I was really saddened to learn of the passing of Jim Petrie earlier this week. Jim was best known for his work on The Beano's "Minnie the Minx", a strip he took over from original artist Leo Baxendale in 1961 and drew for 2000 issues before his retirement in 2001. However, it was through his involvement, in retirement, with the Magdalen Artists that I knew Jim. He was also a leading member of the 'silver surfer' computer group that meets at the Mitchell Street Centre each Monday, immediately before my ward surgery there. Jim was a lovely, warm and engaging ...
Liberal Democrat seat. Resignation For more information please contact Cllr Anita Lower (anita.lower@newcastle.gov.uk).
Alexei Sayle explains...
Public and political confidence in Japans science system collapsed after the devastating earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. Tateo Arimoto and Yasushi Sato describe the process of rebuilding trust and reforming Japanese science policy. Science plays a crucial role in the face of intractable problems, such as global warming, energy shortages, pandemics and large-scale technological accidents. But it is not easy for nations and international organizations to maintain effective systems for scientific advice. Sometimes, scientists can be exposed to political pressures; governments may not be able to identify the right experts; uncertainties accompanying scientific information may not ...
The first thing to say is that the report into child exploitation and the failures of the local authority in Rotherham are tragic and a huge stain on not just Rotherham Council but local authorities generally. Some will argue that it is completely inappropriate to make political hay with such a story and I am inclined to agree with them. When last year some Labour politicians, including Ed Miliband, used a tragic suicide to score points over the 'bedroom tax' I thought it was disgusting. So it's important to see my comments below in that context: I do not intend ...
Nigel Farage has hailed Douglas Carswell's decision to resign his seat in the Commons and fight the resultant by-election as a Ukip candidate as "the noblest thing I've seen in British politics in my lifetime". But is he right? Could it even be that Carswell's decision results from a cool consideration of his own interests? Because I have seen two pieces of evidence today that suggest Clacton is just about Ukip's best prospect at the next general election. The first piece of evidence comes from Huffington Post: According to research by professor Matthew Goodwin, from Nottingham University, and Manchester University's ...
You may already know that a project called Pocket Places, run by Sustrans, is looking at how we can brighten up and improve the shared space on St Mary's Road. They've already organised some consultations, and there's another event coming up on 13th September. But they're also keen to make sure that as many people as possible have a chance to have a say and get involved. So if you live near, work on or near or use St Mary's Road, do please fill in the survey here https://survey.sustrans.org.uk/pocketplacesliverpool/ The deadline is 30th September.
Thu 28th
20:49
Reflections on Rotherham (1): How one community in Rochdale took control to protect its children and...
Initially the report on Rotherham came as a shock to me - 1400 children raped and abused in one town. Then I read the report and the figures on an annual basis are very similar to those in my home town of Rochdale. But do I believe that things are any different in Oldham, Bolton or Sheffield? These are all similar towns with similar issues. I am clear that just because a town has not identified a problem does not mean that it does not exist. Moreover, the one lesson that many council chief executives and leaders will have learnt ...
Vote today for Bruntwood Park BMX track to get extra coaches and equipment to make the most of this excellent local resource. Votes must be in by the end Sunday 31st August 2014 – follow the link. [IMG: Iain Roberts and Mark Hunter MP officially opening the BMX track] Iain Roberts and Mark Hunter MP officially opening the BMX track
#168628645 / gettyimages.com Do you blame Diana or Iain, asks a poll on the Shropshire Star website. For once my favourite paper has got it wrong. As Ruby Tandoh says, the people to blame are The Great British Bake Off's editors. The move to BBC1 was always likely to prove a challenge to a programme based on niceness. That is one quality that bright young things on there way up in the world of television have no time for. There has to be edginess. Jeopardy. People have to go on a journey. So it was that last night's episode was ...
To say I'm not the most committed devotee of Better Together, the official campaign opposed to independence, is something of an understatement. This has not, however, stemmed from a personal position that is diametrically opposed to Better Together's principal objective. For many years I had advocated a referendum, imagining that I would probably vote "no". After all I am a federalist, not a nationalist. I had hoped any referendum on Scotland's constitutional future would be framed - to some degree - by the Liberal Democrats' policies and proposals for further empowering the Scottish Parliament and introducing a federalist settlement for ...
