LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 25th September 2007

Chelsea should not buy Ronaldinho

There are stories that Chelsea are planning to bid for Barcelona's Brazilian star Ronaldinho. The Canadian Press says: Abramovich is under pressure to please Chelsea's disgruntled fans after manager Jose Mourinho's departure and a 2-0 loss to Manchester United on Sunday. The Russian billionaire has long wanted to see a more attractive style of soccer, and The Sun said he's willing to pay Ronaldinho 58 million pounds (C$117.2 million) for a five-year contract.This sounds to me like a divorced father trying to keep his child's affection by buying him the latest Xbox. It will end in tears.

Simple question...

Too tired to think about this properly at the moment but with PB.com reporting Labour on 44% and the Lib Dems on 13% as the resident of a Labour-Lib Dem marginal am I allowed to panic yet?

A rogue poll, or are we kidding ourselves?

There’s no point obsessing about every poll, but… having reported last week’s ICM survey for The Guardian showing the Lib Dems with a 20% share of the vote, balance compels me to mention tonight’s Channel 4 YouGov poll showing the Lib Dems with just 13%, the party’s lowest YouGov rating since January 2006. YouGov has [...]

Labour in 11% poll lead - Says Iain Dale and Channel 4

Apparently a poll coming out tomorrow shows Labour with an 11% poll lead. Iain Dale reports on it HERE. Brown may be a cautious man, but surely he isn't stupid. Were he not to go to the country now and get caught out in a later election, he would go down in history as one of the dumbest leaders of all time.

Wedding day was fantastic

Things have once again been quiet on the blog front for the last few weeks. On Friday the 7th of September I was married to Julie Astbury at Whixall Church in North Shropshire. The reception was at Hawkstone Park Hotel. The weeks up to this day grew increasingly stressful as the day drew nearer. The day [...]

And the “Lucky to be alive” award for 2007 goes to…

A 15 year-old boy named Andrei.

Post early for, umm, Tuesday?

Make the most of this coming Sunday's post collection - it's the last one. The Post Office is stopping Sunday collections from the 30th September. They're stopping Bank Holiday collections too. And they're even considering stopping Saturday deliveries. Suppose they do that. If you post something late on a Thursday evening, first class, it might be delivered on the following Monday (or Tuesday if you're unlucky). Not first thing, either - remember that the post delivery is later nowadays. So it could take four or nearly five days, first class, even if it's not a Bank Holiday weekend. Apparently all ...

Paracetomoxyfrusebendroneomycin

This song (link for lyrics) is quite funny. It is sung to the tune of Supercalifragiliciousexpialidocious. I do have an MP3, but don't know where it is on the web (one of my daughters gave it to me)

International recognition for local liberal democrat

Frances Alexander is delighted to have had her portrait on display at the National Portrait Gallery amongst 207 others! {000_francesatnpg2b.jpg} Author and social campaigner Zerbanoo Gifford has completed an epic challenge of meeting and documenting the lives and careers of hundreds of inspirational women, from 60 countries and every field of endeavour. Frances Alexander is one, and features not only in Zerbanoo’s book but also in a set of 208 specially commissioned portraits by the artist Jeroo Roy, Women – a world of inspiration. The outstanding women featured come from diverse backgrounds and achievements, but have one thing in common: ...

Pudsey Constituency Supper Club Launch Event

For a party of our size it still amazes me that Leeds lacks any Liberal Democrat discussion events. Even allowing for the strong anti intellectual streak that runs through the party all work and no play makes Jack and Josephine a dull focus deliverer. Why have we no "Politics and Pizza" style event of our own? I'm hoping to put that right on Thursday ( the 27th) as at 8pm we are launching the Pudsey Supper Club. ( www.pudseylibdems.org.uk ) Its at the Grey Horse Pub, Horsforth, LS18 ( googling generates good links and a map - its also on ...

Government ministers here, there and everywhere

After a great gig on Saturday - the Holloways were awesome again and the Wombats were too - have been at Labour conference in Bournemouth since Sunday. It's my first trip to a non-Lib Dem conference and it's all gone well so far. Didn't go into the hall to listen to Gordon Brown's speech, as I was saving an area in the hotel bar for meetings later in the afternoon. That included stopping two former home secretaries from taking our chairs - one who was very charming (Charles Clarke) and one who certainly wasn't (John Reid). Also had to get ...

