We drove out to the middle of nowhere. We met a nice elderly gentleman, whose knees were a little worse for wear. He opened his garage door. We gazed in awe. We exchanged a knowing look. This was the one. Yep. That's right. At the age of 22, I've taken the plunge and bought my first ever car. And it's 15 years older than me. A red, rubber bumper 1976 MG Midget 1500. The chassis and body are solid, the finish reasonably good, and the fundamentals under the hood in need only of a good service to get it on ...
[IMG: Revisiting-Keynes-Pecchi] In 1930 Keynes wrote his famous essay Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. In the essay he made a range of predictions about what the world would be like a hundred years hence. At the heart of the exercise was the impact of increasing productivity and rates of economic growth compounded over several decades. The result would be hugely expanded levels of economic output. In this respect he was correct, although in fact he ratehr underestimated the rate of growth in economic output over the subsequent 80 years. But Keynes also envisaged a world in which productivity growth would ...
@billnewtondunn Tories? It was a Coalition announcement — Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) July 9, 2013 Christmas must be a giggle.
The village of Weedon - or Weedon Bec to give it its full name - has a complicated history and geography. The medieval part is divided into Upper Weedon and Lower Weedon, while the settlement along the A5 is known as Road Weedon. The Royal Ordnance Depot once stood in fields between them. I love the A5, with its hotels placed at every major junction - a relic of the days when a road journey from the provinces to London often included an overnight stop. Road Weedon, which stands on it, was clearly once a major coaching centre. Today it ...
Flushed with success, This is Local London wins our Headline of the Day Award.
I have been approached many times by requests to write guest posts for my blog but this time, I've agreed. The request came from Chicago to celebrate the birthday today of a screen icon, Tom Hanks. I'm happy to allow Spencer Blohm to contribute in this way below as I have always had a particular soft spot for Tom Hanks. Not only has he played iconic roles in films that spanned my childhood and adolescence, but he also, quite marvelously...an Aston Villa fan!! So, take it away Spencer... - - - - - - - - - - - - ...
A bit of really good news from today's council meeting was confirmation from the council that the £200 season tickets in Cornwall Council long stay car parks in Launceston will continue. The news came after my colleague Jade Farrington asked the cabinet member for parking - Bert Biscoe - about plans to trial cheaper parking. This was a key plank of the Lib Dem budget passed in February. Bert confirmed that the reduced season ticket price would stay and he also said that trials of cheaper 'pay as you go' parking would start soon. There is no certainty that these ...
Here's an article I wrote for Lib Dem Voice: With the Conservative ring-fencing of 40% plus of the welfare budget because it goes to a section of society which disproportionately votes Conservative (e.g. pensioners), it should come as no surprise to anyone that the forcing of all welfare cuts onto the remainder of recipients has hurt a lot of people. Amongst those most badly effected are disabled people. Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (formerly known as incapacity benefit) has been time limited to one year. Disability Living Allowance is being replaced by Personal Independence Payments and will have been cut ...
Hurry over to Liberator's blog to read his views.
Lord Bonkers writes exclusively for Liberator: I generally ask the Elves of Rockingham Forest to do this here at the Hall. I forgot to pay them one year and it turned square before lunch on the first day.
Few people have the opportunity to be a witness to a great sweep of history, let alone get the chance to be part of it. But Dr Jamal Nasir, who launched his autobiography "Under My Wig" (Gilgamesh. £19.95, with an foreword by myself) at Daunt's bookshop in Holland Park Avenue this evening has had a [...]
The BBC reports: [IMG: Labour Party Red Rose logo] Allegations of "bullying and intimidation" within the Labour Party in Peterborough have led senior members to call on leader Ed Miliband to launch an inquiry... They talk about "some very dubious events" surrounding the selection of the prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Peterborough, Lisa Forbes... One of them says: "Our own members are vicious and vindictive to a degree that could never align to socialist values." There are also allegations these complaints had been reported to the regional party before but nothing happened.
Because I was working at home yesterday I caught a Woman's Hour discussion on Margaret Wintringham, the first woman Liberal MP. If featured Margaret Wintringham's niece Patricia Moore and the historian Dr Helen McCarthy from Queen Mary, University of London. You can read more about Margaret Wintringham and her career in a Lib Dem Voice article by Mark Pack.
