Some exciting events for young people are planned for 2013-4. Aiming to promote some quality, alcohol-free, Friday nights out for young people in and around Consett, the Derwentside Health Network, alongside the AAP and local youth work organisations, have accessed some funding to put on quality events offering local bands, DJs, performers and party goers a polished and professional performance and experience, in a safe environment. I suspect most readers of this site are a bit too old to be able to add much personal insight into what will work and what won't with the twenty first century teen-ager, but ...
A friend of ours let me borrow this, and told me to read the recipe for Curried Chicken a as she found it somewhat amusing to say the least... Both poppadums and chupattis are correct extras to serve with curry but avoid having them at a buffet party as they are very crumbly and likely ...
A poll has just been produced by Ipsos MORI for the Royal Statistical Society and King's College London, which reveals a high level of ignorance among the British public about various social statistics. But before you read the results and get too smug, take this test published by the Guardian to check your own level of knowledge. (I managed ten out of ten, but only by guessing on the basis of choosing the opposite of likely tabloid newspaper prejudices). IPSOS Mori's results reveal a shocking level of ignorance among the Great British Public: On average, the public thinks that teenage ...
Fri 12th
22:48
London Labour members to have a say in who is their candidate for 2015 Mayoral election
Interesting, but why not allow all registered voters have a say, after-all we do have a second vote and mine will most certainly be available to Labour, should they put up a decent candidate! So what about it? Will you make the decision to allow the electorate a choice in who we are voting for?
Those of you who know me will know that I have spent what amounts to almost a life time volunteering with the Red Cross, both there in the UK and back in New Zealand. Last year, after much pondering and heartfelt consideration, I made the decision to move to St John Ambulance. Why? Well, in ...
Fri 12th
22:24
On the Fishmongers' launch at the 299th anniversary race for Doggett's Coat and Badge, July 12
Lib Dem prospective Euro candidate for the North East of England, Angelika Schneider joined us on the campaign trail in Whickham this evening. We started with a meeting in Sunniside and then went down to Whickham. Fiona Hall MEP is retiring at the next election. Hopefully, Angelika will be taking her place in Brussels. Pictured above: me, Angelika, Cllr John McClurey and Cllr Marilynn Ord
Well, good news! After about 6 weeks of pondering and actually a number of interviews, I am starting work on Monday, staying within the London bus industry, moving to one of the largest operators in London and will again be based in South London. Whilst it was nice to have some (enforced I guess) time ...
Last summer I spent a few days in Tynemouth and shortly afterwards blogged about the plans of The King's School, Tynemouth, to enter the state sector: Such moves ... are to be welcomed, but the left is always deeply suspicious of them. Sure enough, the area's Labour MP is quoted on the Evening Chronicle website expressing concerns about the move.Sebastian Payne has more about this story in this week's Spectator and about the Labour council's opposition to the school's plan: The Labour-run North Tyneside council is a bastion of resistance to the Baker/Blair/Gove reforms, and seems to be primarily interested ...
Carl Minns draws on the experience of a scheme run in Hull to conclude that banning packed lunches in school may do more harm than good. John Hyde, writing for The Law Society Gazette, believes Channel 4 was wrong to screen The Murder Trial: "If you really want to know how a court operates, go and sit in one." "The Fukushima nuclear plant is likely leaking radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean and has been doing so ever since the disaster began in March 2011, the head of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority revealed on Wednesday." Read more on Common Dreams ...
Please have a look at my colleague Cllr. Iain Brodie-Browne's Birkdale Focus blog site for the latest news on the closed pier and its structural problems which popped up out of nowhere a few days ago. http://birkdalefocus.blogspot.co.uk/ What a time for a pier to be in crisis when we have the hottest weather period for years to enjoy.
