LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 7th November 2006

So, hands up who likes democracy

The Germans, they say, don’t like it being up to them. At least, in a survey in the papers this weekend, it was announced that a majority of Germans have given up on democracy. Actually, what the 51% surveyed said was that they were disillusioned with German democracy as it stood – which could mean a whole range of things. But let’s not spoil a good headline with facts; that’s not part of the game. And, anyway, don’t they have a point? Germany has a more representative electoral system than ...

No PMQs on Wednesday

The Westminster Parliament has completed its work for this session, and effectively goes in to recess until next Wednesday. Parliament will be proroged at 11:30am on Wednesday 8 November.

Something Polly says...

In her defense of the surveillance state (sorry if I've misunderstood but that's what it sounds like!) at CCTV conspiracy mania is a very middle-class disorder there's one little sentence that gives it all away. She says: There is a sad lack of voices to praise the benign state these days. Maybe that's because there is no such thing as "the benign state", now or at any point in history that immediately comes to mind.

Filming - calling all councillors

Yours truly was off filming today. The next Bond it ain't. One answer to the shortage of affordable housing it just might be. A company called the Einstein Network (why, I'm not sure as they don't do science films) who makes continuing professional development videos for planners, architects, surveyors and so on wanted to do a film about Community Land Trusts and chose us to explain it to camera. So, a guy taking a day's leave from fixing computers for the local university explains how to solve the affordable housing crisis in one afternoon. Please, if any ...

Here's my prediction, so get ready to laugh

With polls about to close - and no exit polls yet leaked - time to put my credibility online... House of Representatives: Democrats = 221 Republicans = 214 Senate: Democrats = 48 Republicans = 52 PS: I've remembered what I love about US elections - I haven't been up since 5am delivering leaflets, knocking-up potential voters for 12 solid hours, or scrutinising the count until 2am. I can just

Southend United 1 Manchester United 0

My parents got married during the week because my father was a devoted Southend United football fan and didn't want to marry on a Saturday - he didn't want to even miss a reserve game. So I have Southend United in my blood. And this evening I come straight back from a council meeting to hear on the radio how the club are doing tonight. They are calling tonight's game their biggest match since

In the gutter, looking up at the Stars & Stripes

When Simon Jenkins is good, he’s very, very good. Today is not one of his better days. He’s posted to thegrauniad’s Comment Is Free a provocatively controversial article titled, ‘Bad at war, good at democracy’, which is deliberately aimed at getting a rise from lily-livered liberals like me. So here goes. The following passage gives the flavour of Mr Jenkins’ glib assertions argument: “Every

In praise of Ruth Archer

At least The Archers provided brief respite from the mounting election excitement. And, indeed, a respite from mounting altogether. I was pretty sure Ruth would end up doing the decent thing. I mean, Radio 4 were never likely to, you know, have people, like, 'doing it', were they? I've been listening to The Archers for as long as I can remember. It was staple listening when, as a child, I used to go with my Dad down to his allotment and he would have it on his radio. I still listen to it regularly now, and it ...

Is the US really in a position to lecture anyone about democracy?

There has been much discussion about the US elections - and just now it does look like we are going to be in for an interesting night. (I will be heading for Richard Huzzey's shortly to watch the results with him). Reading the blogs today - particularly the various threads on Daily Kos - I have been astounded at how the richest country in the world, the only remaining superpower, the country that wants to export democracy to the rest of the world - can't even organise for its own citizens to vote. There are widespread reports of people ...

Local Government White Paper

On 26 October 2006, the Government published Strong and prosperous communities - The Local Government White Paper. This has already been the subject of comment elsewhere, see for example here. However, it was debated earlier today in the Council meeting in the context of a motion from the Labour Group. I was not originally intending to speak in the debate, but was prompted to do so by a

US mid term election results - Should I stay up fo...

I'm something of an election nut. I love sitting up and watching election results, local election night on TV and radio, the general election, Euro elections, actually, just about any election at all, I'll sit and watch the result come in. I don't have any massive interest in the US results other than a distinct loathing for George W Bush, and as a result the Republican Party. I have also seen a number of the negative ads the Repuclican's have been running on Youtube and on other blogs, and quite frankly, to describe the people who run these adds as ...

