I was judge today at the New Sands Allotments Annual Show in Swalwell. The show was held at the Sun pub. In the past I have swapped produce with some of the allotment holders and sold some of them ducks. There were no individual competitions for different vegetables. Instead, each allotment holder entered a tray of produce and the judging was on all of the contents as a whole. So
The other day we saw Nairn visit Barnsley. Here is is in two more Yorkshire towns. Nairn's "football towns" theme here obviously inspired an episode of Jonathan Meades' Off-Kilter.
Labour seat.
Conservative seat. Resignation Tom McNeice is the Liberal Democrat candidate For more information contact Cllr Lynne Beaumont (lynne.beaumont@shepway.gov.uk).
Labour seat.
Iain Brodie-Brown says the Liberal Democrats should rethink their post-election strategy: be prepared to enter a confidence-and-supply arrangement and abandon the pledge to deal first with the largest party. "One of the less obvious side shows to the defection of Douglas Carswell MP from the Tories to UKIP has been the report that he may be taking his data with him - detailed data about his constituents, it appears, and according to the Daily Mail people at UKIP are 'purring' at the prospect of getting hold of the data." Paul Bernal looks at the legal and moral questions raised when ...
I just learnt of the death of Joan Rivers, and I'm writing this whilst feeling really quite upset. Upset that the world has lost an original comedy legend, and upset because I have a feeling her death will be characterised in certain ways by certain people. Joan Rivers was a comedian (I don't use the word 'comedienne' because having a vagina makes very little difference to anything) who made people laugh for decades. She knew that her job was to entertain people and she did absolutely anything to make sure people got what they paid for. She's become notorious for ...
Thu 4th
18:45
Cardiff Council under Lib Dems: Clear leadership, effective financial management. Cardiff Council un...
One of the most heartbreaking things about the last four years has been seeing really good, outstanding Liberal Democrat Councillors lose their seats and Liberal Democrat councils losing office through no fault of their own. This stuff matters because, frankly, if the quality of services a Council provides deteriorates, people suffer. Compare and contrast the Wales Audit Office reports of 2011, when the Liberal Democrats were in power, and 2014 when Labour were two years into their term of office. Under Liberal Democrat rule, the Council was praised. The overall conclusion of that report was: the Council's approach to improvement ...
Thu 4th
18:45
Echo – Merseyside Police Police watchdog critical of Merseyside Police call-screening system w...
The rather worrying story being carried by the Liverpool Echo – see link above:-
Jen Robertson's posting on the National Museums Liverpool site.
101 non-emergency Police number service has mixed reviews. The feedback of those who get through to the service is quite good BUT, talking out and about, there are stories that give concern. At the Police and Crime Panel, I have raised the fact that the feedback they are getting is from people who get through and that somehow they need to get the views of people who do not get through. Credit to the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner because his office has launched a survey that any members of the public can contribute to. So, if you ...
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Cornwall Council Budget implications for St Just Library. I have not read all of the over 200 pages yet! You can read it too (look at my news post on the budget). I am sure that it will not mention St Just Library because it will not go into that much detail. However, I thought this early nugget was worth sharing, re Library services. "Given the severe financial position, it is envisaged that we can maximise the capacity of the library service by taking a mixed economy approach to the delivery of this service. That approach will include libraries in ...
I realise that political people are not supposed to be interested in the folklore of fairies, and yet I am. This blog may require me to hand in my political blogger's licence, but so be it. The die is cast. I have been sent the most extraordinary book, largely because of my last foray into the world of fairy beliefs online, when I unexpectedly found myself quoted in Folklore, the academic journal of the Folklore Society. That in turn derived from a visit I made to the Society, then in an underground bunker under University College, London, when I was ...
Here is a blog from my latest visit to South Sudan. Also available on the Department for International Development site. I can clearly remember my first overseas visit as a DFID minister. It was just under 2 years ago, in October 2012. I was struck by the optimism and hope that filled the air of this new and ambitious country. On Monday I returned to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, to find an entirely different situation. A humanitarian crisis has gripped the country since fighting broke out last December. Over 1.7 million people have fled their communities in fear ...
[IMG: Kew Gardens. Image courtesy of the Liberal Democrats - some rights reserved] Good news: Nick Clegg has announced today that the Government will continue current levels of funding for the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew until at least April 2015. The £1.5 million funding will help the world renowned scientific research institute to continue its work. It will help to secure a number of jobs and enable Kew to undertake vital research. In a speech to the State of Nature conference organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Nick Clegg said: "Kew is one of the ...
