Glad this bill to restrict a woman’s right to choose was lost today:

TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY
Mrs Nadine Dorries
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to reduce the time limit for legal termination of pregnancy from 24 to 21 weeks; to introduce a cooling off period after the first point of contact with a medical practitioner about a termination; to require the provision of counselling about the medical risk of, and about matters relating to, termination and carrying a pregnancy to term as a condition of informed consent to termination; to enable the time period from the end of the cooling off period to the date of termination to be reduced; and for connected purposes.

The speeches and a list of who voted which way is available I’ve criticised on this subject in the past. Other notables voting against further restrictions on abortion included Jon Cruddas. Unsurprisingly given the depth of their commitment to equality, the Tory spokesperson on women’s issues, Eleanor Laing, voted in favour.

Update: it’s also worth reading this post and comments at the Daily for more detail on who voted which way and why.

First there were the Idiots, and no-one knew who they were, and they made us laugh. Then there was Hamer and Harry, and nobody knew who they were either, but they were amusing so it didn’t matter. Along came Urquhart and Trollope who hide their identity as spies in the Tory camp, and their start looked promising. And then someone stretched the joke too far and came up with The Phantom of the Labour Party, and they must try harder.

From Compass Youth:

On abortion, there is a vote on Tuesday next week [31st October] in Parliament. A Tory MP has proposed strict restrictions on a woman’s access to abortion services. I will vote against that Bill on Tuesday and would vote the same way on similar legislation in future. As Bill Clinton put it, I think abortion should be safe, legal but rare.
So Jon, do you believe in a woman’s right to choose?
Yes.

Glad to hear it too.

From Strong and Prosperous Communities, the local government white paper published by DCLG today:

The way councils best govern themselves will be different in different parts of the country. [...] We also recognise the potential gains which unitary status can offer, in terms of leadership and efficiency. Councils in shire areas will be able to seek unitary status; we have published information on how to submit proposals and how we intend to handle the small number of proposals conforming with the criteria which we expect to receive.

(Why I think having one council for Oxford would be a good idea here; also mentioned here and here)

Glad to see someone on Osney Mead knows they’re not called “blogspots”… Interesting collection of posters - student, new mum, luvvie - oh, and a few MPs. Not quite got the technical side right though - no point having individual voices if there’s only one RSS feed for the whole lot which doesn’t tell you who’s writing what.

I quite like my name. An-TO-nia Bance. Even if no-one can ever spell my surname, leading to colleague giggles as I spell it out on the phone - “No, not V, it’s B, B-for-banana, A, N, C, E”. Tip for those who’ve never met me: it doesn’t rhyme with “dance” unless you’re American.

So I’m quite pleased by this:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Been thinking hard about who to support in the deputy leadership contest over the past few weeks. Of all the declared candidates, there are only two that are really standing on a platform that appeal to me: Jon Cruddas, and Harriet Harman.

I’ve heard Harriet speak a few times over the past few months, and her pitch is entirely designed to appeal to party members like me - women. Everytime I hear her say it, I think how much I’d like to see a woman in a leadership position in the party, and I’m all set to vote for her. And then I remember that it’s Harriet Harman, who cut lone parent benefit, sent her son to a grammar school, and has the political judgement of a sixth form council member. Yes, she’s been a great advocate for government action to end domestic violence, but as Dan points out, how could we trust her to stand up to Gordon when it matters?

Jon Cruddas was more likely to get my vote. Liked his emphasis on rebuilding the party, and the lack of ego apparent in seeking the deputy leadership and not the deputy premiership. Was, until I read this (hat tip to Harry Perkins in the comments at Tom’s):

Mr Cruddas describes himself as a pro-life MP in the broadest sense of the definition, covering all aspects from cradle to grave.

On Friday, apparently. From Guido:

On Friday CCHQ is de-camping en masse to Oxford United Football Club stadium for the day. The coach leaves at 8.15, which will be frightfully early for the boys and girls. Dress for the day is “smart(ish) casual”.
According to an email from Francis Maude “This is for everyone who works in CCHQ or in the field. I am also inviting members of the Party Board and Regional Chairmen, who comprise the voluntary party’s Strategy Team that Don Porter set up earlier in the year. David Cameron is attending part of the day. You should all regard this away day as a 3 line whip.”

Will be the first time that part of the world has seen a Tory in a great many years. Reckon they’ll stay cooped up in the banqueting suite all day, or will they go for a wander around Northfield Brook ward? I reckon it’d do the IWCA good to be reminded of the old enemy…

Thanks to the Don, I’ve come across a new campaigning group to support: Take a Break magazine’s Mums for Justice.

We’re sick of hearing about the plight of hard-done-by dads who are being denied access to their beloved kids. These men dump all the blame on their ex-partners. But their sob stories have not gone down well with single mothers across the UK.
They say that while these men pose as superheroes, some of them are just the opposite. They’re men who don’t even put food on the table for their kids. According to figures from the now defunct Child Support Agency (CSA), almost one in three absent parents has failed to pay child support. One in three!
No wonder mothers are angry especially when dads who don’t pay a penny turn up on the doorstep demanding to see their kids. They’ve had enough of such men wanting to play happy families.

We want the government to change the law to make sure that men do the following:
* Pay child support in full every month and on time.
* Don’t get away with lying about their earnings and pretending to be unemployed to wriggle out of paying up.
* Stick to visiting arrangements organised either by family courts or with their ex-partners.

Good for them, and their four million readers, and about time someone started to make this point.

Last night I went to a party to celebrate 50 years of the Rose Hill Community Centre on its present site, at the top of the Oval. In 1956, the council gave the community association some land and £10,000 to build a new community centre to replace the one that had stood in Ashhurst Way (where Butler House is now) since 1937, and had burned down.

As well as commemorating the anniversary, the community association had decided to mark another occasion too: the naming of the ballroom after Bill Buckingham. Regular readers of this blog may know Bill, who stood down as the Labour councillor for Rose Hill in May. Bill had first become a councillor in 1952, and represented Rose Hill through boundary changes as part of Littlemore Parish Council, Bullingdon Rural District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, and finally, from 1990, Oxford City Council. Bill was Lord Mayor in 1994, and was also a magistrate.

The party was wonderful. There were speeches from the chair, Carol Davies; from George Cooper, a relative stripling at 42 years’ residence on the estate; from the Lord Mayor; and from Bill himself. A local chef had done a superb job with the catering, and we all danced to a fifties and sixties cover band til the small hours. It was particularly lovely to see Bill’s wife Margaret, who’s not been well and doesn’t come out much.

Here’s Bill, who’s still secretary of the community association, and goes in every morning to deal with business, dancing with his assistant, Ellie:

The Lord Mayor, Jim Campbell, unveils the plaque for Bill:

When Bill stood down in May, he said “My hopes are that I shall be allowed to see the improvements on the Rose Hill estate, with the new houses going up to replace the Orlits and the revamped community centre.” He’s a hard act to follow, and those are no easy tasks, but we’ll try!