I just remembered. And it wasn't half bad, well I think anyway. I am going to start blogging again, which will come as an enormous relief to no-one. As I am currently in the US it will probably mostly be about Washington-type things, but who knows where the fancy will take me. I feel a few posts about Northern Ireland coming down the line. Until then...?
Each year the nation expresses its unequivocal support for The Royal British Legion's work through the Poppy Appeal, and each year the question arises, "How do you wear your Poppy?" The Royal British Legion, whose appeal it is that sells the Poppy (at least in the United Kingdom and Ireland), has produced a handy video...
The Western Mail reports on new figures that identify the most dangerous roads in Wales. They say that figures published by the Road Safety Foundation show the A roads where drivers are most at risk of death or serious injury: The group measured the number of collisions in 2009-2011 against the number of journeys made on the road. It listed the six most dangerous roads in the country, including the A44 from Llangurig to Aberystwyth, which came fourth in a list of the highest risk roads in the whole of Britain. The report also revealed that danger roads in Wales ...
Con seat. Death. Prospective Candidate: Tony Millson. Returning Officer: Horsham
From BBC News: A former mayor has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a series of explosions in Denbigh which a neighbour described as sounding like a "battlefield". John Larsen, 46, got a "thrill" from his actions, which had the potential to kill, Caernarfon Crown Court was told. The explosions happened in the Lenten Pool area from January to April. In the most serious incident, he blew up a Land Rover, showered ball-bearings and shrapnel over a large area.Eighteen years sounds a bit steep, but this case must put into question the continued production of the Bonkers Patent ...
Tonight, I attended the October meeting of Harris Academy Parent Council. In addition to a detailed discussion about school transport, there were useful Head Teacher's and School Captains' reports. The transport issue and progress with the Harris Academy rebuilding project will be further discussed at the school Project Board next week.
The county council will not be proceeding with proposals partially to block up the top end of Avenue Road. The revised Safer Routes to Schools plans are laid out here: ITP13055- Safer Routes to School- Maple School
Stephen Williams MP Commenting, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Stephen Williams said: "Labour have spent the last three years aggressively attacking the Coalition for raising VAT. Now they admit they won't reduce it. This is rank hypocrisy from a party that has no answers to the big questions of the day - how to fix the economy, create jobs and help people with the cost of living. "Liberal Democrats have taken tough decisions in the national interest in order to clean up Labour's mess, and Labour has called us every name under the sun for doing so. They have been utterly ...
This morning, along with the council's Housing Officer for the area, a representative from the Environment Department and one of my ward colleagues, I took part in a walkabout around the Logie Estate to look at local issues, similar to the walkabout we had on Tuesday around Blackness. We looked at a number of issues - the estate's lock ups, slippy leaves (see below), fencing and hedging, to name a few - and action will be taken to address all issues noted.
One assumption behind Nick Clegg's speech on education today - and behind Liberal Democrat policy - is that qualified teachers are better than unqualified ones. But is this true? From BBC News: On the issue of teacher qualifications, the head teacher of independent school Brighton College, Richard Cairns, said he believed that "teachers are born not made". "At Brighton College, this year's Sunday Times Independent School of the Year, we have 39 teachers without formal teaching qualifications, including me." He continued: "Once teachers are in the school, they have a reduced teaching timetable to allow them to spend time observing ...
Firefighters are asking residents to stay safe with fireworks and bonfires this year as Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) prepares to see an increase in 999 calls during the season. Bonfire night is always one of the busiest periods of the year for firefighters, who will regularly be called to out of control bonfires and blazes started by fireworks that have set light to hedges, outbuildings and even homes. CFRS is asking residents for their help to make sure this bonfire night fire engine sirens do not drown out the sound of fireworks. Last year (2012), during the bonfire ...
The company in charge of a raceway in Caxton when a teenager died during an out-of-hours go-karting accident in 2009 has been successfully prosecuted for health and safety breaches. Peterborough Raceway Limited pleaded guilty to a breach of section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Peterborough Crown Court today (24 October). The Manager of the track at the time, Paul Shinn, also pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 3(1)(b) Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Suzanne Cornwell was fatally injured when her scarf got caught in the axle of her kart ...
Cheadle Village Partnership met on 24th October with a busy agenda. Reverend Rob Munro was chosen unanimously as the new Chair of the village partnership – we welcome him to the role: we're sure he'll do an excellent job. Dorbierre, the owners of the George and Dragon, have said that they have a buyer and are optimistic of the sale going through in the next month. If that should fall through, the Council will be pressing them to improve the look of the building. The Police reported that an illegal off-road motorbike had been seized in the Oak Road area ...
