Danny Alexander writes: "As a Liberal Democrat I want everyone to have the opportunity to have a secure and decent home. "We brought in changes to how housing benefit is calculated in the social housing sector with the best of intentions. "However, a recent report shows people are having to cut back on household essentials despite the help offered through Discretionary Housing Payments. "Therefore, we have reviewed our position so only those already in the social rented sector who turn down suitable smaller homes will see a reduction in their benefit. These commitments will be in the Lib Dem manifesto ...
[IMG: Mirror front page on bedroom tax] Of course Federal Policy Committee secrecy rules preclude me from telling you what we discussed on this topic. But you may get a hint from the fact that I've blogged this front page story... Hat-tip: George Eaton UPDATE: Here is Danny Alexander's email to Lib Dem supporters on the subject. Earlier in this Parliament, the Government changed the way that Housing Benefit was paid to families in social housing to make the payment related to the number of rooms they actually need, effectively removing what was termed 'the Spare Room Subsidy'. We did ...
I got wind of this about an hour ago. Here is tomorrow's Daily Mirror front page. [IMG: Clegg axe bedroom tax] More to follow. In the meantime, have a read of my post from earlier. That'll be number 22 on Stephen Tall's list of policies that we share with Labour... Update: 22:47. This email has just been sent from Danny Alexander explaining the party's thinking. We're not going for abolition, but for a great reform which means that nobody would have to pay unless they had turned down an offer of a smaller property which ticks a lot more of ...
Last week Harriet Harman said a rumour had been put round that she'd - shock horror- taken a baby through the voting lobby: When I came back after having my first baby I was reported to the serjeant-at-arms for breaking the rules by taking my baby through the division lobby under my jacket. What a difference 30 years makes. Tonight, Jo Swinson tweeted: A little bit of history... @duncanhames the first MP to take a baby into the House of Commons voting lobby during a division! #fb — Jo Swinson (@joswinson) July 16, 2014 At least, we're assuming that it ...
Back to the church at Breedon on the Hill. This is the Breedon Angel, an Anglo Saxon carving believed to represent the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. Great English Churches says it is "secreted away in the bell tower where only the privileged are allowed to see it". Ah, but I turned on the Calder charm and was taken up to see it by the excellent woman who was looking after the church that afternoon. Other carvings of the period line the walls of the church. As that website says: There are Greek and Byzantine influences to be seen and ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-28328979 What an odd story this is. Have a look at the link to it on the BBC web site. It reminded me of the Liverpool Pigeon Micro Pub in Crosby that I posted about a few months ago:-
The Council's Executive agreed on Tuesday the 15th of July that one option they would not be considering is selling the properties out of Council ownership. However, this still leave two possibilities on the table. One, to renew the contract with Stockport Homes for another period and, two, not to renew the contract and for the Council to go back to managing the properties directly. The Council also agreed a process by which they will assess the best option. An important part of this is what tenants and leaseholders think. An independent advisor has been appointed to ensure that the ...
He was not trying to be complimentary, but the Conservative MP Richard Fuller - as quoted by the Evening Standard - wins our Imaginative Parallel of the Day award for this comment on Vince Cable: "[It is] as if the Secretary of State sees himself as a real-world version of Saruman, that character in Middle Earth who came down with the best of intentions but unfortunately took the power unto himself and believed that he alone was benign enough and all-seeing that he could create a wonderful environment ... in which all would be good."
I have said it before and I am going to say it again here: Joan Hickson was the greatest Miss Marple. And if you won't take my word for it, listen to Natalie Haynes writing on a Guardian blog a couple of years ago: Hickson captured perfectly the fluffy ruthlessness of Jane Marple: she has wispy white hair like the mohair she's so often knitting with her softly clicking pins; the slight thickening of the voice when she's thinking; the real sense that she is, as Sir Henry Clithering describes her, "one of the most formidable criminologists in England. There ...
"Journalism is in remorseless decline. 30 years ago the quality newspapers would devote a page (a broadsheet page that is) to parliamentary proceedings. Now the best many offer is a facetious piece from the 'lobby correspondent' and the cartoon." Richard Kemp asks if democracy is dead or merely dying. Trail by Jeory looks at new accusations of organised fraud at the count for the election of the mayor of Tower Hamlets. "Here's our choice. We wait and see whether a class of powerful pesticides, made by Bayer and Syngenta, is indeed pushing entire ecosystems to oblivion, or we suspend their ...
