Apologies for having a couple of days off from blogging — I was at a funeral on Wednesday and that left me so drained I ended up going to bed at 6:30PM yesterday. I have two blog posts 90% done each — a Batpost, which will go up as soon as I get up in [...]
Eddie Hardin, who replaced Steve Winwood in the Spencer Davis Group, has died at the age of 68. Let us remember him with the theme from Magpie, which this later version of the group recorded under the name The Murgatroyds. Hardin is the singer here.
[IMG: IMG_0085] I'm not one to often demonstrate my love of Britain. But as we arrived back in Blighty last night, hot from eight days in Venice, I was mightily pleased to get home. The reason: the heat and the humidity in Venice were quite over-powering. We had a fantastic holiday and I am very grateful indeed for it. The art was fantastic, the food and setting were wonderful. We had some great times. But I was very glad to get back to the cold. When you are cold you can stick on an extra jumper to get warm again. ...
I see Mr Speaker's expense claims are in the news. Which gives me an excuse for offering this observation. The black gown he favours makes John Bercow look like an old-fashioned schoolmaster. And in character he resembles the sort of teacher you think is great when you are 17. But if you meet him a few years on, you are rather disappointed in him. The permanent undergraduate act does not suit the Speaker's Chair. It's time for John Bercow to grow up. Thanks to Disgruntled Radical, who once observed to me that the teachers you liked most at school are ...
Fri 24th
19:50
Shropshire transport leader questions award of new Kidderminster to Ludlow bus contract to Diamond
Earlier in the week, I reported that the Diamond Bus Company had been awarded a new contract to run the 2L bus service between Kidderminster and Ludlow. I said: Not everyone will be happy with the decision to allow Diamond to retain the contract. Several people have complained to me about unreliability and breakdowns. It [...]
When prominent Bahraini opposition leader Ibrahim Sharif was released from prison last month after serving four years and three months of a five year sentence, supporters of the Bahraini government presented it as evidence of the country's continued appetite for reform. The Obama administration even justified its decision to restore military aid to Bahrain on the grounds that unnamed political prisoners - presumably including Sharif - had been released from prison and "meaningful progress on human rights reform" was being made (a statement which echoes British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond's declaration earlier this year that Bahrain was "making significant reform"). ...
This scan was performed at 15.30 this afternoon at the request of Vascular, I think when they were considering a graft to replace my left femoral artery, and perhaps they forgot to cancel it when the angioplasty was successful. Anyway it is reassuring to know that the heart doesn't appear to have deteriorated since a cardiac trans thoracic scan was carried out on June 19 last year when I was an inpatient. The technician said that she would confirm this after looking at the two scans side by side.
One revelation from the trial of Jeremy Thorpe was that Andrew Newton, the man who shot Norman Scott's dog Rinka, had misheard when he was told to seek Scott in Barnstaple and gone to Dunstable instead. He might have gone to Whitstable, as I did today.
Fri 24th
18:28
Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal / Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble, by William H. Keith, Jr
This were the two Solo-Play Adventure Game books published by FASA in 1986 to tie in with their Doctor Who role-playing game. Having read the six British choose-your-own-adventure Who books from the same year, I have to say my expectations were not high, especially considering that the author's only other Who credit is the companion book to this. But my low expectations were almost completely confounded. Both are decently written and very well structured. Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal has the Fourth Doctor landing on a planet with Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, and having to sort out ...
I returned home to be told by my student daughter that i must not put the cat out because cats in Birkdale are being poisoned. It turns out she is right. The Visiter has the full story A worrying number of incidents have taken place in an area of Birkdale 510 Shares Share Tweet +1 LinkedIn Felix, 17, was found covered in a mystery liquid and said to be acting 'like he was on drugs' Southport pet owners have been warned to keep an eye on their cats after reports of 'intentional poisonings and cat abductions'. Joanna Worsley, of Jaspers ...
Liberal Democrats had another good night in yesterday's five principal council by-elections with the bonus of a parish council gain in Seaford, Lewes, East Sussex. Holding Long Ditton ward on Elmbridge Borough Council in Surrey following a Lib Dem resignation was a healthy result and a welcome return to being on the council to Neil [...]
