In the course of my day job I paid a flying visit to the Cheltenham Literary Festival on Wednesday. I was taken with this pillar box, which I came across on my walk back to the station. A little googling shows that it is a rare Penfold pillar box.
Today in the High Court in Belfast, Mr Justice Traecy ruled that Health Minister Edwin Poots continuation of the lifetime ban on men who have sex with men (MSM) was "irrational". He also ruled that the Minster had broken the ... Continue reading →
Debates over issues of reproductive or sexual freedom in Northern Ireland usually turn into one of a few things: a manifestation of the confessional stranglehold on our public life. proof of the horror Some feel that Others might actually want, ... Continue reading →
Lib Dem MP for Somerton and Frome David Heath, who earlier this week lost his rural affairs ministerial job, will stand down at the next election: OFFICIAL: David Heath MP has announced he will stand down as an MP in 2015. — Claire Hudson (@Clairefrome) October 11, 2013 Elected in 1997 by just 130 votes, David has been re-elected a further three times with increasing majorities – by 2010 it had grown to 1,817. However, there's no doubt that his decision to retire will make the scrap to hold this seat against the Conservatives even tighter in 2015. * Stephen ...
Lynne Featherstone visits Bristol to see for the initiatives taking place in this city to tackle female genital mutilation and violence against girls and women. Polichic... asks why so much mundane political campaign documentation is marked "Top Secret" or "Highly Confidential". "Mark Ramprakash burst on to the scene as a teenager in the 1988 NatWest Trophy final between Middlesex and Worcestershire. Coming in at 25 for 4 in pursuit of 162, many youngsters would have followed the lead of their senior team-mates and given their wickets away. When he was out, for 56, Middlesex needed just three more to win." ...
So refugees coming to this country seeking asylum because they face persecution back home for being gay are being made to hand over tapes of them having sex to prove it. Now I have one short thing to say on this matter: If the UKBA want to watch gay sex that is what the internet is for. On a serious note though, there is also an assumption here that the asylum seeker and their partner are both seeking asylum at the same time. This is not necessarily so, only one of the partners may have been able to flee, the ...
It may be outside our immediate area, but many people will use the A38 Filton Roundabout when they travel further afield. From 14th-24th October, major resurfacing work will take place at night, starting at 8pm and continuing until about 6am the following morning. All approaches to the roundabout will be closed and traffic diverted.
[IMG: image] First, he complained that "the badgers are moving the goalposts", causing the mad badger cull scheme to fail. But those pesky badgers reckoned without Paterson. He used to play with badgers when he was a kid (he is always quick to remind us). So he knows how to beat them. He's going to gas them. Way to go, Paterson! Photo by Tim Brookes [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Network Rail have now finished their work at the double railway bridge and the road is open again. They struck some problems but brought extra people in to finish off the work.
Our coveted Headline of the Day Award goes to the Leicester Mercury.
[IMG: Cutter's Shears] I suspect there are many Americans, seeing the impasse in Congress, with government shutdown and a fiscal cliff looming, might conclude that Congress members should not be trusted with scissors. There must have been some sniggers, then, when Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), speaking on the floor of the Senate, this week asked for permission to use scissors. Photo by ario_ photo by: Center for Jewish History & NYC [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
[IMG: image] I have finally worked out how to watch Jon Stewart's Daily Show. It was staring me in the face on Sky all along. On Wednesday Jon Stewart treated us to Fox News showing off their new news deck. Some interns were sat at outsized tablets and there was a massive video wall juxtaposing a Palestinian woman "having a beef with" an Israeli soldier cheek-by-jowl with some American rounders player. Then the host Shepard Smith checks in with one of the tablet-swiping interns to get news of the latest atrocity, finishing the exchange with the remark: Eight people dead ...
Saturday night family TV, Ted Rogers, Dusty Bin, impossible clues, the Police, Gloria Gaynor, Every Breath You Take... shurley shome mishtake? No - but the most bizarre cover version ever:
Hmmmm... while we do not want to appear reactive in this policy forum and vastly prefer to be proactive but we cannot help having a thought that there lies a danger in the move of Norm Baker to the Home Office that the whole issue of fare reform will go by the wayside (the trackside?) as the new Minister is a Londoner. It is very easy for Londoners to dismiss the travails of the more long-distancing commuting crowd in the South-East. Many of these hard-pressed commuters are in seats that LibDems are either in first or second position come election ...
This afternoon the High Court in Belfast has ruled that the maintenance of the lifetime ban on men who have had sex with other men (MSM) in Northern Ireland by the Health Minister Edwin Pots is "irrational". After the ban was lifted and replaced with a 12 month deferral period in England, Scotland and Wales pressure has been placed on Mr Poots to follow suit in Northern Ireland. Twice he appeared to have reached a conclusion that he would not do so. On both occasions when I raised a Freedom of Information request with his department to find out what ...
