So Andrew Page has very kindly ranked me as the 11th most worthy LibDem to follow on Twitter. Thanks Andrew! I thoroughly endorse the list, as I follow all but one member of it. If you don't follow many LibDems, you could do a lot worse than to check it out.
Launceston town council (of which I am a member) is starting the process of deciding its budget for next year. This will affect council tax as the town council precept is added to local bills. The town council has been willing in the past to take on services from Cornwall Council. In some cases - public toilets for example - there has been a grant paid by Cornwall to cover the costs. This grant probably won't be available permanently, but by and large covers the extra costs for the time being. Other services, like grass cutting, are taken on as ...
1. Tim Farron (@timfarron). MP for Westmorland & Lonsdale. President of the Liberal Democrats. Blackburn Rovers supporter. One of the few MPs that recognises that twitter is for interacting with people, rather than making self-righteous pronouncements. All round nice guy. 2. Jim Hume (@jimhumeLibDem). MSP for South Scotland. Health and Housing Spokesman and Deputy Whip in Scottish parliament. 3. Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay). Co-editor of Lib Dem Voice. Also blogs at Caron's Musings. Queen of the Scottish blogosphere. Tweets about politics, Scotland, Dr Who, Formula 1 racing. 4. Stephen Glenn (@stephenpglenn). Northern Ireland born, lives in Scotland. Former parliamentary candidate. Blogs ...
Episode 83 of the House of Comments podcast "The Royal Charter of Doom" is out. Myself and Emma discuss the press Royal Charter, the living wage, energy prices and also whether we should be paying for MPs fuel bills on their second homes. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Other podcasting software e.g. for Android can be pointed here to subscribe. You can download the mp3 for the latest episode directly from here. Or you can listen to the embedded episode below here: listen to 'Episode 83 - The Royal Charter of Doom' on Audioboo Any feedback ...
Helensburgh is to host Scotland's first ever festive event exclusively for obnoxious people. The Helensburgh & Lomond Scottish Conservative & Unionist Association Christmas Dinner at the Commodore Hotel on 7th December has, as its principal attraction, the oratorical skills and the unreconstituted Thatcherism of Michael Forsyth. Fans of the unreasonable voice of Toryism - who famously argued that introducing the Poll Tax early to Scotland would demonstrate its benefits for the rest of the UK, and sensibly urged Mrs Thatcher not to resign - are being advised to book early for the dubious privilege of listening to his words of ...
Ever since I posted a video of Ian Nairn - a figure I had heard of but did not know a great deal about - I have been coming across references to him. In the Observer a few days ago Rowan Moore told us that Nairn's work is being rediscovered and his life remembered in a new book - Ian Nairn: Words in Place by Gillian Darley and David McKie. Moore wrote: Nairn defended the particularities of place, people's right to inhabit their localities as they wish, and the beauty and character in the spaces around us. He raged against ...
According to the BBC, former Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gillan, not known for being a government conformist herself, has been complaining about Nick Clegg to a panel of members of the House of Lords about the realities of coalition government. The report said: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been accused of springing policy announcements on cabinet colleagues without warning. Conservative former Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said such tactics were "difficult to deal with" and threatened the smooth running of government. She said any future coalition agreement should include a "no surprises" clause. She didn't give any specific ...
Earlier tonight, I attended the November meeting of Community Spirit - the community group for the "north" part of West End Ward, covering Tullideph, Pentland, Ancrum and the Cleghorn area. The meeting took place in the Mitchell Street Centre. There was a really interesting and informative presentation by Dave Morris of Dundee Foodbank. You can read more about the very valuable work of Dundee Foodbank here. We also had the opportunity to discuss a number of local issues.
The National Theatre has been doing cinema broadcasts of Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein for a couple of Halloweens now. This is the first year I went to see it and had the best, scariest Halloween treat for many years. It is rare that a play (or a movie, or an opera) has a profound [...]
