LibDem Blogs - Archived!

At times you get such conflicting views about a person or event presented in the mainstream media that you really cannot work out where the truth lies. This has been the case recently with a man called Tariq Ramadan who has variously been described as a terrorist sympathiser 'banned from the US and France' [...]

I gave evidence at the Captain's Barn Farm planning appeal today. A local firm, Dalecrete applied to open up a quarry on green belt belt land. Their application was turned down by the council, but they appealed. My interest was that the lorries from the quarry would go through our village. It was this campaign that decided me to get involved in the CPRE. Dalecrete had a very slick QC, but I did not get the impression that their case is very strong. I hope I am right. Caverswall Parish Council and their County ...

From Samizdata, an article about this pledge to resist ID cards.

Whilst the Metropolitan Police gets tough on terrorism (some would say a little too tough), officers in the Thames Valley Police Force were getting their own priorities straight.

The reason I no longer have any friends. God it's good. Of particular greatness is Dr Cox as Obi Wan Kenobi and the episode "My Hero". Does anyone know why it hasn't won many big awards?

Been a while since I've done any reviews, and I've read quite a few books. Over the next few days, I'll try and post some more, however today Harry Potter. The new book was ok. I read it within 24 hours, but I'm finding the stories a bit repetitive and predictable. Don't want to give away any spoilers, but surely everyone guessed who would die (and why are the press blocked from leaking plot

One of this blog's heroes, Frank Furedi, has a new book out next month. It is already on Amazon UK. The Politics of Fear (Continuum Press: September 15 2005) The terms "left" and "right" pervade all our discussions of politics. But do they mean anything any more? And is it really satisfactory to reduce all our political debate to these two terms? This book shows how contemporary and recent developments, including the Cold War, the Culture Wars and Third Way-type managerialism, have created the need for a new conception of politics with an adequate conception of humanity - one ...

Perhaps I am becoming slightly obsessed but I had the following experience when I travelled to London by train earlier this week. Got off train as usual and strolled on to the concourse. Noticed that it looked a little quiet but popped straight into one of the shops to make a purchase. As I came out I noticed that there were rather more police than members of the public but I was still not unduly

Not been feeling well these last few days (cold has caught me - feel like I've got two heads) - no energy to write my blog. Went to a local party meeting yesterday evening - good meeting but I didn't have the strength to socialise afterwards so went straight home. It's my son Sule's birthday today - not the same since he became a father - he's no longer my baby expecting treats from mother. Naim still only 10 months is picking things up quickly. Sule's all for gizmo's and gadgets - like so many people ...

So Labour now admit to overselling the advantages of national identity cards. Would someone like to tell the MP for Linlithgow and Fakirk East? Whoops I've already done that! While I was sat on his right side in hustings meetings in Linlithgow and Bo'ness he said it would be beneficial to combat identity fraud. But his colleague Tom McNulty says 'We did suggest, or at least implied, that they

But yes they can. A home office minister admits the advantages of ID Cards were 'oversold'. This coming not long after Charles Clarke admitting that ID Cards would not have stopped the London bombings. So, the Government still go full speed ahead on a scheme that would cost the taxpayer £6bn, but will not actually stop terrorism or make us any safer. Still, it's good (and amusing) that the Tories finally admitted that we were right. Imitation is the best form of flattery and all.

"And if you're in London," (as Valerie Singleton was wont to say, to the irritation of millions of provincial Blue Peter viewers), you could do a lot worse than visit this year's Great British Beer Festival (2nd-6th August at the London Olympia). Despite the continuing threats from the corporate brewing behemoths, and continuing brewery closures, craft brewing of traditional ales continues to

In an unexpected move, Home Office minister Tony McNulty has admitted that the government has "oversold" the case for ID cards. This follows only weeks after Charles Clarke's statement that ID cards would not have prevented the London bombings. So is this the end of the road for the ID card scheme? I wouldn't count on it. Despite admitting that the government had spun the case for ID cards, he did not go on to say that the case would now be dropped. Quite the contrary; he went on to say that, in the ...

