LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 28th September 2007

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Matthew Taylor gets a long spoon

Friday Matthew Taylor arrives at the Hall to pick my brains about rural housing. I am pleased to be able to tell him that there is a good turnover of properties hereabouts, with the result that people seldom have to wait long for a cottage. Only yesterday, for instance, I had to evict a labourer and his family after he been heard making favourable comments about David Cameron in the Bonkers‘ Arms, and I am sure that my Bailiff will have seen to it that someone else is occupying the property by now. How times passes! Taylor a member of ...

New dates for announcing the election

Further discussions today with various people about options for the date Comrade Chairman Brown will call the election. This Monday continues to be an option but some claim Brown could not be so blatant in abuising the system for poliical gain by wrecking the Tory conference. I won't put it past him but consider the following instead.Suppose he calls it on Thursday, immediately after Cameron's

17th in Iain Dale's List of top 500 blogs - Well someone likes my blog after all !

What can I say other than thank you to all those people who voted for my blog in Iain Dale's survey to find the top 500 blogs. I have come 17th, ranking me as the highest Lib Dem blog. It appears that when votes from all bloggers are taken in to account, in particular Tory bloggers who often leave more comments on my blog than most, then my blog has some popularity. It does seem peculiar that I am rated only at 12th place in the top 50 Lib Dem blog's category, but as one e-mailer suggested to me, it ...

Probably the stupidest decision ever

It is hilarious to think that Schilling's solicitors and Alisher Usmanov probably laughed themselves silly when they threatended legal action against some UK bloggers, resulting in a number of blogs suddenly going off line. They must ahve thought they were so clever getting the internet under their control. Since then, the original story has been run by now more than 302 other blogs meaning the story is one of the most widely reported stories on the internet anywhere. If only there was an award ceremony for the biggest cock up of the year. If you have not yet joined in ...

PA seemed to have got carried away visa vis this week's by-election results

I have corrected my earlier post as I was misled by this Press Association report. When I read this week's by-election results on John Hemming's blog, I thought John had maybe posted the wrong results, having already read the PA release! Such was the disparity between the report and reality. Summary: The PA report said Brown was in turmoil after the Conservatives swept ahead in by-elections key

Back from the Highlands

Having been away in Glasgow yesterday on TACTRAN business (meeting of Regional Transport Partnership Chairs) then on 'day job' activities in Inverness today, I have past scenery a little different than Dundee's West End Ward (see above right!)Back to over 100 e-mails (never mind the phone messages) on return, but very pleased to note that the City Council's Education Department has agreed to my request to survey the viability of providing a lollipop person facility for Blackness PS pupils at Perth Road east of Pennycook Lane. This follows requests from parents and the survey has been promised for the new ...

Darlington says "no" to Elected Mayor

In Darlington the result of the referendum for an elected Mayor was: No - 11,226 (58.4%) Yes - 7,981 (41.6%) Turnout was 24.7% The proposal to have an elected mayor is therefore lost. In Birmingham there is some effort to get a petition for an "elected Mayor". Of those campaigning for the petition not everyone wants the "elected Mayor". In the mean time the BBC are having a real go at James

Show me the way to Cedar Centre

Just over two years ago I wrote about the plans for Special Education in the Borough. The idea was to provide more specialist places within Kingston so that fewer children would have to go outside the Borough to find a suitable place. It was quite tricky to sort all this out at the time, as it did mean that each of the three Special Schools would be catering for a slightly different...

In the top hundred

According to Sanddef this blog is number 90 in Iain Dales list of the Top 500 UK Bloggers and is second only to Glyn Davies in that list amongst Welsh bloggers. I am greatly flattered.

Guinness Advert: Is it just me?

Watching the England-Tonga game, there's a Guinness advert with black and white cartoon characters playing rugby. I might be being too sensitive here, but I read it as the good, white smaller team, against the bigger, black bad guys. Is it just me, or is that a racist stereotype? OK just seen the other advert, where the black team have the ball and score against big scary white players. Point withdrawn...

Tom Wise on Alisher Usmanov

Tim Ireland on Bloggerheads has the link to the full official transcript of the speech made by Tom Wise MEP in the European Parliament about Alisher Usmanov. It is covered by Parliamentary privilege.

The Blogging Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry started one of those weblog thingys started a couple of weeks ago with a "blessay" on the iPhone and now he has moved on to the subject of Fame. Both well worth a read, if you have a spare hour (they're long with a capital "gigantic").

