LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 29th August 2007

Witchfinder General

I was flagging when I wrote about the horror week in the BBC's Summer of British Film. But I have rallied to tape and watch Witchfinder General. It has long been on my list of films I want to see, though I suspect part of its mystique lies in the fact that its director Michael Reeves died at the age of 25 shortly after making it. The best summing up of the film came in the documentary about British horror films that preceded it when someone described it as a British Western. The score and the open spaces of Suffolk ...

Ming must support calls for an EU referendum

I am not going to repeat all the arguments for and, in my case , against the EU constitution, I've done that before. However, with general discussion today indicating that some Lib Dems favour a referendum, whilst Ming supposedly opposes referendum calls. Ming seems to be under the misapprehension that the new EU constitution is not a constitution because it is only 96% of what was in the last aborted constitution. The Telegraph, for once in their existence, makes a good point (Hat Tip to The Daily Referendum blog for this) "I say: If a Beefburger only contains 90% Beef, ...

Musings on litter

As part of my ongoing microcampaign against ugliness I turned the first dogwalk of the day into a litterpicking exercise. Yield from what is normally a 30-minute round trip through Colchester Lower Castle Park, crossing Bull Meadow and back skirting the County cricket ground: three carrierbags full of litter plus three full cans of beer (yes really!) and one soiled blanket. About 25% of the litter was packaging generated by a single business - MacDonalds - a fact which I have added to my already long list of reasons to detest that company. Disgusting food, exploitation of children and hellish ...

Brussels

...I'm off to Brussels tomorrow morning so I won't be posting for a week.

Jam today. Jam tomorrow.

Jonathan Wallace says it is Jam today. But it is Jam tomorrow!

Making Predictions

"Making predictions is difficult, especially about the future"- Yogi Berra (but maybe Nils Bohr) Let us think about the great unknown: the future, after all we can not be too sure about anything beyond now. Nassim Nicolas Taleb has written at length about the scale of the problem that human brains encounter- our brains are hard wired to see patterns, even where none exist: he calls this epistemological arrogance, because humans very rarely say "I don't know". The "profession" of politics sometimes seems to particularly attract humans who are less likely to admit uncertainty, still less ignorance. Yet the rest ...

The EU Treaty: should we play the Yes/No game?

I’m not much of a one for havering on the big issues of the day, and still less for then writing about my havering. But the rights and wrongs of whether the Lib Dems should back Tory and Labour-rebel calls for a referendum on the EU reform treaty - the mini-me successor to the defunct EU constitution - leaves my precariously perched on the fence. A large part of me yearns for the direct

Ming's Community Canvass Week

Liberal Democrat leader Ming Campbell has launched a major campaign initiative this week, emailing all the party’s members about plans for a mass “community canvass” across the UK in the week after the party’s autumn conference: I am a great believer in meeting people. Talking to them face-to-face. Having real discussions with real people about the issues that matter to them. Persuading them to back us. We can’t let politics just be a Punch and Judy exchange of 15 second soundbites on the TV. We can’t let political decisions be about someone sitting in a distant office in Whitehall deciding ...

The best British horror film of them all?

Jonathan at Liberal England has been blogging valiantly throughout the summer about the BBC’s Summer of British Film season. This week the genre is horror films, kicked off at the weekend with an excellent documentary on BBC Two. In addition to the films mentioned in Jonathan’s post, selected cinemas put on limited showing of what is arguably the best British horror film of them all: The Wicker Man. So Mr Nimbos and I pottered along to the Trocadero last night to watch it. A tale of pagan worship, sexual repression and a missing child, it’s a dark film, but not ...

Back from Skye

All the photos are here, but if 250+ photos aren’t for you, I’ll post up highlights and a little diary soonish.

Another casework surge

I had another casework surge today from constituents. All by email. And all in the space of a few minutes. All the issues are different but I was reminded of when I first started to use email as a way of communicating with residents, back in 2000. The number of emails I had today was around what I would have got in the whole of the year. People then still used the traditional form of phone calls,

What's made of plastic, paper, and foil and is not recycled in South Glos?

Answer - lots of those "paper based liquid food and drink cartons". The sort that you buy fruit juice in, and maybe milk from the corner shop. They're actually rather clever multilayer cartons, but this makes them hard to recycle. The manufacturer has set up a dedicated recycling plant - big enough to deal with a fifth of all the liquid food and drink cartons used in the UK. They offered local councils FREE recycling bins. South Glos could have had five special collection points, with all the cartons taken away free for the first two years. Lots of other ...