I find myself changing my mind on the subject of all-women shortlists. I've always been somewhere between agnostic and sceptical on the basis that it's fairer to have open candidacies in which the best person gets chosen. If the playing ground needs to be levelled, it is best to do it in training and support rather than fixing the rules for appointments. I based this partly on my now shaken belief that, whatever happens in the other parties, the Lib Dems are nice, our hearts are in the right place, so self evidently good choices will be made. But three ...
[IMG: Help button on a computer keyboard] Last year's post helping Liberal Democrat members and supporters troubleshoot why they're apparently not receiving emails from the party proved rather popular. As the Lib Dem email world has moved on rather since then here's an updated version. Whether it's you wondering why you've not received that email others are talking about, or whether it's someone you're in conversation with, I hope this guide is useful – and as ever suggestions and additions welcome. Check your spam and other folders It is an occupational hazard of running large email lists that some people ...
Thu 4th
13:15Call Clegg: A well-informed 9 year old, empathy with the Kings and the moral dilemmas of dealing wit...
Nick stopped off at LBC on his way to the NATO summit in Newport. As an aside, my heart has been warmed by the lush and beautiful Welsh countryside, but who have planning permission for that building in the middle of it? Could they not have built something with more of a soul? The star of the show was 9 year old Rowan who was incredibly well-iinformed about the school meals policy, telling Nick that his school meals weren't that healthy and that the evidence of their efficacy in improving learning was a) marginal and b) more relevant at Key ...
From the district council Help St Albans City and District Council keep street nameplates looking their best by letting us know if they need repairing, replacing or cleaning. If you spot that a street nameplate is missing, dirty or damaged, please contact us with details of the problem and its location, with a photograph if possible. Please send the information to us by emailing streetnameplates@stalbans.gov.uk or calling 01727 819392. We will then arrange for the necessary work to be carried out. The Council looks after around 12,000 street nameplates for roads that are adopted by Hertfordshire County Council. Some roads ...
Yes at the end of last week an anonymous letter writer to the Belfast Telegraph took umbrage at the decision at the end of July by Belfast Pride to award this years community partnership award to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission. Thanks to the Belfast newspapers, we now know that the Equality Commission has been awarded a community partnership award by Pride - the LGBT lobbyists.Does this mean the commission is now another wing of vociferous LGBT activists? As a neutral quango it must refute the award and sever its association with LGBT lobbyists. If it does not, its funding ...
[IMG: Clacton Pier.] The Clacton by-election triggered by Douglas Carswell's defection from the Tories to Ukip will take place on 9th October – David Cameron's birthday, but also the day after the Lib Dems' autumn conference concludes. That's not great news for the Lib Dems on two counts. First, it means the media will likely be obsessing more about Clacton than what's happening in Glasgow (unless, that is, Yes Scotland has won the referendum). And secondly, the party's not expecting a great result. There have been two constituency polls conducted to date (Survation and Lord Ashcroft): both have pointed to ...
1. This photo from the Cambridge News of MC Huppert: [IMG: MC Huppert] 2. This photo from the Evening Standard of Gangham Style master Nick Clegg: [IMG: Gangham Clegg] 3. And the extra MP selected by the Evening Standard: The Lib Dem Disco will include DJ sets from MPs Alistair Carmichael, Tim Farron, Don Foster and Caron Lindsay. Of course if you want to see Clegg doing his dancing finest, there's that dance video he kindly did for me:
Party members should last night have received an email from David Laws with an update on next month's conference. The majority of the agenda and the directory have now been made available on the party website (some items will be published following the rescheduled launch of the pre-manifesto next Monday). To reflect the delayed publication the deadline for the submission of amendments and emergency motions has also been extended to Wednesday 24 September. Here's David's email in full: Important documents for the Glasgow Conference, including the Agenda and Directory, have just been made available on the party website - please ...
As Last Week Tonight is off air at the moment, this blog's normal stream of videos featuring John Oliver has been interrupted. But to plug the gap here he is appearing on Sesame Street. And as an additional incentive to watch it also features Cookie Monster and Nick Offerman. The outtakes are if anything even [...]
[IMG: Horse racing. Photo courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horse-racing-1.jpg - some rights reserved] Presented by Roman Mars, a man with a voice designed for presenting, a name that would make a great set up for a science fiction novel and a set of credits that are always worth listening to the end, 99% Invisible is a great design podcast. It interprets 'design' very widely, with shows on subjects as varied as how to make safety signs for nuclear dumps that will still be understandable in tens of thousands of years or the political significance of how the box covers for CDs were ...
