I read with interest earlier on today the news of the Social Mobility Commission's report into access to higher education. As I've said here before, improving social mobility is vitally important to fairness in our society and ensuring that wealth is both created and distributed more evenly. In other words, it's not "Stronger Economy, Fairer Society" which we as Liberals ought to be shouting about, rather, we should be arguing that the creation of a fairer society is the best way to a stronger economy. Only then does our unwavering support for the reform of our democratic and economic institutions ...
The Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Thomas stands in Barrack Road. As Borough Council page about the area says: Barrack Road provides a splendid entry into the town from the north and is a perfect example of Northampton's grand era of town building in the 19th century. The conservation area extends along a half kilometre of attractive Georgian terraces, once the proud homes of Northampton's 'stout and wealthy' citizens. In the 1930's it was widely regarded as being the finest approach to Northampton, and the prestige associated with this regal terraced avenue has remained. The name of Barrack ...
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Last year I wrote a sceptical (and rather repetitive) post about summer schools, which have turned out to be a large part of Nick Clegg's much-heralded pupil premium: I am sure that summer schools could be good for children. And as Baden-Powell showed, if you get things right, children will come running. But, as the it stands at the moment, the Pupil Premium seems to promise a world in which middle-class children in good schools go on holiday while working-class children in bad schools go to summer school. As a Liberal (and as a former poor child) that is not ...
Here's the agenda for Thursday's meeting of Bar Hill Parish Council. As always if you have a view on anything please let me know and I'll raise the issue at the meeting. The minutes (draft) of the previous meeting from 16th May are available here. A G E N D A Open Forum 1. To receive apologies for absence and any declaration of interest 2. Approval of minutes To approve minutes of Parish Council Meeting held on 16th May 2013 3. Matters for discussion and decisions to be made from Previous Minutes 3.1 Midas Care Ltd - Signing of lease ...
Earlier today, I participated in the latest meeting of the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, at which I was pleased to nominate my Liberal Democrat colleague, Cllr Maggie Taylor of Fife Council, as new Chair of the Board. (Maggie is pictured - right). I was delighted that Maggie was elected as the new Chair. Cllr Jimmy Black of Dundee City Council was elected Vice Chair. There were useful discussions about a number of Tay Road Bridge matters and I asked questions in relation to planned engineering works in relation to the bridge's north approach viaduct.
I've done an interview for Spotlight and Radio Cornwall about the impact of the 'bedroom tax' here in Cornwall. About 40% of those hit by the change in the rules have gone into rent arrears since the change in the law. The bedroom tax, or spare room subsidy - pick your own euphemism - is aimed at penalising those who claim housing benefit but live in a property which has more bedrooms than they need. So if you are a single person but live in a two bed flat and claim housing benefit then you are deemed to be under-occupying ...
Today's second post is also about dumbing down and the BBC. It concerns this evening's BBC News at Six on BBC1 TV. This was tonight's running order: The leading news item was the conviction and imprisonment of TV presenter Stuart Hall for sexual abuse.Second on the bill was the G8 summit in Northern Ireland and the civil war in Syria.The News at Six is the BBC news programme most obviously worried about 'relevance', with a tendency to resort to meaningless voxpops in the facile belief that its audience can understand news only in anecdotal rather than conceptual terms. Even so, ...
More than 6,500 self-employed Cambridge workers will benefit from new pension reforms being debated in the House of Commons this week. The reforms are also good news for the city's army of carers looking after elderly or disabled relatives, giving anyone with 35 years service as a carer a full state pension. The news has been welcomed by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert who claims the new single tier pension will treat self-employed people and carers fairly for the first time. "Self-employed people and carers work hard and contribute so much to our economy, but they have been treated poorly in ...
The BBC is reporting that Nick Clegg is insisting that any further welfare reform must start with high earners. The fact that we're asking people on low incomes to pay through their taxes to basically pay the fuel bills of people who don't need to heat their homes because they live in sunny parts of Europe and maybe didn't even work here before they retired, I think that lifts the lid on a wider problem in our welfare system. I don't think you can have a debate about welfare that is provided to people at the bottom, if you're not ...
[IMG: An archaeology trowel] In February 2011 I attend a public lecture at the University of Bedfordshire about archaeology. The first of the two presentations that evening was from Wesley Keir of Albion Archaeology who described the discoveries made during the building of the University's new Campus Centre. Archaeological investigations had been carried out on the western edge of the site of the medieval castle next to St Mary's Church. It was fascinating to hear about what had been uncovered. This included part of the medieval moat, the post holes of a timber framed building in the castle grounds, and ...
From the Guardian: An episode of Radio 4's In Our Time programme reviewed in Friday's G2 ... was not last week's episode as the article suggested. It was an archive episode that was broadcast in 2003, which the reviewer listened to via the BBC's website.Always remember, folks: journalists are trained professionals and we bloggers are just amateurs. Still, the Corrections and Clarifications column is one of the Guardian's most entertaining features, so I shan't be so churlish as to reveal that this howler was perpetrated by Nosheen Iqbal, "Acting Culture Editor of guardian.co.uk/culture and G2's radio critic".
