Breaking: Late night cross-party talks at Westminster tonight on emergency bill to preserve police powers to access communications data. — Sean O'Neill (@TimesCrime) July 9, 2014 Is the snoopers charter back?
The question was raised by a Unionist MP in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions. The answer of British Prime Minister, David Cameron was that tolerance towards people of a different sexuality is an important part of being British. Now, remember, this question was raised by a Unionist MP, someone who fundamentally believes...
When I was doing English Lit A level, many moons ago, one of my classmates had a great passion for the writings of Virginia Woolf. She was not on the curriculum, and our English Master openly mocked this boy's predilection, preferring instead the richness of Shakespeare, the subtlety of Jane Austen and the almost masochistically [...]
Andrew Kötting's film By Our Selves retraces John Clare's journey from Epping Forest to Northamptonshire accompanied by a straw bear. From KickStarter: The film will feature Iain Sinclair, Alan Moore, Toby Jones and a Straw Bear. The film focuses on two figures, sometimes Andrew Kötting, sometimes Toby Jones as the middle-aged John Clare. As they channel, in their own fashion, the psychic wound exposed by Clare. John Clare is alone, between the two communities of the Epping Forest asylum and the hospital in Northamptonshire. Kötting is dressed as a straw bear, (an alter-ego and metaphor for otherness). At the mercy ...
[IMG: AlistairCarmichael] Someone must have heard of Alistair Carmichael's excellent skills at Ed Fordham and Russell Eagling's wedding last Saturday. He's only gone and got himself another hosting gig, at the Scottish Fashion Awards in September, just 17 days before the Referendum on independence. Fibre 2 Fashion has the story: The Scottish Fashion Awards have announced an impressive list of nominees and honourees for the 9th annual fashion extravaganza, which will take place in 8 Northumberland, London on 1st September 2014. The event will be co-hosted by The Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael MP and awards founder Dr ...
Yesterday Mark Sedwill, permanent secretary at the Home Office, gave evidence to the Commons home affairs committee. In the course of that session he was involved in the following exchange with the Labour MP Ian Austin, helpfully reported by Andrew Sparrow on the Guardian's Politics Live blog: Q: Your investigation concluded that the voluntary services unit did not fund the Paedophile Information Exchange. But isn't it just as likely that the VSU did fund PIE? Sedwill says this is what the investigator concluded. It is "most unlikely" that a funding trail of this kind could have been hidden. Q: Tom ...
[IMG: Kids' Lit Quiz 2014] Masters of Ceremony, Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, at the Kids Lit Quiz Kids' Lit Quiz International Final 2014 took place in Falmouth yesterday. An amazing event that should have got far more publicity than it did! An event that I would never have heard of or gone to if it had not been for the fact I was elected on to Cornwall Council in May 2013 and then campaigned, alongside the Librarian of Cape Cornwall School, to protect our St Just Library Service. I was given VIP treatment but felt a bit of a ...
Wed 9th
21:12
What links Jeremy Hunt and Peter Lilley? (Tip: If you're not sure who they are, that's the clue.)
Who's the most famous cabinet minister? And who's the least famous? That's what YouGov set out to find out by inviting its representative sample of the public to type in the name, unprompted, of the post-holder of six senior cabinet positions. Here's what they found... [IMG: identifiable cabinet ministers - yougov] So Iain Duncan Smith (36% correctly naming him as Work and Pensions secretary) and Jeremy Hunt (28% as health secretary) are the least famous cabinet members. Though, to be honest – like John Rentoul and with due respect to Mike Smithson – I'm actually quite impressed by how high ...
Stewart Crawford, who stood for the SNP in the first elections to the new Scottish Parliament, is to fight Edinburgh South for the Liberal Democrats at the next general election. He left the SNP in 2001 and was not a member of any political party until he joined the Lib Dems in 2012 Crawford told the Edinburgh Evening News: "I decided the SNP was not for me. I met some lovely people and I have great respect for many of those I knew at that time, but I had to concentrate on other things - my family was growing up ...
