<< Dec 2009 Happy St. Andrew's Day Monday, November 30th, 2009 - 11:32 pm
A bit late I know, but I've had a really busy day and only got home half-an-hour back.
I was in the magistrates' court today, really busy with many interesting cases.
Then a meeting with council officers, and finally a Lib Dem Group meeting in preparation for Wednesday's Council meeting.
Finally, home, a cup of tea, and a glass of whisky before bed.
I know it's not Burns Night but I couldn't let the opportunity pass for a verse of A Man's A Man for A' That, from the Bard:
Is there for honest poverty
That hangs his head, an' a' that
The coward slave, we pass him by
We dare be poor for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
Our toil's obscure and a' that
The rank is but the guinea's stamp
The man's the gowd for a' that
Slàinte Mhath Non-doms, you and me Sunday, November 29th, 2009 - 2:30 am
Non-domicile status is for foreign nationals or those with roots overseas. It sole purpose is to avoid tax on earnings from outside Britain.
So you would expect someone who was born in London, grew up in London, went to school in London, and has lived in London most of their life, to be ineligible for non-dom status wouldn't you?
You would expect them to pay their fair share of taxes, and shoulder their responsibilities towards the rest of society willingly, and contribute as much as they can to this great country of ours, wouldn't you?
Especially if they are running for public office, maybe even more so if they are running for Parliament, wouldn't you?
I would.
Well apparently not, apparently you and I wrong to expect high standards of moral and political probity from our would-be (and current) representatives.
It seems that the Tories are not that bothered however. Have they learned anything from the whole expenses debacle earlier this year?
It's bad enough that they've got that tax-shirker Lord Ashcroft trying to buy every seat that he can by bankrolling marginals. Now comes news that Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, aka "Zac", who as well as a fortune of some £300m, owns a 300-acre farm in Devon, a house in Richmond, and a house in Fulham, has been not been paying his full dues.
This is bad enough, but the boy wants to represent Richmond Park, currently held by Lib Dem, Susan Kramer. Dream on Rich Boy! Susan is a hard-working, conscientious, and a great MP.
Surely, as our Treasury spokesperson, Lord Oakeshott said, "Cameron must sack Zac Goldsmith as a candidate now. He’s not fit to sit in parliament, when he’s claimed non-dom status all his life to keep his offshore hundreds of millions free of income, capital gains or inheritance tax. He must pay the millions he’s dodged to the British taxman". The rusty legacy of the Iron Lady Saturday, November 28th, 2009 - 12:50 am
I was watching HIGNFY earlier tonight and the was an item about Mrs. T visiting No. 10 to unveil a new portrait of herself commissioned by the Prime Minister.
It struck me as a bizarre thing to do. Namely, to voluntarily, without pressure or coercion, of one's own free will to invite THAT WOMAN back to Downing Street, and to have a picture of her hanging in the study that Mr Brown uses for meetings with foreign dignitaries.
Curiouser, and curiouser.
It was on this day in 1990 that she finally ceased being Prime Minister, and Britain started on the long slow and arduous trek to recovery.
Her eleven years in power left Britain "more spiritually bereft, more restless, unhappier even". She ushered in a brutal, destructive, and selfish society.
She brought more machismo, bravado, and braggadocio to politics and we still suffer the consequences.
She and her whole Tory government destroyed whole communities, especially in the North, Wales, and Scotland, communities that have not recovered to this day.
She was probably the only Marxist Prime Minister we have ever had, inasmuch as she understood clearly the class structure, and to her shame she used that knowledge to exploit and utterly subjugate the working classes.
She set suspicion and greed loose, it was every man for themselves and devil take the hindmost.
She encouraged xenophobia, prejudice, and paranoia, she saw fifth columnists and betrayal everywhere.
Even her supposed strength, namely that she was a conviction politician was ultimately a weakness, because she refused or was unable to see when the game was up.
I'd like to raise a glass to her, well her having left the political stage. Unfortunately, like the bum penny or the ghost at the wedding she keeps coming back.
