It seems that Launceston will have to wait at least a couple of years until our medical centre is upgraded and able to cope with the demands being placed on it. The story so far... Launceston relies on one medical centre which is struggling to cope with the demands of the town and the surrounding area. Although they are trying, the centre is often unable to offer the appointments that patients want and has been one doctor down for some time due to long term sickness. The medical centre wants to expand and has plans to buy land from Launceston ...
And here we come to the last album that will be dealt with in this volume. The story that's played out over the thirteen years covered in this book is of the battle between two factions of the Beach Boys — on the one hand Carl and Dennis Wilson, pushing for greater artistic progress, and [...]
The Liberal Democrats have announced that our number 1 priority for campaigning over the next year will be about jobs. Jobs and employment are a top priority for ordinary people and as regular readers will know I have made a point of keeping track with the jobs situation in Acocks Green and beyond. Britain is creating jobs, but it doesn't always feel like it. But since the Liberal Democrats came into government in 2010, we've helped British businesses create more than a million jobs. Now we want to help them create a million more jobs. Since 2010 we have helped ...
Not a lot of people realise that councillors are corporate parents to 624 young people in County Durham! That's the number of "looked after children" in the county, most in foster care, but others in children's homes, placed for adoption, disabled young people on short breaks, or young people in custody. In one of the best training sessions I've attended in this round, the passionate commitment of the team who run this service in County Durham (and who were rated outstanding by Ofsted) shone through clearly. I'm not on the corporate parenting panel, nor did I seek to be, but ...
Craig Murray wrote on his blog last year: I receive, constantly, emails from people wishing me to take up various cases on my blog and furnishing information. 95% of the time I do not publish because I am not able to investigate fully (there is just one of me) and I do not know the source: the exclusives on this blog come mostly from my access to well-placed sources I have known for years through my past diplomatic career, and trust. A notable proportion of the cases brought to me by those I do not know involve alleged paedophile rings. ...
[IMG: image] We've just finished watching Goodbye Granadaland introduced by Peter Kay. I thoroughly recommend it – on ITV Player here. What an astonishing history of TV programme making that building has! Granada put us up in Manchester's prestigious Midland Hotel when we were participants in a quiz show, as I recalled in 2010: On a personal note, I was actually on the Granada Call sheet for one day with the Coronation Street cast (in 1989). I was appearing with my dearly beloved in a quiz programme made at the same studios called "Perception" in the late eighties. I have ...
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Dorothy Thornhill, Liberal Democrat directly-elected Mayor of Watford, tells us on her blog that she has had to sign the Official Secrets Act. The police asked her to do so because they wanted to brief her about security arrangements for the secretive Bilderberg Group, which has just met in Watford. The absurd secrecy about this event can serve only to fuel some of the equally absurd conspiracy theories surrounding the Bilderberg Group. David Icke must be having a field day. Requests to sign the Official Secrets Act are also absurd. The Act is either the law or it isn't. Since ...
I am not a fan of the House of Lords in its current form. My main objection is because it is an unelected body that has real power. Up until fairly recently, I didn't pay much attention to it, but ... Continue reading →
Last week I wrote a short post promoting the new, free online Spectator Archive. As I suspected, it is going to be a priceless tool for research. Take this blog's hero J.W. Logan, Liberal MP for Harborough in the good old days. I once wrote a post quoting James Moore's The Transformation of Urban Liberalism: In the Harborough constituency Liberal lecturers were frequently refused access to Anglican schoolrooms where they wished to hold meetings. Eventually the Liberal Association became so frustrated with the situation that parliamentary candidate J.W. Logan built himself a portable meeting room which he took from village ...
The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey recently asked Do you think marriages between same-sex couples should or should not be recognised by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages? 57% of people surveyed agreed they ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Rules of Work] My name is James Taylor and I'm a recovering workaholic! The American poet Robert Frost once said that 'by working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be the boss and work twelve hours a day'. For years I would get to my desk by 8am and not leave until at least 7pm. Weekends and holidays were also spent constantly checking emails and answering calls. I was addicted to work! Making Changes Recently I've made some life changes to prevent work for work's sake, and to do the minimum necessary for maximum effective. ...
