CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE
Bringing Balance through Support
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CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE Bringing Balance through Support |
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| CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE | <info@genderbalance.org.uk> | 4th July 2009 |
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 3rd Jul 2009: Re-elected! - four more years. I didn't mean to be away from 'blogsphere' for so long, but it has been a very busy few weeks! Election time is always full of manic activity, but I'm pleased to say I was re-elected as Councillor for Eastville, the result was: Steve Comer (Liberal Democrat Focus Team) 1310 44% Mike Wollacott (Labour) 717 24% Derek Fey (Conservative) 542 18% Glenn Vowles (Green Party) 426 14% June 4th saw the Liberal Democrats win 36 out of the 70 seats in Bristol and take overall control of the city for the first time. I'm very pleased that one of the ... In a bizarre move, Sarah Palin has announced that she is stepping down as the Republican Governor of Alaska later this month. Here is CNN's coverage of it: Some have interpreted this as a precursor to her running for the Presidency in 2012 but usually candidates remain in whatever office they hold. It gives them a natural springboard. Others such as Sunny on Pickled Politics think that there is something in her closet and she is getting out before it breaks. And still others such as Stephen Green writing on Pajamas Media thinks that standing down like this makes her ... So what next after Sarah Palin shoots herself - in the foot? So Sarah Palin is resigning as Governor of Alaska. Why? This announcement seems to have really caught the media on the hop - let's hope that she didn't shoot them in the foot too! So why has she done it? The interview that she gave announcing her departure proved that she was not intending to leave [...] Patrick Hannan: A Useful Fiction First Impressions. On Tuesday I finally received a promised review copy of Patrick Hannan's book A Useful Fiction: Adventures in British Democracy I was hoping it would live up to the adventure element of the sub-title. Well it certainly has in what I have read so far. Take the opening three paragraphs: 'If you want to find out what Britishness is there are some obvious places to for an answer. Top of the list is the British, perhaps, is the British Council, the United Kingdom's leading cultural messenger abroad. If they don't know, who does? And who better to consult there than ... Monday, fielded a question on the pilot 'birtual cpourts', where the defendant appears over a video link from a police station at a distance to the magistrate's court in London. The Minister confirmed that the defence solicitor would be also be at the police station. The system no doubt saves money on transport and escort costs, and in 75% of the cases dealt with so far, the defendant was pleading guilty. Tuesday, a supplementary question on the strengthening of legislation on the trial of war criminals living in the UK. The Minister couldn't say whether i would apply to those ... Heat, Hayfever and Hell of a Busy Time at Work. Finishing work at 17:45 on a Friday is not fun, especially when you are normally out the door for the start of the weekend at four. Adding to that that the only part of the Andy Murray match I saw live was the last game and tie break of the third set and then the final few games of the match itself. But the reason for that and the reason that my blogging hasn't been up to it's normal speed is that I've been a little bit busier at work than normal. One of colleagues is currently enjoying the coolness ... John Healey pledges to 'dismantle' Housing Revenue Account,worth a read!! Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing Wednesday 1st July 2009 – 1:50pm John Healey named as new Housing Minister Housing Minister John Healey has pledged to publish a consultation document 'before the summer recess' on the reform of council housing finance. In a written statement to the House of Commons, Mr Healey told MPs that he [...] A Niceness catchup: an encounter with the law, sent down the river... I was beginning to get the idea that 100 days of solid reporting of niceness might begin to pall, so I'll switch to the occasional catchup... Last weekend was an interesting one, starting with a dash to Liverpool Street for the daily train to Needham Market, where I was met and driven to Nedging Hall for a reception hosted by the High Sheriff of Suffolk. The haute monde of the county set were all there, plus the mayors of the various towns in their regalia. All very pleasant, with some rather fine deep-fried oysters washed down with some equally good ... I've only missed a few episodes of the BBC drama Robin Hood when it has aired. One of those was last Saturdays, when I like over 12m other viewers was watching Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Now I've learned before getting around to iPlayer-ing the episode I find out that not only have the BBC killed off Robin, but have axed the series as well. A BBC spokesman said: 'Viewers have enjoyed three fantastic series of Robin Hood but with the death of Robin in last week's finale, we feel that the