Two collapsed sewers in Cheadle need urgent action and it's going to cause real traffic problems whilst the work is being done. United Utilities needs to get them fixed and we've been working to minimise the disruption – though in the case of the second one there's no easy way. Work on a collapsed sewer on Manchester Road, near the Ashlea Pub, will start on Friday 14th March 2014 and continue over the weekend with temporary traffic lights. The sewer is 6m down and sewage is leaking into basements of nearby properties so it has to be done. Hopefully, the ...
It is one thing to back the wrong horse but quite another to back a non-existent one. That, though, is what Nick Clegg has done in the race for the presidency of the European Commission. Along the way, he and his aides have stitched up a delegation and made the party look ridiculous among its European partners. The saga began when former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt and Finnish commissioner Olli Rehn put themselves forward to be the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) candidate for the presidency and in effect leader of its European election campaign. A ...
) If I had to name a favourite Underground line, this would be it. Your favourite may well have featured here before: the District, the Central, the Jubilee, the Northern or the Bakerloo.
MP Julian Huppert is calling on the government to give more protection to private rental tenants who may fall victim to unscrupulous letting agents. Many tenants face exorbitant charges imposed for agents to prepare or renew contracts, perform credit checks, or other admin costs. Julian will propose a Bill to deal with this in Parliament tomorrow (Wednesday, March 12) under the so-called 10 Minute Rule after a constituent contacted him asking if the powers of the Independent Housing Ombudsman, which deals with complaints from social housing tenants against their landlords, could be extended to carry out spot checks on private ...
Top Euro Candidates lined up at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York to launch their campaign for the forthcoming elections with a strong message "we are fighting to stay in Europe for a stronger economy". Eastern Region Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff was joined by South Cambridgeshire MEP candidate Belinda Brooks-Gordon. Belinda, a Girton resident and ex-County councillor for Cambridgeshire, is joined at the top of the Euro list, by barrister Jo Hayes, from Colchester, Essex. Belinda said: "We Liberal Democrats want Britain to stay in the EU because we are fighting for a stronger economy. "Millions of British ...
At around 11pm on the 8th March a large 4x4 was driven from Dry Drayton to Bar Hill using the bridal way between the two villages. At the Dry Drayton end there was a post and gate, whereas at the Bar Hill end there was a barrier - the 4x4 caused significant damage to both. Reported fairly quickly (via the police 101 number and also to the County Councils' Public Rights of Way team who look after the bridalway). The current plan is for the County Council to replace the gate (Dry Drayton end) as quickly as possible to prevent ...
Occasioned by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Boing Boing points us to the Wikipedia's List of aerial disappearances. As Boing Boing says, "In general, these disappearances have a couple of important details in common — they're usually relatively small craft carrying a small number of passengers." However, I would like to put in a word for British South American Airways, which lost three planes in the years immediately following World War II. Star Tiger and Star Aerial remain lost to this day, while the wreckage of Star Dust was found on Mount Tupungato, on the border of Chile ...
Tue 11th
20:19
Lib Dems hit back against free school lunch attacks. Clegg on Mail: "utterly wrong". Laws on Cumming...
[IMG: daily mail free school lunches] Today's Daily Mail front page was dominated by an attack on the Lib Dem plans to bring in free school lunches for all infants: "Free school meals fiasco," it screamed. Nick Clegg quickly refuted the Mail's attack in a lengthy post on the party's website – here's an excerpt: The Liberal Democrats are never going to be loved in the pages of the Daily Mail: our open, liberal and progressive brand of politics tends to be at odds with their editorial worldview (to put it mildly). However, even I have been surprised at the ...
My first is from Apocalypse Dreckly by N R Phillips. This amused me as there are rings of truth about the relationships and workings of councils, large and small! It is based on life in Penwith and is the anticipation of disaster as plans are being made for the new millennium. "And there's the mayor, pushing his way through the crush, accompanied by his clerk. Two worried men, or they ought to be, with so many impending problems on their shoulders, having to organise the logistics of the whole world descending upon this isolated community." "Winnie the Pew had an ...
What a crazy weekend! I made the last minute decision to attend Rewired State's "National Hack The Government 2014" hackathon. Rather than hack on any of the provided datasets, I wanted to work on an interesting way to present all the security flaws I had found in Government websites. I teamed up with Mark, Marcello, and Orlando - together we created "Corkr - Plugging the Government's Digital Holes" [IMG: Corkr logo-fs8] We were looking for different and interesting ways to visualise the data. Interactive infographics, space-trees, leader boards, top-trumps - all classic staples of hackdays. In the end, we thought ...
Despite a strong local campaign against closure, Forest Hill ward has now lost its local police station. The ward's police team now work out of a building on Catford Hill, and provide drop in sessions for residents there and at the Bell Green Sainsbury's. Although the local police team do hold regular, if infrequent, surgeries [...]
