LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 19th October 2007

The best reason for voting no in an EU referendum?

Utter madness! Bliar for Europe? Dear God, please, no! Or rmaybe, just perhaps, France wants Britain out? Alternatively, Sarkozy recognizes that Blair failed to do anything of any use during the last British rotating presidency that the best way to hamstring the whole organization would be to put the useless, lying, egomaniacal shit in charge permanently. Tony Blair could be EU President - Telegraph: By Toby Helm and Bruno Waterfield in Lisbon Last Updated: 5:47pm BST 19/10/2007 Tony Blair has been placed in the frame to become the first permanent President of the EU after France launched a campaign to ...

Late trains and videos

Yet again I got the 10pm train out of London but this time it was half an hour late. However, given we normally have the ridiculous half hour delay at York where passengers and crew transfer to a train on the next platform, at least tonight we won't have the hanging around. Whilst waiting to leave Kings Cross I managed to complete all 3 sudoku puzzles in the London Paper.As a member of party

Clegg’s Speech

For some reason I can’t embed Youtube videos in my blog, so instead I give you a link. Clegg’s leadership campaign launch speech.

Go on Gomarsall!

Tomorrow I will be donning my Quins shirt for the England match. They have won each time I have worn it during the World Cup. A team playing like Wasps, with a couple of Quins in it. It should be a great match. Brilliant pack - especially Andrew Sheridan. Quin Nick Easter has been brilliant at no. 8. Obviously Sackey and Jason Robinson's speed. But in my view the part of the team that will

Leadership latest

So - Nick Clegg has announced his candidacy for the leadership. I didn't really think he was likely to be overcome by an attack of modesty and not put his name forward - so the battle (friendly and positive) is joined. At the same time, we get great news today that some of Charles Kennedy's core team is coming to help our campaign! Chris Huhne today confirmed that Dick Newby and Anna Werrin would be playing key roles in his leadership campaign team. Lord Newby will serve as the campaign’s Treasurer and Anna Werrin will be Campaign Manager. Both previously ...

Chris announces campaign team

Chris’s campaign team is beginning to take shape after a number of announcements today. We already knew that Lynne Featherstone MP was chair of Chris’s campaign, as she was in 2006, but now she’s been joined by two former members of Charles Kennedy’s staff. Lord (Dick) Newby, formerly Charles’s Chief of Staff, will be the campaign’s Treasurer, while Anna Werrin, who was Head of Office for Charles, will be the campaign manager. There’s full details on the official site.

Nick Clegg's Speech in Full

Nick Clegg got his campaign off to a flyer today with a speech which quite rightly urges us to be bold, take risks and reach out to more people who are liberal with a small l. Here's the speech he made today in full: "I would like to say a few words about my plans for the future. But before I do, I would like to pay tribute to my close friend and colleague Menzies Campbell. Ming is a man of integrity, honour and decency. Over the years he has also shown himself to be a man of impeccable judgement ...

End of an era - TC to close

News this week that BBC Television Centre (TC) is to close. On returning from my BBC A Course at Evesham in 1980 (embarrassing photo), I started at BBC News in TC in my first job, spending 2 years in News Studios N1 & N2 and one year in SCAR - the area that took in feeds to News from across the UK and around the world. It was an exciting time for me - Vision Mixing and Sound Mixing programmes

Two questions for leadership candidates - Referendum or rubber stamp ? Do we really trust the people ?

For me, one of the main issues that showed Ming was out of touch with what voters want was his refusal to allow the Lib Dems to support calls for a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty. Claims by Ming that the Constitution warranted a referendum but the reform Treaty did not as "it is only a treaty" ring a bit hollow when you remember that the Liberal Democrats were the main party calling for a referendum over the Maastricht Treaty back in 1993. It appears, on the issue of Europe, we, as a party are unable to walk in ...

To nominate or not?

I, as I’m sure have many other LibDem members, have been e-mailed by the Chris Huhne Campaign team and asked if I’d nominate him for the leadership election. The e-mail basically says - I’ve got the Parliamentary Party Members to nominate me but still need 200 names from 20 at least 20 constituencies. I personally don’t see how that would be a problem, after all I doubt there will be more than two candidates in total - so the synic in me thinks this is more to do with getting people ‘on side’ by getting them involved. After all - ...

