MP Julian Huppert has warned Education Secretary Michael Gove that Cambridgeshire schools cannot afford to wait up to three years for more money. He said a new school funding formula for schools must be a "core priority" for the government and action must be taken now. Julian is joining MPs from across the country in co-signing a letter to Mr Gove urging him to make changes to the formula during the term of this government and not wait until after the 2015 election. "The climate of financial constraint has been hard enough on schools and action on a national formula ...
Would you like to join a party whose; Members shape every aspect of our party. From choosing the Leader and President, to selecting candidates for every level of election, to deciding out policies at conference - it's our members who are in controlOur members take part in a conversation about policy and party policy is decided democratically. We're the only major party in the UK that lets members have this kind of say over policyMost importantly, being a member of the Lib Dems lets people make a real difference to their communities and the countryOur members are kept informed with ...
MP Julian Huppert has called on Business Secretary, Vince Cable to look into the Competition Commission's decision which could force the sale of Cambridge's Arts Picturehouse. And he also wants Dr Cable to investigate why the Commission acted to end the alleged Cineworld 'monopoly' in the city but failed to act against the local monopoly of Tesco or Stagecoach. Julian accepted that Dr Cable would not be able to overrule the Commission but told him that anything he could do would be appreciated. The two met after Julian launched a petition and attended a demo against the threatened closure of ...
Bar Hill Parish Council's response to the A14 consultation has been submitted to the Highways Agency. It's available here (via Google Drive) and copied below for your information. Dear SirsResponse by Bar Hill Parish Council to the A14 Proposals Following on from the Exhibition that was held in Bar Hill a couple of weeks ago and having now had responses back from visitors, mainly residents of Bar Hilll to that exhibition the Parish Council would like to comment as follows:-We welcome any improvements to the A14 if this will indeed relieve the current congestion on the road. We are however ...
Part 1 and part 2 have already been on this blog.
Camden have come up with a proposal to help solve the problem of the shortage of primary school places locally which involves providing a new school on an area called Liddell Road. Many people in Fortune Green will not have heard of it as it is an industrial estate just off Maygrove/Iverson Roads backing onto the railway line and the Sidings Peace Park. It has been considered as a potential site for a future new school for some time (back when the Council was run by the LibDem/Conservatives) but since then the landscape has changed. Under the present Government, the ...
Stare at the dot to see a black and white photo in full colour. Thanks to @RichardWiseman on Twitter.
A professor leaves Oxford to take up a job at Cambridge and raises the average intelligence of the staff at both institutions. This seems like a paradox but actually makes perfect sense. Anyone foolish enough to leave Oxford for Cambridge is no loss to the superior university. However, Cambridge would doubtless benefit from a staff [...]
I've blogged before about the Council's plan to suspend all the bus lanes in Liverpool. It starts on Monday and you may see people out and about this weekend removing signs or covering up lines. The Mayor says this is to deal with congestion. He claimed there was lots of evidence of lanes causing problems. He seems to have back pedalled a bit now and is saying that this is in fact a trial with people having the next six months to send their views in. The Council website does not, as yet, have a link for people to do ...
I have in my hand a piece of paper. Well, two pieces of paper and a booklet of manifestos. They arrived in a brown envelope, and are much more pleasing than the normal types of things that arrive in brown envelopes :) Yes, it's the time of the year for LGBT+ LD elections, and they're even more exciting than normal this year because we're not just electing the exec, but the chair too. So I have 16 pages of manicfestos to read and then I get to choose who to vote for. I'm not going to tell you who I'm ...
The Labour Party have just sent out an email attacking British Gas' price hike, and have taken a rather novel approach. First they did this: Then this: This stole the show though: The Buzzfeedification of news is complete!
I've been re-writing my family history website. It's currently hosted by my ISP, which means I'll lose it when I come back to the UK next year. Because of the hassle of re-creating it, I was thinking of letting it go, but in the meantime it has become a resource for a university lecturer, a [...]
Rubbish - its all round us and seems to be getting worse! Every day, there seems to be a new pile of litter by a lamp post or a tree or just by someone's garden wall. And that doesn't take into account the piles of stuff round the local recycling centres - the horror on Minster Road seems to be a semi-permanent feature of our landscape and from time to time the West End Green and Fortune Green road "Mini-centres" are not much better. What is it about this time of year that makes people throw out furniture? A sort ...
