INDEPENDENT FRONT PAGE: "Green power: Britain sees the light" #skypapers pic.twitter.com/ZjgDPirzq1 — Sky News (@SkyNews) June 26, 2014
Proper post tomorrow. Two days without my CPAP machine means I'm so sleep-deprived I'm barely alive... Mark Evanier on not drinking and feminist aspie on not liking the heat. As a teetotal aspie who hates the heat, both of these ring true to me, and in both cases what I find irritating is people assuming [...]
If you like this then you may also enjoy Birmingham Snow Hill to Shrewsbury in the 1960s.
I read Jonathan Meades' An Encyclopaedia of Myself and holiday and blogged about it (Burton-on-Trent and John Arlott) a couple of times. Little Atoms has interviewed Meades about the book, and if you explore that site you will find several other interviews with him.
Conservative seat. Death Last time contested (2011): Con 903 (E) Ind 593 Lab 523 BNP 63
Labour seat. This is a postponed election following the death of the Green candidate for the 22 May 2014 election. Last time contested (2010): Lab 3259 (E) Lab 2836 (E) Lab 2711 (E) Con 1175 Con 1175 LD 1095 Con 1019 LD 898 LD 764 Green 337 Green 306 Green 276
The new local centre that is part of the North West Cambridge Development will be known as Eddington. It is named after the pre-eminent astronomer, mathematician and physicist, Sir Arthur Eddington, whose observations confirmed some key predictions of Einstein's Theory of Relativity and led to its general acceptance. Sir Arthur Eddington was a Cambridge alumnus and resident in the local area in the early part of the twentieth century. He also lived for a time in the Gravel Hill Farmhouse, on the North West Cambridge Development site. Roger Taylor, Project Director for the North West Cambridge Development explained: "Identifying place ...
MP Julian Huppert has raised in Parliament the concerns of tenants renting from private landlords highlighting the importance of Cambridge's HMOs and the problems faced by those on benefit. Julian, who tabled a Private Member's Bill calling for a fairer deal for tenants, claimed that there have been some shocking cases of people being refused the chance to rent because they are paying with the Local Housing Allowance benefit. "That simply should not be tolerated," he said. "We should not let landlords exclude a large number of people who need to find housing." He told how the LHA, introduced by ...
One of the many institutions that have been linked with Jimmy Savile is the former Roecliffe Manor Children's Convalescent Home at Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire. An investigation into these allegations was mounted by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust: We employed the services of an independent external investigator, Sue Walters, to look into claims dating back to the late 1950's/early 1960's. During that investigation, Ms Walters identified that it was not us, but local charity ARC Leicester who are the legacy organisation, so we collaborated with them throughout the remainder of the investigation. We have thoroughly investigated all of ...
It was Liberal Democrat debate day in the Lords, and Ros had sought a debate on the voluntary sector, a subject close to her heart, and here is her speech opening the debate Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD): My Lords, it is a great pleasure to introduce today's debate, and I am grateful to my noble and learned friend Lord Wallace of Tankerness and my noble friend Lord Newby for selecting this topic on one of two Liberal Democrat debate days. I declare an interest as chair of the National Volunteering Forum, as a trustee of the Industry and ...
Stockport Council has been awarded £364,000 of Government funding to fix potholes in the borough. That's in addition to our regular spending on potholes (the Lib Dems put an extra million pounds in for this year) and our massive £100 million programme to properly relay and repair all the bad roads across Stockport. The announcement follows a competition where councils could apply for a share of £168 million, 148 authorities applied for funding and all will receive a share. Stockport Council will use its share to repair potholes, or ensure that potholes don't appear in the first place. This will ...
According an article written by the Minister for Equalities today, the Spousal Veto seems set to remain in legislation in England and Wales: From 10 December there is also good news for married transgender people. You will now be able to change your legal gender without ending your marriage, provided you and your husband or wife agree to remain married. It is entirely possible that this not intended to be such an announcement but is simply sloppy and insensitive drafting by the Civil Service who should, if they are paying attention, be well aware of the coverage the spousal veto ...
