Monday 28th August 2006

11:15 pm

The long hard road back

Gravatar The big topic on Liberal Democrat blogs over the weekend has been Charles Kennedy, his speech to Conference and the biography of our former leader by Greg Hurst, which is to be published in time for Conference. The book seeks to pin down who in the Parliamentary Party was to blame for wielding the knife against Kennedy and for forcing him out. In reality it appears to just recycle old rumours, many of them published at the time. Like everybody else I will no doubt buy the book out of curiosity but all of us have moved on, including I ...
Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black AM
10:18 pm

I coulda been a contender - Part III

Gravatar At least I've amused Susanne. I got over-enthusiastic and changed my template, thus removing all of my changes and removing all of my personalisations, ha, ha, ha... So, I've redesigned the links section, and for those of you who have been namechecked, if you have any fundamental objections to your tagline, please don't hesitate to let me know...
Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy
10:15 pm

Kennedy biography in tomorrow's Times

Gravatar Iain Dale reports that tomorrow's Times will carry extracts from Greg Hurst' new biography of Charles Kennedy. The story has just been on the BBC news too. Later. The Times website now has the story here and here.
Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England
10:11 pm

A journey in pictures

Gravatar As I’ve now worked out how to email from my phone, you can now see a lot more pictures - with most of them in a much bigger size too - of where I am or where I’ve been at Flickr. (Caution: contains snakes without the government’s recommended daily amount of Samuel L Jackson)
Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With
9:47 pm

Halfway?

Gravatar Just to let you all know that I am still alive and still on the move - I made it to England on Friday and have been progressing south since then and am now in Alston, about to enjoy a day off tomorrow, when I’ll fill you in with a lot more detail about where [...]
Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With
9:25 pm

A gesture too far

Gravatar Back from Prague, complete with Franz Kafka teeshirt, I find myself with a whole host of issues to blog about. The one that wound me up whilst I was away was this story about Celtic goalkeeper, Artur Boruc, who has been cautioned by Police for crossing himself in front of Rangers' fans at the local derby match. I saw an interview with Ruth Kelly on BBC on Sunday morning in which she claimed to have no knowledge of the incident and refused to be drawn in condemning the Police for suppressing freedom of expression. As usual with such incidents however, ...
Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black AM
8:39 pm

Talking rubbish (again)!

Gravatar Oxford City Council is talking rubbish, again. Hard on the heels of the IPPR suggesting that the only way to radically improve recycling is to charge for rubbish collections by weight, it seems that, according to the Oxford Mail, Bin Brother is watching you - the new wheelie bins being, er, rolled out across Oxford from later this autumn will be "IPPR Ready". Now, when I first saw it, I thought "what a terrible thing for a Lib Dem council to be doing, introducing spies on wheels to your doorstep". I see Labour's John Tanner harping on about ...
Posted by Jock Coats on Jock's Blog
8:15 pm

Happy birthday John Betjeman

Gravatar Sir John Betjeman was born 100 years ago today. A Shropshire Lad The gas was on in the Institute, The flare was up in the gym, A man was running a mineral line, A lass was singing a hymn, When Captain Webb the Dawley man, Captain Webb from Dawley, Came swimming along the old canal That carried the bricks to Lawley, Swimming along, swimming along, Swimming along from Severn, And paying a call at
Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England
7:25 pm

Inferno (Alternate Universe Mix)

Gravatar Cast your mind back a month to Britain sweltering under a heatwave. It’s difficult to believe, looking out this evening over the grey Thames linked to the grey sky by the grey rain. Almost as if it was some alternative dimension… (Wibbly-wobbly effect) Well, that’s perhaps the cheesiest daytime TV link I’ve ever written, but a month ago it was terribly hot and I was writing about the Doctor Who DVD Inferno. Since then, I’ve been thinking about some related items: the Inferno novel; the Doctor Who Annual on the DVD in pdf form; and the Third Doctor’s whole character. ...
Posted by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty
7:08 pm

I coulda been a contender - Part II

Gravatar The telephone rings, and it's Susanne, noting that my links column is a bit untidy. A quick tutorial later, and it looks pristine... Thanks, Susanne!
Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy
6:43 pm

Crown Office: Celtic goalkeeper cautioned for inciting crowd - not blessing himself

Gravatar The Scottish Crown Office has clarified why the Celtic Goalkeeper was cautioned (see my earlier posting). In the words of the BBC, the Crown Office have confirmed that: Boruc was cautioned for inciting an Old Firm crowd rather than for blessing himself... (and they said) the "very limited" action had been taken against the player for gesticulating at the Rangers support. He had also blessed
Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Burblings
5:36 pm

I coulda been a contender

Gravatar News of the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Award has reached this sleepy corner and, as someone without a hope in hell of winning it (no, really, not false modesty), I have taken an interest in the views of those indicating their personal favourites. I am consequently reminded that my own humble blog isn't really connected to the outside world, mostly by my London Region colleague, Susanne Lamido, who is forever encouraging me to add buttons and do more with this blog. So I'm spending the afternoon adding buttons and links so as to provide ...
Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy
5:08 pm

