Edward hasn't just arrived for the by-election. He has worked for the local community and has lived in the local area all his life. This year he ran his sixth marathon to raise money for the Macmillan cancer unit at Leighton Hospital and he will be doing a seventh later this year in support of other local causes. He also fought Gordon Brown's plans to shut down four Post Offices in Crewe and Nantwich, organising a 3,000 strong local petition.

Edward is 34 and married to Julia with three children, Sam (aged four) Elizabeth (aged 2) and Lydia who is just nine weeks old. All three of his children were born at Leighton Hospital.

He has an elder brother who now runs the family business and a sister who is a primary school teacher in London. He also has two adopted brothers.

His parents were foster parents and so while growing up he shared his home with 86 other children - some staying for short periods or just at weekends but others staying for a year or more.

His life growing up was the main reason he decided to go into family law and his experience in working with vulnerable children and family breakdown are what motivated him to get involved in politics. He believes that too many children have a bad start in life and he would like to try to change that.

His first priority if elected as the MP for Crewe and Nantwich would be cutting crime. He believes that we need the police to re-claim the streets and we need to stop ASBOS being seen as a badge of honour.

He is not interested in the 'Westminster village'. He wants to be elected to represent the people of Crewe and Nantwich and to make sure that they are not taken for granted by the government anymore.

crewe and nantwich conservatives

Don't be conned by soft on yobs Tory Boy.

Local residents are asking the question - who is Edward Timpson?

Apparently he has been the candidate for 12 months, but no one in the town has heard much from him.

What has he done to stand up for local people in the last 12 months?

All we know about him is he waffles lots, wants to cut the funding going to our schools, has no idea how to tackle crime and lives in a BIG mansion house on the other side of Tarporley.

Crewe and Nantwich Labour Party

The Tories are poised to achieve their first parliamentary by-election gain since the heyday of Margaret Thatcher, dealing a hammer blow to Gordon Brown's hopes of survival.

That is the remarkable finding of the first opinion poll conducted in the Labour stronghold of Crewe, where a by-election to be held in 11 days' time could seal the Prime Minister's fate.

The ICM survey for The Mail on Sunday puts the Tories on 43 per cent with Labour trailing on 39 - a dramatic ten per cent swing in the Cheshire constituency since the last General Election.

The Liberal Democrats are on 16 per cent.

It would turn Labour's 7,078 majority into a Conservative majority of well over 1,000 - a convincing and historic victory.

If repeated in a General Election, Labour would be thrown out of power.

Daily Mail

Elizabeth Shenton is the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Crewe and Nantwich Parliamentary by-election.

As our MP, Elizabeth will work to cut crime, improve schools and protect our precious environment.

Elizabeth has an impressive record of working for two of the country's largest banks over the last twenty years - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest. She served as a director of RBS Group Fund Pension Board, which is responsible for the pensions of tens of thousands of NatWest and RBS staff.

Elizabeth has also been a trade union member for twenty-five years, including negotiating nationally on behalf of thousands staff with senior management.

As a volunteer in the community she has helped raise thousands to improve local facilities. In 2005 she was the founding member and chair of a local community group created to raise money for improvements to a derelict parkway. Over £630,000 was raised in the end, providing for an events arena, a toddlers play area, an adventure play area, a BMX track, a multi-purpose ball court, improved lighting and a safe walking/cycle route.

Elizabeth is married to Michael, an IT manager. They share a keen interest in animal welfare and are active members of a number of animal charities.

The BBC selected her for a "You can make a difference" feature on people who have helped change the world around them, saying that she had "made a real difference to local people's lives".

Elizabeth Shenton knows at first hand the pressures police are under thanks to her 12 years experience as an independent custody visitor.

Since 2006 she has been a Liberal Democrat councillor in neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme with a track record of delivering results for residents, including securing major improvements to the local bus station and taking up local parking concerns.

Ten candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the May 22 Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
This is despite having had only days to get their names in after Labour launched the campaign in the Commons last week.

The contest was caused by the death last month of party veteran Gwyneth Dunwoody.

Her daughter Tamsin, former Welsh Assembly minister, will be its standard bearer to succeed her mother at Westminster.

Among the candidates is Miss Great Britain, Gemma Garrett, running as an independent.


