Tag Archives: reading council

Councillor Warren Swaine apologises for offensive tweet

By The Voice | Published 4th August 2011 - 7:53 am

Reading Councillor Warren Swaine has issued an apology for his actions on 27 January.

I would like to take this opportunity apologise for making derogatory comments during the BBC Question Time programme on the 27th January especially those relating to Chuka Umunna MP. I made a lot of comments that were insulting that night and I regret that.

In respect of one particular tweet, no offense was meant but I absolutely acknowledge that it was recklessly worded and liable to an interpretation that was never intended. For that I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Mr Umunna and

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 12 Comments

Meet the Lib Dem bloggers: Daisy Benson

By Mark Pack | Published 22nd March 2011 - 1:25 pm

Welcome to the latest in our series giving the human face behind some of the blogs you can find on the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator.

Today it is Daisy Benson who blogs at www.daisyscampaigndiary.blogspot.com.

1. What’s your formative political memory?
The morning after the 1992 election – remembering my parents’ disappointment that Labour hadn’t won (again) and the pervading sense of gloom of another Tory government.

I also remember one election in the 80s when my parents displayed an SDP and a Labour poster in the same window!

2. When did you start blogging?
2007

3. Why did you start blogging?
I started because I …

Continue reading »
Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

What not to tweet, part 94

By Mark Pack | Published 27th February 2011 - 10:16 pm

From the Reading Post:

The Lib Dem councillor at the centre of the “racist” Twitter storm has been suspended from his party.

Cllr Warren Swaine quoted an Ali G catchphrase “Is it because I is black” in a tweet about mixed race Labour MP Chuka Umunna when he was appearing on Question Time…

Henk van Klaveren, Liberal Democrat national office spokesman, said: “The Liberal Democrats have a zero tolerance policy on racist comments and behaviour. The regional party has suspended Councillor Warren Swaine pending further investigation.”

And from Political Scrapbook:

With a meeting approving cuts of £65 million and 1,300 redundancies, the leader

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Online politics | Also tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Are these the most generous mileage allowances in the public sector?

By Mark Pack | Published 15th July 2009 - 8:50 am

HM Revenue and Customs set an approved mileage rate of 40p per mile for using your own car on work. That makes for a good yardstick to judge mileage allowances against and various parts of the public sector I’ve come across pay either this figure or a bit more or less.

But I’ve never come across anything quite like Reading Council:

About 400 council staff get a whopping £2.10 for every mile they travel by car.

Read the rest of the story at Get Reading.

And a challenge for our readers: anyone able to beat £2.10 per mile?

UPDATE: If you follow the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 9 Comments