LibDem Blogs - Archived!

And this is not a bad thing at all. Tomorrow is the date for the "Save our Community Hospitals" rally at Lyndhurst. Hopefully there will be a good turn out of people from all the localities who are affected by the proposed closures. The closure threat is dressed up under a "consultation" on the future of services for older people but we still have not been given a clear picture of what proposed

This is now Taipei 101. An ambitious project by what I can only regard as an ambitious country. The lift was state of the art - from ground to viewing floor in 36 (or was it 37) seconds. So we have the technology but we also have Feng Shui principles influencing the overall design ina fascinating mix of the traditional and the modern.

Well, for the last week I have been part of the first all-female parliamentary delegation to Taiwan. The other members of the delgation were all baronesses and we attracted a fair bit of interest. I was completely bowled over by the country. The people were great and nothing was too much trouble - for the cynics amongst you I will say that this was even amongst those who had no idea we were

Haven't posted for the lastcouple of weeks. Returned to find a high number of completely unconstructive comments and am considering banning comments completely. Lighten up boys --- and yes it is all boys!

by Jabez Clegg The Times is running a piece on the two Scottish by-elections. Labour Smear fights SNP smear, but check out the final paragraph for some Labour spin. If you work on the basis that what Labour will be saying to the Times about their fears is the exact opposite of what they really think, then the conclusion seems to be that Labour are most worried about the Lib Dems and about Livingston.

by Peter Some weeks ago we called for Liberal Democrats to go back to Cobden in renewing their internationalism. The Globalization Institute shows a suitable respect for the great Radical, and this post offers interesting statistical support for his views. An open economoy really does seem to preserve international peace.

by Jabez Clegg According to the Observer, TUC leaders want Blair gone in the next year, and are not convinced that Brown is the right man to follow him. We're with them so far…

Yesterday I suggested you read Actually Existing's analysis of the Katrina disaster.Now Phil Edwards has written a follow-up. I cannot recommend it highly enough - the quote from Alasdair Gray's novel 1982 Janine is worth the price of admission alone.

Spent the weekend playing mine host to Robin and Max, friends from the sticks (no offence guys), and on Saturday night we watched the nation whip itself into a patriotic lather at the last night of the Proms. Was interested and almost heartened to see a few European flags waving in the melange. Would be more actually heartened if Britain in Europe hadn't recently followed other pro-European groups down the swanny, but there we go. I was beginning to look forward to the European Constitution referendum as a chance to tackle some of the vitriolic bollocks that the skeptics are ...

Northern Ireland sees worst rioting in years. Some Orangemen had their parade diverted by 100 yards. Their response? A night of rioting. Petrol bombs, blastbombs and automatic weapons were used on the police. Yes, that's the UK, a part of the European Union, 2005. In parts of Belfast, there is a concerted campaign to drive Catholic minorities out of predominently Protestant areas, reported

The BBC report that former Metropolitan Police Chief, Lord Stevens, has attacked David Blunkett in his memoirs, claiming people found him "duplicitous and intimidating". Mr Blunkett's response was to say that Lord Stevens had been an excellent commissioner and to wish him well in seeking to sell his book. Do I detect another ritual being acted out on the public stage?

David Davies AM MP has proved once again that if you write something really controversial on a blog then the media will pick it up and run with it. As is usual with David, it was political correctness that has provided him with a target. This time David raised issues concerning a £48,000 lottery grant to make a film about the "traditions" of gypsy travellers. The film will be shown to schoolchildren in Hampshire. As Rod Liddle relates in today's Sunday Times, this provoked its own over-the-top reaction that really just played into David's hands. I am sure that we ...

Saturday 10th September 2005 - North West Lib Dem MEP Saj Karim visited Whiston South today to give our by-election campaign a boost. Saj met candidate Yvonne Southern and supporters at Whiston station before helping with some canvassing of local residents on a a nearby estate.

In today's Mail on Sunday Jim Devine was wooing young people, aged 18 months to 10 years. So no worry there as these people won'd be able to vote for him for 2 elections. Far more worrying for Jim must be the number of adults who are telling the Lib Dem team that they voted for Robin Cook but don't like Devine and are therefore going to vote for Charles Dundas and the Liberal Democrats.

I cannot find the article online, but yesterday's Times included a section noting that we may fact gas shortages this winter. Chris Vernon's VitalTrivia.co.uk site has much of the background information. He is ably assisting me to challenge the government on their (lack of) energy strategy. The nub of the issue is that the UK has resources of about 600 bcm (billion cubic metres) and consumes

I spent all day Saturday at the Green Fair in Stafford on a joint GAME/CPRE stall. It was a horribly wet day, but despite that it was worthwhile. A number of people asked to be included on the email and phone list, or took away some literature. I desperately want to recruit more people to the CPRE in Staffordshire. We have an ageing membership, but the work we do is so important. There has to be a new generation to take over. The CPRE report Your Countryside Your Choice published a couple of days ago seems to have attracted a ...

I attended the CRAG (Cheddleton Resident's Action Group) meeting on Thursday evening. The action group are well organised and have amassed a lot of information. Very formidable. However, the meeting did not leave me feeling very optimistic about the future control of the problems. There are three problems: - the smell from the factory, the smell from the lorries and the continued expansion into Green Belt and SLA land. On the factory smell, the environmental health officer is putting his faith in new equipment and working cooperatively with Pointon's. Charlotte Atkins talked about financial penalties, but these are useless. The ...