Andrew Mitchell probably called the police 'plebs'. This is according to Mr Justice Mitting. It is a shame it has cost £2 million to find this out because I told you over a year ago. Change the world
There's a short-list of five to take over from Jeremy Browne as the Lib Dem candidate for Taunton Deane, according to the BBC: The shortlist to be Taunton Deane Lib Dem candidate #GE2015 is: @GideonJAmos @CllJustineBaker Rachel Gilmour @JustineMcG1 @MartinMTurner — Ruth Bradley (@Ruthsays) November 27, 2014 The successful candidate will be defending a majority of 3,993 over the Conservatives. * Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and editor of the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead. He is also a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum and writes at his ...
I heard this fascinating talk in the course of my day job last month.
© Evelyn Simak If you watched the video about the North Walsham & Dilham Canal I posted the other day, you will have been surprised to come across a reference to the Kray twins. This was because Briggate Mill once stood beside and relied upon the canal, though it predated it. And in 1975 the disused mill burnt down. As a result Geoffrey Allen, described as an associate of the Krays, received a seven-year sentence for insurance fraud. The mill ruins (the photo above shows the derelict wheelhouse, which I believe still stands) were eventually demolished in 2012 after all ...
Back in July, after Simon Danczuk (the Labour MP for Rochdale who exposed Cyril Smith) appeared before the Commons home affairs select committee. The following week a mysterious report appeared in the Telegraph: A campaigning MP was warned not to challenge Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary, about what he knew about an alleged Westminster paedophile ring and was told he could be responsible for the Conservative peer's death. Simon Danczuk said a Conservative minister stepped in to warn him not to name Lord Brittan in a Parliamentary committee last week. Mr Danczuk said that members of the Home Affairs ...
The Spectator's 27th Parliamentarian of the Year awards were given out at the Savoy Hotel this afternoon. There was a Liberal Democrat victor in the shape of Steve Webb, who won Minister of the Year. Congratulations. In his speech Fraser Nelson said: "He has many admirers in Westminster, but his party leader isn't one of them. Back in the days where the Lib Dems polled in double digits, Nick Clegg was overheard saying the following of our winner: 'He's a problem. We need someone with good ideas - and his just don't add up.""As it turns out, his ideas did ...
As a former archaeologist, I was really excited to find an archaeologist hard at work on the Linney a week or so ago. Archaeological digs aren't as public as they were when I was young. But then I was government funded (with in-kind private sponsorship). Now, as in this case, digs are funded by developers. [...]
Sickness absence levels are on the rise in the Welsh NHS, according to latest statistics, reports WalesOnline. The Welsh Ambulance NHS Trust fared the worst after 7.8% of contracted hours were lost due to staff absences Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Kirsty Williams has called for the Welsh Government to do more to support "overworked" NHS staff. She said: "Paramedics do incredibly stressful work around the clock and sickness levels have been high for a long time. "I can only imagine how demoralising it must be to be doing such an important job but not getting the appropriate support from the ...
Thursday: This time last month, we were on our way to New England, setting for "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by (unspeakably racist) HP Lovecraft, wherein it turns out the locals have been (spoilers) interbreeding with immigrants. This time last week, the locals of Rochester and Strood were cheerily chucking out their incumbent Tory MP and re-electing him as a Kipper. This despite him revealing that his new Party's policies are entirely as anti-immigrant as we suspected. This time in July, Ed Milipede was giving one of his relaunch speeches claiming he "didn't do image". And on Thursday, he proved it. ...
Thu 27th
17:58
Vow Max? Has Smith delivered for Scotland and what about Yorkshire and the North of England?
In the febrile pre-referendum atmosphere, the Daily Record put together a "Vow" signed by all 3 UK party leaders to deliver "extensive" powers for Scotland in the event of a No vote. There would always have been further devolution. This "Vow" just ... Continue reading →
What a fascinating story. The Liverpool Echo is carrying it – see link above.
[IMG: Nigel farage photo by norbert1] As the net migration figures come out today, Nigel Farage has never been far from a tv camera. He's been on the BBC News Channel. on the Daily Politics, spreading his ill-informed nonsense that we have an open door to half a billion people as if the entirety of Europe was going to pack up and come here to live. It must have slipped his mind that he was supposed to be in Strasbourg this morning, voting down the European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker. He must have also forgotten to take part in ...
Thu 27th
16:10
Vow Max? Has the Smith Commission delivered for Scotland? And what next for Yorkshire and the north?
In the febrile pre-referendum atmosphere, the Daily Record put together a "Vow" signed by all 3 UK party leaders to deliver "extensive" powers for Scotland in the event of a No vote. There would always have been further devolution. This "Vow" just put the inevitable on a more detailed timetable. A Commission under Lord Smith of Kelvin was put together to deliver on that timetable and has done a power of work in just over two months. They have consulted widely, taking submissions from the five main political parties and many civic organisations and individuals. I managed to get my ...
