Michael Murray on power: It's great being someone Frankie, that's a fact. D'you know, I can never remember a time when I didn't want to be someone. When you're someone you've got the power to do nearly anything you want. Better still, you can get people to do nearly anything you want them to do. Like tonight, with that girl. I mean, actually I didn't have to do anything at all. I just got a waiter to go over to her table with a bottle of sparkling white wine and a note. "Michael Murray would like you to join him". ...
On a couple of occasions, I've spoken to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities in London — in Lambeth and Newham, to be precise — as part of the Liberal Democrats' European Election campaign. Here's what the Ibero-American community website MINKA NEWS had to say about it: Liberal Democrats' Jonathan Fryer: For the recognition of the entire [...]
A few weeks ago Janan Ganesh in the FT described the UK housing market as an 'institutionalised pathology'. The problems that the housing market is causing for the British economic and political system seemingly become ever more apparent by the day. There is an increasingly strong coalition of opinion uniting behind the sort of radical action that is needed on housing supply to deal with the problems. The recent intervention by KPMG/Shelter, or the RSA, or today at the BBC website all set out prescriptions that bear more than a family resemblance. And as a similar message emerges from different ...
Joshi Herrman writes in the Evening Standard: It's almost as if someone is trying to get David Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osborne's backs up. First, Laura Wade's acclaimed play, Posh, started its run at the Royal Court during the 2010 election campaign. Now, the film adaptation — The Riot Club — has released its barnstorming trailer during another election season, a year before the General Election and with a release date (September 12) set so that it will be showing in cinemas just before the senior Conservatives whose university lives it lampoons and denounces are gathering in Birmingham for ...
His report for Channel 4 News earlier this evening.
[IMG: It starts right here, in Maldives] For a few days some of the links here haven't been working. Apologies for that. I phoned the friendly and efficient folks at Godaddy today, and all is up and running again. Thank you for your patience. photo by: nattu [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
How bad will the 2015 general election be for the Lib Dems? Nick Tyrone takes an optimistic view. "While the drug policy debate seems to be heading irreversibly towards decriminalisation and regulation, the sex work debate is a car crash in comparison." Ewan Hoyle looks at the chances of achieving the decriminalisation of sex work. Evidence into Practice asks if teachers can stop believing in fashionable pseudoscientific ideas about learning. "By the time they reach high school, nearly 20 percent of all American boys will be diagnosed with ADHD. Millions of those boys will be prescribed a powerful stimulant to ...
[IMG: 4.2 million UK jobs depend on Europe ] 4.2 million UK jobs depend on Europe From Catherine Bearder's website: 1) Top of the charts has to be: Brussels bureaucrats impose laws upon us and we have no say in it... not true. The commission has no power to impose law on EU countries, it can only propose legislation. Its proposals are sent to ELECTED MEPs in the parliament and the national Governments in the Council where they are amended until everyone is happy. Only after this process are they turned into law. Important to remember: the British Government and ...
And so, as noted on Liberal Democrat Voice, Ros and I had gone to Vienna to attend a slightly odd meeting of the ALDE Party Council. Odd, because it felt a bit like a contractual obligation which it is kind of is. But that's a story for another post. Having arrived in Vienna after a fairly uneventful flight, we had arranged to have dinner with the ever enchanting Jonathan Fryer, and Iain Smith, who I first met as a Young Liberal Democrat in, of all places, Aarhus, in 1989. He went on to rather better things, as an MSP and, ...
* blows dust off * Gosh, it's gone a bit quiet here of late, hasn't it? Anyone would think that my life had become rather dull, or that I was knee deep in campaigning for the European elections. And they'd be wrong. You see, I don't campaign much these days, mostly because of my job, which is inconsistent with public campaigning, and partly because it's quite difficult to do any in rural Suffolk, even if I wanted to. I am busy though, administering things and generally pottering about. So, bear with me whilst I fill in some of the gaps.... ...
