China being imaginative with online censorship

You couldn't really make this up.

Censorship is an obvious fact of life in China - as is the reality that you could get put in jail for writing a blog. Now though they have added virtual police to the real life snoopers who try to stamp out free thought.

I'd like to thank...

Someone has pointed out this post on Lib Dem Voice to me. It lists the 100 most clicked on blog posts on the site http://www.libdemblogs.co.uk/ over the last 12 months - a lot of Lib Dem bloggers have their posts aggregated there.

I have a massive 2 (two) blog posts in the Top 100. Okay, they are at numbers 93 and 96, but I'm sure you're all still mightily impressed. And one of those was Local elections analysis which was just a one liner giving a link to my old friend Anders' blog. And the other one is about an election result and a defection - just more geeky stats stuff. But it's still a great achievement, I'm sure you'll all agree...

Lib Dem Beach Squad

My former ward colleague Stephen Gilbert, now the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for St.Austell and Newquay, has been out and about campaigning as usual - this weekend taking advantage of the good weather to hit the beach.

Steve spent Bank Holiday Monday on the beach at Newquay - which admittedly doesn't sound like a tough job - with some of the local Lib Dem Youth & Student members, collecting signatures for a petition for more affordable housing in the town.

The photo shows Steve with three of the LDYS members - John Hume, Laura Ralph and Karen Wonnacott. I met John when I was down in St.Austell for the selection contest and he's very clued up, will make an excellent candidate himself before too long, I'm sure.

It's great that Steve has got selected for his home constituency in Cornwall - can't think of many more beautiful places for me to 'have' to go and help campaign when the general election comes!

John Prescott quits as MP

It's not really very surprising news, but at the age of 69, after 37 years as an MP, John Prescott is retiring at the next general election, whenever that turns out to be.

There have been a lot of things said about John Prescott, but I've got no reason to believe he was anything other than a good MP when it came to his constituency. He's made a big contribution to British politics through his role in the Blair government and the Blair-Brown relationship - whether you think it was a good one or not, it was certainly significant.

Half-price buses for people on income support, tube still extortionate

The Mayor of London has launched a half-price bus and tram travel scheme for people on income support - so if you're eligible, then make sure you make the most of it. It means that with an Oyster card you will get a bus journey for 50p.

Cynics might point out that it's yet another push to get everyone onto identity, ooops, sorry, Oyster cards, whether they want one or not. They might wonder how many of those eligible will actually take up the offer or if it's just a very cheap way of getting publicity for Ken ahead of the elections next May. They might ask the question as to why, if Ken feels strongly about this, it applies only to buses and not the tube.

But let's just celebrate the Mayor's generosity instead.

Get loaded in the Park 2007

Started a good bank holiday weekend with some drinks after work on Friday, then Saturday night went to the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green. I've been a few times, always a good laugh, and if you sign up to their mailing list they're pretty good at sending you out free tickets.

Yesterday was Loaded on Clapham Common, had a great day. Well, I got stung by a wasp, it was way too hot and the whole place smelled like someone had tipped 5000 gallons of sour milk onto the grass before it started. But all those were just minor distractions to the excellent line-up.

The main bands I went to see were Art Brut and the Dirty Pretty Things, but of course there were loads of acts - for me, on the main stage and the Xfm tent, though I did go into the Futurism one a couple of times (mostly to get out of the sun). First act I watched on the main stage was Peter, Bjorn and John, nice and chilled - a good start to the day.

Art Brut were amazing. The photo is of them on stage - but the sun was so bright all day, none of the photos I took came out well. They did a decent length set, Eddie Argos even had time to jump down into the crowd, both with and without a microphone. After the opening track, he asked the crowd 'any questions?' to which someone shouted 'Eddie Argos for Prime Minister!' and he replied 'That's not so much a question as an inevitability'. We can only hope.

I'm off to see the Holloways again next month, and support for them will be the Wombats. They did the main stage too and were excellent, I only knew a couple of their songs before but am really looking forward to seeing them again with the Holloways. I also watched bits of The Automatic (who were better than I expected).

Over at the Xfm tent, I caught bits of a few different acts, but the main ones I watched were the Rumble Strips (who were great, and Eddie Argos had also turned up to watch) and Forward Russia.

Aside from the predictably overpriced beer, and that nauseating smell, there wasn't much wrong with the festival itself. Could've done with some shady areas as the weather was so hot, but can't really complain about that often this summer, so I won't (much).

I was also glad that the Streets were headlining - because I didn't want to see them so it meant that after I had watched the Dirty Pretty Things (still as good as the first time I saw them) we got to leave early, about 7 o'clock. So made the trek back up to Muswell Hill in good time for a pint in the Gate on the way, some food and then watch Spurs putting in a great performance on Match of the Day - even if we left Old Trafford with no points.