Prepare for the floodgates to open

Aside from being very busy through the party conference season, have been insanely busy with work in the following couple of weeks too. So there has been plenty happening to blog about, from council to football to the election that never was to my birthday, but just no time at all to do it. This is the first free weekend I've had for ages - well, I say free, I will be spending most of it delivering leaflets. Rock'n'roll. So there's lots of catching up to do. Aside from the usual stuff, I'll want to write about the latest developments ...

Alan Coren

Sad news to hear today that Alan Coren of Call My Bluff fame (and much more) has died. Used to love watching that with him and Sandy Toksvig.

Susan Kramer backs Chris

Susan Kramer - who had been discussed as a potential candidate for the leadership - has become the latest MP to back Chris. Susan said: “There were two main issues that won me over for Chris. Firstly, the economy. Chris is one of the few politicians from any of the parties who really understands the economy. He is the best man to demolish the Brown myth. Secondly, his commitment to green issues and the bold lead he has given to our environment policy. We in London know that climate change will affect all our futures. In areas like mine, issues ...

Is education the victim of a wider planning problem?

The closure plans announced by Gwynedd CC of 29 rural schools comes as no surprise to those of us here in Powys facing up to similar issues. While we haven't seen a big bang approach I'm sure the numbers will come out in the same sort of ball park once all the decisions are made. However before we all stand up and shoot the messenger its worth reflecting on the causes of the problem. Back in

Fire Authority Meeting Backs Chief

I have just returned from the Fire Authority meeting called over the incident of the four firemen on the Downs. The Lib Dems made it clear that we felt having the meeting only made this subject worse ...

A concert hall for the Tees Valley ?

A concert hall for Tees Valley ? Now there is a thought ! I had met up with some friends and this was being talked about. Do we have anywhere for a good concert of classical music? or do our exceptionally talented local musicians play in surroundings that do not do them justice, with audiences often sitting uncomfortably ? What do you think ? It would take a lot of...

Its Christmas !

One obscure fact I'm sure you'll be greatful for me sharing with you is Leeds is the only Council in Britian that makes its own Christmas Lights. I will work an obscure link to this in later in the post. Its irrational but one of my proudest achievements during my time in Headingley is the Christmas Lights. I have blogged about the History before ( and it wasn't that interesting the first time round) so I will spare you the story. However I have just finalised the details of this years switch on events. As is now traditional people can ...

If one is a long time, two weeks is an age

Breathless: two weeks ago we were all set for a General Election - leaflets drafted; canvassing ready to go. One week ago I was on the TV discussing why it was not happening and also the Pre-Budget Report (see Anglia Late Edition here) . I observed that it was odd that Labour and the Conservatives should talk about tax cuts for the seriously rich, while ignoring the hard-pressed majority of the

A Night at the Reichstag

{reichstag.jpg} Guido Westerwelle, leader of the FDP (German Liberals) hosted a reception last night for the ELDR Congress in Germany’s equivalent to Portcullis House: an ultra-modern adjunct to the Fosterised Reichstag building in Berlin. Both the food and the wine were suitably Teutonic, but the huge reception area was a sort of horizontal Tower of Babel, buzzing with chatter and political networking. For a relatively small continent, we have an astonishing variety of languages, though the ELDR itself essentially works in English and French (German was an understandable extra at this gathering). Earlier, Guido had made the interesting observation that the ...

MPs Must Be Allowed To Control Their Lives Too

There have been plenty of people in the LibDem blogosphere lately saying how sad it is that there will only be two, relatively similar candidates. And they are right, it is. But I'm not sure there is much to be done about it. If no other candidates want to put themselves forward for the position, then that is their decision, and we should respect that. Clegg and Huhne should be flattered that

Area Committee

If I ever do an honest evenings work as a Councillor then it is probably an Area Committee meeting and we had one last night. 12 Local Councillors for the Inner North West Area of the City meet, argue, scrutinise and spend a pot of cash we have for local good works. We always meet somewhere in the community though last night due to "technical problems" we met in a civic hall committee room. This made it a bit more formal but much better flowing meeting. As the microphone system only lets one person speak at a time we had ...