Episode 63 of the House of Comments podcast "Making the Grade" was recorded and released on Sunday. This week myself and Emma Burnell are joined by Conservative activist and blogger Nick Denys to discuss Michael Gove's education reforms, The Morrissey Report into the Lib Dems in the wake of the Lord Rennard allegations and Sarah Wollaston's interview with the Guardian about how having won an open primary to become MP for Totnes, the political system has treated her. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Other podcasting software e.g. for Android can be pointed here to subscribe. You ...
From time to time, it's important to pause the bureaucratic debate about open access and recognise how stupid scientific publishing is Like many academics, I am currently trying to work out what I should think and do about Open Access. I share with many scientists strong personal commitments to the idea of openness. I am in this game because I think research is valuable, and I work at a University because I like the idea that research that should be in the public interest should mostly be publicly funded. Like many other academics, I find it utterly daft that such ...
The Lib Dems in Government have helped businesses create over a million new jobs, and we're launching a new campaign to create a million more. Find out more and join the campaign here. [IMG: Million Jobs]
Earlier today, I attended the latest meeting of the Harris Academy Project Board, the board overseeing the rebuilding of Harris Academy and the impending decant to the former Rockwell building in Lawton Road. The meeting took place at the Lawton Road site and,further to my recent update on school transport arrangements from August,we had a lengthy discussion about this matter at which I sought assurances about capacity on the proposed 11S and 12S school buses. We took the opportunity to make a further tour of progress on-site at Lawton Road - some photos below: Work on going in the Assembly ...
The next Longley Lane Resource Recovery Centre Facility Liaison Group Meeting on Thursday 4th July 6-8pm, Longley Lane Education room. Here's their latest newsletter (June 2013)
[IMG: David Laws] Last Wednesday David Laws gave a speech at the Resolution Foundation on the Liberal Democrat agenda for tackling low pay. He began by reflecting on the job market. Many of us vividly remember the recession of the early 1980s, which destroyed so many jobs. There are still communities in our country which have failed to recover from that economic heart-attack. In contrast, the recent recession and the unusually slow recovery from it have been characterised by much better than expected employment outcomes. Instead of losing millions of jobs, we have been adding jobs. Growth in the workforce ...
I well remember the Spring of 1962 because of the fuss surrounding the first performance of Britten's War requiem at Coventry Cathedral . I lived near by sang in a local choir and there was a real buzz about the event. The first performance was around the same time as the Cathedral was consecrated and I think I also remember a royal visit. There was a lot of television coverage of the building of the cathedral and film of a helicopter lowering something-which looked like a giant television ariel- on to the new structure. I remember a school visit, the ...
Laurence Reed has accepted an offer to broadcast his show from the Cornwall Council call centre. The offer was made by Deputy Council Leader Jeremy Rowe when he appeared on today's show. The council (in all its guises) often gets a bad press. One of the areas regularly in the news is the call centre. Whether it is the length of time it takes to get through or the outcome of the call, it is often the target of criticism. Like other areas of the council's work, sometimes this is justified, but usually it isn't. And it is often on ...
[IMG: Random Thoughts logo] This is the latest in my series of Random Thoughts posts with links, things found on the web and other stuff that has occurred to me between 10th June 2013 and 18th June 2013: A personal guide to the 13 most essential political podcasts | Stephen Tall Stephen gives a comprehensive guide to the podcast listening choices available for politicos. I regularly listen to a subset of these. The one addition I would make — for those interested in US politics — is the podcast of the excellent PBS programme 'Washington Week'. It gives an intelligent ...
As part of Ipsos-Mori's Global Advisory Panel this month they focused on Same Sex Marriage and asked their people all around the globe various questions on it and if I'm going to be honest here folks – the results are rather disappointing and in some respects are just flat out worrying. We'll start with the good news and that is those Scandinavians are pretty awesome but seriously Japan? I thought Japan was a forward thinking country but clearly I was wrong. Here is the slide about whether people think they should be allowed to marry – and then in turn ...
Everyone's been pretty shocked by the photos of Charles Saatchi's assault on Nigella Lawson for which he has now received a Police caution. Just out of interest, I looked up the criteria for giving a caution and the procedures for doing so on the Ministry of Justice website. It appears that domestic assault is not normally the sort of offence considered appropriate for a simple caution: Positive action is recommended in cases of domestic violence and abuse to ensure the safety and protection of victims and children while allowing the Criminal Justice System to hold the offender to account. Domestic ...
