I went there to look for ghost signs, ruined chapels and lost underground railways known only to the Masons, but first I saw soldiers marching in the streets of Northampton. It turned out to be Armed Forces Day - we didn't use to have that - but I wondered if there had been a coup in the county.
America has 5% of the world's people but 25% of its prisoners What's more even the American states that imprison the fewest people such as Vermont, still have a greater proportion of their populations in jail than virtually every country in OECD. The explanation seems to be America's drug laws: Probably the biggest driver of [...]
George Eaton has a short interview with Tim Farron on the New Statesman website (and possibly in the magazine too). He offers a shrewd summary of Tim's approach while the Liberal Democrats have been in coalition: In the four years since the formation of the coalition government, the 44-year-old Lib Dem president has steered a shrewd course between loyalty and dissent. As a non-minister, he has been free to rebel on defining issues such as tuition fees, NHS reform and secret courts while remaining untainted by accusations of plotting.The most interesting thing Tim himself has to say concerns the Lib ...
Today I went with my Grandad to the opening of the newly refurbished Leeds United superstore at Elland Road to get my new all white strip for the coming season. All the players were in the store along with the new Head Coach, Dave Hockaday, and his assistant Junior Lewis. I got the chance to talk to some of the team and here are my exclusive interviews with the new boss and some of my favourite players: I shook hands with Dave Hockaday and I asked him if he was going to play the long ball or the passing game. ...
Sat 28th
18:15
The Times interviews Maajid Nawaz: "I am planning to become a quite respectable Liberal Democrat MP"
[IMG: maajid-navaz] Today's Times carries an in-depth interview with Maajid Nawaz, Lib Dem candidate for the three-way marginal London seat of Hampstead & Kilburn, and co-founder and chairman of the Quilliam Foundation, the counter-extremism think tank. (Readers may have caught Maajid's excellent performance on BBC1′s Question Time on Thursday night.) You can read it in full here (£), but here are a couple of excerpts for those who can't read beyond the paywall: Maajid Nawaz can understand why two aspirational Muslim brothers from Cardiff have ended up going on jihad in Syria. Born in Southend to a middle-class Anglophile household ...
There's plenty happening in the housing world at the moment, and I'm not just [IMG: Modern Housing] talking about last week's parallel Manchester gatherings at the CIH annual conference and the HACT House Party. We've seen IPPR launch a fuller version of its proposals for shifting housing subsidy away from housing benefit and back towards bricks and mortar. It attempts to tackle the thorny issue of how to find the money to subsidize new building while still paying housing benefit to those who need it, given that a future government isn't likely to put a lot more money into housing. ...
I was given a couple of old photos by a retired lady who used to live at at 165 Liverpool Road North a few years ago and having rediscovered them they are quite fascinating. Here is the first one together with the same spot photographed in May 2014. Unlike my previous 'then and now' photos of Sefton Lane, which I posted a few weeks ago, these two old photo's show considerable changes. I will post the other one soon:- [IMG: The date of this photo is unknown but seems to be pre-WW2] The date of this photo is unknown but ...
[IMG: The Guardian] As we noted earlier this week, the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Orange Book was marked by a conference hosted by CentreForum on Tuesday. Today The Guardian publishes an editorial reflecting on the book's impact a decade on. Here's an excerpt: The book certainly signalled that the Lib Dems were not - or not only - a party of protest for those who resented tuition fees or the Iraq war. The market-minded emphasis of David Laws, who proposed a social insurance model for the NHS in his essay, and of Paul Marshall, the Lib Dem ...
Earlier on today, I was reading through Bernard Bass's 1995 paper from Leadership Quarterly (*) and came across McNamara's fallacy (**) for the first time. It argues that leaders taking account of things that can't be measured is at least as (more?) important than those that can be. The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes. The second step is to disregard that which can't be easily measured or to give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading. The third step is to presume that what ...