I really, genuinely, honestly do not believe in personalising politics, but for Mrs T, I'll make an exception. Go Kiwis Friday, November 27th, 2009 - 11:42 pm
Last night I was at a Lib Dem fundraiser at Wadsworth Community centre which was superbly organised and the food was terrific. Thanks to Mavis and the rest.
I supplied a quiz which was keenly contested. One of my questions was which was the first country to give women the vote in national elections, and when?
The answer? New Zealand, in 1893, fully a quarter of a century before Britain.
Coincidentally, today is the tenth anniversary of The (NZ) Labour Party defeating the governing National Party in their general election, making their leader Helen Clark the first woman to win the office of Prime Minister. The cost of Free Speech Friday, November 27th, 2009 - 1:13 pm
Nick Griffin's disastrous appearance on Question Time landed taxpayers with a £143,000 security bill.
That's how much police spent dealing with protesters outside BBC Television Centre, closing roads, and using a helicopter to keep the nutty neo-Nazi numero uno safe.
I think that most sane people will be horrified to find out that so much public money has been spent giving the no-Nazi party their best-ever publicity.
However, on balance I think it was money well-spent to show everyone, what an odious little tic the man was and how his neo-Nazi party is really the heir to Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists.
"I'm not an extremist. I'm a national socialist".
"I read Mein Kampf... there are some really useful ideas there".
And my all-time favourite:
"Yes, Adolf went a bit too far... It just creates a bad image". Wishing all Muslim readers Eid Mubarak Friday, November 27th, 2009 - 8:29 am
Today is Eid al-Adha or the "Festival of Sacrifice" which is a holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as an act of love for/obedience to God.
In Iran it is known as the Eid-e Ghorban and is celebrated with the sacrifice of an animal.
Those that can afford it, have open house and make a concerted effort to see that no poor person is left without food during the three days of the festival. Notre Dame and Bartlet Thursday, November 26th, 2009 - 11:19 pm
Today is the anniversary of the foundation of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
It is the most famous of all of the Roman Catholic institutions, and its alumni include the co-founder of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and co-recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, James E. Muller.
Next week I shall be moving a motion in Council, proposing that we join the Mayors for Peace campaign, dedicated for the promotion of peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Oh and another famous alumnus of Notr Dame? President Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet, who although accepted to Harvard and Yale, instead chose to go to Notre Dame.
Yes, Yes I know he's fictional. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 - 11:59 pm
Today was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and I've managed to get a motion in next week's council meeting for us to join the White Ribbon Campaign.
Wish me luck. Watching part two of Cast Offs Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 - 11:14 pm
Tonight is Tom's (he's blind) story, and it's got Bill Gaunt, him from the Champions, probably before your time late 1960s, a trio crash land in the Himalyas, rescued by monks from Shangri La and given super powers it was brilliant! Spastic Island (?!) Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 - 11:43 pm
Just finished watching Cast Offs on Channel 4.
It's brilliant. Well-written, superbly acted, funny as anything, and poignant without being sentimental.
I love Mat Fraser. In defence of the poor Monday, November 23rd, 2009 - 11:30 pm
I'd like to congratulate our Keighley MP for supporting a Lib Dem Early Day Motion opposing the Government’s proposed cuts for the poorest tenants. The people who would lose out under this proposal are poorer than those who would have been hit by the 10p tax debacle, and will be hit harder.
Worse still, the Government will not actually save any money by clawing back these payments. All they will achieve is switching the money directly from tenants to their landlords.
These unfair changes were sneaked through in the last budget and the Government clearly hoped they would be swept under the carpet. They now have a fight on their hands, with many MPs and campaign groups, including the housing charity Crisis, opposing the plans.
This week, the leader of the Lib Dems challenged Gordon Brown directly over the issue at Prime Minister’s Question Time.