One of my family's favourite sayings is that only person to enter the Houses of Parliament with honest intentions was Guy Fawkes. With the public perception of modern Politics this could be argued to be true. The big problem is that the public don't vote for people, they vote for parties. You could be the best candidate in the world but if you aren't in the right party you won't stand a chance. For example of Jesus was standing for the Liberal Democrats - (I know, I'm going to hell anyway...), Adolf Hitler was standing for the Conservative party and ...
Police have described Alan Evans as a 'manipulative character' after being found guilty of killing his wife.Things at West Mercia Police are worse than I thought - or could it be that no one at ITV Central understands grammar?
Jo Swinson today went along to Debenhams to welcome their size 16 mannequins which have been brought in to reflect the average women. It has been intensely annoying to hear these discussed across various media, including the BBC and the Independent, as "plus size" mannequins. If your view of what a woman should look like comes from airbrushed magazines and porn rather than opening your eyes and looking at the real women around you, then, yes, you might think that size 16 was plus, but you would be wrong. Women come in all shapes and sizes and girls should be ...
I'm going to let you into a secret - I love department stores. It's odd really, because I don't have enough money to shop in them and my family have never been big Department shoppers - but I can't resist. I found myself with a few hours to spare the other day whilst in Bath and did a bit of window shopping. Invariably, what this means is mooching around department stores, looking at what they have and thinking about where I could buy it cheaper. I first walked around Debenhams (probably my favourite at the moment, if I'm going to ...
The South African media has been speculating that Nick Clegg's strategy advisor, Ryan Coetzee, might be headed back to South Africa: Former DA spin doctor Ryan Coetzee is being proposed for a senior post in the Western Cape legislature. And if the DA rumour mill is anything to go by, Coetzee, a close ally of Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, could be heading back to the Mother City after next year's general elections. Ryan, himself, however says otherwise, telling me: It's wrong. I'm not going anywhere.
A 2011 report on a correlation between some statements taken from lad's mags and some statements made by rapists is rearing its ugly head once more on Twitter. And when I say report I mean this synopsis of it and this Jezebel article about it. As stated therein it shows men identify more with the statements made by rapists than with those from lad's mags when they were unaware of their origin. Yet this small piece of information seems to be overlooked or, I'm assuming, lose the lad's mags campaigners actually think lad's mags are worse than your actual rapist. ...
Today's news that 1775 jobs will be lost at BAE systems yards across the country and shipbuilding ended completely in Portsmouth has been met with concern by senior Liberal Democrats. Nobody ever wants to see major facilities being closed and so many people without work. It's no surprise that one yard was going to have to close once the work was done on the aircraft carriers, but foreknowledge doesn't make it any easier. First of all, Portsmouth Council leader Gerald Vernon Jackson told the BBC that this was the wrong decision at the wrong time and that the Government should ...
It's that time of year again. No, not Christmas (yet!) - I'm talking about flu season. It might not be the most attractive topic for an MP to address, but I believe it is incredibly important that people are made aware of the free vaccine available from the NHS. Almost everyone can benefit from the jab, and so it's well worth taking two minutes to sign up for it. Whilst flu is just an irritant for some people, it can have very serious consequences for the elderly, the young, and those with underlying medical conditions. In particular, the Department of ...
This afternoon, along with a number of other city councillors and other invited guests, I had the pleasure of attending the Maiden Voyage official launch event at the Wellgate Centre. Created by students at Dundee and Angus College studying NQ Advanced Enterprise in Business, this pop-up shop is an excellent initiative. As the students say, "As part of our studies we are open and run a pop up shop in the Wellgate Centre for a period of 6 weeks in the lead up to Christmas. "Our group of 14 students have been directly involved in all aspects of this project, ...
My latest piece in the New Statesman entitled 'Why the Lib Dems need to start drawing some red lines now' has drawn quite a bit of comment, all of it bad. Do pop over to see the comments or read the original below... While the phrase "we're all in this together" has become rather devalued in political circles of late, it's still very much in vogue in the Liberal Democrats. Over here, we're pretty much up to our necks in it together, and the spirit of party democracy still burns brightly.Thus the general election call to arms has taken place ...