[IMG: Nick Clegg Q&A - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] It was Deputy Prime Minister's Question Time today, and Nick duly stepped up to the mark. In reply to a questions from Conservative MP, Jonathan Lord, and others, he offered the Labour Party a chance to make changes to the political levy. At present, members of trade unions pay a political levy on their membership subscriptions, which, of course, goes to the Labour Party and helps to justify the unions' heavy involvement in the party and their participation in leadership elections. Many members are not aware of fact that ...
Happy birthday, abriefhistoryofliberty! It's hard to believe that it was only two years ago that I started to put my thoughts on politics and (occasionally) science into words! In that time, I've had dozens of posts on LibDemVoice's Golden Dozen, came 24th in Total Politics' blog contest 2011, and broken stories from London to Sheffield! In a slightly self-indulgent birthday gift to my blog, here are a few of my favourite posts over the years! Local Election Results 2013 NUS Passes Drugs Policy Motion Sheffield Labour party remove Nick Clegg poll Labour's Southern Extinction The Coalition's Progressive Tax Priorities SHU ...
If ever there was a fault line in the Coalition, it has been over the two parties' attitudes to Europe. The possibility for a mass opt-out by Britain from a raft of EU measures in justice and home affairs opened up a rift between the Tories and Lib Dems which has rumbled on for more than a year. Liberal Democrats insisted that the government heed the overwhelming advice of the police and security services to maintain effective crime-fighting measures which help keep Britain safe. Time after time, law enforcers lined up to ask the government not to jettison the EU ...
Cornwall Council currently restricts the rights of those who might wish to film its meetings. To do so, you need to give 48 hours notice. This is seen by some to be overly restrictive and has been challenged by a local journalist. The government has also suggested that councils adopt a more open stance. Our current rules are also unclear in the case of non-professional media - an increasing market. Today, in my role as cabinet member for communications, I announced that the council will be seeking views on whether and how to open up the system to encourage people ...
Cornwall Council today voted in favour of calling on the government to introduce a system of recall for councillors found to have seriously breached the code of conduct. The punishments available to the council in cases where a serious breach has occurred are relatively flimsy. In the past we could suspend a councillor or even refer them up to London to the Standards Board who could disqualify them for up to 5 years. Now the system has changed and the most that can be imposed is a censure and a suggestion that they apologise and undergo training. Today councillors backed ...
Councillor Richard Kemp: Why Liverpool needs its own Bank | Bay TV Liverpool Click on the link to see Richard's interview. We will forgive him his Liverpool-centric view on this occasion because the economic argument he is making is central to our understanding of how our economy can revive. It is, as always, well worth reading David Boyle's most recent posting on a related issue- How to shift economic power without the help of the government. I have reproduce Richards main argument below and his motion to Liverpool City Council Councillor Richard Kemp CBE, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in ...
As residents may have noticed the tram has stopped running on the pier. I have received the following information: During a routine inspection today, contractors identified large vertical cracks in some of the cast iron columns supporting Southport Pier. Capita recommended that we consider the closure of the Pier until a full survey is completed. Based upon photographs of the cracks that have been examined by my Engineers, we have concluded that the Tram should cease operation immediately until the survey can ascertain the extent of the problem. The Pier will remain open to pedestrians. The survey is planned to ...
[IMG: childcare] With a childcare announcement expected imminently, early years is shaping up to be both a key battleground for the next election and a major coalition split. All agree on wanting to bring down prices for parents, while driving the quality and accessibility of childcare. So far so good. But since More Great Childcare was published at the start of the year, proposals have courted criticism, with experts questioning whether this reform package would actually jeopardise quality and push up costs. In a high profile move last month, Nick Clegg stepped in to block the unpopular plan to relax ...
The country's most popular animal, entirely down, it seems, to the advertising genius employed by a comparison website was on my list of animals to see. What I hadn't expected was that I would be part of the exhibit... The Suricata Sands exhibit is, naturally, one of the most visited attractions at Colchester Zoo, and I was to go and find out about what they eat, and how they are looked after. Posing for the camera... First, I was admitted into the enclosure to take a closer look, and to be introduced to the 'mob' and their environment. Naturally, as ...
