LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 20th September 2006

The Charles we all love

Tried several times to post something about conference. Got half way through a couple of postings but with no time just left them as drafts. Yesterday was Charles Kennedy's greatly anticipated speech to conference - his classic fanfare style marked his arrival on stage. The hall was packed to standing to capacity - everybody wanted to hear what he was going to say. As I expected, he received a standing ovation on coming and going. Hearing him speak brought lump to my throat - that hypnotic voice. He was really on form, the Charles we all love. A good speech ...

King supports coup leader

According to the BBC here King Bhumibol Adulyadej has given his backing to the coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin. A statement attributed to him said he has appointed the General as head of a new executive body. The bad news is this means that the military coup will probably succeed. The good news is that it also probably means that the chances of the coup turning violent are greatly reduced.

Voice Podcast: Rally Reaction

Alex speaks to two well-placed councillors on green issues and the challenges the party faces. Carol O’Gorman, leader of North Wilts District Council and Steve Comer, the Deputy Leader of Bristol City. Why is it that every council has a “Council Government and Democracy” page? Download Standard Podcast

Online sauna

I am currently sitting in the Lib Dems On Line meeting in the Metropole. It is being held in a room hidden in the bowels of the building. The signs to it peter out on the ground floor. So you get a prize if you manage to find the room. This is my first on line sauna, over 100 people packed into a rather small room. We could do with an on line ice room or have a virtual cold beer emailed to

Anyone who fancies gatecrashing the Labour Conference

… might have their work cut out. Even their councillors have trouble getting passes. Perhaps Bob Piper would have been better off not ticking the box that reads ‘are you or have you ever been a socialist?’. The control freaks at NuLab wouldn’t give Iain Dale a pass either. What is plain is that they [...]

A little less to the right

Hot on the heels of the new Tory logo (which reminded my wife of Douglas Hurd’s hairstyle) comes the new Scottish Tory logo. It’s a little darker…and leans a little less to the right. No, really. And to think how they mocked our bird!

Somerset County Council leading the way

Paul Buchanon, our deputy leader on Somerset County Council was very keen to talk of his council’s achievements in getting a green fleet up and running fuelled by grain grown within the County. Download Standard Podcast

Thames Youth Orchestra

One of the delights of this job is the chance to indulge my love of music. So I was quick to accept an invitation to a concert in the splendid Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. But this was a rather special event because it was the first central London concert given by a fledgling orchestra. The Thames Youth Orchestra started as a collaboration between the two Tiffin Schools, and now has...

Getting Ready for Government

Two decisive results in the past six months have demonstrated beyond doubt the resolve of the Liberal Democrats to overcome their long standing devotion to lost causes and present themselves to the general public as serious political contenders who deserve to be entrusted with at least some of the government of this country. Both the leadership election and the recent rejection of a largely symbolic policy mean that the Liberal Democrats are positioned as a credible party that can seriously attack the other Parties, and defend its historically high number of contituency MPs. Well done to the far sighted membership ...

The shame of Simon Jenkins in the Guardian

The Guardian has a proud tradition as a liberal and progressive newspaper. It has nevetherless always offered the occassional slot to people not sharing in that world view. Quite right too. But precisely why the High Tory Sir Simon Jenkins has a regular column is, however, beyond me. This is especially true when he writes articles like this. In it he poses the question to himself: what would he do about the ethnic war/killing (Jenkins does not think the word genocide is appropriate) in Darfur? nothing really. ... The janjaweed are not in my country, not my business and, ...

Chris Davies and Lembit Opik reveal their wardrobe secrets to Alex Foster

This podcast is an example of the snowball approach to gaining support. Alex pursuaded Chris Davies to speak into his recorder, and only moments later when the MEP’s phone rang, he snared Lembit Opik to continue with the interview. Download Standard Podcast

Back in Wales

Just in case people have not realised I have been back in Wales since Tuesday lunchtime and ensconced in meetings for almost the entire period. I have o-f course been keeping an eye on the Liberal Democrat blogs and I am a bit envious at the ability of their authors to join in with the important debates on Tax and the party's philospophy as well as be there for the Charles Kennedy speech, fringe events and receptions. The fact that so many people are capturing the spirit of conference on-line this year, has made my absence much harder. ...

