If you’re laying out calendars as part of your campaign this year, you might find this site useful. Lib Dems like calendars with candidates name on and the key message because hopefully people will find the calendar useful, stick it on their wall, and then spend the rest of the year looking at the names [...]
This is a very subjective and personal post. It's been inspired by a person who I have never met, but should in theory have a lot in common with. We are, after all, both graduates of the same university where we did the same degree, once held posts in the same university society, had I suspect similar expectations of postgraduate life, and in principle at least have a similar dilemma in our personal lives. However, I found so much of the following book so distasteful, that after ruminating on the topics emcompassed for some while I felt compelled to write ...
I think, looking at the comments from Dr Rant, that the Labour Party's idea that GPs should do more surgery has not been well received.
Jonathan Calder suggests that Brass Eye inspired the government’s latest idea for flying robot drones being used to spy on anti-social behaviour. Of course, given the name of this blog, I should point out that Spy-in-the-sky cameras have been a staple part of crime fighting in the Judge Dredd comic for years now. I used to work [...]
The shops in the big Russian cities have lovely supermarkets now, Russian TV has the most beautiful singers in the world and the doctors are good but it ain't easy to be a liberal .... MOSCOW — Internet postings are calling on Russian nationalists to kill government critics — death lists that underscore the dangers journalists and rights activists face in Russia.Svetlana Gannushkina, a refugee
Whilst at the reception I saw quite a few Lib dem mayors. At one point I saw Mary Reid (Kingston) and Jill Frazer (Camden) talking with each other. Now I have a special relationship with Kingston because I was at university and spent 3 wonderful years there. Mary is also one of my long time heros (I dodn't actually say this to her face). Her blog is one of teh first I become adicted to and
I have been up to Westminster Abbey today for the London Mayor's annual church service. I have been a couple of times, but today I think was the best. The past couple of times it has been raining but today it was quite different and what a differnece it made. The abbey was a blaze with light and it show the abbey in its glory. At the start and end of the service all (well apart from two who
I spent much of yesterday amongst starry eyed freshers at the University of York's annual freshers fair, trying to convince all comers to ignore the lure of many of the other more extravagant student socities and throw their lot in with the Lib Dems. As ever our stall was very well supported and generated a lot of interest, even if the odd client was more interested in getting their hands on one of the iconic 'homophobia is gay' badges, than actually joining the party. Although we appeared to attract as many supporters as in previous years, there was ...
A correspondent has just informed me that Mark and Belinda Oaten are being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Tuesday morning (10-10.45 a.m.)
The other day I suggested that John Reid's idea of paying foreign prisoners to go home may have owed something to Chris Morris's cashback scheme from Brass Eye. Because I enjoyed Brass Eye so much I allowed the quotation to run on. Next we heard Rhodes Boyson agreeing that it might be a good idea to have the cashback scheme policed by Richard Branson hovering over the offenders in a balloon. These days satire has to run fast to keep ahead of reality. The BBC reports: Police have played down reports that spy planes could be flown high ...
It's time for a plug for the Labour Watch. site. It has some cracking stories and a bold new design.
There’s a right way of going about things, and there’s a wrong way. Today’s crass and clumsy intervention by Labour’s Phil Woolas - calling on suspended teaching assistant Aishah Azmi to be sacked - falls squarely in the latter, dog-whistling category. Why? Because there is such a thing as due process, an essential component of that fundamental liberal principle, the rule of law: our guarantor
Several visits in Speke over the weekend, which meant I was using quite a few busses. When they come.. and when they are frequent its great.. but the later it gets the more cut off you feel in parts of the area. The whole thing seems to be down to letting it all be run by the market. let's face it some routes are just not profitable, even though they are socially necessary. Merseytravel do their best.. but they simply can't tell the private companies what to do. What we need is to go back ...
In East Speke this morning talking to people. Specifically spent some time in "the Mains" where some work has been done on Mains Rough. Mains Rough is a piece of open space which, quite frankly, had got into a bit of a state. Earlier this year the City Council did some improvement work, so its now a bit flatter, has litter bins, has a fence and a path and somewhere to sit. The response from local people shows that its an improvement. I certainly saw several people using the space for a stroll or a sit in the open air. ...
An excellent article by Andrew Rawnsley in todays Guardian.
Blackwell sacked and Carver takes over as caretaker manager. In his first game Leeds took 3 points off Birmingham. Since then two very poor performances have seen Leeds lose 4-2 to West Brom with 10 men and yesterday they lost 4-0 to Stoke. Yet again a penalty was missed and Carver is beginning to find out just how tough this job can be. He was quoted after the game as follows "I know what my ambitions are but I have to be quite honest and say possibly this ends my chance of getting the manager's job full-time. The result doesn't ...
