I am currently half-way through writing a mega-post round up of conference but in the meantime my choice for the best fringe at conference would be "The search for the greatest Liberal" debate on the Wednesday night. This was a fringe organised by the Liberal Democrat History Group to accompany the vote they have been running of conference delegates and members of the History Group to decide who 
I said before that I might blog again on tricks I haven't learn. I realised I should when I recalled just the other day a story I had heard about an act of legerdemain in the Labour party, long before Mandelson or Alistair Campbell were on the scene. The way I heard it is this: the local party was having one of its constituency meetings at which a member called to see the constitution. It wasn't available. At the next meeting, also, it still wasn't available. At first, the comrades imagined their secretary was simply forgetful - he was not ...
Children from 15 primary schools in the Borough joined Young Kingston this afternoon in Beanoland. Chessington World of Adventures very generously offered us the use of the marquee, plus visits from animals, and, to the delight of the children, unlimited access to the dodgems. We are now ready to take applications from children and young people for...
A nasty start to the day with the appearance on the computer screen on my virus checker eating a "Trojan Horse". It said it had killed it, but I ran the virus checker again just to make sure! This morning's meeting was an Area Partnership meeting, and it was good to see so many residents turn up that not everyone could get round the table. There are a lot of interesting...
I had my hopes up when lovely Nick appeared on the TV this evening ... but alas, they were dashed. Another BBC news reports about Gordon Brown, general election date and all the will he won't he dithering. On to screen strides Nick Robinson - he whose balls I wish to see - and we see him confront the Home Secretary about general election date - but what then happens? Soft question, easily batted away. None of the tough questions about why in a democracy the PM should be able to pick the election date that most suits the PM's ...
For one night only again I'm presenting the Friday Rock Show on Palm 105.5 between 9pm and 11pm. If you are in the South Devon area do tune in.In theory you should be able to log in on the inter...
Here is the second part of what i got up to at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton. Ok, so monday morning headed off into the conference center for the climate change debate. now just like harrogate (where trident was a main focus of the media) this debate was at the heart of what conference was about, and it shared another similarity; Vince Cable MP was speaking before it. now i have no love for tax policies, in fact i hate it and find it mind numbingly boring. so bored am i when i listening to an economic debate that ...
There are, of course, unknowns that are known as well as unknowns that are unknown. Immigration, however, is a policy area where we really don't know what is happening. What the government think is the case, local government know not to be true. In the mean time it is massively complex. At the same time we have people emigrating from the UK. This leads to a situation where a policy area that
Ed Randall writes a sound survey of some different strands of environmental thought, although it is a little difficult at times to see which he is advocating and which he is opposing. I think if I were writing a chapter like this I would be a little more polemical and I wouldn't necessarily credit many greens with the coherence that Randall does. I think for many greens, abstract questions of
Surprisingly, fewer women (18%) than men (21%) support the LibDems, while for both Labour and the Tories the opposite is true. Why? Perhaps an explanation lies in Ming’s remark in Brighton last week that “we can’t represent a country if we’re not representative of it”. School-gate mums and working parents are an important demographic, but not [...]
The media are reporting that Gordon Brown is likely to wait until Wednesday next week before making any possible announcement about an Autumn election. One of the reasons cited by the press for next Wednesday is that this will be after David Cameron's speech to the Tory Party conference. What is the logic in this for Gordon Brown. If this were 2003 and it was Iain Duncan Smith speaking to a divided Tory party, then I could accept the logic of the papers. However, even with all the summer troubles that David Cameron has had, there is no way that ...
Back from Labour conference and in a bit of a mess if truth be told. The problem with cheap B&Bs that haven’t been dusted in decades is that they can turn a mild cold into a nasty cough that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I’ve got two days to recover before doing it all again with the Tories in Blackpool. I’m sure the B&Bs there can’t be as chintzy and grotty as the ones in Bournemouth. Er… Anyway, it’s been an interesting week. Labour conferences - I’ve been to 3 now - are so completely different from Lib Dem ...
Last night I went to an Iftar at the Leeds Grand Mosque in Hyde Park. Its not the first time I have been to one of these breaking of the fast events but it seemed unusually moving for some reason. In atomised times the sence of fellowship and brotherhood amongst attendees was impressive. The main thing though is just what a sensible idea Ramadan is. A month where you spend less, give more to charity, try to behave better, study your traditions, spend more time with family and examine your relationship with food and drink. I'm probably sounding like the ...
