This afternoon, I participated in the council's Scrutiny Committee meeting at which I : + Praised Blackness Primary School for its excellent recent inspection report. I also similarly praised Woodlea Children's Centre on a very positive inspection report and asked a question in relation to the report on Kingspark School about ways the school supports children and young people with challenging behaviour. + Queried the detail of an internal audit report on Houses in Multiple Occupation and the process of determining HMO licences. I also queried the implementation of recommendations from internal audit on the council's mobile phone telecommunications. + ...
The other day I came across a blog post about my first (and so far only) appearance on the West End stage. I was 8 and the family had gone to see Danny La Rue in Queen Passionella and the Sleeping Beauty. I was one of the children asked up on to the stage to sing during this (sort of) pantomime. Thinking about it, given La Rue's slightly risqué reputation, there probably weren't many children there, which made it more likely I would be chosen. (But then I must have been one of the few children who was allowed to ...
At lunchtime today, I had the pleasure of chairing the latest West End Christmas Fortnight meeting, which took place in Blackness Library. We had a really productive and positive meeting and Christmas Fortnight (22nd November to 6th December) is taking great shape. If you would like to get involved please let us know - christmas2014@frasermacpherson.org.uk - many thanks!
While not being too pleased with an e-mail I received today from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, promoting something purporting to be an engagement with members on the referendum campaign, a further communique from Nick Clegg arrived this evening that was more troubling. On the subject of ISIL, the leader sent out the following e-mail to the party membership: Dear Andrew, On Friday Parliament is to be recalled to debate Britain joining the coalition of nations who have launched air strikes against the ISIL terrorist organisation in Iraq. Liberal Democrat MPs will be supporting Britain joining this coalition for three reasons. ...
[IMG: Ed Miliband park photo by ARCHIVE depart,ent of energy and climate change] Before anyone says anything in the comments, yes, I know what follows is a little childish, but it is fun. I also know that all political leaders share personal stories in their speeches, but they do tend to do it with less clumsiness than Ed Miliband did it yesterday and there's usually more substance from their speech to write about. My mission to the world, or at least my friends on Facebook and Twitter this morning was simple. If you met Ed Miliband in a park, what ...
I've had a couple of e-mail from the party today that have made me rather irate. The first is from the Scottish Lib Dems, who have invited me to "a Members' Forum ... at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow. This special event will be open to all members and gives everybody the opportunity to have their say on the referendum campaign, its outcome and the future. Similar events held after elections in the past have had big attendances and have had a real impact on the direction of the party. The Forum will be chaired by Scottish party leader ...
Whether Ed Miliband forgot to mention the deficit or decided to drop that passage because he sensed a restive audience, I don't know. But whatever the reason for that omission, the time has come for him to drop the stunt of giving his conference speeches from memory. The first time he did it, people were impressed. But once you have seen it done a couple of times, you are not impressed at all. It begins to look like showing off. Ed Miliband's defence of the technique is that it makes it easier for him to connect with people. But that ...
Read the Leicester Mercury for the latest twist in the saga of David Parsons - former Conservative leader of the county council and former Ukip prospective parliamentary candidate: Legal proceedings have been launched against former Leicestershire County Council leader David Parsons to recover £1,500 he still owes the authority. Officials at County Hall say Mr Parsons has stopped paying monthly installments to clear the costs of 26 trips he made using the council's chauffeur-driven car during his nine-year stint as leader. The trips were deemed "not sufficiently connected" to his role as leader after an investigation by officers. Officials found ...
Devon and Cornwall Police Commissioner Tony Hogg today held the first of what he promised would be regular open meetings of his 'Accountability Board'. His promise was to use it to hold the chief constable to account. He had arranged a webcast from Devon County Council chamber and had fourteen police officers and staff lined up. The only trouble was that only one member of the public came along. I don't think we should criticise Mr Hogg for his ambition - but it is clearly more than a little embarrassing to get so little response. The public still see crime ...
My residual euphoria from last Thursday's Scottish Referendum result quickly dissipated this morning when I read the latest opinion poll from ICM on voting intentions in Wales. Even the welcome news that support for Welsh Independence is now at an all time low of three percent could not compensate for my concern at a seven percent poll rating for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, and the accompanying prediction that we could be reduced to a solitary seat. We have been used to sometimes being the fourth party in Wales where the presence of Plaid Cymru changes the dynamic, but now the ...