Urgent phone call makes me ask - "Is an election about to be called ?"

I received a phone call tonight from the Eastern Region of the Lib Dems asking, as an approved parliamentary candidate (I know that will come as a shock to one or two senior Lib Dem bloggers who loathe me and my blog), if I was prepared to stand at very short notice, as a Lib Dem candidate and be available from possibly next week to stand in seats where there is no lib Dem candidate selected yet. Now it might just be the Lib Dems being thoroughly organised. However, it might be that some information has got back to someone ...

Warning: this post contains traces of Iain Dale

In all my excitement yesterday at the posting on Iain Dale’s Diary of Iain Dale’s Guide to Blogging 2007: Top 100 Liberal Democrat Blogs - an article trailing the publication this week of Iain Dale’s Guide To Political Blogging In The UK, edited by Iain Dale - I forgot to mention that Iain Dale’s Guide [...]

"Old Labour" Nepotism is alive and well in "New Labour"

Who says that socialism is about everyone being judged on their merits ? It seems that everyone is equal in the Labour Party, but if you are related to Tony Benn, some people are more equal than others. And if the decision to select Emily benn was so historic, couldn't the Labour Party have found a cameraman who could hold a camera steady as the person who appears to have taken the picture HERE on the East Worthing and Shoreham Labour party website appears to have been either drunk, taking the photo during an earthquake of simply be vary nervous ...

Could Michael Portillo be extradited to the USA?

A few days ago The Times reported: The entire board of BAE Systems and several former directors including Michael Portillo, a former UK Secretary of Defence, are being sued by a US pension fund over bribery and corruption claims at the defence group. The City of Harper Woods Employees’ Retirement Scheme, a public pension fund in Michigan, has accused the board and former directors of intentional, negligent and reckless breaches of their duties as company officers. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Washington, DC this morning, is seeking unspecified damages and calls for BAE to implement sweeping ...

What a waste, and I don’t mean the junk!

What happens when you stick ten volunteers in a rubbish dump? You quickly find out who’s lazy and who is resourceful. Dumped, on Channel4, was an interesting experiment, but could have been so much better. The idea had been to see how 10 completely different people could cope with living in a rubbish dump for three weeks, and they certainly did find 10 completely different people. The group were supplied with food rations and fresh water, but otherwise they had to create their own shelter and make the most of the rubbish on their doorstep. The producers were kind and ...

Monday and Tuesday

Yesterday included my attending the official reopening of the coastal walk between Douglas Terrace, Broughty Ferry, and the Stannergate - in my capacity as City Council Planning & Transport Convener. Its a super renovation funded by the City Council, SUSTRANS and the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund. Local resident, Mrs Silvers, did the honours and even provided the ribbon for the ceremony as we arrived to find the official ribbon was locked away in a works' hut!This morning, I participated in a panel discussion in my role as Chair of TACTRAN (the Tayside and Central Scotland Regional Transport Partnership) at ...

The value of money?

Would you light your fire or BBQ with £10 notes? For almost 100% of us the answer would be no, because we know the value of money. Yet on average we throw away over £400 worth of food a year per adult. This is an insane situation. If £400 is the average per adult, then an average household throws away over £1200 worth of food a year, it not more. Not only do we throw away that much food, but we are also a pretty much obese nation, so we eat far too much too (Over 20% of the population ...

Keep it corked, don't screw it up

A quick plea, that you only buy wine with real corks or screw tops. The screw tops can be recycled, and the real corks are biodegradable. Whatever you do, don’t drink wine with plastic corks. The plastic corks aren’t biodegradable and can’t be recycled. Most importantly, because so many wine companies are no longer using real corks, it’s destroying the cork growing industry. We aren’t just talking about a few cork growers going bust, the cork plantations are excellent habitats for wildlife, especially for the Lynx, a species seriously under threat due to the move to plastic corks. By selecting ...

