The planning minister Nick Boles wants to revive the National Liberal Party. This breakaway faction of the Liberal Party formed in the 1930s and survived (in theory at least) till 1968, when it merged with the Conservative Party. Boles seems to believe this would represent a severing of classical liberals from the 'statist' Liberal Democrats. [...]
Yesterday, after my two Monday weekly ward surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and the West Park Centre, I attended City Council committee meetings. At Policy and Resources Committee, I again raised concerns about the extent of Fire and Rescue service resource being drained by unwanted fire signal calls from non-domestic properties. I was pleased that the Fire and Rescue Service is working on an action plan to hopefully address this. I also commented, in a debate over the unfortunate reduction and removal of police counter services at several police stations in the city that the ability of councillors to ...
Tom Brake MP for Carshalton & Wallington and the Communication Workers Union are hosting a public meeting to discuss the proposed franchising of the Wallington Post Office by WH Smiths. It will take place on Wednesday 20th November at 6.30pm in Wallington Library. All welcome. Cllr Colin Hall & I will also be attending.
Devon and Cornwall's police commissioner is still spending vast amounts on consultants, it seems. Back in June I blogged this on the subject. Back then, Tony Hogg claimed that his consultant spending was very much about setting up his office. Not the case, it seems, as the spending has continued and grown. Now the Police Federation have picked up on the scandal. Disappointingly, Mr Hogg has failed to answer the charges himself but has left it to his office staff to make his excuses. It's not as if this is the only example of wasteful spending by Mr Hogg. His ...
Bill Bailey writes in the Guardian: The idea of Monty Python reforming is like the prospect of a great band getting back together: they're the ultimate comic supergroup. The Led Zeppelin of comedy.
Tue 19th
21:18
Road works sign dumped in flowerbed - but Haringey Council says can't remove it for "health and safe...
Ah, Haringey Council. The fourth most complained about council in the whole country and the council which failed to answer more than 1 in 3 calls made to it. Of course, Haringey Labour councillors love to blame evil coalition government, but the simple reality is that Haringey is badly run. It wastes time, squanders money and lets down residents through repeated bungling as, in my own small way, I've often recounted on this blog when it comes to street-level issues such as potholes and faulty signs. Today brought the latest example. I reported a while back an abandoned road works ...
Two psychologists who are experts on parenting are giving free public lectures in York next month. Both lectures take place at the Royal York Hotel (next to the railway station) and form part of the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society's Division of Clinical Psychology. On Wednesday 4 December (1700-1800) Professor Matt Sanders from the University of Queensland will speak on "What Makes Children Happy and Successful". Professor Sanders is the founder of the innovative and effective Triple P Positive Parenting Programme. In recognition of his work, he was made Queenslander of the Year by the state government in ...
The Parish Council has been notified by Cambridgeshire County Council that work will start tomorrow on the Spine Path. Here's the text from the email message; "Due to space in our contractors programme work on the Spine Path Bar Hill from this years Transport Delivery Plan will begin tomorrow 20th Nov 2013 and expected to last for approximately 3 1/2 weeks. The work is to address maintenance issues on the area of the footpath behind Hillcrest/ Hollytrees as shown on the attached plan. We will also be installing a couple of sections of kee-klamp fencing where the path into Hollytress ...
Tue 19th
20:30
Nick Boles calls for National Liberal revival AKA Nick Boles invents a safe space for nice people we...
[IMG: nick boles] Nick Boles is the Conservative planning minister, one of the few Tories to take the housing crisis seriously and to risk unpopularity within his own party by making clear we need to build more homes. He has, for instance, said 'The sum of human happiness that is created by the houses that are being built is vastly greater than the economic, social and environmental value of a field that was growing wheat or rape' knowing this would be crudely characterised as wanting to 'concrete the countryside'. He has developed ways of encouraging communities to increase the supply ...
