CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE
Bringing Balance through Support
|
|
CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE Bringing Balance through Support |
|
| CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE | <info@genderbalance.org.uk> | 4th July 2008 |
Don't know what blogging is? Check out the BBC's webwise website. Campaign for Gender Balance Blog AwardsThe Campaign for Gender Balance has announced the shortlists for its Blog Awards, to be announced at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference. The shortlists are as follows: 
Best Blog by a Woman Liberal DemocratThis shortlist will form the basis of two awards - the Judge's Choice and the Peoples' Choice. To vote in the People's Choice category, follow this link: http://cgbblog.notlong.com/ 
Best Blog Post by a Woman Liberal Democrat
Best Blog by a Woman Non-Liberal DemocratWe are sad to report that Rose Hacker died on 4 February, one month before her 102nd birthday. Her remaining columns are continuing to be published by the Camden New Journal. Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted and commiserations to everyone who was not. The final results will be announced at the Campaign for Gender Balance Blog Awards' Drinks Reception, taking place on Saturday 8th March 2008, between 8.00pm and 9.30pm, at Canada Suite, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Liverpool. The awards will be decided by a prestigious team of judges:
To read blogs by Liberal Democrats (women and men), see the Lib Dem Blogs website (http://www.libdemblogs.co.uk). Latest Lib Dem BlogsFri 4th Jul 2008: The BBC news website often provides amusement with quirky stories and, to my mind, is a winner with this one about the drunken Swede: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7482551.stm Results: Thursday 3rd July 2008. Barking and Dagenham LBC, Chadwell Heath Con 842 (37.4; +7.5) Lab 691 (30.7; -7.0) BNP 564 (25.1; +25.1) UKIP 142 (6.3; -6.9) Ind 11 (0.5; -18.7) Majority 151 Turnout 33.2% Con gain from Lab Percentage change is since May 2006 Bexley LBC, Christchurch Con 1192 (47.8; -16.1) LD Oliver Brooks 459 (18.4; +3.5) BNP 431 (17.3; +17.3) Lab 411 (16.5; -4.8) Majority 733 Turnout 29.6% Con hold Percentage http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7488960.stm A top Judge of the UK wants to bring in Principals of Sharia Law into UK Laws. Sharia is a the Muslim Law and was revealed by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) for the whole of the world. Sharia is a very good Law it is only strict in certain circumstances and many people now believe that we need to be tough on the kind of aspects that sharia is tough on. For example people want robbery's to decrease but in a Muslim Sharia following State a thief would get his or her hand chopped of for ... Mike Rumbles: why I want to lead the Scottish Lib Dems. I want to lead this party because I believe that it has never been a more important time to be a Liberal Democrat. The other parties are obsessed with eroding individual civil liberties: * the Labour Party is hell-bent on forcing people to carry ID cards and increasing the length of detention without trial to 42 [...] Sharia Law: The whiff of "well duh". The tabloid press* (and to a lesser extent, the "quality" dailies) have leapt on comments made by Phillips LCJ** yesterday: "There is no reason why sharia principles, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution. "It must be recognised, however, that any sanctions for a failure [...] OK I know it's early days, less than 48 hours after the news broke that we needed a new leader, and many people are biding their time to see who actually stand but the Facebook groups are forming up for the Scottish Lib Dem Leadership. Jamie Stone must be worried that most of his 13 don't seem to have Lib Dem tendencies and interestingly has turn the SNP Group turn Glasgow East Yellow as a 'If they are doing the time, they cant do the crime' that is roughly what a man said yesterday from the audience on Question time. The debate about how to tackle Knife Crime was very interesting but out of the whole debate i found this quote by the man in the audience very interesting. Many people have committed a crime and have served a few months then been released on bail with a tag. What is the point of that they haven't tasted the punishment and they already have been released. This is making people loose belief in the juristic ... I wasn't at the vote on MPs' expenses and salaries as I had to be somewhere else. But, as I have said before publicly, I will not vote on my own salary or expenses. I will vote for such things to be decided by an independent body - in just the same way as I have supported the independent pay review for nurses and teachers etc. And when the Government fails to deliver - I stick by what the independent pay board has recommended.I think the MPs' system of pay and expenses is absurd. So - our pay should be ... Take Part Take Pride in Wallington. In keeping with this year's Take Part Take Pride theme we have organised a Wallington Community Coffee Morning on Thursday 10th July between 10.30am and 2.30pm. There will be free tea and coffee served on the lawn in front of the Old Town Hall and also cakes, some of which may even be made by my [...] Visiting Resident I made a visit to a resident to discuss their problems with overhanging trees. Also, Johann Hari makes good point shocker. This is broadly in tune with my own views. But you all knew that anyway. The divisions are up for the MPs expenses vote and, like Alex Wilcock, I am very happy indeed that not one of the piggies who voted to remain more equal than the rest of us is a Lib Dem. Predictably, the printed press is squealing about the horror and unfairness of it all, from the strident howls of the Fail, to the more measured disapproval of the Indy. I am one of those rare people who thinks that MPs should be paid a lot more than they currently are for basic salary - on the grounds that if we want ... First Great Western Public Meeting. As luck would have it I was struck down with laryngitis yesterday, just in time for the public meeting I helped organise on FGW, so, as it was I wasn't able to give voice to my ongoing frustration with FGW's substandard London-Reading train service quite as much as I would have liked. Luckily there was a microphone at the meeting! The presentation given by Andrew Haines, Chief Operating Officer, was pretty much as expected, with lots about 'jam tomorrow' i.e. things are improving and in ten years things will be much better. Like many people who spoke at the meeting, ... Nick Clegg on giving power to local communities. Nick Clegg's speech to the Local Government Association has been highlighted elsewhere, but I wanted to give it a quick plug here too. I'm a strong supporter of giving as much power to local communities as possible. I have admitted before to some doubts about how you deliver it effectively if local authorities are not closely [...] As I sit here drinking tea I'd like to raise a cup to American Independence on this fourth of July. You seen American once upon a time was a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland but as a result of some rebels trying to make a giant pot of tea, without putting warm water in first, out of Boston harbour a little war broke out and General George Washington and the settlers in If you haven't heard it already Lily Allen has written a song telling the BNP to 'fuck off''. In response Great White Records' Joey Smith has come out with his own pop song very wittily saying 'a lily is just pond life'. Now usually I just wouldn't be interested , but for some reason or other I have become embroiled in a debate with BNP members on Facebook thanks to an invitation from a BNP supporting friend from uni. At first it was rather depressing to watch the BNP trolls try to claim Lily Allen had committed some form of ... How Conservative MPs sunk expenses reform. Alex has beaten me to writing up the result of yesterday's vote, so here are his words: News reports of last night's self-pampering vote by greedy MPs offer a choice of two messages: either 'they're all at it' or 'the Tories and Liberal Democrats condemned Labour'. But the truth is that not all MPs - and [...] Coverage left, right and centre today over the allegations against Ray Lewis, one of Boris Johnosn's deputy mayors (e.g. The Times). A few points to note: The Bishop of Chelmsford has said that, "Between 1999 and 2005 Ray was placed under the formal disciplinary structures of the Church of England and his ministry was restricted." This is a very [...] So the Conservatives were right to be rattled. The result was closer than expected. As i said to members in my thank you email, 'This is a good result for the Liberal Democrats and proves that the Cameron effect is not having as big an effect as the Conservative party hopes.' The final result was: Conservative: 288 (58%) Gary Martin (Liberal Democrat): 206 (42%) Tim Collins, who as a native of Northern Ireland and former colonel in the British Army you'd expect would know about this kind of thing, had an article in yesterday's Telegraph on why repressive laws are not the way to deal with terrorist activity: "In parliamentary democracies such as the UK, a system of checks and [...] Save Money on Childcare Costs With the Childcare Voucher Scheme. Childcare costs can be a huge drain on the finances. Yet the little-known 'Childcare Voucher' scheme can save you £1,000s on nursery fees or child minder costs every year. It allows you to pay for childcare from your pre-tax income. While this mightn't sound a big deal, the impact is huge. For every £1,000 a basic rate taxpayer earns, after tax and national insurance is deducted, they only actually receive a little under £700 in their pay packet. By using childcare vouchers, the whole £1,000 pays for childcare so there's a £300 gain per £1,000 of childcare. lick on the ... Blogger/adsense related help required. Can anyone help? I was trying to be clever and ad google search into my blog (so you can search within my blog, a basket of sites I read regularly, or the whole net) and a new unit of advertising. Well its not worked. Instead of the previous three ads I had, I now just have one public service announcement (look above this post). How do I get my new stuff? Or at least how do I get back to before (I haven't changed any of the HTML code)? Can anyone give advice? Please. Update: Google have got back to ... At long last the members of the All-Wales Convention have been named. It is an impressive list of the great and the good. What we need now is some idea of what they are going to do and what they are for. Bury votes 'NO' to an Elected Mayor. The people of Bury voted "No" to an elected Mayor yesterday, rejecting the proposals by a 60:40 margin. The final result was 15,425 votes "No" and 10,338, with a turnout of 18%. Interestingly where we live in Holyrood Ward had the highest turnout of voters anywhere in the south of the Borough, at over 20%. Lib Dems in Bury campaigned hard for a "No" vote in the referendum, and it is very good news for democracy that that the idea of an elected Mayor has been rejected by local people. A Mayor would have been an expensive and democratically disastrous ... MPs' Luxuries: Labour Can't Get Enough; Lib Dems Against; Tories Split. News reports of last night's self-pampering vote by greedy MPs offer a choice of two messages: either 'they're all at it' or 'the Tories and Liberal Democrats condemned Labour'. But the truth is that not all MPs - and not all parties - have their snouts in the trough. The truth is that of 176 MPs so out of touch with the economic woes of the real world that they voted themselves £23,000 a year for home furnishings, 146 were Labour. But none were Lib Dems. Zero. Despite desperate Tory spin, it was Conservative MPs who tipped the 'trough' vote. ... Oli Harvey doesn't think so. He says we should be looking at capital investment. If the oil price were going to stay this high, so his argument goes, then there should be a huge amount of capital investment to find new deposits of oil because the incentive to do so would be large. He posits that the reason for low levels of capital investment is because the price is going to fall soon. The logic works, as long as you think oil analysts for the large exploration companies have it right. Give it a read and see what you think. ... Bury votes NO to elected Mayor. The people of Bury voted "No" to an elected Mayor yesterday, rejecting the proposals by a 60:40 margin. The final result was 15,425 votes "No" and 10,338, with a turnout of 18%. Lib Dems in Bury campaigned hard for a "No" vote in the referendum, and I am glad that the idea of an elected Mayor has been rejected by local people. As I've been saying on here all week and elsewhere for ages, a Mayor would have been an expensive and democratically disastrous move for Bury. The "Yes" campaign suggested that the voting for a Mayor would help defeat ... Just saw a clip of 4th of July Celebrations at Mount Rushmore on Al Jazeera. Many of you will, like me, find Civil Religions a little bit creepy, but this tops it all. As the fireworks were scorching the sky guess what song was playing? The Star Wars theme tune. America as the 'rebel alliance', standing up to the 'Evil Empire'? How's that for self image? Creepy. Here's a video of the theme tune to remind you of it. Intriguing letter in the Western Mail this morning from the President of Plaid Cymru, Dafydd Iwan on the need for more affordable housing. Dafydd echoes the Essex report on housing in suggesting that the Labour-Plaid Cymru Government's target of 6,500 new affordable homes by 2011 should be the bare minimum. However, he goes further than both Sue Essex and his own housing minister in proposing that these new homes should all be built by the public sector and be additional to any that can be provided by private builders through planning gain. Such an assertion is in direct contrast to ... Mister Stephen has told me that to be a successful and popular Lib Dem Blog he's needs a little fluffiness and colour. So a few months ago he took me aside and gave me some typing lessons until my paws hurt. The picture you see is me ready for a football game wearing my football scarf, which also as Mister Stephen points out are also the colours of the Liberal Democrats.Mister Stephen will Labour and Tory vote collapse in Bexley. The result of the Bexley Christchurch by-election can be found here. Interesting is the change in the number of votes cast for the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour: Top candidates 2006 Con 2205 Lab 733 LD 513 Votes this time as %age of 2006 (excluding BNP, who didn't stand in 2006) Con 54.1% LD 89.5% Lab 56.1% M&S yesterday announced a 5.3% fall in sales over the last three months, prompting a 25% collapse in the company's share price and wiping £1.2 billion off the company's market value. Sir Stuart Rose, the company Chairman, pinned the blame on the credit crunch, calling it "the fastest and most severe slowdown since the early 1990's", although some analysts criticised M&S for focussing solely on expensive products. There is little doubt that the retailers at the higher end of the market are struggling as consumers look for cheaper alternatives - Aldi and Lidl are booming. There has been much media ... Thu 3rd Jul 2008: There were 2 meetings today, both of which were connected with our Town Centre in Stockton, where and how it can develop better to meet everyone's needs. I left the second meeting on a high for a change, as we talked about some good, interesting and challenging ideas with a real chance of everyone being on board. If you have ideas about positive ways forward (not what happened in the past!!)... In the week that the NHS celebrates its 60th birthday Eaglescliffe Health Centre bit the dust. The demolition squad moved in and the building is no more. Councillor Suzanne Fletcher took these photographs when out with her trusty camera looking for something else entirely. Residents haven't been deserted by the doctors, nurses, physiotherapist, health visitor and countless other professionals Ok, Bendy Buses: Dave Hill has got me excited on this in his Comment is Free piece this afternoon and I, and as on all things Londonian, have a very strong opinion on them. So, here goes: Firstly, if you looked at all the things that needed money spent on them in London today can we all really say, hand on heart, that buses, not having more of them but just changing the style of them, is the tip top priority for the whole of London? More important than housing, reducing crime, dragging the tube into the 21st century, ensuring ... A special message to David Clelland, Labour MP for Tyne Bridge and reader of this blog. Thank you for providing this week's entertainment. Most enjoyable. What are you going to do for an encore!? Whatever it is, stick with it! You may of course not be too worried by the furore over your comments to your constituent. Perhaps you feel that sticks and stones may break bones, but words will never Sedgley Children's Centre to Open. Prestwich's first "Children's Centre" opens officially on Thursday 10th July, at Sedgley Park Primary on Kings Road. The centre will be opened by a selection of children of different ages. The children will officially open the Children's Centre at 3:15pm. Following this you will get the chance to walk around the centre and chat to myself and staff from other agencies who will be working from the centre. Attractions on the opening day include: - Face painter / Story time - Arts and Crafts - Design a picture for the Children's Centre - Car boot / table top sale Everyone ... I would like to take this opportunity to thank the French President for introducing me to a new sensation, to paraphrase Edmund Blackadder. He has made me warm to Peter Mandelson and his crusade to cut some of the cancerous French-led subsidy disease which continues to rot the heart of Europe. Perhaps when Mr Sarkozy's country stops taking half of all EU revenue, primarily for its pampered farmers, he can afford to criticise others. BBC Question Time: open thread. Lib Dem MEP for the south-east of England Baroness Emma Nicholson is one of the panellists on tonight's Question Time (broadcast on BBC1 and online from 10.35 pm GMT). The panel will also include the Minister of State in the Scotland Office and Labour MP for Greenock and Inverclyde David Cairns; Conservative shadow health secretary Andrew [...] Concert for Cleveland Pools Walcot State Choir and Friends St Mary's Church, Bathwick 7.30pm Wednesday 9th July Keith Vaz's 'reward' - a room with a view! Well that's what's been reported in the Evening Standard and the Mail. With the dust barely settled on the whole 42 days episode and the subsequent rumours flying around as to how Keith Vaz had been promised a 'reward' - a gong we were told, for rolling over on 42 days. We learn today that he has moved into a splendid new office overlooking the Thames, previously occupied by Gwyneth Dunwoody. Mr Vaz laughs it all off as pure coincidence, and 'absolutely ridiculous' Apparently he put in a request for the late Dunwoodys office 2 days after she died! How ... The Reading Evening Post reports: it has come to our attention that Lib Dem leader Gareth Epps and