What line of attack could the Liberal Democrats use if Gordon Brown does call a general election in the next couple of weeks? One promising line would be to say that he is playing a cheap trick because of a temporary blip in the opinion polls and because he knows that much worse economic weather is on the way. We could say that this makes him look rather shabby and not at all the statesman he likes to pretend to be. Except that we can't say that. Because when Brown first became prime minister the Liberal Democrats greeted him with ...
Posted by Chris: Leeds United have been informed by the Football Association that they do not think it is "appropriate" for there to be any further inquiry into the scandalous imposition of a 15-point penalty so eagerly confirmed by our rival clubs. Well I'm sure that has rattled us enough to keep on socking it to 'em for a few more games then. Two fingers to the Football Association as well as the Football League. 
I went for my much put off IT training today on the Councils new system. Despite having a blog I'm really very technophobic and didn't enjoy the experience. The highlight was finally getting to see the Councils' Peace and Emergency Planning Unit (PEPU) where responses to major disasters are coordinated. I'd like to tell you that it was a Pentagon style bunker 10 floors beneath the City with a retina scan to get in. However it was a very ordinary open plan office with a lot of free computers. If the apocalypse hits Leeds I don't think PEPU will survive ...
Thursday To Parliament Square for the unveiling of a statue of my old friend Nelson Mandela. I first met him when, as an aspiring young lawyer in Johannesburg, he helped me after my scheme to import zebra meat into Britain had led to a series of unfortunate misunderstanding with the South African authorities. (The Bonkers Zebraburger did not prove the success that I had hoped, but in the course of our work with the stripy beasts my business associates and I did invent the barcode reader, which was later to revolutionise British retailing.) I was impressed by Mandela’s eloquence and ...
Election fever continues, and the Conservatives are ready for a snap general election, according to the BBC: “The party has a £10m war chest, a draft manifesto and candidates selected in its top 200 target seats, sources close to leader David Cameron have said.” Which is interesting, because they have not selected a candidate here in [...]
The US navy is going to spend $600,000 to change the apperance of one of its navy barracks. the problem is not on the ground, or inside in the barracks, which is why it has gone unnoticed for over 40 years. the problem is the buildings them selves, that from above resemble a Nazi swastika A navy officer said that the problem was noted in 1967, during the buildings ground braking, but the design was not changed as "it wasnt obvious from the ground"
Hardly a surprise in the selection of Borat as Tory mayoral candidate. The only question is how long it will take for him to make some stupid and crass comment about an ethnic group or a part of London as he has already managed to do for Portsmouth, Liverpool and I presume any other number of places in the UK.
CAMRA, supported by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, are hosting Redcar Beer Festival at Coatham Memorial Hall, Redcar from the 27th to 29th of September 2007 Featuring 22 beers from Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. Also cider, perry and fruit wines. Live Music too! Thursday 27th 6.30pm-11pm (£1.50) Friday 28th 11.30am-5.30pm (£1.00) Friday 28th 6.30pm-11pm (£2.00) (Fat Medicine) Saturday 29th 11.30am-5.30pm (£1.50) (Him and That Man) Saturday 29th 6.30pm-11pm (£1.50) All sessions free to card carrying CAMRA members. Limited supply of commemorative glasses. For further details visit or call 01287 622444 01642 231351
Parts of the US Patriot Act, the act of Congress that passed 43 days after the attacks on 9/11, and greatly inccreased the powers of federal authorities to fight terrorism, have been ruled as unconstitutional by a district judge in the state of Oregan. District Judge Ann Aiken was rulling in a case broght forward by a muslim convert who had been wrongly accused of involvment with the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people in March 2004. she stated that the Patriot Act "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without ...
Brian Caplan’s ‘The Myth of the Rational Voter’ has been garnering a lot of attention, especially for an economics book. In this month’s Reason he gives a summary of some of the arguments in the book - how voters are systematically biased to choose bad economic policies - The 4 Boneheaded Biases of Stupid Voters (And [...]
Every international security pundit would like to summarise the broad sweep of strategic concerns facing the United Kingdom in a single hour. This is just such a lecture. Sadly (or, for those of you reading it, happily), this is not mine. My comments are limited to parentheses. At least, not originally. Rather, it is a summary of the hour-long inaugural lecture of Professor Michael Clarke, the new director of the Royal United Services Institute. Prof. Clarke began with the rather trite comment that this was a very uncertain time in international affairs. At such a time think tanks such as ...
