficult task ahead of him when he took over as Conservative agent locally. But he obviously did a very good job of it. He made a very large contribution to West Berkshire life, and I particularly remember his very strong and enthusiastic support for the armed services. [IMG: Post ...
Here's the agenda for the next planning meeting; 1. To receive apologies for absence and declaration of interest 2. To approve minutes of Planning Committee Meeting held on 11 April 2013 3. To approve minutes of Environment Committee Meeting held on 1 May 2013 4. Matters for discussion and decisions to be made from previous minutes 4.1 Rob Mongovan - update on stream and Topographical Survey 4.2 Farmhouse update - application for change of use completed 5. Planning Applications:- a. 1 Field View - single storey front extension and first floor rear extension 6. Planning Decisions:- a. Units 2,3,4,5 Trafalgar ...
At the time of the controversy over the naming of the new Blue Peter cat - remember Cookiegate? - I wrote: In my day the Blue Peter cat would have been called whatever Valerie Singleton damned well said it was and that would have been an end of the matter.Time has moved on. The programme no longer has pets for the nation's children to enjoy, but now they get to choose its presenters. BBC News reports: Each episode of Blue Peter - You Decide! will see the contenders tackle a series of challenges reflecting things they may be asked to ...
[IMG: The logo of Downside Primary School] Last month I decided to resign as a school governor for Downside Primary School. It has been roughly 10 years since I became a governor of Downside Junior School. During that time the school merged with the next door infants school to create Downside Primary. Something that I've written about on this blog. During that time it has been fascinating to watch the school develop and to be a witness to the merger process. I've enjoyed my time on the governing body and have learned an awful lot. I first joined the governing ...
[IMG: web snoopers charter] The Social Liberal Forum is urging Nick Clegg to continue resisting the pressure from Conservative and Labour Parliamentarians for a "Snooper's Charter" as a result of the murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich. At our recent Annual General Meeting, the SLF passed a motion urging the Liberal Democrat leadership to "resist all intimidation and blandishments by the Conservatives and others to support such legislation and to retain our outright and... to campaign vigorously against all threats to restrict our long-held liberties and rights from unauthorised State surveillance." Condemning the murder in the strongest terms, the SLF ...
I'm hoping to get my post on Carl Wilson's Youngblood up tonight, but I had hardly any sleep last night and need a nap now I've finished work, and have been known to have after-work naps that last until 8AM, so in case that accidentally happens, here's some links. I'm so very, very old... Texas [...]
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its associated Court in Strasbourg is a favourite Aunt Sally of right-wing Conservative MPs and Britain's tabloid Press (which these days, alas, includes the broadsheet Daily Telegraph), but unjustly so. The Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as it is more formally known, [...]
Mr Tim Yeo, Conservative MP for and South Suffolk and Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, has announced his intention to sue himself for libel. "I am going to nail my own ass," he told a Liberal England reporter. He described his statement "If you want to meet the right people, I can facilitate all those introductions and I use the knowledge I get from what is quite an active network of connections" as "wholly untrue". "I was particularly shocked by my assent to the proposition that this included 'Government figures'," he added. "Moreover, my suggestion that ...
[IMG: prism-fs8] The leaders of several huge corporations have issued statements saying that their companies do not allow the US Government to illegally spy on their users. I'm sure they believe that. I'd even go so far as to say that I'm sure the entire board and top management genuinely have no knowledge of any malfeasance. Why would they? We're talking about spies - experts in the art of subterfuge and espionage. Why would a spy agency do anything as crude as ask permission? Consider the Greek wiretapping scandal. Apparently, no one in the senior corporate structure at Vodafone Greece ...
Allerton Road will be THE place to be this coming Saturday 15th June when the monthly Farmer's Market will be expanded, the Lord Mayor will be in attendance, some of the shops will be having taster sessions and exhibitions and ... Continue reading →
Mon 10th
15:45
Well done, Ed Balls. He's opened up space for a proper welfare debate. Lib Dems now need to claim th...
