LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 29th May 2007

Why should I reinvent myself?

The Holloways gig was awesome last night. I really liked the Electric Ballroom as a venue, had never been before, and all three acts were excellent. First support were Operahouse - have to admit I hadn't heard of them, but they were really good. Second were Newcastle band Kubichek!, who I did know but hadn't seen live and they really kicked as well. The Holloways ran through their songs, covered off the whole album (I think) and a couple of new songs/b-sides that sounded good too. My favourites are Malcontented One, Reinvent Myself? and Fit For A Fortnight ...

Not being funny but you might want to consider if people actually know what you guys stand for.

Thats what a friend said to be when we had a conversation about the election in Scotland. My response was thus: Its not being funny. It is a fair point. I joined the Labour Party because of what I thought it believed and that resonated with me. I left that party and joined the Lib Dems because of the policies of the Labour Party and the Lib Dems. The debates with the party leaders showed this problem. Nicol Stephen was the worst in explaining what his beliefs were. As a Lib Dem I do subscribe to the ...

Tory tactics in Brent

A comment on Liberal Democrat Voice deserves wider notice: I have in front of me the Dudden Hill Ward By-Election Special put out by the Conservative Party. The headline is CONSERVATIVES HEAD FOR STUNNING WIN!, and continues ‘Local voters in Dudden Hill are confirming the national trend: the Conservatives are now the party of first choice in Brent…’And the result in Dudden Hill? Liberal Democrats 1,262 (39.8%) Labour 1,177 (37.2%) Tory 412 (13.0%) Respect 160 (5.1%) Green 156 (4.9%)

The Ultimate in Protest Convenience

Ok so there must be an angle to this but on the face of it Mark Thomas (of comedy product and general pissing the DTI off fame) and friends are offering to take the strain out of protesting, by doing it for you. For a small consideration they will display your banner of choice wherever you want within the SCOPA zone in Central London and throw in a photograph of them doing it (protest songs are

In the Mirror again?

Somehow missed this one the first time around so can’t be sure if it actually made it in to the print edition, but the Daily Mirror website has Thin Edge of the Reg for Ryan dated 27th Feb. If it did manage to make it in to print, this would be my second time, the [...]

Let’s Not Be Fly about Tipping

Bill Bryson, squillionaire author of cheeky but pertinent travel books, has taken on a new guise: as Sir Galahad, confronting the litter louts. In an article in tonight’s Evening Standard, he rails against the way that London has become Trash City. And he comes out with the startling statistic that there are over a million incidents [...]

Andrew Marr disappoints trivia fans

I am watching the second part of Andrew Marr's A History of Modern Britain. Within a few minutes he has shown Anthony Eden and his wife departing for a cruise aboard the RMS Rangitata after he had resigned as prime minister over Suez and a clip from the film of Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey. All very interesting. BUT... He did not mention that the steward who looked after the Edens aboard the Rangitata was John Prescott;The clip from A Taste of Honey did not feature the young Hazel Blears.This has to go down as a ...

Congestion Charges for Manchester

Spent most of the evening inside, debating proposals for having to pay additionally to road tax we already pay to be able to drive around where I live .... worrying for people who find it hard to travel around and will never be adequately be covered by public transport .... present proposals are not truthful and fully costed out as far as I can see and the shopping list of public transport

School vouchers: convince me

Here’s the thing. I like the simplicity of school vouchers, they appeal to my sense that policy is at its best when it is simple. Events over recent weeks have got me thinking about how we sort out the mess that is school admissions, and they seem to have a lot going for [...]

Soroptimists steal my Birthday & our holiday!

Catherine and her Mum are involved in a Wimmin's organisation called the Soroptimists an excellent organisation for professional women who wish to give their talents, time and money to help make lives better in many countries around the globe. They are also particularly concerned about human rights issues. More info can be found at: www.soroptimistinternational.org or www.soroptimist-gbi.org In most circusmstances I fully support Catherine in her work with this very worthy organisation. No today though! I've just learned that she's at their Conference from the 29th July to 4th August. So what I hear you say. well, 3rd August ...