Bagehot's column this week is excellent. Discussing David Cameron's decision to hire Andy Coulson, he pulls no punches and zeroes in on a question of surprising national importance: Cavalier or cynical? For those who would fathom the sloppy and impulsive way Mr Cameron sometimes runs his affairs, it is a familiar question. Yet it often [...]
[IMG: A football ground] There's so much going on in the world at the moment, yet much of the media are obsessed with Luis Suarez. Even Question Time and yesterday's Radio Scotland's Big Debate had questions about the Uruguayan player who is now serving a 4 month ban for biting a fellow player in a match the other night. This is far from the first time that footballers have behaved badly on the pitch. I remember watching in horror as David Beckham was sent off during the 1998 World Cup? Why spend years training for something only to ruin it ...
[IMG: Canada flag License Some rights reserved by archer10 (Dennis)] The general election expected to be held in Canada next year will be a decisive one for the Lib Dem's Canadian counterpart, the Liberal Party of Canada, as it faces the prospect of returning to office after more than eight years in the political wilderness. With a recent poll showing the governing Conservatives trailing behind the Liberals, the party's leader Justin Trudeau stands a good chance of becoming the first Canadian Liberal prime minister since 2006. However, if Justin Trudeau hopes to be a successful prime minister and a progressive ...
[IMG: jenny willott] Jenny Willott has co-written an article at the Huffington Post with Michael Kimmel, a New York Professor of gender equality for the Huffington post. They argue that everybody benefits from a more equal society. They talk about how the evens they attend on gender equality are predominantly female and call on men to do what they can to campaign for equality: Real equality will only come about with the active involvement of both men and women. The time has come for men to enter this debate, not as outsiders but as true agents for change. Men's role ...
[IMG: solar_power] As secondary legislation for the Electricity Market Reform programme is laid in Parliament, the Government's electricity market reform (EMR) has pushed forward,. These reforms will ensure we keep the lights on, bills down and the air clean. Reforming the system will encourage private sector investment in low-carbon electricity generation, and will keep costs down for customers. Market Reform is expected to achieve 6% savings for households, on average, every year up to 2030 compared to existing emission reductions policies The new reforms will further strengthen the UK's position as one of the most attractive places in the world ...
Isabel Hardman's piece in the Telegraph on the gnashing and wailing of teeth in the House of Commons because a documentary film crew has been allowed into the inner sanctums would be astonishing if it were not for the fact that it records a rather archaic mind-set on the part of MPs. She says that there has been an almighty row, MPs have been close to tears, and voices have been raised in the committee corridor because the BBC is filming a documentary, Inside the House of Commons: This great constitutional outrage, opening up the building housing our elected representatives, ...
Pink News reports that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has released a video celebrating Pride in London, saying we should celebrate advances made for LGBT rights. It quotes Nick saying: "It is quite fitting that on the eve of London Pride weekend we were able to announce the final, crucial steps to making equal marriage a reality. From 10th December those couples who are currently in civil partnerships but want to enter into a marriage instead, will be able to do so. "It has been a long struggle to get here and many people have worked tirelessly to ensure true ...
Women's Cricket Blog: Women's County Championship Week 5 - Preview (tags: ) Facebook tinkered with users' feeds for a massive psychology experiment Another reason I'm glad not to do Faceache (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Most First buses in our area now have free Wifi under a scheme paid for by the Department of Transport, topped up by First. You need to search for available WiFi networks and select the one called "first wifi". This will then take you to the log in page. You have to register the first time you use it, but after that you will be able to log in automatically the next time you travel.
Here's the new film from the Electoral Commission: You can also watch this on YouTube.
I had the dubious priviledge earlier in the week to listen in to Nick Clegg and a couple of his teenage acolytes (who are apparently big in the campaign department these days) launching the party's summer campaign. It is rather strangely entitled 'A record of delivery' - which sounds like the CD you might buy on the way out of the new Postman Pat movie. Nick Clegg - with his tin ear to party history - claimed this would be familiar to Lib Dem campaigners - referring to the ALC inspired 'Record of action' - but failing to understand the ...