Thu 27th
15:06The Independent View: The political culture in Britain seems to have been infected by a form of madn...
With each electoral gain made by Ukip, politicians and the media respond with ever more apocalyptic descriptions of the insidious effect of mass immigration on this small overcrowded island. A vivid picture is painted daily of a nation overrun by swarms of migrants who are taking our jobs, lowering our wages, scrounging our benefits, crowding our schools, clogging up our hospital wards, destroying our culture and boiling our children before eating them for breakfast. Well, maybe not the last bit, but some of the scaremongering rhetoric comes close to such levels of hysteria. It would be laughably surreal were it ...
Thu 27th
14:44Latest Ashcroft polls of Lib Dem seats: MP incumbency protects party in 10 out of 13 constituencies
[IMG: Michael Ashcroft] The Conservative peer and pollster Lord Ashcroft has released the results of his latest polling of key seats for the next general election, including 13 seats currently held by the Lib Dems and one (Watford) which the party is actively targeting. These seats are ones with bigger majorities than those he's previously surveyed, and include MPs who commentators have speculated are under threat, such as Ed Davey in Kingston and Surbiton. Across all Lib Dem / Conservative battleground seats, 11 of the 13, the standard voting intention question ("If there were a general election tomorrow, which party ...
Parking your car in Wallington will cost nothing in the weekends leading up to Christmas. From Saturday 13th December the car parks at Shotfield, Wallington Library, Melbourne Road and Wallington Public Hall will be free at the weekends however long you stay. Once again Opportunity Sutton's 'Open for Business' programme is offering this period of [...]
The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill was published yesterday, along with a couple of supporting documents, but it is still unclear exactly what data the Home Office is proposing to retain. There is a need for the government to clarify the language in the bill and supporting documents, because it will be difficult to have a debate about security vs. freedom without this information. (We would really have to assume the worse case option, numbers 2 & 3 below combined) It may also result in legal wrangling if a service provider objects at a later stage to the information they are ...
Thu 27th
11:55
"Those who would pull us out of Europe must come to terms with the damage that would do"
Here's an interesting quote about Europe: Those who would pull us out of Europe must come to terms with the damage that would do to our people. Even the threat of withdrawal destroys jobs. Firms that invest in the Europe often decide to come to Britain. Eurosceptics' threat to withdraw makes companies hesitate to look elsewhere. That Eurosceptic threat is losing us jobs now. The author? Margaret Thatcher. She attacked the then Eurosceptic Labour Party in almost exactly those words when Prime Minister. (I've just swapped Eurosceptic for Labour and one mention of Common Market for Europe.) Hat-tip: Omnirambles.
Liberal Democrats were celebrating that the ruling Tory group on Herts County Council has finally admitted the performance on flooding is not good enough. A motion criticising the continued failures and calling for action was modified by the Tories on Tues to make it clear they would not spend any more money, but did call [...]
In what seemed an inevitability, Theresa May admitted the annual net migration cap was "unlikely" to be met. The target of 100,000 a year net migration to the UK has long been posited to be unrealistic, and Cameron's "no if no buts" pledge to meet it impossible. Yet in spite of this every year the government has pushed every effort to bring down migration levels. We've seen caps on the amount of skilled non-EEA workers, much to businesses' chagrin. Barriers put in place on UK citizens naturalising partners, heartbreakingly splitting up families. Curbs on international students resulting in the first ...
I thought of calling this blog 'The ceaseless quest to find out why people hate politicans'. I haven't done so, mainly because the answer isn't terribly hard to find. Even so, it is strange that a string of former Labour cabinet ministers still write articles suggesting compulsory voting or voting by phone, as if voting was the problem. I've just read another one by Charles Clarke. I've suggested some reasons before. This is another one, and it occurred to me this morning, early in the damp mist in Sussex as I texted the bus company to find out the arrival ...
Residents in Simister (and along the Heywood Road area) have some good news on bus services. A new later No 96 bus service will be added from April 2015. This is 18.27 from Simister and 18.57 from Shudehill. I know a lot of residents have raised this over a number of years, with both the bus services finishing too early for many people who need to be in Manchester for a whole working day. I raised this as a formal question back in April 2014 - so it is great that Transport for Greater Manchester have now seen sense and ...
Thu 27th
10:40
Juncker's investment plan: how to radically transform it | Mariana Mazzucato and Caetano Penna
The Eurozone needs investment, not austerity. Juncker should embrace mission-oriented public investment to shape and create markets in health, energy, climate and inclusion Today the European Commission's president Jean-Claude Juncker announced a €315bn investment plan for Europe that will leverage funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) through a new financial entity: the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Oh, but wait. It's not actually a €315bn investment plan. On closer scrutiny the EU is only planning to relocate existing money into a new fund (€21bn from existing budgets and the European Investment Bank, part of it being money that was ...