It's a truly shocking statistic. Only fourteen planning authorities in England have a worse planning performance than Shropshire (so we are 15th worst out of 338). That's because the Shropshire Council has failed to invest in its planning operation. And it's because the council is beholden by big developers and big businesses, not the small [...]
Wed 24th
19:03
Nick Clegg explains Liberal Democrat ministers' decision to support air strikes on ISIL
[IMG: RAF lightning II aircraft photo by defence images] Nick Clegg has sent an email to all party members this evening to explain why the parliamentary party will be supporting air strikes on ISIL in Iraq. It contains the entire broadcast interview which he did this afternoon. He talks about what a"vile and murderous" outfit ISIL is, about how the action is legal and how this isn't being done by "the west" to "the rest". It comes as part of a coalition of countries acting on a formal request from the legitimate government of Iraq. The email says: On Friday ...
Like shoring up your support if you're a tory leader. Like legitimising the demonisation of muslims that you've been insidiously supporting for ages. Like dropping bombs on people who can't fight back and you'll never have to meet. I'm sorry. I recognise that there IS such a thing as a just war, and that the ISIS (or whatever they're called this week) probably is as near to a just war as we're going to get. But I don't think any of our politicians are doing this for just reasons* and I have too many family and friends in the forces ...
[IMG: minimumwage] Q: Did you know that; it's 15 years since the introduction of the minimum wage, the minimum wage was originally £3.60, it has been raised 15 times since its introduction and 147 MPs voted against its introduction? So should it now be a priority for all the main political parties? Commenting, local Lib Dem councillor, Darren Fower said: "Over the last year there's been a lot of talk about minimum and living wages, and there seems to be a difference of opinion amongst many senior politicians. "In Peterborough, we seen significant pay rises for senior council officers and ...
Long before Americans gave us the phrase, "it's the economy, stupid" (though in fact the full phrase was rather longer), the idea that the economy was the dominant factor in British election results had become commonplace. It was Harold Wilson who said, "All political history shows that the standing of the government and its ability to hold the confidence of the electorate at the general election depend on the success of its economic policy." Political scientists had argued with each other for years, exchanging regression analyses at dawn, over whether the scale of economic recovery prior to the 1983 election ...
[IMG: image] Since last week, debate has been running high on where the UK needs to head to deal with the constitutional issues raised by the Scottish Independence Referendum. As such, I've decided to put forward (and my local party is backing) an amendment to the pre-Manifesto document (F30 on the Conference Agenda), aimed at altering Section 7 to reflect where we need to go to deliver our aims as a party. One of the major problems with Section 7 of F30 as it stands, is that al the initiative in devolution is put into the hands of councils. I ...
I won't be back properly blogging for a couple of days, but something made me absolutely furious — the start of Ed Miliband's speech to Labour conference: Friends, it is great to be with you in Manchester. A fantastic city. A city with a great Labour council leading the way. And a city that after [...]
As the High Holidays start this September, I want to wish everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah a happy and healthy New Year. I know that it means different things to different people. For many of you it's spending time with your family and friends and promising yourself you'll do more of that. It's looking back at the challenges and achievements of the past year and looking forward to the next with enthusiasm and optimism. Whatever your commitment for the year ahead, I want you to know that my party and this coalition government are grateful for the difference you make. Jewish ...
[IMG: Glitterball photo by pixelthing] Never in the field of Liberal Democrat fundraisers has one event attracted quite so much media attention as the Lib Dem Disco which is due to take place in just 10 days' time at our Glasgow Conference. This has been arranged by Cambridge Liberal Democrats to raise funds for Julian Huppert's re-election campaign. He will MC the event, assisted by 4 guest DJs, Tim Farron, Alistair Carmichael Don Foster and, wait for it, me. The idea is that people bet on who they think will win the esteemed title of DJ of the Night. Those ...
