Ed Miliband in his interview with Premier Christian Radio this week said: "I want to say to people who feel that [marginalised] I'm sorry they feel that. "Part of being a tolerant society and the kind of society I believe in is that people of all faiths and none don't feel marginalised. "Now that doesn't mean there aren't going to be disagreements, for example on equal marriage, but I think it's really important that Christians don't feel that. "That they feel, not just comfortable in their faith, but comfortable that their faith is respected in our country. "I think it's ...
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This evening, I had the pleasure of attending the Harris Academy Carol Service that took place at Dundee West Church. It was a hugely enjoyable community event and showcases the huge talent of Harris Academy pupils. This is the 14th year I have attended the carol service. Each year, it really marks the start of the festive season and this year's service was every bit as enjoyable as in past years. Wishing all at Harris Academy a very Happy Christmas!
Later this afternoon, Dr Mark McGilchrist, Chair of the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden, and I presented Dominic McMichan aged 10 with his prizes as winner of a competition run by the Christmas Fortnight in the run up to the festive season. Dominic lives locally and attends Victoria Park Primary School. All local school children from the 4 West End Primary Schools - Victoria Park, St Joseph's, Ancrum Road and Blackness - and local children who attend other primary schools - were all invited to participate in a window spotting competition around the Perth Road district shopping ...
As part of West End Christmas Fortnight, every year we ask local shoppers to vote for their favourite Christmas-themed shop window in the West End. This year, we are delighted to announce that the winner of the public vote is Impulse Flowers of Perth Road. Earlier today, Ann Prescott from the West End Christmas Committee and I presented Diane Watson from Impulse Flowers with her award certificate and gift. Here's Ann (left) and Diane at the presentation :
Earlier today, I had the pleasure of receiving a cheque from TSB Perth Road Branch on behalf of the West End Christmas Fortnight Committee. We are very grateful to TSB for their kind support of West End Christmas Fortnight this year. Here's a picture of Ann Rossborough of TSB and myself at the presentation :
There are just two shopping days left 'til Christmas, so if you're still scrambling round for a last-minute pressie for a politico, here are a handful of ideas from Stephen Tall, Caron Lindsay and Paul Walter to help... Stephen Tall [IMG: Stephen Tall - resized - small - H&S] Liberalism: The Life of an Idea – Edmund Fawcett There are lots of books around about liberalism as an idea: this one focuses on liberalism as reality, and how it's decisively shaped the past 200 years of American and European history. In the wrong hands, this could be scholarly but dry, ...
On Saturday Wasps played their first game at their new home in Coventry. They beat London Irish 48-16. This leads to a couple of thoughts on what this may means for English rugby. First, to be parochial, Coventry has in recent years been a good recruiting ground for my own team Leicester Tigers. Players they recruited there include Saturday's star for Wasps, Andy Good, and Neil Back. In the days when he was considered too small to play for England, Back was simply the best player I have ever seen. Second, there is an irony here. In the late 1960s ...
@DPJHodges Could someone explain why the "gay donkey" comment is controversial or newsworthy please? — Frank Fisher (@frank_fisher) December 22, 2014 More evidence today for the thesis that Ukip members lack a sense of humour. There is Nigel Farage's reaction to a phone game produced by some school pupils in Kent: Farage claimed the game, developed by a group of sixth-formers from Canterbury Academy, was "risible and pathetic" and that it had "crossed the line".Why has he even concerned himself with this? If he feels he has to, why has he not turned it into a joke? It all reinforces ...
The Peterborough Departure Lounge returns this year, offering care and support to city centre revellers. The Lounge will be in its new location in front of Bayard Place in Broadway, Peterborough. Open on December 31st between 10pm and 4am staff will offer a refreshments, advice and practical help getting home. Cambridgeshire Police, Peterborough City Council [...]
