April 2009

The Archives

• The world beyond West Lancashire

  Vote for me, vote for me!

  04.30.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  According to the Compass timetable, the voting should have started by now for its 21st Century Living Competition.  I think it’s only open to Compass members, who get an email with all the proposals and a ballot paper or some such.
  My proposal is here (the longer version than I got to submit on the weird form they [...]

• Breaking News, Uncategorized

  New Labour leadership off to flyer in West Lancs as first seat seized from Conservatives

  04.30.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  The people of West Lancashire were celebrating today as news came through of the new Labour leadership’s first electoral success, barely two days into their new roles, against the incumbent Conservative administration.
   According the normally reliable press reports, Councillor Paul Cotterill, the new Leader of the Labour Group on the District Council and councillor for Bickerstaffe Ward, [...]

• Being Labour, Breaking News

  Not on the buses

  04.30.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  West Lancashire Conservative administration’s inability to get round to doing things has been thrown into sharp relief by the short notice withdraw of ‘Click’ bus services in West Lancashire, as reported in the press. 
  My councillor  colleague Neil has every right to be cross on behalf of the people he serves, a good number of whom will be significantly [...]

• About me, Breaking News

  Tie competition

  04.29.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  Mil and Brian have sort of ordered that a competition take place to decide what colour, pattern and shape my new tie should be, when I get one.  Mil will be horrified to know that the one I currently have is in fact yellow.
  Here are the competition rules:
  1 Send your ideas in the comments box thingy.
  2 Closing date [...]

• Being Labour, Breaking News

  West Lancs shocker as new Labour leader agrees with Southport Libdem bloke

  04.29.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  Two days in the West Lancashire Labour leader job and my political credibility is in tatters.
  I went on to Liberal Conspiracy for a quick ganders at who was saying what about what, and to see if anyone else had commented on the debut post I put there the other day, and the first thing I see is a [...]

• Breaking News, Cotterill on the Council

  Completely Anodyne Press Release

  04.28.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  The local political grapevine has been hard at work today, and if it’s the kind of thing that floats your boat, you’ll probably already know that I’ve been elected as Leader of the Labour Group of Councillors in West Lancashire, and can therefore be called Leader of the Opposition or some such.  Also elected as Deputy [...]

• Uncategorized

  Story of a school (part 1)

  04.26.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  Introduction
  The Conservatives have announced ‘a new generation of primary academies’, with legislation introduced ‘within weeks’ if they came into government. 
  ‘Under the plans’, goes the Conservative website press release, ‘primary schools which have demonstrated excellent performance and leadership will be given academy freedoms over their curriculum, budget, staff and school hours.’
  There’s no substance to the announcement, which is [...]

• Uncategorized

  Cutting makes the Council deaf

  04.25.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  I’ve been big this week on scandalous behaviour by our Conservative Council administration in West Lancashire.  There’s still a post to come on the institutionally derelict shambles that was Full Council on Wednesday night, but I think what I’m going to say now is a bigger scandal.  Sitting comfortably?
  A week or two back I wrote a [...]

• Breaking News

  Fears for rightwing blogger as ‘humourless’ gag not understood at all by dour lefties

  04.24.09 | Permalink | 1 Comment

  Fears were growing for the safety of famous Tory blogger and economic illiterate Iain Dale, following what many consider to have been a brave but possibly foolhardy attack on leftwing bloggers’ lack of a sense of humour.
  Early reports suggested that, far from seeing the funny side of this splendid post, many leftie bloggers had reacted with [...]

• The world beyond West Lancashire

  Proper grown-up economics for grown-ups

  04.24.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  I suggested to Hopi, late the other night, that what he and like-minded real content-based bloggers might want to give some attention to is the essential differences between Keynesian and monetarist economics.
  Let’s get down to the essentials, I suggested, of whether we should see the money supply as ‘real’, and as the most important driver [...]

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