We are coming to know that new Lib Dem member Laurence Boyce has a pull-no-punches style of writing, but I think his latest opinion piece on Lib Dem Voice is a very regrettable attack on religion. As it happens I don’t think I agree with a single one of the views that he attributes to [...]
“Journalists are bastards … and twats!” That was pretty much the opening line tonight at a talk I went to organised by Sheffield Technology Parks and held at the Millennium Galleries. The talk called “How to get yourself in the papers” had two speakers - Ciaran Brennan of PR agency Bastion, and Jules Stenson who [...]
A day latter than I was expecting, but tonight Newsnight ran their piece on vulture funds - including a (brief!) interview with me. If you missed it, you can watch it again on their website (for the next 24 hours only I think).
Hat tip to Norfolk Blogger. Yesterday I took one look at the video for rhe 2012 logo and had doubts on the effect it would have on epileptics. I used the phrase "fit inducing". As the article that Nich points to says: "Charity Epilepsy Action said it had received calls from people who had suffered fits after seeing it." It really makes you wonder about the competence of those involved in this
Se peut-il que tu choisis pour me percer le Coeur! Est-ce donc pour gémir et soupirer en vain Que mon art a produit ton image adorable? You might guess from the excerpt above that I'm not referring to the musical but to the 1748 Acte de Ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau. If you've got that far, you'll now be wondering whether the bureaucrat hasn't completely lost it. There is sense behind the
I have in the past few weeks been rather unkind about Channel 4. In particular, I suggested its recent Dispatches programme abandoned objective reporting in favour of sensationalist editorialising. May I therefore take this opportunity to commend Channel 4’s decision not to pull tomorrow’s documentary, Diana: The Witnesses In The Tunnel. I do not fully understand why Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton,
I have in the past been rather unkind about the Lib Dems’ culture spokesman, Don Foster. In particular, I suggested his knee-jerk opposition to super-casinos pandered to illiberal populism. May I therefore take this opportunity to commend his support of Channel 4’s decision not to pull tomorrow’s documentary, Diana: The Witnesses In The Tunnel: "While any programme about Diana’s death will cause
The Democratic Presidential candidates have had an interesting first televisual outing. Obama and Clinton did well as the expense of Edwards, the reports say. Christopher Dodd has an interesting graphic on his web site, which shows who talked for how long during the debate. He calls it the Talk Clock. Obama was ahead in the talk stakes at 16 minutes, closely followed by Clinton on 14 minutes and
I think that certainly amongst the reactions on the blogosphere and in today's press, the reaction to the new London 2012 Olympics logo has been, at best, awful. That said, the reaction could be worse ! According to the article HERE, people who are photosensitive could be prone to having epileptic fits if they see the whole promotional video that goes with the logo launch. So well done to the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority, that's £400,000 well spent.
Oh dear! It appears that George Bush's cunning plan to try the Guantanemo detainees in military courts has hit a bit of a snag. Oh dear. Omar Khadr was fifteen years old when he was locked up at Gauntanemo. He is now twenty years old. His case has just come to "trial". All charges were dismissed. You either have to laugh or cry, don't you? I prefer to laugh knowing that at least the Great
I think Scott Mills and Prince Charles should be put in touch with each other. Prince Charles has just appointed an official harpist. Scott Mills is looking for a harpist. Job done! ...or.....should that be: Love you!
The Guardian has recently been having one of its "35mm film cannister" letter writing chains about rag and bone men. I did a google for "rag and bone man" and it comes up with all sorts of dictionary-type explanations of what they were. It had me thinking that, in fact, there are plenty of rag and bone men still in operation and more large-scale enterprises doing the same job of recycling metal
The exquisite arrogance and ignorance of our religious leaders was once again on full display last week in the form of His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Keith O’Brien. In a deeply political intervention, which Lynne Featherstone described succinctly as “diabolical,” the Cardinal made an outspoken attack on what he termed [...]
Today, David Cameron said about the Channel Four documentary about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales ; "Are we making this programme because there's a genuine public interest, or are we just being prurient?" .And on Iain Dale's blog, Iain Dale himself wrote ;."Channel 4 is appealing to the basest and most prurient human instincts with this programme".Isn't it odd, you can go for several months without hearing or reading the word prurient, yet the words suddenly appears twice in one day, twice from Tory politicians and twice on the same topic..So who is writing for who ? ...
