<< Jan 2010 Street Angels Thursday, December 31st, 2009 - 6:06 pm
Earlier today, I heard that my friend Paul Blakey, and indirectly the Street Angels, had received an MBE for services to Community Safety in Halifax.
As Deputy Mayor of Calderdale, I had the great privilege of attending the Street Angels' fourth birthday party earlier this month, and a nicer and more dedicated team of volunteers you couldn't wish to meet.
A couple of years back, when I was Mayor of Hebden Royd, I invited Paul and his team to Hebden Bridge to show us how the scheme operated, and I am pleased to say that following their example, earlier this summer a similar scheme led by Revd. Marcus Bull was started on Fridays.
I think that people like Paul show that there is enormous depth and strength within our communities across Yorkshire, and that overall there is a fount of civic and community goodwill at work without much recognition.
Well today of all days, I'd like to raise a cup o' kindness to Paul, his family, and the Street Angels. On suffering - 3 Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 - 6:57 pm
If you're still not convinced have a look at a Polish film called Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing) directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski in 1988, as part of his Dekalog TV series. On suffering - 2 Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 - 6:56 pm
I forgot to say, that in 1998 the UK abolished the death penalty for all crimes. That was one of the high-water marks in terms of human rights that this government achieved, for which it should be rightly applauded. On suffering Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 - 6:06 pm
There is something intolerable in the suffering of humans... for it is evil and that the person who causes it is a criminal.
Romain Rolland
Like many people, I was disgusted by the state murder of Akmal Shaikh in China. I am, have been, and will remain a passionate opponent of capital punishment and no amount of debate or argument will shift my position. I am against it viscerally and mentally. There is not enough space to go into it here, but one day maybe.
Today, three years ago, the dictator Saddam Hussein was hanged in a mockery of justice. This is in no way to condone his behaviour of over three decades in power, or the horrific crimes his regime perpetrated both on his own peoples and those in neighbouring countries, after all he did invade the land of birth Iran and fought a wasteful 8-year war to stalemate.
But there was something grotesque in the snatched mobile phone footage of him swinging stupidly as life left his body.
Twenty years back this week, the Ceauşescus, Nicolae and Elena, were summarily shot by a frightened firing squad after a hastily put together after a kangaroo court had found them guilty of crimes against the people.
Again it was a macabre scene of an old man and woman who suddenly realised that their end was imminent. It was horrible!
What these state sanctioned murders (I refuse to call them executions, because it seeks to sanitise what is being done, they are pre-meditated murder pure and simple) do is to desensitise people to the value of human life and there is nothing more precious.
That is why the government is right to condemn the Chinese regime, not because they did not carry out the trial of Mr Shaikh properly and according to their penal code, but that that code still maintains the death penalty, and China kills more people officially than the rest of the world combined.
The countries and territories below retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes:
Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, Chad, China, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad And Tobago, Uganda, the UAE, the USA, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe
I can do no better than finish with some words of George Orwell's, telling the story of an execution that he witnessed whilst serving in the police in Burma in the 1920s. "Until that moment I had never realised what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man... was alive just as we were alive..."
Have a look at http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty Muhammad Iqbal Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 - 10:50 pm
My fondness for the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal is well known, and today in Allahabad nigh on 80 years back he propounded his theory of the Two Nations which laid the eventual basis for the foundation of modern day Pakistan.
Here are a couple of lines in which he praises Persian (the language)
Garche Urdu dar uzūbat shakar ast
Lék Pārsī-am ze Hindi shīrīntar ast
(Even though in sweetness Urdu is sugar
nevertheless my Persian is sweeter than Hindi)
Here Urdu/Hindi are the same language albeit written in two different scripts. David Cameron appeals to Liberal Democrats... Monday, December 28th, 2009 - 3:05 pm
No he doesn't! The Conservatives cannot be trusted where fairness is concerned Monday, December 28th, 2009 - 5:05 am
Not my words, but Danny Alexander's, with whom I wholly concur.
David Cameron seems to have woken up to the fact that the next elections are not going to be a shoo-in for him, and yesterday talked of "a hung parliament
being bad for Britain"!
