LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 9th October 2007

Unsubscribe Now!

Just got back from the launch of UNSUBSCRIBE, Amnesty International's new online campaign. There was a great discussion of the potential of online social networking for campaigning, with a really high quality panel, including the people behind the Burma campaigns on Facebook and the global Burma petition on Avaaz.org. Everyone had a lot of genuine, realistic insights into how online campaigning is going to shape the future - about the potential of campaigning through online networks, the risks, and the scope for cooperation and conflict between single-issue spontaneous campaigning and the existing online and offline civil society groups that swarm ...

Forbidden knowledge

According to the BBC, a teenager has been arrested for the crime of possession of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook”, and having attempted to obtain some of the chemicals required to make some of it’s recipes. While the unlicensed manufacture and use of explosives has probably been illegal for a very long time, the criminalization of possession of this book seems paradoxical: For starters, the book is still on sale on Amazon.co.uk and has been sold legally in the UK for more than 30 years. It can be downloaded for free. (If you clicked on that link then you just came into ...

Ludwig Wittgenstein and Lembit Opik

The parallels between the great philosopher and the Lib Dem MP for Montgomery are uncanny. Wittgenstein left his aeronautical research in Manchester in 1911 to study mathematical logic with Russell in Trinity College, Cambridge.And: Lembit Opik started Bristol University as an Aeronautical Engineering student in 1983 but graduated in Philosophy in 1987.

Spending Your Money

How difficult is it to spend £10K of tax-payers' money? Easy do I hear you say? You'd be wrong, so wrong. This evening I chaired a meeting of the Western Area Transport Strategy Steering Group which met to discuss allocation of £25000 to projects in the Western Area which would improve road safety or traffic flow or otherwise improve highways. At the last meeting 4 items had been identified

Nick Clegg is Certainly a Formidable Force

Having spent this evening with members of the Liberal Democrat Youth & Students, I was privileged to hear Nick Clegg talk about the openess, transparency and vibrancy within the Party. Nick talked about this being a strength and it is this strength which means that we will always be the Party to talk straight and to make policy decisions that are relevant to people and communities. It is clear that Nick is more than a 'rising star,' he is a formidable force and leadership oozes out from every word that he utters. And what a formidable group of Parliamentarians we ...

Something to Make You Smile

My mother, apathy personified, after I told her what Gordon Brown said to Andrew Marr over the weekend ("It would have been easier for me to call an election"): "He really is in Tony Blair's mould isn't he?" Yes, yes he is.

Locking horns?

Last week's Full Council typified much that is wrong with the way that institution operates. Hopefully the newly-formed Corporate Governance Working Party will get to grips with this, but more of that anon. My fellow Darlington blogger, Labour Cabinet member Nick Wallis, described last Thursday's Council as Labour and Conservatives "locking horns". Well, up to a point. The Tories repeated yet

Well Darling.........................

Alistair Darling. Hmmmm, is that a contradiction in terms? I must confess I haven't yet read all 286 pages of his CSR, but what I have seen already hasn't really convinced me that it does what it says on the tin, namely "meet the aspirations of the British people". How I wish the document we got sight of today hadn't been disinfected. What fun if we had been able to track the changes! So, lots of gimmicks, little long term thinking. I share a theory, you may know it.........the wise man built his house on a rock...........the foolish on the ...

A Bit Of A Kerfuffle Down By The Bins Outside The Barn

This is a story about a bit of a kerfuffle down by the bins outside the barn, and one man’s search for the truth… Last week there was a bit of a kerfuffle down by the bins outside the barn. This was very shocking. Those of us who keep an eye on such things are used to the seemingly endless series of kerfuffles taking place at the bins by the docks, but for the bins outside the barn to be targeted by agencies of kerfuffledom was a frightening development. I had more reason than most to be concerned. I knew ...

Peter Grant leaves Norwich

I feel sorry for Peter Grant upon his leaving Norwich City Football Club this evening after an abysmal run of results for the club. Grant inherited a squad last year with many problems and with little opportunity to really delve in to the transfer market, he seemed to have turned the club around last year. This season, despite plenty of new signings, he has, to put it bluntly , been very let down by some of the senior professionals at the club. In particular Darren Huckerby ought to hang his head in shame for the lacklustre way he has performed ...