Make up your own punchline

On Yahoo HERE is a story that is headlined "Mylene Klass shot at by Taliban". With Mylene being a Norfolk girl, I really can't find it in me to say anything rude, although why this is a main headline, I don't know. However, I'm sure there is a punchline to be written for this. If so, post it as a comment ...

Borat

Heather and I went to Borat on Sunday. Whilst I laughed most of the way through it, I left the cinema feeling half entertained. People criticise the film for portraying the Kazakhs as rapist and anti-semitic, however it’s obvious they are not. The film is partly sold on how stupid Americans are, however unlike Ali G [...]

Hunting on election day

Paul Walter is aghast that Dick Cheney has spent polling day hunting. "You couldn't make it up," he writes. That is nothing. Julian Critchley wrote in his memoirs A Bag of Boiled Sweets: David James, who retired from Parliament as Member for Dorset North in 1979, was dotty. His reputation for eccentricity dated from 1964 when as Tory MP for Brighton, Kemptown, he lost his seat to Labour by seven votes. When, a few days after Alec Douglas-Home's defeat (and my own at Rochester), I went to Conservative Central Office to interview the then chairman of the party John ...

Graham Poll and Chelsea

The people at Stamford Bridge are convinced that Graham Poll is biased against them. Of course he is. He only booked John Terry twice on Sunday yet he sent him off.

Oh Lord please give us a candidate beginning with "A"

We politicos often dream of finding a candidate beginning with an "A". You always expect a higher vote that way, because people start at the top of the ballot paper. You can forget a candidate beginning with "W", that's for sure, which is why I am writing this rather than running for office. Confirmation of all this comes today from the States and the Washington Post, no less.

A Shropshire Star classic

Joy over compost accolade Civic leaders in Newport are wriggling with delight after their cemetery worm farm won an international accolade.

God influemnces US election

We often say that if it rains the Conservatives have got a good chances of winning an election. A friend in Florida mentioned yesterday that "if it rains, the Republicans usually win". Well, CNN says that it is raining in the North-West and South-East of the USA today. Going by that weather/election rule-of-thumb, this means that Montana may well stay Republican (and therefore perhaps the

Norwich Northern Bypass = Planned traffic chaos

The proposals published today by Conservative run Norfolk County Council for the new Northern Bypass, or NDR as it is called, are detailed and answer some questions. However, the plans fail in one key area, that being that it is not a bypass ! Read the EDP report HERE. The failure to include the final link joining from the Fakenham Road to the Southern Bypass means that the new road will deposit many thousands of extra cars each day in to Taverham and Drayton, and once there, there will be no final link up to the Southern by-pass, thus ...

Cheney spends election day hunting

You couldn't make it up.

New School: High Noon at 6pm

Tomorrow is a very important Lewisham Mayor and Cabinet meeting. A long agenda, including important items such as the Lewisham ALMO. But arguably most important of all is the Mayor's decision on a site for a new secondary school for the north of the Borough.Officers are presenting two choices to the Mayor, which they say are evenly balanced. Either knock down Ladywell Leisure Centre. Or build the new school at Lewisham Bridge. Obviously, I prefer the latter. I'm almost tempted to offer to join the Labour Party if the Mayor does what I ask. But ...

Watch KY3 and IN2 tonight

Those two US House seats, declared between midnight and 1am, should give a fairly good indication of the way the night is going to go. (That is Kentucky seat 3 and Indiana seat 2 for the un-US-anorakified, by the way). In the Senate, Virginia (1am-2am), Montana (4-5am), Rhode Island (3-4am) and Missouri (2-3am) are the ones to watch. Democrats also have to win Ohio and Pennsylvania and hold New Jersey and Maryland. I am assuming Tennessee will stay Republican. Pollster Del Ali goes a little further on the early House seats to watch: There are three congressional ...

