The Bahamian High Commissioner, Basil O’Brien, this evening hosted the annual Bahamas National Day party, at the Four Seasons Hotel just off London’s Park Lane. When I was Honorary Consul for Mauritania to the Court of St James’s, from 1991 to 2000, I used to have to go to three or four of these sorts of [...]
I am married and could do with an extra £1000 a year. However, the cost of my marriage exceeded £1000 by several times, so being offered £1000 to get married is no incentive to someone in my position. My incentive was that I love my wife. Given these circumstances, I cannot see how "Dave" offering my £1000 a year to vote Conservative would influence me to get married if I wasn't already going to do it. All it is, in my view, is a cynical attempt to buy votes from those who are already married. The alternative ...
So terrorists have threatened Britain with attacks because of Salman Rushdie getting a Knighthood. Isn't that like Hitler claiming he was going to bomb London in 1942 because British people were singing song claiming Hitler has only got one ball ? I personally objected to Rushdie getting a knighthood, in part because I said these sorts of threats would rise, in part because I don't rate Rushdie as an author. It remains to be seen if middle of the road Muslims will condemn those who threaten violence in this case. Moderate Muslims who may have opposed Rushdie's honour ...
This is just a note to point you towards the blog This is Zimbabwe, which has been on my blogroll for a while now. It provides good coverage of the tragedy that is overwhelming that country.
Skipper foresees trouble from Labour's new recruit: In LBJ's famous metaphor, including someone fiercely independent in government was thought the better option because this person would be 'inside pissing out' rather than 'outside pissing in'. The danger of Sir Digby is that he'll prove to be someone 'inside pissing all over everyone.' 
Those who know me well will be aware that I was born into a pub (The Prince Albert in Deal) and grew up in the Oddfellows Arms in Folkestone. During those years the brewing lobby (particularly the "Portman Group" members) gave not inconsiderable sums to the Conservative Party. Arthur Guinness was a Conservative MP as was Samuel Whitbread. Many Tories also were strongly opposed to Lloyd George's licensing law proposals during the First World War which shaped pub licensing for more than 70 years. The proposals from the Tories to raise duty on beer ...
So says Deborah Summers in the Guardian. And Ming the Merciless says the Lib Dems are ready for the election whenever it comes. Mind you, we've all got to raise our game.
One of the proposals from Iain Duncan-Smith's report on "Breakdown Britain" is to give £20 a week (yes, the BBC says "a week") as a "transferable married couples' tax allowance", aimed at making it easier for one parent to stay at home to look after children. In receiving the report David Cameron said: "If we get the family right, we can fix our broken society". I fear that the £20 will come as
Am I alone in comparing "fix broken Britain" with "Let Sunshine win the day" and indeed "Tory Lite will change Ealing for ever"? It also has echoes of "Back to Basics" in that Monsieur Cameron seems to be attempting to bite off more than he can chew. That's always a mistake in politics.
Here's an interesting one from Wales: The Welsh Assembly announced Tuesday it has approved the slaughter of a "sacred" bovine infected with tuberculosis, despite Hindu protests. Shambo, a Welsh bullock kept by a Hindu temple in the Skanda Vale community in Llanpumsaint, was ordered slaughtered by the assembly to "protect animal and human health," The Times of London reported Tuesday. This was
I'm back from my one week holiday on the grand union canal, become a vegetarian and have decided to get my bum down to the by-election, what follows is the story of my first escapade and advice for anyone else feeling of a similar mad (but very beneficial) desire to go help out as well. A nice one and a half hour train ride and walk to the area left me feeling psyked up and ready to campaign and when I finnally got off the train station at Southall I was greeted by a bright open sky and ...
Vermont has been named as the official home of the Simpsons. Bill Bryson's description of Vermont included this: Vermont is Volvos and antique shops and country inns with cutely contrived names like Quail Hollow Lodge and Fiddlehead Farm Inn. I can also remember the old "Bob Newhart show" which was "set" in a hotel in Vermont (photo). So, to tell us now, after all these years, that the
My mate Mark Pack has got the Tories going some! Now - as a non-geek - I did have to phone him to ask what astro-turfing was. To elucidate. One Tory - Grant Shapps - stands accused of trying to fake a comment on YouTube which claimed to be from a Liberal Democrat, only was really from him. Tsk tsk! Now, Iain Dale (who – even though he is a Tory! – I actually quite like and is usually worth reading) seems to have lost his reason and is defending the indefensible. Iain would have us believe that some ...