Our plans to set up a community library in Marley Hill Community Centre took a small step forward yesterday. Currently we have a large quantity of books in boxes which we store under the stage. It's a complete pain having to get them out, put onto tables and then put back under the stage. Then we discovered that Gateshead Civic Centre was giving away some surplus cupboards. We checked them out,
There was a time when Labour couldn't open its mouth without reference to something historical. Before 2008, no Labour statement was complete without a mention of a record breaking number of quarters in which there was continuous growth under the miracle-performing Gordon Brown. Post 2010 and history is no longer loved by Labour. Indeed it is a bit of a raw nerve for them. How many times do you
Back in 1935 the good people of Stockport decide to build a road over the River Mersey through the town centre, to relieve traffic on Chestergate and Princes Street. At the time the river was badly polluted and that section ran between the backs of factories and warehouses, so much as it might seem like a bad idea today, I can understand why people thought it was the right thing to do. In the 1960s the road was built into the Merseyway shopping centre and today there are many visitors who don't realise the river is flowing beneath their feet. ...
Situation report: The Who book is done, and if I get VERY lucky I will have the first ten copies available for sale on Saturday at Thought Bubble. Caveat lector — I've not looked at these myself, yet, so there may be uncaught errors. I'm out tomorrow to see They Might Be Giants, and I'm [...]
For the past generation, Western Australia has been pioneering a different way of organising social care. It was the brainchild of their new mental health commissioner Eddie Bartnik, and it flew in the face of conventional methods, which assess needs and try to slot people into existing service packages. What he came up with instead was not just more flexible and more human, it was also less expensive. It was and is called Local Area Co-ordination. LAC is now working here too, notably in Middlesborough and Derby, and it is run by a group of local area co-ordinators who are ...
I do believe that nobody, especially perhaps people who barely afford their own "compact and bijou" residence, should subsidise "spare" rooms for others through the tax system. I believe this whether it's property rented from private landlords, where it is already outlawed, or social landlords (who arguably ought to be better at planning their estates to take account of demographic change). I also believe there are places, as Oxford at least was a dozen years ago when I was a councillor, in which such a policy ought to help relieve overcrowding as the main problem rather than under occupancy which ...
David Bowie fans will tell you how the artist was renowned for a Magpie Mind, the way in which he took aspects of different cultures and brought them together into something new and shiny. Putting together you latest Focus may not bring you international stardom that David Bowie achieved (although the ALDC campaigner awards come [...]
I'm exactly the type of person Nick Boles would want to join the reformed National Liberal Party. The type of person who could vote Conservative.... ...Except I'm really not very conservative at all, and cannot bring myself to support the party. I'm a proud classical liberal, who believes in equality, opportunity, low taxes, markets, meritocracy, [...]
[IMG: Google Plus logo] On Saturday afternoon a surprising notification popped up on the iPad; "Andy Strange added you on Google+" That's odd, I thought. I hadn't been using Google+ for anything recently and I couldn't see how you could end up adding yourself to anything. So I was a bit puzzled. But after investigation the cause was obvious — if a little disconcerting. Another person called Andy Strange had added me to their circles on the service. Which obviously generated the disturbing thought that there are more than one Andy Strange's in the world. In fact, given that my ...
Following a complaint about non-inclusion of a link to Northern Ireland sexual health services, Michael tells why Channel 4 has nearly got it right but not quite yet.
[IMG: mark williams] Mark Williams, Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion, is promoting The Child Maltreatment Private Member's Bill, which will have its second reading this Friday. It aims to make emotional neglect of children a criminal offence. The current law on child neglect, which has been in place for 80 years, only covers physical harm to children. The Express carries the story with this quote from Mark: The law, as it is, fails to protect some of the most vulnerable children throughout England and Wales. If the Government is really serious about safeguarding children, the law has to be changed. ...
The Guardian reports on a very important intervention by former Liberal Democrats leader, Lord Ashdown in which he says that technology used by Britain's spy agencies to conduct mass surveillance is "out of control", and that this raises fears about the erosion of civil liberties at a time of diminished trust in the intelligence services. Lord Ashdown has called for a high-level inquiry to address fundamental questions about privacy in the 21st century. The paper says that he railed against "lazy politicians" who frighten people into thinking "al-Qaida is about to jump out from behind every bush and therefore it ...
