Most of us know Ethiopia only as that place from the telly where there always seems to be a massive famine and from the charity adverts asking us to donate £2 a month to help save a child's life. But, despite that, Ethiopia is actually better off than the UK in one aspect at least according to a new UN report. You see, Ethiopia has a smaller gap between rich and poor than us. I'll repeat that for emphasis: the poor in the UK have a lower share of the nation's wealth than Jamaica, Ghana or the Ivory Coast. The ...
In which I look at The Holy Terror, Colin Baker, Rob Shearman and Big Finish
Lord Bonkers writes: Wainwright's Midland Second Places is right to say that Whitwell's heyday was during the herring boom of the 19th century, when it was widely known as "the Ullapool of the East Midlands". It has fallen on harder times since then, but to this day it is possible, in the one of the harbourside inns, to hear a hoary regular sing a traditional shanty - if you do not get away in time, that is.I am not entirely convinced by that, but today I caught the Shorelink bus ("I heartily recommend it" - Norman Baker) and ended up ...
[Introduction | Supers] Let's be fair, here: cards on the table, no lie: if my id had control of this lineup, it'd be like 20 Bat titles and everything else would be Wonder Woman and Canary team ups. So I'm pretty sure that I deserve credit for cutting myself down to six titles. Bats are: non-metas who's lives have been marred by tragedy, who have taken upon themselves the power to set things right. They are driven, fiercely independent, and usually value intellectualism over emotional attachments. Even though many of them come from a background of societal privilege, they represent ...
Sat 3rd
16:45
Lib Dem members back plain cigarette packaging, but more evenly divided on minimum alcohol pricing
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 600 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. Two-thirds of Lib Dem members back plain cigarette packaging Do you support or oppose banning brightly coloured branding and packaging for cigarettes and introducing plain packs? 40% – Strongly support 26% – Tend to support Total support = 66% 17% – Tend to oppose 11% – Strongly oppose Total oppose = 28% 5% – Don't know Two-thirds of Lib ...
[IMG: maajid-navaz] We reported here 2 weeks ago that Maajid Nawaz has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for the ultra-marginal three-way Hampstead and Kilburn seat. This week sees him write for the local Camden New Journal newspaper, focusing on education. Here's an excerpt: If we desire a society in which every child is given the opportunity to fulfil their potential, regardless of their economic background, the development of an education system capable of supporting this is crucial. This is why I'm so proud that the Liberal Democrats in government have fought hard to secure investment in education. One ...
[IMG: [profile] ] sassyscot pointed me towards this travesty on the Torygraph website. For the avoidance of doubt, the correct order in a chart like this should be:Colin Baker Circa 60 other actors, including Peter Cushing, Joanna Lumley, Arabella Weir, Derek Jacobi and Mark Gatiss David TennantPoor form at the Torygraph, given that their article didn't even mention the best actor to play the role. Still, what does one expect from a rag like that? ETA: as Andrew quite correctly points out in the comments The Torygraph article is even more of a travesty than I thought because it calls ...
By chiding local authorities for their parking charges, and suggesting that parking should be allowed on double yellow lines, albeit for only 15 minutes, our Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, breaks two Tory election pledges in one go. The Tories promised to be the party of decentralising: in the words of David Cameron, to free local councils to "do whatever they liked so long as it's legal." And they promised to be the greenest government ever. Parking charges are, in most places, indeed high. That is possibly because, following the Thatcher government's introduction of rate ...
It has been four years since I was first co-opted onto Creeting St Peter Parish Council, and I have since survived an election. Throughout that period I have consistently used this blog to fret about issues of financial control, accountability and communication, mostly without any sense that I can actually do anything to improve matters. And I have come to the realisation that this isn't working as I had hoped it might. Like many small, rural, parish councils, mine is non-party political and, in truth, non-political in any sense that I recognise. In some ways, that presents no problem as ...
That will help with the baiting he gets in the chamber.
This is the current master plan for comments. It is best if comments are sent to the council, but I will pass any made on this web log post as well. It is better really to email comments to my team with names and addresses so people can have acknowledgments from the council.
I don't often swear online. It usually takes an immense act of stupidity from a Formula 1 driver to incite me to do so, and the last time I tried that, the Chief Whip told me off mere seconds later. So profanity, even mildly, in a blog post is very unusual, particularly when directed at our leader. Which is why I did my little rant about these burly Home Office types turning up at tube stations and conducting checks on people's immigration status on my own blog. This is the second Home Office show of disproportionate force in the last ...
Yesterday's Guardian reports that some of the world's leading telecoms firms, including BT and Vodafone, are secretly collaborating with Britain's spy agency GCHQ, and are passing on details of their customers' phone calls, email messages and Facebook entries. They say that BT, Vodafone Cable, and the American firm Verizon Business, together with four other smaller providers, have given GCHQ secret unlimited access to their network of undersea cables. The cables carry much of the world's phone calls and internet traffic: On Friday Germany's Süddeutsche newspaper published the most highly sensitive aspect of this operation - the names of the commercial ...