show has reached its natural conclusion.' Balderdash! Any executive ... My friend Herbert Eppel sends me this photograph of a fox drinking from the birdbath in his garden. He also asks if I can mention the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Pro Wind Alliance. Not sure about that, Herb. Good readers, please carry on. Hurrah! Someone out there is paying attention to my book reviews and bought four Strossisms. And what's more, they followed my links to that nice Mr. Amazon's website to do so, thus earning me a commission. Now, what's stopping the rest of you? Tory Outcast has done a quick round-up of abuses of the English language for the week but this one at the end of his post here takes the biscuit. It is from Sir Ken Jones of ACPO: The promise of reform which the Green Paper heralds holds much for the public and Service alike; local policing, customised to local need with authentic answerability, strengthened accountabilities at force level through reforms to police authorities and HMIC, performance management at the service of localities with targets and plans tailored to local needs, the end of centrally-engineered one size fits all initiatives, an ... House Points: Labour running out of steam on transport. My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Highway jinks The malaise that grips this government has reached its bony fingers into every corner of Westminster life. Last Thursday's transport questions provided a good example. For a start it was Hamlet without the prince. Or, to be more accurate, the Greek myths without Adonis. The transport secretary is Lord Adonis and he cannot be questioned in the Commons, so MPs were forced to deal with his minions. Increasingly, the senior ministers in this government are unelected and - worse - are not accountable to anyone who has been elected ... Booklist 2009, part 28: a hodgepodge. 44) Beverly Lewis, The Sacrifice (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2004, ISBN 0764228757). Third in an Amish family saga, and a bit of nostalgic escapism for me, albeit born of a longstanding interest in Amish and Mennonite beliefs and practices. They first came to my attention because the town where I grew up in Germany was not far from a site where many Anabaptists were martyred. Later, I learned that some dear family friends had Mennonite relatives. When I was seventeen, they helped me get in touch with a Mennonite family in Virginia, and I stayed with them one summer, going to ... Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood have just finished a short US tour. Jeff Gold went to the final concert, held at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, and has some superior videos on his blog. Having stuck his head above the parapet and offered himself for election as our local MP, you might have thought my colleague Pete Pattisson had taken on enough new challenges lately. But no - Pete's now signed up to do the London 10k run on behalf of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, along with his wife Jo. The Suzy Lamplugh trust works to raise awareness of the importance of personal safety and to help people avoid violence and agression. I know they do a lot of work with vulnerable lone workers (like housing officers) so it's a great cause. If you'd ... I have experience in campaigning and working with and for politicians and I am now offering my knowledge and skills to any one who is interested in hiring a campaign consultant to work for them by consulting them over a long/short period of time. If you want a campaign consultant to give you a brief talk on how to succesfully campaign, or you want someone to work with you over a long period of time giving you ideas and advice then I am the person for you. I have experiene in my work on local election, European election, Internal organisation ... I have today been knocked back on my offer to the Tories for an internship in their office. I know many will be thinking why did I ask but its simple, I need experience I can give campaign knowledge to a campaign team and hey I am a lot more then just a Lib Dem you know. I am a political commentator, blogger and a campaign consultant who will consult campaigners from any political party/organisation on campaigns. Maybe a campaign consultancy role is exactly what I need to embark upon? YouTube 'cos we want to: back to the '80s. Welcome to this Friday edition of our new LDV feature rounding up some of the best/worst/most curious political videos. This week, in the absence of any contemporary videos grabbing my attention, I thought we'd take a trip down memory lane, and revisit party election broadcasts of the 1980s from each of the three main parties. Labour party election broadcast 1987 The '87 Labour campaign has gone down in the history books as presentationally slick. You might doubt that from the first two minutes of this 10-minute film (yes, TEN MINUTES: what sort of attention span do these people think we ... Railway station - plans withheld. I am amazed at the SNP City Council administration's unwillingness to share with the people of Dundee the detailed proposals to upgrade Dundee rail station. "The Courier" tried to obtain the detailed plans through Freedom of Information legislation but has been refused access - the newspaper is rightly appealing against this ruling. As I indicated to the Courier, I personally don't see what the problem is with the Council releasing the full details - the public has the right to see what is planned for the station. The question must be why the Council seems to be stalling in bringing ... Interview with Ladywood Social Entrepreneur. Today's Birmingham Post carries a profile and interview with Post Power 50 member Carol Coombes. Now a business consultant, Carol has a track record of successful social enterprise, including the Babywood creche and Ladywood Furniture Project. "People around us were getting a flat or house and then were unable to furnish it," she said. "This often caused a spiral which ended in their not being able to keep the tenancy or get another. The furniture project was simple. We sought donations of unwanted, good quality, furniture and then passed the pieces on to people who needed them." Lib Dem not-so-good-news round-up. West Wing devotees will be familiar with the concept of 'take out the trash day' – it even has its own Wiki entry: The title refers to the Friday press briefing wherein the White House releases information about several sensitive stories, thereby preventing discussion and reducing any probable impact in the media. Donna: What's take out the trash day? Josh: Friday. Donna: I mean, what is it? Josh: Any stories we have to give the press that we're not wild about, we give all in a lump on Friday. Donna: Why do you do it in a lump? Josh: Instead ... Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years, how sad what has happened to neighbourhood spirit? Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Communities , Local Government Friday 3rd July 2009 – 3:08pm Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years The body of an elderly woman lay undiscovered in her flat for up to five years, it was revealed today. The badly decomposed body [...] LGA Vince Cable followed by Cameron. At breakfast -desperate to sit by an open window, I found myself at a table with two Labour councillors. 'What time is he on?' one asked. 'not till 10.30' said the other. They were talking not of David Cameron nor of the Labour cabinet member both speaking today but of Vince Cable. At ten o'clock I made my way to the tearoom and struck up a conversation in the queue with an officer from the South of England. He had formerly worked in the NW and he was interested how we were getting on in the recession. He was explaining ... We had spolen to Cllr Merry early this year over a possible meeting to discuss the problems at the centre. To his credit he arranged a summit, I came away with a view the meeting was positive, open, and a wide range of ideas have been discussed. Today i felt this is what i became a [...] The Mail isn't homophobic but... The typical Daily Mail reader, were they to believe all they read, would huddle at home in constant fear that a gang of obese, drunk, illiterate, drugged up and tooled up eight year olds would drag themselves away from killing prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto just long enough to smash the door down and stab them to death, before defecating on the dog. So no surprise that the Daily Mail is concerned that our youngsters are being taught how to be gay. This is, let me stress, absolutely not that Mail journos are a bunch of homophobes stuck in the ... So where was Chloe Smith born ? Are the Tories going to make the Romsey mistake again ? Like Craig Murray, I don't really care where Chloe Smith, the Tory candidate for Norwich North was born, or at least I didn't care until the Tories started getting coy over exactly where she was born. Craig Murray points out that the Tories seem totally unwilling to reveal where she was born despite claims in Tory leaflets that she is "Norfolk through and through". If that is the case, we have no problem with the Tory claims, but if it turns out not to be true, much as it was when they claimed the Tory candidate in the Romsey by-election ... At the IHD (human rights) office. Will blogs become main stream? I ask this question because this is a topic that I really enjoy writing and reading about. Will bloggers become part of the Main Stream Media and will they ever start getting treated the same? I think they will, I believe that a day shall come when bloggers will be seen as people who can make or break politicians and its at that time when people will decide to treat bloggers like ordinary journalists. I wouldn't class myself as a reporter or journalist because I am a political commentator and blogger and reporting isn't what I do. I enjoy blogging ... I have been offered onto a journalism course by someone I know who thinks Journalism is the future for me. Clearly I was and still am thinking about going into ICT and becoming a network technician but I don't know could journalism become a path that I could take? If it does then clearly I will need to get into the MSM but it will have to be an organisation that is very active online so I can work in the online sector as clearly I am a new media journalist then a old (dead tree press) journalists. An offer has been accepted for The Longacre Tavern on London Road after its owner, the Wadworths brewery, decided the pub no longer fitted with its portfolio of