LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Saturday 26th May 2007

An hour with the "Drinkers"

We have had renewed complaints about the behaviour of some of the "Street Drinkers" in Headingley "Town" centre. I don't blame anyone for complaining if they have been verbally abused or aggressively door stepped for cash. And lets be clear both of these things do happen. What depresses me though is the assumption by everyone that a Criminal Justice response is always the best. I spent about 45 minutes on Thursday afternoon sitting on a bench talking to who we'll call "Andy" and "Chris". They were both knocking back substantial amounts of Fosters lager. The stories which they were ...

Three Ferrets in a Sack

The delightful description by Roger Roberts (and he was in favour of the Plaid-Tory-LibDem coalition!) at today's special members conference at Llandrindod Wells. The conference agreed with him, and voted 125-77 in favour of the proposition that "Conference endorses the proposals in Working Together for Wales as the basis for forming the government in the National Assembly".

Post number 300: the revolution starts here!

You know something, I'm bored of bureaucracy in isolation. Doing good deeds and making the backroom stuff tick over is all very well but I dimly recall getting involved in politics to make a difference. I don't campaign terribly well, indeed I've always felt uncomfortable about promoting anything as 'the next great thing'. Instead, I have concentrated on process in the hope that if I do it well,

The Mayor Making Part 2

My punishment for being 10 minutes late for the Lord Mayors Dinner was the only remaining space being on a Tory table. Now obviously Conservatives are Gods Children to and to show that prejudice is never right I had a really good conversation with Cllr Valerie Kendall (Con, Roundhay) . Planning policy, Durham University and and the decline of deference passed the time. To be serious for a moment its always good at social occasions be reminded that most people who go into politics are decent hard working sorts who want to make life a bit ...

The Mrs Merton Question

News of my impending departure from Leeds City Council has led to a sudden surge of interest. I have had quite a flurry of calls and email from people in the party taking ( often quite a sudden) interest in the good governance of Headingley. " So Joe and Josephine Bloggs, what first attracted you to Headingley, the safest Lib Dem Council seat in Leeds? " At least we'll have plenty of help with the "Thank You" leaflet !

Reply to Blog Comments .......

Locally, labour would like everybody to believe that its us who have kicked them out of ‘control’ – of Bury Council. The truth is that Bury voters removed then, democratically …. labour have themselves to blame. Yes, we’ve let the largest party take the lead of Bury Council this year – we did last year too. We’ll take each issue in meetings and decide whether to agree, abstain or vote

What ever happens in Big Brother 8, can it get sicker than this ?

Australia, not to be out done by the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother, seems to have shown us that when it comes to reality TV, it does not get any worse than the original non clebrity version of Big Brother. When one of the contestant's father died, the Big Brother producers decided not to tell her. Apparently citing the fact that her father's dying wish was for her to remain in the Big Brother house. This raises two questions for me. Firstly, at what point does your own real life become so crap that you have would want to ...

Plug

As featured in this weeks Lib Dem News do have a look at www.1909.org.uk As far as I can see the links are more substantial than the site its self at the moment but its just being launched. I know the Elect the Lords Campaign has made much of the Centenary of the 1911 Parliament Act so its good to see that the "peoples budget" will get a much deserved celebration as well. ( and why do we allow people to say Gordon Brown has been the best Chancellor since Gladstone?!) I've often thought a higher priority for ...

A Genuine Hero

Like most people in my home town, I was stunned by the shooting of a commuter at Rayleigh station yesterday . As reported in the national news, 24 old Adam Mapleson was shot in the chest as he tried to stop two armed men from robbing a pair of security guards at Rayleigh station. Thankfully he's starting to recover. I don't suppose you have time to think about whether to intervene in a situation

The Mayor Making

Thursday evening saw the annual " Mayor Making" ceremony which is actually the Council's AGM. First off congratulations to Cllr Brian Cleasby ( Lib Dem, Horsforth) who is the new Lord Mayor. The person with the best title in Leeds, The Revd Cannon Cllr Alan Taylor ( Lib Dem, Gipton and Harehills ) adds Deputy Lord Mayor to that letter head. Wow. The AGM saw the "new" Lib Dem/Conservative minority administration installed with what is in effect a "Confidence and Supply" arrangement with the Independent and Green Groups. I suspect its going to be a bumpy ride on occasions ...

Taking Liberties

A new film is about to be released detailing just many freedoms we’ve lost since Blair&Co came into power a decade ago. Taking Liberties has its first public screening today at Warwick University before being more widely released later in June. The film takes as its themes six areas of policy where New Labour have [...]