Fly tipping

What goes on in the mind of a fly tipper? The simple answer is nothing. Whether the fly tipping is throwing takeaway rubbish out of the car window or dumping a truck load of electrical and scrap metal on a footpath, there is nothing positive you can say about someone stupid enough to do it. No doubt they have a complete disregard for most things, which reflects the fact that they can’t have much more than half a brain. There is no excuse for the complete lack of regard for other people or the countryside.

Iain's little list

Iain Dale has now published the official list of the top 100 Lib Dem blogs, and I’m runner-up - and I can think of few bloggers against whom I’m more happy to run up than Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England. He is indeed the Lib Dem blogfather. Here’s what Iain wrote about me, myself and I: Stephen Tall has emerged in the last twelve months as a key player in the Liberal Democrat blogosphere. His

Tories suspend Andrew Pelling MP

The Tory MP for Croydon Central, Andrew Pelling, who is also a member of the Greater London Assembly, has been suspended from the Tory party, following his arrest last week on suspicion of assaulting his wife. This is the Tory statement as reported by the BBC: “Following a meeting today with the Chief Whip, Andrew Pelling’s case [...]

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Playing scrabble with cows

Tuesday The outbreak of foot and mouth disease earlier in the summer made it impossible to send any livestock to market, with the result that I had to keep all mine indoors. (‘It’s an ill-wind…’ as a ewe remarked to me with mordant wit.) Obviously, one has to keep the beasts occupied somehow, and my first thought was to encourage them to read improving books; but then I discovered that a copy of Animal Farm was circulating amongst them, whereupon I decided that board games and jigsaws might be a safer bet. I have to say that playing Scrabble with ...

Bloggerheads is back

Tim Ireland has set up a temporary blog.

Quarries

One of the interesting facets of being an MP is the diversity of your constituency. In my patch I have 3 prisons (all very different), a nuclear power plant, two Severn Bridges, a major hospital and, amongst other things, several quarries. Today I visited two of them - at Wickwar and at Wick - run by Cemex (previously RMC). The photo shows me with two of Cemex's managers at the bottom of Wick quarry. The local quarries are important employers and also provide pretty essential raw materials for things like motorways. But inevitably it is impossible to excavate large quantities ...

Number 24 and Bloggerheads is back

Iain Dale* has published his** Top 100 Liberal Democrat Blogs in advance of the publication of his Guide to Political Blogging 2007. This blog has moved up a respectable 13 places since last year's list (when I blogged about partisanship in response) and come in at number 24. In other news, Tim Ireland is back! Alas not at Bloggerheads as before but at a new blogspot address. He is using the

Autumnal

I can't explain why but the biggest change as I have got older is increased sensitivity to the seasons. Even on a week by week basis I seem to notice something about the angle of the Sun, bird life or the state of trees. Perhaps its living in such an urban enviroment that has resensitised me to what greenery we do have. I have always liked Autumn as it seems to suit my sometimes melancoly personality. Certainly I think Leeds 6 does autumn well. The most surprising patches of greenery have survived the landlord assault and seem all the more ...

Vince hits out at Gordon’s ‘Big Tentism’

Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable has delivered a typically withering-yet-courteous assessment of Gordon Brown’s determination to assemble a ‘government of all the talents’. Speaking at a Fabian Society fringe meeting at the Labour party conference in Bournemouth, he’s quoted by the BBC saying: “I am concerned about what I would regard as big tentism - [...]

Another Tory defection to Labour

Calm down, nothing too exciting - one of Dave’s A-listers, Judith Symes, has crawled inside Gordon’s big tent. She stood for the Tories in Brighton Kemptown in 2005, coming within 2,373 votes of unseating the sitting Labour MP. The Brighton Argus has more. (Hat-tip to Guido.)

...this is fun!

You're Alice's Adventures in Wonderland! by Lewis Carroll After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, you've had your mind opened to a number of strange and curious things. As life grows curiouser and curiouser, you have to ask yourself what's real and what's the picture of illusion. Little is coming to your aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that it's

Which country are you?