Ed Miliband, attempting to turn the row over alleged candidate fixing by Unite to his advantage, has proposed ending the right of MPs to have second jobs: "The question of MPs' second outside jobs has been discussed but not properly addressed for a generation. The British people expect their MPs to represent them and the country and not anyone else. Can it be right that rules allow MPs to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds form private legal practice while they are supposed to be an MP?" As I wrote last month: I don't have problems with MPs continuing to ...
[IMG: Poll piechart] The latest quarterly update to my spreadsheet of opinion poll data from 1943 is now up at: http://www.markpack.org.uk/opinion-polls/ You can also sign up on that page to get email notifications about future updates. This time there are no extra pieces of data from the 1950s to entertain. It does however have another three months of data, along with a couple of minor additions to the older records.
[IMG: Girl drinking from an alcopop bottle.] Kent Trading Standards are calling on the public to help to stop underage alcohol and cigarette sales, and to be extra vigilant as end of exam parties and the school summer holidays begin. Trading Standards will be working with partners across Kent this summer to ensure licensees are complying with the law. Anyone caught selling alcohol to under 18's can be fined £80 on the spot with further action against the licensee such as being prosecuted with a fine up to £5000, and a review of the license which could see a revocation ...
The Fourth of July was a day of celebration in the UK this year. It was the first annual Employee Ownership Day, designed to raise awareness of employee owned business. Celebrations were more reserved than the Fourth of July celebrations in the US - the most indulgent thing I could find was a commemorative cushion cover made in a John Lewis factory in Lancashire. But employee ownership is definitely something to be celebrated, even if we don't go in for the carnivals and fireworks. Employee Ownership Day is part of a wider government strategy to promote employee ownership. Other initiatives ...
New from the Deputy Prime Minister's office: Also on YouTube.
On Sunday, Professor Richard Grayson used the Compass website to explain at great length why he will be letting his Lib Dem membership lapse. His laborious explanation basically boils down to his belief that the party isn't executing the economic policy it promised in the manifesto, and that it's being led astray by a minority ...
Everyone is familiar with the Clock Tower of Parliament, housing what must be the most famous clock in the world. Tours up the tower to see the clock mechanism and the Big Ben bell itself are very popular with Bristol West constituents. The Clock Tower is now officially named the Elizabeth Tower, in honour of [...]
[IMG: scotland_fans] I'm no football expert, but the chant "Sit down, Shut up" seems to be popular as a chant to silence a loosing team. In a similar fashion the cry 'no mandate' has taken a similar position in Scotland's political arena. This was most recently seen in the Edinburgh instalment of Question Time, when both Angus McNeil MP and Lesley Riddoch argued that if a party has no elected officials in the country then its members have no right to express their opinions. Regardless of your stance in the independence debate (though I think it would be heavily weighted ...
The ALDE Group in the EU's Committee of the Regions has launched the third edition of the awards for key liberal democrat players at the level of subnational governments (regional and local). Open to liberal democrats from across Europe, previous winners include Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield City Council (2008-2011) for Achievement in Government at Local Level, awarded in 2010. This year's awards ceremony will be held on 4 December in Brussels. Both the national board of ALDE member parties as well as their local party branches can submit nominations of persons who are considered to be suitable candidates for ...
I welcome the news that Conservative plans to opt out of key EU crime-fighting measures have been blocked by Liberal Democrats in coalition government. Earlier today, following prolonged negotiations within the coalition, Theresa May announced that the government will be opting back in to 35 of the 136 pre-2009 EU police and judicial cooperation measures, including those deemed vital by the Association of Chief Police Officers. The Tories are now so blinded by their anti-EU ideology that they have become soft on crime. They were proposing to abandon key European crime-fighting measures which leading law enforcement figures have repeatedly warned ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... The British public, eh? What do they know? | Stephen Tall Quiz time! 10 questions to help you find out if you're smarter than the British public (won't be too hard, it seems) http://bit.ly/15a2JYi Well done Ed, this is right for the party. Just one thing: make sure you've squared off the creditors « Labour Uncut .@AtulH makes a good point on Labour's funding woes: "Well done Ed [but] make sure you've squared off the creditors" http://bit.ly/185GOaY Ed Flip-Flops on "Opt In" – Guy Fawkes' blog This is actually quite an intelligent ...
Just saw this, via Freakytrigger — today is the day that Harkive are doing a worldwide semi-survey of music fans' listening habits, and since I'm off work today I thought I'd contribute. I'll be liveblogging my music listening over the course of today in this post, though I'll be writing some other posts... 11AM-13:00 — [...]