"It is entirely false to suggest the PM would advise people they should wear jumpers to stay warm. Any suggestion to the contrary is mischief making." Yep. If you are cold, don't wear a jumper!! For why did the PM's spokesperson feel the need to put out this statement? Well, earlier in the day the PM's spokesperson was asked by the Daily Mirror whether people should wear jumpers at home if they are cold. Said spokesperson answered "If people are giving that advice it is something they may wish to consider" To any normal person this would seem like a ...
[IMG: Olmsted Locks and Dam construction on Ohio River] Above – The Olmsted Locks and Dams project on the Ohio river, which was given $2.2billion of funding as part of the US Congressional debt deal passed this week. So much for a "clean bill". CNN points out five "bits of pork" secreted in the US emergency debt bill. (The total list was worth $986.3billion). The most astonishing is $2.2 billion of improvements for the Ohio river. The Guardian observes: A major political beneficiary is likely to be the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, who is facing a tough re-election battle ...
Amazon appears to have a new idea: So with e-books quickly becoming the norm, how can you still have the authors sign their books? Well, Kindlegraph from Amazon can be the answer, at least to some extent. At least you can get the author's signature, but you might have to settle for missing the excitement and [...]
Hamish McRae wrote an interesting article on income inequality and the recession in Monday's Evening Standard quoting a report from researchers at UBS. In it they stated that the loss of personal income due to the recession in the UK has affected all income groups pretty evenly - which contrasts with most of mainland Europe and the US where the fall in income for the richest 10% has been much less than for the poorest. I've finally tracked down the report on the web here and I've reproduced the table that compares income falls over the last five years by ...
It's going to be lively on West End Green in the run up to Christmas! Saturday 30th November the annual West Hampstead Christmas Market, 10am-4pm supported by the West Hampstead Business Association. Stalls will include local artists, crafts, festive food, jewelry and cards. Activities will include African drumming, carol singing, arts and crafts and dancing for families and children. Local shops involved include Kitchen Table, Achillea Flowers, Village Haberdashery and others as well as the Mill Lane Garden centre who will be selling Xmas trees! A week later there is a new event: 6, 7, 8th December Cabbages & Frocks ...
An application has been submitted for five flats, a shop and office on the site of the ramshackle warehouse at 8 Tower St, Launceston. This site has previously been the subject of an application for six flats - which was turned down. The applicant then appealed and that appeal was refused. More recently, pre-application planning advice was sought for a scheme featuring seven flats on the same site and the advice given was that this would probably not be allowed. So what do you think of this scheme? It will include a shop on the ground floor at the front ...
Here's my latest Muswell Flyer column, also available here: http://beckybeach.net/?p=8145 My early years were spent at Highgate Primary - one of the many great schools in Haringey borough. And the schools here are getting better and better, with particularly impressive exam results achieved this year by our bright students. It's so important that young people are given an excellent education, and have an equal opportunity to succeed regardless of their background or situation at home. But I'm also aware that some students, through no fault of their own, are still finding it harder than others to achieve the results. That's ...
After two days of panels, tests and interviews, Andrew Kerr has been recommended as the new Chief Executive of Cornwall Council. Andrew is currently Chief Operating Officer at Cardiff Council and was previously Chief Executive at Wiltshire and North Tyneside Councils. I was one of the nine members of the interview panel and am delighted to be able to appoint Andrew. He was one of a very strong set of candidates and I'm confident will do a really good job with Cornwall Council. Andrew must be formally approved by the full council when it meets on Tuesday. Huge credit to ...
This month's crime statistics have shown that crime in almost all categories has continued to fall. In fact, the steady decrease in the crime rate during such a difficult economic time has been a surprisingly aspect of the recovery. Lib Dem HQ have prepared a template press release and detailed spreadsheet with crime statistics broken [...]
Fri 18th
15:51
My Today programme debut talking about Jo Swinson and saying we should all look out for each other.
At 8:20 this morning I made my first ever foray into the world of the Today programme, talking about something that should never really have been a story - the fuss over Jo Swinson's lack of a seat at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. If you look at who did most of the kicking up of fuss, the Daily Mail, then their track record on women is not the best, as I wrote on Liberal Democrat Voice last night. What was getting quite worrying is that Jo Swinson's views were not being properly represented. She does not think that offering ...
At long last Camden are almost ready to begin the full house-to house consultation on parking in our area -the full CAP Zone of Fortune Green and West Hampstead. But it is only the beginning of a quite lengthy process. Camden's officers have just held a preliminary meeting for local organisations and residents' associations, including local Councillors. This meeting was to explain the process and timetable and discuss the questions which should be asked in the questionnaire. These will be straightforward and, for example, include (for all three CA-P subzones)what should the start and end times be on weekdays, should ...
