Tim Stanley has a good blogpost in The Telegraph, although I find his use of the phrase "new Cold War" as a lazy shorthand for "a standoff between Russia and America" almost as irritating as misplaced analysis that try to portray the current crisis in Ukraine as some sort of relic from the original Cold War. His conclusion had a definite Mao Zedong character to it, and I am sure was what set off my train of thought: Russia is a paper tiger. Why we're wasting time hunting it, I cannot imagine.Mostly, however, I am writing this blogpost because that ...
What could housing associations do? What should housing associations do? How should individual associations respond to the risks and opportunities presented by an increasingly demanding environment? What sort of future is shaping up for the sector? These are questions that many housing association boards and senior management teams are turning their minds to. They are also the sort of questions that the sector has shown a willingness to deliberate upon collectively. Over the last six months the National Housing Federation - under the HotHouse banner - has been facilitating a series of events at which senior practitioners come together to ...
Dr Caroline Shenton delivers a lecture about the fire that destroyed the Palace of Westminster in October 1834. You can read the text of the lecture on the Parliament website and see more from Caroline Shenton on her blog.
(This is the commentary from Liberator 364, out next week) As floodwater inundated some of the most true blue parts of the Thames Valley, David Cameron may have had cause to regret his comment about getting rid of 'green crap' from government policy. 'Crap', in some cases quite literally, was filling homes in areas that normally back his party, and the public perception in January and February of the government's flood relief efforts was pretty poor. Further west, things were if anything even worse, with parts of Somerset under water for months and the Severn Valley inundated yet again. It ...
LD Candidate: Keith Panter (krp2uk@yahoo.co.uk) Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/keithpanter/ Agent : Barry Coward, 01427678169, 07786897642, barrycoward@gmail.com David Dobbie, 01427 677287, 07929617112, dobbiedave@hotmail.com
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, today delivered an historic address to both Houses of Parliament, hailing Germany's "close partnership" with the UK, and making it clear she wants Britain to remain a strong voice in Europe. Who should run the country? The multilingual DPM, the less experienced Mili, or someone who can't work headphones? pic.twitter.com/ALT9vsgGws — ianpatterson99 (@ianpatterson99) February 27, 2014 Here's the official photo of Clegg meeting Merkel: [IMG: clegg merkel]
This brings us to the salary question for the class of banks that want to be buccaneering when things are good, and yet need to be bailed out when things go wrong. The old saw of "too big to fail". The clearing banks until recent times were notoriously parsimonious with their salaries and those chaps crossing London Bridge were wearing their one bowler hat that they had bought 15 years before. They had two suits if lucky. The first cracks came in the 1970s as forex took off and the banks had to start paying their traders markets rates to ...
Like many longstanding friends of Turkey I have been dismayed by some of the developments in recent months, several of which seem retrogressive rather than progressive. The way the Gezi Park protests were handled by the police and security forces — water cannon to the fore — was cack-handed and the fact that most of [...]
Looking at historic election results in Sheffield Hallam for a post the other evening, I noted that the Liberal candidate in 1945 was called Gerald Abrahams. Could it be? It was. Gerald Abrahams was one of the better English chess players in the 1930s and 1940s, and you could still buy his books when I got keen on the game in the seventies. He was always an amateur, having a distinguished career in the law as a day job. Two of his saying on chess (which may have wider application) are worth repeating: "Good positions don't win games, good moves ...
People's incredulity that Harriet Harman might have something to explain or apologise for over relations between the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) arose from hatred for the Daily Mail and a willingness to accept Harman at her own high estimation. Another factor, though, was that some younger people did not realise just how different social attitudes were on the left in the 1970s. It happened that I discussed this era in a book chapter that I published in 2005. This is an era in which books with titles like Escape from Childhood were written. John Holt's work contains chapters ...
Here is a picture of the flat where I was born. Randolph Avenue in Maida Vale, a former red light district fallen on good times. It was a slum in 1958 when I first emerged there, in a rented ground floor flat. Now the same flat is occupied by the head of Benetton Europe (not actually this front door, in case you are casing the joint). I can't even afford to sleep rough there. There's the problem. Now, there are some predictions I make where I don't really want, for my children's sake, to be proved right. But unfortunately what ...
This situation as I understand it is this. Having announced losses of £8.2bn, RBS now says it must pay generous bonuses to its senior executives to avoid their being poached by other banks.
