Q: What do 6035 16-17 year olds in Haringey have in common? A: They are not able to vote. And it's not right for these 6000, or all the other 16-17 year olds in the UK. That's why the Lib Dems are campaigning for change. I remember the General Election in May 2005 - I was seventeen and three quarters. I'd studied politics for two years at that point, was fully compos mentis, and I knew how I wanted to vote (actually - it might surprise you...)
Another exploration of a disused railway in Shropshire. The blurb on Youtube says this one closed in the 1950s as a result of a coals strike and was originally intended to reach as far as Montgomery. Part 1 takes us as far as Pontesbury. I am looking forward to part 2, as I have explored the line between there and Minsterley myself.
I've seen a number of people in the last few days picking up on a controversy that swept through the self-publishing world last week, and almost uniformly people have picked up on the wrong end of the stick. People are saying "Amazon are only paying authors by how many pages are read! That's horrible!" It [...]
Stephen Pemberton explains the roots of The League of Gentlemen in the Guardian today: In a way, the League was railing against that very safe, cosy light-entertainment world; we loved the writing of Alan Bennett, Victoria Wood and the Saturday-night double bill of horror films. We brought that ear for dialogue and love of gothic horror together.And Jeremy Dyson expresses surprise at the formula's success: I don't seek out the League to watch now, but occasionally I'll catch a bit and I'm sometimes quite shocked! That something so strange somehow found an audience on the scale it did was always ...
This morning leadership candidates Tim Farron and Norman Lamb appeared on the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC2. They were quizzed by Victoria and a live audience. See how they got on below:
Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer gives us the benefit of his long experience in explaining... Why the Liberal Democrats did so badly Why, I hear you ask, did we do so badly at the general election? First there was that slogan: "Stronger economy, fairer society." Ashdown did his best to perk it up by adding "Opportunity for Everyone," while I had some success here in the Bonkers Hall Ward with the kicker "Remember your rents fall due on Lady Day," but I admit that was not an addendum open to every Liberal Democrat candidate. Then suddenly it was all about ...
Brian Paddick is not some hippy anarchist. He used to be the Assistant Commisioner of the Metropolitan Police for goodness' sake. He knows, therefore, about what works in trying to tackle drug addiction. And it's not the futile "war on drugs" which successive governments have insisted on waging. Prohibition just doesn't work. All the evidence points to that. Drug users who need help should get it through the health service not the prison service. Funnily enough, the Daily Mail doesn't much like his plan to amend the government's ridiculous law banning legal highs. This afternoon, Brian moved his amendments to ...
Community Halls and Sports clubs could be spared an increase in Business Rates, influenced by feedback I provided to the Resources committee after meeting with local groups that could be affected. The issue is summarised in the letter I sent to all not-for-profit organisations with premises, to arrange to meet with them: Discretionary Business Rates Relief Scheme Jun 15 [IMG: Helping people looking for work in Pendeen access the internet more easily.] Centre of Pendeen I am very grateful to all those that spared the time to come and speak with me to discuss how cuts to the Discretionary Business ...
Tue 23rd
14:53
Caroline Pidgeon and Duwayne Brooks launch campaigns to be Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidate
Today the race to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor has had two entrants. Current London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon and former Lewisham Councillor Duwayne Brooks have thrown their hats into the ring. Duwayne Brooks linked to an exclusive interview with ITV News in a tweet Come on now..... Did you honestly think I would not want to inspire others ? http://t.co/nI0JTwh4Sn — Duwayne Brooks (@DuwayneBrooks) June 23, 2015 He told ITV: I'm going to protect London's crown jewels and one of those crown jewels is black taxis. People come to London to ride in black taxis. It's an ...
Today's Independent contains the quite startling claim that Rent a Crowd, a company that provides 'background extras and crowds of people for anything and anywhere in the UK', has claimed thatit had "provided people at different locations across the UK in the build-up to the election." Apparently, these supporter boosts are usually arranged by the PR agencies working for the political parties, either to lighten the load of administration or to provide a convenient buffer between the party and the company. They say that company doesn't make public which parties it works with, but the fact they have the budget ...