...it turns out that I'm the UN ... oops! You're the United Nations! Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of beating each other about the head and

Top 100 Liberal Blogs

i know im not the first person to blog about this, i probably wont be the last. Ian Dale has published his Top 100 Liberal blogs, and i am number 72 :) Congratulations to Millenium Elephant who jumped from 77 on last years list to number 7 on this years list. other congratulations should go to Norfolk Blogger, the only 'new' blog in the top 20 and to the other 37 blogs (including this one) that made it on to this years list. one interesting point though is number 40 (Clowns to the Left of Me) and 59 (Bernard Woolley), ...

Vince Cable brilliantly explains why Brown's plans for a "broad tent" are flawed

Vince Cable told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference why he believed that Lib Dems working with Gordon Brown's Labour Party was not a good idea, Mr Cable said: "I am concerned about what I would regard as big tentism - this attempt to get everybody into the same fold. "I think it is an attempt to create - in the nicest possible way - a one-party state." He likened Mr Brown to Jomo Kenyatta, former president of Kenya, for whom he once worked and who engaged in big tent politics. "It was about sucking out of opposition ...

Labour minister praises Lib Dem tax plans?

According to the Big British Castle, treasury minister Angela Eagle is quite taken with our policies on tax. At least, that's the slant of the story. To be honest, it looks a bit fishy; the only direct quote in the article that I can see is not exactly prominently displayed and looks pretty ambiguous: At a Fabian Society fringe event at Labour's conference, Ms Eagle was asked if her party faced

Bloggerheads: The Alisher Usmanov Affair

Tim Ireland has resurfaced with a Bloggerheads: The Alisher Usmanov Affair blog. Definitely one to bookmark for updates on where this issue goes now!

A United London Against Fear

The recent terrorist bombings in London and the terrorist events in the Capital in the last 2 years (since the 7th of July 2005), have made us all feel on edge in London. We have been and will be resilient against the terrorist and extremism threat. Whilst extremism is prevalent in all religions and in various guises, (obviously the most dangerous is violent extremism), the purveyors of hate and the 'anger message mongers' need to be targeted and ousted from communities. In 2005 after the 7/7 bombings, I was invited to be part of the Communities Working Group, a group ...

Fighting the BNP

I know its a bit late to do this but I've been so busy its just not been possible to blog, so if you could all kindly turn your attention away from the will he wont he drama that is Gordon Brown's election pitch/the labour party conference and cast your mind back to the even more engrossing will they wont they drama of Ming's political future/ the lib dem conference you will remember that apart from the usual speeches, discussions and jeering that they held in the main conference area there were a myriad of great fringe events to go ...

My first couple of days at uni

I've been in UEA (University of east anglia) now for a couple of days and its been brilliant, I've met loads of new people and although its been rather hectic trying to find my way around and get ready (lectures have already started!) its really been worth it. I apologise to the blogosphere in general for not having written up about the conference (I did go) but I have been so busy with getting prepared for university and because I don't have a laptop this is the first opportunity I've had to use the Internet. I am currently sitting in ...

Top 100 Liberal Democrat blogs

I am gratified to note today that I have retained my fifth place in Iain Dale's latest list of the top 100 Liberal Democrat blogs. This follows on from my fourth place in Iain's list of the top 20 Welsh blogs. Given the very high quality of those I am in competition with for this accolade I am very flattered indeed by these placings.

Bus route 15 - possibly the rudest drivers in the world

I have sent this email today to East London Buses. The content is self explanatory! This morning I boarded a Route 15 bus at approximately 10.30am outside Charing Cross Station. The bus’s indicator said it was travelling to Paddington. On boarding the bus the people in front of me asked if it was going to Marble Arch. His response was that the bus was going to Paddington. Clearly the passengers

Clear red water

Eluned Morgan's comments at the Labour Party Conference are part of a wide-ranging debate that is well underway within Wales Labour about what went wrong in May and where they go from here. In as much as this is an internal Labour debate it is of course none of my business, though clearly the outcome of these discussions have direct relevance to both Welsh politics and how other parties respond to them. The fact that the discussion is being conducted partly in public makes it a matter of interest both to myself and anybody else with a stake in the ...