A week after the Lib Dem Conference debate on “Green Tax Switch Mark 2″, how does our tax policy look from an ALTERnate perspective (i.e. not Chris Rennard’s)? Well, I’ve almost sold out of my book’s first printing (would someone like to post a review on Amazon?) and most LVT supporters who were there agree [...]
I was at a wedding a few years back when a very nice Conservative Lady came in (a little late) and sat down next to me and with an air of triumph declared that : “I am late because we Conservatives have been selecting our candidate for Mayor of London. Its great news: its going to be Jeffrey Archer !!" My jaw hit the floor. I really did not know whether to congratulate her, as she clearly expected , or to commiserate her on the inevitable doom to follow. Boris Johnson may not be a crook (although of course his ...
Wow, a huge turnout of just over 19.8k Londoners could care who the Tory mayoral candidate was. To give a little bit of perspective, my ward has just about as many constituents. So across the whole of London, only the same number who live in the square mile or so of Selly Oak expressed their preference of candidate. Doesn't bode well for the real thing next year does it Boris?
Only Jock should be able to access this url .
I watched Emily Benn giving a media interview at Labour conference this week and she certainly seemed to be very self-confident and able. So congratulations for her selection to fight East Worthing and Shoreham, even if she does stand very little chance. The BBC very helpfully failed to mention that the full name of St Olave’s School in Orpington has a “Grammar” in it (I should know, I went there!), particularly when one remembers that this is the very same school that Harriet Harman got into so much trouble for sending her son to. Not sure her auntie Melissa would ...
It is fairly depressing to watch most of your home being broken up and put into a skip but that is what has been going on over the last week or so. After a long saga of inaction and many phone calls to the insurance company and their various agents we have finally seen some action. Most of the ground floor contents have been written off and broken up and put into a skip. We have had two of these big skips both of which were full. We now have a pretty empty ground floor. All the contents that could ... 
I still don’t get the anti-Boris sentiment. The man is clever and witty, but has cultivated his buffoon image, that may backfire, but that is no reason to dislike him, merely a weakness. In my book, he’s a far better bet than Ken. He won’t be consorting with dictators or micro-managing London’s affairs and he has more [...]
David Miliband, our eminent and shockingly young Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, has started blogging again over here as part of the wider network of FCO Bloggers. Am I going to mock like some have? Hell no. The FCO should be commended for at least partially opening up, attempting to engage the electorate in a dialogue and being more inclusive. Ok, we're not going to be privy to the
Tom Clougherty over at the ASI blog has a comment on Simon Jenkins’ s book ‘Thatcher and Sons’. The key comment he makes was that there were two revolutions, the good and the bad (from a liberal view anyway). The good is her liberalisation of the economy (I know Thatcher is public enemy number one for many [...]
Oh, you are conducting a survey on behalf of Bucks County Council. Good, Come in. I have a bellyful of criticism. Where should I begin? Question one? My daughter is six. Yes, I send here to a child minder. Yes, we are both working. What do I think of the service of the BCC? Don’t you think that is too general a question? The rubbish gets collected but much more can be done on the recycling side. No question about that. So I can’t mention recycling collection from business? No! OK, is there a question about transport. No, just about ...
The news from Burma today is appalling. You are invited to wear a red shirt tomorrow to show your solidarity with the Burmese monks and other protestors who are simply demanding the freedoms of democracy. If you are on Facebook then go to the Red Shirt for Burma event page and invite all your friends.
The Tory referred to in the last posting read this message and commented 'Jack boots and staff cars? That's a bit harsh. Dave says we can't have those any more.' Proving that Tories do have a sense of humour.
I have been astonished at the lack of Blair at Labour's party conference. Obviously not in person - but it is as if the collective guilt of those he left behind has painted him out of their history. Hate to point it out guys - but you all (with honourable exceptions) voted for the war, kept quiet or in Gordon's case - signed the cheques. You can't lay it all on Tony - you were all there, cheering and voting him on. New Gordon? Doesn't wash with me!
Sunday: Do you believe that the Earth is a flat disc that sits on pillars in a bottomless ocean? Do you think that the sky is a ginormous glass dome with stars stuck onto the outside? Do you think it rains for forty days and forty nights when the sky windows are opened? Do you think that the sun goes around the Earth? Do you think it can stop? Do you think that the ratio of the distance all round the outside of a circle to the distance across it, π, equals three? If you do, can you make a ...
