#475279733 / gettyimages.com It's certainly a change from 'I met a man on Hampstead Heath': Ed Miliband will launch a highly personal political fightback ... he will quote the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd1P4LRaXuQ Have a look at the link above to a youtube video of a meeting of Marchington Parish Council on 11th November. Why do they think the law of the land does not apply to them? It is perfectly legal for anyone to film a Council meeting.
This report from the Independent suggests the inquiry into historic child abuse is turning into an episode of Inspector Morse or Lewis or something like that: Scotland Yard is carrying out a search of the Barbara Castle archives at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library to try and locate a copy of the 'Dickens Dossier', the missing file containing allegations of organised child abuse by politicians and other prominent figures. The Met is working in conjunction with archivists at the library to sift through more than 850 boxes of documents relating to the life and career of the former Labour ...
Yesterday, on a train traveling between London and Derby, I very nearly snapped. The f? I had to listen to someone's 'phone constantly alerting them using the five notes that form the "Samsung whistle". As far as I'm concerned, it's an even more irritating noise than the Nokia tune made infamous by Dom Joly on Trigger Happy TV at the turn of the century. The composer, Joongsam Yun, is quoted in a Guardian article from 2013 saying that the ringtone was designed to represent what customers think of the Samsung brand – innovative, friendly and trustworthy. Really. Well, I bet ...
It was very satisfying to see Newsnight's Emily Maitlis demolish Daniel O'Reilly, the so-called comedian behind the controversial Dapper Laughs character. O'Reilly was axed from ITV2 following highly inappropriate material in a stage show in which the character appeared to be encouraging violence towards and rape and harassment of women. I've seen a few people suggest that his comments, while distasteful, were not beyond the pale and that too much fuss has been made about it. They were men, funnily enough. I wonder how they would feel if they lived in a world where most of the powerful characters were ...
#77033588 / gettyimages.com As this Parliament comes to an end, the official Liberal Democrat operation has been slowly waking up to the fact that being in government doesn't stop you campaigning outside Parliament to change government policy. If ministers are arguing within government for a policy change, adding in grassroots campaigning for that very same policy change not only increases the chance of securing it,* it also raises the likely political credit for the victory if it comes. It was way back in 2011 that I pointed out that (somewhat to his chagrin, triggering a fun little exchange on Twitter) ...
Suddenly it is fashionable to admire architecture from the 1970s, and I find my own taste being educated in that direction. But I still find it hard to mourn the Greyfriars bus station in Northampton. This was a building that killed two people: they were run down by buses as they avoided the dreadful underpasses you were meant to use to reach it. So maybe the best way to remember the old place is that suggested by a study of the Northants Herald & Post: A collection of 42 enamelled signs from the Greyfrairs Bus Station in Northampton are set ...
But I couldn't resist. Of all my run-ins with RWNJs (right-wing nutjobs) on Twitter, this was by far and away the most satisfying... @baseballcrank @charlescwcooke Other than my doctorate on Sino-American relations and degree in Chinese Studies, nothing at all. Yup. — Chris Connolly (@Cripipper) November 12, 2014
Wed 12th
20:03
Most people say we should build more social housing survey on #HousingDay shows - I agree
Shropshire Council delivers one of the lowest proportions of social housing against market housing in the country. That's claimed to be down to market conditions but I can't help feeling that it also has a lack of ambition towards social rented housing. On #HousingDay, a national survey for the National Housing Federation shows: More than [...]
The Manchester Evening News is reporting that Bruntwood Hall, situated in Bruntwood Park, Cheadle is to become a boutique hotel – opening next year. A boutique hotel will be developed in an historic south Manchester hall. Oddfellows, with already runs a hotel in Chester, has bought Bruntwood Hall, in Cheadle. It sits in the heart of Bruntwood Park, which the Manchester property developer is named after. The firm wants to develop a luxury venue in the hall, which will have around 23 room, with a bar, restaurant, spa treatment rooms and a 'dramatic' event space. It will be called Oddfellows ...