Sad news of the death of Alan Whicker. He was a gentleman, debonair and charming. But there was a shrewd journalistic brain in his head. He asked incisive questions, charmingly. His programmes were compelling and entertaining. I particularly enjoyed his Australian series, Whicker's World Down Under. But the greatest tribute to Alan Whicker (apart from the hilarious Monty Python sketch) are the many TV roving reporter successors who owe something to him. Michael Palin, Simon Reeve, Michael Portillo, even Billy Connolly in roving mode. They all owe a debt to Alan Whicker. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
[IMG: IMG_0030_tonemapped] I'd forgotten how good Samuel Adams Boston Lager is. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Congratulations to 1st Gatley Scouts and Cubs, coming in third place in the national Scoutcar Races (division 2) last Saturday. The Leaders and Scouts build all the karts from scratch and then the Scouts and Cubs raced them in Ashbourne, Derbyshire last Saturday. They got a top three finish in nearly every race, coming third overall. Next year's Scoutcar races are in Manchester. The scoutcars were out again at the Gatley Primary School BBQ on Thursday evening, when everyone had a chance to try them out. On another gloriously sunny evening, the school raised over £4,000 – a fantastic achievement. ...
John Kampfner, one of the few progressive voice from the centre-left who defected from Labour to the Lib Dems in the run-up to the 2010 election and has continued to give the party a sympathetic hearing during the Coalition, writes in today's Times about Lib Dem prospects post-2015: Clegg is set to be kingmaker again in 2015 (£). 5 points in particular are worth highlighting (ie, I agree with them): The Lib Dems will more than likely remain a force to be reckoned with: ... the Liberal Democrats head towards 2015 knowing they can target their meagre resources on just ...
On Tuesday 4th June 2013 local officers Mark Ball and Laura Zazo attended Cheriton Food & Wine in relation to a report of Theft from the store. From being a basic description of the group officers were able to quickly identify the suspects, who were stopped in Somerset Road and subsequently arrested. Local Officers Laura Zazo and Mark Ball investigated various reports of Theft of bicycles from the Cheriton and Sandgate areas. Due to her extensive knowledge of known offenders PCSO Zazo successfully identified a group of 3 males, who were subsequently arrested. PCSO's Laura Zazo and Mark Ball hosted ...
After a series of posts on the precautionary principle, we summarise the points made and some of the reactions When George Monbiot lambasted Mark Walport for not understanding something called "the precautionary principle", you might have felt some sympathy for our Chief Scientific Adviser. What is this precautionary principle thing? Why is it so controversial? We decided to run a short series to tease out some of the meanings and questions surrounding policies of precaution. Andy Stirling started the series with a case for precaution. As he outlined, many versions of ideas or precaution exist, but the general gist is ...
The European Commission is set to invest large amounts into research and development to create well paid jobs and generate sustainable economic growth and boost Europe's competitiveness across a range of key sectors which also aim to improve our quality of life. Over the next 7 years a partnership between the European Commission, member states and industry will invest €22 billion in innovative medicines, aeronautics, bio-based industries, fuel cells and hydrogen and electronics. With the aim of generating high quality jobs across the EU covering these sectors through public-private partnerships called Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs). The EU has seen its ...
In the wake of Vince Cable's announcement that the Royal Mail would be privatised, we asked Liberal Reform and the Social Liberal Forum for their comments. We haven't received anything from SLF yet, but here is what Liberal Reform co-chair Alan Muhammed had to say: Liberal Reform welcomes the floatation of the Royal Mail, an organisation that has long required reform. These moves will generate the biggest employee share scheme for 30 years and enables greater access to capital, crucial for sustaining the Royal Mail as a successful commercial business, delivering a vital service that the nation values. There's a ...
In November last year the Review of Qualifications was published and a recommendation was made that the Welsh Government should launch a "substantial, long-term, UK-wide communication strategy" in order to promote distinctly Welsh qualifications to prospective employers and educational institutions. I have already asked a number of questions regarding the detail of this proposed strategy, including what budgetary arrangements have been made to support the plan. In May, the former Education Minister stated that he would be considering a draft strategy produced by officials "over the coming days". However, after following up that response with a further question submitted last ...
Dear Reader, I've neglected you, and I'm truly, truly sorry. I could lay out the reasons for my absence - how life has got in the way, my habits have changed, how things have been busy, how I've been away... but really, they would all be excuses. You have, however, never been far from my thoughts. The list of posts I want to make has grown long even if the moment for some of them has come - and then gone a begging. Well, that's the way these apologies are supposed to go... but this isn't about you, though, it's ...
It is getting on for a decade or so before I first heard the fatal phrase, uttered in this case by a voluntary sector worker at the door of a community meeting: "If you get any couples, mark them both down as women. We haven't got enough of those." In that simple sentence, you discover just what a trap the whole edifice of targets, standards and audited processes was that New Labour erected at such expense around the public and voluntary sectors. The point is that target systems encourage frontline staff to finesse the way things are counted, to their ...
