Comment on Israel/Lebannon is pointless beyond mourning the innocent dead on either side and hoping it ends soon without further loss of life. Then we hear that the Israeli cricket team on tout ro Britain has had to play a match at RAF Lossiemouth because some wrong-headed idiots chose to use cricket - as peaceable, international and good natured a sport as you could wish - to protest against
David Jacobs was 80 in May and we finally got round to celebrating his birthday this evening with a reception in the Mayor's Parlour. Eleven former Mayors, who had all worked with him, came along, together with Honorary Aldermen, trustees of Kingston Theatre, and a number of other civic figures. It was a relaxed and enjoyable event. I first met David ten years ago when Ian was...
Well, what a surprise. It appears that the Chinese Government covered up a death from Bird Flu for nearly three years. The obsession with secrecy and lies makes the Chinese Government a very dubious international partner. I always remember my first coming into contact with the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Statistics and asking them for basic economic data and information on the small and medium enterprise sector. I was told that such information "was a State secret". How the hell are you supposed to advise a government on small business development when it withholds basic information from ...
A response has been received to my earlier entry to be Labour's official blogger.From: LP-1%LABOUR@new.labour.org.ukTo: austin@liberalaction.co.ukThank you for entering Labour's conference blog competition.Your entry has being received. Due to the number of entries we are unableto reply to emails individually.The...
I was listening to the podcast of ABC News' superb weekly politics show This Week earlier today, and something quite profound struck me. Condi Rice, when asked about the possibility of civil war in Iraq, said we don't think about...
I received an email yesterday informing me that the Lib Dems were launching their empty homes campaign today, except that it doesn’t appear to have materialised. No matter, the embargo was today and a press release went out yesterday, so I’m sure it’s okay to talk about. As a campaign, it seems quite laudable and [...]
A couple of days ago, I received the following email: Dear James, I am setting up Lib Dem Home and would like you to be one of the contributors. If you accept I ask that you post anonymously (as all other posters from across the party spectrum will) so that your articles are treated as articles and not [...]
I've been reading the late Roy Jenkin's biography of Churchill recently and I was struck by the following quotation from one of Churchill's speeches: No Socialist government conducting the entire life and industry of country could afford to allow free, sharp or violently worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some sort of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance. And this would nip opinion in the bud; it would stop criticism as it reared its head, and it would gather all the power to the supreme party leaders, ...
Two of my favourite Lib Dem blogs have woken up in recent days after having been dormant for a while. So it's welcome back to Forceful and Moderate and Eaten by Missionaries.
A new initiative from the BBC, though there is not much on it yet.
I recently went down to Folkestone where I grew up and went to school and where I also started my political life 19 years ago when I joined the Shepway Liberal Party. My parents ran what used to be "The Oddfellows Arms" on The Stade and for a while my Mum ran a flower shop in Tontine St. before it later became for a shortwhile Ptolemy's Wine Bar. Sadly, like so many people my parents ran into marital and financial trouble and the Wine Bar had to go. I was really struck though at how much the harbour area ...
The timetable for a new secondary school is now back on track after the Leader of the Council and I held urgent talks with the Education Minister, Lord Adonis. The need for a new school has been long fought for by local parents. Boys’ provision is a particular issue (as a local parent, I declare my [...]
Back in January I wrote about the threatened development at Coate Water in Swindon. Coate is a country park and is particularly associated with the great Victorian nature writer Richard Jefferies. The latest news appears to be that there is no news. The Save Coate blog writes: The planning application for the so-called Swindon Gateway development at Coate has now been sitting on the planners desk for nearly 18 months. Planning permission has neither been granted nor refused.
I have come to the conclusion that it is really not a good idea to bring a camera to events like the Royal Welsh Show and the National Eisteddfod. Arriving at the Maes in Felindre today I made a beeline for the Swansea Council tent where a surf board simulator was on display. Naturally, I was prevailed upon to try it with predictable results. This photograph was taken shortly before I fell off. I could swear that the people manipulating the controls made it especially bumpy for me.
Sunday Today, my daddies have watched two EXCITING movies: one was a serious study of the necessary fight against oppression, and the other was a gay romp. One was called "Nine to Five" and the other was called "Brokeback Mountain". Can you guess which one was which? It has often been said that you will get more from someone with a spoonful of SUGAR than you will by strapping them to a chair for two hours of seemingly unending misery as two gay cowboys fail to get married for all of their lives… and this is TRUE! (Although, ...
