Stephen Mullen

Web designer, civil rights activist, anti-fascist and Liberal Democrat

January 11, 2011
by Stephen
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Labour wrongly accuse minister of breaking ministerial code for pre-by-election announcement

Labour have wrongly accuse Andrew Stunell of breaking ministerial code for an announcement on empty homes that was made back in October 2010.  The Guardian are reporting that

in a letter to O’Donnell, the shadow cabinet office minister John Trickett raised a “possible breach of the ministerial code” after Stunell’s press release. Trickett wrote: “The announcement was clearly made to influence the outcome of the byelection. This has the appearance of a clear breach of guidelines on the appropriate communication of government announcements.

The row broke out after Andrew Stunell, the Lib Dem housing minister, announced after a visit to the constituency on Saturday that the government would be unveiling a £100m government scheme to bring empty houses back to use.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/10/liberal-democrats-byelection-row-rules

except that for those with a short memory even the most casual google reveals that the announcement was made back in October:

The Government has announced a £100 million fund to bring empty homes back into use as part of the comprehensive spending review.

In a letter sent to council leaders outlining the coalition government’s plans for reforming housing in the next four years, housing minister Grant Shapps gave details of the fund.

Source: http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/housing-management/%C2%A3100m-to-bring-empty-homes-back-into-use/6512202.article (25 October 2010)

Andrew Stunell had also announced the proposals in the House of Common in Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government on 25th November 2010:

The coalition agreement says clearly that we are planning to tackle the issue, and we have made the first steps. We intend to provide £100 million over the spending review period to bring empty homes back into use-that is a tripling of the money contributed by Labour in the last comprehensive review period. We are consulting on how the new homes bonus can also be used to bring more homes back into use.

Source: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm101125/debtext/101125-0001.htm#10112521000753

It was around this sort of time in the general election that Phil Woolas put out those leaflets that sparked this by-election. Seems Labour haven’t learned a thing.

Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government

November 21, 2010
by Stephen
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NUS Right to Recall campaign – partisan and defeatist

The National Union of Student is planning to use the proposed legislation giving voters the right to recall your MP to target Liberal Democrat MPs who vote for higher university tuition fees.

Will NUS be targeting Labour MPs who who voted for tuition fees (and scrapping of maintentance grants) in 1997 after Tony Blair stated “Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education” or those who voted for top-up fees in 2001 which went against their manifesto pledge not to do so? If not then this is just a highly partisan campaign targeted at the Lib Dems and we may as well call NUS the National Union of Labour Students.

This campaign has no basis in law – the right to recall is for corrupt MPs, not ones who don’t implement a manifesto pledge.

So rather than spend time on this silly campaign, perhaps NUS should actually be lobbying ALL our MPs to stop higher fees BEFORE they are introduced. Targeting just 57 MPs will do nothing to help students. We need queues of students outside ALL MPs surgeries and 1000s of letters (snail mail not email) in their post bags as well as lots of local demos outside their offices. Using Right To Recall is defeatist and partisan and if we are to defeat the introduction of higher tuition fees, NUS can and must do better than this.

November 20, 2010
by Stephen
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Tuition Fees – An open letter from the Liberal Democrat grassroots

Below is a copy of the Open Letter I signed which was sent to Vince Cable (Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills) and also sent to all other Liberal Democrat MPs.

Dear Dr Cable,

On the 12th of October, Lord Browne published the findings of his report into higher education funding, which contained some good points and some very bad points.

One of the bad points was to remove the cap on tuition fees meaning that some courses could end up leaving a student in debt by over £36,000.  This is an utter disgrace and cannot be allowed to happen.  Vince Cable himself has said the level of personal debt is too high.  Why should we force students to take on this kind of personal debt before they even buy a house?

The Liberal Democrats have, since 2001, pledged to scrap tuition fees.  And while we are aware that this is not a Liberal Democrat Government, it does not warrant an abstention.  We urge you to honour your pledge to fight any increase in fees.

Our party has always been one of fairness, but judging by Mr Clegg’s and Mr Cable’s responses to the suggestions it appears that we are moving away from that.

Please support us and help to retain the party’s identity within the coalition.

