Just found the internet cafe at Labour Conference. Two computers stuck out of the way. and a queue behind me. Had a busy week with a range of LGiU events and other events, such as the Total Place fringe I chaired today at which Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham and Ian Malcolm, Leader of South…
Just a quick post for tweeps and new users of Twitter. As I’ve said in previous posts, and in the LGiU pamphlet Web 3.0, I’m a big fan of twitter. It added another dimension to my experience of Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth last week, so I thought I would gear up for the Labour…
In Bournemouth today Annette Brooke MP (Shadow Minister for Children) updated the Lib Dem policy on child protection. The purpose is to renew their position following the tragic case of Baby Peter. The raft of new proposals includes a public awareness campaign to make child protection everybody’s business. Nobody would disagree with that, but more controversially, they want the…
A Chatham House event with councillors from 13 Liberal Democrat councils. The question we put: with a 30% contraction in local government spending over the next five years (likely according to latest figures from PWC, and Vince Cable’s analysis) what are you going to stop doing (the savage C word) what are you going to…
Ed Balls’s announcement that he would cut £2 billion from the education budget by reducing the number of senior managers in schools is the first substantial contribution from a minister to the debate on cuts. The level of detail is welcome. As Conor Ryan has argued, we’re in desperate need of a grown-up debate about…
Just as I was beginning to despair at the policing fringe at the Lib Dem Conference, sponsored by the APA and ACPO, up stepped Chris Huhne. After a dull opening about statistics, I slipped quietly towards the exit door, and then Mr Huhne hit his stride. We had heard all the usual stuff from ACPO…
Last night saw the launch of the Brixton Pound (B£), a new local currency that as of today will circulate in Brixton only, alongside the Sterling Pound. The event was the culmination of the efforts of a team of local volunteers, who for 18 months worked incessantly engaging businesses, the community and the council to…
Yesterday morning, it was announced that a third academy will be placed in special measures. It looks like bad news for the programme. Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the ATL, used the news to call for an independent review of the scheme. “Some academies are very good, some make very little difference and some do…
In the recent LAML judgement the Courts ruled that the local authorities who had set up a mutual insurance scheme did not have the legal powers to do so. There were various aspects to the judgement, some specific to the case, but some with much wider implications. In particular, the case showed the limitations of the legal…
The LGiU in cooperation with Westminster City Council today launched a report entitled Room to Move. This report argues that local authorities should be empowered to offer flexible tenancies to new social housing residents. The report gained wide media coverage including a comment piece in The Guardian, a piece on BBC Online and one on…