A terrible poll for Labour by the Guardian/ICM has just been published, showing a recovery for both coalition parties. A poll by ICM and published by the Guardian show Labour
The end of another week at Bonkers Hall, though you can hear the old boy speak in Leicester next Friday. Sunday My peers has been complaining about the catering at the House of Lords; one claims he was left "scarred" after his booking was cancelled and that his wife was "unable to lunch elsewhere" because she was wearing a tiara. What nonsense! If the first Lady Bonkers and I found there was no table for us we would take a taxi to the East End and dine on pie, mash and liquor or jellied eels, all washed down with draughts ...
Consultation with Mr R March 5: ".... The duplex scan today confirmed that his aneurysn is now only 3.3 cn in diameter without any endoleak". " Mr S booked him for an angioplasty of his left leg, since he has a short segment occlusion of the femoral artery at tthe adductor canal. However, I am not convinced that his symptoms at this stage justify intervention. He is not complaining of rest pain, ulceration or gangrene, ie critical leg ischaemia. I have therefore cancelled his angioplasty". Mtr R's assessment of the risk of angioplasty appeared to be a good deal higher ...
The legislation allowing Play Streets was passed in 1938. It allows for 3 hours per week for local residential streets to be closed and children get to play outside where they live. But over time the number of Play Streets has declined from 700 in the 50′s to none by the 80′s. So a revival is long overdue. Lambeth Council are trialling on Guernsey Grove in Herne Hill and Hexham Road in West Norwood Play Street days. Residents are allowed to close their street for up to 3 hours per week so their children can play in a great traffic ...
[IMG: nick conf] I've written this diary as a reminder to myself as to what I did at York. Also, as I am an elected representative, I feel duty bound to report back to local party members.Photo above is of Nick at his Q&A on Saturday. Friday 7th March I travelled to and from York by train, even though this was a little expensive compared to driving. I do enjoy sitting back on the train, as opposed to driving. I arrived in York at midday in good time to leave my luggage at my hotel and walk back to the ...
Today there were a number of votes in the care bill. It is our view that local consultation is key when it comes to running the health service. There were many people that opposed the health reforms wanting the health service to be run by the Minister and the Minister's appointees. Our view, however, was that it was better to bring in health service reforms to Clinical Commissioning Groups to
St Peters ward councillor Michael Green has condemned large increases in the cost of certain parking charges imposed by the district council. Residents in streets like Bedford, Alexandra and Inkerman Roads that lease car parking spaces from the district council are seeing charges rise from £171 to £210 per quarter. This represents a 22% increase, well above the current rate of inflation. "These roads are narrow with parking only on one side of the road. The leased parking spaces provide additional capacity to the benefit not just of the leaseholders but of those that park their cars on-street," said Michael. ...
The hard work of Liberal Democrat council groups has been recognised at an awards ceremony at their spring party conference in York. Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group at the LGA, Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson, presented the awards to the winners at a packed [...]
Craig Brown has written a parody of Nick Clegg's speech to conference in the Daily Mail. Here is a short extract: The same nation that came up with the Curly Wurly is now developing Oscar-winning visual effects; cutting-edge design; theatre, fashion, music, film, deputy leadership — you name it, we do it, and we're up there with the best. I love our weather forecast, and the way it tells you what the weather might be like tomorrow. I love the sea, and the way it can be rough one day and calm the next. I love the sun for the ...
[IMG: ed-davey-post-office] According to the BBC: Energy bills to come with compulsory QR barcodes. This is one of Ed Davey's initiatives as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He explains: The government hopes its plans will encourage the development of smartphone apps that let consumers swipe their phone over an energy bill to read data such as tariff and consumption. The data could then be automatically uploaded to price comparison sites, to let consumers look at deals from other energy suppliers. "We're determined to make energy markets work better for consumers – and despite all the evidence showing ...
No words are really needed.
Lib Dem HQ have circulated a really useful briefing on the roll-out of universal free school meals. It has the facts and figures behind the policy and a strong series of "myth buster" rebuttals that can take on a number of common (and misinformed) attacks on this flagship Lib Dem policy. Briefing The Liberal Democrats [...]
1 in 6 voters live in the private rental sector and too many are not getting a fair deal from their landlords. ALDC were delighted to host a fringe event focused on this important issue at Spring Conference. The session chaired by Claire Hudson, ALDC's Chair, welcomed Local Government Minister Stephen Williams MP, Alex Hilton [...]
Dignitaries including me(!) before the Age Concern Freedom Ceremony. The 1 recognises that they were the first Age Concern in the Country One of the best ways to encourage people to renew their efforts is always to say "Thank You". ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Houses being built] When the Liberal Democrats entered government in 2010, it was clear we had inherited a housing crisis. House prices and private sector rents were becoming more and more unaffordable. House building had slowed to its lowest level since the 1920s and social housing waiting lists had soared to 1.7 million households. Added to that, successive governments had also let the social housing stock wither on the vine, with 1.5 million homes lost by Labour and Conservative governments alike since 1979. I know that if we are to solve the housing crisis, we need to reverse the ...