It has taken me a while to work out my precise view on Boris Johnson. Trying to pin him down is like trying to pin down a pregnant jellyfish on a ship during a force ten gale. The moment you say that he is not a very serious politician, the reply comes: “Ah, but he is funny!” Haven’t you got a sense of humour?” Then you say that he is not very funny and the reply comes “Ah, but he has a very
Whilst all attention is focused on Labour's pre-election rally in Bournemouth this week spare a thought to the faceless masses left behind in Whitehall. Whilst their political masters enjoy a week drinking and carousing by the seaside they huddle around their workstations, trying to get their News24 feed to work so they can watch, quaking with fear, Gordon make his big conference speech. What
I have been reasonably reliably spun by a Tory activist of my acquaintance that their Central Office 'intelligence unit' is calling everyone they know to advise that the Tory high command (inages of jackboots and staff cars) are '99% certain' that the election will be called on October 7th, with polling day on November 1st. Could this be the first thing the Tories have got right this year? Or could it be the Tories trying to annoy Gordon Brown into not calling it as he doesn't want to be second-guessed by them?
Sky News’s Jon Craig is trumpeting the news that Buckinghamshire Tory MP, John Bercow, will not be attending his party’s conference in Blackpool next week. For some time now, he’s been billed as the Tory most likely to cross the floor and join Quentin Davies on the Labour benches. Bercow’s absence is ‘fuelling speculation’ ((c) [...]
One thing I find unusual about CAFCASS is that they will refuse to register complaints from time to time. They refuse to register a similar number of complaints as they actually register. (same order of magnitude). The numbers of complaints not registered in recent years are YearNumber of complaints not registered 2004/5484 2005/6215 2006/7354
So Boris the Buffoon Johnson is the Tory candidate for Mayor of London. Heaven help us if his very personal brand of tomfoolery actually makes it into City Hall. A Conservative Party spokesman said the contest had "captured the interest of the public and helped challenge voter apathy". That's a joke. Boris won 75% of the votes cast in the open Tory primary, but only 20,000 people bothered to take part. The Tories must be wondering what new skeletons are about to come tumbling out of Boris's cupboards and what embarrassing inanities are going to slip from his mouth. He ...
After a painful couple of days without my trusty bicycle I am now re-united with it, courtesy of Mosquito Bikes of Islington (just round the corner from Essex Road station). They transformed my creaky wreck into a gleaming, silent speed-machine. Their deluxe service is expensive, but the bike feels better than it did when it was brand-new, which means it was money well-spent. For what it’s worth, they have my seal of approval and my short-term gratitude, until I manage to wreck my bike again.
As part of the Audit Commission and DCLG's management of local authorities each local authority is required to have targets for various things (recycling etc). It is possible to find out centrally what the outcomes are for the indicators, but noone collates the information as to what the targets are. Anyone looking for the adoption target for a local authority should search for BV 163, BVPI 163
I managed to catch the second half of the Georgia against Namibia match in the Rugby World Cup. I have been pretty disappointed so far with the coverage of the RWC. Partly this is a function of the very patchy coverage by ITV, but mostly it is due to the very poor performance of the Home nations. However there has been an incredible timidity too. I was shocked and very angry to see Scotland turning out what was essentially a B team to face the All Blacks at Murrayfield. Unsurprisingly Scotland were totally blanked- even on home ground. This is ...
Yes, ‘the blondest suicide note in history’ has romped home to victory in the Tories’ London mayoral primary. The results were: Boris Johnson: 15,661 votes Victoria Borwick: 1,869 Andrew Boff: 1,674 Warwick Lightfoot: 609 The vote was open to all seven million of London’s voters, so it’s good to see a super turn-out of 0.2%. As LDV reported last week, [...]
Down here we're suffering from a good example of Labour mismanagement. Cornwall has been piloting a concessionary bus fare scheme, free travel for the over 65's. It's a good scheme and, of course, it's very popular with our large retired community. The districts were each given 600k to run the scheme, and five of the districts have made money out of the scheme. But no allowance was made for us having the County Hospital, being the main shopping centre and a major transport hub. So Carrick taxpayers have had to pay out an extra half million pounds! Next year the ...
