As someone who is on TV often as interviewer or commentator (mainly for Middle Eastern channels these days) it was an odd experience to be the subject of a television documentary this morning, "Family Finders" on BBC1. I was impressed with the professionalism and sensitivity of the crew from Ricochet Productions who did the filming [...]
...apart, of course, from "don't be like them"... For those who haven't been following this on my blog, there are two extreme right-wing to neo-nazi groups, called the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies respectively, that are calling for the end of social justice in science fiction and fantasy. They are unrepentantly racist, sexist and [...]
The latest Twitter storm in relation to the Scotland Bill concerns the very first clause. It is being claimed that the Commons has voted against the permanence of the Scottish Parliament, and that therefore the Smith Commission proposals have not been upheld. This is untrue. Amendment 58, moved by the SNP, proposes to change the wording of sub-clause 1(1), which amends the first section of the Scotland Act. The Bill's original wording simply provides a new section which would read as follows: "(1A) A Scottish Parliament is recognised as a permanent part of the United Kingdom's constitutional arrangements." The proposed ...
A reader asks: I enjoyed visited Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, Rutland. Northumberland and Shropshire. Are there any more like that?
The obituaries for Ron Moody record that he fell into acting while studying at the London School of Economics. And a tribute on Forward by Benjamin Ivry shows that this episode brought him into contact with one of this blog's philosophical heroes: There he devoutly attended lectures by the philosopher of science Karl Popper, of Austrian Jewish origin. Popper's course on scientific method, Moody admitted, "has stayed with me to this day, shaping everything I think or do or act."There is more about being taught by Popper in Moody's A Still Untitled (Not Quite) Autobiography.
It is 50 years since the Long Mynd was acquired by the National Trust, reports the Shropshire Star. No less than £18,000 was raised by public subscription to buy a large part of the hill. The Star quotes Peter Carty from the National Trust (with whom I once drank with at the Bishop's Castle Real Ale Festival) on how it has fared since: "The heather-covered plateau has returned. There is a more diverse range of vegetation, while wet flushes and boggy areas are thriving and species of wildlife are beginning to return and establish themselves. "However, there are still species ...
Mariana Mazzucato argues that, in its search for a new leader, the Labour party also needs a new story about innovation, the economy and wealth creation A consensus is developing about why the Labour party lost - and lost big time - in the UK election. But the consensus is wrong. To those relying on the polls for prediction, the result came as a surprise. But for those who have followed Labour in the last years, have tried to influence their policies and have been frustrated by the lack of a seriously different story - on what caused the crisis, ...
[IMG: unconference] If I didn't have enough already, Tim Farron gave me another reason for supporting him for party leader today, with his proposal that the Liberal Democrats should introduce a regular 'festival of ideas': The festival will take place over a day and will be open, inclusive and egalitarian. It will consistent of a series of, say, twenty simultaneous sessions, each lasting no more than an hour, maybe in excess of hundred different sessions throughout the day. And here's the trick: the topics and format of the sessions will be set not centrally by the party or its leaders ...
How a mythical version of Magna Carta is being used to undermine real human rights. The Onion, with its typical brilliance, once concocted the headline "Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be" for the satirical story of self-described American patriot Kyle Mortensen, 47,....whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of [...]
The most common complaint we hear from residents we speak to in Wallington South is about inconsiderate parking. Muhammad, Steve & I have heard numerous sad tales of people being unable to get off their driveway to get to work or appointments because of parked cars obstructing their driveways. The worst offenders are seen as [...]
Mon 15th
17:45
Opinion: Let's write our new leader a two-year contract - and get rid of him if it doesn't work out
[IMG: NormanLamb] [IMG: Tim Farron] There's been a lot of focus on the Labour Party's new Leader being given a 2017 'break clause', to ensure the freshness and efficacy of the Leader come 2020. Meanwhile, I saw a comment from a Lib Dem the other day to the effect of "we must give Farron or Lamb a good ten years, it'll be a slow climb, etc." I began thinking about the issue, and I have a proposal: why not give the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats a two-year contract, with rigidly-defined goals to meet, and either applaud them for ...
