I had another call today about bees in a constituent's garden. This time however it wasn't bumble bees. As soon as my constituent said there was a large cluster of them on a tree, I knew it was a honeybee swarm. I was around in minutes, complete with my smock, gloves and swarm box. Alas, this swarm decided it was not going to be straightforward capturing it. I shook it from the tree into the
As a tribute, here is a glimpse (filmed before The Young Ones) of Rik Mayall in An American Werewolf in London.
[IMG: _75270935_46406b15-109e-442e-9140-918dd77f5de8] Pub Landlords who are currently tied to large pub companies say they struggle to make a decent living. More than half say they earn less than the minimum wage. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable announced on 3 June 2014 that the government will give publicans new rights under a statutory code with an independent adjudicator to resolve disputes. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: British pubs are often the centre of our community, a place where we meet friends, watch sport and enjoy a Sunday roast - they are a national treasure and ...
After my two Monday ward surgeries at the West Park Centre and the Mitchell Street Centre, I took part in tonight's City Council committee meetings at which: * At Environment Committee, I welcomed a report on the planned improvements to the 11 a-side football pitches on the south side of Riverside Drive (see right) to finally fully resolve the stones problem. This is an issue that I and the West End Community and Sports Hub (WECSH) have been campaigning for, for some considerable time, and I am grateful to Environment Department Officers for all they have done to progress this ...
This is the old forge at next to the Bridges pub at Ratlinghope in Shropshire. It has long been a favourite near ruin of mine, but when I was there last week there were planning application notices up for its restoration and conversion into holiday accommodation. Oh well, maybe I can stay there one day.
The Lib Dem team have long supported a new railway station for Cheadle. Cheadle Station The battle we've fought in the last few years has been to keep it on the agenda. Transport for Greater Manchester maintain lists of future projects for possible funding and we've had to fight to stop it vanishing! The issue has always been down to money. There's a limited pot available and funding is (not unreasonably) dished out on the basis of where it will do the most good, which is calculated on the basis of an overall financial return. If the community gets 60p ...
Mon 9th
20:50
Nick Clegg's speech shows we're still a party of the liberal centre (just don't call us anchors)
[IMG: Clegg Speech 7] The Lib Dems have a new slogan, judging from Nick Clegg's Bloomberg speech today: 'Opportunity for Everyone'. That, at least, was the title. The mantra 'Stronger economy, fairer society' (a slogan unloved by Lib Dem activists as smacking of split-the-difference centrism) was mentioned, but very much in the past tense: We've talked a lot about building a stronger economy. We've talked a lot about creating a fairer society. But maybe we haven't talked enough about why those things matter. They matter because they are the only way we can enable everyone to get on in life ...
On The Quietus, Nick Talbot interviews Alan Moore about his relationship with Iain Sinclair, their different perspectives on psychogeography and their influence each has had on the other's work: When Iain was up visiting on the same Edge Of The Orison occasion, when we went for a nice walk around St. Andrews's mental hospital, where John Clare was confined for the last years of his life, and I was bitching and whining about everything great about Northampton had been pulled down, he said "But you've still got quite a bit left".
Every novel needs a spreadsheet. via Every novel needs a spreadsheet.Filed under: Uncategorized
The Lib Dems then - the party of INfrastructure spending. What do you think? Better roads, public transport and better access to housing are, of course, no bad thing. So far, so motherhood and apple pie. Many prospective governments make all the right noises, but few (any?) go on to deliver. Like broken promises, failed state project management and procurement exercises litter the landscape as monuments to excess and ineptitude. Partial implementations cripplingly over budget, a poor return on the investment, and a glacial pace thanks to the political kryptonite of rampant NIMBYism. So what will be different? Perhaps a ...
[IMG: Picture_of_Rik_Mayall (1)] It is a very sad day indeed with the passing of Rik Mayall. Like most people of my generation, I grew up with him in the Young Ones. And he really was terrific in that episode (below) of Blackadder with "Queenie" Elizabeth. But it was as Alan B'stard in The New Statesman that he really captured my imagination. He played the part to a T. I was privileged to see him play the part on stage at the Hexagon, Reading. (By coincidence there were two MPs in the audience, one Labour, one Conservative.) This was well after ...