More than ever nowMy lifeA stained glass windowOf interconnecting facetsAll I have seenAll I have feltAll I have known How can I make sense of this kaleidoscope Of light and shadeAm I the sum of all these partsA patchwork cemented in time and place Yet, when examined, it seemsI am no more thanThe play of light through a window
There's an ethical conundrum which is often posed to military strategists and philosophers alike. In 1940, the Nazi's communications encryption had been broken by the British. Military Intelligence were able to decrypt a signal which indicated that the city of Coventry was to be bombed. The military chiefs took this information to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. If he ordered the evacuation of the city, he would save hundreds of thousands of lives - but the enemy would know that their encryption was compromised. What, gentle reader, would you do? Is it worth sacrificing lives now in the hope of ...
This is the Stockport Executive "Forward Plan" – listing the major decisions planned to be taken between August and November 2013. New issues do crop up on which decisions are made, and dates sometimes change, so this is not set in stone. Issues include residents parking charges and the next stages for the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road.
Hearing Unite's heated rhetoric against a public sector pay freeze, you might think that Unite doesn't like the idea of pay freezes. Curious then that another leaked Unite document includes this about its own staff: There is no pay increase for 2013. It rather reminds me of Labour's position on how inflation is calculated for pension purposes. So outraged about the change for state pensions that, er..., when it comes to its own staff pension scheme, Labour uses the very rules it opposes for others.
A leading national charity is celebrating the move to make humanist weddings legal claiming it would not have happened if it were not for Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert. Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association has congratulated Julian for being the first MP to put his name to a move to change the law for couples opting for a humanist marriage. Julian was the first to raise an amendment to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill going through Parliament. "The thousands of people who want their humanist wedding to be their legal marriage and who will soon have ...
[IMG: Someone not wearing socks] Failure to wear socks is just one of the fantastically bizarre range of claims made about British law which are examined and, mostly, debunked in the Law Commission's Legal Oddities document. Many, such as the socks, are not so well-known. A few, such as the legality of dying in Parliament, are widespread myths. Read and enjoy. You can download this document here (PDF, 104KB) Hat-tip: @sphericalsquare.
[IMG: bioethanol-plant] For a picture of Vince Cable in a hard hat and hi vis clothing, check out the Yorkshire Post. He was opening a £350 million bio-fuels plant in Humberside, one of the largest in Europe. The plant converts animal quality wheat into bioethanol which is then added to petrol to produce a greener fuel. This is in an area which has been described as the 'wheat belt' of the UK. Vince Cable is quoted as saying: Here we are turning an agricultural product potentially into very good fuel, blending for motor vehicles, creating environmentally friendly products. So it's ...
Here's another of Ros's interventions that I hadn't covered, from 29 May 2012... There has, in recent times, been a lot of fuss about claims management companies. They aren't looked at with as much concern as payday loan companies, but they remain one of the more annoying things about modern life... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for securing today's debate. Topics such as this, which are limited in scope but of real importance to the public, are exactly the sort suited to one hour Questions for Short Debate. The ...
[IMG: cleggSpeech] A speech by the Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrat Local Government Conference, Manchester 22 June 2013. Renewed Opportunity "It is now less than two years until the General Election. We Liberal Democrats look at 2015 – and every election before and beyond – as an opportunity, a renewed chance to govern. "The Liberal Democrats must seek to become an acknowledged party of Government. A party that strives to govern at every level – from local council to Number 10 – in order to make Britain a better place. ...
[IMG: richard grayson] Or, as he explains in his lengthy article on Compass, Richard Grayson's membership has lapsed and he is not renewing. Richard was the party's Director of Policy prior to 2004, Vice Chair of the Federal Policy Committee, PPC in Hemel Hempstead in 2010 and a founder member of the Social Liberal Forum. He writes: ... the sad conclusion I have come to is that I have more faith in Labour and the Greens, than I do in the Liberal Democrats to put forward a package of policies which former Liberal Democrat voters can support. It is very ...