He sounded scared.
Make no mistake, after a dozen years of a Labour government that has let the ordinary folk of this country down time and time again, and a Tory party that lurches from neo-Thatcherite "right wingery" to New Labour "spiv-spinnery", the ONLY viable alternative to these two dinosaurs is a progressive, fair, and green Liberal Democrat party. The nerve of the man... Sunday, December 27th, 2009 - 11:11 pm
"I don't think we should invent differences where none exist". DC
David Cameron, "Whether you're Labour, Conservative, or Liberal Democrat, you're motivated by... progressive aims... a country... where opportunity is more equal".
Progressive, the Tories?
"Tory tax plans put child benefit at risk" The Independent
"Raise the inheritance tax threshold from £700k to £1m" The Guardian
"Scrapping vehicle excise duty on the least environmentally friendly cars" The Times
"Tories reassure independent schools about their charitable status" The Independent
"Tory marriage tax allowance would give the highest earners 13 times as much as those on lower incomes"
Oh yes and they want to bring back fox-hunting with dogs. Of course that's what the country has been crying out for. In the depths of the deepest recession in living memory, and top of the list of things the Tories want to do is have a free vote on fox hunting. On the doorsteps throughout Keighley, Ilkley, Silsden and elsewhere in the constituency, that's what people buttonhole me about. A free vote on fox hunting with dogs.
At the risk of sounding sarcastic, you've obviously got your finger on the political pulse of the nation, David.
The Tories are not progressive, never were and will never be. Don't be fooled by the smooth(ish) banter. Joyous Kwanzaa to all my Black friends Saturday, December 26th, 2009 - 10:11 pm
How remiss of me, of course today is the first day of week-long Kwanzaa celebrations dedicated to Umoja or Unity, specifically of family and community.
I was reminded by my friend Lester, thanks for that and Happy Kwanzaa to you and your family. Carols and more Saturday, December 26th, 2009 - 9:56 pm
Every Christmas Eve we have a Carol Service(ish) in St. George's Square here in Hebden Bridge. It's brilliant!
Hundreds, nay thousands, of people brave the wintry conditions though thankfully it was dry this year, but the snow did lie "deep and crisp, and even".
This year, I am sure that there were more people than ever for this incredibly popular event, spilling out into the roads at both ends of the square, and down into Bridgegate.
People of varying religious flavours, as well as agnostics and atheists were all stood singing carols to music supplied by the wonderful Hebden Bridge Junior Band.
Thanks everyone it was a great community event.
For photos have a look at http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk Merry Christmas one and all! Friday, December 25th, 2009 - 5:59 am
Joyeux Noël
Frohe Weihnachten
Buon Natale
Nollaig shona
Veselé Vánoce
Wesołych Świąt
Vesele Vianoce
Feliz Navidad
Nadolig llawen The Great War Christmas Truce Thursday, December 24th, 2009 - 6:06 am
During the Great War of '14-'18 an unofficial truce took place near Ypres in Belgium.
On Christmas Eve 1914, German troops began decorating their trenches and singing carols, including Stille Nacht. The British in their trenches responded by singing English carols.
The two sides shouted Christmas greetings, and soon across "No man's land" gifts were exchanged, comrades buried, prayers said, and indeed a football match played.
In the 1970s Mike Harding wrote and sang a brilliant song called "Christmas 1914", well worth a listen to.
"Christmas Truce" by Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton is a superb book covering the subject. Turn again Mandelson would-be Mayor of London Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 - 7:47 am
News that the government is to cut university funding by more than £500m, and yet at the same time, without a hint of irony, the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is also asking universities to protect quality and access to higher education.
This is short-sighted, anti-egalitarian, and economically illiterate, running in direct contradiction to the government's stated aim of expanding the tertiary sector.
Now, I must declare a personal interest here, as a beneficiary of the first-ever four-figure grant (£1,010) to go to university, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity. Without said grant there was no way that my parents, even less so yours truly, could have afforded to fund me through my studies.