The arrogance of Labour is incredible

Labour MP for Tyne Bridge, David Clelland, claims that the national interest and having a Labour government are the same thing. I found this quote recently on his website: "those who criticised the decision not to go to the polls as ‘putting the party's interests before the country’s’ completely miss the point - we believe the two are indivisible." Can you believe the arrogance of Labour to make

Help nominate Chris

To stand for leader, Chris needs the support of 7 Liberal Democrat MPs and 200 party members from at least 20 different local parties. So, if you’re supporting Chris for leader, here’s your chance to nominate him. On Chris’s campaign site, you can now download a nomination form for party leader - it’s a PDF file so you’ll need Adobe Acrobat to read it, click here if you’re having problems - which you can fill in, and also get your friends who are party members to sign as well. Then you need to send the form back to Chris Huhne ...

Royal Park Community Space Consultation

I will blog about the proposals for Royal park primary School seperately. In the meantime the Council has organised 3 public drop in sessions to discuss the proposed Community Space in the refurbished buildings. - Weds 24/10/07 1630 to 1930 at Brudenell Primary School - Sat 27/10/07 1100 to 1400 at Woodsley Road Community Centre -Tues 30/10/07 1700 to 1930 at the Cardigan Centre 9000 houses are getting a mail shot about the issue. I think the survey is rather weak and officers have largely ignored my sugestions about how to improve it. Also they haven't offere4d a Freepost which ...

South Central Regional Conference: Community Land Trusts, Land Value Tax and Affordable Housing policy

Tomorrow is the Lib Dems' South Central Regional Conference at Newbury. Since there is now a leadership election, and both candidates (I still hope for more but it's looking increasingly a remote possibility) will be there and will effectively make a first "hustings" in the campaign the other bbusiness of the conference may well get curtailed. I was hoping to have the floor in the Affordable Housing debate, so in case I do not get to speak after all I thought it worth while putting my three minutes' worth online. So here it is: "Make no mistake, colleagues, I do ...

It has to be Clegg

Nick Clegg surprised no one by announcing today that he is the running to succeed Ming Campbell as Leader of the LibDems. Even before he was elected to Parliament two years ago he was being tipped as a future party leader. Clegg, is young, bright, articulate and as the new Facebook group says ´more of a hottie than David Cameron´. However more important that youth and goodlooks, he combines the ability to challenge the party´s cosy assumptions (his announcement called for the LibDems to leave their comfort zone and be wary of excessive state interference) while unifying the party around ...

Labour vote down Lib Dem free child bus travel plan

At this morning’s meeting of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA), Labour presented a motion praising the government;s extension of the concessionary fare scheme which gives OAPs free bus travel. Lib Dems wanted the motion to be less sycophantic and much more challenging to a government which has presided over bus fares for young people climbing rapidly. When the Lib Dems proposed an amendment calling for free bus travel for young people now, Labour voted it down. I am happy that OAPs travel for free on buses. The more people who travel for free on public transport, the better. So ...

Leadership Interview 18 Doughty Street

Its a bit late now and even it was a bit late then, but my leadership candidature was discussed on 18 Doughty Street on Wednesday night. Here it is.

I’m a Councillor… And you didn’t vote for me, so I didn’t win

With 24% of the vote, I scooped the silver medal in Bury’s “I’m a Councillor… Get me out of here!” And with 36% of the vote, Cllr Cath Berry wins and becomes the Borough’s Youth Champion. So well done Cllr Berry! Regardless of the result, I had great fun answering the questions of young people from across Bury in the last two weeks. It was a very worthwhile experience which allowed me to explain more about me and my role to the voters and citizens of tomorrow. And although I am disappointed not to win and have the chance to ...

Election Results: Thursday 18th October 2007.

Basingstoke and Deane DC, Whitchurch LD Eric Dunlop 858 (52.8; -5.6), Con 709 (43.6; +2.0), Lab 58 (3.6; +3.6). Majority 149. Turnout 42.5%. LD hold. Last fought 2007. Congleton BC, Sandbach West Con 445 (45.1; +3.6), LD Patrick Darnes 382 (38.7; -3.1), Lab 160 (16.2; -0.5). Majority 63. Turnout 19.2%. Con hold. Last fought 2007. Ellesmere Port and Neston DC, Rossmore Lab 504 (54.4; -4.0), Con

We Need a Third, or Should That be Second Way

We now have our second, white, middle classed, Westminster and Cambridge educated, Englishman, both of whom are economic liberals and contributed to the Orange Book. Not that I'm holding any of that against any of them. I've met both in person and have had conversations with them. What I, and it seems a number of fellow Liberal Democrats, have issues with is just where is the voice that

What I want to see:

What I’d like to see from a LibDem leader is fresh thinking from a liberal perspective. I want a restatement that we would give up government powers if we were elected, that is something which is vital to a liberal future for Britain. I also want to see us tackle the two biggest illiberal institutions in the [...]