Michael Bunney, the Labour councillor for Mevagissey is resigning from Cornwall Council. His resignation will take effect this Sunday, 31st August. Cllr Bunney is a teacher and has recently been appointed to a position at a council maintained school in Cornwall. That makes him an employee of the authority and therefore ineligible to be an elected member on the same council. Until now, Cllr Bunney has worked in Devon and so was not barred. When he was elected in May 2013, Michael Bunney won 30% of the vote. In second place was UKIP with 28% and the Conservatives came third ...
Last Saturday evening a new Doctor landed on BBC1, causing even his friends to wonder if they knew who he was any more. That'll be doubly unnerving if you're coming to the Doctor and the series for the first time. But don't worry. It's only as complicated as you want to make it. There's really very little you need to know - and the easiest way to find out is to watch an episode of Doctor Who. But here's a simple start... What Do You Need To Know About Doctor Who? The Doctor is a traveller in time and space. ...
Police are hunting for armed robber Peter Thomas who's lived in the Cheadle area recently. From GMP: Police are hunting a suspected armed robber who has hit 11 premises in the Greater Manchester area in the space of just 11 days. Officers want to trace Peter Thomas (born 10/03/1987) in connection with a string of armed robberies at businesses predominately in the Stockport area of Greater Manchester. Since 16 August 2014, police believe the same man is responsible for 15 robberies, four of which occurred initially in the Lancashire area and the remainder in the Bolton, Stockport and Cheadle areas. ...
There are a couple of planning applications in our area which residents might like to look at. Both will be open for comments (one currently is, the other isn't yet) The first is for more than 80 new properties on the old Greenhill nursery site. The link is here This second one is for changes to a house in Long Lane - no 15 - to a HMO (bedsits) When you look at these planning pages, you'll find all the detail (layouts etc) in a bit called Related Documents which is right at the bottom of the page.
[IMG: Austrian Social Democratic Party election video - with gnome] Back in the 2001 general election campaign I was working at Liberal Democrat HQ and involved in a mass garden gnome buying operation in an attempt to secure positive publicity for the party. If I remember correctly, we succeeded. What I do remember for sure is the problems subsequently of disposing of large numbers of garden gnomes. Three are now in my garden, one on my desk at work and dozens more scattered to the four winds. Since then, it's been rather quiet on the political gnome front. But no ...
Cllr. Iain Brodie Brown covers this subject in his recent blog posting (see link above) and he is right to do so. Shopping in Southport's Chapel Street can be a pain at times because of the activities of the young paid charity collectors who are known as 'chuggers'. I would not be surprised if shoppers are being put off from shopping in Chapel Street so Iain is right to raise the profile of a matter that Sefton Council seems to have turned a blind eye to. And its not only Southport where 'chuggers' are a concern. An internet search ...
Here's the new film from the Electoral Commission: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Paul Goodman (with whom I was at university some centuries ago) writes on Conservative Home: Douglas Carswell has never, as far as I know, been a Tory - that's to say, a believer that authority in Britain originates from its institutions: the Monarchy, Crown in Parliament, the Church of England. For as long as I've known him, he has always been not exactly a Whig but certainly a radical. But then I said much the same on Liberal England two years ago: Large parts of the Conservative Party now model their approach on that adopted in America. Daniel Hannan and ...
And it's as strange as you would imagine: Filed under: Uncategorized
Our friends at party HQ have created this excellent package of materials promoting our success in delivering Free School Meals. With the new school year around the corner, now is the time to think about exactly how to make the most of this success. Message: So, good news, Free School Meals will be served up [...]
The Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon has been having some fun with the Frank Underwood character:
Sometimes folks I get frustrated. No not at my pathetic lack of a private life but more at how some people can read what I write here yet not understand a word that I have written. In the past week I have written extensively about Labour's decision to select Cllr. Ware-Lane as their PPC for Southend West. In isolation it was the obvious choice but in terms of delivering a Labour MP for one of the two Southend seats then it was not so much of a good move. I explained my reasoning in a simple and logical way. However ...
[IMG: HertsConstab] Further to our coverage on this site of the draft Lib Dem 2015 Manifesto proposal of 13 August to review Police Stop and Search methods, it appears the Lib Dems are not the only ones who feel a review is needed. Hertfordshire Constabulary have launched two key elements of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme, recently headlined by Home Secretary Theresa May (August 26). While stop and search is undoubtedly an important police power, when it is misused it can be counter-productive. It can be an enormous waste of police time and, when innocent people are ...