Having been given that metaphoric leg-up, I am keenly aware that many students today are either saddled with horrendous debts running in the tens of thousands of pounds or worse still put off from applying because of the crippling spectre of potential penury once qualified. Dad's Army Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 - 7:14 pm
Just sat with my boys watching Dad's Army (the film) on BBC2, although not a patch on the TV (and radio) series, it is nevertheless a lot of fun to watch.
I'm sure thateveryone has their own favourite moments, mine is from an episode called "The Deadly Attachment" in 1973, the platoon are looking after a captured U-Boat crew:
German U-boat Captain: I am making notes, Captain, and your name will go on the list; and when we win the war you will be brought to account.
Captain Mainwaring: You can write what you like, You're not going to win the war!
U-boat Captain: Oh yes we are.
Mainwaring: Oh no you're not.
U-boat Captain: Oh yes we are!
Pvt. Pike: [Singing] Whistle while you work, Hitler is a twerp, he's half-barmy, so's his army, whistle while you work!
U-boat Captain: Your name will also go on the list! What is it?
Mainwaring: Don't tell him Pike!
U-boat Captain: Pike!
It also made me think that today, in 1808, Beethoven premiered his Fifth Symphony in Vienna. Co-incidentally, during the Second World War, the BBC used an audible V (for Victory) call sign, three dots and a dash in Morse code, which was/is the rhythm of the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth.
News that for the first time ever the leaders of Britain's main political parties shall lock horns in front of a TV audience in the run-up to an election.
Now, while I have absolutely no doubt that Our Nick will make mincemeat of the other two, especially that Cameron chap, I am concerned. Concerned about the greater "presidentialisation" of our politics, by which I mean that our political culture and history in this country is based on parties rather than personalities.
We vote for the policies put forward by the different parties based on their philosophies, not vote for party leaders as if in some third-rate seaside beauty pageant. Happy Birthday the Rochdale Pioneers-1844 Monday, December 21st, 2009 - 6:06 am
When I first moved to Britain in the late-1960s I remember being sent to the corner-shop to do the family groceries. I remember it being the co-op and being reminded to make sure that I told them our ‘divi’ number and getting our tokens showing how much we’d spent in store. Twice a year, on ‘Divi Day’, our tokens would then be exchanged and the dividend distributed, and we’d get 3d (I think) for each pound we’d spent.
From then on I’ve been a huge fan of the Co-operative Movement both industrial and commercial, and indeed political.
In the 1970s when I moved to the North-West to go to university, one of the first things I did was to go to the Rochdale Pioneers' original store on Toad Lane which was at that time a museum.
Early on in the 20th century there were serious talks between the Co-operative Party and the Liberals to join together and form a People’s Party. Those talks went nowhere, and as we now know they went on to join with the Labour Party.
I actually think that co-op principles are far better presented within the modern day Lib Dems.
On that note, happy birthday to the Rochdale Pioneers and progressives everywhere. Auschwitz theft-Now prosecute the perpetrators Monday, December 21st, 2009 - 1:01 am
Good news from Poland that the horrendously iconic "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign over the gates of the Auschwitz death camp, stolen on Friday, has now been recovered.
I cannot begin to understand what kind of perverted mind would even think of stealing the sign nor yet to carry out the deed. But I am delighted that the Polish Police seem to have apprehended the alleged thieves. Civil Partnerships Sunday, December 20th, 2009 - 8:30 pm
One of the achievements of this government (wholly-supported by the Lib Dems), and what separates it philosophically from any would-be Tory government and their narrow definition of what makes a family, was the introduction of the first Civil Partnership Act in 2004.
Ironically, the first one should have taken place on 21 December, but due to a misinterpretation of the waiting period, the first in Scotland were actually held today four years back. Never in the field of Climate Chaos has so little been achieved by so many Sunday, December 20th, 2009 - 7:48 am
From Hope-nhagen to Nope-nhagen in one short week.
What a shabby affair last week in Copenhagen has proved to be. A once in a lifetime chance to grasp the opportunity of seriously tackling the problems in store for the whole planet has been let slip.
True, it did agree that we should work together to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2ºC above the levels before the industrial revolution, but who should do what, how this would be enforced, and what the timescale would be... er...!