We've been home for over four months now. I visited the UK every year that I was away, but visiting is not the same as living in a place and there has still been a cultural adjustment to make after eight years in Canada. It's not so much that things here are different to Canada, [...]
When Arthur Miller was writing The Crucible, he mentioned to a friend as he left dinner for the evening that he was working on a play about the Salem witch trials. She was astonished that he could see any parallel between witch trials and the McCarthyite hearings against un-American activities, going on at the time. Yet now we call both 'witch hunts' without batting an eye. It is sometimes more obvious with the benefit of hindsight. These kind of frenzies emerge often with good reason, but involve a great deal of projection. I have a feeling the un-American witch hunters ...
Wed 12th
17:54
LibLink: Ibrahim Taguri: It's time for the truth: it's time to publish the Chilcott Inquiry
Brent Central Liberal Democrat candidate Ibrahim Taguri has called for the speedy publication of Sir John Chilcott's report into the decision to go to war in Iraq. "How can we have trust without truth?" he asks in an article for the New Statesman. He asks how on earth we can contemplate taking military action (a decision he is not happy with) again in that part of the world without learning the lessons from last time: The course of action then was part of a disastrous foreign policy, and it is for this reason we find ourselves wrangling with the same ...
Sheffield United's sponsors' are beginning to show their displeasure about the return of convicted rapist Ched Evans. It was always going to be them who decided his fate. Ched Evans has returned to training at Sheffield United Senior female patrons have resigned their roles in protest Not surprisingly Sheffield United's sponsors are unhappy about Ched [...]
[IMG: nhs sign lrg] For too long mental health has been seen as a second-class issue in the NHS and I am determined to change that. Today I've called for up to an extra £1.5 billion to be invested in the NHS next April. A significant amount of that money would go towards improving mental health services, especially for children and young people. At our party conference in Glasgow, Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats will spend at least £1bn extra on health and care in each year of the next parliament, including £500m each year for mental health. The ...
Whilst no-one can be happy whilst significant numbers of people across County Durham continue to be out of work, and locally the situation stands to worsen with the situation at KP Snacks and Hassockfield, there are still encouraging signs from the county council's published figures that County Durham, along with the rest of Britain (though slightly behind it), is coming out of recession. The highlights and lowlights follow. If anyone wants the full figures please just email me. 2.6% of the working age population, (8,465 people), in the County are currently claiming JSA, (North East 3.3%, England & Wales ...
Our understanding of complex global risks is painfully fragmented. Here, Victor Galaz argues that social science scholars need to step up if we want people outside of academia to take notice of our work. The worlds most powerful countries, the G20, are soon to convene in Brisbane, Australia to discuss how to build global economic resilience and reform global institutions. Few would disagree on the need to make progress on these issues. The most interesting global issues however, are often those that remain unseen by the international political elite. Scholars in the sustainability sciences are increasingly exploring and debating humanitys ...
[IMG: Wind turbine - Some rights reserved by thomas vl] The Guardian reports: Energy secretary Ed Davey has warned that the Conservative party's opposition to onshore wind turbines risks undermining the creation of British jobs as new data showed 15,400 people are now employed in the wind power industry. ...But Davey said that the Conservative party's "ideological" opposition to onshore turbines was undermining new British jobs and driving up customer bills because wind is the cheapest clean energy. "We have had a major leap forward in recent years and there is a really good story to tell," Davey said. "But ...
[IMG: Strictly photo by Keith Laverack] I have a confession to make. I buy the Daily Express nearly everyday. There. I said it. Believe it or not, I get it to do a nine letter puzzle on page 43 in the presence of a nonagenarian relative who has done the same quiz each day for decades. Nonetheless, it gives me a forced insight into the right-wing press. So, here's a summary of what they normally say: DAILY EXPRESS EAT A TOMATO AND TAKE AN ASPIRIN EVERYDAY AND YOU WILL LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED (If your stomach survives the aspirin ...