The NHS is trying to persuade us to make more use of the Yate Minor Injuries Unit in the Yate West Gate Centre, rather than travel to Accident and Emergency at Southmead, or to the Children's Hospital if a young person is involved. It would help though if they made the signs for it more obvious. Unless you're a local you probably wouldn't be able to find it easily - there are big signs for the doctors' surgery and for the chemist, but only a small sign saying "Minor Injuries".
As someone who suffers a mental health illness (Chronic Clinical Depression) I have an interest in this and personal experience.I have read the coalitions policy on 'Making mental health more effective and accessible', whilst there is much to applaud with its aims and objectives the arrival to this destination is still questionable whilst the funding in mental health continues to be cut in real terms. There is a shortage in beds, qualified staff, and an apparently uncoordinated division between social services, GPs and mental health crisis teams and mental health care in general. I refer to article 5 in Minds ...
Southwarn News editorial 26 June 2014... "Only in politics could you have someone take up a new position, only to pronounce that it was pretty much a waste of time. And the comments by the new chair of the council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) are so far off the mark you have to wonder how or why he was handed the job in the first place. For many years, council assembly was a proper debating chamber, where the key issues of the day were hammered out in front of the public and the press. This was then effectively neutered ...
Thu 26th
18:55
Just gutted that Portugal and the diving diva Ronaldo - go home. What a shame. Well done USA - staye...
via Facebook
Residents across much of Gatley and part of Cheadle woke on Monday morning to find either no water or just a trickle. The problem was yet another burst water main on Foxland Road, Gatley – just the latest in a long line over recent months. We got on site early and saw water gushing from under the pavement out onto the road. It got worse when both local primary schools – Lum Head and Gatley Primary – decided they had no option but to close for the day, with all the problems that brings for families. Our concern was not ...
On Tuesday, Centre Forum, the liberal think tank, held a one-day conference in London to mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Orange Book (we have already run pieces on the event by Stephen here, by Andrew Chamberlain here and by Rebecca Hanson here). David Laws, one of the co-editors of The Orange Book (along with Paul Marshall), delivered the key-note speech on the day, a video of which has now been put online by Centre Forum. You can view it below, or here on YouTube.
[IMG: libdemmanifesto 2010 wordle] Ed Balls wants it. Danny Alexander seems pretty keen on it, too. What is 'it'? Asking the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to audit the manifestos of political parties. On the face of it, that's a good idea. Transparency's a good thing and surely the public deserve to know as much as possible before we cast our once-in-five-years ballot which decides the next government? The case in favour is persuasively put by Giles Wilkes, until recently a special adviser to Vince Cable who has seen the workings of government from the inside, at his blog ...
[IMG: Consumer survey] ... if so, it would seem that someone might be interested in your opinions!
[IMG: Carmichael Glasgow Amnesty] Today is the UN's Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael has a long association with Amnesty International and he visited the Glasgow group last night to mark the occasion. He spoke about the imprisonment of the Egyptian journalists, the death penalty, how Scotland has such a big impact on human rights as part of the UK and what the Coalition has done to advance the cause of human rights. The whole speech is available here on my blog, but here are some of the highlights. Caged ...
[IMG: Humanist Wedding Ceremony - 16] One of the Liberal Democrats greatest achievements in Government has been the successful passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. On Saturday 29 March 2014 the first same-sex marriages took place, a date I am certain will go down in history. Most of the positive speeches given during the debates in Westminster concentrated not around gay or straight but on the belief that everyone has a fundamental right to love who they want and demonstrate that love together in a manner of their choosing. And yet still in England we ban many weddings. ...
Kickstart is the party's most established and most popular campaign training event, and has been organised by ALDC for over 25 years. This year we are running two weekends to give more people an opportunity to attend. Both of our Kickstart residential training weekends are held at the Holiday Inn M6 Junction 7, which is [...]