So solid Leeds keep Darlo out

A much changed Leeds United took on a decent Darlington side in the "do dah" cup and held on to win. A crowd of 7,891 attended, which is about double Darlo's normal gate. It was a chance for United's new signings, Paul Huntington, David Lucas to impress and that they did. It was also a good opportunity for a look at some of the younger players. The defence looked solid and centre back Huntington headed the only goal of the game, from a corner, early in the second half. With just over half an hour to go Portugese winger Filipe ...

So much for socialism, Daahling!

{Alistair Darling - by David Partner @ http://www.headsofgovernment.co.uk/ministers.php?dept_id=7} I suppose it's probably a very long time since The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was required reading for a Labour minister. And maybe my initial calculations are wrong on the "budget"... But am I right in thinking that those of us who labour all our lives but can't afford to buy a home are now going to be paying more in tax than the rack landlord on his buy to let investment he's fleecing us to occupy? In another era even the most liberal of economists would have recognized this as robbery of ...

Vince on the pre-budget report

The BBC’s fairly self-explanatory report - Darling ‘using Lib Dem air tax’ - can be read here. For those who’d like to enjoy Vince’s wise words in full here they are, brought to you thanks to the wonder that is the online Hansard: Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham) (LD): I thank the Chancellor for an advance [...]

Lib Dem leadership announcement this Sunday

Before those of you outside Wales get too excited… This from the BBC: The leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Welsh assembly, Mike German, is expected to reveal this weekend whether he wants to remain in the job. Mr German said he would “probably” announce his decision during his speech at the party’s autumn conference [...]

Craig Murray is blogging again

Craig Murray is back - at a slightly different address.

Mid Term review

Tuesday 9th October 2007 - Today I presented my draft opinion on the Mid Term Review of the EU's Environment Action Plan, my fourth opinion for the international trade committee this mandate and my third opinion this year related to international trade and the environment, so I think it's safe to say that I'm becoming a bit of an expert on the topic. The inconvenient truth is that economic

Meltdown in meltdown shocker

Just nine days ago (seems a lifetime) it was Cameron who was in ‘meltdown’ (The Observer). Today it’s Team Gordon who are in ‘meltdown’ (ConHome). Other current ‘meltdown’ news items include: the hunt for Madeleine McCann (The Sun), the US subprime collapse (Daily Telegraph), Amy Winehouse (Showbizspy.com), Royal Mail deliveries in Coventry (icCoventry.co.uk), and Northern Rock (FTAdviser). To

Tory Tail, Wagging Gordon Brown's Dog

Been glancing at comments from some of Labour's armchair pundits, many of whom were not only up for, but also, ready for a General Election, and are now, surprise, surprise, proclaiming how right Gordon Brown was to call off a General Election! Some cite the weather, voter registration and even that 'the public did not want one'! So, the content of the Chancellors Pre-Budget Speech today should come as no surprise to any of us. It seems after presssure from Labour MPs in key marginals, such as Martin Salter, who when interviewed today, told the BBC that 'Inheritance Tax was ...

More from Winston Churchill's radical days

A couple of days ago I quoted some wise words of Churchill from his days as a radical Liberal. Courtesy of Westminster Wisdom - the whole posting on inheritance tax is worth reading - here are some more. Churchill published his Liberalism and the Social Problem in 1909. In it he wrote: The best way to make private property secure and respected is to bring the processes by which it is gained into harmony with the general interests of the public.When and where property is associated with the idea of reward for services rendered, with the idea of recompense for ...

Ministry of Truth? Why is this lying liar lying to us?

Who is the Ministry of Truth? I used to think the answer to that was simple: it is Unity (whoever the fuck that is). It turns out however that there are two Ministry of Truths. The other Ministry of Truth has been running this advert on Messagespace for the past few days. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Unity (I’m guessing here, but somehow I suspect that if this was one of Unity’s projects, he’d mention it on his own blog). It’s a good job I didn’t start this rant last night though because at that point ...

Time to take stock

I think it is time for our MPs to take stock - to take a good hard look at the situation in which we find ourselves. It is up to them, in particular, for at least three reasons. First, under article 10.5 of the Federal Party constitution, no one can stand for leader unless proposed by at least ten per cent of our MPs. Second, it was a group of our MPs who forced Charles to resign, which under Article 10.2 triggered the leadership election back in the winter of 2005-2006. Third, a good proportion of our MPs proposed Ming, ...

