LibDem Blogs - Archived!

I am off for a week's holiday where you can buy the Shropshire Star every day. Unless I find an unattended computer, posting will be light for a while.

I hope the Mayor of Kingston will forgive me. When I saw the pictures in this posting on Mary Reid's blog, I couldn't help being reminded of The League of Gentlemen and their Legz Akimbo Theatre Company.

Worrying news in the Daily Telegraph: the Liberal Democrats have called in outside experts to relaunch Sir Menzies Campbell. Among them is Gavin Grant, the European public affairs manager at the leading PR firm Burson-Marsteller. The paper reports: A Liberal Democrat MP said: "During our conference, Gavin [Grant] went up to see the leader in his hotel room, where he was preparing for a speech, and found him with a plate of fish and chips on his lap watching Strictly Come Dancing. That is the side people never see.The trouble with this is that it cannot be true, ...

Aljazeera - English version has some interesting stuff. At the bottom of the home page under the heading Cartoons - there's a collection of animations - each portraying a different message - all powerful stuff and quite funny. I particularly like the one about Tony Blair. Aljazeera well worth a ...

I thought that this was a spoof article at first, but apparently there's a tiny bit of Belgium inside an enclave of Holland that lies within a parcel of Belgium that's within the borders of Holland. (I think). Hat tip to Red Rose Ramblings

I had a pretty hair-raising experience this morning, while queuing to pay for diesel. I spotted the Daily Mail headline: "Belinda Oaten: Why I am letting Mark back into the family home - see pages 8,9,10 & 11." I am afraid I couldn't resist. I already had the Guardian in my hand, but I scooped up a copy of the Daily Mail and waited there with both papers. Then I thought: "What am I doing? I

I've posted a few photos of the last few days below. A few personal things - Thursday was my older step-son's graduation, so three photos below! A really great day but early to bed because Friday was a 3.30am start to get the first flight from Glasgow to Stornoway for a day job meeting. The people at Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) were, as always, really welcoming and we

If you were around in Kingston today you will probably have heard the music from the stage on the green opposite John Lewis. Global Arts Bazaar gave us arts and crafts, stalls and food as well as entertainment with world music and dance. I stayed long enough to see delicate Chinese dancing, enthusiastic modern Indian dance, African drumming and hip hop. It was a delightful...

This was the winning rose in its class in the Summer Flower Show of Surbiton Horticultural Society. The Society has around 200 members and meets in the United Reformed Church Hall in Tolworth. During the winter months they meet regularly and share ideas and knowledge, then enjoy the results at their shows during the summer months. They have just launched a website....

It's possible to argue, mathematically, that there is a 95% chance of mankind's extinction within 9120 years. This calculation is derived from the Carter Prediction. I first came across the "Carter Prediction" in Stephen's Baxter's SF novel "Manifold: Time". It's a real proposition by a real eminent physicist, Brandon Carter. Wikipedia calls it the Doomsday Argument, and I recommend you to read

I had my record advice bureau today with 60 people turning up in about 19 different groups (the largest of which was 9 people). It is odd really as there is no reason I can identify as to why suddenly so many people decided to descend on the advice bureau. Some of the cases were relatively complex. However, I was only about 40 minutes late at the end having only started about 10 minutes

For the answer - you'll have to read my latest column from Liberal Democrat News!

Got my new passport this morning! If you remember - I applied for a new one before my old one was due for renewal as a protest against the Government's plans to introduce ID cards. You may or may not know that if you apply for a new passport in future, you will automatically have to have biometric information taken and be put on the National Identity Register (the new big brother database). And

Just watched Jonathan Ross’ interview with “Dave”.  Very good job by Ross in my opinion at walking the fine line between remembering it is an entertainment programme and not giving the guest too easy a ride. One thing though: he says at the start that he has never had a politician on the programme before.  I [...]

Delivering the streets of bromley Originally uploaded by rfenwick. Perfect weather for the final weekend before polling day. Fancy a walk? Come to bromley! I had a delightful spat with two UKIP deliverers who were following me down a street and, pointlessly, decided to be childish rather than [...]