It might seem like an odd question to ask but with nominations closing today and four official candidates, I got thinking about who I want to win. My first thought was Jeremy Corbyn, because it's always irritated me how much Labour drift towards the centre. They're a socialist party and they should be socialists, even if that means alienating some sections of the public. Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats make a habit of ditching their core values to appeal to the centre (except, you know). Obviously Jeremy Corbyn would lose the next General Election though so it'd be ...
Amidst the slew of bad results for the Labour party on election night was the loss of Derby North by just 41 votes. Crunch the numbers and the incumbent, Chris Williamson, missed out on re-election by a margin of just 0.09 per cent of the vote - that's just under one vote for every 1,000 cast. A bitter pill for him to swallow, I'm sure, but could it have been different? I lodged a Freedom of Information Act request with Derby City Council asking how many postal votes they had received after 10pm on polling day. After that time, of ...
[IMG: Union flag on Sandgate High Street lampost] The 2015 Sandgate High Street and Esplanade flag display commemorates just a few of the countries which were Britain's allies in the 1914-18 war, incliding Australia, Belgium, British India, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal and South Africa as well as our own British Union flag. The Major Allied Forces were The British Empire (including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, New Foundland, Union of South Africa and India), The Republic of France, and the Russian Empire, formally linked by the Treaty of London of 5th September, 1914. Other nations that had been, or ...
[IMG: You may wish to sit down before reading on.] You may wish to sit down before reading on. You may wish to sit down before reading the next paragraph. A few days ago I blogged about the Lib Dem Federal Executive (FE) making a good decision. Now it's time to blog about the English Party making one too. On Saturday, the English Council agreed to London Region's proposal to let new members vote in the Mayor and London Assembly selections, waiving the usual 12-month rule which deprives members of a vote in such selections for their first year of ...
Today is the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta by King John at Runnymede, though as one pedant has already pointed out on Twitter, the actual 800th anniversary is next Monday (owing to the change from Julian to Gregorian calendars in 1752). Accordingly, we have already been treated to a high-minded speech by David Cameron standing on the banks of the River Thames in which he extolled the importance of the document as the basis of our Parliamentary democracy. Or at least he should have done, I sort of switched off after the first few sentences. At least ...
The ALDC-LGA Lib Dems Local Government Conference takes place on Saturday 20th June. If you haven't got a ticket yet, you can book online – but do so quickly, we're down to the final few remaining places. Conference highlights include: Leadership Day (Group Leaders and Deputy Leaders) - Friday 19th June, 12-5pm Local Government Dinner, with special [...]
Leading animal welfare charities dismissed legislation introduced by Lib Dems in coalition as being not fit for purpose. The new ban, coming into force in October 2015, will prohibit the testing on animals for finished household products in the UK – but not all their ingredients. The ban will only apply to ingredients where more than half of their usage is expected to be within household products. This is seen as a considerable u-turn by then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone, who announced in 2011 that the ban would 'apply to both finished household products and their ingredients, although in ...
[IMG: stonepail pothole] Over the next few weeks you may see your Lib Dem councillors – Keith Holloway, Graham Greenhalgh and Iain Roberts – walking or cycling down your road and noting any issues. Please do say hello! Keith has launched a village street survey and over the summer the Lib Dem team will be walking along every single road and path in Cheadle and Gatley ward, looking for potholes, trip hazards, graffiti and other issues and reporting them to the council and other agencies to get them fixed. Of course, you don't have to wait for either the Lib ...
This was the scene just off the A59 north of Robin's island today at lunch time. [IMG: IMG_4858r] Police had closed off Springfield Road and it looked like the fire was involving or close to Robin's Bridge Nursery Plant Centre. [IMG: IMG_4859] Hope no one was hurt.