Regards

Kelly Panter (Birmingham Selly Oak)
Christopher Fenton (Birmingham Selly Oak)
Paul Wild
Duncan Moore (Oxford East)
Jonathan McCree (Haringey Lib Dems)
Fraser Nesbitt (Bristol East)
Rachel Smith (Sheffield Hallam)
Dr. Richard Davis (Battersea and Tooting)
Caron Lindsay
Benjamin R Lille
Elaine Bagshaw
John Fraser (Westminster South & City of London)
Charlotte Galpin
Daniel Sear (Guildford)
Mike Dixon (City of Birmingham Organiser Lib Dems)
Cllr Chris Ward (Guildford)
Robert Howell – Southend
Chris Wilson (Kingston & Surbiton)
Duncan Borrowman FE member, PPC Old Bexley & Sidcup, former National Campaigns Officer
Susan Gaszczak – Watford
Cllr Fiona White, Leader, Lib Dem Group, Guildford Borough Council
Matthew Doye (Somerton and Frome)
Irfan Ahmed (lead campaigner in the Pendle parliamentary campaign in 2010)
Stephen Glenn (2010 Westminster Candidate for Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Michael Carchrie Campbell, Chair, Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats; sometime convenor LDYS NI.
Nikki Thomson ( Edinburgh Central constituency)
Hannah Arnold
Cllr Season Prater, Sandgate, Kent. Former LDYS Exec Officer.
Keith McGrellis (Northern Ireland Lib Dems member)
Darren Briddock (South East Region Chair Elect 2011)
Mr Matthew Burton
Cllr Martin Hunt – Colchester
Cllr Nick Barlow – Colchester
Luke Bosman – Preston
Cllr David McBride – Bromley
Simon Green Borough Councillor (LB Brent) and Ex Vice President, University of Leicester Students’ Union 2005-6
Nima chatrizeh – Student
John Doran, ex Surrey County Councillor and deeply ashamed member.
James King Please sign me up as well. Ordinary member in Southport, and student activist in Oxford.
Michael James Yates (Preseton)
Merlene Emerson (Chair Chinese LibDems & candidate for London Assembly 2012)
Cllr Daisy Cooper
Andy Pickwell
Richard Huzzey (Oxford West & Abingdon)
Cllr Sam Potts
Martin Hunt (Leader Libdem Colchetser Borough Council)
Craig Brown
Colin Ross
Kai Page
Lisa Harding
Lynne Beaumont, Lib Dem Group Leader, Shepway District Council
Val Loseby, Shepway District Councillor
Bev Rolfe, Shepway Lib Dem Local Party Chair
Maggie Sheldrake, Folkestone Town Councillor
Bill Sheldrake, Shepway Liberal Democrat Executive Member
James Shaddock
Cllr Stewart Golton, Leader of Leeds City Council Lib Dem Group
Cllr Jim Spencer, Leader of Otley Town Council
Cllr Ben Chastney, Leeds City Councillor
Cllr Jamie Matthews, Leeds City Councillor and PPC for Pudsey
Cllr Martin Hamilton, Leeds City Councillor
Cllr James Monaghan, Leeds City Councillor and PPC for Morley and Outwood
David Hall-Matthews, Leeds Central Member and Chair of the Social Liberal Forum
Adam Pritchard, Leeds North West Member
Chris Lovell, Leeds West Member and President of Leeds Liberal Youth 2008-2010
Stephen Sadler, Chair of Leeds Central Lib Dems
Peter Wrigley, President of Batley and Spen Lib Dems (personal capacity)
Ian Howell, Leeds Central Member
Christina Shaw, Leeds North West Member
Cllr John Cole, Bradford City Councillor and Chair of Shipley Lib Dems
Cllr John Watmough, Bradford City Councillor
Cllr Steve Smith, Leeds City Councillor
Cllr Alan Taylor, Leeds City Councillor
Matthew Burton
Chris Ward
Ramon Chiratheep
Hugh Bailey-Lane
Chris Lovell (Chair of Leeds Liberal Youth 2008-2010)
Chris Gurney
Richard Davis
Caron Lindsay
David MacDonald
David Parkes
Harriet Ainscough
Rachel Olgeirrson
Allan Window
Jason Lower (Secretary, Tonbridge and Malling branch)
Paul Freeman
Jenny Marr
Tim Prater
Kirby Meehan
Alexandra White
Michael Yates
Margaret White
Stephen Mullen
Christopher Leslie
Stephen Rule
Sara Bedford
Cllr Katie Ray
Becky White
Emma Page
Claire Berwick
Cllr Keith Legg
Martin Veart
Gareth Epps
Keith Nevols
Nikki Thomson
Cllr Terry Stacey
Cllr Susan Buchanan
Ramis Azer
Nick Blake
Marie Jenkins
Dominic Mathon
Kristian Chapman
Mark Whiley
Henry Vann
Cllr Ross Carter
Vanessa Hubbard
Sophie Bertrand
Seth Alexander Thévoz
Simon Courtenage
Tim Holyoake
Nick Edgeworth
Andrea O’Halloran
Luke Shore
David Warren
Gary Glover
Will Miéville-Hawkins
Fiona James
Jordan Kleiner
Laura Webster
Hywel Morgan
Christopher Mills (East Hampshire)
Ray Khan

Thank you to Sophie Bertrand (@LiberalBertie) and all the others who organised the letter.