Another press release lands in my in-box from the European Parliament's LGBT Intergroup. This one's on tackling hate speech. It mentions homophobia and transphobia... This is far from the only time they've left that yawning gap. The LGBT Intergroup defines itself as "LGBT" and yet so very often I find it only talks about homophobia and transphobia. If the "B" is meant to be in there, why doesn't the Intergroup also talk about biphobia? Sometimes things are specific to homophobia or transphobia or both, specific to lesbians and gay men, specific to trans people. I don't expect B to be ...
Last week not only saw the Lib Dems standing in more contests than UKIP, the party won its difficult contest against Labour in Luton and gained a second seat from the Tories in Dalston ward Carlisle. This week there's another bumper crop of ten by-elections. The Lib Dems are contesting nine of them (again one more than UKIP) including an interesting defence at North Walsham East where UKIP have been on the rise - coming second earlier this year. The Dunfermline South contest will no doubt be overshadowed by the result in by Scottish parliamentary by-election - but it is ...
The best analogy of the deal that was reached over the Grangemouth plants future this morning comes from the world of poker. Ineos possibly sick of the infighting and continuous threat of strikes from the Unite Union yesterday announced they were shutting down the petrochemical part of the plant and considering the future of refinery. It was the equivalent of putting all your chips unto the table and being prepared to lose everything. Unite had rejected the 'last chance survival' plan offered by Ineos, but this morning with 800 jobs apparently already gone and 570 others threatened they capitulated. Accepted ...
Thu 24th
16:46
Tristram Hunt rules himself out of ever being a minister in a coalition or minority government
New Shadow Schools Secretary Tristram Hunt has been sounding off today on LabourList. Ostensibly it is an attack on Nick Clegg and his record on education policy. But specifically it is attacking the entire idea of compromising in government: It begins: "The doctrine of collective responsibility is not some old musty constitutional suit of armour. It is much more concerned with common sense, good faith and comradeship amongst those who must act together in Parliament if they are to give effective leadership... No alternative substitute for that good faith exists".So said Michael Foot, who knew a thing or two about ...
Thu 24th
16:45
Nick (finally) makes his education speech and launches the Coalition's own 'Champions League'
Five days after it was pre-briefed, Nick Clegg finally made his speech on A Liberal Vision for Education at Morpeth School in Tower Hamlets. (Morpeth is, by the way, a fantastic school. I visited it for my day-job 18 months ago, and was shown around by two of its pupils, Vanessa and Mahir: the transformational progress of London schools in the past decade is one of the modern wonders of Britain.) There was little in the speech we didn't already know. In fact, there was little that wasn't known last March when Clegg's "surprise U-turn on free schools" (© all ...
The Liberal Democrats have worked hard in the Coalition to create a Bill which tackles the problems of our immigration system, but does not unfairly discriminate against legitimate migrants. We believe the Bill is tough on illegal immigration but protects an individual's fundamental rights. The Liberal Democrats are concerned about the historic mismanagement of the immigration system, and the successive failures of Labour governments to control legal and illegal migration. This Bill goes some way to addressing these failures but the Liberal Democrats want to see further action - our border systems need to be improved as a priority. The ...
Haringey has a total of 19 Green Flag awards for its parks – Priory Park and Russell Park included. Under the criteria, Green Flag parks are judged to be welcoming, safe and well managed, with active community involvement. It also means that they should be some of the best parks in the country. But – I continue to hear reports of excess rubbish, broken glass, dog mess and damaged or missing equipment in the children's play areas in these parks. This is not my idea of a welcoming or well managed environment! I have been pressing Labour-run Haringey Council for ...
Thu 24th
13:52In Full: Nick Clegg's speech on education - enabling every child to achieve a happy and fulfilling l...
Nick Clegg finally gave his much trailed speech on education today. The full version is below. Stephen Tall will give some more detailed commentary later, but for now, here's a quick summary. There were six main themes Schools should be free from too much Whitehall micromanagement but must meet core standards Positioning Liberal Democrats in centre between Labour who want to interfere in everything and Tories who would be quite happy to have no core standards at all. Parents need reassurance about quality of curriculum, that teachers are qualified and that healthy food is provided whatever type of state funded ...
As a former member of the Transport Select Committee and road safety charity Brake's MP of the year I support today's Government announcements to cut the cost of motoring across the UK. In July 2012 [...]
