I have been thinking for a while that the Liberal Democrats are becoming like the FDP in Germany: centrist, technocratic, without ideology. This may not be entirely fair on either party, but the collapse of the FDP vote in the recent German election did give me, like any other Lib Dems, pause for thought. Generally, those who are most in favour of our party becoming more like the FDP were quickest to assure us that this collapse had no lessons for us. In a post on Lib Dem Voice (" Nicht Schadenfreude, sondern Selbstverteidigung") Gareth Epps was more concerned at ...
Perhaps the most legendary piece of plastic in the hacker community is the humble "Cap'n Crunch" whistle. The free-in-cereal whistle was able to emit a piercing shriek at 2600Hz - the exact tone required to unlock the US phone network. So, because it's all I seem to do these days, I turned my my trusty RepRapPro and decided to see whether it was possible to 3D print a whistle which could produce the same frequency. I found a customisable whistle on Thingiverse and customised it to include the Over The Air hashtag. Rather than do any funky customisations with radius ...
At a glance you could think that the odd policy idea may be oozing from the grotesque and angry opposition Monster we call Labour. I will start with the energy prize freeze. There are a number of problems with this rather effective headline grabber. The first is the political. The government can't tell a private business what it must do with its prices unless it changes the law. Miliband
Paul Cheshire, emeritus professor of economic geography, writes convincingly about the need for the Greenbelt to evolve to make more housing available: As proposed by the original visionaries of town planning - most notably Ebenezer Howard - greenbelts would be an extensive ring of parkland surrounding towns in which citizens could walk their dogs, stroll [...]
Last Saturday saw the culmination of a short project by various local history societies in western Gateshead which aimed to produce information panels about the historic crossing of the Derwent River at the site now occupied by the Butterfly Bridge. This area has had an important historical role on the Industrial Revolution and was the site in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of iron
Sat 28th
19:28
Telegraph claims Clegg has ruled out a coalition with Labour. I claim the Telegraph is talking nonse...
Last week's serialisation sensation was all about Damien McBride. This week's is Matthew d'Ancona's inside scoop on the Coalition, In It Together. The Telegraph, doubtless keen to get its money's worth, has hyped-up the revelations, splashing with the headline, 'Cameron opens talks with Clegg on second Coalition'. Here's the key passage, which reads unconvincingly to me, as I'll explain below: D'Ancona writes: "From time to time, he [Mr Cameron] would raise the question of a second coalition with Clegg. 'If we did it again,' he mused to the Deputy Prime Minister, 'I'd have to seek collective permission.' " It is also ...
Firstly I'd like to thank Dave and the Conservatives for bringing in this policy. With the cost of living (and commuting) rising, my wages at a 1% rise well under inflation and my job looking fairly uncertain after next April any extra pennies are greatly received. However - it is still bollocks. I'm not sure what the Conservative high command were thinking about when this idea was floated. Is it a return of traditional values? Is it to try and build up marriage as the stable relationship for bringing up kids? Is it an attempt to return to the golden ...
LibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you're reading now. The second is our private members' forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access. If you're a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that's on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you'll be included in our regular surveys' of party members' views. Here's some of the most active discussions this past 10 days: Re-alignment of British Politics; Housing; This is what happens when you stop someone's benefits; Does the FDP show what happens to ...
[IMG: image] Brief Encounter 1945 [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
What is it? An ongoing comic published by DC that is made of up three volumes: The first ran for 127 issues from 1999 through 2009 and was most prominently written by Chuck Dixon and then Gail Simone. The second volume was nearly all written by Gail Simone and ran for 15 issues from 2010 until it was cancelled by the reboot in 2011. The third volume is ongoing and has been published since September 2011. What is it about? Initially it was a team-up between Oracle (Barbara Gordon) and Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance), later joined by Huntress (Helena ...
Here is a copy of the recent article I wrote for Modern Gov magazine, about my work as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for International Development... Investing in international development is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do. This is what this coalition government firmly believes and that is why we have stood by our shared commitment to invest 0.7% of gross national income on development support. I feel enormously privileged to be a minister at the Department for International Development (DfID), which is having such a positive and transformative impact on ...
The Post Office on Preston New Road, Southport, is closed from Saturday 28th September for refurbishment. It will open again on Wednesday 9th October at 1pm. The nearest alternative Post Offices are Crossens Post Office at 121 Rufford Road, PR9 8HT and Hesketh Drive Post Office at 30 Hesketh Drive, PR9 7JG.
TBH, I don't think the downsides would necessarily be that great but as Harford observes the benefits certainly wouldn't be very substantial either What exactly do you think is wrong with a freeze? Let's start by acknowledging that this is economically a sideshow. If he is lucky, Mr Miliband's 20-month cap (why 20 months?) will [...]
