For the 2nd January (LJ | DW) [IMG: [personal profile] ] herdivineshadow asked for my least favourite comic I am reading at the moment, which just isn't fair, because I don't read comics I don't like. (This is actually a big leap for me, and for many comics fans, who sometimes find ourselves accidentally hating half our pull lists) My 'reading at the moment' list goes like this: Hawkeye, Daredevil, Captain Marvel, Lazarus, Chew, Invincible, Red Sonja, Locke and Key (which has now finished but I haven't caught up on quite yet) and the old Palmiotti/ Conner run on Power ...
[IMG: DryJanuary] Picture shows Councillors and Health professionals at the launch. Dry January is a campaign by Alcohol Concern to get people to consider their alcohol intake after the festive season and to either abstain for a month or drastically cut down. This leads to health improvements and many other benefits. The campaign is called Dry January . At the Guildhall today in Bath we launched the campaign with a fruit bar to enable people to try a range of fruit drinks.
I posted part 1 of this film from 1992 before Christmas. Note the doomed Greyfriars bus station at the start of this second party, and also that the camera lens still needs a good clean.
Contrasting Sounds agrees with Paddy Ashdown on the importance of trust. There are an alarming number of deaths in US jails, says Tara Tabachnick in the Guardian. "We were playing a game of 'First one to spot a famous person'. I won. I spotted...ahem...Lembit Opik. He was brandishing a microphone with a TV cameraman at his shoulder." Liberal Burblings on being interviewed in the street by Lembit Opik for Iranian-funded TV. Thanks to the way the Coalition's cuts have been loaded on to local government, we are closing public libraries. At the end of the 19th century, as London Historitage ...
This month I'm up for election, not for a political post for once, but to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Authors' Lending and Collecting Society, ALCS. People who are not writers or journalists, or indeed academics, might not recognise those initials, or indeed confuse them with others, such as the [...]
Even though the story beneath was not true, if there had been a Headline of the Year poll in 1922 then this effort from the New York Times would surely have won it. I asked Lord Bonkers for his comments: That is the great thing about public school and varsity: your friends will help you out in later life if you get into hot water. Incidentally, too much is made of cannibalism in the South Pacific. In my experience of those lovely islands, it was rare. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of the Upper Welland Valley.Thanks to @philipjcowley and ...
In a stunning about turn, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has publicly stated that he has "changed his mind" about Scottish independence and will in fact now be voting "no" in the referendum he has worked so hard to facilitate. It is believed that the volte-face is a product of some intense soul-searching at the top of the Scottish National Party and a number of senior SNP MSPs have backed Mr Salmond's change of heart. Speaking to Angus McTavish on Radio Cille MhaolChaluim this morning, the First Minister explained his reasons: "I've realised, after giving the issue a great deal ...
Paddy Ashdown has inspired an editorial via an interview in The Times today (Links: £), on the subject trust. I largely agree with the point being made - trust is important. This is a non-partisan point. Trust is part of the fabric of society. If you are of Thatcher's "no such thing as society" view, then as she said shortly after that, "life is a reciprocal business". However, The Times goes a bit astray if it meant to actually engender trust. Here's the key passage for me: It is not necessary to share Lord Ashdown's taste for emphatic language to ...
The Guardian reports the Liberal Democrat President calling for more action to enforce minimum wage rules: [IMG: Tim Farron] An urgent change in the law must be introduced to ensure that fines of at least £100,000 are imposed on employers who exploit workers by paying below the national minimum wage, the Liberal Democrat president has said. Tim Farron spoke out against a "ludicrous" anomaly which means that minimum wage fines are set at half the rate of those imposed for fly-tipping... Farron said that George Osborne should increase the maximum fine on employers who pay below the minimum wage to ...
The number of things I read and want to blog about greatly exceeds the amount of time I have to blog. Therefore, I have decided to do a quick round up links post every day. I don't know if Blogger has the sort of automatic thingummyjig that Jennie and Stephen use for theirs on Dreamwidth and Wordpress respectively, but if you know different, please let me know cos it would make my life a whole load easier. First up today, a reminder of how dire the working conditions are for midwives. This anonymous NHS midwife, writing in the Independent, says ...
