Dear David Cameron, There is no doubt in my mind that you will be watching the polls over the next few days with even more interest than usual.  Your spring conference in Brighton, which was considerably smaller than the main party conference in October, attracted some reasonably positive coverage but yet again your hand is being forced because the spotlight is on you so intensely at the moment.  However, when the spotlight has fallen on Gordon Brown recently, any bad publicity has just bounced off him.  Will his appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry later this week buck this trend, I wonder? Over the weekend, you outlined six key election campaigning areas: dealing with the deficit, boosting enterprise, shoring up families, backing the NHS, raising standards in schools and cleaning up...

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust hospital represents a microcosm of what is wrong to Labour's approach in office. From the conclusions to the report published today:1. This has been a story of a trust which has, over a sustained period of time, failed to deliver acceptable standards of care to many of its patients. It is appropriate to echo a statement made by Florence Nightingale 150 years ago: It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm.100 2. Unfortunately, this requirement has not been met at Stafford Hospital. While it is true that in some of its activities it has achieved good standards which have attracted praise, the deficiencies identified in this report are too widespread and too...

Even the keenest, most aggressive deficit cutting rhetoric used in any of the main political parties still envisages a large deficit for many years to come. Politics over the next decade is likely to be hugely shaped by this backdrop. It won’t squeeze out all other issues but, just as the 9/11 terrorist atrocities caused civil liberties and foreign affairs to dominate much of the political debate in subsequent years, the deficit is likely to dominate over the next few. What will the practical consequences of that be? What issues may come to dominate political debate? Privatisation returns How to cut debt? Selling off assets is one option. For the last few Parliaments, privatisation has been mostly off the political agenda, and where it has been pushed – as with Royal Mail – it has...

According to Lori Gottlieb, all any woman wants is to be married. It's time all those singletons learned to settle for second bestLori Gottlieb is a 43-year-old single parent who desperately wants to be married. And she's not ashamed to say so. She first aired her existential angst in an inflammatory 2007 essay for the Atlantic magazine called Marry Him! The Case For Settling For Mr Good Enough, in which she wrote, "Every woman I know – no matter how successful and ambitious, how financially and emotionally secure – feels panic, occasionally coupled with desperation, if she hits 30 and finds herself unmarried."That may have been a fate worse than death in 1950, but to put forward the same argument in 2007 seemed bizarre. Yet Gottlieb did her best to help her fellow...

Football banning orders, UK air quality and museum visits among the first data released at launch of data.gov.uk website• Datablog: search the world's government dataThe UK has become a world showcase for open government data, with the launch today of a government website hosting 2,500 public data sets – more than the best-known rival, data.gov in the US.The official launch by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, and Nigel Shadbolt, professor of computer science at Southampton University, comes just under a year after Berners-Lee met prime minister Gordon Brown, who was hosting a dinner for recipients of the Order of Merit."Gordon Brown said to me, 'How should the UK make the best use of the internet?' and I replied that the government should just put all of its...

It is, as we like to say on this cynical little island, "typical" that a few weeks after the Met Office assured us that this would be one of the warmest winters on record we find ourselves in the midst of the deepest freeze for thirty years. This is, after all, the same Met Office that assured us of a "barbeque summer" last year. The past three years have seen a similar pattern of Met Office hype followed by disappointment and shivering. In today's Sunday Telegraph, Christopher Booker claims that the Exeter-based institution's bad record in recent years is no coincidence:What is not generally realised is that the UK Met Office has been, since 1990, at the very centre of the campaign to convince the world that it faces catastrophe through global warming. (Its website now proclaims it to...

[UK] Mendeley wants to be the Last.fm for research papers. The company offers a free academic desktop software for managing and sharing research papers and a website where you can back up the data and connect to like-minded researchers. For anyone working on a thesis this might seem like a godsend. The service automatically extracts data from research papers and can also generate bibliographies. Being an academic oriented start-up, the company also wants generate research statistics and recommendations. Mendeley has already had some initial success and is already being recommended by universities such as Dartmouth College, Cornell University and Cambridge University. It was also featured by The Guardian as the #6 Top 100 tech media companies and as the Best Social Innovation Which...

This concludes the article. Readers are advised to familiarise themselves with the first half before continuing with the concluding part below. Love, liberty and wine The following are some examples of poetry describing the message, ideals and values of some of the most influential liberal Muslims in Indian and Persian history. You will also notice the repeated references to “God is love”, a concept which should be familiar to people from the West too. Mirza Ghalib (1797 – 1869), probably the most famous and venerated Urdu-language lyric poet in India, and a resident of Delhi. As mentioned previously in this article, Ghalib was a strong proponent of Sufism and believed in the need to look within if one wished to find God, rather than adhering to the letter of the law in relation to...

