Of the several on the list, two were acceptable (It's a Wonderful Life and The Muppet Christmas Carol); several were schmaltzy bollocks (e.g. Miracle on 34th St) and one is the most offensive misogynist pile of bollocks that ever bore the name of Christmas Movie, even if it DOES have Alan Rickman in it (Love Actually). So here's a PROPER Christmas movie poll. Film one also has Alan Rickman in it, but unlike Love Actually he doesn't break Emma Thompson's heart in it. He does dance to Ode to Joy though :) It's also got the fantastic Coke Can shot. ...
The good people of Oban assembled for a public fireworks display on 4 November 2011. Unfortunately, a technical fault meant that all the fireworks went off in less than a minute. It's hard to say why this is so funny, but the countdown at the start and the lone rocket at the end certainly help.
This is the speech I gave to the Annual General Meeting of the Lancaster University Liberal Democrats on Wednesday 5th November 2014. Check the speech against delivery. Lancaster University Liberal Democrats It's great to be here at the Annual General Meeting at Lancaster University Liberal Democrats. In six months time will we will be having a general election. It's safe to say that this one will be quite different from the one in 2010. In 2010 every other window on campus had an orange diamond poster in it. However despite recent setbacks, LU Lib Dems must be a campaigning society ...
Wed 5th
21:27
"Lib Dems have made majority Conservative rule in Britain less likely for perhaps a generation"
[IMG: Rafael-Behr] Rafael Behr, formerly of the New Statesman now at The Guardian, is my favourite political columnist. A brilliant writer, he is also dispassionately shrewd. So it is today, when he analyses the impact of the Lib Dems in Coalition. It's inspired by Norman Baker's resignation – which, he rightly observes "says more about the Home Office than it does about the coalition more widely" – and examines how the Conservatives being forced to share power with the Lib Dems in Coalition has squeezed out what remains of liberal Conservatism: It is true that the Lib Dems have inflicted ...
One of my favourite writers - and one of the most underrated prose stylists in the langauge - is T.H. White. BBC Radio is broadcasting a six-part dramatisation of his series of novels The Once and Future King, with the first episode going out on Sunday afternoon. Den of Geek! has an interview with Brian Sibley, the writer who has adapted the books for radio. He talks of the difficulties of adapting them. The first book, The Sword in the Stone, is a near-perfect children's book, but they then get progressively adult and dark, until the fifth book (not published ...
It all started with an innocent tweet from Solihull MP Lorely Burt: Brilliant idea from @SteveWebb1 to help make deadbeat dads pay up #childmaintenance@BBCNewshttp://t.co/56Qeig3SVB — Lorely Burt (@LorelyBurt) November 5, 2014 It's all about this story in which Steve Webb plans to allow payment habits, good or bad, of absent parents who pay maintenance for their children. If an absent parent doesn't pay their maintenance, then this information, passed on to credit reference agencies, could stop them getting credit or a mortgage You shouldn't require an incentive like that to actually provide for your children, but, unfortunately, some people do. ...
In 1993, David Hare's play The Absence of War was premiered. It tells the story of George Jones, a Labour leader who, "smothered and constricted by his cautious advisers" (to borrow from Wikipedia) loses his sense of self, of the talents that propelled him to the top. For Jones read Neil Kinnock. But also perhaps read Ed Miliband. This week's New Statesman lays into the man they helped propel into the leadership: At present, he and Labour seem trapped. ... Labour wins well when its leader seems most in tune with the times and can speak for and to the ...
Austerity cuts have meant the end for many flower beds in public locations throughout Gateshead. (Labour overlooks the fact that the cuts to flower beds started well before the 2010 general election.) Anyway, Swalwell residents and their three Lib Dem Councillors have not taken this lying down. Instead, they have taken on the job of planting up and maintaining the flower beds themselves. Most
#3330448 / gettyimages.com Imagine a country where the citizenry are denied the most modern means of communication, Why? Because allowing them to be used would make it difficult for the state to spy on those citizens. The old East Germany? No, the United Kingdom under Theresa May.
This year Cheadle Civic Society are celebrating their 50th anniversary, having encouraged higher standards of both architecture and planning in the village of Cheadle and the surrounding areas for half a century. In addition, the Society also raises public awareness in the care and maintenance of Cheadle's many parks and listed buildings. To recognise the Society's contribution over the last five decades, local MP for Cheadle constituency, Mark Hunter, has tabled an Early Day Motion (number 463) in Parliament which reads: 'That this House congratulates the Cheadle Civic Society on its 50th anniversary celebrations; notes the huge contribution that organisation ...