Twitter is becoming an evermore important tool in shaping the political debate, and it's the Lib Dems who seem to have embraced it the most fully. I often criticise the
[IMG: Paddy Ashdown] Each New Year brings the unveiling of Government files from 30 years ago. This year's revelations include some highly topical references to CIA approaches to British citizens. In 1984 Margaret Thatcher ruled. Paddy Ashdown was one of 23 SDP/Liberal Alliance MPs – he did not become Leader of the Liberal Democrats until the merger of the Social Democrat and the Liberal parties in 1988. Before he entered Parliament he had been an MI6 officer, so he was well placed to observe the CIA's activities. According to today's Guardian, this is what he he was concerned about when ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Sherlock fans go off the rails on Twitter over 'elementary errors' | Media Monkey | Media | theguardian.com Gdn Media Monkey pieces nails Sherlock pedantry: "Sherlock fans go off the rails on Twitter over 'elementary errors'" http://bit.ly/1dsZzp2 Liberal England: Sarah Teather and her magic carpet V humane by @lordbonkers on S Teather "decision to walk away from party politics voluntrly rarely sign of bad person" http://bit.ly/1i0HLT5 Doctor Who to Sherlock: TV franchises now have such devoted followings that casual viewers are alienated – Comment – Voices – The Independent Not a super-fan ...
[IMG: 9421278633_499c12e839_n] How do you feel about the immigration debate? There seems to be a lot of anger out there. The right wing press/UKIP axis has brought its perma-rage about all things European Union into sharper focus around the lifting of the transitional controls on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants. We've had weeks of build up in which an incoherent nightmare scenario has been lashed together. Hoards will arrive to take all the jobs away from British workers, while simultaneously either instigating a crime wave or living a life of pampered benefit-funded luxury for which the hard-working taxpayer will pick up ...
Glancing through the websites of the national newspapers today I came across this assessment in the Telegraph by Dan Hodges of Ed Miliband's year. Dan Hodges is no friend of the Labour leader, but even so his opinion is worth listening to and he pinpoints precisely why Ed Miliband is failing to make a wider impact: Ed Miliband has entered 2014 with a spring in his step. It was on prominent display in his New Year's message, which basically consisted of a video of our putative next prime minister walking around a lot. Where he was walking wasn't entirely clear. ...
UKIP Councillors can always be relied on for a daft quote, and Cllr. Sam Fletcher of Keighley Town Council is no exception. Cllr. Fletcher represents Bracken Bank and Ingrow Ward on the
Via the BBC: Welfare reform minister Lord Freud said... "It is only a small minority who commit fraud." (It's always worth remembering that the amount lost in benefit fraud is roughly equaly to the amount lost in administrative errors.)
The Thanet Gazette gives good coverage of Thanet's public health crisis as the council fail miserably to take control of the waste disposal. Items that need to be addressed 1. Giving credible and up to date information would help allay some of the problems, unfortunately Thanet councils waste website has not been updated since Christmas Eve. 2. No explanation as to why scheduled collections didn't take place on Tuesday this week. 3. Perhaps rather than blame the public for not reading poorly produced error prone leaflets, Cllr Alan Poole ought to check his and his council colleagues literacy skills. 4 ...
[IMG: BRITAIN POLITICS UK ELECTION CAMERON BECOMES PM] As the new year dawns there's much press speculation about when the Liberal Democrats are going to cut and run from the Coalition and start campaigning for the next election. At some point, of course, we are going to have to do this but having given an undertaking that we would work with the Tories for five years, that point I think should be quite late. But what we can do now is much more exciting. We should declare that at the end of this coalition we shall not be entering into ...
Just a few weeks before Christmas, there was a thrilling interview by Decca Aitkenhead in the Guardian with Louise Casey, the head of the government's troubled families programme. I realise that 'thrilling' is not a usual epithet to use about this kind of thing. I found it so because it was authentic and because I admire Louise, which is why she played such a key role in my book about the future of organisations, The Human Element. Perhaps I also imagined some echo of the thesis I made there when she said: "All of what we do turns on something ...
The Western Mail has more details on the bid by Welsh Liberal Democrats' leader, Kirsty Williams to introduce a private members bill that will make it a legal requirement to meet minimum nursing staff levels in hospitals. She says that this is vital if Wales is to provide a upsurge in the quality of nursing care, and it will meet a key recommendation of a report aiming to avoid a Mid Staffs-style health scandal: Speaking in the wake of her proposal for such a requirement was chosen in a ballot of Private Member's Bills, Kirsty Williams said the profession was ...
First of all, Happy New Year to all of you. Second of all, I'm going to have to get better at putting more of the stuff I write on here. Since I've been co-editing Liberal Democrat Voice, I've not had time to put as much on here as I would have liked. That's something I need to remedy in 2014. Thirdly, I thought it might amuse to remind you of my top ten posts on here this year. In reverse order: 10. Party in a pickle over porn. What were the Federal Conference Committee thinking?That #talknottech campaign 9. A 13 ...