On Tuesday night the planning application for a 'Drive Through' KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was approved by Bury Council's Planning Control Committee. The application was for a drive through restaurant on the site just north of the post office on Bury New Road (i.e. between the Post Office and Tescos). It was carried by 8 votes in favour, and 4 votes against. Seven Labour councillors voted in favour, including 2 Prestwich Labour councillors. As previously reported there were a couple of significant conditions, including opening no later than 11pm (midnight on FRI, SAT), and works to ensure no 'right turns' ...
My understanding is that the St Margaret's Road traffic calming scheme works are starting NEXT WEEK (from 2nd December 2014) – this is subject to detailed planning and scheduling by the contractors who are undertaking a few different projects for the Council, but my understanding is that the work is next week. Residents will recall this is work to install a number of speed cushions on both St Margaret's Road and the section of Polefield Road between St Margaret's and Heywood Road. These together with signage and road markings would make the whole area a 20mph zone. We have been ...
Just to let people know that the 'Parklike' festival will be returning to Heaton Park again in 2015 – 6-7 June 2015. The day before there will be a concert by the Courteeners, the capacity for the Friday 5th June is 20,000. The event, taking place on the Friday night before the festival, is not being run by Parklife but will use the same venue. [IMG: 2012TheCourteenersPress081112] Around 70,000 people are expected on each day of the two-day festival which takes place on the weekend of June 6-7, next year. I know that the event can cause significant concerns for ...
Conservative seat, death Liberal Democrat candidate- Ann Bell
Conservative seat, death No Liberal Democrat candidate For more information:
Conservative seat, death No Liberal Democrat candidate
Labour seat, resignation Liberal Democrat candidate- Michael Tait
Labour seat, resignation Liberal Democrat candidate- Paul Mckeown To help contact Pete Dollimore (pete.dollimore@gmail.com; 07710 094143)
Independent seat, resignation No Liberal Democrat candidate For more information:
Labour seat, resignation Liberal Democrat candidate- Lesley Mallinder
SDP seat, death No Liberal Democrat candidate For more information:
Labour seat, death No Liberal Democrat candidate For more information: http://www.melton.gov.uk/homepage/123/current_elections
Labour sitting as Independent, resignation Liberal Democrat candidate- Euan Davidson
Conservative seat, death No Liberal Democrat candidate For more information:
Labour seat, resignation Liberal Democrat candidate- Lesley Mallinder
Thu 27th
09:51
What the current state of the Labour Party proves: standing still doesn't work in politics
[IMG: standing-still] When the dust settled after the 2010 general election, and Britain ended up with its first coalition government since the Second World War, the Labour Party was faced with a fork in the road. Either try and define social democracy for a post-2008 world (no mean feat, admittedly) or look at what had just taken place, reason that the Tories would have to make huge cuts in the months ahead; that the Lib Dems, their competitor on the left, had just gotten into bed with the Conservative Party, and given those factors take a punt on the idea ...
When one thinks of UNESCO World Heritage sites I suppose ancient wonders such as the Pyramids at Giza or Stonehenge come to mind, so for many people it will come as a surprise to know that Germany boasts no fewer than 39 of them, ranging from the old city of Bamberg to the broads of [...]
When will the BBC begin to do its job properly, and understand what it is talking about? I woke up yesterday to a news bulletin telling me that Nick Clegg was considering raising the time limit for someone from an EU country to claim benefits. It was suggested that it would be 6 months. It then ended by saying that the Liberal Democrats were now joining other parties in concern about EU migration. Downstairs I picked up Policy Document 116, Making Migration Work for Britain. A quick check confirmed what we said. Here is our policy, worded exactly as it ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58163 Registration Date: 12/11/2014 Location: 26 Glebelands Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1NE Proposal: Two storey side extension and single storey rear extension 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
Business Insider recently put together a great set of aerial photographs of the Green Belt around London, perhaps more accurately described as the "Green" Belt because – as the photographs vividly demonstrate – much of it is not very green at all. [IMG: Part of the not-so-green Green Belt around London. Photo from Business Insider / Google Maps] Part of the not-so-green Green Belt around London. Photo from Business Insider / Google Maps However for all the inaccuracies and misconceptions bundled up the phrase "the Green Belt", it's a powerful piece of political rhetoric. Objecting to plans to build on ...
Thu 27th
09:1040% of the British public wants the Lib Dems to poll higher than now at the general election, YouGov...
