[IMG: Michael Ashcroft] There's much of interest and wisdom in Lord Ashcroft's reaction to media reports of internal Tory polling. There is also one very odd comment: The incumbency factor is well documented, but if it were having a meaningful effect it would have done so in my poll - it would not be necessary to prompt for it by naming the MP. Michael Ashcroft's argument being that if you ask someone how they will vote and name the parties rather than the names of the candidates, then that captures the personal votes of those candidates just as well. He ...
The disappearance of Lord Lucan reminds me of that odd era when Britain faced power cuts, glam rock ruled the charts and retired Colonels drilled their private armies to be ready when the balloon went up. Lucan, if you don't know the story, had planned to murder his wife, only to murder his children's nanny instead. (In this telling of the story, as in every other, the nanny Sandra Rivett receives little consideration.) He then disappeared, and sightings of him are reported every now and then even today. John Pearson's idea of how Lucan hoped to get away with the ...
Wed 20th
23:05
"This will probably be the most personal speech I ever make in this chamber..." Ruth Davidson speaks...
Scottish Conservative Leader gives a very moving and personal speech in the Scottish Parliament's equal marriage debate. Her speech starts 39 minutes in.
Hi there I am going to be taking this site off line soon as part of a server migration and update plan. When relaunched, we will be back online with a brand new design, somewhat revised content focus and a new outlook. Yes, it will still focus on LibDem issues, but there will be a ...
Nick Boles's idea of a National Liberal Party is, of course, a nonsense. As the Continuing SDP and the Pro-European Conservatives demonstrated, you cannot establish a successful political party from above. And if Boles is seeking to attract those Liberal Democrat members who think that Nick Clegg is too left wing, I hope he has not booked to large a hall. What is behind the idea is surely an attempt to allow a few Liberal Democrat MPs - it may be significant that in his speech Boles praised both Jeremy Browne and David Laws by name - to join the ...
The development at the West Farm Hotel on Greenhill Road looks set to be approved. Earlier this year an application was turned down and this is a new one with some changes to it, partly taking into account what residents said about the first one. The details are on the Council's planning pages which you can link to here. The key document is called Case Officer. This has all the various conditions in it. You can also see plans and other information on this page. My colleague Richard Oglethorpe made some comments about access and these are reflected in what ...
Wed 20th
21:31
Tory peer calls for clampdown on mooning after 40 schoolkids expose their backsides at him and wife
Today's Headline of the Day Award goes to the Daily Mirror. On Twitter, @SohoPolitico asked if it shouldn't be a crackdown.
Under New Labour the population increased due to immigration and an ageing population but they deliberately restricted house building effectively pricing a generation out of home ownership. Don't get me wrong – I am a fervent supporter of immigration. Labour markets should be as free as all others should be free. More pressingly this country has a Welfare State structured like a ponzi scheme. Ergo, without immigrants over the age of 21, or the massive fundamental overhaul of the Welfare State that this government has neither the courage nor the appetite to follow through, services as most know them will ...
Wed 20th
20:19
Rennie: "You are a joyous, happy force for good" as Scottish equal marriage bill passes first stage
[IMG: Willie at equal marriage rally] Five years ago, the embryonic Equal Marriage campaign could scarcely imagine that they would get to the point where the Holyrood Parliament would debate, and most likely pass with a stonking majority, a bill legalising its aim. That they have captured Scotland's imagination is down to its relentlessly positive, simple campaign, culminating with the It's Time video. I defy anyone to get to the end of it without smiling. Tom French, the spokesperson for the campaign, has had to endure some pretty unpleasant, inaccurate, disrespectful challenges during live debates on the media. He is ...
Now there is some real debate to be had about Paul Flowers suitability for the chairmanship of the Co-op Bank. And there is some investigating to be done by the police, whether one feels it is right or wrong, into alleged criminal activity (drug dealing etc.) by Mr Flowers. But these two things are actually quite unconnected. Paul Flowers oversaw the rather serious decline, and near collapse, of the Co-op Bank. The fact he admits he was put in charge due to a "power struggle within the co-operative movement" is something that really beggars belief (even if it is all ...
There is a debate starting on how to make the council tax support scheme fairer - and how best to use the remaining money within the emergency hardship fund set up to help those affected by this welfare reform. A quick bit of background. The government changed council tax benefit last year. They passed responsibility on to local councils but with only 90% of the money that the scheme cost the previous year. Cornwall Council decided to make the new scheme cost neutral - which meant that working age families who previously were deemed so poor as to receive 100% ...
