That'd be a nil-all draw: Jeremy Corbyn's first PLP will be interesting. In my 12 yrs of attending them not sure I ever saw him at one. — Anna Yearley (@AnnaYearley) August 18, 2015
[IMG: jennirubbish.jpg] I've spent a fair bit of time on the streets in Wood Green, asking residents about the changes they want to see to the local area. One thing that constantly comes up is - rubbish! I'm not surprised. I've seen so much fly-tipping and rubbish dumping on the streets, and so many examples of uncollected bins. Not pleasant - particularly in summer months. The problem is that the fly-tipping keeps happening in the same areas. So there needs to be much better enforcement from Haringey Council - in the form of notices, monitoring and fines for people who ...
The planning application seeking permission to turn the Eagle House Hotel into a private residence has been withdrawn. The controversial proposal was first put forward - and refused - last year. This re-application was recommended for approval by planning officers but was due to be decided by the planning committee next Monday. It has been suggested that the hotel has been sold to a buyer intent on retaining it in its current form. I'm afraid I have not had confirmation of this and so cannot confirm - but it would be good news if true. Tweet
Wandering the back streets of Herne Bay, I failed to find one of Lord Bonkers' favourite causes: the Home for Distressed Canvassers. On reflection, it is probably housed in one of the grand 19th-century houses facing the sea at the Eastern end of town on the way in from Reculver. What I did find was this fine tin tabernacle, now home to the Army Cadets.
Jennie Rigg proves there are respectable arguments against bringing in one member one vote at the Liberal Democrat Conference. "I am not a social conservative. I'm a Liberal who happens, most of the time, to be socially conservative in his behaviour," explains Andrew Brown. Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke on how a mother allowed her young son to travel home from Downtown Manhattan on his own and started a social movement. "The life-saving work of the American medical team on that October day served as clear and demonstrable proof that ambulances shouldn't just be about 'scoop and run' - there was a time ...
There was some encouraging news for the IT industry in the data released by UCAS today. The number of students accepting places on computer science courses at university has increased by 12% compared to last year's intake. Acceptances by HE subject group today. Final, detailed subjects will be published in January. http://t.co/6eaSmholdD pic.twitter.com/WR57BxSahR — UCAS Analysis (@ucas_analysis) August 18, 2015 ...
Mavarine Du-Marie 18th Aug '15 – 6:30pm The problem I think is the way politeness is construed for some people automatically thinking you are after something, or you fancy them because you are being polite/friendly (no charm offensive). Sometimes those people that we deem non-polite could never be accused of that and therefore looked upon... More When politics gets so serious that politeness gets thrown to one side
Tue 18th
14:55
Why a Corbyn win would be bad news for the progressive left, and for the Liberal Democrats
Welcome to the latest guest post from my former colleague at Liberal Democrat HQ, Paul Rainger. After the general election, I rather inarticulately argued that there is a new progressive left policy agenda waiting to be championed, around the substantial and growing minority of the politically disaffected represented typically by the Transition and Occupy movements etc. A more muscular, ideological agenda, in reaction to recent decades of bland managerial business as usual politics, which recognises the new economic reality of living within planetary limits, and which simply isn't currently on the mainstream political agenda. An agenda which my party, the ...
Harking back to that recent trip of mine to see the Class 502 EMU being restored in Burscough I also saw some interesting artifacts. Firstly, there is the destination blind roll from an old 502 unit which reminds us of the former parts of this electrified network which are no longer even railways. [IMG: IMG_5145r] And then what about this old illustrative map of the extent of what we now call the Northern Line to Southport and Ormskirk. [IMG: IMG_5147r] Of course Southport lost its suburban electrified service to Crossens a long time ago (1964) and indeed the whole of ...
[IMG: nhs-logo] [IMG: 22427_370032443181871_173488182410218200_n] Don't we all worry about too much administration in the NHS and too few doctors and nurses?
One if the things I so love about travel is the serendipity of chance encounters with unknown books in other people's bookshelves, which is how I came across Fernando Pessoa's Lisbon: What the Tourist Should See (Bilingual edition, Companhia das Lettras, 1992) here in Fortaleza, Brazil. Widely recognised as Portugal's second most important poet (after [...]
Works to improve traffic flow along the A34 begin on 1st September. The works are part of the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road and will see improvements at the Stanley Green roundabout and the roads on each side. This drawing shows the proposed new layout. The works will involve narrow lanes and some overnight working and are expected to last for twelve months.
[IMG: European Flag] Leaving the European Union would be a big deal. It would mean slamming on the brakes, crunching the gears and setting out on a new course, and, in the run-up to the EU referendum, the No campaign will argue that we should do just that. They want us to break with the past and follow a new path. So, what would a No victory mean for the future direction of Britain? For the answer we need only look as far as Change, or go, Business for Britain's 1,000-page blueprint for a Britain outside of the EU. The ...
Cheadle Hulme North councillor John Pantall has urged more local community groups to apply for up to £3,000 from the Manchester Airport Community Trust Fund. The Trust fund, which Cllr Pantall sits on, has money to give out and is keen for more applicants. You can find out more, including the online application form, here.
I've been in the Liberal party/Liberal Democrats for 25 years. I am happy to say that I have great friends and colleagues in the party and it is a pleasure to work alongside them. 99.99999 recurring % of Lib Dems are unfailingly joyous to deal with. But I feel I ought to observe that there is a minuscule number of people who have hearts of gold, have the noblest of intentions, but don't seem to realize that they are not observing basic politeness. I'm talking about "topping and tailing" contact. Whether it be by email, phone or in person, I ...