Last night I was delighted to be elected as Councillor for the Seaford Central ward of Seaford Town Council. In the pervious election in May this year, I was not old enough to stand and therefore missed out. But when I found out that a by-election was taking place I jumped at the opportunity. I've always been active with helping the local community. Throughout my schooling at Seaford Head, I was Deputy Head Girl and Chair of the Student Council. Then again at BHASVIC (Brighton) I couldn't resist making a difference so became part of the Student Council. Now that ...
The years since the financial crash have seen the 2010 Equality Act and an apparently unending stream of scandals in which firms have mis-sold products, rigged markets and exploited every loophole they could find to avoid paying tax while enhancing their managers' pay, entailing in some sections of the media breaking the law for stories. The Equality Act is the culmination of a series of ground-breaking laws since the 1965 Race Relations Act which have over generations changed attitudes in the UK. These laws have not prevented the stream of scandals, which come from a culture in which social constraints ...
The recent polling by YouGov shows plenty of potential for Liberal Democrat support to grow, especially given the skew in positive answers to the very sort of people David Howarth and I identified as a potential new, larger core vote for the party: [IMG: YouGov polling on coalition] However, as I wrote in Liberal Democrat Newswire #65: The absurdly huge surge in traffic since the general election to my list of extreme Tory policies which the Lib Dems stopped in coalition shows how much mileage there apparently is in looking backwards. Each time the Conservatives now do something extreme and ...
[IMG: ALDC's Kickstart is the party's premier local training event] With only 10 days left until the end of 'Early Bird' discounts for September, make sure you act now to book your local team onto the Kickstart Weekend. Kickstart is widely regarded as the best opportunity all year round for local campaigns training, planning and strategy. So, before everyone jets off on their holidays, ask around [...]
Some of the most vociferous critics of Tim Farron have come from the gay people within the church. It is not surprising given the way that the LGBTI communities have been treated by some folk in the church at home and abroad. Their legitimate concern is that those who believe them to be 'sinful and unwholesome' will not give them full support on human rights issues. A couple of case studies will illustrate the point. Close to home we have the CofE which is at present in front of an Industrial tribunal in Nottingham in a discrimination case brought by ...
Greater Manchester's Labour Interim Mayor, Tony Lloyd, came to Stockport council on Thursday to speak to councillors and answer questions for an hour. Here is the webcast of the meeting:
[IMG: gmp logo] The Lib Dem team have organised a public meeting with the Police at 7.30pm on Monday 27th July. The Venue is Cheadle Mosque, 377 Wilmslow Rd, Heald Green, Cheadle SK8 3NP. Inspector Neil Cook from Stockport West Police will be attending, as will local councillors. We've set up the meeting to discuss car crime, but no doubt people will have other issues to raise too! All welcome, and we'll do a write-up of the meeting for those who can't make it.
Fri 24th
14:00
Lib Dems Strasburger and McInnes seek answers on whether parliamentarians' communications have been ...
In the House of Lords this week, Paul Strasburger was quick to question the government on whether Parliamentarians' data was being scooped up by GCHQ in contravention of the 49 year old Wilson Doctrine which prohibits this. The exchange is as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government which methods of communication used by members of either House of Parliament are not presently subject to the Wilson doctrine. Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Con): My Lords, as the noble Lord may be aware, there is an ongoing litigation in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal on the Wilson doctrine. In fact, there is a ...
Fri 24th
13:44
[Lib Dem Future] Labour hold on in Blackburn Mill Hill - Lib Dem percentage vote almost doubles
Labour have held on to the Mill Hill ward in Blackburn. The Lib Dems has seen their percentage vote double in the two and a half months since May. This appears to show a rise in support in those Labour seats in the north which the party has sometimes struggled in. The coalition may have [...]
From the LDV inbox this week, a request from Jorge Miguel, a research student at University College London's Institute of Education for volunteers to help him with a study he is carrying out about civic participation: The research aims to explore the reasons for participation in civic and political groups and it is based on interviews to people involved in different civic or political groups. With this purpose, I would like to interview three people who collaborate with your organization in a voluntary basis (not being paid for it). The views of the people participating in the interview are not ...
There have been no posts for the last week or so as I've been away on yet another holiday, but kept in touch with affairs through a daily readying of the Guardian. (I used to regards not reading the daily paper as part of any holiday, but now that they've hooked me onto their voucher system I feel that, since I've paid for it, I need to get my moneys-worth.) Last Saturday an article by Jonathan Freedland warned Labour that they needed to speak "in a language people actually use." The same advice applies, in spades, to we Liberals. Freedland ...