On Sunday morning as we were all waiting in the Mayor's Parlour prior to assembling at the War memorial Pat Keith and I fell into conversation with Sefton's first Leader of the Councillor Tom Glover. Tom had two medals pinned to his coat. The one that interested me was the award he got from the Communist Polish Government. Tom explained that he had arranged for the names of Polish Servicemen to be added to the War Memorial. At a time when there is so much bile and nonsense is spoken about Polish people it is important to remember their significant ...
The best of ALDC content from the last week, including: New calendar templates from ALDC; Lib Dem HQ January Tabloid bulk-buy deals; Campaigning Statistics update; and 'Party and Group' FAQs via Ask ALDC. ALDC Blog New Calendar Templates The latest instalment in our 2014-15 Campaign Essentials series, our new calendar templates for 2015, are here. This [...]
[IMG: A303 photo by κύριαsity] The A303 is quite a legend amongst roads. It must be one of the few British roads that has its own song (which includes the words of the title of this post) and had a television programme devoted to its history. But it has also been a recurring feature in the parliamentary career of David Heath MP. When the Prime Minister addressed the CBI annual conference yesterday, he made reference to the A303 when talking about a need to 'improve some of the most important arteries in our country'. Responding, David Heath said: It looks ...
[IMG: Poopy image (A group of lapel poppies) (Picture courtesy of The Royal British Legion)] I am the Chaplain for the Sandgate Royal British Legion. The response in Sandgate on Sunday was excellent and reflects the respect and honour that remains in place for those who fought and died. What is surprising to me is that only 38 people in Sandgate (schools, SAGA, church, shops and homes) are members of the Sandgate Royal British Legion. In joining there is no time commitment necessary (unless the person wants to attend the one hour meeting each month), but having just 38 members ...
[IMG: ELephants Bostwana Sedudu Photo by Mp3ief] Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its ivory. This rapid rate of human destruction has seen the population of African elephants plummet from 10 million in 1910 to a low 434,000 now. If we want to protect elephants from being confined to the history books we need to act now. That's why this week I called for an EU Action Plan to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade in a letter to the new European Commission, co-signed by 82 fellow MEPs from 24 countries. The joint campaign with the Sunday Mirror ...
Anyone who has lived or studied in Oxford, and many who have visited it, will be familiar with its famous Covered Market. The Market has been around for over two centuries and has a long, varied and interesting heritage. The majority of businesses are independent and owner-managed and it is hugely popular with local residents. [...]
Lionel Barber and Janan Ganesh from the Financial Times stress test Labour leader Ed Miliband, and analyse his current woes. Ed Miliband's stress test by Financial Times
[IMG: Lib Dem website screenshot] Want to read the latest news stories and blog posts from the Liberal Democrat federal website but want the stories to come to you rather than have to remember to go and check the website regularly for new content? Then my free email service is just what you need. Just sign up for this daily email of Liberal Democrat news here (tick the second box under "What would you like to receive?"). There will be no more than one email a day - and no email if there hasn't been a new story added in ...
[IMG: Retail park by crabchick] The high street, as we know it, is in its death throes and I, for one, will not be mourning this loss. The reason for its demise is not, as many may think, the capitalist bad boys of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's et al. but the refrigerator. Yes, you heard me correctly, the humble fridge. My grandparents didn't own a fridge for most of my mother's childhood. My grandmother walked to the nearest town (just under 2 miles away) most days, except Sunday, and then back again with her shopping. She would deliberately plan and buy ...
Today's Times has a pretty astonishing story regarding the legacy of the late Tony Benn. The paper says that Stephen Michael Wedgwood Benn, eldest son of the late Labour MP and the brother of the shadow cabinet minister Hilary, has formally "established his claim" to the Viscountcy of Stansgate. They add that his decision, announced in the House of Lords, means that he is free to run in a by-election for a seat in the second chamber when a place on the Labour benches comes up. The paper sets out the history of this title: If Dr Benn, 63, a ...
