Lynne Featherstone explains why so much of her casework as an MP arises from the failings of the Labour-run Haringey Council. Alex's Archives introduces us to the concept of "the free market priesthood". "These reports demonstrate that OFSTED judgements are not reliable; they do not tell us about a relevant difference in quality, only differences in either circumstances or the personal inclinations of inspection teams." Scenes from the Battleground shows that identical schools can receive different ratings from OFSTED inspectors. Detritus of Empire suggests that the decline and fall of the Roman Empire began in York. "During his cross-examination of ...
J.B. Firth, in his Highways & Byways in Leicestershire, is very taken by Charnwood Forest, which he calls "the most romantic district in Leicestershire": It is a fragment of Wales taken up and set down boldly in the heart of England, for no ostensible reason save the freakishness of Nature. In this small space are found are found all the varied delights of the most picturesque scenery - hills and airy summits clad with heath and bracken, pleasant woods, spacious parks, fair sheets of water, and the ruins of ancient mansions and religious houses. There is nothing like Charnwood Forest ...
Will you become a friend of your local play area and its play equipment? The play area on Normandie Close is threatened with closure and others are set to lose equipment as Shropshire Council budgets cuts bite. Friars Close is will not be closed but the elephant is threatened. Lifted tiles at Fishmore View Most [...]
Ed Lucas writes in the Economist: The court's desire to protect victims of misunderstanding and malice is understandable. But a right to be forgotten would be hard to implement. Even if Google is made to censor its search results in Europe, in America the First Amendment's free-speech provision usually trumps privacy concerns. With modest technical know-how, European internet users will be able to make American-style searches. Europe will hardly want to build a Chinese-style firewall to prevent that.
Sat 17th
18:48
Roger Helmer: I was surprised by the vehemence with which some party spokesmen attacked the concept ...
A headline in tomorrow's Observer runs: Ukip shock over byelection candidate who backed voluntary repatriation Really? When you take into account Helmer's views on rape, the ability of girls under 16 to consent to sex and much else besides, it would be a shock if he didn't support voluntary repatriation.
In case anyone was wondering where I had got to, this might help explain my absence.
[IMG: members forum wordle] LibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you're reading now. The second is our private members' forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access. If you're a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that's on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you'll be included in our regular surveys' of party members' views. Here's some of the most active discussions this past 10 days: Labour on housing, landlords and tenants; End User Certificates and arms trade control; Party preferred candidates in ...
I don't LIKE negative campaigning. I would much rather tell people why they SHOULD vote Liberal than why they shouldn't vote UKIP (or Labour, or Tory, or whatever). But apparently Ed Milliband has been saying UKIP are not the answer. I beg to differ, Mr M, I really do. I can think of several questions to which the answer is "UKIP".The majority of which party's supporters think that all immigrants and their families should be "sent home" even if they were born in Britain? Which party's small business spokesman wants to clamp down on illegal immigration - unless those illegal ...
I was helping out at this morning's RNLI coffee morning, a thing I do when I can. I was standing , up to my elbows in the washing up, listening to a conversation between one of the helpers and her friend. "These councillors, they're only in it for what they can get" says the friend "You'd never see one unless it was election time, or if they were after something" "They can't all be that bad" said the helper ( knowing that I'm a councillor) "Oh yes, " said the friend "They're all the same" The helper then introduced me ...
Sat 17th
12:55
Huppert on Astra Zeneca takeover's threat to jobs, the European elections and the living wage
[IMG: Medical Drugs for Pharmacy Health Shop of Medicine] Julian Huppert has been talking to Cambridge student magazine Varsity. Not surprisingly, the subject of Pfizer's proposed takeover of Astra Zeneca came up. Why should students be bothered? It will have a direct impact on the prospects for people in particular disciplines, and will be a longer term issue about the future of Britain", he replies. "This matters for students who work in STEM subjects, natscis, chem-eng, all of those subjects, because this could be their employment – even if you don't work directly for a pharmaceutical company, the supply chains, ...
Normally when I post a review of something on here that's because I've just seen it. Sadly this is not why I am reviewing Searching for Sugar Man. It's director Malik Bendjelloul has been found dead apparently having killed himself. I confess that until I did not know who he was until I read his [...]
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
[IMG: rainbow flag on white background : harvey milk plaza, san francisco (2012)] In an article to mark today's International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Nick Clegg has told readers of Pink News what the Liberal Democrat MEPs have done for LGBT rights both within Europe and globally: Your Liberal Democrat MEPs have already been fighting for the rights of the LGBT community in Europe. For example, they have supported a European Parliament campaign for the recognition of equal marriage, civil partnerships and cohabitation in EU countries, as well as for the mutual recognition of these civil partnerships between different ...
[IMG: Bangalore voting] I couldn't let these two elections pass without marking them in some way. A couple of weeks ago I needed to arrange an appointment with a colleague in South Africa. "I can't do the 7th", he said, "it's our Voting Day". I like that. A special public holiday was declared, to let everyone vote. Great. And turnout was 81%. 18.4 million people voting in the first "Born Free" election. India's election turnout last week was about the same as ours – 66%. Ours was 65% or 30 million in 2010. But the sheer vast number of people ...