[IMG: Lib Dem peers on Twitter] Freshly updated, here's a Twitter list of all the Liberal Democrat peers who have taken to the social network which has over 15 million active users* in the UK: https://twitter.com/markpack/lists/libdem-peers As ever, do let me know if you spot any additions or corrections – thank you. * Twitter = 15m active users. Lib Dem general election votes = 2.4m. Worth remembering if you wonder if "real people" use Twitter.
Like so many local parties in the days after our General Election defeat, the devastation we felt in Kingston was offset somewhat by the huge influx of new members, with over 130 joining since May 7th. The question was: how did we build on their enthusiasm when we were all so.....well, knackered? And we were just putting plans together for new member welcome events when we got the tragic news that our longstanding councillor in Grove ward, Cllr Chrissie Hitchcock, had died suddenly. The fourth Grove by-election in recent years beckoned: in fact, the last one had been held on ...
Fri 24th
11:37[Lib Dem Future] Sharp rise in Lib Dem support in 10 weeks in Lincolnshire UA by-election
NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE UA, CROFT BAKER- 23RD JULY 2015 There was a sharp rise in support for the party in the Croft Baker ward in Lincolnshire in the ten weks since the General Election. The vote rose by 11.3% in the poll yesterday, up to 15.6%. These type of results are crucial for the party [...]
The #libdemfightback continues with two good by-election wins in the south east. First of all, Neil Houston held on to the Long Ditton Ward of Elmbridge Council: LIB DEM – 770 CON – 611 GRN – 79 UKIP - 61 And in Seaford, in East Sussex, 18 year old Isabelle Murray, who wasn't even old enough to vote in May, won the Seaford Central ward on the Town Council by quite some margin. LIB DEM-370 UKIP-210 IND-207 CON-193 GREEN-57 Congratulations to Neil, Isabelle and their campaign teams.
What a week, Tim elected, Labour loses the plot and their last vestiges of credibility and moral authority. The Conservative machine trundles on towards the BBC, HRA, FOI and every part of Liberal Britain. Some brief points of strategy in the path ahead. Strategy 1- Media - it is clear that the BBC is running so scared of the Tory threat to smash them that they have already turned into the State Broadcasting Corporation. We must defend the BBC as it was. Tim Farron's election was given little or no coverage and when interviews do take place they are specious ...
[IMG: The victories keep on coming! Well done to all of our local teams.] Liberal Democrats were celebrating two big wins in local by-elections last night, with a successful defence and a gain from the Tories being added to the growing tally of local Lib Dem victories since the general election. Elmbridge – Lib Dem Hold with more than 50% of the vote ALDC's By-Election HQ phone bank was [...]
Fri 24th
10:25It's time to change the distinction between voting and non-voting members at Conference
A couple of years ago, when we moved house and constituency, I had the new experience of going to Conference with a second class label hanging around my neck. I did what I could to carefully adjust my pass so that my picture and name was facing out. But these passes have always had a mind of their own and I would walk from Hall to Fringe all too often as someone labelled as 'Member' rather than the important or well-connected 'Voting' people. And now we have thousands of new members, some of whom will be looking forward to their ...
Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve and the Orchard for the Future have won the Green Flag Community Award for the third year running - the only Green Flag Award in South Gloucestershire. The Green Flag Award scheme recognises quality parks or green spaces. In total, 1,582 parks, cemeteries, universities, shopping centres and community gardens in the UK have met the high standard needed to receive the Green Flag Award or the Green Flag Community Award. The Green Flag Awards are judged by an army of more than 700 green space experts, who volunteer their time to visit applicant sites and ...
On our first night in Moscow we decided to have a walk and ended up, perhaps inevitably, on Red Square. It is my first time in the city so it is always a great surprise and pleasure to find oneself in at one of the great landmarks of the world. Make no mistake: just as with Tokyo, Paris, London and New York, Moscow is one of the world's great cities. On the way back, I suggested that we vary the route a little, which ended up with us walking along the other side of the bridge across the Moskva River. ...
www.route-one.net/industry/bus-lane-cuts-cost-revealed/ The 'route-one' web site has a perspective on this controversial issue – see link above Obviously the bus industry will always push what it sees to be to its business advantage but my view of the priorities for our roads is this:- 1 Pedestrians 2 Cycles 3 Buses 4 All other vehicles I could never understand why the elected Mayor of Liverpool wanted to fiddle with Liverpool's bus lanes because they surely help balance up the disadvantage that buses suffer from on our roads.
