The Surrey Comet has the report.
Stockport councillors across all parties observed a minute's silence for Holocaust Memorial Day at the start of the Full Council meeting on 22nd January. Holocaust Memorial Day falls on 27th January and the theme for 2015 is "Keeping the memory alive". It is marked each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, with 2015 marking the 70th anniversary. You can find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day here.
Funding news for community, charity and sports groups.
When Richard Rorty died in 2007 I quoted a tribute by Christopher Hayes in the Nation: Rorty had an uncanny ability to stare into the post-modern abyss, in which nothing is grounded in the divine or universal, and yet somehow, some way, find a kind of practical empathy that could serve as a beacon in the face of nihilism, authoritarianism and cruelty.This interview, which he gave n 1997, is a good introduction to the appeal of Rorty's ideas.
On the eve of MP Amber Rudd's second rail summit in Hastings (30 January) Nick Perry, the Lib Dem candidate for MP in Hastings & Rye, has launched an audacious campaign for a South Coast main line railway stretching from Southampton to Ashford. The 38 year old, who was re-selected last year to fight the [...]
Promoters of the supermarket proposal originally said the new supermarket would create 250 jobs. That's now been revised to 210 jobs, two-thirds of which will be part time. This is of course an estimate. Even more of an estimate is the calculation that around 78 part and full time jobs will be lost in the [...]
Yet again Durham's Labour councillors have refused to reconsider the absurd position that sees Durham councillors paid 48p per mile for official duties, whilst employees in almost every other walk of life settle for the "normal" Inland Revenue limit of 45p per miles, sometimes referred to as the "approved rate". What was surprising this year was to hear the leader of the Conservative Group backing this position. The Liberal Democrat move to reduce the rate therefore fell by 83-15. This debate has run year on year, but the irony this year is that it appears likely that next year all ...
Bath & North East Somerset Council is organising a second hand furniture sale on Saturday February 7, at the former MoD building (next to the Recycling Centre) at Pixash Lane, Keynsham BS31 ITP. It will take place between 10am and 12 noon, and there will be a variety of items on sale, all of which have been brought to the Council's Recycling Centres by residents and are in good enough condition for re-use. Items for sale include a piano, chests of drawers, bedside tables, dining room tables and chairs, three-piece suites, and much more. Cllr David Dixon, Bath & North ...
Bath & North East Somerset Council will be marking National Libraries Day on Saturday February 7. Local libraries will be running a Find the Book Character Treasure Hunt for children and a literary quiz for adults – sheets will be available at all local libraries. Library visitors will also be able to rent DVDs at half price, and reserve two items on the LibrariesWest catalogue free of charge. Those who borrow at least three physical items (books, CDs, audio books, and DVDs) or join online at www.librarieswest.org.uk will also be entered into a prize draw with the chance to win ...
Bath & North East Somerset Council has provided a new charging point for electric vehicles in South Wansdyke Sports Centre car park in Midsomer Norton. The charging unit enables two cars to charge at once, each using one of the 32amp/7kw fast charge sockets which provide a full recharge from empty in about four hours. The unit has been funded through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund - a Government grant for a package of measures aimed at improving sustainable transport options. It is hoped the charge point will encourage electric vehicle use, lower emissions and improve air quality in the ...
Award-winners have been announced for this year's Bath & North East Somerset Council Building Control Awards for Building & Design Quality, sponsored by the Bath Stone Group. The awards are run annually to promote and reward builders and designers undertaking work within the Bath and North East Somerset area who excel in their achievements. Cllr Tim Ball (Lid-Dem, Twerton), Cabinet Member for Homes & Planning, said: "This is the fifteenth year we have run the awards and the judges have once again been impressed with the high quality of the entries. It is excellent that the Council's Building Control Section ...
Bath & North East Somerset Council is asking local residents to be aware of an email scam in operation in relation to Council Tax. The Council has had reports of a bogus email informing Council Tax payers that they have an outstanding Council Tax debt. The email goes on to say that the Council has been unable to process their recent payment and that they should pay again by clicking on the link within the email. These emails are not from Bath & North East Somerset Council. If you are unsure whether you need to make a payment, please contact ...
