I am in election detox mode (EDM) - i.e long walk in the country this morning, three pints of Marston's Pedigree, Bangers and Mash at a canalside pub with the missus and a nice sleep this afternoon. Perfeck!
However, I think I can safely suspend EDM to say well done to all the candidates in the West Berkshire and Newbury Town Council election. I am sorry to the ones who were not elected.
Well done to the LibDem team. Despite a result that will take some absorbing, there were some little nuggets of gold in the results. Getting David Rendel back on the council is fantastic. Retaining largest party status ("control") on Newbury Town Council against the district council pattern was a real shaft of sunlight.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Brave, brave Sir Robin
When I was seven I remember going down to Plymouth Hoe to watch Sir Francis Chichester come in on Gypsy Moth IV after becoming the first person to circumnavigate the world solo from West to East via the Great Capes.It was a wonderful day, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Sir Francis was 65 and in remission from lung cancer.
I am currently cleansing myself from elections, so watching a substantial segment about Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on South Today on BBC1 earlier this evening, was a real tonic. At the age of 68, somewhat older than Sir Francis, he has completed another circumnavigation, having been the first man to circumnavigate the world alone nonstop in 1969.
What a guy!
Prediction published
I have now published my predictions for West Berkshire and Newbury Town Council elections, made on 27th April. They appear to have been a little too pessimistic. I still have the sealed envelope intact, in which I sent the predictions to myself for postmarking through the Royal Mail on 27th April, if anyone wants to check that my published post is the same as my prediction.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Cameron two points better than Iain Duncan-Smith
er....um....it's not going to set the world alight is it? And Cameron is shiny and new at the moment. Wait 'til he suffers a few hard knocks and actually stumbles up to the microphone and mumbles the odd policy.
Well done Portsmouth LibDems!
It is marvellous to see that Portsmouth LibDems have held their own in the election and remain the largest party on the council, despite a ferocious Tory campaign onslaught.
It is particularly cheering to see Gerald Vernon-Jackson being returned as councillor for Milton ward. The Tories put up their golden girl, Sarah Dineage, against him, complete with heavy campaign artillery. Gerald is a fantastically hard worker for his local community and an electoral genius to boot.
Sky seem to have given different change figures here to the ones shown half an hour ago on BBC1.
The BBC web site is showing:
Party Seats/change
LibDem 19 0
Con 17 +1
Lab 5 0
Others 1 -1
Sky (if you don't die of boredom scrolling down) is showing:
LibDem 19 -2
Con 17 +1
Lab 5 0
Others 1 1
Portsmouth City Council site, who I presume know what they are talking about (joke!) confirm the BBC result. Well done BBC.
Sky's confusion seems to be based on them thinking that there were no others/independents on the council before May 3rd. But the Portsmouth CC site confirms that there were two independents on the council before yesterday.
It is particularly cheering to see Gerald Vernon-Jackson being returned as councillor for Milton ward. The Tories put up their golden girl, Sarah Dineage, against him, complete with heavy campaign artillery. Gerald is a fantastically hard worker for his local community and an electoral genius to boot.
Sky seem to have given different change figures here to the ones shown half an hour ago on BBC1.
The BBC web site is showing:
Party Seats/change
LibDem 19 0
Con 17 +1
Lab 5 0
Others 1 -1
Sky (if you don't die of boredom scrolling down) is showing:
LibDem 19 -2
Con 17 +1
Lab 5 0
Others 1 1
Portsmouth City Council site, who I presume know what they are talking about (joke!) confirm the BBC result. Well done BBC.
Sky's confusion seems to be based on them thinking that there were no others/independents on the council before May 3rd. But the Portsmouth CC site confirms that there were two independents on the council before yesterday.
It's over (which incidentally is an excellent record by Roy Orbison)
It is over. It is difficult to believe, but it is. I need a reassuring quotation from Shakespeare:
"What 's done is done". Macbeth ( Quote Act III, Scene II).
Thank you Will, I needed that sort of reassurance to move to closure.
My daughter has coincidentally just sent me a chain email with a poem from a teenager dying of cancer. I don't want to risk abusing copyright by quoting it. But let's just say it helps me move on from elections.
"What 's done is done". Macbeth ( Quote Act III, Scene II).
Thank you Will, I needed that sort of reassurance to move to closure.
My daughter has coincidentally just sent me a chain email with a poem from a teenager dying of cancer. I don't want to risk abusing copyright by quoting it. But let's just say it helps me move on from elections.
Rice meets Syrian foreign minister
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has held a ground-breaking meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem at a summit in Egypt. Hallejujah!
It is a shame that what many people saw as a "no-brainer" to ease the Middle East crisis has been taken several years after it was an obvious move. How many have died unnecessarily in the meantime? And would it had happened at all if Nancy Pelosi had not been in a position to offiicially visit Damascus last month?
It is a shame that what many people saw as a "no-brainer" to ease the Middle East crisis has been taken several years after it was an obvious move. How many have died unnecessarily in the meantime? And would it had happened at all if Nancy Pelosi had not been in a position to offiicially visit Damascus last month?
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