Advocacy

Imagine you had learning difficulties and found yourself alone and unable to communicate your needs and feelings. It's tough. Now put that into a context where important decisions have to be made about your future - you might have been arrested, or in hospital facing risky treatment. This is just one of the support roles offered by KAG Advocacy. It used to be known as Kingston...

Niall's questions

Niall posed the following questions in a comment. I will respond to the content of answers from Niall and Bernie Hughes in a later post, but for now, this. 1) Do you realistically believe that the situation in Iraq (security, and political) has a good chance of improving, or of getting worse, in the next 3 to 5 years? What do you base this on? In security terms I suspect the situation may worsen before it becomes better (if it becomes better, that is). The transition to Iraqi forces may yet begin to bring order to the entire ...

Good sense from Shirley Williams

The BBC reports a speech Shirley Williams made at a Social Market Foundation meeting in Brighton today. It seems she was expressing the same concerns that I have been writing about recently: We get people terrified to volunteer to be leaders of Cub groups or Guide groups because they think everyone will point at them and say, 'ah, of course you know about John and Margaret, they like to get close to young people'." She said it was a "tragedy" when a teacher is afraid to put their arm around a child who has grazed their knee in the playground ...

Good sense from Shirley Williams

The BBC reports a speech Shirley Williams made at a Social Market Foundation meeting in Brighton today. It seems she was expressing the same concerns that I have been writing about recently: We get people terrified to volunteer to be leaders of Cub groups or Guide groups because they think everyone will point at them and say, 'ah, of course you know about John and Margaret, they like to get close to young people'." She said it was a "tragedy" when a teacher is afraid to put their arm around a child who has grazed their knee in the playground ...

Alex and the Blogging Queen

Alex Foster took the opportunity of eight minutes alone in a quiet corridor with Iain Dale to check his linguistic skills - and received an interesting proposition. Download Standard Podcast

Saturday Afternoon Panto

While friends and colleagues gathered in Brighton for Party Conference, I went to my first ever football match on Saturday afternoon. I have struggled to see the point of football, but my heart does belong to Inverness and the Inverness Caledonian Thistle stadium is in such a beautiful spot, just next to the Kessock Bridge. The weather was absolutely glorious and we were basking in the sort of

Secondhand bookshops in East Sussex

There is a useful guide here. Not that any of us has the money left to buy books tomorrow.

Calling all citizen bloggers

Endemol UK are trying to get hold of amateur video clips and photos of anything interesting/exciting that happens at the conference - if you have filmed anything on a mobile-phones/digital camera please drop me an e-mail on robrobWHOISATlibdemvoice.orgrobWHOISATlibdemvoice.org (replace WHOISAT with @ to e-mail) (replace WHOISAT with @ to e-mail) and I’ll put you in touch

The Brighton blogmeet

Thanks to Alex "Niles's Blog" Foster for organising last night's meeting. He has written a report of it on his own blog.

Did Kennedy refuse the hand of friendship?

Half an hour before Charles’ speech a rumour started to circulate that he had refused to shake Ming Campbell’s hand at the end of his speech. Sure enough, Ming stayed in his seat and Charles stayed on the stage at the end of his speech. Who knows what the truth was. But it’s perhaps not suprising that [...]

A possible reason why Libdems got early awareness of Global Warming?

Way back in the late 1960's and all through to the mid 1980's when I religiously attended Liberal Party Assemblies we had an instinctive knowledge of what to expect in weather terms. Assembly would start in the tail-end of Summer with sunny days but half way through the weather would break, and autumn rains soaked the late night survivors of Glee Club. We had to pack shoes as well as sandalls. But recently September seems to be part of summer. So with glorious sunshine predicted right through to the Leaders Speech this year, LibDems of a certain vitage can feel ...

The Sun guide to "top Lib Dem political totty"

I don't endorse this sort of thing, you understand. I am just posting the link in case you missed it.