I did an interview on BBC world at one yesterday about the general discussion about the abuse of children in the care system. There are many stories about Elm Guest House. However, I have been concentrating on more recent issues. There remain survivors of what has happened in the past. These people have been ignored for many years, but more recently they have been listened to. To me it is
[IMG: Junction20] Peterborough City Council has received major funding for two transport schemes in the city, thanks to funds from a EU backed scheme. The Greater Cambridgeshire Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has received millions of pounds from the government to invest in various projects in the area. A total of £13.5million has been allocated to the Peterborough to improve Bourges Boulevard and junction 20 of the A47 in Peterborough, over three years from 2015/16. The council will carry out improvements to junction 20 of the A47 to help ease congestion and create better access to Paston. The council ...
I've been listening to the Today programme this morning, which is once again dominated by the child abuse issue and the search for Geoffrey Dickens' lost dossier of child abusers in high places. And one man's name kept popping into my mind: Noel Pemberton Billing. Billing was a pioneer aviator who became the independent MP for Hertford during the First World War. He was an arch-conspiracist, an anti-semite and the publisher of a magazine called Imperialist. In 1918, he published an article by Harold Sherwood Spencer claiming that 47,000 members of the establishment were involved in a homosexual ring, and ...
[IMG: Jane-Dodds] The Liberal Democrats are tipped to win back the Montgomeryshire constituency next May. According to political punters Ladbrookes, they have at least 5 chances to gain new seats in Parliament. One of those seats is Watford where the local party have not yet selected their candidate. But Montgomeryshire is top of the list where, based on the betting, Ladbrookes reckon the Lib Dems could confound expectations. Some are expecting a turnaround with a new candidate. Her name is Jane Dodds, selected a year ago. The parliamentary constituency of Montgomeryshire had been a Liberal stronghold since 1880, bar four ...
[IMG: Liberal Democrat badge - Some rights reserved by Paul Walter, Newbury, UK] The Liberal Democrats have had a really tough four years since the formation of the coalition. Even though we suspected it would be tough, being in Government has taken its toll. Too many councillors who have worked hard, campaigned hard, and faithfully served their communities well, have lost their seats. They embody Liberal Democrat principles in action all over the country, so we must rebuild our local government base as a priority. There are many things we have achieved in the last four years of which we ...
On Monday I was sitting in my office with a group of long-standing friends. Sarfraz Ali from the Pakistan Centre; Dr Shiv Pande from the Hindu Centre; Ben Quartey from the Ghanaian Association and Chief Angus Chukemega from the Nigerian ... Continue reading →
I am mightily unimpressed by the consensus on Northern devolution that is emerging in London. We will face new challenges post the Scottish referendum whether it results in 'Independence' or Devo Max. None of the 'lite' proposals emanating from the SE-whether from Heseltine, Osborne, Clegg or the Labour Party -adequately take account of the new challenges we face. Let us compare and contrast the proposals. The Scottish Challenge The Scottish Parliament already has significant powers and now even the Tories are proposing to give them more. Win or loose the referendum the Hollywood Parliament is going to have tax raising ...
MPs , activists and councillors were out in the town centre on Saturday leafletting and discussing with shoppers what local as MP John Pugh launched his "Town Centre First" Campaign. In a personal message to shoppers John Pugh warns of the serious threat to Lord St and the town centre if the council does not tackle the issue of empty shops and get a grip of the situation. Further decline he argues could impact massively on everyone in Southport. "Charity shops, money shops and nail bars won't bring visitors to Southport. We need to attract quality retail and independent stores ...
[IMG: Phrenology head - mental health - Some rights reserved by evansville] Yesterday, Paul Burstow told us about the report published by the Mental Health Commission he chaired. A few days earlier, Centre Forum produced a detailed and significant accompanying piece of work, an Atlas of Variation showing differences in prevalence, treatment and recovery from mental health conditions across England. The research, which you can read in full here, shows huge variations in services in different parts of the country. Have a look and see where it's a good place to have a mental illness and where you have to ...
2015 Two (or 3) Elections, One Campaign With 300 days to go till the elections in 2015 when 1094 principal councillors, 56 MPs and an elected Mayor face the electorate we cannot afford not to integrate our campaigning in the next 300. The electorate are not going to ignore the general election when voting locally [...]