Yes, Dear Constant Reader, the USA's "National Coming Out Day" has arrived again. I've already told my own coming out story, over at the other place, and talked here about how coming out is never over, how coming out shouldn't be glorified and how marriage equality might ease the coming out process. But Harvey Milk is still, all these years later, the last word on coming out. Gay brothers and sisters,... You must come out. Come out... to your parents... I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the ...
When I joined the Lib Dem Voice editing team, I knew I would have to edit and write about a huge range of politics, skulduggery, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Never once, not even in my dreams, or even nightmares, did I think I would write about a bandstand. Or for that matter a bandstand put up on ebay for sale by Lib Dems. Here is the billing: [IMG: Bracknell Bandstand ebay] Now this bandstand has history. It's is fair to say that Bracknell is not the most vibrant or attractive of town centres. But the bandstand has long been ...
In this full-length video we cover the 'Six Stages of Artist Development'. These are the six stages that I see musicians go through in the course of their career. This video is intended as a high-level overview to help you assess where you are in your music career and what you should be focusing on. Join Gigs Academy to boost your live career. Get the Free Video Training for Musicians Video Highlights: 00:15 – Musician Overwhelm 00:50 – Pareto Principle 01:21 – The Six Stages of Artist Development 01:49 – The Explore Stage 03:38 – Validating your music 04:00 – ...
On Metro's TV blog, the people behind the Sherlockology FB page have a go at answering this REALLY IMPORTANT question. However, the frustrating answer seems to be: [A]t the moment, we simply have to say 'We don't know yet'. It's not ignorance though; it's genuinely because there is no date yet Though they do venture [...]
It begins with a tongue in cheek moan. Where's the caviar and red carpet? It ends with Nick Clegg recording a heartfelt tribute to LBC's 40 years of broadcasting. And in the process Nick asks the broadcaster for a forty year contract. * Newsmoggie - bringing you comment on the Lib Dems whether it's deserved or not
Hi I'm Tom Mellor. I am volunteering at John Leech MP's office for the next few months. Part of my training is to write a blog on something I feel [...]
The US must press Beijing on anti-competitive practices and espionage, but it also needs to get its own house in order The United States-China science and technology relationship is shaped by a central paradox. Reducing climate change, preventing pandemics, and developing new energy sources are all challenges that require global solutions. Moreover, the science that will be the foundation of any technological fixes is increasingly collaborative, spanning different disciplines, institutions, and geographical locations. At the same time, science and technology are an essential component of national economic competitiveness and military power. As a result, China and the US are collaborators ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Toynbee/Guardian row back on blaming Tories for Baby P death | Trending Central Toynbee/Gdn argue headlines need to be read in context of story http://bit.ly/1cDfrpX Where have I heard that defence before? The 29 Stages Of A Twitterstorm Glorious > The 29 Stages Of A Twitterstorm http://bit.ly/1edcVEY (h/t My Entire Timeline) Royal Mail: So is this the share float that could win the Tories the next election? – Comment – Voices – The Independent Sub-ed takes rise out of John Rentoul's #QTWTAIN > Is this the share float that cd win the ...
The 'Network Transformation Programme' for the Post Office is a complex issue and one that will likely increase in political prominence as the programme progresses. Available here for download, we have a full briefing on the Network Transformation Programme that will give local campaigners a comprehensive overview of the issue with all the facts and [...]
Have you ever thought that you could run local services better? Wanted to save a local shop that was facing closure? Or wanted to see a idea to improve your community put into action? With new community rights, you can do all of this and more. As a Lib Dem, I believe that local people know what's best for the area they live in. Previous Governments have centralised too much power, with people in Westminster offices making decisions about places they've never been to. In the Coalition agreement, the Tories agreed with Liberal Democrat plans to give people the power ...
Can't believe a staffer let him do this...
[IMG: Pickles Hot Air] Eric is clearly bored out of his mind. He's been raging around about parking, yellow lines, even about bin collections in Wales - but then he likes to bash the Welsh. In my mind, he is truly the minister of hot air and no substance. In recent months he has taken meddling in applications for really rather small gypsy and traveller sites. Now he has somewhat imperiously declared that he will call in planning appeals for small renewable energy projects for his own decision (£). When he first came to office, Pickles said he would only ...
