Liberal Bureaucracy

The musings of a liberal and an internationalist, living in Suffolk's county town. There may be references to parish councils, bureaucracy and travel, amongst other things. And yes, I'm a Liberal Democrat.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Creeting St Peter: a new Chair reflects...

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Well, that  was somewhat unexpected. I had turned up at Monday night’s Annual Parish Meeting and Annual Parish Council Meeting (not the...
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Thursday, May 17, 2018

Ros in the Lords: East Suffolk (Local Government Changes) Order 2018

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It’s not all Brexit glamour in the House of Lords, and whilst most attention is on the series of defeats inflicted on the Government with r...
Tuesday, May 15, 2018

FIRC: a personal response to the Alderdice Report

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Federal International Relations Committee will be discussing its response to the Alderdice Report on Thursday evening, and we have been ask...
Sunday, April 29, 2018

A sense of dissonance in Sofia

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So, here I am in a cafe on Vitosha, the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, surrounded by men enjoying a shisha ...
Friday, April 20, 2018

Some thoughts on Ipswich Town, courtesy of an outsider....

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I ought to declare my (lack of) interest straight away - I’m a Luton Town supporter, more in the technical sense than the “turning up in ra...
Thursday, April 19, 2018

Merging Suffolk Councils - a glitch emerges...

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I must thank Ros for bringing this to my attention, and the noble Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope for bringing it to hers. Times are tough in...

Adventures in Transnistria (part 2)...

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I had rather forgotten to report back on the rest of my trip to Moldova, so let’s see if we can remedy that. If you haven’t read the earlie...
Wednesday, April 18, 2018

@ALDEParty: a day of advanced bureaucracy for political parties

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It does sometimes seem hard to believe that I’m now in my seventh year as a member of the ALDE Party’s Financial Advisory Committee. Perhap...
Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Adventures in Transnistria (part 1)...

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Tiraspol’s railway station is rather grand, and utterly wasted on the few trains that serve it, but like a surprising number of stations at...
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“You don’t know how lucky you boys are...”

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So, it’s my first full day in Moldova, and I’ve spent the day somewhere unusual. It’s   easier to tell the story than to explain, so I’ll h...
Monday, April 02, 2018

Welcome to Moldova - not many hurt so far...

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Alright, so I've arrived. It isn't quite what I expected, but I'm here, which is good enough, I guess. Here is Chişinău, th...
Saturday, March 31, 2018

This, apparently, means nothing to me...

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Alright, so here I am in a surprisingly hip hotel close to an airport - indeed, it’s called Moxy - so evidently I am off somewhere. And tha...
Tuesday, March 13, 2018

@BaronessRos in the Lords: Buses

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Alright, not perhaps the most glamorous subject in the world, but for those of us who rely on public transport, buses are absolutely core t...
Monday, March 12, 2018

Mid Suffolk: the Local Government Boundary Commission for England tries again...

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Readers might recall that, three weeks ago, I noted that the proposed new ward boundaries for Mid Suffolk had been delayed . It now transpi...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Mid Suffolk - the Local Government Boundary Commission for England rethinks?

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We’ve been awaiting the final recommendations for new ward boundaries here in Mid Suffolk for some time, and whilst the proposals are put o...
Sunday, February 18, 2018

One sweet day, I’ve made her mine...

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Last year, I celebrated St Valentine’s Day by presenting Ros with sixty thousand breeding pairs of Magellenic penguins. Not literally, you ...

Breathe deeply... very deeply...

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We had to leave the seaside goodbye, for our next stop was beckoning. An efficient transfer to Santiago Airport got us there in good time f...
Saturday, February 17, 2018

A day on the beach with the Chileans...

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Valparaíso is the port town, and its neighbour, Viña del Mar, is the beach resort. The two are connected by Metro Valparaíso, which runs a ...

Journeys by trolleybus, a quirky solo adventure...

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I am, still, methodically recording my 10,000 steps each day, and I needed another walk to make sure that I got there on our second day in ...
Friday, February 16, 2018

A gentle stroll amongst the cerros, and an antique ride...

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Our hotel, amongst its many virtues, offered a walking tour of the city as part of our stay, and the next morning, we were greeted by Cynth...
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About Me

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Mark Valladares
Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Not your average bureaucrat, I live in the heart of Suffolk’s county town, Ipswich, with my rather more interesting wife, Ros. I’m coming to the end of my adventures in the first tier of local government, having chaired Creeting St Peter Parish Council for eight years. I travel as much as work allows, play a minor backroom role in the Liberal Democrats, and walk 10,000 steps a day…
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