Here is the debate in Hansard. It is often said that a week is a long time in politics, but in one sense that is wrong. Dealing with Government finance and the economy takes multiple years, so the problem that we had in 2010 will take at least eight years to resolve. People who interview me every so often say, "Oh, we have more cuts this year," but those decisions were made in 2010 and they
I received an email from the court indicating that the trial into the Labour Party's policy of leaving the city in a mess (apart from the odd clear up) will be on 11th June. It will be interesting to see if they concede the point now that they have done one rather erratic clear up. Many constituents have contacted me asking for a refund as well.
We said yesterday that Lib Dem MEPs were too good to lose. Here's a short video which was played at the Conference rally at York this Spring which shows some of the excellent work that they do.
Here is Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, talking to the BBC about Alastair Cook: "He is a very determined guy, a very good role model and he and his family are very much the sort of people we want the England captain and his family to be."Over to Daniel Brigham on The Cricketer site: To be clear, Clarke - who runs the English game, remember - thinks that the England captain and his family should be a certain "sort of people". ...Just as George Bush wanted American families to be more like the Waltons than ...
Tue 20th
16:56
Edward McMillan-Scott writes ... an open letter to the Leader of the Conservatives in Europe
[IMG: European Parliament chamber, Strasbourg] Mr Syed Kamall MEP (London, Conservative) Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament Dear Syed, As the former leader of the Conservative MEPs, I have followed with interest the current speculation over your potential future bedfellows in Europe. It appears likely that the number of Conservative MEPs will fall from 26 to around 15, your Czech allies will all but vanish, and the Polish Law and Justice Party will be the dominant force in the ECR group. To survive, there are informed reports that Tory MEPs with the backing of David Cameron are trawling ...
This kind of thing really grinds my gears. Those of you who know me or are regular readers of this blog will know that I'm, somewhat naively, a fan of good Democracy and the democratic process. So it will come as no surprise why my gears are so well and truly ground. Also before I start I should say this is not aimed at hard working Labour activists, councillors or MPs but the party machine and those who use the following technique on the doorstep - you know who you are! Unless you have been living in a ...
[IMG: nigel farage] This morning, Facebook timelines were bombarded with an image of Nigel Farage next to a quote in which he is supposed to have said that UKIP wanted to ban beards of more than 2 inches. "The beard goes are you go" he is supposed to have said on Anglia Radio on Saturday. After a quick (and horrible) mental image of Prime Minister Farage banning Z Z Top from entering the country. Thing is, it didn't sound right. And if it had been true, such a juicy quote as that would surely have appeared before now in other ...
The issue of e-cigarettes in Wales has got a bit heated recently thanks to a proposal by the Welsh Government to ban their use in public places. It is a proposal that iseing resisted by all three opposition parties in the Senedd. Their view, which I share is that whereas the smoking ban was based on clear evidence of the damage caused by second-hand smoke, there is no such evidence available to support a similiar measure with regards to e-cigarettes. The Minister argues that his proposal is to try and prevent the normalisation of smoking, but that effectively means that ...
Tue 20th
14:38LibLink: Stephen Tall: Why my heart won't be too heavy this week when I vote Conservative (in a mann...
[IMG: Conservative Party logo] There was much spluttering at LDV Towers this morning when we saw THAT headline. There was Earl Grey everywhere. Eventually, though, we managed to calm down and keep reading. In fact, our Stephen was messing with the heads of the readers of Conservative Home, as he does every few weeks or so. In fact, his own vote for the fabulous Liberal Democrat team in the South East is secure. He is talking, though, about how he's casting a proxy vote for a friend of his who has decided to vote Conservative. There is a bit of ...
Shocking figures published today show that seven out of twenty of the worst performing UK hospitals for stroke care are in Wales. As of today, the public can now access recent data on the management, diagnosis and treatment of stroke at their local hospital. While these figures and the interactive map are available for every hospital in the UK, it clearly shows that stroke care in Wales is not at an acceptable standard. The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, provided by the Royal College of Physicians, has collected a minimum dataset for every stroke patient in Wales, England and Northern ...