Green spaces

I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening when we will be holding a special South of the Brorough Neighbourhood meeting on the theme of 'Looking after our green spaces'. Everyone is welcome to attend and join in the discussion. For the first hour we will have a chance to meet managers from Quadron, which is the Council's contractor for parks and grounds. They look after parks and...

Iraqi interpreters offered non-existent escape route

The lifeline offered by Gordon Brown to a few of the interpreters who’ve risked their lives assisting the British forces in Iraq is being dissected across the blogosphere - the marvellous Dan Hardie for starters. So there’s only one thing for me to add. David Miliband’s statement assures us that on top of the new procedure: Alternatively, these staff will be able to apply for exceptional leave to enter the UK I’m just wondering how given that they abolished “exceptional leave to enter or remain” back in April 2003. The guidance says, and it seems fairly unequivocal to me: As ...

Rugby : Gordon Brown : Equalities

What an amazing weekend of Rugby - starting with a Bath win but of more national note the boys from England finally stepped up to the plate and delivered some rugby to be proud off. A great game with committment, passion and enjoyment from every player on the field. In fact I enjoyed all four semis. Contrast that with the faltering effort from Gordon. It was his Labour henchmen that...

Inheritance Tax dodge

Darling's inheritance tax cut isn't much of a cut. By making it £600,000 for a couple instead of £300,000 each, all he has done is to hugely simplify financial arrangements for people. Before today, your will could place all of your assets in a trust, with your spouse getting a life interest in those assets. When your widow died, the trust would end, passing on your assets to your children. In effect, this meant that the couple got two inheritance tax allowances, as long as they wrote their wills correctly. Now, conventional "mirror wills" will have the same effect as ...

Stolen clothes - Another reason for fixed term parliaments

In some ways the near miss of the general election might allow Labour to do some things it never considered in the light of the Tories suddenly revealing last week that they actually have some policies. Alistair Darling today announced that Labour had looked at and rather liked what the Tories had to say on Inheritance Tax and on taxing non-domiciled workers, and announced that labour would raise further the the inheritance tax levels for married couples and also would tax the "non-doms", like the Tories said they would do. This then poses something of a question for the Tories. ...

barbados here we come

In October 2008 Catherine has a Soroptimist Conference in Barbados for 3 days. Well after some humming and hawing, by me, because of length of flight, we decided to have a decent length of holiday so we booked up for 11 nights in the 4 star Amaryllis Beach Resort (pictured) and upgraded to a superior ocean view room. We've been saving our Tesco clubcard vouchers as they get exchanged at a rate of £1 of clubcard vouchers to £4 of Virgin holiday vouchers. In the end we got about £600 off our holiday - not bad for just doing our ...

Gideon Osborne on followership

Which party was the first in this Parliament to call for an increase in the IHT threshold? The Liberal Democrats Which party was the first to call for replacing air passenger duty with a tax on planes? The Liberal Democrats I ask, because Gideon Osborne has today been branding the “theft” of policies as “scrabbling around in a panic,” a “cynical stunt” and “followership not leadership.” If the cap fits… Share This

Open Government and Extraordinary Rendition

From the New Statesman: "On Sept 27, Derek Pasquill, an official at the Foreign Office, was charged with six counts under the Official Secrets Act. He is due to appear in court on October 11. This case is said to follow the publication in the New Statesman, the Observer and in a pamphlet by the Policy Exchange think tank of a series of articles highlighting damaging and dangerous government

Coffee time

Never let it be said that MPs do not have a sense of their own importance. They have only been back a day and already a memo has gone out throughout the Parliamentary estate demanding that all staff give way to them in the queue for coffee and a whole range of other services: Before the recess the Speaker approved the Administration Committee’s recommendation that Members should have priority access to services throughout the Commons part of the Parliamentary Estate. With effect from today, staff and other users should be prepared to give way to Members when queuing for retail ...

A topsy-turvy world

Just back from the Chamber of the House of Commons listening to Alistair Darling do his first 'pre-Budget statement'. Most striking was the immediate 'damage limitation' of a big hike in the inheritance tax threshold for couples, which will eventually rise to £700,000. Given that six months ago they thought a threshold of just over £300,000 was enough, it's not hard to guess what changed! He also announced (after five years of dithering) tighter tax rules on 'non-domiciles' - ie people who live here but earn some of their money abroad and don't pay UK tax on their foreign earnings. ...