I was writing a piece on my new ringtone and, in searching for a video performance of the piece of music, I carried out the obvious search and came up with this; For the madrigal scholars amongst you, and I know that there are so many of you, here are the lyrics, first in Italian, and then in English; Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti l'aer fa grato e'il pié discioglie a l'onde e, mormoranda tra le verdi fronde, fa danzar al bel suon su'l prato i fiori. Inghirlandato il crin Fillide e Clori note temprando lor care e gioconde; ...
My blog post on Sunday about Ukraine disagreed with a New York Times analysis of the driving factors behind the crisis there, particularly the (US-centric) view that it was a hangover from the Cold War. The writer and historian Anne Applebaum had an article in The Telegraph on Sunday that on the one hand supported my argument, and on the other disagreed with some of my other conclusions, her central argument being that it had nothing to do with ethnicity, geography or language. With respect to Anne Applebaum, a distinguished historian and writer on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet ...
Lynne Featherstone, writing on her own blog, has given us a very interesting insight into the mechanics of Government and is full of praise and appreciation for the people who have brought about her two key acts as a minister, equal marriage, and the fight against the abhorrent practice of female genital mutilation. She described receiving invaluable tips from Michael Heseltine and Andrew Adonis when she first became a Minister. It's interesting that just a short time after Adonis left office himself, he was providing sensible advice for the newbies. Politics is a lot more civilised behind the scenes than ...
Bill Bryson in his book The Lost Continent lists seven rules of restaurant dining. For those of my readers who are unfamiliar with his work, these are: Never eat in a restaurant that displays photographs of the food it serves. (But if you do, never believe the photographs.) Never eat in a restaurant with flock wallpaper. Never eat in a restaurant attached to a bowling-alley. Never eat in a restaurant where you can hear what they are saying in the kitchen. Never eat in a restaurant that has live entertainers with any of the following words in their titles: Hank, ...
Thu 27th
15:52
Business makes prudent and reasonable comments about #indyref. Cybernats plaster their social media ...
There has been a bit of a furore over Standard Life's pretty mild and prudent statements about the preparations it is taking ahead of the referendum on independence. Both sides have done what they do best and highlighted certain aspects ... Continue reading →
Thu 27th
15:30
Four-in-10 voters would never consider voting for the Lib Dems - but it's not all bad news...
Some interesting poll data from Ipsos-Mori who were asked by British Future to look at attitudes towards voting for the four main political parties. Here's three points that stood out for the Lib Dems: Four-in-10 voters would never consider voting for the Lib Dems, Conservatives or Ukip. Labour is less unpopular: one-in-three voters would never consider voting Labour. Lib Dem supporter are the most anti-Ukip: 62% say they would never consider voting Ukip. This compares with 43% of Lib Dems saying they would never consider voting Conservative, and 38% saying they would never vote for Labour. The feelings mutual... Ukip ...
[IMG: Vince Cable smiling - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] The good news is that more people chose to come to the UK last year. Net migration to the UK increased to 212,000 in the year to September 2013, up from 154,000 in the previous year. As the independent Office for Budget Responsibility has shown before: if you want increased growth, you should welcome immigration. Here's how Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable put it, according to the BBC: Vince Cable welcomed the increase in net migration to the UK, saying the target to reduce it to tens of ...
Some time ago now, I was less than entirely complimentary about a cold call I received from Rosenberg & Cooper. It was, in truth, written because the person who called me was far more persistent than I was happy to deal with, and because the concept of being cold-called with an offer of coloured diamonds seemed, how can I put this, rather unlikely. Subsequently, I received a telephone call from them, seeking some feedback, which I was happy to give. They were also a little unhappy with the comments that I had made in my blog post, so I offered ...
The unlikely afterlife of Chernobyl suggests that our nuclear nightmares might be somewhat exaggerated On 26th April 1986, engineers at the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station, a Soviet facility that is now in the Ukraine, tested a new cooling system designed to reduce the risk of a meltdown. In a bitter irony, this test actually [...]
Frank Little writes: There is a useful insight into the working of the EP by a young person on a work placement with Chris Davies MEP. You can read her account of one working week here on Liberal Democrat Voice. Two items stood out for me: One of the highlights of my time in Parliament was the meeting that followed between Business Secretary Vince Cable and Liberal Democrat MEPs. It really emphasised the importance of Britain's membership of the European Union to our businesses. and Wednesday: Today members of ENVI met - well not all of them! Just a couple ...
