Stockport Council's fostering service is actively recruiting foster carers for the recently launched specialist fostering scheme and is aiming to attract people who have had direct experience of working with older children and young adults with additional needs and challenging behaviours. An open evening will be held on Thursday 6th February 2014, starting at 6.30 pm until 8pm at The Village Hotel, Cheadle. The open evening will explain more about the scheme which offers an annual salary of £28k-£30k as well as generous allowances and extensive support and training. For further information please visit the Stockport Council fostering pages here ...
Interesting news from Yorkshire, where controversial Tory MP Anne McIntosh has been de-selected by her local party following a ballot of local party members. Ms McIntosh has been in a long-running dispute with local officials about her political future. The MP, chair of the Environment Select Committee, said she still intended to fight the seat. Ms McIntosh, who was first elected to Parliament in 1997, survived a similar vote of confidence before the 2010 election and went on to increase her majority to more than 11,000. The MP is reported to have fallen out with the chair of her local ...
Local Policing Panels for the South Cambridgeshire area are changing. From February 2014 there will be three Panel areas, focused around our three Police Stations at Histon, Cambourne and Sawston. These meetings will be held three times a year for each area to allow the public to influence their local Policing priorities. (Follow this link to find out which panel area your village is in: Panel areas 2014 - Bar Hill, Boxworth, Lolworth, and Girton all come under Histon Panel) Histon Panel (combined area for Histon and Swavesey panels)February 12th 2014 Cottenham Village College June 11th 2014 Swavesey Village College ...
Fri 31st
21:21
Newsletter from the European Parliament, Friday 31 January 2014 - Sir Graham Watson MEP
Finance ministers from the 18 countries in the eurozone met on Monday. The biggest item of discussion was the sustainability of Greece's debt, though they also discussed recapitalisation of banks. A €60 bn recapitalisation fund - part of the 'European Stability Mechanism' - will be launched in November under the aegis of the ECB. On Wednesday negotiators from Parliament and Council met to discuss the role of the EP in overseeing bank resolution (winding-up) procedures. At the same time the European Commission proposed bans on proprietary trading and rehypothecation (ie. banks using their depositors' money to speculate) for banks considered ...
People who enjoyed part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4 are in for a treat.
Fri 31st
20:28Cambridge MP Newsletter: Holocaust Memorial Day, Tory Rebellions And Action Day Galore! 31-JAN-2014
Cambridge Commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day This past weekend, Cambridge commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day and marked the 69th anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation. I was proud to witness firsthand the tremendous efforts put forth by the City Council and the Cambridge University Jewish Society to honour the memory of all who perished. The community truly came together and reminded us all of the importance of preventing these atrocities from ever happening again. It seemed appropriate that two days after Holocaust Memorial Day, which also marked 75 years since Britain rescued 10,000 children with the Kindertransport, we finally persuaded the Home Secretary ...
Bad news in the Leicester Mercury: Track improvements, which could shave five minutes off train times from Leicester to London, have been left out of Network Rail spending plans. Rail campaigners say the long-awaited scheme to straighten the Midland Main Line through Market Harborough station is not in the draft development programme for the next five years. Also missing are proposals to rebuild the platforms, which are too short, too low and do not meet modern access standards.As an old school friend of mine is quoted as saying later in the report: "It really is unacceptable that accessibility - especially ...
A puzzling aspect of the demise of David Parsons, the former leader of the ruling Conservative group on Leicestershire County Council, was the way his party stood by him even after it became clear that his resignation over financial irregularities was inevitable. Today he repaid the Tories for this loyalty with a kick in the teeth. He travelled down to London, met Nigel Farage and joined UKIP. The Leicester Mercury reports: Mr Parsons has been serving as an independent member of Blaby District, representing the Muxloe ward along with his wife, Liz, who has also today joined UKIP. The Mercury ...
On Friday evening I spent a cold hour looking at the motorway slip-road and the Kingsway junction with representatives from the Highways Agency and Transport for Greater Manchester. The Highways Agency were making good on their promise to try reducing the cycle time on the traffic lights to allow more cars to turn right from Cheadle and Gatley. However, they're still very nervous about giving the go-ahead. They reduced the cycle time from 180 to 160 seconds, but put it back as queues started building up towards the motorway. The Highways Agency are very concerned about longer queues back onto ...