#105768598 / gettyimages.com ITV reports: Nick Clegg says the Liberal Democrats could introduce quotas to boost the number of the party's female MPs if they fail to gain more at the next election... Speaking on BBC3, Mr Clegg acknowledged that his party's MPs were "not collectively representative enough of modern Britain". "If we don't make real progress in having more women elected as Liberal Democrat MPs at the next election we might have to think of a one-off way of really cracking this problem and reserving some places for women in the future." Note the "if". The party has done ...
[IMG: USA Flag - Some rights reserved by freefotouk] FiveThirtyEight has certainly shone through as an excellent resource in these US Mid-term elections. On that website, at the end of a long night, Harry Enten wrote the excellent headline above with these reflections: In addition to Republican governors, Republican senators and minimum wage increases, marijuana had a good night. Recreational marijuana easily won in Oregon and Washington, D.C., and it's currently leading in Alaska. The only state where marijuana didn't win: Florida. A ballot measure to permit medical marijuana failed there, but only because it needed 60 percent of the ...
#187012133 / gettyimages.com In 2001 - before this blog was even thought of and when dinosaurs stalked the internet - I wrote an article for Spiked on Bonfire Night in Lewes: They burned Guy Fawkes in Lewes on Monday night. They burned Pope Paul V and Osama bin Laden, too. Zulu warriors paraded through the streets with suffragettes; Vikings followed cavaliers. And the Bonfire Boys, with their flaming torches, firecrackers and striped, piratical costumes, were everywhere. Each 5 November people pour into the Sussex town to watch the processions and awesome firework displays of its five bonfire societies. This year ...
[IMG: libby on the wall3] Calderdale Liberal Democrats punch above their weight when it comes to enhancing the internal democratic processes of the party. Leading up to our conferences, we see Calderdale Lib Dems positively gushing forth with amendments to motions. They even offer to help other local parties with amendments if needed. Local party chair Jennie Rigg is now helping party democracy in an extra way. Where she can contact them, Jennie is putting a series of questions to each candidate in the Liberal Democrat committee elections. All answers that she receives are being published on her remarkable blog, ...
Oh dear Labour are attacking green space again. This time in neighbouring Liverpool. See link above to Liverpool Echo story.
To put this claim in to some sort of perspective, this would mean that 14 out of the present 57 city councillors and 40,000 citizens in the city of Peterborough, have experienced a mental health problem! Thankfully, news from Lib Dem HQ tells me that "...treatment for mental health conditions will be brought into line [...]
LibDemVoice has been surveying party members throughout the Coalition to find out how well-rated (or otherwise) Lib Dem ministers are. All these results, together with our regular Coalition tracker series, are available online here. Here's how Norman Baker has performed in these surveys in the four-and-a-half years he's been a minister, first at Transport, latterly at the Home Office. The figures below are the net satisfaction ratings (ie, those very/quite satisfied minus those very/quite dissatisfied): [IMG: ldv - norman baker ratings] Initially his ratings were quite modest. In July 2010, his rating was +24%, meaning he was reckoned to be ...
The mainstream arts world is a peculiar place. It struggles these days, not so much for beauty in the Ruskinian fashion, but for controversy - to frame a contradiction more sharply, to act it out, to see things more clearly. It is true that most of what is produced, even for the Turner Prize, fails to rise this far. But then something comes along in real life that makes all their efforts redundant. Can you imagine how a artist's career would have been made just by dreaming up and performing the bizarre dance of embarrassment by Elle, Whistles and the ...
[IMG: Tim Farron Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul Walter] Writing in the New Statesman, Tim Farron says we should direct our focus on solving this country's housing shortage and wage inequalities problems, rather than blaming immigrants for our problems: Looking at poll after poll shows that many communities are worried about the impact of immigration. I do understand their concerns. But it would be hugely disrespectful to the British public if we looked at those polls, and the problems they highlighted, and weren't honest about the underlying drivers. If we had the housing stock we ...
A new planning application has been received within Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58111 Registration Date: 03/11/2014 Location: Prestwich Heys FC, Sandgate Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6WG Proposal: Installation of modular steel changing room [IMG: Screen Shot 2014-11-04 at 14.38.21] 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
The best of ALDC content from the last week, including: Better Care Fund; National Policies for Local Campaigns; Fair Deal for Tenants; and Election Law FAQs. ALDC Blog Better Care Fund for England Announcement A template press release with useful statistics on the government decision to allow part of the Better Care Fund to be [...]