Wed 6th
16:05
Things in this world I would rather embrace than Russell Brand: a non-exhaustive list (@LibDemVoice)
The corpse of Lady Thatcher (maysherestinpeace) Catholicism Anyone whose favourite Doctor is David Tennant Stuffed Jeremy Bentham A rabid she-wolf Tony Blair The guy who puked down my legs on Sunday evening. The Abominable Doctor Phibes The entirety of the Young Conservatives, circa 1986 Marxism (Context is for cowards, but you might want to look here on LDV) ETA: for those pointing out that of course I would LOVE to embrace the Abominable Doctor Phibes: well, yes (and his Missus). So he definitely belongs on the list :P [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Cow voting] He's not going to go away. After all, celebs rarely do, even after their stardom has faded. My instinct is to ignore him. But I've talked to young friends. And they tell me my instinct is wrong. They are saying to me that even if I can't embrace the anarchic politics of Russell Brand, I should at least try to understand why he is so in tune with the next generation of non-voters. This whole fuss started with Brand editing an edition of the New Statesman, then throwing Paxo into a state of complexity on Newsnight. Our ...
Today's Finance and Resources committee also gave its backing to the proposal to move the running track from Carn Brea to a site at Redruth School. This would secure the future of the track for many years to come in the Camborne/Redruth area. Both the Carn Brea leisure centre and running track are approaching the end of their life. With the current financial climate, it was doubtful that the council could have afforded to re-provide the facility from its own resources. But we have received two offers for the land and this would provide enough money to refurbish the leisure ...
Today's Cornwall Council Finance and Resources Committee gave its backing to the plan to build a bigger office in Bodmin and to allow BT Cornwall to fill the extra capacity. The scheme will save money for taxpayers, safeguard council bases in Liskeard and St Austell and bring new jobs to North Cornwall. Sadly, the Conservative representatives on the committee backed their colleague Scott Mann in opposing the plan. In effect, they gave their support to the most expensive option on the table which would bring no new jobs to the town. The new Liberal Democrat - Independent administration at County ...
An unusually quick Cheadle Area Committee on November 5th – all over in under 90 minutes (Area Committee meetings tend to last a lot longer when there are contentious planning applications. At this meeting there were two application, but neither had anyone along to oppose them). Planning application 53091 for the regeneration and improvement of Cheadle Green was approved (this has been brought by the Cheadle Civic Society and well-consulted on over the last year or more). Planning application 53220 for 12 new houses on the site of the former Greyhound pub, Ladybridge Road, Cheadle Hulme granted. Application for Cheadle ...
There's a lot in the news about the Benefits Cap following yesterday's dismissal of the case where three single mothers took forward a legal challenge to the cap on their benefits. They lost, but perhaps we as Liberal Democrats should question the logic behind the benefits cap. Now, on one hand, when you look at it, £500 per week seems like a lot of money. Even for a family of three. With this in mind, it seems completely legitimate to cap the amount of support families receive to £26,000 per year. With the average earnings in the UK resting at ...
More than a decade ago, I was asked by a member of Tony Blair's cabinet (to pass the time of day) what I was writing about. I had just published a book about new kinds of money, and I told him I was writing about our habit of measuring too much. He looked completely non-plussed - targets were regarded as a vital and clever innovation in those days - and said: "But what else can you do?" The news from Colchester General Hospital, where managers are said to have bullied staff into falsifying target data, confirms that it is now ...
Greenwich Borough is infamous for its poor air quality and has been for years. Research and monitoring which we have seen in connection with the River Crossings debate reveals that it is not just the riverside, but the higher parts of the borough that have illegal levels of emissions. Our massive roads as well as [...]
We've talked before about "messaging" and for some it's a bit of a dirty word, but actually we have used it for years, perhaps without realising we were doing so:. Winning Here A Worker, a Winner Hard working local campaigner XXX Not just at election time Working all year round, not just at election time [...]