The Independent reported recently that credit unions are set to take on payday loans firms by offering instant online approvals from next year. The financial co-operatives currently take up to a week to approve loans for people who might only require a few hundred pounds to make ends meet. The Government believes by speeding up the process it can help people save £1bn in interest charges by encouraging credit unions to help more borrowers. This is good news indeed. I am a big supporter of Credit Unions and have blogged about them before:- With thanks to the LGiU for ...
[IMG: Children Walking on Trail] This morning the BBC had an exclusive story from the NSPCC. They have at long last shifted their position on making it a crime to cover up child abuse and have come out with a very half-hearted and confusing policy. I call it "safeguarding light." Instead of making it the duty of everybody with the care of children in a regulated institution (like a school) to report to the Local Authority any child abuse or serious suspicion of child abuse, as I am advocating, they are saying that the duty should be on only those ...
Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK: You can also watch this on YouTube.
[IMG: DSC_7379] I was on the new Scotland 2014 show on Monday night. It was my first live studio based interview. I travelled to the beautiful BBC headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow for 9pm. I am not a great user of cosmetic products, usually because I end up looking like a clown if I try to apply them myself, but the very lovely experts soon had me looking 10 years younger. They even straightened my hair! I was there, along with Richard Dixon, the Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, to do the "Top Trending" slot where they ...
The spending priorities of Conservative Police Commissioner Tony Hogg continue to puzzle people in Cornwall. It has emerged that he spent more than £7,600 in his first 16 months in office on promotional items such as post-it notes, lip balm and mints. Mr Hogg claims that such items help him and his office to engage with the public. Surely more officers on the beat would be a better way of engaging with the public and doing the job he is paid for? Tweet
America is too proud of its revolution and that's hurting Americans. They should aspire to be more like Canadians. So what are we talking about today? American Independence Wasn't Independence Day last week? Yes it was. However, it took me time to figure out what bugged me about it. And that was? Independence Day is [...]
Wed 9th
10:25Benefits sanctions: what should happen when guidelines and reality are at odds with each other?
[IMG: Benefits-welfare] Back in April, I wrote about how the overuse of benefits sanctions appeared to be at odds with the Department of Work and Pensions guidance which was actually quite reasonable and gave decision makers some flexibility to take things like poor mental health into consideration. Both the use and the penalty for even a minor infringement of the rules have been dramatically increased in the last couple of years. It's worth noting that the minimum period of benefit loss is now 4 weeks. Given that the maximum help you can get from a food bank is 3 days' ...
[IMG: Who Decides by Paul Tyler - book cover] Who Decides? is like an excellent after dinner speaker – not too long, with plenty of laughs and a bit of knowledge imparted. The book intertwines Lib Dem peer and former MP Lord Tyler's amusing recollections of collective decision making during his political career (including Parliamentary committees, candidate selection meetings and party management bodies) with extracts from the guide to understanding, managing and exploiting committees published in 1962 by the former government chief psychologist, Edgar Anstey. Though Tyler's recollections are supplemented by a sprinkling of non-political accounts, such as how the ...
[IMG: Brazil-Germany-records] Last night was one of those matches that every football fan will be able to recall exactly where they were when they saw it unfold. I was in the House of Commons, at a work function, and the match was twenty minutes in already when I started to get edgy to see what was happening. My phone had died and so I had no means of checking the score. I asked an MP I know if he liked football, more in hope than anything else. He looked stunned and answered in the negative, but knew what I was ...
Feedback your survey results Over the past few weeks we have been promoting our summer survey, and urging our members to get out there on the doorstep to engage in conversations with the electorate. Surveying like this will of course raise lots of casework, and alert us to issues that are affecting people around different [...]
Tory Leaflet Hilarity in Brighouse - a Storify by me (tags: ) Patriarchy and the Establishment of 'Objective Facts': The Narrative is Already Gendered " When we start to argue about how to establish of 'objective facts,' we need to recognise that the ground we're arguing over is already uneven." (tags: ) The BBC News style guide to grammar, spelling & punctuation - now free to all globally (tags: ) "I'll always hate the Tory party. But now I hate Labour, too" One of the most depressing articles I have ever read. If the political fire has gone from the ...