Continuing my reading through old copies of Liberator, I've found this story from 1986. You may notice some things haven't changed much... [IMG: Liberator magazine on Simon Hughes, 1986]
Louise Furness recently spent a week on a work placement with North West MEP Chris Davies. Here she tells us about her insight into life in Brussels. Monday: Walking into the European Parliament for the first time is quite something. It is an impressive complex and a hive of activity – and this is supposedly a quieter period as fewer proposals are put to Parliament and MEPs spend more time in their constituencies in the run-up to the elections. The week began with a team meeting, during which Chris discussed his diary with Carly and Joana from his office. This ...
via @GeneralBoles. Obviously.
Nice.
It isn't very often that I get particularly excited about visits by foreign dignitaries. Barack Obama's visit a few years back was nice, but it didn't exactly inspire me. By the time he visited, what shine that was left on his Presidency was quickly wearing thin for me. Yes, he was a glossy American politician wearing a nice suit, but it didn't get me excited. Angela Merkel's visit today, however, is incredibly exciting - if only for the perspective it gives over David Cameron's leadership of his party and our country. It seems to me that Cameron (somebody who I ...
Help is wanted to clear up rubbish from points along the River Wandle so it is clear for the Big Green Fund capital works to go ahead. The idea came from a local resident at the Sutton Local Committee and has been turned into the Mega Clean Up Day. Meeting point is KNK Stadium Car [...]
This email made me smile today ... never has so much fuss been made over such a small discount [IMG: :)] [IMG: A big fuss over five pence ...] For those of you without a Costa Coffee Club card, five points = five pence – or around 2.3% off one of their smallest cappuccinos in most of their (non-motorway) outlets.
Nick Clegg is spending today announcing new initiatives to help young people with their career choices by improving career advice in schools, allowing job centre plus to give advice to 16 and 17 year olds and to improve opportunities for work experience. There will be a UCAS style "one-stop shop" to help those young people. From today's Independent: Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, will pledge to "end the snobbery surrounding vocational education" that limits the prospects of those who do not go to university, and promise them "an equal shot" by helping them to make the right choice after ...
The UK version of the Huffington Post was vulnerable to an XSS flaw. This allowed any malicious user to inject images, video, text, and JavaScript into the page. [IMG: Huff Po UK XSS] Although the above image show a very silly use of XSS, it could quite easily be used to craft a page to encourage journalists and readers to enter their passwords - and then send them off to criminals. What's unusual is that it appears to be powered by Google Custom Search - which should really be robust against this source of attack. I strongly encourage people to ...
When I first became a minister at the Home Office in 2010 we newbie ministers were invited by the Institute for Government to an induction. It's a great idea to give new ministers some external, impartial advice on how to make the most of the job - and the advice I got that day stood me in better stead than any before or since. Essentially there were two pieces of advice that I took to heart. Giving that advice were Michael Heseltine and Andrew Adonis – and whilst I know they are nothing alike, it's the very fact that two ...
Published in the New Statesman on 14 Feb. I'm feeling a little unloved. Many regular commentators on my posts here at The Staggers will be completely unsurprised by this revelation and will no doubt be having a quick snigger at my expense, but let me clarify what I mean. Because it's not just me. The Lib Dems as a party seem to have dropped off the news media's radar altogether.The floods seem to be hung on the Tories, with special guest appearances by ex-Labour ministers, while UKIP keep their hand in by pinning the blame for the whole thing on ...
Published in New Statesman on 7 Feb and unlikely to be popular in Great George Street Being a mere Lib Dem activist, rather than a professional politician, means I actually have friends who don't "do" politics - you know, folk who spend their Saturdays doing things other than getting their hands stuck in dodgy letterboxes when out leafleting, writing furious letters to the local paper or haranguing the council via enraged blog posts.Yesterday was one of those rare occasions when I managed to raise my head from my hands long enough see one such friend. But guess what. He wanted ...
Published in the New Statesman on 17 Jan Apparently there is wailing and gnashing of teeth going on amongst my Westminster Lib Dem betters over the Damascene conversion of the Chancellor not only to the principle of the minimum wage, but to the need for a large rise in its level. It seems the general view is that George has nicked a Lib Dem policy, announced his opinion without telling anyone in general (or Vince Cable, whose purview this falls under, in particular), and that he hasn't been playing fair. "It wasn't even on the Downing St. grid" goes the ...