The Western Mail features quite prominently the views of the Federation of Small Businesses, academics and environmentalists at the Welsh Government's consultation on removing blockages on the M4 around Newport. The views of the FSB are particularly cutting and raise questions about how business friendly the proposed solution is as well as the nature of the consultation itself. They believe that the Welsh Government is leaving itself open to judicial challenge and years of delays to its M4 relief road plans due to its the handling of a consultation into the project: Iestyn Davies, from the FSB, said there should ...
[IMG: Go Sober highest fundraisers] Over the past month, we have been keeping you posted on Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael's Go Sober for October fundraising challenge with his old friend, party legend Sheila Ritchie. They made hilarious pitches for your money last week. They both marked the end of their challenge with fine single malt, Alistair with Highland Park and Sheila with Lagavulin. That they managed a month without booze is remarkable in itself. That they should end up as the top two fundraisers in the UK is even more significant. The grassroots won out on the ...
John Leech (Manchester, Withington, Liberal Democrat) I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak in favour of the Bill. It will go a long way towards creating a [...]
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Why we shouldn't ban MPs from having second jobs | Stephen Tall Me on MPs second jobs from July > Why we shouldn't ban MPs from having second jobs http://bit.ly/1hMksxl The Strangest Tradition of the Victorian Era: Post-Mortem Photography Weird. Disturbing. Compelling. "The Strangest Tradition of the Victorian Era: Post-Mortem Photography" http://bit.ly/17EqfDl
Vince Cable has shown a consistent commitment to investing in science and the latest plank of that is unveiled in today's Telegraph: Vince Cable has raised £10m of investment from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council to help entrepreneurial scientists working in synthetic biology to establish their business. Access to funding is seen as the greatest threat to the survival of small companies operating in these fast-growth markets, said Mr Cable. "The banks have walked away from SMEs. They've been badly hit," the Business Secretary said. "I want to help these firms through the so-called 'valley of death'. This ...
Enough Wednesdays already: Age: Pretty Fluffy Stories: 28 Awesomeness: Alexander the Great Cuddles: Light at the End AKA: Bob Dovie (might be significant ;), Henry Noone, Chancellery Guard Captain Henzil; author of (amazing, moving) The Rocket Men, (amazing, violent) Wrath of the Iceni, (amazing, er, incendiary) The Burning Prince, (amazing, toytastic Charlie) Solitaire, and Jago&Litefoot Beautiful Things (which they are).
Still Wednesday: Age: Disgustingly young Stories: 14 Awesomeness: Wizard vs Aliens Cuddles: Rapture AKA: writer of TORCHWOOD: A Day In The Death (aka the good one); THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: Mark of the Berserker, The Mad Woman in the Attic, The Nightmare Man (aka the AMAZINGLY good one); The Rapture, Master, Terra Firma (aka the good one with DALEKS in it) and far, far too much more.
Wed 6th
13:01
Day 4693 BONUS: Millennium's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Top Trunks #09: SIMON GUERRIER
Wednesday again: Age: Recently Daddied Stories: 19 Awesomeness: His Wizard is David Warner. Yes THAT David Warner. Cuddles: Badgers AKA: friend of Benny; author of The Time Travellers, and of best ever Dr Woo book (that has badgers in it) The Pirate Loop, and of outstanding Companion Chronicles Sara Kingdom Trilogy and Oliver Harper Trilogy (love those Cold Equations), and lots of other stuff. Makes short films, you know.
Wednesday: Age: Gold Star Stories: 20 as author 135 as director Awesomeness: In A James Bond Film. IN... a JAMES BOND... FILM Cuddles: THE Big Finish AKA: Editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Script Editor for BBC Death Zone, Producer of Doctor Who for Big Finish. Oh and he writes and acts too. Could probably do Strictly one day, as well.
In the good ol' days of blogging, when your blogpost was mentioned on another site, you would receive a "pingback". A sort of meta-comment you could display which said "So-and-so's blog has linked here." It enabled you to see who was driving traffic to you, if a "big name" had noticed you, and gave your readers a sense of where the conversation was continuing. Of course, it occaisionally got abused by spammers, but it was still fairly nifty. Last week my blogpost on Fake BBM Reviews got picked up by some fairly high profile sites - sending around 14,000 new ...
