I have spent most of this week in the press office at my employers' annual conference in Birmingham. Every time I visit the city I am struck by how friendly and helpful Brummies are. In my experience only the people of Newcastle upon Tyne can rival them for this. I did look for a video of the canals around the International Convention Centre to post as a tribute to Birmingham, but could not find one that was entirely suitable. So instead, here is a lecture on the history of the city by that great Brummie Professor Carl Chinn.
I am not one of those who will be outraged by Nick Clegg's suggestion that the Liberal Democrats should bring in all-women shortlists for some parliamentary candidate selections. As I blogged last October, I have come round to the idea myself - if only because of the shortcomings of our current efforts to get more Lib Dem women elected to Westminster. And really there is more to my change of heart than that. I feel more strongly about such equality issues than I did a few years ago. Society has changed, but I think I have too. But having said ...
As those who follow me on Twitter will know, my days of being actively involved in politics are looking like they may soon be over (more on that later) and part of me is relieved. As the election campaigns really set in here in Medway and ground work is laid down for the general & local elections next year the uglier and nastier things get. As predicted the lines between national and local politics have become blurred and the three remaining LibDem councillors (as well as the standing candidates) are being blamed for supporting the Coalition nationally. Their ministry of ...
UKIP's attempts to storm to success in the local elections in Newcastle and Gateshead seem to be floundering. I reported last week that Ukippers had circulated a local election leaflet in Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward with a totally inadequate and illegal imprint. Now, I hear that a total of 17 UKIP leaflets in Gateshead and Newcastle are suffering from the same problem. I also believe that
President Obama has just posted another incredible picture of himself and Joe Biden. Warming up apparently. Warm up. pic.twitter.com/C5obgIOr58 — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 9, 2014
The next couple of weeks are going to be quiet on here — my in-laws are visiting for a week from tomorrow, and the local elections (in which I'm a candidate) and the simultaneous European ones are the week after — so don't expect much for basically the rest of this month, blog-wise. March and [...]
To celebrate his 80th birthday, here is a strikingly youthful Alan Bennett performing one of the headmaster's monologues from his first play. Forty Years On, with its combination of high culture, nostalgia and corny jokes, has always appealed to me. For a portrait of Bennett today, watch his interview with Mark Lawson.
Many Clitheroe residents will been shocked to see this story on the front page of the Clitheroe Advertiser To add a bit of political balance I have written the following letter as a response – hopefully it will get published Dear Sir, I find your story about Nigel Evans standing up for the rights of Catholic school children who face financial and religious discrimination rather ironic Let's rewind the clock to 2010 when the then Tory run Lancashire County Council brought in charging for transport to denominational schools (ie C of E and Roman Catholic schools). Back then, I remember ...
The Edge Theatre & Arts Centre in Chorlton has persuaded Manchester's hottest property to become a Patron. JULIE HESMONDHALGH, well respected and nationally-loved actress has agreed to be one of the faces of the small theatre. Julie is well-known for her moving and sensitive role of Hayley Cropper in CORONATION STREET, which we saw her leave in February this year. She has since taken on roles at Manchester's iconic Royal Exchange Theatre and has just returned to Manchester following a run of BLACK ROSES: THE KILLING OF SOPHIE LANCASTER at London's South Bank Centre.Julie is also known for her charity ...
Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 105130/FO/2014/S1 Jasmine ...
I promised I would return to the Liberal Party 1929 canvasser's guide , so here we are.The guide begins with general guidance which I will come back to but I thought we should start with policy
[IMG: 3D Shackled Debt] Yesterday I attended the launch of the Children's Society's 'The Debt Trap' campaign, coinciding with the publication of their accompanying report, produced with Step Change, the free debt charity. Some of its findings are truly shocking and should give us all pause for thought. In one of the richest countries in the world 2.4 million of our children are living in homes with problem debt with an additional 2.9 million families with dependent children having struggled to pay their bills over the past 12 months. 1 in 5 of those children living in households with problem ...
We now live in a society in which the only thing almost everyone strives for is to better their own position, as individuals, within our existing society. That can be traced back to the 1970s and Thatcher. What Britain lacks is a popular movement capable of inspiring people through a vision of how to make society [...]
It's been three great years since Andrew and I got married. Where does the time go to? Those of our friends who visited us in East Belfast will know that we have had a lot of 'children' of the Build-a-Bear variety. Having moved to the Rock we found ourselves in accommodation that did not prevent...