I would like to assure you that the Lib Dems will continue to do all we can to oppose this latest Government assault on some of the very poorest families in the country. Two services in one day Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 - 11:08 pm
Busy day today, at 11am along with my family we were at a service to mark the inauguration of Halifax Parish Church as Halifax Minster.
It was a great service led by Bishop Stephen of Wakefield, the Deacon, and of course Revd. Hilary Barber who has worked so hard to achieve this change in status. Well done Hilary.
It's great for the church, it's great for Halifax, and it's great for Calderdale.
Later on in the afternoon, I was at Wakefield Cathedral for an inspirational Christian Aid Service entitled "Countdown to Copenhagen" demanding climate justice.
It was a timely reminder to us all that we are merely custodians of this planet, and our children and grandchildren will have to live with the legacy of our profligacy, vandalism, and wastefulness. Thanks to Revd. Jonathan Greener for the invitation. Oh Rovers, my Rovers! Saturday, November 21st, 2009 - 7:28 pm
For those of you who don't know, I am a fan of Tranmere Rovers Football Club and have been for a heck of a long time, almost since Dixie Dean played for them in the 1920s.
It's been the worst start to the season that I can remember, and almost inexplicably so!
We beat The Orient mid-week and lose to them today! Why, oh why, oh why? Eendracht maakt macht; L'union fait la force; Einigkeit macht stark Friday, November 20th, 2009 - 12:04 am
The above is the national motto of Belgium, and means "strength through unity". A few years ago, the then Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt said, “Belgium is the laboratory of European unification”.
I have long had great respect for Belgium, and her contributon to the European Project. As a student of the history of the EU, I well know the hard work and vision of people like Paul-Henri Spaak, Jean Duvieusart, Victor Leemans, and Jean Rey amongst many others.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Belgium herself is an "artificial" construct, where the Francophone Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemings, have been living together in relative harmony for nigh on 180 years.
Her contributions to international peace is well-documented with Nobel Prize winners like Auguste Beernaert, Henri La Fontaine, and Georges Pire.
Belgium's artists have been very important, writers like Maurice Maeterlinck, and Georges Simenon, painters like René Magritte and James Ensor, architects like Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, musicians like Adolphe Sax and César Franck, and of course, my hero Jacques Brel.
I won't even mention sportsmen and sportswomen like Eddy Merckx and Jacky Ickx, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, and of course the great Ivo Van Damme. Whoops I just did.
I've never bought into the anonymous grey boring Belgian thing, the "Name Ten Famous Belgians", "Tin Tin, Plastic Bertrand, ... er that's it!"
The point I'm trying to make is that somehow it is meet that earlier last night, Herman van Rompuy was chosen to be the first full-time President of the European Council. He had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders, and is a consensus-builder who brought stability to Belgium after months of uncertainty.
The whole point of the European Project is to pool sovereignty, to move forward by debate, discussion, and negotiation. Our traditions are different from the US model of presidential politics of seeking a Messiah, which is why (amongst many, many other reasons) Tony Blair was such a bad idea.
Bon chance/Veel geluk/Good luck to him. Van Rompuy, that is, not Blair!
I'm going to listen to Brel's live album, Olympia 1964, especially the first track, Amsterdam. Not the Queen's Speech Thursday, November 19th, 2009 - 7:08 am
Here is a piece from the Independent about the Queen's Speech programme for the new session of Parliament.
"The X-party have chosen politically aggressive measures, as they turn the Commons into a key battleground for a May election.
Any legislation that does not fit in with the X-party's election campaign strategy has been kept out of the Queen's Speech, leaving it not so much a programme for a Parliament, as a trailer for next year's X-party manifesto, and a taste of the anti-Y-party campaign to come".
Sounds dreadful, doesn't it? I should've said, although I'm sure many of you have already worked it out. The above passage isn't about yesterday's speech by Her Majesty. Rather it refers to events of a dozen years ago, when John Major was the Tory PM.
So when David Cameron comes over all "holier than thou" just remember that under this discredited two-party system in Westminster, we are all condemned to a Tweedle Dum-Tweedle Dee style of government, with the pendulum swinging back and forth between a discredited Labour Government and a never-credible Tory party.