[IMG: Happy New Year to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashana] Happy Rosh Hashana
From Mark Hunter MP [IMG: Mark Hunter MP] Dear Resident, The NHS in Greater Manchester launched the "Healthier Together" consultation aimed at strengthening hospital services for life threatening conditions and the deadline to have your say is this Sunday, 28th September. Stepping Hill and Manchester Wythenshawe have the opportunity of bidding to become one of the top few "Specialist" hospitals in Greater Manchester. I meet with senior teams at our local hospitals on a regular basis and know that they provide first class care for our community; both have exciting proposals of what they can provide for local residents. I ...
Various Conservatives in Cornwall have been in the media making loud noises about draft budget proposals affecting libraries and leisure centres. But when push comes to shove, they don't even turn up to the debates that matter. North Cornwall candidate (and councillor) Scott Mann invited a cabinet minister to visit a leisure centre last week on the pretence that its future is under threat. He promised to do something about it. (In fact there are no proposals to close leisure centres). Today, the council committee tasked with examining the proposed leisure budget and service changes discussed the proposals and Scott ...
[IMG: Real_Men_(John_S._Hall_and_Kramer_album)_coverart] I guess talking about "albums" is pretty old school. What do the kids call collections of songs by leading artists nowadays? I guess they probably don't. Anyhow, back when albums were a thing, a great yet now mostly forgotten one was released in 1991. It features the vocals of one John S Hall, who was at the time the lead singer of King Missile. His band had just been signed to a major label, Atlantic, and the year following Real Men, King Missile had a rather large-ish hit with the epic "Detachable Penis". Real Men was done on ...
It is not often that I quote the Morning Star but this report speaks volumes about the attitude of some of Labour's party officials. If it is true then having the party looking good on television is more important than providing appropriate facilities for the disabled. The paper claims that 'heartless Labour chiefs forced a group of disabled delegates to give up their seats for "party suits" minutes before Ed Miliband's speech'. They add that venue stewards told the party worker the seats had been specially assigned to the 15 disabled delegates but were overruled. Maybe they should have concentrated ...
The Pocket Places team are holding a "Design Workshop" on St Mary's Road on Friday (26th) It's part of them getting out and about talking to local people about what could be done to improve the shared space on St Mary's Road. As luck would have it,Friday is market day so there should be a fair few people around. The event takes place outside the Co op between 10 and 2 so do pop along if you are free. There will be other events, not just later this year but into next year so don't worry if you can't make ...
I've recently become fascinated by why morals get applied to situations where, to me, it seems they really aren't needed. Take fiscal constraint for instance. Through Mike Bird (@birdyword on Twitter) I read this article about Nominal GDP targeting. Something he and Sam Bowman (@s8mb of the Adam Smith Institute) have been talking about for a while. I tune into these debates and consider the merits of each position, looking at the benefits to each group. I also listen to other theories, such as austerity (reduce government spending to try and reduce the deficit and slow the speed of adding ...
Wed 24th
13:25
Watch and laugh: Clarke and Dawe - Des is Eliminated Here But at Least he Isn't at Work.
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
[IMG: labour-mansion-tax] At Labour's Autumn Conference closing speech, Labour leader Ed Miliband announced plans to put an extra £2.5bn into the NHS should he get elected next May. He said the money would be paid for with a mansion tax – but Ed Miliband's mansion tax revenue seems very much a mystery. This is the third time in just two years that Labour has spent the mansion tax revenue. Last year Ed Miliband said the revenue would fund a 10p tax rate. Rachel Reeves told Labour' s Autumn Conference it would be used to draw down the deficit. And the ...
[IMG: Flooding in Cedar Rapids, IA] I'm writing from the Climate Change Summit in New York, hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. While Liberal Democrats don't need reminding just how much of a threat climate change is – from the increased risks of flooding, to the impact on the world's poorest – I thought it timely to give you an update on the progress we've made and what comes next. The UN Climate Summit itself is an important staging post as we continue to build political momentum towards the crucial Paris talks next year – when the world has said ...
No. Lack of supply is only part of the problem, and not a very important part at that. Between 1945-1980, home ownership doubled. Why? Because house prices were essentially regulated; kept low and stable by a combination of government policies: -Rent controls -Mortgage restrictions -Social housing -Property taxes Briefly, there was always a cheaper alternative (renting/council house), and people were less willing (or able) to borrow vast sums of money to buy houses if tax liabilities would follow. Thus, house prices had to stay low to meet affordability, and rents were cheap, so young couples with one average income between ...