properties. It had been run by landlord Mervyn Thomas for more than 30 years until his recent retirement. Wadworths conducted a review of the premises and decided a sale was the best commercial option. Pub, hotel and restaurant specialist Fleurets is marketing the pub and a spokesman for the agent confirmed the buyer was a small business but had not yet stated if the intention was to keep the premises as a ... BNP beat Labour into 4th place in by election. Congratulations to former vice chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats, Gerry Jerome on a fantastic by election result in Sutton. This is a blow to the Conservatives who failed to hold the seat, and the Labour vote seems to have been wiped out altogether, after being overtaken by the BNP! Nonsuch By Election Result: Gerry Jerome, Liberal Democrats: 1,665 votes (50.6% share) Georg Braun, Conservative Party: 1,329 votes (40.4% share) Peter North, British National Party: 211 votes (6.4% share) Marcus Papadopoulos, Labour Party: 88 votes (2.7% share) Majority 336 3298 ballots issued (41% turnout) 5.25% swing from the Conservatives ... We boast about all the great cities that we run at a council level but when do we visit them with our annual conference? This is especially relevant to northern cities where we are supposed to be targeting the flaking Labour vote. Granted, Spring Conference was in Harrogate this year but we seem to have [...] Wikio's top blogs in the UK: June '09. Those lovely people at Wikio have emailed The Voice with their list^ of the top blogs in the UK in June 2009. (Lib Dem blogger Jennie Rigg has already published the list of top 30 politics blogs: below is the full list for all blogs, though there's considerable overlap between the two owing to the dominance of politics blogs in Wikio's weightings.) 1 Iain Dale's Diary 2 Guy Fawkes' blog 3 Liberal Conspiracy 4 Labourlist 5 Blah! Blah! Technology 6 politicalbetting.com 7 Liberal Democrat Voice 8 Dizzy Thinks 9 Harry's Place 10 Old Holborn 11 Tom Harris MP 12 imran.ali ... Psychiatric tests for man who threatened to blow up Mosque and kill a muslim a day. If it hadn't been for Yousuf, I would most likely never have known about the case of Neil MacGregor, who has today been referred for psychiatric assessment after admitting threatening to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and kill a Muslim a day. Yousuf was concerned at the lack of attention this had received in the media compared to what would have happened if a Muslim had threatened to blow up a Church and launched a spirited campaign to get the media to cover the story. It well may be that the Sheriff's decision, and the muted way in which the ... And now an email to stakeholders Sent on behalf of Susan Goldsmith, Managing Director, National Express East Coast Dear Stakeholder, EAST COAST RAIL FRANCHISE Following this week's announcements about the East Coast rail franchise, I am writing to assure you that National Express remains committed to ensuring that high standards of service are maintained and that any transfer to public ownership is conducted in an orderly and professional manner. Contrary to some media reports, the Department for Transport has not nationalised the East Coast railway, nor has National Express been stripped of its franchise. However, we have indicated to the ... Writer's block: how bloggers can beat it. Sometimes you want to blog, you know you'd like to keep your audience supplied with posts, you know that you've not suddenly become an ignorant, boring person with nothing to say - but you just can't think of an interesting topic. So what to do? My solution: look through your posts from a year ago for inspiration to break your writer's block. (Or look through your oldest posts if you've not been going for a year.) They are all on topics that you know you are able to write about. Chances are that you'll see something new you can say ... I've just done my annual update of my blogroll and added: Mark Reckons, Jennie Rigg, Himmelgarten Cafe, Irfan Ahmed, Caron's Musings, Swinton South Liberal Democrats, Redlands Liberal Democrats, Reading List. If you want to be added please let me know, plus I apologise if you have added me to your blogroll and I haven't noticed and returned the compliment - in which case please also let me know accompanied by whatever expletives you deem appropriate. When is a 0.14% cut a "0% rise"? When you set your spreadsheet to no figures after the decimal point and call a zero change a "rise". It's quite a feat of bare-faced incorrect statistical manipulation. Gordon Brown should hang his head in shame. Going from £701bn real terms spending in 2012-13 to £700bn in 2013-14 is a 0.14% decrease. It's not zero anything, least of a "rise". This man should be exposed! Mind you, when you look at the four year period from 2010 to 2014, government spending, when adjusted for forecasted inflation, will in £ billions be 702,699,701,700. So, it's basically staying flat at top level, ... Three bell-weather by-elections? Not to disparage the huge efforts required to fend off the challenges of other parties there have been three interesting indicators in seats that will prove difficult defences. 