Back to the future - With Cameron or is it Hague ?

A Conservative leader blaming rap music and video games for violence on the streets, baning on about Europe and blaming immigration for all the ills of the country ? No, it's not 2001 and William Hague, or 2005 and Michael Howard, it's David Cameron's "new" Tories, except they sound like the old ones. Apart from the logo, what has changed ?

A Blog Post Somewhere Else

Me on the LibDems playing to their weaknesses. Don't fancy that? Then Scott Rosenberg cutting down the blog haters might be up your alley.

Prostitution problems

This afternoon a 26-year old man was sentenced at a Crown Court in the South East to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to involvement in the operation of two brothels. Police recovered books recording the names of contact details of hundreds of clients. No action will be taken against any of these men. The judge applied the relevant statutes and legal precedents immecably. He listened fairly to observations on the case made by the defendant’s counsel. Someone who assists running a brothel (even if in a most minor role, exercising no coercion against the sex workers, and making little if any financial gain) will likely face ...

Iain Dale's Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007-8

Iain Dale writes: It's a much bigger book than planned - 288 pages. It includes 32 articles on various aspects of blogging, 52 self-penned profiles of Britain's leading blogging personalities,* a directory of 1200 political blogs, lists of the best Conservative, Labour, LibDem, Non-Aligned, Media, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Religious and Green blogs as well as a glossary of blogging terms. It's in full colour throughout and the RRP is £12.99 but Politico's have it available for £11.04. It isn't on Amazon yet but should be within a few days.He hopes to have copies available by 17 September, which means it ...

David Cameron has more or less abandoned his efforts to win the "middle ground"

Reviewing the front pages at South Mimms service station, I was struck by the Telegraph's ('David Cameron goes on crime offensive') and Daily Mail's ('Crime: Tories finally get tough') favourable headlines for David Cameron. We have also recently seen Tim Montgomerie praising Cameron's shift to crime and other traditional Tory policy refrains. This evening Cameron says that Immigration is 'too

Liberal Drinks hits Oxford

Yes, one month today the inaugural Oxford Liberal Drinks event takes place in my adopted hometown, the city of spying dreamers dreaming spires. Details are: 26th September, 2007, from 7.00 pm, at The Mitre, High Street, Oxford. (Naturally the event has its own Flock Together page, which you can visit here.) If you live in the OX environs, or happen to be passing through, or simply fancy an

How to disarm a Friends of the Earth activist trying get you to sign a direct debit in the street

Walking through Norwich this afternoon, pushing my son's pram, I thought I might be seen as a more unlikely target for the brigade of Direct Debit hustlers near the market who try to persuade you to fill in direct debit forms for various causes. I was wrong, but I had an answer. The Friends of the Earth girl said to me very politely "If I was to say to you that there is something you can to personally that will help save the planet, what would your answer be ?" My reply, "I would say yes, I know there is, ...

Prison Officers To Go To Prison?

So the Government is trying to stop the Prison Officers' strike by threatening to send them to prison if they don't go back to work?! Can somebody please explain to me how that would work?! Welcome back to the Home Office* Jack Straw you complete tool. (*I know its now the 'Department of Justice' etc.)

Normality returns?

Cameron’s Conservative’s are angry and harping the end of civilisation in Britain, Labour do what ever they do in government or more to the point don’t do much and Ming and the Lib Dems pose real and radical reform in this instance on the environment (though there’s a lot more than just that proposed at conference.) Cameron’s quick fire reactionary lots of rhetoric and no new ideas that the Mail so love might quietly announced the end of the Cameron project. According to Ian Dale the one real proposal that the quality of life policy group for the Tories have ...

Northern electoral 'permafrost' puts chill on Tories' hopes

There was an interesting insight last week in our regional newspaper, The Journal, into what the Conservatives really think of their hopes at the general election, whenever it is held. An unnamed aid to David Cameron was quoted as saying, “We have to accept that at the moment the North is permafrost for the party. We don’t have to win seats in every Northern city to win an election but there is

Goodbye to The Jug of Ale?