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Russell Brand, unnecessary revolutionary - Telegraph Blogs A rather brilliant take-down by @TomChivers > Russell Brand, unnecessary revolutionary http://bit.ly/16v4Njg Nick Clegg's Alternative Speech "Nick Clegg's Alternative Speech" http://bit.ly/16v3sZN < Good stuff from Jonathan Simons @PXeducation, @Policy_Exchange Russell Brand on revolution: "We no longer have the luxury of tradition" Russell Brand is as good a spokesman as any for that confused minority group: non-voters http://bit.ly/HiQrXc Support for free schools fades as Clegg calls for tighter rules | The Times FAO @jameschappers "Clegg receives public backing for his moves to tighten regulation of free ...
The Australian website 9News walks away with our Headline of the Day Award, but the story concerns our own Southampton.
Today, I posted a parcel to my goddaughter. I'm happy to state to those who read this blog that it contained a few sweets and toy items for Halloween. Now, the last time I posted a domestic parcel, I was ... Continue reading →
The proposal to build 100 new homes on land to the north of Upper Chapel in Launceston was today rejected unanimously by Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee. My hope is that the applicants accept their defeat and don't press on with an appeal that affronts local wishes and local democracy. My huge thanks to all the councillors on the committee who voted against the plans in spite of an officer recommendation to approve. Particular thanks to Bernie Ellis and Andrew Long for proposing and seconding the rejection. Thanks also to the public speakers - Dave Gordon and Graham Facks-Martin from ...
A scheme to help people switch energy providers and save money is up and running on Merseyside. You can switch as an individual, or join a joint switch in which negotiations take place on behalf of the group. Apparently people who have never switched are most likely to benefit from this and most of us tend not to bother switching. The information is at this link.
Nick Clegg is muddled and confused on Education policy - and whilst there is some shimmering of liberal values under the surface - his latest speech remains blunt and ugly. One thing I've always been proud of is a Liberals ... Continue reading →
Lib Dem Voice has published an article praising Simon Hughes for lobbying to keep Florence Nightingale on the National Curriculum. Now Florence Nightingale is no doubt worthy of study - anyone who invented the pie chart can't be that bad after all - but I fail to see anything other than a ludicrous level of bureaucratic micro management in this case. No wonder government costs so much when you have teams of civil servants coming up with changes (on the whim of a minister), others consulting on them and others deciding to not to do anything. It would be far ...
Thu 24th
12:21Paul Burstow MP writes... Parity for mental health: learning lessons from across the pond
The last few weeks have seen the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of mental health. We had the very welcome announcement from Norman Lamb that the government is leading by example, with commitments from 13 departments to sign up to 'Time to Change'. That was the good news. The bad came in the form of the thoughtless and stigmatising portrayal of mental illness in Halloween customs sold by ASDA and Tesco, companies that should have known better. The ugly could be found on the front page of The Sun with its irresponsible scaremongering about violence and ...
Camden have rejected the application for a school to move into the ground floor premises of Alfred Court on Fortune Green Road. The full decision is available on the Camden website. Five reasons are given for refusal (although at the time of writing this they don't appear sequentially on the website). Four of the relate to the area of greatest concern for residents who have contacted us - transport to and from the site. More detail will follow - and as we know from the past - a refusal doesn't mean that the decision can't be appealed. But here are ...
I had to laugh when I read todays letter in the Liverpool Post from Councillor Tim Moore. Tim is attempting to say that the decision on bus lanes hasn't been rushed, is based on something, and has been communicated and consulted on. As evidence for this he mentions two meetings with bus operators, and the ability of the public to have their say and help scutinise through two meetings at the Council. He has got to be joking. The decision was announced ahead of any committee meeting and was prominent in the press on 19 September. The Transport commitee Tim ...
The question is not 'can we eradicate polio?', but 'can we do it sustainably?' We should not shy away from trying to answer it honestly with a new research agenda. Ohid Yaqub
Thu 24th
10:52Adrian Sanders MP writes...The Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare should be taken up on an inte...
[IMG: Benjamin Bunny] Last May the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) was granted General Consultative status at the United Nations. This is the only international animal welfare organisation with such status, and the decision represented a positive development for animal welfare on the global agenda. However, more needs to be done. By encouraging the support of international organisations, we can ensure that effective animal welfare strategies are not just kept to the west and within the European Union. Instead, bodies like the United Nations can help support animal welfare improvements in less well developed countries by providing ...
[IMG: never surrender] Never Surrender, Michael Dobbs This is the third of Michael Dobbs' series of Churchill novels that I've read (though it's the second chronologically). They are superbly gripping. The first, Winston's War, is the best because of the compelling psychodrama that plays out between Churchill and Neville Chamberlain, the latter fleshed out as a ruthless politician rather than the weak and credulous appeaser of folklore. Never Surrender, set against the backdrop of Dunkirk, relies on the fiery interplay between Winston and a German emigre, Ruth Mueller, who he wants to help him understand Hitler; but it doesn't ignite. ...
"WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, AND FOR THESE ENDS ...
posted The Blood is The Life 23-10-2013 http://t.co/Juf8S3XrU3 on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) The truest article ever written (via @JustinMcKeating) (tags: ) ugh. journalism. (tags: ) Gif has a hard G and it doesn't matter what they said in 1987 Yes, this. (tags: ) Don't trust VPNs? Create your own with a friend and a browser extension | Ars Technica Google-funded P2P tech creates secure path to 'Net through a friend's network. (tags: ) http://badreputation.org.uk/ @LouiseShawLD Oooooooo also http://t.co/FBNAfA4O99 (tags: (from twitter) ) http://nanila.dreamwidth.org/ @LouiseShawLD: a random selection: http://t.co/X8m47NWFFO http://t.co/c3YymPMtO8 http://t.co/9pTxezHQhM (tags: (from twitter) ) http://strangecharm.dreamwidth.org/ @LouiseShawLD: ...
There does seem to be something about the LGb(t) community and awards, doesn't there? Pink News have played a blinder by giving their "parliamentarian of the year" award to Baroness Stowell. Yes, that's the same Baroness Stowell that will cause hardened trans veterans of the same-sex marriage bill to wince when they hear her name, for it was her who gallantly defended the spousal veto as the bill passed through the House of Lords, shooting down every suggestion and compromise proposed on this and other trans-related topics. It perhaps should not be too surprising that many people, both trans folk ...
It's a grim day in Central Scotland as 800 people face losing their jobs at Grangemouth. It's impossible to overestimate the effect that Ineos's decision to close the petrochemical plant, which shares the site with Scotland's only refinery, will have on the Scottish economy. There are still some hopes that Ineos can be persuaded to reverse their decision, which was based on the Unite trade union's rejection of changes to terms and conditions of employment. A further meeting takes place this morning. Unite are reported to have offered major concessions. Logic would dictate that if they've been offered what they ...
This was the clear cry from the many wonderful and inspiring young people we met at the St. Francis school for the blind in Soroti, Uganda. Run with help from Britain through the International Inspiration programme, the school is dedicated to giving blind or partially sighted children the skills and opportunity they need to thrive. From cricket to braille reading, the wall in Sister Winifred the headmistress's office is decorated with an array of academic and sporting trophies. The school embodies the simple mantra that every child is different – and that they should adapt to each individual. Part of ...
So, after much delay, and many technical difficulties, BlackBerry have finally launched their BBM app on Android. Whenever I launch an app on Android, I'm immediately inundated with emails from companies promising me thousands of 5* reviews for only a few hundred dollars. I've never taken up their offer - it's unethical, probably illegal, and usually very obvious when a company has purchased their reviews. As noted by journalist Matt Baxter-Reynolds, something fishy is going on with BBM's reviews: [IMG: BBM Fake Reviews] Hundreds of nearly identical reviews. Is it a meme? A bizarre coincidence? Something more nefarious? If we ...
I am amazed how quickl the environs around East Dulwich station becomes so ... wel rubbish... [IMG: ED STATION MESS] What bothers me most is this litter comes mostly from East Dulwich residents and visitors. Why would anyone do this? If you spot someone dropping or throwing litter ask them to stop! I've contacted southern again about sorting it out. The platforms and paths are leased to Southern but the grassy vegetation areas are owned and controlled by Network Rail. Network Rail are rubbish with rubbish. Disaster of the litter falling on the wrong type of land to be cleared ...
You may have seen the embarrassing interview with Brand on yesterday's Newsnight. The New Statesman's decision to ask him to guest edit an issue reminds me of this column I wrote for its website in the magazine's glory years: I liked the Statesman in the 1970s. Under Anthony Howard's editorship, the back half was written by the hip young gunslingers of the day: Martin Amis, Christopher Hitchens and Julian Barnes. Those in the know called them "The Hitch". "Mart" and "Julian Barnes". Further forward it was all politics. They even printed the leading article on the front cover, which made ...
In Tuesday's Commons debate on the Immigration Bill, Robert Syms, the Conservative MP for Poole, said it was a very important subject: We do not have to knock on many doors before ordinary hard-working people who are trying to pay the bills and bring up their kids start to moan about the immigration system.We must praise Mr Syms for raising the bar several notches above mere "hard-working families".