From Pink News - go and read the full story there, but before that, watch Willie Rennie explain why he supports equal marriage: Liberal Democrat peers, preparing to vote on the Third Reading of the Bill south of the border, please listen to him. The Equality Network has taught us all a few things about positive campaigning over the last few years. Their Equal Marriage campaign was stupendously good. As the Scottish Parliament prepares to debate equal marriage after the Summer, have a look at their lovely campaign video which, if you ever need cheering up, will do the job. ...
My twitter stream goes past like a blur, and mashing the Favourite button is the only way I can hold onto things. I don't normally do anything with them, but I thought it might be nice to share a short, curated list from the week. I might even do this regularly, if I get around to it. Here is this week, including the geeky jokes and ernest political messages that my subconscious loves so dearly. Thought for the day: What happens in a Black Hole, stays in a Black Hole. — Andrew Brown (@oneexwidow) July 5, 2013 Feel free to ...
A new practise direction involving the publication of judgments has been published. I don't think it is on the Judiciary website as yet. It is an improvement and should be welcomed. However, until there is independent scrutiny of the evidence (which is where much of the difficulties lie) there will remain many problems.
Just under a year ago, I wrote a piece about the shooting of a girl who dared to demand her right an education. Today, that girl will address the UN and meet Ban Ki Moon to discuss access to education worldwide. Today is Malala Yousafzai's 16th birthday. Education is a right that we often take for granted in the UK. But millions of children worldwide miss out on an education. Where parents cannot afford to send their children to school, cannot afford for their children not to work, or even when places are provided but they cannot provide the uniform ...
I now hear that a vote of no confidence was recently put down within Sefton Central Labour and that some ward councillors are trying to disentangle/distance themselves from MP Bill Esterson's office. Also, returning to the odd carry on with Labour run Maghull Town Council where 7 Labour councillors have resigned in recent times it seems that the influence of Labour forces outside of the Labour councillor's group has been a factor in the last 3 resignations. It has always looked like the Town Council Labour group were being told what to do by others and Labour sources are now ...
Fri 12th
11:25
A good example of when having an international body override market forces works rather well
As Gizmodo points out: [IMG: Micro USB cable. Photo courtesy of Hisks. Some rights reserved http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=939232] It seems pretty fashionable to whine about the EU nowadays, but while it agricultural subsidies might need a little re-thinking, there's one thing it's done right for humanity: the forced adoption of micro-USB, the best thing to happen to smartphones in the last five years... [It used to be] every time you got a new phone: sorry bud, go buy a new load of accessories. Want to listen to headphones? Well, you'll probably have to use the crappy pieces of plastic that came with ...
The sunshine continues and all the flowering plants have finally caught up with the season, except for the jasmine. The strawberries have been eaten, the peas are nearly ready for picking and one or two more butterflies are emerging. The dry weather makes the mowing much easier and the pond in the plastic box has had to be topped up this year, the first time for a long time. Thunderstorms are forecast but, fingers crossed, I'm hoping there's more BBQ weather for the weekend. This was bought labelled as a deutzia but looks more like an abutilon to me. fern ...
Fri 12th
10:53
Banning packed lunches may do more harm than good - the evidence from Hull's free school meals pilot
During the middle of the last decade the Labour run Hull City Council tried an experiment with free school meals. They decided to encourage, through carrot and stick, a take up of school meals amongst primary school children. As a carrot, they decided to offer free school meals for every pupil in primary schools. They also wielded a very large stick regarding packed lunches which included some fairly robust letters (some would say bullying) to parents, searches of packed lunch boxes to seek out contraband and a general campaign of harassment of parents who still wished to take responsibility for ...
Centre Forum recently chose the "Naked Rambler" as "Liberal Hero of the Week". The Naked Rambler is a man who fights for his freedom to walk naked in public wherever he chooses. Lib Dem Voice also carried an article robustly asserting that liberals should oppose interference with that freedom. Many fundamentalist liberals wrote in to applaud. More moderate respondents pointed out that young children might well be upset or even traumatised, while their parents could reasonably fear that a naked stranger might be a paedophile. Steve Way explained that the police offered the Naked Rambler three options - change direction ...
posted The Blood is The Life 11-07-2013 http://t.co/xau6MFOfXv on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) Orson Scott Card's antigay views prompt 'Ender's Game' boycott - latimes.com Awww bless. Orson is upset because people are choosing not to give him their money. (tags: ) FactCheck: who runs the country? | The FactCheck Blog (tags: ) Pay and Work Rights Helpline - GOV.UK Not been paid minimum wage or more for your work? Shop 'em here. (tags: ) Much deserved award for @julianhuppert for winning Internet Hero at the #ISPAs for his work on the Comms Data Bill (http://t.co/vQvwT9UW8R) (tags: ...