It is hypocritical of the industrialised Western states to blame China, and to lesser extent India, after all much of what China produces is exported to the West and is in fact substitute production for the West.
We must continue to put pressure on our own government, as well as our European and Atlantic allies to take the problem seriously and get round the negotiating table as soon as possible. Good bye Paul O'Grady (for now) Saturday, December 19th, 2009 - 4:44 pm
Last night I managed to catch the tail end of Paul O'Grady's chat-show on Channel 4. It was simply delightful, and he was (understandably) quite emotional.
He said of his five years on the show, that he'd been through a lot "my partner dying, my dog dying, two heart attacks, becoming a granddad". Phew! What an understatement.
I've long been a huge fan of Paul's both in his guise as Lily Savage, what a wicked tongue, and over the last decade as his own self, a genuinely warm and witty character, with a generosity of spirit little matched in the modern media whether TV or radio.
I hope that after a suitable break he'll be back on the telly, and at a more suitable time of an evening.
Good on you Paul lad! Expel Uganda from the Commonwealth Friday, December 18th, 2009 - 6:59 am
I was alerted to this story by an astonishing piece on the BBC World Service programme website for African listeners asking "Should homosexuals face execution?"
It refers to an Anti-Homosexuality Bill to be debated by the Ugandan Parliament later today.
It is abhorrent that the Ugandan Government, or anyone else for that matter, wish to ban homosexuality. Not only that, they are proposing the death penalty for people whose only crime is to love someone of the same sex.
If this repulsive measure is passed, then Britain should stand up for human rights and expel Uganda from the Commonwealth. Ah lichtekeh Hanukkah Thursday, December 17th, 2009 - 10:30 pm
Just back from a lovely Hanukkah party at a friend's house. It was really delightful, the girls sang a pretty song about the Syrian King Antiochus and the miracle of the oil with much gusto. The food was delicious, the company charming, and the drink flowed with abandon. There was Hanukkah gelt, some tasty jam-filled ponchkas, and cider!
Unfortunately they are moving down to London, I shall miss them awfully. Q. What's twenty years old, yellow, and fresh today as it was in 1989? Thursday, December 17th, 2009 - 7:07 am
A. The Simpsons
Almost uniquely this TV series has had a phenomenal impact on American popular culture and even political satire. The academic Duncan Beard, put it most succinctly when he said that it uses pre-existing mass media stereotypes ironically in order to destabilise them. General Order No. 11 (1862) Thursday, December 17th, 2009 - 12:11 am
As a student of American history, one of the episodes I remember about the Civil War was an order issued by General Grant on this day in 1862.
It was notorious inasmuch as it ordered the expulsion of all Jews in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The order was part of a campaign against a black market in cotton, which Grant was convinced was being run "mostly by Jews".
After protests from Jewish communities, members of Congress, and the press, it was revoked weeks later by President Lincoln, who went on to say that "to condemn a class is... to wrong the good with the bad". England's 2018 World Cup bid Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 - 10:51 pm
England 2018 have announced the dozen Candidate Host Cities to be included in their final submission to FIFA in May 2010.
While it's great news for Yorkshire, especially Leeds and Sheffield (bad luck Hull), I am mystified at the inclusion of Milton Keynes, and to a lesser extent, Plymouth at the expense of Leicester and Derby.
Milton Keynes and football?
The Open University? Brilliant. Bletchley Park? Good work. Concrete Cows? Fair enough. But football?
OK there's MK Dons, but I've never been enamoured of teams who up sticks and move miles away from their roots and foundations, pace Arsenal and Manchester United, initially Woolwich Arsenal and Newton Heath L&YR FC.
Once upon a time, they were Wimbledon FC but moved 60 miles from South London to Milton Keynes to create "Franchise FC".
Turn again Lord Triesman, turn again. A time for change? Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 - 8:50 pm
Just finished chairing an interesting debate on the future governance of Calderdale Council, as the government has told us to do.
It was interesting, (relatively) well-tempered, and short. In the end we plumped for an elected leader and cabinet model, as I believe every other council in West Yorkshire has, rather than a directly-elected mayor.