Bath's Grade II* Listed Victoria Bridge officially reopens on Thursday 15 January following a £3.4 million refurbishment by Bath & North East Somerset Council to make the historic structure suitable for modern use for the growing population of Crest Nicholson's Bath Riverside development and link the Upper and Lower Bristol Road for people on foot and cyclists. Built in 1836 to a design by James Dredge - Bath resident, brewer and bridge builder - Victoria Bridge was the first of over fifty 'taper' suspension bridges to be built worldwide, and is one of only a handful remaining today. The newly-refurbished ...
A scheme which could see up to £2million in business rates being retained to boost the local economy across Somerset has been approved by the Government. As part of the recent Local Government Settlement, the Government has given the go ahead for the establishment of the Somerset Business Rates Pool; consisting of Somerset County Council, Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) and North Somerset Unitary councils, Mendip, Sedgemoor and South Somerset District councils, and Taunton Deane Borough Council, forming a continuous geographic area centring on the ceremonial shire county of Somerset, with a combined population of over 900,000. The Pool ...
The Liberal Democrat administration of Bath and NES continues to invest in cycling and walking schemes around the authority. In Bath of course these will be fitting in with the new transport strategy Following Bath & North East Somerset Council's successful completion of the rejuvenation of Queen Square's gardens in December, work to improve connections for pedestrians and cyclists around the square is expected to begin at the end of January 2015. This will see the creation of a new pedestrian island and cycle link, including a section of the pavement lowered at the north west corner of the square ...
The DUP are claiming that their 9 MPs being greater than the SNP's 9 and Plaid Cymru's 3 puts them in a position to be at the leaders' debates ahead of these other regional parties. But look at it another way the DUP will be fielding between 16-18 candidates (the number is variable as they are still talking about possible deal(s) with the UUP), this is against the SNP who will be standing 59 and Plaid who will be standing 40. Of those 59 and 40 they will all face a Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat and a high proportion ...
Yesterday, a poll showed the Green party ahead of the Liberal Democrats by two points. Last week, figures showed that the Green party overtook the LibDems (and UKIP) in terms of membership numbers. There's also talk of a (Cameron-supported) appearance of the Greens in the election leadership debates. Opposition to that has allowed the two leading Green women to appear in a poster with the line: "What are you afraid of boys?" So, should we be panicking? Will we lose seats to the Greens in the election? Could some of our MPs defect to them? Well, no, no and no ...
About 15% of the causes of global warming come from transportation. A major portion of that comes down to trucks on our roads – which play a major role in keeping our economy going. Therefore anyone with an interest in reducing carbon emissions must applaud any efforts to increase truck fuel efficiency. This webpage contains a host of advice for truck drivers along those lines. One interesting new development is topographical sat nav: Topographical (TOPO) satellite navigation systems will not only inform you of road markings, but also elevation in the geography, which can help you plan ahead more efficiently. ...
Fri 23rd
17:35
Sefton Council – Liverpool Echo reports on stormy meeting where Labour back building on Green ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Bet Labour MP Bill Esterson feels as sick as I do today as his own councillors utterly ignored him and voted to build on the land that John Pugh (the Lib Dem MP for Southport), Bill, I and many others feel should be kept free of development as it provides the food that we eat. This is probably the first thing Bill and I have ever agreed upon but it was brave of him to stand against all of his Sefton Central councillors and indeed Ed Miliband who wants ...
[IMG: Welsh Lib Dems weibsite] "New websites put Welsh Lib Dems at forefront of web campaigning" screams the headline on Wales Online. Not bad coverage for the launch of a website, albeit one using the new .wales and .cymru domain names. Kirsty Williams is quoted as saying:
The BBC TV drama series 37 Days: the countdown to World War I is great piece of drama and a pretty decent piece of history too. [IMG: 37 Days to War - DVD cover] The drama is delivered courtesy of a great, tight script and some impressive acting, especially in the scenes when many key people are in shot but only a handful talking. The continued high quality acting by the rest of the cast gives their characters much greater depth than if they'd relied on just their lines. As a piece of history rather than of drama, 37 Days ...
Acocks Green's Claimant Unemployment fell by 13 to 682 in December. This is a fall of 263 over the past year, reducing the claimant rate from 7.2% to 5.2% in that time. The level of long term unemployment fell by 5 to 260 and the number of youth claimants also fell by 5 to 150. Across Birmingham as a whole, the claimant unemployment level is down 885 in the month and 10,091 in the past year. It now stands at 31,338 or 6.5%. Its over 14% in 3 wards: Aston, Lozells & East Handsworth and Washwood Heath but under 2% ...
