I knew that the late great Conrad Russell had been a Labour Party member, but I had not realised that he once fought a Westminster seat for it. He fought Paddington South in 1966. It was essentially a rock-solid Tory seat, but in Harold Wilson's best general election victory he came within 1443 votes of winning.
Today was Europe Day, though people in Britain could be forgiven for not noticing. Things are not quite as bad as when Mrs Thatcher was in power, when she reportedly vetoed the flying of the 12-starred blue European flag from public buildings. But no British government has yet had the courage to champion publicly what the [...]
That's it - I'm no longer the Mayor. This evening at Annual Council Cllr Shiraz Mirza became the new Mayor of the Royal Borough. The event works like this. The Deputy Mayor, Cllr Sheila Griffin, and I robed up and met with our Representative Deputy Lieutenant, Col Geoffrey Godbold. We then made a formal entrance into the Council Chamber where all the councillors...
The redoubtable blogger writes: They could turn things around tomorrow by saying, "We've been part of a Coalition for eight years; for the Party's sake and for Scotland's sake, it's time for a new way of conducting relations with other parties. We feel that minority government would stimulate debate and make politics more interesting, it would also leave us free to support an Executive wholeheartedly when we agree with it, and oppose it when we do not." Or something like that. Something positive rather than "We won't even talk to X because of Y." By persisting in the negative approach, ...
I didn't get elected to North Ayrshire Council. Bugger, blast, damnation and f**c!!! Actually not - Catherine missed out in the Carse of Gowrie too (she on the 5th count and me on the 7th), we both hit the woodwork. No gloating Mr Dale of the Tory persuasion. Well I shall allow you a small gloat on the basis that it was a Tory who nipped in ahead of me for the 4th seat in the new multi-member ward although the Tory group went down from 5 to 3. I'm disappointed of course, but the fact that we both ...
I was going to let the Guardian off on this, on the basis of yesterday's effort from the incorrigible Ms. Toynbee (although, in carefully avoiding my irritation on one point she goes and steps in a whole other mess, but there you are), but then they had to go and publish quite possibly one of the worst opinion pieces I have seen them print. I refer, of course, to Simon Jenkins, who today
Just back from Hylands House, where local residents heard about the plans for the World Scout Jamboree in the park. The park will be closed from 22 July to 9 August to accommodate the event. It will be a fantastic event for 32,000 14-18 year olds and 10,000 adult helpers from just about every country in the world. And the public will be able to attend on some days. This is one event to celebrate
The BBC has gained the figures showing just how many votes were rejected in the Scottish Parliamentary elections, and the figures are staggering. . The total is 142,000 votes, and they vary wildly from constituency to constituency. Click HERE to see whether your seat might have been decided by rejected votes.
Is there no end to the former Lib Dem News editor's talents? Leaves the World to Darkness has just been published by The Real Press. David's own website is here.
Last night I felt like I was swimming in chocolate. A new Midsomer Murder! I felt the same excitement as when Alex Wilcock sits down to watch a particularly iconic episode of The Avengers on BBC4. And it really was wonderful. All the classic ingredients. And a cliff-hanger of an ending involving a location other than "Midsomer"! Helicopters in Snowdonia! Whatever next! Although I noticed some
The Norwich Evening News today prints a story which is astounding in its shoddiness and lack of professionalism when they report on the state of Norwich schools. The most shocking of misleading claims in the report is " nine of the county's primary schools are failing to provide good enough maths and English education. " Actually, this is wrong, so wrong. Looking at the Ofsted report of one of the schools highlighted in the report (Catton Grove Middle) showed that "The quality of education provided by the school is good. The quality of teaching ...
...I never thought I'd write that. I suppose that we all have an idealised memory of our childhood. A sort of amalgam of different memories which make up a vision of what it was like. I picture growing up over 15 years with Top of the Pops permanently presented by Alan Freeman, Jimmy Savile, Pete Murray and Tony Blackburn on a rota basis. Of course, they only did it like that for about a year.
So shops can use Imperial measures beyond 2009 so long as they also use metric measures to. Good news I'm sure and common sense too, after all, school children have been taught to work in metric for more than 20 years. But where is the victory for the "metric martyrs" ? These people were only taken to court because they refused to display metric measures as well as imperial ones. The EU's announcement today maintains the principle that both should be displayed. So I am at a loss as to where the victory is for the martyrs. They wanted to ...
The Lib Dems' IDS - that's the view of a crowing Marcus Wood, Torbay's Tory PPC. Amazing how one set of local election results can bring out an arrogance from the Tories. Now, I placed Ming 3rd out of 3 candidates in the leadership election, but I would firmly counsel against him being replaced at the top of the party. Yes, I do think Ming doesn't appear to connect that well with the floating or soft Lib Dem inclined voter. He does seem a bit wooden and charisma free. I can't envisage him going down well on a ...
