2 Big Stories

Wilshire to stand down amid expenses allegations

A Conservative MP accused of paying more than £100,000 of public money into his own company announced last night that he would stand down at the general election.

David Wilshire called the allegations “deeply hurtful and unjustified” and predicted he would be cleared by the Commons standards watchdog.

But in a brief statement, he said he had reluctantly decided it would not be “sensible” to seek re-election as the MP for Spelthorne.

(Independent)

BNP bows to pressure to admit non-white people

The far-right British National party has agreed to change its constitution to allow non-white people to join, it emerged today.

The BNP confirmed it would consider changes to its rules and membership criteria after the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched county court proceedings against the party’s leader, Nick Griffin, and two other party officials: Simon Darby and Tanya Jane Lumby.

Robin Allen QC, counsel for the commission, said Griffin had agreed to present members with a revised constitution at its general meeting next month.

(Guardian)

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

• John Ault on Downing Street petitions: ‘Resign’ has already received 72,000 signatures, but which petitions have just one?
• Charlotte Gore on why she doesn’t touch local politics. Hmm… Charlotte Gore for Focus editor, I say.

Six blogs have recently joined Ryan’s Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Chris White – good to see another councillor using ALDC’s excellent MyCouncillor system.
• Giles Wilkes – a think tank blogger spawns his own blog, which is an interesting take on the question of why there are so few successful think tank blogs. His explanation? “‘Institutional’ blogs look and feel terrible.  You need individual personality.”
• Jeremy Rowe – do not look at the photograph on this post if you are easily scared.
• John Ault – the man who triumphed on Top Gear turns to blogging.
• Nigel Roberts – a highly local blog for a local councillor. It’s the place to go to find out the latest news on reflective bus lane poles facing the wrong way in Bath. (You’ll notice that this isn’t a new blog, but it is new to the aggregator.)
• Roger Harmer – see Chris White.

Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment?

Good morning. Today in 1990, Tim Berners Lee published a formal proposal for the world wide web. Today nearly twenty years later, here we all are. And isn’t it frightening that 1990 is nearly twenty years ago?!

2 Big Stories

Labour’s plan for ‘John Lewis’ public services

The Guardian is reporting that the Labour party are proposing mutualising public bodies – and the Guardian thinks the concept of mutualisation will be so alien to its readers that the only way of explaining it is by analogy to John Lewis.

Hospitals and schools would be transformed into John Lewis-style partnerships under radical plans that could form a central plank of Labour’s general election manifesto.

Public sector bodies, which would also include leisure centres, housing organisations and social care providers, would be allowed to take control of their own affairs if staff and users voted in favour.

Quite an amazing change of fortune from the party that has spent the last dozen years increasing Whitehall control over – well, pretty much everything.

Valerie Singleton launches six-button computer to get elderly online

The Telegraph has the story.

The screens of new PCs have just six buttons, allowing technology-shy users to surf the internet, send emails and watch videos without having to navigate around cluttered desktops.

My immediate facetious flippant thought is that receiving email from elderly people who have keyboards with only six buttons might well be a frustrating experience for all concerned. Which 20 letters will they omit?

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Scrutinising Scrutiny

John Ault has news of a Tory council about to disappear up its own fundament:

Conservative controlled Wealden District Council, has ‘set up a scrutiny panel to scrutinise its scrutiny panels.’

• Is this available in English?

Alex Folkes highlights an unreadable high level strategic document from new Cornwall Council. Not in Cornish, but in management jargon.

At Cabinet today, member queued up to complain about it and wrung an admission from the Leader that it needed to be ‘in plain English and fit for purpose’. Cabinet Member Carolyn Rule agreed to go away and proof-read it. I hope that she goes further and gets it re-written in English.

Don’t miss p23!

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Do fathers have to be at the birth to bond?

Sara Bedford underlines the importance of personal choice, especially for an event as personal as birth.

• Deep breath… Tarquin Fintim-Limbim-Whimbim-Lim Bus Stop-F’Tang-F’Tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel – 238 votes, but Shirley Williams (SDP/Liberal Alliance) 28,118… John Ault remembers Shirley Williams’ victory for the SDP in the Crosby by-election, 28 years ago yesterday.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Hacker Gary McKinnon to appeal after extradition blow
The BBC reports that Gary McKinnon’s lawyers are to make a “last-ditch” attempt to prevent his extradition to the US. They are issuing judicial review proceedings next week after Home Secretary alan Johnson decided not to block his extradition on medical grounds.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, London, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

House of Lords: peers given £30,000 tax free plus allowances
From the Telegraph:

Peers will receive a tax-free annual salary of nearly £30,000 on top of allowances worth £20,000 under reforms to be introduced following a series of expenses scandals.

For the first time, members of the Lords are to receive a daily fee of £200, described as a “contribution to income,” for clocking in at the upper chamber, even if they stay for only a couple of hours.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who has campaigned for more openness for Parliamentary expenses, [said]: “This falls well short of what is required. It is a game of Monopoly – pass Go and collect £200.”

Welcome to December 11th – only 20 days to go until the end of the year. Four years ago today the top story was the fire at the Buncefield oil depot which injured 43 people and was said to have been the biggest fire of its kind in peacetime Europe.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Empowering Voices Online

Mary Reid highlights a positive blogging project:

I’ve run a number of blogging workshops in the past, mainly for councillors, but this one is a bit different. It is aimed at people who want to provide a counter-balance to some of the more aggressive extremist and terrorist-supporting views that can be found online.

• Is the return of the monocle a sign that the Old Etonian Tories are taking control or the preparations for a Labour anti-Toff campaign?
  Good question, John Ault – there’s definitely a trend emerging. Tomorrow night, London Underground’s last circular Circle Line service will run (with me on it). From Sunday 13 December, the Circle Line will be shaped more like a…you guessed it… Cue conspiracy theory.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Obama defends war as he accepts Nobel peace prize
From the Independent:

“I face the world as it is,” Obama said, refusing to renounce war for his nation or under his leadership, saying that he is obliged to protect and defend the United States.

“A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms,” Obama said. “To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history.”

The president laid out the circumstances where war is justified — in self-defense, to come to the aid of an invaded nation, or on humanitarian grounds, such as when civilians are slaughtered by their own government or a civil war threatens to engulf an entire region.

“The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it,” he said.

MPs’ expenses: Cabinet facing fresh questions over latest claims
From the Telegraph:

Senior members of the Government were among MPs who went on a multi-million-pound spending spree last year in the run-up to a clampdown on parliamentary expenses.

Records released by Parliament showed that MPs claimed £10.7million towards their second homes in the 2008-09 financial year – an average of more than £17,000 for every MP outside inner London.

Following the release of the documents, Gordon Brown announced that he would repay £500 he had claimed for a “summer house” at his Scottish home to be redecorated. The Prime Minister conceded that the claim could be seen as “questionable”.

2 Big Stories

Wilshire to stand down amid expenses allegations

A Conservative MP accused of paying more than £100,000 of public money into his own company announced last night that he would stand down at the general election.

David Wilshire called the allegations “deeply hurtful and unjustified” and predicted he would be cleared by the Commons standards watchdog.

But in a brief statement, he said he had reluctantly decided it would not be “sensible” to seek re-election as the MP for Spelthorne.

(Independent)

BNP bows to pressure to admit non-white people

The far-right British National party has agreed to change its constitution to allow non-white people to join, it emerged today.

The BNP confirmed it would consider changes to its rules and membership criteria after the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched county court proceedings against the party’s leader, Nick Griffin, and two other party officials: Simon Darby and Tanya Jane Lumby.

Robin Allen QC, counsel for the commission, said Griffin had agreed to present members with a revised constitution at its general meeting next month.

(Guardian)

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

• John Ault on Downing Street petitions: ‘Resign’ has already received 72,000 signatures, but which petitions have just one?
• Charlotte Gore on why she doesn’t touch local politics. Hmm… Charlotte Gore for Focus editor, I say.

Six blogs have recently joined Ryan’s Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Chris White – good to see another councillor using ALDC’s excellent MyCouncillor system.
• Giles Wilkes – a think tank blogger spawns his own blog, which is an interesting take on the question of why there are so few successful think tank blogs. His explanation? “‘Institutional’ blogs look and feel terrible.  You need individual personality.”
• Jeremy Rowe – do not look at the photograph on this post if you are easily scared.
• John Ault – the man who triumphed on Top Gear turns to blogging.
• Nigel Roberts – a highly local blog for a local councillor. It’s the place to go to find out the latest news on reflective bus lane poles facing the wrong way in Bath. (You’ll notice that this isn’t a new blog, but it is new to the aggregator.)
• Roger Harmer – see Chris White.

Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment?

Good morning. Today in 1990, Tim Berners Lee published a formal proposal for the world wide web. Today nearly twenty years later, here we all are. And isn’t it frightening that 1990 is nearly twenty years ago?!

2 Big Stories

Labour’s plan for ‘John Lewis’ public services

The Guardian is reporting that the Labour party are proposing mutualising public bodies – and the Guardian thinks the concept of mutualisation will be so alien to its readers that the only way of explaining it is by analogy to John Lewis.

Hospitals and schools would be transformed into John Lewis-style partnerships under radical plans that could form a central plank of Labour’s general election manifesto.

Public sector bodies, which would also include leisure centres, housing organisations and social care providers, would be allowed to take control of their own affairs if staff and users voted in favour.

Quite an amazing change of fortune from the party that has spent the last dozen years increasing Whitehall control over – well, pretty much everything.

Valerie Singleton launches six-button computer to get elderly online

The Telegraph has the story.

The screens of new PCs have just six buttons, allowing technology-shy users to surf the internet, send emails and watch videos without having to navigate around cluttered desktops.

My immediate facetious flippant thought is that receiving email from elderly people who have keyboards with only six buttons might well be a frustrating experience for all concerned. Which 20 letters will they omit?

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Scrutinising Scrutiny

John Ault has news of a Tory council about to disappear up its own fundament:

Conservative controlled Wealden District Council, has ‘set up a scrutiny panel to scrutinise its scrutiny panels.’

• Is this available in English?

Alex Folkes highlights an unreadable high level strategic document from new Cornwall Council. Not in Cornish, but in management jargon.

At Cabinet today, member queued up to complain about it and wrung an admission from the Leader that it needed to be ‘in plain English and fit for purpose’. Cabinet Member Carolyn Rule agreed to go away and proof-read it. I hope that she goes further and gets it re-written in English.

Don’t miss p23!

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Do fathers have to be at the birth to bond?

Sara Bedford underlines the importance of personal choice, especially for an event as personal as birth.

• Deep breath… Tarquin Fintim-Limbim-Whimbim-Lim Bus Stop-F’Tang-F’Tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel – 238 votes, but Shirley Williams (SDP/Liberal Alliance) 28,118… John Ault remembers Shirley Williams’ victory for the SDP in the Crosby by-election, 28 years ago yesterday.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Hacker Gary McKinnon to appeal after extradition blow
The BBC reports that Gary McKinnon’s lawyers are to make a “last-ditch” attempt to prevent his extradition to the US. They are issuing judicial review proceedings next week after Home Secretary alan Johnson decided not to block his extradition on medical grounds.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, London, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

House of Lords: peers given £30,000 tax free plus allowances
From the Telegraph:

Peers will receive a tax-free annual salary of nearly £30,000 on top of allowances worth £20,000 under reforms to be introduced following a series of expenses scandals.

For the first time, members of the Lords are to receive a daily fee of £200, described as a “contribution to income,” for clocking in at the upper chamber, even if they stay for only a couple of hours.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who has campaigned for more openness for Parliamentary expenses, [said]: “This falls well short of what is required. It is a game of Monopoly – pass Go and collect £200.”

Welcome to December 11th – only 20 days to go until the end of the year. Four years ago today the top story was the fire at the Buncefield oil depot which injured 43 people and was said to have been the biggest fire of its kind in peacetime Europe.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Empowering Voices Online

Mary Reid highlights a positive blogging project:

I’ve run a number of blogging workshops in the past, mainly for councillors, but this one is a bit different. It is aimed at people who want to provide a counter-balance to some of the more aggressive extremist and terrorist-supporting views that can be found online.

• Is the return of the monocle a sign that the Old Etonian Tories are taking control or the preparations for a Labour anti-Toff campaign?
  Good question, John Ault – there’s definitely a trend emerging. Tomorrow night, London Underground’s last circular Circle Line service will run (with me on it). From Sunday 13 December, the Circle Line will be shaped more like a…you guessed it… Cue conspiracy theory.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Obama defends war as he accepts Nobel peace prize
From the Independent:

“I face the world as it is,” Obama said, refusing to renounce war for his nation or under his leadership, saying that he is obliged to protect and defend the United States.

“A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms,” Obama said. “To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history.”

The president laid out the circumstances where war is justified — in self-defense, to come to the aid of an invaded nation, or on humanitarian grounds, such as when civilians are slaughtered by their own government or a civil war threatens to engulf an entire region.

“The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it,” he said.

MPs’ expenses: Cabinet facing fresh questions over latest claims
From the Telegraph:

Senior members of the Government were among MPs who went on a multi-million-pound spending spree last year in the run-up to a clampdown on parliamentary expenses.

Records released by Parliament showed that MPs claimed £10.7million towards their second homes in the 2008-09 financial year – an average of more than £17,000 for every MP outside inner London.

Following the release of the documents, Gordon Brown announced that he would repay £500 he had claimed for a “summer house” at his Scottish home to be redecorated. The Prime Minister conceded that the claim could be seen as “questionable”.

2 Big Stories

Wilshire to stand down amid expenses allegations

A Conservative MP accused of paying more than £100,000 of public money into his own company announced last night that he would stand down at the general election.

David Wilshire called the allegations “deeply hurtful and unjustified” and predicted he would be cleared by the Commons standards watchdog.

But in a brief statement, he said he had reluctantly decided it would not be “sensible” to seek re-election as the MP for Spelthorne.

(Independent)

BNP bows to pressure to admit non-white people

The far-right British National party has agreed to change its constitution to allow non-white people to join, it emerged today.

The BNP confirmed it would consider changes to its rules and membership criteria after the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched county court proceedings against the party’s leader, Nick Griffin, and two other party officials: Simon Darby and Tanya Jane Lumby.

Robin Allen QC, counsel for the commission, said Griffin had agreed to present members with a revised constitution at its general meeting next month.

(Guardian)

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

• John Ault on Downing Street petitions: ‘Resign’ has already received 72,000 signatures, but which petitions have just one?
• Charlotte Gore on why she doesn’t touch local politics. Hmm… Charlotte Gore for Focus editor, I say.

Six blogs have recently joined Ryan’s Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Chris White – good to see another councillor using ALDC’s excellent MyCouncillor system.
• Giles Wilkes – a think tank blogger spawns his own blog, which is an interesting take on the question of why there are so few successful think tank blogs. His explanation? “‘Institutional’ blogs look and feel terrible.  You need individual personality.”
• Jeremy Rowe – do not look at the photograph on this post if you are easily scared.
• John Ault – the man who triumphed on Top Gear turns to blogging.
• Nigel Roberts – a highly local blog for a local councillor. It’s the place to go to find out the latest news on reflective bus lane poles facing the wrong way in Bath. (You’ll notice that this isn’t a new blog, but it is new to the aggregator.)
• Roger Harmer – see Chris White.

Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment?

Good morning. Today in 1990, Tim Berners Lee published a formal proposal for the world wide web. Today nearly twenty years later, here we all are. And isn’t it frightening that 1990 is nearly twenty years ago?!

2 Big Stories

Labour’s plan for ‘John Lewis’ public services

The Guardian is reporting that the Labour party are proposing mutualising public bodies – and the Guardian thinks the concept of mutualisation will be so alien to its readers that the only way of explaining it is by analogy to John Lewis.

Hospitals and schools would be transformed into John Lewis-style partnerships under radical plans that could form a central plank of Labour’s general election manifesto.

Public sector bodies, which would also include leisure centres, housing organisations and social care providers, would be allowed to take control of their own affairs if staff and users voted in favour.

Quite an amazing change of fortune from the party that has spent the last dozen years increasing Whitehall control over – well, pretty much everything.

Valerie Singleton launches six-button computer to get elderly online

The Telegraph has the story.

The screens of new PCs have just six buttons, allowing technology-shy users to surf the internet, send emails and watch videos without having to navigate around cluttered desktops.

My immediate facetious flippant thought is that receiving email from elderly people who have keyboards with only six buttons might well be a frustrating experience for all concerned. Which 20 letters will they omit?

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Scrutinising Scrutiny

John Ault has news of a Tory council about to disappear up its own fundament:

Conservative controlled Wealden District Council, has ‘set up a scrutiny panel to scrutinise its scrutiny panels.’

• Is this available in English?

Alex Folkes highlights an unreadable high level strategic document from new Cornwall Council. Not in Cornish, but in management jargon.

At Cabinet today, member queued up to complain about it and wrung an admission from the Leader that it needed to be ‘in plain English and fit for purpose’. Cabinet Member Carolyn Rule agreed to go away and proof-read it. I hope that she goes further and gets it re-written in English.

Don’t miss p23!

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Do fathers have to be at the birth to bond?

Sara Bedford underlines the importance of personal choice, especially for an event as personal as birth.

• Deep breath… Tarquin Fintim-Limbim-Whimbim-Lim Bus Stop-F’Tang-F’Tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel – 238 votes, but Shirley Williams (SDP/Liberal Alliance) 28,118… John Ault remembers Shirley Williams’ victory for the SDP in the Crosby by-election, 28 years ago yesterday.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Hacker Gary McKinnon to appeal after extradition blow
The BBC reports that Gary McKinnon’s lawyers are to make a “last-ditch” attempt to prevent his extradition to the US. They are issuing judicial review proceedings next week after Home Secretary alan Johnson decided not to block his extradition on medical grounds.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, London, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

House of Lords: peers given £30,000 tax free plus allowances
From the Telegraph:

Peers will receive a tax-free annual salary of nearly £30,000 on top of allowances worth £20,000 under reforms to be introduced following a series of expenses scandals.

For the first time, members of the Lords are to receive a daily fee of £200, described as a “contribution to income,” for clocking in at the upper chamber, even if they stay for only a couple of hours.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who has campaigned for more openness for Parliamentary expenses, [said]: “This falls well short of what is required. It is a game of Monopoly – pass Go and collect £200.”

Welcome to December 11th – only 20 days to go until the end of the year. Four years ago today the top story was the fire at the Buncefield oil depot which injured 43 people and was said to have been the biggest fire of its kind in peacetime Europe.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Empowering Voices Online

Mary Reid highlights a positive blogging project:

I’ve run a number of blogging workshops in the past, mainly for councillors, but this one is a bit different. It is aimed at people who want to provide a counter-balance to some of the more aggressive extremist and terrorist-supporting views that can be found online.

• Is the return of the monocle a sign that the Old Etonian Tories are taking control or the preparations for a Labour anti-Toff campaign?
  Good question, John Ault – there’s definitely a trend emerging. Tomorrow night, London Underground’s last circular Circle Line service will run (with me on it). From Sunday 13 December, the Circle Line will be shaped more like a…you guessed it… Cue conspiracy theory.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Obama defends war as he accepts Nobel peace prize
From the Independent:

“I face the world as it is,” Obama said, refusing to renounce war for his nation or under his leadership, saying that he is obliged to protect and defend the United States.

“A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms,” Obama said. “To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history.”

The president laid out the circumstances where war is justified — in self-defense, to come to the aid of an invaded nation, or on humanitarian grounds, such as when civilians are slaughtered by their own government or a civil war threatens to engulf an entire region.

“The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it,” he said.

MPs’ expenses: Cabinet facing fresh questions over latest claims
From the Telegraph:

Senior members of the Government were among MPs who went on a multi-million-pound spending spree last year in the run-up to a clampdown on parliamentary expenses.

Records released by Parliament showed that MPs claimed £10.7million towards their second homes in the 2008-09 financial year – an average of more than £17,000 for every MP outside inner London.

Following the release of the documents, Gordon Brown announced that he would repay £500 he had claimed for a “summer house” at his Scottish home to be redecorated. The Prime Minister conceded that the claim could be seen as “questionable”.