Comprehensive posterior covering review

Well I suppose it is called a "pre-budget statement" as well as a Comprehensive Spending Review, so Mr Darling can be forgiven for using the occasion to shoot as many of the Osbourne ducks as possible. The controversial air passenger duty is being axed by 2009. Instead of being levied on individual customers, it will be charged on flights. Copyright: Liberal Democrat party I welcome the

Thankyou, Gordon

It’s not often I thank Gordon Brown but looking out of the window to the rain that’s been falling in sheets all day makes me very glad I’m not out on the streets trying to do the first leaflet delivery of a General Election today. And if he’s at a loose end now he’s not going to be campaigning, maybe he’ll do me another favour by coming round to take the dog for a walk…

Is Iran next Mr. Brown?

According to today's Metro Gordon Brown has refused to rule out an attach on Iran. Has he learnt nothing from the Iraq debacle?

Nicol Stephen MSP in Dundee

Earlier today, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Nicol Stephen MSP, visited Dundee to meet with Chris Hall, our Lochee Ward by-election candidate and with myself and the City Council about the future of the Cities Growth Fund (see also the story in tonight's Evening Telegraph by clicking the headline above). Despite the rain (and there was plenty of that!) we had a good walkabout in the Lochee shopping centre meeting many local residents.

A Tidying Up Exercise

I've made some changes to the blog - added a banner (again), added a label cloud, got rid of all those little rss feed widgets thingys and replaced them with one BIG ORANGE BUTTON. The biggest change is a nice list of links down the side bar sorted by political affiliation/interests. Let me know if you link to me and I'll return the courtesy (or I might just add you because I read you anyway).

Jack's Place

A reception in the Terrace Marquee - the parliamentary launch of an add on to Naomi House. The Children's Hospice is ten years old and many of their patients are now approaching adulthood. There is a need for a custom built facility for the older children. Excellent idea. I wish them well. George Hollingberry was there - I hadn't realised that he was one of the "finalists" in the Romsey Tory

Robo-politician

Further to my post on Friday about Labour making automated telephone calls in the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency I note that similar activity elsewhere in the Country has been referred to the information commissioner by the Liberal Democrats. The BBC report that under an EC directive unsolicited calls made solely to gather information are legal, but are banned if they are used to promote a product - or political party: The Lib Dems argue that unsolicited "information gathering" calls in which parties ask people if they would mind being sent more information, do contravene the EC directive. Asked ...

Election? What election?

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster. I am one of those who never thought that there would be an election but when all around are losing their heads (or - as some would put it - taking sensible steps should Gordo name the day) it is hard to stay calm and focussed. So, for the last few weeks I have had 2 lists of diary options, 2 campaign plans and have been considering how to produce a

On Blogger TV Last Night

And here's the link to my second appearance on 18 Doughty Street if you wish to catch it Couple of follow up things: I said that in 2005 the Lib Dems stood on a platform of legalising cannabis. They didn't, although the manifesto is slightly ambiguous in its wording, certainly leaving it open for a Lib Dem government to legalise (or at least decriminalising) the drug. In fairness, we did vote at

Not a good week to be Gordon Brown

First, came Yellow Saturday, when he ditched his plans to call an election Then, yesterday, the Parliamentary ombudsman criticised the former Chancellor’s own invention, the bureaucratic and complex tax credit system, as being “unfair” to some of the UK’s poorest families. As Danny Alexander, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, commented: “Gordon [...]

Ming on Iraq

I had thought Ming’s House of Commons statement on Iraq yesterday would be up on his website, so wasn’t going to post it on LDV - but as it wasn’t here it is, verbatim, courtesy of Hansard: Sir Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife) (LD): The Prime Minister began with a tribute to those who have died and [...]

Young Scot

I was delighted to hear that Louise McDonald has been appointed as the new CEO for Young Scot. In Marcus Liddle - Young Scot founder - she has a hard act to follow, but if anyone can do it Louise can! I have had the pleasure of working with Louise and Young Scot for the past three years. They are a remarkable organisation, really making a difference to young people's lives in Scotland. Louise has all the qualities necessary to take over the role, she is professional and scarily efficient and effective (!) but with a warmth and humour that ...

Revolutionary Liberalism: 1 - Leadership

"We are the only party willing to come into office committed to controlling our own power." These were the words of Alan Beith, now our Deputy Leader, speaking at the Party Conference of 1991. They are the very heart of what Liberalism is all about. They would be recognised, not just by British Liberals, not just by twentieth-century Liberals, but by Liberals in all countries and in all times as what Oliver Cromwell used to call 'the root of the matter'. One of the reasons why it is so hard for parties to understand each other is that they have ...