The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) has shortlisted both Nick Clegg and Julian Huppert for it's Internet Hero award for 2013. And why? – for the role they both played in preventing the communications data bill from reaching the statute books. The other two nominees are Edward Snowdon, who was the whistleblower on the PRISM project, and Spamhaus, an IT security organisation who fought off a major denial of service attack earlier this year. ISPA Secretary-General Nicholas Lansman noted that the Internet Hero award is "one of the most anticipated categories" at the ISPAs. Given what has happened in the ...
Tue 18th
13:42
Closure of Lydiate Ambulance Station – Lib Dem Councillors demand that NW Ambulance Service lo...
Following a meeting on Tuesday 10th June between Sefton Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee and representatives of NW Ambulance Service Maghull and Lydiate's 3 Lib Dem Borough Councillors Tony Robertson, Bruce Hubbard and Andrew Blackburn say they are very unhappy with the lack of detailed information provided at the meeting. We asked NW Ambulance Service a number of searching questions such as:- Did you look at sharing space at Maghull Police Station instead of simply telling us you are moving to the Fire Station at Netherton? [IMG: Why has NW Ambulance Service not even considered basing a local ambulance here?] ...
The new issue of Liberator is with subscribers, or at least on its way, so it is time to spend another week at the demi-paradise that is Bonkers Hall in Rutland. Monday A package arrives in the post. I find it to contain a rather stylish badge, which I consider wearing while I go about my business on the old demesne. Then I read what it says - "I Made Eastleigh Happen" - and ring for my secretary. "Could you forward this to Dartmoor or Wormwood Scrubs or wherever the poor fellow is at the moment?" I ask him. "It ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Edward Snowden: Whistleblowers and the economy of esteem | The Economist Intelligent & thoughtful » "Why we must defend the honour of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden" http://bit.ly/1amIk71 A Labour U-turn on free schools? It's not that simple "Twigg's soggy middle-way positn will disappoint dogmatists on both sides...prob a sign he's standing in right place" http://feedly.com/k/14GHf7f Inequality: The 1 percent needs better defenders | The Economist Good dissection by the Economist > The 1 percent needs better defenders http://feedly.com/k/12Re03X Universities failing on equality of access, research suggests | Education | The Guardian Milburn, ...
Last Sunday's Observer included intriguing news that a TV drama adaptation is to be made of Andrew Adonis's book 5 Days in May, about the failed 2010 coalition negotiations between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. "The hunt is on for stars to play party leaders," says the report's standfirst. Well, casting this drama is fun for all the family. Here are my humble suggestions: Gordon Brown - David Morrissey (who captured Brown so well in The Deal)Ed Balls - Peter Kay (who would bring the right sort of rotund jollity to the part)Alastair Campbell - Peter Capaldi (everyone thinks that ...
Tue 18th
11:59
Council refused permission to apply for Judicial Review on rail freight planning inquiry issue
A High Court judge has refused St Albans City and District Council permission to apply for Judicial Review in the proposed Radlett (Park Street) Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) matter. The Judge considered the application on the documentation submitted by the Council, the defendant, and interested parties. In February 2013, the Council had sought a Judicial Review of a decision by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The challenge related to the Secretary of State's decision not to re-open the planning inquiry into the proposed Radlett SRFI and conjoin it with an inquiry into an alternative site ...
[IMG: Switch_off_internet_in_case_of_political_dissent] The best performing team in government is also one you've probably not heard of. It's the Government Digital Service, who have been revolutionising central government's use of the internet - providing the sort of excellent and reliable new systems that have countries round the world scrambling to copy them, whilst managing to hit timescales, keep to budgets and avoid bugs in a way that puts most government IT projects to shame. Better services and lower costs - it's a winning combination that whoever is in power after 2015 will need to replicate on a grand scale. Yet even ...
Just to let people know that I have requested a street clean of Simister Green, following comments from residents that this desperately needs doing by the Council. I will discuss with the Council why the area seems to be getting missed out from regular street cleaning, which is obviously not acceptable. Tim
From The Press: YORK is to host the Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference next year. The three-day conference, to be held at York Barbican Centre in March, is expected to attract more than 1,000 delegates. The Novotel Hotel will also be the party conference headquarters for the duration of the event. Nick Clegg is quoted as saying: I'm delighted that the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference will be held in York for the first time next year. We're helping to create new jobs all around the country and York is not only a beautiful city, but it's also a great place to ...