Not quite a winner in the plain English stakes: [IMG: Ofcom - Silent Calls Complaint Monitoring - Step 5 of 5]
Had a series of calls from 01625 664 756 where whenever you answer the phone, it just goes dead? These sort of silent calls are meant to be controlled by strict regulation, but the phone marketing industry in the UK has a fair number of questionable firms who regularly flout the rules – until people complain to the regulator. Silent calls like this can be reported to Ofcom via a simple and quick online web form: It is well worth doing this as if there any enough complaints, Ofcom will take action – so each report moves things that ...
The Big Lottery Fund was set up to give a financial boost to projects that support communities and those in need across the country. For every £1 spent on the lottery, around 10p goes to good causes, and to date over £4 billion has been distributed by the fund. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to all the local recipients of a Big Lottery Grant this year. Each one does fantastic work within the community, and they deserve every penny they get. Without further ado, the recipients in my Hornsey and Wood Green constituency are: - Family Action- ...
Big mistake, first words, top left. Surely everyone knows Dr Who is a Lib Dem?
We all have our burdens to carry, I'm told, and one of mine is being a Luton Town supporter. I have no connection to the town, so why the Hatters? I'm a north Londoner by upbringing, but by a fluke of geography, one of the easiest Football League teams to reach from my childhood home is Luton Town, and they wore orange shirts - I'm an old Liberal, and that was their colour too - and so that's how I ended up, after a brief, and somehow unsatisfying flirtation with Queens Park Rangers. When I still lived in North London, ...
PMQs is normally grim, but this week it was so bad the only thing you could hear was a the bottom of a barrel being scraped. Continuously. It took about 10 seconds after the usual formal condolences to fallen soldiers, for the whole thing to get ridiculous.Tory MP Steve Brine asked about Paul Flowers, the [...]
[IMG: sun benefit tourists correction] Last month, the Sunday Telegraph ran a scurrilous story claiming there were '600,000 unemployed EU migrants living in Britain'. On closer inspection, it turned out that the real number of (non-British) EU citizens claiming jobseeker's allowance was just 38,000, according to DWP estimates. But the story had in the meantime been replicated by the usual suspects (the Sun, Mail and Express), leading me to write a piece to correct some of the most common myths about EU free movement. I'm pleased to report that in a minor victory for journalistic standards, the Sun recently published ...
Have you ever found that legal documents aren't worth the paper they are printed on? I'll let you think of your own examples. It may be a land dispute with a neighbour. It may be that the freedom of the city is meaningless when you try to graze your sheep on a roundabout. My example is the treaties of Utrecht which were written in 1713. Among other things they were supposed to stop France gaining an empire in Europe, but less than a hundred years later Napoleon had other ideas. Times change and Napoleon had the idea that the sword ...
We've just received an impressive members and supporters newsletter from Burnley, so we thought we'd share it with you. I leads on the membership challenge that many local parties are engaged at the moment, so hopefully they'll be plenty to plagarise. We particularly like the simple idea of photographing a whiteboard message. Easy to do [...]
Populists may have to choose between taming banks and taxing them The victory of the left-wing Bill De Blasio in the New York Mayoral election has led to a considerable interest in the increasingly populist direction of the Democratic Party. One well respected journalist has gone as far as arguing that the anti-Wall Street crusader [...]
With just days to go before the start of West End Christmas Fortnight, at lunchtime today, I took part in a photocall at the West End Christmas Tree at Seabraes, with a number of colleagues, to highlight our forthcoming events! Ably assisted by four pupils from Victoria Park Primary School, I am pictured alongside (from left) Gavin Baird of Ross & Liddell (one of our principal sponsors), Rev Andrew Greaves and Ann Prescott of the Christmas Fortnight Committee:
The advent of Connect and the experience gained in recent american elections have given us further tools to help us target particular groups of voters. Sometimes described as the 4S's - "Switch" ,"Stay" "Supporters" and "Squeeze". This one is specifically going to talk about what we do with the "Supporters" target group. Other articles will [...]
I have been first irritated, then increasingly dismayed, over a long period by announcements on the news about cancer deaths. When somebody dies, it is inevitably described as "after a long battle with cancer". It is as if the word processor sees "died of cancer" or "died from cancer" and autocorrects implacably to "died-after-a-long-battle-with-cancer". While some people do fight the disease with all the might at their disposal, it is not the only way of reacting. Some people take it philosophically, some ignore it, some have fun while they still can, some take it administratively, using the time they have ...