Cameron is reluctant to repeat "Slippery Nipple" experience

It appears that David Cameron is reluctant to repeat his "Pink Pussy" or, if you prefer, "Slippery Nipple" experience with Jeremy Paxman. This was an interview with Jeremy Paxman, which the Great Paxo opened, with typical elan, by saying "Do you know what is a Pink Pussy?". When Cameron said 'no', Paxo continued: "What is a slippery nipple?". It all went downhill from there. The Editor of

Ninewells Avenue/Perth Road, Seabraes

Was around various parts of the West Dnd today looking at various issues residents had recently raised with me. I'm pictured (right) at the Ninewells Avenue/Perth Road roundabout where one of the "forward arrow" signs is missing and the lighting unit damaged. Looks like its been hit by a vehicle. Have reported the matter to the City Council's Planning & Transportation Department. Grateful to the resident who has drawn to my attention the vandalism damage to the 'mini' bandstand on the grass area at the top of Seabraes. The matter was reported to ...

Iain Dale: 'The Liberace of politics'

Iain Dale is often saying nice things about Nadine Dorries. One can't help thinking that she has not entirely repaid these compliments in kind, through her description of him as reminding her of "Liberace", in her blog on the Conservative blog awards (which I hasten to add Iain Dale won): Iain Dale, king of the online diary, won best Conservative blog, as you would expect. He collected his award

Internal Conservative memo identifies LibDems as biggest threat to Tory Victory

A Conservative Home headline reads: "CCHQ MEMO IDENTIFIES LIBDEMS AS BIGGEST THREAT TO TORY VICTORY" and refers to a Times piece: The Tories’ biggest threat is not from UKIP or the BNP but the Liberal Democrats, according to secret research presented to the party’s front bench last month and leaked to The Times. The polling also showed that voters are clearer about what they like and dislike

is nuclear power our only chance to become carbon neutral?

with the government looking to change the way that we get power in this country, a decison with inevitable environmental consequences, we are faced with a dilema. do we risk a possible nuclear disaster in this country, or do we countinue to use fossil fules that pump billions upon billions of tons of CO2, as well as other pollutant gasses, into our already polluted atmosphere? So how does nuclear work, i could go into a long rant about the technicallity's of it all, during whichi would most likely get it all wrong, but instead i found this video ...

'Tory A-lister defects to UKIP'

Conservative Home reports that a "Tory A-lister defects to UKIP" and links to a piece on the UKIP blog. The "A-lister" in question is Julie Langton Smith. However, I can't find her name on any of the three "A-list" lists on Conservative Home itself.

Welsh Lib Dem special conference votes to resurrect coalition talks with Tories and Plaid

Welsh Liberal Democrats have agreed to try to revive plans for a coalition assembly government with Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives. A special Lib Dem conference in Llandrindod Wells voted 125 to 77 to resume talks with the other parties. It comes days after the “rainbow alliance” collapsed when the party executive failed to back the plans. More

Afghan Action

I'm very happy to promote an event in Kingston on 7th June in aid of Afghan Action. To quote from the organisers: For one night only Central Asia comes to Kingston in the form of a display and sale of unique, traditional, hand-made Afghan carpets, proceeds of which go towards running Afghan Action, a unique charity providing training in carpet weaving skills for young people in...

The rank hypocrisy of family court judges

The title is one of Camilla Cavendish whose article is linked, but it is a sentiment I share. The secrecy in the family courts does not protect the children it protects the system and those who operate it. I have written a response to Munby's published judgment (the publishing of which we need to thank him for), but it may be published elsewhere first. I have a copy of the judgment, but

The Resurrection of Oscar Wilde

Passers-by in Sloane Street last night might have imagined that a film-shoot was taking place, as an open carriage, drawn by a magnificent pair of horses and bearing a solitary, diminutive figure in full Victorian black mourning dress, drew up outside the Cadogan Hotel. This was in fact the cultural critic Julia Wood, arriving for the [...]

Come on you tangerine wizards!

A guy next to me shouted that during a quiet spell in the last play-off final I saw Blackpool in - the League 2 final at the Milennium Stadium against Leyton Orient (Blackpool won 4-2, as you're asking). Tomorrow I'm going to watch the Seasiders in another play-off final. This time it's League 1, so a place in the Championship is the prize if they can beat Yeovil. And, of course, the finals this weekend are all at the new Wembley - so I get to see the new stadium for the first time, which I'm really excited about. ...

How good is YouGov?

The question of whether internet polling is better or worse than face-to-face or telephone polling quite often causes sparks (friendly of course) to fly better different pollsters and pundits. So I thought it would be useful to compare YouGov against all the other political pollsters (except for BPIX - because they also use the internet but [...]

Emma Jones: Trying to be green

One of my Haringey Council colleagues from the Labour group has a new blog. Emma Jones, councillor for Bruce Grove ward, already had a blog - but she has relaunched it with a different mission in mind. It was clear from Emma's old blog that one of her main interests is the environment and she has decided to do a blog just about green issues. In fact, instead of me waffling on, why don't you just read her opening post from last week which explains it all. Good luck with the new blog, Emma!

