Me: Right, I'm going to bed. Mostly because I'm cold and bed has duvet. Him: Ok. I'm going to play a bit more of my game. Me: Ok, well I won't be asleep for a while. I'll be reading my book. Him: Ok, I'll be in in a bit, yeah? Me: yeah, don't expect any duvet though Him: I'll expect you to have warmed it up for me! Me: *gets into bed* *turns self into sausage roll with duvet pastry* The duvet is mine! ALL MINE! You'd be amazed how many times this little scene has played out. He'll be ...
Our pledge to build 300,000 new homes annually across the UK, including 20,000 in Wales during the next Assembly session, is laudable. But house-building on that scale requires some tough local planning decisions to be made, and I worry that we might open ourselves up to accusations of hypocrisy if local campaigners come out against developments in their area. Our local and community interests can sometimes bring us into conflict with the Party's 'bigger picture'. You only need look at the Welsh Party's policy on windfarm development to see what I mean. Whilst we are fully committed to renewable energy, ...
Crossens Saturday, 10th October, St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens, between 11am and 12 noon. Churchtown Thursday, 22nd October, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) Churchtown, between 10:30 am and 11:30 am.
[IMG: Nick Clegg. Photo courtesy of 10 Downing Street CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] Nick Clegg is launching a campaign to persuade EU leaders to back global reform of drugs laws, warning that the current punitive approach has failed to curb the multibillion trade in illicit substances and has criminalised millions of young people... Mr Clegg is to urge European leaders to make the case for a new global approach to drug abuse at a United Nations meeting next year. Many of them have switched tactics in recent years, tackling it as a health issue rather than a law and order problem... ...
The latest email newsletters for Gateshead Lib Dem members was published tonight. You can read it on this link.
For a few months, I was standing on the precipice of what I knew would be a slippery slippery slope into the expensive and time consuming world of LEGO fandom. Then Jurassic World LEGO came out, I got some vouchers for ToysRUs and I sent myself hurtling headlong down into the plastic depths, screaming "techniiiiiiic!" all the way down. That's a story for another day. [IMG: front] One of my recent expensive-and-complicated presents to myself has been the Creator model "Detective's Office" -partly because it looks pretty but partly because I wanted to remodel it at some point, maybe, to ...
I have posted most of their videos about individual lines. Here are some more interesting scraps from Londonist.
Mistakenly posted the September books list as "Thursday reading" yesterday, which was actually Wednesday. This entry really is my reading since last week. Current Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo Galactic North, by Alastair Reynolds Last books finished The Unlimited Dream Company, by J. G. Ballard Luna: New Moon, by Ian McDonald Jacaranda, by Cherie Priest Next books The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuition Deceives Us: Or Why You Have No Idea How Your Mind Works, by Christopher Chabris Business Unusual, by Gary Russell Books acquired in last week Whispers Underground, by Ben Aaronovitch Lethbridge-Stewart: The Schizoid Earth, by ...
Thanks to the people who tweeted me about Britain's most esoteric by-election today. It is an election to fill a vacancy for a hereditary peer to sit on the crossbenches in the Lords. There is an electorate of 30 and 17 candidates. One of the candidates is the Duke of Rutland. As his candidature statement (seen above) mentions his membership of Ukip, he would make a funny kind of crossbencher. Lord Bonkers tells me he went to the bookies today and was offered very long odds on the Duke.
Sometimes I come across a story where literally everyone involved in it comes out badly. Today I saw such a story that the more I looked into it, the worse the secondary characters looked. sadly for the main characters, they just never looked good. For those who don't know anything about the story to which I can referring then you can read the write-up in the Portsmouth News. The long and short of it is a 'rising star' in the Lib Dems apparently said something stupid whilst drunk, well lets be fair, something beyond stupid, something flat out disgusting. She ...
[IMG: Revenge Evictions] Following today's announcement that revenge evictions have been outlawed after a long campaign by the Liberal Democrats, we have produced a few templates for you to use for your campaigns Focus - PagePlus and PDF Example Story on MyCouncillor Text for use on your MyCouncillor site Original LDHQ Press Release For details of how to upload [...]
Thu 1st
16:10
So it seems I'll be running naked down Whitehall. Promise I'll run faster if you sponsor me...
[IMG: bbc dp -naked run] I told the BBC's Daily Politics show in 2013 that I'd "run naked down Whitehall" if the Lib Dems were reduced to just 24 MPs at the next election. Technically, that didn't happen. We did far, far worse. But a pledge is a pledge, as Lib Dems know only too well. Plus former Sun editor Kelvin McKenzie has offered me £5,000 for the charity of my choice to see it through. My charity of choice is Médecins Sans Frontières UK (aka Doctors without Borders). MSF deliver medical aid to the people who need it most, ...
