I notice tonight that a small number of Liberal Democrats, including colleagues both on the Federal Policy Committee and the Social Liberal Forum Council, are signing up to the ‘Plan B’ being touted by Compass. I am not, and this is why – though I do welcome the debate. (For more see http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/31/lib-dems-revolt-economic-policy and http://action.compassonline.org.uk/page/s/plan-b—sign-the-petition [...]
As others have regularly published the lists of how many items of casework are recorded per councillor by Reading Borough Council, but have not done so for some time, I thought I should ask for an update. With the answer to the Freedom of Information request came the inane instruction that they cannot be published [...]
This post was going to be driven by the contents of the answer to a Freedom of Information request from Reading Borough Council. But it’s not. Why? Because the accompanying letter announced that the information was – wait for it – copyright. Apparently it cannot be published without the express permission of the Head of [...]
The Reading Chronicle at http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/roundup/articles/2011/10/18/54794-reading-tory-leader-quits/ has the story. I’ve commented several times before on the internal tension within the Conservatives. I always had the sense that Andrew Cumpsty’s experience and mainstream Conservative approach would keep their various factions together. Time will tell whether they elect a mainstream figure as his replacement or turn to a [...]
The news that the bid for a new school at Crescent Road will exclude pupils under 14 is bad news for Reading. Worse, it shows an arrogance in the Department for Education at odds with localism and an ignorance of Reading’s local needs. Wokingham Council’s beggar-thy-neighbour closure of Ryeish Green left a secondary school-sized hole [...]