Closure of Choices: blow for local disabled people

Very concerned to receive the following press release from the National Centre for Independent Living about the closure of Choices, which help disabled people to live independently. PRESS RELEASE 2nd November 2006 SERVICE SUPPORTING HUNDREDS OF DISABLED PEOPLE LIVING INDEPENDENTLY GOES INTO ADMINISTRATION The National Centre for Independent Living is expressing concern that a service that supports hundreds of disabled people to live independently by employing their own personal assistants has ...

Slowest Western Election in decades

The USA has been following a doleful British trend of late - postal voting, or as they call it "absentee voting". I've recently seen figures that the normal proportion of absentee votes is about 5%, that 2004 was about 10%, but that it's expected to be 25% or more this time. The rules for postal votes in the UK are that they have to be received by the Returning Officer by the close of poll - normally 10pm on Polling Day. The rules in for absentee votes in much of the US are that they have to ...

New Royal Mail Christmas stamps - What a silly fus...

I cannot believe I am the only person today to be confused as to why some Church groups are complaining about the new Royal Mail Christmas stamps, which can be viewed here. The Times today highlights the fact that the Church are using the stamps to highlight the secularisation of Britain. To my mind, these stamps are rather nice, rather traditional Christmas card scenes, typical of stamps in the past, and are certainly not worthy of attack in any way, shape or form. The Post Office make clear that they have an open policy of having "religious" ...

Green Drinks

Via Stephen Robinson, I’ve come across Green Drinks. Basically the same idea as this website, but with an environmentalist bent.

The London Paper

The London Paper have printed my piece, and thousands of Londoners are now on their commute and texting in whether they want ‘more’, or whether I’m a ‘bore’. I suspect it’s ‘bore’, on account of the paper having to somewhat sex up my headline: No Tags

Fat cats and liberals

Why am I so troubled by this report about how much the directors of the biggest companies in the UK are being paid? Two disturbing figures: 1. Directors pay in the biggest firms has gone up by 102.2% since 2000 while the average pay of their employees has risen 28.6%. [...]

"Live in Luton"

Last Wednesday, with my councillor hat on, I went to the launch of the "Live in Luton" CD. A diverse collection of music by local people from a Luton based arts project. I've listened to it a couple of times since then and have been impressed by the range of musical talent the town has to offer. Tracks range from classical to hard rock. My favourite track is the "contemporary folk" from Nemo. The

Rolling out cardboard collections

Having managed, inspite of fierce opposition from Labour and Green councillors, to get York's recycling rate up from a pitiful 12% to a much better 36% over the last few year's, the decision to roll out the collection of cardboard from 20,000 homes to 60,000 was taken today. The rollout will start in January and be complete by March. Labour opposed this move claiming it was an...

Leopards and spots

Whilst David Cameron is trying to present a new 'hug-loving' Tory party, it seems that some of his parliamentary candidates are not so keen to play the same game. Ellenor Bland's email 'joke' seemed far from funny to most people who have read it. Her defence that 'her husband sent it' hardly washes- first because it was signed off by her and second because her husband is also a Tory councillor...

Greener Chelmsford

I have put together the Greener Chelmsford website as a single place to list ideas to make our town more sustainable. Comments here or via the website.

News Stories from October

Springfield Road crossing fiasco - inquiry call. Essex Conservatives don't sign up to "go green". Robinson back in the classroom. Get weeding those pavements! Supporting Chelmsford Fairtrade AGM.

Hampers and Hampers Lost

I just got into my office in Portcullis House (which has a priceless view over the Thames, the old GLC building and the London Eye) to find a massive box sitting on my desk, an end of Ramadan present ...