The main thrust of the argument being that we were extremely wary of concentrating too much power in the hands of one person. Not helped by the antics of the recently elected Mayor of Doncaster.
As Chair, I of course did not take part in the discussions, nor the voting, though my Lib Dem colleagues, in the main, went for the elected mayor option as being the lesser of two "evils". The national position being that we'd like a return to the old committee system, but that every council is to make up its own mind. Bonan Zamenhofan Tagon! Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 - 6:58 am
That's Happy Zamenhof Day to you.
Saluton. At the risk of sounding like Arnold Rimmer in Red Dwarf, I have always been a fan of Esperanto ever since a teacher in my secondary school decided to have classes one lunchtime and a few of us attended. I got to be quite good after a few weeks but lost much of it after said teacher moved on later in the year and the class folded.
I liked the (relative) simplicity of Esperanto, but I suppose more so I was (am) attracted by the idealism and internationalism of both its creator Dr Ludovic Zamenhof and its speakers.
Bonan Zamenhofan tagon al vi! Tycho Brahe's nose Monday, December 14th, 2009 - 11:41 pm
In one of my favourite all-time books Arthur Koestler's The Sleepwalkers, there is, amongst much else, the story of Tycho Brahe's nose. How whilst still a student, Brahe lost part of his nose in a duel. For the rest of his life, he was said to have worn a realistic replacement made of silver and gold, using a paste to keep it attached.
Brahe was important in the development of modern astronomy and our understanding of the heliocentric universe, without which I suppose my previous posting may not have happened. America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow Monday, December 14th, 2009 - 11:26 pm
The US government and Americans in general come in for a lot of grief, much of it rightly so, but it is easy to forget the wonderful achievements of that country and its contributions to so many spheres of human activity.
I've just finished talking to an American friend of mine whom I first met whilst I was lecturing in Slovakia, and it reminded me of good times in Bratislava.
On one occasion, I was at a ceremony to see Eugene Cernan being awarded an honorary doctorate from Comenius University, his mum had been born in Slovakia and the Slovaks had adopted him as one of their own, even though his dad was Czech.
Anyway, Gene was the last man, thus far, to land on the moon and the quote was what he said as he was boarding Apollo 17 on this day in 1972. I was thrilled to hear those words then, and even today they remind me of America's better side, namely their unbounded optimism. 40,000 child alcohol crimes in five years Monday, December 14th, 2009 - 8:17 pm
Shocking stats that nearly 40,000 children have been fined, cautioned, or taken to court for alcohol-related offences in the last five years. That's nearly one every hour! The number has increased by over a quarter in that period, according to research by the Lib Dems.
The key points are:
* 39,714 children aged under 18 were fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol related offences between 2003 and 2007
* This includes 124 children aged 10-12 and 6,111 aged 13-15
* The number of under-18s fined, cautioned or taken to court for alcohol related offences has increased by 28%, 8,686 in 2007
Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said that this is a "shocking picture of how many children are being dragged into the criminal justice system through alcohol abuse."
As I have said before on this blog, we must stop alcohol being sold at pocket-money prices and start educating our children about the dangers of drink or these figures will continue to worsen.
Unless we change our drinking culture, we will condemn many of these children and adolescents to serious long-term alcohol-related illnesses or a life of crime. Why are the Tories procrastinating? Sunday, December 13th, 2009 - 10:43 pm
Tory spin news of the day, has the BBC telling us breathlessly that David Cameron would pass a law (if elected) as "rapidly as [they] could" to ensure all peers and MPs would pay UK tax or quit.
While this is to be applauded, the question remains "why wait?".
Given that the two most high-profile "tax shirkers" are Lord Ashcroft (who is busy helping the Tories "buy" marginal seats up and down the country), and Zac Goldsmith (who has not paid his fair share of nearly £6m in tax during the past 10 years), why doesn't Cameron do something about it now?
Go on Dave show us who's boss in your party, put your own house in order before seeking to sort out the "House". Happy Chanukah to all my Jewish friends Saturday, December 12th, 2009 - 12:00 am
Chanukah is the Jewish Festival of Lights, and tradition dictates that even the poorest person must light Chanukah lights.