Chair of ALTER backs Chris for leader

Tony Vickers, the chair of Liberal Democrats ALTER (Action for Land Taxation and Economic Reform) has backed Chris in a post on ALTER’s website. Chris is currently the President of ALTER. Tony writes: I know many of ALTER’s Executive Committee will join me in urging all ALTER members and supporters to help ensure he becomes the next Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Newly organised, an ex-bureaucrat reaches for the stars...

I've just returned to work after a couple of days off, spent getting my life in order. I had rather allowed things to pile up to the point that I was frozen in the headlights of an oncoming truck marked 'administrative overload', and Ros persuaded me that some time spent on my paperwork would allow me to dig my way back to the light. I wouldn't say that I'm entirely up to date, but close enough..

Wycombe Liberal Democrats Annual Dinner

Last night it was off to Wycombe. Wycombe really is (as far as politics are concerned) Hornsey & Wood Green twelve years ago - except Labour and Tory positions are swapped. But they have got the beginnings of what you need - some talented and keen people, Wendy and Steve Guy and their agent, as the core of a campaign team and lots of energy and commitment. That's what it takes - and it will be interesting to watch Wycombe over the next few years and see how it goes.

Haringey Youth Council

Yesterday, having spent the hours between 6am and 9am writing, emailing etc about the leadership contest - as it is all an add on and not instead of my day job - I catch up on emails, letters etc from residents before going to West Green Learning Centre for 'Politicians' Question Time' organised by Haringey Youth Council (Adam and Shayan). As ever, the young people who come to this sort of event are as bright as buttons. I absolutely love hearing what they say - and particularly this time as one of the girls made several comments of phenomenal depth, ...

And now, in other news...

Time for some variation on the Lib Dem leadership election postings - so here's a quick round-up of some of the other issues exercising myself and my colleagues in Haringey: Haringey is one of the worst areas in the UK for fly-tippingLabour say they're not bothered about reports of falling recycling levels in Haringey (I mean - really!)... and there are questions over the future of Spurs football club

There should be a referendum on the EU treaty

Both Lib Dem leadership candidates have rejected a referendum on the new EU treaty within the last 24 hours. I can't help feeling that they are making a mistake. However limited the terms of this particular treaty, there is a wider problem of democratic legitimacy surrounding the EU. Even if we blame the Sun and Daily Mail, we have to deal with the reality. The EU is all too easily portrayed as a conspiracy political insiders and wire-pullers against the wishes of the public. It is surely time that pro-Europeans in all parties turned round and confronted their opponents. It ...

Trivia by any other name

For those who don’t make politics a central interest in their lives, decisions about who to support in elections (or even to notice who is who) can turn on quite odd little things. Marketing isn’t everything but still… One disadvantage we had under Ming was that there were two Scottish names in the mix. Outside of Scotland, ‘Cameron’ and ‘Campbell’ look about the same in a headline. In Scotland of course the names come with red hot historical tags attached which jump off the page. I suspect many people in England – and Wales - had to stop and think ...

Clegg and Huhne speaking at South Central regional conference tomorrow

Both Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne (using strict alphabetical order, of course) will be speaking at the South Central regional Liberal Democrat conference tomorrow. The conference (Theme: "Building Vibrant communities") starts at 9:45am (Registrations open from 9.00 am) and closes at 5pm. There are debates on"Affordable Housing", "Podiatry", "Flooding" and "Democratic Accountability in Regional

Alan Coren 1938-2007

Stumbling about on the Radio Four website I saw the announcement of the death of writer and broadcaster, Alan Coren. That's very sad. He was an extremely witty man both on air and in his writings. He used to be able to conjure with words to brilliant effect. He also came across as genuinely affable. Here are a few of his best quotes: Democracy consists of choosing your dictators after they've

Clegg Campaign Launches

Nick has this morning confirmed his candidacy, speaking from his Sheffield constituency. And as I predicted he is already challenging the party, saying that it needs to “come out of its comfort zone”. He still doesn’t have a real campaign website (though you can sign up as a supporter here and there is a Facebook group here) – perhaps reflecting that he had no infrastructure set up for a leadership campaign before Monday’s shock announcement – but you can read a piece by him in this morning’s Yorkshire Post here. It sets out typically fluently his vision for how the ...