Next Tuesday is decision day for the plans to build 215 homes in Ludlow. If approved the houses will be built between Bromfield Road and the bypass. But Shropshire Council's planning committee is not planning to visit the site of the most controversial aspect of the proposals. While there remain concerns about run off from [...]
The Hull Daily Mail wins Headline of the Day. Thanks to Carl Minns on Twitter.
Wed 16th
19:00
Bedroom Tax review raises serious questions - abolition or serious reform is now essential
[IMG: Bedroom tax demo , all the photos taken with a iphone 5] In amidst the excitement of the Cabinet reshuffle, the Government slipped out its first interim review of what is technically called the "Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy". That's the "Bedroom Tax" to you and me. The conclusions are pretty damning: At the time of the research, four out of five claimants affected by the RSRS were reported by landlords to be paying some or all of their shortfall, although half of these had failed to pay in full. There was widespread concern about the impact of ...
The council has to find up to £40m worth of savings from its annual budget in the next five years. This is in addition to £32m already saved since 2011. We have taken a careful and measured approach to the budget in difficult circumstances and squeezed all we can to protect frontline services and vulnerable [...]
What I wore to the office today. Fingers crossed the Mail approves. Hope I don't look too '80s cabin attendant'. pic.twitter.com/bVy7wCkfrG — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) July 16, 2014
Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Economy Minister Eluned Parrott has slammed today's announcement that the 'black route' will be followed for the new M4 development.The statement today by Economy Minister claims that no reasons were provided during the consultation process objecting to the 'black route'. This ignores environmental concerns raised during the consultation process by Friends of the Earth, the RSPB and Sustrans, and economic concerns raised by the Federation of Small Businesses, as well as the submission by the Welsh Liberal Democrats.The Welsh Liberal Democrats prefer the 'blue route', which is the redevelopment of the A48 Southern Distributor Road and ...
Yesterday was the launch new scheme set up by the group "Eat Green." They have had the great idea of setting up "Garden tool libraries" that allow aspiring gardeners to [...]
[IMG: A telephone] The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill cleared its Commons stages last night after a long debate which saw Julian Huppert speak at every stage and in great detail. He was pretty much doing the job of a Minister and very clearly and rationally put the case for the Bill, at all times stating his own personal commitment to civil liberties. Lord Ken MacDonald, who has been pretty sound on things like secret courts, the statelessness provisions in the Immigration Bill and the cuts to Legal Aid, has written an article in the Guardian in which he ...
Today's announcement that the 'black route' will be followed for the new M4 development is strongly opposed by the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The Economy Minister claims that no reasons were provided during the consultation process objecting to the 'black route'. This ignores environmental concerns raised during the consultation process by Friends of the Earth, the RSPB and Sustrans, and economic concerns raised by the Federation of Small Businesses, as well as the submission by the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The Welsh Liberal Democrats prefer the 'blue route', which is the redevelopment of the A48 Southern Distributor Road and A4810 Steelworks Access ...
Reading to the end of my Samuel Brittan "Steering the Economy" paperback, I came across a wonderful chart he'd painstakingly made. A Philips curve, he was printing it at an historically crucial moment, 1970: With absolutely no apologies for the pun, Samuel Brittan was utterly ahead of the curve in 1971. After a fascinating 400 pages [...]
[IMG: Michael Gove] Unlike most Lib Dems, I am not a Gove-hater. But nor do I share the adulation those one on the Right bestow upon him. The man we must now call the former Education secretary was more complex than his critics allowed and more flawed than his fans admitted. No-one should doubt Michael Gove's passion for schools reform, nor his sincerity. For him it is much more than political: it is also personal. Two men have shaped much of the education agenda in the last 15 years: Gove and Labour's Andrew Adonis, the father of the academies programme. ...
[IMG: Shredded paper. Photo courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/browse.phtml?f=view&id=543148 - some rights reserved] The rise of ephemeral messaging poses a new challenge for social media monitoring. How do you measure something that isn't there? From the moment the first status message was shared, social media measurement has been a vexed question for those who want to judge communications work by more than just gut feel. But the latest trends in social media are making the task even harder. Ephemeral messaging - which automatically deletes shared texts or photos after they've been seen, rather than being preserved in data centres for years - ...
