Ever since I invited the time banks pioneer Edgar Cahn over to the UK in 1997, I have been fascinated by the growth of the idea across Europe. Then, last year, I had the huge opportunity of writing a report about their growth and potential for the European Commission, which has just been published. What I found was a hugely diverse movement, from the Scandinavian time banks (more about local barter, which is why it is being taxed) to the Spanish banca del tiempo (an offshoot of the feminist movement, developed increasingly by local government). The Italian banca de tempo ...
[IMG: Cllr Sue James supporting Cornwall Wildlife Trust] Cllr Sue James wants to support Cornwall Wildlife Trust to get kids outside to go wild Cornwall Wildlife Trust: Supporting Kids to "Go Wild" in St Just and want us to get involved and help them. PROJECT WILD THING – Trailer from Green Lions on Vimeo. On Thursday I traveled to Falmouth Poly to attend a showing of the 'Project Wild Thing' film. The event was hosted by Cornwall Wildlife Trust. I went with Jill Neville, Chair of Bosavern Community Enterprises who recently bought Bosavern Community Farm, for the local community. We ...
Communities across the country have understandably been concerned and annoyed at the proliferation of betting shops since Tessa Jowell MP reversed the burden of proof required to open new betting shops. Instead of betting shops having to prove they wouldn't cause harm communities had to prove they would cause harm to shop them. The flood gates opened. So Lib Dem ministers have worked to give new powers to councils to halt this terrible trend. Sadly their isn't enough parliamentary time for a new gaming act so instead planning rules have been changed. Betting shops fall in the same planning category ...
Much concern has been expressed recently by residents mourning the loss of beautiful trees in their street. Trees are not only beautiful to look at but are essential as shade in heat waves, and in the fight against air pollution and climate change. We regret that The Borough of Lewisham has one of the lowest replanting rates [...]
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Every time I go somewhere abroad for a Liberal International or ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe) gathering I make sure to tag on at least one cultural outing or event. No matter how much one travels, there are always new things to discover, not least in the great cities of Europe. Hearing [...]
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Mon 5th
20:32
Broken the 2000 word mark on the novel and still only on the prologue. Long way to go. May 05, 2014 ...
May 05, 2014 at 08:31PM via Facebook
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A new trade union aimed at teachers in primary and secondary schools who have become uncomfortable with the National Union of Teachers is to be launched. The new union, NAHT Edge aims to recruit 5,000 members within two or three years and will act as a sister union to the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), which represents about 28,000 heads. I have always looked upon the Teaching profession as having too many trade unions already yet I can understand why a new one is being created. It all goes back to the way public sector trade unions, in particular, ...
Before the vote in the Assembly the Chrurh of Ireland wrote to all MLAs in an open letter stating: "The Church of Ireland continues to uphold its teaching that marriage is part of God's creation and a holy mystery in which one man and one woman become one flesh ... The Church of Ireland affirms, according to our Lord's teaching that marriage is in its purpose a union permanent and life-long, for better or worse, till death do them part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side ... The Church of Ireland ...
[IMG: Go sign - road sign from Mauritius. Image courtesy of Kingroyos. Some rights reserved Want to get a summary of new posts on this blog by email rather than having to check the RSS feed, stalk me on social media or manually come back to this site? Or fancy getting my monthly Liberal Democrat Newswire? Or even want both? Then my email list sign up form awaits. Usual points apply about how you can leave the email lists at any time and how I won't be selling your email address to a Chicago chemical supplies for plumbers firm ...
Leicester City had a victory parade through the centre of the city today to celebrate winning the Championship. Note that the players are photographing the crowd and the crowd is photographing the players. Positively Baudrillardian. I was a Chelsea fan long before I moved to Leicestershire, so I have never felt the loyalty to City that I do to Leicester Tigers. But I wish them well in the Premiership next year. And thanks to Deli Flavour in the Silver Arcade for the loan of a window.
As we get nearer to the European elections I think it is a good time to look back on blogs that I have written relating to Europe. I haven't written much about the BNP. They have been very quiet (thankfully) apart from one obnoxious leaflet. I hope it is easy for voters to see how obnoxious they are without too much explanation. The family of Lee Rigby managed to say how sickened they were when one party used his name in order to gain political advantage. Well the BNP have done so too. I haven't written much about the Tory ...
You can read the manifesto here: Manifesto 2014 – for publication
Mon 5th
14:47
Scottish Liberal Democrats launch their European Election campaign - IN Britain, IN Europe, IN Work
Given the illustrious collection of single malts that there is in Scottish Party HQ, it's hardly surprising that the party decided to launch its campaign of for the European elections in a distillery near Edinburgh. Alistair Carmichael, Willie Rennie and George Lyon checked out the products as they outlined the campaign themes. [IMG: Rennie, Carmichael and Lyon] There are no local elections in Scotland this year, but there is an added dimension with the approaching independence referendum. The Party of IN arguments apply just as much to Scotland staying in the UK as they do to the UK staying in ...
As it is a bank holiday and because this speech is very funny
Along with councillor colleagues and others who attended, I was pleased this lunchtime to attend a Civic Reception to mark Wishbone Day, the day that promotes awareness of the work to support people affected by the bone condition Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). The Dundee-based UK charity, the Brittle Bone Society, does great work in this field and, as part of Wishbone Day activities, yellow balloons were released in the City Square. Here's me (below) with Brittle Bone Society Chief Executive Patricia Osborne in the City Square earlier today:
In my quick round-up of the parties standing for the European Parliament in the London constituency I mentioned the Communities United Party: Communities United Party - this is the party that managed to mistakenly call itself Communist and has been the subject of a legal restraining order. Now I've seen its Election Communication, things are not that much clearer. Note however the reference to regularly taking up issues in the courts. The reality of their legal action is rather unappealing: regularly having their cases thrown out and being so vexatious as to get bared from filing further legal action without ...