Like most Lib Dems I have been living my life in the fast lane over the past few months. Not only have I been busy with the election but in the middle of March I moved house and I hit the ground running. In the two months i have been in the house, I have bought loads of things for the hose (you need so much more in a house than a flat!), had the entire inside painted and only yesterday I had 
The terrible case of the abducted three year old Madeleine McCann can't help but touch everyone, whether they have children or not. However, one thing is clear to me, and that is that Portugal's rather odd version of civil rights seems to favour offenders over ordinary citizens and is clearly hampering this case. In the UK we have followed the American "Code yellow" approach whereby as soon as a child is missing or a description of a possible abductor is known, local TV and Radio and newspapers are given immediate access to the information and are encouraged to report ...
I suspect that one of the things that most irks Simon Jenkins is that despite the fact that he clearly loathes the Lib Dems, so many of us have a grudging affection for the old git (okay, not all of us). Maybe we’ll end up killing him with kindness. His article in the [...]
Today we rewind to 2003 and Estonia’s entry by Ruffus - who, confusingly, are also know as Claire’s Birthday. In a year (like most) dominated by pop, the guitar band’s catchy entry stood out. Placed 21st out of 26, however - five places above 2003’s disastrous UK entry from Jemini - meant that Estonia failed [...]
I must admit today was one of those Bismarck Sausage Days. "To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making. Otto von Bismarck There is a problem. The problem is that now and again there are people who are not UK citizens who commit crimes. If you have someone who is continually attacking other people who is not a UK citizen then the obvious thing to do is to
... say the remarkable bride and groom. Cuddly Innocent Smoothies, the slightly-too-selfconsciously cool indie kid of the drinks world, is thinking about hooking up with McDonalds, who in brand terms are a loveable rogue just returned from a long jail sentence. McDonalds are now on a mission to give kids fruit and veg. You can take that with as large a pinch of salt as you like (or, indeed, ketchup or BBQ sauce... hold the gherkins!) but you can believe it becase fruit and veg need even less preparation than a McDonalds burger and can be sold for just ...
Liberal Democrats on Southwark Council have chosen the out-going Mayor, Cllr Paul Kyriacou, as their nominee to be the new Chair of Bermondsey Community Council. Cllr Kyriacou has represented South Bermondsey ward since 2002 and, if elected, will take over from Cllr Linda Manchester who is stepping down to concentrate on her role as Chair of the Licensing Committee. Commenting on the new role, Cllr Paul Kyriacou said: “My two highest priorities as the new Chair of Bermondsey Community Council will be reaching out to people who are not currently involved in local government and the redevelopment of the Blue.” ...
Raising the issue of chaos in the tax credit system, Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell asked the Prime Minister today why the Government had failed to implement the recommendations put forward by the parliamentary ombudsman in June 2005 and why, in the meantime, it has been chasing thousands of poor families through the court system. [...]
From The Independent and Ming Campbell’s website comes the news that Ming wins amongst readers of PinkNews when polled against Brown and Cameron. From Ming’s site: Given the choice of Prime Minister between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Ming Campbell, 40% of those readers surveyed chose Ming. David Cameron and Gordon Brown trailed on 33% and [...]
It seems we picked the wrong day to arrive in Chicago… The Brood XIII of cicadas is due to emerge the night of the 21st morning of the 22nd in Northern Illinois and Indiana. With a bit of luck they won’t reach as far south as the wedding though. There will be lots of them. Lots and lots [...]
An interesting paragraph from The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer, in which he seeks to explain why prison doesn't work. "...the prison system was a complete socialist way of life... For twelve years, a prison [told prisoners] when to go to bed and when to eat, what to wear and when to get up. It was absolutely diametrically oppsed to the capitalist environment. Then one day they put the convinct out the front door, told him today is magic, at two o'clock you are a capitalist. Now, do it on your own. Go out, fiand a job, get up ...
Cannock Chase is another place where the results are generally quite interesting, this time Labour took one seat from us. However there is still one election to take place in Hednesford South, postponed due to the sad death of Liberal Democrat Stewart Reynolds during the election period.
Should Paris Hilton go to jail for driving at 70 in a 35mph zone, with no lights, after losing her licence and subsequently being cautioned for driving while disqualified? Jail her :http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jailparishilton/?e Don't jail her:http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/PH21781 VOTE NOW! Really, it's things like this that make me glad we have the rule of law, rather than prison sentences actually being decided by e-petitions.As it happens, the 'jail' side are winning by 18,000 to 14,000 at the moment. Probably a worse public relations problem for her than actually going to jail...