Burgess Park Milestone

We had the first meeting of the founding trustees for the new Burgess Park Trust last night. It was great to finally get to this point. We agreed the last minor sub-clause ammendments for the memorandum and articles of association and are ready to instruct our lovely lawyers to turn us into a bona-fide legal entity. Paul McQuail, one of my Groundwork Trustees has really done a spectacular job to get us to this point. Paul is a retired, senior civil servant, whose patience and wise counsel has guided us brilliantly throughout the process as Chair of the Burgess Park ...

Tory webhost problems

Here’s a tip to would-be webbers - if you find a photo on the internet that you want to use on your website, first check to see whether it’s copyright or not, and then download it, and upload it to your own site. If you “remote link” the image, which means pointing to the link on [...]

Judicial Statistics

The link should give the currently available judicial statistics. This includes for care order the number of times the local authority is turned down. That should worry people given the high proportion of proposals agreed by the judiciary.

Custard Factory joins the blogging world

Pete Ashton of Created In Birmingham is the man behind the new Custard Factory website, based around a blog. A vast improvement on the old site, this will be one blog worth keeping an eye on for those based in and around Brum.

Residents’ survey drenching

Last night Cllr O’Hanlon and I were joined by a number of helpers as we visited the Rectory Lane / The Drive area of the ward talking to local people about the current Lib Dem resident’s survey. We are travelling round various parts of the ward in the coming days handing short surveys on a range of issues out to local people. It’s always important to find out your views on the issues. I we don’t get round to your house, and you want a survey, just get in touch and we’ll make sure you get one. Since it’s only a ...

Jeremy Kyle Show: "A human form of bear baiting"

This blog has another hero: Alan Berg, a district judge in Manchester. Here he is, as quoted by the Daily Telegraph, sentencing someone who head-butted a love rival during filming earlier this year: "The circumstances of this case are exceptional and the provocation involved seems to be paramount. I have had the misfortune of viewing The Jeremy Kyle Show and I feel bound to make some observations in that regard. "It seems to me that the whole purpose of The Jeremy Kyle Show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of disfunctional (sic.) people who are in some kind ...

Misty Watercolour Memories

I have been tagged by Caroline Hunt in a meme about our first political memories. I quite clearly recall the introduction of the Community Charge and the political fallout. I remember being in a hot classroom (the summer of 1989 I think, I would have been six or just seven) asking about Poll Tax, which had then just been introduced into Scotland and was a year from arriving in England. I asked my teacher (Mrs Bevan, I think) whether she would prefer Poll Tax or Rates. She said she didn’t know, so I asked “but if you were really pushed?” ...

A snap election?

All this recent talk of snap elections in October got me thinking about the nonsense of the incumbent being allowed to set the election date. I was born in 1981 and since then there have been just four Prime Ministers and six elections. That works out at an average of one election every four to five years which is about right. But, the problem I’ve got is that - at the moment - the current Prime Minister gets to say when the next election is going to be and this can then be set based on opinion polls and how ...

Labour and the Liberal Democrats - whose progressive agenda?

Last night I went to the Fabian/Centre Forum fringe - Labour and the Liberal Democrats; whose progressive agenda? Labour front benchers were Angela Eagle and Michael Wills whilst we were well represented by Vince Cable and David Laws. I have to say I am warming more and more to David Laws, there is still a lot I would disagree with him on, but his commitment to social justice is unquestionable and both he and Vince put our case extremely well. Michael Wills opened by acknowledging that there was an inevitable overlap in terms of shared policies but argued that the ...

South Africa: the difficulties of admitting you have AIDS

Back to blogging some more on my brief trip to South Africa the week before last - on my last day we were taken to the mines - open cast coal mines - by Anglo-American. (Click here for photos from the trip). Brian Brink of Anglo American, who is a doctor whose energy and commitment to tackling AIDS seemed limitless and who had pioneered their program over years, had been with us throughout the tour. Today was to see the actual work going on - on site. Not going detail by detail - but to capture the picture - the ...

Out with the old and in with the old?

Today's comment pages are dominated by the Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour party conference.A common theme is Brown's attempt to appeal to the Tory vote. "Here was a political pitch with which Daily Telegraph readers could feel comfortable", comes the verdict straight from the horse's mouth ("Gordon Brown signals new chapter of illusions, Telegraph). As it points out, the appeals to the Union, hard work, Britishness and responsibility have an undercurrent of moralistic social conservatism that may be Brown's own but still chimes with Middle England. But nevertheless, the same editorial gives voice to the increasingly common complaint from the right:"His solutions ...

