Electoral Commission advice brings referendum closerAccording to the BBC the Electoral Commission will give its verdict later today on the proposed question for the referendum on whether the Welsh Assembly will be able to pass laws in the 20 areas of policy it is allowed to administer. The Commission has spent the past 10 weeks trying out the question with members of the public. It will reveal if it believes the wording is suitable, or if it needs rewriting. Only when the question has been formally agreed can legal moves begin to call the referendum vote. The BBC say that it is understood that the ... (more) |
Opinion: Coalition's boozy consultationNext week, on 8 September, there ends the consultation period for a remarkable set of proposals from the Coalition Government entitled 'Rebalancing the Licensing Act'. Drink and the British are a potent and not altogether attractive combination. Drink and politics have been even less attractive. In my own city of St Albans it was routine for the Whigs and the Tories to fight each other in the streets, fired up with generous amounts of election day alcohol (the city later lost its right to have an MP at all because of electoral corruption). The Liberals famously lost the 1874 General ... (more) |
50 new police officers or an elected Police Chief - you decide (actually, you can't)I am staggered to read a piece on This is Cornwall about the cost of the election of the new Police Chief. It is said that this process will cost around £1.9 million in Devon and Cornwall - more than the total cost of the current Police Authority and equivalent to what it costs to put 50 Police Constables on our streets. The Conservative plans are for the elections to take place in 2012 - at a time when the only other elections in Devon or Cornwall are for councillors in Plymouth and Exeter. That means that the total cost ... (more) |
Quite simply, the best book title. Ever.And hooray, I now own a copy: [IMG: The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry by George Scott] The book, which I discovered courtesy of my growing niche book collection, is appositely dedicated to "All poultry judges and exhibitors in the interests of the poultry fancy". The admiring quotes at the front of the book also tell us that its author is, at least according to The Poultry World, "the most arresting and provocative writer on poultry". He also wrote a preface to The Ceylon Poultry Club Year Book, 1934. Quite the expert it would seem. He was also a man ... (more) |
The phone hacking story they all forgotThe publication of Tony Blair's memoirs and the quite disgraceful pursuit of stories about William Hague's private life have somehow managed to push a far more important story off the front pages. From what I can see only the New York Times and The Guardian are reporting on allegations that the prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques while editor of the News of the World and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in the illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always insisted that he had no knowledge of illegal activity ... (more) |
Open Letter to All My Female FriendsDear all, This morning's Today programme on Radio 4 has just said that the Foreign Secretary being in a room with another man was a 'lapse of judgement' for a straight politician. Therefore and henceforth I shall have to make some adjustments to the way I live to avoid making a similar 'lapse' seeing as I am an openly gay politician this will affect my female friends and acquaintances. To Caron, you had better not get ill again. I know during your recent illness I spent many hours coming to see you and sometimes turning up while you were still ... (more) |
Hypocrisy, a prostitute and Simon CowellThe other newspapers are slowly catching up on The Sun's 'exclusive' about the X Factor contestant who allegedly works as an escort girl or prostitute. The young woman called Chloe has apparently been spotted advertising her services online and was booked by the tabloid for an hour's work at a hotel close to her Yorkshire ... (more) |
Telly Savalas Looks at PortsmouthIt was not just Birmingham that Telly Savalas failed to visit: there was Portsmouth too. I like his "this city has a fine sense of history" over the shot of a car park. (more) |
No reply from Conservative Council leader Kay Cutts over her snub of gay activistOn the 5th August I blogged about the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Kay Cutts snubbing Ian Campbell who was to be presented with a youth citizenship award for his work promoting gay rights and fighting bullying and anti homophobia in schools. You can read the original post HERE. As I wrote at the time Ian is the youngest Mayor in the UK, aged just 23. You will see from the original post that Councillor Cutts spokesperson claimed that she didn't have her photo taken with Ian Campbell because he was a Labour activist, nothing to do with him ... (more) |
Guido Fawkes: proving that rights don't necessarily come with responsibilitiesIt's been an 'interesting' day for the blogosphere, following the resignation of William Hague's Special Advisor, Christopher Myers, linked to a series of allegations. Naturally, I'm not the first to comment on this. At Liberal Democrat Voice, Stephen Tall and Iain Roberts have already made valuable contributions to debate. Elsewhere, Iain Dale has, somewhat handwringingly, claimed that today has been a bleak day for the political blogosphere. Perhaps I have a perspective that differs from others. After all, Paul Staines has been pretty vile towards my wife in the past... Let's start with the allegations. The best way to proceed ... (more) |