Wed 16th
14:24The Independent View: The pupil premium may be starting to deliver - but beware false dawns of the p...
[IMG: student_ipad_school - 175] Today Ofsted deliver their verdict on the Liberal Democrats' pupil premium policy, four years into its existence – a pledge which was on the front page of the party's manifesto. In straitened times, this was a welcome commitment to focus limited resources on poorer children, and an explicit attempt to break the cycle of poverty. There are positive signs that the additional resources being put in through pupil premium are being used better to improve the education of children from low income backgrounds, but not yet evidence that they are making the radical difference to the ...
[IMG: Nick Hollinghurst with Tring Town Councillor Georgina Haynes] Nick Hollinghurst with Tring Town Councillor Georgina Haynes Three years ago Dacorum Borough Council announced a "Verge Hardening" Scheme to convert certain stretches of grass verge to extra car parking. Hardening the verge is a means to protect, or restore, the appearance of unsightly vehicle damaged verges. The parking situation in Eight Acres has been difficult for a long time. Dacorum Borough councillor for the area, Nick Hollinghurst, said, "My thanks go to those local residents who have taken time and trouble over the years to organise petitions, take photographs and ...
If you're reading this you've almost certainly heard of 'Kickstart', but you might not really know what it's about. In short, it's a weekend away for your team, however small, to spend time planning your future campaigning. In my experience that's something most local teams find it very difficult to find the time to do. [...]
I have received numerous emails and tweets about this particular Bill and am aware of how strongly many of my constituents feel about this situation. The Liberal Democrats and I [...]
So, this is the Daily Mail's sadly predictable response to women being promoted to high or higher office. [IMG: Daily Fail catwalk] I guess you can't really expect better when 7 of the top 10 stories on their sidebar could be easily headlined: "Woman goes out in public wearing clothes." That's actually quite low for them. Nick Clegg responded with humour in a tweet today. What I wore to the office today. Fingers crossed the Mail approves. Hope I don't look too '80s cabin attendant'. pic.twitter.com/bVy7wCkfrG — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) July 16, 2014 You can see why that Mumsnet poll ...
The Pupil Premium is helping to boost the educational prospects of poorer children, it has been announced today. Ofsted has published a report on how well schools in England are using the money to help support disadvantaged pupils in reaching their potential. Today's report finds that headteachers and governing bodies, overall, are demonstrating a strong commitment to closing the attainment gap and that there is a strong link between a school's effectiveness and the impact of the Pupil Premium. Funding is most commonly used to pay for extra teaching staff, booster classes, reading support and programmes designed to raise aspirations. ...
More than 30.64m people are now in work and over the quarter unemployment fell by 121,000. Today's figures show that our economic plan is working and our recovery is secure. Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "More people up and down the country are finding jobs as we build a stronger, more balanced economy. "And today we have the highest employment rate on record, which shows that this Government has created the right conditions for growth. "We have made the tough decisions to reduce our deficit; lifting around 3 million people out of tax so they keep more of what ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert has welcomed figures released today (Wednesday, July 16) which show that unemployment - including among the young - is continuing to fall in the city. Just 1.5 per cent of the working population is now without a job as the number of people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance dropped to 866 last month. This figure is 508 lower than in the same month the previous year and 152 lower than in May 2014. There were 165 young people aged between 18 and 24 looking for work last month - 110 lower than in June 2013. The number of ...
[IMG: Magna Carta by Etee] In a week when the big news is about changed faces in government, there is also much manoeuvring in the political undergrowth about the rules which govern government: our constitution. The House of Commons Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform (P&CR) has launched a debate on a written constitution for the United Kingdom. This has been a Liberal and Liberal Democrat objective for all my time in politics, but the question has always been how such a document would be drawn up, agreed and entrenched beyond the usual parliamentary processes and partisanship. Such a ...