Charles Kennedy (former leader of the Liberal Democrats) has replied to the letter. You can read it at:

http://chrismills.me.uk/2010/11/charles-kennedy-mp-responds-to-the-open-letter-on-student-fees/

October 21, 2010
by Stephen
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My audio interview about the cuts with blogpreston

Yesterday morning I was interviewed by Blog Preston ahead of the comprehensive spending review announcement on my thoughts about what the cuts will mean for Preston. You can listen below and please visit Blog Preston for their excellent coverage of the CSR.


Source: http://audioboo.fm/boos/202518-interview-about-the-cuts-with-stephen-mullen-liberal-democrats-by-naz-kinsella

September 24, 2010
by Stephen
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If David Miliband is the Terminator then Nick Clegg is John Connor

A recent piece in The Mirror has described Labour Leadership challenger David Miliband as the Terminator

‘The Tories’ fears David would crush them like the robot in the Terminator films emerged in a ConservativeHome website poll of 2,000 members.

I can see why The Mirror would compare a machine sent back in time to kill women and unborn children and wipe out humanity with David Miliband the man who signed off on torture and attempted to cover it up, but why would they back such a man who could one day lead a major political party that may form a government in the future?

I can only assume that they’ve never seen any of the movies because what the article fails to mention is that each of the Terminators sent back in time are destroyed. In The Terminator the T-800 crushed in a hydraulic press. The T1000 is melted in a vat of molten steel in Terminator 2 and in Terminator 3 a hydrogen fuel cell detonates in the T-X’s mouth. In Terminator Salvation a Skynet base is destroyed along with a large number of T800′s. Good news for the coalition but not the sign of success needed for an opposition party seeking power.

Nick Clegg – John Connor?

In the Terminator Salvation movie John Connor isn’t the leader of the resistance yet and is just the leader of a small resistance cell just as Nick Clegg leads a small parliamentary party within a coalition government. John Connor does goes on to lead the resistance so perhaps this is a portent of things to come for Nick Clegg. Interesting fact is that the leader that John Connor goes on to replace is a General Ashdown.

Here’s the most interesting twist in the terminator franchise for David Miliband – In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, John Henry, the brother of Skynet discusses joining forces with the human resistance.  So Ed Miliband “Will you join us?”

Will you Join us?

May 14, 2010
by Stephen
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New government, new hosting

Apologies to those who’ve been trying to access the website over the past few weeks. Been a little busy to get the website moved from the old server.  I’m still moving over some of the old content, so please bare with me if there was an old article you were looking for.  I hope to be blogging a bit more from now on, especially about my thoughts on the new Lib Dem/Conservative coalition government.  I tweet more than I blog so head over to http://twitter.com/StephenMullen for more regular updates from me.

February 1, 2010
by Stephen
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My David Cameron Poster – Bringing Back Slavery

my-david-cameron-poster-bringing-back-slavery

My David Cameron poster inspired by a tweet from former Liberal Youth Chair Elaine Bagshaw: http://twitter.com/esbagshaw/status/8450720129:

“The moment a burglar steps over your threshold, they leave their human rights outside” So Cameron could I keep them as a slave then?

An alternative view sent to me by a friend:

http://www.andybarefoot.com/politics/cameron.php?poster=178319

my-david-cameron-poster-myleene-klass-was-right

May 28, 2009
by Stephen
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Cameron calls the BNP the ‘N’ word

David Cameron has launched a scathing attack on the British National Party, calling them “Nazi thugs” and a “bunch of fascists”.

Source: http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2009/05/bnp-are-nazi-thugs-cameron.html

Finally a leading politician calling them the ‘N’ word, which a number of politicians seem to be afraid to do. Politicians need to stop this PC nonsense and call them the Nazis fascists that they are.
Well done Cameron. That’s probably the first and last time I’ll say that, but credit where credits due.