As part of the C'llr Awards, the LGiU offer a £10,000 bursary for councillors to deliver on a proposed local project of their choice. The project will be evaluated on the basis of its potential to 'promote the case for localism and government at a local level' and the winner will be awarded up to [...]
There was a protest today where students came as part of a "day of action" about student finance. The first point I would make is that although this occupation was better behaved than the previous occupation it still disrupted the business of my office. The business of my office involves solving problems for constituents. Hence it is not fair to my constituents. There are limits to protest.
Many of you who are councillors will know that yesterday was the first day of the annual National Children and Adult Services conference has been taking place these last three days. When I attended last year, I had only been in my role as Care Minister for a few weeks. Preparing for my speech this year, I was reflecting on quite how much we have achieved over the past twelve months. In the past year, we have made significant progress in delivering some of the recommendations made by Andrew Dilnot on financing social care. We have launched the first NHS ...
[IMG: Jo Swinson Glasgow] The government has been introducing a lots of "rights to" of late. Communities have rights to bid and to build. Individual have rights to buy and to personal budgets. After the last 48 hours of media coverage, it may be that we need to bring in a "right to stand." The story runs like this. Jo Swinson arrives for Prime Ministers Questions at a point when the house is already crammed out. She stands for a while and she's happy with that. The political editor of the Spectator, James Forsyth however was horrified and tweeted. Quite ...
[IMG: lichen - ramalina siliquosa] Biodiversity offsetting? It sounds as interesting as a ministerial reshuffle. But a reshuffle is here today, gone tomorrow. The government's proposal to allow developers to build over wildlife spots providing they 'recreate' them elsewhere is more than a minor change within the incomprehensible thicket of environmental rules. Biodiversity offsetting could threaten our fragile biodiverse landscapes. Owen Paterson told the Independent: For the developer there are massive advantages. You'd have certainty, you'd have clarity, and you'd have speed and a massive reduction of cost. But you'd also leave the environment in a better place than you ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Does Jo Swinson hate women? - Telegraph Blogs /@CristinaOhq with a classic piece of #trollemic > Does Jo Swinson hate women? http://bit.ly/H541hZ Nick Clegg's position on benefits for wealthy pensioners is confused and needs clarifying Yep: "Nick Clegg's position on benefits for wealthy pensioners is confused and needs clarifying" http://bit.ly/H53Q6c Cut in public loos is to blame for Lib Dem leaving party – Portsmouth News Flushed out? Down the pan? Headline writer's wet dream > "Cut in public loos is blame for LibDem leaving party" http://bit.ly/H513K8 Don't call me a Tory, says ...
Fri 18th
12:34
A Minister for Youth Affairs is needed to stop young people being driven out of rural life
[IMG: Jane Dodds Bridge] In our part of the world, rural Powys, driving is often the only practical way to get around, especially for young people. The proposals this week to improve young driver safety could have a severe impact on the job prospects and lifestyles of young people in rural areas like ours. Montgomeryshire in mid-Wales is the least densely populated county in England and Wales; 59.3% of us live in isolated, rural hamlets and isolated dwellings. Getting access to health, education, housing and jobs is a challenge for anyone living in a rural community like this. Add on ...
Interesting answers from this polling for the Resolution Foundation (via the New Statesman): [IMG: Resolution polling]
The European Union's financial services commissioner Michel Barnier has warned of the UK's isolation on the issue of bankers' bonuses. It is true that, of all the aspects of Europe that annoys the Conservatives, it is this issue which has taken George Osborne to the European Court of Justice. But the real problem isn't really capping bonuses - though that may have been the most possible of all the political alternatives - but of paying bonuses at all. And not just bonuses to bankers, but bonuses to pubic service managers and everyone else. I say this partly because of my ...
[IMG: tsar 200] The government's growing use of tsars is not governed by the principles or rules that apply to other advice given to ministers. It is time for a code of practice. That could have shielded Nick Clegg from his mistakes over James Caan. Nick Clegg has enlisted two social mobility tsars. He appointed Alan Milburn as his Independent Reviewer on Social Mobility in 2010 and appointed him to the chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission in 2011. (Clegg welcomed the Commission's report yesterday.) Two years later, Clegg launched Opening Doors, which aimed to give more ...