The full list:
Edward Timpson (Con)
Tamsin Dunwoody (Lab)
Elizabeth Shenton (Lib Dem)
Robert Smith (Green Party)
Paul Thorogood (Cut Tax on Diesel and Petrol)
David Roberts (English Democrats)
Gemma Garrett (Ind)
Mark Walklate (Ind)
The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
Mike Nattrass (Ukip)

The UK Independence Party is contesting the by-election in the Crewe and Nantwich constituency caused by the death of Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody. The UKIP candidate is Mike Nattrass, who is the MEP for the West Midlands.

Mr Nattrass said that he had been an admirer of Mrs Dunwoody both for her independent spirit and for her strongly Euro-sceptic views.

Born a Yorkshireman with Black Country roots on his mother's side, he has lived in Birmingham for more than 25 years. He is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a former senior partner of Nattrass Giles, which he established in 1980, and a former director of a fireplace manufacturer.

Witnessing at first hand the unnecessary red tape of the European Union and its effect on small business, he began to campaign against Britain's membership of the EU.

He joined UKIP in 1997 and was elected the West Midlands MEP in 2004, representing, he says, the growing majority of people who want the UK to leave the EU.

There are nine other candidates in the constituency. They are: Edward Timpson, Conservative; Paul Thorogood, Cut Tax on Diesel and Petrol; avid Roberts, English Democrats; Robert Smith, Green Party; Gemma Garrett, Independent; Mark Walklate, Independent; Tamsin Dunwoody, Labour; Elizabeth Shenton, Liberal Democrat; The Flying Brick, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party.

Pictured above is a very worried man on the edge. He's nervous - indecisive - dithering - unsure - inept - incompetent - unpopular - inane - unelectable . The strain is starting to show big time and it's becoming quite sad to watch really . For the sake of not only the UK, but also the hapless Gormless Gord's sanity and maybe even his health, he needs to step down . But will he ? Of course not - and his government and party will ultimately be consigned to oblivion by the voters . It's reached the stage where if New Labour is to survive as a viable political unit they're going to have to replace him and quick .

It makes you wonder if this was all a plot by Blair, to let Gormless Gord make a pig's ear of it for a year or so and then reluctantly return to try and save New Labour by desperate entreaty of its MP's who are facing unemployment after the next election . And the timing for Blair's return would be about right, because everything he's working on at present, like his Faith Foundation and his Middle East Peace Process, are turning into fiasco as is usual with his "initiatives" . So Tony needs a move !

A UK parliamentary committee chaired by Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, is set to publish its recommendations on pay for MP's . Apparently they're due to report that MP's deserve a 23% pay increase ! Considering the recommended ceiling for public sector annual pay increases is currently 2.5% ( and they can't fiddle their expenses either ), it might be wise if MP's showed some caution in implementing these recommendations .

In a secret Polish gypsy ceremony which took place in east London last month, a 13 year old girl, Bozana Gural, married her childhood sweetheart, 14 year old Bezo . Her 31 year old mother, Renata, who was also wed at 13, has 5 children and now lives in the UK on state benefits, told reporters : " I don't care what you lot in Britain think - just because we live here doesn't mean we have to abide by your rules ". And what are our New Labour government doing about this ? You guessed it - Jack . But you can bet your gypsy wagon that if a middle class taxpayer let his 13 year old daughter get married he'd be arrested quicker than you can say "politically correct" . When will this kind of insanity stop ?

Recently we reported on the tragic story of a young Iraqi girl who, after forming a friendship with a British soldier in Basra, was murdered in a so-called "honour killing" . 17 year-old Rand Abdel-Qader was hacked to death by her own father, assisted by her 2 brothers . And these brave Islamic heroes are quite unrepentant . "Death was the least she deserved" says her father . "God is blessing me for what I did" . And as they spat on her corpse as she was buried the father and 2 brothers were only briefly held by Basra police before understanding religious zealots in the police station organised their release without charge . We should send British soldiers in there and shoot the 3 pieces of scum . And then arrest the police who let them off and charge them with aiding and abetting murder . So-called "honour killings" are murder, pure and simple and should NEVER be tolerated .

In an interview today about the cyclone in Burma, Foreign Secretary David Miliband assured viewers that British aid would be channeled through "organisations like Save the Children, who rightly have a very high reputation." Save the Children is indeed a reputable organisation, but Miliband's respect for it seems to be rather ...

Things just get worse and worse for Mr Brown. The Telegraph reports:

Lord Levy told the Telegraph he was "stunned" at Labour's sharp fall in popularity and said Mr Brown should reflect on whether he was now an electoral liability to the party.

