Another of Rank's short Look at Life films.
Millions of Britons are used to waking up to or coming round to the crisp Scottish tones of presenter James Naughtie on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, but this evening Jim showed another side of his talents when he launched his first novel, a thriller called The Madness of July (Head of Zeus, £12.99), which [...]
It really is rather peculiar. So peculiar that historians may comment on it in years to come if the vote is unexpected, but the campaign by the UK government to keep Scotland in the union is really so badly judged, so unimaginative and ill-considered, that I begin to suspect some kind of conspiracy. I don't really. I don't believe in conspiracies. Regular readers of this blog (if there are any) will also know that I am not as determinedly against Scottish independence as I should be. I believe nations should be smaller, and that we would all be better and ...
Tue 25th
21:47
Nick Clegg and Vince Cable highlight Liberal Democrat achievements in higher education
When I went to speak in the St Andrew's University debate last week, I did a bit of what I described as getting the tin opener and the worm can perilously close to each other, but pointed out that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were twice as likely to go to university as they were 10 years ago. I also pointed out that those graduates on the lowest incomes would be paying much less than they were under Labour. I was greatly assisted in preparing my remarks by Stephen Tall's piece in January on the latest data in which he ...
Tue 25th
21:40
East Of England MEP Andrew Duff Celebrates A Win For Car Drivers And East Of England Jobs
New laws, backed by MEPs meeting in Strasbourg, have been passed to require the amount of carbon dioxide pumped out by new cars to be cut from the present limit of 130g/km to 95g/km in the next seven years. It means that the average new car should each year be able to deliver at least 3% more miles to the gallon. Motor manufacturers based in the east of England will also benefit from the jobs created by new environment friendly cars. Duff said, "By any measure the EU requirements to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars have proven a success. ...
First, Labour was going to target Nick Clegg's Sheffield Hallam constituency. Now, according to The Blue Guerilla (which claims a 'WORLD EXCLUSIVE' for the story), Nigel Farage is planning to stand there. Both these stories are nonsense, and we have heard the Farage one before. Labour has no chance in Sheffield Hallam. I do not believe Farage will stand there, and if he does he will be soundly defeated. But the fact they gain currency tells us something important about the British political press. It is overwhelmingly London based, and because of that it knows little about life outside the ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert When we came into office in 2010 we made it a priority to end the abhorrent practice of child detention for immigration purposes. This is something we had committed to in our 2010 manifesto; under Labour many thousands of innocent children were detained - in some cases for months on end, in prison-like conditions. I had the pleasure of being the first Liberal to ask a question at PMQs, and it was there that Nick announced that we would end child detention. Nick Clegg and others worked closely with Barnardo's and Citizens UK to develop an ...
The European Parliament will vote tomorrow (Wednesday) on whether to open up its legislative procedures to better public scrutiny. MEPs will decide on whether to follow the proposal of its constitutional affairs committee to make roll call votes compulsory on all final votes at committee stage and in plenary. Andrew Duff, Liberal constitutional spokesman, has long championed such transparency. In a statement today, Duff said: "More and more critical votes on draft laws are taken at committee stage. This is especially so when progress in the 'trialogue' negotiations with the European Commission and Council of Ministers allow agreement to be ...
This afternoon, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gave speech on Higher Education to young people and parents at at the Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School in East London. A full transcript of Nick's speech is below. University isn't for everyone. Sometimes vocational training is better - an apprenticeship or a course other than a degree. But it is important that, if you aren't considering university, it's for the right reasons. I want to make sure not a single one of you is being put off a degree because you think it's something you can't afford. I'm ...
The Barnes Hospital site is being offered for sale. The site, along with the planning permission to renovate the hospital building, convert it into apartments, and build more houses and apartments on the site is on the market. Having looked in detail at the planning permission, offering the best opportunity to save the former hospital building, we're concerned that the longer the site goes undeveloped, the more expensive it becomes to save the building and it may end up not being economic even with the enabling development around it. However, it is a private site and if the owners want ...