Leadership hustings in the West Midlands

It seems our Autumn conference in the West Midlands - on 27 October - is going to be gatecrashed by Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne. I’m quite pleased about this as the conference agenda wasn’t exactly groundbreaking. Nick gave an excellent speech at our Spring conference in Wolverhampton so it’s important we hear from Chris too. Personally, I’m keen to hear the ideas that Nick and Chris have for the areas outside their comfort zone. We’re all familiar with the work Nick has done on civil liberties and crime, likewise with Chris and the environment. I want to hear about ...

Getting out of the comfort zone

I like that idea - it’s what we need. Now let’s demonstrate it with fresh thinking. We also need someone who will wipe the floor with our opponents or at least give as good as we get. No more Mr/Mrs niceguys/girls.

Why do the press tell such lies about MP's salaries and holidays ?

The press like to say they report news, but too often they create problems for politicians be misrepresenting facts, creating mistrust, and then publish details about how the people no longer trust politicians. Take, for example today's news story about MP's getting four more days of holiday a year. This is probably the grossest misrepresentation possible of the reality of events. I have done lots of voluntary work with Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk, and know just how unfair it is to label days away from Westminster as holiday. Non sitting Fridays, when MP are not in ...

John Harris's Op-Ed

John Harris's unthinking fealty to the Labour Party and political trendy causes has always irritated me, as I have pointed out in a previous post. James Graham- the official best Lib Dem blogger no less!- has taken him to task for his latest nonsense. I suggest that you all read it. By the way, the idea that someone who went to a 'posh school' (full disclosure: I went to a posh school), can't speak up for those that are not heard in Westminster is a nonsense. Would John Harris have written the same article about Tony Benn's Westminster school roots? ...

The Homogeneous Race to Succeed Sir Ming

A post I've written for 18 Doughty Street. And with John Hemming dropping out last night, it seems even more appropriate.

Press Review

Press Review:BBC: Clegg joins Lib Dem leader raceIndependent: Clegg: We must broaden our electoral appeal or face oblivionTelegraph: Senior Lib Dems line up behind CleggGuardian: Boost for Clegg as potential rival stands asideThe press coverage of the Lib Dem leader's race today is fairly non-descript.However, it is a blog entry from yesterday on the Times' website which is most interesting, providing an insight into Nick Clegg's thinking on the thorny issue of Europe. Clegg is clearly someone who could easily be branded by the Conservatives as overly European, and, to make the point, one rabid Tory MP failed to restrain himself yesterday in ...

Cleggstacy!

I want to wait until I can find a transcript of his speech and his campaign website goes on-line before I start de-constructing his campaign, but my initial impression are broadly positive. His message - wanting to broaden the appeal of the party and connect the naturally liberal people of Britain to the Liberal Democrat party. My doubts about Clegg’s ability to step up a gear from eloquent speaker to leader are gone. There was an urgency and passion in his voice and his words, whilst being quintessentially liberal, did not feature any of the usual LD clichés. No “Free, ...

Important Issues

The Onion on the key issue that will decide the '08 Presidential electionWith Ming complaining about journalists writing about what kind of socks he is wearing, could this apply equally here?

Would you like vanilla or vanilla?

So far we've had two competent campaign launches for leader. No embarrassments, no technical failures, no farcical elements at either. No sparkles, but you would get the impression that both of those guys could organise a civilised tasting session a vineyard. Both of them seem to be saying similar things in slightly different ways. From Huhne it's "a fairer society, people in charge", from Clegg it's about empowering communities and ordinary people. There are subtle differences, though. Huhne talks about being our champion and taking the fight to our opponents. That's nice, and subtle. We're right already and he's going ...