Anyone who uses the tram line from Didsbury into Manchester needs to be aware of the effect of works in St Peter's Square over the next few months. Here's the email we've received: Dear Councillor, As you may be aware, we are currently building a new Metrolink route through Manchester city centre, the Second City Crossing (2CC). As part of the 2CC project, our contractor, MPT, is due to undertake major works to redevelop the tram stop at St Peter's Square from 28 June 2015. This work will require a closure of the stop to passengers and changes to services ...
In my new role as deputy chairman of Sunniside History Society, I visited the Tanfield Railway on Sunday. It is the world's longest continuously running steam railway and is right on my doorstep. It terminates at Sunniside. The annual steam gala was taking place this weekend and a couple of steam locomotives were on loan to Tanfield which had previously had working lives in the Derwent Valley.
Last week I was elected as one of two Deputy Leaders (alongside Navnit Dholakia) of our group in the Lords. We have many battles ahead of us and whilst I'm a supporter of an elected second chamber (and have long campaigned for one and will continue to do so) we Liberal Democrats in the Lords have a real opportunity to hold this Government to account. We can improve the laws that the Tories bring forward and campaign alongside others to make Britain less unjust, more liberal and greener. I'm looking forward to working with Navnit & our Leader Jim Wallace ...
I recently purchased the photo below which looks to have been taken for use as a postcard originally. [IMG: Watermill at Lydiate] Click on the photo to enlarge it The site of the mill is on Eagar Lane near the rising of a well or spring according to my Formby and Maghull Ordnance Survey Pathfinder map of 1992. In fact the site is right on the boundary between Lydiate and Downholland Civil Parishes with the mill stream being the boundary, I think. This is also the Sefton Borough/Merseyside – West Lancashire/Lancashire boundary. Here is the site as it looks today:- ...
Heaps Mill one of the iconic buildings in Liverpool's Baltic Triangle which has been saved but where adjacent new build is destryiong the ethos of this quirky area This morning I went for one of my normal bouts of depression. ... Continue reading →
Tue 23rd
12:25
New from Amnesty: Police in every US state are violating international standards on lethal force
Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK:
[IMG: Tim Farron and Greg Mulholland] This Friday will mark three weeks until the Liberal Democrats have a new leader. Other than the many visits and hustings he's doing to meet as many party members as possible, this Friday evening, 6.30pm-8pm, Tim's also doing an online Q&A live via webcam. I'd highly recommend signing up, and you can do so via this link. In this election, I am proud to back Tim Farron to take the party forward and get us back to our winning ways. Why do I trust Tim to do that? Simply, because it's what he's always ...
There has been some discussion in the national media about the concept of push polling following an unfortunate incident in the Lib Dem leadership election when supporters of one candidate appear to have engaged in somewhat dodgy activities. But you can find examples of push polling much closer to home. Cornwall Conservatives are engaging in a form of push polling right now - and they seem quite proud of the fact. Push polling is where a resident is contacted under the pretence of taking part in a survey or poll but instead of fair and balanced questions is given biased ...
With his latest statement on science, technology and the environment, Pope Francis has sought to change the debate on climate change. But his statement has broader significance for the way we think about the future The Encyclical Letter Laudato Si' released by Pope Francis last week has generated a wide range of reactions ranging from enthusiastic praise to uneasy criticism. For some, the Pope's key message was about climate change, for others about the downsides of economic growth, and some saw in it a reconciliation of science and religion. But the Encyclical also lays bare a debate much larger than ...
Members of Hertfordshire County Council Children's Services Cabinet Panel yesterday received additional papers announcing the withdrawal of the annual £391,000 grant to the 9 HomeStart operations which cover the county. Their role will now be added to the increasingly complex range of tasks to be handled by the 91 Children's Centres. By withdrawing the £391,000 [...]
Our pensioners quite rightly enjoy a number of benefits and it was of course a Liberal government that introduced the old age pension over a century ago. As part of the coalition it was a Lib Dem minister, Steve Webb, who steered through the legislation ensuring the triple lock and the introduction of auto enrolment for those workers without an occupational pension. Great reforms, but with an ageing population there has been an increased focus on whether we can justify or indeed afford the universal payment of benefits such as Winter Fuel Allowance and free tv licences. There is also ...