I want to start with an overview of doing voluntary work. When you give up your time for free to give something back, you do so because you enjoy it and not because you endure it. Once you come away from it less happy than you were going in then it is time to stop. In general I've found voluntary work to follow a certain pattern. You start and you enjoy it, then you enjoy it a little bit less but still enjoy it, then you do it because it is what you do, then you do it out of ...
My last two Build Up Blog posts have been about how to run petitions and get the most out of them in our campaigning. In our recent by-election campaign in Dunmore Ward in Abingdon, running a petition campaign about changes to a local roundabout played a big role in achieving a 10% swing from the [...]
Cambridge Liberal Democrats are fighting to stop a £400,000 permanent long-distance bus stop at the city's Parkside after complaints from residents. They claim the National Express buses would be better stopping at the railway station or Park and Ride sites instead where they could link up with other forms of transport and where infrastructure either will or can be more easily provided. And they are calling for residents living near the Parkside stop to have their say on its future. Cambridgeshire County Council officers have recommended, however, that National Express's planning application to make the stop permanent and include a ...
[IMG: Norman Lamb cycle ride] Care Minister Norman Lamb is undertaking a 100 mile cycle around his constituency to raise money for a number of care charities in the area. The first leg took place yesterday as EDP 24 reports: He left from North Walsham and District War Memorial Hospital at 10am, travelling through Honing, Smallburgh and Hoveton before crossing to Ludham and then North to Stalham. The route then headed out towards Hickling before following the coast road to Sheringham. Mr Lamb was scheduled to call in at the Break shop on Stalham High Street, and will be at ...
Wed 24th
12:22
Liberal Democrats welcome petition to introduce compulsory sex and relationship education
Liberal Democrats have today welcomed a petition by the End Violence Against Women Coalition and the Everyday Sexism Project calling for compulsory sex and relationship education in schools. In August Liberal Democrats announced manifesto plans to give children in state schools compulsory age-appropriate sex and relationship education. Welcoming today's news Liberal Democrat Minister for Women and Equalities Jo Swinson said: "Educating young people about sex and relationships in an age-appropriate way is one of the best ways we can protect them from abuse. "We welcome the petition started by End Violence Against Women and the Everyday Sexism Project which calls ...
The Discover Festival continues with lots of local events. This Friday 26 September at 2 pm there is a Wild Walk in Yate to discover autumn wildlife, fungi and wild edibles with local naturalist Ed Drewitt on ramble around Goose Green. No dogs allowed except guide dogs. Meet at Goose Green on the Frome Valley Walkway, at the entrance on Oak Close, BS37 5TW. Booking required - press the Book Now button on And this Saturday 27 September you can "Discover the sun!" starting 11 am at St. Nicholas' Family Centre, Chargrove, Yate, BS37 4LG. Discover more about the ...
Welsh ambulance services are "in crisis" as figures published today show yet another decline in ambulance response times, despite pledges by the Welsh Labour Health Minister to improve the service in three months. Figures released today show that 56.9% of emergency responses to Category A (immediately life-threatening) ambulance calls arrived at the scene within the target time of 8 minutes - down from 58.3% in July 2014 and down from 61.8% in August 2013 - and well below the target of 65%. In England and Scotland the same target is 75%. Labour's Health Minister pleaded to be given three months ...
[IMG: Hundred Foot Washes, Welney. Photo courtesy of Bob Jones. Some rights reserved - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/309769] The Wisbech Standard reports: The Liberal Democrat contender to challenge Conservative MP Liz Truss for her south west Norfolk seat has been revealed. Experienced campaigner Rupert Moss-Eccardt will be the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency. He came second in south west Norfolk at the last general election, and has been a county councillor and stood as the Lib Dem candidate for police and crime commissioner in Cambridgeshire. He grew up in Welney and still has family there, and went to secondary school ...
Transport for London is undertaking a consultation about the accessibility of bus stops. If you have mobility problems then your input will be very helpful for the engineers and designers of bus stops in the capital. There is an online survey which asks for views on a Design Guidance document. You can also access the [...]