[IMG: image] Looking ahead: It's 19th September, and Scotland has voted "No" to independence. Thank goodness for that! The uncertainty is over. The people of Scotland will continue to have their say in how the whole of Britain is run; will still use the pound (and still have their say in how it is managed); will, without the need for difficult negotiations, still be part of the EU and still have the whole of NATO ready to protect it; will still be both British and Scottish, without having to choose one or other; will still have representation on the UN ...
Next week South Glos Council will be holding exhibitions on plans to install ground mounted solar PV schemes on land it owns next to the Badminton Road Council offices and between the M4 and the A4174 Ring Road at Moorend. The schemes are much smaller than the commercial schemes in the area, approximately 2.5 acres at Badminton Road and 5 at Moorend, compared to over 100 acres at Says Court Farm for example. The aim is to supply electricity for the Badminton Road offices, reducing running costs at a time of rising energy prices and reducing carbon emissions by 700 ...
[IMG: Midas Training postcard] I've previously blogged a first look at the 2014 Glasgow Conference agenda. Now here's a first look at the training program, packed full of excellent sessions. Download this file
As a mixed race child I am well aware of how race and ethnicity can be explosive issues. Race is often politicised for political gain but it appalls me that horrific child abuse predators were tolerated because of a fear that it would ignite racial tension in Rotherham. This country should learn to say it as it is, no more, no less. The problem in Rotherham did concern the attitudes of Asian men towards white girls, this is not to say that all child abuse is carried out only by Asian men. However, there is a problem with the attitudes ...
[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here on Tuesday. Apologies in advance: it's mostly a depressing read (unusually – I'm generally an optimist). My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. I'm writing this on a damp, dank, grey, grim August bank holiday, a too-obvious metaphor for the current state of British politics. The summer began with reflections on a century-old international conflict the origins of which few of us today consider comprehensible. It was ...
The big story in the British news media this week is the Rotherham child abuse scandal. This was occasioned by a detailed report from Professor Alexis Jay. This revealed that some 1,400 children and teenagers had been sexually abused from the 1990s by gangs in this Yorkshire town. The perpetrators were largely from the Pakistani and Kashmiri community and the victims were vulnerable white girls, many in care. Council officials and police ignored repeated reports of this abuse. Similar things seem to have been occurring in other northern towns, as well as further south. The revelations have provoked anger. But ...
We need a strong scientific voice in policy and decision-making, but there is also a crucial role for the public There is now a growing consensus about the importance of science advice in government. Although there are occasional departures from this position, such as the current situation in Canada, the idea that science is important for both diagnosing and dealing with public policy issues is widely acknowledged. This weeks Auckland conference has brought together science advisers from all over the world to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the role. My hope for the conference is that it will grapple ...
By not simply crossing the floor at Westminster to join UKIP, but resigning and calling a by-election to do it, has he now set a precedent for any other Tory MPs who want to do the same? The last MP to do that for a defection was Bruce Douglas-Mann switching from Labour to the SDP in 1982 (and he lost), and MPs who've done it since then haven't followed his example. However, if there are any other Tories thinking of doing the same (and there probably are), they'll be watching what happens in Clacton very intently as they know that ...
Douglas Carswell, elected in 2010 as Conservative MP for Clacton, has today announced he's joining Ukip and will fight a by-election under his new party's banner. In one sense, the news isn't a surprise. Carswell is a member of the Tory awkward squad, its sixth most rebellious backbencher according to Revolts.co.uk, having defied the party whip on 46 occasions during this Parliament. But on another level it'll be a real shock to the Tories: Carswell's right-wing brand is much less swivel-eyed than that of many of his fellow rebels like Philip Hollobone and David Nuttall. He's generally a thoughtful, independent-minded ...
Having debated against the eloquent Euro-sceptic Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, during May's European election campaign, I am not particularly surprised by his defection to UKIP. In a sense it is odd he didn't do it before — indeed, during that campaign — but maybe UKIP's strong showing in May persuaded him that it [...]