The comments from Lord Levy, the chief fundraiser to Mr Blair for 13 years, came as Labour descended into open civil war. Three sets of memoirs from the heart of the former prime minister's team are being published and criticise Mr Brown's personality and behaviour.

Read the rest HERE.

No doubt stung by my attacks, the Burmese Generals have launched a huge image upgrade campaign consisting of printing their names in large letters on the aid packages coming in from abroad. No, I am not making this up: Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise...State-run television continuously ran image

Despite early suggestions that York was not likely to be eligible because it already has relatively high levels (for the UK) of cycling, we have been shortlisted to get government funding in the second wave of 'Cycling Demonstration Towns'. A presentation and grilling later in the month by DfT officials will determine whether or not we are successful in attracting more funding to make...

God, I feel old and ignorant.

There is perhaps one advantage of age. I no longer feel embarrassed about the holes in my knowledge. They are, as they have always been, many and large. I admit, therefore, that until this week, following a comment on the Tampax post, I had never heard of Mooncups. I have never had a patient mention them. Mrs Crippen has not heard of them, and she knows about these things, so then I felt a bit better. I did a little Googling, and the first thing I came up with was Cat's Blog. Cat says:

A revolution is taking place right now! It's a sanitary revolution! Forget pads and tampons, they're old news. They were expensive (despite Labour removing the VAT, although that helped a little) they were bulky to carry around in your bag, they were filling landfill sites, they were giving us toxic shock syndrome then washing up on our beaches - and now they're in the past!

The Mooncup is the future! (Cat's Blog)

Maybe Cat is right. Maybe Mooncaps are the future. But Cat's Blog says "Vote for Ken" and so one has to pause a while. Would Boris approve of them?

Sooner or later, a patient is going to ask if I recommend them. Help! Do I recommend them?

The truth about working conditions inside Coca-Cola's "Happiness Factory": wage cuts, 12-hour shifts and strikes

Mark Thomas on the continuing saga of the government, BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia

The campaign to concrete rural England, ban February and for legalising urban foxhunting hits London

Welcome to the strange New Labour world in which you can be arrested for possessing a cake...

Did you hear the snigger as Britain complained that Iran had broken international law

You can't beat terrorism by banning parliamentary book launches

If bribery is so good for jobs, why should it be a crime?

Ever wanted to be a Lord or a Lady? Well why not put your name to this novel idea for changing the honours system?

"Green costs" is my shorthand for the prices we are having to pay for the government's low carbon measures, as taxpayers and consumers. It's worth while reminding ourselves how flimsy the basis for them is.

First, the correlation between "global temperatures" and atmospheric carbon dioxide is poor. Correlation with solar activity looks better. But in reality global climate is a hugely complex system which science is only beginning to understand. The computer models which are the supposed scientific basis for low carbon policy have to be regularly revised, as we saw only last week, and they seem to be poor at predicting temperatures.

Nor, then, can we assume that some change in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide would lead to a predictable change in temperature.

Even if politicians accept the dodgy science, the economic justification for pauperising ourselves doesn't hold water either. Even the IPCC admits that "the costs and benefits of mitigation ... are broadly comparable in magnitude". And, asks Nigel Lawson rhetorically in his book

How great a sacrifice is is either reasonable or realistic to ask the present generation, particularly the present generation in the developing world, to make, in the hope of avoiding the prospect that the people of the developing world, in a hundred years time, may not be 9.5 times as well off as they are today, but 'only' 8.5 times as well off?

Finally, note that the UK is responsible for 2% of emissions, while the Hadley Centre claims that "only by a reduction of 70% in [global] carbon dioxide emissions would we be able to stablilize its concentrations in the atmosphere".

This is hubristic hobby policy.

That's the background to the green costs we're tracing - pointless extra costs imposed on the population at a time when disposable incomes are shrinking.

For instance, the annual cost to the British taxpayer and energy consumer of support for renewable energy of one kind or another is already nearly £1bn a year to meet less than 2% of UK energy needs.

To see others, click on the "green costs" link below.

According to an ICM poll for the Mail on Sunday, the Conservative candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election has a good chance of winning the seat. Could the Tories be on target to snatch a win from Labour for the first time since 1982?

