John Pugh on the 'Essence of Cleggism'

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 27, 2008 10:21 PM

SOUTHPORT'S MP here takes a philosophically slanted look at the agenda of his new party leader, on Lib Dem activist website Liberal Democrat Voice.

Any other good links to online political articles or websites you'd like to share - nothing scurrilous or potentially libellous please - point us to them by leaving a message below or email me direct at robert.alcock@southportvisiter.co.uk

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Kenocracy goes up in Smoke?

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 27, 2008 10:02 PM

CHANNEL 4’s ‘Dispatches’ documentary of last week about Ken Livingstone’s regime as Mayor of London certainly made for compelling viewing. Yet while probing legitimate lines of journalistic enquiry, such as alleged misuse of public funds – including a ‘campaign’ against Trevor Phillips becoming the UK’s new equalities tsar – a rounded picture of the man and his office this was not.

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Southport Labour Party - seeking the votes of the many, not the few

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 24, 2008 7:10 PM

LAST Friday evening I was glad to attend as a guest a Southport Constituency Labour Party dinner at the Old Links Golf Club. The guest of honour was local government secretary Hazel Blears – see next week’s Visiter for an exclusive interview – with a roll-call of other notables, e.g. Rosie Cooper MP, Arlene McCarthy MEP.

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Dave Martin - pragmatism and principle

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 24, 2008 6:01 PM

THE affairs of the Labour Party in Sefton have recently been in my in-tray.
It is a week since the sad news of the death of group leader Cllr Dave Martin broke and his funeral was held today (Thursday). Tributes from all sides of the council chamber have been fulsome. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to speak to Cllr Martin’s old comrade and friend Joe Benton, MP for Bootle and his predecessor as group leader.
 

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Battle of the bins (2) - statements

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 18, 2008 9:50 AM

The full statements released by those on both sides of the debate are reproduced here.

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Battle of the bins (1) - analysis

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 18, 2008 9:47 AM

TODAY'S Southport Visiter features a report on the outcome of Sefton's latest environmental scrutiny committee, on the progress of rolling out Alternating Weekly Collections. I previewed
much of the grist in the report before the committee in my blog post last month – 'the politics of rubbish'. The report again claims the system's introduction has been “a general success”.

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Politics and health: first, do no harm

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 13, 2008 8:25 PM

“FAR above politics” was how Cllr Brenda Porter, would-be Conservative MP for Southport, recently summed up both the goal and process of returning children’s care to the resort. She was speaking after the ‘stakeholders’ summit called by Sefton PCT soon before Christmas to consider the issue in the round – and the next installment is due in a matter of weeks.

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Blogging over the border - Off the Record

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 7, 2008 6:29 PM

I should have got round sooner to acknowledging this blog’s debt of inspiration to that of a local journo colleague. David Sudworth is news editor of the Ormskirk/Skelmersdale Advertiser Series and his 'Off the Record' blog been doing a damn fine job of unpicking the politics of West Lancashire (and more besides) since the last local elections in the summer.

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Graham Haywood - a final curtain call?

Posted by Robert Alcock on January 4, 2008 10:28 AM

A new year dawns and there's no let-up in the wrangling among Sefton's parties over how to re-shape the council's top officialdom. The interview forming the backbone of the report in today's Visiter sees Lib-Dem leader Cllr Tony Robertson in defiant form - sticking to his guns over £600k of top brass cuts, even while acknowledging the call-in procedure provides wide scope for that to be overturned. My earlier predictions that all three parties may have been muddling towards a grand compromise seems - unfortunately from my perspective - a little far from the mark. Such are the perils of punditry.

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