The concept of charity (tzedakah) requires folk to help the recipient in the most dignified manner possible, so the charming custom of giving "Chanukah Gelt" has arisen so that none may be without light.
So ah freilichin und lichtige Chanukah far alle. Tory claims on Islamic school thrown out Friday, December 11th, 2009 - 11:23 pm
David Cameron's ludicrous and unfounded allegations that a school was linked to Islamic extremism has been dismissed out of hand today by authorities.
I am a child of the Enlightenment and great believer in the separation of church and state, and consequently do not think there should be faith schools within the public sector. Indeed, I moved a motion at Lib Dem conference last Spring, calling for their eventual phasing out.
However, having said that I do think that while they exist, ALL faith schools should be treated equally.
I thought that it was a cheap political shot by the Tories and an example of their racist dog-whistle appeal to Islamophobic sentiments in sections of the downmarket press to link extremism to this school.
Haringey Council has found no evidence of "inappropriate content or influence" in the school. In fact the school tries to ensure that pupils learn about different cultures and traditions, including joint work with a local CofE school.
The Tories have now got enough egg on their face to make the biggest of omelettes, I just hope that they have enough humility to apologise. Class War? Now it's the Tories who dissemble Friday, December 11th, 2009 - 10:40 am
David "Dave" Cameron and other senior members of the shadow Cabinet are keeping quiet about their public school backgrounds on the official Conservative Party website.
Only three of the 17 Tory shadow ministers who went to private school disclose their educational backgrounds in their official biographies.
Although you have to feel sorry for Andrew Mitchell who went to Rugby. It puts me in mind of a passage in a Dorothy L. Sayers book where a there's a wonderful put-down about private schools, something like, "Rugby? No no, that's a railway junction!"
Douglas Hurd, famously refused to stand for the leadership of the Tory party when Mrs. Thatcher resigned because he felt that his Old Etonian background would not chime with voter sensibilities.
How strange that a dozen years of a Labour government has made the electorate seemingly indifferent to unearned wealth and inherited privilege.
Curiously, 14 of the 15 shadow ministers who went to a comp or grammar school prominently boast of the fact. Do you want this man as PM? Thursday, December 10th, 2009 - 11:12 pm
Revelations today show that multi-millionaire, David Cameron claimed:
* £1,200 for oil for the stove at his Witney home in leafy Oxfordshire on TOP of monthly utility bills averaging £180 a month.
* £1,000 a month in mortgage interest payments.
* Secured a 10% reduction in council tax on the property from his local council, though the value of the property meant he was still claiming back £196 a month.
All this at a time when he was calling for a radical reform of MPs' expenses and allowances. Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination Thursday, December 10th, 2009 - 4:32 am
Today is Human Rights Day, chosen to honour the UN's adoption, 51 years back, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global proclamation of human rights.
I can say no better than to quote the opening paragraph of the Declaration.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. A third of poorer 7-year-olds fail to reach writing standard Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 - 10:27 pm
One of my biggest grievances against this Labour government has been how it has failed those who needed its help most.
Today the DCSF released figures showing the huge performance gap between rich and poor 7-year-olds.
Despite more than a dozen years of initiatives, promises, and pledges, today’s Britain is one where a child’s life chances are inextricably tied to their social background, with the poorest children lagging far behind the better off.
It is shocking and unacceptable that a third of poorer seven-year-olds failed to reach an acceptable level for writing.
Don't fool yourselves that the Tories would be any better, they only seem to be prioritising tax cuts for the rich.
Only we Lib Dems are guaranteeing the necessary financial support to help the most disadvantaged children get a decent start in life. Keighley and Ilkley Lib Dems AGM Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 - 5:09 pm
Just on my way to the railway station to get the train up to Ilkley for the K&I LD AGM.
Packed agenda, looks really exciting.
Shall take of book of railway poetry for the journey. Head of Student Loans Company must resign Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 - 4:30 pm
Nearly a whole term has passed and students up and down the country are still waiting to receive funding from the Student Loans Company.