So, not content with threatening the future of a number of live music venues in Digbeth, it appears that luxury flat developers are spreading their wings. The next stop on the developers dream tour of Birmingham is Moseley, with The Jug of Ale rumoured to be closing in just 6 weeks. I’ve seen many a band play upstairs at the Jug, its small intimate setting is perfect for local breaking bands. Some I’ve seen have gone onto greater things, others, well they haven’t done quite so well… Whatever happens here, it’s just another example of a historic live music venue ...

A Zero Carbon Britain with the Liberal Democrats

Yesterday the Liberal Democrats launched radical proposals to create a zero-carbon Britain by 2050. Our paper ‘Zero Carbon Britain - Taking a Global Lead’ is the most far-reaching set of proposals on climate change ever championed by a British political party. This is the first time any party has set out a plan to tackle carbon [...]

Independent prefers LibDem green proposals

A leader in the Independent welcomes the Gummer-Goldsmith air tax proposals from the Conservatives but says that the LibDem green proposals are better. Thanks to Conservative Home.

That horrible motion - Labour are just having a laugh at the expense of residents

Posted by Chris: I have now received an early copy of the agenda for the meeting on 6th September. The Labour motion to ditch Yorkshire is as follows: Moved by Councillor Rudland and duly seconded by Councillor Dunning that: "This Council is concerned that the inclusion of Yorkshire as part of the Council's postal address is contrary to this authority's commitment to economic development and strategic planning within the Tees Valley. It would be in the interests of the Borough of Redcar & Cleveland to demonstrate our focus on issues that effect the Tees Valley by removing Yorkshire from the ...

Panel of four grill David Cameron on Newsnight tonight

Conservative Home reports that David Cameron gets a grilling by a panel of four journalists on Newsnight tonight. The BBC are trailing it as Immigration 'too high' - Cameron.

Housing hypocrisy from Labour's 5th most-vulnerable MP

Labour's MP for Islington South and Finsbury, Emily Thornberry, whose majority over the Liberal Democrats is just 484 (1.6%), could be in trouble. Although not accused, as yet, of doing anything wrong, the 'comrades' in the Islington Working Class Association have picked up on some dubious goings-on in respect of a £572k property purchased by her husband in March. Thornberry has been attempting to make housing her issue in Islington by running a typical 'what you mean we're the government?' style opposition campaign that alludes, less than credibly, that Islington's not untypical 13,000-long social housing waiting list is due to ...

Tories have “fire in their belly”

I’ve just heard a brief snippet of an interview with David Cameron on Five Live, in which he claims the Conservatives have “fire in their belly” and are ready for a potential snap general election. (Guardian story here) Fire in their belly? HA! Belly ache more like. Can anyone, gold, red, blue or green, give me one good reason why Cameron should believe the Tories have “fire in their belly”? Unless they’ve all been for a dodgy vinadloo…

Sky News on Fran Lyon

Sky carry Fran's story.

570 People sign Post Office Petition

Glynis and Ian with some of the petition formsA petition, containing 570 signatures, pressing Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council to ensure that a post office is included in the new Roseberry Shopping Centre in Redcar has been collected. Redcar Liberal Democrats started the petition when the post office failed to appear when the new development opened in July. Newcomen Ward Councillor, Glynis Abbott, said: “We were led to understand that the post office, which had been a vital service in the old Roseberry Square shopping centre, had been moved into the former Coast and Country Housing Office as a temporary ...

The Lights Are On But No One's At Home - DG Trade Get It Wrong

The decision by DG Trade to continue to hold in place a tariff on Chinese energy saving light bulbs is a foolish one. It seems that only German light bulb company Osram wanted to keep the tariff. I hope that the tariff will be lifted and soon. It makes no sense for the European Commission to keep a tariff in place when they are trying to encourage European consumers to save energy. It is also bad economics. I hope that the tariff will be voted down by member states within the month. The BBC have more information here.

Thanks For Reading

I would like to thank all my regular readers for the interest you showed in my post "My Political Future". I suspect that some of you were unwilling readers wondering if I was going to break my personal "Omerta" concerning recent events. I'm sure that Don Liberali would approve of my stance so far. The upshot is that the post made number 41 in the Golden Ton on Lib Dem Voice. I haven't finished writing about my 20 years in the Liberals and Liberal Democrats and I still reserve the option to "spill the beans as I see them". But ...

I'd like to thank...