Oaten’s next career move becomes clear

You will have heard that the Thai government has been overthrown by a manic despot and a few loose cannons. It would be grossly inappropriate to link that with the fact that Mark Oaten is unable to be at conference because he’s in… Thailand.

On Monday I asked for Mr Blackwell to go and on Wednesday my wish is granted

Two days ago I blogged here asking for Kevin Blackwell to be sacked. And only this morning I was pondering here about how long it would be before Mr Blackwell was sacked. Thank you Mr Bates for realising the seriousness of the situation and acting. The official club statement is here. Now if I could just have the second part of my request fulfilled I would be delighted. Come on Mr Curbishley - rescue this great club.

Trust in People: Make Britain Free, Fair and Green

I’m sat in the debate on the Meeting the Challenge paper. So is the ls the leader. But the hall is disappointingly empty. This is a debate on the core principles of our party - the narrative. Perhaps the party at large feels that our narrative is sufficiently well established that it doesn’t need to be [...]

Bipolar conference disorder

I love conference. I love the chance to go somewhere I wouldn’t normally visit and meet up with thousands of like minded people. I love going to the Glee Club to discover that I’m not the first person to be attacked by a letterbox, and that in fact it’s such a common problem [...]

Bloggers at conference

Matthew Harris has been in touch to publicise a meeting here this evening. Anyone at Conference is warmly invited to attend tonight's fringe meeting on the Euston Manifesto: "The Euston Manifesto - a challenge to Liberal Democrats?", with speakers Oliver Kamm (Times columnist and blogger) and Dr Jon Pike (academic, blogger and Guardian writer), from 20.00-21.15, tonight (Wednesday) in The Library, Hilton Metropole Brighton (Conference Hotel). It promises to be a very stimulating debate and all are welcome. Further info from Matthew Harris on 07779 986 978. This event is not in the Conference ...

Ed Davey on the exodus of Tory members

Asked to comment on the apparent exodus of Tory members at a press conference in Blackpool this morning, Ed Davey MP said "this is in line with the reaction we had on the doorstep in Bromley. Many conservative members and traditional supporters are telling us that they no longer know what their party stands for. They are obviously disillusioned, and I don't find these figures surprising." If there is a surprise, it is the contrast with the message David Cameron has been putting out. According to 24dash.com Mr Cameron insisted he had been bringing in thousands of new Tory members ...

'Easy' access to Council services

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council launches ‘It’s Easy’ – a Public Access campaign - tomorrow (21 September) to promote the seven easy ways in which local residents can contact the Council and access its services. These seven easy ways, which include new and improved technology, include Viewpoint webcams, by phone, One Stop Shops, the Council website, i-plus kiosks, by letter and through the A-Z Guide to Council Services. The campaign aims to raise awareness of how easy it is to get in touch with the Council by phone on a single contact number 0845 612 612 6 (standard rates apply); ...

Ming's daily conference vidcast - September 20th, 2006

Ming discusses the results of yesterday’s Green Tax Switch Debate, Charles Kennedy and a visit to the Royal Sussex County Hospital. The consultation on poverty that Ming references can be found here.

Hands on

It's amazing what you can do with a telescopic lens from a distance of 20 metres! I took this photo during Simon Hughes speech launching his re-election campaign in conference this morning. It belongs to a certain blogger. First person to identify the owner gets a prize, (something cheap and worthless so you won't bother to claim it). (The owner of the hand is excluded from this competition -

Glen Baxter

I love Glen Baxter’s stuff, and I’ve always had his pictures around. Here is one!

New PM, New Constitution and New Elections for Thailand

That is the order in which events will follow at least according to General Sonthi Boonyaratglin who has told a news conference that new elections will take place in a year's time once a new constitution had been written and put in place. We will see. Thailand clearly needed to have its constitution amended having seen the chaos which followed the boycott of the last election by most of the opposition parties. It is certainly vital there are new democratic elections - these were scheduled to take place in October but will now be delayed. The only bit I have ...