The most distressing movie moment I experienced when I was a child, was watching R2-D2 being shot by a TIE fighter towards the end of Star Wars. (Spoiler!) [IMG: R2D2 Shot] The sheer callousness of a "baddie" deliberately inflicting pain on a cute a loveable character is, I suppose, understandably upsetting - especially to a small child. I also got upset at C-3PO being dismantled in The Empire Strikes Back, and at Johnny 5 being beaten up in Short Circuit 2. But both those characters have anthropomorphic features - bipedeal, two eyes, hands, and - most importantly - voices. [IMG: ...
Big Brother Watch have revealed that over a million school pupils are fingerprinted school, many without parental consent being given. In their report Biometrics in Schools, which looks at the
The first thing I did when I got in the office was turn the heating up. That was an hour ago. I am still wearing my coat, scarf and hat and I can't feel my fingers. View Poll: Office heating (ETA: for those interested in my clothing choices: ankle length black leather coat, Cadbury purple crushed velvet scarf, grey Preacher-style hat given to me by A Friend) ETA additional: ten past 12 and I still can't feel my fingers. ETA final: congrats to [IMG: [personal profile] ] strangecharm who was bang on. Coat has just come off. Although in the ...
It's trying to snow outside the office right now, so I figure it's time for this public warning: Many years ago, I was in an abusive relationship. Since that time I have had some measure of martial arts training because I don't EVER want to be in the position again where someone can hurt me physically without coming a LOT worse off than I do. If you surprise me with a physical attack, like, for example, throwing a snowball at me, I will break your face before my conscious brain even realises what I am doing. For your own safety, ...
I mentioned yesterday that there were two elections that might pass uncommented upon for the most part, one of which was internal to the Liberal Democrats. Yes, we have a Presidential election to look forward to, and given that Tim Farron is term-limited, somebody new is going to be leading the voluntary Party into a potentially tough General Election. Six years ago, everybody knew that Lembit was going to run for the Presidency, whilst Ros Scott was emerging as a likely opponent. What wasn't clear was what the Leader's Office wanted, or who they would back, or whether further viable ...
So, local residents in and around Heathrow are to be consulted by the airport which of the 2 expansion plans for Heathrow they prefer - a new third runway ( offering more respite periods for individual communities but bringing new aircraft noise to loads more residents) or an extended second runway (which will not bring new areas under the flightpath but will reduce respite as the runway will be used for both take off and landing). As John Stewart of HACAN has said, the choice was like being asked "whether you prefer being murdered by the Boston Strangler or Jack ...
posted The Blood is The Life 02-01-2014 http://t.co/poztLaQddr on #dreamwidth (tags: dreamwidth (from twitter) ) Rethinking how to fix poverty by using empirical results to verify what works (tags: ) I, Glasshole: My Year With Google Glass (tags: ) The allure of abandoned Tube stations - last line of this article is GENIUS. (tags: ) Increase fines for employers who fail to pay minimum wage - senior Lib Dem http://t.co/E7OTBL8m8b (tags: (from twitter) ) Growing generational divide on immigration: much more about age/generation than class now http://t.co/pjwHPOrX2U http://t.co/CpLLO6cTFZ (tags: (from twitter) ) The immigration invasion that never ...
Here's my latest Ham and High column, following a great year of working with local residents to protect our services 2013 was a year of people power in Haringey – with thousands of local residents and Liberal Democrats joining forces to protect local services. At the beginning of the year, the proposed sell off of land at the Whittington Hospital was successfully halted, following a campaign by over 4,500 local residents and the Haringey Liberal Democrats. Later in the year thousands of Lib Dem petition signers also prevented Royal Mail's planned closure of Hornsey Sorting Office, and also stopped the ...
Fri 3rd
08:46
Lord Roberts writes: It is time to open our doors to some of the most vulnerable people in the world
[IMG: ld4sos-banner] As 2013 drew to a close, politicians from across the political spectrum came to the same conclusion: that the UK should offer shelter to (at least) a small number of the two million refugees who have fled the war in Syria. Even scaremongerer-in-chief, Nigel Farage MEP, called upon the UK to honour its obligations under international law. Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP, told BBC Radio 4′s The World this Weekend that 'clearly we can't take all the refugees, but we should play our part as an open-hearted, compassionate country'. The Labour Party has supported the idea of taking in ...
With the festive season drawing to a close, you can help the city's recycling effort by arranging a special collection of your real Christmas Tree by phoning the City Council's Environment Department on 433710 or 433677. Alternatively, if you have a brown wheelie bin, the tree can be cut up and placed in it for collection, or it can be taken to council recycling centres, such as the Riverside Civic Amenity site.
I have had complaints from residents that the pathway from Hawkhill to St Peter Street was overgrown with sharp branches protruding across the path - see below.I have been in touch with the City Council's Environment Department regarding responsibility for maintenance here and the pruning was carried out very promptly.