Consett's War Memorial has been spruced up ready for this weekend's parade. [IMG: 022] I met with staff from Carillion to discuss the preparations they have made for Sunday, but also the continuing works that will be taking place before completion next year. They are doing an excellent job and I am confident that the parade will be a properly respectful event, with minimal intrusion by the ongoing building works so the whole team gets my thanks for taking all our concerns completely on board as they work to improve the setting of the memorial. I was also delighted, as ...
Today's Western Mail finally catches up with a ruling by the Assembly's Presiding Officer that the sale of alcohol should be banned from all Assembly premises before 6pm on working days. The most bizarre aspect of the announcement however is the reaction of one Assembly Member, who says that he does not want to be named for fear of being branded a tippler. This individual described the decision as "impertinent" and a "breach of human rights", and vowed to carry on drinking moderately at lunchtime elsewhere in Cardiff Bay That sentence is disturbing on so many levels, not least the ...
[IMG: normanbaker] As he quits mud-wrestling with Theresa May to spend more time with Piccadilly Circus (available in all good music outlets), Norman Baker receives very high praise indeed in an Independent editorial today. "The outgoing minister was more than just a troublemaker in the Home Office", says the strapline, with the article including this passage: Mr Baker was thus the living embodiment of the "brakes" theory of the Liberal Democrats' role in the Coalition - stalling, slowing and occasionally thwarting the worst excesses of what an unfettered Conservative government would get up to. On migration, for example, Mr Baker ...
Since the summer we have been releasing ALDC's new "Campaign Essentials" artwork templates. This week, we are happy to add a 2015 Calendar Design . We have two versions – full colour and two colour (for printing on a RISO). The basic design is for multiple candidates which can be adjusted depending on your ward (but [...]
There were two motions put to Full Council on Monday night, one from the Lib Dems calling for more devolution of powers to local areas, and a Tory motion calling for the reinstatement of formal crossings in Hackbridge. There was an interesting parallel here, as the Heart of Hackbridge scheme is a prime example of [...]
Some of my friends and colleagues are finding the course of "non-treatment" that I'm currently on for mantle cell lymphoma a little disturbing. I admit that I did too at first, so their reaction is entirely understandable. My natural inclination is to want to get on with things but in the case of MCL, particularly the indolent version that I seem to have, immediate treatment is not always the best course of action. This lunchtime I've read a leaflet published by the Lymphoma Association about watch and wait. It's reassuring and it contains a paragraph that sums up perfectly my ...
[IMG: 2014 calendar. Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/danmoyle/11178388835/ - some rights reserved] Aside from the delays in sending out ballot papers for the Liberal Democrat federal committee elections, the usual attendance figures for their members weren't initially circulated, though they are now being added to the online voting system. So as a bit of belt and braces, here are mine for the last two years: Number of meetings held: 23 Number of meetings attended: 22 (1 meeting missed due to illness) I think amongst the directly elected members (the group for whom these stats are kept) only Evan Harris had a ...
[IMG: Champagne cork popping photo by Brent Schneeman] Tim Farron was on Radio Four's Today yesterday morning. He was talking about Norman Baker's resignation. In passing, when interviewer John Humphrys mentioned the party potentially losing lots of MPs at the next election, Tim mentioned that the Lib Dems went up by three percentage points in this week's Lord Ashcroft poll. When Humphrys said he would mention that this was just one optimistic poll for the party amidst many pessimistic polls, Tim joked that "at party HQ they might not hear you above the sound of champagne corks popping". The poll ...
London Borough of Sutton Employer Conference An invitation to businesses to input on challenges faced when recruiting and employing young people. Find out about: Local business initiatives and developments Bridging your skills gaps working with young people 19th November 2014 [...]
Nick Clegg has said that he believes that the Fawcett Society would never have knowingly commissioned their "This is what a feminist looks like" t-shirt if they had been thought it had been produced in the conditions described by the Mail on Sunday. The Standard has the story: Mr Clegg said he believed the Fawcett Society thought the t-shirt was ethically produced when they joined up with Whistles to launch the campaign. The Deputy Prime Minister said: "I wouldn't have been asked to wear the t-shirt if they knew where that came from, that's the point. No-one would have worn ...
Stockport Labour are continuing to refuse to respond to allegations of bullying as a third councillor quits the group in just over a month. [IMG: Cllr Brian Hendley becomes the third councillor to quit Stockport Labour in just over a month] Cllr Brian Hendley quits Labour Brian Hendley, councillor for Davenport and Cale Green, has today resigned from the Labour group to sit as an independent. He joins Cllr Laura Booth and Cllr Paul Moss who quit the party in October – Laura and Paul allege bullying within the Labour group. Labour have denied the allegations of "a culture of ...