This week's Sherlock award ("No s*** sherlock", that is - I'm sorry I have to be careful - at least two fully frocked Reverends regularly read this blog) goes to this morning's Financial Times: Climate change is bottom of the priority list for Britain’s largest companies, a survey of business leaders has found – and their biggest shareholders are not much more exercised by the issue, according 
The above video is of police basically guarding a spoof theft. The local police force (Cleveland) don't think it is helpful. It, however, shows how things have moved from police using their own discretion as opposed to being governed by Whitehall's targets.
The idea of a Britain day seems to have come from a whole host of people - Gordon Brown (some time ago), Ruth Kelly, The Fabian Society.... Yes, an excellent idea. Another Bank Holiday. I am all for that. It'll all be very British: Loads of beer. The pubs full. Cheap sausages barbecued. Much indigestion. Lots of rain and family arguments. "The 500 best clips of clips of clips" on Channel Four.
I have recently received a sudden influx of Russian spam. Here are some example headers: семинары по строительству Больше чем рассылка Для всех возрастов МОБИЛЬНЫЕ КОНДИЦИОНЕРЫ Награждение ФОТО Распродажа техники! Спутниковый интернет Супер-тренинг!!! Eager to see if these were the inevitable messages about Viagra and...ahem...member enlargement, I entered as many of the titles, as I could be
I’ve just come across this public information film from 1949 (or try here) about the post-war education reforms. With hindsight, I’m a bit ambivalent about the politics, but the sentiment is touching, and the quality of the animation is breath-taking. Remember: this is a public information film. I was looking for a different one [...]
I read some of the Government's Planning White Paper. It was a bit like 'motherhood and apple pie' in many places, with some fairly dangerous vague concepts thrown in. A typical Labour white paper, in other words. In many media outlets, the White Paper was 'spun' as relieving householders from the red tape of planning approval for minor works such as loft conversions. However, the Federation of
A little over a year ago James Graham over at www.theliberati.net/quaequamblog wrote a highly prescient post called " Gordon Brown does not exist ". I have lots of Labour friends and nearly all of them have projected there unhappiness with many aspects of the Blair years onto a future Brown premiership. In many cases its what keeps them in the party. However I suspect this week we began the process where this mythical Gordon joins Big Foot, UFO's and the Tooth Fairy in the list of beings who fulfill a psychological need but have no physical substance. ...
It had to come, of course. David Cameron back from his holiday with a tin of whitewash: Conservative leader David Cameron has insisted he will not "flinch, or stop making the changes", in the wake of the party's row over grammar schools. But he said he accepted he needed to explain better to his party sometimes why such "changes are so important". Hello? Perhaps Dave should be reminded of this
Another couple of hours on internet TV channel 18 Doughty Street yesterday. You can watch the first hour - Vox Politix - here. Particular nod to fellow panellist James Oates, of Cicero’s Songs, who writes a top LibDem blog and who I met for the first time last night.
One of the things that Bethan and Leanne missed out on today was the opportunity to spend some time with their fellow AMs in a social situation and find out some interesting facts about them. Here are three examples, suitably anonymised: 1. Which AM told me that he did not write his own blog and had only realised a few days ago that he has one? 2. Which AM was once arrested for trying to strangle Sir Keith Joseph? 3. Which AM has an ancestor who is recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church? My ...
Whilst two of our more Republican Assembly Members were visiting homeless projects in Swansea, the rest of us were in Cardif to see the Queen. As they were obviously feeling a bit vulnerable Leanne and Bethan had lined up a whole host of celebrities to validate their position. These included Benjamin Zephaniah, Polly Toynbee, Peter Tatchell and Claire Raynor. All of them are entitled to their point of view and to express their republicanism in a way that they believe is appropriate. I am also a republican but I believe in upholding the constitution no matter how flawed it ... 
Those who know me well know that I draw a lot of strength and encouragement from the wider Liberal Movement, core Liberal ideals within the Liberal intellectual tradition and from the great Liberal thinkers and doers down the years. There are some really great people in the Party and I've had the pleasure of working with some of them over the past nearly 20 years I've been a member of the Liberals and then Lib Dems. I still believe that. No, I haven't had a good time of it lately in the Party it has to ...
Off-shore windmills greeted us at Zeebrugge, twirling in the early morning breeze. We're spending a few days exploring the EU Parliament on a north west MEP sponsored trip. I need to fact-find to put lessons together back at the ranch and also improve my working knowledge of the EU too! Today we explored Brussels – its not as clean as Manchester, I'm amazed at the amount of graffiti! This
In case you’ve missed the news about this award, here’s the advert that has appeared in Liberal Democrat News: Sadly on 29th May 2005 Patsy Calton, MP for Cheadle, died. Patsy was a wife, a mother, a teacher, an activist, a Councillor, a Parliamentarian, and an inspiration to us all. Her energy, enthusiasm and achievements truly [...]
Liberal Democrat run Southwark Council has emerged as one of the top performing boroughs for preserving and planting street trees according to a new GLA report. Southwark outperformed neighbouring boroughs Lewisham, Lambeth and Bromley. “Trees contribute much to the local environment, offsetting the concrete mass of the city sprawl and framing offices houses and shops,” said Cllr Lisa Rajan, Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Environment on Southwark Council. “They offer cooling relief in the summer and provide a first line of defence against global warming.”“I am delighted that Southwark’s positive attitude towards preserving our street trees has been recognised in ...
On World Environment Day, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Chris Huhne MP said:
The decision of the Strategic Health Authority to cut training places for students at the UEA's School of Nursing and Midwifery by almost 30 percent is being challenged
It seems that everyone agrees the new London Olympic logo is awful - and not just those of us who see it as Lisa Simpson doing something very rude. Why is it so bad? My theory is that it suffers from the modern paranoia about offending people. Or rather the "more right on than thou" games that are played on right-thinking committees. Whether anyone out there is really offended is often a different matter. You might think that an athlete of some sort might be a good logo. But should that figure me male or female? able-bodied ...
"Rowdy students are causing problems on buses. But whose job is it to control them?" asks the front page of the Guardian website. If you read the story you find that it is not about students at all but schoolchildren. Perhaps this unwillingness to treat children as children is one of the causes of their bad behaviour? As one of its "experts", the story quotes the director of "Belt Up School Kids". If the only way we can control our children these days is to tie them up, things are even worse than I thought.
The prize has to go to Dr Glorioso from the University of Pittsburgh. While congratulating him, I must question the utility of his research. If a rat is impotent, isn't it better to leave it that way?
With the opening of the Welsh Assembly's third session today, we read that two Plaid Cymru AM's have boycotted the Queen's visit. Leanne Wood and Bethan Jenkins will visit a homelessness project in Swansea instead. "As a Welsh person, I do not see how the monarchy is relevant to my everyday life, and to my generation," said Ms Jenkins, And as an elected Assembly Member, I assumed that you understand the respoinsibilities of the office you hold and the manners to show courtesy in a dignified way for the head of state. It's all about showing that ...
Today I am spectacularly busy at work co-ordinating my organisation's STAR Awards short-listing day! The STAR Awards give Special Thanks And Recognition (geddit?!) to high-performers, and those who go the extra mile. I make sure the event happens properly, which is quite a task for someone not in any way experienced in organising awards ceremonies from start to finish... So today I have assembled
The 1909 Group site reprints the Tony Vickers/Andrew Duffield Liberator article that has caused a bit of a kerfuffle over at Iain Dale's place.
Hat-tip to NO2ID’s Coventry & Warwickshire group for this disturbing idea of a “Family Fun Day” in Ohio.
I missed this a couple of days ago - Paddy Ashdown penned a brief piece for the Guardian regarding his appointment as chair of Northern Ireland’s new Strategic Review Parading Body. Few would doubt that he relishes a challenge. He makes reference to the successful reconciliation process in South Africa, but the key note he strikes is recognition that every scenario in which communities are divided is unique, and must be treated as such. I’m sure that as someone who grew up largely in Northern Ireland (hence the name...), the son of a Protestant mother and Catholic father, he’ll bring ...
well this is rathe scary, I've just spent all morning revising and am about to go into the exam. Although statistics isn't the hardest subject I'm still unsure about how I'm gonna do, wish me luck fellow members!atom.xml
If over a 12 month period 2,000 people had been diagnosed with avian flu in the UK there would have been a mass panic. Each new case would have been headline news and the pressure on Government ...