[IMG: ldv coalition lessons] LibDemVoice is running a daily feature, 'Lessons of Coalition', to assess the major do's and don'ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to voice@libdemvoice.org. Today Caron Lindsay shares her thoughts. That old "walk a mile in each others' shoes" thing works In the first few days of Coalition, I wrote some friendly advice to our ...
There needs to be tough action over mobile phone insurance in the light of the recent Financial Conduct Authority investigation which found poor claims handling, poor sales practice, anti-customer exclusions in the small print, and poor product design. As around ten million people in the UK have mobile phone insurance, it's easy to see that ripping customers off would be big business for the unscrupulous. The Financial Conduct Authority investigation found far too many claims rejected on inadequate grounds. For instance customers aren't covered for loss or theft if it happens in "a place which is easily accessible by people ...
At least I think that is what it is - a kind of dragonfly - and it is in a bush just outside my front door. But when I asked it, it just said: "'Ere, 'oo are you callin' common?"
The Conservatives have hired Barack Obama's election strategist Jim Messina to advise on their 2015 general election campaign. The Guardian describes it as "a coup for the Tory team to have been able to hire a strategist who proved such a vital figure in Obama's presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2012." Those unfamiliar with Mr Messina's work can watch an example of his kind of ad below. It's from the 2002 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee race between Max Baucus and Montana Republican Senate nominee Mike Taylor, and has been described by Salon.com as "the single most infamous congressional ad ...
The Comment Section For Every Article About Bikini Waxing Ever (tags: ) privately run hospital taken over by nhs after patient deaths private MIGHT be more efficient, but more efficient doesn't always equate to desired outcomes. (tags: ) So it seems that spoon theory applies to everyone, not just nutters like me (tags: ) Don't turn a blind eye to the racism of our border forces (tags: ) Edgar Wright talks to the BBFC about the c word Americans express surprise that the exchange is cordial and constructive (tags: ) 5 myths about extroverts that need to die Oh so ...
Fancy seeing or even holding the Rugby League World Cup Trophy? Then get along to Yate Shopping Centre between 9.30am and 4.30pm on Tuesday 6th August. The Trophy Tour is coming to town. If you'd like to see some of the action in the autumn, you can be there for the USA v Cook Islands at the Memorial Stadium, Bristol on Wednesday 30 October, Kick-Off 8pm. The ticket hotline is 0844 847 2013 or you can visit www.rlwc2013.com for more information. If you upload your trophy photos to www.trophytour.rlwc2013.com you might even win some match tickets!
Remember the SlutWalks? "You know, I think we're beating around the bush here," said Toronto Police Constable Michael Sanguinetti "I've been told I'm not supposed to say this - however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised." Those words unleashed a wave of angry protests by women and men eager to show that what a person wears does not excuse (or encourage) rape. The responsibility for sexual violence is on the perpetrator and not the victim. These empowering and, from a marketing standpoint, very successful marches certainly got the message across. The idea that women's ...
Sat 3rd
09:20AD LIB preview - August 2013: bringing communities together, campaigning success and bringing up chi...
[IMG: AD LiB August 2013] It's been a few months since I've reviewed an AD LIB. Partly that's because I've never got round to doing it, although there was one month, June, I think it was, when I almost spontaneously combusted while reading it on a train. If the dominance of articles about men wasn't bad enough, the photographs were even worse. I counted something like 26 photographs of men to 10 containing any women at all. And then there was the recipe. A whole crayfish and a whole lobster? Do they think we're made of money? And apart from ...
[IMG: image] I cheerfully admit that this scam got me hook, line and sinker. I had to change all my passwords and get a new card issued after I belatedly realised I had been had. If you get this mail, do not click on the link. It's a scam. It's not from Paypal. You sent a payment Transaction ID: 38V76954M2306912H Dear customer, You sent a mobile payment for £81.44 GBP to Lucy Atashsokhan. A message has been sent to the recipient asking to accept or refuse the payment. Please note that it may take a little while for this payment ...
[IMG: CSO / GCHQ Bude, Morwenstow, Cornwall Oct 1987] The Guardian again makes mention of Bude today, in relation to Edward Snowden's revelations. There is an excellent history of the Bude "site" on Pete London's Slice of Life blog. Before the current...ahem...installations were put there, I can remember often driving up to what we call "Cleave Camp". It had the air of a ghost village. There were two big rows of houses, left over from the war, but no one was living in them. My dad recently told me a funny story about the site's current incarnation. A walker was ...
Ahead of the annual conference of the British Liberal Democrats there has been a certain amount of posturing. Nick Clegg has been talking about the need for a "grown up" party that can carry through the responsibilities of power. This supposed debate of Realos- the pragmatic party of government- versus Fundis- unrealistic keepers of some pure Liberal flame- is a complete straw man anyway. Clegg may actually wish to face a challenge in order to be seen as being the master of his party, but the truth is that the Lib Dem leadership is promoting an inward looking and irrelevant ...
I was on Wave 102 News yesterday and also interviewed by Radio Tay regarding the unfortunate car vandalism that occurred in Annfield Street and Annfield Road recently. You can hear the Wave 102 interview by clicking 'play' below:
