• The Liberal Democrat Tuition Fee Farce

    Updated: 2010-11-30 18:35:00
    Just when you thought the Liberal Democrat Leadership couldn't mess up any more on Tuition Fees, Vince Cable who supports the Government's plan says he is willing to abstain if those that oppose them will do too - so the worst of all worlds!

  • DVP Forum cancelled

    Updated: 2010-11-30 17:15:55
    The Derwent Valley Partnership Forum event planned for tonight has been cancelled due to the wintry weather.

  • Pre-Christmas Competition - last call

    Updated: 2010-11-30 17:00:59
    [IMG: coat-of-arms.jpg] Anyone who would like to win a copy of my more famous namesake's "Passing Through" album (see The Other Owen Temple link on the left hand side) should email me by the end of November to let me know whose coat of arms this is. As a tie-break please also name the figure standing in the centre of it. And if more than one of you gets both right I'll draw lots.

  • Vince Cable may abstain in tuition fees vote

    Updated: 2010-11-30 14:56:00
    The Guardian reports that Vince Cable, who is the cabinet minister in charge of tuition fees, has said that he is prepared to abstain in a key vote on the government's policy if that is what fellow Liberal Democrat MPs decide to do as a group. That is of course allowed under the coalition agreement but whether it is enough to head off a revolt by Liberal Democrat MPs, who are threatening to vote against the proposals is yet to be seen. The paper says that the party's 57 MPs are in talks this morning in a bid to find ...

  • planning has gone to Poots*

    Updated: 2010-11-30 14:16:36
    The news that Northern Ireland's Environment Minister, Edwin Poots, is set to abolish the Planning Service and devolve planning to local councils is a shock to many. The shock is made worse as he is basing this on the 'eleven council' model that should by now be being implemented under the Review of Public Administation. ...

  • Anti-terrorism legislation: news emerges of likely reforms

    Updated: 2010-11-30 00:54:12
    In his Hugo Young lecture last week Nick Clegg clearly signalled the imminent end to control orders. Now over the last couple of days the shape of the likely conclusions from the anti-terrorism review are starting to emerge, with the current 28-day limit on detention without charge coming back down to 14 days. A new set of tighter than usual bail conditions could then be imposed for a further 14 days. The police's stop and search powers are also likely to be curtailed, particularly following the news that in the last year over 100,000 stop and searches were conducted under ...

  • Counting in Bentleigh to Determine Victorian Government

    Updated: 2010-11-28 04:18:16
    At the close of counting on election night, the Victorian Coalition was on the cusp of forming government, having secured a definite 44 seats in the 88 member Legislative Assembly. There are 34 Liberals and 10 Nationals, while Labor can...

  • How the first NSW Labor Government survived the 1911 Crisis

    Updated: 2010-11-22 11:03:39
    A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post on the formation of the first Labor government in NSW in 1910. In 1911 the government, led by Acting Premier William Holman, survived an extended constitutional crisis that demonstrated what...

  • Pariah Parties and Preferences

    Updated: 2010-11-20 10:40:02
    After the Liberal Party announced last weekend that it would put the Greens last on its how-to-vote material, I was asked what the Liberal Party used to do with the Communist Party. Using how-to-vote material from three NSW elections in...

  • Legislative Council Calculators Now Live!

    Updated: 2010-11-16 23:50:35
    Try my Legislative Council Calculators now live at the ABC Elections http://www2b.abc.net.au/Elections/View/SenateCalculator.aspx?e=18&ca=emet

  • Legislative Council Preference Tickets

    Updated: 2010-11-14 07:01:27
    At noon on Sunday 14 November, the passed for parties to lodge their group ticket preferences for the Legislative Council. These are the preferences that will be used for any votes that are cast for a party using the 'above...

  • US Politics : Democrats Hold The Senate, Republicans Win the House

    Updated: 2010-11-03 04:38:56
    I don’t understand US politics particularly well, though we do watch The Daily Show by Jon Stewart religiously (if that’s representative of US politics, Americans are nuts!). Watching BBC News and the Democrats have held the Senate and the Republicans have gained control of The House of Representatives. Guess that means President Obama will find [...]

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