In Praise of Strife.

I’ll just say this quietly but I think that cuts at the BBC might not be such a bad idea after all. A lengthy BBC strike and shutdown would be even better. Obviously I feel sorry for anyone facing a redundancy. There needs to be a reasonable pay-off for anyone who gets booted out, but there is probably enough TV being made at the moment and a little less wouldn’t hurt. It’s linked to that other news story released this week - new research indicating that obesity is set to become a bigger problem than global warming. Its all too ...

Nick Clegg launches campaign, pledging to take Liberal Democrats “beyond our comfort zone”

You can find an introduction to Nick’s leadership bid on the web site of his local paper (thanks to Andrea for pointing out) - no campaign web site yet. He began by sending condolences to the friends and family of Jonathan Matondo. He then paid tribute to Menzies Campbell. He said the party would have to be [...]

Democracy must win

Friday 19th October 2007 - As Chair of the European Parliament's Friends of Pakistan group, I felt compelled to add my thoughts here about the atrocities in Karachi following the return to Pakistan of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. I totally and utterly condemn the bombs that have caused such devastation and loss of innocent lives in Karachi. We must never allow terrorists and extremists

EXCLUSIVE: Team Kennedy backs Huhne

Thus far, it has looked like Nick Clegg has been getting it all his own way with regard to getting public support from the party establishment. The support of Steve Webb and Paddy Ashdown are, for differing reasons, clearly coups. But he hasn’t entirely had it his own way. I understand that both Anna Werrin and Dick Newby - the key figures of the Charles Kennedy leadership team - have joined Chris Huhne’s campaign. Is this tacit endorsement of the former leader himself? Both have remained close to him. Share This

Tooth Review: 1559 (Obligatory Spoiler Warning)

A return to form for Dredd and Button Man IV, a great send off for A.B.C. Warriors, but the worst was left til last for Stone Island… {Prog 1559} Cover: Disappointing. Mek-Quake is a peculiar-looking robot and drawn from this angle just looks rubbish. Clint Langley can’t seem to decide whether to give him a neck backed with hydraulics, as here, or a Bisley-esque snake-like one, as in the strip inside. The guns firing just look like particularly bright torches. To top it off, the quote from Death Ray magazine (”A very well presented, well-balanced modern comic”) sounds about as ...

30,000 plastic carrier bags

That's how many my shop gave away last year. Today's Shoptalk column in the Northern Echo, written by the ever-readable Sharon Griffiths (wife of Mike Amos and mum to Owen), features an article about our campaign to wean our customers away from the plastic bag. Unfortunately, the article does not appear in the Echo's on-line edition, so I'll reproduce the article here: "Time to bag an eco

Dying in Dirty Hospitals

The recent preoccupation with the Lib Dem Leadership seems to have distracted many of us from the real scandal that's emerged this past week: Patients dying in dirty hospitals! After 10 years of Labour- who rode in that heady day in May 1997, to 'Save the NHS' - people go into hospital for a routine procedure, catch something deadly, and die. Turns out hundreds of people have died in this way, but seems because the majority seem to be older people, its not given the attention it deserves. Carrying on Harold Shipman's work! Imagine hundred's of children dying in hospital ...

Class sizes

This morning's Western Mail reports that more than 1,000 children in Wales are being taught in infant classes of more than the legal maximum of 30. They say that a total of 47 primary schools across Wales had 31 or more pupils in their infant and reception classes. This is despite the fact that under Assembly Government legislation, no infant class – pupils aged four to seven – should exceed 30 children. Commenting on the statistics, the Welsh Liberal Democrats education spokesperson, Kirsty Williams said: “In an era where we are constantly told that the number of children is falling, ...

Caption Competition

Poor David Melding, he does get some stick but he always takes it in good heart. This is not my caption competition, it is being run by Sarah Sharpe in David's office to raise money for Children in Need. You are invited to print the attached photo, think of a suitable caption, write it on the back and return it to her in Room B3.15 in the Assembly, together with a £1 donation for each entry. There will be a prize for the winner. As Children in Need takes place on 16th November then you should get it to her ...

