I appear to have successfully circumnavigated an entire sun 26 times. Go me! A small but wonderful collection of friends came round yesterday to celebrate by way of a barbecue, and we basically just chatted and played board games until midnight, a very chilled and wonderful party. I also made a truly marvellous raspberry and mint cheesecake, which lasted all of about 10 minutes from cutting to the last slice being enjoyed. [IMG: [twitter.com profile] ] maznu and I did some CSS hackery for my soon-to-be-relaunched photography website, finally finishing the structure and layout, leaving me with photoshoots to get ...
In November 2011 I blogged about how, the aftermath of the London riots, cash was being given to multi-millionaire football club Tottenham Hotspur rather than the communities of Tottenham who experienced the turmoil. Today the [...]
I was delighted to be invited onto the BBC London 94.9fm Dotun Adebayo show this evening along with Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote to speak about the immigration stop-checks at London stations this week. [...]
Julian Cope once put together an album with the subtitle The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker. This track shows why. Tony Cornwell tried to account for its appeal on the World Socialist Web Site: The opening track on Tilt - "Farmer in the City (Remembering Pasolini)" - is the most accessible song on the album. Against a backdrop of grim horrors, wry humour, beauty and grief, it lights the last hours of Pasolini's life with musical and lyrical strobe. The lyrics are fragmentary and presented as images on a moving pathway. You barely focus and the next lot of images ...
You know you are getting old when Time Lords start looking young, so I am pleased that the new Doctor Who will be an actor who is older than me - the first since Sylvester McCoy. But while congratulating Peter Capaldi, this is a chance for me to say that I think the show has problems. Whether you put it down to the changes in the way we watch television (more channels and the remote control) or to an attention-deficit society, the show suffers from a lack of time. It's not just that we no longer have cliffhanger endings: the ...
Local Lib Dem councillors have told Sefton Council that Parking charges locally must not be allowed to turn into a penal tax on local motorists and shoppers in Southport. Following High Court decision last week when Mrs Justice Lang declared that the1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act "is not a fiscal measure and does not authorise the authority to use its powers to charge local residents for parking in order to raise surplus revenue for other transport purposes" Lib Dem councillors have asked for evidence that the council are acting in accordance with the law Libs Dems opposed the Sefton Labour ...
From the BBC TV red button news service 23rd July: Charles "overjoyed" at new arrival ...It means that Prince Charles is now destined to be the first of three kings in a row who will rule over the UK in the future.. From the Telegraph 26th July: Prince George will rule over a Britain characterised by futuristic technology, food crises and even hotter summers From the Mail 28th July: Queen fights to let baby George rule the Commonwealth Various online definitions of "to rule" include: to control or direct; exercise dominating power, authority, or influence over; govern: to rule the ...
...is Peter Capaldi. I very much welcome this. I have been a great fan of Peter Capaldi on The thick of it and In the loop. He is an extremely good actor. He will certainly do ranting and anger very well as Doctor Who. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Sun 4th
19:05
Victoria Coren nails us all bang to rights: "Freedom is the most important thing of all"
Occasionally a column comes along and chimes with a lot of what you've been thinking. All at once. I've had that experience today with Victoria Coren's Observer column. Vicky Pryce and the high cost of being unlikable Vicky Pryce has been stripped of her honour and humiliated anew. Is that really what you wanted? Ostensibly it's about the decision to strip Vicky Pryce of her honour from the Queen. But actually it's much more of a reflection on the mean-spirited streak within us all. Not just the Labour MP Andrew Gwynne, who took it on himself to channel that ever-present ...
Counting down towards the fiftieth birthday of Doctor Who with Fifty great scenes... Last time I unleashed the scene-stealing megalomania of the seven TV Masters. Who could follow that but the Doctor simply being Doctorish - not rising to universal glory, but an individual who's endlessly fascinated, fascinating and fun. So here are some tips for whoever gets tonight's blessing on how to do it... Accompanied by a supporting selection of other Doctorish Doctors that spring to mind (but which?), in the lead today it's Colin Baker, summing up the Doctor in a perfect moment: "I am interested in everything..." ...
Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat MEP, writes: Readers of these NOTES may know of my long running battle to get Daimler, manufacturers of £70,000 Mercedes cars, to apply the EU law that I helped shape requiring car companies to start using air conditioning refrigerants in their new models with a global warming potential (gwp) less than 150 more than CO2. At present most cars have refrigerants with a horrendous gwp 1.430 greater than CO2.I hope the torrent of parliamentary questions (PQs) I have tabled, and exchanges I have had with European Commission officials, have encouraged them to enforce the law as ...
[Introduction | Supers | Bats] Before I start, some edits to previous posts: Superboy: Conner Levitt - who signs his name Con L - is, in a parallel with Clark, a web-savvy blogger, and the book contains pages from his social media presence as part of the storytelling. With the blessing and encouragement from his Moms, he eschews the idea of a secret identity, and is open with his identity as a teenager with superpowers, but no costume. The Daily Planet: One of the major characters is Sydney, a staffer on the paper and a friend of Lois, who develops ...
This is the prologue to the thing I've been working on for the last few months. I can't announce it properly, yet, but it should whet your appetites a little... The Thousand And Second Night, as translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton, part one In the Name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! It is [...]
[IMG: Ruwan pot holing] I read August's AdLib today with much dismay. I wonder how many of us have found ourselves squatting beside a hole in the road, posing for a photograph, and subsequently pondered on why we weren't voted in? I completely understand the rationale of acknowledging local priorities and the important safety considerations of potholed roads, but are we getting our priorities right when we establish major campaigns over such mind-numbing issues? Surely the focus on these little concerns, at the expense of far more important and life-altering policies, only diminishes LibDems in the perceptions of potential voters? ...
