LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The Guerilla News Network carries an interview with Benn Ramm. It was conducted by Stephen Marshall, who met him: at a ‘naughty party’ being held in a stately manor somewhere in the Welsh countryside. Standing among the half-nude, cross-dressed and coke-addled British elite, the 22 year-old Ramm, a recent Cambridge graduate, held forth on politics, the assault on art and Ramm’s steadfast conviction that “liberalism will be the philosophy of the 21st century.”

The Rutland Times reports the death of Emeritus Professor Harold Lawton at the age of 106. A veteran of the First World War, he was later asked by Cosmo Laing, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to make a transcript of Gladstone's daily journal. There is more about this remarkable man in his Daily Telegraph obituary. Meanwhile, Lord Bonkers appears to be immortal.

by Tabman Liberal Democrats have so often proclaimed the return of three party politics that some of us haven't yet noticed that they have really arrived. The next General Election is more likely than any since the 1920s to deliver a Parliament in which no party is near to having a majority of seats (although the aim of the Apollo Project is to maximse Lib Dem chances of achieving this). This is the right time to look at the dangers posed by three-party politics, as well as the opportunities. As always the party is full of people who ...

As the nights got longer in late November, I finally bought a telescope. I had one loaned to me briefly when I was doing GSCE Astronomy at school and was also able to use the Manor Road observatory when I was Leicester University. My new 'scope is similar to the one I had at school. It's a Skywatcher Explorer 150 - a 6" Newtonian Reflector on an equatorial mount. I've had the 'scope for about 6

I think I've found the biggest 'filler' item in a newspaper ever... The Times today, about page 22, ran an item headlined "What you missed while you were away". Basically, it is a useless recap of the news in the last two weeks of December. Including such vital snippets of information like 'it snowed'. The fact it is filler is further demonstrated by the fact that in the online 'newspaper version' of the paper, it doesn't appear. Wouldn't want to waste all those pixels?

This is a photo of Leah with her friend Lu at their work Xmas party.

The new year went with a bang... or rather a sniffle! This is my first entry for 2006 and I'm hoping that this year changes for the better - we're both ill and I'm writing this from our sick bed. Unfortunately we both have bad colds and are sniffing continuously. Where hoping that we will be better soon as always our social schedule this week is as busy as ever with a trip to the pantomime tomorrow and a party in Bath at the weekend. Any one know any quick fix cures?

The NFL regular season finished on Sunday, and no sooner was it over than the owners and general managers started sticking their knives into their coaches. One of the high-profile casualties was Mike Sherman, head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Despite successful playoff runs the last three years, after a fairly disastrous season this year, his fate was sealed. What I am about to suggest will never be corroborated by any other source. I think, however, that he was sacked this season deliberately to hasten the departure of Brett Favre. Favre had made it known before the season ended ...

Jonathan Calder deals here with the issue of 12-year-olds being prescribed nicotine patches and whether parents should be told about this. The different branches of the state seem to give out very mixed messages about parenting. On the one hand we have parenting orders, parenting classes, ASBOs and ABCs, all of which are designed to put greater responsibility on parents for the conduct of their children. Parents can even be prosecuted for their children's truancy from school. Then another branch of the state, in the form of GPs, counsellors etc, will withold information that parents need to know if they ...

...to return to the Palaces of Westminster this appears. Las month there were many Lib Dem Bloggers of one voice that breifings agsint the leadership must stop. They appeared to however no one seems to have told Lord McNally the leader in the Lords. Lord McNally argues that having a leadership election before the council elections in May would destabalish the party. But what is he doing by

by Peter Over the last few days I have been reading this book about Keynes and the Golden Age of Cricket. The argument is that Cricket and Economics are a good source of metaphors for each other ("stonewalling" as "deferred gratification" for example), and that the young Keynes may have been influenced by this. The author is an old cricketing colleague of mine (not that I played at such an exalted level). He clearly knows his stuff on disputes in late nineteenth centry economics and cricket. The book purports to consist of cricket diary entries of J.N. Keynes from 1896, ...

Here is the December list of top blog posts from Lib Dems and people who blog like liberals. Loads of good stuff around this month, there certainly wasn´t room for everything. 1. Eaten by Missionaries (Iain Sharpe) took a fresh look at inconsistencies between local action and conference here. 2.John Hemmings is old enough to know that "you don´t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows..." and receives an ASBO from Labour for asking questions about the weather here. 3. Simon Isledon spends a lot of time demonstrating that he ought to be running Lib Dem ...

Cooking Oil (Duty) Q: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason Inland Revenue decided to charge fuel duty on recovered cooking oil. (John Hemming) A:Fuel produced from vegetable oil is eligible for the rate of duty for biodiesel (currently 27.10 pence per litre) if it meets the legal definition of biodiesel for tax purposes set out in section 2AA of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act

Just an update on the Gas Row. Some of the best commentary on this is on the European Tribune Weblog with postings by a French economist who used to work for the Gaz de France collaboration with Russia’s GAZPROM. Previous postings on this by him here and here. His earlier (20020) Wall Street Journal article is still relevant One thing to note is that the Soviet Gas Industry grew up in Ukraine and the distribution centres for southern Russia are now in Ukraine. Some fascinating details… It remains crucial that we back Ukraine and keep an eye on the wider ...

Reading this and David Cameron's first comment as leader at PMQ's, plus he unadulterated attempt to woo Liberal Democrat support I have finally worked out who DC is tring to model his political career upon. it is none other than another David, David Lloyd George. David Lloyd George? David Cameron? David Lloyd George beleived in grand coaltion Government. he led a united government during hte

Welsh Party Assembly Leader, Mike German, in the Western Mail this morning, speaks for the majority of Liberal Democrats members when he argues that the party should not shift to the right to counter the rise of David Cameron. "The party," he says, "is fundamentally about helping people to help themselves but also supporting the freedom of the individual." Mike also gives his support to Charles Kennedy, though I suspect that like the rest of us he wants to see a much higher profile from him in 2006. Kennedy of course is busy fighting off a so-called grassroots ...

Been up since 4am this morning - yukky. Assume this is either the jet lag or the fact that I slept for pretty much most of Sunday day and night save for a short wake-up to watch the late night movie 'Almost Famous'. Forgot how much I liked that film. Again features the lovely Kate Hudson. It was Robin's first time seeing it and he loved it too. We both have rotten colds at the moment. I got mine on Saturday morning in New York and Robin got his a couple of days before me. It reminded me ...

Meanwhile, back in the swamp, debate over the Party leadership continues, with questions about the succession stirred by maneuvering by senior Party figures following recent disappointing election results. Following a conference on the west coast, the Party is seen to be beset with disunity and fixated with internal politics, whilst failing to portray itself as a radical, campaigning force on the

I appear to be determined to act somebody else's age this week. Partying, nightclubs, dancing, excessive drinking and now... karaoke! Yes, I hear the sniggering in the audience but being surrounded by your younger cousins tends to suppress the inhibitions lovingly built up over many years. So what did I sing? "Yellow Submarine" of course... catchy tune, easy words, tempting for everyone else to