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Thank you for dropping by...
... And welcome to the award-winning stephentall.org.uk. This site's self-conscious aim is not to become just another tepidly safe, predictably banal, toe-the-party-line entry in the ever-growing list of political bloggers.
You will find here a veritable smorgasbord of regularly updated news, opinion and information covering a range of local, national and international issues. I hope many of you will discover a few pages here that are of interest and relevance, and, if so, that you'll soon pay me the compliment of a return visit.
With best wishes,
Cllr Stephen Tall
PS: if you have comments, views and suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me at stephen@stephentall.org.uk.
PPS: Why not check out my latest thoughts on politics over at my blog, A Liberal Goes A Long Way?
Latest news:
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Tue 26th Feb 2008
I've just received the latest update from Oxfordshire County Council on the current state of play with transport schemes in our area. I've listed them all below, together with the Council's assessment of what's happening, and what's been completed. Any questions, do please let me know: stephen[at]stephentall.org.uk
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Read "Headington & Marston Transport Strategy: where's it up to?" in full
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Wed 20th Feb 2008
I've just received an email from Charles Young, organiser of the Headington Farmers' Market - www.headingtonmarket.net - alerting me to the fact that this Friday, 22nd February, the market will be open for business once again. There's a terrific range of produce available, so if you haven't popped along yet, make sure you do this week...
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Read "Headington Farmers' Market THIS FRIDAY" in full
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Wed 20th Feb 2008
Rather unsurprisingly there's going to be some disruption to your normal shopping service if you're planning to use the Westgate Centre while it's being revamped. The Council press release below gives further details of changes to Shopmobility, the toilets and the parking machines...
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Read "New Westgate shopping centre - disruption during works" in full
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Wed 6th Feb 2008
My Headington ward colleague, Cllr David Rundle, has two unenviable tasks: being the City Council's deputy leader, and responsible for Oxford's leisure centres. He's written to The Oxford Times to address how the Lib Dems are dealing with the terrible legacy of two decades of Labour neglect of our leisure centres:
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Read "David Rundle: "radical change" ahead for Oxford's leisure centres" in full
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Sun 3rd Feb 2008
We all know what in iniquitous tax the Council Tax is. Introduced by the Tories, it has been kept by Labour - and the cost has doubled in the last decade under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The average council tax per dwelling in England and Wales has increased by 96% since 1997/8, from £554 to over £1000 in 2007/08. The Liberal Democrats would, as I'm sure you know, scrap council tax and replace it with a fairer tax based on the ability to pay.
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Read "Lib Dems reveal Council Tax has doubled since Labour came to power in '97 " in full
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Fri 25th Jan 2008
A resident recently asked what exactly Oxford City Council does to tackle racism in our community. It was one of those questions which, slightly embarrassingly, stumped me: I know the Council has always taken a firm anti-racist line - and that councillors have made it a priority for the Council to enact anti-discrimination legislation - but that's a bit different from working out how you can change hearts and minds in the city at large. I asked one of the Council managers to brief me, and thought I'd share her bullet points with you...
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Read "Combating racism - how Oxford City does it" in full
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Archive of earlier news stories
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Published and promoted by Stephen Tall, Flat 2, 47B James St, Oxford OX4 1EU.
The views expressed are those of Stephen Tall, not of the service provider.
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| Online Poll |
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The Liberal Democrats are the first major political party to set out a credible plan to make Britain carbon neutral by 2050. The party's plans include: huge increase in railways investment, paid for by introducing motorway tolls for lorries; carbon neutral, non-nuclear power generation by 2050; the phasing out of petrol cars by 2040; increased use of green taxes to help cut pollution, using the money to cut income tax; and introducing 'green mortgages' to enable people to make their homes more energy efficient. Do you support the Lib Dem proposals?
View the results so far.
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| | Liberal Democrat Campaigns |
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| Quotes of the Week |
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"Holding someone without charge for 42 days adds nothing of value to the investigation, prosecution or conviction of terrorists. "
Liberal Democrat Shadow Attorney General Lord (Martin) Thomas
Comment ahead of the Second Reading of the Counter-Terrorism Bill in the House of Lords - 8 July
"Opponents of Mugabe's regime are at serious risk of being tortured or killed if they are sent back to Zimbabwe. I am dismayed that the Home Office seems intent on pushing ahead with deportations at the earliest opportunity. "
Chris Huhne, Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesman
www.libdems.org.uk - 8 July
"Schools' performance in recognising and tackling homophobia should be an assessed criterion in Ofsted school inspections. "
Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg
www.bbc.co.uk/news/ - 7 July
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