Well, with the aid of C and his best friend, we made it. I am now a resident of Upper Norwood, in the London Borough of Croydon. For reasons that I don’t yet know, the Liberal Democrats fronted no candidates in this three member ward at the last local elections. I’m sure we’ll fix that in [...]
Daniel Davies of the Tiger Tales blog and the Press Association tells of his encounter with Rhodri Morgan's brother on the Maes yesterday. He is absolutely right when he describes Prys as a lovely chap, in fact Morgan senior is one of nature's true gentlemen. I first encountered Prys Morgan when at University. He was one of my history tutors and I well recall that we always started each tutorial with a huge book list. When we complained Prys told us that he read a book a day as an undergraduate with the clear implication that we should be following ...
You can save yourself the bother (and frequent distress) of having to watch Big Brother by reading Grace Dent's excellent Radio Times blog. She was better when she wasn't writing every single week day - her material gets stretched a little thin sometimes - but she's never worse than readable and at her best she absolutely nails everything that's good and bad about the show. For example, this is her on Mikey:Mikey isn't an idiot by any means, but he behaves a lot like one in fights. Just say, for example, Ash gets into a spat with Mikey over ...
So, Labour are after an official blogger for their conference. The words red, rag and bull spring to mind. Sent today:From: austin@liberalaction.co.ukTo: blogatconference@new.labour.org.uk Subject: Labour BloggerHi,I think my blog (www.liberalaction.co.uk) should be the official Labour Conference blog, as judging by...
According to ConservativeHome the new tory logo will show the party in its latest colours (ill-defined and out-of-focus). The version on the right is the new one apparently. {New Tories our of focus?} New Tories our of focus? Some observers think this comes from Barratt homes and symbolises David Cameron´s radical proposals to build over the Green Belt (proposals coming from his Uncle Ferdie). {Uncle Ferdinand's idea?} Uncle Ferdinand's idea? But the victims of this smash and grab raid seem to be the Italian ...
Birmingham householders are being urged to take a stance against door-to-door conmen by putting up special 'no to doorstep traders' stickers in their windows. As well as saying no to unsolicited calls the free doubled-sided stickers also provide useful advice and contact numbers for householders faced with a doorstep caller. The volume of calls received by trading standards regarding doorstep
Since playfully suggesting yesterday that the now returned Shirley Porter should be really be the Tory Mayoral candidate for the capital, others have clearly had the same bright idea. The ever amusing Beau Bo d’Or via Recess Monkey renders our dreams graphic.
Last night I watched Shariah TV on Channel 4. Another one is on again tonight at midnight. I recommend you watch it. Last night, Aki Nawaz - who has popped up on both Newsnight and the Heaven and Earth show in recent weeks - asked a question of the panel relating to the application of Shariah to the question of "resistence" in Lebanon by British Muslims. Aside from the worryingly ambiguous responses from some of the panellists, Nawaz himself seemed to respond that the answer to the question (which was itself somewhat vague) was a "matter of common sense". Indeed ...
I don't wish to start a trend, but here's another clip posted on YouTube, this time it's George Galloway at his Murdoch/Israel/West-bashing best. Can we give this guy a Noble Peace Prize, just in the name of irony. Via Australian Law Student.
Just by chance came across Channel4's More4blog, scrolling down as one does, noticed a posting from Iain Dale: "Ming has no oomph..." My little grey cells responded with "hey those are my words". Quick read of the text - stopped at the words - "You can hear his report here." Who can resist something to click on? Click I did and downloaded an MP3 audio. Was making a cuppa whilst listening to the commentary - seems he likes Liberal England, he referred to Peter Black's recent posting - Heard my name mentioned and what he described as the "inimitable ...
So I was sitting at home plugged into iTunes, flicking through my comments from last year’s Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? on Troubled Diva (voting is still open on this year’s; don’t click if Su Pollard gives you nightmares). I discovered in the comments a sentence I’d written about Shame, Shame, Shame by Shirley [...]
In this video, Ming Campbell discusses practical measures to reduce crime introduced by Liberal Democrats around the country and talks about his experience as a prosecutor of serious crime.
