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 September 2010 |
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 BlogsSat 4th Sep 2010: How many defectors does it take to change a light bulb? Or when is a revolt not a revolt? Brace yourselves for a rollercoaster media ride over the coming weeks as we prepare ourselves for an onslaught of press rumour and speculation about revolts and splits in the party. With less than two weeks before conference kicks off in Liverpool today in The Independent we get a story to whet our appetites for what to expect in a piece headlined "Resignations mark growing Lib Dem revolt over Coalition." Now in fairness they do cite the three defections in Halton this week as justification for their scaremongering and that a total of ... Weekend bake: Chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies. Cookies are always popular with most people. Makes approximately 24 cookies. 400g plain flour ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp baking powder pinch salt 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 160g unsalted butter (at room temperature) 85g light soft brown sugar 85g caster sugar 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten 120g milk or plain chocolate chips 80g hazelnuts broken into ... And so the media conference meme - Lib Dem leadership faces revolt - begins... The Independent this morning reports: Nick Clegg is facing a growing grassroots revolt as Liberal Democrat councillors quit the party in protest at the decision to form the Coalition with the Conservatives. This follows the news that three Lib Dem councillors in Cheshire have resigned, apparently in protest at the cuts being introduced by the Coalition Government. This brings to a grand total of eight (8) councillors who have defected from the Lib Dems since the special conference in Birmingham, where activists voted by an overwhelming margin to approve the Coalition deal. Or to put it another way, 99.8% of ... September Books 2) Silas Marner, by George Eliot. A nice story of redemption in the English countryside, with the nice characters getting their reward and the nasty characters getting what was coming to them. A quick but satisfying read. i) births and deaths 4th September 1975: birth of Kai Owen, who plays Rhys Williams in the first three seasons of Torchwood. ii)broadcast anniversary 4th September 1976 - broadcast of first episode of The Masque of Mandragora, starting Season 14. The Doctor and Sarah find an older console room in the Tardis, and then find themselves in a part of Renaissance Italy which looks just like a set from The Prisoner. Inevitably they are captured by the bad guys and the Doctor is made ready for the executioner's axe... Tea Party Homophobic Extremists. On the night of the 6-7 October 1998 Matthew Shepherd, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was out for the night in Laramie. Shortly after midnight he met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson at the Fireside Lounge. They offered him a lift but they drove him to a rural area once they heard he was gay and pistol whipped and robbed him then tied him to a fence (below). It was not until 18 hours later that Shepherd was discovered, after initially being mistaken for a scarecrow in a coma, suffering major head injuries. He died 5 days ... Brazilian referee stabs player to death during a match. A little warning to all football players out there. Brazilian referee stabs player to death. Brazil police are searching for a referee after he allegedly stabbed a player to death during a soccer match in Barreira in Ceara state. Apparently the referee, Francisco Chaves, was attacked by a player, Francisco da Silva, after blowing for a foul against the visiting Boa-Fe team. Francisco da Silva kicked the referee who pulled out a knife. When Francisco's brother Jose da Silva went to his sibling's aid, he was stabbed in the chest and killed. Francisco da Silva is in hospital with knife ... I was sorry to hear of the death of Cyril Smith yesterday. I have been active in politics all my life and I heard Cyril speak three or four times. I never heard him say anything with which I disagreed and I was able to tell him this a few years ago. He was respected by almost everyone. In fact I was speaking about him two days ago to someone who was from Rochdale and she had only good memories of him. I say almost everyone because I wrote a blog last November about a former Labour supporter who thought ... Fri 3rd Sep 2010: Nigel Farage to contest UKIP leadership (again). Former leader of UKIP Nigel Farage who failed earlier this year in yet another bid to become an MP has now decided he wants to be leader again. Former Conservative, Lord Pearson of Rannoch indicated just last month that he was planning to stand down as leader of UKIP concluding he neither enjoys, nor has an aptitude for, conducting party politics. Last month I predicted that Nigel Farage would throw his hat in the ring again, despite at the time saying; "I'm not going to say I'm absolutely not going to do the job again but I've got to decide, ... I will support amendment on free schools. There has been a lively debate at Liberal Democrat Voice on Niklas Smith's defence of free schools. This is in response to a motion due to be debated at the Lib Dem conference later this month effectively calling on Lib Dems to oppose at local level any attempts to set up free schools. Niklas is promoting an amendment to the motion, asking delegates to endorse a more