The poll puts the Tories on 43%, Labour on 39% and the Liberal Democrats on 16%. Whatever the Labour Party may be telling the electors of Crewe it doesn't seem to be working. Gordon Brown is seen as a tetchy grump who is nowhere near being the Prime Minister he so deftly portrayed himself as being capable of when second-in-line to Blair. The whole sorry pantomime is unravelling. There isn't a chance they could come in tenth is there? Wishful thinking, I know!
digg_url = 'http://ardenforester.blogspot.com/2008/05/tories-out-in-front-in-crewe.html';

....In summary, it would appear that the lowly earthworm and still lowlier soil nematodes respond to increases in the air's CO2 content, via a number of plant-mediated phenomena, in ways that further enhance the positive effects of atmospheric CO2 enrichment on plant growth and development, while at the same time helping to sequester more carbon more securely in the soil and thereby reducing the potential for CO2-induced global warming.
Worm Man


Socialists in Australia argue not about what they think of the SWP but undertake serious discussions about soil science...this is a reason to be cheerful

I have pasted this in from Dave Riley's blog comments...if people are debating soil science there is hope...essentially worm bin compost has huge potential however low nutrient soils can be very ecologically important as well.

An important debate....I am king of the compost in Winkfield, Windsor by the way...my neighbours are giving me their grass clippings and the compost is cooking nicely.

I just have to kill the puta madre slugs...no easy task...any way look at the debate in Australia below


On May 09, Dave Riley said...
I agree. There has to be ecological logic to the landscape RE-design.

As well as protecting habitat we need to enlarge the native flora corridors. But in , I guess most,intensely farmed districts soil degradation & exotic invasion is such that a lot of that aspiration will be almost utopian.

You just have to fly over the East Coast of Australia to get a sense of the massive loss. As for the Murray Darling Basin....!

My view -- at least for the moment -- is that if farmers are going to farm the land then we have to establish certain parameters that protect them and their income as well as the environment. We also have to take great swathes of land out of food and fibre production for the regrowth of natural habitat.

The problem is that to do that we have to ask farmers to produce differently with less land and, to some significantly degree, more productively while being more sustainable.

Tall order.

I think that is sure to be a massive economic and social headache as in effect we have to completely redesign the rural landscape and its utilisation. And do that with the cooperation of farmers.

If you check out The Carbon Coalition -- assuming the science is correct -- you can see the problem with such a shift. There has to be financial return -- otherwise it won't happen.

And these farmers are calling for a carbon trading scheme!

While it may be practicable to take degraded rural land out of production, reforest riparian ecosystems, and guarantee produce prices -- the contradiction is likely to be that we have to repopulate the countryside and make farming more labour intensive.

So in region after region there would need to be a range of experimental model projects to prove that such a shift is viable.We'd also have to deal with the challenge of a buy back or land nationalisation (of the big corps) scheme -- while guaranteeing working farmers land tenure.

As for the live stock industry -- if we cannot establish a viable anti-fart campaign for ruminants then we'd need to massively cut stock numbers. Thats' what? An industry farming something like 100 million sheep and 80 million cattle.

So the concept of the 'free range' herd/flock may have to be dropped as livestock are more actively integrated with mixed farming approaches as we shave back their numbers.

Reducing beef consumption may be one key element for instance. Do that and the economies of the outback begin to collapse...

If you take a sample such as the Murray Darling basin -- obviously an emergency situation already exists there -- we'd have to consider a massive almost militarised program of aggressive reforestation born up by thousands of people recruited to plant trees.

We could mobilise school students and the like and make it a national focus. It could be a marker of the changes more generally to come. But we'd need to do it that way to protect future food supplies and save the river systems which are dying.

But planting trees may not be the panacea it's cracked up to be especially in areas of salination. We may have to remodel the land somewhat to drain salt away as well as look to other sources of water catchment than by draining the main tributaries. If we decide that a sustainable flow down the Darling or whatever is so many percentiles more than is currently the case that water has to come from somewhere. The irony is , I guess, that because of run off, deforestration and erosion maybe more water runs into the river systems after good rain than previously despite the fact that the ecology is under so much duress.

So I imagine that "carbon farming" makes a lot of sense in that context as part of the landscape. And in all areas any reforestration program has to proceed , I guess, by a staged process of planting first colonizer species(eg: local wattles) before fostering in other natives.

On May 09, Ben Courtice said...
Of course we must use vermiculture etc to build up the soils in farmland. And in some areas (e.g. New England tableland perhaps) that may have had rich and deep humus before European invasion we could consider programs to re-enrich soils maybe (I'm no expert either, I'm just guessing). The organic farming model has far less impact than chemical industrial farming.