The Council has received a planning application to convert the dental technicians on the parade of shops at the bottom of Pendlebury Road, Gatley into a convenience store. The proposed opening hours are 7am to 9pm, seven days a week and apart from a shopfront sign there are no other changes proposed that would require planning permission. You can see, and comment on, the application here.
I famously don't care all that much for London. Too noisy, smelly and generally uncivilised for my provincial tastes. I've spent most of this week working out of our offices in Tower 42 (the former home of NatWest) and while my colleagues and clients have been great, I'm glad to be home. However, the person who made me smile most this week was Veronica, who works in the Pret A Manger opposite the tower. Her enthusiasm for her job and the way she interacted with her colleagues and customers – even awkward ones like me – was terrific. I've no ...
Journalist and academic Aleks Krotoski has been untangling the web for years, and has finally put all that research and expertise into book. Aleks Krotoski's "Untangling the Web" is a
On Thursday evening we had a Full Council. Labour spelt out with an unintentional clarity their dystopian vision of society. The Tories, incidentally, said absolutely nothing all night. We had certainly not come for bout of extreme ya boo exchanges but clearly that was Labour's plan from the off. They were even petty about answering written questions I should start by saying that during the meeting we got the devastating news that our friend and colleague Robert Hamilton had been killed in Southport when he and his bike were hit by a car in Linker St. John Pugh paid tribute ...
It might seem that Nigel Farage and Harry Redknapp have little in common. Yet if you think about it for more than a moment, they do have a few things in common. For example, neither is too keen on paying tax (see here for Harry's experiences, and here for Farage's), they both earn an awful lot of money, they both have sons who have been in the news lately (see here for Farage's son, and here for Redknapp's), and like to frequent expensive places (see here for Harry's faves, and here for Farage's faves), and they both have strong opinions ...
Here's a snippet from Ukip's 2010 general election manifesto: "Ukip would place a maximum of three foreign players in the starting line-up, as this would free up places for British players in the youth academies of these teams and spur the future development of home teams." As Paul Haydon points out here, That would force managers to make some pretty tough decisions about who they would keep and who they would give the boot. Where would that leave your favourite team? Who would you keep and who would you send home? Toure or Silva? Negredo or Aguero? Oscar or Hazard? ...
I stumbled across this the other day. It shouldn't be funny but somehow it is...
The announcement of the NHS care.data scheme has attracted criticism from scientists, doctors and interest groups. With good reason, argues Edward Hocking.
The City Council's Cabinet is next week (7 Feb) to decide on plans to expand Gilmour Infants school and Gilmour Junior school in L19. The paperwork for the meeting is at this link.
[IMG: Southeastern train (Chris McKenna)] Severe weather is forecast for this evening with high winds and more heavy rain predicted for the South East. The safety of our passengers is our highest priority and with the risk of trees falling on to railway lines, flooding and landslips, Network Rail has put in place a 40 mph speed restriction across parts of the Southeastern network. This will take effect from 8pm tonight (Friday 31 January) until the close of service. We will work hard to provide the best possible service, however because of the speed restrictions trains will run slower than ...
Liverpool City Council has started a consultation on whether or not to close Parklands High School in Speke. If the school does close this year, pupils will be directed to the Enterprise South Liverpool Academy. It would mean no secondary school provision in the Speke area. The consultation runs until late Feb. You can see the details at this link. It's certainly true that the number of secondary school pupils is down at the moment nationally. However the need to expand primary provision implies that there will be demand for secondary places in future.
I've often argued that a campaign theme Liberal Democrats should prioritise is that of "responsible stewardship". Not least of public money. If you can get people to feel confident that you will properly take care of the money they are more likely to trust you with other decisions. This is an example of an effective campaign along those lines from Haringey Liberal Democrats. A simple message strongly presented.
Two local community forums, Harringay Online and Bowes & Bounds Connected have teamed to up to create a living memorial to mark the 100 year anniversary of the First World War. Inspired by the Royal British Legion's new campaign, the team aims to collect enough money to buy one million Flanders poppy seeds. The seeds will then be packed and made available at shops around the Borough, ready for planting. £1 in every 3 will go directly to the British Legion, and the rest will be used to co-ordinate planting events to get a million poppies growing in our area. ...