How "Photoshopping" entered the English language - A lesson for James Purnell

James Purnell, a Junior Minister, has been caught out having been added to a photo that he never actually attended the photo shoot for. This, for the uninitiated, is called "Photoshopping", which refers to the sue of the application "Photoshop", which is a great programme for editing photos. I have used it in the past to doctor photos for this blog, most notably the rather poor job of did of adding the cat to David Cameron's feet, although rather bizarrely this story then got carried by dozens of other blogs and went round the world, so it shows that Photoshopping ...

James Purnell

I would just like to make clear that, unlike Labour Minister James Purnell, I did turn up on time for the hospital photoshoot:

The Norwich City Muppets Youtube Video they are all talking about

This new YouTube video even made the local news this evening, and the first half of it, the bit featuring the Muppet Show really is very good indeed. I am just hoping Norwich can avoid playing like a bunch of Muppets tomorrow when I go to the match against Sheffield Wednesday.

We haven’t forgotten about Rainsough…

I am sure that Jacqueline Miley’s letter about Rainsough in the Prestwich Advertiser tonight struck a chord with many residents living there. However, local Lib Dem Councillors are working hard with residents to try and make Rainsough a better place. It is unfortunate that the estate is on the border between Bury and Salford, and too often this is used as an excuse for a lack of action. But we hope that the future is bright for local people. The Tenants and Residents Association has recently been re-vitalised, with a dedicated committee of local people supported by officers from both Six ...

The stuffing machine and me

Advice surgery for constituents this morning followed by wrestling match with stuffing machine in office. Machine 2 Lynne 0! Anyway - still waiting for Gordon's decision ... Buggers up the weekend though!

What did you do in the 40s, Mr Purnell?

The Voice had a good chuckle earlier at this story about an NHS Trust faking a photograph so that Culture Secretary James Purnell could appear with three other MPs after he turned up late for a photo op visit. Mr Purnell has made it clear it wasn’t his fault: “I didn’t think a faked photo would be [...]

BBC "Spinning" Pro Tory stories

The Tories love to lambast the BBC as being pro Labour, being institutionally biased against the Conservative Party and being a haven for socialists and liberals. So can the Tories explain the blatant lies that the BBC was peddling on their behalf this morning on BBC Breakfast News and on BBC Radio ? The BBC quite categorically stated that in yesterday's local council by-elections "the results had been poor for Gordon's Brown's Labour Party with the Conservative Vote up in 8 of the 9 seats with the Tories gaining a seat of Labour" The funny thing is though that when ...

How desperate are the Tories?

So, prudent Gordon Brown is about to go to the polls, little more than 28 months after the last General Election. And the Tories claim that they are champing at the bit -- but enough of their boudoir activities. The Witney Wonder is all wound up and ready to go for the autumn poll, we're assured. But, if they are so confident, why -- really, why -- do they scratch around with yesterday's local by-election results as their main press release for the day. I realise all hacks act like train-spotters when it comes to the weekly results, and that ...

Will Gordon Brown disenfranchise me?

Okay, I accept that the chicken entrails are all currently indicating an autumn election. Iain Dale and Vicky Ford have just made me realise something: am I going to lose my vote to suit Gordon Brown’s agenda? I moved house back in January and dutifully filled in the registration form this summer (okay, okay, with some prodding, I admit). But with the new canvass not set to come on stream until December, I’ll be one of those awkward people who find themselves between two registers. A November election will be a miserable one; it is no surprise that most Scottish ...

Is this how the Labour party see their MEPs?

Didn’t get to see much of the Labour Conference in Bournemouth but in the highlights I saw the speech of Gary Titley, Leader of the Labour MEPs. Not sure he said a great deal of note but as he sat down after speaking, Keith Vaz, who was chairing the session, said: “I would like to thank Gary and the other Labour MEPs for the wonderful work they do in Europe”! It seemed a strange thing to say especially coming from a former Minister for Europe, like he was Archbishop Benson in late Victorian Britain and they were some kind of missionaries ...

Battlestar Gallactica Season 3

I've just finished watching season three of Battlestar Gallactica (BSG) on DVD. What a fantastic series, and what a great ending to the penultimate season. BSG is a 'reimagining' of the classic but cheesy late-seventies sci-fi series about a group of human survivors trying to find earth in the face of the genocidal Cylons. Much of the series tackles contemporary issues such as the use of torture, the tactics of insurgency and the democratic process. It does this by making the humans, with whom the audience tend to identify, into the insurgent terrorists, using tactics such as suicide bombings and ...