However, my only point is that weed eradication and native re-vegetation projects are required on a large scale, and it is desirable to reclaim some existing farmland for this just to re-establish sufficient habitat for the growing number of threatened species (and threatened ecosystems, in fact).

On May 07, Dave Riley said...
Soil ecology is complex I agree and I'm not about to know much about it. But the problem is being driven by the reality of climate change and how that relates to agricultural production and soil sequestration.

Technically you could convert "soil" to any thing -- offering various attributes-- by the addition of any amount of biological material and fiddling with the local ecology.

The introduction of cloved hoofed animals has had a major, and disastrous, impact on Australian soils and it seems to me that even there if we are to farm them it "may" be preferable to change the soil (and pasture)to suit their impact and 'weight' otherwise you have to consider banning them from the landscape altogether (ESP with more droughts likely).

Weeds are a massive problem and I'm amazed how much effort is required to weed, say, one river valley using any number of tactics as part of full time eradication programs.

While I'm all for a sort of Land Care emergency program with a mobilisation of huge numbers of workers in the effort, to some degree we have to accept that we're stuck with the changes that have already happened and "perch" our new soil attributes and requirements on top of that.

Mark Diesendorf has some interesting commentary for instance about sustainable bio-energy production in regard to already existing soils and tandem with food production (eg: Western Australian malee) using local flora and agricultural biomass..

I'm not sure that we can harness the flora and fauna for food consumption as broadly as some have suggested. Acacia seeds -- yes. More kangaroo perhaps.And its preferable to eat macedonian nuts to the demanding almond... But the reality is that the sort of farming we need for sustainability won't require all the space that is now utilised.

Inasmuch as this relates to worms -- Australian worms aren't very useful in agriculture in the same way as they have limited capacity to help grow the larder. So the worms you know (in your backyard or on the vegey farm)are in fact, European or African in origin in the same way that the many grasses and weeds are exotic.

So it's a bit of a false god to talk about returning all the landscape to an absolute native eco-systems.

So if you wanted to use the soil to sequest carbon and foster sustainable production then you are talking about the soil that is being intensely farmed for food or fibre and weigh that up with the gains you can attain even though the end product ecosystem won't be indigenous.

On May 07, Ben Courtice said...
If you want to "invigorate the extremely poor nature of Australian soils" be warned that on a broad enough scale this would threaten to really disrupt the native ecosystems which are highly specialised in dealing with said poor soils. I know of a place on the East coast of Tasmania where scrub forest grows on soil that is so barren virtually nothing farm-like would take root. Defined agricultural areas, sure, but Australian soils have already been irreparably damaged in at least two ways since European invasion: firstly, massive topsoil loss caused by the introduction of hooved livestock; and secondly, massive invasion of green, leafy foreign weeds which already change the soil composition as they grow and take over from natives. I read not long ago

I spent a sunny Sunday today in Crewe & Nantwich, where I continue to both amazed and appalled by the contemptible content of the Labour Party literature.

For a brief period in the mid-nineties - before my time alas - the Labour Party tried and managed to pass itself off as a Party that believed in aspiration, a Party that believed in fulfilling our potential as individuals, as communities and as a country. It's been slipping for a long time, but as the power and popularity drains away from our failed Labour Government the mask has well and truly come off.

The Timpson family built their company from one small shoe shop not far from here in north Manchester. They are a true northern success story - a company and a family that should be held up as a shining example. Instead, the Labour Party denigrate that success as they desperately flail around as their electoral air begins to run out.

A few years ago I worked two summers at Salford Young People's University, and it was a real privilege to play a small part in opening up the eyes of some of those children who attended that summer school to the potential that they had and the heights that they could achieve.

It's a real contrast between that and the way in which many (although not all) of our local Labour politicians in Salford talk down to, patronise and take for granted local residents and communities who have placed their trust in Labour. The Labour campaign in Crewe & Nantwich has sunk far lower than I could ever have imagined. I hope they learn a very severe lesson on Thursday 22nd May.

Obama Claims He's Visited 57 States
It is an obvious mistake to make.

McCain's Foreign Policy Gaffe (CBS News)

John McCain Loses His Bearings With Microphone
:

* More evidence of the basic unsustainability of Australian agriculture: you might have read about summer rains and floods, but they've utterly failed to replenish the water in the Murray-Darling basin, and another El Nino - which in Australia means drought - looks to be settling in.