Fraternity and Conservatism

Gravatar Top Cameroon Danny Kruger has an important article in Prospect magazine (hat tip: Conservative Home). The heart of the piece is an excellent discussion of "fraternity" or "community" and how it realtes to the other core modern values of liberty and equality. This is something that all Liberals (with a small l or a capital one) and Conservatives (likewise) should read and will probably learn from
Posted by LibertyCat on Forceful and Moderate
4:51 pm

Bored already

Gravatar It looks like the media has staked out the Lib Dem agenda for our September conference in Brighton. It's awfully kind of them to save us the bother. Having decided last year that we were all obsessed with getting rid of Charles Kennedy, this year they have decided we are all obsessed with who was responsible for getting rid of Charles Kennedy. The Times in particular is bigging-up the
Posted by Stephen Tall on A Liberal Goes A Long Way
4:35 pm

Why Cameron can't win

Gravatar While not front-page news, the Taxpayer Alliance poll does tell us something about why the Tories can't win elections. Tax cuts are important. Voters like tax cuts. Throughout history, centre-right parties have won elections by promising to cut taxes. This is the one centre-right talking point that someone like Blair can't steal - because the core purpose of the Labour Party is to "invest" money in public services. The most important issues that voters answering a right-wing push poll come up with are crime, school violence (i.e. crime), the effects of the benefits ...
Posted by LibertyCat on Forceful and Moderate
4:26 pm

So you'll have had your ITV, then?

Gravatar Charles Allen’s full-throated attack on Channel 4 in his McTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival last week sparked predictable outrage - as I’m sure it was designed to do, despite Mr Allen’s protestation that attack “is not really my style”. What was perhaps most surprising about his address - which, incidentally, had way more witty one-liners than most ITV comedies - was the extent to
Posted by Stephen Tall on A Liberal Goes A Long Way
3:55 pm

I would call them cretins, but I suspect they know exactly what they are doing

Gravatar An "independent" lobby group calling itself the Taxpayer Alliance has commissioned a poll with some results which the major media found bizzarely newsworthy. The Sunday Times headline is typical: "10 million want to quit overtaxed UK." Darell Huff provides some sensible questions to ask a lying statistic, so let's have a look. Who says so? The Taxpayer Alliance. Do they sound unbiased to you? We all know how easy it is to skew a one-off poll by asking biased questions. Would an advocay organisation really waste money commissioning an honest opinion ...
Posted by LibertyCat on Forceful and Moderate
3:53 pm

Miaow

Gravatar Hello again, everyone. This cat has spent too long curled up in a basket sniffing catnip while the world around him went to the dogs. This stops now - please pull my tail if I don't post regularly in future.
Posted by LibertyCat on Forceful and Moderate
2:24 pm

Back to Gumley

Gravatar I have found another page on Gumley, where Offa lived and Thomas Tapling died,
Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England
1:49 pm

Robin Hood stolen

Gravatar Tapes of the BBC’s new Robin Hood series have been stolen. Rumours has it that the culprits are trying to blackmail to BBC, but an email from the thieves leaked to this blog reveals the truth: “We rob from the rich BBC to give to the poor. We will be distributing the tapes to TV stations in [...]
Posted by Will on No geek is an island
YouGov
1:45 pm

In defence of the Bright Young Things

Gravatar Rob Fenwick has a posting looking at the weekend's press speculation ahead of the publication of Greg Hurst's biography of Charles Kennedy. The most substantial of the stories he mentions is that in the Sunday Times. There, Isabel Oakeshott writes: There has been widespread speculation that Campbell, the current Liberal Democrat leader, will be portrayed as a traitor who helped to engineer
Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England
1:40 pm

Stupid caption of the day

Gravatar Go here. Choose the ninth picture. Then looks at photos 1, 5 and 7 and ponder whether the caption to photo number 9 is really the best they could come up with. (Sensitive readers should be forewarned that this does involve a glimpse of Simon Cowell’s chest. And his face. Sorry.) Tags: bbc+news
Posted by Will on No geek is an island
1:29 pm

Who-go Award

Gravatar Sci-fi fans will likely have heard of the prestigious Hugo Awards. On Saturday night, top notch Who writer and all-round good chap Steven Moffat won this year’s Hugo for “Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)” for his two-part Doctor Who story “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances”. Congratulations to Steve, and to fellow nominees Rob Shearman and [...]
Posted by Will on No geek is an island
12:48 pm

