A few months ago, I was bowled over by an article by Ta-Nehisi Coates that enabled me to understand slavery and American history in a new light. I was surprised at how little interest there was in the post, and wrote a follow up on that basis. It was met with equal indifference. I was somewhat worried that I was being hypersensitive, but my fears have been assuaged, somewhat, by a book review in yesterday's Economist, of Edward Baptist's The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. It was Coates who drew it to my ...
No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right. Thus states clause 29 of the Magna Carta one of three clauses that are still in effect in UK law without amendment or repel.The reason while I am starting ...
Yetanother propaganda blast from Thanet red revolutionary committee, this time it seems local "film maker" Christine Tongue is interviewing what I assume to be a representative selection of, in no way biased hard working residents of Broadstairs in this little film. As you might imagine there is little evidence of a protest which apparently took place on Tuesday this week but what you will learn of, are wild insinuation and accusations of racism and an appalling suggestion of violence. Still you might take our Christine at face value, were it not for another film in which she interviews a man ...
#86000123 / gettyimages.com Clement Freud, who died in 2009, was Liberal MP for the Isle of Ely between 1973 and 1987. This photograph shows him in 1950 with his fiancee June Flewett, who is better known under her stage name Jill Raymond. She also has a remarkable claim to literary fame, as Nigel Farndale revealed in the Telegraph a few years ago. In a yawning, book-lined drawing room in Marylebone, central London, I am left to browse a file of letters written during the war years by CS Lewis to "My dear June". The "June" referred to is Jill Freud, ...
Here is a list of Bootle's MP's Election We are told that Bootle Labour Party are meeting to select a new candidate to fight the 2015 GeneralElection having dispensed with Joe Benton. Member[4] Party 1885 Thomas Myles Sandys Conservative 1911 by-election Andrew Bonar Law Conservative 1918 Sir Thomas Royden, Bt. Coalition Conservative 1922 James Burnie Liberal 1924 Vivian Leonard Henderson Conservative 1929 John Kinley Labour 1931 Chichester de Windt Crookshank Conservative 1935 Eric Errington Conservative 1945 John Kinley Labour 1955 Simon Mahon Labour 1979 Allan Roberts Labour 1990 by-election Michael Carr Labour 1990 by-election Joe Benton Labour Here is another ...
In these final few days of the Scottish referendum, there is still hope that a slow, tawdry, over-confident 'No' campaign can finally see the wood for the trees and make a coherent argument. But it'll have to move fast. It has been hopeless in making the case for union and tolerably useless at opposing the 'Yessers' in their own terms. Partly this is the result of a comprehensive failure to understand the terms of political rhetoric in Scottish politics. Scottish politics is, whatever Mr Salmond may say about 'progressive vision', very much rooted in the collectivist mindset of the early ...
A couple of people have asked me recently what's going on with Head of State, and why it's not out yet, so I thought I'd just post this to save time. Basically, the simple answer is that books take time to get published, and it's still happening. It can take up to a year from [...]
Ed Miliband (Photo: Daily Mirror) Yesterday Labour leader Ed Miliband made an intervention on the Scottish independence question, delivering a stirring speech in Blantyre, the birthplace of Keir Hardie. Calculating that he needed to assert his leadership in the wake of reports showing that large numbers of traditional Labour supports are likely to vote Yes, Miliband sought to appeal to his party's core voters, urging them to reject the prospect of independence. What was immediately noticeable was Miliband's emphasis on social justice, a theme that has been somewhat lacking in a debate often focused on the currency question, the EU ...
A guest post from Shropshire Councillor Tracey Huffer, chair of Ludlow Youth Forum. There are a lot of changes going on in youth services at the moment. They are happening without any real debate and without recognition of the expertise that has been built up across the county. I am very concerned that Shropshire Council [...]
[IMG: andrew george] A year ago Lib Dem members voted at the party's conference for an urgent review of the impact of what's termed by critics the 'Bedroom Tax'. Two months ago Danny Alexander announced he'd be recommending a major U-turn on the policy. And this afternoon, as the BBC reports, Lib Dem MPs teamed up with Labour to vote through reforms which mean that tenants who cannot be found a smaller home will be exempt from the cuts, as well as disabled people who need a spare bedroom or who have adapted homes: Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs have ...
I received an enquiry about a crossing fro Windsor Drive this afternoon, so I thought I'd blog it. When members of the public send in requests for Highways work, people are now being sent a stiff letter asking them to get support of local people including elected councillors. I am aware of the kind of letter that Nick Chapman is sending out. Indeed, I have myself been sent one. This appears to be a directive from CBC to Highways to make them think harder about where they spend their money, and to make ad hoc requests from the public more ...
My youngest daughter has returned to university for her final year. She is a lucky one who receives a bursary but information about my income is needed. To be precise a P2 tax form is needed. I don't have one this year and I now know why. However I didn't know when I phoned last week. It took a while to get through to the tax office and I was repeatedly told they were sorry to keep me waiting. If a phone call is free then it doesn't matter too much about waiting on the phone, although time is important ...
To give the rUK the greatest possible political legitimacy when negotiating with the break-away Scottish government, a Government of National Unity should take charge until negotiations between rUK and iScotland have concluded. This would ensure the rUK presents a united (hoho!) front during the negotiating period. Such a government should be formed as soon as possible after a 'Yes' vote has been confirmed. Also, if there is a 'Yes' vote, it is impossible to see how a General Election could be held as scheduled in May 2015. As the most likely outcome would appear to be a hung-parliament with Labour ...
Maurice and I visited King's this morning as part of the Day of Action on Alcohol Harm organised by the Royal Colleges, Alcohol Concern and the Institute of Alcohol Studies, Ms Jacqueline Green, Head of Stakeholder Relations, met us and took us to see Dr Michael Heneghan, Liver Consultant, Professor Heaton, Head of the Liver Unit, and Dr Will Bernal, Consultant, Liver Intensive Therapy Unit, We then moved to Todd Ward where we met Anne McKenna, Deputy Head of Nursing, Liver and Renal Surgery, and Natalie Huxtable, Matron, Liver. Then we attended the Liver Transplant meeting, where all the experts ...
On current trends the Green Party will have a significant, if not decisive, impact on the 2015 election – Some interesting data from the LSE's British Politics blog. I Was Raped At Oxford University. Police Pressured Me Into Dropping Charges – A rather shocking story. Motorists have ruined England – and they need to pay the price – Given the current drive to make things as centred around the car as possible gets called 'war on the motorist', I dread to wonder what this might get called. Can UKIP scale up? – Excellent post from Flip Chart Fairy Tales on ...
I have just watched yesterday's Daily Politics on iPlayer and I found the contribution by Nick Ross very interesting, especially when compared to that of Conservative MP Philip Davies. The article was about law and order and how the police are asking the public to investigate their own crimes. Philip Davies was asked how the Tories, the party of law and order, could allow this to happen. He blames his coalition partners the Liberal Democrats because they are not the party of law and order. How does he get away with pure insult? Nick Ross was a guest and he ...
MP for Redcar Constituency Ian Swales has today supported his Liberal Democrat colleague's private members bill calling for further reform of the spare room subsidy, more commonly referred to as the 'bedroom tax'. The bill, put forward by Andrew George MP, proposed that those who are willing to move but cannot be found a smaller home would be exempt, as would disabled people who live in adapted properties or who need a spare bedroom. The bill received a majority of support from MPs with 306 votes to 231. The bill will now progress to committee stage. Commenting after the vote, ...
[IMG: Election count progressing] There were three principal Council by-elections this week in Oxford, Shepway and Surrey Heath. In Carfax ward (Oxford City Council) Labour held on with 168 votes (44.2%; +15.6%). Tony Brett, the Liberal Democrat candidate who finished fourth in May's local election, came a respectable second with 101 votes (26.6%) and increase of 9% since May. The Green Party slipped from first in May to third on Thursday with 16.6% (-14.2%). The Conservatives and UKIP both polled 24 votes (6.3%). Turnout in the ward was a record low of just 8.6%. The Oxford Labour Party have been ...
Twitter has a new person tweeting! I know I said I would not join social media and that I had to have my arm twisted to start this website but I have changed my mind. I have joined twitter – @SueCllrsuejames – with a purpose. If you 'follow' me you will not discover what I had for breakfast or what I am watching on TV. For those who feel there is not enough politics on this website, then my twitter account will be for you. I set it up to help me get the message out about the petition to ...
There were three principal Council by-elections this week in Oxford, Shepway and Surrey Heath. In Carfax ward (Oxford CC) Labour held on with 168 votes (44.2%; +15.6%). Tony Brett, the Liberal Democrat candidate who finished fourth in May's local election, came a respectable second with 101 votes (26.6%) an increase of 9% since May. The [...]
[IMG: 82813332_89f5e4ceb0_z] The Liberal Democrats are likely to make proportional representation for local government elections a red line in 2015 coalition negotiations. Needless to say, for any liberal this is a thoroughly good and idea that will transform local government. Given neither party is likely to budge on national PR, it is a good way to implement radical reforms which might actually be accepted by either of the other main parties. But we've missed a trick. We have failed to capitalise on the increasing desire for open primaries amongst the other political parties. This is another radical reform which the ...
I have largely kept off the topic of the Scottish independence referendum (or indyref, as it has become known), largely because I think it is for the people of Scotland alone to decide what's best for their country. I'm not British, so the partition of that island into two separate countries doesn't have any emotional resonance for me, though I am from the UK, but I happen to feel that Scottish independence could be good, in the long run, for my wee part of the Kingdom. That's not enough reason, though, for me to feel like I should try and ...
When I took over as the House of Commons co-Chair of the DWP parliamentary policy committee in May I had two top priorities. One was to make some changes to the Spare Room Rent (aka Bedroom Tax). The other was to reduce the number of wrongful sanctions. After a while I persuaded the party to adopt my proposals for automatic exemptions for people who need spare rooms for reasons relating to
Cornish Lib Dem MP Andrew George today saw his Bill to reform the bedroom tax passed in the House of Commons. Andrew was first out of the hat in the annual ballot to select backbench MPs to promote changes to the law and he chose reform various welfare provisions including the bedroom tax. The bedroom tax is the name given to the penalty imposed on people in receipt of housing benefit but who have more bedrooms than they need. Andrew's proposal will see a halt to penalties being imposed on those who cannot find a smaller property and those who ...
Today is actually the 75th birthday of the only chap to play Ian Fleming's James Bond only one (if you discount the numerous James Bond imitators in the original Casino Royal). Yes George Lazenby the Australian who appeared in On Her Majesty's Secret Service reaches three quarters of a century today. The film itself debuted just before I was 3 months old, and while it kept more closely to the novel (yes it was one of the adaptations rather than original stories in the franchise) it to me was rather ruined by the constant references back to the Sean Connery ...
[IMG: Clacton beach huts photo by Nick Page] It now looks set that Duncan Carswell will win the forthcoming by-election in Clacton and become the first UKIP MP. Whilst enjoying the Tory discomfort, I've been thinking a lot about what we need to do to counter UKIP and their simplistic appeal. In a poll last weekend, immigration was identified as the top concern by 57% of people who intend to vote for UKIP in Clacton. As with many of UKIP's other target seats the number of immigrants living in Clacton is actually very low - just 4%. What there is ...
If you missed the launch of our petition to gather support for completing the "missing link" of the cycle path from Yate and Westerleigh to Bristol and Bath, there's still time to sign it. The path currently ends just south of Westerleigh. South Glos has been awarded some government money from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. The cycle path project was part of the bid, but as ever not enough money has been awarded to do everything. The council will be deciding which projects should go ahead next March. The petition is available online at http://tinyurl.com/cyclelink. Paper copies are available ...
[IMG: President John F Kennedy gives his Moon speech at Rice University. Photo courtesy of - some rights reserved] All sorts of mental images came to mind when I first saw a reference to the "JFK Rice Moon speech". Rather prosaically, however, the "Rice" is a reference to Rice University and the speech itself is anything but prosaic. It's the speech in which President Kennedy set out the US ambition to put a man on the moon within a decade. Although the speech is often referenced and a very small extract regularly quoted, the words in the rest of ...
I'm cancelling my meetings today to go to vote for the Lib Dem bill to fix the Tories' unfair bedroom tax. http://t.co/xIt9UTTmSF — Vince Cable (@vincecable) September 5, 2014 What is not yet clear to us, even from the BBC report, is whether this is a genuine rebellion by a government minister – something that is almost unheard of – or whether there is some agreement to disagree in force. Do let us know in the comments if you have any more information. There is more on Andrew George's private members bill on Lynne Featherstone's blog: The Bill is made ...
Forgive me for the lack of warning: alongside my excellent co-writer Stian Westlake, I have a pamphlet-length publication out, brazenly titled "The End of the Treasury", and calling for the mother of all "machinery of government" changes. Stian has blogged on it here, The Economist has a short piece in their print edition which can [...]
So we all know that China is getting richer at an impressive pace. And that's made some people phenomenally wealthy: China now has more than a hundred billionaires and the average income in the coastal city of Macao is now around $90,000. However, this is a rising tide that has not lifted all boats: the average income in [...]
Various outlets are reporting research by University College London indicating that for every million smokers who switch to electronic cigarette, 6,000 lives per year can be saved. This follows WHO advice that vaping indoors in public places should be banned in order to maintain the culture war against smoking. Aside from some of the more breathless "gateway" arguments (illegal drug users do tend to smoke a lot but we shouldn't conclude that illegal drugs are gateway drugs to tobacco), this debate seems to be about whether to embrace a major harm reduction opportunity, or whether to maintain at all costs ...
[IMG: Online electoral registration website] Having previously written about online electoral registration being on the way, and then about online electoral registration being launched, it seems only fitting to add that it's turning out rather successful so far: Over one million people have applied to register to vote since the new online voter registration system went live in June, and there is over 90% satisfaction with the new online service... The launch formed part of the move to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) which has replaced the outdated 'head of household' system and is giving people greater control and ownership over ...
Men are Parents Too - excellent post about how many children women have always being mentioned (tags: ) one burger joint I won't be visiting ever. (tags: ) Cragg Vale Bunting 2nd in line for world record book with 41% of the vote as I type - get voting folks (tags: ) Click bait headline of the decade - well played Empire (tags: ) Looks like we are having the sense to officially back @carolinelucas' s PSHE bill. Good. (tags: ) Dear Infidel on "The Muslim Problem" (tags: ) Gah. so much fail. (tags: ) Nigel Farage deselected me after ...
Since the release of the report of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse in Rotherham, parts of the media and public have consumed themselves with questions about the community that the abusers who have been convicted came from; the Pakistani community. I rather worry we're overlooking a different community whose culpability in this is not direct; they did not abuse anyone, or at least no-one from that community has been arrested for abusing anyone, to my knowledge. That community is the white community in Rotherham. The council is overwhelmingly white - at my count, 3 of the 63 councillors ...
The national convention of the US Democratic Party traditionally begins with Aaron Copeland's famous, uplifting composition, 'Fanfare for the Common Man'. If you don't know the piece a recording of it is here. Copeland's music was inspired by a speech of former Vice-President Henry Wallace. Wallace was a liberal Republican who served in the Democratic administration of Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s and ending up running for President on a third party platform in 1948 to the left of the Democrats, advocating progressive policies on racial equality and universal healthcare that were 20 or more years ahead of any ...
Here's a copy of an email I sent to residents yesterday, who contacted me regarding the Affordable Homes Bill: Thank you for your email with regards to the Affordable Homes Bill, put forward by my Lib Dem colleague Andrew George MP. I will be voting in favour of this Bill tomorrow. Under-occupancy is a serious problem across the country, caused by a loss of 1.5 million council homes by successive Labour and Tory governments. Since 2010, the Lib Dems have been working to reverse this decline, overseeing the construction of 170,000 new social and affordable homes. To tackle the under ...
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention this week... Free meals for school kids do improve performance, but value for money questions remain | Full Fact Fair verdict: "Free meals for school kids do improve performance, but value for money questions remain" | Full Fact http://bit.ly/1pu0HL2 JOAN RIVERS INTERVIEWED BY BOB MONKHOUSE (1983) – YouTube Bob Monkhouse intvws Joan Rivers in 1983. TV interviews don't get 20 mins to breath these days http://bit.ly/1pOBe4U Daily Mail publishes third correction in breaching the editors' code | Media | theguardian.com Lies, damned lies and Daily Mail stories on immigration http://bit.ly/1oIxig4 ...
[IMG: Ecig pic] Just in case you were wondering, I am not a smoker. Nor have I ever been. I do have a rather annoying habit of pretending to smoke random, phallic symbol objects like pens and pencil, which I won't go into the Freudian implications of here and now, but I have never really had any desire to smoke tobacco as a lifestyle choice. Mostly because, having tried them a handful of times while drunk, I think they taste terrible. I open with this as a way of stating that what you are about to read is not the ...
[IMG: The Liberal Democrat constitution] Edition #51 of Liberal Democrat Newswire came out last week, looking at the latest twists in the race to succeed Tim Farron as Party President, arguments over the rules for electing party committees, new developments in the party's policy plans for 2015 and more. It's now also available online to read below. If you would like to receive the next edition of Liberal Democrat Newswire direct to your own inbox as soon as it is published, just sign up here. It's free! You can unsubscribe whenever you want using the link on the bottom of ...
Residents have contacted me regarding the poor-conditioned south pavement of Roxburgh Terrace. This pavement does not appear to be on the Unadopted Footways List for future adoption, so I contacted the City Engineer about it. He has replied as follows:I can confirm that Roxburgh Terrace south footway is not currently included in the unadopted footways list. This street will be assessed against the published criteria and added to the list at the annual review in February 2015.
Tickets for the Dundee Wearable Art award show are now on sale. They can be purchased at the Dundee Rep box office. They are £10 each. The show is on Saturday 11th October and starts at 7.30pm. More details are available here.
A new planning application has been received within Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 57919 Registration Date: 27/08/2014 Location: 36 Heys Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1JY Proposal: Single storey extension at rear Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
As a monoglot English speaker I am very jealous of those who have a gift for languages and particularly those who have been brought up speaking up more than one language. Of course in Wales, we aim to ensure that all children learn Welsh as well as English, though it has to be said that we have had less success with other European languages. Now a new study has shown how children can gain from that policy. The Independent reports on new research that has found that the benefits of growing up in a bilingual home start early and are ...
[IMG: revolt on the right ukip] In our recent book, Revolt on the Right, we compiled a list of the most demographically receptive seats in the country for Ukip. This allowed us to rank all seats in the country according to how favourable their populations are for Ukip, using the most recent census data. The ideal seats for Ukip share key characteristics: they have lots of 'left behind' voters who we also know from our research are the most receptive to Ukip and its policies. These ideal seats also have very low numbers of voters who have, instead, tended to ...
As Rwanda sought to rebuild after the horrors of the 1994 genocide, its development strategy emphasised science and technology. Romain Murenzi, who served as Rwandas science minister for eight years, describes the lessons this approach might offer to other developing countries. Most countries in the developed world have established mechanisms for providing impartial scientific advice to inform decisions made by policymakers. But in the developing world, and especially in the forty-eight least developed countries, such mechanisms are usually lacking. These countries are extremely poor and struggle with issues of hunger, disease and governance. Increasingly, these problems are aggravated by climate ...
And again continuing my First World War theme for 2014 This pop-up shop opened yesterday and I was pleased to be there. It's well worth a visit if you are going to The Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle. The recreation of a WW1 trench is very well done indeed and there is a lot of information on display. I understand that young people with disabilities helped to construct the recreated trench working with Sefton Council's Rangers. Here are a few shots I took at the opening event held at 11am yesterday:- [IMG: Sefton Mayor Kevin Cluskey opens the shop] Sefton ...
From the District Council John O'Connor [the District Council's contractors] have now got someone to lock the gates at Clarence Park. They will be putting up temporary signs at each entrance to make people aware of the closing time (as the park users and commuters have become used to the gates being permanently open). SADC officers are looking into signs to allow the Park ranger to update opening and closing times throughout the year. Officers would welcome any feedback from local residents and forum members, if the future locking up of the park is not being adhered to.
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