An Incitement to War Crimes

There is an extraordinary article in today’s edition of the ‘Jewish Chronicle’, by Geoffrey Alderman, calling on Israel to cut off Gaza’s water-supply, in addition to the curbs on fuel supplies and the movement of people in and out of the territory that are already in place. This suggested collective punishment would not just be against international law, but could justly be described as a war crime, were it to be put into action. I quite understand why Israelis (and Jews elsewhere) are angered by indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian militants based in Gaza, and by the rhetoric of Hamas. But to suggest cutting water off from ...

Post 200 - Battle Stations ...

As Ryan pointed out a few days ago this blog is one of a small but hardy batch of blogs that existed when Lib Dem Blogs was born three years ago. Regular readers will know (well when I say 'regular' ...) that posting has always been somewhat sporadic. This is because I only post when I have something to say and time to say it, and, as my friends will know, I often don't have much time. This is the 200th post. Not bad if you ask me. And comes on what I now think to be a likely general ...

The neverending poll story

Rarely has a story has commanded so many days on the front-pages whilst developing so little.Expectations of an autumn General Election have been ramped so high that it seems amazing that The Telegraph can still run the headline 'Gordon Brown fuels snap election fever'. Can expectations be raised any higher? The FT suggests that the decision is weighing heavy on Mr Brown ("Brown agonises over election date") But I'm not so sure.Not only has Labour whitewashed this week's coverage with the same story - its likely that the same story will be as much in play next week too.Polls show ...

Council by-elections: what’s been going on?

Over the last six weeks there have been twenty council by-elections in the key Westminster constituencies* for the next general election. Looking at these twenty results provides a much more useful story of what is happening in the areas which really matter to each party than overall council by-election results. What story do they tell? Good news [...]

Balloon loosing its moorings…

Throughout all this speculation about a possible General Election, I have argued that it is just Mr Brown winding everyone up, and he is not really planning to have an election this year. I set out the case for this here, and certainly he does really seem to have used the threat to tie Mr Cameron in knots over the summer. However I have to admit that I have been wavering over the last few days. Several of the speeches in Bournemouth this week seem to have been very much geared up to trying to win votes in the near ...

Today at the Burmese Embassy

Today, wearing my red polo-neck sweater that was the nearest thing I could find to a red shirt, and holding up an umbrella as rain began to fall, I joined the daily noon-till-one demonstration outside the Burmese Embassy at 19A Charles Street, Mayfair, London. It seemed the least that a decent person could do to protest against the bandits whose servants are inside the Embassy whilst the lawfully elected leader is languishing in custody back in Burma. I arrived a little after midday and found quite a large crowd already. There was a big group from Amnesty International, some people ...

The fake Labour bar chart: coming soon to a letterbox near you

At their party conference, Labour were distributing various nationally produced full colour leaflets for local use. One of them - about crime - includes a bar chart. “Ah,” I hear some of you say, “but how can a national leaflet contain an accurate and reasonable bar chart for use locally?” “Oh, that’s easy,” I hear some of [...]

So how do the people of Henley feel about the Boris bid?

In all of the media overkill relating to the Boris Mayoral bid nowhere have I seen a reference to what the people in his Henley constituency think. If I were a resident of Henley I would be pretty annoyed about this, given the amount of time he is going to have to put into campaigning over the next eight months. I would start to feel neglected. So I go to the website of the local paper, the Henley Standard, and, apart from reprinting Boris’s press release from yesterday, there is nothing except an online poll which has had a response ...

Hereford Liberal Democrats - Ready and waiting

I have been in Hereford meeting with our candidate Sarah Carr and organiser Owen Howell to run through various election-related things, they are certainly ready whenever Gordon names the day.

Tories talked green, but go blue

Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne has today ruled out many of the environmental proposals made by the Gummer-Goldsmith Quality of Life commission. Encouraged by David Cameron to “think the unthinkable”, Gummer and Goldsmith have had their findings unthought by their bosses. So much for ‘go green, vote blue’. Don’t hold your breath for green proposals from [...]

Friday

Nice to receive two letters, today, from people in my Ward thanking me for a couple of things achieved over the past weeks. I may not have made any ones list of top 100 blogs, as if I care about upcountry people and their lists, mutter mutter, but the people down here are pleased with me. And that sends me off into the weekend, a happy and contented Councillor.