Why I’m backing Chris

Hi, I’m miriam, and I’m one of the other bloggers on this site. I backed Chris last time round, when he came second and shook up a lot of people. Then, my Tory boyfriend (sorry) said “Chris who” right up until I said “Fitch Ratings” at which point he did a double take, and suddenly took Chris’s campaign seriously, along with my other Tory friends. Chris was the person that they didn’t want to win. He was the one they were most bothered about at a grassroots level, as someone who could challenge the Tories on fiscal matters, and the ...

Excellent result in Whitchurch!

I am now at liberty to divulge the location of my "Good morning delivery under the stars" yesterday. I didn't want to give the place name in case I fell foul of the old "Even though so-and-so got up in the frost at 6am they still didn't win" gambit. It turns out that my fear was unfounded, because we won! I was at lovely Whitchurch in Hampshire. David Spender reports: An excellent result for

Stop it being a Two horse race

There is a Facebook group, run by a LDYS member, called "I want more than a Two horse race". Paul Pettinger is organising a letter to all MPs (see text below). If you want to be a signatory on this letter, please contact Paul via the group (he is admin officer in the right hand column or his email address is just below the top text box) before 11am today. You don't have to be a LDYS member to do

Ian Swales to back Nick Clegg for Lib Dem Leader

Liberal Democrats Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Redcar, Ian Swales, is backing Yorkshire MP, Nick Clegg, to become the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats: "I am delighted that Nick Clegg is standing for the Lib Dem Leadership. He would make an outstanding Leader of the Party and he will get my support," said Mr Swales.

Opinion: The four key issues which will determine who I vote for

Who should be our leader? Every Lib Dem is thinking about it, but I suppose I have more reason than many for giving it the most careful consideration. After all, as I am candidate in what my local team has turned into our top marginal in the country - Oxford East - the person we [...]

Whitchurch By-election - Lib Dem Hold

An excellent result for our next door neighbours in Whitchurch yesterday. This was a by-election for Basingstoke and Deane District Council caused by the death of one of Whitchurch's Liberal Democrat councillors. The result: LD - 52.8%, -5.6% Con - 43.6%, +2.0% Lab 3.6%, +3.6% The Tories threw everything they had at this. Lots of rip-off Focus-style leaflets. Lots of heavy duty canvassing - I

His Leadership Podcasts

Rob Fenwick has started a series of "podcasts of a floating voter" over on his site. Irreverent, funny and intelligent, definitely worth a listen if, like me, you're undecided. Listen to the first one here. PS. Have I heard Rob before on From Our Own Correspondent?

Gwyn Hall gutted by fire

We awoke to the devastating news that millions of pounds worth of restoration has literally gone up in smoke. As the photo shows, firemen were still damping down at 11 a.m. today. Police have Orchard Street barricaded off. No doubt council staff are already beginning an assessment of whether there is enough of the original building left to make it worthwhile recommencing restoration work - that is, assuming that the building was sufficiently insured. The worry must be that the fire was started deliberately. One hopes that minds can speedily put at rest on this point.

Chris on This Week

Chris appeared on BBC One’s This Week programme last night. If you didn’t see it, you can watch it online by clicking here.

Lewisham Travellers: Exhibition 23 October

There will be a public exhibition on the Council's plans for the Lewisham Travellers at the ex -Watergate School site in Church Grove. The drop-in event is being held at the St Mary's Centre, Ladywell on Tuesday 23rd October from 6.30-8.30pm.

Pakistan: Where Next?

What a contrast a few short hours and miles makes. Benazir Bhutto arrives to great celebration at Karachi airport to thousands of supporters but as the party atmosphere of many filled the streets an hand grenade followed by a suicide bomb attempt killed upwards of 130 people many of them part of Ms Bhotto's security detail. She had only made half her intended route to a rally marking her return.

Kerron Post

I had a bit of a polemic on here about Kerron Cross yesterday. I decided that, in the end, I don’t want this blog to go down that road and so I deleted it.

Campaign Clegg launches today

Hello, me again. Your regular Lib Dem Voice team are away for the weekend running leadership campaigns or “having a life” and have asked me to stand in. Apparently there’s only so much havoc one can wreak in four days. Today will see the launch of Nick Clegg’s leadership campaign. Here’s what we’re expecting so far: It [...]