Tue 19th
14:00
Day 4706: Millennium's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Top Trunks #32: PHILIP von HICHCLIFFE
Tuesday: Age: Friend From The Future Stories: 18 Awesomeness: Deadly Assassin Cuddles: Mary Whitehouse... not! AKA: eyebrow-wielding, unstoppable godlike force who was producer of the golden age of Doctor Who
There's a trend in those polling results: [IMG: Nigel Farage's polling decline]
[IMG: stephen-Tall-Daily-Politics] I guested on BBC2′s Daily Politics on Monday to discuss Nick Clegg's announcement that he wants the Coalition to offer a "worker's bonus" in the next budget, taking the personal allowance up to £10,500 – beyond the £10,000 that was promised by the Lib Dems at the 2010 election. The other two guests were ex-No. 10 Labour policy wonk Matthew Taylor, now chief executive of the RSA, and Conservative backbench MP Dominic Raab. You can watch the 10-minute debate here (til 25th November). Here's my view in 6 sentences: I'm a fan of the party's policy of raising ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Nick Boles calls for the Tories to set up a National Liberal party » Spectator Blogs I like Nick Boles but not sure what function a Tory-owned National Liberal party wld serve http://bit.ly/185z8pD Stephen Tall: Why Conservatives should embrace proportional representation for local elections | Conservative Home Me @ConHome > Why Conservatives should embrace proportional representation for local elections http://bit.ly/1aDswwl Boris Johnson considers ban on London cyclists wearing headphones | World news | theguardian.com Yeah, cos it's me listening to Radio 4 that's the problem > Boris considers ban on London cyclists ...
Tue 19th
13:25
Nick Boles wants MPs to join a newly regenerated 'National Liberal Party'. Who could he mean? (now w...
Both the New Statesman & The Spectator are reporting that the Tory MP Nick Boles has called for the reinvention of the National Liberal Party wing of the Conservatives, which existed right up until 1968. It would mirror the same sort of function as the Labour and Co-operative Party arrangement. While he is claiming this is a way of broadening the support for the Tories in the country as a whole and in 3 way Lib Dem marginals in particular, I wonder if there is another thought in his head. He says.... "Existing MPs, councillors, candidates and party members of ...
Lib Dem HQ have produced a great set of member recruitment materials to dovetail with the national membership drive we have started. This means that in addition to the new financial incentives, local parties can use this latest artwork to promote party membership in your local area. LDHQ Message: Would you like to boost your [...]
...on the Ham Common manifesto poll. What do you think should be the four priority areas we headline on the front page of our manifesto? Click on the poll on the top right of this blog to make sure you've had your say. there are 4 clear frontrunners - and 4 in the chasing pack. So it can still all change Thanks
In the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan, debates over extreme weather require us to think harder about the relationship between the evidence, politics and institutions of scientific advice The proposal, advanced by the G77 plus China, that the US and other nations should pay tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars to poor countries that suffer disasters, is a central theme of the climate negotiations now taking place in Warsaw, Poland. It's an idea that has been made more tangible by the tragic loss of life and devastation in the Philippines caused by super typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ...
Last night Greenwich Lib Dems had their AGM. Like any political party we have our differences and when you get a bunch of opinionated, passionate people together it is never going to be an easy ride – at least I hope it would not be. However the last year has been one of great privilege for [...]
I've always wondered if it's possible to tell who has commissioned a particular survey on YouGov. When you read a question like "Would Boris Johnson make an awesome Prime Minister?" it would be interesting to know whether it's Cameron getting his knickers in a twist, or Milliband sowing the seeds of discord. One survey I was filling in contained a particularly dull set of questions about mobile phones. One of the survey pages just wouldn't progress, so I took a look at the page's source code. Right up the top was: https://surveyfiles.yougov.com/ static/test_helen_UK304287_Samsung_Tracker/CSSfile Curious. It looks like this was a ...
[IMG: Lincoln] It was just ten sentences long. A mere 273 words delivered in less than three minutes. Yet the Gettysburg Address has resonated through history, finding relevance in every age. In May 2003, I was researching history in Los Angeles. The news channels had cleared the decks for just one story. One hundred or so miles to the south, President George W. Bush trying to define his own place in history. The USS Abraham Lincoln was stationed off San Diego after a long deployment, including action in the Bush/Blair war in the Gulf. Beneath a banner of "Mission Accomplished", ...