Six mile walk to hospital for deaf and blind person

The Council recently sent us some information about patient transport at North Middlesex Hospital - they have changed the way that they assess whether transport should be provided for patients or not.

Their basic aim is to reduce costs by not providing patient transport for people who are walking, under 65 and live with six miles of the hospital. Six miles would be quite a long way to walk to a hospital appointment... but anyway, so long as those who really need the transport get it, that seems reasonable enough to me.

However, looking at their points system for assessing entitlement, there are some interesting sums to do. You need at least 4 points to qualify for patient transport. These are just some of the points you get:

Having learning difficulties or dementia - 2 points

Only being able to walk less than 50 metres - 2 points

Being deaf and blind - total of 3 points

Being on constant oxygen - 3 points

So, if you are a patient requiring constant oxygen, you don't make the minimum points to be entitled to transport. Of course, I am guessing that in such a case it is quite likely that you might also get points for, say, lack of mobility, which would take you over four.

There are other criteria too and there may be a number of combinations that stop anybody in serious need being left out. But a deaf and blind patient isn't automatically entitled to transport, nor would a person with learning difficulties who can only walk 200m, for example.

I'm not having a go at the North Mid, I guess this is fairly standard practice and I'm sure patient transport is a very expensive business. As usual, it all comes back to government funding. And in the meantime I'm sure the North Mid staff will be able to get transport for those patients who need it.

He's got no hair but we don't care

Unfortunately I missed the thumping Spurs win on Saturday as I was at a wedding, but it looked a great performance all round. Jermaine Jenas put in one of his outstanding performances, Malbranque had a blinder and Adel Taraabt was apparently awesome.

My friends Kirsty & Tim got married in a temple at Stowe Landscape Gardens, which was a lovely venue - then the reception was at the theatre in Tring, the day went very well despite the rain.

The night before, I went up to friends Gill & Stu and we ended up in Reflex, the 80s club, in Northampton. All very entertaining, a very strange mix of people in the club...

Work is very busy (even getting me into the office on a Sunday again) and council is keeping busy enough despite there being almost no meetings in August. But the big news at the moment is what's going on at Spurs.

If Martin Jol is forced out, it's not going to be a popular move with most fans. And the uncertainty is making it more likely Berbatov could quit White Hart Lane. Either of them leaving the club now would be a big loss and potentially derail us for the rest of the season.

We'll have to wait and see what happens. Same too for Tim Henman who is expected to announce plans to retire after our next Davis Cup match.

Short attention spans

Saw this story yesterday - the juror who allegedly listened to an MP3 player while trying a case, appeared to be doodling and frequently arrived late to court.

The CPS felt there wasn't enough evidence to take any action. I think even the repeated lateness shouldn't be allowed to go unpunished, whether the other misdemeanors could be proven or not.

If I'd managed to get onto a trial in my two weeks of waiting at Wood Green Crown Court, I would have been more than happy to switch my ipod off!

A general election in October

So, what are Gordon Brown's options for when to call the next general election? Well, he can go for whenever he wants (up to May 2010), that's the idiocy of not having fixed-term governments.

Have been looking at the betting odds for the date of polling day, and in the last couple of days the odds for an election this year have got shorter. Still 3-1 (last time I checked) though.

October 25th is the date being bandied about - and with Brown's Labour party conference speech brought forward to Monday 24th September, he has a perfect opportunity to announce the dissolution of Parliament (announce Monday, go to the queen on Tuesday).

Why would he do that? Well, the opinion polls look good and he would win an early mandate for his programme of government. A programme which, as it happens, he has already laid out in his pre-Queen's Speech speech.

So he has the next year's legislative programme announced already, he goes for an October general election and has the mandate (and up to five years) to do what he wants.

As the Conservative party conference is the week after Labour's, it also stuffs their conference plans up - and/or means they lose the best part of a week out of a four week general election campaign while their activists (assuming there are any) are in Blackpool.

From Labour's point of view, there doesn't seem to be much against an October election. Polls up, Tories still not organised with any policies, fresh mandate and chance to banish the Blair legacy before people realise Brown won't be doing anything differently.

The only people on the Labour side who won't be happy are their MPs with marginal seats who will be out on their ears just two and a half years after the last election.

Of course, leaving the possibility of an autumn election alive could just be a clever way of destabilising opposition parties and trying to stop accusations of 'no mandate' for the time being at least. And Gordon Brown wouldn't want to have less than four months as PM on his biography. But I don't think he'll be too worried about that now.