I wasn't too impressed by the timing of Sarah Teather's announcement — on the eve of the party's conference — that she wouldn't be standing as a Lib Dem at the next election. But I was impressed by her performance on Channel 4 News last night. Invited on to talk about immigration in her first television interview since that news broke, Matt Frei decided instead to search for cheap and easy headlines — does she think Nick Clegg's a sell-out, is she in touch with Lord Rennard? etc — to her evident frustration. She deals with it well, though as ...
This autumn's 'See Me' campaign was launched at Asda Supermarket in Hazel Grove on Monday 7th October with road safety officers handing out reflective shopping bags and also giving advice to older road users, reminding them: To wear bright or fluorescent clothing to make sure that they are seen during the day, especially in dull or misty weather – but remember that fluorescent clothes won't show up after dark. To wear reflective clothing, which will show up in car headlights at night. Plan the routes that they take to include safer crossing places. The campaign also focuses on how roads ...
Parents, carers and guardians are encouraged to attend an event about the options available for young people when they leave school or college. The Stockport Council event takes place at Stockport Town Hall on Tuesday 15th October from 4.30pm – 9.00pm for parents of young people in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13. Young people are also welcome to attend. The event gives people the chance to meet local colleges and 6th forms, training providers, higher education institutions within 90 minutes travelling distance from Stockport, volunteering agencies, the National Apprenticeship Service, staff from the Council's Services for Young People team, ...
[IMG: Julie Porksen] Julie Pörksen will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Berwick constituency at the 2015 general election. An agricultural economist, Julie grew up in Belsay, Northumberland. She was selected yesterday evening. Julie stood as a candidate in the Northumberland County Council elections last May, slashing the Tory majority in Amble West with Warkworth to one vote. Sir Alan Beith is standing down at the next election after 40 years as Berwick's MP. Sir Alan said: I am delighted that local campaigner Julie Pörksen has been chosen. She has the qualities and commitment to be a real fighter ...
[IMG: Norman Baker] The Independent today carries an interview with the new Lib Dem Home Office minister, Norman Baker. You know, that minister of conspiracy theories according to some media wags. In his interview, Baker comes across as eminently sensible and defiantly Liberal. He is poised to reign in Teresa May's excesses and tells the newspaper that has been told by Nick Clegg to range across all policy areas to "make sure there is a liberal voice clearly heard in the Home Office." Baker claims that the Home Office has been raising the profile of its anti-immigrant rhetoric to disguise ...
As I have said before in this column, my job is to be there to help local people when they need me. Last week, Didsbury's Russ Clifton got some good [...]
[IMG: Samuel Plimsoll] The Samuel Plimsoll Exhibition at Folkestone Town Hall, 1-2 Guildhall St, is open 10am-4pm on weekdays until 25th October, and on this coming Saturday, 12th October. Sample comments from the 'Ship's Log' (comments book) at the exhibition: "Very enlightening. Shame on us - we didn't know he was a Folkestone resident" "fantastic and very much appreciated by all" "splendidly informative" "brilliant presentation" "excellent exhibition" "I'm a new enthusiast" "fantastic commemoration of this very important national campaigner. Long may his name and work last." Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted (hosted) ...
This piece from Robin Lustig, called 'When secrets mustn't be kept secret' is quite the best thing I have read on civil liberties, the NSA and the whole Snowden affair - well probably anywhere. It is a response to the speech by Sir Andrew Parker, Director General of MI5 to the United Services Institute earlier this week. I commend it to you wholeheartedly. Here are a few highlights but do go to Robins site and read the whole thing. It's absolutely worth it. "At the centre of the mass of material that has emerged is not the allegation that the ...
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has won the 2013 Nobel peace prize. The Hague-based global chemical weapons watchdog, supported by the United Nations, is currently aiming to help destroy Syria's chemical weapons capacity by the beginning of November.
A 2003 article in Harvard Magazine on the life of the Archeaologist Mark Lehner notes that: Rooted firmly in the popular imagination is the idea that the pyramids were built by slaves serving a merciless pharaoh. This notion of a vast slave class in Egypt originated in Judeo-Christian tradition and has been popularized by Hollywood [...]
posted The Blood is The Life 10-10-2013 http://t.co/MzLhEveuKr on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) Chilli, cheese n onion looking awesome this morning. http://t.co/xftcAgaF2m and @miss_s_b if you haven't tried it, you really should! (tags: (from twitter) ) I Has a Sweet Potato If you're not a dog owner and have ever wondered what it's like... (tags: ) The real boy crisis: 5 ways America tells boys not to be "girly" - Salon.com (tags: ) http://ikeaordeath.com/ This "Name of Death Metal band or Name of Ikea Furniture piece?" quiz is bloody hard: http://t.co/wSk1fZDjyF (tags: (from twitter) ) http://ldv.org.uk/36623 ...
