After Chris Huhne's speech at tonight's Bristol Western region hustings, the chair announced breathlessly that "Nick will be roaming". Wow! The Messiah has arrived. Complete with vast photo billboards outside the meeting room! All hail to the new leader! Except that Chris Huhne's speech was interspersed with applause several times. Nick Clegg's wasn't. At all. Except at the end when he had 
Apologies for naff quality.
After a slightly slow start, a wide range of questions have now been asked in the online hustings at forum.libdems.org.uk (open to party members only) with many answers also already appearing from both Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne. Meanwhile, over on YouTube yesterday’s film launching the party’s YouTube hustings is comfortably on course to be the party’s most [...]
I really have veered a lot in my views in this leadership election. I’m not used to this phenomenon of genuinely not having made my mind up about something - it’s giddy stuff! So it was that while my default position at the beginning of the campaign was that I’d be voting for Clegg, by the middle of last week I was more or less in the Huhne camp. But now I’m starting to move back in the centre again. The reason is this row about school vouchers. First of all, as I’ve already said, I simply don’t accept the ...
Sometimes officials make incredibly idiotic decisions, rendering satires such as Yes Minister boring. Would you believe the Beatles were not allowed into Israel for a performance. Another amusing anecdote is that for the sake of equality the TV signal was de-colured for years in Israel. It was thought that if the signal was black & white, although the broadcasting equipment was colour capable, there would be no incentive for the affluent to flaunt their riches with a colour TV set. Yeh-right. Moreover, no restrictions were placed on other seemingly luxury items such as cars, fridges, and houses. It is amazing ... 
It seems to have been a very long day, starting at 3 in the morning with raging itching psoriasis that I couldn't sleep with. Eventually I put the World Service on, and the problems of female genital mutilation did put my discomfort into perspective. It was just one of those "Councillor days" when so much went wrong, I was not given proper information; people let me down,...
As part of what might become a weekly look at the most bizarre petitions on the Downing Street Website, I thought I'd bring to your attention this beauty. "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow the sale of elephants in pet shops in the UK" Yes, that's right, you did read it correctly. I particularly like the bit where it asks the sponsor of the petition to give extra details. "We believe that every child in the UK would benefit from owning an elephant. It was my dream as a child to care for these magnificent creatures but ...
Jonathan Aitken is synonymous with Tory sleaze. Just like Jeffrey Archer, Neil Hamilton and Shirley Porter. Regular readers will know that I am not a great fan of Mr Aitken, in particular his involvement with the Saudis. Government whip Tom Watson says: "Next week, Jeffrey Archer heads the truth and reconciliation commission, Neil Hamilton on modernising parliamentary scrutiny, and Shirley
Last night I got invited by my old pal Mick Smith to join him at a presentation by the First Sea Lord, Jonathan Band. We had a very pleasant cruise down the Thames to Greenwich where we boarded HMS Bulwark for a presentation and a tour. The tour, which was very interesting reminded me just how young the men and women we send out to fight our wars are. Following the presentation I got to ask a question about Trident which was answered by a nuclear sub-mariner, who assured us that this didn't influence his view that Trident was a ...
Win a Taking Liberties DVD The winner is Sgt Podge, who claims to be a Norwegian forest cat. According to the BBC he: disappears from his owner's home in Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, every night. The next morning, the 12-year-old cat can always be found in exactly the same place, on a pavement about one and a half miles (2.4km) away. His owner, Liz Bullard, takes her son to school before collecting Sgt Podge.
I should have been in the background of this photo taken this morning by Jonathan Wallace, but I got back from Sheffield late last night and having not had a lot of sleep over the past few days of Bristol/Cardiff/Newport/London/Sheffield I decided I needed some beauty sleep before heading in to the office. I was sorry not to be there for the launch. It is great to see Brian, the
It was great to go to the official opening of the Halliwell Court Community Garden on Sunday with Councillors James Barber and Jonathan Mitchell. The sun shone despite it being the coldest day so far this winter and there was a great turnout of residents wanting to celebrate the new facility. Fittingly, the ribbon was cut by the [...]