Someone has pointed out this post on Lib Dem Voice to me. It lists the 100 most clicked on blog posts on the site http://www.libdemblogs.co.uk/ over the last 12 months - a lot of Lib Dem bloggers have their posts aggregated there. I have a massive 2 (two) blog posts in the Top 100. Okay, they are at numbers 93 and 96, but I'm sure you're all still mightily impressed. And one of those was Local elections analysis which was just a one liner giving a link to my old friend Anders' blog. And the other one is about an ...

Renewable energy

It was good to see the new wind turbines installed at Avonmouth recently. They're certainly an impressive sight - this photo was taken from Portishead. In the meantime, we're doing our bit to make small-scale renewable energy cheaper. A while ago a £50 fee was introduced for people wanting advice about permitted development - in other words, whether or not you need to put in a planning application. It turned out that they were even charging for advice on applying to put in solar panels and the like - just the wrong message when you want to encourage them! Now, ...

China being imaginative with online censorship

You couldn't really make this up. Censorship is an obvious fact of life in China - as is the reality that you could get put in jail for writing a blog. Now though they have added virtual police to the real life snoopers who try to stamp out free thought.

A giant who has spent his life tackling injustice

Commenting on his meeting with Nelson Mandela this morning, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell said: “It was an honour to meet Nelson Mandela, a leader who has spent his life tackling injustice. “He is a giant amongst the political figures of the modern age. “At a time when we are looking for role models, what better role model than Nelson Mandela?”

What does ‘free’ mean?

One of the criticisms of criticisms of attacks on supermarkets like Iain Dale’s recent missive is that a free market doesn’t exist because supermarkets have so much purchasing power. This is definitely not the case and appears to be based upon a misunderstanding of economic freedom. A free market is one in which there is no [...]

How do you sell Hob Nobs to the healthy ?

I just bought some chocolate Hob Nobs in order to have something unhealthy and satisfying as a snack. But McVities would have me believe its a healthy snack. Whatever next. Beer advertised as 'made from hops'

Bid to broadcast Council meetings

Liberal Democrats on Redcar & Cleveland Council have submitted a motion calling on the Council to broadcast meetings of Full Council on the Authority's website. Councillor Margaret Wilson (pictured), the proposer of the motion, said: "The Council already has the technology to do this and it will give the public the opportunity to see the Councillors they elected in action. It will also provide an accurate record of the proceedings." Seconder of the motion, Councillor Joyce Benbow, said: "We want the Council to be open and transparent. Most people are not able to attend Council meetings but will be interested ...

Jute bags

You've got until the end of September to use up any green plastic bags for garden refuse if you want the Council to collect them. They have been replaced by reusable jute bags which are much more environmentally friendly. When you buy a jute bag you are really buying the service. It costs £35 per annum or £20 for concessions. You can order one online. The bags can then be put out with...

Lib Dems’ Zero-carbon Britain proposals: the media view

As you’d expect, really… lauded by the left-liberal press; ignored by the right-wing… The Independent The Liberal Democrats [launched] detailed proposals to make Britain a carbon-neutral state by 2050, underlining a long-standing commitment to the environment. … Yesterday’s proposals by the Liberal Democrats highlight how much more there is to do. They have proposed taxes [...]

Islamism and the war of words

Islam, terrorism, fundamentalism, are too often used inappropriately, the war of words has started. With so many journalists turned writers covering difficult topics such as terrorism, picking on the shoddy use of language and terminology has never been easier. Jason Burke, on the Observer, chose an unfortunate way of publicising his book: he contested ‘terror’s lexicon’. The poor thing amply

Beware the Ides of October

Yesterday saw the announcment that the 17th National Congress of the beloved Chinese Communist Party will begin on 15th October. I'm sure that the next 6 and a half weeks are going to be an absolute barrel of laughs for Chinese dissidents, journalists and foreign reporters whilst the paranoid apparatus of the State tries to keep the lid on simmering unrest related to rising food prices and corruption (both petty and serious) by local government officials. Like the 16th National Congress, this one is going to be a very interesting one to watch. I expect Hu Jintao to strenghthen his ...

Pressure on Ming to back EU treaty referendum

The Daily Telegraph reports that Menzies Campbell is coming under pressure from some of his own MPs to commit the party to supporting a referendum on the EU reform treaty: A senior party source later disclosed that younger Lib Dem MPs have privately urged Sir Menzies to abandon the party's traditionally pro-EU stance and stop "taking the flak" for defending Brussels.Iain Dale names some of those MPs as Jo Swinson, Norman Lamb, Julia Goldsworthy and Nick Harvey I have written about my own view before. I am a bit of an agnostic on the European project, but if the pro-Europeans ...