Today's Times spills the beans on the UKIP candidate approval process and the test that has failed to help the party weed out the more extreme 'fruitcakes' as the paper describes them. They say that the company that ran a "fruitcake test" for Ukip has said that its psychometric assessment is not an appropriate tool for selecting political candidates: The Times has obtained details of the questions that were put to people applying to be MEPs to try to "weed out the Walter Mittys", as Nigel Farage has put it. Designed to assess emotional intelligence, candidates were asked to rate ...
Tributes have been paid across the political divides today following the sudden death of Bob Crow. Here's the BBC report: General secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union Bob Crow has died. The 52-year-old is believed to have suffered a heart attack and died early on Tuesday morning. ... Mr Crow was elected general secretary of the RMT in 2002 following the death of former leader Jimmy Knapp. The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Crow "was, some argue, the most successful union leader in terms of securing jobs and pay for his members". ... In an interview ...
[IMG: Lynne with approaching W7 bus] TfL are planning to extend the 263 route which currently runs between Chambers Road and Barnet Hospital. I am aware that many constituents use this service, which stops at Highgate, Muswell Hill, and Fortis Green on its way to Barnet. The plan is to extend the route along Holloway Road, stopping at Highbury and Islington station and terminating at Highbury Barn. This will mean a more frequent service along Holloway Road, but three current stops will no longer be used. TfL are consulting on this to establish how local people feel this will affect ...
I mostly wrote this post on the way back and from York for Lib Dem conference. This is the first time I've been for several years. This is mostly because I have busy. However, at least part of it is due to my reluctance to go along and applaud politics that on the whole I [...]
[IMG: Norman Baker] The Guardian reveals that the proportion of domestic violence cases that are being referred by the police to prosecutors has dropped from 12.1% in 2009/2010 to 10.5% in 2012/2013, even though the number of cases reported to the police had risen. According to the House of Commons Library, more than 838,000 reports of domestic violence were made to police forces across England and Wales in 2012/2013, but only 6.3% resulted in a conviction, compared to 7.1% in 2009/2010. Norman Baker, who is the Crime Prevention Minister said: More victims are coming forward to talk about rape and ...
Here's my third blog from New York – where I am representing the UK at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Also available here. There is immense power in the act of naming. Naming something so widespread that is passes almost without comment, like breathing or gravity, or the colour of the sky. And yet, for women everywhere, it has a huge impact on our lives. Such is everyday sexism, the topic of a UK-Denmark panel event I just participated in at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. I pay tribute to the work of the ...
See this question here. John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley, Liberal Democrat) To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to encourage local authorities to make longer term awards of discretionary housing payments for those people with disabilities. Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 10 March 2014, c16W) Steve Webb (The Minister of State, Department
Tue 11th
11:55Michael Moore MP writes...Standard Life, the most significant intervention in the Independence Refer...
[IMG: sl_logo] One of the most significant statements so far in the referendum debate has been from Standard Life. With over 4 million customers across the UK and thousands of employees in Scotland, their intervention matters to all of us. Standard Life has been headquartered in Scotland for 189 years, so, it is clearly very important when they announce that they are putting in place contingency plans to relocate funds, people and operations to England if we vote for independence with many issues unresolved. For people like me who want to see the UK continue, it seemed to be a ...
My great-aunt was Observer correspondent in Prague in 1938. It was said that she wept the whole way home by train after the Munich agreement, as she returned to launch a rather belated Penguin Special called Europe and the Czechs. By then, Britain and France had agreed to Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland. I keep thinking of her as the depressing and frightening news from the Ukraine pours in, especially now it seems clear that the Russians seem intent on annexing the Crimea. It is depressing because of the growing parallels between the two events, just 75 years apart. The ...
Lib Dem local government minister is reported to have backed the idea of a tourist tax. Stephen Williams wasn't talking specifically about Cornwall, but it is a debate that should be started. I start off from the point of view that I think Cornwall (and other councils) should have more freedoms and powers. And that these should include the right to raise money in new forms including through a well worked out tourist tax. BUT... I'm far from convinced as yet that a tourist tax for Cornwall is either workable or a good idea. So let's start to work out ...
[IMG: hs2] Today is the fourth anniversary of the fateful day in 2010 when, in the run-up to the General Election, the Labour government announced its plan to build the HS2 line between London and Birmingham. Many at the time saw it as a blatant election ploy by Labour to boost support in West Midlands marginal constituencies. Who would have thought that the incoming Coalition government would pick up and run with the project without subjecting it to the toughest critical scrutiny, and that now four years later this huge vanity project continues to rumble on, seemingly unstoppable by rational ...