The following meetings are scheduled to be held in July All meetings are at Arms Evertyne House, and start at 6:30 pm 1st Planning & Development Committee * 3rd Finance Committee 8th Community Grants Committee 17th Full Council and public question time 24th Planning & Development Committee 29th Events Committee 31st Assets Committee * This meeting may be cancelled, depending on the level of business. Please check with the council
[IMG: school meals] I recently wrote this article about staffing in our schools. To follow on from that I'm moving on to some elements of school 'life'. These 'extras' to the daily job of educating our children are all too often seen as not important, but in my experience they have a HUGE impact on the achievements and wellbeing of our children. (For info – I personally work in a secondary Academy, years 7-11). Liberal Democrats need to strive to improve the life chances of our most vulnerable children, this can be done by: Free hot meals for all 14 ...
Today is the UN's Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, has been a long time supporter of Amnesty. Last night he spoke to Amnesty Groups in Glasgow about the imprisonment ... Continue reading →
[IMG: nick clegg live tweet town hall 1st may 2014] After this morning's Call Clegg, Nick Clegg took to Twitter to answer questions on education. He digressed a little, into decarbonisation, housing and and Luis Suarez. It's been a very engaging 24 hours for Nick Clegg because last night he took part in a conference call with key party campaigners from around the country to discuss the party's Summer campaign. He has been told in no uncertain terms in a variety of formats that it was very important that he was more visible about reaching out to members and it's ...
As avid readers of Master Shardlake's chronicles will know, the 1530s saw a political and economic revolution in this country. There were political peculiarities about it which lay behind the way it happened - Henry VIII's divorce for example - but there are reasons for thinking that it might have been inevitable sometime. There were two linked events I wanted to talk about here. One was the severing of links between England and the sovereign European supra-national authority, the power of Rome (Rome and Brussels have played parallel roles in our history, as bogieman). The other was linked to it. ...
Back in 1998 it became apparent that Sefton Council had plans to allow a huge area of Green Belt and high grade agricultural land to be built upon to the east of Maghull. The site was bounded by Poverty Lane, the M58 Motorway and the Liverpool - Ormskirk Railway line; a truly massive area of land. Unsurprisingly, Maghull Town Council was horrified and immediately launched a community campaign to stop Sefton Council in its tracks. The campaign was successful and the land was saved from being concreted over. Some 14 years later Sefton Council again looked for land to build ...
Only 24 hours to go All election expenses and agents declarations for the May 22nd principal council elections must be submitted by close of play on Friday – 27th June for elections declared after midnight. This if for "nul" declarations as well as for those where money was actually spent. Within 7 days of submitting [...]
Yesterday the Guardian had to retract its claim that the Big Six energy suppliers were to be investigated for "alleged collusion" [ in fixing their prices ]. No they aren't. It's "tacit co-rdination" which is to be investigated. Collusion is illegal, but,apparently, tacit co-ordination isn't. So there you are. A nice reminder that Adam Smith's dictum of 1776: People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices," remains highly relevant. For many years I've been buying my electricity, and ...
Thu 26th
10:35
Call Clegg 26 June: Tories can talk all they like about snoopers' charter, it won't happen as long a...
[IMG: call clegg] Clegg started in robust mood this morning, vowing that Theresa May will not get her way on increased surveillance powers while he's in Government. He's done well to stand firm against this for more than two years now. It's certainly true that he had to be persuaded into this robust stance initially, but it's to his credit that he listened to the points made to his office by a group of angry bloggers in April 2012 and has held firm ever since. There seemed to be a clear theme throughout the half hour of Liberal Democrats standing ...
But, really, how big is it? The Financial Times has a copy of a Google report showing how Britain is powering ahead in the App economy. It appears to come from a research outfit called Vision Mobile, whose research is so good it is mostly worth paying for. Apparently. Figures are confusing. A publicly available [...]