A report from Professor Hopkin said that delays meant that individual universities had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds in emergency funds to students left stranded without funds.
It seems that faced with a catalogue of failures and problems, including lost documents, equipment failure, and difficulties with the online application system, the SLC just shut up shop and refused to talk with students, universities, and unions.
Our Lib Dem university spokesperson Stephen Williams said that ministers cannot "shrug off all responsibility for this fiasco" and that they should have "intervened earlier". Lib Dems land by-election blow on Tories!
Tories lose out again in by-elections! Monday, December 7th, 2009 - 9:47 pm
The above are not my headlines, though I am happy to reproduce them here, no, they are from the Local Government Chronicle.
It seems that up and down the country, in real elections where people are given a choice to exercise their votes, the Tories have been crashing to defeat not just against we Lib Dems, but also to Labour, and God help them finishing FOURTH to UKIP!
Next year's general elections may not be as clear and cut and dried as Dave "Kid" Cameron and "Boy" George Osborne would have us believe.
It is up to us to come up with vital, vigorous and progressive policies as an alternatives to Tory fear-mongering, and Labour defeatism. Greek Demonstrations - Day 2 Monday, December 7th, 2009 - 7:18 pm
It seems that more than 5,000 demonstrators, mostly secondary school pupils, marched through the centre of Athens for the second day running.
Demonstrators have been stencilling photographs of Alex Grigoropoulos on walls along the demonstration route.
There have been a further 3,000+ people demonstrating in Thessaloniki as well.
I really do hope that tonight the Police are not as heavy-handed as they have been. Israel recognised by the PLO Monday, December 7th, 2009 - 5:29 pm
As we come up to Hannukah on Saturday, I think that it is fitting that we should remember that 21 years ago today, Chairman Yasser Arafat, then leader of the PLO, recognised the right of Israel to exist.
Yet, yesterday there was a story about a series of cases over the past two years in which patients from Gaza referred for hospital treatment in Israel have been held without charge and pressed to become Israeli collaborators.
This is a clear violation of human rights and the Israeli authorities must take steps to cease such abuses of power. What did Delaware boy? What did Delaware? Monday, December 7th, 2009 - 4:29 pm
On this day in 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the US Constitution.
Delaware is a tiny state, the second smallest in area and the fifth smallest in population, however, it is home to Vice President Joe Biden (who was a senator there from the 1970s), and more importantly, my younger brother from the 1990s.
And for those of you unfamiliar with Perry Como, the answer to the above question?
She wore a brand New Jersey Alexandros Grigoropoulos one year on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 - 4:09 pm
Last year, probably the worst rioting Greece has seen since the restoration of democracy in 1974 took place.
The riots started when Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old student, was fatally shot by the police, after an altercation with a small group of youths in Exarcheia, central Athens. Consequently, there were angry demonstrations within Athens and similar demonstrations in other Greek cities as well. This situation went on for the next few weeks,
The roots were complex but most Greeks believed them to be part of a wider social uprising. People were concerned with corruption scandals, most of which involved mishandling of public money, the spread of poverty, the increasing rate of unemployment amongst young graduates and the slowing economy as the effects of the global economic crisis began to show.
From reports from friends in Athens, tonight there seems to have been thousands of people demonstrating tonight.
I just hope that the Police respond sensitively and with due restraint. If the answer is Gerald Ford, what is the question? Sunday, December 6th, 2009 - 4:06 pm
Who is the only person never to have been elected (by the people) to the post of Vice President, and then President of the US?
In October 1973, US Veep Spiro Agnew resigned because of criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering and accepting bribes while governor of Maryland.
Later in the month, for the first time the vacancy provision of the Twenty-fifth Amendment was implemented. First the Senate and then on this day the House of Representatives overwhelmingly confirmed Ford as Vice President.
Of course, all of this was occurring against the backdrop of the breaking Watergate Scandal, and barely eight months later in August when Tricky Dicky Nixon resigned as President, in the wake of impending impeachment proceedings, Gerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States.
Thus the man once unkindly condemned by President Lyndon Johnson, of playing too much football without a helmet, and being so dumb that he couldn't fart and chew gum at the same time, rose to be the most powerful man in the world.