IRONY SETTING: OFF I wouldn't dream of making light of a miscarriage. There is no "but" coming. Today, my attention was caught by a summary of a magazine interview with Jade Goody. In it she said: After the miscarriage I did ask: 'Why is all this happening?' I thought it was God's punishment for something I'd done. Interestingly the Church of England have responded via the Bishop of Croydon:
Virgin has lost its Cross Country franchise to Arriva. Sadly Arriva have also been given permission to increase the fares by 3.4%
First days back at work are always a little bewildering - endless e-mails, voice-mails and post to sift through, while trying to maintain the after-effects of the energy boost gained. I’ve also plunged headlong back into the political ‘blogosphere’ after a week hermetically sealed away (a little damply) in Devon. And it is clear the imminent by-elections in Ealing & Southall and Sedgefield are
Well, sort of! In the 3 days it has been on YouTube The Battle of Trimdon Green video has been views 859 times. Compared to some videos that ain't much but for me it is the video that has had the most success in the first few days of being posted up. It is now the 18th most viewed of the 202 videos I have posted to YouTube, though it still has a long way to go to catch up with my most popular
Start the day meeting all the lobby groups against the Planning White paper. The paper is a developers' charter - and not only gets it wrong on many counts - but omits huge areas that do need tackling. For me - I want ordinary people, objectors - to have the same right of appeal as developers or applicants. It's not fair that if you are refused permission you can appeal - but if it is granted and you are an objector - you cannot. Also - another bugbear - is that Her Majesty's Inspector who doesn't live in the local ...
Can someone sort this out for me. Earlier today, Pravdale was claiming that the Tories had claimed another Labour scalp in Ealing, but Comical Tommy is claiming this is balls. Yet Pravdale still hasn’t issued a correction - which in fairness to him he usually does do relatively promptly. Either way, this [...]
Following allegations that Grant Shapps has been astroturfing, he has replied via Iain Dale's blog. Judging by the comments, people are not buying his explanation.
That's it. This posting has finally swung it. I am backing Iain Dale to be "Political Commentator of the Year". And I don't care who knows it!
Calling Grant Shapps a pillock seems to be quite popular from the site stats, but I am going to do penance for lowering the tone of political debate by thinking about Iain Duncan Smith's plans for the family. The basic problem with trying to "rebuild the family as an institution" is that the reference point we have of what a strong family looks like is fundamentally out of date. The archetype of the nuclear family comes from the days when men were economically active, women were economically marginal, and the whole of society was built around those roles. The ...
Ealing by election. In London for a conference I managed to get across to Ealing to help in the by election campaign. Polling day is next Thursday, so fewer than 10 days to go on this one. I helped deliver a couple of patches near the constituency boundary. Quite a few volunteers in the HQ when I got there. An efficient seeming operation too.
...and in the other political mystery story of the day, Iain Dale posted this (unsourced) claim that another Labour Councillor in Southall had joined the Tories. Unfortunately, the Councillor herself then hotly denied it (via Tom Watson's blog). Not so much as scoop as a rather inaccurate gouge, it would seem... Update: The plot thickens now to the consistency of chip shop gravy - it would seem she both defected, and then didn't - a sort of Schrödinger's defection, if you will. It seems our line about the Labour and Tory camps descending into farce was even ...
It is amazing, but to read blogs in Toryland or New Labour Land you would certainly gain the impression that Lib Dems were somehow behind all the dirty tricks that go on in by elections. Meanwhile Tories and NuLabbers are paragons of virtue. Well, there’s a new sheriff in town and he goes by the [...]
Well - after Haringey keep forgetting to update me when they promise to - I contacted them. Again! The 'critical survey' which measured the Pollonium 210 residue in the Muswell Hill home of the Litvinenkos and the consequent advice on any remediation needed arrived a week or so ago. There was some time taken over a difference of opinion in terms of how something was calculated between the Health Protection Agency and Corillion - but that didn't amount to much. There may be a few spots which are just above the safety level - but most of the house ...
Pravdale has intervened in Shappgate: This all seemd a bit odd to me so I went to the horse’s mouth and have got a categoric denial that Grant did anything of the sort. It appears that he had a very easily guessable password on his Youtube account (it was 1234 !!!) and someone hacked into it. Phew! [...]