One of my pet topics is the increasing uselessness of the left/right divide as a tool for analysing politics. I personally tend to look at things as liberal and authoritarian or big state/small state (I’m in favour of liberal and small state of course). The Globalisation Institute has just emailed me an interesting article talking [...]
Ming Campbell has topped a nationwide poll conducted by gay news website PinkNews.co.uk. Given the choice of Prime Minister between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Ming Campbell, 40% of those readers surveyed chose Ming. David Cameron and Gordon Brown trailed on 33% and 27% respectively. In the same poll, only 13% of respondents supported Gordon Brown [...]
Quite chuffed with the new shoes acquired yesterday on Bermondsey Street in one of the new stores that opened in the three years I've been living here. Terra Plana in a small company with international ambitions, based in Bermondsey, that aims to be the world's 'most innovative and sustainable shoe brand'. This pair in question, which I bought to replace a pair of slip-ons that are falling to pieces after five years of Lib Dem foot-abuse, are made from 99% recycled bits of military jackets, car leather, old clothes and rubber soles. Had some studs melted down from the ... 
Simon Jenkins is one of the heroes of this blog. His guide to English parish churches accompanies us on our perambulations about the country and I have consistently admired his championing of localism. Even if he has never been very positive about the Liberal Democrats, he has always struck me as the sort of commentator we ought to be wooing. So it is disappointing to read his attack on the Liberal Democrats in this morning’s Guardian, Nice but hopeless, the Lib Dems should call it a day. At one level it is easy to fisk Jenkins’ logic. He seems ...
Speaking as a supporter of a liberalised market economy and as a capitalist myself (though in only a small way!) I have no problem with Labour receiving donations from businesses. Provided it's publicly declared, it is for the owners of a business itself to decide who benefits from the profits (though of course, there should be a cap on donations to prevent wealthy individuals or well endowed
One detail that’s amused me in the aftermath of the French Presidential election is that Sarkozy, after telling the people of France they need to work harder and follow the pattern of the UK and the US more, has decided to spend the week between the election and his inauguration… on holiday with his family. While [...]
I continue to find strange the complete attachment to 'unionism' from the Scottish Liberal Democrats. My point of view is well expressed by Simon Jenkins in today's 'The Guardian' He writes : "That the party of Irish home rule should reject so liberal a proposal as territorial self-determination is odd" As Jenkins further argues, all that is being demanded is merely a vote on independence and one seemingly tempered with the alternative option of increased self-governance for Scotland, which LDs support. If the union is that strong then Scots will recognise this and vote accordingly. ...
On Marcus Wood's blog today is an amusing piece of ranting from a Tory coucillor rather shy on identifying him/herselsf ! (see marcuswood.blogspot.com) Anonymous said... I am a conservative councillor (not one of yours) who has faced a concerted barrage from the Lib dems for years. I am surprised at you Marcus for using terms like 'good leaflets' - they are the worst kind of gutter politics. What the Lib Dems do is spread lies and rumours, make nasty and petty personal attacks ...
Actually, I have a lot of time for him: an excellent and genuinely rounded polemicist, he writes like a dream, and has long championed decentralisation as vital to the restoration of civic life to our communities. But he has, has always had, a blind spot when it comes to the Liberal Democrats and our predecessor parties - he just does not want us to exist, and today he takes great pleasure in
Last night I took advantage of my final night off of the week by doing very little. In honour of the 18th century communication methods which must have frustrated the life out of William Pitt the Younger, I am making very slow progress on William Hague's biography of him. But I managed 50 more pages yesterday evening, in between bouts of Orange Broadband Helpdesk-baiting (my new favourite
Johan Norberg points out this excellent news: The number of people in extreme poverty (under $1 a day) has fallen below 1 billion for the first time. Between 1999 and 2004 74,000 people a day rose out of extreme poverty. Given the high population growth in most areas of poverty this is fantastic. The numbers living on under [...]
Now I can start planning for things happening after this month, who out there is going to Federal Conference this September? I’m looking at ways of trying cut the cost of it a bit by renting a flat for the week. Having had a quick look at what’s available in Brighton, if there are a [...]
