[IMG: scam] Over the weekend a Folkestone resident received a scam inheritance letter from Mr Cai Xu. Mr Cai Xu claims to be a Business Relations Manager at the China CITIC Bank in Hong Kong. He claims a person with the same name as the resident died leaving no will and $16.4million US dollars. The letter suggests that the resident can claim the inheritance if he will split it with Mr Cai Xu. Do not respond to this letter. If you do the scammers will ask you to pay a fee before they can send the money. If you make ...
@LPNorthover @stonewalluk @lfeatherstone Lynne is a remarkable woman whose leadership, vision and determination deserves recognition. — Ruth Hunt (@ruth_hunt) March 16, 2014 (As an aside, whatever you think of the political or other motivations of Ben Summerskill's frequent run-ins with the Liberal Democrats, as a campaigning approach it always struck me as remarkably strange for the then Chief Executive of Stonewall to think the way to achieve Stonewall's aims was to so frequently antagonise Liberal Democrats rather than seek to work with them. Campaign success comes from building up support, not driving it away.)
Mike Pitts - Digging Deeper, a blog about archaeology, has a terrific post on the hearing of the Plantagenet Alliance's case against the decision to rebury Richard III's remains in Leicester Cathedral. It is an extended legal sketch, with vivid portraits of all the main players. His conclusion? There is no doubt where the wind blows. Beaming in the bright light, Richard Buckley sets off to buy cheese at Covent Garden before heading home to Leicester. Counsel for defence stride confidently out into the streets, laughing and chatting. Philippa Langley talks to journalists, looking anxious. After the first day, I ...
Last October I suggested that the HS2 project had become an example of what Roger James, a populariser of Karl Popper's philosophy, has called "solutioneering". He defines this concept as: Jumping to a solution before clearly formulating what the problem is (or indeed if there is one at all) or how success or failure are to be judged. Achievement of the solution then becomes the goal; and, when opposition develops, the problem becomes how to get the solution accepted, while the question of how best to solve the original problem, if there was one, never gets discussed at all. I ...
Here's the agenda for this Thursdays Full Council meeting; Open Forum - Visitor to discuss the Community Car Share Scheme 1. To receive apologies for absence and any declaration of interest 2. Approval of minutes. - To approve minutes of Parish Council Meeting held on 20th February 2014 - The February Minutes (unapproved) are available via Google Drive; http://goo.gl/LbuAGG 3. Matters for discussion and decisions to be made from Previous Minutes - The Willows - update - Farmhouse - update - Skate park - update - Website - update 4. Clerks Financial and Procedural Report - Approval of works by ...
Regular followers of me here or on my sporting blog will be aware of my love of cycling. But something that has happened as a result of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York has thrown me a moral curve ball. Guinness decided at the eleventh hour yesterday to pull their sponsorship of the parade in New York. This was after they requested that the organisers allow LGBT Irish Groups to march in the parade. Before others say they are allowed to parade, or that other groups don't march behind a banner, this is not the case. Groups do ...
As a Lib Dem run Council we are working hard to ensure that our local economy stays vibrant and diverse. Part of this plan is to enable our local companies to grow and develop here in Bath and NE Somerset. We have just launched an MOU with a local company called BMT. This will enable them to work with the Council to develop the area called Bath Quays South and provide at last a much needed boost in this area. It will enable the company to consolidate its 3 office blocks into one and also add space to grow. This ...
23 small and medium sized cities have formed into a Local Government Alliance called Key Cities. This is to counter what is felt to be undue influence by the Core City group and London on Government policy. Every other month we meet up to discuss the next steps. It is a cross party grouping and although only a few months old is making rapid progress. We have already launched a manifesto and are now working on the next steps. Meeting today was at Centre For Cities
Sunday 16 March 2014 Spent an enjoyable day with Cllr Jeremy Sparkes in Chelwood and Clutton. The first visit was to Chelwood to talk to residnets and local farmers about the impact of all the flood prevention measures we put in as a Lib Dem Council over the summer. They worked well and prevented flooding though one house still had a syupply of sandbags ready abnd used a couple of times. But importantly the water drained away successfully. There are still some issues to follow up on the soil washed off the fields and blocking up the drains. The second ...
[IMG: julia-goldsworthy] In an interview in yesterday's Independent on Sunday, Julia Goldsworthy, former MP for Falmouth and Camborne and ex Special Adviser to Danny Alexander, had this to say about the Rose Garden love-in on the day the Coalition was formed: I sat at home watching Nick and David in their first press conference in the Rose Garden. I think probably for a lot of political activists it was quite sick-inducing, but it was absolutely necessary because of the economy and national interest. Coalition was a fairly new thing to get our heads around. It was fairly important to demonstrate ...
Mon 17th
14:45
Democratic Audit on the "scandal" of the poor value taxpayers get for the £800m spent on elect...