Thoughts on the date of the election and the day on which Comrade Chairman Brown will call it vary from one person to another. I wrote the other day that I think he will call it this Monday for 25th Oct. Since then the share value of an announcement tomorrow, Friday, has risen, as has the prospect of the election being on 1st Nov. If he were to announce on either of these 2 days, it would have
Voting in the great Darlington Mayoral Referendum is under way. A rare opportunity for voters to directly influence the way they are governed. By 8.10am, when I cast my "no" vote at St Augustine's Parish Centre (scene of some great STARS pantomimes over the years) just two other people had voted. This in an area with a traditional high turnout. Friends from Stockton tell me the various
A friend of Ian asked him to congratulate me on being named Blag of the Year ... hmmm
Today's newspaper coverage about missing education cash is wearily familiar. In fact we have spent much of the last eight years in the Assembly talking about the 'funding fog' in school funding, a phenomenon in which money allegedly allocated for education by the Minister fails to find its way to schools without anybody knowing why. That is not to say that the views expressed by Teachers' Unions are not legitimate ones, they are. Although I understand that there is some dispute as to whether the figures in the media are accurate or not and that the Indicator-based Assessment used to ...
Last week I had the honour of chairing party conference’s debate on Israel and the Palestinian Territories. It was a very high calibre debate on an extremely sensitive issue and we managed to get through it without anyone departing from the measured tone of a conference debate, despite the strongly held views. Unsurprisingly, a large number of people wanted to speak in the debate and submitted speaking cards. However we only had an hour, and so I was only able to call half of those who had wanted to speak. This is where it got interesting for me. I was ...
Last night’s Haringey LibDem Pizza and Politics in Stroud Green was a debriefing session from those of us who had been at last week’s Brighton conference. I’m always fascinated by how people take away different impressions from conference, or emphasize different things. Partly this reflects people’s varied interests and perspectives, but it is also a result of the fact that the range of debates and fringe events is now so wide that several conference representatives can have totally different experiences. Nonetheless, there was general agreement last night that most of the media had focussed on the non-story of challenges to Ming’s leadership, ...
I out in Little Sicily today as part of Community Intimidation Week. Don Campbell is concerned by growing reports that Labouristi are preparing to hit the mattresses as early as November and we are disciplining the cugine to be ready for trouble. Accompanying me on doorstep are two old Liberali cronies, Linda 'the Knife' Jack and Tom 'Liberali Polecat' Papworth, reliable goombas who can be trusted in shake down for the Don. I just finish helping local university professor understand wisdom of contribution to Liberali plans to stop Labouristi charging entry to his students when Jack the Knife take to ...
The Chinese Government must act to restrain the Burmese Dictatorship which has apparently started shooting protesters. They've propped up an unpopular military dictatorship for too long. It is time they sent in an envoy who can assist the transition to a government led by the democratically elected President, Aung San Suu Kyi and bring to an end the embarrasing and odious military dictatorship. Failure to do so and to stand by and allow a massacre in Burma will be another 6 4 by proxy which the world will not ignore, forgive and forget in a hurry. President Hu Jintao should ...
The second issue of the brilliant spoof net newspaper the “New Digbeth Whisperer” is out now. The Keep Digbeth Vibrant summit, organised by The Stirrer, takes place at The Spotted Dog tonight (Thursday) at 7.45pm.
I've read with interest today the report by Guardian arts correspondent Charlotte Higgins on the inaugural Folkestone Triennial. Sadly her article is loaded with anti-Folkestone prejudice which really does little to further the cause of the town in regenerating itself. It is also far from accurate and leaves me asking the question, why did you bother? It also recycles a lot of copy that my Old Harveian comtemporary, well-known Philosopher Julian Baggini wrote about three years ago. My recollection of my childhood was that many people used to come to Folkestone to spend time on the beaches and for a ...
I was recently reading a newspaper interview with a "celebrity" when they asked him "Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?" which got me thinking who would I invite to my dream dinner party.
Saturday: Is there going to be a General Election this Autumn? No. No, most of the evidence says not (unless the Darling Chancellor knows more about the economy than he is telling… but we can trust him, can't we?). That doesn't stop Mr Frown from having JOLLY FUN teasing us all along with his will-he won't- he act, though. By now we are expecting him to appear on television during the middle of Mr Balloon's speech to the Conservatory Conference: "Right, now that I've bug… jiggered Balloon's media coverage, I can tell you the answer is NO! ho ho!" This ... | < | September 2007 | > | ||||
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