These are my rare breed Welsh Harlequin ducklings. I hatched them in mid April and when they were just a few days old, we took them to Marley Hill Community Centre for people to see at the craft market we ran on Easter Monday. We had a free competition (mainly for kids though a few parental contributions were received) to come up with the best name for a duckling. I'm pleased to announced that
Postal Voters will receive their ballot papers for the European Elections this week. Most people, who intend to vote, will have filled them in and posted them back by next weekend. Trouble is only one party seems to have the resources and enthusiasm to get some posters up and talk about it. I fear the turn out will be low and the victor will represent a minority voice and not what most people really believe in. I do believe the EU needs reforming and like any organisation that has massive growth or adds bits on over time, what works when ...
Mon 5th
11:30Could Labour and Tories unite to pass tougher knife crime sentencing? How should Liberal Democrats r...
[IMG: FSI working at crime scene] Last Friday, Joe Otten wrote about the leak of letters revealing that the Liberal Democrats were opposing Tory plans to introduce a six month mandatory sentence for those convicted a second time for carrying a knife. Today's Daily Mail makes two claims. The first is that Labour is getting ready to "humiliate" the Liberal Democrats by siding with the Tories and they could pass this together. Secondly, they say that Nick Clegg was "bouncing off the walls" when he discovered the leak. We know from the feature on yesterday's Sunday Politics that Nick thinks ...
East Dulwich Lib Dems are very excited that at last the planning application from the PictureHouse cinema group has been submitted to convert the former St.Thomas Moore Hall at 116A Lordship Lane into a cinema. Council planning officers are ready for your comments whether supporting or objecting. The details of the planning application can be seen here. Please send your thoughts to planning.applications@sputhwark.gov.uk and copy me at cllrjamesbarber@gmail.com with subject line 14/AP/1101 We think a cinema will be a great new asset to the area. So much so that over the last few years we've talked to five different cinema ...
The overwhelming favourite to be the next Indian PM is again risking stirring up inter-religious violence Narendra Modi is a man with a controversial past. While his term as Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat is generally seen as an economic success, he also presided over riots in 2002 during which a 1000 people [...]
What happens to old superheroes and supervillains? Beautiful, BEAUTFIUL comic The last panel is just glorious. (tags: ) Why the UK has a high child death rate - basically it's because we have high inequality (tags: ) Investigators find something fishy with classical evidence for dietary fish recommendations -- ScienceDaily (tags: ) UK trans women's drugs supply cut off Eurgh. This is a human rights issue as far as I am concerned. There should be more suppliers. (tags: ) UK Culture Secretary blocks participation in EU gay rights summit Eurgh. Horrible horrible man. (tags: ) Why beards are the new ...
This the pub where they were playing Californication on Saturday. The Brewery Tap, the home of Oakham Ales, is housed in the city's former labour exchange - just across the road from the bus station and near the railway station. You will find all the Oakham Ales on draught here, including the incomparable Citra, and there is also a Thai restaurant. In fact it claims to be the largest brewpub in Europe. But a shadow hangs over it. The pub's website says: The Tap continues to go from strength to strength but despite this, it is still at risk of ...
Mon 5th
09:31Opinion: We are still living with the consequences of nationalised railways today. Turning back the ...
[IMG: Northern train] In a letter to the Observer a group of Labour PPCs, including my opponent Joshua Fenton-Glynn, have proposed that the Labour should nationalise rail services. This idea displays an ignorance of the true cause of the problems with UK railways that beggars belief. Almost every issue with rail transport can be traced not to privatisation per se, but to nationalisation, or the insufficiently liberal privatisation foisted upon us by the Major government. In the 1980s investment in rail was at an all time low, due entirely to the nationalised nature of British Rail. During this period the ...
I have today criticised the City Council's lack of progress on a commitment given last year to look at several ways of easing parking problems in the West End short of a residents' parking scheme, following the rejection of such a scheme by residents in the area south of Blackness Road and east of Windsor Street. It was no surprise that the residents' parking scheme idea was rejected by the majority of residents as the proposed £80 cost and proposal to charge visitors for parking in the area was a pretty unsellable idea, but I was anxious that something positive ...
Today is the May Day holiday so my usual Monday ward surgeries at the West Park Centre and the Mitchell Street Centre do not take place. However, I can be contacted as follows: E-surgery - e-mail esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.ukPhone - Dundee 459378 at any time My Thursday surgery at Blackness Primary School will take place later this week as usual - see poster below:
This years event, held yesterday, benefited from good weather and a big turn-out of locals. It took place behind the famous Scotch Piper Pub and in the adjacent grounds of Lydiate Abbey. [IMG: cropped-Lydiate-Parish-Council-Logo-e1372273297819] It was the second weekend in a row that I listened to Maghull Wind Orchestra although playing in a large tent in Lydiate could not be much further from the grand surroundings of Sefton Park's Palm House of last week! Of course they were just as good though. [IMG: Maghull Wind Orchestra] Maghull Wind Orchestra There was a display of owls and what wonderful creatures they ...