Regular readers will remember my recent comments about the Daily Mail's attack on the popular heavy rock genre 'EMO'. I was delighted to hear that popular beat combo My Chemical Romance had entered the chart at number one today. In case you missed it (and not for those of you who remember when songs had nice tunes and proper words etc. etc.) here it is again: So that's round one to the EMO kids then ;-)
Tim Worstall's latest BritBlog Roundup is in place.
Just a heads-up about an exciting event this week in Prestwich. Prestwich Arts College (formerly Prestwich High School) is hosting an event called “Combat Climate Change” at 19.30 on Wednesday (18th October). There’ll be a number of speakers, including Cllr Vic D’Albert from the Liberal Democrats, and representatives of other political parties locally, as well as Friends of the Earth. And there’ll
It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday I spent the day in Manchester, deciding that this weekend is as good a time as any to acquire the types of clothes likely to keep me warm in Winter. Whilst I’m not short of a t-shirt or two, when it comes to jumpers and coats I run a little short. Now though, thanks to the good people at Next (and Millets for a coat), I shan’t suffer this winter. Tamsin and I
I note all the doom merchants claiming our streets will be full of violent drunked yobs 24 hours a day have gone silent in recent months following the successful introduction of extended opening hours for pubs and clubs. Now Norfolk police claim to have seen a fall of 9% in violence agains the person, which the relate and link directly to the new opening hours. I was out with the police in Fakenham a few months before the change in opening hours, and they said what a nightmare it was to police pubs from 11-12 in the evening ...
Mid Norfolk Tories included a Norfolk based solicitor, James Tumbridge, on their shortlist of four to go before the final selection meeting to slect their parliamentary candidate. After weeks of pressure from local Tories, angered at the failure of the local party to include local candidates in their shortlists, it appears they have bowed to pressure. Quite how Mr Tumbridge will do in the final selection will be interesting. He made little impact at he general election in Norwich North where the Tory vote fell last time. He is up against three "A list" glitterati candidates, so he ...
You can't follow Northern Ireland politics without having a large degree of cynicism. I certainly long ago realised that I shouldn't believe anything until I see it. Comparing the comments by Peter Hain "What we now have in prospect is the nomination, as quickly as November 24, of Ian Paisley the DUP leader as first minister, and Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein deputy leader and former IRA
I took part in a further public meeting about Hither Green policing issues on Wednesday, this time at St Swithun's Church on Hither Green Lane. It was a pretty lively and wide-ranging meeting, covering all sorts of matters from untaxed and abandoned cars, grafitti, drug dealing, and various forms of anti-social behaviour and bad neighbourliness. The police would use the Hither Green community site to keep people informed of developments. One thing I found out for the first time was that the police had video cameras trained on Hither Green from the bell tower on the Meridian ...
The rumours about a possible closure of East Dulwich Police Station have circulating for weeks now. I and my colleagues have avoided fuelling those rumours whilst we sought reassurances from the Borough commander. But those reassurances have not come and on Friday my fellow East Dulwich Councillor, Jonathan Mitchell, went public in the South London Press with our [...]
Don’t say I didn’t warn you! I said in my blog entry yesterday that I would annoy you all by putting up the video filmed of the Northern Lib Dem awards presentation held at Gateshead Civic Centre on Saturday 14th October. Well, here it is! Regional Awards video
This week two employees have been suspended from their jobs because of the clothes and jewellery they wear. I have to say that I am quite appalled to see Government Ministers call for Aishah Azmi to be sacked if she doesn't remove her veil at work. She has agreed to take off her veil while teaching the children, but to wear it while male colleagues are present. Why can this not be an acceptable compromise? Now BA has suspended a check in clerk for refusing to cover her necklace with a cross on it. They say that all jewellery, ...
Two weeks ago Jack Straw reignited the simmering debate about multiculturism in the UK with his clumsy comments about Muslim women wearing the veil. This is a tricky issue, complex with few easy answers, especially for a liberal - but the response has been predictably simplistic. We are now in the midst of a wave of Isamophobic media-led hysteria. Since Mr Straw spoke out we have had fears of Muslim teaching assistants being unintelligible, Muslim policemen cherry picking their duties, Muslim cabbies refusing to allow guide-dogs in their taxis and now fears over the building of a 'supermosque' in ...