Gestalt psychology argues that the best way to think about solving problems is to consider the whole, rather than obsessing too much over specific details. Max Wertheimer suggested that if you are given several different pieces of information, making sense of them can only be achieved by considering them in the round. Using the information you have, the processes of productive thinking (insight) and reproductive thinking (bringing previous experience to bear on the current situation) will have the best chance of leading to an "ah ha"moment. Being able to perceive your true status is therefore a deliberate act of will. ...
Congratulations to the Brighouse Echo for winning Headline of the Day. Thanks to Jennie Rigg on Twitter.
[IMG: 2014Business_Forum_header] In early December I attended the 3rd annual United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. The Forum gave an opportunity for key stakeholders to discuss how we can ensure universal human rights standards are upheld in business practices. As a Liberal Democrat and an internationalist I know, on an issue as important as this, co-operation with our global partners is the best way of ensuring transnational businesses maintain their responsibilities to their employees and their consumers. So I am delighted that the Coalition Government has announced that we will be supporting a new Corporate Human ...
Chipping away at the secrecy surrounding Liberal Democrat internal committees has been a regular theme of mine over the last few years, and more recently it has – due to a range of other factors too – become almost fashionable within the party to decry the secrecy. At the last Federal Policy Committee meeting we had a discussion of how to report more widely on our work in future, with necessary safeguards but without undue obscurantism. The mood was generally good on this and there's more work to be done, but in the meantime thanks to the staff at party ...
With the final council by-elections of 2014 it's now clear that the Liberal Democrats have beaten Labour and the Conservatives to record a net gain of six seats across the year. The Conservatives saw a net loss of eight seats and Labour a net gain of two. These Lib Dem gains were in places as [...]
[IMG: Sutton] We missed this story when it broke earlier in the month, but were alerted to it when it surfaced in the Sunday Times (£ – and to be honest I'm not prepared to pay £6 per week just to be able to read this article in full) yesterday. It seems Lib Dem run Sutton is the most normal place in the UK. That view was expressed by Neil Couling when he was giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. He explained that the new benefits IT system, which had ...
[IMG: Falklands 1914 - INVINCIBLE and INFLEXIBLE in action] It is rather a strange thing that, as we celebrate the centenary of the Christmas Truce - maybe even read my ebook on the subject - we are forgetting one critical element of the First World War. Are we not supposed to be remembering the war at sea? Why not? The last few months have seen the centenary of two of the most decisive sea battles of the First World War, and they have gone by with barely a mention - the overwhelming German victory at Coronel in October, followed by ...
View image | gettyimages.com A rather unusual complaint: Most local newspapers actively drive for their MPs to spend less time in Westminster and more time engaging with their constituents, but one weekly paper in south London has taken the rare step of asking its Conservative MP to stop launching petitions and bothering voters. This unusual situation now means that Gavin Barwell, MP for Croydon Central, is facing a "Campaign to end all campaigns" from the Croydon Advertiser. In frustration at his persistent attempts at headline-grabbing, the weekly paper is calling on Mr Barwell to "stop launching campaigns"... According to Glenn ...
The government's long awaited Science and Innovation Strategy materialised last week, but raises more questions than it provides answers about the future direction of UK research policy On Wednesday morning, just as the university sector was beginning to digest the emerging results of the Research Excellence Framework, the government slipped out its new Science and Innovation Strategy. This had been originally scheduled to appear alongside George Osborne's Autumn Statement, and expectations were running high for a document that had been talked up by ministers, and which had been the basis of an unusually broad consultation. There was inevitable speculation as ...
On Thursday, I had the immense privilege of attending UK Deputy Prime Minister (and Liberal Democrat Leader) Nick Clegg's Chanukah reception at Admiralty House. It was a lovely occasion, on which Nick Clegg made a speech that touched upon some genuinely interesting themes, so here is a video - the speech begins about four minutes in, after the nice bit with the children singing, the rabbi, and the candles being lit (and the first minute or two of that first bit has less than perfect sound).