News this week from the Cabinet Office: [IMG: Online electoral registration] The government today unveiled the new online voter registration system as Greg Clark, Minister for Cities and the Constitution, hosted the first public demonstration of how people will register to vote online... The new online system will go live in June at the same time as Individual Electoral Registration (IER), when the old household registration forms will be phased out and everyone will register individually for the first time. Under IER, whether registering online or using the paper forms, voters will for the first time be required to provide ...
[IMG: Paddy Ashdown] The Telegraph reports that Paddy and Jane Ashdown were involved in a road accident yesterday afternoon on the A356 near Crewkerne. A Vauxhall Corsa clipped their car, and the driver of the Corsa, Mark Hurford, sadly died at the scene. Paddy Ashdown said: We were coming back from the station and my wife was driving me home. We were about a mile outside Crewkerne and a car came around the corner. My wife was in the driver's seat and miraculously and thankfully she was unhurt. However, the young man was dead by the time I reached him. ...
At the end of the summer last year I gave my good friend Roger Symonds a hand setting up his new blog about cycling. I helped him with the technical stuff and made sure it was up and running properly. I was particularly pleased with the banner graphic I created for it. But I'd neglected to promote it here — so I am remedying that today. Roger seems to have had a bit of a break from blogging over Christmas and the New Year but — given that he has made such a really good job of it so far ...
As the January transfer window draws to a close today, English clubs have been buying up some of the best footballing talent in the world. Most people can't wait to see Juan Mata or Nemanja Matic in action. Not UKIP. ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Haringey Council's housing numbers don't add up]
The debate on Scottish independence grinds inexorably on. It is growing ever more poisonous and unpleasant- an army of cybernat trolls will jump upon anyone who dares to criticize the Yes campaign to even the slightest degree. It is obnoxious and nasty- and stupid. The fact is that Salmond, our prospective "father of the nation" still has a lot of work to do before he can put forward a credible plan for separation. Although at times he strives to suggest that independence is not that big a step, it is damn difficult to judge when he can not answer some ...
So, I'm on my way to Brussels, and am waiting amongst a relatively jolly bunch of England rugby supporters - they're on their way to Paris - at St Pancras (I'm a bit early for my train, unusually). It's been a good day so far, in that I've had good news at work - I've passed the third of four sets of exams - and my journey from the Gipping Valley has run smoothly thus far. If only my spine was working as well... But ALDE awaits, and an adventure in loyalty too, so with the prospect of good beer ...
Lib Dem run Sutton Council and its local partners have introduced a range of initiatives to reduce youth unemployment in the borough, meaning a drop in youth unemployment of 31% between November 2012 and November 2013. These include targeted outreach work in deprived wards, targeted work with young people who are not in employment, education [...]
[IMG: Ballot paper] The move to Individual Electoral Registration later this year has the capacity to enable our party to re-engage with many young and new voters. Given our polling numbers, this is all the more pertinent, as registering young voters increases party loyalty. There is considerable evidence that if people vote at the start of their careers as citizens, they are more likely to carry on voting. Rather than canvassing people sporadically, we should be targeting 16,17 and 18 year olds. Just like voters of all ages, young voters are attracted to candidates that reach out to them. Partisan ...
I am only aware of one meeting at BTC next week Tuesday 4th February, 6:30 at Arms Evertyne House, Policy Working Group This appears on the council's website, with the override "This is normally a closed meeting"
[IMG: The Everything Store by Brad Stone] Grab an armful of business leadership books from your nearest bookshop and look through them for advice on how to treat staff. I doubt you'll find any of them encouraging business leaders to humiliate their colleagues in public more frequently. Yet one of the most memorable stories in Brad Stone's account of how Jeff Bezos made such a success of Amazon is just such an encounter with a senior manager. They were giving answers that Bezos did not believe about the speed with which the phones were being answered by the customer service ...
Fri 31st
10:40
University applications at record high levels post-fees - including from disadvantaged areas - yet a...
Well, this is all getting very repetitive. UCAS has published the latest statistics on full-time undergraduate applications to higher education in the UK this year. And yet again it's shown that – despite the hyperbolic fears of those who said the Coalition's tuition fees reforms would put young people off applying to university – they are applying in record numbers, including those from the most disadvantaged areas. Here are three key points from the data: Taking account of population changes, application rates for 18 year olds across the whole of the UK are at, or near, their highest levels. An ...