Green Drinks

The next Chelmsford Green Drinks is this Thursday, 9th November. It is an occasional get-together for the environmentally minded. Email from Daniel:- We meet from about 7.30pm. There's no agenda, just a chance to meet colleagues about it too). Why: For enjoyment, new contacts, a drink, some info, gossip, inspiration, business and pleasure. When you get there: Go to the back of the pub (where

Ammunition against Labour

In the Political Communications Unit I produce a monthly document called Issues of the Month. This is emailed to people who are on the Daily Bulletin circulation list. If you don't get this, I have included below the sections on Labour problems and government policy setbacks. This makes for useful ammunition against Labour. I have summarised the main areas as follows: Labour were is trouble

Bush snubbed as the US votes

Early poll results show that Daniel wins in Nicaragua, whilst the US votes one of George Bush Seniors enemies looks set to return to power. Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista's look to return to power. I haven't seen any confirmed results yet but it looks like Daniel, as Mr Ortega is affectionate know, leads by a margin seemingly wide enough to avoid a run-off. The current US administration had campaigned against a Sandinista victory.

How to end the Civil War in Iraq

Don't hang Saddam! Although he has been found guilty of Crimes against Humanity, and more convictions will come. The death penalty is not the answer, its not the answer to to anything let alone the situation in Iraq.

Blair spins again

Oh dear, is there nothing that will dampen the Prime Minister's enthusiasm for curtailing our liberties? Yesterday, Mr. Blair was making a desperate attempt to get his ID card policy back on track despite the overwhelming evidence that they would be costly and competely ineffective: Speaking from 10 Downing Street he said ID cards would add no more than around £30 to the cost of a biometric passport - equal to £3 for each of its 10 years of validity. He said the introduction of the cards would not only provide protection against organised crime, terrorism and illegal ...

Times Articles and Southall Victim

The first article looks again at MSbP and FII. I asked a question about FII relatively recently and the government (Civil Servants) came out with the usual drivel. The second article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2436306,00.html Looks at the use of Medical Opinion as Evidence. It is important to remember the impact of the false allegations on the children of the parents who were

The day I hit Victoria Beckham in the head with a ...

Over lunch today several of us were discussing how journalists now find stories by going to websites bu going to web pages rather than reading press releases. Mark Pack started to paint a scenario, which he started with the line "Suppose there is a story in the press where a child is hit in the head with a kitchen drawer and decapitated." We all looked at each other, bemused by what inner

Midterms 101

Voters in the United States are heading to the polls today to elect a new Congress. Here’s a quick roundup of who’s up for election. The whole US House of Representatives is elected every two years, so all 435 seats are up today. In addition, a third of the 100 seats in the US Senate are [...]

All through the night: your guide to the mid-term election results programmes

If you’re planning on staying up tonight to pray for a Democratic revival in the U.S., we hope you’ll find these listings helpful: On Radio 4 from 12:30am-5:20am James Naughtie and Shaun Ley present election night coverage from the U.S. From 8pm 18 Doughty Street’s programming focusses on the election, and is extended by two hours to [...]

Fancy a Drink?

Expected a late night yesterday but it was all over by 10pm. Tonight could go much later as we end this year's Parliamentary session. I will be up late in any event to watch the early retu...

New campaign - reducing loo flushes!

It's crazy how a little bug can bring you down. Tomorrow we're launching our Friends of the Earth Group at the college where I work. Our first speaker will be talking to us about sustainable neighbourhoods and local projects we can get involved with. We've also got free energy light-saving bulbs and packs for loos to reduce flush water. Small things matter!!!! The observer article (5/11) on

Mark Oaten speaks to Iain Dale

Last night conservative commentator Iain Dale conducted an hour long interview with Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten on 18 Doughty Street. You can find it at: http://www.18doughtystreet.com/blog/?page_id=174 The first 25 minutes cover Mark himself, the remainder of the time discussing broader liberal politics. Have you watched it? What do you think? There’s a short audio-only teaser below. Click [...]

Firework Spectacular

{fireworks3} Sunday evening was spent watching tonnes of chemicals go up in smoke. I'd been invited to the Edgbaston Firework Spectacular, but as I'd never been before (last couple of years I've either had my own fireworks, or been to someone elses to let them off), I wasn't prepared for the most awesome display I've had the opportunity to see properly.Each show lasted about 40mins, with about 15mins of "chart acts" and promotional videos, and then a sort of musical around the world by music and light.There were 3 separate displays, and the event management seemed to go like ...