Hat tip: I fucking love science Filed under: Uncategorized
As I have gone around the World representing the UK over the past few years I have been very aware of the respect that so many people have for our institutions and particularly for the strong roots of democracy that ... Continue reading →
[IMG: roadwork sign] Following continued pressure from Nick and Sutton Close residents over several years, agreement has finally been reached with Herts Highways to resurface Sutton Close. Using his discretionary Highways Locality Budget, Nick has now been able to authorise works on Sutton Close Tring. Herts County Council's contractors will be carrying out works on the worn-out road surface from the junction of Wingrave Road to the end of Sutton Close. The work is programmed to start on Wednesday 13thAugust (07.30-18.00) and should be completed within the day. How will this affect you? The road will need to be closed ...
Godzilla (12A) http://www.godzillamovie.comDirector ~ Gareth Edwards An attempt at a believable scientific explanation for the re-emergence of giant city-stomping creatures gives this version of Godzilla a good plot and a chance to establish characters and their back stories before the monster mayhem sets in. A nuclear incident in the 1990's holds the key to a threat to the whole of humanity and.... it's a monster movie, grab the popcorn and enjoy!Cast includes Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and Juliette Binoche. A megatastic four out of five stars ***** Edge of Tomorrow (12A) http://www.edgeoftomorrowmovie.comDirector ~ Doug Liman Time looping alien ...
I've got the support of one local party and a bunch of signatories already, but if anybody else wants to join in you've got about an hour. I have been assured by both former and current members of FCC that publishing it on my blog is not a problem, so the text is ( below the cut ) I realise that the wording is a bit techy, but I think it's necessary to root it in the terms of the court ruling, rather than just attacking DRIP per se. If you want to add your name, email me your full ...
A report by OFSTED looking at the impact of the Lib Dem Pupil Premium has shown a clear link to improvements in exam results among disadvantaged pupils in many schools as a result of this extra investment. (Please note that the report is limited to the Pupil Premium in England). The report also states: "The [...]
[IMG: Sunset @ Adyar:] When Lord Falconer put forward his Assisted Dying Bill, I had no idea it would generate so much interest. Similar bills have gone before the Lords before, and similar bills have failed, by a wide margin. However, this bill is gathering a remarkable head of steam ahead of its second reading in the Lords this Friday, 18th July . The Church of England's General Synod's decision to reject the bill and call for a Royal Commission is reasonably predictable, but it's becoming clear that opposition to the bill is far from universal among faith group leaders. ...
[IMG: Contributor] (This is the third in a series of posts looking in depth at issues from Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. Previous posts in the series are here: 1, 2 and my original post on the book is here.) To start, a disclaimer. I'm a heterosexual white cis middle class man living in an advanced industrial economy, and as such I'm the beneficiary of more unearned privilege than perhaps 99% of the people who have ever lived, so it's entirely possible that this post will include lots of inadvertent errors and omissions. There are things that, ...
I stopped working for the Lib Dems five years ago. When I left Cowley Street, my aim was to become self-sufficient, to grow my own food and live off the small bits of land that we have. Since then we have gradually built up our food growing infrastructure. I filmed this video last month to show people where we are now. As you can see, we have lots of hens, ducks, bees and weeds!
After assassinating Dr Beeching I'm totally off clubbing in 1920s Paris when I get my TARDIS (tags: ) Campaigners welcome first Tory Cabinet Minister with a beard since 1905 (tags: ) Nicky Morgan's gay-marriage stance causes equalities role confusion ... again (tags: ) You know the Streisand Effect is mainstream when it's a subhead on BBC news (tags: ) It's Party awards time! - has anyone nominated @helenduffett for them all yet? (tags: ) Quiz: can you identify these former child stars? - I didn't get any :) (tags: ) Fox cub shot in heart as badgers also butchered by ...
I thought it was worthwhile putting a post on my blog that looks at the votes relating to this particular bill (during some of which votes I have rebelled and during others of which I have not). Firstly there is a statutory instrument: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/859/schedule/made This is The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 No. 859 under this SI phone companies
I have been asked what actions I have taken recently in respect of the dispute in the middle east. I wrote to the Secretary of State on 2nd July concerned about the disproportionate response of the Israeli Government to the murders of three Israeli youths. I issued a public statement at the demonstration in the City Centre on Friday 15th July. "Collective punishment was one of the more
[IMG: Syria] Faisal Mekdad, Syria's vice foreign minister, has popped up in the western media this week. Talking about how his government, the one commanded by Bashar al-Assad, is the only group capable of stopping ISIS from wreaking havoc. He urged western powers to help the Syrian government defeat the Sunni extremist group – but of course with a few added caveats. "Many countries are approaching us to establish cooperation on security matters. We told all of them that security matters could not be separated from political cooperation." So in other words, end your war of words with us, get ...