* A fascinating reflection on life on other planets - and why finding it might be bad news. No not the obvious "they are smarter than us and might decide to eat us", but a much more sophisticated argument about how if they died out, it's not a good sign for us.

* Good news: the Christian church is dying out in Britain - now all we've got to do is disestablish it fast (so other religions don't try to jump into its place), and stop news organisations regarding celibate old men as some sort of experts on social issues - and particularly on the fate of women's bodies, such as in the abortion debate.

* An interesting piece on the history of cyclones and cyclone research, and on how Mauritius has learned to live relatively safely with them.

Have a gander at Will Hutton's defense of America and Nick Cohen's piece on Kouchner/Burma

Health secretary Alan Johnson has opened a national debate on the future of long-term care.

MPs will today debate controversial proposals in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

A must read in The Mail on Sunday:

Initially there was very little money, even less strategy and a great deal of frustration as I realised the media - and to some extent the public - cared only about the two high-profile candidates, Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

I struggled through a nine-month campaign in which the third force in British politics, for reasons beyond our control, became daily more like the third farce.

Is this the start of a worrying trend? The BBC website carries two apparently unrelated reports.

In Florida:

A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.

The bird, which died in Thursday's collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker's face as she bathed near the city of St Petersburg.

The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hit a person.

In London:

Families and tourists in a London park were left shocked when a pelican picked up and swallowed a pigeon.

The unusual wildlife spectacle in St James's Park was caught on camera by photographer Cathal McNaughton.

He said the Eastern White pelican had the unfortunate pigeon in its beak for more than 20 minutes before swallowing it whole.

An RSPB spokesman said: "It is almost unheard of for a pelican to eat a bird. Their diet should be strictly fish."

Hmm. Pelcians seems to be doing a lot of unprecedented things all of a sudden.

Watch the skies!

Ignazc Clair was the first person to introduce Gymnastics into Hungary as a sport in the early 19th Century when he founded the Gymnastics society. Gymnastics developed in Hungary to a huge extent over the 19th Century- but more interesting perhaps than the fact of its development and its popularity are the reasons why it developed at that particular point. As Miklos Hadas argues in a perceptive, but often dense, article, written for the Fall 07 issue of the Journal of Social History, the timing of the rise of Hungarian gymnastics was no accident and tells us something very interesting about the process that we call modernisation.

There are two separate processes that Hadas identifies: both of which deserve some attention from us. The first is that the rise of gymnastics represented a change in the class structure of society. As society became more urbanised and more bourgeois the kinds of physical exercise preferred by people changed radically. The old aristocratic exercises such as duelling and hunting became less relevant, as the world shifted. Hunting obviously was not as important within the city of Budapest as within a country estate outside. Duelling too harked back to an honour code and an ideal of chivalric masculinity that was passing out in Burke's 'age of oeconomists'. They were replaced by gymnastics and sport. If you turn to examine the memberships of the gymnastic and sporting societies of Hungary in the century, you find that the majority of their membership were not aristocratic but were middle class- were bourgeois. As the Hungarian middle class grew, so did the obsession with personal sporting excellence.

When the bourgeois moved to exalting sports, they moved to exalting a different model of society. A duel is very different from a fencing match- and even more different from an individual athletic exercise. If I duel, I do so in order to harm my opponent- there is at least a significant risk of doing so. Fencing and to an even greater extent, rowing, and most of all gymnastics are not really about the other, the competition, as they are about the improvement of one's own standard. A duel is an important signifier when your rivals are few and very important- in the bourgeois world of late 19th Century Budapest however, your rival on the gymnastic stage is not likely to be your rival in the boardroom. Rather you use gymnastics to develop yourself as an instrument of self advancement- you do it in order to train yourself.

It is no surprise- and Hadas adopts a fairly Marxian framework based on class analysis to argue this- a framework that has its limitations but also invites us to learn a lot- that this craze for gymnastics took place at the same time as a craze for education. Over the 18th Century, the educative works of modern Europe from the great philosophers of the age- Locke and Rousseau instantly come to mind- were translated and taken on by Hungarians in order to form a new Hungarian citizendry. Rousseau in particular had a great influence through his novel Emile on the way that Hungarians thought about education. Education in Rousseau's view was a way of forming a person to live in a corrupt society- he argued that a vigorous and natural education would lead to a true citizen, whose world would not include amour-propre, the destructive self love- but instead be filled with true feelings towards society and himself. Hungarians shared that aspiration- as did others around Europe- just think of Arnold's Rugby and its description in Tom Brown's Schooldays. Education for them was a training- and it was a mental training. You placed within the individual dispositions through their education- raised them to the higher pleasures. In the classical world of the 19th Century middle class- one of the obvious ways to do that was through training not merely the mind but the body- through gymnastics in particular, through an exercise that promoted self analysis and self criticism and attention to detail amidst monotonous activity.