Day 2337: DOCTOR WHO: Human Nature

Saturday: Okay, after FOOLING everyone with Mr Olaf the other day, here is Daddy's REAL review of this week's Doctor Who. Everyone, it seems, loves "Human Nature". Alex loved it; the viewers gave it an Audience Appreciation Index of 86%, classed as "excellent"; the notoriously fickle Outpost Gallifrey has 79% of voters giving it 5 out of 5, rising to 96% giving it 4 or 5; the reviewer in the Tuesday Metro was moved to call it "a return to form" (with a backhand slap to last week's "42" as well); even arch-sceptic and master of the splenetic ...

Doughty news values

Despite coming from a different political galaxy, I wish 18 Doughty Street every success if nothing else than for the fact that if it works, it opens up the possibility of other, more politically sympathetic, rivals. It really needs to work out what its agenda is however. One minute they are producing rightwing [...]

Will Hilary become Deputy Prime Minister?

Readabet reports that Hilary Benn is 6/4 favourite to be next Deputy Leader of the Labour party. The Guardian has reported on the odds shortening on his deputy leadership bid: Mr Benn originally looked the favourite to win before last week's nominations after a number of polls suggested he was the most popular contender among Labour party members and trade unionists. Guido suggests that Benn

Who would replace David Cameron?

Political Betting speculates on who would replace David Cameron as leader of the Conservative party "if for whatever reason, the party had to find a replacement". George Osbourne, William Hague, David Davis and Liam Fox are the contenders mentioned. First, Grammargate drags on for weeks. Now, speculation on who would replace Cameron.

Recycle Now Week - From Saturday 2 June 2007

Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Strategic Partnership are organising two events to mark "Recycle Now Week": Recycle Now Day Outdoor Event10am-4pm, Tuesday 5 June 2007Victoria Square, Birmingham City CentreDiscuss recycling, composting and waste minimization with the Recyling Team.Bring your old clothes and shoes to the free Rumble Jumble table, and maybe swap them for something

The weekend mini ice age

What did you do over the weekend? I tried to do the garden (we were in London over the weekend rather than Gateshead) but after potting up 40 tomato plants, I decided I was fed up with being soaked through and went indoors to watch the icebergs and woolly mammoths drift past as we experienced what felt like a mini-ice age. Yesterday we went into central London and got rained on and blown about.

Project Cameron - Aground, or Fighting Fit?

I wrote a few days ago about the grammar schools issue and its livewire potential. Now a frontbench Tory - admittedly not one I'd ever heard of - has resigned over the issue. Being against grammar schools is exactly the kind of positioning that the Conservative Party needs; as we heard over the weekend, David Cameron's project is to look as much like the Lib Dems as possible. However, the grammar schools issue highlights exactly the problem which Cameron has. Tony Blair spent 13 years as Labour leader in perpetual conflict with his party. Cameron and those around ...

Rescue Squad

A reader who for some unfathomable reason wishes to remain anonymous sent in this very exciting picture: Dear Mr Key, wrote Anon, Can you tell me if this is (a) a contemporary item pleading for help in rescuing Dobson and his out of print pamphlets from obscurity, or (b) a piece of memorabilia dating from some [...]

Bank Holiday Britain was colder than Lapland

If you thought it was cold yesterday (we had to turn the central heating back on) you may be alarmed to know that it was colder in Britain than it was in Lapland and Siberia. Having been to Lapland when it was -20 degrees centigrade, I find this mind-blowing. The BBC do an excellent report on past days' weather. Here is yesterday's.

i'm - raising cash for charity on MSN?

Interesting news that Microsoft are going to give cash to charity for every instant message sent over MSN Messenger. One the face of it, this is a brilliant idea - but will the networks of people which Messenger depends on take it in good faith? According to Microsoft's information pdf, Microsoft will donate a set amount per MSN message (at least, from people within the USA) to good causes which users can select by typing (say) *unicef into their MSN screenname. As a charity fundraiser, I think it's a great idea. Harnessing millions of existing transactions to demonstrate ...