I am currently in Sierra Leone in my role as International Development minister. Here is a blog, which you can also read on the DFID site. To enter Freetown from its airport, boating across the river is your best option. The view of Freetown as the sun sets over the water is breathtaking, but one sadly seldom enjoyed by many from outside the country. Certainly from the UK, Sierra Leone is no tourist hotspot, known best for its recent civil war that ended only 12 years ago. And this is a shame, because the depth of the UK's relationship with ...
"We'd tax the bankers" has become the familiar refrain of Labour Party activists and councillors across the country, but it is still a surprise to see just how many of their policies are now being funded by this single commitment! Someone's done the maths and have found that the same bankers' levy has been now [...]
Tue 19th
10:55The most powerful thing a pressure group can do at the next election is something none has ever done
[IMG: Lib Dem election flashmob. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats. Some rights reserved http://www.flickr.com/photos/libdems/4575246274/] A few years back, candidates wanting to stand as Labour/Co-operative Party joint candidates ran into a legal problem, despite the tradition of such joint candidates stretching back many decades. The Electoral Commission decided that, on close reading of election law, it was not legal for such joint candidates to have a logo appear next to their name on the party ballot. Cue a flurry of election law changes to remedy the situation (or rather, given this is British election law we're talking about, cue a ...
Liberal Democrat members know that cuts to civil legal aid are illiberal. And they know the leadership is not facing a dilemma between protecting liberal values and cutting the deficit because these cuts will cost, not save, money. It was why the Emergency Motion to oppose cuts to legal aid (until it can be proved there will be "no adverse effect upon access to justice") came out top of the ballot at conference this year and was then overwhelmingly passed. I had previously asked Lib Dem Voice readers to support this motion in the ballot so I want to say ...
[IMG: [personal profile] ] andrewducker has tasked me with listing eight little-known facts about myself. This is proving difficult: I'm a reasonably open person, so there isn't really that much about me that isn't common knowledge. However...I get very emotionally involved with fiction. I will regularly be found in floods of tears over a book/film/TV show. The best example of how bad this gets for me: when I watched the Simpsons movie I cried like a baby over Marge taping over the wedding video. Like, I'm filling up now just thinking about it. When I was tiny my mum used ...
[IMG: Picture of George] Last night George Ferguson gave his first Mayoral State of the City address in the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building. This launched both the Mayor's Vision for Bristol and the consultation on the local authority budget. Following the Mayor's presentation there were brief responses from Alexandra Jones from Centre for Cities, Tony Travers from LSE London, and me. We only had five minutes each. Below is the text to accompany my presentation. Delivery didn't quite match the text because I was editing down to 5 minutes. You can listen to the whole event here ...
Now in its eighth year, the Next Generation is an LGA training programme for councillors to develop their professional networks and leadership skills. The Liberal Democrat version of the programme is administered by ALDC and commenced in October. This year's cohort of thirteen are: Simon Allen, Bath and North East Somerset Charlotte Barnes, Shropshire Gemma-Jane [...]
Tue 19th
09:20
Reprise: A 13 year old writes about same sex marriage. MSPs please take note. #itstime #equalmarriag...
This is a re-run of a post from May which I published around the time of the Westminster Same Sex Marriage Bill debate. As Holyrood prepares to vote on its own bill tomorrow, I thought it would be worth putting out there again. I'm going to send it to my MSPs and ask them to vote in favour of the Bill tomorrow. I had a bit of a proud Mummy moment last night when I discovered that at the time, an RE teacher had republished it, saying it was a very good read. Unfortunately, and to her great disappointment, Anna ...
As Vince Cable prepares to take a vital decision on reform of the tied pub sector, today's headlines will focus on the resignation/retirement of the widely reviled Ted Tuppen, CEO of Enterprise Inns. This announcement has of course been brought out today to hide the news that the debt-ridden pubco's profits have fallen significantly and its debt level remains at over £2 billion. The sinking ship remains partially above the water – for now – whoever is at the helm. For those like the regulars of the award-winning but now-closed Alma at Newington Green it is scant consolation. socialise this: ...
Tue 19th
09:08Nick Clegg: "I'm extremely proud to be part of a government that looks to the future of LGBT rights....