It was very heartening to see a packed Scottish Liberal Democrat conference embrace the radical and positive Bright Future pre-manifesto document yesterday. With its focus on opportunities for young people, innovation and investment and its commmitment to produce 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2050. The mood was optimistic. Everybody is aware that we can be the largest party in May next year and is committed to playing their part to make that happen. Ming Campbell made a strong speech, reaffirming our commitment to ensuring fairness within the justice system, pledging that we would continue ...
Pink Dog: Playground action movie Nice to see that our canine friend is enjoying her holiday in Australia. It will give you motion sickness, though, so be careful. 
Wednesday: As you may have guessed, I am very PRO-SCIENCE! I think that every elephant should know some of the basics about how the world is made and how things work. And, BETTER THAN THAT, that we can try and work out MORE STUFF about how the world works, and that we have a process for coming up with ideas and then testing to see if they are right by finding evidence. (And with DOCTOR WHO back on the telly, I hope that people will again be thinking that there is MORE to science than just FORENSIC MEDICINE!) ...
To sit or to stand: a life-style issue?
Now David Davies is having his go with the dog whistle, recently liberally covered in saliva by Jack Straw: Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Davis questioned whether there was a "series of closed societies" in the UK. And he said there was a growing feeling the Muslim community was ..."unwilling to engage in substantive debate". This is what is known in marketing as a "me too" product. Jack
It that time of the Parliamentary cycle when the Welsh Liberal Democrats re-elect their Leader. Naturally, Lembit Opik is re-standing but there are rumours of at least two other nomination forms circulating. Whether these forms are submitted by the 1,15pm deadline today is another matter. My bet is that the AMs concerned are just winding Lembit up and that he will end up as the only nominee. Then again...
Went out delivering some leaflets today. Picked up a few more issues while out and about so will crack on with them. Had parked my car up outside of the Folk House and some kids had hit it with...
Sunday 15th October 2006 - Apologies for the lack of updates to the blog recently, a few technical hitches in Brussels meant I was unable to access the system to upload new entries. However, I have been as busy as usual signing up new members on my travels lately. I joined Ryan Bate at Lancaster Univerisity recently and helped to sign up Rachel Lewis to the Party. I was also on hand to help
Quite a few healthcare issues on the boil in Lewisham at the moment. I was at a meeting of Lewisham Council's Healthier Communities Select Committee last week, where all the councillors were concerned about a further raft of last minute cuts which the Lewisham Primary Care Trust were intending to impose, as a result of further top slicing of their budget being required by the Government. We had very little notice of the proposed cuts, which include restricting elective surgery and outpatient activity and cutting sedation dentistry for Lewisham patients at Kings College Hospital.. I did my ...
Some weird and wonderful comments have been appearing on my blog for months. Used to receiving insulting remarks even from some Lib Dems. Tired of deleting them, I've developed a thick skin so have decided to leave them unmoderated. Less stress and better to leave people to say what they want - freedom of speech 'n' all that. One known London Lib Dem anonymous poster has even got his company to send me spam mails to my private email address (least if he's not done it somebody has gone to a lot of trouble to set it up) . ...
A couple of planning issues which might interest you, taken from the September 2006 edition of Lewisham Council's Planning Newsletter. On 13 July, Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, announced a package of enhanced powers for the Greater London Authority (the Mayor of London and London Assembly). The package included stronger planning powers for the Mayor where he will have discretion to decide strategically important planning applications in London. A consultation which asks Londoners how these new planning powers will best work in practice ends on 2 November 2006. Go to www.communities.gov.uk for the full ...
Today’s Observer reports Ruth Kelly is blocking new legislation which would outlaw discrimination in the provision of goods and services because her fellow Catholics are objecting to the proposals. According to the report Catholic adoption agencies and Christian guest houses “are saying they would not be happy for a gay couple to stay there.” Tough. Ministers have made [...]
Monsters and Critics reports: Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has said that he personally would like Muslim women to stop wearing veils, but insists that any such moves will only ever originate from within the Muslim community itself. Mr Livingstone told the Today programme that efforts by non-Muslim politicians to change the way in which Muslims dressed would not have the desired effect. Ken's
The news is out we are to have a by-election in Camden's Kentish Town ward. Local press report, LABOUR’S deputy leader Councillor Lucy Anderson (Thursday) dramatically quit the Town Hall . In a midnight email to the Camden New Journal, she revealed plans to take up a new business manager job in the transport department of the Greater London Authority. She will move in November, leaving the council at the same time. Lucy has not actually resigned her council seat yet, nor has the date for the by-election been fixed. It could be before Christmas! ... | < | October 2006 | > | ||||
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