[IMG: timthumb] The House of Lords have published a picture book called "A guide to confusable peers with similar names". Well they might. It's bad enough knowing who all these peers deciding our laws are. But anyone who has tried to pick out peers from a list will know what a nightmare it can be. – Particularly for those with common names like Smith and Jones. You have to know the place in their title to distinguish them. For example, it's no good referring to "Baroness Williams". You need to specify whether that is "of Crosby" or "of Trafford". The ...
I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas and so, I suspect, do many people. One the one extreme we have a gluttonous, consumer led spending boom. On the other we have a deeply spiritual and meaningful religious event. Most of ... Continue reading →
The full set is published. Speak now or for ever hold your peace.The orders are as follows: 1. Ashdale Road: North east side of the road, from a point aprox. 14 metres south east of its junction with the B6308 Medomsley Road in a south easterly direction for a distance of aprox. 21 metres. Plan reference CQ172 refers. 2. Ashdale Road: North east side of the road, from a point aprox. 57 metres south east of its junction with the B6308 Medomsley Road in a south easterly direction for a distance of aprox. 142 metres. Plans CQ172 & CR171 refer. ...
I have just ordered, but not yet received, a book by Professor Sir John Hills entitled: "Good Times, Bad times: The Welfare Myth of Them and Us". According to the review that prompted me to buy the book, Hills's argument is that our welfare state is not, as the tabloids and Tories pretend, a system by which a virtuous tax-paying majority subsidise a growing minority of layabouts in a "life style choice" (David Cameron) of idleness. Rather, "Britain's welfare state remains a resource for the great majority, not just the feckless few." This weekend's leaked proposal that the government intends ...
Plans for foreign students to essentially be chucked out of the country after their course finishes has been met with condemnation from all sides. That's because it's a silly policy. Supporters of the idea say that 70,000 students from outside the EU hang around to work after they get their degrees, not seeing that this is actually one, a minuscule figure and two, having a group of highly educated, highly skilled people filling in necessary gaps in the economy isn't actually a bad thing to have happen. But I'm not going to rail about the naff-ness of the policy any ...
Stockport Council has launched a great new service, allowing us all to see a huge amount of information overlaid on a map of the borough. Put in your road or postcode from the front page of the Stockport website and find out a host of useful information from your bin collection days and councillors to your local schools, health centre, leisure centre, park, library, optician, pharmacy, doctor, dentist, hospital, planning applications and more. [IMG: My House] There's a mapping function covering the whole borough. You can find out almost anything. The map below shows land the Council owns along with ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58234 Registration Date: 18/12/2014 Location: 36 Heys Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1JY Proposal: Single storey extension at rear; Steps with railings and handrail down to garden level (resubmission) 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
On Christmas Eve the International Space Station rises in the West (Bristol direction) at 5.20 pm and goes down in the East at 5.26 pm. If there's no cloud it will be be VERY visible - the pass is classed as "incredibly bright" Details of other passes are available from: http://www.meteorwatch.org/uk-iss-passes-december-2014.html Just the thing for families with small children. We can't promise that you'll see any reindeer, though...
View image | gettyimages.com Paddy Ashdown, Nick Clegg, David Steel, Charles Kennedy and Menzies Campbell attend the funeral of former Liberal Party party leader Jeremy Thorpe at Saint Margaret's Church on December 17, 2014 in Westminster. The eagle-eyed will also spot Tim Farron on the right. View image | gettyimages.com The coffin is carried out during the funeral. There are more photos from the funeral here. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is Wednesday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK:
When he saw the writing on the wall and was desperate to get people to vote Yes, Alex Salmond made a last ditch appeal on the Andrew Marr Show the Sunday before the independence referendum. He said that people had ... Continue reading →
The range of Stockport Council services you can access online has grown hugely in recent months. Using the council website is quicker, easier and better than phoning the council! [IMG: Services available online at Stockport Council] More and more services are available online at Stockport Council Everything from potholes to fly posting, town hall events to applying for a hypnotism licence can now be done easily and quickly from the Stockport Council website.