Sorry All - been having a bogging break while I sort out a few things at work and then had holiday. I expect it's been AWFUL, hasn't it... But you'll all be thrilled to know I'm back :-) So to follow - 2 -pieces I wrote for the News Statesman.and then the blog will roll again... Cheers r
Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has announced a major boost to Further Education. Nick Clegg has today laid out plans for funding and other improvements to
Today's Guardian reports Nick Clegg's comments at his monthly press conference on reported moves in both Conservative and Labour parties to rule out a second coalition after 2015. He said: Clearly, there is a sort of McCluskey tendency in both the Labour and Conservative parties. I think what you are seeing, in a sense, is the last gasp of the assumption from the two bigger parties that somehow they have got a right to run things. We should let the British people have their say rather than people constantly assuming that they can decide, rather than the British people, about ...
Here's my latest Muswell Flyer column – also available here. Over a year ago I wrote a column about a new local campaign for fairer health funding in Haringey. We all rely on our vital local GPs, walk-in centres and hospitals - and I wanted to make sure they were getting a fair deal. It had shockingly come to light that our local health services were severely underfunded in comparison to neighbouring boroughs such as Islington and Camden. This was having a knock on impact on Haringey residents. The underfunding meant longer waiting times and less preventative care. One local ...
The wheels are starting to come off Alex Salmond's independence bandwagon. Earlier this week I blogged that Brussels is likely to enforce higher VAT levels on an independent Scotland whilst the UK Government's will insist that an independent Scotland will not be allowed to retain the pound. There are also doubts being cast by the EU President that Scotland may not even be allowed to join the European Union. Now the Telegraph is reporting that Standard Life has become the first large Scottish company to warn it may move part of its multi-billion pound operations to England if there is ...
[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here on Tuesday. Their headline accidentally omitted the 'to' – "What Clegg was really up last week" is a whole other column. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. Last week was a big week for Nick Clegg. It began with him floating the prospect of the Lib Dems teaming up with Labour after 2015. And it ended with Nigel Farage reluctantly accepting the gauntlet thrown down by ...
2008 RBS implodes. RBS gets rescued with my money and that of every other taxpayer payer in the counntry. RBS promises to change its ways and embarks on a recovery programme. 2014 RBS posts its biggest loss ever. 2014 RBS continues to pay its senior bosses huge bonuses. (Slightly less than last year - big deal.) Big senior boss says, "People - including the executives of the bank - didn't realise how big a change process we had to go through to get this bank back into shape." Anybody who "did not realise how big a change process" was needed ...
A new bike shop, Bikehaus, will open on Stonepail Road, Gatley in April if all goes to plan for cyclist owner Andy Hilton. Andy's come on the Gatley Facebook page to tell everyone about his plans and he's set up a Bikehaus Facebook page here. We wish Andy every success with Bikehaus. Not only is Gatley a regular haunt for road cyclists (often to be seen taking a break at Coffee Fix) but we're also seeing the biggest ever investment in cycle infrastructure around Gatley and Cheadle. Last week I tried out the new cycle-friendly route from Gatley to Cheadle, ...
Thu 27th
09:15FT: "For nearly four years, Britain has been served reasonably well by multi-party government"
On Tuesday, it was reported that David Cameron wanted to rule out the possibility of a second Lib-Con coalition in the event of another hung parliament. This tit was matched by an equivalent tat from the left, when Unite leader Len Mclusky urged Labour to do the same. Today's Financial Times leader attempts to inject a dose of reality into this anti-coalition arms race: All this chest-beating has stirred Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem deputy prime minister, whose party can only govern with others, to denounce "tribal voices". And he is right to do so. This should not need reiteration ...
The Western Mail reports that Prime Minster David Cameron has said the Welsh Government need to "get their act together" in managing the NHS following a letter from surgeons looking for answers about the action taken over patients dying while waiting for heart surgery: In the latest political row over the Welsh NHS, Mr Cameron stated during PMQs that the health service in Wales was not being properly managed or reformed by the Welsh Government. His comments follow a letter from the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) to Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) asking what work had been done since the ...
How To Fix Science In Half An Hour (tags: ) Automated texts to your girlfriend? There's an app for that - Telegraph I ventured below the line on this one, and found this gem: "what if you died with this app on. And she keeps getting these phantom texts, from beyond the grave.... "Gee what a day hon, I was just buried with work, How was yours??"" (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Dundee Youth Council was established in March 2011 by local young people and is the Dundee City Council recognised forum for representing the wide range of views and issues of the young people of Dundee to the city decision makers. It does a great job representing the views of the young people of Dundee and I'm pleased to promote their new publicity poster (below):
Just wanted to share with you some information about a campaign we are supporting in St Marys Road. We are trying to get a joined-up response from the agencies concerned. If there is an issue that you think we should be dealing with in a Castle Ward road near you (!) please get in touch... [...]