Another diary from Lord Bonkers

The latest Liberator is with subscribers, so it is time to publish his lordship's latest effusions here. Monday Bowling along the lanes of Montgomeryshire in the Bentley I come upon a caravan that has toppled into the ditch. Some poor fellow is trying to haul it out while being shouted at by an unruly band of Romanians who have stayed aboard the van drinking beer - “Hey, Mr Lembit You push harder OK?”. I stop to lend a hand and discover that the unfortunate motorist is none other than our own Lembit Öpik. He stops to wipe his hands ...

Land of my fathers

Spurs have made their first signing of the summer - Gareth Bale has signed from Southampton. It's not exactly shock news, as this transfer saga has been rumbling on for ages. Apparently the fee is £5 million, potentially rising to £10 million. That's a fair bit less than some of the numbers that were being thrown around last January. This is what BBC Sport think about whether that's value for money. I'm confident he is a great signing. Welcome to Spurs, Gareth - good to have another Welshman pulling on the white shirt.

Is there a company with a funnier name than this ?

The BBC are reporting HERE in their football gossip pages that Watford's kits are to feature a new name on them from next year. BEKO will replace the names of their Turkish parent company. Now I don't know how you say the names in Turkish, but in phonetic English I don't think I have seen many funnier names. I can see why Watford Football club would prefer BEKO to Arcelik and Koc holding !

Don't forget your toothbrush!!

Friday 25th May 2007 - After a very busy Plenary week in Strasbourg - during which I made speeches on EPA's, Aid for Trade and the Kashmir Report - I head home via Liverpool John Lennon airport where thousands of disappointed Liverpool fans are returning from Athens. Despite my keen interest in Manchester United's fortunes I would have been delighted to see Liverpool win the Champions League

On Liberty, Online: An Unwelcome Tribute (or: How Stupid is Margaret Hodge?)

Most politicians would be delighted to see a comment piece in the morning paper telling them that they had the right policy ideas. This morning, Margaret Hodge must have choked on her cornflakes, because the person telling her "I agree with her" and she was saying "what we were saying five years ago" was none other than the leader of the BNP. Let this be a lesson - pandering to extremists, however well-intentioned, will always play into their hands. Mrs Hodge's suggestion that "British people" should be given priority over "migrants" for Council housing was always straying on ...

Frank Field comments on Margaret Hodge and housing

Another night, another period of disturbed sleep. Today, rather than keep me awake until 4am, my body decided to wake me up at 4am. Well, it’s novel, at least. It also means I get to see Hard Talk, one of the more interesting and more rarely seen programmes on the BBC. For those not aware of it, it is one of the only programmes I know of where a prominent individual is interviewed one-on-one for half an hour (or probably longer, as it seems to be edited). Last night it was the turn of Frank Field, ...

Alan Johnson is right - What charitable functions do private schools provide ?

It may be a case of him flexing his left wing credentials for the Labour Deputy leadership race, but Alan Johnson raises some good points when he argues that private schools should do more to justify their charitable status. In some parts of the country private schools sits close to state schools who have limited games and PE facilities, yet in many case the state school are never allowed access to the private school's fields to use. This would in the first case be a simple way private schools could provide a service, but they could go further. Alan ...

'Pivotal' moment for Cameron

Martin Kettle in the Guardian writes an excellent summary of Cameron and Grammargate. He points out that, in order for Grammar schools to be Cameron's "Clause 4", he has to win "it". "It" is rather difficult to win if there is no party ballot on it, as there was for Clause 4 with the Labour party: Cue a "clause 4 moment"? Sort of. But don't forget the whole point of a clause 4 moment. You have

The questionable beauty of birdsong

Don't get me wrong. I am a great fan of birdsong. It is very relaxing. Eric, our neighbourhood "early bird - no glimmer of dawn missed - guaranteed reaction with tweeting within one nano second of daylight suggesting itself" blackbird started off at 04:11 today. Bless him. I had just got back to sleep when at 05:17 it all kicked off in the local ornithological world. It seemed that two birds (I

Good news on London ballot papers for 2008

I attended a meeting with London Elects yesterday, and the good news is that they have learnt the lesson from last time that Scotland got wrong recently. The ballot for the London Assembly will be on two ballot papers - one for the constituency and one for the top up list. As I said after my experience in Edinburgh should be the case. In addition they have tested designs and show that people

Blind Light

I took some time out today to visit the Gormley exhibition at the Hayward. But the major work, called Event Horizon, can be seen by anyone in the South Bank area. Just look up and around, and you can spot 31 figures, all cast from Antony Gormley's body. Most of them are high up on top of buildings but you can encounter a couple of them at street level, like this one on...

Saturday 26th May 2007

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