Tue 20th
13:10Tim Farron says thanks to Liberal Democrat candidates: "Everything you do can and will make a massiv...
The Party President sends his thanks to the 2,730 Liberal Democrats standing in the local elections. Looking at his You Tube channel, though, I was surprised to see just how little video stuff he's done. I think, in these last few months of his presidency, he should do a bit more flogging cos he's quite good at it and it can be done without a huge amount of kerfuffle.
Cornwall Tories today tried to propose a new housing policy which would deny Cornish members of the armed forces based out of Cornwall the chance to go on the housing register. The party also suggested that social housing should be of a lower quality than at present. The debate took place on the proposed strategic housing framework for Cornwall. This is a document which sets out the ambition for more and better quality social housing to address to significant housing need in Cornwall. One of the proposals that we are currently consulting on is to strengthen the need for local ...
[IMG: George Symons] This week (Thursday 22nd May) resident of South Werrington and North Gunthorpe will be casting their vote, to decide who they want to represent them at the Town Hall, over the next couple of years. At the moment households are receiving a glossy leaflet from a variety of political parties, who outside of the elections, have been vacuous in their presence! But in their text, they all seem to claim that they stand a chance of winning? But we thought you'd like to see the facts? Therefore, to view the ACTUAL previous election results for this area ...
I had quite a merry morning yesterday - a site visit to Washingwell Woods and Fugar Bar, most of which is in my ward. I have been wanting to get off the ground a history project about the area for some years. My first plan was to restore the ancient orchard that was once part of the medieval Fugar House (which was demolished in the early 1950s. The old orchard has clung to life, overgrown and
It starts normal. Goes overboard on the yellow arrows. Returns to normal. And then there's the moment 30 seconds in. Just look at how many different books he's actually holding. I give you Matt Miller's campaign spot: For the real classics of the genre take a look at Some of the strangest political adverts you've ever seen.
Last night, at Friends House in Euston, the North East London branch of the World Development Movement (WDM) organised a Euro-election hustings focussing on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which the Green Party and several NGOs involved in overseas development issues have been campaigning against. The timing was well-chosen, not just because of [...]
[IMG: Vince Cable - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] When Vince Cable issues a warning we should all pay heed. According to the Guardian he was speaking last week at the Resolution Foundation and claimed that booming house prices are destabilising the economy. He said we should all be worried about what will happen when interest rates return to normal. He was speaking in response to a report of research by the Resolution Foundation which found: One in ten of today's mortgagors risk being imprisoned by borrowing deals which are likely to make their repayments unaffordable as interest rates ...
A couple of weeks ago I rescued 3 feral honey bee colonies from Sun Hill in Sunniside. The building is being demolished and the bees faced extermination or rescue by me. News has got around of the rescue and as a result, I was contacted by Riverside Academy, down the road in Dunston. The school had a bird nest box on the wall next to a door onto the school yard. A bumblebee colony was living in
[IMG: Lucas UKIP] Owen Jones, left wing agitator extraordinaire, wrote an article in the Indy a year and a half ago asking why there was no left wing equivalent of UKIP. He didn't put it in the following words, but I will: why, in the face of the splintering of the party political system, combined with Ed Miliband's dithering and drift away from the leftie populism of his early leadership, not to mention the collapse of the Lib Dems as a left wing populist vote, has there not been a party who has been able to capitalise on this in ...
[IMG: miliband] Three weeks ago, Miliband crossed the Rubicon and entered the heartland of Tory ideology. His support for European-style longer and more secure tenancies — and by extension capping rent increases — runs roughshod over a hitherto post-Thatcherite consensus. Grant Shapps led the Tory riposte with a quick and ludicrous barb: Labour were proposing "Venezuelan-style rent controls". Most people won't know the details of Venezuela's housing policy, but will be sure it's unlikely to be any worse than our own. Times have changed. We can see this clearly in that most Thatcherite of metrics: home ownership. At its height, ...