[IMG: David Laws and Pingu] Last night, David Laws spent an hour answering members' questions on the development of the Liberal Democrat manifesto. He took questions on a huge range of issues ranging from the economy to civil liberties to justice, fracking and schools. It's quite remarkable that this is being done so openly and publicly. Some of us had trouble accessing the event. If it hadn't been for Stace Williams, I wouldn't have managed it at all. As it as, I have half an hour to catch up on. And I can, too. Because it's up on You Tube. ...
The Labour Party is facing more questions today on its internal management after the repercussions from the Paul Flowers' affair landed on their doorstep. The Times reports that Labour is under pressure over why it failed to raise the alarm about the Co-operative Bank chairman when he was forced out of a council for having pornography on his laptop. Tory MPs are suggesting that Labour politicians covered up for Mr Flowers because he was providing gifts and loans for the party. The paper highlights a number of specific issues: - Len Wardle, the Chairman of the Co-Operative Group, and a ...
As far as I am aware there is only one scheduled meeting next week Planning & Development Committee , Thursday 28th November , 6:30 at Arms Evertyne House The Events Committee originally scheduled for next Tuesday was brought forward a week I understand that there is to be a "Chairs and ViceChairs" meeting on Tuesday (26th) , but how much of a formal meeting of he council it is I'm not sure. Certainly all the Chairs and Vice Chairs are Labour members, but if it is to be deemed a meeting of the council the what happened to proportionality? Will ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... A plan to end NEETs through reform, not cuts "A plan to end NEETs through reform, not cuts" http://bit.ly/1h2h6Y0. @IPPR's Graeme Cooke explains what the Torygraph didn't. The courage of Nick Boles | Conservative Home Thoughtful from @PaulGoodmanCH (tho I think he's too kind to Boles) > The courage of Nick Boles http://bit.ly/18OZdUo Nick Boles calls for National Liberal revival AKA Nick Boles invents a safe space for nice people well away from the Tories "Let Nick Clegg and Stephen Tall and the like join it, it would be THEIR sort of ...
Wed 20th
13:02
Day 4707: Millennium's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Top Trunks #33b: PROFESSOR GEORGE LITEFOOT
Wednesday: Age: Academic Stories: 28 Awesomeness: He may have had a bash on the head but it's STILL a damned queer story Cuddles: Not sos you'd notice; Oscar Wilde AKA: Dr Jennings (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow); Dr Albrigtsen (Maelstrom); member of the RSC; playwright and bon viveur; the ineffable, unforgettable, unspeakably outrageous Mr Sir Trevor Baxter
Wed 20th
13:01Day 4707: Millennium's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Top Trunks #33a: HENRY GORDON JAGO Esq
Wednesday: Age: Theatrical Stories: 28 Awesomeness: A tiger when his dander's up (but we'll forgive him) Cuddles: Jago in Love; Sigmund Freud; Merry Wiffes of Winsor (Horns are HILARIOUS) AKA: Sir Keith Gold (Inferno), Sir Colonel Hugh Curbishly (The Unicorn and the Wasp); the evanescent, effervescent, indescribably adorable Mr Sir Christopher Benjamin
Wed 20th
13:00Day 4707: Millennium's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Top Trunks #33: A CASE FOR JAGO & LITEFOOT
Wednesday: Age: Eighteen-Nineties Stories: 28 Awesomeness: Their exploits have come to the attention of the Queen Empress herself! (Or have they!) Cuddles: Confirmed bachelors. (Not for want of trying on Mr Jago's part.) Best friend Ellie might be a bit, er, vampirey. (And/or her aging papa works in refuse collection.) AKA: Investigators of Infernal Incidents, Dynamic Duo of Dastardly Dealings, Fabulous Foilers of Fantastical Fiends; Avuncular Vacationing Visitors to Venus; Prodigious Pair of Promethean Protectors (that's enough, ed.)
The Electoral Commission have announced a review of the Election Expense limits for candidates at both General and Local Elections. They have published a draft recommendations document for consultation, requesting commments by the 18th December. Parliament is likely to accept their findings and institute them in time for the 2015 elections. The last time local [...]
Well...that took a long time. Well, apparently David Cameron likes London 0 Hull 4. Which part of the attack on his policies and rich friends did he like best??? — Paul Heaton (@PaulHeatonSolo) November 20, 2013 I'm gonna put a video up in a bit to remind Cameron what I think of Thatcherism — Paul [...]