[IMG: chilcot blog] Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron writes in the Independent: "In 2003 Britain was led by the Labour Party with Conservative support into a war with Iraq which many people in our country believe was illegal. "It is why on the eve of the conflict a million people took to the streets to protest against the decision to send our troops into harm's way without the backing of the United Nations. "The grim statistics resulting directly from that fateful decision are now, sadly, all too familiar. "Nearly 200 British service personnel killed. More than 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead. ...
One of the best moments for me of the debate on the Same Sex Marriage Bill was when Cambridge's Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert spoke out against elements of the Bill which would cause real heartache and injustice for transgender people and their partners. His understanding, sensitivity and eloquence on these matters was second to none. Of course he was well briefed by Sarah Brown and Zoe O'Connell among others but he put his head above the parapet to try and secure fairness for people who are all too often marginalised. His expertise on this matter (and many others) is ...
There has been a growth recently in the number of reports of exploding Manhole Covers. One in Tyseley exploded yesterday on the Warwick Road close to Tyseley station yesterday. There are quite a few press reports about this including a video of a little girl who was almost hit by the cover. The detail is in various press reports including this one. I have been down to look into it. When it
We had a Frank Hornby Trust meeting last week and Jim Gamble came up to Maghull from Nottingham for it. Jim wrote the definitive book about Frank Hornby some years ago and I managed to track down a second hand copy not so long ago. Whilst we were waiting for the meeting to start in Meadows Leisure Centre a library assistant came up to me and asked whether I, as a local councillor, would have my photo taken reading a book so that the library could use it to promote its work. I said fine, add me to your rouges ...
Keynes recognised that, when an economy goes into recession, leading to falling government revenues through a falling tax take, but a rise in expenditure through increased welfare payments, then the obvious solution, to try to balance the government's books by raising taxes and cutting expenditure and so imposing austerity, is the wrong one. The counter-intuitive solution, to re-stimulate the economy by cutting taxes and increasing government expenditure, is the correct solutions. In shorthand: "Look after the economy and the deficit will take care of itself." The experience of the 1930s (and in the US in the 2010s!) proves Keynes correct ...
Just two principal council by-elections took place yesterday. In Fife (UA), SNP held their seat in Kirkcaldy East, winning 47.3% of the first preference votes, 372 ahead of Labour who had topped the poll in the ward's previous election in 2012. The Liberal Democrats finished 6th out of 8 candidates with 1.3% of the vote. In Wealden (DC), the two-candidate contest in Crowborough West saw the Conservatives hold one of their two seats in the ward by winning 58.7% of the vote in defeating the UKIP candidate by 138 votes. * ALDC is the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and ...
Caron Lindsay explains why the scheme adopted by BBC, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 for televised party leader debates during the general election campaign favours the other parties. Nick Clegg will have approximately 18 minutes (over two debates) to defend a record of 5 years in government, while Cameron will have an hour more. That's simply not fair to either the Liberal Democrats or the public.Can you imagine how tortuous it is going to be to watch Cameron and Miliband debate on their own for 2 hours? For a clue, watch Prime Minister's Questions. I can't imagine either of them ...
Amongst my colleagues on the Lib Dem Federal Policy Committee and last year's Public Services Policy Working Group, I'm known as the one who talks about driverless cars, which is both true and unfortunate. Unfortunate because the rapid advance of driverless car technology (at a pace which makes the construction of new train lines look extremely slow) means that their arrival on our roads will have a huge social and economic impact, not at some point in the far future, but in the next few years – and that means everyone in policy-making should be thinking about their impact. To ...
The Council's arboriculture team are currently working to identify and remove dead or dangerous trees across Cheadle and Gatley. In the last few days two dead trees on Belmont Road and three on Springfield Road have been felled. In all cases, the aim is to replant with a new tree in the next planting season (winter 2015/16). The new trees are all suitable for highway planting – they won't get too big or tear up the pavements in five or ten years time. The Council are hoping to get the data more digitised over the next twelve months to allow ...