The latest possibly-not-that-well-thought-out idea in the debate about protecting children online comes from the little-known QUANGO The Authority for Television On Demand, or ATVOD for short. As the catchy name suggests, ATVOD has a responsibility for regulating on-demand video programming in the UK, a large portion of which will be delivered by internet or internet-like connections. One of their regulations prohibits the hosting of many forms of pornography unless behind a paywall or similar to prevent access by under-18s1, i.e. no free samples. But it appears ATVOD have decided to exceed their remit of regulating UK content in the name ...
As neither pop nor cutesy classical are really my thing; Charlotte Church's career has not made much of an impression on me. While I noticed (and was impressed) by her appearances on HIGNFY and at the Leveson Inquiry – whose cast lists overlap rather strikingly – but generally I've found her pretty ignorable. Had Buzzfeed [...]
Three cheers to Michael Gee who gained Dalston in Carlisle from the Conservatives last night. The Lib Dems also held local council seats in the South Lakes and Luton. Congratulations to Annie Rawlinson and Clive Mead. GAIN in Carlisle [IMG: dalston] HOLD in South Lakes [IMG: levens] HOLD at Luton [IMG: luton]
[IMG: Fire Engine] There will be a second national firefighters strike on Saturday 19 October from 6.30pm to 11.30pm. Update Friday PM: the strike has been called off. This is a national dispute between the union and the Government over pension arrangements, Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) are not involved in those negotiations, but the strike will affect all fire and rescue services in England and Wales. KFRS will be locating working fire crews around the county to provide the best emergency cover possible. 999 calls will still be answered. However they will not be operating at their normal ...
Fri 18th
10:15Nick Clegg's position on benefits for wealthy pensioners is confused and needs clarifying
[IMG: Poverty Lane] In its first annual report, the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission has proposed cuts in welfare for well-off pensioners, including currently universal benefits such as the winter fuel allowance, free bus pass and free TV license, proposing the money should be used to help children in poor families. Proposing a fundamental shift in welfare support from pensioners to the young the report says: We do not believe that favouring pensioners over their children and grandchildren will be a sustainable position over the long term if a meaningful dent is to be made in the UK's high ...
posted The Blood is The Life 17-10-2013 http://t.co/l2VtsRFqJB on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) BBC News - ID cards inevitable, says ex-minister Lord West Papers please! Zombie legislation refuses to die... (tags: ) Disney Princesses Wearing Pop-Culture Halloween Costumes | The Mary Sue Mulan/Xena is STUNNING (tags: ) This is the best post on rape culture I have ever seen. It is very very very triggery, mind. (tags: ) Bright poor 'held back for decades' If you're poor, you're fucked, basically, aside from the odd one or two. And yet we continue to make things worse for them... ...
Fri 18th
09:55
'Does it scale?' is the question that explains which political campaign technologies take-off
[IMG: A public meeting. Photo courtesy of Lynne Featherstone http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnefeatherstone/4408258591/] Here's a guest post I penned for the Democratic Audit UK blog earlier this week: Imagine you wake up tomorrow morning and find yourself a candidate for the next general election in Britain. (I will let you pick whether this is a dream or a nightmare opportunity.) Your constituency will typically have around 70,000 voters. What happens if you want to talk to each voter? Let's leave aside issues such as whether or not they want to talk to you, whether or not you can find them or how long ...
[IMG: Clegg and Browne] In today's Times, Jeremy Browne reveals that he has been approached by senior Tories, including Grant Shapps, who "he suspects were seeking his defection" (£). He describes his sacking from the Home office as disorienting, puzzling and painful. He says that he received a black mark over the Go Home poster van row. The Telegraph's Benedict Brogan, however, has tipped Browne for defecting and joining a future Tory cabinet. Talking to the Times, Browne signals his dismay with Clegg's effort to distance the Lib Dems from the Tories. He urges the party to take credit for ...
Not much progress with the pond in the last few weeks, as the autumn winds and rains have arrived, interspersed with the odd bright day. The leaves are changing and falling as the season progresses. The grapes are too small to harvest yet, not sure whether there will be enough time in the season for them this year. The hanging baskets have been revamped for winter as I couldn't resist the brightly smiling faces of the rows and rows of pansies, heart's ease and violas at the garden centre. I've picked a pale blue and white viola for our shady, ...
There cannot be much happening in Westminster if this story about Liberal Democrats Minister, Jo Swinson is all the media can report on. The key points are surely that (a) being pregnant is not a disability: (b) Jo Swinson was not looking for a seat in the first place. If she had been then she would have asked; and (c) I don't believe it is sexist to offer a seat to a pregnant woman if it looks like she needs one, it is good manners. Personally, I will hold open a door for anybody irrespective of age or sex, and ...