There is much talk on twitter right now of Alan B'Stard. Of Lord Flashheart and The Young Ones. Of the Comic Strip and Drop Dead Fred. Of Bottom, even... But this is where I fell in love with Rik Mayall: I was 8 when they showed that. Just the right age, I think. Rest in peace, Rik. I hope Mel Smith's waiting for you with a bloody great glass of something. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Nick Clegg. Photo: Dave Radcliffe. Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats In his speech today, Nick Clegg said: Yes, people who worked hard in last month's elections lost - an obvious point to make, perhaps, but also a sign of how poor some of the party's communications have been that hearing it made is worth noting this time round. Yes, differentiation from the Tories is important - although there was some defence of wanting to show that coalition could work earlier in the Parliament, the message now is about differentiation. No, we're not the party of the status ...
If you put this question to most economists at the tail end of 2008, they would have said "around the time Lehman Brothers collapsed". The last Inflation Report of the year showed things flat in Q2, and then that first bad quarter in 15 years in 2008Q3. However, the latest data from the ONS suggests it got far worse [...]
[IMG: leaders] For over one hundred years now Liberals have been striving to improve the standard of living for regular folk. Before the Labour movement even existed, we fought hard for workers' rights and then free trade to keep food prices low. Now, as a party of government, we can be proud about the positive effect we have had on pensions, taxation and apprenticeships. But in the modern world this simply isn't enough. We are still not winning the public vote. As a party, we talk about needing better leadership – but is it as simple as that? Don't we ...
[IMG: sebastian kindersley] Congratulations to Sebastian Kindersley who has been selected to fight the South Cambridgeshire constituency. The selection was undertaken recently in the expectation that Andrew Lansley would be appointed as a European Commissioner, forcing a high profile by-election. However, rumours today suggest that Lansley may not be appointed after all. Andrew Lansley WONT be Britain's European Commissioner asserts Trevor Kavanagh in today's Sun... pic.twitter.com/Z1JR3sD4D0 — Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) June 9, 2014
This week's policy updates from our Lead Members on LGA policy boards includes news and information from: Economy and Transport, and Fire and Rescue Regular updates on the work of the LGA Lib Dems on policy boards will be published on the ALDC website and feedback on any of the matters raised is encouraged. Economy [...]
[IMG: Roulette wheel. Photo courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/photo/783156 - some rights reserved] Last Thursday's Queen's Speech confirmed that the Liberal Democrats will stay in coalition until the general election. With, in particular, both Steve Webb and Vince Cable securing significant legislation that will take many months to pass through Parliament, pulling out of government ahead of the election would simply mean bizarrely and counter-productively abandoning Lib Dem legislation before it got to the statute book. It would also mean abandoning the victory-by-omission – the blocking of any new immigration bill (or rather, anti-immigration bill) from the Conservatives. But if the party ...
[IMG: Daily Signal screenshot] In earlier days of the internet's development, especially as blogging took off, there was much talk about how it was letting a multiplicity of voices and organisations broadcast their views, breaking down the traditional gatekeeper role of traditional mass media organisations. More recently, more attention has been given to the attempts of both those traditional media and new entrants to find sustainable and profitable business models for their work, but a new move by the US think tank, the Heritage Foundation, is a reminder of the continuing importance of the first trend. It is launching its ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg York Q&A Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] This is the full text of the speech given by Nick Clegg today at Bloomberg. The recent local and European election results were incredibly difficult for the Liberal Democrats. It's been completely gutting to see good friends, longstanding councillors, outstanding MEPs - people who worked their socks off - lose their seats. I've spent the last two weeks talking to lots of my colleagues in the party, listening to what people say about what we should do next, and I want to take a bit of time today to ...
The UK's Economic and Social Research Council is launching a £1.8m network to join up research, policy and practice on environmental challengesThe UK government's passion for fracking was again on display in last week's Queen's Speech, with proposed changes in the trespass law to allow shale gas firms to drill under people's homes without permission. Ministers continue to insist that fracking can deliver improved energy security, but these latest measures come at a time when public attitudes are becoming more polarised. A YouGov poll of 3657 people carried out last month on behalf of Nottingham University suggests that public support ...