Your Upper Bangor Councillors have been pursuing many issues across the area recently, particularly around late night licensing and waste. We have; Proactively fought to defend the right of residents to a peaceful community, ensuring that there is a balance between local business needs and the needs of local residents. We have worked with the...
Earlier this week I praised an article by Andy Beckett that dissected that new cliché of Conservative ministers' speech, 'the global race. As he wrote: This race, we are told, is economic. Our opponents are usually specified: the rising countries of Asia and South America such as China, India and Brazil. Yet the prize is vaguely and promiscuously defined: "jobs", "wealth", "growth", "trade", "talent", "technology", "skills", "capital", "competitiveness", "big ideas", "influence", "innovation", "investment", "investment opportunities", "recovery". Meanwhile the race is invoked to justify seemingly any government goal or policy: bigger British arms sales abroad and smaller school holidays; tighter immigration ...
Ros approaches with a piece of paper. "I thought that we'd paid this already.", she says, slightly irritated. "What is it?", I ask, puzzled. "The Garden Waste Collection Scheme renewal.", she replies, waving two pieces of paper, one of which bears a hand written note in my writing, indicating that it was paid in mid-August. I stare at it, slightly perplexed. I then check our bank accounts, confirming that no such payment has left our bank accounts. I prepare to go back to their Customer Service Direct website to pay it again, but something tells me to check. There'll be ...
Coalpit Heath-based charity Paul's Place for physically disabled adults has been nominated for the Lloyds Community Fund Award 2013 and they need your votes! You can vote for them: Online - www.lloydsbank.com/communityfund - You may find it easiest to use the "Search for a good cause" button and put in the postcode BS36 2TTBy text - text the word VOTE and MQQD to 61119 In person at a Lloyds branch - ask in branch for a voting tokenYou have until 1st November to vote. Find out more about Paul's Place here
The proposal we told you about back in April for a solar farm at Says Court Farm, in the countryside to the west of Nibley Lane, has now been approved by South Glos Council's planning committee. The conditions were largely as in the report but with two additions (the conditions proposed by the Coal Authority and Network Rail). The condition about what should happen at the end of the 25 years was reworded so that it also required removal of the apparatus if the generation of power ceased some time before then. During the meeting, officers also clarified the use ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Tim Harford — Article — An energy price cap that does not quite fit Devastating demolition of Miliband's energy price freeze by Tim Harford: "the political maturity of a 10 year-old" http://bit.ly/1fxcLMK Educating Yorkshire 3: Faithful are the wounds of a friend – Tom Bennett – Blog – Tom Bennett – TES Community If you're watching Educating Yorkshire, make sure you're reading Tom Bennett's blog for the TES on it http://bit.ly/195xe7S Consumer Socialism? Ed might be onto something here Can Miliband stand up for consumers wanting better state-run services not just private-run ...
There is a dissonance between the hype around this season and its pedestrian opening episode. There were some good points – mostly odd pieces of dialogue or jokes – but the overall mix was pretty unengaging. I'm a recent convert to the Whedonverse, so it's not very long since I watched the opening episode of [...]
Sat 28th
12:23
Councillor Rick Everitt - Who's not a reasonable person ? or Labour sink to personal abuse in harbou...
Now there's a surprise Thanet labour party member Cllr Rick Everett and significantly also a cabinet member, responsible for finance has decided to use personal attack, in an apparent defense of a policy, which has deprived the local tax payer of well over 3 million pounds. In a letter to the Thanet Gazette, the well tested and flawed argument that Thanet council is not responsible or negligent for the loss of revenue, from Ramsgate harbour following it's decision to allow an unsecured, multi million debt to accrue with TransEuropa ferries, councillor Everitt has changed tack, stating that "Sadly, Mr Driver ...
Who's your favourite Hammer Glamour lady? View Poll: #14289 [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I spent yesterday afternoon in the dark on stage a the Soho Theatre, doing a session on class and power with Chavs author Owen Jones, among others (Harriet Sergeant and Henry Hitchings, who chaired the whole affair brilliantly). Ever since I horrified the readers of the Guardian and Telegraph simultaneously by writing about the middle classes in April, I have been urged to debate with Owen Jones - so I had been looking forward to it. In the event, it is hard to disagree with him that the working classes have been demonised. Just as I think he kind of ...
[IMG: Built to last] We know it discriminates against widows, widowers, one in four children living with single parents, those who decide not to get married and those who leave abusive relationships. But the absolutely crazy thing is that it also discriminates against married couples who both work! From Don't Judge: How will it work? A marriage (or civil partnership) would only be "recognised" if one of the couple doesn't pay income tax (earning less than £9,440) and the other is a basic rate tax payer (earning between £9,440 and £41,451). The person earning less transfers their tax allowance to ...