London loves Business reports Nick Clegg's recent comments on UKIP. I think the view represented by UKIP, large parts of the Conservative Party and Paul Sykes is a betrayal of the national interest and an unpatriotic approach because it would leave many people poorer, it would leave us weaker as a country and it would throw many people out of work, and I can't possibly see why anyone thinks that that is something that in any way represents the long-term national interest. On the substantive point, he's absolutely right. Leaving the EU would isolate us, cost jobs, lose us access ...
I am currently in Sierra Leone in my role as International Development minister. Here is a blog from the visit, which you can also read on the DFID site. English may be the official language here in Sierra Leone, but the majority communicate every day in Krio, a mash of English, Portuguese and French with an African grammar. Because there are some English words peppered around in there, you think you can follow along (until you can't). Today I've been hearing about 'small-small'. DFID runs some big projects which impact on millions, of which I am very proud. But sometimes ...
[IMG: Tim Harford - The Undercover Economist Strikes Back - book cover] If you are familiar with Tim Harford's work, whether as an author, print journalist or broadcaster, then this book is not a surprise. It is, as you would expect, well-written, de-mystifying complicated subjects and giving the novice an understandable overview of controversial and complicated areas, explaining clearly what the experts agree on, what they disagree on – and why. This time his subject is macroeconomics and it is a highly enjoyable read. Highly enjoyable, that is, save for one depressing lesson. Harford's broad conclusion is that the economic ...
The future of Spring Conference is in question: the Federal Executive is seriously considering whether it should be scaled down or even abandoned, mainly to cut costs. Neither of these are attractive options, and they appear to be deeply unpopular with activists. However, the party has to contend with Spring Conference's high fixed costs (bad for delicate party finances) and relatively poor attendance (bad for both party finances and party democracy). At the moment, Spring Conference takes place in early March, during the Easter parliamentary recess. That's under 2 months before the May elections (except in European Parliament election years), ...
My nine-year-old came back from school yesterday evening in a cynical mood. What had piqued his cynicism was the constant repetition, in rhetoric and on noticeboards, that his primary school is a 'Rights-Respecting School'. "They say they listen to us and ask our opinions," he said crossly. "They never do. They just shout." I have some sympathy with this, and the vacuous round of tickbox titles. I also have sympathy with the institutional gap between rhetoric and reality in public services, and their capacity for self-delusion, and the conversation made me think of yesterday's NHS announcement. The Department of Health ...
BBC Radio Berkshire had an interesting piece this morning. Our old friend Paul Dick, headteacher of Kennet School and general all-round educational good-egg, was on. There has been this story about a teacher being told to be "less Cumbrian". It turns out that Mr Dick is chair of governors at the primary school in question in Thatcham. To cut a long story short, it seems that the teacher in question made a joke about having "to sort out (her) accent" as she left a meeting last week with union reps. One of those present took the joke seriously and leaked ...
[IMG: An Officer and a Spy] An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris What happens if the state believes you guilty of a crime and stretches the law to ensure your conviction? Using secret evidence you can't challenge in a secret court where judges are inclined to give the state the benefit of the doubt. What happens if the only way you can establish your innocence is to take the state to court? But it then uses all the resources at its disposal to cover up its initial mistake 'for the greater good'. This is the story of Captain Alfred ...
There's a young song thrush visiting the bird table over the last few days... So far it's learnt that spots aren't always great camouflage... That it can creep me out by just staring..... And that yes, I really will let it eat the bird food....
Writing in today's Guardian Simon Jenkins says "The days of believing spy chiefs who say 'Trust us' are over." Sorry Simon, those days were over more than a decade ago when Sir John Scarlett colluded with Blair's No.10 in compiling the dodgy dossier. Or perhaps in 1924 when MI5 and/or MI6 leaked the fake Zinoviev letter to the Daily Mail and brought down the Labour government. In case you
Come to Gatley Green and Buxton Street – heart of Gatley's Artisan Quarter – from 2.30pm on Thursday 5th December to enjoy shopping, carols and the christmas lights switch on. Shop in the marquee on Buxton Street from 2.30, enjoy Christmas Carols on Gatley Green from 4.15 and see the lights turned on at 4.30pm. For more information, and courtesy of BossCo, see here. The timings have been moved forward to allow younger children to enjoy the festivities without being late to bed, and so all the shops are open at the same time. Now all we have to do ...