An interesting story in the Guardian today where it appears that Cameron only cycles to the House of Commons once a week now. Envirohubris So much for the image he presented conveniently during the local elections eh? I'm also interested in how the Tories will respond to the proposals in Commons Committee report on the environment which sounded not too far away from Lib Dem proposals to tackle climate change.
Thanks to my friend Duncan Borrowman you can now sign a petition calling on Bob Neill to resign from the GLA. If you are a concerned Council Tax and taxpayer who is sick of part-time representation you can now demand value for money by going to: Bromley Lib Dems if you are a Bromley Borough resident or Bexley Lib Dems if you are a Bexley Borough resident.
Michael Howard interviewed in The Times today said of the general election result last year: "It was in many respects a lot closer than the result in seats suggests. The percentage difference was quite small. We got more votes than Labour did in England. I don’t want to go on about what might have been, but one of the lesser-known statistics is that if 14,500 people in the seats that give Labour
Slight change in plans from what I wrote yesterday - there seems to be a bit of a squueze on accomodation around the northern parts of the West Highland Way around the end of this week, so I’m going to have to take a bit of a diversion and miss out the northern stretch (roughly, [...]
As this is Elect the Lords week, the Elect the Lords button has been prominantly placed on my side bar. I will be blogging on the topic on Thursday to mark the anniversary, for anyone who can't wait you should pop over and read James's post at his day job here and follow the links. Tags:elect+the+lords constitutional+reform
Torbay Council's elected Executive Mayor made a complete buffoon of himself on national television last Friday evening. He described the resort as a 'parking paradise' which will come as a surprise to residents and visitors to the bay alike. The NCP contract and the 'zest' of the parking attendants has alienated many. Further, the car parking charges are significantly higher than neighbouring
Thanks to an anonymous contributor to my blog for this tip off ! This letter remains unpublished, but it is amusing to see opponents imitating us. Pity UKIP locally have no discernible policy differences with the Tory mayor and their lead candidate - Susie Colley - has a slim electoral platform that can be summed up as 'I'd be a really good councillor and I hate the Lib Dems' ! Text of Letter
David Cameron's revelation that he only actually cycles to work once a week should come as no surprise to anyone. We have a shallow opposition Leader desperately trying to mimic New Labour's 10 year old trick of being all things... 
Letter to Herald Express : 'Torbay View', the periodic magazine of Torbay Council, is meant to be an informative non-political publication highlighting the successful work of the council, included the often under-valued contribution made by its staff. Whilst accepting that the elected mayor as the bay's first citizen should rightly feature, the summer edition is notable for its inclusion of only
The link is to a Guardian article which talks about research into the background of 462 suicide bombers who have launched attacks in recent years. It remains, however, that this identified that the bombers themselves were mainly Muslim, but in fact from all religions. Suicide Bombing contains two main concepts that concern those on the other end of the attacks. The first is that it is an
1,000 girl scouts in rabid bat alert Page eight.
Bicycling eco-warrier David Cameron has admitted that he only gets his leg over once a week. "I take the bike once a week now," he told the beeb. "It helps me get in the mood for a lunchtime tryst with Tony."ç In a daring move Cameron DENIED that a car used to follow him every day car shoes and papers. According to the tieless old Etoniam: ""That did happen once or twice and I've now made sure that it will never happen again "* Readers who have seen the Cameron car following behind more than twice are encouraged to report ...
According to today's Guardian my constituent and much-loved Neath MP, Peter Hain, is the favourite to succeed John Prescott as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Peter Hain has many strengths but unfortunately they may also count against him in any contest. He is undoubtedly a very talented minister and a good political fixer and organiser. His defusing of the miner's compensation row and his role in getting Alun Michael elected proves this. However, these qualities did not prove enough to retain Blaenau Gwent for Labour and it seemed that his tactics actually wound people up more and pushed them ...
Young people below the age of 24, on average, hold more radical views with their parents and often dress in a distinctive fashion to identify with a particular group and rebel against what they believe to be the prevailing norms of the society in which they liveSome members of the urban middle-class want their children to be brought up isolated from bad influences in society, and try to encourage
Another busy week workwise for me, so blogging will be light. However, I should be blogging all week on the New Politics Network’s website in the run up to Lords Reform Day this Thursday. | < | August 2006 | > | ||||
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