So who have the DUP gone and replaced Edwin Poots with as Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety. Why none other than their member for South Down Jim Wells. The question is whose health etc will be looking after? In 2011 the new Health Minister said that the behaviour of those who took part the march at Belfast Pride was "totally repugnant". Now that he is a minister he should not be judging and without evidence generalising such a group of LGBT Northern Irish people, plus their families and supporters. He should be providing health and social services ...
I went back to hospital yesterday for the results of my PET/CT scan, bone marrow biopsy and MUGA scan, expecting them to be a simple 'box ticking' exercise to enable me to start chemotherapy this week. Well, that's what I'd been told to expect. I'd cleared my desk at work and handed over everything that I was working on to colleagues, had received confirmation of the postponement of my MSc for a year and talked to the family about what the next few months were likely to bring. Everything in my life was as neat and tidy as it ever ...
As many readers will know my weight seemed like it was never going to stop going up, and up, and up. The last time that I weighed myself I knew that it was bad, and it was about 100kg. When I arrived in Gibraltar I had had to buy new pairs of trousers and my suit...
On the subject of Post-Scottish-Referendum constitutional reform in the UK, I wish to counsel my fellow Liberal Democrats with a call for sobriety and modesty. Sure, we are the party which is most in favour of constitutional reform and the Tories and Labour are clearly, by comparison, the parties of the constitutional status quo. Before we get too excited that the public and political pundits will rush to support us, because now everyone is playing to our agenda, we should look to our own policies and assess what WE also need to recast in the light of changed political circumstances. ...
Transport for London has announced that from 12 September 2015, an overnight tube service will run on Fridays and Saturdays. So at last London Underground will be entering the 21st century, acknowledging the demands of the public in Europe's premier city. In the past, all sorts of reasons were put forward why this was not [...]
How TV news covered the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's three big reports Once again, the beeb are not perfect but they are better than pretty much everybody else gets. (tags: ) Restaurant Responds to Review Requesting Servers 'Show Some Skin' In Clever Way (tags: ) Woman asks BBC for help identifying plant growing in her garden. Hilarity ensues (tags: ) ConservativeHome's pre-Conference 2014 survey (tags: ) Help preserve the wonderful Calderdale countryside (tags: ) The new Bombay Sapphire distillery (with attached glasshouses for botanicals) is GORGEOUS (tags: ) "Game Of Thrones" As Told By The "Daily Mail" Sidebar Of ...
It looks as though Parliament will be recalled this Friday to discuss British involvement in air strikes against Islamic State. I thought it might be a good idea to see what you, our readers, thought about this. I don't often approve of military action, but I might be open to the possibility on humanitarian grounds alone. I certainly was ok with the airstrikes on Libya in 2011. On IS, we cannot have these people being allowed to chase whole communities up mountains and leave them to starve. We can't have people being summarily executed for refusing to convert to a ...
The very first party conference I ever attended was the 1982 Liberal Assembly in Bournemouth. There, squeezed into a crowded and sweaty room, I heard Adrian Slade's brilliant performance as Roy Jenkins, in front of the very uncomfortable man himself. I believe Jenkins later described the experience as the least comfortable moment of the Alliance years. Hard to believe that, actually. Among Slade-as-Jenkins' best lines was the phrase "our great crusade to change everything - just a little bit". I was reminded of that today on two occasions. The first was reading an absolutely beautifully written and elegantly argued pamphlet ...
Wed 24th
08:46
Echo – Virgin Trains driver injured by electric shock en route to Liverpool Lime Street
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above:- It's a tough job being a train driver as this and other incidents I have covered on this blog site have shown in recent weeks. I will soon be publishing an article from Railfuture about how rail companies can improve the lot of the passenger when disruptions to services take place but we must never forget that serious incidents like this can have a really bad effect on drivers.
Wed 24th
08:41
"We don't want to build Future Fit on fear." Can we realise the #myfuturefit dream for reorganising ...
Of course we don't want to build Future Fit, a new model for health provision in our area, on fear. But in my view, Future Fit is flawed because it is more theoretical than grounded in the reality of Shropshire's geography and because I doubt it can be funded. Yesterday, the Future Fit team held [...]