Perhaps May 2008 is still more likely. But I won't be surprised if we get October.

Oh, and could an early general election be the last chance to stop ID cards?

The Galaxy in 'win' shock

It's taken a few games since David Beckham arrived, mostly with Becks on the bench, for the LA Galaxy to record a win.

But last night they managed it, winning 2-0 with Becks as captain and scoring a goal (yep, a freekick).

Talking of football and captains, I'm not suggesting this is the answer to all our problems, but Michael Dawson should be Spurs captain in Ledley's absence, not Keane.

And I haven't felt like blogging about football since the season started (allegedly, Spurs' hasn't started yet), but can everyone please leave Jermaine Jenas alone? Even when he plays really well, the best he gets is mild grumbling about why he can't be perfect every time. And when he makes a fair few mistakes, as he did on Tuesday night, everyone ignores completely the excellent passes he does in the same game and acts as if he is officially the Worst Player Ever.

Tim Garden

Just heard the very sad news that Lord (Tim) Garden has passed away, at the age of 63.

Tim was widely respected across all parties and an excellent speaker. He spoke at the last adoption meeting for Lynne Featherstone.

He will be a great loss to the House of Lords and intelligent debate in general, my thoughts are with his family.

You can read about his life and work in this obituary.

Wood Green loses its bookshop

A colleague at work told me this morning that Waterstones in Wood Green has closed, which I hadn't heard.

It used to be an Ottakers until Waterstones took them over and was the only shop on Wood Green High Road dedicated to books.

The closure seems to have been a bit of a surprise. It was a decent bookshop, with a café area inside too which attracted a lot of mums and prams.

I know from my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Catherine Harris that there is an online petition protesting against the closure, but I don't know yet if the reasons behind the shop going are just financial.

Whatever the reasons, the Council needs to look at policies to get - and retain - quality businesses in the High Road. It's a substantial shopping area that helps reduce the need to travel to shop and it will only continue to do so if it offers a diverse range of shops and businesses.

Tony Wilson RIP

Just seen on BBC News that Factory Records founder Tony Wilson has died.

A man who made a massive contribution to music and to Manchester, sad news.

Weekend over

So, the season has started. And as quickly as it started, my weekend is over.

I'm grateful now to my mates who couldn't be persuaded to come up to Sunderland with me for the season opener, meaning I just watched it in the pub here instead. Actually, with a fairly eclectic mix of people - a Kiwi Man Utd fan, a Canadian West Ham fan and an Indian Arsenal fan. But all that is rather more interesting than the game was, sadly.

Spurs played badly, although probably not quite as badly as Sunderland. But it was them who managed to sneak three points, a decent strike with pretty much the last kick of the game.

Highlights? They'll probably struggle to get 30 seconds out of those 90 minutes for Match of the Day tonight.

Plus points for Spurs? That's difficult too, best to be said really is that Younes Kaboul made a good debut.

There it is then, all the excitement of the start of the season battered into submission by a dull and frustrating first game. And all the promise for a great weekend in the sun squashed by that poor performance. Heigh-ho.

Iraqi translators - thanks but no thanks

A good email received today from 'HQ' which I think speaks for itself:

The Government’s decision to review the cases of 91 Iraqi translators who have worked for the British may be welcome but their plight needs to be treated with far greater urgency. You can back our campaign at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/interpreters

The sad fact is that all these people’s lives will be at great risk when the British concentrate all their resources at Basra air base and then, eventually, leave the country altogether.

There is no doubt in my mind that Britain has a moral responsibility towards them and it would be a betrayal of that duty of care if they were not better looked after and where appropriate given asylum in this country.

What I want to see is an immediate inquiry into their situation and that of all the hundreds of other workers who may also have put their own lives and those of their families in danger by working for the British.

Numerous interpreters have been kidnapped, tortured and killed by Iraqi militiamen who accuse them of collaboration with their country’s enemies and there is no doubt that once the troops have been withdrawn there is every chance they will be further victimised.

Unlike the British, the Danish government did not turn its back on its responsibilities and when it withdraw its contingent from Iraq it flew all sixty of its translators out of the country at the same time.

There is rightly fury and indignation from soldiers who have served alongside these people in Iraq. One tells of an interpreter whose wife and family had a gun held to their heads by the militia and ordered to leave the country within three days. Yet he was immediately turned down for refugee status.

That approach is utterly unacceptable and morally unsustainable.

Their difficulties highlight yet again the lack of foresight exercised by the British and American governments before embarking on the illegal invasion of Iraq. It has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of people it was supposed to enhance. It has left millions in greater fear and danger than even under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.