his party colleague and partner, Daisy Benson, opted for a Radiohead gig on Tuesday rather than the full council meeting.I'm not a Reading voter, of course, but this seems a sensible decision to me. No one dies wishing he had spent more time in committee meetings. The Diary items also reveals who is behind the satirical site muckspReading. LinkSpam of DOOOOOM! *UPDATED*. They've found the deleted scenes from Metropolis! Sci-fi geeks rejoice! And pray Cthulhu we get a showing of it at the FFW next year... {[info]} matgb has a highly amusing post about the hypocrisy of the guy who sued the BBC for showing Jerry Springer: The Opera and upsetting his delicate religious sensibilities (related Facebook group). Don't watch anything on YouTube which isn't allowed to be there, else you'll get got. Creationism hits science classrooms in the UK. and we are funding it via the state school mechanism. *I* am paying for some poor kids to be taught complete bollocks ... Cameron dazzles us by opening his bare cupboard. The Times challenged David Cameron to set out his alternative plans for government. Today, Cameron has replied. He doesn't start in a promising way. The first 268 words of his 886 word article are expended in waffle and moaning about Brown. Then he tells us that it really is terrible that Labour are obsessed with measuring the NHS. So Cameron's Conservatives will.........er.........measure the Jeremy Thorpe calls for the assassination of Robert Mugabe. Or at least he does according to the The First Post: Jeremy Thorpe, the former leader of the Liberal Party, has called for the assassination of Robert Mugabe. Speaking to the Journal of Liberal History, he was asked his views on the Zimbabwean leader. Thorpe, now 79, began tamely enough, saying: 'I think he is a ghastly, wicked man', but when asked how he should be dealt with, he hardened his line: 'He should be assassinated.'I have been having similar thoughts recently, though there are doubts about how far Mugabe is really in charge any more. And I think people ... Haltemprice & Howden: Those nutters in full. The BBC has a guide to all 26 candidates in the by-election. David Davis refuses to debate civil liberties. David Davis, you will recall, resigned his Commons seat and resigned as shadow home secretary because he said he wanted to draw public attention to the threat that government poses to our liberties. According to one of his rival candidates. the by-election campaign is not working out like that. Shan Oakes, the Green Party candidate in Howden, has written this on her blog today: Civil liberties suddenly became an immediate issue in the constituency today! We were excluded from a meeting that David Cameron and David Davis had set up with members of the East Riding of Yorkshire Youth Assembly ... What other results will people want changed in the wake of the ICC's bizarre decision ? The ICC took the extremely odd and rather dubious decision today to change the result of a game which the Pakistan team lost because they refused to play on. Let me repeat this, the Pakistan team chose not to come out of the dressing room, which by anyone's understanding means they threw the game by default, thus giving England the win. Apparently though, the ICC decided today, in a vote that England were excluded from (but Pakistan wasn't), to change the result to a draw. This opens up a can of worms and now sets a precedent for any team ... Labour AM and Deputy Minister, Leighton Andrews has been a busy politician this week, popping up all over Wales and making headlines. Having been in Wrexham today I was unable to get the Western Mail* so had to settle for the Daily Post. There on page two, accompanied by a photograph of Leighton that made him look like he was auditioning to be one of the Blues Brothers, was this report on a speech he gave to Trade Unionists in Colwyn Bay last night. Leighton told his audience that Labour can only regain crucial seats like Clwyd West by "being ... Summer Holiday Activities for Children. The family Information Service have released details of a range of childrens' activities for the Summer holidays. There are five booklets available in the North East Lincolnshire area and they include activities for children and young people. Each booklet is tailored to local community activities in a specific area. The booklets are being distributed to all children and young people through schools. To find out more about the activities and events that are taking place in your area over the Summer Holidays 2008 for children, young people and families you can download a copy of the book for your area ... Earlier Stories Complete archive on the official site.
Published and promoted by CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE, 4 Cowley Street, London SW1P 3NB. The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider. |