Meeting the Pope

Call me callous and unfeeling if you like - really I'm not - I think that what the McCann family must be going through is about as bad as it can get, losing your child with no sense of where she might be, who she's with or even whether or not she's still alive, which I am sure we all hope she is. But how on earth does this one single case and this one family manage to hold the media spotlight, get an enormous reward fund setup, get half of Scotland's footballers to wear a yellow wristband, and ...

Let the police keep the peace. Teachers should be educators.

Another story about Teachers’ unions, this one triggering not anger and disgust but sympathy and concern (never let it be said I am not balanced). The Professional Association of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers are having a disagreement over what to do about new powers to stop and search pupils to ensure that they are not carrying knives. The PAT want staff to be trained and to wear stab vests. The NAHT would rather they called the police if there was any cause for concern. Mick Brookes is right to argue that ...

Emigration, Immigration, Integration

Usually I have a lot of time for the Joseph Rowntree reports, although I am a little nervous about drawing the sweeping conclusions that they have made in today's report about immigration. Although advertised as a survey of 600 individuals, in fact the attrition rate took the continuing survey down to only just over 100 individuals, and I think that the sample size is too small to really judge too much about whether Eastern European immigrants actually intend to stay long term or not. I am not too worried should it be the case that about a quarter do see ...

Dutch "win a kidney" Big Brother

Is this as low as they can go? A Dutch reality television show in which a terminally ill woman is to select one of three contestants to receive her kidneys when she dies is to air this week despite criticism that it pushes the boundaries of the format too far.

Tory frontbencher resigns over Grammar schools row

Tory Frontbencher Graham Brady has resigned over the Grammar schools row. In his statement, Graham Brady said: "Faced with a choice between a front bench position that I have loved and doing what I believe to be right for my constituents and for the many hundreds of thousands of families who are ill-served by state education in this country, there is in conscience only one option open to me."

Half of all black men on DNA database by 2010

Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell today raised concerns over the fact that over half of all British black men will soon have their information held on the DNA database. Ming Campbell said the Government’s insistence on keeping people’s records on a DNA database when they are not charged for an offence could seriously affect community relations. By [...]

Update on Janipher Maseko

As you will see from the comments to my earlier post - thanks, Morgan and Helen - separate removal orders have now been issued for the children. This obviously doesn't make everything all right. Imagine if you had given birth just over a month ago and you were suddenly to be taken away from your whole life and put back to a country that had brought you nothing but fear and tragedy, where you had no family, nowhere to call home, no means of providing for yourself and your two small children. That would be bad ...

An unholy alliance of Tories and Labour

Ming Campbell has written an article about Tory MP David Maclean’s Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: This was a self-inflicted blow by Parliament which will deeply damage its reputation. The Bill was voted through by an unholy alliance of Conservative and Labour MPs. It was also given unofficial support from the Government which, unusually, did not block it [...]

So what would have happened if nobody had voted ?

I am always at something of a loss to understand the principle of wit Jehovahs Witnesses do not vote. .I have worked with many JW's over the years and have taught plenty too and I think almost without exception they have all been truly lovely people. Now I know they say ' God's law is supreme' and this is given as the reason that they do not vote. But just how useful is the bible as a set of rules for society ? .Does the bible stipulate where 30mph zones should in ? .Does the bible state which company should ...

UK's DNA Database Shame

There’s an interesting discussion going on at the Radio 4 PM Blog about the impact of the new stop and question powers that the government want to bring in. My concern is particularly on the impact that it will have on the DNA database and I see I am not the only Lib Dem concerned about this today. If one assumes that the purpose of new stop and questioning powers is to identify, arrest and

Pension campaign gathers momentum

Further to my last posting, I continue to be swamped by letters and e-mails from around Britain of women who are unhappy with their pensions. Growing numbers do indeed appear to be missing out on pension protection for years since 1978 when they were bringing up children at home. What I now hope to persuade the Government to do is to look at this issue systematically and to identify some common threads. Some of the women who have been in touch would have missed out on £10,000 or more during their retirement if we hadn't raised this ...