Connect comes with lots of built in tools and the national team regularly add extras, such as new pre-made lists in the target pools tab. However, as users become more experienced they have the opportunity to create a range of tools for themselves. The system is very flexible. You can create scripts to suit a [...]
Wed 5th
11:05
My open borders immigration policy is, I admit, a fantasy. The pro-immigration case has to be rooted...
[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here yesterday. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. I gave a speech last month which included a list of a dozen laws I'd introduce if I were that oxymoronic thing for a day, a liberal dictator. The second was: "I'd abolish any form of net migration target and welcome wholeheartedly those who choose to work here as fellow citizens." It appears, then, that I have something in ...
[IMG: YouGov MP playing cards]
[IMG: budget breakdown] Starting yesterday, and over the next month or so, 'tax summaries' will be delivered to 24 million taxpayers, detailing how much income tax and National Insurance they paid in 2013-14, and where that money went. You can see examples here. As Nick Clegg said in 2012, this will deliver "greater transparency [and] accountability in government ... empowering citizens" with information on what they pay in, and how their taxes are spent. It sounds rather like the 'Annual Tax Contract' policy from the party's manifesto in 1997 and 2001: No taxation without explanation: Central Government should inform taxpayers ...
[IMG: 350x350.fitandcrop] It's been a while since I've done a review of anything here, but I wanted to spread the word about this production, in the hope that it might spur some of you into going to see it. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour are a company that have been producing live versions of 40s and 50s style radio broadcasts – complete with traditional sound effects produced on stage – since 2008. They've come together with Colchester's Mercury Theatre to produce a version of Dracula that's a fantastic piece of stage comedy. We're invited in as the studio audience to watch ...
Talking Money and North Bristol Advice Centre (NBAC) are working in partnership to ensure everyone has access to specialist money advice throughout South Gloucestershire; advice sessions have been increased and are now running in Patchway, Kingswood, Yate and Filton. Drop in advice sessions operate Tuesday to Thursday throughout the county. For up to date information on where and when you can access advice please visit www.talkingmoney.org.uk or www.northbristoladvice.org.uk. Talking Money say "Money problems are complex and are often caused by other personal issues, like long term ill health, family break down or loss of employment. By working together we can ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg Q&A - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] Appearing on BBC3's "Free speech" Nick Clegg said Westminster is a "ludicrously clapped out place" which, on Wednesdays at lunch time, resembles "Downton Abbey gone a bit loopy". He also said he favoured a "one off" measure to increase the number of Liberal Democrat women candidates: I've come to the view that if we don't make real progress in having more women elected as Liberal Democrat MPs at the next election, we might have to have think of a one-off way of cracking this problem and reserving some places ...
One of the better political quips I can remember hearing while watching some political TV programme was the title of this blog. I think Jo Grimond or David Steel was responsible. It has rather been brought to life this week by the deeply misleading tax statement being sent out by George Osborne: sheer, unadulterated political propaganda. The mission to mislead has been seen on other Treasury-derived briefing documents, too, and there have been moments where senior Liberal Democrats have privately had to have their facts corrected. The TUC has led the charge, pointing out quite fairly that it is misleading ...
Protestors in Walton Hall Park demonstrating against Joe Anderson's plans to develop the Park Opposition councillors from the Lib Dem, Green and Liberal Parties supported by independent councillor Jake Morrison have come together to put a resolution condemning changes in ... Continue reading →
I have extracted and uploaded to Youtube the presentation of the Petition about Acocks Green Post Office. There are two ways of presenting petitions. One is the process in this video. The other is to simply put the petition in a bag at the back of the Speaker's chair. Petitions are presented at the "moment of interruption" which is just before the adjournment debate. Often the Moment of
Some information which has been provided by Heaton Park on tonight's bonfire. (Apologies for the lateness on this, but it has only just been received!) Heaton Park's Bonfire Event will be held on Wednesday, 5th November 2014, from 5pm - 9.30pm. The Bonfire will be lit at 7.30pm, followed by fireworks. The event will comprise of Bonfire, Fireworks Display, catering concessions, craft, bar, funfair and fire performers. There is increased toilet provision this year by adding 2 x 4-way urinals. Over 6km of festoon lighting is being erected through the site to ensure that the main routes into the parks ...