Straw: gratutious violence is okay

Straw LC* is like a parody of a Lord Chancellor. I thought Nick Clegg was rather polite is calling the announced review of self-defence “confused”. I was struck by Jack Straw’s choice of words on the radio. He said it would be unacceptable for “people [purpoting to defend themselves] to uses totally gratutious violence.” Why the word totally? Inserting it implies that it would be acceptable to use some gratutitous violence, i.e. when defending yourself you should be able to go beyound self defence and inflict further harm and injury just for the hell of it, as long as that ...

The sunrise and sunset times which may give Gordon Brown pause for thought

Recent council by-election results have been interesting. Last week, Labour romped home in the home of the vital "Worcester woman" with a stonking 17.6% swing. This week there have been vote share increases for the Tories in Dover (up 4.1%) and Portsmouth North (up 3.3%). But Labour's share also went up - by 3.2% in Portsmouth. There were 8.2% and 12.6% decreases in the Tory vote share in

Election Results: Thursday 27th September 2007. (Reading the runes)

Cheshire CC, Gowy Con 1863 (50.4; +2.1), LD Andrew Garman 1419 (38.4; +5.7), Lab 307 (8.3; -10.8), UKIP 107 (2.9; +2.9). Majority 444. Turnout not known. Con hold. Last fought 2005. Chester-le-Street DC, Chester Central Lab 324 (59.4; -11.1), Con 89 (16.3; -13.2), LD Sean Kilkenny 81 (14.9; +14.9), BNP 51 (9.4; +9.4). Majority 235. Turnout 25.7%. Lab hold. Last fought 2007. Dover DC, Aylesham

Pet Shop Boys join the fight against the database state

Check out the Pet Shop Boys’ new video for their new single ‘Integral’. I think it’s a very effective video - good job! There’s also some pages on the NO2ID website about it. ” Picking up on the song’s themes of ID cards and the erosion of civil liberties by the government, Pet Shop Boys worked with new creative group the Rumpus Room to create a sinister mix of surveillance type footage and information technology as content for their new music video. Embedded in the dystopian film are single frames of Quick Response Code, a new barcode technology which works ...

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

Posted by Chris: My eagerly awaited copy of Conservative Blogger Iain Dale's Guide to Political Blogging in the UK dropped through the letterbox yesterday morning and I read a good bit of it in bed last night. Disregarding the obvious Tory slant to Iain's contributions and the fact that our blog is down to No 77, in this year's top 100 Lib Dem blogs (according to a "panel" of fellow Lib Dem Bloggers), from No 48 last year when Iain Dale choose the list, this excellent guide tells you almost everything you want to know about political blogging in the ...

No elected Mayor for Darlington

Over on Mike Barker's blog is the good news that Darlington residents have voted against having a populist Mallon type Mayor in the Borough. The result was: No - 11,226 (58.4%) Yes - 7,981 (41.6%) Turnout was 24.7%

iPhone Gets Locked Down (again)

BBC News is reporting that the new iPhone update has disabled unlocked iPhones. Seems an opportune time to put up this image then: (click to enlarge) Via The Daily Irrelevant The idea of locking a product to a single network (and then penalising those who chose to circumvent this) seems distinctly anti-competitive to me, and serves only to work against the consumer and in favour of

Woah I’m Going To Torbados

I attended a meeting of the Torbay Business Forum chaired by our elected Mayor and suggested that instread of spending over £70,000 on London consultants to come up with ideas to re brand the area, th...

No Ray Mallon here!

The result of the referendum for an elected Mayor was: No - 11,226 (58.4%) Yes - 7,981 (41.6%) Turnout was 24.7% The proposal to have an elected mayor is therefore lost. So, after all their petitioning and campaigning, the small group who wanted to impose an elected autocracy on us persuaded less than 8000 people out of over 75000 to vote for their proposal. But now is the time that the Labour

Stick it up your Junta

I was at a Roman Catholic wedding in Poland last weekend – and knowing the influence that the Church had in peacefully undermining the forces of brutal authority in that country, I am optimistic that the courageous monks of Burma will eventually prevail similarly. The website of the military Myanmar Government features an extradordinarily ham-fisted attempt at spinning the country’s pro-democracy demonstrations. The story’s standfirst says it all; it reads Some monks and people enter homes. Saboteurs threaten families demanding them to join protest if not provide cash, kind Authorities urge people to make complaints in person or on line ...