positive view of free schools and I am happy to support this. While I have my reservations about the free school idea, particularly that they may undermine local education authorities (LEAs), my view ... Free schools - the biggest over-hyped load of cobblers ever? From the Guardian Michael Gove, the education secretary, will next week be forced to announce a dramatic scaling back of the Tories' landmark plans to create a new generation of schools run by parents and voluntary groups. Labour tonight accused the education secretary of presiding over a "chaotic shambles" after it emerged that as few as 20 free schools are on track to open in September 2011. In June Gove hinted that 700 could be established. That says it all. I have nothing against Free Schools. Indeed, I am all for them. But what I have a problem with is ... For those of you who watched it in the old days, a full episode of Vision On in three different Youtube uploads: here here and here. This third part, with Sylvester McCoy as a fugitive from Kubrick's Clockwork Orange and then meeting multiple versions of himself and Pat Keysell, is strongly recommended. Dog waste bins, street lights, daffodils. Just a few of the things which we ward councillors discussed today. We have a small budget for such things to be spent in the ward and this month we need to make firm decisions on how to allocate the funds. Some things are easy - a dozen or more people have asked for a dog waste bin on one footpath so as long as we can establish a suitable location that's an obvious contender. Others have The choir that silkyraven, asrana and I sing with has two concerts coming up to launch our CD - one at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 29th September as a fundraiser for us, and one at 7 pm on Wednesday 13th October for charity for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The programme for both of them is a series of short pieces chosen to represent the history of church choral music, including some plainsong, Byrd's Ave verum corpus, Tallis' If Ye Love Me, the Allegri Miserere, Purcell's Remember not, Stanford's Beati quorum via, Bruckner's Locus iste, Durufle's Tota pulchra es, Britten's Hymn ... Changing the iTunes 10 icon back to the iTunes 9 varient (Mac OS X). Apple released iTunes 10 this week and with it came a new icon that I personally don't like. So I decided to see if it was possible to change back to the old icon. It was and is surprisingly easy to do. If you've not upgraded iTunes yet open the applications folder in finder and ... Waste water spillage - an update. Further to the update on the waste water spillage concern on Riverside Drive I highlighted earlier this week, I have now received the following update from Scottish Water : "Subject: RE: Riverside Drive - waste water spillage concern Dear Fraser I am writing with an update regarding the flooding at Riverside Drive, Dundee. During heavy rainfall and high tides, we believe the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) in this area is unable to spill to the nearby watercourse and as a result backs up the system and discharges at Riverside Drive. A CSO is a relief point when it is raining ... Vote Match, Ed Milliband and I. Those clever people at Vote Match have developed a questionnaire which will match your views on a range of subjects against those of the Labour leadership contenders. Having completed it, I'm apparently closest in views to Ed Milliband, followed by Diane Abbot, David Milliband and Ed Balls, in that order. (Andy Burnham is not included). I'm not quite sure what to make of that. While Milliband Junior was my favourite of the serious candidates to start with, in the course of the campaign he's blotted his copybook. In particular he and his team crassly encouraged the rumours that Charles Kennedy ... Nick Thornsby has caught Labour MP Phil Woolas, already facing a court challenge to his victory at the last general election, faking a photograph of Liberal Democrat opponent. The death of Sir Cyril Smith is marked by Sandy Walkington: "Cyril's tragedy was that his weight made him a figure of fun when he was in fact a shrewd and insightful politician who never got the recognition he deserved." Disgruntled Radical says the Coalition "must ... be a launch pad for Liberalism, not a slippery slide into decline". Better than that, he suggests how we can ensure that it is. Tom ... I was awfully sad to hear today about the death of Liberal Legend, Sir Cyril Smith, former MP for Rochdale. Cyril was a legend, who rekindled the Liberal tradition in the English northern towns. He held Rochdale with ease for 20 years - the party has succeeded in holding the seat only some of the time since then - and it was lost again in May. Cyril has a huge following and he was a highly effective MP for the people of Rochdale and a real TV personality to boot. There is some history between Cyril and a much younger ... Alcohol consumption continues to fall. According to today's news reports alcohol consumption in 2009 dropped by 6%. These figures have been released by the British Beer and pub association. This represents the fourth annual drop in 5 years and means that as a nation the UK is drinking 13% less alcohol when compared to a historical high in 2004. The UK is now consuming less alcohol than the EU average with the Czech Republic, Austria, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Luxembourg all consuming more alcohol per head of population than us. The data, which is taken from HM Revenue