[IMG: 15641] I have huge respect for Compass, and those who have given it depth over the past decade or so, like Neal Lawson. It is much more than a Labour think-tank and it doesn't beat around the bush. They have just published a pamphlet called Is Labour Dead? This can't have pleased Andy Burnham and his rivals, who are running for the leadership at just this critical moment. It also struck a fascinating and powerful balance between pessimism and optimism - along the lines of Churchill's "I have nothing to offer you but blood, tears, toil and sweat". Sometimes ...
A lot of people are concerned about school places in and around Launceston. The three primary schools in town are close to (or at) capacity and some children are having to be be bussed out to village schools. This may be great for some, but very problematic for other families. A new school is promised as part of the Hay Common development, but this only has to be built when the 70th house is ready for occupation - and that may be some time in the future. My colleague Jade Farrington has arranged a public meeting of the community network ...
[IMG: Prison cells] Earlier today I covered Tim Farron's Festival of Idea initiative. Norman Lamb has been busy on the policy front too, as Huffington Post reports: The government should aim to half the prison population over the next ten years, Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Norman Lamb has said. The former coalition health minister, who is fighting Tim Farron to succeed Nick Clegg, said that prisons were "colleges of crime" and locking people up often causes more problems than it solves... Lamb also pointed out that the prison population level he was advocating was not unprecedented or soft on crime, ...
Council Officers have a strong public service ethos and some are excellent managers. But does their experience give them enough insight to negotiate outsourcing contracts? They have, after all, chosen a career pathway other than that of private sector business. They inevitably lack a deep understanding of the very different attitudes, styles and pressures of work and management in the private sector. During the procurement process, these rather sheltered public servants are faced with slick teams of well-resourced professionals adept at putting on a good show and armed with as much carefully selected evidence as they need to demonstrate their ...
[IMG: bushes lock 50] The Canal & River Trust, the charity that cares for 2,000 miles of waterways in England & Wales, has completed a 14-week project to resurface just over half a mile of canal towpath in Berkhamsted from Waitrose to Bushes Lock (lock number 50), near Billet Lane. James Clifton, from the Canal & River Trust, said: "I'm delighted this towpath has been improved as it's a really popular walking and cycling route to the town centre and railway station. Now that the towpath is pothole and puddle free I hope more local people pop down to the ...
By convincing the bulk of our electorate that the world economic crash was all the fault of Britain's Labour Party, and that they themselves were economically competent, Britain's Conservative Party has pulled off what must be the greatest PR coup in modern political history. However, they are not letting the matter rest there. I was in a walking holiday in the Lake District last week, so did not study George Osborne's Mansion House speech in any detail. However, I did catch a brief news bulletin and I'm pretty sure he said that the Labour Party (or the previous government) had ...
[IMG: David Hall-Matthews] In its quarterly journal Juncture, IPPR has published an article by David Hall-Matthews entitled "Liberalism in anxious times: Constructing a clear, positive liberal vision for society". David's starting point is Nick Clegg's resignation speech in which he said that liberalism was under threat, and not just in the UK. Is that true? Globally, Putin's neo-dictatorship and ISIS terror are fundamentally illiberal - but they are no more significant than recent liberal turns in international relations, such as the increasing economic strength and political integration of the BRICs. In the UK context, is the astonishing success of the ...
I have written previously about the need for Lib Dems to be prepared to engage with the issue of elected metro mayors. The Government, whether we like it or not, is pushing ahead with them. The model is not one that sits comfortably with our own policies and principles. The danger is that what is proposed could result in the perpetuation of one party states. Here in the North East, Labour control
[IMG: A festival featuring camels. Tim Farron has stayed tight-lipped on whether his festival idea will include camels.] A festival featuring camels. Tim Farron has stayed tight-lipped on whether his festival idea will include camels. So far, both Norman Lamb and Tim Farron have gone up in my estimation during the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, which is a good sign for what the contest will do for the party. With Tim Farron being the frontrunner, it's natural to give some attention to what might trip him up along the way to the finishing line and so what's particularly impressed me ...