Nobody can accuse Bridgend Town Council of lacking ambition. According to a LinkedIn contact I have just received they have just appointed a Military Advisor whose job is to advise their newly constituted Military Advisory Committee. Rumours that the First Minister is about to face a military coup in his own constituency are most probably greatly exaggerated.
Well, the new debates plan is even worse than the old one for the Liberal Democrats. The original plan was that there would be a series of three debates involving Cameron and Miliband, Cameron, Clegg and Miliband and Cameron, Clegg, Miliband and Farage. This led to David Cameron showing more empathy to anything Green than he has had since he hugged that husky and refusing to take part if the Greens were excluded. The new proposals create the worst of all possible worlds for the Liberal Democrats: Broadcasters are expected to put forward new proposals for the TV election debates ...
Yesterday the Foreign Ministers of 21 nations gathered in London to discuss how to respond to Islamic State. There were not only representatives of major Western countries, including John Kerry from the United States, but also delegations from five of the six GCC States, Egypt and Iraq — the last mentioned very much in the [...]
The theft of part of the Mannamán Mac Lir statue (pictured right) that overlooks Lough Foyle near Limavady appears to be a case of selective ten commandments following by religious zealots. The body of the Celtic sea god was removed with a wooden cross put in its place on which were inscribed the words "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" along with the Greek letters alpha and omega (one of the biblical names for God "the beginning and the end"). Now this is the first commandment as listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, but no body is ...
During this period of the calendar, its important to keep an eye on your neighbours, in a bid to reduce the number of deaths during the cold weather. Last year, Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England published the Cold Weather Plan for England advising people on actions they can take before and during the [...]
[IMG: Clegg_jobs] Figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that the rate of employment is at a record high of 30.8m. In the last three months employment rose by 37,000 and was up 512,000 on the year. For the first time since 2008 the unemployment rate has fallen below 6 per cent, falling 1.3 percentage points on the year to 5.8 per cent. There are a record 14.4m women in work with the female employment rate is also at a new record high of 68.2 per cent. Job vacancies have risen by 127,000 to hit a 14-year ...
Willie Rennie got a pretty good splash of headlines yesterday after he raised his concerns over SNP plans to create a massive ID database in Scotland. The Scotsman has details: The Scottish Government is considering an extension of the NHS central register, which is already the "most complete and authoritative record of individuals in Scotland". It currently covers about 30 per cent of people, but ministers want to extend this and share information stored with more than 100 government agencies - including HMRC for tax purposes. A similar population register was ditched south of the Border when controversial and expensive ...
Just two principal council by-elections took place yesterday. In Fife (UA), SNP held their seat in Kirkcaldy East, winning 47.3% of the first preference votes, 372 ahead of Labour who had topped the poll in the ward's previous election in 2012. The Liberal Democrats finished 6th out of 8 candidates with 1.3% of the vote. In [...]
[IMG: Pound coins] The Liberal Democrats are running a 'double your donation' fundraising drive up until the end of January, with a group of supporters having agreed to match the donations made by others during the last few days of the months. So if you donate, say, £5, they will double it to £10. There's a maximum cap on the doubling of £100,000 and so far the party is about 4% of the way there, so now's an excellent time to donate and double your money: https://libdems.nationbuilder.com/matched_funds.
Are you aged 14+ and want to play basketball? Then join these sessions on Wednesdays at St Nics Youth Centre (Abbotswood) from 28 January The sessions run from 6.30 to 7.30 pm - learn basketball skills and play friendly games. The sessions are completely FREE so come along and join in! For more information contact sport@southglos.gov.uk or call 01454 865821
Fri 23rd
09:53
We do not have a proportional voting system, something a lot of people find strangely hard to fathom
There was an article in the Guardian yesterday which extrapolated that, based on some recent Scottish polling, the SNP would get 55 seats and Labour would get 4. This is classic Westminster reporting; the whole thing based on a misunderstanding about how the voting system actually operates. For instance, there are two seats in Scotland that are staying Lib Dem pretty much no matter what. This hasn't been factored in, just as so many other things haven't either in terms of arriving at a 55-4 prediction. I realise that 55-4 isn't proportional in and of itself, but it is indicative ...