The June edition of Liberator magazine was mailed to subscribers yesterday and will be popping through subscribers' letterboxes this week. On Liberal Democrat Voice, there is a summary of the contents, including links to some of the articles. Not yet a subscriber? Subscribe here.
In their report on progress to develop a vaccine solution for bovine TB, the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee warned that vaccination is expensive and offers no guarantee of protection. To a large extent they are right but compared to all the other solutions, especially that adopted in England, vaccination combined with proper cattle control measures is the only viable long term alternative. 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 ...
Just when politics is getting dull again, somebody comes along to cheer us all up. In this case it is Simon Parkes, a Labour Councillor who represents Stakesby on Whitby Town Council. Councillor Parkes has fallen out with his wife after he revealed that he had had a child called Zarka with an alien he refers to as the Cat Queen. According to the Northern Echo the 53-year-old driving instructor said he has sexual relations with the alien about four times a year: "What will happen is that we will hold hands and I will say 'I'm ready' and then ...
On the wall in Christine Jardine's campaign headquarters, formerly a pet shop, just out of interest, there is a poster where people have written why they have come to help. Here it is in glorious technicolour. Some of the best are: Because the SNP have short-changed Aberdeen Because Christine is awesome I believe in Christine Because I just really, really, really love the Lib Dems a lot. (I'd put money on Liberal Youth co-chair Kavya Kaushik having something to do with that one.) Because we need people like Christine in Parliament. Because Lib Dems support local communities To stop the ...
The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.359 - June 2013) is being delivered to subscribers this week. Here's a summary of the new magazine's contents: The editorial column Commentary says the concept of the 'centre ground' is wrong on so many levels. The sooner Nick Clegg stops talking about it, the better. The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with an examination of Tim Farron's appointment as chair of the 2014 European and local election campaign, amid confusing arrangements for the party's campaign management. 'When will the party start campaigning again?' - Tony Greaves (a Liberal Democrat member of ...
Some years ago, I wrote an essay for an excellent book of counterfactuals, edited by the equally excellent Duncan Brack, trying to explain why it was the the British Left had moved away from the kind of co-operative culture that was embraced in Scandinavia. I imagined the difference was because Beatrice Webb failed to marry Joseph Chamberlain, as she had hoped, and turned away from Liberal co-operatives as a solution in favour of dour state Fabianism. The only review I got was from the left wing Tribune, which called it "an insult to everyone involved". Possibly it was. But the ...
posted The Blood is The Life 17-06-2013 http://t.co/fiGZO2lt1E on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) Tonight in Things I Did Not Know Before... Dame Judi Dench is not only made of awesome, but MAKES things that are made of awesome. (tags: ) If you live in a surveillance state for long enough, you create a censor in your head (tags: ) Taxpayers' cash is being dished out to big firms for taking on staff they already employ - Daily Record (tags: ) http://pinterest.com/pin/164803667586790334/ How many homophobes does it take to change a lightbulb? http://t.co/M1R7BsnGqP (tags: (from twitter) ) ...
Tue 18th
09:16
We know the Daily Mail gets politics wrong all the time - but you'd think Strictly would be simple e...
The Daily Fail website recycles a Total Politics interview with Nadine Dorries in which she's as predictable as ever. I particularly like the way she describes, in the original interview, the Liberal Democrats as "more left wing than Labour" and then says Cameron is a social liberal just like us. I think the SwivelEyedometer just exploded. We shouldn't really be taking lessons from someone who doesn't think Trident is a weapon of mass destruction. Anyway, it's not her particular brand of politics I want to highlight but the Daily Mail's inability to get even the most basic of facts right. ...
SLF backs the Fair Deal for your Local campaign and publishes research showing reform will save Government money by lifting licensees out of poverty pay. The plight of publicans in the tied pub sector has been increasingly regularly documented in...Read more ›
There has always been a need to blend parliamentary, representative politics with the social activism of extra parliamentary movements. Recent examples of informal action outside the confines of the parliamentary system include UK Uncut on companies avoiding corporation tax and the Occupy movement. Liberal Democrats and their antecedents have an honourable history of involvement in single issue campaigns and community movements. Indeed, it can be argued that "community politics" grew out of the widespread social campaigning movements of the 1960's and 1970's. Given this history you would expect Liberal Democrats to be at the forefront of such campaigning today but ...