EXCLUSIVE: preview of Lib Dem TV film

This evening TV audiences will be flocking to switch on their kettles watch the new Liberal Democrat film (party political broadcast). But you can watch it now at: http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/lib-dem-ppb.html

Houston May Have a Problem

The Conservative Party have named Fiona Houston as their candidate for next May's Scottish Parliament Election. A brief scan of any Fiona Houston with conservative leanings brings up one involved in the Save Inverleith Park campaign which attempted to stop the building of a skate park in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh. If this is the same one she should be aware that there is a very popular

Too hectic...

Just found time to blog about conference so far. I've barely had time to sit down and actually take in the debates. But what I heard of the tax debate yesterday made me proud to be a LibDem. All the speaking MPs brought out their grade A speeches, with most of the best lines they could muster. This started with the proposal from Vince Cable, thru to the summation by Huhne. Apart from that I've been following MPs around getting photos of them with stuffed animals or tossing pancakes while blindfolded! Its hard work, but quite enjoyable when the MPs ...

It’s true

It’s true. Charles Kennedy did say The British public are too thick to understand how to operate a proportional system of voting But put the quote in context - it went something like this: typed from memory, I don’t have the text or a recording to hand. People used to say that PR could never be introduced in [...]

Bush's Useful Idiots

In his excellent and enlightening article in the current London Review of Books, entitled 'Bush's Useful Idiots', Tony Judt analyses the apparent collapse of liberalism in the USA, primarily amongst the liberal intellectuals formerly opposed to the imperialism of the Reagan administration. Judt describes the position adopted by these 'fallen' liberals in the following terms: what distinguishes

All the kool kids are doing it

Will, Pink Dog and Alex have all eschewed the whirl of late night conference bar hopathons and are tucking themselves in early to phone this number 020 7533 5866. It’s really not for the faint-hearted. It will change your life.

Biting the hand

I see Iain Dale dropped by Brighton last night. Perhaps another manifestation of our fairness or being the nice party, or something... Iain has been making a living as the guru of the blogosphere, and despite being a losing Tory candidate last time, does occasionally manage one or two graceful comments about opinions not his own. He has improved his blogging franchise still further with his Guide to Political Blogging in the UK . It is a personal- and idiosyncratic- selection of the top Lib Dem, Conservative, Labour and non aligned blogs. I see that this blog achieved the dizzy ...

A day at the conference

So I made it to conference for the day, and a good day it was too. I got registered fairly quickly and got into the main hall in time for the tax debate. It was a good debate, although I was led to grimace at some of the statements by the pro-50p rate lobby. Thankfully (as I'm sure you all know) the ammendment was rejected by 2-1. We have the best treasury team of all the parties, we have more

Looking ahead to Bournemouth

Take pity on me. Please. On 1st October I will be heading to Bournemouth for the annual jamboree gathering of the Cameroonie Conservatives. I will be there in the capacity of observer. Watch out for some blog entries direct from the lion's den. I need help with fitting in at the Tory conference. I could do with: 1)an old school tie (somehow my Whickham Comprehensive tie may get

Simon says he's up for it... Is anyone else?

I've just emerged from the conference hall, where Simon Hughes has announced he will be seeking a mandate from Lib Dem members for a second term as party president. (Though - for my taste - publicly saying he will be "cross" if he doesn't win was an unnecessarily gauche way of asking us for a second chance.) Anyway, the gauntlet has been thrown down. The question now is whether anyone will

Why I like Vince

I don’t believe in the concept of ‘heroes’ - all folk are flawed, and to elevate any one person above the common herd seems a sure-fire way of embracing deferred disillusion. But if I have a Lib Dem un-hero, it is our shadow chancellor, Dr Vince Cable: genial, sharp, magnanimous, dry, serious, courteous and formidable. Even to mention ‘Uncle Vince’ and his Tory counterpart ‘Boy George

The Press on Lib Dem Tax Proposals

The broadsheet press were setting Sir Menzies Campbell up for a lambasting if he failed to get his tax proposals unamemnded at conference yesterday. This morning did they let Ming delight in the victory, not a change mainly they largely attempted to clutch a defeat story from the clutches of victory. A quick scan of this mornings papers shows that the political editors obviously see the Liberal

Brighton blogmeet report

Three pictures above of some of the attendees at the Brighton blogmeet last night at the wonderful, but a-trek-from-conference Evening Star. The pub was very close to the station, however, for those who were joining us from further afield. The evening was well attended, but not quite so crowded as [...]

