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It was not my finest moment and a bit like a scene from a sitcom. My dear wife was making brunch and we realised we were out of bacon. So I popped round the corner to get some, without pausing to pick up my keys. When I got back, Dorothy in the kitchen with the radio on couldn't hear me knocking. Just as I was starting to get irritated at being stuck on the doorstep, up pops a besuited chap saying 'Are you Iain Sharpe'? He turned out to be a Daily Mail journalist doing background research on the Mark ...

Tim Neale has a very good post on Two for Tea. It begins: When I was a child of four or five, I woke one evening and screamed the house down. My mum came into my bedroom to see what all the fuss was about. I had had a nightmare and was convinced there were monsters in the street out side my window. My mother opened the curtains and challenged me to show here where the monsters were.At first I thought they might be hiding behind the lampposts. An idea which my mother found very amusing. Eventually I had ...

I always ponder how the grassroots members and the general public perceive issues. My thoughts were reinforced by my sister Anne-Louise over just how much the media play a big part in swaying peoples attitudes and political thinking these days. She unexpectedly telephoned me last Thursday. I was quite chuffed to hear she had taken to reading my blog - she likes the personal stuff (wondered why I hadn't downloaded a picture of her) and has been following the leadership election which I honestly hadn't thought would be of much ...

... these are Ming's priorities. Chris will raise eco-taxes. Simon also has a good pedigree on support for the environment. No candidate is being very specific, and indeed policy is a matter for the whole party. But it would help me decide how to vote if I understood their thinking a little more clearly. So, I will explain my thinking, and the candidate who agrees with me will get some credit for

Is "roundup" a proper word? I always wonder. Anyway, Tim Worstall's latest selection of the best in British blogging is in place. There is a larger than usual Lib Dem representation this week - which may or not be a good thing, given the week we have had.

Watch the rolling news as it turns into Sunday's political programs. Anxiously watching as to the media handling of Mark Oaten's fall from grace. My boy Chris is on Andrew Marr and does really well - and inevitably the Mark Oaten issue is first on the list of questions. What can you say? Except what Chris said - that the guy has apologised to his wife, apologised to his constituents and to the

I'm really pleased to hear that Channel Four is screening a programme about gay Muslims at 8pm tommorow night. It's an interesting area, and an are where the British left has a lot to answer for. Faced with a 'progressives dilemma', swathes of our nation's socialists pick religous or racial (in the case of the treatment of Jamaican homosexuals) sides over actually batting for the people facing prejudice. The funny thing is they actually believe that they're "opposing cultural imperialism" in doing so. Dummkopfs. Anyway... good one Channel Four, that's what you're there for.

Mark Oaten is a member of a very inclusive party. There are heterosexual, homosexual, bi-sexual, asexual and transgendered members of the party, so the revelations that he allegedly has had both opposite and same gender sexual relationships would not necessarily exclude him from any role in the party. The fact that his has been unfaithful to a partner is something which is not new. Paddy Ashdown himself admitted to unfaithfulness and remained on as leader and took the party to ever greater electoral success. The fact that this unfaithfulness was with someone of opposite gender to his long term ...

Considering all the anxiety and press coverage the party has had over the last 24 hours it was good to forget it all by getting out to Dunfermline and West Fife to do some serious campaigning. I now know that I've delivered over 1000 leaflet in four different constituencies in the last 12 months. The feeling on the street is that the people of the constituency know exactly who it is that is the real challenge to Labour and they are not being fooled by SNP lies about what the Scottish Liberal Democrats do not stand for. Willie's message is ...

... I'd like to state that: I am pretty much teetotal;I have never paid anyone for sex; andI have never taken any illegal drugs.I'm just a little worried that, at the current rate of attrition, I'll end up as Lib Dem leader by default.

Is it just me or does Version 2.0 of WordPress suffer from feature creep? Maybe I’m just an HTML purist in my old age, but I’m really not getting on with its new post editing page! Back to the grindstone…

Every time I turned on Test Match Special in the summer, an English wicket fell. I'm leaving the country tomorrow, so maybe we'll stop losing front bench spokemen: this lady needs a refit and a skipper for the 2006 sail training season. We're doing the Celtic festival of the sea and taking part in the the Small Ships Race from the Clyde to Belfast. Best of all will be the circumnavigation of Ireland during June and July: in addition to exploring the bays, beaches and islands of the Irish coast with crews of teenagers we'll be trawling ...

by Peter Mat GB's first challenge was to persuade him to (re)join the lib dems. Here's my go. Are you a Liberal? (I used to recruit people by knocking on the doors of known supporters and asking if they would like to take their support of that nice Party led by David/Paddy/Charles one step further. Mat GB is looking for something more ideological, so let's take it back to basics.) If you believe these three things, you are a liberal in politics 1. Power should not be concentrated. That means both poltical and economic power. Competitive ...

The Britblog round up is out. Nothing unusual about that. Except that we're included. We're not quite sure if we should have a drink or a ... anyway we're not quite sure how to celebrate. Also there are Ken Owen, Jonathan Calder, Pickled Politics (all to be found in our links) and Joe Otten (who will shortly be there).