Sat 22 June 12.00 pm to 8.00 pm - Live music from bands, dance groups and a wide range of entertainmentSun 23 June 10.30 am - Praise in the Park with local churchesSun 23 June 3.00 pm to 5.00 - Picnic in the Park with live music from Westerly Show Band, Ben Burrows and others
Thank you to residents who got in touch about the particularly poor state of the road on Heaton Street (as you pull out of Brandram Road going towards Heywood Road) where it looks like there are ridges in the road every few metres. At my request the Council has inspected the street and repairs are needed. Unfortunately this will require a short road closure so it will need to be planned in over the summer – I am told that this wont be for at least six weeks. Hopefully this will resolve the problem. Thanks Tim
A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood Ward as detailed below:- Application number: 56400 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 14/06/2013 Location: 76 Tamworth Avenue, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6UA Proposal: Two storey extension at side 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.
Just to thank everyone who got in touch either on the website or by email about with feedback about the Parklife festival in Heaton Park. A lot of comments and constructive ideas, and thankfully all a bit more positive than a year ago with the Stone Roses! I'm going to feed these in to the event organisers on Friday, so any further comments please just get in touch before then. Thanks Tim
The Liberal Democrats have announced that our number 1 priority for campaigning over the next year will be about jobs. Jobs and employment are a top priority for ordinary people. Britain is creating jobs, but it doesn't always feel like it. But since the Liberal Democrats came into government in 2010, we've helped British businesses create more than a million jobs. Now we want to help them create a million more jobs. Since 2010 we have helped create: - Jobs for young people – 1.2 million apprentices and 110,000 work placements for young people out of work - Jobs in ...
The next local policy consultation meeting for our area – the Holyrood Ward PACT ('Police and Communities Together') takes place on: Thursday 18 July 2013, 6-7pm Toodle Hill Children's Centre, Cuckoo Lane M45 All welcome.
The Independent wins Headline of the Day. I hope the shaky grammar is for comic effect.
As in previous years, Cornwall Councillors will have a community chest to give grants to local groups and projects. And this year the total amount for each councillor has been increased to £3000. The awards are decided on by each of Cornwall's 123 councillors. They can be for any amount between £100 and £1000. There are other rules, but they are not particularly restrictive so long as the money is going to help a group (new or existing) and the money will be used for a project rather than for core funding. The great thing about these grants is that ...
In Stockport we go out and check more places for food hygiene. Because we check more places, we find more problems. So when the Manchester Evening News says that Stockport's restaurants are the dirtiest, what it really means is that we know about our dirty restaurants and take-aways and many other places don't because they aren't being checked. I don't know about you, but I'd rather know somewhere had problems and I'd rather they knew I knew so they could do something about it. It isn't just restaurants, cafes and takeaways that get checked. Schools and care homes do too ...
Stockport Council needs to find millions of pounds more in savings for next year – on top of around £25 million achieved over the last two years. As part of those savings, we're proposing changing the opening hours of many of our libraries, closing them when they're least used and keeping them open when more people want to use them. This will save £300,000 – a big chunk of money. There are no proposals to close any libraries – all our libraries will stay open. Please have your say in the consultation – you've got until 6th July 2013 to ...
Following complaints from constituents about the City Council's Emergency Telephone Service not being accessible recently, I raised this concern with the council and the Head of IT has responded as follows: "We had a serious issue with our telephony service on Thursday night, which was fully cleared at 10:00am on Friday. Contingency plans were put in place overnight to reduce disruption, but your constituents' assessment of impact is fairly accurate. There is resilience in the system for the emergency line, but despite regular testing, this did not work as it should have. This issue, and the main failure issue are ...
As residents will have noted, there are currently roadworks and a temporary crossing on Hawkhill at Tesco Express near to the Marketgait roundabout - see right. I have discussed the works with the Head of Transportation who advises that the aged crossing is being replaced with a new system and this requires a new ducting across the road. The works should be completed within the next 7-10 days. This is a very well-used crossing so the new pedestrian crossing is to be welcomed as was the recent replacement of the old crossing on Riverside Drive immediately east of the main ...