Ed Balls has done us all a favour. His announcement last week that if he were Chancellor he would put a stop to winter fuel allowances for well-off pensioners means Labour has joined the Lib Dems in saying we need to focus the welfare budget where it's needed most, not keep on re-distributing from the worse off to the better off in the name of universalism. It's why I chose him as my 38th Liberal Hero. And yesterday he was at it again, highlighting quite how much of the welfare budget the state pension represents — some £74 billion out ...
Time for a rant! When I first moved to Southport, some 17 years ago, Lord ST was justifiably famous for it's floral displays. Amongst these were the huge hanging baskets that could be found along Lord St. Every shop had baskets outside, many almost reaching the ground by the end of summer. Unfortunately, times have changed and Sefton Council can no longer afford to provide the baskets free of charge. Instead they have invited businesses to purchase the baskets. My Liberal Democrat colleague has led a campaign, as featured in he Southport Visitor on 16th May as follows: A CAMPAIGN ...
Last week, our party President Tim Farron wrote on Lib Dem Voice about the party's intentions to fundraise and pay all interns who work at Lib Dem HQ. I think this is fantastic news and something I support. He did however raise the issue that implementing this policy - so that everyone is able to take up an internship regardless of their financial circumstances - could mean fewer internships are available for people to take up. About 18 months ago I wrote an article on here where I raised the same concern about the reduction in the number of opportunities ...
Police are urging residents to be wary of scam where offenders claimed to be police officers. Just before 11.10am on Saturday 1 June 2013, police received a call from an elderly couple from the Cheadle Hulme area of Stockport to report a fraud. They had received a phone call from a man around noon on Friday 31st May saying that he was a detective from the Metropolitan Police claiming their bank card had been used in fraudulent transactions. The 'detective' then told the victim's they would transfer them through to their bank. Another man's voice came on the phone and ...
As you may be aware the UK is hosting a hunger summit at this year's G8 in Northern Ireland. This is a great initiative and I am proud to be a Minister in a government that cares about international development. I believe that we have a moral duty to help those people who live in [...]
A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood as detailed below:- Application number: 56369 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 31/05/2013 Location: 71 Peveril Close, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6NS Proposal: Raised decking areas and fencing at rear (retrospective) Revised scheme Plans will be available to view on the Councils' website here (use the planning application number to search). Any questions or if I can help please just get in touch.
A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood Ward as detailed below:- Application number: 56343 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 05/06/2013 11:16:55 Location: 245 Bury Old Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1JE Proposal: Change of use from retail (Class A1) to beauty salon (Sui Generis) Plans will be available to view on the Councils' website here (use the planning application number to search). Any questions or if I can help please just get in touch.
A planning application's come in for an expansion of the plant on King Street in Garston that's used by Veolia to process solvents. You can see the details at this link.
Everyone who knows Willie Rennie will know that he hardly ever stops. Whether it's getting on Alex Salmond's case in Holyrood, fighting for college funding or for the best start in life for two year olds, to travelling from one end of the country to the other encouraging and supporting activists, he's on the go all the time. Resting is not an option for him. He can probably be described as WTF (Worse than Farron) in that regard. He will always enthuse you to do more work than you thought you were capable of. He's spent a fair bit of ...
Many thanks to everyone for organising this year's Causley Festival. And great that we had such fantastic weather. My particular highlights were - Bert and Pol, Cornish poets, performing on the opening Thursday night, - the Seize the Day performance by Will Coleman and his troupe at the castle yesterday afternoon and - the Music night last night in the Town Hall. If you have any ideas for next year's festival, please get in touch (but allow a week for the team to recover from this year first!) Tweet
I was very cross to read statements from Housing Minister Mark Prisk that he intends to 'get tough' with Councils that place homeless households in bed & breakfast accommodation for longer than six weeks. What is so scurrilous about this statement is that no local authority chooses to place families in B&Bs: the negative social [...]