Here's my second blog from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, where I am representing the UK as International Development minister. Also available here. The world has been guilty of turning a blind eye to the challenges, discrimination and abuse people with disabilities – especially women and girls – can face every day. They are disproportionately some of the poorest and most marginalised in the world, meaning there is a direct link between gender, disability and poverty. This was the theme of the first event I participated in just now at the annual UN Commission on the Status ...
[IMG: jenny willott] Jenny Willott is the Minister for Women, covering for Jo Swinson while she is on maternity leave. In an interview with the Independent on Sunday she said that extending childcare to babies would be expensive but "it may well be that it's the right thing to do". The article points out that there is a "maternity gap" between the end of maternity leave and the point when free childcare kicks in for three year olds. In response Jenny said: It may well be that that's something the Government needs to look at. The issue is that it ...
Last night in the Lords saw a debate on the current situation in Gibraltar, which raised a number of concerns about the relationship between Gibraltar and Spain. Ros chose to pick up on the failure of the European Union to address the freedom of movement issues involved... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD): My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Baroness for tabling this debate and for her speech in which all her experience was brought to bear in a characteristically incisive and robust style. I should make clear at the outset that I am not an expert on ...
Many local drivers have had "near misses" at the offset junction between Rodford Way, Shire Way and Sundridge Park. The Frome Vale Area Forum has agreed that this junction should be investigated as a priority under the local highways schemes. We'll let you know when we hear about progress.
[IMG: libdems.org.uk] I think we Liberal Democrats are missing a trick. There was recently a revamp of the party website - clearly designed for a digital age, and to be used by touchscreens. I discussed it with a friend, who observed that, for all the party's talk of openness, transparency and frankness with the public, there are still areas of the site which are off-limits, behind a membership wall. I said that it stands to reason that parties keep their forums, campaigning, electoral and training materials private - nothing sinister, just sense-making common practice. And then it hit us: why ...
Residents have brought to my attention the deteriorating road surface in Tullideph Street near its junction with Tullideph Road. I have brought this to the attention of the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and asked for repairs to be carried out.
A very interesting exhibition highlight the history of the work and life of the Dundee weaver is taking place the Verdant Works Social History Gallery until Sunday 6th April. Titled "The Warp and Weft of Life" it was originally displayed a couple of years ago and the current exhibition is giving the public another chance to view a selection of striking framed images from Dundee Heritage Trust's superb historic photographic collection. Dundee Heritage Trust also has an on-line collections database covering Dundee's social, textiles and maritime history that you can access here.
Jenny Willott MP Conference, Before I was elected, I worked at Unicef and I saw there the ability of organisations, businesses and governments to do good in the world. Unicef is dedicated to bringing the international community together to champion the rights of every child, making sure that no matter who they are or where they live, they can grow up safe, happy and healthy. The way my friends and colleagues there were committed to building a fairer, safer society, both at home and abroad, was an inspiration then, and it still is today. And I'm sure they believed in ...
The madness of July is that often hysterical period in the heat of mid-summer when political tempers are frayed and governments seem to be falling apart, before every one goes off for their August holidays to recover. But as the central figure in James Naughtie's debut novel, The Madness of July (Head of Zeus, £12.99), the Foreign [...]
Today is Liberal England's 10th birthday. It will spend the day climbing trees, shooting up, swatting for SATS or whatever it is 10-year-olds do these days. My first post - Britain's oldest Liberal Democrat? - appeared on 11 March 2004. Sadly, Anita Taylor died later that year, though she does seem to have recorded a DVD of her memories of Newtown a few years before. The post also mentioned Lembit Opik and Lord Bonkers, who have kept my readers entertained with their antics ever since. Liberal England went into hibernation over the summer of 2004 as I battled with malware ...
Headline of the Day goes to the Guardian.
Southwark is introducing 20mph speed limit on all roads except those controlled by TfL or the Dulwich Estate. This has been a long time coming with the strategy agreed when Lib Dems led the council. Richard Thomas was the lead councillor on this years back. But not much point making our roads 20mph without any enforcement. The Association of Chief Police Officers have announced a course option for motorists exceeding 20mph as an alternative to a fine and or points on driving licences. The course would be for motorists travelling 24-31mph. Avon and Somerset Police are the first ti pilot ...
Plaid Cymru are willing to put jobs at risk in order for them to reach their goal of Welsh independence. In their party conference, Plaid Cymru is attempting to make an appeal to Welsh Liberal Democrat supporters, but there is a 'world of difference' between the two parties' approaches to Europe. People won't be fooled by this. After all, Plaid's whole existence is based on separation and isolation. If their dream of independence was realised, Wales would have to reapply for EU membership which would create huge uncertainty around our economic future and threaten our trade links. If Plaid had ...