This is how the local media in Ealing Southall are reporting the by-election campaign. With the Tories out of the running it can mean only one thing.....couldn't it? - A Lib Dem victory? Maybe. BUT, i'm not going to count any chickens yet, there's a week to go and things might change. Its going to be an interesting week ahead, on the same day (19th July) there is also a further parliamentary by-election in Sedgefield and a local by-election in the Llansamlet Ward of Swansea. Good Luck Ealing, Sedgefield and Swansea Liberal Democrats ...
I don't think I really need to write anything much on this one - rather I'll stick to tracking the response... but I think I deserve a good laugh at a man who claimed that we pay people fifty quid to put a poster up (and then failed to supply any evidence whatsoever). Mark Pack earns his spotters' badge (and a hearty slap on the back) by catching Grant Shapps red-handed in a clumsy astro-turfing attempt on YouTube.Tim Ireland then takes time out from laughing himself silly and e-mails Shapps - who then comes back with the piss-weak excuse that ...
The Tories are promising all the good god fearing crowds of middle england tax cuts if they pursue the all inportant social duty that is marriage. As they put it the tax system they propose will, recognise the benefits of marriage. Now marriage and a lobing family is wonderful and full of benfits, but the tax system is not designed to recognise thoose benefits. The Tax system shouldnt take moral stances it should raise money from soiceties individuals and with that provide services. The is rrom for the tax system to also correct the market so that thoose ... 
A while back my MSN screen name was set to "Grant Shapps MP is a Pillock". Someone suggested this was a bit harsh on the Conservatives' campaign manager for Ealing (hobbies: writing snotty letters to the other parties). However, this does seem to confirm it.
It is true, as Jessica has noted, that I've been a bit distracted of late. Having said that, I've been pretty busy in the past week, what with the European selections reaching the shortlisting stage. I'm still working on the interview design, although the centrepiece of the process is in place. I've invited some, but not all candidates (I'll do so soon, if any of you are reading this). And,
Bloggerheads very entertainingly does the full works on Grant Shapps here, following up on LibDem Voice's exclusive this morning: Grant Shapps is not just a Conservative MP and Shadow Housing Minister... he's Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party "with responsibility for campaigning" (source). So we're not talking about some overzealous activist or flunky... we are talking about the guy in
The Conservatives in Gateshead scored a record low in last week's Dunston and Teams by-election. They came 4th with a mere 69 votes, their lowest vote ever in a ward anywhere in the borough. So there is certainly a Cameron effect working here - since his election as Tory Leader, his party has clocked up their worst electoral performances in Gateshead. Well done Dave! As for the BNP, this was
Sorry to disappoint all those of you had rushed out to buy a morning suit or new hat. The Lib Dem MP for Montgomeryshire has no current plans to wed his current beau, former Cheeky Girl, Gabriela Irimia. Hat-tip: Jonathan Calder.
The defection of two former Lib Dem councillors (via a fortnight’s sojourn as independents) in Colchester has handed control of the local borough council to the Tories. See the East Anglian Daily Times for more.
A Conservative think tank is proposing tax benefits for married couples (and, admirably, civil partners) in an effort to prevent what they call "social breakdown". This is a very thorny issue, especially for liberals like me. I'm actually strongly in favour of the concept of marriage (as well as civil partnership). It is a very important symbol of commitment. Moreover, it can be a significant indicator in deciding how to resolve disputes concerning private property between couples. However, it may be problematic for the state to allow its relationship with its citizens to be governed ...
The BBC report that Ieuan Wyn Jones will be appointed by the Queen as Deputy First Minister tomorrow and will immediately take over as Acting First Minister until Rhodri Morgan has recovered sufficiently to resume his duties. This will bring Plaid Cymru into government and leave the issue of PO and DPO to be resolved. Standing Orders however, say that any motion to keep the existing appointees does not have to be taken until the next Plenary meeting. This means that, unless the Government decide to do it straight away, we will not resolve this matter until September. ...
The Lib Dem MP for Hereford, Paul Keetch, was taken ill on Sunday while on a flight on his way to the Nato Assembly in Washington DC, and is now in a London hospital. Our best wishes to him and his family for a full and swift recovery.
As his Guardian obituary records, Piara Khabra was at different times a member of both the Communist Party and the SDP. It seems that Sue Slipman is not alone in this distinction after all.
I just came across this minute from evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee by Torquay MP Adrian Sanders: Q82 Mr Sanders: If I can give you an example, I was very lucky to sit in on a meeting with the programme manager of a national radio chain, the London Media Company, and was shocked and horrified that he was claiming they had won the franchise dishonestly and now
I have had a query from a resident who is an OAP and thus entitled to free local bus travel. He travels on the X43 from Prestwich to Burnley. In the past, he has travelled free until the boundary of the Borough of Bury, then got off the bus, joined the back of the queue, got back on the same bus and paid to travel the rest of the way. Recently he has been told that this is not acceptable.