[IMG: Lloyd george public domain] In this 100th year since the Great War's outbreak, and especially around Remembrance Day, we have all been united in sorrow for the pain and loss of life, respect for the ultimate subordination of self to a common good, and gratitude that war on such a scale has been unknown to us for decades and may, with wise leadership, never be seen again. There is sometimes a view that the First World War was a pointless slaughter. That analysis is too simplistic, in my view. At university, I was privileged to spend a whole year ...
Wed 12th
10:00
Barn fires in Chipping Sodbury area - police ask landowners to be alert and appeal for information
Poloice are asking farmers and landowners to be on alert after three deliberate barn fires in the Chipping Sodbury area early yesterday morning. (Tuesday Nov 11). They are also appealing for anyone who saw any suspicious vehicles or people in the area to call them on 101. The fires were all started sometime around 2am. The first was at Ten Acre Farm on Horton Road in Chipping Sodbury where a stone barn was destroyed, including 350 bales of hay and a number of cars and farm vehicles. The second fire was at nearby barn at Colts Green. An empty caravan ...
[IMG: Vince Cable Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul Walter] Writing in the Mail to coincide with Remembrance Sunday, Vince Cable made a heartfelt plea for tolerance of a united Europe and immigration, citing personal experience: I am astounded when people say they have never been allowed to talk about immigration and that politicians ignore it. I remember it differently: a continued, sometimes angry, political debate going back to the 1950s. There was not an immigration issue as such. Until the late 1990s, net immigration was negative. More people left than arrived. But those leaving were ...
[IMG: Tory UKIP] November 20th, 2014 will be a dark day for the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain. An Ashcroft poll from yesterday gives UKIP a 12-point lead in the constituency; only some sort of miracle will stop Reckless keeping the seat now. At least with Carswell you could say there was an X factor going on, a cult of personality driven by a man who had never quite fit in with the Tories. Mark Reckless is a dull, uncharismatic individual with no requisite claim to fame. The message from Rochester and Strood will be clear: if Reckless ...
Just a quick update on two bin collections that residents have been enduring in the last week. I have asked Waste Management to clarify with residents of Wilton Court what bin collection system and cycle they are on. As I understand it there has been confusion because some flats have their own bins and some don't – and therefore confusion about whether the block is on a two weekly or three weekly scheme. I have asked this to be urgently rectified. Residents on Middleton Road in Rhodes didn't have their bins collected on the promised day last week. This has ...
Forever Manchester are currently working with the People's Health Trust to support groups who wish to apply in the current round of their Active Communities Programme. Applications to the Active Communities programme opened in Bury, Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Wigan on Wednesday 15 October, and the deadline for receipt of all applications is 1pm on Wednesday 26 November. During past rounds in these areas, overall the Active Communities programme has been heavily oversubscribed by a ratio of approximately 6/7 unsuccessful applications to every successful one. With this in mind, Forever Manchester and People's Health Trust are keen to ensure ...
Liberal Democrat health minister Norman Lamb is calling for the government to free up as much as £1.5bn to invest in the NHS in 2015/2016. Norman wants to see the government make NHS funding a priority in next month's Autumn Statement. We are calling for extra funding to focus on improving mental health care, particularly for children and young people, which is a key priority for the Liberal Democrats. Add YOUR support to the campaign for extra NHS funding by signing up here. We believe that delaying funding issues for 2015/2016 until after the General Election would betray patients and ...
The 2015-16 data tables for Pupil Premium allocations have been released and Lib Dem HQ have circulated a template press release and spreadsheet containing localised (i.e. by local authority) statistics. Press Release (also downloadable as MS Word, below): Contact: Press Office - 020 7340 4949 Embargo: 0001 11 November 2014 Disadvantaged [...area...] primary school pupils [...]
Gary Usher was looking for a creative outlet. Since the surf and hot-rod fad had died down, Usher had been working as a staff producer for Columbia Records, where he had worked on Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends (uncredited), had produced Chad & Jeremy's unsuccessful concept album Of Cabbages & Kings, had produced the Byrds' most [...]