I don't entirely buy Hadas's thesis- I think he overstates the structural element to this. But I do think that the core is right- we are looking at a change within society and an accompanying change in mindset- and the invention of competitive sport is a part of that. It is a useful part for us because it throws light on the way that the bourgeoise of the 19th Century beleived that education formed the perfect citizen- that it implanted beneficent dispositions within the child in order to the fulfilment of society's ideal. What we are seeing in the development of 19th Century sport is the consequences of the Emilisation of society: hence amongst the most notable offspring of Rousseau should be counted the Olympic Games and the proud history of Hungarian Gymnastics!

or Cherie Booth's "Speaking For My Mortgage" or "Speaking For Ten Grand A Pop" or

and a link to an old one, click for full size :

Mark Comerford: "I have some issues with the digital native/ digital immigrant meme. ... it makes age an arbitrary measurement to digital understanding. It makes it seem that if you are young enough, then you automatically have a digital mindset. I have s

The Burmese regime is continuing to hamper relief efforts, yet some aid has got through. One of the most useful countries has been Bangladesh, thanks to its long history of disasters, proximity, as well as its reasonable relations with the Burmese dictatorship:

"A plane carrying UN relief aid from Bangladesh to cyclone victims in Burma has landed in the capital, Rangoon. Aid agencies say the cargo was impounded on arrival after the World Food Programme won permission from Burma to send the shipment. Two planes carrying aid supplies organised by Bangladesh's army have already been sent...

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Dhaka says Bangladesh has stockpiles of emergency aid because of the frequency with which natural disasters strike the country. There are also hundreds of aid workers in Bangladesh with the experience of coping with the aftermath of a cyclone."

It is nice to see a story like this, especially in the midst of all the suffering.

According to the Sunday Times today:

At least two ideas mooted by Johnson during his campaign have been squashed by his rigorous new policymen. A proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants who are "established" in London has been quietly dropped.

Johnson also talked of axing various "embassies" City Hall has sprouted in China, India and Brussels. Some may be closed, but most will simply be incorporated into existing UK government offices in foreign cities.

How f*cking unsurprising. He stood in front of an audience only last month and said he supported an amnesty in London for long-established illegal migrants. The Tories, who would hate the idea of more brown people voting in London, have forced him to drop the idea. I wonder what other pledges Boris the buffoon will do a u-turn over.

Oh, and for all the talk about cronyism, isn't it funny his team is entirely populated by Tory councillors and friends from the thinktank Policy Exchange. The same think-tank that promised to sue the BBC because they had one of their ‘investigations' blown wide apart... and err, has yet to do so.

Summary: Tomas Young from Phil Donohue's documentary, Body of War ; Renée Paradis, Counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice; and Elbert Ventura, research fellow with Media Matters for America. Part 1 - Jon Stewart is coming! So is electronic voting. Plus, who does Senator Clinton remind you of when she says she doesn't listen to those silly little people who study monetary systems and history for a living? (25:31 41 MB) Interview with Renée Paradis - Renée Paradis is counsel for the non-pa

I was delighted to see that the leaders of Sinn Féin, DUP, UUP and SDLP have written to Westminster MP's to state their opposition to plans to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to the 6 counties.



The Liberal Democrats have proposed an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in order to have the Abortion Act extended to Irish soil.

It is the first time all four parties have taken a united stand on a major issue.

Jeffrey Donaldson, chairman of the assembly's pro-life group, said:

"The pro-life group in the assembly thought it would be useful for the four leaders to write to each MP re-stating that position. I think it's a very powerful message we have here, four political leaders coming from very diverse political perspectives but united in their view that we do not want the 1967 Act, with all its implications, imposed on Northern Ireland and that the issue of abortion is a matter that should be left to the assembly itself"

For me this demonstrates two vital things

The sooner Policing and Justice powers are devolved the better and Unionism is only concerned about being British when it suits them.

As a vocal pro-life supporter I am glad to see this stance being adopted by the Irish political parties, no matter how hypocritical some of these parties are!