[IMG: UKIP logo] Absolutely fed up with UKIP quoting only one side of the story - they have done it for years over the cost of the EU without taking into account the cash returns through the CAP, research grants etc.- I decided last night to check the immigration statistics. Latest figures appear to be 27th February 2014 from the ONS. The ONS, like UKIP, conveniently forgets that Britain is IN the EU. British migrants, such as my son who went to work in Paris two and half years ago and who now lives and works in Berlin, are all ...
[IMG: Russell Brand's New Statesman guest edit] I am what may be described as a politics geek. I work in the Westminster bubble; so do most of my friends, in some capacity or another. But it wasn't always thus. I have always been interested in politics - when I was fifteen years of age, I sat and watched the Iran-Contra hearings for several days - but I didn't vote, ever once, until I was thirty-five. The reason I waited so long to head to a polling station was for reasons that I'm sure are familiar to millions - I didn't ...
Get the facts about the EU here. There's also a reminder of some busted myths here.
Travellers have been camped on the Grange Park Road playing fields in Cheadle for nearly two weeks now – initially just five or six caravans and now more than ten, mostly around the edge backing onto Grange Park Road, Whitegates Road and Danesbury Rise. The Council has been working to sort out issues and move them on, being careful to follow the correct process so a Magistrate will be able to issue an eviction notice when it comes to court. Despite best efforts, the Council's been unable to get a slot at the Magistrates Court before Tuesday and so the ...
One of the longer running issues in Cheadle is the problem of traffic on Schools Hill when parents are dropping off or collecting their children from Ladybarn House School on Schools Hill. At my most recent meeting with the Head Teacher we agreed to look into parking on Bruntwood Park. That is now happening. We're going to run a trial where parents will be able to have free permits to park at the Bruntwood Park car park and walk their children to the school from there (as happens with Cheadle Catholic very successfully). We're also going to look at whether ...
The speed of traffic on Styal Road has long been a concern and residents have told us that it's got worse. Despite it being a narrow road, winding in places, drivers often treat it as 40mph. We've asked the Council to look at the options. At the southern end of Styal Road (by the junction with Lomond Road) we had a flashing sign and some other improvements put in where cars had been coming off the bend too fast and going through someone's garden wall. Similarly we put in measures to slow traffic down on Schools Hill which seem to ...
[IMG: european union stars] Speaking at a Reuter's Newsmaker event this morning Nick Clegg argued the case for reforming the EU, and for the Liberal Democrats to lead this charge. The economic rationale for being in Europe should speak for itself, but making the case for IN isn't easy. The Eurosceptic establishment has gone unchallenged for decades and before you even get to the real issues at the heart of this debate, you have to penetrate a wall of assumptions and myths. ... Or the biggest myth of all - the idea that if you are pro-Europe, you are somehow ...
It's not every day that I get an email from a Labour councillor containing fulsome praise of me. Well, recently I did. It followed a planning committee meeting in Gateshead that rejected an application to opencast a site at Birklands in Lamesley ward, which neighbours my own ward of Whickham South and Sunniside. I had fought the application since it was first submitted in 2011. I had delivered
Twitter is alive this morning with a Labour attack poster on the subject of VAT [IMG: labour-VAT] Unfortunately for Labour Most of the groceries in the picture are zero-rated for VAT. Even chocolate chip cookies. (Though biscuits covered with chocolate on one side, or decorated with a chocolate pattern, are standard rated, as everybody knows.) Labour is proposing to increase rather than reduce taxes on some of the "unhealthier" products in the basket. To get the figure of £450, you would need to spend over £20,000 a year on standard rate goods. Only the top two deciles pay this much. ...
Thursday: Wednesday night's Partly Political Broadside from Hard Labour seems to have got a lot of people talking. Dan Hodges thinks Hard Labour have gone insane. Owen Jones thinks it's lacking in hope. (and it takes some doing for Mr Milipede to look like a less mature grown-up than my fellow Stopfordian!) While the New Statesman thinks it means Labour are going all out for a majority. Personally, I think that that last analysis is 100% wrong. Because self-indulgently playing to their CORE VOTE prejudices is a sure sign that Labour are now falling back on a CORE VOTE STRATEGY. ...