ITV1’s latest Saturday night endeavour, Rock Around the Block has been axed. Anyone else have a sense of déjà vu?

After quite a bit of a struggle with unreliable technology we finally got most things to work this morning. We even have the casework system running on the computers supplied by the Parliamentary Communications Department. We thought we would take an additional step to try using different types of paper in different trays. Lo and behold we find the printers have been configured to be controlled

A debate has been raging about taxation policy at, of all places, 'LDO Talk' (a mailing list of Liberal Democrats Online, where the 'talk' is more usually about nerdy computer issues). I have no problem with this; political debate is a healthy sign. What I have found revealing, though, is the assumption implicit in some participants' comments that controversial policy is not an option. Presumably

BT's marketing of their Privacy service is causing a substantial increase in TPS registrations. The effect of this is to constrain UK and EU companies from doing any cold calling. It does not affect people phoning from abroad about companies not based in the UK. It could have the effect of basically opening up the market entirely to people from abroad and preventing people from the UK from

It is nice to be proved right, even if being so does not change the proposals we are fighting one iota. The Guardian reports this morning that: The government has admitted that it has been guilty of "overselling" the case for a compulsory national identity card scheme in Britain and conceded that it will not prove a panacea for fraud, terrorism or the abuse of public services. Tony McNulty, the Home Office minister now responsible for identity cards, has also admitted that "in its enthusiasm" the government also mistakenly emphasised the benefits to the state ...

The former Archdruid of Wales is absolutely wrong to accuse Liverpudlians of intolerance towards minorities. Liverpool has a long-standing multi-ethnic community and, despite the views and actions of a very very small minority, is as welcoming as any other part of the Country to incomers.It would be just too easy to compare the attitude of some Welsh language campaigners towards incomers with that exhibited by Liverpool. They do not want any non-Welsh people settling in North Wales, whereas Liverpool has a centuries-old tradition of welcoming people from all over the world.Dr. Robyn Lewis is doing neither the Welsh language ...

I have to say that when I caught this initiative on the news the night before last that for once the Government and the media fooled me as to its applicability. It may be that I was half-asleep but I recall thinking what a good idea it was to distribute home-testing kits for bowel cancer to all over-60s and anticipating the kits arriving on the doormats of my constituents sometime next year. Naturally, the journalists did nothing to disabuse me of this notion as they mostly think that anything that flows from Westminster must apply nationwide.It was only the ...

I really do worry about the level of political debate in this country.Plaid Cymru distribute a poster portraying the First Minister and the Secretary of State for Wales dressed in hoodies so as to protest at the demonisation of young people and the 'failure of the Government to tackle social problems, a lack of jobs and house prices.' Plaid say Labour's anti-social behaviour policies demonise young people for their dress sense, instead of tackling crime effectively. Labour say that the posters, put up by the Plaid Cymru Youth Movement, prove Plaid is "soft on crime".For goodness sake! How ...

The news that the Mozilla Foundation is gearing up organisationally is a sign of the recent success of its products, especially the Firefox browser. This reminds me to shout at everyone reading this GET FIREFOX! Internet computer users spend most of their time using a web browser and email. And most still use the default option [...]

Britain's post-war generation was the first to enjoy the full fruits of the welfare state and the last to be able to buy houses before prices rose sky-high. Succeeding generations, especially those now under 35, are not so fortunate. By the time they retire (which may not be until they're 70), the state pension will be derisory. Already half of the tax they pay is being spent on pensions,

The England in Particular website has a gazetteer and clickable map which let's you: dip into England and begin to uncover some of its natural and cultural richness ... You will find people, customs, landscapes, buildings, foods and festivals, some of which are unique, some shared, many with universal resonances, celebrating the seasons and the cycle of life and work.It is compiled by the charity Common Ground, which exists to encourage local distinctiveness. The concept is explained in this article on its website.