Ministerial Red Boxes Q: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Ministerial red boxes his Department bought in each of the last five years; and how much each cost. A: During the last five years HM Treasury has purchased only one box pouch in 2005-06 and just one despatch box in 2006-07. The total cost including VAT was £1,388 and £511 respectively. John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM
Ministerial Red Boxes Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many Ministerial red boxes his Department bought in each of the last five years; and how much each cost; (2) what tendering process is used to decide which company supplies Ministerial red boxes to his Department. A: The MOD has purchased a total of 11 new ministerial red boxes over the past five years. The cost of
Simon Jenkins attack on the Liberal Democrats in The Guardian is a bleat of pain from that section of the British establishment that no longer understands the modern world. Comfortable at home with his knighthood and his directorships, his occasional ventures out into the real world leave him confused and baffled. For him politics is a binary choice: everyone is either a little Labourite or a little Conservative, and these two should take turns in power. Though the labels change, the perquisites of Sir Simon and the other soi-disant "great and good"will therefore remain unchallenged. He does not ...
Another prominent Welsh Liberal Democrat has come out against a coalition with Labour today. Ed Townsend, who used to work as our Media Officer and who pushed Labour to within 875 votes in Newport East, has told the Western Mail that "it makes no sense at all for us to prop up what is widely perceived to be a failed group of people." Meanwhile Rhodri Morgan has apparently put on his best pair of clod-hoppers so as to tread carefully through delicate negotiations with us. His cause is not helped by a Labour AM who is reported as saying ...
Protesters from Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) are demonstrating this morning outside the AGM of BAE Systems plc. CAAT owns “token shares” in the company which will also allow some of its representatives into the meeting itself. The protest will focus on the company’s activities, and in particular a demand for the SFO investigation into [...]
I have received the following notice from the City Council about a proposed Traffic Order in the West End Ward area : Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating works for a new commercial and housing development. The Order is expected to be in force for sixty five weeks from 21 May 2007. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in Session Street from the north side of ...
The rain has been coming for the last couple of days and I am a bit fed up of it now, we had been so spoilt with the lovely weather that we had all the way through April. The wrangling over committees and chairmanships has begun, there has even been a whisper of me as group leader, but we'll wait and see what comes of that! It is difficult as the majority opposition - especially when we are opposing a majority of independents (go figure!) - to try and shape the council, but we do have a manifesto to ...
In Bromsgrove, we held our one Councillor Gordon Selway. There were a number of seats that changed hand, but we ended up very near to where we started with 26 Conservatives, 6 Labour, 4 Independents, 2 Residents and 1 Liberal Democrats
A very enjoyable West End Community Council meeting last night at which Bailie Neil Powrie's enormous contribution to the West End over nearly 28 years on three local authorities (Dundee District Council, Tayside Regional Council and latterly Dundee City Council) was rightly recognised.Iain Luke, my predecessor as councillor for the now abolished Tay Bridges Ward, and former MP for Dundee East, gave an excellent speech about Neil's contribution to both the West End and to the political scene in the City, and Neil was presented with a gift (see above right - Neil knows he's featuring on the blog as ...
Today is the National Day even less celebrated than St George’s Day. It is Europe Day. Not much dancing in the streets anywhere, I notice. Which is a pity. For people of my generation, determined to make sure we didn’t repeat our parents’ experiences of European Civil Wars, the European Adventure is still something much more than a fishy fudge on marginal agriculture. So just a small reminder of part of the European ambition. “The European Union is at the service of its citizens. While keeping their own specific values, customs and language, European citizens should feel ...
It is a historic day in Northern Irish politics. I have been sceptical over the years of such events. But truly believe this could be the turning point. Let us all hope that I am right. Sensible inside comment from David Ford here.
Monday: Two of whom are bloke-esses and one of who is either a computer or a starship depending on your point of view. Daddy has already written about the EXCITING new series of audio adventures for BLAKE'S SEVEN, brought to you by the Sci Fi channel, but since they are relying on word of mouth, I thought that I should give them a plug too! As Daddy has explained, Blake's Seven is Robbing Hoodie in SPACE. Mr Blake is Robin and his crew are the Outlaws; against them is Ms Servalan who is the Sheriff of ...
Rumours persist, as relayed by my ward colleague, David Rundle - here, then here - that the city of Oxford may shortly find itself with a Tory group, after a gap of 11 years. The Tories in both Oxford West (MP: Evan Harris, Lib Dem) and East (MP: Andrew Smith, Labour - pro tem) are no more, they have ceased to be, expired, gone to meet their maker, etc. Any hopes they might have had of a
David Marquand has written a compelling psycho-analysis of Tony Blair’s premiership in this week’s New Statesman, tracing his tragic descent from vacuous inanity to hubristic zealotry. No prizes for guessing the tipping point: Blair's ultimate tragedy … did not get fully under way until after the horror of 11 September 2001. A warning sign was the astonishing mixture of hubris and hysteria that | < | May 2007 | > | ||||
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