DNA consultation - chance to have a say

I've written on this blog (and elsewhere) before about some of the concerns with use of DNA records in the fight against crime. Nuffield Bioethis are running a consultation on use of DNA records etc. It's not an official government consultation, but one well worth taking part in anyway I think. See Nuffield Bioethic's website

Ally Pally progress - and conditional cautions

First – another update on Ally Pally. I’ve had a call to say can I meet Firoz Kassam (the new owner) and Cllr Charles Adje (Labour councillor and Chair of the Ally Pally Board) this Thursday (more quickly than I had suggested last Saturday when I met them at the Ally Pally firework display). The reason give is that the contract will be signed next week. There is provision for a museum of

Labour given chance to pay student cameraman/edito...

A letter has been drawn together from the various bloggers - Lib Dem, Conservative and non partisan who have been trying to get a fair deal for Danny Dewsbury - the cameraman that Labour failed to pay. Signatories from Praguetory and from my Pledgebank have been added to a letter, the text of which can be seen here. After all, it is only fair that he gets paid!

Have a pop at Polly

Polly Toynbee is really starting to depress me. The fact that a member of the aristocracy actually gets paid to write, week after week, about the need for the government to intervene on absolutely everything, is quite remarkable. She is beginning to eclipse any attempts at parody. Today, she writes a heartfelt paean to [...]

Why Richmond is wrong (but I think its the best they can do...)

Much has been said about Richmond Council's plan to tax 4x4s more than other cars. Predictably the right has gone on a 'this is wrong, it is our god given right to drive' and the left have celebrated. I think both responses miss the mark. Firstly, don't misunderstand me, I am fully supportive of environmental taxation, we need to try and take into account the damage done by our actions and when

Iraq Division voting

We now know a little more about two absentee MPs from last week's Iraq Inquiry vote. As I suspected, the Conservatives are not what you'd call united on the issue Tory MP Quentin Davies abstained in the vote. The a former defence frontbencher described Conservative support for the motion as "absolutely crazy". According to the BBC, Mr. Davies "added the credibility of the party as an

The Problem of Party Politics

Cicero has put his name forward to be a Liberal Democrat candidate for Westminster twice. The first was in the Home Counties, where there was little history of success at national level, although within the last few years the Liberal Democrats had had minority control over the local district council. The second time has been closer to home in Scotland, where there are several local Liberal Democrat MPs, MSPs and effective control over the local authorities. In both cases party membership was surprisingly low, but there were activists and members determined to make some progress. The particular surprise for me ...

Big public support for taxing 4×4s

Liberal Democrat run Richmond Council generated quite a lot of media coverage recently for its plans to vary the costs of residents’ parking permits based on how polluting their vehicles are. Interesting then to see the latest poll finding from YouGov in The Telegraph: 72% said they would support “increasing the tax on large executive-style, estate [...]

Preacher admits.. "Yes I'm queer"

After bending over backwards all week claiming he was straight, a family man and that gay relationships were sinful, Ted Haggard the leader of the Evangelical Church in America has indeed been bending forward and touching his toes for the boyz for most of his life. Whereas confession is normally accepted as being good for the soul, Ted Haggard has found out the hard way that truth can destroy your career if you spend your whole life lying. “I am guilty of sexual immorality,” said Ted Haggard, a confession with potential political ramifications far beyond his church in ...

Thailand Part 3 - facts and figures

The Thailand flag (shown above) was officially adopted on September 28, 1917. Red is said to symbolize the blood of life, white the purity of the Buddhist faith, and blue the monarchy. The blue and white stripes were added to the flag during World War I. Population - 65,444,371 Capital City - Bangkok - Population 6.8 million (metro area 9.2 million) Currency - Thai Baht (THB) Languages - Thai, English and local dialects National Day - December 5th Religions - Buddhist (95%) Muslim (4.5%) Others (0.5%) Location - Thailand is in both the eastern and northern hemispheres. It's ...

Tuesday 7th November 2006

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