Leicester Liberal Democrats are holding a fundraising quiz night at the Aylestonians rugby club on the evening of Friday 21 March. There will be a prize quiz for teams, a light supper and speeches by our Euro candidates in the region. Oh yes, and we are also promised "lighthearted entertainment at half time provided by Lord Bonkers".
Sunday afternoon at my home the first inaugral meeting of the steering group for a new East Dulwich free secondary school met. [IMG: Inaugral new East Dulwich secondary school campaign steering group] Although I launched and have run with this campaign for many months it's definately time to open it up to parents that have the time to help make it happen. I'm also keen that it becomes a cross party campaign. Ensuring enough good school places shouldn't be political. A dozen of us chewed over what we'd like to see. We agreed that it would be: - co ed ...
The Health Select Committee has just hosted a rather fractious debate over the care.data database of patient information. Amongst those appearing in front of the panel of MPs today was
The First World War started one hundred years ago. It was supposed to be the 'War that would end all wars', but, unfortunately, this wasn't so. Many British and Commonwealth [...]
An investigation by Birkdale Lib Dem Councillor Simon Shaw has revealed that one charity has cost Sefton Council £350,000 in lost rate income over the last four years on the two shops it operates in Southport - money that could have helped keep our lost library open. Healthy Planet is a national charity operating around 30 "Books for Free" stores around the country. In Southport they have one shop in Cambridge Walks and another in one of the large units next to Homebase at the Meols Cop Retail Park. Back in January Simon wrote to senior Council officers calling for ...
Liberal Democrats today successfully called for Herts County Council to take action as a result of recent flooding. The Leader of the opposition, Stephen-Giles Medhurst (central Watford and Oxhey) commented, "I am glad that Liberal Democrat concerns about local residents and the impact of flooding have been listened to today. We must ensure that we help local families and businesses recover from the flooding, and that the County Council use the full range of Government and European funds available to support this". Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on the Environment (St Albans South), added "This sort of 'exceptional' weather is ...
Pink News reports Nick Clegg's tweet about Uganda's anti-gay law which was signed off yesterday by President Museveni. The Ugandan anti-gay law is an abhorrent backwards step for human rights. It should never be a crime to be LGBT. — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) February 24, 2014 The report includes more detail, but in summary: The new law punishes first-time offenders with 14 years in jail, and allows life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of "aggravated homosexuality". It also makes it a crime not to report gay people to the authorities. Lesbians are covered by the bill for the first ...
Down to Parnu, Estonia's summer capital for the celebrations of Estonian Independence Day. At the church service I was sat behind the Prime Minister, Andrus Ansip, who had announced his departure from office the previous day. He seemed preoccupied and serious, as well he might. He is the longest serving Prime Minister in Estonian history, and a large number of his predecessors ended their lives in the Soviet GULAG. After the church service I was a guest in the VIP enclosure to stand with the President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves to watch the military parade. This was the largest such independence ...
Local Lib Dem councillors have been campaigning for years to prevent building on green belt land near Churchtown. The areas in question (off Bankfield Lane and Moss Lane) are liable to flooding. As we have seen on TV recently, widespread hardship has been caused by floods in the South of the country. The following article has been written by Councillor Tony Robertson, Lib Dem Planning Spokesperson on Sefton Council. We are reproducing it here as the issues Tony raises are applicable to Churchtown. Tony Robertson writes: A group of experts led by the Landscape Institute have written to David Cameron ...
[IMG: key_conference_register] Is there a motion on the LibDem Conference Agenda you are just dying to amend? Something that's too Orange Book, too Soggy Democrat or just plain too Lembit for you to support? I'd like to know about it! On Sunday 2nd March, two days before the deadline for amendments, Calderdale Liberal Democrats Policy Working Group will meet – with our voting reps and ordinary members in attendance to debate the motions and any proposed amendments. If you would like us to consider your amendment to the York Conference Agenda, please email me. Provide the details of the proposed ...