Kickstarting Codemancer, a game to teach programming to kids (especially girls) - Boing Boing (tags: ) 'Best-before' labels on rice, coffee and pasta reach their sell-by date (tags: ) Party election broadcasts: uniting the nation in despair and embarrassment (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Post by Savitri Udalagama.
[IMG: Katherine and me in Finsbury Park] The Arctic Monkeys concerts are in Finsbury Park this Friday and Saturday between the hours of 4pm and 10.30pm and I want to make sure Stroud Green residents are aware of how they could be impacted. Katherine Reece, Ben Myring and I have been pushing Haringey Council and the police to improve the way the concert is managed, to avoid some of the problems that occurred at the Stone Roses events last year. As a result we have been promised that more toilets will be provided for concert-goers and there will be more ...
[IMG: Liberal Democrat posters - Some rights reserved by Brett Patterson] It's election week, and all the workers volunteers at LDV towers are heavily involved in the action on the ground. Not surprisingly many potential contributors are also either shackled to Connect or getting sunburn and blisters while out delivering and canvassing. So you must excuse the rather thin offerings this week. We will do our best to provide you with some light reading while you are soaking your feet, but can't guarantee quantity. On the other hand, if you have something you are dying to say, and you are ...
[IMG: Cllr. Bruce Hubbard with his petition against Labour's £46 Green Bin Tax on Sefton households.] Cllr. Bruce Hubbard with his petition against Labour's £46 Green Bin Tax on Sefton households. Birmingham Yardley Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming is seeking a court order to get Birmingham City Council to clear dumped green waste, following the introduction of a £35 garden waste collection charge in February. The Labour-run authority hopes the scheme will generate £2m of income. Remember Labour-run Sefton's presently 'deferred' charge for emptying the Borough's green bins is set at £46 per bin With thanks to the LGiU for ...
This week (18 – 24 May 2014) is Dementia Awarneness Week. This is a national week to raise awareness about dementia, and support those affected by dementia. There is more information about the awareness week, including a video and details of who to speak to you if you are worried about dementia at the Altzeimers Society Website here. The Joesph Rowntree Foundtation has details about it's 'Dementia without Walls' campaign here. [IMG: Screenshot 2014-05-20 05.32.04] In Bury there are a series of activities for Dementia Awareness Week (apologies for late notice, as these are now happening this week): Tuesday 20th ...
Polling Day for the local and European elections is Thursday 22 May 2014. Polling stations are open 7am – 10pm on Thursday. At the polling station you will be given two ballot papers – a yellow ballot paper for the local elections and a white ballot paper for the European elections. You don't need your polling card to vote. If you need a lift to the polling stations please call our Polling Day hotline on 07532 051 307 Polling stations are: Baguley Crescent and Heywood Old Road areas Mobile Unit Baguley Crescent Simister Lady Wilton Hall Parrenthorn, St Margaret's and ...
Media Guardian previews a Radio Times interview in which John Inverdale seeks to explain his comments about last summer's Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. You may recall he said: "I just wonder if her dad, because he has obviously been the most influential person in her life, did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14 maybe, 'listen, you are never going to be, you know, a looker. "'You are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you're never going to be 5ft 11, you're never going to be somebody with long legs, so you have to compensate for ...
From Sheena Wellington : Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library, Wellgate, Dundee Cappuccino Concert, 24th May, 11am (doors open, coffee available from 10.30am) Tickets price £5 at the door. Neil Paterson, traditional musician and singer (This will be followed, at 12.15pm, by Friends of Wighton AGM) Neil Paterson began learning bagpipes at the age of 12 and was taught first of all by his father, Peter. He spent many years with his local pipe band - Kinross and District - as well as spells with Torphichen and Bathgate pipe band and Kelty and Blairadam. In 1991 he took up the Scottish ...
