Not the first time Liam Fox has caused confusion and concern
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33
Jim Murphy MP, Labour’ Shadow Defence Secretary, commenting on Liam Fox saying Gadaffi regime are “legitimate targets,” said:
Economy should not just be making up lost ground but growing
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33Angela Eagle MP, Labour’ Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in response to George Osborne’ reported comments to the Cabinet that the economy is ‘n the right track’said:Coastguard cuts are dangerous and ill-thought out - Maria Eagle
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33Maria Eagle MP, Labour’ Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, speaking ahead of today’ Transport Select Committee hearing into the proposed closures of coastguard stations, said:More evidence the rushed defence review was not thought through
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33Jim Murphy MP, Labour’ Shadow Defence Secretary, commenting on reports of rising costs of new aircraft carriers, said:Figures show an economy that has flatlined since the autumn
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33Ed Balls MP, Labour's Shadow Chancellor, responding to figures showing GDP growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2011 following the 0.5% contraction in the previous quarter, said:Labour lifted over half a million children out of poverty
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33Liam Byrne MP, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to today's OECD report which warned that child poverty is set to rise thanks to the Tory-led Government's policies, said:Labour’s ambitious plan for new homes - Seabeck
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33Tory-led Govt’ New Homes bonus unfair and ineffectiveCompared to the UK with no growth in six months the US has grown
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33David Hanson MP, Labour’ Shadow Treasury Minister, in response to US growth figures for the first quarter of 2011, said:Families will have to borrow more to deal with Osborne's squeeze
Updated: 2011-04-30 19:41:33David Hanson MP, Labour’ Shadow Treasury Minister, in response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s paper on household debt which admits that George Osborne’ emergency Budget and spending review will lead to households borrowing more money than previously forecast, said:Unison Active: Control Freaks by Alan Morrison
Updated: 2011-04-30 11:04:00This urge to control; from whence does it come? A question banal, you may say. But as I go about my business in a thousand different ways I see: tinpot hitlers jackboot bloodsuckers stuffed...Jon's union blog: Support the Royal cleaners - not the Royal family
Updated: 2011-04-29 16:04:00
After a couple of hours leafletting for the elections I was pleased to come upon a copy of today's Morning Star - only to find a picture of the Queen and Prince Phil on the front cover!read more
The World of Nick Venedi: Congratulations to Kate and Will
Updated: 2011-04-29 14:46:02
Irrelevant whether we like the monarchy or not and debatable as to whether we will be better off having someone like Sarkozi as our President? The fact is two people who are obviously in love got...Jon's union blog: A day off work
Updated: 2011-04-29 13:30:00Having a day off work, myself and my son today visited the excellent Brighton Museum, where public servants were hard at work on a public holiday so that local people could enjoy art, culture and histread more
A phonemic feature writing system
Updated: 2011-04-29 12:01:09The first writing systems basically had a character for each word; then syllabic writing systems were invented, in which each character corresponds to a syllable; and finally alphabetic writing was invented, where each character more or less corresponds to a phoneme. Wouldn’t it be logical to continue the development to achieve a writing system having [...]The Royal wedding
Updated: 2011-04-28 11:29:13
: SEARCH Blog Journalism Books Film Radio Toby's School Thursday 28th April 2011 The Royal wedding Political journalists in Britain have been pouring over the memoirs of Tony Blair and his most trusted lieutenants in recent days in an attempt to discover why the ex-Prime Minister hasn’t been invited to the Royal Wedding . This looks awfully like a snub , particularly as his two Conservative predecessors Margaret Thatcher and John Major are both on the list . The official explanation is that Thatcher and Major are members of the Royal Order of the Garter while Blair is not . But no one believes it of course . To read more , click here COMMENT COMMENTS SO FAR : 0 FIXED LINK EMAIL TO A FRIEND GaeMar01 It would have been impossible to argue Blair not invited because not member of Garter ifToday is Workers' Memorial Day: Cuts Cost Lives
Updated: 2011-04-28 08:02:00
Don't forget to stop for a minute at noon today and remember those who have been killed at work or have died of work related diseases or ill-health.
Check out Workers Memorial Day and details of UK events at the TUC website.
It is also an important campaigning day on health and...Colourblindness
Updated: 2011-04-28 03:39:03For somebody who’s not colourblind, it can be a bit hard to understand how the world looks if you are. However, I’ve just discovered there are now sites that can help. For instance, here is the same photo of Anna processed in three different ways by Colour Blindness Simulator: From left to right, that’s the [...]London asked to help give Cameron and Clegg a "savage" Council election beating
Updated: 2011-04-27 23:15:00
In London there are no local elections this year. NISON Greater London ave distributed the following list of 11 target Council's in areas surrounding London. nbsp;So, if you want to send a real message to Cameron and Clegg about what you think of their "savage" Cuts,...RIP Poly Styrene - "Punks' First Lady"
Updated: 2011-04-26 22:49:00I'm not sure that Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex (Marianne Joan Elliott-Said 3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011) would have been all that pleased with the "first lady" label. Farewell Poly and thank you and your comtempories or he heer glorious pleasure your music has given me over the...Vi begge dør med glæde, skål!