Lib Dem leadership contest: Podcast of a floating voter, episode 1

Podcast RSS feed Hello. A few short weeks from now you and i have to choose a new leader for the Liberal Democrats. If you, like me, find choosing between Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne to be every bit as taxing as choosing between a Toffee Crisp and another, slightly taller Toffee Crisp with greyer hair, then i hope you’ll join me in making our decision together. The first hurdle that I have to get over is the tendency of supporters from the respective camps to call their man “Cleggy” or “Mr Honey”, creating as it does an image in ...

A Neo-Con defends inheritance tax

I always like it when people come out with arguments you wouldn't expect given their general political outlook. So I enjoyed this defence of inheritance tax in The Spectator from right-winger Irwin Stelzer.

The Chinese Community Marches in Soho!

China Town was awash today with the young and the old, the angry and the sad, the shopkeepers and the restaurant owners. They were marching side by side and for the first time, Chinatown was awash with placards. ‘Don’t target the Chinese community’, ‘don’t penalise migrant workers’, said the voices of this normally silent community. And what had brought them out! It was a raid by the Home Office with the police and the BBC who were filming. Yes, the BBC came in on the act and were filming the arrest of migrant workers who were thought to be illegal. ...

Who should be leader?

After some consideration I've decided to keep my council on who I'm going to vote for in the Liberal Democrat Leadership race. I've met both Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg many times over the past few years and like them both enormously. Both have the capability and calibre to be considered serious contenders for Prime Minister, both bring different strengths to the party. I don't have a strong desire to see either one lose, which would make explicit endorsement or joining the leadership team of either candidate rather difficult. That it will also likely be a two horse race between ...

A few changes

A change of job means a few changes to the blog. In future there's going to be more focus on general issues of interest and less on very local matters, and moderation will be reactive rather than up front, which will hopefully provoke more debate, some of it polite. I will though endeavour to post more frequently than the Southwark Royal Mail. I note the Communications Workers Union responsible for the strikes has donated £3.5m to the Labour party since 2001. I am sure though this is entirely unrelated to the warm and favourable coverage their decision to hold back ...

Lib Dems Hit the Airwaves

If proof were ever needed that it takes a leadership contest for the BBC to give some airtime to the Lib Dems, we certainly got a flavour this evening. Charles Kennedy was as usual excellent on Question Time, coming across really well next to the appalling Melanie Phillips, and Peter Hain. Much as I hate watching the 'Two Fat People' on Andrew Neils, 'This Week' sofa, I caught a bit of this, with the extraordinary behaviour of Diane Abbott, ranting and shrieking at Chris Huhne! Even by her standards, and I've known Diane for many years from my Hackney days, ...

A weekend in Narnia

Malcolm Saville's foreword to The Neglected Mountain (1953): The scene of this story is in the wild and lonely border country between Wales and Shropshire. hard by a mountain known as the Stiperstones. It is said that the curious outcrop of black quartzite rocks on the summit, known as the Devil's Chair, is one of the oldest parts of England - older even than the ice age - and it is little wonder that this desolate, neglected country is rich in folk-lore and legend.You will find the Stiperstones and the Long Mynd with its Gliding Station on the map and ...

Why Ming Campbell was right to resign

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Since I wrote it, it has become apparent that we shall probably not get a proper debate on policy this time either. A snappy headline My plan this week was to look at Mark Oaten’s adjournment debate on children in prison. I was ready with the wry observation that the only 17-year-olds you dare call “children” these days are those who have been banged up for a serious offence. Instead, I have to tackle the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty. Sir Menzies did the right and noble thing - ...

Day 2480: While I do not seek the office, should my colleagues persuade me that that is the best way I can serve, I might reluctantly have to accept

Tuesday: Apparently, I already have a CAMPAIGN TEAM, running my LEADERSHIP BID. Oops! I had better address the TROOPS… Fluffy Friends, Liberal Democrats are the FUTURE. We already have BETTER ANSWERS: cut back the Labour's excessive and intrusive burden of laws (setting you FREE); reduce your Income Tax and abolish your Council Tax (making it FAIR); make the Green Tax Switch, invest in technology, and get the railways REALLY working (turning Britain GREEN). But a NEW LEADER should bring a NEW VISION, so here is MINE: in 2012 there will be the London Olympics. Let that be our TARGET. Let ...

Friday 19th October 2007

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