This is the unedited column I wrote for today's Manchester Evening News: As you read today's paper you may be having something to eat or thinking about your next meal. But have you thought about where that food comes from and the impact on the environment, your health and wallet? Your next meal will probably contain meat or fish. We think of that as normal, but we do eat far too much meat and fish in the UK and it's having a huge impact on the environment; 18% of greenhouse gases come from meat production! Have you considered having a ...
After Nigella Lawson's abuse at the hands of Charels Saatchi, Nick Griffin thought this was funny: If I had the opportunity to squeeze Nigella Lawson, her throat wouldn't be my first choice. — Nick Griffin MEP (@nickgriffinmep) June 17, 2013 Apparently the anger it provoked is not justified, but the result of a sense of ...
ASDA on St Mary's Road wants to be able to get deliveries earlier in the morning and later at night. At the moment it's restricted to between 7 am and 10pm but the company wants to change that to 6 am to midnight. To do that the store needs to get planning permission because the existing hours were agreed when planning permission went through for a store there back in 1992. Details are on line at this link. You can also comment on line there also. Most of the info is in a section called Related Documents which you can ...
I can't get too excited one way or the other about Michael Gove's further meddling with our national 16+ examination. This has changed its form several times in my lifetime but normally without all the hype that tinkering with the education system presently receives. When I entered secondary school in 1949 the 16+ cohort was still taking what was then called the School Certificate. To obtain one of these it was necessary to pass in at least five subjects, which had to include English and Mathematics. By the time my turn came this had been "reformed" into the General Certificate ...
Simple test. Do you feel like this? [IMG: Photo courtesy of http://imgur.com/gallery/5bo6z]
Well here we are. A few weeks short of being middle aged and writing a blog post about virginity and how I still have that label. How did this happen? Well let me tell you and let me also tell you why it is a label that shouldn't be placed around someone's neck but let me first tell you why today I am writing this blog post. It all stems from yesterday when I was Googling to see how strong my blog post about being a 29 year-old virgin was doing on Google. Yes this is the type of thing ...
Stockport residents are being encouraged to save energy – as well as reduce their fuel bills – by applying for free or discounted work on their homes. A new offer can provide a variety of free insulation measures, not just loft and cavity wall, and some eligible residents may also be entitled to a new boiler. Stockport residents are asked call the free advice line 0800 009 3363 to see if their property is eligible as it could see them saving hundreds of pounds a year on their energy bills. Even if a property hasn't been suitable in the past, ...
[IMG: photo] Amidst the fever of the independence referendum debate in Scotland on issues such as currency, financial services and pensions, Lynne Featherstone and I took part in a series of engagements in Glasgow recently which reinforced with me what would be lost in terms of international development if Scotland voted to leave the Union. As a former International Development spokesperson for the Party I am still passionate about this issue. I'm proud that the issues we as Lib Dems have long campaigned for have become a reality in government. Lynne and her team at DFID have worked tirelessly to ...
Man of Steel 3D (12A)Director: Zack Snyder Website: Man of Steel The latest Superman movie is a film in three parts. The story of how Superman (Henry Cavill) was born on Krypton during the imminent destruction of the planet and the steps his father, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) took to save him, the story of Clark Kent growing up on Earth (Earth parents played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) and discovering his superpowers and then the story of how a good movie can become a slave to CGI and special effects trickery. A modern Superman poses the problem of how ...
A very nice surprise greeted us all on Saturday as we discovered that our colleague (and fellow blogger) Flick Rea had been awarded an MBE for: "Services to Local Goverment and the community in London"Flick has been a local councillor for the West Hampstead and Fortune Green areas for over 27 years and she was deeply involved in community life long before she first got elected. We suspect that the "...and to the community in London" part of the commendation is a special recognition of her work with the Jester Festival - which she helped after the old West Hampstead ...
[IMG: FinalInfoStats.jpg] The Lib Dem Million Jobs campaign is well and truly launched, and my in-box is weighed down by homilies from Vince Cable and Nick Clegg about its importance - putting jobs right at the heart of the Lib Dem effort in the coalition. It is a brave and powerful campaign, and it is about precisely what the party ought to be campaigning about. Regular readers of this blog (if there are any) may remember that I gargled with David Lloyd George's 1929 slogan 'We Can Conquer Unemployment'. For all the Lib Dem rhetoric about fairness and civil liberties, ...
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Yesterday's Observer included an entertaining dialogue with the art critic Brian Sewell, who contends that the BBC's factual programmes are "an insult to the nation". Sewell may push his point too far but he still has a point. There seems an overwhelming anxiety at the BBC to make everything 'relevant' and 'accessible'. In practice, this means a resort to demotic language and visual gimmicks. The effect is to trivialise important subjects. This type of broadcasting may seem more democratic and less 'elitist' but it is actually the opposite. Dumbing down tells the audience to limit their aspirations. It makes less ...