I was speaking on Wave 102 News this morning about the forthcoming West End Christmas Fortnight events. You can hear the interview by clicking 'play' below:
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by EBuzzing (Wikio as was). Three drop out this month: Mark Valladares (Liberal Bureaucracy), Richard Kemp and Haringey Lib Dems. 1 (4) Liberal Democrat Voice Down 1 2 (19) Mark Pack Down 5 3 (22) Stephen Tall Up 9 4 (35) Lynne Featherstone MP Up 25 5 (41) Jennie Rigg Up 4 6 (45) Zoe O'Connell Up 8 7 (53) Alex Marsh Up 21 8 (59) Nick Thornsby Up 9 9 (70) Paul Walter Down 3 10 (79) Richard Davis Down 6 11 (82) Richard Morris ...
This poster caught my eye whilst on holiday in Alice Springs recently. Just two years to build a new network infrastructure across a continent? It's another example of how the real story isn't about the world speeding up; it's about the world slowing down. [IMG: Australia's overland telegraph line built in just 2 years]
The Home Office has barred victims of drone strikes coming to address a parliamentary meeting on the subject by refusing them visas to enter the Britain. My friends at politics.co.uk (whom I have written for,) have a fascinating, and rather depressing story running today about drone victims who are not allowed to attend the UK [...]
Wed 6th
11:45
LibLink: Tim Farron - Why has the plight of the overcrowded and the homeless not been prioritised?
In a hard-hitting article in today's Guardian, Tim Farron hits out at David Cameron's "lack of humanity in face of basic need" on housing while outlining what Liberal Democrats want to see done to make sure that there are enough affordable houses for people. He outlines the scale of the problem first: The real divide in modern Britain is not between strivers and shirkers, but between those who were lucky enough to buy homes before 1997 and those who were not. Unless we tackle the housing crisis, homelessness is going to become a mainstream problem. Working families can't afford to ...
The next Gatley Carrs Task Day will be held on Sunday, 17th November at 10.30 am – meet on the Car Park. Any help is appreciated – normally the task day lasts for around two hours. We hope to clear the wildflower meadow, which has just been cut (not very well), so it could be helpful if you bring garden rakes with you. Unfortunately the rain of the last few weeks has not helped. Some of our members who have worked hard for the group for fifteen years are now finding this type of work extremely difficult and would appreciate ...
[IMG: LYE small] Liberal Youth England has vacancies for 3 regional chairs in the following areas: London Western Counties Yorkshire and the Humber By-elections for these positions will be held at the Liberal Youth Winter conference in Cardiff next weekend. Regional chairs are am responsible for establishing, organising and supporting Branches and Societies in the region, acting as a regional point of contact for the Executive, media, campaigns, events and Federal Party purposes. All members of the party in England under the age of 26 are eligible to stand. If you'd like to stand for election, simply email me(for I ...
I do not want to equate myself with the (perhaps apocryphal) high court judge who asked "Who are the Beatles?" but I admit that I knew nothing about Russell Brand until I caught his splendid besting of Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. I find Paxman's interviewing technique bullying: aggressive rudeness to politicians, secure in the knowledge that they dare not lose their rag and answer back in kind. It was good to see Brand, who clearly felt he had nothing to lose, indeed, as it turns out, much to gain, by giving Paxman a taste of his own medicine. Here are ...
Earlier this morning I got an update from Dr Michael Scott who presents history on television and radio like no one else. His latest project with the BBC is Spin the Globe A series that takes famous dates in British history and finds out what was happening at the same time in other corners of the...
ALDC Development Officer Mike Bell writes about the importance of recruiting members and how to go about it. I was in Staffordshire recently for a summit of local party representatives and one key theme emerged from everyone present - we need more members and helpers. Well, the signs are certainly there that we can recruit [...]