The Guardian reports that thousands more cancer patients in England will be offered vital treatments in a £160m boost to the Cancer Drugs Fund. The say that the fund, which has helped more than 55,000 cancer patients since it was set up four years ago, will be increased from £200m a year to £280m a year. As a result many more patients with rare conditions will benefit from life-extending drugs recommended by their doctor: With the number of people diagnosed with cancer each year increasing by 9% since 2009, and the rising costs of ever more sophisticated drugs, the fund ...
I have written before that I think as a matter of principle that anyone who is elected but who decides to change their political allegiance should resign and go back to their electorate to seek re-election with their new party hat on. I firmly believe this is the case at both local and national level. This goes for members of any party going to members of any other party or indeed independents joining a party or vice versa. This morning Douglas Carswell resigned from the Conservative Party and promptly joined UKIP. However in doing so he also resigned from his ...
The summer's seen a rise in crime across Gatley – particularly thefts from sheds and garages along with criminals using garden tools to force entry into houses. Summer's not quite over yet, so please be careful.
[IMG: Techno teenagers photo by Leinard John Matthews] David Laws has this week committed to compulsory sex and relationships education echoing the views of young people. Last week IPPR's polling of 18 year olds showed that more than eight out of ten young people agree that sex and relationship advice should be taught in schools. But schools need to be more effective in commissioning and providing high-quality content, delivered by experts. Our concerns are not new but the rapid expansion of technological possibilities has changed the nature of the debate. Young people are revealing ever more information about themselves, and ...
Residents of Burnham Road, who have waited many years for the road to be resurfaced, are increasingly irritated by the misinformation – or complete lack of information – from the county council. Having been told to move their cars last week, they were dismayed to find that the road wasn't done when advertised. It's advertised again today but no-one has been asked to move their car. Chris has taken it up with the county council.
Good job none of these complainants were around @Brighouse247 for the 40s weekend (tags: ) First ever 3D-printed vertebra successfully implanted in 12-year-old cancer sufferer (tags: ) Coming out and staying out as a bisexual is an act of bravery... ... and Emily Yoffe's barely hidden contempt for bi people shows why that bravery is still necessary. (tags: ) Hopi Sen wants to see the spotify model for news media (tags: ) Support Andrew Hickey's Writing with micropayments (tags: ) Recipe Time: The British (serves 60 million) - Benjamin Zephaniah (tags: ) The most self-effacing Patreon I have yet seen: ...
[IMG: Scotland PPB pic] I'm not a rabid Scottish nationalist by any means. In fact, on balance I'd rather Scotland stayed in the Union, mostly because I fear for the chaos that might ensue, in all parts of what was the United Kingdom, in independence's wake. So I do not offer the following critique for political reasons, but rather aesthetic ones. Because as someone who has made a party political broadcast or two myself, I hate to see the form badly let down. And Better Together's PPB from a couple of days ago may well be the worst one ever ...
With three weeks to go, the Scottish referendum debate has been worse than disappointing: it has been dishonest. The fact is that neither side has got to the crux of the argument. Although some have suggested that the Better Together campaign has looked to the head, while the Yes Scotland looked to the heart, in fact both have ignored the fundamental question of identity and the depth of the crisis that Scotland faces. The Better Together crew have failed to provide an effective emotional defence of the common state. The have mostly focused on the issue of what currency a ...
Mark Watkin, Opposition Spokesperson for Children's Services met yesterday with Jenny Coles, Director of Children's Services and Sue Williams, Operations Director of Safeguarding to establish whether anything like what happened in Rotherham could be happening in Hertfordshire. In their judgement and also the judgement of the Hertfordshire Police the answer is no. One of the key factors in Rotherham was that the Council used a large number of privately run homes as they are a relatively cheap way of housing teenagers and failed to supervise what was going on in them. HCC uses far more foster carers looking after single ...
I wrote last week about doing a new series of posts that tried to explain political science concepts in an accessible and understandable way. Thanks to all those here and on Twitter who said you'd be interested in that, and I had hoped to have a first post up by now. However, things have taken longer than I expected and trying to break down concepts into simple and understandable chunks isn't as easy as I thought it might be, and the first post is currently meandering all over the place. One thing it is doing is giving me a lot ...