Only we Lib Dems offer a genuinely radical third way between the "has-beens" and the "never-wases". Seeking social justice, fairness at home and abroad, true internationalism, and a commitment to a greener society and world at large.
On the whole, I am an incurable optimist with boundless faith in the human condition.
Rarely does a news story upset me! Anger me? Yes. Fire me with passion? Yes. Make me laugh? Yes!
Today, thanks to an FoI request we've found out that the Ministry of Defence spent the equivalent of thousands of hours taking part in stunts for the tv show Top Gear.
I find that astonishing.
I'm not a fan of lads' tv, not a fan of Top Gear, not a fan of Clarkson et al. He reminds me too much of the minor public school bully braying in the quad with a gaggle of equally witless side-kicks, think Molesworth's St Custard's, or Grayson (School Bully) at Graybridge in Ripping Yarns' Tomkinson's Schooldays.
He revels in his oafishness, under the pretext of being "anti-PC" (read red-neck reactionary). He's had a go at the PM's disability, found murdering women working as prostitutes side-splittingly funny, and he is a bigot and xenophobe whether towards Koreans or Germans.
To find that the MoD is wasting, frittering, squandering 141 days of military and 48 days of civilian personnel's time, pandering to this self-satisfied buffoon is beyond belief.
The stunts included a helicopter gunship trying to get a missile lock on a sports car driven by Clarkson, trying to avoid sniper fire while testing another car, and racing a car against an RAF Typhoon, the list goes on ad nauseam.
The MoD's response, that showcasing their people and equipment on tv "raises public awareness about the work of the armed forces" and encourages "support for our troops", is nonsense.
In fact, worse than that, by actively encouraging "Top Gun" fantasies of the armed forces, it actually helps delude youngsters as to the realities of war, and the sacrifices being made in Afghanistan amongst other places.
The title? It's an anagram! We're on course for catastrophic 6° rise Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 - 1:25 am
An article in today's Independent about the catastrophic impact we humans are having on our beautiful blue planet.
A group of scientists, led by Prof. Le Quéré of UEA, say we are heading for catastrophe because the CO2 emissions from industry, transport, and deforestation have increased dramatically since 2002, and are now running at treble the rate of the 1990s.
Next month's Copenhagen conference is probably the last chance to stabilise climate levels in a smooth and organised way, however, if the agreement is too weak, or the commitments not respected, then we will get a 5C/6C temperature rise by the end of the century.
What the impact could be is best described by Mark Lynas's book "Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet".
The most recent climatic comparison is the Cretaceous period (144m-65m years ago) which ended with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Before that, at the end of the Permian (251m years ago), similar conditions led to 95% of species being wiped out.
Of that period, Lynas says that:
On land, the only winners were fungi that flourished on dying trees and shrubs. At sea there were only losers. Warm water is a killer. Less oxygen can dissolve, so conditions become stagnant and anoxic. Oxygen-breathing water-dwellers face suffocation. Sea levels rose by 20 metres, and the resulting "super-hurricanes" hitting the coasts triggered flash floods that no living thing could have survived.
As the ice-caps melt, hundreds of millions will also be forced to move inland due to rapidly-rising seas. As world food supplies crash, the higher mid-latitude and sub-polar regions would become fiercely-contested refuges.
The British Isles, indeed, might become one of the most desirable pieces of real estate on the planet. But, with a couple of billion people knocking on our door, things might quickly turn rather ugly.
The government, must be bold and take the initiative in Copenhagen, and lead by example. Banks: Getting A Fair Deal for the Citizen Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 - 3:33 am
The UK banks owe their very existence to the British taxpayer. They have received the equivalent of £1,000,000,000,000 in taxpayer support.
But it does not stop there. The banking industry is unique in having the taxpayer acting as a safety net. Until the banks can be successfully broken up, we Lib Dems believe that they should pay for the explicit guarantee that they receive.