Watch Nigel Farage's car crash interview on LBC (tags: ) Still love @WYPdogs response to the PD Peach Affair (tags: ) The British Library Puts Online 1,200 Literary Treasures From Great Romantic & Victorian Writers (tags: ) The Week in Review: Ukip fever is making us all sick Misrepresents the Lib Dem position quite badly in passing, but is otherwise entertaining. (tags: ) Federal court overturns Google v. Oracle decision, setting disastrous precedent (tags: ) Heart-rending post about the closure of a music venue because of one idiot Obviously this is a one-sided account, but what sort of pillock gets ...
Local residents will remember that we consulted on expanding the current 20mph limit to cover the whole of the lakes estate and the roads up to Gatley Road (Torkington, Delamere, Foxland, Springfield etc.). Around 90% of residents were in favour and so we had it approved. Work's now started on the implementation, with the 20mph roundels painted on the entrances to the new zone yesterday. [IMG: photo 5] This is the latest in a series of 20mph zones we've delivered with the support of residents including the Broadway/Daylesford area in Cheadle, the South Park Road estate and Lorna Grove/Dingle Grove ...
We're always on the look-out for issues as we go around Gatley and Cheadle. Yesterday we spotted a bollard at the end of Lime Grove (near the church) that's been hit and needs resetting, plus a couple of potholes on Eden Place, near Costa, in need of attention. Both have been reported to the council. [IMG: photo 2] [IMG: photo 3]
[IMG: Alan Beith book March 09] I have this massive and growing pile of stuff I want to read but don't have time for at the moment. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. Yesterday, though, a spell in a hospital waiting room gave me the opportunity to catch up with this article from February's Total Politics. Alan Beith was interviewed about first becoming MP for Berwick. He won the by-election in November 1973 and then had to defend the seat twice within the space of a year. He described his disappointment at contesting the seat in 1970 and not ...
Labour often make fun of how much interest I and my Liberal Democrat council colleagues take in potholes, pavements and rubbish bins. I don't think it is funny. I think it is incredibly important that when you walk out of your home what you see around you is decent, clean and well-maintained – and all the more so if you are pushing a pram, using a wheelchair or otherwise have mobility problems. It is also a very good sign of how well or how badly a council is run. After all – this is pretty basic stuff – and if ...
The campaign to clean up Birmingham will not be resolved quickly. The City Council are continuing to refuse to clear refuse more generally although there are reports that secret instructions have been given to do a specific clear up following my application to court. The application I made to the court on Thursday is specifically about 18 dumps of green waste. One of those was cleared on the
The last meeting of Lydiate Parish Council agreed to plant 96 trees on its Lambshear Lane 'Village Centre' site in memory of the 96 people killed as a consequence of the Hillsborough disaster. Sadly, a Lydiate resident was one of the people to be lost in the disaster and of course there will be other Lydiate residents linked to families who lost loved ones on that terrible day. Cllr. Dave Russell, Chairman of the Parish Council, proposed the project be taken forward and it got unanimous support from the Parish Council members.
Following residents raising concerns visibility exiting Ancrum Drive at the junction with Tullideph Road, I raised the matter with the City Council and have received the following feedback from the Team Leader in the Network Management Team :I have carried out an initial inspection of this location and from my initial observations there are no sight line concerns exiting Ancrum Drive on to Tullideph Road. When exiting there is a bus stop to the north of the junction which will make reduce visibility whist the bus is stopped for a short period for pick up and drop off of passengers. ...
On Thursday Noah put up a brief post on the Market Priesthood. It relates the story of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, of Freakonomics fame, meeting David Cameron, of Coalition Government fame. Levitt and Dubner tried to persuade Cameron that health care was just like any other part of the economy. Cameron was, apparently, not impressed. Noah riffs off this story: This is exactly what I call "free market priesthood". Does Levitt have a model that shows that things like adverse selection, moral hazard, principal-agent problems, etc. are unimportant in health care? Does he have empirical evidence that people behave ...
[IMG: Ed Balls MP, Denton - (Labour Leadership Campaign) - 2010] Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 830 party members responded – thank you – and we're publishing the full results. 95% of Lib Dem members view Ukip unfavourably, compared to 85% for Tories, 71% for Labour and 37% for the Greens I'm a fan of the polling company ComRes's 'Favourability Index', which asks the public whether they view the parties and their leading figures favourably ...
On Wednesday I co-hosted a debate against the ban on smoking e-cigarettes in public places that is being proposed by the Welsh Labour Government. The anti-smoking organisation ASH Wales has also opposed the proposals. When introducing the Government's white paper in April, the Health Minister said "There is no evidence of which I am aware that there is a second-hand smoke effect of e-cigarettes". At the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Newport in April the party passed a motion calling for "an individual's free right to use electronic cigarettes where they like to be protected, unless there is evidence to ...
This interview of Nigel Farage's car crash interview is all over the interweb. Dan Hodges in the Telegraph thinks that it is the UKIP leader's Nick Griffin moment. We can but hope. As Dan Hodges says,it started with the Ukip leader attempting to defend his party over charges of racism. It ended with his Communications Director Patrick O'Flynn interrupting the interview live on air and then, according to LBC staff, physically dragging him out of the studio off camera: What happened in between has effectively finished Nigel Farage's political career. To understand why, you have to listen to the interview ...