My colleague, Cllr Christine McHatton, has been ill recently. She is recovering now but I agreed to do her surgery at Stargate Community Centre on Saturday. It was expected to be a quiet surgery though I did have one person in - to discuss cycling issues. Inevitably the conversation got on to my self-sufficiency lifestyle. I have plans to get a bike so that I can be free of the need to get the
[IMG: Dungeness Nuclear Power Station] Two motions to Shepway Full Council from newly elected Sandgate & West Folkestone District Councillor Rory Love for their 17th June meeting. As detailed on the Shepway Council website, the motions read: Motion 1 - from Councillor Rory Love This Council reaffirms its commitment to the case for a Dungeness C power station as part of a balanced power generation portfolio within the UK, and resolves to continue to work for the long-term future of the nuclear power industry on the Romney Marsh. To this end, the Council will actively lobby Government, and relevant partners ...
If you're involved in a voluntary organisation, you could benefit from these FREE local events in early July, organised by CVS South Gloucestershire, Southern Brooks Community Partnership and Community Ignite. WORKING TOGETHER - three local networking events for organisations, community groups and social enterprises in South Gloucestershire. Come to your local event in Yate, Kingswood or Severn Vale. Working Together is designed to: focus on fundraising, volunteering and communicationprovide a networking opportunity for people who are leading local organisationsgive information about the help and advice available from CVS South Gloucestershire, Southern Brooks Community Partnerships and Community Ignite (Kingswood)The event will ...
Zac Goldsmith has declared that he is to seek the Tory nomination for Mayor - and is balloting his constituents in Richmond Park (of which I am one) to get their 'permission' to do so. My ballot and covering letter arrived on Friday - but what wasn't clear was what happens if he wins and becomes Mayor. So I asked him and he was good enough to reply immediately So - I think that's clear now. What's interesting talking to constituents this weekend (yes, the new 'Comments' is out - for non local activists that's our version of Focus) - ...
Caron recently talked about the forthcoming conference and nudged me into writing about being a conference steward. I have dabbled in being a conference steward over the years. There are far, far more experienced hands than me. But hopefully my limited experience will encourage more members to volunteer for this honourable and enjoyable role in the party's smooth conference operation. This is something I never tire of saying: If you want to go to conference on the cheap - volunteer to be a conference steward. You don't have to be on steward duty for the whole conference. But in return ...
I have recently, on behalf of residents, raised with the City Council's Housing Department the poor condition of several paving slabs resulting in trip hazards outside some of the flats in Saggar Street - see below :
On Monday afternoons, immediately prior to my weekly surgery at the Mitchell Street Centre, there's a great group of older people who, with the expertise of course leader Jeanette, learn about many aspects of using a PC, laptop or tablet. The group always welcomes new members, so let the Mitchell Street Centre (phone 435808) know if you are interested in joining this friendly group!
Mon 15th
08:24
The Left's big mistake was its response to austerity - it's a problem yet to be solved
Many on the left of British politics still talk about "austerity" as something created by the Coalition government and now being carried on by the Tories with their newfound majority. However, I can assure you that austerity is for real; the government has less money to spend than it used to, or rather, we now know that the markets will not support the levels of government borrowing seen prior to the crash of 2008 any longer. The Tories have a solution to this: you cut things. Lots of people don't like this solution. Even lots of the people who voted ...
Apparently there is a better way of tucking in your shirt - I bet @A_C_McGregor already knew this Deported student feared killed after forced return to Pakistan - oh shit [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The Welsh Local Government Minister is due to publish his proposals for the reorganisation of Welsh Councils this week. We have reproduced below an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs website by the Welsh Liberal Democrats Local Government Spokesperson, Peter Black setting out his views on this project: The Welsh Assembly has recently approved stage one of the Local Government (Wales) Bill and we are currently in the process of tabling amendments for stage two. Given that the vast majority of this bill is concerned with voluntary mergers it is arguable that it is the closest the Assembly has ...