My feedstream is perpetually full of people I admire fighting with one another. On Marcus Nunes' blog, Mark Sadowski has a bit of a go at Simon Wren Lewis for saying it is obvious that the Euro recession is the consequence of contractionary fiscal policy. To people like Mark, and market monetarists like Lars, David Beckworth [...]
"I recently had the honour of becoming the Liberal Democrat Mayor of Milton Keynes and I hope that I will be able to count you among the delegates that I welcome to our city at the opening of the 2014 Local Government Conference later this month. It will be an incredibly proud moment for me [...]
[IMG: Liberal Democrat badge - Some rights reserved by Paul Walter, Newbury, UK] We have so many people in the party that have held office of one sort or another over the years. We must make sure that we find a way of retaining their expertise and at the same time give them the support that they need. I have been thinking about setting up this new network for sometime but I think now, more than ever, it is the right time to do it. For too long many elected members who have lost their seats feel that their contribution ...
The Derwent Valley Partnership (aka AAP) has now launched a Small Grants Scheme which allows local community groups and organisations to apply for a small grant of between £200 and £1,000 to deliver a local project or activity in their community. Projects and activities should be aimed at tackling one of the partnership's three local priorities Activities for children and young people Employment and education Projects for older people. For an application pack and/or support to complete your application, please contact a member of the team on 03000 260 725 or dvaap@durham.gov.uk. The deadline for completed applications is Friday 26th ...
Hollywood is currently addicted to superhero films: to date the 3 highest grossing films of 2014 have all featured characters from Marvel comics. So it's striking to remember that when the first film in the X-Men franchise was released in 2014, it was the only superhero film of any note released that year. It was [...]
The post on the Hugo best novel category that went up yesterday was unfinished — I accidentally scheduled it when saving a draft, and didn't realise. The finished version will be up at the back end of this week, and will cover more than one and a half novels.
AAARGH A COMPUTER HASN'T PASSED THE SODDING TURING TEST, IT WASN'T THE FIRST TIME, AND IT WASN'T A SUPERCOMPUTER, AAAAAARGH!!!! AAAARGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGH! *Ahem* No, seriously, those "supercomputer passes Turing Test" news stories that *EVERYONE* is running are nonsense. The bot in question, "Eugene Goostman" is not a supercomputer, it's just a chatbot, no different from [...]
[IMG: webb 01] The announcement in the Queen's Speech of a new 'Collective Defined Contribution' pension is an historic achievement on the part of Lib Dem Pensions Minister Steve Webb, which shows that pensions are only safe in Liberal hands. It will bring about better quality pensions for millions in the private sector workforce. It's taken him four years to arrive at this historic moment which starts to rectify the damage the Tories and Labour wrought on the retirement hopes of ordinary private sector workers. Winning this has never been more important. As stated in the policy motion on pensions ...
[IMG: europe_2443632b] I'll start off by saying that I quite like Jean-Claude Juncker, the former longstanding prime minister of Luxembourg and current candidate to become president of the European Commission. He's level headed, intelligent and like me, pro-European. But as a pro-European, I have to concede that now is not the time to have someone like Mr Juncker heading up the Commission. To do so could potentially threaten the entire European project. Across Europe, over two weeks ago now, the people delivered a verdict which called for less Europe. Even the most Europhilic amongst us needs to listen to that. ...
Huge contradiction between the evidence and Eurosceptic populism (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
You can't beat a good old-fashioned bucolic name. If the new NHS chief Simon Stevens had said he wanted a new generation of 'Intermediate Treatment Centres', everyone would have been immediately suspicious that this was some kind of sleight of hand. As it was, a new generation of 'cottage hospitals' went down very well. In the same way, if Nick Clegg had urged the establishment to designate a new generation of new towns, the world would have come down on his head. But three quarters of the population say they back 'garden cities'. Yet this is not just a cynical ...
Outside of politics I grow my own food and make webcasts about our activities. Our latest webcast, from February, is now on YouTube.