[IMG: Cornish time] About every fifteen years I get a letter from my father. Last week, was such an occasion. The letter contained this piece from the Western Morning News: 'Dreckly' too much for Hansard It may have been publishing the happenings of Parliament for more than two centuries, but even the merest bit of Cornish slang has proved too much for Hansard to compute. When Cornish MP Stephen Gilbert asked Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg about the question of Cornish independence, his use of the word "dreckly" was seemingly too foreign for the legendary system's transcript takers to understand. ...
Wed 6th
09:50Opinion: Liberal Youth Scotland campaigns against SNP cuts to student bursary cuts and college place...
Student finance. Mention those two words to most students and you'll either get people moaning about the amount of forms they have to fill in, or excited about how rich they are at the beginning of the month. However, at the end of the day, you have to pay it back. Unless you vote SNP. That was the message they gave graduates in 2007. Strangely enough, I still seem to have a student loan and quite a substantial amount of money to pay back. They knew they couldn't afford it and scrapped the pledge in their first budget. It was ...
[IMG: Terraced housing. Photo courtesy of mancity, some rights reserved - http://www.sxc.hu/photo/927545] When reviewing David Boyle's excellent Broke: Who Killed the Middle Class, I mentioned the simple but unpopular answer to rising property prices meaning people can no longer afford the sort of properties their parents could – move to a cheaper part of the country: Moving from, say, Croydon to Northern Ireland would be a massive leap, but I do wonder how much of the death of the middle classes Boyle talks about is really a southern England question that can be put down to many in the middle ...
UKIP slams immigrants for 'coming over here, giving us their money' (tags: ) DWP mulling over whether to scrap universal credit IT systems *headdesk headdesk headdesk* (tags: ) Freemium Hardware Is Coming (and You Can't Stop It) (tags: ) Landman Economics Living Wage Report (.pdf) So this concludes "it is unlikely that the extension of the living wage to all UK employees would result in any substantial aggregate employment losses. In fact, it is quite plausible that adopting the living wage on a statutory basis could actually increase overall employment in the UK" - there's got to be a cockup ...
Perhaps if I repost a poll, that will help... View Poll: Magical Trevor I'm suffering. Now you can all suffer too. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
One of the more obvious and strategically disastrous side-effects of the bloated and ill-starred carrier program is that the Portsmouth Naval Shipyards are now threatened with closure. Its hard for our party to respond to this action: which is bad for the nation, really bad for the Royal Navy and atrocious for our seat of Portsmouth South, when the best we can offer as an alternative is our half-page pdf defence policy. Thus how can the party effectively respond to this retrograde development, except by the valiant efforts of Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the Leader of the Council at Portsmouth (a ...
It is a tradition for LDV to bring its readers copies of our new MPs' and Peers' first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last Tuesday, Lord Paddick made his maiden speech in the House of Lords during the debate on the Second Reading of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill. His words are reproduced below. My Lords, I think the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, was confusing my name with my current state of mind. In ...
[IMG: con home cartoon] My tenth column for ConservativeHome — The Other Side — ran yesterday. You can read it here, as well as the always interesting comments below-the-line. Not quite a hundred yesterday but, then, the subject wasn't Europe. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke ... constructively, I hope. What result would David Cameron or Nick Clegg have to achieve in 2015 to keep their jobs as leader of their respective parties? Both will have formidable challenges in holding on. They have each fought ...
More than a decade before Samuel L. Jackson made the role his own; the part of S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury was played by David Hasselhof. He starred in a TV movie called Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D that is by all accounts truly desperate. Hat tip: ScreenjunkiesFiled under: Uncategorized Tagged: Avengers, DavidHasselhoff, Marvel Studios, Nick [...]
The Welsh Government should convene businesses in Wales to examine how the newly announced powers over stamp duty and borrowing could help increase the supply of affordable homes and upgrade Wales' infrastructure. The coalition Government announced last week that stamp duty land tax and landfill tax would be devolved and that the Welsh Government would be given borrowing powers to help boost infrastructure. I am very pleased that the coalition Government has accepted the Silk Commission's key recommendations. Wales will now be given even more powers to help boost economic development. Given that the coalition Government is delivering on its ...