This evening it's the next meeting of Prestwich's Development Strategy Working Group, where ethe future of Prestwich centre is discussed. It's important that we seize the opportunities that are there for us in the near future, and really get going in improving Prestwich and making it a great place for everyone to live. So watch out for changes to the groups and some positive outcomes in the next
The other day I quoted the wise words of Philip Eden: We should guard against those who argue from the particular to the general, suggesting that, for instance, because it was the wettest month on record at one site in Sheffield, we could then call it Britain's wettest month on record. If events are too easily labelled as "a new record" or "unprecedented", then the people we pay to keep our infrastructure running have a ready-made excuse for failure ... "It's never happened before so how could we be expected to plan for ...
It looks very much as though my fellow panellist from last night, Mark Pack from Liberal Democrat Voice, has caught Junior with his hand in the cookie jar.
So who will come out on top - silly question I know - it will be Harry Potter. In fact I only intend to buy his book and not Campbell's.
Ministry of Truth has an authoritative piece on the political background of the Ealing Labour councillors who have joined the Tories during the by-election campaign: one of the Tory candidate Tony Lit’s big selling points - other than being a mate of Dave’s and owning a few well-tailored and expensive suits - was that he came into the campaign relatively free of any associations with known local power-brokers, communalist/sectarian factions or connections with the complex and sometimes bewildering politics of North Western India, an advantage that’s evaporated overnight courtesy of a pretty reckless act of political opportunism by the Tory ...
Here’s an interesting snippet from Alistair Campbell’s diary, that received a lot of press coverage yesterday: ”TB was clear he should stand because he felt that was the best chance for the party, but GB was not convinced. At one point, GB went to the toilet. “Minutes passed and TB was sitting twiddling his thumbs and even [...]
Strangely, Grant Shapps hasn’t replied to my email yesterday. Possibly this is because he is busy posting fake messages up on YouTube. Spot the difference: Okay, realistically we’re not going to win though. Especially since the Tories have just received 5 defecting Councillors from Labour. Don’t quite know how they’ve done it, but the Tories have [...]
Whilst Alasdair Campbell was touting his book around the studios yesterday, those of us at a CentreForum event listened to an alternative view of UK politics.At 'New prime minister, new democracy?' Greg Dyke outlined his belief that the current political system was on the verge of a 'Berlin Wall' moment; a time when our fundamental assumptions about how we are governed are turned on their heads.The failings of the current system are so fundamental that only those in the Westminster village are unaware of the depth of the crisis. Gordon Brown's constitutional reforms - though welcome - are too little, ...
I have managed to take a photo from my cage in the Ealing Southall by-election HQ. The person highlighted is Greg Hurst of the Times. Greg always likes to look round the by-election machine in operation. My question for Greg is - is it the biggest by-election HQ you have ever seen?
The photo is of a nuclear bunker I was trained in (both the underground secret bit and the lecture rooms on top). I remember Harrier jump jets descending past the lecture room window, as they rehearsed landing in front of the large bomb proof doors at the far end of this side of the building. A large number of my BBC colleagues being trained with me lived in Ealing due to the easy travel to TV
Ming Campbell has promised that the Liberal Democrats would be “rattling the cage of British politics and challenging the cosy consensus” between Labour and the Conservatives, exposing the government on issues such as BAE, freedom of information and the erosion of civil liberties. He said the party will “campaign constantly on behalf of all those betrayed by this government over the past decade – those without proper housing or healthcare.” You can listen to Ming’s speech on YouTube (part 1 here, part 2 here).
Compulsory viewing for Facebook users from RhettAndLink.com:
Now here’s an interesting tale. … can anyone provide a decent explanation? Over on one of the (official) YouTube films from the Liberal Democrats there is this comment from someone: “Okay, realistically we’re not going to win though. Especially since the Tories have just received 5 defecting Councillors from Labour. Don’t quite know how they’ve done it, [...]
Greg Dyke gave an interesting speech to a meeting organised by CentreForum yesterday. I suspect a good number of those present had come because they thought he might be about to announce his candidacy for the London Mayoralty. But he didn’t say anything about that, and just stuck to the advertised title about how Britain’s [...]