He bangs the drums

It does feel a little odd having Dave Rowntree wandering about Labour Party conference, especially when my phone goes off. My ringtone is the intro to Song 2. Share This

Elected councillors must have final say

The Evening Post reports that Neath Port Talbot cabinet member stormed out of a planning meeting after members refused to follow officers' advice. Instead they followed the recommendations of a site visit panel, which is made up of elected councillors. A unitary authority cannot function without its paid officials. In addition to their administrative burden, they must advise on the law and on planning guidelines. However, they are not directly responsible to the people. The buck stops with the elected council.

Safer Neighbourhoods Public Meeting

The Belsize Police Safer Neighbourhoods Panel held an excellent BBC Question Time-style public meeting in the Swiss Cottage Community Centre last night. Those present agreed that burglaries, theft from vehicles and anti-social behaviour should remain the Belsize police team’s top priorities. All three indicators have fallen since the team started its work last year, but Sgt Jason Moseley was careful to stress that it’s really important for people to report all crimes so that he knows which hotspots to target. We were told that Camden is about to start piloting a friendlier process for reporting crimes and contacting the police. ...

Debt As Money

The Gladstone Club could not have predicted that Northern Rock would turn out to be made of papier maché (ok, a little bit of poetic licence there), but this made last night’s seminar on Debt As Money at the National Liberal Club singularly timely. The basic thesis was that we have moved to a debt-based money system that is ultimately unsustainable and potentially disastrous, if confidence collapses. In 1946, when the Bank of England was nationalised, debt-free publicly-created money accounted for 46% of the money supply. Now this is down to a mere 3%. And of course, mortgage credit is ...

September Dreams

Hey Guys - How are you all? Sorry not posted for a while - been really busy and been on holiday too. Went to Yarmouth for my holiday at the beginning of September. It was nice to get away for a bit after a stressful summer. Weather was warm and sunny so had the chance to top up my tan a bit. Also met a singer called Harvey. He was really sweet - shame we couldn't get to know each other better. After that, it was my graduation. Think I was more nervous on that day than I was waiting ...

Dawkins’ influence over party politics

The Labour Humanists have been quite high profile at this conference and have been actively promoting their fringe meeting with A.C. Grayling on Monday. A year old, the group is mainly campaigning against faith schools. My erstwhile Doughty Street sparring partner Kris Brown is their Vice Chair and has been running around all week. This is part of a growing trend. The Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats also only formed in the last few years. I have to confess to not joining this group when it was first set up. I remain wary of humanism in its more happy-clappy guise ...

Renewable energy roadmap

Tuesday 25th September 2007 - The European Parliament will vote today on a report from the Industry Research and Energy committee on a roadmap for renewable energy. As the author of the views of the International Trade committee I have put forward proposals that I hope will be supported by the Parliament. By 2030, renewable energy could provide 35% of the world's energy needs. To achieve this

Tory blogger doesn't quite understand hotlinking

.... although I'm pretty sure he'll understand soon : hopefully he hasn't fixed it before you read it (the comments are priceless) submission by the image owner to b3ta in case it's fixed before : http://www.b3ta.com/links/MP_Pissing_penis_coin ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Saffron Revolution

The Burmese junta is one of the nastiest governments on the world. Down there with Mugabe and King Jong Il it has conducted the impoverishment and oppression of an ancient and dignified culture. From having been the wealthiest country in Asia upon gaining independence in 1948, the dictatorship that seized power in 1962 has pursued a catastrophic economic mismanagement of the country. For example, replacing all the kyat notes divisible by ten with notes only divisible by nine- a more"auspicious" number, then moving the capital from Rangoon to an isolated clearing in the jungle called Naypyidaw. In 1988 the Burmese ...

I'd like to see Nick Robinson's balls

Well, well - another day yesterday of Gordon Brown playing "will he, won't he" on the general election date. It's typical boys and toys stuff - as if the whole electoral system is just his personal plaything to bounce around as he likes. For all his talk about New Gordon, Open Gordon, Democratic Gordon - it's still the same old control freak Gordon, treating our democracy - OUR democracy - with contempt. Why should the date of elections be up to him and him alone to pick - and only on the basis of what suits his own vote winning ...