The excellent Mark Pack has written a post reminding us that the Daily Mail considers everyone born overseas and everyone with parents born overseas to be a foreigner. Now, firstly, there's nothing wrong with being a foreigner and only xenophobic bigots think otherwise. But, secondly, I'm one of those people the Daily Mail would consider a foreigner. My parents were both born in Britain and were British citizens but I happened to be born abroad, in Belgium. I was registered as a British citizen from birth, we visited England regularly while we lived in Belgium and I myself have lived ...
[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 Louise Shaw shares her thoughts. One member, one vote for all party elections Coalition has exposed and accentuated the differences between two powerbases within the party: the leadership and it's ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Vicky Pryce and the high cost of being unlikable | Victoria Coren | Comment is free | The Observer .@VictoriaCoren has the COLUMN. OF. THE. WEEK. It's about Vicky Pryce & @GwynneMP. But mainly it's about all of us http://bit.ly/19FgAvN Daniel Pelka death shows how hard child protection can be A heavy but fascinating read » "Daniel Pelka death shows how hard child protection can be" http://bit.ly/11DFozi Conservative members want the Coalition to end shortly before the election (and are opposed to the idea of another afterwards) The Tory Diary ConHome survey ...
See this Whitehill Town Council by-election as an example. You need to be logged in and the creator or contact for an event or a system administrator to add them.
It is a little known fact that the European Union has a target for reducing food waste, aiming to reduce the 2011 level by half by 2020. Astonishingly, it was estimated that 89 million tonnes of food were wasted in 2011 across the European Union. As part of their efforts to reach their target, the European Commission have recently launched a public consultation on the subject. In response, the House of Lords European Union Committee has launched an inquiry, seeking to establish a common understanding of the issue, identify and scrutinise proposed EU-level solutions, consider their implications and identify any ...
A late entry to story of the week comes from the BBC who report that Council officials in the City of Newport, South Wales are trying to discover who planted cannabis in flower pots put out to brighten up the city centre. They say that more than 20 of the illegal plants were discovered nestling amongst begonias and petunias in the street flower displays, but by the time police were told and went to examine the specimens they had already been harvested: "I had never seen cannabis growing in the wild before so it was crazy to see it," said ...
If this is losing, I'll have a bit of that please... One thing I find difficult to get my head around is how so many people consider Cameron to have been a loser in 2010. The argument goes that Gordon Brown was a terrible Prime Minister, that a solid majority was ripe for the picking for the Tories and Cameron totally screwed it up. I'm afraid I don't really buy it. Yes, Brown was dreadful but for all kinds of complicated reasons it was always a big ask for Cameron to get a majority. In 2005 they were still way ...
The Telegraph reports that another row has broken out within the coalition, however for once this split has not taken place on party lines. They say that Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats' president, has said he is "greatly worried" by the Government's "dash for shale gas". His views clash strongly with those of Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary and a fellow Liberal Democrat. The paper believes that Tim's comments suggest that rank-and-file Liberal Democrats could increase pressure to rein in fracking, restricting the potential that senior ministers such as George Osborne see for it to help revive the British economy. ...
The Western Mail reports that weather extremes have been blamed for making it "difficult to cope" as a charity sees the amount if pays out to help farmers live rise six-fold in a year. Farmers are struggling after a cold spring Farmers are struggling after a cold spring Grants to help struggling farmers pay for food and heating increased SIX-FOLD because of Spring's Arctic weather conditions, we can reveal. In the first half of this year the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) charity paid out almost £120,000, compared to £20,000 during the same period last year. And the warning is ...
Yorkshire faces being sidelined over Tour after Whitehall plot - General news - Yorkshire Post Not surprised, but annoyed. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
My latest in the New Statesman. Many thanks for all the lovely comments; much appreciated - especially Olly's! Dear Olly, Brian, Zahida et alFirstly, many congratulations to your elevation to the House of Lords as Lib Dem Peers. I have no doubt that this honour is a reflection of the days, months and years of public service you have given and you have been chosen because it is believed you will strengthen our legislature and make our country a better place to live. And now, on behalf of a grateful party, can I ask you to work tirelessly to remove ...
For those of you who don't inhabit the Twittersphere, many people today are taking part in a #TwitterSilence (that's its hashtag). It was the idea of Times columnist Caitlin Moran as "a symbolic act of solidarity" intended to shame Twitter into taking more seriously the rape/bomb threats and other abuse being targeted against women. You can read her blog about it here. I'm not taking part. I summarised my reasons here: Not joining #TwitterSilence. Take on + drive out hate-mongerers. Don't cede ground to them. And stop calling them 'trolls': they're bullies. — Stephen Tall (@stephentall) August 3, 2013 * ...
Sun 4th
08:15
What Lib Dem members think about The Morrissey Report into alleged sexual harassment within the part...
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. 79% of Lib Dem members support Morrissey Report [IMG: helena morrissey report] The independent Morrissey Inquiry, set up by the party following allegations of sexual impropriety against the party's former chief executive Lord Rennard (which he denies), reported in June. Are you broadly aware of the report and its recommendations? 67% – Yes 28% – No 5% – Don't ...
My weekly ward surgeries will commence again at the start of the new school term later this month (first surgery at Blackness Primary School - Thursday 15th August) but, with the closure of the Harris Academy building in Perth Road for the next three years during the new school building project, my Harris Academy surgery each Monday during school term time will move to the main foyer Mansion House at the West Park Centre, just across the road. There's no change to the surgery days or times and my other two surgeries (Mitchell Street Centre and Blackness Primary School) are ...
I just had a look at an old post of mine, to check something, and noticed a spam link inserted into it. I presume this happened when my account was compromised and spam links added to my blogroll in May, but I only just noticed it. This means I will now have to look through [...]