Just in case we thought it was only the shadow cabinet who had fundamental policy differences with the Jeremy Corbyn, up pops newly elected MP Stephen Kinnock to register his own protest. Kinnock is of course the son of the last Labour leader to be excoriated by the tabloid press and no stranger to controversy himself, having scraped through the selection process for Aberavon by one vote amid accusations of him parachuting in from Denmark or some other far-flung realm. Having said that he is a perfectly pleasant and likeable bloke. According to the BBC, Stephen Kinnock does not agree ...
Some excellent news today as the longstanding campaign by Lib Dems and the housing charity Shelter, among others, finally passes into law the ban on retaliatory evictions. Having seen friends and neighbours fall victim to this appalling practice earlier this year, I am doubly convinced how necessary it is. Of course, had we had this current appalling Tory Government in situ since 2010, then landlords would still be able to get away with it – as the Tories proved when they blocked Sarah Teather's Private Members Bill last year. Kudos to Sarah and Stephen Williams for making this happen. I ...
Thu 1st
15:26
Mental Health – Always the poor relation but recovery rates in Sefton are very poor indeed
[IMG: nhs-logo] The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above. Very worrying stats generally but South Sefton seems to be rock bottom on Merseyside for recovery from mental illness. Glad to say the Lib Dems have been pushing hard for mental health to be given the same recognition and funding levels within the NHS and indeed within Government policy as physical health.
Thu 1st
14:25
LibLink: Paddy Ashdown - While Russia launches airstrikes Britain's position on Syria remains an ing...
Paddy Ashdown has been writing in the Independent about this week's developments and diplomatic stand-offs regarding Syria. He said that the west has allowed its influence to be diminished by successive failures: We bluster in the UN, Washington and London about willing the ends, but we have nothing left but bombs to will the means. The levers to make things happen in Syria now lie in Moscow and Tehran - all we are left with is a bomb-release button at 30,000ft. This is a diplomatic failure of inglorious proportions. Historic proportions, too, since the result will inevitably be another ratchet ...
Two new blogs appeared on LibDemBlogs in September. tompkin98blog - written by Thomas Mercer - has been going for a while. Here it is on the refugee crisis: My opinion is that the UK to an extent needs an influx of younger people within it as the population ages and native born people have less children per household than before. There are skill gaps within our society that can only be plugged by foreign nationals coming in, alongside the fact there are certain jobs within our society natives are not prepared to do but foreign nationals will, low skilled menial ...
The Conservatives are set to announce further details about their Counter-Extremism Bill over the course of their party conference. Countering Islamist extremism is crucial, to protect both those who are vulnerable to radicalisation and those who could be harmed by a terrorist attack. I don't want to see another child lured from the UK to join ISIS - nor do I want to see people killed and families torn apart by such reckless hatred and extremist violence. It is quite right for the UK Government to take action. But while the country needs a counter-extremism strategy, the Conservative's proposed approach ...
We had a lovely visit from Rubab (director of the International Imam Hussain Councilyesterday, director of the International with her husband and her little boy, and they brought a superb birthday cake!
The BBC reports: New consumer protection measures – including longer refund rights – have come into force under the Consumer Rights Act. For the first time anyone who buys faulty goods will be entitled to a full refund for up to 30 days after the purchase. Previously consumers were only entitled to refunds for a "reasonable time". There will also be new protection for people who buy digital content, such as ebooks or online films and music. They will be entitled to a full refund, or a replacement, if the goods are faulty. The Act also covers second-hand goods, when ...
[IMG: Vilnius, Lithuania. CC0 Public Domain] This appeared in The Guardian: Sympathy for the victims of imperialism is a noble sentiment. But I am puzzled that Labour's new leader feels this so keenly when Asia, Africa and Latin America are concerned, but seems so unaware of the past, present and future of imperialism on the European continent. Lithuania has in living memory experienced imperialism through occupation, linguistic and cultural oppression, the destruction of civil society and public institutions, rape, looting, deportation and mass murder. The perpetrators of these crimes have not been punished. Nor has Russia, the successor state to ...
A motion from earlier this month by our colleagues on Leicestershire County Council. See this article for background information on the scrapping (or at least, significant mothballing) of a key element of the Dilnot commission's recommendations for social care costs. MR will move and MR will second: That this Council:- Notes the cross-party support for [...]
A leaked consultation on the future of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has deepened concern that November's spending review will be accompanied by a radical overhaul of the research funding system. Over the summer, George Osborne asked unprotected Whitehall departments to model cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent over the lifetime of this Parliament. Keen to burnish his austerity credentials, business secretary Sajid Javid has let it be known that he favours cuts to his department at the deeper end of this range. In July, as revealed in this blog, he controversially called on consultants McKinsey ...
On Tuesday afternoon I did something for the first time ever. I watched a Labour leader's conference speech. I had been encouraged by the advance billing that it would not be a long one. It lasted a full hour, so on that count I was disappointed. But what to make of it, and the revolution that has overwhelmed Britain's Labour Party? The first point to make is that its delivery was very low-key – which is entirely what we had been led to expect. Jeremy Corbyn wore a jacket and tie, but not a suit; and his tie wasn't quite ...