[IMG: David Cameron]] The Tories thus far seem a little lackadaisical in terms of their approach to the Clacton by-election. Perhaps this is just for show; play down expectations and then come up the home stretch strong. However, I'm starting to think this may be an overestimation of their game plan. October 9th has been chosen as the date for the poll; significant as the very day after conference season ends and also the Prime Minister's birthday. That means it is to take place exactly five weeks from now. So far, they have not even chosen a candidate and are ...
Lib Dems in Government announce £1.5m protection of funding for Kew Gardens (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sir Malcom Bruce, Lib Dem deputy leader, has been writing for Endeavour Public Affairs on the choice facing Scots in next week's referendum. Here's an excerpt: To make a positive case for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom is to recognise multiple identities and respect that what it means to feel British - or Scottish for that matter - is up to the individual as long as it is inclusive. It would be all too easy to pick apart the arguments presented by the Yes campaign with endless short-term policy guarantees, limitless and non-costed spending promises. However, there is ...
Stockport Council in partnership with Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group has been awarded £755,000 from the Department of Health's Dementia Grant, with money going to care homes across the Borough including Wellcroft at the bottom of Gatley Hill. This money is being used to create care environments for people with dementia that help reduce anxiety, distress and help them feel safe, which will greatly improve the quality of their lives. This includes providing 25 Dementia Reminiscence Therapy units in care homes and a day centre. These use software called My Life which incorporates local Stockport images, music, videos and historical information ...
South Glos Council is consulting about a proposal to reduce the speed limit on the main A432 Badminton Road through Old Sodbury from 40 mph to 30 mph to make the road safer. Click here to see full details of the proposals. The consultation runs until Friday 19 September.
[IMG: Islington Town Hall on Upper Street. Photo from Wikimedia Commons - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IslingtonTownHall.jpg] The planned launch on Wednesday of the much-trailed Liberal Democrat pre-manifesto document was delayed due to the international situation, but one policy made it out into the blinking light of day: proportional representation for local government in England, copying the reforms already in place in Scotland.* No huge surprise in the policy in itself, but more significant is the relative importance being attached to it as the most promising major political reform for the 2015 Parliament given where we've ended up in the 2010 Parliament. One reason ...
I am pictured (below) in Benvie Road (opposite the Pitfour Street junction) where the two street signs indicating flat numbers have totally worn away.At the request of residents, I have asked the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership to replace them.
Just when we thought that the Tory backwoodsmen has all defected to UKIP up pops a conservative minister to prove us wrong. The Guardian reports that David Cameron's new minister for civil society, Brooks Newmark has been branded patronising and dismissive after he told charities to "stick to their knitting" and keep out of politics: In his first major speech since he took on the role, Newmark used the opportunity to criticise charities who "stray" out of their remit of helping people. Asked about the ability of charities to campaign, he said: "We really want to try and keep charities ...
Simon Titley passed away this weekend, following the news in June that he had been taken ill. He will be missed terribly by the Liberator Collective, those who enjoyed the Liberal Revue, and many people beyond whose lives he touched by his wit, incisive writing and instinctive, passionate Liberalism. Originally from Lincolnshire - a heritage of which he was always proud - he went to Keele University, becoming a 'highly political' sabbatical officer. For a long time he worked for the Liberal Party's central organisation, moving to work for the GLC's successor organisations and finally organising Paddy Ashdown's tour for ...
Here is an interesting environmental story, c/o the Liverpool Echo (see link above), involving the former Cheshire Lines Railway that once looped around Liverpool but is now a long distance footpath.
The York City Sightseeing bus, operated by Transdev, is claimed to have become the first double-decker in the world to get an electric makeover. It has been converted from diesel to pure electric with lithium ion batteries. York Council was awarded £75,433 to convert the bus after a successful bid to the Department for Transport. The bus can travel all day without needing to re-charge. The Yorkshire Post newspaper carried this interesting 'green' article and see link below:- www.lancashirebus.co.uk/news.jsp?newsID=1224 With thanks to the LGiU for the lead to this story.
Today's Western Mail reports that Wrexham Council has been plunged into turmoil after 10 councillors, including the local authority leader, walked out of the Labour group in Wrexham. They record that the councillors claimed they were left with no choice because they were being "negatively influenced within the Labour Group on issues that affect the lives of the people of Wrexham": It has thrown the authority - of which Labour was part of the ruling group - into disarray and leaves a huge question mark over the future council make-up and how it will function in the coming weeks. The ...
The planning application for housing on the old Greenhill nursery site is on the Council website and the comments function is now on. The on line comment deadline is 2 October. All the info, including plans, is in a bit of the section called Related documents. You can link to the info here here.
I always thought the Scottish independence referendum question isn't worded very authentically. It should be: Should Scotland be an independent country?'Och aye, I suppose so'or'Naw, I wouldny be bothered'.