[IMG: rss - PerilsofPerception] That's the question the Royal Statistical Society and King's College London decided to find out with the help of polling firm Ipsos MORI. They asked the British public a range of questions on current social issues. And they found the public mostly gave answers that were factually wrong. Not just fractionally out: a long way out. See how you do on the 10 most common misperceptions held by the British public... Teenage pregnancy: What proportion of girls under 16 do you think become pregnant each year? a) 0.6% b) 3.6% c) 6.3% Crime: Is violent crime ...
The British Government has made some impressive commitments to improve the lives of the world's poorest people. I am incredibly proud of the huge number of children we're vaccinating, girls we're educating and families we're providing with clean water. But one of our most challenging ambitions involves the smallest number - 0. The UK remains committed to the vision of getting zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. This matters as much to people in Britain as it does to the poorest parts of the world. Infections do not respect borders. I am currently in Southern Africa ...
The Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union by H.E. Asta Skaisgiryte Liauskiene, Ambassador of Lithuania to the UK As the European Union moves towards recovery, closer cooperation between member states is needed more than ever in order to ensure growth, job creation and better competitiveness. The EU must demonstrate to its people [...]
Is Len McCluskey a bit to the left of the Labour Party leadership? Undoubtedly. Has the union tried to get preferences candidates into seats? If I were a Labour member I would hope so. Every selection contest / election has competing groups trying to win and as long as it doesn't boil over into fratricidal warfare parties are the better for it. Has Unite been signing up members for the Labour Party? Again, if I was a Labour member I would hope so. As an affiliate to the Labour Party shouldn't they do that? From what I understand what this ...
posted The Blood is The Life 08-07-2013 http://t.co/C6GOVajVbG on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) Stephen Tall on the reporting of Murray's Wimbledon win (tags: ) https://www.facebook.com/2000AD LOVE this strip RT @2000AD: Howl at the moon! 2000AD Prog 1840 this Wednesday features the return of Age of the Wolf! http://t.co/p4tc4QsmQZ (tags: (from twitter) ) http://twitpic.com/d1iblj Well played, credit card dude. Well played. #bankofmeme http://t.co/mQPVScs985 (tags: (from twitter) bankofmeme ) Boris thinks women get educations to find men does he not know that men don't like smart girls? That was constantly drummed into me as a child... (tags: ) national ...
One of the best of the Ealing Comedies, The Titfield Thunderbolt¸ has rather a wonderful scene at the public inquiry where the trade union leader is flummoxed by the disparate group of volunteers who want to take over their local railway line to save it from closure. They are non-union labour who are about to be exploited by the bosses, he says. "But we are the bosses," says the vicar/train-driver. These were the days before amateurs taking over railways, at Tallylyn and then the Bluebell Line and many others. Mutualism has always been pretty incomprehensible to state socialists, and has ...
What decisions made by the Coalition Government will the Liberal Democrats in 2015 be pledging to reverse? It's a valid question to ask. Coalition being by its nature a series of compromises, there are numerous decisions a Liberal Democrat government would never have taken that are being implemented. (This is as opposed to measures we would like to have taken, which will be presented in a manifesto as normal) Today's example is about the detail of the proposed sell-off of Royal Mail. The full list, though, would include a litany of regressive measures on welfare of which the Bill to ...
With the Conservative ring-fencing of 40% plus of the welfare budget because it goes to a section of society which disproportionately votes Conservative (e.g. pensioners), it should come as no surprise to anyone that the forcing of all welfare cuts onto the remainder of recipients has hurt a lot of people. Amongst those most badly effected are disabled people. Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (formerly known as incapacity benefit) has been time limited to one year. Disability Living Allowance is being replaced by Personal Independence Payments and will have been cut by 20% by 2015. Social care services are being ...
I am on a train back to Cardiff after an interesting and useful series of meetings in Westminster yesterday afternoon and evening. A number of these meetings were around the Silk Commission report on funding the Welsh Assembly, but the most important in my view was a session with the All Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group on how we can increase the number of carbon monoxide detectors in people's homes. Carbon Monoxide poisoning causes 50 deaths a year, 200 serious injuries and 4,000 minor injuries which costs the health service in England and Wales £178 million annually in medical and ...
Tue 9th
07:56
Sefton Youth Service - Making decisions in partnership with others is not their strong point
I have commented before about the rather odd state of affairs in allocating Council money for youth services in the East Parishes part of Sefton. Amazingly a 2013/14 budget of £40,000 for which bids originally had to be in by the end of October 2012 has yet to be allocated with the agreement of all the bidding groups. We are talking 8 moving into 9 months down the track! The money is for the running of youth facilities in Lydiate, Melling, Maghull and Aintree Village and includes the budget to run Maghull Town Hall's innovative and highly successful Youth Coffee ...