So Tony Blair lied, who else in the cabinet also lied

From today's Independant : .. a fresh leaked transcript of a conversation between President Bush and his Spanish counterpart President Aznar before the invasion of Iraq in February 2003 show Mr Bush saying: "We have to get rid of Saddam. In two w... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

National Bus Passes for the over 60s

From April 2008 anyone aged 60 or over will be entitled to free local bus travel anywhere in England after 9.30am and before 11pm on weekdays and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. I understand that some people have had problems getting through to Centro on the telephone number given (0121 775 0001) for queries about the new passes or to request application forms. They are

If there is a General Election I am still perplexed as to how we answer the question on whether we want a referendum or not

Apologies to those who have missed my postings (clearly a fantasy I know) but after returning from the Lib Dem Conference in Brighton I popped into to see my Aunt who was about to go into hospital for a heart operation (seems it was successful thus far), my parents and my brother. Also I needed to catch up with my PhD, especially as the new Academic Year is about to start and library books needed to be returned, registration forms completed and so on. There were a couple of other distractions but more of those another time. Brighton seems a ...

Most Scottish Labour MPs against early election

The BBC reports: A majority of Scottish Labour MP backbenchers do not want the prime minister to call a general election this year, BBC Scotland has found. A survey has found they are against autumn poll by a margin of two to one. They cited reasons including voter fatigue and concern over the strength of the SNP.It quotes Jim Devine, MP for Livingston, as saying: "I remember the last October election in 1974. It is cold, it is dark, we are liable to have a foot of snow from Aberdeen to Aberystwyth. This is not the time for an election. ...

A different take on Jack Straw’s sudden zeal for householders’ rights

Sometimes a letter in a newspaper just jumps off the page and slaps you round the chops. So it was this morning as I was waiting for the car to pass its MOT. Reading The Independent there was this letter: Unwelcome guests Sir: Jack Straw has expressed a new-found enthusiasm for householders’ right to use force against those who enter their homes illegally. Does this also mean that he would support the Iraqi population in using reasonable force against those who have entered their country illegally? Fraser Bailey, Leek, Staffordshire Hats off to Mr Bailey - my chops were truly ...

Day 2458: Liberal Democrats are right… says the Labour!

Tuesday: DARINGLY, Mr Vince "Power" Cable and Mr David "He is the" Laws have SNEAKED into the Labour's Conference in Bournemouth. Either that or they've booked in REALLY, REALLY EARLY for our Conference there next year. Whilst trying to fight their way out of Mr Frown's Big Top… sorry, Big Tent (NOT the one in Greenwich that ought to be named after me), Messrs Cable and Laws ran into Treasury Minister Ms Angel Eagle who was full of praises for the Liberal Democrats' tax plans. In spite of our fundamental differences on the way that taxes should be SPENT – ...

A Certain destiny

As the despotic regime in Burma continues to attempt to crush the drive for freedom with bloodshed, the dignity and bravery of the long oppressed Burmese continues to shine through. I continue to believe that the junta should be isolated and that all practical measures to promote the cause of Burmese freedom should be undertaken. The fact that the Chinese government seems to be calling for restraint, is perhaps mildly optimistic. The fact that Russia is supporting the tyrants should be noted and is contemptible. An Op-Ed piece in The Times by Ben Macintyre caught my eye. I think it ...

Public Transport

I guess this is another story about common sense or lack of it The sort of issue that we need to tackle at a detailed level where the ordinary people of this country can see that what is happening does not make sense and yet nothing is done. We live about ten minutes walk from Aldermaston station which is on the main line between Reading and Newbury. So far so good with six kids between us and four of them teenagers you would think that this would be a good thing - and so it is sometimes. Last Saturday night ...

Organising

Our Organiser, having got election fever, had us out leafleting in Falmouth. I doubt that there will be a snap election, but Anna didn't want to risk being left with a pile of launch leaflets for Terrye Teverson, our recently appointed PPC, so she had us toiling all day. Fair enough, they have to go out anyway and we delivered near to 3000 yesterday. In the evening I helped dish out the prizes for the Truro in Bloom competition. It's always a great event, because so many children are involved. So there was lots of noise and laughter throughout and ...

The politics of a pound a litre

A forgotten bit of the last budget is coming home to roost on October the First when a deferred increase in Excise Tax will put up the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps. Under present conditions this may see the £1 litre on sale at many forecourts within a few days. We can expect some public uproar about this… Not you would think the best background for a governing party contemplating an October election campaign. And it may not be the best context for a party like ours seeking to make the case for radical Green Taxes. Most ...

Tories retreat to core values

The Daily Telegraph reports today that David Cameron is to abandon his brave new world and retreat instead to the sort of core values on tax, marriage and crime that have failed his predecessors, Michael Howard and William Hague. Green proposals that have proved to be unpopular with ordinary Tory voters will be scrapped. They include taxing people for parking at supermarkets and for taking more than one short flight a year. Instead they will borrow a Liberal Democrat proposal of taxing each flight made by an airline, though they will not adopt the full raft of our policies, leaving ...