Wed 24th
08:30
Concern over disabled access arrangements at the Royal Mail Edward Street Collection Office
I have today expressed concern about the poor arrangements for people with mobility difficulties at the Royal Mail Edward Street Collection Office what serves Dundee people with DD1 postcodes and covers the east part of the West End. A constituent recently wrote to me to advise : "I had occasion to collect an envelope from here this afternoon. I was somewhat surprised to see that not only have they removed the disabled parking space that was adjacent to the office door. They have positioned it at the entrance gate and put railings around the perimeter fence meaning that disabled people ...
Rumours of Arriva withdrawing from Southport have been taken up by Lib Dem Councillor John Dodd and a firm response to the speculation has come back from the bus company:- [IMG: bigpic] ***** I can tell you quite clearly that Arriva have no intention of withdrawing from Southport now or in the future. We have a successfully business in Southport and therefore it would be ludicrous to pull out. If anything we wish to strengthen our services in Southport and surrounding areas. To this end next Friday, 3rd October at ECO Centre at 11:30 am, we are launching 9 brand ...
[IMG: British money] From the Federal Executive report tabled for the 2015 Glasgow conference: The Electoral Commission conducted a comprehensive audit of the Party's administrative and compliance processes for the acceptance of donations, as a result of which the Party was delighted to receive a clean bill of health without a single donation failing to pass the thorough checks conducted by the Commission's team. Volunteers such as local party treasurers play a key role in the compliance system, but central to it all working at the staff in HQ; good work.
[IMG: Labour annual conference 2014] During his speech yesterday, Ed Miliband made lots of references to problems with our political system. she thinks politics is rubbish. And let's not pretend we don't hear that a lot on the doorstep... Our politics doesn't listen... And to cap it all, in our politics, it's a few who have the access while everyone else is locked out... People think politics is more and more a game and that all we're in it for is ourselves... You know people think Westminster politics is out of touch, irrelevant and often disconnected from their lives... We ...
We've known for quite a while now that Post Office Limited have been looking to replace the Crown Post Office branch in Acocks Green with a branch based in a partner retailer. They now have definite plans which will shortly be consulted on. The staff were informed of these plans yesterday. Under their plans, Acocks Green's Post Office branch would move from the current site to 1131 Warwick Road (nearby, but on the other side of the Warwick Road, between Iceland and Hughes), where it would form part of a shop operated by ZCO Ltd. ZCO Ltd are an independent ...
The Community Debrief meeting for the 2014 Parklife Festival in Heaton Park will take place on: Tuesday, 7 October 2014 6.30pm Bowls Pavilion, Heaton Park (St Margaret's Road entrance) [IMG: Screenshot 2014-09-24 05.56.59] Parklife Organisers and officers from Manchester Council and the Police will be available to answer questions and take feedback. All welcome – more information from heatonpark@manchester.gov.uk or call 0161 773 1085
Prestwich Clough needs our help to secure a grant from the Skipton Building Society Grassroots Giving Fund The public vote is a chance for communities to support and give thanks to groups making a positive difference within your neighbourhoods. An application has been submitted to plant up the spaces recently cleared of Himalayan Balsam plants. You can vote for the Clough at this link: Each person can only vote once, so please make it count! Voting closes on the 15th October 2014. If you are interested in helping the Friends of Prestwich Forest Park, with their work on claiming ...
A couple of weeks ago I reported on the licence reivew which is taking place of 'Cuckoo' on Bury New Road. Really sorry but we gave the date of the review hearing wrongly – it is on 29 September 2014 (2.00pm at the Town Hall). Members of the public can attend, only people who are formally involved will be asked to speak. I know Cuckoo has a lot of support from many people in Prestwich and beyond and much of this is being expressed in social media – e.g. on Cuckoo's Facebook page here.
Y ou can find one or two brave souls who are willing to put a positive spin on Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour party conference yesterday. But the dominant view among the commentariat seemed to be that it all felt rather flat and unfocused. Given this was the last big set piece before the General Election that has got to be a worry for the Labour party. Hasn't it? Miliband's omission of the passage on the deficit generated a lot of excitement, although it seems likely that this was a genuine failure of memory rather than a strategic omission. ...