Vince Cable has today proposed creating a new levy on bank profits at a rate of 10%, with all the revenue raised (estimated next year to be around £2bn) going towards tackling the structural deficit.
He said, "We must find a way to split the banks so that the British public no longer props up ‘casino’ banking... It is only right for the taxpayer to get a fair deal for the guarantee that they provide to the banking industry. A 10% levy on bank profits would be used to pay down the structural deficit that they are partly responsible for creating". Interfaith week Monday, November 16th, 2009 - 9:00 pm
Here we are at the start of "Interfaith Week’, a government-funded project that aims to strengthen good inter-faith relations, to increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, and to celebrate the contribution they make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society.
While on the surface these are all very laudable aims, I am nevertheless deeply concerned that the government is taking the wrong route to community cohesion by focussing almost exclusively on the ‘faith’ element of people’s identities.
My concern is that by supporting ‘faith groups’ over and above other groups in the voluntary and community sector, they are helping to promote the fallacy of distinctive ‘faith communities’ that somehow stand apart from wider civil society.
However, given that one of the aims of the week is to increase understanding between religious and non-religious people, I shall be attending one of the events later on in the week.
I look forward to a more inclusive approach next year! Let's hear it for Social Services Sunday, November 15th, 2009 - 9:36 pm
This afternoon, I had the huge honour and profound pleasure of attending a party for adopted children and their parents held by Calderdale Council.
It was an incredibly fun event, well put together and thoroughly satisfying.
It is important to remember that at a time when vilifying social workers has become a national pastime, spurred on by the red tops, that the overwhelming majority do a mighty fine job most of the time. It is only when things go wrong, as they sadly do at times, that they impinge on our consciousness, and then all hell breaks loose and we let slip the dogs of war.
People are mostly ignorant of their day-to-day travails, and seeing the dozens of smiling faces, parents and children, that today of all days (National Adoption Week) I wanted to thank them and their profession for ALL the good work they do.
THANK YOU!
p.s. as an example of how much fun I had, during a game of pass-the-parcel one lad turned to me and said, "You're not my dad, but you're still embarassing". White Ribbon Campaign Walk Saturday, November 14th, 2009 - 9:50 am
In an hour or so, I'll be off into the town centre for an event called, These Heels Were Made For Walking Charity Walk.
I and about fifty other men will be slipping on pairs of high heels and strutting our stuff on the mean streets of Hebden Bridge.
The White Ribbon Campaign is the largest effort in the world of men working to end male violence against women.
This is part of a series of events in White Ribbon Week and the lead up to White Ribbon Day on the 25th of November.
Whilst Mayor of Hebden Royd last year, I managed to get the Town Council to sign up to become the first White Ribbon town in the UK, thanks to Chris Green and my fellow councillors.
I'll post after the walk, if I haven't twisted my ankle! Free-to-air Sports events Saturday, November 14th, 2009 - 1:44 am
We're often told that the fabric of our society is fast unravelling, and that one of the reasons is that we do not have enough common points of reference. I would strongly challenge that argument.
However, even if that were true, surely one of the things that helps bind the country are great sporting events? I must say that I am really pleased at the proposed listed events. These include the (Summer) Olympic Games, the World Cup finals, the European Championship finals, the FA Cup final, Wimbledon, the Rugby World Cup, and of course, the Ashes.
If there's one thing I'd change would be to swap the Open golf championship for the Commonwealth Games and the World Athletics Championships.
More power to the BBC's elbow. Even more so if it annoys Murdoch's Sky Empire (always think of Darth Vader, a flawed but ultimately evil individual).
May the Force be with us! Favourite Headline of the Day - II Friday, November 13th, 2009 - 6:24 pm
Thatcher dies! No not Maggie, but a moggy.
Apparently someone at a black-tie dinner for 2,000 Canadian Conservatives had received a text from the transport minister to say that his 16-year-old grey cat, named in honour of the Milk Snatcher, was no more.