On Friday 7th August 2009 Caitriona Ruane said: “I am convinced that when educationalists are seen to be working within the Guidance and delivering a quality education for all children, there will be a realisation that the old system could not continue. At that time, we can return to the issue of legislation.”   This statement was part of a response to a question on cross party support on post-primary transfer arrangements.  Mr G Robinson asked the Minister of Education (AQW 8875/09) if, and when, she intends to bring forward plans for post primary transfer that will command cross party support. Minister of Education: The arrangements for post-primary transfer described in the Department of Education’s published Transfer 2010 Guidance attracted supportive comments from...

In the UK unemployment (above) has jumped to its highest level since mid-1995, with the jobless rate up to nearly 8%, official data revealed yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the jobless total rose by 210,000 in the 3 months to July, taking the total to 2.47 million. That rise was broadly in line with those of recent months and economists said there was little to suggest that the rises in unemployment were slowing. Interesting that while a “recession” is defined as 2 quarters of continuous decline in economic growth, “return to growth” seems to be hailed if even the smallest, transient growth figures are announced, which the City spivs and politicians jump on as “evidence” of recovery. But as we hurtle towards maybe well over 3...

'They won't come and help, sweetie. Make the best of the time you have with him,' says a midwife to a devastated motherA devastated mother, who watched her premature baby die when doctors refused to help him because he was born two days early, has condemned medical guidelines which said the baby should not be saved. Sarah Capewell, 23, from Great Yarmouth, gave birth to a baby son when she was 21 weeks and 5 days into her pregnancy and pleaded with doctors and midwives at James Paget Hospital, in Gorleston, Norfolk to admit the newborn infant to a special care baby unit. However, Ms Capewell’s pleas were ignored and she was told that the doctors and midwives could not help without ‘breaking the rules on standard practice’ as they were following national guidelines saying that babies...

Just to bookmark this article in the Western Morning News: Census 'must let the Cornish recod their identity'.CAMPAIGNERS are stepping up their bid to have Cornish listed as a nationality in the 2011 census.Thousands have joined the crusade online while MPs and councillors have pledged to lobby the Government to ensure people from Cornwall do not have their identity "swept aside just because they are small in number".Under current plans, there will be no tick-box for people responding to the census to say they are "Cornish". Instead, they will have to tick "other" and then write in their response.Critics say the omission will mean many people who consider themselves to be Cornish will not realise they can do this, and instead select one of the other options: English, Scottish, Welsh,...

After losing the race for Filipe Melo to Juventus, Arsenal turned their attention to Blaise Matuidi, or as the French call him, ‘next Makelele’. The 22-year-old player came to prominence thanks to impressive displays for Saint Etienne and considering that he rejected the offer to extend his contract, which runs out in 2011, Matuidi is likely to join Arsenal very soon. His father has Angolan origin, whereas his mother was born in France. Matuidi started playing football in a private football academy and he played for Creteil in Ligue 2 at just 16 years of age. Good performances earned him a transfer to Troyes, where he made a lot of progress under coach Jean-Marc Furlan. After a couple of years in Troyes, he joined more ambitious Saint Etienne, where he managed to earn a starting berth...

Often considered too remote or perceived as too expensive, Sweden rarely features in a property investment portfolio. However, with an average property price of €155,000 in Q4 2008, Europe’s 4th largest country may be worth considering. Those in search of a lifestyle investment may want to take a look at Sweden’s ski resorts. While perhaps not the first on many people’s list of Europe’s top ski destinations, Sweden has over 25 ski resorts. These include Åre, currently hosting the FIS Ski World Cup finals, Storlien on the Norwegian border and Vemdalen, home to Klovsjo, voted Sweden’s prettiest village by travel writers. Perennially popular with Swedish skiers, the country’s ski resorts are now being discovered by foreigners, particularly Norwegians who are attracted to the...

  Women are window dressing in the Brown government, as this picture of Peter Mandelson in weekend attire clearly shows After 13 months of manufacturing decline and counting,  the unelected British PM has promoted the equally unelected Dick Dastardly Business Secretary, ‘Lord’ Peter Mandelson, to First Secretary of State in a clear signal that his ‘democratic renewal’ measures mean exactly the opposite. Mandelson, who is really calling the shots at the fag end of this ruptured government, wanted the job of Foreign Secretary but David Miliband, who led a failed coup against Brown last autumn, refused to move. Meanwhile, fingers-in-the till Chancellor, Alastair Darling remains in his post because Brown’s choice of replacement, smeary Ed Balls, would have...