Updated: 2011-04-26 01:58:59Jeg brugte vores nylige ferie i Keith på at læse en bog, min gamle ven Sebastian havde anbefalet: Eine exklusive Liebe af hans kusine Johanna Adorján (den engelske oversættelse hedder “An Exclusive Love”, og den danske “En ganske særlig kærlighed”); selvom forfatteren har et ungarsk navn, er født i Sverige og har dansk pas, er [...]FAIL! New campaign video - Vote YES for fairer votes on May 5
Updated: 2011-04-25 01:49:00This morning I've sent off my postal ballot and voted "Yes". nbsp; This new campaign video by Yes2AV makes the case in a hort and effective way n why AV just makes sense.
I have responded to comments made on my previous post that if we had AV last year we could have...Tossa de Mar
Updated: 2011-04-24 18:19:00
Off message-ish homily rather than homage to a relaxing short break in Tossa De Mar, Costa Brava, Catalan. The resort is famous for its medieval walls around the old town and sandy beaches. It is also far more popular with locals than Brits and other northern Europeans. I last visited the...How the 2010 Australian Election Could Have Looked Using First-past-the-post Voting
Updated: 2011-04-24 11:14:46In 2010, general elections in both the United Kingdom and Australia produced hung parliaments. The UK election was conducted under first past the post (FPTP) voting. Various estimates have suggested a hung parliament would also have also been produced had...Bør fonetikere gentage det, deres spædbørn siger?
Updated: 2011-04-24 06:40:45Untitled Originally uploaded by Joseph Robertson Man hører ofte, at forældre skal gentage det, deres baby siger, når den pludrer. Jeg formoder, den lingvistiske grund til dette er at hjælpe barnet med at opbygge det fonologiske system. (Jeg gik aldrig ret meget op i børnesprogstilegnelse, da jeg studerede lingvistik, så dette er gætværk fra min [...]3 Companies Project Awards
Updated: 2011-04-23 20:02:00Organising, organising, organising...our new trade union mantra, especially in the outsourced private sector. The nitial joint UNISON/SEIU 3 Companies project is now over. The self organising stage is next.
Good to see Bob Oram speaking (standing for re-election to NEC in North West...Socialism Free Purity Pledge
Updated: 2011-04-23 17:11:00I'm back. nbsp;Came across this "pledge" here. It reminds me of this. Enjoy....
"For the Tea Party crowd, other socialists and I invite them to take the pledge and spread it around at every event they may hold.
I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the...Using a cartogram to cut England into two parts
Updated: 2011-04-22 14:37:44United Kingdom Population Cartogram Originally uploaded by Worldmapper.org Last year, I was debating how to cut England into two parts in order to prevent England from dominating the UK completely. (For some bizarre reason, this idea seemed to upset a few Englishmen – just read the comments to that posting!) I’ve now found a cartogram [...]Regional two-party systems
Updated: 2011-04-21 03:59:06Brwydr y placardiau / Placard wars Originally uploaded by Dogfael Driving through the Highlands, where the roads at this point in the democratic cycle are adorned with yellow election posters for the SNP and the Liberal Democrats, made me think about how the UK to a large extent has regional two-party systems. Basically, although many [...]How to get rid of visitors
Updated: 2011-04-20 11:57:45
I think I mentioned that we spent last week in Keith with the rest of Phyllis’ family. We drove up to our holiday home via Pitlochry, but we returned via Urquhart Castle and Glencoe (see the map on the left). The idea was to have a quick look at Urquhart Castle during our lunch break. [...]Politics is best served by avoiding referendums
Updated: 2011-04-19 03:10:11Hvad skal man vælge… Originally uploaded by HC Seidelin Nearly three years ago, I wrote a blog posting about my dislike for referendums. Now Peter Kellner of YouGov has written something similar. He starts out by analysing how people answer the same question differently depending on what additional information you give them, and he concludes: [...]UK Alternative Vote AV Referendum 2011
Updated: 2011-04-18 23:08:06The Alternative Vote referendum on May 5th 2011 doesn’t appear to be catching the public’s attention, no one appears to care! AV Referendum NO Campaign “I believe in the principle of one person, one vote, but AV will mean the votes of some people get counted more than others,” Mr Cameron will say. David Cameron [...]A prolonged murder mystery dinner
Updated: 2011-04-18 03:08:20We’ve just come back from a week in Keith (between Inverness and Aberdeen) with all of Phyllis’s family. One of the nights we decided to play a murder mystery game for eight players called Death by Chocolate that we had bought in the Agatha Christie shop in Torquay (Devon) last summer but never got round [...]My filled out London Community UNISON NEC ballot paper 2011 - hint, hint
Updated: 2011-04-15 22:53:00
Most UNISON members will have different ballot papers depending pon their region and service group. The trotskyists aka the splitters and wreckers) are apparently too ashamed this time to call themselves "united left" anymore and are trying to pretend they are not (in my view)...Turnout at Australian Elections 1901-1925
Updated: 2011-04-15 12:15:27Last month I published a post (at this link) where I dealt with the claim that the introduction of preferential voting in Australia caused a decline in turnout which led to the introduction of compulsory voting. As I outlined at..."If we had AV last year there could have been a Labour LibDem Government"
Updated: 2011-04-14 22:19:00
This morning while listening (yet again) to "Today" on the way into work, they interviewed John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde. He number crunched that if we had AV in the last election, there could have been a Labour led Coalition government. Presumably, t...London 2012: Playing By the Rules on Workers' Rights?
