Many years ago I spent a couple of days walking the Caldon Canal from the centre of Stoke out to Leek and Cheddleton flint mill - then the head of navigation. I can remember listening to a tribute to Kenneth Williams as I walked and hearing Wet Wet Wet's rather wet version of With a Little Help from my Friends on the jukebox in a Leek pub on the first evening. All of which dates this walk to May 1988, when I was a councillor and still working for Golden Wonder in Market Harborough. On the second night I stayed ...
I recall Denis Healey saying amid the turmoil in Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980s something to the effect that it was not the settlement of 1945 that was breaking down but that of 1918. And as the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia disappeared from the map, it became clear he was right. On the Guardian website (and I assume in tomorrow's paper) Paddy Ashdown suggests that a similar process is now taking place in the Middle East: What is happening in the Middle East, like it or not, is the wholesale rewriting of the Sykes-Picot borders of ...
Labour seat. Disqualification For more information see:
Labour seat. Death
#3294961 / gettyimages.com The new issue of Liberator has a First World War theme and includes this article by me. The way it is presented in the magazine suggests that some of the direct quotes from Horne were my own work, but my debt to his article is made clear here. Masterman's war Charles Masterman is an attractive figure among Edwardian Liberals. Before being elected an MP in 1906, he undertook social work in the London slums and worked a journalist. His best book, The Condition of England, captures his temperament well. Though ardent for social progress, he had a ...
[IMG: tuition fees vote] "University tuition fee rise has not deterred poorer students from applying". That was the headline in The Guardian this week reporting new analysis by the Independent Commission on Fees chaired by Will Hutton: The raising of tuition fees to £9,000 has not put off students from disadvantaged backgrounds from applying to university - although the gap in applications between those from wealthy and poor backgrounds remains wide, according to new analysis. ... The commission found that university application rates for 18-year-olds in England have continued to recover from their post-rise lows, with application rates for 2014 ...
Lack of investment in planning staff means that Shropshire Council will not be able to resist developers' demand to build on the green field of Shropshire, despite claims to have a five year land supply. Today Shropshire Council published its five year land supply statement. It is technical, but it's important. The county must identify [...]
Bath & North East Somerset Council is investing in refurbishing the skate park at Royal Victoria Park in Bath. The skate park is over 20 years old and the main ramps have reached the end of their lives and need to be replaced. The Council carried out an initial survey between May and July, gathering the views of local young people, children and their parents, and will be presenting proposed
Bath MP Don Foster has welcomed the news that the number of unemployed claimants in Bath has continued to fall over the last year. The number of unemployed claimants in the Bath constituency in July 2014 was 696. This represents a rate of 1.6% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64. The number of claimants is 486 lower than in July 2013 and 79 lower that in June 2014.
If you send me a friend request for foursquare I won;t even know any more, because after several attempts to delete, deactivate or otherwise remove my account I have now set all emails from foursquare to automatic delete. Sorry about that. If you DO see me checking in on Foursquare, it ain't me. (obviously I am also still not doing Failbook either) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: head over heels in the letterbox] The Lib-Con Coalition may have run out-of-steam, but Conservative MP-turned-columnist Matthew Parris has identified a policy around which the two parties could happily unite. Indeed, his proposal might even form the basis for a Rainbow Coalition of all the parties. What's prompted the idea is that Matthew's been out delivering leaflets recently. And it has unleashed within him his 'inner fascist': I want order. I want consistency. I want standards. And I want eye-watering penalties for property owners who try their fellow Britons' patience and waste our time by making their addresses impossible ...
Thu 14th
16:10
Lib Dems pledge more tax cuts: after personal allowance raised to £12.5k will also increase Na...
[IMG: Danny Alexander by Paul Walter] Today's big announcement from the Lib Dems has been the "plan to cut your tax bill further". Here's how The Guardian reports it: The Liberal Democrats are to burnish their credentials as the tax-cutting party for the low paid by floating the possibility of cutting national insurance contributions for anyone earning below £12,500 a year. In a challenge to David Cameron, who is facing pressure from Tory MPs to pledge bold tax cuts as the economy grows, the Lib Dems will promise in their general election manifesto to raise the level at which workers ...