Nick Clegg took part in an "Open for Growth on Trade, Tax and Transparency" G8 event on Saturday. The event was attended by African leaders and the likes of Kofi Annan and the Managing Director of the World Bank Caroline Anstey. Nick hosted the sessionon extractives transparency and chaired the final panel of the day. He said at the event: We know why we're here. People across the world want and expect us - governments, businesses and NGOs - to work together to deliver strong economies and fairer societies. These issues affect those in both the developed and developing world. ...
posted The Blood is The Life 16-06-2013 http://t.co/Xg1eDIF5tl on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) View my 4 latest photos on Flickr: http://t.co/BufJ5gztgh (tags: (from twitter) ) So we might possibly have found a friend for Roxy. This is Spike, settling on to the sofa http://t.co/ZWfm9BhYvD (tags: (from twitter) ) http://t.co/I9YZ9TjSWL @karohemd (tags: (from twitter) ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Mon 17th
08:55
Labour, Tories and Lib Dems all share the same political logic in their economic policy
Consider: [IMG: Polling station sign - photo credit Nilexuk on Flickr] 1. The incomes of those in their 60s and 70s have continued to rise since the recession. In contrast, median (middle) income among peoploe in their 20s fell by 12% between 2007-8 and 2011-12, after adjusting for inflation- the largest fall of any age group. [IFS] 2. Turnout at British general elections dropped by 45 percentage points between 1964 and 2005 amongst the under 25s. It dropped by only 2 percentage points amongst the over 64s.
Here at LDV towers, we often receive offers of work which do very little to persuade us that the author either knows what this site is about, or is able to write reasonably correct English. The following is typical. I have removed names. Hello Blog Owner, Hope the day is treating you well! My name is ______, an Internet Marketer. While searching on internet, I came across your blog and read 3 of your quality posts and got really impressed with it. I think you're doing a great job and making your readers happy and better than they were. My ...
130933: Listed building consent to keep existing works, Abbeygate Street. 131147: Retention of windows (decision not required as permitted development), East Bay. 131149: Listed building application for 131149. You can make a statement in favour or against any of these applications on the Council website, or if you want to discuss it further with one of your councillors then please contact me or my ward colleagues Bill Frame and Jo Hayes. I'm no longer a member of the Planning Committee, so I am now free to comment on applications. Related PostsCastle Ward planning applications, up to 5th April Castle Ward ...
Liam Byrne has come out in favour of a minority Labour government if there is a hung parliament where Labour are the largest party after the 2015 general election. His view is that he thinks a minority Labour administration could achieve more than a coalition and also that the current government has "given coalitions a bad name". In some ways this view is unsurprising. In the political memory of almost everyone in the contemporary PLP (at least in the Commons) they have never had to share power. Their experiences in government between 1997 and 2010 were of sole stewardship of ...
Further to my article last month on progress towards ensuring there are satisfactory bus travel arrangements for pupils of Harris Academy after the decant to Rockwell takes place at the start of the new term in August, the City Council's Head of Education (Secondary and Support for Learners) has updated as follows: "A meeting was held on 5 June 2013 to discuss final preparations for the transport arrangements to Harris Academy Lawton Road. The strategy of using the existing commercial network of bus services was finalised and I am confident that, following a short period of bedding in, the proposal ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams has described receiving a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours list as a "great honour". The Brecon and Radnorshire Assembly Member said she was sad that her late father would not see her receive the award. Ms Williams, who has led the party in Wales since 2008, was honoured for political and public service: "This really was a surprise to me," said Ms Williams, a mother of three, in reaction to receiving the honour. "To be awarded a CBE is a great honour and one which I am delighted to receive. "I would like ...
It seems that the programme The Secret life of the Cat has sparked a bit of a trend. The Western Mail reports that sales of tracking devices fitted to cats are soaring as owners take advantage of an explosion in gadgetry to keep tabs on their pets: One device, the G-PAWS GPS data recorder, has seen pre-orders up 350% on last week and it is the fastest selling pet supplies product on Amazon.co.uk. And the firm Pawtrax says it has sold 600 GPS tracking devices for cats and dogs since setting up three years ago. Sony Japan has even released ...
Yesterday, I arrived home from my night out at 5am, slept for five hours curled up in the armchair downstairs, and then went out cycling with my mum. MADNESS. It was actually quite relaxing - apart from the new traffic system in Poynton, where a motorist took pedestrians, cyclists and cars having shared priority to mean "if I have to wait, then you have to wait too" and suddenly pulled over as mum tried to (entirely legally) filter past his stationary car - causing her to stop just as suddenly, and me (having just clipped into my step-in pedals) to ...