The Emperor's got new shoes - a tale of paranoia

OK. Blogs are meant to be a diary. So here goes a story of human failing. I got up this morning as soon as the alarm went off. Refreshed after 7 hours sleep (I can survive on 3 or 4, though not as well as I used to). I had a leisurely bath. Dressed (not in any hurry) and headed for the station, stopping at Melucci's to grab a coffee. I bought an Independent at the station, and after a few minutes

Honourable Mention

Duncan Borrowman was the winner of the Inspirational Chinese Quote of the Day competition on this blog (actually, miserable lot you are, he was the only entry). Therefore he receives the Honourable Mention advertised. I'm skint at the moment, so no major cash prizes or any such things at present. Duncan's winning entry was "I'd rather die for speaking out, than to live and be silent" Fan Zhongyan. Pay more attention at the back of the class in future.....

The Tories have blatantly stolen the Lib Dems' ideas

The heading to this posting is the teaser, in quotes, on page 6 of the Independent today to the leading article on page 28. The only problem is that the page 28 article points out the deliberate Tory leak to steal the thunder of the launch of our proposals - but doesn't actually tackle the wording in quotes on page 6 - funny I thought if you put something in quotes like that I thought the words

Comprehensives and academic education

A couple of weeks ago, as the A level results came out, I argued that the common prejudice that those exams are getting easier is right, but that - paradoxically - this is making things harder for the young people who are taking them. It means that they are having to work that much harder to excel and have less time to read outside the curriculum. This view is supported in a Comment is Free piece today by Professor John Mullan from University College London. He writes: Like many English departments, mine requires applicants to have an A in English ...

Harry Potter and the Neo Nazis

Over the bank holiday weekend I caught the programme on BBC1 about Neo Nazis in WWII re-enactments. A lot of the men who dressed up in SS costumes, despite denying they had right wing views, actually did. One of them was even Jewish! It made me wonder what people actually saw in Adolf Hitler in today's world! This paticuler event even had David Irving, the infamous Holocaust denier there signing his books. I find it amazing how people can airbrush the terror and suffering from WWII history. For this to be even happening, let alone it being under the cover ...

Lib Dem Blog of the Year: A reminder

You have until midnight on Friday 31 August to send in your nominations for Lib Dem Blog of the Year 2007 and the five other awards being made this year. Full details, including information on how to vote, can be found on the party's website.

Talking About Immigration

I‘ve written before about the difficulty of having a sensible discussion about immigration policy, but the vital importance of doing so – so I am very pleased that Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes are bringing a proposed policy to party conference next month about it (and have also written about it in Liberator). For a long time discussion of immigration found it very difficult to escape from a context of racism. I think the fact that in recent years much immigration has come from other European countries, rather than other continents, has done a lot helpfully to disentangle the two. ...

We get an invite to regional premier of Atonement

Posted by Chris: An invitation arrived today to attend the official regional premier of Atonement at the Regent Cinema on 5th September. It arrived, via Glynis, one hour before the RSVP deadline at noon today. We are delighted.

Micro-generation: government not going far enough

Think-tank the New Local Government Network has called for additional incentives to be given to householders to install renewable energy equipment, over and above those which government minister Ruth Kelly is consulting over.

Pompey 3 United 0

Who cares? The priority this year is to claw back them 15 points and climb up League One, answering those who voted to impose this unfair penalty in the best possible way. We can forget about the Carling Cup. Listening to the Yorkshire Radio commentary it was clear that the team played well despite the result so we can be content with that. Why on earth did Gus Poyet have a go at the referee after the match? He now risks more unnecessary hassle from the Football League when we should be putting this match behind us.

Oh dear, they’ve floated out the prison ships again…

As predicted on 9th August (HAIL THE PREDICTABLE TORIES, below) the Tories have started to ‘get tough’ on law and order. I said Europe or immigration would be the subject but you get the idea. This approach has naturally been welcomed by the rabid press and can be seen as the final throw of the die for David Cameron as he seeks to save his leadership. Minimum sentences without parole, clamping down on video games, more powers for police to stop and search – the whole range ot right wing policies are here. They’ve also disinterred prison ships and army ...

Barefoot Doctor: that Dawkins cat is so uncool, y’dig?