Here's an interesting survey finding via YouGov. The pollster asked the following (slightly awkwardly worded) question: The Lib Dems are currently between 6% to 11% in the opinion polls. At the next general election, might the Lib Dems get closer to their previous several elections? Their average for the past five elections is around 19%. AND, do you personally wnat them to do better than where they are now, or not? You can see the full spread of results below. But bundled up here are the two key findings... First, 78% of the public thinks the Lib Dems will poll ...
Looks like West Yorkshire is going to get the same shitty stick as Manchester (tags: ) Jack Monroe Vs Dan Hodges (tags: ) interesting post by Dan Snow on the separation of powers reference the rise of ukip (tags: ) Student loans sell-off abandonment raises tension in cabinet (tags: ) The myriad lies of 'public health' advocates with regard to e-cigarettes (tags: ) Oh WHAT a surprise. DRIP powers broadened. (tags: ) Uber's Android app is literally malware (tags: ) Them and us - tips for talking about Europe if you don't want to feed the Europhobes (tags: ) Yes, ...
[IMG: litdig] The Literary Digest holds an interesting place in the history of politics, thanks to its role in the 1936 US Presidential election. For several elections before it had been conducting a mass poll that had allowed it to successfully predict the result of the election, which obviously helped to gain it a lot of attention and sales. In 1936, it did the same thing, sending out over 10 million surveys to voters, and receiving more than 2 million back, which gave it the confidence to predict the election result. The result of their poll was clear: Governor Alf ...
Social media is full of the latest gaffe by UKIP in which their South Thanet branch took to Twitter to criticise the BBC programme, Daily Politics for supposedly conducting a poll as to whether Nigel Farage has what it takes to be Prime Minister, outside a 'Mosque'. Unfortunately for them, the so-called 'Mosque' was actually Westminster Catholic Cathedral. But this isn't just a story about geographic ignorance, the assumptions behind the tweet are particularly disturbing implying disrespect for the Muslim community verging on bigotry. This is the true face of UKIP and one that people need to beware of.
Information compiled by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has revealed that there is enough available brownfield land in the UK to build at least 976,000 homes, if around 400,000 properties were to be built on previously developed land with planning permission, and the rest on derelict or vacant land without permission. However, the analysis does not include underused land - meaning the total number of homes that could be built is likely to be far higher. Around half of the vacant space is in the South East and East of England and London, which itself has enough room ...
Widespread antipathy to the EU isn't all Nigel Farage's fault. So-called pro-European politicians unconciously endorse europhobia almost every time they speak, so here's five rules for talking about the EU as if you were actually in favour of it. 1. Don't say "Going to Europe" or "Coming from Europe" as if Britain was somewhere else, off [...]
We have the perverse situation where the minimum wage often results in huge state subsidies – family credit being the most obvious. The minimum wage isn't enough to live on. Hence the Living Wage campaigns and arguments. I'm delighted that Lib Dem minister Vince Cable has done so much to raise both the minimum wage and the Living Wage. But we need to eliminate and replace the minimum wage with a Living Wage. People should be paid enough so that their jobs are not subsidised as a matter of norm by the state. Part of this is ensuring policies to ...
Labour are spinning the Jobs Growth Wales scheme as though it's nothing but a success, but the truth is far more mixed. While it has helped some young people into work, there are some big failings and limitations which Welsh Labour Ministers are refusing to acknowledge. The Welsh Government is proud of the fact that 27% of the young people on the scheme might not have found a job quickly otherwise- that is good news for each of them, but it also means that the vast majority of young people on the scheme would have got a job in any ...
The sad news to wake up to this morning is that Australian batsman Phillip Hughes who was hit on the head by a bouncer while playing for South Australia against New South Wales has died as a result of the damage he sustained to a major artery as a result. He had been in an induced coma since an operation after he was rushed to a Sydney hospital following the incident. Although he was only 25 he made his test debut on 26 February 2009 against South Africa. Although in his first innings he was dismissed for a duck, he ...
I have now been here for 4 days and I must admit I know little more about China now than when I came. I am writing this just before I set off for my 30 hour journey home. Who says ... Continue reading →
Consett is getting a shiny new Leisure Centre. That's Good News. Consett is getting one which is co-located with the new Academy, and in a world where local authority leisure facilities are threatened by cutbacks, having one which has to survive because it's integral to the school provides us with great protection! That's Good News. But when people tell you that it's all Good News, don't believe them. There is a price to pay, and the price rises if community and academy fail to co-operate effectively. That's the message that I take from today's meeting in which local councillors were ...
There is a speech that the leaders and prominent figures of all political parties have given recently that makes absolutely no sense. It goes something like this. UKIP are vile, and what they stand for goes against everything that makes Britain great. Make no mistake, their brand of narrow-minded xenophobia is not what the British [...]