An update on UKIP councillor Peter Lagoda: Peter Lagoda has admitted to fiddling nearly £25,000 through benefits fraud just days after coming under pressure to be booted out of the party for using "deeply offensive" language during a fire station visit. Cambridgeshire councillor Peter Lagoda and his wife Maria pleaded guilty to benefits fraud at the start of their trial in a ruse that stretched for more than two years... Lagoda said that he described his north African sister as a "w*g" and his relatives living in Germany as "Mongols" who had children with "slanty eyes". "Yes, my cousin married ...
As I noted yesterday, the Same Sex Couples Act 2013 has an effect akin to that of a stone thrown idly into a pond, impacting on legislation as unlikely as the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 and the Harbours Act 1964. But, there are rather more exciting consequential results, and this one is probably my favourite... Provision disapplying the effect of section 11(1) and (2) of the Act in respect of the common law 1. Section 11(1) and (2) of the Act does not apply to the common law concerning the right of a person— (a) who marries, or who ...
[IMG: reversed signs] There are some very sensitive souls on the Internet who object to seeing swear words. To that end, a huge industry has sprung up around "Profanity Filters" - services which claim to be able to detect naughty words and automatically redact them. The approach of dumbly looking for strings of text leads to a range of problems, including false positives (known colloquially as the Scunthorpe Problem). A common way to bypass these filters is to use homoglyphs - substituting a lower-case L for an upper-case i, for example. The filtering industry is quite wise to these attempts ...
[IMG: logo_lg] The first thing you notice on the new party website is the new l ogo. There is a history in the Liberal Democrats of changing the logo to reflect a change in the Leader and as this new logo appears to be being rolled out over several months one wonders if this is a pre-emptive strike by the grey suits in Lib Dem HQ? As a part of that change we appear to have again opted for an expensive bespoke typeface that will be beyond the budget of most local parties and will create the impression of disconnect ...
In last week's Weekly Briefing, ALDC Campaigns Officer John Bridges explained how to map your road to success. With a great explanation of the party's new "4 S's" concept and how building and using these groups will help you find your way to victory!
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Clarence Thomas is a remarkable individual. He was born into creole speaking community in Georgia and raised in poverty by a poor single mother. Yet he rose to become chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and then only the second African American ever to sit on the US Supreme Court. He also stands [...]
[IMG: lib dem new european network] The purpose of this network is to put Lib Dems of Central and Eastern European origin, as well as those with an interest in the region and the issues effecting our new European friends, neighbours and citizens, in touch with each other. It should promote more effective campaigning, the sharing of advice on how to better represent residents of such a background, and spread awareness of the specific issues that affect these communities. This hasn't just sprung from disgust at the way UKIP and other politicians as well as much of our media have ...
The performance of the Thameslink rail service will be discussed by St Albans City and District Council's Local Services Scrutiny Committee at a meeting on Thursday 6 March. Senior management from First Capital Connect (FCC) and Network Rail will be questioned by committee members about various issues with the service. These include recent disruption to the service and the extent of communication to passengers about the resulting delays. Services to and from the District were severely disrupted last December due to storm damage and debris and on 17 January due to overhead line damage at Hendon. The latest significant disruption ...
Charles West has been a District Councillor, Parliamentary Candidate and Chair of local parties in Shropshire – this article was previously submitted to Lib Dem Voice who refused to publish it. Fellow Liberal Democrats, our policy-making processes are broken. We...Read more ›
The first time I ever became aware of Harriet Harman was when she won the Peckham by-election in 1982. It was the first time I'd been aware of anyone young, female and pregnant getting anywhere near the House of Commons ... Continue reading →
Tory MP Ben Gummer is today introducing a 10-minute rule bill "to make provision for National Insurance to be known as Earnings Tax". It's a very simple renaming proposal. But branding is important, not least in politics. The Chancellor is "said to be attracted to the idea", so if Danny Alexander and Nick Clegg were to support it, the change could make it into the Budget. It's well known that National Insurance is an extra income tax in all but name. As far back as 1994, Lib Dem policy was "to abolish national insurance contributions and create an integrated tax ...