Another local fly tipping case has resulted in a conviction. Last year waste including plastics, suitcases, furniture and cardboard was fly-tipped and set on fire on land belonging to Network Rail at Nibley Lane Railway Bridge, Iron Acton. Avon Fire & Rescue Service had to be called on two occasions on July 21 and October 12 to deal with the incidents. A local man was fined £1,500, £750 for each fly tipping offence and ordered to pay costs of £2,000 to South Gloucestershire Council when he appeared at court on June 26th. In court he claimed he had permission to ...
[IMG: Sharon Bowles] Liberal Democrats MEPs certainly made their mark in Europe. At last year's EU Leaders Summit David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, and the other EU Leaders have agreed that they are at last going to require proper transparency from multi-national groups and companies regarding their financial accounting. The provision to extend Country-by-Country Reporting to groups and companies within the EU was welcomed at the time by Liberal Democrat Sharon Bowles, former South East Region MEP and former Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee which had long been pressing for such a move. "It ...
I was pretty surprised when they announced that the start of this year's Tour de France would be in Yorkshire. That it would come back to Britain was no surprise but the Yorkshire bid had seemed to come up quite late in the day and seemed doomed to lose out to Scotland. Edinburgh seemed a much better backdrop for a Grand Depart than Leeds, after all. That, though, was to assume this would follow the format of previous Grand Departs outside France. The formula is pretty simple – a prologue time trial around the host city that shows off all ...
One of the many peculiarities of the UK economy is that, unlike nearly every other country in Europe and the USA too, we have almost no local banks. It is one of the reasons why, apart from Hungary, the UK is the only country in Europe where SME lending is still going down. It is [...]
[IMG: KM Express front page on seagulls ] My proposal that Shepway Council start the use of gull proof bags has been picked up by the KM Express this week, and run alongside pictures of seagull ripped bags and rubbish strewn streets from across the area. In the article Rory Love - the Shepway Cabinet member for the Environment - apparently responded that the more effective way of stopping the seagull problem is those dumping sacks days before the collection, and that Shepway Council has just "stepped up environmental patrols" to deal with the issue. Which just goes to prove ...
[IMG: Liberal Reform] Liberal Reform have submitted their recommendation to the Gurling Review on the recent election campaigns. We believe that the Party needs to present a set of policies around the theme of freedom and opportunity which will allow the electorate to see how a government containing Liberal Democrats would be different from the other two parties The Submission has 5 areas where we believe the Party needs to focus on for 2015 Clear reasons for voting Liberal Democrat We can no longer rely on people to vote for us because we are 'none of the other parties'. There ...
In retrospect the sacking of Alun Davies as Minister for Natural Resources and Food was inevitable even if the Western Mail took a week to wake up to the fact that he was not a future First Minister. The attempt to abuse his ministerial office so as to obtain personal information on his opponents was the last in a long string of offences. However, the chain of events do raise some disturbing questions. At At 9.37am on 2 July, the day after the First Minister decided not to sack him for breaching the Ministerial code, the day after he had ...
My previous postings on Merseyrail/Merseytravel refer:- I was not intending to post on this subject again just yet but my attention was drawn to the July edition of modern railways magazine and an article headed HALF-TIME FOR MERSEYRAIL. The article is built around an interview with Maarten Spaargaren the Managing Director of Merseyrail. It is sound comment and information surrounding the present concession to operate the Merseyrail lines around Liverpool which happen to be half way through the contract life. The interesting points though very much relate back to the 'optimistic' comments that have flowed from Merseytravel over the ...
From the V&A Museum of Design Dundee : Living Room for the City Drop in and Design with V&A DundeeFREE Monday 21st July 2014 : 12 noon to 4pm at Blackness Library Want to try out some new skills, make some new friends and find out more about V&A Dundee? We're bringing fun activities, designers and materials out to your local community centre. Come along and make some unique handmade lighting to impress your friends and transform your living space. All materials are supplied along with refreshments. These workshops are being delivered in partnership with Skill Share Dundee and local ...
By late 1963 Gary Usher's writing partnership with Brian Wilson was more or less at an end. He had been manoeuvred aside by Murry Wilson, who always wanted to keep as much of the Beach Boys' success in the family as possible. Brian Wilson had briefly collaborated with Roger Christian, but that writing partnership, too, [...]