Fri 23rd
09:44
The Independent View: Progressive and pro-European voters must unite against Tory-UKIP chaos
Britain stands on the edge of a cliff with the General Election only 105 days away. Will we vote Tory or UKIP for Euroreferendum chaos, lasting two years at least and putting thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and our long term peace and security at risk? Or will Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and all progressive voters come together in the marginal seats that matter to elect a Parliament for progress and reform and a Labour-led Government with Ed Miliband as Prime Minister? He has stood firm against the clamour for a referendum with considerable courage and nous. Scotland shows ...
The inspector's report can be found here: 5.14.1051 and 1052 – Spotted Bull, 43-45 Verulam Road, St Albans
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention this week... The problem of youth turnout | Conservative Home The collapse in the 18-24 year-old gen election turn-out really is stark http://bit.ly/1JghZrH (h/t @pghoskin) Login Late to this, but v good from @montie on why there's no such thing as a good election to lose http://thetim.es/1yWmxSB Televised election debate plans in disarray – Telegraph Anyone sub-edit the Telegraph these days? "The DUP, which is the third largest party in the Commons with 8 MPs" http://bit.ly/1yW1HTf BBC News – Why lowering tuition fees is more complicated than you think "Why ...
Donate to the Lib Dems today and a group of people have offered to match funds to double donations (tags: ) BBC & ITV bid for 7-way leaders' debates to include Cons/Lab/LD/Ukip/Greens/SNP/Plaid ... but still no Loonies or Pirates. Shame! (tags: ) Al Murray's eurozone crisis solution: 'Europe goes on the pound & is renamed the British Empire' (tags: ) Undox.Me - helpful site on how to get pictures etc taken down. US-focussed. (tags: ) The real science of science fiction (tags: ) Boris Johnson takes the fight to Islamic State - lookit the STATE of his SHIRT! (tags: ) ...
[IMG: Ibrahim Taguri] A Liberal Democrat news release brings the welcome news: Ibrahim Taguri, Liberal Democrat candidate for Brent Central, has been named as the party's Race Equality Champion. Ibrahim will engage with all communities and ensure the party continues to include commitments reflecting a diverse Britain in our manifesto. The new appointment was announced by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg at a reception for the BAME community on Wednesday evening (21 January). Commenting on his new role, Ibrahim Taguri, said: "I'm glad to be given such an important role at a vital time for the country when the politics ...
[IMG: Ibrahim Taguri selected for Brent Central] Ibrahim Taguri was born and raised in Brent not far from the office he wants to take over from Sarah Teather in May. Last Summer he wrote of his ambition for the area: Yet I was lucky. My mother was single minded when it came to our education as children. That was our route out of poverty. I was also lucky in many ways, so when I had opportunities I was able to make the most of them. That's why when Sarah Teather announced she was standing down as MP, I knew I ...
Mark Spalding From Sheena Wellington : Tomorrow sees the first in this year's series of Cappuccino Concerts will be held in the Wighton Centre, upstairs in the Central Library. These popular Saturday morning events are held every month, with coffee and newspapers served from 10.30am and the music performance from 11am to noon. Admission is £5. For January, the Friends of Wighton are pleased to welcome back Mark Spalding, who will perform a programme of unusual and exciting music on the piano and also on the Wighton harpsichord - a delicious 18th century style instrument that is kept in the ...
There has to be something very wrong going on with a Council when a wide range of people from all backgrounds are saying to the Council that it is wrong but the Council just ploughs on no matter what. As one opposition councillor said at last night's Sefton Council meeting 'I was elected to represent local people'. Indeed he was, yet council officers and the lead political group arrogantly push on in a direction that few outside of their bunker seem to think is right. Local government in Sefton is sadly breaking down and it is becoming something that is ...
[IMG: Shoeburyness. Photo courtesy of http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/210667 - CC BY-SA 2.0] Strange and threatening letters about gyms, weird policies about stopping parents driving, the departure of Ukip's manifesto author from the job, and now Southend makes its contribution to Ukip's unusual start to the year: the council group has kicked out one of its members, who is also the party's Parliamentary candidate locally. The Echo reports: Floyd Waterworth, the anti-EU party's candidate for Rochford and Southend East, has been booted out of the council's Ukip group on Southend Council after a fraught few months. Tensions have been high between Mr Waterworth ...