Day 2062: DOCTOR WHO: Mostly Garmless

Gravatar Saturday In Dr Who’s EXCITING adventure on "Terminus", he meets a great big huge fluffy monster called THE GARM (also known, for reasons that are OBVIOUS to anyone who knows the plot of "Terminus" as THE BIG BANG DOG). My daddies have been listening to David Tennant read the final story of Dr Who's recent adventures in book form. This book is called "The Resurrection Casket" and this features a great big huge fluffy monster called KEVIN. No relation. Oh dear, it would appear that Steve Cole’s “Feast of the Drowned” was the fluke and we ...
Posted by Millennium Dome on The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant
12:41 pm

David Cameron's Notebook

Gravatar David Cameron is at it again, determined to show he is leading a new Tory party, he has denounced Thatcher's apartheid policy. David Cameron realises he is only wearing one high heel Here's Cameron's current strategy for setting his party up to win the next election: Break with Thatcherite past: By publicly criticising key aspects of Thatcher policy, the public believes that the party has
Posted by Gavin Whenman on The Whiskey Priest
11:58 am

Closing Shop

Gravatar I've been getting very lax at updating this blog recently - indeed, I was reminded to do so by a Council officer last week! (You know who you are...). Anyway, I think I'll try to focus on keeping www.richardhuzzey.org.uk updated, as I don't seem to have time to write on national politics and random musings here... Best service for Lib Dem blogging in Oxford remains www.stephentall.org.uk, which (if you're reading Lynne!) thoroughly deserves to win the Lib Dem blog award.
Posted by Richard on Richard Huzzey
11:49 am

The Headington Shark

Gravatar It's exactly twenty years this month since the erection of 'Untitled - 1986', the famous Headington shark that won the wrath of Oxford City Council's planning inspectors. It was erected by local man Bill Heine, as a metaphor for Cold War and nuclear proliferation issues. The dispute over planning permission for the sculpture eventually found its way to Michael Hestletine, then the relevant Secretary of State. His officers reported: It is not in dispute that this is a large and prominent feature. That was the intention, but the intention of the appellant and the artist is not an issue ...
Posted by Richard on Richard Huzzey
11:26 am

Politically incorrect alphabet

Gravatar Somebody sent me this link to a website of someone who has created a website with a politically incorrect alphabet. The guy who designed the alphabet wrote the following "Lacking any tact or decency, I therefore determined to create an alphabet using only subjects that, while they might have been unremarked a few decades ago, are now outside acceptable usage. But only just. And then it was my intention to illustrate these in a 'modern' style, something along the lines of Dick Bruna's Miffy (OK, Miffy is 50, but still looks fresh). " Well it amused me.
Posted by Tony Ferguson on Ballots, Balls and Bikes
10:58 am

Lib Dem leadership: put the knives away

Gravatar One of the dangers of party conference in a few weeks’ time is that the party membership fall in to the all too easy trap of ignoring the issues of substance (particularly in the form of the Meeting the Challenge debate), and instead wrap themselves up in the intrigue of the past. Greg Hurst’s biography of [...]
Posted by Rob on The posh sounding Northumbrian
10:02 am

Wheelie bin roll out delayed

Gravatar {Love Lincoln Let's Recycle} As reported in the Echo on Friday the wheelie bins for Lincoln have been delayed for a month due to the suppliers not making any bins. With the original roll out supposed to begin this week, we were only told by the council on Thursday about the delays, who in turn were only informed on Monday. It's a real shame as hopefully the wheelie bins will end the consistent problem of black bags being left out days early. Unfortunately the council have yet to put the any information about the delays on their website, but FAQs ...
Posted on Hapless band of staff and regulars
9:41 am

Proof

Gravatar Mayoral things quieten down over August so I've had a chance to finish some proof reading and make final changes to the books I've been writing and editing. (For more details of what I do see this selection on Amazon). But this pitch for business caught my eye on The Wordsmith's blog. A colleague of his had received it in an email. Me and my partner are currently in the...
Posted on The Mayor's Blog
9:22 am

Summer BBQ!

Gravatar Summer, what summer - we decided on the day not to risk the weather and the Summer BBQ became a curry night. Despite that a good time was had by all - some local lib dem members who hadn't been to our events before braved the evening. Sajjad Karim MEP came and brought some new members / prospective members to meet us and a fellow Lib Dem Councillor from Bedfordshire made this a 'Party' wide event
Posted by Cllr. Andrew Garner on Andrew's Sedgley Blog
9:22 am

Defections to the Lib Dems

Gravatar This weekend has seen the news of a group of former Labour party members and activists defecting to the Liberal Democrats. It happened in Derby in Margaret Becket's constituency and we hear that its to do with the government's failure on the Middle East. I'm glad that our leader, Menzies Campbell, has been speaking out more about this issue and I am sure we'll hear a lot more about the Lib Dem position during the party conference in a few weeks time.
Posted by Paula on Paula Keaveney - Lib Dem Campaigner

Previous days:

Sunday 27th August 2006, Saturday 26th August 2006, Friday 25th August 2006, Thursday 24th August 2006, Wednesday 23rd August 2006, Tuesday 22nd August 2006