[IMG: infographic2014] The Lib Dem campaigning message is encapsulated in Stronger Economy, Fairer Society, with Conservative messaging focusing on 'the long term plan for economic recovery', and Labour's focusing on the decline in living standards of the poor and the squeezed middle. Nick Clegg's response that, were Labour in the future to ask Libdems to form a coalition with them the first demand would be 'Don't break the bank', seeks to emphasise Lib Dem economic competence. It should come as no surprise then that the voting public should surmise that coalition economic policy is just what we say it is ...
Congratulations are due to the creators of Eugene Goostman, the first computer program to pass the "Turing test". It's a remarkably difficult thing to create a program that is able to imitate conversation reliably and convince even a minority of observers that a human is on the other side of the screen. Problems of artificial intelligence are what sparked my first interests in psychology back in the early 1980s, so the steady progress that has been made towards this goal over the last 64 years demonstrates to me how creative we are as a species. Lesser plaudits need to go ...
What is now the Old Forge, just off Liverpool Road North/Hickson Avenue in Maghull, was once a well known blacksmith business. When the business closed in the 1960′s the building remained pretty much as it was the day that it closed until 2010 when it was tastefully converted into a lovely modern house. My previous posting of 14/02/2011 refers tonyrobertson.mycouncillor.org.uk/2011/02/14/the-old-forge/ but the reason I return to the matter is that I have found a photo of the building in its original state from 2002. [IMG: rsz_old_forge_2_07_2002] This photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/ The sign above the window ...
Birmingham City Council has confirmed that it suspended a recycling depot worker after he tipped off the media over unpopular garden waste charges. A £35 annual fee for garden waste collection was introduced by the council in February, which led to some residents dumping waste on the streets. GMB organiser Gillian Whittaker described the action against the worker as "disgusting". [IMG: epd_wheelie_bins_group] BBC News has the story at:- www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-27717608 My previous posting of 20th May also refers:- At face value a worker has been suspended for telling the truth? If so this does not bode well for fairness and ...
Last October, on behalf of residents, I obtained assurances from the City Council's Environment Department that improvements would be undertaken at the Polepark Road playpark area that had become overgrown and untidy in places and where the decorative wall had badly deteriorated. As you can see below, the improvements have now been carried out and the area is looking a lot better. I did, however, request that the council remove some graffiti on the artwork and this has now been carried out. Before After
In the Independent, Jane Merrick and Mark Leftly forecast that David Cameron will carry out a "ruthless' cabinet reshuffle this week: Senior ministers who are thought to be nervous about their position include Andrew Lansley, the Leader of the Commons; the Chief Whip, Sir George Young; the Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson; Ken Clarke, the Minister without Portfolio; and the Tory chairman, Grant Shapps. Despite their bitter row, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, are unlikely to be moved or demoted, because such a switch-around would risk escalating tensions between their supporters and trigger a fresh ...
He may be standing down at the next election but Peter Hain still has the ability to grab headlines. This time he is rubbing his party leader's nose in it with a throwaway remark that implies that voters do not see Ed Miliband as a potential Prime Minister. According to the Telegraph, Mr Hain told Sky News that voters will realise that Mr Miliband is the right person to lead the country once he was in Downing Street "even if maybe they don't see that at the moment". The paper interprets his remarks as suggesting he believes voters "don't see" ...
The Western Mail reports that Welsh Cabinet Minister Alun Davies is facing calls for an investigation into his conduct in relation to a controversial motorsport project in his Blaenau Gwent constituency. They say that all three opposition parties at the National Assembly believe he may have broken the ministerial code after urging the statutory environmental body Natural Resources Wales not to object to the £280m Circuit of Wales project at Ebbw Vale. Alleged breaches of the code are investigated by the First Minister. Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams said: "The Minister's heavy-handed approach could potentially put a huge question ...
Please can you let me have anything that needs to be fed back to the organisers of the Parklife event in Heaton Park – things that worked, things that didn't work, ideas for future events? I will feed these into the event organisers and Heaton Park management. Comment on this post of email me directly. tim@burylibdems.net Tim