Stephen “Barefoot Doctor” Russell has done a piece for the Guardian today, dissing Richard Dawkins’ C4 documentary The Enemies of Reason. It’s pretty thin fare. Basically, Dawkins is “so last century” and if alternative medicine can be put down the the Placebo effect, so what? It works, doesn’t it? If this is the best the alternative medicine community can come up with, good luck to them. Of course, it turns out that Barefoot has a particular unique take on “Placebo effect“: The ‘Barefoot Doctor’ - known to millions from his TV career, his range of products stocked by high-street chemists ...

Newlyn

I've had a couple of anonymous comments on the Newlyn post I put out yesterday. I've published them, but don't intend to publish anything else marked anonymous. If you don't have the balls to put your name to a comment, your views aren't worth reading. Candy Atherton a good MP? After she visited South Crofty tin mine and asked when COAL production had stopped there, we realised how much she knew about, or cared for, Cornwall. It was then just a matter of time before she packed that big carpet bag of hers, and headed back to Islington. Signs of ...

Nanny Knows Best in China

When I studied Chinese Language, Business and International Relations with Sheffield University (by distance learning as I was in China at the time) we started with a fascinating course on China and Society. One of our main coursebooks was by Tony Saich "Governance and Politics of China" which is an excellent introduction to Chinese politics (if perhaps a little bit in need of revision now post-Jiang Zemin). One of the themes which sprang out at me and frankly angered me was how Chinese Government officials always somehow presume to know best (does that seem familiar fellow Liberals?). In putting this ...

Nelson’s Got His Eye On You

I recall a dark rainy winter's evening in the mid 1980's standing outside the South African Embassy in Trafalgar Square with a small band of anti-apartheid activists chanting "Free Nelson Mandel...

Heavyweight Blogging

Pleased to see that I’ve made it to the number 2 spot for most places in Lib Dem Voice’s list of blog posts about the Ealing Southall by-election Golden Ton. Is not my garbage fine? Share This

Liberal Democrats reveal plans for Zero Carbon Britain

The Liberal Democrats today revealed radical proposals to transform Britain into an international leader in tackling climate change, making the country carbon neutral by 2050. The measures, which will be debated at the party's conference in Brighton next month, strengthen the Liberal Democrats' position as the only major political party with specific proposals designed to face the challenge of climate change.

Nine Inch Nails

No, not my latest excursion into DIY (see me covered in Cherub dust on Facebook), but a much delayed gig at the Academy last night. The support were Ladytron, never heard of them, and will probably look them up post gig to see what they've done. V.dark electro 6 piece, although no idea what 2 of them were doing... Then for the main course of Trent Reznor and friends. The show was lacking in spectacular visuals, which was only explained by Reznor towards the end when he said that they weren't able to get them in! (Someone didn't read the ...

Does it matter where you live?

Michael Meadowcroft had a letter in yesterday's Guardian which got me thinking more about how we see where people live. In comments on the many articles in the wake of the Croxteth shooting, he talked about how people who deliver services in areas, or make decisions about them, often don't live there but "commute in from the suburbs". He believes that this is often because in some of our more "deprived" areas, success is seen as moving away. He believes that breakdown is often because more "successful" people don't stay (or perhaps don't go there in the first place). Now ...

Drumming from St Georges Hall

Last night I helped steward a great event as part of Liverpool's 800th birthday celebrations. It was an amazing performance by groups of drummers, plus an attempt on the record for the largest number of drummers playing together. They performed outside St Georges Hall.. on the steps and the plateau. It was an amazing sound. The Liverpool Samba School were there, as were Urban Strawberry Lunch (who win the prize for best name for an arts organisation!) The organisers had been running drumming workshops for a couple of weeks in the run up to this, and had put together a ...

A carbon neutral Britain

The Liberal Democrats have launched new proposals to make Britain zero carbon by 2050. With these policies we will be the first major British party to map out the route to a carbon neutral Britain. We Liberal Democrats have been talking about the environment and tackling climate change long before it became fashionable. We know that pollution doesn’t respect national boundaries and that climate change is a global problem that requires an international solution. Britain should not be a bit player in finding that solution; we should be leading the pack. Whilst Labour fail to hit their own targets, and the Tories ...