A level students in St Just and Pendeen will be receiving their A level results today, along with many other young people around Cornwall and the Country. Many will have what they need to take their next step, others will be disappointed and upset. Some will not know what they want any way. Exam results are important but as a head is reported to have said to primary school children they do not tell everything about a child or young person! All those feeling a bit glum, should be encouraged to think of some of the other parts of their ...
This is a purely vanity blog post but this morning this blog ticked over the one million page view mark and that number is completely insane, so just wanted to say thank you to those of you who've actually read my rubbish over the years. The number is actually far higher than a million page views as I moved from a WordPress hosted to a self-hosted blog about nine months in to this blogs existence and therefore my stats started from zero again. When I started this blog I did in mainly because I wanted to own the neilmonnery.co.uk domain ...
[IMG: Gaza Strip. Photo courtesy of - some rights reserved] Trying to keep my attention going as I was recently reading what was, in theory, an interesting and well-written piece about the conflict in Gaza, I realised what was making it seem so bland for all its merits. It's a more general point about most of what's written, or indeed said, by people with a clear sympathy with one side or the other. People are full of lists of what the other side should do and how if only the other side would complete the list first, then peace ...
[IMG: vote for nobody 2] Former MP Tony Wright has written an odd piece for the LSE's British Politics and Policy blog, that tries to disagree with arguments that politics in Britain is broken by seemingly accepting most of the arguments that it is, then claiming that the fact some reforms have happened over the past few years means that things will work out all right. To me, it feels like he's arguing that it's not broken because it's been stuck roughly back together with a flour-and-water paste that he insists is actually superglue. It's prompted me to finally sit ...
Youth unemployment in Hornsey and Wood Green (my constituency) has fallen again! In fact, youth unemployment here has halved over the last four years - down from 7.1% in May 2010 to just 3.1% in June. This means more and more local young people are getting into work, learning skills and earning money - which is definitely a step in the right direction. Under the previous Labour Government, education standards fell and youth unemployment rose. Some young people got stuck in the benefits system. Labour threw endless money into this system, and they ended up trapping people, who found they ...
[IMG: HertsConstab] Motorists who risk the lives of other road users by speeding will be targeted throughout August. Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police forces will be increasing the amount of speed checks and enforcement across the three counties in a bid to tackle this continuing problem at speeding and collision hotspots. Speeding is one of the main factors in fatal road deaths and sits within the "Fatal Four" driving offences of using a mobile phone, not wearing a seatbelt and drink driving. Chief Inspector Richard Hann of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit said: "Speed limits exist to ...
[IMG: Houses of Parliament. Photo courtesy of http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1260013 - some rights reserved] The House of Commons has been recalled 27 times since 1948, and this House of Commons Library research note is full of useful information on the how, when and why – along with proposals for reforming the process. Download this file
[IMG: nhs sign lrg] Scottish Lib Dem Leader Willie Rennie delivered a passionate speech yesterday setting out his positive arguments for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom. A link to the whole speech is below, but he spent a bit of time rebutting some recent scaremongering by the SNP on the issue of the NHS: And across the UK, few things unite people like our belief in the NHS. Founded on the principles that it should meet the needs of everyone, that it should be free at the point of delivery, and that it should be based on clinical need ...
On Monday, 18 August at 6.30 pm Gatley Carrs Conservation Group will be holding their first tree walk on Gatley Carrs, which will be combined with a bird walk. John Pollard will supervise the tree walk and Peter Owen the bird walk. Meet on the Car Park at the end of Brookside Road. This is the first time GCCG have hosted a tree walk and John is hoping not only to point out the large variety of trees but will also explain the history of the trees which have been planted on Gatley Carrs for the past 100 years. Because ...