Sometimes you really can't make it up! I met with London Turkish Radio (LTR) - who are based in my constuency - last Friday to discuss the very serious problems they are having as a result of a pirate radio station called Bizim FM which is broadcasting illegally.My understanding is that they have been raided on several occasions but that with only the slightest of pauses, they are broadcasting
I'm not quite sure what it says about the people who read political blogs but my post about a sign at a tube station has been one of the most popular on this blog for some time! I see it's also fired off all sorts of possible explanations for the sign, of which the best seems to be the thread at http://budgie-uk.livejournal.com/750967.html
It is not every day that I agree with Anne Atkins but I agreed with her absolutely on the Today programme this morning in discussion with Esther Ransom. It was following The Children’s Society findings that although many of today’s adults were allowed out for unsupervised play as children they are not giving their own children the same freedoms. Anne’s argument was that this approach is
I have transcribed the comments in yesterday's interview from the ex-Social Worker as they confirm that the courts should not rely on Local Authority Assessments. Journalist: This woman left the profession after ten years she is concerned that government targets for numbers of adoptions could lead to families being wrongly split up she has asked to remain anonymous ex-SW: I think the court
In an earlier post I talked about getting around Los Angeles by public transport. How will I do this? Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus will play a major part. The service runs 14 lines mainly serving the Santa Monica and UCLA areas, covering most of ‘westside’ LA, with one service running all the way to Downtown [...]
I exhaled deeply, trying to moderate the increasingly apparent note of irritation in my voice, as for the second time in as many days, Smiths of Smithfield claimed to have lost my booking. “I think you’ll find it is there, look again please.” Thirty tortured seconds of silence followed, before an accusationary squeal on the end of the line declared, “you booked a table in the wine room!” Later that morning, and nursing a junior hangover, I arrived with my party at ‘SOS’. The bare bricked ground floor café/bar, a popular hangout for Farringdon suits, pulsates to the latest urban ...
According to the BBC the ban on political activities by parties in Thailand has been lifted. Obviously this will not include Thai Rak Thai which has been dissolved by order of the Constitutional Tribunal. However, according to the Bangkok Post this is only a partial lifting of the restrictions stating that "the cabinet agreed to partially lift the Council for Democratic Reform's Announcement No 15 and allow political parties to be meet and act, with immediate effect" This addresses section 1 of Announcement number 15. However it does not address the issue of the ...
The new logo for the 2012 London Olympics has caused a flap. Sorry, it’s not a logo, it’s a brand, a brand which, according to diminutive Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, “takes our values to the world beyond our shores, acting both as an invitation and an inspiration”. I agree, and I know that Hooting Yard’s [...]
Citizenship is for life, not just for one day a year
Iain Dale (how does he get hold of Liberator before I do as a subscriber?) detects some disharmony in Lib Demmery over the "Tax Shift" policy and the fact that it might leave people paying more in income tax because of Local Income Tax. read more
It is an article of faith that I do not read the Daily Mail much. It's sort of on the "Index". But I do subscribe to Hitchens' blog on there as I like occasionally being wound up by him, knowing he's probably just round the corner from me somewhere in a house that positively glows with the inner anger one feels permeates his entire being. So it is unusual to find something with which I agree whole heartedly: read more
Princess Michael of Kent hosted a summer party for the Biographers’ Club last night, in her garden at Kensington Palace. She had flown in from Moscow for the event – Prince Michael, apart from being a dead-ringer for the last Tsar, has business interests there — and she was clearly relishing entertaining fellow authors for a change. Her own book, [...]
Saturday: With rumours sprouting all over that Mr Russell Television Davies may be about to call it a day I think I must announce that the solution is OBVIOUS! The BBC are preparing their new show for next year where Mr Graham Norton and Mr John Barrowman with Mr Television in the Andrew Lord Webber role will decide on his successor – "WHO Do You DO?" Can you sing, dance and put together 14 episodes of staggeringly good hit television drama? Apply now… (PS: terms and conditions apply; some applications from people other than Steven Moffat, ...
A huge gaffe for our party, as Iain Dale has exposed the dirty secret that some members of our party are in favour of land value taxation. David Lloyd-George was unavailable to comment when we tried to contact him this evening. | < | June 2007 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