Berlin shows the way for museums

Just returned from a weekend in Berlin which coincided with the city’s Museum night. During this Lange Nacht der Museen or the Long Night of Museums, all of Berlin’s museums, from the largest to the most obscure, throw open their doors over a Saturday night. The event last through Saturday evening into the early hours of Sunday morning (most stayed open until 2am) and compete with each other to lay on the best show providing bands, jugglers, comedians and so on to add something to their event. The tickets for the whole event were about £10 and included buses between ...

A good response

A fairly favourable response to my on-line pamphlet from within the party with the harshest criticism being that it was not controversial enough. Controversy had never been the objective. The intention was to restate key policies and principles and to highlight a way forward. It is the sort of leadership that full time parliamentarians such as myself should be offering and I am hopeful that my colleagues will respond in kind. The response of our political opponents was more predictable. Tory Party leader Nick Bourne is obviously still smarting at being left out in the cold by the collapse of ...

New poll: should the Lib Dems back an EU treaty referendum?

There’s speculation in today’s Telegraph that the Lib Dems might back calls from the Tories, and from some 120 Labour rebels, for a referendum on the European Union reform treaty: Sir Menzies Campbell, the Lib Dem leader, refused yesterday to rule out backing a referendum before a Commons scrutiny of the treaty proposals. Even though he [...]

It’s 2008!, say LDV readers

The results of our latest poll are in, and it seems almost 70% of Lib Dem Voice readers reckon there will be a general election within the next year or so. We asked: “When do you think the next general election will be?” You said: * 2007: 19% (40) * 2008: 50% (103) * 2009: 27% (56) * 2010: 4% (9) Total [...]

Is more bank holidays what we need?

There was a good article in yesterday’s Independent by Mary Dejevsky about bank holidays. She points out how the campaign for an extra bank holiday seems completely at odds with with the idea of flexible working and the 24-hour economy. I happen to think she is right, but like her it isn’t because I don’t want an extra day’s holiday. Britain does have far fewer public holidays than other countries, and after Monday we now have a very long wait for the next one - Christmas. But as Mary Dejevsky advocates, would it not be better to scrap bank holidays ...

What the Welsh Lib Dems are for

A lengthy response to Peter Black’s “This is what the Welsh Liberal Democrats are for” pamphlet that has been posted on his own website and Liberal Democrat Voice. Shortly after May’s Welsh Assembly Elections I started writing an essay on how the party had done, where it was going wrong and what needed to change. After some time trying to find the right words though, I gave up as I increasingly had a sense that after being out of the country for four years I was probably somewhat out of touch with what was going on there. However, after reading ...

Lib Dem Beach Squad

My former ward colleague Stephen Gilbert, now the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for St.Austell and Newquay, has been out and about campaigning as usual - this weekend taking advantage of the good weather to hit the beach. Steve spent Bank Holiday Monday on the beach at Newquay - which admittedly doesn't sound like a tough job - with some of the local Lib Dem Youth & Student members, collecting signatures for a petition for more affordable housing in the town. The photo shows Steve with three of the LDYS members - John Hume, Laura Ralph and Karen Wonnacott. I met ...

Place as Character

{alaa-al-aswany.jpg} Last night I attended an event at Daunt’s bookshop in Marylebone High Street, at which the Egyptian novelist Alaa Al Aswany was interviewed by the General Secretary of English PEN, Jonathan Heawood. It was a sell-out affair, reflecting the huge popularity of Al Aswany’s book, The Yacoubian Building, a film of which has been made and is showing at the ICA in London tonight. It was the top-selling novel in Arabic in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, only being displaced this year by Al Aswany’s latest book, Chicago, and it has been translated into 19 languages. The Yacoubian Building has ...

Day 2431: Two bans or NOT two bans?

Tuesday: The Grauniad newspaper, if I may call it that, reports two bans today: a Conservatory Ban and a Liberal Democrat Ban. Of course, what the Grauniad calls a "ban" may not be the same as what you or I might call a ban. Your mileage, as they say, may vary. This is ironic because their headline "Lib Dem plan to ban petrol-driven cars" appears over a story that ACTUALLY says the Liberal Democrats want all cars to run on non-carbon-emitting technology by the year 2040, giving people a mere THIRD-OF-A-CENTURY to phase out the use of petrol and diesel ...

"Buildings at Risk Register"

Dear Mr Khalid Mahmood MP,

Day 2430: All Time High

Monday: When the BBC news headlines promised a "RECORD HIGH" from Afghan opium production, my Daddies fell about laughing. I do not understand why!

Wednesday 29th August 2007

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