Labour's attempt to convince people that they can be trusted with the economy took a big knock yesterday when Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander suggested that if they got back into power then they would still be borrowing billions, at a time when the public finances would be back in balance under coalition plans. The BBC say that overall, according to the Treasury analysis put forward by Danny Alexander, Labour would borrow £166.2bn more than the coalition between 2016-17 and 2020-1: It calculates that Labour would still be borrowing £41bn in 2019-20 and £32bn in 2020-1, by when ...
I met up with a banker friend and relative of mine last Friday. I take him seriously because, back in 2007, he was suggesting that he and I write a book together on the coming collapse of the global banking system. I didn't - but it did. This is what he said last week. If you put bankers in a room trading bonds, and pay them bonuses to encourage them, they will carry on doing it until everything explodes. This is horribly true. It is one of the side-effects of bonuses of all kinds, and targets too. They encourage people ...
Our pubs have taken a real battering over the years, consistently being undercut by supermarkets selling alcohol as a loss leader and through the 'beer duty escalator'. In just six [...]
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... Disgruntled Radical: Update on Theresa's Law and how Liberal Democrat MPs voted Good news: 7 Lib Dem MPs voted the liberal way on the Immigration Bill. Bad news: yeah, just 7 http://bit.ly/1ekM0Zw Twitter / suttonnick: Friday's Daily Mirror front ... Daily Mirror labels them "Tory floods". Why are they giving the Tories the credit for gay marriage? http://bit.ly/1gv88n8 (ht @suttonnick) Everyone likes the idea of equal opportunity. This economist thinks it's a fantasy. Here's a depressing challenge to social mobility/equal of opportunity believers like ...
Over in the Financial Times, Jim Pickard has been looking at the likely impact of technology on British elections: [IMG: Email inbox] Labour's plan to reimpose the 50p tax rate was released simultaneously last weekend on Twitter, Facebook and the party website. The party has kept up the pressure since the weekend through persistent online messaging, urging followers to pass on messages. "In the past, politicians were after your cheque book, now they are after your email address and social network," says Mark Pack, a political consultant and author of 101 Ways to Win An Election... NationBuilder, based in Los ...
[IMG: alde] In any half decent action movie, you have to have a vaguely credible, if unlikely, hero, a stereotypically evil, well-resourced opponent, and some sort of desirable outcome. For example, a mild mannered archaeologist or museum curator, the Nazis and the retrieval of some mystic artefact. In 'Indiana Clegg and the Temple of Federalism', the outcome is the selection of the right Liberal candidate for President of the European Commission, and the opponent is Guy Verhofstadt, a former Prime Minister of Belgium and current leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament. The hero? You decide... In the ...
Having excitedly had his leadership ambitions announced in an extraordinary Telegraph piece earlier in the week,Danny Alexander seems to have fired the starting pistol – only pointing straight at his foot. Bang. Ouch! Citing a 'Treasury analysis' he compares Labour spending plans to 2020-21 with Coalition plans (were the current Coalition to exist after May 2015, of course: which shows both arrogant disregard for the electorate and disdain for the as yet uncertain views of his own party). The interesting thing is that the last two years' worth of those spending plans do not exist, at least publicly. They have ...
China Banned from Sochi Olympics After Figure Skater Tests Positive for Homosexuality - Poe's Law anyone? (tags: ) Misquoted and misunderstood: have "one in four" people really had a mental health problem? | Full Fact (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Dramatic social change will always force us to re-evaluate our ideas. We round of our look at Pentecostalism by seeing what assumptions it may force us to discard. 1. We live in a Post-Christian age The explosive growth of Pentecostalism has helped to push the number of Christians in the world to a record level. [...]
Some local residents have put together a marvellous map of local independent shops. Please see attached. Indie Shop Map WELL DONE EMMA PALLANT for the lovely artwork and MADELIENE WORRALL for conceiving of the idea and making it happen. I helped find the money and guranteed it so they could print before Christmas. I've already been asking them about the next version... What have we missed?