Cranmer is delighted to announce that April was another stonking month for his august blog of intelligent and erudite comment upon matters religio-political. There were some 57,135 unique visitors (30,444 ‘absolute unique’) from 167 countries who made 61,891 visits and 74,907 page views. The ‘unique visitors’ are 120 per cent up on April 2008.As His Grace’s fame has spread, he has been invited to become a guest contributor in the United States to the Republican ‘Red County’ blog. He has also received a request to write a regular column for magazine of The Freedom Association, and he is honoured to do so. The tireless work of Norris McWhirter in defence of the British Constitution, and his enduring and constant theme of liberty, should have placed him in the House of Lords....

• GDP shrank by 1.6% in the last three months of 2008• Bank of England says recovery may start by end of 2009New figures on the UK economy show that it fell even deeper into recession in the fourth quarter of last year than first thought, piling the pressure on the prime minister.Revised data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that gross domestic product shrank by 1.6% in the last three months of 2008, rather than the 1.5% previously reported. Worse than previously expected output in construction and services was blamed for the downward revision.It is the worst performance since the second quarter of 1980 and confirms Britain is in the middle of a deep downturn following a contraction of 0.7% in the third quarter of last year and zero growth in the second.The annual...

After my other post looking into the debate to ban or restrict access to video games in Germany I’ve come across some more links that delve more into the topic, as well as some studies. Some are in German, so please use a translator. Der Markt verlangt nach Sensation [Zeit.de] - It appears that I’m not the only person outraged at the media presence in Winnenden. This is a great article summing up things like paying students to hug tearfully to get better pictures. “Active” gaming is healthy, says study [CVG.com] - Obvious article pointing out that Wii and Eyetoy games are healthy. Who would have thought? Galeria Kaufhof: Ab April 2009 keine USK 18-Spiele mehr im Sortiment [PCgames.de] - Kaufhof, a large German retailer is taking all 18+ games off the shelves and...

If you happen to be attracted to the confluence of a mobile phone, on screen mapping & GPS tracking all rolled up into into one small package - then read on dear reader.Google have recently rolled out their My Tracks package for Android powered mobile phones.To quote the web page:"My Tracks is an application ....... that enables you to record GPS tracks and view live statistics – such as time, speed, distance, and elevation – while hiking, biking, running or participating in other outdoor activities. Once recorded, you can share your tracks, upload them to Google Spreadsheets and visualize them on Google My Maps"More detail can be found on the Google Blog.Main advantage - its FREE. Main disadvantage - the current range of phones is limited at present(I'll ignore the reference to...

Cervical cancer specialists are putting a rise in demand for screening down to a "Jade Goody effect" after the reality television star revealed at the weekend that she was terminally ill with the disease.University Hospital Lewisham, in south-east London, has carried out 21% more tests in the months since Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer last August compared with the same period in 2007. "We have definitely seen an increase in uptake due to Jade Goody," said Robert Music, director of the cervical cancer organisation, Jo's Trust. "The fact that it is in the news a lot of the time clearly makes a difference. I think that in this celebrity age, many people relate to Goody. It is almost as if she has become a part of their lives- a family member." Cervical cancer is the most...

Over the years, football has produced some truly great players. In the last 5 years or so, one that has risen to worldwide prominence is Portuguese winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has attracted plaudits from some of the greatest-ever names in football. Former Dutch maestro and “European Player of the Century”, Johan Cruyff, said of Ronaldo, “Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law.” Cristiano Ronaldo, full name Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, was born on 5th February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira. His father had been a great fan of actor Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, hence his second given name of “Ronaldo.” He has three older siblings, brother Hugo and sisters Elma and Liliana Cátia. At an early age, Ronaldo was a Benfica fan,...

While perusing the stats for my blogs, I noticed that one of the referrers was this URL: http://www.charlesgordonmsp.com/stats/usage_200902.html. I clicked through to see what it was all about. To my astonishment, I was taken directly to the Webalizer stats for Charlie Gordon’s website. This seems quite unusual to me. To access these stats for my websites, I need to log in with a password. Surely most other people do for their websites as well. But for the most expensive website for an MSP, such basic security measures do not seem to be in place. When you consider the possibility that search logs may contain constituents’ sensitive information, it seems to be quite an oversight. There is one upside though. This free access to Charlie Gordon’s stats does give us the...

If the number of hits and emails are anything to go by, my earlier line-by-line analysis of rhetoric and imagery in Barack Obama’s victory speech in Chicago (originally published in the British weekly newspaper, the Independent on Sunday) attracted a good deal of interest.In response to those who have asked for something similar on his inaugural address, here's the text of the speech with comments in italics just after the points to which they relate. The earlier piece had some introductory background on the main rhetorical techniques. If you’re not familiar with them what follows might make more sense by looking here before reading on. My fellow citizens:I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our...