and ... Stephen's tagged me in this meme from Facebook, Like him, I thought I'd cross post here, but with some additional notes. There are some who might think I should hang my head in shame at some of the choices here, and I'm taking my chances that my husband is suitably satisfied with my nursing skills over the past few days that he won't divorce me. I know that for some of you the inclusion of some complete and utter trash alongside some great stuff will physically cause you pain. But, do you know what, when I listen to this stuff, ... These are the bus changes affecting Odd Down. 173 Bath - Peasedown St John - Radstock - Midsomer Norton - WellsFirst BusStopping places amended - now serves all bus stops except Radstock, Bath New Road178 Bath - Peasedown St John - Radstock - Midsomer Norton - Paulton - High Littleton - Keynsham - BristolFirst BusTimetable has been amended to improve punctuality. When an established politician can't even say a few words when invited. It's the easy bit in any televised candidates debate. You're given 30 seconds to say your piece. Great. Learn 30 seconds of carefully crafted words and rehearse them several times. A sinch. Especially when you are an established Governor of a large US state. You do this sort of thing all the time don't you? Except that poor old Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona, freezes several times during her pitch on local TV. She simpers like a debutante cheerleader. And she "delivers" some platitudes which are remarkable for their stunning asininity. For example: "We have changed everything!!!" she breathlessly proclaims. ... As promised to nmg, fifteen albums that shook the burkesworks. The "fifteen minutes" bit went out the window early on, but hey, you know me; when I get going I'm unstoppable. The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. AMENDMENT TO THE RULES - DON'T SELF CENSOR, BE HONEST - WRITE ONE SENTENCE TO EXPLAIN WHY IT'S IN THERE - ... Clegg to hand back second home profit. Full marks to Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg for keeping his promise to hand back the profit he makes when he sells his MP's second home in Sheffield. When the expenses scandal broke last year, Nick came out with a very clear line - that he did not think it right for MPs to be in the property speculation business. He regarded the second home he bought with taxpayers' money as being on loan to him and he pledged to return any profit he made when he came to sell it to taxpayers. Now that expenses rules have changed, MPs ... It's very sad to hear of the passing of Sir Cyril Smith, the former MP for Rochdale and one of the most memorable public figures of the 70s and 80s - even more famous than Lembit is today. I remember Cyril coming to the first Hemsworth by-election in Yorkshire in 1991. Our candidate, Val, owned a couple of fast food takeaways and we held a photo op with Val feeding pizza to Cyril. Not surprisingly, the cameras loved it. Cyril was never one to 'conform' - he opposed the traditional party stance on capital punishment, nuclear weapons and abortion - ... Is this the most unpopular politician ever? From Political Wire: Levi Johnston may be attempting a run for public office but a new Public Policy Polling survey in Alaska suggests his political career might be short-lived. Just 6% of Alaskans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin's almost son-in-law while 72% have an unfavorable view. He is reviled pretty universally across the board but he's a little more popular with Democrats (15/61) than he is with Republicans (4/76) or independents (4/74). Key point: "It's hard to muster a favorability rating lower than 6% — that's about where the average person off the street we polled on a ... Councillor resigns from Tory group. The "this is Kent" website is reporting that councillor Ewen Cameron has stood down from the conservative group and will now act as an independent on Thanet council, this follows on apparently, after a second charge of drink driving. Simon Moore is quoted in the article and praises Mr Cameron's contribution to the council however he makes the point that these charges are serious and incompatible with membership of the conservative group a tough and uncompromising position. There is no doubt that drink-driving is indeed a serious matter as of course are other things such as speeding to which I ... Photo from Rochdale-on-line I was very sad to hear of the death of Sir Cyril Smith. I extend my great sympathy to his family and friends, and to the community of Rochdale. We Liberals owe a great debt to Cyril. During the times when we only had a few MPs, and during the controversy of the LibLab pact, Cyril's role could be described in one word: stalwart. It really was inspiring and deeply reassuring to have Cyril as a leading figure, demonstrating rock-solid liberal principles with great character and charisma. I don't think it is an exagerration to say that ... Has Phil Woolas declared himself unfit to be an MP? These photographs have clearly been altered. This is wrong. This man is clearly unfit to be a member of parliament. When you send out an election address it has to be right – his is not. So said Phil Woolas in 2005 when he accused the Lib Dem Tony Dawson of doctoring an election photo, an accusation Dawson strongly denied. Odd, then, that Mr Woolas should have put out a newspaper in the 2010 general election campaign which appears to use a clearly photoshopped picture to imply that his Lib Dem opponent