[IMG: Cllr Maurice Leeke out campaigning] Maurice Leeke, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Cambridgeshire County Council, has been found guilty of breaking the council's rules after he issued a press release about plans to increase pay for senior council staff. As the local newspaper reports: The complaint focused on a pay rise for top bosses which was proposed in September and was detailed in a confidential paper which went before the remuneration committee. Prior to the meeting, the Liberal Democrats released a press statement stating a rise was proposed and quoting Cllr Leeke saying the plan would be "devastating ...
I started this series of essays because I thought liberalism, to say nothing of Liberalism, was at a low ebb and needed some fresh thinking. I started with the easy bits. Big questions, like the future of capitalism, but not ones that make liberals particularly uncomfortable. This is an old strategy to deal with something big and difficult. If you clean up the easy bits first, what remains looks less intimidating. But I have been a bit underwhelmed with the results, which are well within the spectrum of ideas that are regularly discussed by liberals. After a few weeks break, ...
[IMG: rowland] Last month, Rowland Morgan, a founding member of the Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists, sadly passed away. Rowland was a third-generation engineer who, after 2 years in the Royal Navy, spent most of his professional life teaching civil engineering at Bristol University where, among other projects, he was deeply involved in studies on the Severn Barrage. He, with his wife, Jane's, encouragement joined the Welsh Liberal Party in Cardiff in 1962. Always an advocate for more engineers and scientists in politics he stood in four general elections, the first being against Neil Kinnock in Bedwellty in ...
This is why sex education is necessary (tags: ) New Gin Named After Humpty Bogart coming soon :) (tags: ) Hemp fibres 'better than graphene' (tags: ) ICYMI: I'm selling some Games Workshop stuff on eBay If you know anyone who might be interested, do let them know. None of it is modern, but it's all pristine. (tags: ) An American doctor experiences an NHS emergency room (tags: ) People's views on the death penalty are bloody terrifying Lib Dem voters are the least terrifying, but still too terrifying for comfort. (tags: ) Why does society seem to be falling ...
Guardians of the Galaxy is dumb, cheesy and gloriously fun. It is quite possible for a film to be both dumb and smart. Consider, for example, Die Hard. It requires no mental exertion whatsoever to enjoy it. Furthermore, baring a few well-placed jokes about the idiocy of TV news it has nothing whatsoever to say [...]
The Times reports that the Liberal Democrats are following up on their success in saving millions of low paid workers £800 a year in tax payments, by proposing to look at raising the threshold at which workers begin to pay national insurance contributions. The paper says that once they have achieved the objective of raising of the income tax threshold to £12,500 the Liberal Democrats will consider the measure as the "next step" in its attempt to reduce the tax burden on low and middle earners. The draft manifesto says that the party will consider "raising the employee national insurance ...
[IMG: drugs prison] Nick Clegg has announced that the Liberal Democrat manifesto will include a commitment to end imprisonment for possessing drugs for personal use, so that no one is sent to prison, where their only offence is one of possession. Under the proposals, users would instead receive non-custodial sentences and appropriate medical treatment. Liberal Democrats are calling for an immediate end to prison sentences for people whose only crime is the possession of drugs for personal use. More than 1,000 people in England and Wales are jailed every year for the possession of drugs for their own use. Many ...
[IMG: Police helmet] Over at the Edinburgh Evening News, Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West and former police officer himself, Mike Crockart, has a piece on an issue on which Liberal Democrats in Scotland have been leading the debate in recent weeks. Here's an excerpt: Look up Edinburgh Division on the Police Scotland website and it proudly boasts that the city was ranked recently by YouGov as "one of the top five safest cities in the UK". In 2013-14, officers in Edinburgh only had cause to present or discharge weapons, including Tasers and baton rounds, 13 times. There are nine ...
[IMG: Jandek pic] In 1978, a young man in Texas named Sterling Smith thought he'd start a band called the Units. Only he decided to make it a band of one. Whether this was ultimately out of choice or circumstances remains undocumented. He brought out an album entitled Ready for the House to widespread apathy. Apparently, in three years he managed to sell less than a hundred copies. Then things got worse: a band called the Units from California threatened to sue him for the rights to the name. So he rechristened the whole project, calling it Jandek. He didn't ...