[IMG: Ballot paper] Democratic Audit, an independent research organisation based at the London School of Economics, this week published a report, Engaging young voters with enhanced election information. The title may not be the most exciting ever, but the report itself is worth a read. (You can download it here.) The executive summary from the report's authors, Patrick Dunleavy and Richard Berry, sets out the current problem as they see it: Current arrangements in the UK only give very poor, fragmented and old-fashioned feedback to voters about what effect their participation has had, and what election outcomes were. Yet providing ...
Former Chief Executive of Stonewall, Ben Summerskill has – on the basis of a made up quote from Evan Harris – that Liberal Democrat support for marriage equality was simply about the putting distance between themselves and the Tories. This has unsurprisingly drawn a robust response from Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone. However, the best response [...]
MP Julian Huppert has backed a plan to set up an Independent Aircraft Noise Ombudsman which should give extra support to people living near Cambridge and Stansted Airports The new ombudsman will work with the government and industry to bring about a balance between the demand for new flights and noise control. It comes just months after Cambridge Airport operators, Marshalls were asked to provide a Noise Action Plan by the Civil Aviation Authority after announcing increased flights. Julian said: "Cambridge and Stansted Airports are hugely valuable providing employment for thousands of people but we have to strike a balance ...
The Council have produced a very nice infographic explaining how much Council Tax residents pay, where it goes to and how it gets spent. Click on it for a full-size (and more readable!) version. [IMG: council tax explained]
[IMG: Vince Cable speaking York Europe Jobs Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] In an interview for the Observer magazine's "This much I know" feature, Vince Cable has shared his life lessons. He shares his incredulity that anyone needs a salary/bonus of over £1 million to live on: I don't understand why people need a million quid a year. I've asked one or two of the more sympathetic bankers to explain it to me. The response has been: "It's not that I need the money, it is because others get it so I should, too." That is a ludicrous mindset. ...
MP Julian Huppert will find out how the government can better support research into type 1 diabetes after meeting young people and adults living with the disease at an event in Westminster. Julian will raise the issue with Science Minister, David Willetts after discovering that 400,000 people in the UK - equivalent to more than 600 people in each constituency such as Cambridge - are living with the condition. Despite the disease affecting so many lives, including those of very young children, charity JDRF, which raises money for research, claims government funding is falling. Julian said: "I want to find ...
County Tories have been accused of riding rough shod over the residents of Cambridge after workmen moved in to tear down the city's heritage street lights. Contractors began removing the lights in Victoria Street today (Monday, March 17) ignoring a drive by residents and councillors who were trying to secure funding to restore them and assurances given by contractor, Balfour Beatty in December. A call for a last-minute stay of execution for the heritage street lights by Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Ed Cearns at the council's Scrutiny Committee on Thursday (March 13) has been ignored. Cllr Cearns, who represents Cambridge's Market ...
Our Planning Department has been advised that McDonalds will not be seeking to appeal the refusal of planning permission for the two-storey drive through proposed for Stafford Road in Wallington. Whilst we cannot completely relax until the deadline for the appeal of 22nd April has passed, we can acknowledge this victory for people-power. It felt [...]
Mon 17th
11:52Norman Lamb MP, Baroness Liz Barker and Paul Burstow write...Care Bill builds better, stronger, more...
[IMG: Care in the home Some rights reserved by British Red Cross] Last week, historic legislation on social care was debated for the final time in the Commons. It has been an exhaustive - and at times exhausting - process, and one of the most inclusive and consultative pieces of legislation ever. We worked with people across the political spectrum to get this right – as ever, a true Lib Dem hallmark. Starting back in 2010 when Paul Burstow in the Department of Health published a new vision for social care, we have at every stage worked to engage, reach ...
In a number of disturbing ways, the news has been worryingly reminiscent of a century ago. If it isn't the tussles over the meaning of free trade inside the Conservative Party in the UK - the Euro-sceptic debate is an echo of the painful divisions over 'imperial preference' - it is the clash between rival networks of alliances in Crimea and Serbia. Now there are also garden cities. There is a grumbling disagreement between the coalition partners about the thoroughly Edwardian idea of 'garden cities'. Lib Dem president Tim Farron just criticised the Conservatives for suppressing a report recommending two ...
Spotted at the aviary at Crown Cars on the way back from school this morning...
The gas works have caused plenty of long queues as they moved from the junction of Styal Road and Hollyhedge Road up to Church Road. In the next week or so they should move north of the Church Road junction into Park Road and then continue all the way up to Altrincham Road. However, there is some good news! We're told that once the works clear Church Road, there shouldn't be the need for temporary lights and traffic will be able to flow freely again. Fingers crossed! We've also had concerns raised about the quality of the reinstatement. The Council ...