Elwyn Watkins was having his collar felt by ... This EU Referendum Campaign - it's a joke, isn't it? Iain Dale has written a post about the new EU Referendum Campaign. Sorry to have to ask, but it is a joke, isn't it? There's no sane campaign organisation whose website front page splash includes a picture of the Prime Minister with a small dog and the words - 'Give us a referendum on Europe... or the puppy gets it' - see pic right. The problem with English Football is ... With the England versus Bulgaria match tonight, and the possibility of more bad headlines for English football should England fail to win the game, it was slightly shocking to recently find out that the way players are selected as youths to be coached at local academies is not what you would expect. A friend of mine has a close friend whose son recently got in to the under 10s academy at an established Premier League club in the north of England. This sounds as if it is some great achievement, and of course, he must be proud. However, the methods ... According to the vote-match website, if I were a Labour voter, they think I should vote for Diane Abbott. I guess it shows just how poor some of these online questionnaires are as I would rather eat my own trousers than vote for Diana Abbott. EXCLUSIVE: Hypocritical Woolas Caught Photoshopping. It just gets worse for Phil Woolas, the Labour MP facing a court challenge to overturn his election due to claims about his Lib Dem opponents on his election leaflets. The full depths that Woolas's campaign sank to are now ... Continue reading → Prudhoe is literally on the up! I was overjoyed to hear the news that Prudhoe Community Partnership, of which I was a trustee until a year or so ago, has been successful in getting a £1.8 million investment from the government fund Communitybuilders to knock down the Prudhoe Library and build a modern new information centre for both the partnership, the library and Town and County Council services. This is a project which has attracted near unanimous cross party support, a rare thing in Prudhoe! A first class facility for a first class town. It is really good news and goes to show that the town ... RIP Sir Cyril - we have lost a great friend. Like many other party members I was saddened to learn today of the sad passing of Sir Cyril Smith, a great liberal and a larger than life character in so many ways. While I did ot know Cyril as well as many longer serving members of the Party I had the pleasure and good fortune to get to know him during my time as North West Regional Chair (2003-2006) and he was a great source of advice and encouragement during that period to me personally. Read more about Cyril in a tribute on Lib Dem Voice I was around at Mícheál's earlier in the week and just as I was heading off,, for what turned out to be a delayed train home, we stumbled upon this Huffington Post feature. The net result was to have us in stitches, awe and wonderment all at once. I thought I'd share a few of the best. You'd think these campanologists had gone Gaga. And if you ever need a good wing man. And finally for all my London-based friends who noticed strange goings on at King's Cross Station this Wednesday (and for the muggles amongst then that didn't). Dial 111 for non-emergency health care. I've been waiting eagerly for the "soft launch" of the new 111 service for non-emergency medical calls in the North East. It was planned for July of this year, and made it into the Northern Echo in August, but just how "soft" the launch has been may be indicated by whether you've even heard about the service. The idea is that if you've a medical problem which feels urgent, but not such an emergency that you feel you need a flashing blue light to turn up immediately at your door and so demands a 999 call, you dial 111 and ... Thanks for voting this blog the 29th top councillor blog in the country. I'd pretty much forgotten about the Total Politics blog awards, so it came as a complete surprise to find this morning that this blog has been voted the 29th top blog by a councillor. Ninety percent of the stories on this blog are very local, mostly relating just to my ward, so I've no idea who might have voted for me, but a big thank you, whoever you are. Having been named Greater Manchester's second most influential political tweeter last month, it may be downhill from here, but I'll do my best to continue to improve communications with residents by ... TGIF. It's been a short but busy week, anyways this weeks recommended tweeters are:- 1. @Parlez_me_nTory – This was his idea and also his views on blogging echo my own. 2. @caronmlindsay 3. @stephenpglenn – Both Caron and Stephen got into the Total Politics Top 50 Scottish Blogs 4. @Hypnotic – AKA the sausage man, ... While Israel and the Palestinian Authority talk, Hamas threatens more violence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmood Abbas have arranged for fortnightly talks to move the peace process forward, against a background of renewed threats of violence by Hamas. The two men spoke one on one, in English, at the US State Department, the BBC reports. This is simply the only way for the any peace process to proceed. Talks are the only way to secure peace and security for Israeli citizens, who have lived under the shadow of terrorism for too long, and the only way that a stable, viable and prosperous state so ... That's the summer over, then! I don't know about you, but whenever I come home from holiday (even after a few days) I'm half-surprised