It's that time of the year again and the silverware is once again staying in Old Trafford. I was delighted today to see both Ronaldo and Giggs score.



Ronaldo has been an absolute genius this year and to surpass George Best's goal record shows just what class of player he is.

For Giggs it was a fitting tribute to a player who has given so much to Man Utd, this is his 10th league championship medal.

That said credit must also go to Ferdinand, Vidic and the entire back four, what a season they have had.

Now on to the gaffer! This is Alex Ferguson's 20th major trophy in 22 seasons. No other manager in the modern era has managed this. He has no equals and no peers, he is a breed apart.

Now we wait for Moscow and the chance to make it a double with the Champions League as the jewel in the crown.

As today ends I have a wry smile when I think of Liverpool, yet another season with no silverware.

This day can't get any better!

At the local elections on Thursday 1st May 2008, Conservatives gained three more seats from Labour for a total of thirteen Councillors. Conservatives remain the official opposition on Salford City Council. Councillor Karen Garrido is the Conservative Group Leader and Leader of the Opposition.

There are four new Conservative Councillors on Salford City Council - Lyn Bramer-Kelly (Cadishead Ward, gained from Labour), Andy Cheetham (Boothstown & Ellenbrook Ward, elected following the retirement of former Councillor Beryl Howard), Judith Tope (Eccles Ward, gained from Labour) and Nicky Turner (Walkden South Ward, gained from Labour).

You can find contact details for your local Conservative Councillor by following the links below: 

Boothstown & Ellenbrook Ward

Councillor Andy Cheetham
Councillor Robin Garrido
Councillor Christine Gray

Cadishead Ward

Councillor Lyn Bramer-Kelly
Councillor Liz Hill

Eccles Ward

Councillor Ann Davies
Councillor Judith Tope

Walkden South Ward

Councillor Iain Lindley
Councillor Les Turner
Councillor Nicky Turner

Worsley Ward

Councillor Graham Compton
Councillor Karen Garrido
Councillor Ian MacDonald

The PM Sends Business Call To Action

PM invited 80 CEOs from some of the world's largest companies to London to showcase and encourage business initiatives to cut poverty in the developing world.

The PM celebrates Israel's 60th Anniversary

What did he send them as a present. A birthday cake.
Israel is almost old enough for a free bus pass.
The PM encourages investment in Palestine

Will he put his own money in. He must be doing this middle east stuff in association with the old PM, who is trying for middle east peace process.
And he did another Iraq video.
The PM encourages investment in Iraq

So atleast he seems to want to make Iraq wealthier.

The PM visits Astor Court assisted housing scheme, Plymouth
:

Look at 0:57 He has a teddy bear that looks like Tory leader Cameron LOL.
Is this just me?
It is like that episode in Seinfeld when George's girlfriend has a doll that looks like a human, he knew well LOL.
Seinfeld - The Doll


I support labour, but I am not to bothered on who wins the by - election. I am sure the Tory candidate does not really mean to have a teddy that is meant to look like his party leader. But maybe he does, maybe it is clever trick a subliminal message to make the voter see the Tory leader as cuddly rather than nasty bad Tories that everyone sees the Tories as.
Maybe the PM should get his by election candidates to make teddy bears that look like him.

I think a good way to appease the left wing in the labour party would be to appoint Livingstone to the cabinet. He would be good one.

I have No axe to grind with Lord Levy but how can be declared innocent of getting Cash for peerages and then declare that shock horror the PM must have know you were getting cash for peerages This does not make any sense.
It is like someone robbing your house, being declared innocent and then getting his next door neighbour done for the robberies on the basis he must have known about the robberies you claim you did not do.
Levy 'not bitter' towards Blair

Dewsbury Reporter

An interesting snippet from some of the Labour material in the Crewe & Nantwich by-election: they are attacking the Conservative candidate for the (current, known to have changed a few times) Conservative policy of opposing ID cards. However, from what I've seen of it, they've mostly given up on most of the arguments previously used and [...]

Last night's fire is a blow to Camden. But in re-development, it must retain its character

Architectural equivalent of a bendy bus Andrew M goes YouTube and doesn't hold back 105 Ladywell Road - decision deferred Sue fights to save us from takeaways This is for Ross..... Kate wonders if you can have different speed limits on different sides of the road The handshake Max and Steve sitting in a tree... Green spaces Transpontine says there's lots to do outside A [...]