The Grand Old Duke of York

The Lib Dem Geeks have done it again - created a very funny video to remind us all of The Election that Never Was. Do watch and laugh.

If it works in america...

So charismatic Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has told the Commons Home Affairs Committee that the police need to be able to detain terror suspects for longer than 28 days. You can almost imagine the lights being dimmed and the gutsy police chief putting a torch under his chin to make him look more sinister as he told MPs that the number of terror plots in the UK is mounting. Apparently, said the other Mr Blair, "the number of the conspiracies, the number of conspirators within those conspiracies and the magnitude of the ambition, in terms of destruction and ...

Why we should support a referendum on the eu treaty

Because its what the voters want.

Adam Boulton has grown up

Now I usually agree with Nich Starling, but on the Adam Boulton/Andrew Marr issue he misses the point. Nich says that Adam "left the confines of traditional terrestrial broadcasters so that he could be part of a rolling news network". The fact is that Adam left a dead end at TVam, with no room at the top at BBC News & Current Affairs or ITN. It was a career move anybody would make under the

If it quacks - It's a duck!

The European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons has concluded that: The EU treaty is 'substantially equivalent' to the EU Constitution. On that basis a referendum is due. I have, to be fair, taken this position for some time.

Back in the swing of things

I'm delighted to report that I started back at work, full time, a week past Monday. It's been a longer recovery than I had expected but am delighted that I'm back. I'm also back into my full range of party activities and thoroughly enjoyed our Scottish Lib Dem Autumn Conference on Saturday. I am however somewhat relieved that Broon did "bottle it" as I didn't much fancy a second election campaign in one year - too bleeding tiring! Wouldn't mind betting that the next GE will be the same day as the European Parliament Elections on the 1st Thursday in ...

Coffee is for wooses

Andy Mayer has written very sanely about the current outlook for the LibDems. As usual, Iain Dale is telling us to arouse ourselves and infuse the fragance of our expresso. If he had his way, we would be dying of caffeine overdose, the number of times he tells us to "smell the coffee". Andy rather unfairly compares the position of past LibDem leaders at election time and Ming now. We should

Lots to do at half term

Playschemes have been arranged in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland during the October half-term break for children aged five-12. There are two sessions each day - 10am-noon, 1pm-3pm - with a 50p charge to cover refreshments. A parental consent form needs to be completed on the first visit. Call Redcar and Cleveland Council's Children's Information Service for further details on 01642 771173. Dates and venues are: Monday, October 29, Tuesday, October 30: California Youth Centre, Eston and St Hilda's Church Hall, Mersey Road, Redcar. Wednesday, October 31: Locke Park tennis pavilion, Redcar and Lingdale Village Hall. Thursday, November 1: ...

Murray: still not mincing (geddit?)

(pardon me while I try shoe-horning this pun in place… ugh… there) A welcome return to Craig Murray, still unbowed despite Alisher Usmanov’s attempts to shut him up. I think we should thank all the newspaper and broadcast journalists out there who have bravely and tirelessly reported this case beyond simply mentioning that Boris Johnson has been taken down as well. Does anyone know anyone? Share This

Modern Art

It seems that the best craic is to be had at the Tate Modern.

Brown responsible for economic turmoil

Ahead of the Chancellor’s statement on the Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell called on Gordon Brown to take responsibility for the turmoil in the economy. Ming accused Gordon Brown of going to ground while his Chancellor tries to steer his way through the stormy economic waters of the Prime Minister’s making. He said: “Gordon Brown must stand up and take responsibility for creating an economic outlook full of uncertainty and instability. “As Chancellor, Gordon Brown happily lauded his own economic wizardry, but failed even to recognise the growing problems of personal debt. Personal debt ...

Welcome back to the Wispa!

A warm welcome back to everybody’s favourite 80’s chocolate bar, which was relaunched yesterday for a limited period (despite being on sale in several shops - including one in Bearwood - for a few weeks already!)

Sick as a Canary

Norwich City have won once in the league and scored twice since my son Noah was born. The only controlled physical co-ordination he is currently showing is the (very entertaining) ability to spit out a dummy. But it looks as though he would do a better job in the team than some of the players. A change is needed. Not since the Championship winning season have we looked like a team who were committed to playing for the shirt. Nigel Worthington made the mistake of dumping most of those (Mackay, Roberts etc) and replacing them with 3rd rate foreign players ...