In his 14th floor corner office overlooking the city, James Mwangi sits at the very top of Kenyan society. He got there by understanding the needs of those at the bottom.Mwangi is the CEO of Equity Bank, a homegrown company that has turned the financial services industry on its head. For decades multinationals such as Barclays and Standard Chartered dominated Kenya's banking sector by focusing almost solely on the middle and upper classes. Equity went the opposite way. It targeted the unbanked poor - "the watchmen, tomato sellers and small-scale farmers" whom Mwangi lists as typical customers - with cheap savings accounts and microloans backed by unusual guarantees.The strategy has proved remarkably successful. In just a few years Equity has gone from being a quirky, fringe player to the...

In one of the most holy weeks in the Christian calendar, a report says that in just over a generation the number of people attending Church of England Sunday services will fall to less than a tenth of what they are now.Christian Research, the statistical arm of the Bible Society, claimed that by 2050 Sunday attendance will fall below 88,000, compared with just under a million now.The controversial forecast, based on a "snapshot" census of church attendances, has been seized upon by secular groups as proof that the established church is in decline. But the Church of England has rejected the figures, saying they were incomplete and ignored new ways of worshipping outside the church network.According to Dr Peter Brierley, former executive director of Christian Research, by 2030 just under...

To the European eye, accustomed to square hedgerows and neatly tilled arable land, the countryside of eastern Paraguay is unexceptional, almost pretty. The rolling hills spread out to the far distance. The sky is vast, the horizon broken only by the occasional homestead, leafy copse or bulky metal silo.But to 47-year-old Melitón Ramírez, this is no paradise. It's a wasteland. Juddering down a farm track in a muddy Jeep, he points to a wide field by the road. It has been sown with soya and the green-leafed plants are sprouting. It looks like a huge bed of wild clover. 'Thirty years ago, almost all of this was woodland,' says Ramírez, who's been a farmer in Alto Paraná state all his life. He grew up surrounded by the Interior Atlantic Forest, listening to the...

His Grace has received the politest of requests to publish this guest post, and he is delighted to do so. It comes from the Reverend Julian Mann, vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge in South Yorkshire:It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!It's Raining Men! Every Specimen!Tall, blonde, dark and leanRough and tough and strong and meanSo sang the Weather Girls in 1982. I remember seeing a remarkable performance by these ladies on Top of the Pops.But it certainly ain’t raining men in UK Christianity. Oughtibridge Parish Church in South Yorkshire, where I serve as incumbent, would be very typical of the situation in local churches on the ground.Only 25 out of 76 on our electoral roll are male; the proportion is even lower in our regular Sunday congregation of 35 adults – only...

Anyone can report the news. The real story is predicting it. If it’s the big “What if?” on social media trends, technology trends, and thoughts on scientific discoveries you’re looking for, then the Blah, Blah! Technology blog is the place to be for you and your friends… Now, I’m not saying I’m getting it right every time. But like the old Irish proverb says, it’s the journey that counts, not the arrival. For me, I like to step out into the void of the future unknown and hazard a guess at what might be. The thrill is daring to imagine greater things of man. Of web traffic and subscriber statistics This past week as seen the number of subscribers peak sharply not once, but twice. And between the 7th and the 14th, I’ve had over 20,000...

The T-Mobile G1, or the Google phone to you and I, will go on sale on 30 October in the UK. The Android open source-powered mobile has attracted 25,000 UK consumers to pre-register for the device. The tarrif will be £40 a month with “unlimited” data for all that Google Maps, Google Talk IM and Google Mail you’ll be using. Problem though: It has no in-built video recording capability and though it can play video through a dedicated YouTube app, it can’t play Flash inside the browser. Not great. Here’s some video of the phone at launch: Here are the vital statistics: • Available in two colours – black and white • GPS and compass • HTML email client, POP3 or IMAP • 3.5G (HSDPA/HSUPA) and Wi-Fi • 3 Mega pixel camera • MP3 music player •...

Some experts are saying that the US’s influence in the world will drop because of the financial fallout and the related, proposed $700 billion bailout of some finance firms.   But there have been signs of this long before the problems relating to Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac and others came to light.   Anti-Americanism was once primarily rooted in nation envy but increasingly it has come from a disagreement about its foreign policy. A great deal of this has been spurred by the media, especially in this country where Republican administrations tend to get a tougher ride. In recent memory I can only think of the 41st president’s term as being smoother among New Zealand media.   US experts generally believe that hard...