Councillors’ pay: a proposal

by Stephen Tall on April 30, 2007

The question – how much should councillors be paid? – is prompted by the figures released by the Taxpayers’ Alliance showing the average councillor allowance is now £9,300. As always, this mean hides extremes. Putting to one side the Greater (…)

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I can take a hint

by Stephen Tall on April 30, 2007

Full Council today – 46 questions on notice have been tabled for Oxford’s seven executive board members, an average of over six for each of us to answer. Except none of them are for me. Not one. Nor is this (…)

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Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #10

by Stephen Tall on April 30, 2007

And into double figures… Here is the tenth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22nd-28th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have (…)

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Return to ‘Facing up to reality’

by Stephen Tall on April 26, 2007

Yet more statistical evidence suggesting the introduction of ‘top-up’ tuition fees of £3,000 a year has not deterred students from applying to university: The latest snapshot of application figures to full-time undergraduate courses at UK higher education institutions from UCAS (…)

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Good-bye, or is it au revoir?

by Stephen Tall on April 25, 2007

All good things must, so the cliché tells us, come to an end. And so it is with my year’s tenure on Oxford City Council’s Executive Board – what some places, with more pretensions to grandeur than us, call a (…)

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A two-horse race in Oxford East

by Stephen Tall on April 24, 2007

Excitement-a-plenty today at the news that Peter Tatchell is to contest Oxford East at the next general election. Indeed, to read BBC News’ giddily breathless report a casual reader might imagine that the constituency is his for the taking from (…)

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Alright with being awry

by Stephen Tall on April 22, 2007

This was my prediction on PoliticalBetting.com of the results of the first round of the French presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy 28.9% Ségolène Royal 22.8%Jean-Marie Le Pen 16.5%François Bayrou 15.3% This compares with the latest set of figures at LeTemps.ch: Nicolas (…)

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Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #9

by Stephen Tall on April 22, 2007

The ninth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere is back in its rightful Sunday afternoon position, and features the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (15th-21st April), together with a hand-picked quintet you (…)

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Sunday best

by Stephen Tall on April 22, 2007

My ninth weekly round-up of the best (and/or most popular) of the Lib Dem blogosphere has just been posted on Lib Dem Voice here. And – shock! horror! – I’ve actually managed to hit my self-imposed Sunday afternoon deadline. Enjoy… (…)

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French presidential election poll: hearts say Bayrou, heads say Sarkozy

by Stephen Tall on April 22, 2007

That, at least, seems to be the message so far of the polls running here. Here’s how you, dear readers, have so far said you’d vote if you had a say in today’s French presidential election first round: And here’s (…)

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