Don't mock Norman Baker - he accomplished more than most ministers do in a lifetime (tags: ) BBC News - Overtime 'should count in holiday pay' (tags: ) Here's Why A Bunch Of People Are Shouting "PARKLIFE!" At Russell Brand On The Internet OMG the url is genius too (tags: ) ICYMI: On the Party Presidential Elections, and why I still haven't sent off my ballot. (tags: ) Liberal Democrat Ministerial Changes - @lfeatherstone back in the Home Office YAY She'll be missed at DFID though. (tags: ) According to @Tinglepolitics Yorks&Humber Liberal Democrats are "fringe party" to be summarily ...
[IMG: Yorkshire Dales] The news that George Osborne is offering further powers to Manchester (if – and only if – they turn their backs on the democratic will of the people and implement an elected Mayor in spite of Manchester voting "No" to having one) has been enthusiastically accepted by the Manchester Labour Party, because, as with all local Labour parties, they very much prefer a government that cannot be scrutinized and wields power in secret, unaccountable meetings. Yorkshire deserves far better than this Tory & Labour stitch-up of an end-run around democracy and accountability. At the Yorkshire & Humber ...
The deadline for making a comment on the application for a drive through KFC in Prestwich Village is next Wednesday (12 November 2014). Many residents have been in touch with the local team, and all comments you have made to us (negative and positive) have been submitted as a general submission. However, if people do feel strongly, it may be appropriate to make your own online contribution to the consultation. [IMG: Screen Shot 2014-11-05 at 08.32.04] The link to make an online comment is here. Click on 'Neighbour comments'.
Back in August, I mentioned the concerns residents had raised with me about the state of the pavement on Perth Road outside Duncan of Jordanstone - broken slabs and an obvious trip hazard. At the time, the City Council assured me that an Order for the re-setting of the loose slabs had been made. I have since been informed that : "The Road Maintenance Partnership inspector has advised that four slabs have been fixed on this section of footway and that there were no actionable defects noted when he inspected it on 16-10-14 following your email." However, many of the ...
One advantage of curating the largest database of UK national voting intention opinion poll results* is the ability to look at long-term patterns. In this case, or so I thought before looking at the data, how the share of the vote claimed by the main two parties has slumped in the face of the proliferation of other parties. Surprisingly, that's not quite the picture as this graph** of polls since 1983*** shows. Yes, the current share being garnered by the two main parties is low, but it's not off a cliff compared to other occasions in the last thirty odd ...
At the last Full Council meeting of Bury Council I asked about the 'start-up' costs of the new three-weekly bin collection system. I know a lot of us experienced extra bin collections at the weekend, and a number of people had asked how much this was costing: Councillor T Pickstone Could the Leader please provide members with a breakdown of the estimated set up costs for the new three-weekly bin collection service? Could this include: - additional costs of communications with residents - set up costs of the new texting service - addition staff and related costs as a result ...
#72082212 / gettyimages.com The Guardian reports: European migrants to the UK are not a drain on Britain's finances and pay out far more in taxes than they receive in state benefits, a new study has revealed. The research by two leading migration economists at University College also reveals that Britain is uniquely successful, even more than Germany, in attracting the most highly skilled and highly educated migrants in Europe... It says that European migrants made a net contribution of £20bn to UK public finances between 2000 and 2011. Those from the original 15 EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and ...
An election that UKIP should have won? – Matthew Goodwin looks at the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner election and questions why they didn't win it. Lez Miserable – A personal account of how every public high-profile coming out helps to make the world a better place. "Of course, it is getting easier almost by the day for (especially) a certain kind of white, middle-class person to come out. But let's be very clear; that doesn't make it easy." On the Party Presidential Elections, and why I still haven't sent off my ballot – Jennie Rigg sums up my ...
The Daily Telegraph reported recently that householders who fail to control Japanese Knotweed in their gardens can now be prosecuted and fined thousands of pounds for anti-social behaviour under new Home Office rules. The new guidance explains how council officers or police can use community protection notices to "stop or prevent" people growing Japanese Knotweed if it causes problems. The plant damages underground pipes, buildings and boundary walls, and grows in cavity walls as its tentacles seek out light. This jumped out at me following the on-going Knotweed problems in Maghull's Foxhouse Lane on Network Rail's land. My previous posting ...
[IMG: Stars and stripes, US flag - Some rights reserved by :: Wendy ::] At about 04:30 our time, ABC News projected that the Republicans would win the US Senate in the Mid-term elections. They did so as they called Iowa and North Carolina for the "Grand Old Party". In virtually every race, where the Democrats had a slight chance, they lost. Nate Silver reckoned, as ABC News made their declaration, that the Republicans could finish with as many as 55 Senate seats. Yesterday, I jotted down the key five swing Senate seats and how they stood on Five Eight ...