1. West Didsbury – although this was a `safe` Lib Dem seat it was interesting to note that after pouring the same amount of literature and after pouring [...] Election Result 2nd July 2009. Sutton LBC, Nonsuch LD Gerry Jerome 1665 (50.6; +4.0)Con 1329 (40.4; -7.2)BNP 211 (6.4; +6.4)Lab 88 (2.7; -3.3)Majority 336Turnout 41%LD gain from ConPercentage change is since May 2006 Daily View 2×2: 3 July 2009. 2 Big Stories Is homphobia still rife on the Tory benches? That's the allegation from Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw: Ben Bradshaw has said "a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches". Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to the Tories. Chris Bryant, another gay minister, said: "If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon." For what it's worth I suspect that equality for gay people is the one area where the Tories have genuinely changed ... Saddam didn't have any WMD and he used it to scare Iran. Everyone knows that I stand by my opinion which is that the people of Iraq were better under Saddam then they are under the new Shia regime but putting that aside news has come out that suggests that Saddam didn't have WMD and used it as a tactic to scare Iran who Saddam feared. The Shia sect now control both Iraq and Iran and wouldn't have had control of Iraq if Saddam was still leader but No Mr Bush and Blair had to go and invade a country just to over throw a man who had a lot of oil ... After all those letters, threatening voice texts and phone calls Westminster have decided to drop my parking penalty. In the end I didn't even have to go to a hearing – I just received a letter saying they weren't proceeding. Good for me, but why did they proceed against a disabled couple in their 70s [...] CommentIsLinked@LDV: Paddy Ashdown - The age when the powerful can act unilaterally is over. Over at The Independent, there is an extract from former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown's speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House examining the situation in Afghanistan. Here's an excerpt: ... the chief reason for the fact that we are losing lives is not in the ineffectiveness of the Afghan government, who we love to blame, but in our own complete failure to have any coordinated international plan; in our inability to work together between the nations of the coalition; in our determination to see Afghanistan solely through the prism of the place in which ... A former work colleague has just invited me to lunch next week. He's suggested a pub near his office as it does a 'descent sandwich'. I assume that's one that goes down well? Baby Peter - Haringey even worse than we thought! The Ofsted Report on Haringey Council's progress on child protection since the fall out after Baby P andsince the installation of a new Director of Children's Services was published this morning. It makes miserable reading as the key findings are that the situation in Haringey Child Protection was even worse than we thought with a 400 case backlog. Either Haringey didn't know how bad they were or they were hiding how bad they were - either way a terrifying prospect. The report states: 'Significant shortcomings remian which means that children and young people in Haringey are not yet consistently safeguarded.' ... The BBC is its own worst enemy. I am a huge fan of the BBC. I was literally born and raised on it as one of my main sources of entertainment and information. As I have grown older, its excellent news coverage, documentaries, analysis and the plethora of insightful programmes on the national treasure that is Radio 4 have helped make me the politically engaged person I am today. I absolutely feel that this country is a better place for having a publicly funded broadcasting organisation like this. I think if we ever lost it, even many of its critics would find that they didn't know what ... First Sarkozy then Davies and now Pugh attack Burka. One of my sources on the streets has sent me the newspaper cut out above. First of all I don't know which newspaper its from but shall find out and tell blog readers. I have a mention in the cut out it says "But Party Colleagues have condemned his comments (Chris Davies), including Cornwall MP Julia Goldsworthy and Lib Dem blogger Irfan Ahmed" The article is about John Pugh MP and his support of Chris' comments and personally I don't want to go through the whole rant again so I shall keep in short. We are meant to be Liberals ... I had a long conversation with one of the lead officers at the council who's coordinating the council's response to Swine Flu. There have now been six cases of in Seedley Primary School and up to sixty cases across Greater Manchester (see here for more details). I wanted to make sure that the council is [...] Nottinghamshire Police dogs death. Here is the statement by Nottinghamshire Police, I am still very angry that this was allowed to happen. I have written today to the Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable, Julia Hodson expressing my anger, concerns about lack of training and that they officer concerned should be prosecuted. The address is Julia Hodson, Chief Constable, Nottinghamshire Police, Sherwood Lodge, Arnold, Nottingham, NG5 8PP and urge you all to do the same. Earlier Stories Complete archive on the official site.
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