Mark is a bit distracted at the moment, and he asked me to post something just to keep the blog active. Funnily enough, we had been talking about the Ealing Southall by-election, and he was explaining all of the aspects to how these things works. I have to admit that I'm somewhat puzzled, as it all seems so unseemly, and feel that the Liberal Democrats are going about things in entirely the wrong
Sarah Carr, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Hereford and South Herefordshire, has called for step change in increasing household recycling collections across Herefordshire. At a Climate Change public meeting at Hereford's Shirehall on Saturday 7th July Sarah Carr launched a 'Waste Charter' for Herefordshire.
I had to send apologies to two meetings last night because I had a night off to enjoy myself! Jan and I bought our tickets months ago for the Borough Mayor's Gala performance of Much Ado About Nothing at Stafford Castle - so apologies went to Market Town Initiative and Stone's Independent Voice and I'm sure they both managed without me! And I am so glad I did. The performance was absolutely
How delighted I was that the Channel Four was producing an overdue investigation into the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK, following on the heels of last year’s All Party Parliamentary Inquiry which reported a steep rise in incidents. How distraught I was to learn that bigoted cretin Richard Littlejohn was to present it. It isn’t a case of “give him a chance!” for two reasons. Firstly, I suspect he made this programme solely to try and mitigate his well-earned reputation for extreme intolerance and violent rhetoric, by making some rather trite noises about the persecution a minority he finds ...
Sometime ago I signed a petition on 10 Downing Street E-Petitions website calling on the PM to ensure that the royal finances are opened up to greater public and parliamentary scrutiny, and that parliament is asked to set a fixed budget for the monarchy each year.
I pinched myself, I checked the date of the paper to see if it was April 1st and then I looked around the internet to check this wasn’t a joke. Sadly though it’s true, Ipsos Mori conducted a poll and dog mess really was found to be more of a concern to many Britons than Global Warming. It’s not all bad news. Firstly it was a small poll, just 2000 people, so there is hope that the views aren’t representative of the whole of the UK. The question has also been misreported, because it did actually ...
There will no doubt be questions about Live Earth, but I don’t mean from those who think Global Warming isn’t happening (I would suggest you need to do some reading) or those who hate things like Live Earth (fair enough). Will the event really have the impact it hopes to have? Will it save more CO2 than the divas who performed created with the ways they travelled to the concert and the electricity used to light their best sides? Did the message come through, or will it just serve to sell more albums for the performers? At the end ...
You may have read that Prof Bob Watson, Former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has been appointed as Professor of Environmental Sciences at UEA. Both his appointment and his description of the UEA as one of the best universities in the world, are a huge boost to the amazing work that the climate change team carry out. There continues to be a superb opportunity for Norfolk and the East of England to become the leading region nationally, if not globally, in combating climate change. All we need is a little open mindedness from the ...
The IEA have been "optimists" in predicting a peak in oil supplies at 2030. They are now saying there will be a plateau in about 2011. This links to Chris Skrebowski's approach of monitoring peak production by looking at the production pipeline. I have tended to take the view that as far as Oil goes the production curve would not be symmetrical and could see more of a plateau particularly as
It's 47 minutes long, but one of the most important lessons you will ever learn, IMHO (NB - some good quotes in this from our Liberal forebears Reginald McKenna, Josiah Stamp, McKenzie King - all feature in our "pantheon" of Liberal economists): And, lest you believe all this to be the province of eco-socialists, this one from the Mises Institute, in tribute to Murray Rothbard's work on money, attributing the same causes to inflation but advocating a completely different solution: And now read how ...
Judging by my blog hits which have surged by 300% this week, there is plenty of interest in the Ealing Southall by-election. However, as my stint in Ealing comes to an end (for the moment anyway) I am more intrigued by the goings on up in Sedgefield. Things in Ealing haven’t descended to such low [...]
Back from London after appearing on 18 Doughty Street, I discover two interesting - but apparently unconnected - stories in the Shropshire Star: Lesbian ‘bigamist’ pleads guilty Lembit halts marriage rumours
Saturday: Daddy has asked me ESPECIALLY nicely and so I have decided to allow him another slot in my diary for reviewing Doctor Who so that he can tell you about this year's cartoon episode. No, not the one with Catherine Tate in it! Although originally broadcast in bite-sized chunks as part of CBBC's Doctor Who companion programme "Totally Doctor Who", the whole lot was strung together into a single 45-minute episode including, rather charmingly, a proper title sequence, as per the series, but with a cartoon TARDIS standing in for the usual CGI one. Broadcast ... | < | July 2007 | > | ||||
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