[IMG: nick clegg pointing] In an interview for Pink News, to mark yesterday's 10th Anniversary of the repeal of Section 28, Nick Clegg said: Section 28 was a divisive piece of legislation that should remain consigned to the constitutional graveyard forever. We have made tremendous strides as a country in securing greater LGBT rights since then - not least in securing the landmark legislation to secure equal marriage that I have supported for years. There is of course further to go, particularly to help put a stop to homophobic bullying in schools. I'm extremely proud to be part of a ...
Malnutrition cases in English hospitals almost double in five years - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent double from what to what tho? Yes this is worrying but the headline should tell me HOW worrying (tags: ) The level of benefits have no effect on whether the unemployed want a job Paying high levels of benefits to the unemployed does not lead to them becoming lazy, or lacking motivation to find a job according to a European-wide study charting the well-being of claimants. (tags: ) posted The Blood is The Life 18-11-2013 http://t.co/Ys2rn6qFeF on #dreamwidth (tags: ...
Tue 19th
08:58Who's our Boris? 10 potential next-leader-of-the-Lib-Dems currently not in The Commons
The other week Stephen Tall wrote an entertaining piece for Conservative Home speculating on who the next leader of the Lib Dems and the Tories might be post 2015, should circumstances dictate that a vacancy arises in either party. His choice of Tory (Boris) - prompted someone (sorry, I forget who but I will hat tip you if you remind me) to say how interesting it was that perhaps the favourite to be the next Tory leader wasn't even currently eligible for the role, not being an MP, and who the Lib Dem equivalent of Boris might be - ie ...
I've been listening to this fantastic podcast for a while now (although have only just discovered its website). Created by Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, it has been working through the major thinkers and their ideas starting in the ancient world and moving forward, slowly. It has just reached its 150th episode and is now dealing with the thought of medieval Islam. The podcast is accessible to the lay person as Adamson discusses each topic with great clarity and humour. I've found much of it really interesting and entertaining and ...
A few years back at a talk for new students at Kellogg College, I turned round and looked at the students sitting behind me. And the thought that struck me? "Wow, that women looks remarkably like Ruby Wax." It turns out it was. She was studying a Masters in mindfulness based cognitive therapy. She gave [...]
Today, the West End Christmas Brochure for 2013 is launched and copies of the brochure are being given to every local primary school pupil, available in local shops, Blackness Library and other locations in the West End. You can download the full brochure here. The brochure includes full details of all the Christmas Fortnight events - and here are the details of two of our main events: Saturday 23rd November: Christmas Fortnight starts with a Community Fayre West End Christmas Fortnight will be launched with a super West End Community Fayre, taking place in Dundee West Church from 10am to ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have long argued that the Welsh Government should be given tax varying and borrowing powers. I am pleased that the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury came to Wales to give further details on the coalition government's response to the Silk Commission. Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister and Danny Alexander have been strong advocates of transferring more powers from Westminster to Wales. The principles of empowerment and responsibility, which are referenced in the title of the Silk Commission's report, are the cornerstones of how the Liberal Democrats have approached how devolution should develop in ...
I've decided that the only way I can stay in the Party is if I opt out of canvassing and other support in the next General Election. After his statement about the Roma in Sheffield, which I regard as racist, I don't want to work to put Nick Clegg back into power. I will still [...]
Yesterday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland in conjunction with Belfast City Council launched a campaign urging members of the public not to turn their backs on the hate crimes that are being committed across the city. Evidence suggests that only a fifth of hate crime is being reported to the police. The new billboard...
I discovered this in my economics text book today (Appleyard, Field & Cobb, 2010: p452). John Stuart Mill, in 1848, on national currencies: So much of barbarism, however, still remains in the transactions of most civilised nations, that almost all independent countries choose to assert their nationality by having, to their own inconvenience and that of their neighbours, a peculiar currency of their own. Advertisement: read more
I've been neglecting this blog far too much. As if anyone cared. Not that there hasn't been much to write about, but more because I've been downright lazy it feels this semester. Though I suspect that's not true - I've really been in one of those depressions where you have so much to do you don't even know where to start. Anyway, I thought I'd start back with some thoughts about how we are taught economics. This is partly prompted by reading about the INET-CORE Project from The Institute for New Economic Thinking. This is a project to produce a ...