[IMG: Clegg fairer tax in tough times - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] A highlight of last week's Spring Conference for me was Friday's consultative Q&A session on the next manifesto. Lots of great ideas were suggested, ranging from river based power generators in flood prone areas to encouraging home work to reduce traffic congestion and CO2 emissions. What stuck with me was David Law's appeal for 'manifesto themes'. There were lots of good suggestions but the majority were small scale - great ideas but difficult to tie into a strong simple theme we can get across to voters. ...
Gallions Reach was the scene of one of the worst disasters to ever hit London when, in 1878, the paddle steamer SS Princess Alice collided with a steam collier ship and tragically about 600 people lost their lives. To make matters worse those poor souls who did not drown immediately had to cope with the appalling [...]
There have been quite a few comments in the blogosphere and in the press along the lines of The West is being hypocritical about Crimea because they supported the separation of Kosovo from Serbia. Let's just rewind for a moment, shall we. In Kosovo, Slobodan Milosevic launched a war against his Albanian fellow citizens. He unleashed not merely paramilitary forces but his entire army. Massacres were taking place and virtually the entire population was set to flee across the border to escape the Serbian forces. The result was a Western (and Russian) intervention which stopped the violence and allowed the ...
[IMG: Charles Kennedy] Charles Kennedy has made a welcome intervention in the debate on Scottish independence. As far as the Better Together campaign is concerned, he's quite off message. I suspect Liberal Democrats will feel that his comments needed saying and deliver a much-needed kick up the backside to the pro-UK organisation. I very rarely share Better Together social media stuff because it's only rarely that I see something that my friends will actually appreciate. The campaign generally gives off an air of dourness that doesn't even connect with its own activists. They might well have bought into the idea ...
April 2015 is when mine & @matgb's proposals for shared parental leave actually come in :) (tags: ) Tired of Talking To Men | The Belle Jar (tags: ) Why I am a male feminist (one reason,anyway) (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Church Road in Frampton Cotterell is used by many drivers commuting from parts of Yate to the North Fringe. The bridge over the river needs replacing, and this is going to cause some diversions while the work is carried out.Initial work to construct a temporary pedestrian bridge downstream of the existing bridge will begin on 17 March and Church Road will remain open during this time.From 7 April, Church Road will close for three weeks while preliminary works are carried out on the existing bridge. Diversions will be in place during this time. Church Road will reopen after this phase.From ...
[IMG: European Union flag] Last month, East Midlands Euro Candidate Issan Ghazni wrote that the party should be encouraging EU citizens living in the UK to vote for us as the only positive pro European party: People in the cafes told me they were fearful of the anti-immigration rhetoric of UKIP and the Tory Right, and many would enthusiastically support the Lib Dems if only we made contact with them. We must, for they could hold the key to fending off UKIP and make the difference between keeping or losing our MEPs. However many Eastern Europeans are unaware they had ...
Royal Bank of Scotland Perth Road Branch I have today slammed what I consider to be a 'wholly unsatisfactory and complacent response' from Royal Bank of Scotland to my request that it reconsider its decision to close the Dundee Perth Road Branch on 26th June. I had written to the bank pointing out that the Perth Road Branch remains a popular branch in a busy shopping centre. I pointed out that when the bank closed the student branch on the University of Dundee Campus in Balfour Street in 2012, it committed to maintaining "a presence in the local area" at ...
Over at the 1729 blog is a tale of how a crank Doctor almost managed to persuade the state of Indiana to legislate to break maths.
The Telegraph carries an interesting review of a new book that seeks to lift the veil on the murky world of lobbying. A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain by Tamasin Cave and Andy Rowell argues that there is an imbalance between the parent who wants a lollipop lady at the school gates and the chieftains of the £2 billion "influence industry" who use their contacts to advance the interests of profit-hungry corporations. The book argues that our choice of food and drink, our wars, our energy security and the future of a warming planet are all ...
Cllr Sebastian Kindersley Ho hum. Here's a warning to Parishes who are yet to have contact about their street lights being replaced. The history behind this is that Cambridgeshire has 55,000 streetlights; many of which are nearing their end of life. So the County applied for Private Finance Initiative credits from the Government to undertake the replacement of those lights over a 25 year period in 2010 and no lights were to be removed. Balfour Beatty won the subsequent tender. However the recession hit and the Government reduced the PFI cost - hence the need to remove 5,500 (10%) of ...
The BBC reports that Cardiff Airport has seen a 9% increase in the number of its passengers since it was taken over by the Welsh government last year. They say that since May 2013, the business has seen 10 months of continuous growth: By the end of March, managers hope to break the one million passenger mark for the financial year. In total, passenger numbers between May to February represents an increase of 10.6% on the same period the previous year. The positive passenger figures come as the airport undergoes refurbishment of its terminal building, including changes to the to ...
See the full "modest proposal" here. Not ever!