Election on November 1st?! Do me a favour!

Nick Robinson says he has it sound authority that the government will not call an election for October 25th. So, those still gullible enough to be drawn along by this "snap" election nonsense are now looking at November 1st. Do me a favour. It's not going to happen. The weather situation will be too risky. It could be snowing, for goodness sake. And even Gordon Brown isn't clever enough to

The Money goes?

A thought on G. Browns Annual Conference speech. Last year the Prime Minister would never have got this uncosted gut-Labour shopping list past the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his Treasury watchdogs. “What has changed in the meantime?” asks not-terribly-puzzled of Milton Keynes.

I voted for Lloyd George!

One of the highlights for me of Conference week was being able to get to some more fringe meetings - when I first started going to conference I used to really enjoy them but in recent years it’s been difficult to find time to get to many. And the one I enjoyed most last week was the Lib Dem History Group’s Who is the Greatest Liberal? Meeting, held on Wednesday evening. It really was an excellent meeting with some superb speakers, and very high-level content. Tom McNally kicked off by putting the case for John Maynard Keynes to take the ...

Referenda and General Elections

The issue of the European Reform Treaty is one which is material in terms of the General Election. Clearly this causes Gordon Brown problems if he has an early general election because he would be under considerable electoral pressure to promise a referendum. However, that may not prevent him from going for it.

Office reconfiguration

I have run my office on the basis of one member of staff in London and others in Birmingham since 2005. I am, however, now going to experiment with having a team based in Birmingham who all spend a week in turn in London. The team of caseworkers is up for this as a proposal. This structure will particularly suit recent graduates as it will give a wide range of experience. The job is

Former Liberal MP Has Just 21 Seconds To Talk About "Blogging"

The former Liberal MP is Clement Freud , the show was last evening's "Just A Minute", and you can listen again from this page

Gordon..........Never Mind the Rhetoric, what about the Reality?

I am just back from a wild night out at Labour Party Conference...........Bournemouth is a strange mix of memories for me, mainly from my Unison days, but this was my initiation into the eclectic mix of new and old Labour which passes for a conference. I arrived in time to watch Gordon's speech in the exhibition hall. He did go on.............and on...........and on.......in the end rather than watching paint dry I decided I had time to watch nail varnish dry. I sat on the floor and painted my nails. But, it has to be said, there was little for me ...

For the sake of the children - DON'T RING THE DOORBELL

If you get invited to 18 Doughty Street, and like me you walk up John Street, beware! It isn't obvious when you come into Doughty Street. You cross Guilford Street, and then you see a Doughty Street sign. All good so far. No doors on the left, doors going down in number on the right. You get to number 18. It doesn't look quite right. You phone Mark Pack (after all he is an old hand). He reassures

Blogger TV - watch the replay

For the few of you that didn't catch me on blogger TV you can watch it here.

Apple’s iPhone is a public relations disaster

Marketing types are usually quick to point out how Apple, alone in the I.T. world “get” their customers, and how other companies (usually Microsoft) fall short of Apple’s shining example. It seems that this time Apple have out microsofted Microsoft with their lamentable iPhone, perhaps the most over-hyped and disappointing device in the history of technology. I cannot think of a more effective way to annoy customers off than to perpetrate a monumental bait and switch campaign: Simply tease your most loyal, avid customers with the prospect of owning the most powerful and capable phone and then deliver it with ...

West Midlands Liberal Democrats Regional Executive

Nominations for election to the West Midlands Liberal Democrats Regional Executive and its sub committees close on Saturday (29th). As ever there are vacancies for President, Chair, Vice-chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Chair of Candidates Committee, Chair of Policy Committee, Training Officer, Chair of Conference Committee, IT & Web site Officer, Ordinary members of the Regional Executive (x4), Regional Conference Committee Members (x3), Regional Policy Committee Members (x2), Regional Candidates Committee Members (x4) and Members of the English Council (x9).

Tuesday 25th September 2007

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