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Oxbridge hands 30% of all places to applicants from just 10 wealthy boroughs in the South | Mail Online Tip: It's schools not the unis > Oxbridge hands 30% of all places to applicants from 10 wealthy boroughs in South http://dailym.ai/11qEIJ9 Agaton Sax – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It's wrong, quite wrong, that the Agaton Sax children's detective series is out of print. This requires a revolution http://bit.ly/16WoeRS Send to Kindle
Alexander Pope told us that 'to err is human; to forgive divine'. Nobody is perfect and some get caught and gain a criminal record, so maybe power does corrupt. If you don't believe me then see what the hero does in the next book you read as life is full of moral dilemmas . Sometimes you choose to do so something that is wrong because of the greater good. I am not advocating unlawful protest but it sometimes happens. In political or business life, once you have that ability to award a contract then you may have to decide between ...
Iain Martin in the Telegraph asks "Is Nick Clegg the Tories' biggest headache?". Once you get past the heartwarming bitterness, Nick is roundly praised with not-so-faint damnation, for blocking one right wing policy after another. Mr Cameron remains pragmatic about the antics of his deputy, say colleagues. Some other Tories are much less relaxed. "Our backbenchers have really had it with Clegg now," admits one minister. An MP from the Tory Right said that Number 10 was "supine" and far too eager to please the Deputy Prime Minister. "Why does our leadership spend so much of its time placating Clegg ...
Public transport is a great way to assess the Zeitgeist. Watching commuters transition from iPhones to Samsungs, and from paper books to Kindles, really gives one a sense of how the world is changing. Advertising is also a great way to measure society; seeing lots of adverts for dodgy loan companies can give you an interesting idea about the direction of the economy. I've been tracking the rise of QR codes in advertising for several years now. People keep asking me when NFC will take over for "boring" QR codes - based on the few live NFC examples I've seen ...
Enjoy:
I spent last weekend in the Derbyshire Dales where my mother was brought up, and it had a dreamlike quality which I had forgotten. Wandering through Bakewell in the sunshine also reminded me of one of the fundamental truths of globalisation - we are living in what is paradoxically a decreasingly globalised world. I don't think this just because I spend more time in Paris, Brussels or New York than I do north of Watford. Or just that I go to Edinburgh, Leeds or Manchester but not the swathes of the nation in between. I isn't just because a rare ...
I think everyone who is familiar with Winnersh knows that the Loddon Bridge park and ride floods. Frequently. As it is right next to the River Loddon, it is not really very surprising that it is prone to flooding. It often has to be shut because water levels are rising, even though it does not flood every time there is a flood warning. Clearly this is unsatisfactory for users. Though not as unsatisfactory as having to write off your car because it is submerged under water, which happened to several dozen cars in the Loddon Bridge park and ride a ...
Mon 10th
11:02
Sarah Teather and Sally Hamwee contribute to report which highlights misery of new family immigratio...
The conclusions of today's All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, that the changes in the family immigration rules are unfair and causing families to be split up, should come as no surprise. It was obvious to anyone who knows even a small amount about the immigration system that they would have a terrible and heartbreaking impact. As global communications and travel become easier, so it becomes more and more likely that people are going to fall in love with someone from a different part of the world. If that someone is from within the EU, as it was for Nick ...
The spring conference at Brighton 2012 proposed a motion (F20) on Medically Assisted Dying which was carried and I was the only one who spoke against it. Now Lord Falconer has introduced a Bill on Assisted Dying for which I feel compelled to make a case against. On the wall at Lib Dem head office it say "The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity".The motion and ...
