James Graham has written a post tackling the people (me included) who have been having a pop at Menzies Campbell: I can’t however help but see some parallels between the tone of some of these anti-Ming pieces and a bunch of pre-adolescent boys running rampant on a desert island. It doesn’t get much more intellectual than [...]
'The best of the rest' - that was how Martin Jol described Spurs' 5th place finish today, in an interview on the pitch after our game with Man City. He struck the right balance - we finished 5th, for the second season - a good effort, especially in a season where we made the quarter finals of the UEFA and FA Cups as well as the League Cup semifinals. And against a well established big four, getting a solid and consistent 5th as the 'best of the rest' has to be the first step. But he showed ambition ...
Today I was one of the crowd to turn up at Lynne Featherstone's house to hear Nick Clegg speak. For those who may think I was one of the colony of candidates that only turned up to get their face seen, I was also at the same event last year to hear Shami Chakrabati. The main focus of Nick's presentation was the need for a simple narrative of what the Liberal Democrats are all about - not the in
I'm off. I will not seek Re Selection or Re Election to the Council next May when my term ends. I will have served 8 years. Being a Councillor is the most interesting thing I have ever done and cliche ridden though it sounds its been a genuine privilege to serve. However I need a rest and have all sorts of personal projects I want to pursue which just don't fit well with representing a ward of this size on a Big Unitary like Leeds. The advantage of deciding now is I can have a well structured final year ...
One thing that was overlooked when Grace arranged Jonathan Fryer's excellent evening on Europe last night was it clashed with Eurovision (which of course extends well beyond the EU). This means that except for a quick glimpse of a round up sequence in the bar of Orpington Liberal Club, I thankfully missed the UK entry. Time for the BBC to go back to Morrissey on bended knees!
A "Chelmsford No 2 ID" group has been launched, at the site of one of the new interrogation centres - at the same time, as the Government announced another massive jump in database scheme costs. I was pleased to be at the launch, with 12 people from other political parties and none. But you won't know since my face was behind one of the masks in the picture! Full Story
One of the mysteries of recent weeks has been the sudden disappearance of John Reid. One moment he was being widely tipped as the Blairite Stop Gordon candidate. The next he had announced his resignation from the front bench. Last week I pointed with approval to one explanation. But Reid's withdrawal may also have had a lot to the fact that stories like this were circulating around what we used to call Fleet Street. Thanks to Iain Dale.
This blog has long followed the career of Adil Rashid, the young Yorkshire leg-spinner. Andrew Longmore profiled him in The Times last week. He quoted the Hampshire batsman Michael Brown: “Traditionally this pitch hasn’t got a lot of bounce, but he gets more bounce than Warney. Yet his control was so good and he worked the pitch out pretty quickly, bowling a little slower. Usually with a leggie you can wait for the bad ball. Here it was a question of limiting your mode of dismissal and trying to rotate the strike. Warney is always on about that and ...
It didn't stay warm and sunny .... but everybody had a great time! What an amazing afternoon - bird boxes, bat conservation, heritage, games and face painting, Punch and Judy, pipers, Morris dancers and folk music - Sue, Bill and Jenny's tea & coffee too - a really thoughtfully planned and enjoyable afternoon. I was also nobbled by several residents ..... case work ......
Work is continuing on try to construct a new Administration on Leeds City Council with traffic going in both directions. The Green group of 3 councillors has walked out of the "Coalition" over the issue of the proposed Incinerator. Some people would ask what took them so long? Meanwhile Cllr Brian Jennings, who was elected as a Lib Dem, has sat for a year as an Independent, has joined the Tories and thus the Administration. Where does this leave Leeds? In all probability with a Liberal Democrat (24 seats)/Conservative (23 seats) minority administration with 47 of the 99 seats. ...
The latest selection comes to you live From The Dustbin of History.
Lynne Featherstone (MP for Hornsey & Wood Green) hosted a buffet lunch for her parliamentary colleague Nick Clegg at her Highgate home today, attracting a sizeable throng from across London, including a gaggle of potential GLA candidates, who will have noted how over the years Lynne successfully propelled herself from a seat on Haringey Council [...]
Last night’s Eurovision Song Contest was the first I’d sat all the way through in years. Cheesy pop isn’t my thing, ironically detached or not. What I saw remained not my thing, but it wasn’t the sort of frothy nonsense that exists in the British public’s imagination either. This is something that [...]
I had a "day job" event to attend in London on Friday so Janet and I made a bit of a weekend of it and we are just back (having caught the flight back to Edinburgh by the skin of our teeth this morning!) We had a great time, so as a bit of light relief from politics and all that, here's a few photos! Above : Me at Institute HQ on Friday. Above : Spectacular stunts at Covent Garden! Above : Just exactly how this bloke manages to keep so still for so ...
Yesterday I attended an Assessment Day seeking approval to be a Parliamentary Candidate. Like all big parties the Liberal Democrats have a formal process for approving people who want to stand for parliament and hold a central list of those qualified. If your names not down you aren't getting in. I had a crack in 2005 and did well enough to be encouraged to apply again but not well enough to be approved. Its a sophisticated assessment process including a detailed application form, interviews, Group Exercises, a policy exam and quite a bit role playing. It takes ... 
The government have come up with a new tax, its called a "car crime victim tax". It involves the police refusing to properly investigate your car for clues as to who committed the crime until you cough up £100, at which point they will then investigate the crime properly. The Eastern Daily Press has run a story on it here. Surely anyone reading this story will find it difficult to justify this tax on victims in any circumstances ?
Liberal Democrat Voice has transformed itself into the unofficial ’sack Ming Campbell’ campaign. To be fair, I don’t blame the editors of Voice themselves for this - they are only posting the contributions they have received and if individuals such as myself choose to respond on their own blogs rather than on that site, [...]
I have a lot of sympathy for Sheffield United after they were relegated today. i think just about everyone I know who has an interest in football believes that West Ham should have had points deducted for their dodgy signing of Carlos Tevez. The fact that he might now be correctly registered does not negate the fact that he was playing for West Ham illegally, according to Premiership rules and could West Ham have changed his registration and ownership details from illegal ones in to legal ones had he not been registered illegally in the first place ?
US Presidential contender Tommy Thompson has fallen back on blaming his own human frailties to wriggle out of his anti-gay remarks at the Republican Presidential debate. First, he blamed a dead hearing aid. Now, he brings into play the old trouble which comes to all men of a certain age: I was just hanging on. I could not wait until the debate got off so I could go to the bathroom.
Keeping an eye on the search terms which land people near my blog can be an odd business. I have seen at least five searches for "Is Phil Vickery gay?" I somehow doubt it. I mean, just look at him! I suspect if the googler or googlers made this suggestion to him to his face they might end up having their block knocked off. Now, I am seeing "Is Marija Serifovic gay?"Your guess is as good as
Our one Councillor Chris Mellings was elected unopposed earlier in April. The Conservatives now have overall control of borough.
I have occasionally listened to Magic FM for several years. Imagine my surprise to hear that it is now the most popular commercial radio station in London. Mind you, it has a 5.9% share so it is very much nib and tuck in that market. I am glad that the station is doing well (although I can't say I am enamoured by the music they play) because it has one of my favourite DJs on it, Graham Dene. I
Having read about Joost, free internet TV site, I have now humbly asked a blogger called "Connected Internet" for an invite to beta Joost. That is the only way to sample the delights of Joost at the moment.
After Daisy Angus was released from prison late on Sunday 8 April, I fielded over 250 media calls in two days. This is what Heather was up to ... !!! 
Thankfully John Reid's going soon. He recently gave a keynote speech in Venice attempting to convince his equivalent colleagues across Europe to change individual human rights law into some kind of system where only the State has the right to exist, to protect itself against oppression, to a fair trial (or even a trial). Is he the most dangerous Home Secretary ever? Hat tip and interesting commentary from Tom.
Yes that is right. Because of the fate of polling day I have found myself thrust into the role of Lib Dem Leader. Ok - not Lib Dem Leader on Bristol City Council, but Lib Dem Leader on Avon Fire and ...
Former socialist and now ultra new Labour MP for Darlington Alan Milburn has landed himself a sweet new job as salesman for junk food and sugar consuming international giant Pepsi. Whilst no one in their right mind would normally want to follow the career of this sugary socialist, I am prepared to make an exception on this occasion to take a look at what Mr Milburn has said about sugar and junk
OK - have finally recovered from polling day. I would like to thank Lorraine for the effort and work she put in. We ran a good campaign but the day was not to be ours. Labour's campaign of scaring peo...
Saturday: Ooh, it is no good trying to put my daddies off for a week, no matter how brilliant your trailer is! Fortunately, they are able to call on the GRAND-DADDY of all Doctor Who writers, Mr Terrance Discs, who has written a Quick Read book. This is cool, and I have read it because I am very grown up and can read! But now I am VERY CROSS! Those wicked Cybermen have… have… have… well I splutter with fluffy fury at the location of their secret base! It is worse than Mr Simon’s book! ...
I've never thought of myself as a Unionist but not wanting to see the break-up of the United Kingdom makes me one. I'm all for saving the Union but when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest I...
John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister has banned his nation’s cricket team from touring Zimbabwe, fearing it could be regarded as a tacit endorsement of Robert Mugabe, a man he rightly describes as “a grubby dictator”. All very good, but is this the same John Howard who in 1985 made it clear that he opposed placing sporting and economic sanctions on apartheid South Africa, and its grubby dictator P.W Botha? So, Mr Howard has either performed a pretty significant volte-face on the issue, or he’s a fairly massive hypocrite. Which one do you reckon it is?