Read this article and then follow the link at the bottom please (tags: ) For those of you, understandably, not willing to read a transphobe, here's the link from the bottom (tags: ) The story of the millionaire Tory MP and the tenants facing homelessness (tags: ) Don't fool yourself about "the other side" — everyone is selfish when it comes to politics - Vox with the caution that this is based on USian politics, and thus definitions of left/right & liberal/conservative are USian definitions (tags: ) Evil Dead TV series starring @groovybruce is GO! Ridiculously excited about this. (tags: ...
Wed 12th
08:55
How organisations waste money and failed to provide competent service whilst thinking they're cost e...
[IMG: Telephone] Step 1: Sign contract with a firm to pay them lots of money over an extended period of time. Step 2: Arrange delivery of goods. Step 3: Discover that firm uses a courier service which only delivers to your home address, only on a weekday and only in normal working hours. Oh, and charges extra if you wish to pick the day of delivery. Step 4: Get email from courier service saying that you can, however, ask for delivery to a neighbour. Step 5: Click link in email to do so and discover no such option. Step 6: ...
A number of residents have already been in touch around traffic and parking issues around the bonfire night events in Heaton Park last week. There are a number of issues to feed back already, but could people let me know if there are issues that I need to raise with Heaton Park? Either comment to this post or email me: tim@burylibdems.net
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-29985668 The BBC has the story – see link above Having worked with campaigners across the Borough of Sefton who were trying to stop the closure of many branch libraries I am left scratching my head. Why can Labour-run Liverpool City Council save its libraries from closure whilst in neighbouring Sefton Borough not only did the Labour-run Council close more than half of its libraries but it also stopped volunteers from running closed libraries too. [IMG: Sadly this placard could also read 'NO' to volunteers taking over Aintree Library!] Sadly this placard could also read 'NO' to volunteers taking over ...
Yesterday, I attended the latest meeting of the Sinderins and Pennycook Courts' Residents Association - on this occasion, an open meeting of all tenants. We had a discussion about a number of issues - including garden maintenance, scheme management support, noise issues and I updated everyone about the forthcoming West End Christmas Fortnight events. We were also advised that the independence debate event at Sinderins Court I participated in back in August features in the latest edition of Home Group's national homelife magazine. Later yesterday, I also attended the latest West End Community Council meeting. This included a useful update ...
Wed 12th
08:26
Reforming Young People's Mental Health Services is a Crucial Mission for Us in Delivering a Fairer S...
[IMG: mentalhealth_young_person] Liberal Democrat Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb has written about the work he is doing in government to reform mental health care services for children and young people. "Imagine for a minute you are a teenager, perhaps working hard for your a-level exams, struggling with relationships and all the social and academic pressures of school. And on top of this, you might be among the 1 in 10 of your peers suffering from depression, an eating disorder, or another mental health problem. "But if mental health services are the "Cinderella service" of our NHS – Child and ...
South London has more than its fair share of aircraft flight paths – planes for Heathrow line up overhead and planes for City airport also fly over East Dulwich over a quarter of the time. If you agree this is already a problem then you'll want to respond to the London City Airport consultation that seeks agreement to make matters much much worse. The proposal is to deploy something similar to GPS to make aircraft very precisely follow set flight paths. This will really concentrate all those flights going into London City Airport. The deployment of this technology is a ...
The Week In, Week Out programme has revealed that the Welsh Government has purchased property as far ago as 2005 in preparation for the M4 'black route'. We believe that as a result the final route decision could have been prejudiced. The programme showed that land bought as long ago as 2005 has not been declared surplus to requirements and sold off - as is Government policy. The fact that land bought by the Welsh Labour Government as early as 2005 was never declared surplus to requirements, and therefore sold off, clearly shows that the 'black route' was never off ...
Hertfordshire County Council will emit less CO2 in future after pressure from Lib Dem Councillors Paul Zukowskyj and Malcolm Cowan at the Performance, Resources and Transformation Cabinet Panel last week. Paul and Malcolm had questioned HCC's extremely low carbon reduction target a number of months ago, when the Conservatives proposed a CO2 reduction target of just 2% [...]