Another depressing article on women in today's Sunday Times which pretty much summarises the front-line of feminism: "the most insoluble of human conflicts — families versus careers" Feminism has lost the plot quite a bit which is why it's not really trendy to be a feminist. There are probably 3 main threads of which two are a red herring. The first red herring is why there are fewer men than

By Peter It is not a great time for a story like this to break. Ming's message for the party to "draw together" hits the right note. According to the North London Online he has said: "No party is entirely subject to what happens to any one individual. The party is much bigger than that. My task as acting leader is to secure a sense of unity and purpose. We have a strong political agenda. We have a sense of purpose, we have great deal to do and a great opportunity in which to ...

Popular bloggers Nick Barlow, returning from a holiday that left him indisposed for the first part of the leadership race, has declared himself a Huhne supporter. He argued that, "we have to be bold and strike ahead of the other parties, to give the people the option of real liberalism, not the sham veneer of liberalism-lite over authoritarianism that they have to offer."

This weekend, liberalreview.com editor Rob Knight has been considering whether projects such as Bloggers4Chris will influence the leadership race:

From BBC Online: Juveniles' DNA recording defended The government has defended storing the DNA profiles of about 24,000 children and young people aged 10 to 18. The youngsters' details are held on the UK database, despite them never having been cautioned, charged or convicted of an offence, a Conservative MP found. Grant Shapps obtained the figures in his campaign to have the DNA profile of a wrongly arrested teenager erased. He fears a juvenile database is being created by "stealth". The Home Office said no-one lost out by being on it. Suspects who are ...

As Alan Greenspan finally leaves the US Federal Reserve, it is hard not to feel that some fundamental economic realities are changing across the world. The continuing economic imbalances in the US economy are not fully understood, but the scale of military expenditure that "big government Conservatism" implies can not be sustainable over the long term. George W. Bush is driving his country into some serious economic problems- can a US retrenchment be long avoided? And what does that mean for the wider world? In Britain, the failure of yet another PFI- the new St. Barts hospital project- confirms the ...

In the light of recent revelations, one has to wonder how many 'Oaten so good' pink strappy tops the online 'FocusFodder' shop will succeed in shifting. Then again, I suppose it could become some sort of ironic statement. I fear not though. Liberals had traditionally been known for being fine dressers, a mantle that has sadly been taken on rather more by the Tory right in recent decades. Jeremy Thorpe was (and indeed still is) known for excellent Saville Row tailoring and snazzy watch-chains. None of that nasty starchy rubbish, or mixes with curious modern materials. Ming always has a ...

Just an update to the LibDem Blog code.I've added this line of code $text = preg_replace('//i', ' {$2} ', $text); Which replaces {Ming T-Shirt} with {Ming T-Shirt}

I was going to apologise for not updating this blog for a while. But when I did this on my personal blog, I was told off by one commentator. See here's an apology for apologising. Just seem to have been too busy to get a round tuit. As you might have guessed if you've seen me rushing around delivering Lib Dem Focuses and Calendars with lots of helpful phone numbers (and if you didn't get one, let me know and I'll get one too you). Besides anything else, over the last few weeks I've been glad this blog ...

The GAME public meeting on Wednesday was well attended. Chris Crean of FoE and Becca Lush of Roadblock are both fine speakers. It looks like we are going to have more action groups up and down the M6 route. The news items that have caught my eye this week were all annoying or saddening. Rail fares are going up because this government is unable or unwilling to stand up to the rail companies. While the cost of public transport keeps going up in real terms, the cost of driving has been going down. This move will drive more ...

O2 are proposing to put a mast on the top of Rawlinson House, on the Mercator Estate. I've been sent a copy of the plans, and invited to comment. If anyone would like to see a copy of the plans or would like to make any comments, could they please get in touch with me?

Chris Huhne was interviewed by Andrew Marr live on BBC Sunday AM this morning. The interview covered a range of topics including press freedom, Chris's business, political and journalistic experience and proposals for new green taxation and lower end tax cuts.

For those of you who want to read the story but not buy the newspaper.

On Friday's BBC radio programme, Good Morning Wales, the Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain, was once more peddling his nonsense about regional list AMs. Yet again he alleged that we are systematically abusing public money, though he failed to give any evidence to back up this claim and none exists. He also alleged that 15 of the twenty list AMs had set up their office in the constituency they fought last time, with the intention of using it as a resource in their bid to unseat the sitting constituency AM at the subsequent election. Not only is this ...

Just some housekeeping - collating links to my favourite of my 2005 posts onto one page so that I can reduce my right-hand nav bar clutter. No politics to see here! (Well, not much.)

Stan James online bookmakers have apparently installed Charles Kennedy as favourite to take over from Mark Oaten as Home Affairs Spokesperson. While I dont normally dispute the accuracy of The Times (apart from occasional spelling and incorrect constituency names) I was unable to locate this particular bet on their site.

According to Atticus in today's Sunday Times the Tories parachuted two Cameronite's into the selection process for the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election (Atticus please note the correct name of the new constituency). The locals wanted the change to select Cllr Stuart Randall who is the Tory council leader on Fife council and coucillor for dalgety Bay East. However, the Tory hierarchy foisted

Sunday 22nd January 2006 - I was shocked and stunned to learn of Mark Oaten's resignation as Home Affairs spokesman last night. Let's be clear from the outset I have no issue whatsoever with anyone's sexuality or what they do in their private lives, I never will have and I agree with the many views I have read this morning regarding people's private lives. However, a high profile public figure

I'm no fan of Mark Oaten, as I think I've made clear, but this is rather a shame. The thing I'm saddest to see is him...