The news in yesterday's Times that Ministers are "likely to hire hundreds more political appointees" (£) is, for anyone who cares about the concept of a non-political bureaucracy, deeply depressing. I'm a rather old-fashioned soul, I admit, and rather proud that we live in a country where civil servants are appointed on merit through a process of open competition. It means, in theory, that an incoming administration can call on a corps of senior officials who understand how their departments work and are grounded in the process and legislation that determines what should and should not be done, as well ...
Wed 20th
10:00Lord Paul Strasburger writes...Government must engage in public debate on surveillance
No reasonable person would deny that our spies should be able to intrude, as deeply as is appropriate, into the affairs of people suspected of the most serious offences. But this scandal is not about those suspects. It's about suspicion-less, untargeted surveillance of the entire population as represented by GCHQ's Project Tempora. The real questions I will be asking in the chamber of the House of Lords are: 1. How have we sleep-walked into a situation where GCHQ is collecting massive amounts of the private data of every innocent citizen without the informed consent of Parliament? 2. Why won't the ...
posted The Blood is The Life 19-11-2013 http://t.co/HEzEX1B6Lw on #dreamwidth (tags: dreamwidth (from twitter) ) Watch out for those liberal girls, lads http://t.co/EsKsUlNFnq (honestly, the things you find on tumblr) (tags: (from twitter) ) posted Eight Things about me that you probably didn't know http://t.co/N0jC0589mH on #dreamwidth (tags: dreamwidth (from twitter) ) Help stop legal aid becoming the new secret courts (tags: ) Get more scientists on #bbcqt petition is over 2,500 now - let's go for 5,000! http://t.co/E8YyAqqvhD (tags: bbcqt (from twitter) ) DoctorBeet's Blog: LG Smart TVs logging USB filenames and viewing info to ...
Wed 20th
08:55Liberal Youth seek Communications Officer and Membership Officer - apply by 5 pm tomorrow
Last week all members of the party under 26 for whom we have email addresses were invited to stand for the posts of Communications Officer and Membership Officer. The closing date is tomorrow, 21st November, at 5pm. Again, I am Returning Officer for this contest. This is what the email said: Vacancies have arisen for two Executive positions: Communications Officer The comms officer responsible for: • Promoting the organisation and it's objectives in the media • Communicating with the membership • Producing and developing communications channels • Maintaining the Liberal Youth Website • Other avenues of communication as required Membership ...
I'm keen member of the retail Co-op (I actually go to the meetings), pay for my broadband and telephone line via the Phone Co-op and have an account at the Co-op Bank. So I'm naturally distressed by the amount of negative publicity being generated by the collapse of our (yes our) bank and allegations of incompetence and wickedness directed at its former chairman Paul Flowers. (Journalists, even on the BBC, please note that in British English its the Rev'd Paul Flowers, the Rev'd P Flowers, or Mr Flowers: the Rev'd Flowers is American English). The Labour Party tries to claim ...
There's a popular meme which resurfaces every so often. Politicians who have accepted campaign contributions should be required to to wear those "sponsor's" logos names during all official duties and visits to constituents. The size of a logo or name would vary with the size of a donation. This is often called the Nascar proposal - after the sponsored uniforms that the racing drivers wear. They'd look something like this [IMG: Politician with NASCAR style sponsorship] The clever folk at mySociety are looking for new and interesting things to do with their data. What should we do next on TheyWorkForYou? ...
I have been advised by the City Council: "... there will be off-peak traffic control next Thursday 21 November to install traffic loops on Nethergate adjacent to Park Place which is a late addition to the Road Report on the web. These are electrical induction loops cut into the top surface of the road which pick up passing vehicles. There are 4 loops to cover the two lanes which as well as counting vehicles allow for vehicles to be classified according to type. While these works are within the Embargo period the dates were dictated by Contractor availability and given ...
Wed 20th
05:20
"Welsh Labour Government just paying lip service to Children's Commissioner's reports"
The Welsh Labour Government has failed to tackle the significant issues that are repeatedly highlighted in the Children's Commissioner for Wales' Annual Reports. The latest report by the Children's Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, was published earlier this month and is due to be debated in the National Assembly today. I am calling on the Welsh Government to start showing strong leadership in ensuring that the views of children in Wales are heard and that the gap between policy and implementation is eliminated. Examples of issues repeated year after year in the Annual Reports include: • Calls for an independently-chaired national ...
Picture the scene, you are sitting in a restaurant, enjoying a meal either on your own or with friends. You are wearing a ribbon supporting some charity or another, it is noticed by your waiter, it is not one he recognises and he asks about it. You tell him what it is, and why it...