For liberty, against freedom

Today we debate the Lib Dem 'themes' paper Trust in people: make Britain free, fair and green or TIPMBFFG as Alex Wilcock has dubbed it. Given the great fanfare with which the whole 'Meeting the challenge' project was launched last year, the paper is dull and disappointing. To ride my own particular hobby horse briefly, it again treats freedom as a purely a matter of constitutional and civil liberties. I would like to see a bit more of the small 'l' liberalism that sees freedom as the government butting out of people's lives and leaving them in peace. One of ...

My Guardian piece on Charles Kennedy

As my Comment is Free piece on Charles Kennedy soon faded into obscurity, I am reproducing it here. I hope it was honest but not unkind. Kennedy's sun finally sets It wasn't the drink that did for Charles Kennedy: it was the drift. When Kennedy stood for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats in 1999, the West Highland Free Press - a radical newspaper published in his own constituency - remarked that people in London were beginning to ask what they had been asking for 15 years: what exactly does Charles Kennedy stand for? Though he won that ...

Not too taxing

I sat through the whole tax debate and was pleasantly surprised by the ease with which the commission's proposals were agreed. This was clearly not just a deference vote, but reflected the greater substance of the speeches in favour of the unamended proposals. However appealing higher tax rates for higher earners may sound, at some point one has to face the reality of diminishing returns. The punitive tax regime of the pre-1979 Labour government simply meant that tax exile and avoidance was more common. Nigel Lawson used to boast that by reducing tax rates he increased the tax take, ...

Bus Issues in West End

Had a question raised by a West End resident about the height of the bus timetables on stops, so here's the response from the City Council :-* * *"The bus shelters and bus stop poles have been designed to meet the 'Inclusive Mobilility' guidelines, which are aimed at assisting elderly and disabled persons. The alternative would be placing displays so low that the majority of persons would not be able to read as the information would be below waist height." * * * You can read the guidelines by clicking the headline above. ...

Local difficulties

No blogging yesterday. In part this was due to an ultimately fruitless attempt to speak in the Local Government debate. This is one of the frustrations of conference. You put in a card to speak in a debate and then hope to be called. But as in this case, one can spend hours creating a beautifully crafted speech that is never delivered. At least the local government paper was referred back, amid severe criticism from various local government figures including our Herts CC Lib Dem group leader Chris White. Regular readers will may remember my previouscriticism of the policy ...

Charles Kennedy's speech and my latest video diary

Tuesday was the big day at conference! Would Ming's leadership be dented by defeat? That was the media's obsession. In the event – Lib Dems had a red letter day. Our big idea - switching taxation from the person to pollution passed without amendment. Now both Labour and Tory will have to come onto our territory if they are really going to walk the talk - as opposed to their current hot air.

Is Bristow Muldoon a One Tax Pony?

Livingston MSP Bristow Muldoon is at it again, in a letter in today's Scotsman he seems to assume that income tax is the only measure of taxation in households. Perhaps Cllr. Cathy Muldoon is the one to deal with the family finances in that particular Murieston household. The Liberal Democrat tax proposals agreed to yesterday are going to help the poorest and guard the environment, something

News from Brighton - where is it?

I am not sure why the news from the Liberal Democrat conference at Brighton seems so limited. Sure there is plenty of comment from Liberal Democrat Bloggers and if you want to keep track of what they are saying then you can click here. The BBC also has some limited coverage which can be seen here. What has really disappointed me is the coverage from the party itself. The news from the conference button which I display on this blog takes me here. Not very informative I am afraid especially with regard to what is ...

In praise of .... Stephen Tall

When I heard last week that there was to be a Liberal Democrat "blogger of the year" award then it seemed obvious to me that the only worthy winner would be Stephen Tall. Superlative writing, serious policy discussion combined with enough personal whimmsy to make it human its almost the perfect political blog. Although I suspect something of a Valkyre of the party's new Right wing I feel comfortable that it is people like him who seem to be taking over. Urbane and Urban, hard headed and making serious attempts to marry the party's social concern with some ...