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... How re-analysing the data of scientific research can change the findings Fascinating by m'colleague @CalumDavey on "How re-analysing the data of scientific research can change the findings" http://bit.ly/1DxybAO Ed Miliband's vanity has doomed Labour for a generation – Comment – Voices – The Independent Blimey! Even @JohnRentoul has a good word to say abt the LibDems today #hellmustbefreezingover http://ind.pn/1KlLMCY Labour: sacrifice Kendall to deny Corbyn | The Times What bit of "rank candts in order of pref" do Lab find so ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33609662 Robert Peston has the story on the BBC web site – see link above I am grateful to my old chum Roy Connell for bringing this item from the BBC web site to my attention. Having worked in the public sector all of my employed years I am, like Roy, rather worried about where this latest slash and burn policy will lead. I have never doubted that the public sector once had its fair share of fat that could be trimmed but neither have I ever doubted that the public sector is vital for a functioning and progressive democracy. ...
A reasonably-new Conservative government lurches to the right. The defeated Labour Party elects its most left-wing leader in a generation. There is a new sense of opportunity in the party as the centre-ground seems to be opening up. At conference the leader's uplifting speech ends "Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government"... That was David Steel in 1981, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and Michael Foot the leader of the Labour party. The excitement was real, but it didn't happen. Our actual breakthrough waited until "New Labour" was electable and people were no longer frightened into voting ...
David Shaw, the chief constable of West Mercia police has announced that he is reviewing policing operations in North Herefordshire and South Shropshire, including Ludlow. This review is very welcome. Since the summer of 2013, policing for Ludlow has been provided from Leominster police station, with our police station used only a base when officers [...]
He's at it again. I wondered how long into the Labour leadership contest we would have to get before Blair made some grandstanding speech about it all. Obviously, the poll putting Jeremy Corbyn in the lead has spooked him. Of course it did: his view of what the Labour Party should be is the polar opposite to Corbyn's. That and Jeremy would lead the party to electoral damnation, but that's a side note. I can understand Blair's concern, and his desire to try and help stop his party from committing suicide is admirable. But does he not get that he ...
The Daily Telegraph definitely has headline of the week with this eye-catching offering: Cows 'should wear flourescent jackets and strings of lights' at night, council says The paper says that a local council has suggested that cows be dressed in high-viz reflective jackets with lights strung around their necks to ensure they can be spotted by motorists at night: The proposal, which would create a herd of "disco" cattle and light up the local common, was put forward as a means of allowing the animals to graze in safety in poor light. Several cows have been struck by cars on ...
My former Blue Rubicon colleague Craig Elder, who went to work on the Conservative general election campaign, has co-authored an excellent piece for the Daily Telegraph on digital in the 2015 general election. The seven key lessons in it are: Digital is serious (it's not just about funny cats) Be where your audience is – and ignore the places they aren't Don't get caught up in an irrelevant numbers game (it's about targeted conversations with swing voters, not total volume) Offer something (don't just demand people give you their time, give them something in return) Make your supporters part of ...
Earlier this year, I took part in the launch of the Co-wheels community car club in the city. Co-wheels is a social enterprise that provides a public access car club and has a Dundee fleet of 15 vehicles, including low emission, hybrid and electric cars and a vehicle suitable for wheelchair use. West End residents will have noted the charging points in places like South Tay Street and Perth Road. Following the infrastructure progress, Co-wheels has now advised me that : "We are just about to roll out an extensive promotional campaign which will include the following : Leaflet printing, ...
Commenting on the Government's plan to stop funding for the Green Deal, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "Today's news is yet another blow for green industry and British jobs. The Conservatives claim they want to tackle climate change, but this is further evidence they don't care about the environment. "For five years we fought [...]
Mary Creagh: Labour has become like Millwall Football Club - nobody likes us but we don't care She says the electorate has moved to the centre right as if it is something politicians have no control over. The electorate has moved to the centre right because UKIP & tories are happy to pull the Overton window in their direction. Labour really need to think about why they aren't happy to pull the Overton window, only to follow it. The 9 charts that show the 'left-wing' policies of Jeremy Corbyn the public actually agrees with T-shirts with traditionally boy themes, redesigned ...
The post Drugs and Creativity appeared first on James Taylor.