that nothing looks to have changed. That's the feeling I got again on returning to Consett, except that my front door wouldn't open. It was blocked by a mountain of (mainly) council post, junk-mail and free newspapers. Nothing much seemed to have changed there either, including the letters which annoy me most. The county council insists on sending me an individual first class letter to tell me of every single planning application in this electoral division ... Black History Month - October. Black History Month is rapidly approaching. Great national umbrella website: http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/sitea/ Do look at the long list of Southwark located: I've found a great sounding talk I'm going to go to and have requested a ticket. Take a look and get involved. Nick Clegg won't keep profits from second home sale. Nick Clegg has confirmed that he is selling his constituency home, and will return any profit to the taxpayer – as promised earlier this year. From the Press Association: The Lib Dem leader, who has been the MP for the constituency since 2005, has referred to the house in Sheffield as "modest" and revealed he had bought it in a "complete state of disrepair". Defending his expenses claims in respect of the house, he told the BBC's Andrew Neil in April: "I think, unlike almost everybody else, I have said very clearly and very openly that my approach to this ... I was lucky enough to get my face face again on the inside pages of the Bracknell Standard. For What Does Bracknell Think? This week's question was - With record A-level results recorded in Bracknell last week and record GCSE results predicted for tomorrow, are exams getting too easy? Also, with more pupils going after fewer university places, should more pupils be encouraged to leave school to pursue a career rather than doing A-levels. My Answer published in last weeks paper was; I doubt exams are any easier today, however I suspect teaching maybe targeted much more at passing exams ... Despite falling on the 344th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, this week's crop of by-elections didn't set the world on fire; we had no candidates in either of the two principal by-elections, and three of the four elections out in the towns were unremarkable Tory holds. Both principals took place in West Lancashire, Labour held in Upholland on a 30% turnout and in Skelmersdale on 17%. The Conservative holds at Town Council level were in the West Ward of Camborne T.C. in Cornwall, the Castle ward on Oswestry T.C. in Shropshire, and the Town ward of Sevenoaks T.C. ... Read this book....but not that one. I love reading and I love political biographies/autobiographies. There's certainly a real rush of them at the moment. Recently I have bought and read the Mandelson book - the Third Man and the Chris Mullin one - Decline and Fall. And how very different they are. The Mandelson one was, frankly, rather dull and self serving. I actually got bored and didn't really finish it. The Mullin on the other hand reads well, has lots of insights (some of them surprising) and is clearly by an author who is not trying to justify himself the whole time. Chris Mullin's earlier ... If it's September, it must be party conference season. For me this generally means work, as I'm paid by my political party to administer the training courses the Liberal Democrats run for our members at conference. This year, in Liverpool, that's 118 courses - not as many as the 150+ that we ran last autumn, but still a sizeable amount of training. However, this year, for the first time in years, I'll also be registering to attend as a voting representative. I don't normally do this, as I have so little time to spend in the conference hall. But this ... LDV doesn't do statporn, but if we did (August '10). ... We'd say a big thank you to the 47,689 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in August. Though that's a touch down on our July figure of c.50,000, it's up some 143% on the equivalent figure for August '09 of c.20,000. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Sept 2009 - 31 August 2010) to 636,846, some 89% higher than the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 336,902. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: Knowsley Council pays Labour over £250,000 for conference appearances (11) by Mark Pack Coalition puts ... Do the licensing laws need a change? I've only just come across this Home Office Consultation on changes to the Licensing Act. There are only a few days left to respond but I am sure anyone who has felt frustrated by the current laws will want to have their say. What this consultation is testing out are opinions on giving communities and the police more powers in terms of the decisions that are made on, for example, off license applications. Anyone who has been through a hearing as an objector will know just how far the system seems weighted in favour of the applicant. One of the ... Edinburgh Council Appoints First Woman CEO. Congratulations to Sue Bruce of Aberdeen Council who won the race to become Edinburgh City Council's first female Chief Executive yesterday. Sue comes very highly regarded with a strong track record in Aberdeen and East Dunbartonshire. She came through a very strong field of candidates. I am sure she will provide excellent leadership in the future. I am looking forward to working with her immensely. Earlier Stories Complete archive on the official site.
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