[IMG: rsz_link_road_at_brickwall_lane_10_12_14] Please click on photo to enlarge it This was the scene on Brickwall Lane, Sefton Village last week as curb stones associated with the junction of the new Switch Island to Thornton Link Road (to be called Brooms Cross Road) were being laid in.
Meeting to discuss appointing mayor Greater Manchester's 10 council leaders are to meet today to discuss the region's devolution agreement – and the process of appointing an interim mayor. Councils across the region have held meetings on the deal, which will see money and new powers over planning, skills funding, transport and house-building handed to the region's combined authority, with, according to the Manchester Evening News, leaders broadly adopting a similar position – reluctant acceptance of an elected mayor in return for unprecedented devolution. The Manchester Evening News ran this story. The Liverpool City Region seems to have been put ...
The Mitchell Street Centre provides very useful computer access for local residents. Following constituents' concerns that the centre is no longer providing the service on Thursday mornings, I sought an explanation from the Adult Learning Manager, who advises: "Mitchell Street offers an IT4Work Course and a job shop on a Thursday mornings. Both these groups need access to IT to complete Job Search and for people to learn how to fill in their benefit claims on line. The groups run from the base which has 8 PCs. However, we are finding this is not enough PCs for the number of ...
As everyone knows these days, the money local councils have to spend has been falling as the national Government seeks to deal with the rising national debt. Since 2010 we've have to cut Stockport Council's spending by £54 million a year and we've another £65 million to cut from our annual spending by 2018. (All the main political parties have made clear they'll continue cutting local government, though our cuts may be higher if Labour get in as they've suggested cutting places like Stockport more so they can reduce the cuts for higher-funded councils like Manchester and Tameside). We've called ...
On Wednesday I visited Parkland's School in Sketty to see for myself the playing fields that the ruling Labour group on Swansea Council want to sell. I was shocked. These fields are at the heart of the school and form an important recreation area for the 520 plus children who attend it. If the fields were lost the children would lose their infant playground, would be cut off from ancient woodlands and be confined to a small space at the far end of the school, leaving them with inadequate sports facilities. I understand Swansea Council's need to sell off surplus ...
We all know from seeing the queues of ambulances outside Wrexham Maelor's Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department that many patients are waiting too long before they receive treatment. This was reflected in statistics this week that show our hospital and Glan Clwyd face the greatest challenge in performance in Wales with only Morriston Hospital in Swansea in a worse situation. For the month of November 70.3% of patients spent less than four hours or more in Wrexham's A&E from arrival, until admission, transfer or discharge. Ysbyty Glan Clwyd at Bodelwyddan was slightly worse at 70.1% but both figures are not ...
Report on the Licensing Review. Licensing Act Sub-Committee Application for an Expedited Review of a Premises Licence Blue Boar, Mill Street, Ludlow Extract of Minute 16th December 2014. RESOLVED: That the decision made by the Sub-Committee held on 26th November 2014 to remove the Designated Premises Supervisor stands; That the Premises Licence is suspended for [...]
[IMG: James Family Tree 2014] James Family Tree 2014 2014 comes to a close in Cornwall and as with previous years, I cannot believe the year has passed so fast! I'm sure we are all far too busy for lengthy pieces or any in depth Politics but I will try to capture simply the key issues in the year, as I see them, and set out a few of my hopes for 2015. The cuts to local government funding have continued to dominate my work as a Councillor. When I stood for election in 2013, I knew I would not ...
On my Patreon, those of you who donate money to me can find out my views on the third Batman '66 story, The Joker Is Wild/Batman Is Riled, while those of you who don't even have any Christmas spirit at all and are probably due to be visited by ghosts on Wednesday night can read [...]
