LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The Make Poverty History campaign has commented on the G8 outcomes. ... Today's announcement marks a turning point in the human story, but it falls far short of the plan that would truly make poverty history. To do that, and secure a place in history, world leaders must go a lot further at 2 crucial talks later in the year - the UN Millennium Development Goals summit and World Trade Organisation talks - and we need your continued help to make sure they act. By the way, the blog below should display a neat Flash animation from the ...

Here is today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. You can find more details of that estimable organ here.Making a cake of itThis week all right-thinking people are up in arms about the Market Harborough cheesecake. But first we have to deal with something less important: the Conservative Party.On Monday they initiated two debates, and used the first to attack us over local income tax. As Phil Woolas suggested, the title of the debate should have been “The Cheadle by-election’ as that was what the Tories really had in mind.But they must have been disappointed with the outcome. Their ...

I’ve been getting loads of hits from people searching on “Sudoku”. I’ve still not heard if I passed my regional heat of the Independent’s Sudoku Grand Master Championship, so in the mean time here are some other bloggers who were at regional finals: The Thought Offering Bill at The Incredibly Stupid Diary of Bill et al Frankie Roberto

This Animation is just amazing; It's a Gilbet & Sullivan style all-singing, all dancing number about Mr Clarke and Blunkett's notional national identity cards. I particularly like the idea of suggesting EDS for the role of co-ordinating the ID card programme; these big IT firms are spectacular at billing billions and delivering broken software. If [...]

Robin Cook makes a good point yet again in today's Guardian. Let's hope that the public start to think about all of these issues, especially about how you cannot defeat terrorism by force. I'm pleased to see that there hasn't yet been any demand for action against groups or countries. Hopefully this will continue as people [...]

Noticed 'Make Poverty History' banners appearing on some blogs and websites. Checked the link Make Poverty History and found it very easy to put on my own blog. As there seems to be many people regularly reading this blog, thought it a good way to spread my support. The size and position can be changed - Dave Smithson has it positioned large right on his blog Ed Davey MP has it positioned the same as mine small left . For ...

As with the incidents in New York, Bali and Madrid a question people ask about yesterday's atrocity is "Why?". The "Why" should be relatively straightforward. For a society which is as peaceful as the British society normally is it is difficult to understand the reasons why people do this sort of thing. In a sense I picked up more understanding when I visited Lyon as part of a local government

Edward Davey's website has had a bit of a revamp. Hope you like it.

Party Leader Charles Kennedy visited Cheadle on Thursday only hours after the horrific attacks in London. Charles joined Lib Dem candidate Mark Hunter and myself to meet and thank the many activists and members working in the campaign HQ for all their hard work, although the mood was slightly more sombre than had been anticipated due to the tragic events in London earlier in the day.

A number of Assembly Members used Wednesday's debate on the First Minister's Annual Report to practise their one-liners. It is a dying art but if any institution can breath new life into it then the Welsh Assembly can. First up was Welsh Liberal Democrats Leader, Mike German: Your annual report gives us a moment to reflect on your actions over the preceding 12 months. The piecemeal populism that defines your Government is ticking along. You like to tell us about the progress that you have made on the feel-good pledges that you wheeled out for the 2003 election, but, ...

This is not one of those "If I had caught my usual train..." posts, but I was in Tavistock Square on Monday. I remember pointing out the blue plaque for Charles Dickens on the front of BMA House. Tonight I saw it again on the television news. I lived in London for a couple of years in the 1980s, working for some of the time in the big department stores at the height of an IRA bombing campaign. When there was a bomb warning - and they were almost daily events - we each searched our own little part ...