[IMG: millionJobsLogo2] Astonishingly, Labour have opposed government reforms designed to make work pay and help people get on in life. Ed Miliband recently said that a Labour government would end entitlement to out-of-work benefits for 18 to 21 year olds refusing to take training courses. By contrast, Liberal Democrats' plans are helping young people earn and learn. We are assessing skills training for low-skilled young people to make sure that it is effective and beneficial. By refusing to give young people benefits and forcing them to take whatever training is offered, Labour will make it harder for young people to ...
Early day motion 166 - HIGH SPEED 3 - UK Parliament - FAO @CraigWhi2kerMP (tags: ) BBC Sport - Live cricket commentaries available online This is one of my favourite web pages at the moment: even when 5Live/5LiveSportsExtra are not doing cricket you can always find some here when it's in season. (tags: ) Vince Cable moves to ban zero-hours contract exclusivity clauses (tags: ) The Snooper's Charter is back - and Nick Clegg will kill it again (tags: ) David Cameron criticised by phone hacking judge - bless Ken Clarke (tags: ) Japanese scientists create creepy robot newsreader with ...
"Don't feed the trolls", the advice that tells people to ignore online insults, is rarely the best policy for maintaining a positive and engaging social media platform. Shopkeepers and restaurant managers have always known that, faced with an angry customer, the best response isn't simply to chuck them out, lock the door and ignore them. A small number of extreme cases may call for such a reaction, but most of the time the way to respond to an angry customer starts with patience, listening and not turning your back on them. In your personal life, ignoring rude people has much ...
The latest repressive measures instituted by Vladimir Putin includes wholesale travel bans on millions of Russian citizens. As in the Soviet times, foreign travel is to be made difficult and expensive. Anyone with any contacts overseas is suspect, and the smell of treachery is a miasma over anyone foolish enough to speak out against the mafia regime. Those who believe in a different, more open way for Russia are now themselves seeking to leave, before it is too late. The lie machine of Russian State propaganda has stepped up its twisting of the truth and indeed there is now significant ...
Ian Mansfield reports: Double decker buses are starting to get intelligent. They know how many people are upstairs, and which seats they are sitting on. And soon they will start telling you. Nope, not an Orwellian vision of tracking your movements, but a very practical tool that is just about to go into trial on some of London's buses. A new display screen has been installed on a bus, next to the driver where people board the bus, and on the staircase — and it shows in fairly clear graphics, exactly what the availability of seating upstairs is like. Great ...
Last night, I had the pleasure of chairing a well-attended meeting of around 30 Logie residents that took place at the Lime Street sheltered lounge. I am grateful to two senior council Housing Department officers who addressed the meeting about council lock-ups and, in particular, the dilapidated state of the garages in Glenagnes Street, an issue I have raised with the City Council. It was agreed that a residents' survey to gauge interest in the void lock-ups from potential new tenants and to get views on the lock-ups' future will be issued. We also had a very useful discussion on ...
I have expressed concern about Dundee City Council cuts in adult learning provision that has left the West End without a dedicated adult learning worker, which is a highly detrimental move. The City Council has advised me :As a result of the savings we have reduced the number of Adult Learning Teams from five to four with a reduction in our staff complement by one Senior Adult Learning Worker and two Adult Learner Worker posts. This follows year on year reduction in staffing, as a result of the savings, and as such we are no longer able to sustain the ...
Yesterday's Guardian reports that Government-backed badger vaccination programmes aimed at tackling the spread of tuberculosis in cattle are set to be rolled out in England. The paper says that this move is seen by opponents as the "beginning of the end" of the controversial badger culls: Farming minister George Eustice met wildlife and farming groups on Tuesday to discuss how they could set up the new badger vaccination programmes and offered to provide vaccines, cages, training and four years of matched funding. The projects will target the edges of TB hotspots, such as the south-west, in order to create buffer ...
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