Blog from Malawi – also available on Huffington Post It took 10 minutes for me to witness despair in the optimistically-titled 'Corridors of Hope'. It must seem like a cruel name to those being tested for HIV in the small, sparse rooms along this hallway in Dedza District Hospital in Malawi. There was little hope in the eyes of the father I sat with shortly after he learnt he was living with HIV. Cradling his son in his arms, together they faced the agonising wait for the boy's test results. In just 600 seconds, the four-year-old would hear whether he ...
[IMG: George Osborne with Red Box, Budget 2012] "The 35% Strategy". The phrase was initially coined by Dan Hodges to decry the Labour leader's soft-left leadership: Forget the One Nation strategy, Ed Miliband is pursuing what is known within his inner circle as the 35 Per Cent Strategy. Come 2015, he thinks he can stagger over the line with 35 per cent of the vote. Less commented on is that the Tories have also been adopting their own 35% strategy under the tutelage of strategist Lynton Crosby. Today's news that George Osborne has ruled out any post-2015 tax rises to ...
The recent handover of the lease of Bill Quay Community Farm to the BQ Farm Association was celebrated last night with a BBQ and a short presentation on the plans for the farm. I was invited as a councillor rather than as the farm's volunteer beekeeper (or purchaser of their Tamworth pigs). Indeed, most councillors who also attended opened conversations with me by referring to the last pig that I
[IMG: michael-moore-mp-secretary-of-state-for-scotland] As we near the end of the Parliamentary term and MPs get their buckets and spades together and head off for the sun (or, more likely, pack up their cars and head off on their constituency Summer tours), I thought it might be interesting to have a look back at some of the things key party figures have done this year. We'll take a meander through the highlights and lowlights and make suggestions, not all of them entirely serious, for the year ahead. First up is Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore. It's not every minister who ...
My private member's Bill on park homes came back to the Assembly on Wednesday for ts final stages, but instead of allowing it to proceed to Royal Consent I agreed with the Government lawyers that we needed a further report stage to tidy up a few outstanding issues. Amongst these were a modern definition of family. The Bill as it currently stands had used the one in the 1960 Bill: A person is a member of another's family within the meaning of this Part if the person is the other's spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, ...
From chapter 3 of Animal Farm: The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed every day into the pigs' mash. The early apples were now ripening, and the grass of the orchard was littered with windfalls. The animals had assumed as a matter of course that these would be shared out equally; one day, however, the order went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected and brought to the harness-room for the use of the pigs. At this some of the other animals murmured, but it was no use. All the ...
The City Council has advised me of the arrangements for the creation of a welcome extension to the rail station lay-by in Riverside Drive, as follows: "Dundee Central Waterfront Development : P13162 Rail Station Lay-by Extension Phase 2 I wish to notify you of works we are currently preparing to carry out to extend the Rail Station lay-by, in the vicinity of your business, to provide a rail replacement bus lay-by. Following on from the recent lay-by works it has become necessary to provide a lay-by specifically for the rail replacement buses, which when necessary, have been found to cause ...
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, David Rimmer and Nigel Ashton, together with FOCUS Editor Jo Barton, are holding their next advice centre on Saturday 13th July, from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We hold our advice centre at St John's School, Rufford Road, Crossens every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month. We also hold a monthly advice centre in Churchtown, at Cafe Moo Moo on ...
Anyone can enjoy the outdoor gym installed at Crossens Rec. The gym is free and easy to use. The Crossens gym is one of several in Southport aimed at improving health and wellbeing. The gyms should encourage physical activity, and help to address a range of lifestyle conditions such as heart disease and stroke. Outdoor gym equipment at Crossens Rec The robust equipment includes traditional apparatus as well as modern ones such as 'air walkers' and 'steppers'.