Nick Clegg has been doing all sorts of good things at the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Last night it struck me that when I was my daughter's age, the men with all the power in the world were incredibly scary. There was Reagan with his talk of star wars and neutron bombs and stern-faced Soviet leaders. I feel a lot safer in a world where Nick Clegg's and Barack Obama's ideas have some influence. Yes, I know Obama isn't perfect, but he's light years from the Cold War attitudes I grew up with. Here, in full, ...
The Independent kicks off coverage of the Conservative Party Conference with the devastating news that the Camerons do not like Larry the cat. It seems that since his arrival in Downing Street the briefing against the feline mouser has been even more vicious than that targeted at Gordon Brown's enemies by Damian McBride. Journalists have been told that the nation's premier pet is more interested in catnapping than rat-catching: It is understood that the rescue cat spends most of the day asleep, waking occasionally to startle staff with a sharp claw to the calves. And then there's the fur. David ...
Earlier this week I quoted from John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge's book the Right Nation. I was rather sidetracked by the truth or otherwise about whether Galileo was offered a chair at Harvard. However, their larger point that America is actually a rather old country is clearly true. They make the observation that: The historical [...]
[IMG: This is a great book. You name any secret place and it's got it. Plus a few inaccessible places. My favourite is North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal. You can visit it, but you're likely to get killed in a rain of arrows as you go ashore. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
An interesting piece in the Financial Times, finished off with a quote from a (slightly misdescribed!) me: [IMG: NationBuilder logo] Electoral software based on vast databases have slowly replacing the chaotic old system of strips of paper with names of voters typed out in long lines. And the latest models are combining social media with electoral data to allow candidates to reach thousands of voters - and know whether they are genuine supporters - with more ease than ever before. Los Angeles-based NationBuilder - set up by Jim Gilliam, whose unusual medical operation took place six years ago - is ...
From 14th October, short-stay car parking gets cheaper across Stockport. In Cheadle, parking for one hour will cost just 20p (currently 30p) and in Stockport Town Centre it will go down to 80p (currently £1.50). This is something I've been working on in response to what residents and traders have told us they want. As the Council reports: The introduction of an hourly charge at Council run car parks will allow people to easily extend their parking time in one hour slots. This will encourage them to spend more time in the town and district centres. The Council has recently ...
Sat 28th
08:40Liberal Democrat MPs may be bound by the Coalition Agreement, but that shouldn't stop us campaigning...
[IMG: Wedding rings] Way back in May 2010, I divided the Coalition Agreement into The Good, The Meh and the "Bring me the gin now." What do you think the very first item on the "lock me in a cupboard with a bottle of gin when they vote on this list" was? "We also agree that provision will be made for Liberal Democrat MPs to abstain on budget resolutions to introduce transferable tax allowances for married couples without prejudice to this coalition agreement." Ok, it's tokenistic but the principle is so plain wrong that abstention isn't good enough. I am ...
These series of lectures are an important way for party leaders to expand on debates that often take place over in the Senedd. However, as eloquent and erudite some Assembly Members are, it is not always possible to develop your arguments in 5 or 10 minutes before the P.O. starts coughing subtly and giving you that look. I am also pleased that the Wales Governance Centre is housed here in the Pierhead building. This magnificent building is itself a potent symbol of power and influence of yesterday's Wales. It was built at a time when Cardiff was the "Welsh Chicago", ...
A number of constituents have recently asked me about the new West End Heritage Walk publication and the City Council's Outdoor Access Officer has updated me as follows: The West End Heritage Walk was produced by the Rotary Club of Dundee, written by Professor Charles McKean of the University of Dundee and designed and illustrated by Blue Square Design. It has been distributed to libraries across the city and to the University of Dundee. The Rotary Club are distributing it to the establishments that have supported with some funding such as Nosey Parkers/Queens Hotel, Speedwell Bar and the Deep Sea ...
Residents in South Cambridgeshire are being given the chance to improve bus stops and other facilities in their village. Cambridgeshire County Council is setting aside £40,000 of the £1.7m pot of funding it has received from the Government for better bus services. It is now asking for ideas from the 90 parish councils in South Cambridgeshire on how they would like to see it spent. But they will need to move quickly, as suggestions will need to be submitted by Monday, 4 November. Successful bidders will be given the opportunity to develop their plans and establish project costs so that ...
It's the end of the festival season, so here's one of the highlights from this summer. It's Deacon Blue at T in the Park:
