Following my Monday weekly ward surgeries at the West Park Centre and the Mitchell Street Centre, tonight I attended City Council meetings. At the Policy and Resources Committee, in a debate about the Dundee Community Safety Partnership's Annual Report, I highlighted constituents' continuing concerns about places where wheelie bins permanently sit on pavements - an issue I have highlighted with the Environment Department over a very long time. I raised this in the context of concerns about bin fires, but the issue also causes problems for residents using mobility scooters, wheelchairs and with prams and also is a very significant ...
Photo: Keith Pitchforth The sculptor David Wynne died earlier this month. I remember seeing a marquette of his Boy with a Dolphin on the Antiques Roadshow one Sunday. The next day, after calling in at the Liberal Democrat News office at Cowley Street, I walked along the bank of the Thames to Chelsea, where I came across the real thing. The model for the boy was Wynne's son Roly, who grew up to be the bass player with Ozric Tentacles. He died in 1999.
Terrific stuff from Cicero's Songs: Yes Scotland have comprehensively lost the intellectual argument. They have been totally destroyed. From currency, to healthcare, to pensions every argument that they have put forward has been eviscerated. It is not that Yes Scotland has more emotion that bothers me- it is that they only have emotion. All rational considerations have been ditched and those who raise the perfectly valid questions of how - practically - Scotland can avoid serious problems, are dismissed without any attempt to answer the questions. And he later says: This referendum has been divisive and dangerous, and no matter ...
Across Northern Ireland today books of condolence have been set up for Ian Paisley. While my thoughts are with Baroness Paisley, her five children and her grandchildren and other members of the family I do not feel that I can add my name to a public book of condolence. While Paisley may have finally got around to realising that working with others was the way to do things this was almost 16 years after the first Anglo-Irish Agreement and for the years from that point and the years even before his rhetoric was as much a recruiter of paramilitaries on ...
Norman Lamb began his political career as a researcher for the Labour MP Greville Janner. It's amazing what you learn on Wikipedia.
fan (noun) — an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc. (origin: 1885-90, Americanism; short for fanatic or, some say, fancy) fanatic (noun) — a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics. (origin: 1515-25, "insane person" from L. fanaticus, "mad, enthusiastic, inspired by god", originally pertaining to a temple, from L. fanum. Some say that the term fan may have devolved from the word 'fancy' but the general wisdom seems to suggest that it comes from the word fanatic. Why am I writing about this today? Well as most ...
In my recent article on devolution policy, I highlighted the problem with accountability in the context of devolved power. This is an issue which needs to be pursued further, particularly because our 'devolution on demand' policy (F14 on pp.54-56; lines 70-76) appears to have been drafted without considering the necessary conditions for effective scrutiny. LibDems often take it for granted that devolving power to the most local level will automatically make politics more relevant, and more democratic. But why should this be? Democracy is at its most effective if voters are able to hold politicians to account, and increased geographical ...
Note from the county council NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to prohibit all traffic from using that length of Old London Road, St Albans from its junction with Watsons Walk south eastwards for a distance of approximately 50 metres, except for access. The purpose of the Order is to enable utility repair works to take place. The section of road will be closed for approximately 3 days during the period 20 October 2014and 22 October 2014, when signs are in place. An ...
[IMG: Vince Cable smiling - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] Vince Cable is responsible for the UK car industry, so what was he doing driving around his constituency in a sporty Japanese car? It seems the Guardian had invited him to check out a Mazda MX-5 as a guest passenger for their weekly motoring column. As Laura Barton says: It has a sleek, muscular grace, and runs thrillingly low to the ground [that's the Mazda, not Vince] - though taller passengers such as Cable have some trouble exiting. This was evidently an opportunity for a relaxed chat about vehicles. ...
Mon 15th
16:55
Excellent news as Jenny Woods selected as a Lib Dem prospective Parliamentary candidate
[IMG: Jenny Woods speaking at party conference] When it comes to civil liberties and the internet, Jenny Woods is regularly a well informed and liberal source of expertise within the party, which makes this news very welcome: Liberal Democrats have chosen Dr Jenny Woods as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Reading East. She was selected following a meeting of local party members this week. Jenny has campaigned locally on issues of importance to residents in Reading and Woodley, such as transport, education and provision of leisure facilities. Nationally, she has a high profile in civil liberties campaigning, particularly around online ...
[IMG: Margaret Thacher and Ronald Reagan meet. Photo courtesy of - some rights reserved] Charles Clarke's edited collection is an interesting read – as long as you don't expect it to deliver on the book's title. The book's twenty-seven chapters are by a series of senior figures from politics and the public sector, each addressing one major policy area. They are inevitably of variable quality, but the best are very good and the worst are not too long. Anatole Kaletsky's on banking is especially fine. [IMG: The Too Difficult Box edited by Charles Clarke] However, the chapter are by ...
Back in the day when we had a Scottish Government that was more bothered about doing everything it could rather than complaining about what it couldn't do. When it found it didn't have the power it needed, it found a way round. That Government, which implemented transformative social and political change from fair votes for local government to free personal care to leading the way on freedom of information, land reform and the smoking ban, would not have achieved all it did without the leadership of our Jim Wallace. This is a guy who knows how to make things happen. ...
LGA Liberal Democrats have been calling for further devolution of powers to England following the promise of further devolution to Scotland, but have warned it must be up to local people to choose how their areas are then governed. Speaking as Nick Clegg launched a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research on [...]
The City Council's Cabinet is due to decide what to do about Liverpool's bus lanes when it meets on 10 October. Before then there'll be a meeting for further comments and discussion. You can see the paperwork for the earlier meeting , which takes place on 22 Sept, at this link. I sent in a comment about the bus lane suspension when it first happened. I felt, and still do, that some bus lanes are needed to make sure that those relying on public transport can get around as quickly as possible. Clearly some lanes were pointless. The one at ...
BT Cornwall have announced today that they will be creating 50 new jobs at the council's new Bodmin Beacon offices. The offices themselves will save money for the council to help protect front line services. The new offices will have 625 desks and most of them will be filled from staff already based in Bodmin in various buildings. We need to get out of these because they are old, inefficient and expensive. If our staff move out then we can save money by selling off the old buildings or giving up the leases where they are rented. Depending on the ...
The next Cheadle Area Committee meeting is at 6pm on Tuesday 23rd September 2014 at the Ladybridge Park Residents Club, Edenbridge Road, Cheadle Hulme. All welcome, as ever. Items on the agenda include Planning application to demolish the Malt Shovels pub on Councillor Lane and replace it with a new-build Spar convenience store including car parking and ATM. post-development works at the Demmings Estate (new houses off Wool Lane). Proposal to change the footpath between Foxland Road and Hawthorne Road, Gatley into a bridleway, so allowing cycling along it (particularly for children going to Gatley Primary, Lum Head and Kingsway ...
This coalition has bravely attempted to tackle welfare reform. It's been controversial, unpopular, but essential – the fact that unemployment has remained surprisingly low throughout this parliament is partly due to the welfare and labour market reforms this government has introduced. However, there have been far too many losers in the last round of austerity. With the next parliament approaching we must change tact on welfare reform. As Liberal Democrats we believe that politics doesn't have to be a zero sum game, where one group benefits at the expense of others. That's why with any future reforms, like a surgeon ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
The discovery of the wreck of either Erebus or Terror, on the ocean floor in the Canadian Arctic, has been widely covered in the media - and not surprisingly, since they have been missing since 1845. But it has made me think about John Cabot again, one of my heroes. Not least because he was included in the story in the Guardian, since deleted. Other reports also referred to Cabot's voyage, in search of the North West Passage, on which he also disappeared in 1498. This is the conventional account, but it is coming under the spotlight. We know that ...
There has been a lot of criticism of the Better Together campaign. Some suggest it has failed to engage the emotions, some that it was too negative (it is quite hard to campaign positively for a No vote, which is why the SNP chose the question that they did). Some, who expect No to win, have said that such a victory would be "winning ugly". There has been little criticism on the Yes campaign- they are believed to have "won the campaign". I, for my part, beg to disagree. Yes Scotland have comprehensively lost the intellectual argument. They have been ...
[IMG: liberalhistory] On 3 March 2013, the Liberal Democrats marked their twenty-fifth birthday. The story of the party since 1988 has been a dramatic one, from near-extinction, through a failed realignment of the left, a period of rapidly changing leaders, and then into government, for the first time for a third party for sixty years. The latest issue of the Journal of Liberal History (issue 83, summer 2014) is a special edition looking at the key factors contributing to the party's survival and success, up until entry into coalition. The party's campaigning ability is obviously key. From 1997 onwards the ...
At 7.30 in the morning UK time I woke up as usual to start work. Unfortunately here in New York it was 2.30. I eventually gave up trying to sleep at 4 a.m. and started to read some documents I ... Continue reading →
If you're in London and you want Scotland to stay in the UK, head for Trafalgar Square at 6pm. A rally is taking place to show solidarity across the UK. Fraser Nelson wrote about it in the Spectator: What's the point of holding a rally in London? It's true that no one there will have a vote, but this is for those who still love this county and can't bear to sit back and watch it fall apart. Those who want to do something, no matter how small. The rally should enforce a point : that the UK is an ...
This year's Liberal Democrat autumn conference takes place from 4-8 October at the SECC in Glasgow. As always, ALDC has a packed schedule full of campaigns training, workshops, fringe meetings and members' events. A comprehensive listing of ALDC events will be made available shortly, but here is a quick summary. ALDC Campaign Essentials and Other [...]
"Nor do the English seem to want any kind of devolution for themselves". Thus does this week's Economist dismiss any chance of far-reaching constitutional reform for England and the UK as a whole. It offers a couple of tepid ideas as "promising" ways forward to relieve the tension. A committee of English MPs to vet legislation in parliament; devolving more powers to city regions in England. An English parliament or giving English regions equivalent powers to those mooted for Scotland, if it votes No, are dismissed as too difficult, in the absence of a serious clamour from the voters. I ...
There is an interesting article in today's Times, which says that Eric Pickles is heading for a confrontation with local councils who are defying him over his campaign against their locally produced newspapers. The paper says that the communities secretary told several authorities five months ago that they were breaching rules on municipal publicity. His officials are now preparing to take legal action, which could come within weeks: The government could seek a court order to to stop publication. Ministers say that the "Town Hall Pravdas" are a waste of taxpayers' money and undermine public accountability by flattering the councils ...
[IMG: Liberal Democrat badge - Some rights reserved by Paul Walter, Newbury, UK] Earlier this year I floated up the idea of setting up Network of Experience for Lib Dems who had either lost their seats or decided to stand down and asked if anyone would be interested. I am pleased to say the reaction to the idea was good and it was felt that there was a need there for something like this. We have now set up a steering committee of myself, Mary Reid, Fiona White and Kay Barnard. We have decided to launch the Network in January ...
Today is the deadline to accept nominations for this year's ALDC's Campaigner awards. We are still looking for the best of this year's Lib Dem campaigning to be recognised at our Awards event in October. This year, our categories are: Best Postal Vote Campaign We are looking for local parties that have succeeded at getting [...]
Today's Western Mail reports on the view of the National Training Federation for Wales that plans to cut an education grant supporting skills training will result in almost 9,000 fewer apprenticeship opportunities. The organisation, which represents about 100 organisations involved in the delivery of learning in the workplace, believes that scaling back the Welsh Government's flagship apprenticeship programme will create 3,527 fewer opportunities in "priority areas" of 16 to 24-year-old learners and higher apprenticeships: A detailed study undertaken by NTFW predicted there would be 8,857 (49%) fewer apprenticeship opportunities overall in Wales for the period from August 1, 2014, to ...