Tue 9th
07:55
Trade unions should trump Ed Miliband and let their members opt in to membership of any party
[IMG: "A trade union protects her" poster. Photo courtesy of Leo Reynolds. Some rights reserved http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/4836978445/] From the advanced briefing, it looks as if Ed Miliband's speech today will offer up some fairly sensible suggestions for reform of Labour's selection rules. One is a big risk – but which although designed to curb trade union influence, could in fact open up the door to much greater trade union influence if senior trade unionists are willing to look beyond the narrow confines of Labour and think of all their members. The reform in question is the idea that rather than trade ...
The following is a verbatim response from the Burlsque Festival organizers to Cllr Press' recent email to Labour members that was leaked to me by someone concerned about the decision. The content is entirely their own. Our response to extracts from Cllr Susan Press's recent email to all Labour members Please note, the email in full can be viewed here: "We took our decision not because we are 'moral guardians' or because we wanted to ban burlesque per se but because we felt that sexual entertainment of this kind was not appropriate in a community-owned building and because we knew ...
We don't need to appoint a layer of people to say 'ooh, you never know!' The precautionary principle is a blunt instrument, a 90s throwback out of place in an era of "smart solutions" and big data. A world of over seven billion people faces some pretty complex questions about the trade-offs involved in producing food, using resources, reducing disease and achieving the societies and environments in which we want to live. There's a collision between short-term and long-term outcomes, narrow interests and broader ones, and between problems and opportunities ... the consequences of which may be unforeseeable. Fear of ...
I'll go ahead and say it: I love the Firecracker 5000, Seattle's local Fourth of July (ok, so it starts at 11:55pm on July 3rd) 5K! I'm an evening runner, so I'm pretty happy on late night runs (although...in the spirit of true disclosure, I had to pre-game with a latte, because midnight is WAY beyond my bedtime). Plus, it's just a little wacky. And involves glow sticks! This is also my roommate's favorite course and it's fun to have company. I mean, not that I was "alone," because there was a very healthy Seattle Green Lake contingent at the ...
Mitchell Street School.
At the Council's Cabinet this Wednesday, councillors will be considering a proposal from the Council's Labour Administration on the future of libraries, particularly those in Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield. The Council has been consulting on some interesting ideas to create what it calls 'Community Hubs' in each of Radcliffe, Prestwich and Whitefield which would bring together Libraries in the same building as other council services (e.g. adult learning, some adult care services, and community facilities like the civic suites). These proposals have now been abandoned, and now the Council will be making savings solely by reducing (by about one third) ...
Two questions were raised at Bury's 'full' council meeting last week about bins and recycling: Smaller Grey Bins? One councillor asked about the take-up of smaller (140 litre) grey bins. For the last year the Council has offered people who need a new grey bin a FREE smaller bin (140l), or charge them or charge them if they want a 'normal' bin (240l). So far, about 2/3rds of us have chosen the free small bin meaning that about 1% of households in Bury have been given a smaller grey bin. Bury is currently third in Greater Manchester in recycling rates, ...
As many of you are aware it is possible that four local hospitals may have their A&E and their maternity wards shut. The hospitals at risk are Ealing, Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Central Middlesex. Ealing Council with the support of the Liberal Democrat Group arranged for an independent review to take place so that our hospitals can be protected. Hanwell's Liberal Democrat Councillor, Nigel Bakhai, spoke up at the meeting which took place on 8th July in Ealing Town Hall. I attended this crucial meeting where the independent panel will take evidence on why the current plans will leave Ealing's ...
A Liberal Democrat Councillor has branded an expensive boundary sign for a Council Ward as bonkers, and a shocking waste of public money: Councillor Chris Abbott as hit out at the erection of a Millstone wheel, with a Kirkleatham Ward sign attached it, at the junction of West Dyke Road and Kirkleatham Lane. Councillor Abbott (pictured at the sign) said: "Council Wards are not places to be marked by boundary signs. They are there for electoral and demographic purposes only. They are subject to change every ten years. Spending money on installing expensive millstone wheels is a shocking waste of ...