Updated: 2011-04-14 21:47:00
Double click o see details about the lay Fair conference on April 18th 2011 at Congress House.Is FPTP or AV Better for Minor Parties and Independents?
Updated: 2011-04-14 14:37:47One question that I keep being asked since I have been in London is: which electoral system is best for minor parties? The ideal system would be proportional representation, but the only choices offered on May 5 are the existing...Kate Middleton confirmed ahead of royal wedding
Updated: 2011-04-13 14:33:05
Royal bride-to-be Kate Middleton has been confirmed into the Church of England ahead of her wedding to Prince William this month.A Communist in Space: Yuri Gagarin
Updated: 2011-04-13 00:01:00
was actually delivering Labour Party letters to the Old Barrowfield estate in West Ham early yesterday morning, while listening to the coverage on Radio 4 "Today" on the 50th anniversary of manned flight to space.
This was surely a great moment in our history. It must have been a...UNISON NEC ELECTIONS: Make Your Vote Count
Updated: 2011-04-12 09:11:00
To have your voice heard, please vote for people who will stand up for you and your rights. Check out London Regional NEC recommendations hereNewham Classic 10k 2011
Updated: 2011-04-12 07:41:00
Off message: The photo collage is from the Newham Classic 10k Run on Sunday. We started and finished in West Ham Park (my Council ward). Double click picture to bring up detail. The run ook 1 hour 8 minutes (3 minutes earlier than last month's Newham London 10k). Must do better.
The...UNISON NEC Elections 2011: The Forces of Light & Reason in London
Updated: 2011-04-11 00:01:00
Ballot papers are due out today. These are the candidates for London Regional seats that I will be supporting and I hope you will support as well. You can usually (its not always that lear) guess from reading the election statements, who are the sensible left candidates and who...Labour Party AV Debate: Stratford Thursday 28 April 2011
Updated: 2011-04-10 22:05:00
West Ham CLP and London UNISON Labour Link are sponsoring this debate on the AV vote in Stratford on Thursday evening 28 April 2011 (Workers Memorial Day!).
John Debham MP will speak in favour of AV and Margaret Beckett MP ill speak against. The venue is only a short walk from...Captain Frederick John Matthews MC: Royal Naval Division
Updated: 2011-04-10 08:48:00
This is the scanned picture of my Teid (my Welsh maternal grandfather) which I received yesterday morning. In the beginning of the First World War there were too many volunteers for the Royal Navy. So Winston Churchill created the Royal Naval Division which fought on land but retained Naval...TUC March for an Alternative: What would Clem do?
Updated: 2011-04-09 23:59:00
Tower Hamlets Labour Party on the TUC March 26th. With the very apt placard to the front What would Clem do?" (Clement Attlee - former Labour Prime Minister and local MP). nbsp; This is important because the National Debt in 1945 was far, far higher than now and yet the Labour...March for the Alternative Big Night Out
Updated: 2011-04-08 20:43:00"After the 26.03.2011 TUC March for the Alternative Philosophy Football organised a 'Big Night Out in association with the TUC. Featuring the spoken word electronica of Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, comic Josie Long, juggler Rod Laver and soulful acoustic from Maddy Carty. Plus contributions from...UNISON National Housing Seminar 2011: "We Ain’t Seen Nothin' Yet"
Updated: 2011-04-08 08:24:00Keynote speaker, Heather Wakefield, Head of UNISON Local Government. (Usual health warning about the accuracy of my hurriedly typed notes) "It seems to have been a very long year. So much destruction has taken place. We now know that Nick Clegg “cries”. Bless his heart. His cabinet of...UNISON National Housing Seminar 2011: City of York
Updated: 2011-04-07 18:33:00
This year the seminar was held in York. I went up last night and this morning before breakfast went for a run (aka slow jog) around it’s almost complete City walls (see picture).
This was quite a fitting start in one way for a housing event since apart from the glorious displays of spring...Mad Bankers' Disease: BMA search for Vaccine
Updated: 2011-04-07 10:04:00
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;As seen in Norwich City centre last week. I couldn't possibly comment.Newham Fabians AGM 2011
Updated: 2011-04-06 07:47:00
Picture is from ewham Fabians AGM which took place at the Town Hall in East Ham on Monday evening. The Fabians are an independent socialist society affiliated to the Labour Party.
The Guest speaker was local MP Stephen Timms (main picture). He poke about the role of the...English blood
Updated: 2011-04-04 18:09:17The kids’ ancestry Originally uploaded by viralbus Dougie, my father-in-law, has always been a bit of a Scottish nationalist, and England has always seemed a bit of a foreign country to him. However, my genealogical research has now established that his paternal grandmother was English (probably from Ashton-under-Lyne in Greather Manchester) and only moved to [...]