The message spread like wildfire before someone thought to check, and they were relieved :( to find that it was not the other one. The "Holodomor" Friday, November 13th, 2009 - 5:44 pm
There was an article in today's Guardian about a new documentary about the Welsh Journalist, Gareth Jones, and the 1932-1933 famine in the Ukraine.
The Ukrainians call these events the Holodomor or death by starvation, estimates vary widely, 1m-10m are thought to have perished. Over the past twenty years more than a dozen countries around the world have recognised it as genocide, but not the UK.
It is important, not just for moral reasons, but also for the more than 12,000 people of Ukrainian descent who live in Britain, and the hundreds in Keighley.
I know that last year, Keighley Town Council pledged to support the campaign to recognised as genocide. I should like to add my voice to that campaign. Favourite Headline of the Day Thursday, November 12th, 2009 - 10:44 pm
Also Vicar of Rome - Catholic, and Ursidae defecate in Sylvania. Tories' amnesia over their dire record on poverty Thursday, November 12th, 2009 - 12:10 am
David Cameron’s speech on Tory ideas to tackle poverty should make interesting reading!
When they were last in power they stood idly by as child poverty doubled. Why should anyone believe that they are now the right people to abolish it?
The reason unemployment has risen so rapidly in the UK is not because folk have suddenly become workshy but because the jobs are not there.
Tory plans for benefit reform will not do anything to change that.
Blaming unemployed people for not finding work will be cold comfort to many facing Christmas on the breadline.
The priority must be to invest in creating new jobs that will bring lasting benefit to Britain and help the country out of recession. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 - 1:23 am
This morning I shall be at the War Memorial in Keighley to pay my respects to all those killed in the two World Wars, and indeed all conflicts past and present.
I shall of course observe the two-minutes silence to commemorate Germany signing an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railway wagon outside Compiègne.
When I was a young lad, one of my friends had his granddad living with him, and this old feller had fought on the Western Front, but of course as a child that meant little to me. I was reading Biggles, and The Victor and Hornet comics, and so as you can imagine my impressions of the War, ANY war was a little warped to say the least.
Well anyway, one year round Remembrance Sunday, I must have been wittering more often than usual when this chap suddenly starts shouting telling me to be quiet, how I didn't know what I was talking about, and finally finishes off by saying how he had nothing but contempt for the leaders, both political and military at the time.
Eventually, he calmed down and said that his main grievance was that THEY must have decided on the ceasefire at least a few days before declaring it. In addition, even in the last few hours before 11 o'clock on that Monday many soldiers were still shot and killed. For that reason alone (if any others were needed) he had no respect for anyone who wanted to make a "grand gesture" at the cost of other people's lives.
"Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,"
This from Dulce et Decorum Est, the poem written by Wilfred Owen in 1917.
At the going down of the sun we shall remember them... Just how low will Rupert Murdoch's loathsome organ droop? Monday, November 9th, 2009 - 10:55 pm
Last night I was at Rossendale's Festival of Rememberance Concert at the Bacup Leisure Hall, featuring the Haslingden & Helmshore Band.
During the penultimate number, Elgar's Enigma Variation IX (Adagio) "Nimrod", a projector to the right of the hall started showing a slide show of the service personnel who had died since the last year's Remembrance Sunday.
It was incredibly poignant and utterly moving, and I don't mean that simply as a pacifist.
One of the photos was that of Grenadier Guardsman Jamie Janes, so it was absolutely disgusting that the Sun was using one mother's grief to mount a personal attack on Gordon Brown.
I cannot imagine how painful it must be to lose a child and the maelstrom of emotions one is engulfed in, but for the Sun to somehow pretend to be outraged at the PM's spelling is beneath contempt.
The Sun must be the only paper that aspires to CLIMB into the gutter, and once there, actually makes the sewage filthier.
As the new editor, Dominic Mohan must be pleased with himself, and David Cameron overjoyed to have the Sun batting for him!