One of the events that shaped my childhood was that on this day in 1967 at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, the first ever successful human heart transplant operation took place.
The recipient, Louis Washkansky, was a 54-year-old who received the heart of a young woman, Denise Darvall, who had been killed in a road accident the previous day.
One interesting footnote was the role of Hamilton Naki who, Barnard suggested, played a vital role in the operation, but whose role was downplayed/ignored because of South Africa's then racist apartheid laws.
Amandla Ngawethu! First gig of Christmas Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 - 10:48 pm
Tonight I was pleased to to attend Halifax Choral Society's Christmas concert at the Victoria Theatre, they were on stage with the Black Dyke Band. It was a fabulous do, the Choral Society is the oldest continuous choral society in the world having been founded in 1817, the same year as the Elgin Marbles were first displayed. The Black Dyke Band is probably the best brass band in the world, having won the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain for a record 22nd time.
However, what made the evening even more special was a group of children from Ravenscliffe High School singing a couple of songs. Ravenscliffe is one of 12 special schools across the country singled out for special praise by Ofsted. It was praised, in a glowing inspection, for treating all children as individuals in spite of their disabilities.
Congratulations to head Mike Hirst and his staff, the parents and of course the pupils, especially today on the International Day of Disabled Persons.
Thank you and well done all. Put Ted Hughes in Poets' Corner Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 - 12:28 am
There's a move afoot by people including Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Melvyn Bragg, and Andrew Motion, to have Ted Hughes immortalised in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Two years back, when Mayor of Hebden Royd, I unveiled a plaque at Lumb Falls to remember a poem written by Ted inspired by a photograph of six young men taken at the falls early last century.
All six men were killed in the First World War.
"The celluloid of a photograph holds them well -
Six young men, familiar to their friends".
Surely the case for his being put in Poets' Corner is overwhelming? Farewell Blanche... Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 - 10:03 pm
Of the reasons I moved to study at Manchester aged 17 was its connections to the Industrial Revolution, its role in the growth of our nation's democracy, its role in the foundation of the Trades Union Congress, Friederich Engels, Dennis Law, and of course Coronation Street.
I loved it, it was funny, earthy, and "real". Sad then to tell of the death of actress Maggie Jones who has died aged 75. She was best known for playing Weatherfield's Blanche Hunt, she had a wicked tongue on her and some withering put-downs.
Here are a few of Blanche's finest, courtesy of the BBC...
... on Postman Pat
"Early in the morning, when the day is dawning..." Your real Postman Pat rolls up about noon wearing a pair of shorts and his breakfast... rifling through your birthday cards.
... at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting
I've never heard such self-indulgent whinging in all my life. Is there some correlation between how boring you are and how much you drink?
... to Deirdre Barlow
Good looks are a curse, Deirdre. You and Kenneth should count yourselves lucky.
... on Colin Grimshaw
I'd cut off his whatnots wi' a pair of garden shears, me. The rustier the better.
... on Liz McDonald
Skirt no bigger than a belt, too much eye-liner, and roots as dark as her soul.
... on Roy Cropper
He looks like he should be crayoning summat.
RIP Maggie World Aids Day: Universal Access and Human Rights Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 - 12:08 am
The theme for this year's World AIDS Day Universal Access and Human Rights.
Universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and care, is vital as is recognising these as fundamental human rights.
Although valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services, even greater commitment is needed.
Millions continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low- and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of anti-retroviral therapy are receiving it, and far too many don't have access to adequate care services.
World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us, individuals, groups, and communities, to ensure that human rights are protected and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care are met. Connie Markiewicz 1:2 Nancy Astor Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 - 12:01 am
Exactly ninety years ago, Nancy Lady Astor becomes first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament, although she had been elected in a by-election on 28 November.
She deserves her place in British political history, because Connie Markiewicz who was the first woman elected to the House of Commons did not take her seat but along with the other Sinn Féin TDs formed the first Dáil Éireann.
Whereas Connie was a radical Nancy was rich, light, and fluffy and a Tory.
Oh dear, what does that tell you about the Tories' chances next year?
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