The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act and the ripple effect (tags: ) If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain | Quote Investigator (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The other night I 'couldn't help but wonder', what if England was the one having a referendum to leave the UK? Would we still want access to the Pound? To automatically be a member of the EU? My answer to that scenario (obvs. yes) perhaps highlights the very problem at the heart of the debate ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Pothole repairs on Stroud Green Road] Stroud Green Road has been, as regular readers will know, the home to some long-running pothole sagas over the years. Yet I've only blogged a very small proportion of the potholes that have occurred along the road, of which there have been an awful lot. Which made me wonder: just how many potholes have been fixed along this 1 kilometre stretch of road?* The answer, according to a Freedom of Information request I put in to Islington Council**, is: an awful lot. In the last four years, 160 potholes have been repaired – ...
Tue 25th
08:12
William Wallace doesn't think that a courtesy title for me is important. I don't think that I quite ...
As I noted in Sunday's review of the coming week in the Lords, yesterday saw an oral question from Baroness Deech regarding equality in the use of courtesy titles. At the moment, the wife of Baron X gets a courtesy title, becoming Lady X. The husband of Baroness X doesn't, which is why I am, for purposes of etiquette, Mr Valladares (at least, when people aren't calling me Mr Scott - a perfectly understandable error which I correct with humour and good grace when it happens). Curiously, a surprising number of people, when they first discover who I am married ...
Today's Western Mail reports on the deepening divisions within the Welsh Conservative Assembly Group following the fall out over a vote on tax-varying powers. The paper says that North Wales AM Antoinette Sandbach, who was sacked after defying her group leader in a vote over the devolution of income tax powers to Wales, has made a formal complaint to the party about the behaviour towards her over the issue of a fellow Tory AM. She has claimed that Clwyd West AM, Darren Millar put unreasonable pressure on her to back the position taken by Andrew RT Davies and has put ...
Tue 25th
07:50Cameron to "rule out second Lib-Con coalition" claims Telegraph. It may be a bluff but that doesn't ...
Today's Telegraph splashes on the claim that David Cameron is preparing to rule out the possibility of a second Coalition with the Lib Dems if the Tories are the largest single party but lack a majority: The Prime Minister wants to make a commitment in the Conservative Party election manifesto not to sign a second power-sharing deal with a smaller party in the event of a hung parliament next May, it is understood. Instead, a Conservative party that won the most seats but lacked a Commons majority would attempt to rule as a minority government, a course that would almost ...
The Western Mail reports that the Welsh Government has come under fire after it emerged that more than £2.5m of a £12m fund earmarked for vulnerable benefit claimants has not got to the people it was intended to help. The paper says that after the UK Government scrapped the Social Fund, which offered emergency payments to people needing urgent assistance, it set up a network of Discretionary Assistance Funds to plug the gap: In Wales the fund is administered by the Welsh Government and last April it was given £12.4m by Westminster to help in cases where there is an ...
The Fairtrade Foundation, of which I am an enthusiastic supporter, has pointed out that, whilst the prices of most foodstuffs have risen by nearly 80% in the past ten years, the price of bananas has halved. The reason is that supermarkets are selling bananas as a "loss leader" which is putting the squeeze on banana growers "making it impossible [for them] to build up resilient businesses and trade out of poverty." The Foundation has asked the Business, Innovation and Skills Department, headed by our own Vince Cable, to refer the matter to the Competition and Markets Austerity. Ah, says the ...
East Dulwich is a hive of residents improving their homes. Sometimes these improvements cause neighbours problems and even distress. When such works take place within 3 metres (10 foot) of a neighbours garden or property a Party Wall Notice should be agreed between both parties. I've just been given suggested formal wording a neighbour should write to neighbours improving. Hope you find it useful. "I understand that you have submitted Planning Drawings to the Council for works to your property, both to the grounds level and loft. I refer only to the proposed extension at the rear of your property ...
We may have had a dreadful wet and windy winter but at least the first daffodils are appearing on Fortune Green! The Green itself - already soaking wet and more like a swamp was not improved recently when Council workmen dug up great stretches of it to relay the electric cables. Feeling somewhat guilty now for reporting most of the lights were out and nagging the Council to do something about it! We've also taken up the issue of poor lighting generally around the Green which may have been a factor in a recent mugging in Ajax Road. Considering Fortune ...