The consequences of the UK attitude (especially in the press) to European politics (tags: ) Nick Clegg has taken a stand for Europe and against Ukip - so he's got my vote Thanks Dan. Let's hope a lot more join you. (tags: ) How can MPs win the trust of mums? Cathy Newman on the depressing stat that 2%of mums trust politicians TBF I *AM* a mum and a politician and I would trust a fair few, but not all... (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Some rather handy ideas here, both for the public and private sector: Download this file
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... New Statesman | Welcome to Militant England Congrats to @rafaelbehr: @NewStatesman's loss = Grauniad's gain. His "Militant England" essay an absolute MUST-READ http://bit.ly/1s7RFW9 EEF Blog: Values matter! Evidence alone is not enough | News & Events | The Education Endowment Foundation "Values matter! Evidence alone is not enough" < Excellent post from m'@EducEndowFoundn colleague Robbie Coleman http://bit.ly/1j0QMPI Nick Clegg has taken a stand for Europe and against Ukip – so he's got my vote – Telegraph Blogs Looks like I'll be voting the same ...
John Pugh has written an excellent posting for Lib Dem Voice and Stephen Hesketh (also of this parish) has added some important thoughts. John and I had a discussion at the weekend about this-and how it should impact on our leaflets. I went away thinking of doing a blog posting and had in my mind a quote from Jo Grimond which I have now found. 'The salient feature of British politics is not the conflict of class and class or Tory and Liberal and Labour, though these conflicts exist, it is the conflict between the government and the governed. Part ...
[IMG: nhs sign lrg] Delivering free at the point of use healthcare is rightly at the heart of the NHS. But faced with an ever-ageing population, a rise in long-term conditions and tight health budgets, radical reform is imperative to ensure the survival of our health system as we know it. It is the rise in long-term conditions that is causing particular strain. Ranging from obesity and diabetes, to cancer and dementia, these complex and multivariate conditions affect 15 million patients in England and account for 70 per cent of total NHS spend. The NHS, designed to combat acute conditions, ...
Some time ago, I raised with the City Council requests from constituents about improving the footway from Tom McDonald Avenue to the south side of Perth Road, near the roundabout with Ninewells Avenue. There is no properly made up footway here. The council gave a commitment to provide a footway but it has not been installed yet and I therefore asked for an assurance it will be done soon. I am pleased to say that I have now received this update from the council's City Development Department: "The Engineers have carried out a site survey for the proposed footway link ...
It is not often nowadays that the Liberal Democrst win the vote of a major newspaper columnist but this is such a week. Former Labour Party member and Daily Telegraph columnist Dan Hodges has written that the rather crass Labour Party Election Broadcast has persuaded him that a vote for the Liberal Democrats in the European Elections is the only course of action open to him: He says that the key to his decision is that 'voting Labour isn't the way to stand up to Ukip because Labour hasn't been prepared to stand up to Ukip. In the face of ...
[IMG: Green Dale] For a dozen years I've helped campaign for Green Dale cycle and walking route to be upgraded. Ever since I was the chair of Southwark Cyclists. After four months of ponderingly slow work the new footpath opens for a 1/3rd of the route TODAY. A seriously silly footpath has been widened to make it properly accessible. Over the years a chicane was added to slow cyclists and speed bumps to slow cyclists – when all that was needed was a wider footpath. Go try it out...
The Council has said it will cut half the community libraries in Liverpool. As part of a run up to the decision on which to target, there is a consultation to find out which libraries people use and how they use them. The consultation has to happen by law but it's still important that anyone who loves their local library makes that clear. There are forms in libraries, but you can also take part on-line. The form doesn't ask for a name and address. The deadline is next Friday (16th). If you haven't already filled in a form, please do ...
I blogged earlier about the final decision re whether or not to expand Gilmour Infants School and Gilmour Juniors. The City Council's Cabinet is due to decide next week (16th May) The committee papers are at this link. The comments from various people and organisations are in one of the appendices towards the end of the appendix list. The comments are anonymised. I can see mine there and Cllr Richard Oglethorpe's but nothing from the other local councillors for the area.
The remains of this long gone branch railway are still visible in various places not least of which is the former tunnel that took the branch under what was Marsh Lane Station but is now Bootle New Strand Station on the Merseyrail network. [IMG: The trees in the foreground mask the now pedestrian tunnel which runs under the the first carriage of this Merseyrail Electric Unit which is sat at New Strand Station] The trees in the foreground mask the now pedestrian tunnel which runs under the the first carriage of this Merseyrail Electric Unit which is at at New ...
This week's announcement of a review of secondary school banding and development of a primary school grading model introduces yet more tinkering and change from this indecisive Welsh Labour Government. The Minister's statement is extremely short on detail. The Welsh Government's u-turn on the banding of primary schools was over two years ago and it is about time it was made explicitly clear what changes are being made. The announcement that the secondary school banding is to be reviewed is not a surprise. Banding has been characterised by wild fluctuations between bands, set quintiles which inhibit school improvement, and a ...
EU laws, championed by Lib Dems, have cut the price of using data while on holiday by 80%