Though we will continue to condemn the war, we also recognise as Liberal Democrats that those who have risked their lives in their work for the British government deserve a fair hearing and they deserve it now. You can help bring that about by backing our campaign at: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/interpreters

Best wishes

Ming Campbell
www.mingcampbell.org.uk

Crazy horses

Exceptionally busy at work, so I'm very glad for the council's equivalent of parliamentary recess. Basically, we don't have any council meetings during August, which means far fewer evenings taken up (although still ward surgeries and political group meetings etc).


Not been much time to think about anything interesting to blog about. The best I can come up with is the photo below, which I took today. Quite often I walk to Liverpool Street area at lunchtime and today was in Broadgate Circle where they had... some horses riding around. Along with the croquet lawn at Broadgate Exchange, it seems there are any number of activities I would not normally see taking place around my lunch venues. How very lucky.

Careless

They should try down the back of the sofa - that's where I found my remote controls yesterday.

Story here.

Freedom of Information & Making the Difference bids

In the last year, Haringey Council responded to 73% of Freedom of Information requests within 20 days - against a target of 70%.

But it strikes me that this is not a very ambitious target. Unless there is a good reason (i.e. it's simply not possible to provide the information that quickly), 20 days seems long enough to deal with a request. Seems unlikely that 27% of those the council received were impossible to reply to within 20 days.

On a happier note, at another meeting I went to this week, the Muswell Hill Area Assembly group of councillors decided on the allocation of funding for 'Making the Difference' bids. So residents and community groups will be hearing if they have been successful shortly.

There was a great range of bids again and we will have some good improvements made to our local area as a result.

Promoting social exclusion: new method found

At Overview & Scrutiny this week, the Cabinet Member for Resources tabled a report about housing benefit that alarmed me.

There is a proposal to introduce two Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) across Haringey. These areas would then be used to set maximum private sector rents that housing benefit can cover - replacing the current system where a rent officer makes an individual assessment of each property.

So far, so sensible, you might think. The problem is that the BRMAs are very Broad indeed. My ward would fall in the Outer North London BRMA, covering Haringey (except Highgate and Finsbury Park), all of Enfield and most of Barnet.

Now, it's difficult to predict how it will pan out exactly - but it seems highly likely that the maximum benefit payable within this BRMA will be lower than many standard market rents across Fortis Green, Muswell Hill and Crouch End, to name just three areas.

What will be the consequence of that? Well, the Cabinet Member's report did mention that the changes "may impact on the supply of rented accommodation in these parts of the borough as landlords decide it is uneconomic to rent to housing benefit claimants".

I challenged the Cabinet Member about this as it creates two serious concerns.

First, and most important, I am worried about residents in my ward - who may have lived in their flats or houses for years - who could have their housing benefit slashed to levels below their rent. Meaning either serious financial hardship or being forced to move out of the area to a place with cheaper rents (likely to mean moving children out of schools in some cases too).

Second, and also important, is the point mentioned in the council report. Well, not so much that landlords will not offer accommodation for rent, but that the housing benefit available will not cover it - so people on benefit may not be able to move into areas like Muswell Hill.

Both of these could lead, in effect, to excluding those on benefit from living in the more 'expensive' areas of Haringey. I believe this would be both morally wrong and undesirable for the community as a whole. I am going to ask our MP Lynne Featherstone to take this up - although I expect she's already on the case!

The sun's out and Spurs are winning

I couldn't go to Leyton Orient on Wednesday evening as I had a council surgery to do, shame as the 4-2 win sounded like a good match. But today was my first live football of the season - Spurs took on Torino at White Hart Lane.

We won 2-0 with goals from Berbatov and Keane. Like most friendlies, it wasn't the most exciting match, but it was certainly better than some. Good to see the new signings - Bent and Kaboul got to play, Bale and Boateng were looking on in their snazzy suits.

We sat in the opposite stand to our season ticket seats and down by the corner flag. That meant we were next to the Torino fans, who put in a much better performance than their team. A sizeable contingent and very loud, but good natured stuff (well, I don't speak Italian, so it might not have been - but it sounded pleasant enough).

Spurs looked very comfortable and Kaboul and Dawson worked well together. But I'm also going to throw in my first call of the season for Michael Dawson to be given the captaincy. Got to be Daws to lead the team.

Can't wait for the start of the season proper next weekend. Will add a couple of photos from this afternoon's match when I'm next on a computer (currently on a train to Derby for the rest of the weekend).

At last, the photos are added. The sun didn't really complement my already poor photography skills, but... The top one is one of my favourite players Jermaine Jenas taking a corner, and the one below is some of the subs warming up during the first half - including Jermain Defoe and Spurs new club-record signing Darren Bent.