[IMG: House of Commons at Night] Yesterday, I outlined why Labour's energy policies would be bad for consumers, bad for tackling climate change and risk the lights going out. However misguided Ed Miliband's energy policies are there is no doubt that he was seeking to respond to the fact that many consumers are feeling the pinch through rising energy bills. The recent price increases by SSE and British Gas will hit consumers hard and I am afraid there will be more to come. So what is our response? By the end of this Parliament we will have put £700 a ...
News of plans to remake The Clangers reminds me of a time, nearly 30 years ago, when I was working at Golden Wonder in Market Harborough. The company was part of the same group (Imperial Foods) as HP Foods and Symington's, who made, amongst other things, packet soups. The staff shop for all three firms was housed at Symington's, and the woman who ran it was rather fierce. So if at Golden Wonder we were going over to the staff shop at lunchtime we used to say: "I'm going to see the soup dragon."
Regular readers will recall one of the changes we've worked on for some time to improve the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction: re-organising the northbound lanes on Kingsway. As with all the improvements to Kingsway, this is a small change – it should reduce queues for people coming from the south and from Cheadle Royal, but it's not going to suddenly fix all the problems! If you come from Cheadle Royal towards Manchester, the inside lane is for Gatley, South Park Road Estate, M60 West and M60 East. The other two lanes are for Manchester. That leads to two problems. First, the ...
Today's Western Mail reports features an interview with Wales' First Minister, Carwyn Jones in which he concedes that the number of councils will have to be cut, a day after the toughest settlement handed down to authorities since devolution. In an interview with WalesOnline after the Welsh Government revealed the provisional settlement for next year, Mr Jones said "almost nobody" still believed a 22-council structure should be maintained, and said the number of councils currently operating in Wales wouldn't be set up now "with a blank sheet". Former NHS chief Sir Paul Williams is leading a review into the future ...
Northumberland County Council have announced changes to some bin collections in South East Northumberland I am not sure exactly which areas are affected , but householders should have been notified by NCC in September Full details are at:- and there is a downloadable .pdf file Garden waste collections are unaffected. I don't know if it's because my collection arrangements are unaffected, but I find the distinct lack of publicity, when about half of the houses in SE Northumberland are affected, very strange. As I was told yesterday "If a Lib Dem council had brought in such wholesale changes without ...
As if it isn't difficult enough making headway in financial markets against the uneven playing field that had been created by Tory and Labor financial nomenklatura favouring the US team in UK financial markets, now we effectively have the US team fining the competition (most notably in the selective pursuit of the Libor-rigging scandal) so they are hampered in sending any players onto the field, even if they had the wherewithal to do so. The issue here is not two specific cases (Libor-rigging & the London Whale) but a chain of events which has culminated in these two specific events. ...
Across the month of October Wasps Open Studios are opening their studio doors and inviting the public into their spaces to see the tools of a working artistic trade. Wasps Open Studios 2013 gives you a rare opportunity to see inside an artists studio space and talk to them directly about what inspires them. Meadow Mill Studios will be open to the public on the 19th and 20th October, 12noon - 5pm both days as part of Wasps Open Studios 2013. Alongside artists' open studios, we will be hosting the following activities in the project spaces: Saturday 19th:12 noon - ...
From Sheena Wellington: Wighton Heritage Centre at the Central Library : Saturday 19th October at 11am. Helen Forbes (tin whistle), with Lou Lewis (guitar). Tickets £5 (includes coffee, available from 10.30am). Scotland's finest whistle player presents reels, jigs, slow airs and a surprise or two, sensitively accompanied by Lou Lewis on guitar.
We do not believe Royal Mail shares were undervalued. As Vince Cable said in the run up to privatisation, what matters is where the price settles. He said: "You get an enormous amount of froth and speculation in the aftermath of a big IPO [initial public offering] of this kind. The bulk of the shares have gone to long-term institutional investors, stable investors, some overseas investors, but mainly British pension funds and insurance companies who are there for the long term. The objective of the exercise, which fits in with what we want for the Royal Mail, is to make ...
At 23:54 tonight the process of moving to four-year all-up elections in Southend came to a juddering holt as 26 councillors voted against the proposals. They were voting on whether their should be a full consultation regarding the matter, which would then lead to a special vote on the issue down the line. Had the proposal made it through this special vote then 2015 was the year when we'd see all-up elections. The debate did concentrate along party lines but the numbers show that a couple of Tories had to have gone against the motion. At the named vote I ...