Shame on you! Freude, Frieden, Freiheit Monday, November 9th, 2009 - 10:22 pm
Where were you twenty years ago? I was in the Clarence in Manchester with a group of friends totally amazed, awed, and almost in tears at the euphoria about what was going on in Berlin.
Something that at that time I didn't think would happen in my lifetime. How eventually a ghastly symbol of the Cold War was eventually pulled down without a shot being fired.
Just goes to show how indomitable the human spirit is.
Going to put on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and sing along.
The words above? Joy, Peace, Freedom. X-rays top scientific invention Sunday, November 8th, 2009 - 12:03 am
Today in 1895, while experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered the X-ray.
Earlier this week, a public poll for the Science Museum voted the X-ray machine as the best invention, ahead of the Apollo 10 space capsule and Stephenson's Rocket.
I have to agree with Ben Bradshaw that the public's choice of the X-ray machine is testament to our "insatiable curiosity to find out how things work".
THE RESULTS
1st place - X-ray machines
2nd place - Penicillin
3rd place - DNA double helix
4th place - Apollo 10 capsule
5th place - V2 Rocket Engine
6th place - Stephenson's Rocket
7th place - Pilot ACE Computer
8th place - Steam Engine
9th place - Model T Ford
10th place - Electric Telegraph Lib Dem Conference in York Saturday, November 7th, 2009 - 11:12 pm
Had a long and fun day at Lib Dem Regional conference in York today, elected Deputy Chair of the region, many thanks everyone who voted.
Very disappointed that Keighley Branch's motion on helping people with disabilities in the jobs market was defeated by ONE vote.
This evening was at St martin's Church in Brighouse for a wonderful gig by the Yorkshire Youth Choir. They were tremendous.
Should really comment on the fact that today is the anniversary of the glorious Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya (October Revolution). I'll come back to that at a later date, I really must go to bed. Let's have a better deal for the services – and for families Saturday, November 7th, 2009 - 3:38 am
Coming up to Rememberance Sunday, I’d just like to draw my readers’ attention to the Royal British Legion’s ‘Time to Do Your Bit’ campaign, which calls on members of the public and politicians to do their bit to help deliver a fair deal to armed forces personnel and their families.
I believe that the Legion plays a key role in highlighting issues that transcend party politics while providing essential day-to-day support to service personnel, veterans, and their families. The points raised by the campaign regarding the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, welfare provisions for service personnel and their families, care for bereaved service families, and support for veterans are timely and urgently needed.
Successive Governments have failed to provide basic welfare support to our service personnel and their families. We have seen too many reports of substandard accommodation, inadequate medical care, and insufficient welfare support to service families.
Our service personnel are on longer, more frequent, and more intensive tours than ever in recent history. Critical overstretch is having a detrimental impact not only on our frontline capabilities but also on morale and families back home.
It is time for the Government to rectify this to ensure our service personnel have the support they need.
We Lib Dems believe in putting personnel at the heart of any new Strategic Defence and Security Review, urgently upgrading service accommodation, providing better support for service families, and improving access to priority medical care.
I believe that we should all support a better deal for service personnel and their families. Local input on spending Friday, November 6th, 2009 - 12:01 am
I believe that the lack of control councils have over public money spent in their area has been laid bare by Government research.
The Total Place programme has found that while public bodies spend an average £7,000 per person on local services such as health, education, and care for the elderly, only £350 of that is controlled by councillors.
These startling figures show the lack of control local people have over how money is spent in their area.
Surely it is absurd that people do not have a bigger and more democratic say over how their taxes are spent in the area they live?
During these tough times, councils have a vital role to play if people are to get the local services they demand and deserve. Remember, Remember Thursday, November 5th, 2009 - 11:32 pm
Ironic, that on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, I was attending the Annual Memorial Requiem Mass at St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Church in Halifax. 1956-os forradalom Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 - 11:23 pm
A big hello to my friend John Braidwood and his Anglo-Hungarian family.
Today is the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the beginning of the end of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Eventually, more than 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Magyars fled as refugees.