Doomtown Reloaded - this is a really great game, people. I spent most of yesterday at a learn-to-play session for this. It does take some time to get your head around, and it helps if you know someone who is involved in writing the FAQ for the thing because he's a world-acknowledged expert in the original game that this is a reboot of... But lordy it's a lot of fun. And I already have a nascent tweaked deck of Fourth Ring monsters and abominations (because this IS me) and am really looking forward to playing some more :) Also salivating ...
[IMG: union flag 1606] The missing ingredient in Maria Pretzler's thought-provoking piece ("We urgently need a new policy on devolution and federalism") is nationalism. The first politician in whose interest it was to bring the kingdoms of Scotland and England together was the King of Scots James VI. His solution was to reconcile the two nations by proclaiming himself King of Great Britain in 1604, and then in 1606 creating a Union flag, combining St George's Cross with the saltire. The Scottish king saw Britishness as a supranational idea, and this is well understood in Scotland. Nationalism can be destructive, ...
Mon 15th
09:19
The Nick Robinson Incident and what it says about the psychology of the independence debate
[IMG: BBC-Scotland-refer_3038352b] At a press conference late last week, BBC political editor Nick Robinson asked Alex Salmond about what would happen to the tax revenues of an independent Scotland should RBS relocate. Salmond gave an answer, Robinson pressed him further, Salmond made a diversionary joke. So far, so what - this is a set-up that happens in politics virtually every day. Except that through the lens of an emotive week, leading up to the possible breakup of the United Kingdom, things are not as simple as that. There was a pro-independence, anti-BBC rally in Glasgow over the weekend, protesting what ...
Hi Alex I have a couple of questions for you that I just thought I'd jot down given that I'm unlikely to get anywhere near you in the run up to the vote on Thursday. Three weeks ago during the ... Continue reading →
Scientists have found that car and taxi users are being exposed to air pollution levels inside their vehicles several times higher than those found along the roads they are driving on. The findings emerged from a study in which researchers at King's College London equipped five MPs, all members of the environmental audit committee, with devices to measure airborne pollution levels plus a GPS unit to show where they got the highest doses. "Travelling in vehicles gave the greatest average exposure," said Ben Barratt, a senior air quality scientist at King's who oversaw the research. "Among the worst was when ...
A noble prize winning economist has warned that: "If Scottish voters really believe that it's safe to become a country without a currency, they have been badly misled." On Saturday, I quoted at length from Oxford economics professor Simon Wren-Lewis' fisking of the Yes campaign's fiscal policy. However, it's its monetary policy which is most reckless. Paul Krugman is [...]
A couple of years ago, following my raising residents' complaints with the City Council, the untidy gap site in Hawkhill just east of the Casino/Tesco Express at the West Marketgait junction was cleaned up by the owners. Unfortunately, it has deteriorated again over time - see below :I asked the City Council to request that the owners take steps to tidy it and I am pleased to say this has now been carried out.
The Real Reason Pot Is Still Illegal – I'm shocked – shocked! – to discover that pharmaceutical companies are blocking drug law reform. The future of Scotland – "Might SNP leader Alex Salmond bring in a swingeing castle tax?" The fears of Scotland's aristocracy, brought to you in an article by someone with the surname Money-Coutts. We can close down satire now, reality has beaten it. Orange and red – Jamie K of Blood and Treasure wonders how you'd explain the Orange Order to a Chinese visitor. Are school vouchers good public policy? – Dan Carr looks at the question ...
There's a lot of keech, as they say in Scotland, bring spouted on both sides of the indyref debate. No, Scotland will not slide into catastrophe as an independent nation, and nor will it be a megarich socialist utopia with unicorns giving out free prescriptions. It probably will thrive and become wealthier in the long run, but the birth pains of getting there could well be pretty painful and I am certain that there will be some who will regret, in the short term at least, voting Yes. Conversely, it will probably see a rebirth of the sensible centre-right in ...