Something peculiar is happening to organisations at the moment. On the one hand, they are becoming bigger, increasingly complex and decreasingly effective, juggling multiple objectives and tens - sometimes hundreds of target figures and KPIs. On the other hand, there is a sense - which I think most of us will recognise - that we can't go on like that. That something new is beginning to emerge. Not just organisations that suit human beings, but organisations that are considerably more effective. In days gone by, the business of presiding over the environment, for example, fell to ministries, local authorities and ...
Tue 23rd
09:26
Daily Telegraph story on Burnham's private sector "experience" highlights the problems Labour might ...
Right, first off, the Telegraph story referred to in the headline: a Rosa Prince smear-a-thon which shows up Burnham's claim to understand life outside of the Westminster village by revealing that the private sector experience Andy had previously talked up involved a marketing business that was run by his wife – not himself at all. That traded for three years before dissolving. Let's examine what Burnham actually said about it; what led to the Telegraph story being run in the first place. This was his response on Sky News when challenged about his lack of experience in the "real world": ...
[IMG: 2015-06-17 21.20.17] Last Wednesday I attended the London hustings for the two candidates to be the next leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats. It was a well-attended event, with up to 800 people there (not 1,200 as some have reported, though – that was the number that registered in advance). As my life still hasn't got back to normal after my return from holiday and having the builders in, I have delayed my considered response. But here it is at last! The two candidates are Tim Farron, MP for Westmoreland and Lonsdale since 2005, and Norman Lamb, MP for North ...
[IMG: PagePlus screenshot] That was my question at the official London hustings for the Liberal Democrat leadership contest last week: both candidate have talked plenty about what they think the party should do more of, so what should it do less of? Both gave decent answers, with Norman Lamb wanting to streamline the party's internal structures (though for a former Federal Policy Committee chair to say he didn't know how they worked wasn't very wise) whilst Tim Farron was wanting to challenge the premise of the question by growing the party's capacity (a good point albeit another example of his ...
Having contacted Dundee City Council back in March to improve the road surface in Richmond Terace - following complaints from residents about its extremely poor surface - I obtained assurances that action would be taken to improve the roadway. I was therefore pleased last week to note that work had commenced to undertake repairs - see photo below:I have now also raised with the Roads Maintenance Partnership the need to improve nearby Fort Street, which is in a badly in need of road surface improvement.
Following a very lengthy discussion last night and representations from deputations, the decision was taken at the Education Committee to close Menzieshill High School and, from August 2016, include the Menzieshill catchment area within the Harris Academy catchment area. I listened carefully to all the arguments and read carefully all the evidence from Education Scotland, the City Council and the objectors and thereafter spoke in the debate, supported the proposal on educational grounds of ensuring that all pupils get the best possible subject choices and educational experience. The issues will be discussed further at tonight's Harris Academy Parent Council. I ...
New immigration rules will cost the NHS millions, warns nursing union - *headdesk headdesk headdesk* Michael Rosen: Message from a Helpful Rich Person - Tory economic policy in a nutshell via @artbyailbhe "employers generally pay people according to the productivity of their work" ahahahahahahahahahahaaa ... and yet, apparently, people seriously believe that. The university students who have the most sex - LOL at Theology/Religion This Man Says His Benefits Were Stopped Because He Had A Heart Attack Whistleblower accuses media and government of covering up £1billion high street fraud BBC must have confidence in itself if it's to survive coming ...
Tue 23rd
00:13
Policy unpacked #10 - Social housing: heading for history or the tenure of the future?
[IMG: Policy Unpacked] In this podcast I contrast some the current Conservative government's policy proposals with alternatives offered by a couple of recently published reports, and then reflect on the current state of the debate, particularly the role of evidence. (Running time: 28′ 07") Mentioned in this podcast: Shout/Capital Economics Report on investing in social housing Savills/NHF/JRF Report on Living Rents Housing Finance Institute Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework Kingdon's Multiple Streams approach Flyvbjerg's Rationality and Power If you fancy subscribing to my podcasts you can find me on iTunes and Soundcloud.com. In both cases, searching for either Policy Unpacked or ...