Most of those who fled were yong men in their twenties including the great Ferenc Puskas, and Joe (József Kreul) Bugner the former heavyweight boxer, whose family fled and settled in England.
Victor Sebestyen’s book “Twelve Days” is a gripping, detailed reconstruction of the revolution, and well worth a read. Happy Anniversary Barack Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 - 11:20 pm
Is it already a year since Barack Obama was elected the first African-American to be elected President of the US? Dave's "cast-iron" guarantee turns to rust Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 - 5:44 pm
So Cameron's zwischenzug on the Lisbon Treaty finally ran out of time, now that the Czechs have finally ratified.
It was always a hopeless ploy, promising a referendum when every other country in the EU had already ratified.
I'm fed up of the shenanigans of the Tories, and to a lesser extent the Labour Party, over Europe.
I am an internationalist, and believe that co-operation amongst states is the best way forward for everyone on this tiny blue planet of ours.
I am huge fan of the United Nations with all its faults and shortcomings. I am an even bigger fan of the "European Project".
Think about it, a continent that twice in the last century through terrible wars was brought to its knees, and also brought much of the rest of the world into ruin, is finally at peace.
The idea that we could ever go to war with Germany again or that we would witness the sight of German tanks at the Eiffel Tower is frankly ludicrous.
For that alone the EU and our contribution to it is worthwhile.
Not to mention the fact that it has stabilised militaristic and fascistic regimes in Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
And as we come to the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, democracy has spread and been firmly rooted in the former Eastern Bloc countries, thanks in large part to the European Union.
I am fed up of the "little Englander" mentality that automatically assumes that everything that comes out of the mainland is a threat rather than an opportunity. I'm fed up with Tories wanting to "protect" us from Europe rather than "promoting" us in Europe. I'm fed up of the right-wing media constantly distorting the truth about Europe, whilst all their editors, senior journalists, and multi-millionaire owners have property in the Dordogne, or Chiantishire.
We are in Europe, we are of Europe, and I want us to be leading Europe rather than sniping from the sidelines.
Maybe Nick Clegg's proposals for a wider referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, is the way to go. Newquay to the Kyle of Lochalsh by train yours for only £1,002! Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 - 1:32 am
A scandalously poor value first has been reached in rail travel in this country.
Cross Country Trains has introduced a first-class return walk-up fare from Cornwall to the Highlands.
It is obvious that ridiculously high fares are encouraging people to abandon the trains in favour of their cars.
It's bonkers! When you can fly all across Europe for £25, that you can end up paying £1,000 for a train journey in Britain is absolutely unacceptable. Well done the Members of the Youth Parliament Monday, November 2nd, 2009 - 11:49 pm
It was wonderful to see the Members of the Youth Parliament in the House of Commons the other day. For a start they are far more representative of the communities they represent than the present House of Commons, and for another they are far better behaved as a rule than the current crop of MPs.
Whenever, you hear people moan and groan about the "yoof" of today bear in mind that the overwhelming majority are kind, caring, and constructive. Most are passionate about their communities and the world at large and want to better their own lives and that of those around them.
I have been incredibly impressed by the calibre and quality of the MYPs I have met over the past few years, whether it is in Keighley, Calderdale, or other parts of Yorkshire.
Well done to ALL of them. Tories' plan £5bn tax breaks for richest married couples Sunday, November 1st, 2009 - 11:11 am
According to the Telegraph, Tory plans for tax breaks for married couples would cost nearly £5bn/year and benefit richer couples most.
The figures were obtained by us Lib Dems in a parliamentary written answer.
They show that THREE out of FIVE couples would NOT benefit at all from the Tory proposal because both husband and wife work.
Lord Oakeshott our Treasury spokesperson has quite rightly asked, “Why should mothers who go out to work and struggle to bring up a family pay more tax to support women who don’t?
The biggest tax break is going to the best off. Cameron and Osborne are Robin Hood and his merry men in reverse, robbing the poor to pay the rich.
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