In praise of... Emily Gasson

15 years ago next month I was signed upto the party at a University freshers stall. An enthusiastic young woman called Emily Gasson did the honours and by one of those randon Conference coincidences I bumped into her yesterday. Remembering her name I have followed her progress as a PPC for Dorset North and was delighted when I noticed she had married Ed Davey a while back. Recruitment has been one of my many failings over the years. The biggest single reason people join the party is because someone asks them to. Although we only chatted for ...

Come back kids

Amid the alcoholic haze of many old friends meeting, Tuesday turned out to be an exceptionally good day for the Liberal Democrat conference. The media attention was on Charles Kennedy's hail or farewell speech, which it was depended on who you talked to. He is popular, and with good reason- an intelligent and thoughtful man. There is a lot of human sympathy for him, and his appearance was a major step in the healing process both for Charles himself and also for the party, which has been very bruised by the leadership problems since last year. As for the speech- ...

Graffiti, Signage and Alzheimer Scotland

Good news received this morning from City Council re complaints I had forwarded in Bankmill Road and Blackness Road (near fire station) areas - to quote: "Graffiti on pathway between Bankmill Road and Blackness Road removed however the top part is causing a problem with access due to parked cars the crew will check the area for access later. Utility box requires painting. Graffiti in Lane just east of Fire Station removed." There's been good progress on getting co-operation of a major owner of utility boxes to get graffiti removed ...

Leggy and toothsome

It had escaped my attention, but Channel Four News site names this among the twenty political blogs you should read, calling it “quite amusing”. This is generous, but I’ll tell you what’s not “quite amusing”. Last night I took out a contact lens using a finger which had toothpaste on it. An hour later I was still in agony.

Ming 1, Cameron concedes 6000

Peter Riddell in the Times sees conference like this: THE Liberal Democrat leader can start to relax. Yesterday Sir Menzies Campbell both established his authority as leader and went a long way towards defining the identity of his party. Imagine if the leadership had lost the vote on retaining the top 50p rate of income tax and Charles Kennedy had delivered a barnstorming speech prompting calls for his early return to the front bench. Sir Menzies’ authority would then have suffered a serious setback and there would be rumblings over his leadership before his big speech tomorrow. But ...

News that Gordon Brown

has sent aides to Thailand is completely made up.

Separated at birth

On the left is David Moffett, the former Chief Executive of the Welsh Rugby Union. On the right is the newly appointed Chief Executive, Roger Lewis. Have the WRU been perfecting cloning over the last 7 months?

Thailand military coup update

The Thai military has declared today to be a national holiday and called top civil servants and foreign diplomats to a meeting at military headquarters to update them on the situation. Apparently they have declared "a holiday for government, banks and the stock exchange in order to quickly restore law and order," according to their statement. As I said in my previous post the position of the King will be critical. Will he intervene and if so on which side? Sky News reported last night that the King never intervenes in Thai politics. This is not ...

Some relief at last

Ok so it is only lowly Barnet but a 3-1 victory is a) a victory and b) a game in which Leeds managed to score a goal. Even better Ian Moore got himself on the scoresheet twice and one can hope that this will have given him some confidence. In the last game I saw against Wolves he looked as if he was capable of playing reasonably well but was just not putting the ball in the back of the net - bit of a problem for a striker! The crowd of only 7,000 odd will have been very disappointing ...

Day 2086: Coo!

Tuesday: It has been another exciting day here in Brighton, but this has been rather overshadowed by the news from Thailand. It seems that some terrible right-wingers have parked their tanks on the lawn and started throwing their weight about. But as I said, this has been overshadowed by events in Thailand. Dr John Reid has immediately rushed out a statement that he had no desire to be the next Thai Prime Minister. Unless, should he be called upon to serve, etc… Speaking of deposed leaders, Mr CK1 Kennedy had the main hall packed out to hear him ...

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