I'm sure the BBC never intended to suggest that Charlie Falconer's latest wheeze was simply a cosmetic affair, a cover-up for years of missed opportunities and failure. I'm sure they didn't mean to suggest that the latest touchy-feely initiative is simply too little, too late; a drop in the ocean, a pointless gesture when set against the all-too-real crime and fear of crime experienced by ordinary people. I'm sure they didn't mean to imply that giving the victims a 'voice' matters less than making sure they don't become victims to begin with. But if they weren't trying ...

I’m a little confused. Ed Davey has been elected unopposed as Chair of the Lib Dems Campaigns and Communications Committee. But Lord Rennard has simultaneously been appointed Chair of the General Election Campaign. This is confusing, because the CCC Chair post replaced the Chair of the GE Campaign post back in the [...]

PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE A NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: ddixon.bathnes@btinternet.com

We didn't try the currywurst but our hotel - the Andechser Hof did amazing melt in your mouth Wienerschnitzel. Arrived back at my mum's this morning. We set out for Heathrow at 7 am tomorrow, but won't arrive in Edmonton until past 1 am on Monday morning, UK time.

There is a project that helps prevent re-offending by people convicted of sex offences after they are released from prison. It will not be popular amongst those promoting the current uproar, which perhaps makes this a bad time to discuss it. The implementation of a “Megan’s Law” in the UK risks compromising this initiative. It is the ‘Circles of Support and Accountability’ project run in the Thames Valley Police area under an initiative of concerned Quakers. A small circle of volunteers contact an offender before release from prison and after release support them in their moves towards living an offence-free ...

Today I received a Final Annual Statement from the Student Loans Company. Unlike any other bank that I've dealt with this statement seems to be a bit out of date. The statement is dated June 2006 (seems OK at this point), but when I looked at the statement something seemed wrong. I had paid £442.00 this year. Now this couldn't be correct, since moving to Lincoln in Jan 2005 I took a pay cut which resulted in my annual salary being less than the £15,000 threshold. Only since this tax year through overtime have I started to begin to repay ...

Presiding Officer, Dafydd Elis Thomas, and First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, have a common cause, to get the Government of Wales Bill into law as soon as possible. In the case of the Presiding Officer, this desire is so strong that he is prepared to sacrifice some strongly held beliefs to achieve this goal. This has led to accusations of treachery, both from his own party and the Tories. Nobody is quite sure whether Peter Hain's claim that delays in the House of Lords will cause the loss of the Government of Wales Bill altogether is just bluff or ...

Gone for a walk - back in a week or so

Who said the Tories were going to win Bromley and Chislehurst no problem? Well it appears that their candidate Bob Neill in invalid to stand for Parliament and has made a false claim on his nomination papers. It looks likes Bob 'three jobs' Neill has too much opn his plate to check the conditions of his various employments. Apparently his membership of the North East London Strategic Health

There's an article in the Southwark News this week, based on research by the GMB Union, that highlights the amount Southwark Council spend on agency rather than permanent staff. The ratio is 14% of all staff costs. The areas agency staff are used most is in areas like housing services and street cleaning, where temporary shortages and essential cover are necessary and require some flexibility. The local spin on the piece is that there is some scandal attached to spending money in this way. John Mulrenan of Unison complains about "overuse of agency staff" unconnected to any facts ...

David Cameron seems to have flip-flopped back to his previous position on supporting the Iraq War. On last night's Jonathan Ross programme on BBC Cameron said he still believes going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do.

An e-mail arrived yesterday inviting Assembly Members to come forward and play in their own version of the Charity Shield. The catch is that the event is sponsored by McDonalds Restaurants, purveyors of fast food and less than healthy eating options. The attached letter is designed to entice us into participating: The Parliamentary Shield and the FA Community Shield 12 & 13 August 2006 It is with great pleasure that I invite you to join colleagues from Westminster, the Scottish Parliament and Stormont in the 5th Parliamentary Shield football tournament which will be held at Leckwith Stadium ...