How the “Asset rich, income poor” can afford their Land Value Tax

Julian H. has asked a perennial question about Land Value Taxation, which I will seek to answer below, namely …how it's possible to tax something so illiquid.For example: suppose I have owned the land my house is on since 1990 - in which time its value has increased from £100k to £1m. Yet I am a school teacher and my income during that period has merely risen from £18k to £28k per annum; enough to live off but no more. I have no money investments beyond my pension. How do I pay a LVT on the £900k that my ...

Tory’s Speaker spanking

A small, simple pleasure - but click to watch David Heathcoat-Amory being given a verbal spanking by Mr Speaker Martin, from last week’s business questions. No wonder the Tories hate him.

Street Surgeries tonight - Performance-arama this afternoon

Tonight I am back out on the streets of St Mary’s with street surgeries three and four. After the success of numbers one and two last week, tonight I am at the junction of Butterstile Lane and Venwood Road between 19.00 and 1945, then travelling to the corner of Carr Avenue and Cawley Avenue between 20.00 and 20.45. If you want to say hello or have any issues you'd like us to have a look at,

The Scottish Question

This Scottish Question is about adoption. Scotland had 120 children adopted from care in 5-6. England had 3,700 in 2006. Scotland has a population of about 5M and England about 51M. For all that it matters you can scale up the scottish figures by 10. That would give 1,200 adoptions from care. Scotland has a form of jury in children's cases. Is that the reason why more children are adopted

My first video to reach 10,000 viewings

A minor milestone in my quest to conquer to world with my videos has now been reached. One of my videos has now had 10,000 viewings. It's not quite the best of political knockabout stuff though. In fact, there are no politics in it whatsoever. No, my most viewed video continues to be the one I shot on Copacabbana beach in December 2005. If you are really interested you can view it here:

Matthew Green stands down as candidate for Ludlow

Ludlow's former MP, Matthew Green, is stepping down as Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate as a result of the unexpectedly rapid expansion of his planning consultancy business Green Planning Solutions LLP.

My next councillor's surgery

My next councillor's surgery is at St Swithun's Church, Hither Green Lane, from 11am to 12.30pm on Saturday 2 June. Please coming along if there are any problems I can help you with, or just a chat if you like.

And I thought I was tight...

Just read this article about Channel Four who are kindly donating the profits from phone/ text message voting. This is because they feel guilty after previous phone votes were not very accurate. This is a load of rubbish... If you read the article it also says that they are reducing the cost of votes.. so in other words it is just a token gesture... Are Channel Four really saying that charities

Betrayals in Wales

When I heard Martin Shipton (Western Mail) speak last Turseday, at the UCL's Constitution Unit, he spoke of Welsh politics developing hour by hour rather than day by day, I didn't quite appreciate the accuracy of this at the time. It has only been since I've tuned in to the farcical soap opera that has been the so-called 'Rainbow Coalition' between the Lib Dem's, Conservatives and Plaid Cymru that this has appeared to be the case. A game of spot the difference illustrates this fact: Look at Greg Hurst's (Times) pieces from Thurs 24th and Fri 25th. How is such ...

'Ming not about to fall on sword'

In the Telegraph, Rachel Sylvester writes that "Ming is not about to fall on his sword": ...there is no treachery underway. The main rivals to succeed Sir Menzies - Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne - seem to agree that the Lib Dems would look careless if they lost another leader so soon. As one frontbencher put it: "The last things the voters remember about us is that Charles Kennedy was drunk, Simon

South Liverpool Business and Community Awards

I was at the Marriot hotel on Friday night for this year's awards. These have been going, in one guise or another, since 2004, and in the words of the MD of South Liverpool Recruitment are "to celebrate the regeneration of South Liverpool". There were more than a dozen award categories - too many to list. But I want to mention a couple of special ones. These were the two "neighbourhood ambassador" awards sponsored by SLH. In Garston the award went to the lovely Bill Cockersol. It's hard to think of something he's not ...