Cruel me: that "temporary" sign at the corner of Moray Road and Fonthill Road will now not seen its tenth birthday because, following my email, Islington Council has now finally removed it: [IMG: Moray Road - Fonthill Road junction]
[IMG: VCableSpeaking] Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable is calling on business, unions and individuals to help identify and close potential loopholes in plans to ban the use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts. Exclusivity clauses prevent workers on zero hours contracts from taking work elsewhere even when their employer provides no work. The government is launching a consultation to find out whether a minority of unscrupulous employers may attempt to circumvent the ban by offering contracts which could guarantee just one hour of work. The consultation is asking for people to submit their views on how to prevent ...
The Dardenne Brothers and Marion Cotillard produce a majestically simple story about struggling, sacrificing and surviving. When Americans were asked by pollsters to come up with the most boring headline imaginable they reputedly plumped for "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." If you did a similar poll of Europeans only this time asking about descriptions of films, then [...]
The Chairman of South Gloucestershire Council, Ladden Brook Ward Councillor Howard Gawler, will plunge 10,000 feet from a plane on Sunday 7 September to raise money for charity. Howard will be undertaking a tandem skydive to raise funds for the South Gloucestershire based Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC), one of his chosen Chair's charities for the year. This will involve him free-falling through the air (without the parachute deployed) for 5,000 feet at around 120 mph, before safely parachuting to the ground. He will be harnessed to a professional parachute instructor at all times throughout the descent. Howard's niece ...
Fisherman's level crossing – Formby What a sad story – the Echo has the details – see above link. The pain the woman's family must be feeling at this time will be unbearable but let's not forget how the poor old train driver must also be suffering too. Being a train driver means that tragedies like this may well happen to you whilst simply going about your everyday work.
Thanks to a reader for nominating BBC News for my Headline of the Day Award.
Meal Makers is a new project launched by the Food Train and is a free, local neighbourhood, food-sharing project that connects people who like to cook and are happy to share an extra portion of a delicious home cooked meal, with older neighbours living close by who could really benefit from a hot cooked meal. The project is trying to get a lot of Meal Makers members on board to cook tasty, home-cooked food for their neighbours in order to get more people eating and cooking fresh meals. It is hoped that by running this project, it will help combat ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above With thanks to the Echo for using my photo of the planned site for Maghull North Station.
Re:- Alan Milburn's report on social mobility (http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28953881;) can we please not lump "Oxbridge" in with fee-paying schools? Private schools are institutions at which parents buy places for their offspring; Oxford and Cambridge aren't. I have blogged on this previously at http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/894432 and Oh, and if only 24% of MPs went to Oxbridge, then I have to say that that means that not enough of the UK's most academically able graduates are going into politics and that is a problem; I'd like to see comparable figures for other good universities and a report on how to persuade more of ...
Take a close look at these two photos of flags flying outside Maghull Town Hall:- [IMG: rsz_flying_the_flag_upside_down] [IMG: rsz_flying_the_flag_the_right_way_up] I think you are sent to the Tower of London for flying the Union flag upside down but what happens if you fly the Maghull 'M' logo flag upside down? I suppose you could just rename the Town Waghull. In Maghull's 'M' logo the yellow represents the flower of the Mayweed that once grew prolifically in the area, the grey a stone canal bridge and blue the Leeds Liverpool Canal. My previous posting also refers:- The photos are amongst my ...
[IMG: shredded] I've just finishing reading Ian Fraser's Shredded. I started it when I was up in Edinburgh last month, appropriately enough. But other things intervened and it was only over the bank holiday weekend that I got the time to sit down and read the second half. The book tells the fascinating story of the growth and subsequent implosion of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Fraser has produced a genuine page turner from material that is, on the face of it, pretty dry. Quite a few elements of the story are now reasonably familiar - particularly relating to the ...
For me, the Council recess ended today (Wednesday 27th). I was in Gateshead Civic Centre for the chair's meeting of the Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee at 3pm. The agenda will be published shortly but there was one issue in particular that caught my attention. More about that once the agenda is in the public domain. The time of the meeting was not ideal for me however. I was filming a
I just wanted to write something quick this evening, because today's been a bit of an ordeal, but I wanted to mark it in some way. On a Wednesday evening, I attend a Slimming World group in Frome. I first attended this time last year, and tonight I lost 2lbs and achieved my 2stone award. It's all a bit incredible for me, because whilst the weight loss is clearly important, over the little while, the weight loss has also become one of the least important things about attending my group. For me, the incredible thing has been that when I ...