The spring conference at Brighton 2012 proposed a motion (F20) on Medically Assisted Dying which was carried and I was the only one who spoke against it. Now Lord Falconer has introduced a Bill on Assisted Dying for which I feel compelled to make a case against. On the wall at Lib Dem head office it say "The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity".The motion and ...
so not Rory Kinnear then? RT @DirtyWHOers: 'Doctor Who': No announcement today, says Steven Moffat http://t.co/LyTMkNLTCt #DoctorWHO (tags: (from twitter) doctorwho ) posted The Blood is The Life 09-06-2013 http://t.co/qhMH9w66KB on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) http://www.twalue.com/ My (new) Twitter value is $797.14, according to http://t.co/4mnFnNW0S4 ... What about yours? (tags: (from twitter) ) http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/3gecv/tw Immigration policy tearing British families apart, report shows http://t.co/4G8M68osUt via @guardian (tags: (from twitter) ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Labour's hypocrisy since 2010 has been galling, but their response to the Prism surveillance scandal really turns the stomach. I've just walked past a TV screen at Terminal 5 (going to Washington, a pure coincidence,) to see Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander looking very earnest and concerned about PRISM, the extensive web snooping network use ...
The results of a very important election were announced in Saturday's Guardian. Richard Osman declared the winner of the World Cup of Chocolate. It wasn't really a 'World Cup', more a British Cup. Osman organised a knockout competition via Twitter between 32 of Britain's favourite chocolate bars and chocolate sweets. You'll have to read the article to find out the winner. But I want you to read it and examine your emotional reactions. You will cheer as a favourite wins through to the next round. You will be outraged when one of your favourites is knocked out. But the point ...
One of the turning points in the New Labour days was the decision in 1999 to increase old age pensions by a mere 75p a week the following year at a time when other costs such as Council Tax benefit were soaring at a much higher rate. It is an insult still felt keenly by many pensioners along with the fact that a so-called progressive government failed to relink the state pension to the cost of living. The Coalition Government has done much better. Thanks to pension minister, Steve Webb and the Liberal Democrats we now have a triple lock ...
[IMG: podcasts] Commuting is a major part of my daily life, so I find podcasts are an essential way to make use of time I'd otherwise spend staring vacantly out the window or idly refreshing and re-refreshing Twitter. Here, in order of where they appear in my iTunes directory, are the podcasts I listen to most frequently... The Economist's podcasts – a good mix of audio recordings of selected articles from the print edition together with brief discussions involving the Economist's expert correspondents. Slightly irritatingly the sound can vary between recordings, so you frequently have to adjust the volume if ...
Urbed, the organisation asked to draft a plan for part of Garston, has nearly finished its work. There's now an on line survey on the ideas for the area (which is roughly the St Mary's Road area, the Under the Bridge area and a little bit more) Even if you haven't been able to go to any of the meetings, you can give your views (and see the exhibition boards) at this link. There's a deadline in late June. The idea is that the plan goes to someone at the Council and then hopefully lots of it get put into ...
The purpose behind the 1894 legislation (which Gladstone used to set up Civil Parishes) was to separate civil and religious powers in England (rural England in particular) but since then why has no government seen fit to Parish the whole of England? To those of us in the parish movement (I mean Parish Councillors) it seems such an obvious thing to do if managing communities effectively at the grass roots is a desirable outcome; which it clearly is. So let's examine why it has not happened and sadly may well never happen. Firstly, we live in a significantly centralised democracy ...
The Friends of Balgay Hill Nursery School now has its own Facebook Page, and this covers progress towards their efforts to get new and improved outdoor play equipment at the nursery school. You can access the Facebook Page here.
As part of WestFest's Big Sunday yesterday, Magdalen Artists' exhibition at the Vine was opened and I had the pleasure of visiting the exhibition. It is well worth a visit and is open each day this week and all day Saturday (when there will also be a craft fair). Some photos below from the exhibition:
June events from Skill Share Dundee are given below: You can download a high quality of this poster here.
Charges for subsidised school transport are increasing as local authorities look to find ways of dealing with cuts in their funding from the Welsh Government. In many areas these services are being withdrawn completely. In Wrexham, the supported public transport grant was cut for 2013-14, leading to increased charges for children and young people using the service to get to and from school. The situation has now been exacerbated by commercial companies undercutting fares on busy routes, putting a strain on the viability of the subsidised service, whilst in other areas there is no alternative provider and the increased fares ...