This photograph, concluding this series of the Photopolis photographic resource, shows the north side of the Hawkhill at the junction with Bellfield Lane at the left (in the west). Alexander Wilson's Dining Rooms and Coffeehouse were at No. 167. One of the advertisements on the gable end are for the Dundee Select Choir's performance of Handel's oratorio "Samson" at the Kinnaird Hall. The Dundee Directory lists the other shops as Mrs G. Harper, tobacconist, Mrs A. Boyack, draper, The Annandale Dairy Company, Isabella Miller, fruiterer, and Miss F. Sheriff, confectioner. Then comes Lowden's Alley.
As part of their campaign, the Welsh Liberal Democrats held a debate in the National Assembly this week calling for the introduction of free school meals for all children of infant school age in Wales. In last year's Autumn Statement, the Coalition government announced that school children aged between 5 and 7 in England were to receive free school meals from September 2014. The Scottish government has decided that the money it received, as a result of this announcement, would be used to introduce free school meals for Scottish pupils. However, the Welsh Labour Government has refused to do likewise. ...
A Tory plan to cut funding for the county's Dial-a-Ride and other community transport schemes which could lead to their total collapse has been attacked as "brutal and heartless" by Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats. They say the move, in the Conservatives' proposed County Council budget would leave elderly and disabled people isolated and vulnerable across the county. Cambridgeshire County Council received a government grant of £516,000 to help community transport operators develop and expand. But the bulk of the money has not been distributed and the Tories plan to use it to plug holes in the council's budget. In contrast, the ...
Fri 31st
02:20
Andy Gray & Richard Keys singing 'Get your tits out...' to a female presenter (video).
Andy Gray and Richard Keys are 'lads' as some people would say. They are also clearly immature pathetic individuals. They got their comeuppance when there were leaks of videos of them talking about Sian Massay and then how Gray dealt with a female colleague. They disappeared from UK TV and are now presenting and commentating on Bein Sport in Dubai. They have disappeared from the public (or shall we say the football) consciousness for a good while now until last Saturday. Last Saturday Andy Gray stepped into the commentary box alongside Ian Darke to call the Stevenage v Everton FA ...
Questions about Thameslink rail service's performance will be raised by St Albans City and District Council's Local Services Scrutiny Committee at a meeting on Thursday 6 March. Committee members will quiz senior management from First Capital Connect (FCC) and Network Rail about the service, including the disruptions that took place on Friday, 17 January. Cllr Chris White, Chair of the Local Services Scrutiny Committee, said: "The Committee is keen to hear from residents and commuters with any concerns they have about the Thameslink service. Please send details of any issues to scrutiny@stalbans.gov.uk by Friday 14 February so that we can ...
A national report suggests Cambridgeshire is the top place in the East of England where people are turning the tide against physical inactivity. However, the independent report, "Turning the tide of inactivity", from UK Active is also a clear call for people to become more active across the county. The report details the levels of physical inactivity, both at a national and local level. It suggests out of 11 local authority areas in the East of England, Cambridgeshire is the place where people are the least sedentary with just over 22 per cent population thought to be physically inactive. This ...
Lib Dem County Councillor, Ian Manning is to challenge cross-party councillors to do more to encourage young people in the city to vote. The move has been inspired by the national Bite the Ballot campaign, which aims to empower young people to act to make their votes and opinions count, and Cambridge campaigner, Antony Carpen who blogs as @Puffles. Cllr Manning, who represents East Chesterton on Cambridgeshire County Council, wants to launch his competition between Cambridge City Council's Area Committees to encourage councillors to connect better with young people. "People aged under 24 are the least likely to vote and ...
The Neighbourhood and Home Watch movement is one of the largest voluntary crime prevention initiatives across the country. Groups typically operate in a variety of communities to help bring neighbours together who want to look out for each other, creating strong, friendly, active communities where crime and antisocial behaviour is less likely to happen. In order to evaluate Neighbourhood and Home Watch groups across England and Wales, the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network (NHWN) invite you to participate in our national survey to help us assess the perceived impact and effectiveness of the movement. To take part, please select the ...
Ah Mr Mark Steel. A voice against Capitalism and a voice against the system. Allegedly a comedian but I support if Michael McIntyre can call himself a comedian then anyone can these days. I think it is fair to say that Mark Steel is a Labour man and it has heavily influenced his life. I have no problem with that, we are all shaped by our upbringings and our political ideologies. Some from all parties believe in everything they do and disparage anyone who disagrees wit them. This always galls me as I like to think there is something to ...