Wood Green bookshop

Following the demise of Wood Green's Waterstones, there is good news! Simon Key and Tim West are determined to bring a bookshop back to Wood Green. They have a blog, too, go visit it here. I heard from them that it's National Children's Book Week next week and was asked to name my favourite children's book. That's easy, it's Where The Wild Things Are, probably the first book I remember being read to me and just brilliant. Have bought it for my nieces recently, and kept a copy for myself too. Made me think, what are my favourite books? That's ...

Training in Hodge Hill

Last night I was training some of the members in Birmingham Hodge Hill. The training was organised a few weeks ago and was in the run-up to the AGM season on the role of the officers, however it turned into a bit of a pre-election training session.

Wearing a Red T-Shirt Today

Because apparently it's wear a red T-shirt for Burma day according to this Facebook group. I'm sure it should more properly be called "in support of the Burmese people", just because otherwise it sounds like we're supporting the government, but there you go. Wear a red T-shirt today, spread the love and show your solidarity with the Burmese monks and other protestors who are simply demanding the

Politics done proper: Opposition leader arrested after accusing President of murder

Here's a bit of good, old-fashioned politics to keep you distracted from the imminent General Election. How do you grab the media's attention if you're setting up a new opposition party? If you're the Georgian Movement for a United Georgia, you accuse the president of terror, fascism, corruption and murder. Just four years ago Georgian 'Rose Revolution' overthrew the post-Communist regime of Eduard Schevardnadze, ushering in what was meant to be a new era of democracy and openness. The new president, Saakashvili, set out on a pro-Western, pro-NATO programme. However, it is Saakashvili who is facing the allegations of corruption ...

Labour: Brown blusters but nothing changes

One of the more obvious things in parliament is that Labour say things will change, but often little changes. One small example relates to shop lifting. There is a form of shop lifting allowance before anyone is prosecuted rather than cautioned. This means that in essence people can shoplift knowing they won't be prosecuted. The rhetoric of Labout is "talking tough", but the action is not

Believe It or Not! We are Natural Allies

So where has it all gone so terribly wrong? Why have two minorities that should be natural allies so fundamentally moved in different directions? What am I talking about? Muslims and the Lesbian/Bi/Gay and Trans communities. I remember marching in anti-Nazi Party rallies and in calling for racial equality in the capital in the 1980's and 1990's with fellow marchers who were gay and bisexual and I used to leave with a feeling that London was the most varied and the most exciting city on earth. One where you could find anyone, from the farthest countries of the globe and ...

Hampstead and Kilburn Raring to Go

{hampstead-and-kilburn-libdems.jpg} LibDems from Brent and Camden — and indeed, from as far away as Southwark — were out in force last night for the formal opening of the party’s campaign headquarters for the new cross-borough constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn. This is seen by the psephologists as a key Labour-LibDem marginal when the next election comes — which could be extremely soon, from what the pundits are now saying. Indeed, (Lord) Chris Rennard, the party’s campaign guru — who spoke at the launch event, alongside party presidential hopeful (Baroness) Ros Scott — was predicting that we may be put out of our ...

Are the SNP really that dim ?

Iain Dale has an interesting story about the SNP trying to persuade Alex Salmond to stand against Gordon Brown in Kirkaldy. The SNP seem to believe that Alex Salmond's popularity will transfer to a general election. Personally I think Brown would romp home and Alex Salmond would, as Iain Dale states, be seen to be playing a cynical political game. I see no advantage to Kirkaldy or to local constituents in having Alex Salmond as their MP whilst he remains as Member of the Scottish parliament for another part of Scotland. Given his so called "loyalty to the Scottish parliament", ...

Day 2457: THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: Revenge of the Slitheen

Monday: We have done our best to check Mr Frown's pictures on the television, but we cannot be CERTAIN that there is not a zip-fastener under the fringe of his new hairdo, and an ageing Lady Thatcher on the inside! We have, however, had MUCH more fun than watching Mr Frown's boring old speech to the Labour. No, we tuned in to CBBC1 instead. Thanks to digital television, we have seen the WHOLE of Ms Sarah-Jane's first new adventure. Other viewers might beware of SPOILERS by not reading further! Well, it is hardly a spoiler to mention that the Slitheen ...

Friday 28th September 2007

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