Letter from Francis

A letter over the weekend from someone who wants me! Unfortunately it was from Francis Maude MP, who I think is chair of the Tory Party, asking me to join the Conservatives. Quite happy where I am thank you very much. The Tories are writing to Lib Dems who lost their council seats in May to try to persade them to join up. I can't decide whether this is a sign that they are getting more active, or simply desparate. That makes two approaches from two different parties since my result (not counting the mad ...

Section 30 zone

The Garston police are applying for another section 30 zone to cover the under the bridge area. Like other residents, I have had a letter asking for evidence and letters of support. I have done my letter and sent it off. Part of me doesn't like the idea of section 30 areas at all. They are a last resort and I hope we never get to the point where they are automatically done without thinking about whether they are needed. But the bad news is we do need another one here. Even though most ...

You must be NUTs

Before I discuss the latest example of union brass neck, I need to declare an interest. Occasionally I dine at the expense of the National Union of Teachers (NUT). They kindly and generously like to lay on a fish and chip supper with complementary wine at the close of the Liberal Democrat Party Conferences (I think they do both), and I have been known to avail myself of their hospitality. The cynical among you my wonder whether the NUT hopes to curry favour with the Lib Dems through this act of largesse (If only they were trying to ...

Chavez and Livingstone: a tawdry alliance

More reports today than Hugo Chavez has an eye on yet another TV station that he doesn’t like. It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, watching someone pulling the switch on such foundations of democracy as free speech. But here in London of course, Mr Chavez is our great friend, since the deal done by our Mayor, Mr Livingstone with Mr Chavez back in February for cheap oil to fuel our buses. Yes,

Sun chance

And, as if to prove Murphy's Law, here's the bright view from my office the day after the Bank Holiday...

'Cameron to sack front-bencher who rebelled on Grammar schools'

The Telegraph reports that David Cameron is to sack Graham Brady, the Conservative front bencher who criticised Cameron's Gammar school policy: In an attempt to end the worst party row since he became leader, a furious Mr Cameron yesterday instructed Patrick McLoughlin, his chief whip, to reprimand Graham Brady, the Europe spokesman, "in the strongest terms" for his "totally unacceptable" breach

Tory attempts to censor Diana documentary show a lack of judgment

Why do the Tories feel they have to be the moral guardians of the nation ? Why is it that Tory spokesman Hugo Swire feels that censorship of the press is the way to safeguard Princess Diana's memory ? Put simply, what gives the Tories the right to demand that a TV show they have not seen be axed ? Hugo Swire himself said; "It should be remembered that Diana, as well was being a public figure, was a mother. This kind of coverage must be deeply distressing to Princes William and Harry." What kind of coverage ...

Shadow Europe Minister told "Stick to Europe"

Graham Brady, MP for Altrincham and Sale West has got himself in to some trouble by suggesting that school selection is a good thing. According to reports, David Cameron is less than happy.

The BBC talks nonsense on education

From an article on Auntie's website: Government figures in the Observer show some schools in England have a pupil majority from one ethnic group.The only way the state could avoid that being the case would be by refusing to educate a large proportion of what Margaret Hodge calls the indigenous population.

Teapots fight cancer

Not only is it more civilised to make tea in a pot, but it is better for you too. The BBC reports: The traditional way of making tea in a pot is healthier than dunking a bag in a cup, according to scientists.Previous research found antioxidants in tea could help protect against things like cancer and heart disease.Now scientists in Aberdeen have shown that a cuppa only gets the maximum amount of these chemicals when the tea is given proper time to brew.

Tuesday 29th May 2007

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