Which politician (or combination of politicians) would the public most trust to run the British economy? That's the question YouGov asked, and here are results courtesy the PLMR blog: [IMG: economic trust] Overall David Cameron has the single best economic trust figure (35%) followed by Ed Miliband (30%). As you might expect this breaks broadly on party lines: 91% of Tory voters trust their party's leader; 76% of Labour's trust theirs. The current Coalition partnership – Cameron and Clegg – are trusted by 29%, with Tories less enthusiastic and Labour supporters overwhelmingly hostile. Intriguingly from a Lib Dem perspective, Vince ...
[IMG: image] Earlier this week, Stephen Gilbert MP threw a lifebelt to a woman floating past the House of Commons. It is worth remembering that Stephen is MP for one of only a few UK constituencies with two coasts and that he was born and brought up by the coast. Due to the omnipresence of water, Cornish children tend to learn to swim very early and get a lot of practice. Awareness of the danger of drowning comes early. In my home town, there's a river, a canal and the roaring, unpredictable Atlantic. So if you don't learn to swim ...
Georgina Voss and Alice Bell: The working cultures and structures of science and technology may be different, but they both feed sexist myths of meritocracy Georgina VossAlice Bell
[IMG: Άνγκελα Μέρκελ, Angela Merkel: Queen of Europe, by wikipedia User:א (Aleph)] Angela Merkel is the second most powerful person in the world, according to Forbes. Yesterday this second most powerful person in the world phoned the most powerful person in the world, Barack Obama, to ask him if he had been bugging her phone. Obama said he isn't and will not bug her phone, and is reviewing what phones were bugged in the past. In other words, the US have bugged Merkel's phone in the past. Well thank goodness for that. For months it has been obvious that the ...
After the usual tedious journey to Riga, I attended the kind of dinner that wealth managers inflict on their customers. I happen to have a long history with these particular wealth managers, so received an invitation- probably to make up the numbers, since we have not transacted any business. If I sound a little jaded, well, perhaps I am- the speaker was interesting in himself, but the topic- trying to institutionalize entrepreneurship- was not really what the first- really only- generation of Baltic millionaires is yet ready for. It was, of course a plug for the services that this particular ...
Con seat. Death.
Lab seat. Resignation.
Lab seat. Death. Prospective Candidate: John Skipworth Result in 2012: Lab 1216, The Community Action Party 798, Green 237, Con 234.
Lab seat. Death.
LD seat. Resignation. Returning Officer: North Norfolk DC
Con seat. Resignation.
Con seat. Resignation. Prospective Candidate: David Crichton Contact to help: Viviian Achwal 07954 133 386 info@meonvalleylibdems.org.uk
Lab seat. Resignation.
SNP seat. Death.
You can download a PDF version of this poster here.
Yesterday I permitted to ask an urgent question in the National Assembly to the Health Minister about the postponement of non-urgent surgery at the hospitals of mid and west Wales this winter. Hywel Dda Health Board said on Monday that certain orthopaedic surgery would be cancelled for a period of time while it dealt with winter pressures. If we take a step back from what has happened since Monday, what we see is the Welsh Labour Government essentially admitting that for four or five months during the year, 1 in 8 people in Wales will see reduced services in their ...
This is my first ever theatrical review. In fact I should be asleep now but I am too hyper after David Tennant's performance I just saw in Stratford. I was nervous before going, I adore Tennant but I was really struggling with the play. I found it rather difficult and dry. I tried to read [...]
vvank3rshim: holyhotpantsbatman: My therapist asked me to create something "motivating" so I made these. lol. I really love these, and I reblog them every single time. Some of you don't realize how easy it's to forget to do some of those stuff or how hard they can be some days.
Our plans have given 150,000 Royal Mail employees free shares so they can share in the future success of the company. This is the largest employee share scheme of any major privatisation for almost 30 years. The Post Office is not for sale. Unlike Labour, there will be no closure programme under this Government. We are providing funding of £1.34bn over four years to maintain a network of at least 11,500 branches across the UK.
[IMG: Blogging is fun] A paper by Inger Mewburn and Pat Thomson entitled Why do academics blog? An analysis of audiences, purposes and challenges has just appeared online. The paper caught my attention, and not simply because it quotes at length from a post I wrote back at the beginning of the year. I regularly reflect upon what I'm doing, or trying to do, when I'm blogging. It was interesting to see whether what I'm doing bears any resemblance to what others are doing. I guess an initial caveat would be – as outlined the post I referred to above ...
So much vitriol is thrown at Liberal Democrats in government by the opposition Labour Party that it was appropriate and helpful to have the LibDem Social Care Minister in the Department of Health, Norman Lamb, as guest speaker at Camden Liberal Democrats' fundraising reception this evening at the magnificently restored (deconsecrated) St Stephen's Church in [...]