Over at PoliticalBetting.com, the regular Lib Dem contributor “Tabman” made this thoughtful comment (no.76 on the page): “an article today by Will Hutton illustrates the importance of Liberalism in British Politics. Hutton is trying to argue that Blair’s major success is transforming Old Labour into Liberal Labour, and that Cameron is trying (without any particular policy [...]
In the Wales on Sunday Matt Withers speculates that my supposed call for Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly leader, Mike German, to stand down has 'failed'. He reports that 'insiders say Mr German has "accepted responsibility" in private meetings but retains the party's confidence'. If Matt wants to accept the word of one or two individuals anxious to protect the leadership on this matter then that is his concern. The fact is though that nobody knows whether Mike German retains the party's confidence or not because that has not been tested in an election since 1998. It seems to me ...
Because of the confidentiality of the meetings I have been involved in over the last week I have been unable to report on the attitude of other Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Members to coalition and in particular to doing a formal deal with Labour. However, Mick Bates has come to my rescue this morning by illustrating that I am by no means a lone voice in the group on this issue. He has told the Politics Show that a coalition with Labour would be "a non-starter". Mick believes that Labour should remain in a minority assembly government and that ...
I have now found the correct photos to conclusively prove that the Eurovision winning singer, Marija Serifovic from Serbia, is in fact Wee Jimmy Krankie. Marija Serifovic and friend Wee Jimmy Krankie
It’s that time of year when, as the cheers subside and the hangover finally relents, hundreds of men and women across the country wake up to realise just what they have let themselves in for over the next four years. If you are a new councillor reading this, you might want to stop. You might prefer to continue to believe the claims you heard that it would not take up much of your time, hold on to the dream that it would take up, oh, only about five, at most ten, hours of your week. It can change the way ...
You have to ask if Breckland Council can add up. They face strike action from staff because the staff have been offered a 3% pay rise over 18 months, which Breckland refer to as "a cost of living increase" . Doh ! Inflation is 3%, and over 18 months this is 4.5%, and that takes no account of the retail price index, the real cost of inflation, which is higher than 3%. Then we read THIS story here from the Eastern Daily Press which really does make you question whether Breckland Council can ass up at all. ...
On Saturday evening it was off to a concert by the Highgate Choral Society at St Joseph's Church (Highgate Hill). Apart from some Christmas choral concerts at St John's in Smith Square, choral music hasn't been my musical place - despite having such wonderful local groups as this one and the Crouch End Festival Chorus. But - I was invited to become a patron of the Highgate Choral Society, so it
Cherie Blair decided today that with her husband on his way out, it was time for her to be more vocal. She decided that the issue for her to take up is her opposition to pregnant women being sent to prison. The Independent covers the story HERE. Firstly, what an absolute bloody cheek. People use the press to raise the profile of an issue so that government can become aware of it. If Cherie is unable to get the ear of government or her husband, then she shouldn't be lobbying us through the pages of a newspaper. More importantly for ...
Some people have to go to ridiculous lengths in order to get a decent signal on their mobile phones, but this is just silly.
It’s amazing – the deluges of rain over the past few days made me think that we’re in for a wet Prestwich Clough Day this afternoon – whether the sunshine will dry everywhere out before the Morris Dancers arrive though is another matter! My garden’s enjoyed these wet days – emails and some casework – and its breakfast in the garden. We held our thank you party for election helpers last night.
Newcastle-under-Lyme was one of our best results in the region, we gained three additional seats taking us to a total of 18, compared to 20 each for the Conservatives and Labour, and 2 for UKIP. UKIP gained the seat of the Labour Leader.
Last night I was at Orpington Liberal Club, at a dinner arranged by the local party Chair, Grace Goodlad, and her husband, Duncan Borrowman, to give a talk on the benefits of EU membership — one of a series I’m delivering at various local LibDem associations and other, non-party events. They’d laid on a splendidly Euro-meal: [...]
Jonathan Fryer tonight returned to Orpington (actually he is such a frequent, and welcome, visitor that returned is hardly the word, but it makes for a good headline). Jonathan was speaking on the subject "What has Europe done for us?" in the year of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. Jonathan was, as usual eloquent and knowledgeable on the subject, and I agreed with all he said (there
On 17th May I'm backing "Three Jobs Bob". The man I fought against in the GLA elections in Bexley & Bromley in 2000 and 2004 and was responsible for the literature team that nearly cost him the Bromley & Chislehurst by-election is getting my support. No I haven't hit my head, I am not on drugs, and I have only had two glasses of wine tonight. Bob is moving an Adjournment Debate in the House of
Why is it that polticians support the minimum wage. Almost all economists are united against it (and those who don’t tend to have political or personal reasons to support it). It has been shown, in theory and practice, to lead to job losses amongst the poorest. If it did work, why not just increase it to [...]
For anyone complaining that Eurovision is a ‘fix’ and blighted by ‘block voting/neighbour voting’: if it’s such a massive problem that occurs year after year, why is it that Serbia are the first Balkan country to win the contest since 1989? | < | May 2007 | > | ||||
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