Today I am attending an allotment bbq (raising funds for cancer research), then going to a meeting about council reorganisation, after that it's a meeting about designs for the new Front Street Primary School in Whickham, and at 6pm I will be representing residents at Gateshead Council's Planning Committee to oppose opencast plans in my ward. At some point I need to fit in a trip to Boldon in
It is strange that Adam Smith is quoted so widely, not to say obsessively in the American economics departments, but his great warning about monopoly seems to have been forgotten: "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." This is, of course, a way of talking about the German sausage cartel, revealed today. There was a discussion on the Today programme, full of the inevitable puns, which suggested that this was a blot on the reputation of German ...
For those who thought that a Tory cabinet containing five women was the dawn of a brave new world (yes, I know, low expectations and all that), the Daily Mail has the perfect antidote: It is as if we were still in the nineteenth century.
The advent of a significant Ukrainian advance in the Donbas has opened up scads of poorly informed speculation in the Western press. The fact remains that Russia has increased its direct involvement in the conflict, not reduced it. The so-called "rebels" are Russian led, Russian equipped and indeed much of the military personnel is Russian too. The Ukrainian-Russian border is being held open on the Russian side in order to permit the transit of large amounts of heavy weapons to the puppet army that Putin claims to deny all knowledge of. This is a flagrant violation of international law- it ...
[IMG: Gaza Burns - photo by Al Jazeera English] The recent murders of the Israeli and Palestinian children were in themselves terrible crimes but they also served to ignite the latest round of brutal violence in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Some media commentators are tempted to suggest that this is inevitable and un-resolvable but I don't believe that to be the case. I was surprised recently to discover - and then to find that I greatly admired - the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine's 9 point plan for peace and the three principles that inform it. I urge you to all ...
This Sunday's band concert on Magdalen Green features the City of Discovery Brass Band. It starts at 2pm at the bandstand - Sunday 20th July. Further details available here.
Wed 16th
08:25
Tory councillor 'laments closure of workhouses' in meeting about mental health services
That was the headline in The Independent recently: A Tory councillor has been accused of bringing the party into disrepute after he appeared to express regret that the workhouses had been closed down - in a meeting about mental health services. Michael Hytche's comments were branded "Victorian thinking" by the Lib Dem opposition of Torbay Council in Devon, where the Conservatives have the majority... The Lib Dems have since claimed that the remarks have brought the council into disrepute, and the Conservative group confirmed that they will be debated at the next full council meeting before a decision on possible ...
Thank tank calls for waste revolution The Circular Economy Task Force has warned that UK councils are spending more on collecting rubbish than on housing or planning. The bodies accumulatively spend £3.9bn on waste, £3bn on housing and £2.3bn on planning, and have been encouraged by the Task Force to reform waste disposal strategies to optimise operations and save money. The report suggests billions could be saved investing in waste and recycling plants, some of which could generate energy from rubbish. Capturing reusable or recyclable products that are currently lost could be worth £1.7bn a year. This report seems to ...
I went to watch what turned out to be the last day of the County Championship match at Liverpool Cricket Club's Aigburth ground yesterday and whilst it was a great finish (Notts winning by one wicket) you could not but think how poor the batting was on both sides. The Lancs tail seemed to prove this by showing how well it was possible to bat on the pitch at the end of their second innings. A win for Notts is welcome but they will have to re-learn the art of batting if they really are to be serious contenders for ...
In a report submitted to the County Council's Children Services Panel, officers disclosed that almost one in four of all young people in the County's care between the ages of sixteen and eighteen were neither employed or in education or training (NEET). This compares with average for this age range of one young person in thirty. Mark Watkin, Opposition Spokesperson for Children's Services commented "This is shameful. These young people are entrusted to the care of the County Council and for so many to be aimlessly drifting at such a young age in a County with some of the best ...