Friends of Balgay will hold its litter pick this year will be held on Saturday 23rd August from 2pm to 3.30pm. If you wish to volunteer for this, please contact friendsofbalgay@yahoo.co.uk so that the Friends have an idea of numbers for obtaining litter picking equipment from the City Council.
Thu 14th
08:05
Guildford Conservative councillor charged over claims she falsely passed herself off as a barrister ...
[IMG: Guildford Borough Council logo - square] Guildford Conservative councillor Monika Juneja has been accused of falsely passing herself off as a barrister. The story was broken by the Surrey Advertiser before Christmas and she was subsequently cleared of breaching the council's code of conduct. However, the Bar Council then pointed out that in coming to this decision the council had wrongly taken the view that falsely claiming to be a barrister when not fully qualified is not a criminal offence. In fact it is. The issue was then taken up by the police who, after arresting Monika Juneja and ...
Unemployment in the Ludlow constituency is up by ten people, probably due to students who have completed their college and university courses signing on while they seek jobs. The real level of unemployment is higher than official statistics show - perhaps around 3%, 1,100 people. This is still a good result but there is no [...]
Whilst welcoming the commitment to 'top up' the funding Wales receives through the Barnett Formula, this Lib Dem policy commitment does nothing to adress the fact that Scotland does significantly better from it than it should. The very fact that a 'top up' is needed is a damning verdict on Barnett's inadequacy and unfairness. The rational and fair thing to do would be to scrap it and introduce a new formula based on need, not just population. Of course, rationality and fairness are often the victims of pragmatism as far as politics is concerned, more so when you have a ...
Thu 14th
06:15
Unearthed Photos of Lydiate and Sefton & Maghull Stations – Southport & Cheshire Lines...
The web site 'I grew up in Maghull' seems to have unearthed a couple of 'new' old photos of the Cheshire Lines. The first is a shot of Sefton and Maghull Station which I have not previously come across:- [IMG: Sefton & Maghull Station - Cheshire Lines] The second, I understand, is of the site of the former Lydiate Station when just a brick (Plate Layers?) hut was left on the site. This would be long before the Cheshire Lines Path/Trans Pennine Trail was established:- [IMG: Site of Lydiate Station - Cheshire Lines] You can visit 'I grew up in ...
The UK is becoming the "self-employment capital" of Western Europe after an increase in the number of people working for themselves, according to a new report from the IPPR think-tank. IPPR said the UK had caught up with the EU average of 14% of workers who are self-employed. The number has increased by 8% over the past year, faster than in any other Western European nation. Spencer Thompson, senior economic analyst for IPPR, said: "Around 2,000 people a month are moving off benefits into their own business." This is interesting and I would not be surprised if Southport continues to ...
My reply to David Leach Government Affairs Manager at Marks and Spencer: Send a Missive2M&S campaign Thank you for your reply but you are simply repeating what I already know. My point in writing was to say to Mr Bolland think again you have made the wrong decision. There is still time to change this round and do something to make your customers happy for once by staying loyal to Redcar. Letting Redcar down by closing the store may well lead to local customers closing online accounts with Marks & Spencer. Out of sight out of mind. The weak performance ...
I have received the following response from David Leach Government Affairs Manager at Marks and Spencer: Dear Cllr Abbott, Thank you for your email to M&S Chief Executive Marc Bolland regarding the closure of the M&S Outlet store on Redcar High Street. I have been asked to reply on his behalf. You may be aware that we informed Ian Swales MP and senior officials from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council on 11th July that the consultation process had ended and that we would be proceeding with the closure of the store. Unfortunately, the store is no longer commercially viable due ...
The Wilson governments have not been regarded particularly highly by history, partly because of economic factors, and mostly because of the disastrous mid-70s government (which faced problems that no government could have dealt with). However, there's an argument to be made that the Labour government in the mid-sixties was the third great radical progressive government [...]