UPDATED DETAILS SNP seat. Cause: Resignation. No LD Candidate.
LD Candidate- Kenneth Ashworth.
UPDATED DETAILS SNP seat. Cause: Resignation (now MP). No LD Candidate.
SNP seat. Cause: Resignation (Now MP). LD Candidate- Caron Lindsay.
UPDATED DETAILS SNP seat. Cause:Resignation (Now MP). No LD Candidate.
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate- Sam Neal. Please contact Stuart Beadle on 07788 717836 to help.
UPDATED DETAILS Independent seat. Cause:Resignation. No LD Candidate.
UPDATED DETAILS Seat: Conservative sitting as non-aligned. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate- Ken McLeod.
UPDATED DETAILS SNP seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate- Euan Davidson.
ICYMI, I wrote about Critiques I Have Seen of the First Two Episodes of New Who Neighbours From Hell - a horror comedy with a demonic Colin Baker in :) On how the way we deal with child sexual abuse is designed to comfort adults, not protect children (CW) On the new 'kinder, gentler' politics... - oh God I'm agreeing with @NeilMonnery. Make it stop! Clapham 'bed-under-stairs' advertised for £500 a month A Jack the Ripper historian reviewed the Jack the Ripper Museum. It didn't exactly go well [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
UPDATED DETAILS Conservative seat. Cause: Death. LD Candidate- Kenneth Ashworth.
Winston Churchill once said that the "mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country". A "calm, dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused, and even of the convicted criminal" was a symbol of "the stored-up strength of a nation and sign and proof of the living virtue in it". Under this government, however, we as a nation are increasingly departing from the values espoused by Churchill, and enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which made Britain ...
The crucial moment of this year's Labour conference came not via a speech or indeed anything that happened inside of the hall. It occurred in an interview Jeremy Corbyn gave to the BBC yesterday morning. When asked, if he were prime minister would he ever use nuclear weapons, he gave a straight answer: "No". It was so defining because as he said it, I could imagine it appearing on Tory leaflets already. If Britain is attacked, PM Corbyn will not protect you. If Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, it will give every other nuclear power licence to attack the UK ...
Nobody will be prosecuted in connection with the year-long criminal investigation into allegations pro-Union campaigners breached electoral secrecy laws by counting postal votes ahead of the Scottish independence referendum polling day... A Police Scotland probe into claims of electoral fraud were sparked by live TV comments made by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson that postal vote "tallies" were being taken in the weeks before the ballot closed at 10pm on September 18, last year. Now the Crown Office has confirmed that the matter for them is "now closed" after Police Scotland said they "do not intend" to report any individuals ...
The photograph below shows the east end of Dundee's Overgate, where it merges with the High Street, with the Town House (on the south side of High Street) just visible behind the hanging sign to the right. David McLeod the bootmaker was at No. 41 Overgate, James R Butchart, a basket manufacturer, at No. 37, the smallware merchant Paul Kane at No. 33 and the Dundee Equitable Boot Depot at No. 29, although it is not listed in the Dundee Directory. No. 23 was Robert Methven, a spirit dealer. The clocks are possibly part of a display by Herbert J. ...
In the heady days after the town walls collapsed behind St Laurence's on 18 February 2013, there were promises of immediate action to repair them and even Shropshire Council dipping into its pockets to fund the work. It has been a long and arduous road since then involving tortuous discussions between lawyers and repairs to [...]
Having spent a couple of years on Sefton Council's Planning Committee as the Lib Dem opposition spokesperson (2013/14 and 2014/15) and fought Labour's Local Plan for the Borough every inch of the way I now wonder if their enthusiasm for Neighbourhood Plans is their back-handed way of apologising for building on high grade agricultural land? [IMG: Green Belt campaigners, outside Maghull Town Hall.] Green Belt campaigners, outside Maghull Town Hall. Neighbourhood Plans are a potentially useful but significantly limited tool to plan for the development of a town or village at a very local level but as I have said ...
We seem to be hurtling towards a turning point in the zeitgeist, as I may have mentioned before - though my sense is that Corbyn is symptom rather than cause. So I have been thinking about other turning points - not the economic ones this time, but the social ones - and I've settled on 1972. No it wasn't the ending of exchange controls (1979) as I argued in my book Broke. Nor was it the Three Day Week as I have been writing more recently (1973/4 - more on that later). Nor is it the moment I remember, as ...
I love gram flour. It's awesome, you can do so many things with it and it's gluten free¹. OK, mostly what I do with it is make a batter an deep fry stuff, but that's just nice. I've messed around making bhajis, pakoras and, well, stuff. Tonight, I went for chunks of halloumi cheese and some quorn cocktail sausages I'd forgotten to use when we had guests Sunday. An ounce of flour, enough water mixed in gradually to make it a cream consistency, poured over the chunks of stuff then deep fried at 180°C until it's golden brown. Because I ...