Issue 366 of Liberator will be landing through subscribers' letterboxes this weekend. Unsurprisingly, it contains a wide range of advice for Nick Clegg, little of which he will welcome. Articles from a range of authors review the outcomes of May's elections at home and abroad; former Scottish Liberal Democrat Chief Executive Andy Myles explains why he is arguing for a Yes vote in the Scottish independence referendum. And Lib Dem councillor Mathew Hulbert explains the thinking behind a new campaign to promote the Fairtrade movement within the party. There is also mention of an unhealthy row over the Public Services ...
I wrote yesterday about my experience at what was for all intents and purposes a taxpayer funded rally for the Yes campaign for independence. The Yes supporters were very nice when they told me that "No" voters were stupid. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie was not so lucky the other night when he turned up to a meeting in Abbeyview, Dunfermline this week to debate the pros and cons of independence with Tommy Sheridan, the former Socialist MSP. All Willie knew from the invitation was that it had been organised as a debate for undecided voters. This is the ...
I was asked on social media, "If I was made homeless, and had no other option but to live in my caravan, would I face the same hostility toward me as the travellers that we see in the town? Would I be treated any differently?" I replied, My observation is that hostility is greatest the closer the travellers are housed to residents. The hostility rises in proportion to any associated anti-social behaviour, such as urinating in public, the greater the perceived sound of the travellers generator, and the correlation of local minor crime to the arrival of the traveller. So, ...
Sat 28th
08:45
Sidmouth New Look shop calls in medium after fears store is haunted by ghost of Victorian granny who...
The Exeter Express & Echo walks away with our Headline of the Day Award. Thanks to the reader on Twitter who nominated it.
Residents have complained to me about the poor state of the road surface in Hillside Terrace - the photo below was taken by a constituent:I took up these complaints with the City Council's Roads maintenance Partnership who have now advised: "An order has been raised by the Road Maintenance Partnership inspector to repair the potholes in Hillside Terrace. Timescale for completion is twenty eight days."
New from the Deputy Prime Minister's office: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Sovereign Energy are holding a public exhibition on their proposal for a solar farm the west of Bromfield Sand and Gravel. It takes place at the Clive Arms, Bromfield from 4-7pm on Wednesday 9th July. The scheme has been adapted from the first proposals. The scheme will now be in two plots, one either side [...]
Recently released figures show 314,000 people started apprenticeships in 2013/14. These figures bring the total number of apprenticeships up to 1.8 million since Liberal Democrats have been in Government - the biggest expansion in apprentices since the 1950s. Liberal Democrats have have made it easier for businesses to take on apprentices. We have given 40,000 businesses grants of up to £1,500 for each young unemployed person they take on as an apprentice and put £550m into improving college facilities for apprentices. Liberal Democrat Business Spokesperson Gordon Birtwistle commented: "All young people should have an opportunity to get on in life ...
Only a short post today, as I'm basically dead from exhaustion. I'll have some longer stuff up again over the next few days. Incidentally, I apologise for not yet responding to the comments on the last of the Sad Puppies posts, but I've had a VERY busy few days. Oculus is proof that total lack [...]
Sat 28th
00:00
Which Website Is Attracting 86.3% of Parliament's Bandwidth? Or - Showbusiness for Clickbaitors
The air of Westminster is today seething with wi-fi so overheated that some researchers have actually* been microwaved (*not actually. Actually that goes for much of this article). Personality politics is often dismissed as just a beauty contest; now, at last, politicians have a genuine* beauty contest about themselves (*no, seriously, against all reason this bit is completely true). Among usvsth3m's array of "Fights", you can now vote for "Which gentleman MP is the sexiest?" Other votes pit songs, films, cities and scary clowns against each other, but I know this one floats your boat (and the Doctor Who choices). ...