WebCameron

As part of preparing something last week about politics online, I looked up David Cameron’s website for his TV clips, WebCameron, and I must say that I was very impressed with it. It was set up with the intention of helping people get to know him better, and I think it does an excellent job of making people feel that. Clearly what is shown is pretty carefully selected, but when formal appearances by politicians are so carefully staged and scripted, it does give a better picture of who someone really is through how they speak relatively off the cuff, and ...

Once more into the fray!

It felt just like going back to school - but only for a moment. Then it was back into the familiar routines when Parliament is sitting and as if the summer recess had never happened. The big one yesterday was Gordon (I used to be taken seriously) Brown - coming to the House to give a statement on Iraq. I was trying to think: if he hadn't made such a pig's ear of the last few weeks - would this have been well received? Partially - is the answer. His news on reductions in troop numbers - albeit not enough ...

I’m a Councillor… And I’m still here

Yesterday saw the start of the “I’m a Councillor… Get me out of here” competition. For the next two weeks, to coincide with Local Democracy Week 2007, five Bury Council colleagues and I will be answering questions from young people from across the Borough. In the second week one of us will be “voted off” each day, until the eventual winner is crowned Bury’s Youth Champion. This is a national event and there are Councillors from all over the country linking up with schools and colleges in their local areas. Yesterday I received 8 questions, on a variety of topics ...

Balancing the Books

Last night I attended a training session at Bury Town Hall on budget setting. Also in attendance was the Executive Member for Finance. I don’t know whether to feel happy that he was conscientious enough to attend, or worried that he needed to be there… It’s a bit like boarding an aeroplane and seeing the pilot carrying a copy of “Flying for Dummies.” It was an informative course, and now I know much more about Council budget setting than I did in the past. And it isn’t simple! So much more money is needed just to stand still, once you’ve ...

Troops out?

Although Gordon Brown announced yesterday that British troop numbers in Iraq will be reduced to 2,500 next spring, there is no sign that the USA will be following suit. Not under the present President anyway. That does not mean that there is no debate about a withdrawal amongst candidates in next year's Presidential election. Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton at least, continues to attract controversy for her position, which seems very similar to that adopted by the British Prime Minister: 'A retired U.S. Army general visiting the state to campaign for Hillary Clinton said yesterday she does not oppose the Iraq ...

Oh gawd, now they’re wheeling out Baxter

There’s nothing amateur psephologists and party hacks like more then feeding the latest poll figures into Martin Baxter’s Electoral Calculus seats predictor. Tonight, there’s a small ripple of excitement in the blogosphere as it shows the Lib Dems with zero (0) seats. From which we can infer two possible conclusions: 1. The Baxter model is nonsensical for [...]

Brown Backs Down

Well, we all turned up of one mind..........if it meant getting arrested, it meant getting arrested. With prison overcrowding were we really likely to see mass arrests? Maybe the plan was, if it was a tincywincy protest it was worth risking, but whilst the erstwhile mass support for Stop the War has melted away, protesters were out today in large enough numbers to have made it a tad embarrassing for MR B if the march had been stopped. I went with my pal Sharon - pic right (she who is banned from the House of Commons for shouting down into ...

Day 2470: Here's What Mr Frown SHOULD have done… and why we'd have been STUPID enough to let him!

Sunday: You MAY remember that I said that Daddy had had an idea about what Mr Frown might do about calling the election. Well, since Mr Frown has now CANCELLED the election, it is SAFE to tell you about it. The thing that occurred to him was this: what if on Monday Mr Frown had announced that - in keeping with his new openness to democracy(!) - he was going to give Parliament a FREE VOTE on the motion of CALLING A GENERAL ELECTION. There would have been NOTHING that we could do except vote FOR such a motion (the ...

Day 2469: Elections, elections, elections

Saturday: If you think that the elections have been cancelled, you need to THINK AGAIN! Coming in 2008 is the important election for LONDON MAYOR, and we need to get working fast! Then in 2009 there are the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT elections – here in London we NARROWLY missed out on getting a second representative and so we need to work harder next time! That is why I took Daddy along to the Liberal Democrat London Hustings in Bethnal Green. Part way through, we received the news that everyone had been on tenterhooks waiting for… England had beaten Australia at Rugby. ...

Tuesday 9th October 2007

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