Fri 11th
09:55
The 17th Tory policy Lib Dems have blocked: Clegg rejects Theresa May's plans to impose new immigrat...
Perhaps the silliest proposal in a generally thread-bare Queen's Speech in May was the Conservatives' plan to 'look busy' on immigration. Yes, the party that claims to want to cut back red-tape for small businesses decided to try and tie-up private landlords in it by imposing a legal duty on them check the immigration status of new tenants and lodgers. It's an, erm, interesting approach to regulation, I guess: out-sourcing it to people who'll have no way of validating the information they're given. However, the Tories' grand plans have been scuppered thanks to the Lib Dems, as The Guardian reports ...
"What's sad, baffling and dangerous is that the attacks now come not only from governments but from other newspapers too. We need newspapers willing to do their job, rather than those ready to cheer on the self-interested deceptions of the powerful." So says the editor of El Pais in defence of the Guardian this morning, after its mauling by the Daily Mail yesterday. Nick Clegg also says that: "There is a totally legitimate debate about the power of these technologies." Quite right. But where are the other voices from the UK defending the right of the press to ask difficult ...
It appears Norman Baker's arrival at the Home Office in the latest reshuffle has come just in time, given the latest policy to arrive on the public's doormat. Notably, they got this one out before he had a chance to get his feet under the desk, and in the gap just after Jeremy Browne left. I doubt that's a coincidence. The policy is one called "Sexual Risk Orders" and I'll give you the government's own line on what they involve... (Emphasis mine) Sexual Risk Orders can be applied to any individual who poses a risk of sexual harm in the ...
Unlike yesterday, this is rather good: [IMG: Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister] British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is to start conversations in government about how to update the legal oversight of the UK's security services in the light of disclosures by the Guardian that powerful new technologies appear to have outstripped the current system of legislative and political oversight. Clegg's aides said he would be calling in experts from inside and outside Whitehall to discuss the implications of the new surveillance technologies for public accountability and trust. It is the first time such a senior figure in government has ...
In politics one dare not assume anything. The worst thing that you can do is to think that because you have won over a particular issue then it is dead and buried. There will always be somebody trying to ressurrect it. Thus, the comprehensive victory by the Liberal Democrats within the coalition government to kill off the notion of extending regional pay in the public sector is being challenged, this time by a think tank called Policy Exchange who, according to the Western Mail want to re-open the debate. They have said that workers in the UK public sector earn ...
[IMG: Young Carer] For far too long, the needs of hundreds of thousands of young carers who do incredible things to look after and support members of their family have been overlooked. They pay a big price with their school work, their social lives, and very often their own health. The role of carers at any age is still not valued or recognised anywhere near enough. This is despite the strides Lib Dems in government have made recognising carers needs and, for the first time, establishing the right in legislation to have these needs assessed. But, as the Care Bill ...
The Anchorpoint newsletter and funding bulletin for October 2013 are out, giving help to community groups, charities, clubs and others around Stockport.
Over the years the centre of Herne Hill has been flooded every few decades – 60′s, 2004 are mentioned by some residents. Herne Hill sites at the bottom of Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, Red Post hill. Even Burbage road slopes down to Herne Hill. The completely buried River Effra flows under Herne Hill on its way to the River Thames. A scheme has been talked about for some time since the last weather related major flooding in 2004. But talk has accelerated since the UK's interpretation of EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). This means local councils have to compelte Preliminary Flood ...
[IMG: HWY (1969)] Based on rough averages, one person is killed each day as a result of a road accident caused by a young driver. I wholeheardtedly agree with the proposals from the Transport Research Laboratory. The government should implement the proposals, which will save lives, and spend less time concerned with hoarding our emails. Passing a driving test and getting a licence is a rite of passage for many teenagers. But they may have to wait an extra year if the government implements changes being proposed. A report commissioned by the government recommends that probationary licences are in future ...
Further to my previous article about the need to review Harris Academy bus provision, yesterday there was clarification on the situation by Dundee City Council transportation team as follows: "I am sure you will be pleased to hear that the additional bus on the route of the 12S is to continue after the October break. The bus will remain in place until any future review of passenger loadings indicates that it is no longer required. Operationally, I can advise that the duplicate 12S bus will commence from the bus stop known as 'Perth Road near West Park Road'. This will ...
Statistics released yesterday reveal that over 13,000 people have been waiting over 36 weeks until the start of their treatment. These figures are a national disgrace. Why must patients in Wales have to put up with such an inferior service when compared to the rest of the UK? Years of Welsh Labour incompetence has led to thousands of people having to wait an awful long time until the start of their treatment. No one should have to wait this long, but it's particularly dreadful to think of the large amount of elderly people are being forced to wait months on ...