[IMG: York Focus 1] In local elections this May the story was often very different from the General Election and this was certainly true in York. The Liberal Democrats gained 5 seats from Labour, winning back seats lost in 2011. We also had a narrow loss to the Conservatives who came out of the local election 4-up, as did [...]
I don't know when the SNP will be toppled, but I am confident it will happen eventually. I also seriously doubt people will flock en masse back to Labour, a party that took Scotland for granted for years and, in my opinion, doesn't deserve the return of unwavering support. There will be a gap that we could perceivably fill, but we have to earn the right of that space, not make Labour's mistake of taking it as a given. Here are some things I have been trying to keep in mind over the past few months talking to SNP voters: ...
A quick reboot for my piece from two years ago which is still very relevant for local councils and all of us interesting in better local government. [IMG: Councillor camp photo] My session at Councillor Camp 2013 (well done to the team organising it – excellent job!) was about how councillors can prod their councils into getting digital. It was in the form of 10 questions to ask and as I've now had several requests for the slides, here they are for your delectation, followed below by a video of the talk kindly shared by Tom Phillips. I think they ...
One of the first votes I cast as a conference voting rep was in favour of One Member One Vote on all conference votes (rather than electing conference reps as at present). It was my fifth conference, and having been selected as a PPC, I was finally able to vote (though most of the policy I'd have to stand up and defend had already been set, without my being able to vote on it). Unfortunately it was defeated (largely because the FE royally messed up the motion) - but it's back again now and the debate is in full flow. ...
UPDATED DETAILS Seat:No Description. Cause:Death. No LD Candidate.
Clearly the prospect that Jeremy Corbyn might win the Labour leadership election is the most exciting thing in British politics right now. So I will blog about it for the third successive post. This time I want to look at what all this means for the Lib Dems. According to the rather lazy analysis you often see out there, such a development would be a bonanza for the party. Labour grandee Jack Straw has suggested as much, in a desperate attempt to persuade Labour activists to vote for somebody else. The logic goes something like this. If Mr Corbyn wins, ...
... such as these gems from 2013, made all the better by the appearance of Lord Sewel: [IMG: Unopposed Bills Committee at work - introduction] [...] [IMG: Unopposed Bills Committee at work] Thanks to Chris Keating and Hywel Morgan for enlightening me about the existence of the Unopposed Bill Committees. More fun from Parliament here.
From the Regional Communities Team Manager at Scottish Water : "I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of a Scottish Water project to improve the water supply in the Perth Road/City Road area of the city. This project has been promoted to reduce the levels of iron in the drinking water in that area. The work consists of approximately 10km of unlined cast iron mains which will be spray lined with a polyurethane lining and 10km of other mains which will be flushed or swabbed as appropriate. The work will proceed in sections of up to 150m ...
The Suffolk Gazette wins our Headline of the Day award. I'm not sure I believe a word of the story below its headline, but the judges were unanimous. Later. Suffolk Gazette is a parody site. When I put this to the judges they suddenly remembered an urgent appointment elsewhere.
With Gordon Brown now having weighed in on the subject of who should be the next Labour leader (in a carefully worded speech that never once used the words "Jeremy" or "Corbyn", but nonetheless could not have been referring to anyone else throughout), and David Miliband having given his own barnstorming speech on the matter (Britain is in danger of becoming a one party state, he says), the spotlight naturally falls on Ed Miliband and the question of whether he's going to make his own intervention – and whether or not that's a good idea. Several articles have been written ...
Humour in politics can be very effective, especially when combined with clever putdowns and as this piece in the Telegraph illustrates not even the best at this art can get it right. The feature also shows that former political generations were no more gentle in their insults than the present day, though they were more subtle. There is for example Benjamin Disraeli's putdown of Robert Peel that "The Right Honourable Gentleman's smile was like the silver plate on a coffin." or Disraeli on Gladstone: "If Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune, and if anybody pulled him ...
The Dustbin of Geography Where 0°0'0.0" really is. (tags: maps ) Different Beauty, Equal Beauty Spanish and English. (tags: languages ) Letter of Recommendation: Uzbek "since then, I have spoken Uzbek outside the classroom on exactly two occasions" (tags: languages ) The strange death of Labour Britain has a worrying precedent The legacy of Dangerfield. (tags: ukpolitics )
How ideological adherence to creating markets in natural monopolies actually harms emerging markets And today's prize for most blatant bi-erasure goes to @Independent I am not "a little bit gay". I am bisexual. People who are attracted to more than one gender are bisexual. Why is this so difficult to grasp, media types? Housing is the nation's most urgent and complex challenge. Yet we're paralysed "Unmortgageable due to size" - this £150k "flat" is smaller than my living room. Green mayoral hopeful urges use of anti-terror laws to clamp down on parking — MayorWatch You can see why Lib Dems ...
One way analysts have chosen to examine the dysfunctional political system of Russia is as a "power vertical" where closely linked economic and political interests share out the spoils of the economy. Like all models it is a simplification, but it has sometimes explained events that make no other sense. As the Russian forces in Ukraine have increased their hostile activity- the latest being a renewed offensive against Mariupol- there is now increasing evidence that the power vertical is less united than it has been for sometime. As I noted a few days ago, the campaigning season in Ukraine is ...