Win a Taking Liberties DVD Dougald Hine has left a comment on my recent posting on Internet schools. It points us to an article on Ivan Illich by Charles Leadbetter that was published in Prospect in January. Leadbetter writes: Ivan Illich's genius was to realise, 30 years ago, that this would be not just desirable but would become a necessity. A tax-funded public sector built around passive consumers cannot hope to keep meeting people's rising expectations for tailored services.The only way to personalise services to different needs, on a grand scale and at affordable cost, is to motivate and equip ...
I know most of you will have seen this already, but Nick’s contribution to Lib Dem Voice has been to highlight his commitment to party diversity and the PPC Academy concept - both important issues to me as a woman and as someone who recognises the value of a strong PPC for a Constituency campaign team. The video, and I can speak from personal experience on this front, demonstrates Nick’s “Charm Bomb” effect. I really want to see more of this. It’s demonstrating it, not just telling people about it - this is a very positive and welcome thing from ... 
Nick Robinson, who was in the crowd at Islington’s Remembrance service on Sunday, has been unpicking the meaning behind Gordon Brown’s big foreign affairs speech. Private Eye portrays the Prime Minister as a Soviet-style Supreme Leader, and now it seems we have the kremlinologists as well. Do they find Gordon a bore? I was talking [...]
With Whitehaven, Cumbria set to be the first town in the UK to ’switchover’ - where all analogue TV signal is turned off - meaning that the only way to watch TV will be by freeview, cable, the internet, or satellite one question arises, that yets to be answered - that is - what happens to the areas which currently cannot get a freeview signal? For example, where I live, getting an analogue signal is fairly difficult, and I live about 5 miles from a transmitter - nor can I get channel 5. The benefit of digital is that you ...
Perhaps Lynne Feathersone, in her capacity as Chris Huhne's Campaign Chair, would ask Chris to answer this question for me. Dear Chris, As you know, in the Occupied Territories Israel is in systemic breach of its obligations to uphold the principles of human rights and democracy. This will remain the case until it passes the necessary legislation to repeal its annexation of parts of the occupied territories, until it introduces legislation to make the Fourth Geneva Convention applicable there in terms of Israeli law, and until it repeals the legislation concerning the Wall to the extent that it is built ...
Leeds United entertained League 2 side Bury at Elland Road this evening with a much changed team in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Leon Constantine and Filipe Da Costa made their full debuts and Simon Madden made his first appearance at right back. Leeds started well with Leon Constantine scoring his first goal for the club in the 8th minute. Bury gained confidence from a headed goal by Ben Futcher on 24 minutes and another from Andy Bishop in the 29th minute. Da Costa, with his first chance to shine, showed plenty of skill but spoiled all his good work four ...
If you follow my status updates on Facebook you’ll know I’ve had an offer accepted on a house. I am ordering packing boxes from Pickfords, and when I came to check out I got this offer: There’s a newsletter about cardboard boxes. Not as outrageous however as the fact they try to charge you £43 to deliver your boxes on a saturday. Anyone know a cheap supply of cardboard boxes that doesn’t involve loitering behind Sainsburys?
Never let it be said that you cannot rely on the Tories in local government. And of course, this is just an ongoing thing, nothing new. No wonder David Cameron does not even trust them.
Observant readers will have noticed that commentary on the Lib Dem leadership race on this blog has so far amounted to absolutely nothing. This is for a number of reasons. First, I reckon it’s pretty boring for people who aren’t Lib Dems. A battle between two people who appear more or less the same, arguing quite nicely about stuff. Obviously I don’t think it’s boring in the slightest, nor do I think that Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg are the same. But I want this blog to be read by normal people, and normal people don’t really care who wins, ...
David Cameron proves again that sound bites are more important than substance when he announced that under the Tories, local tax payers will have the right to have a referendum on council tax increases each year. What utter twaddle. Anyone who knows anything about local elections knows that they actually impose a great cost on the council. Imagine holding a referendum each year and how much that would cost. I'll give you a simple figure. If the cost of a referendum for a council was just £120,000, then this equates, for an average sized district council to 2.5% of their ...
In a couple of weeks there will be the 2007 ‘Reclaim the Night’ March from Euston to Soho. It’s a girl’s only gig, followed by a mixed rally at the University of London Union. The march will highlight the fact that women have the right to be able use public space without fear. These are our civil liberties at risk; it is not good enough for society’s response to rape to be to tell women they
Just over two months after the process started, the Lib Dems have selected Brian Paddick as their candidate to take on Ken Livingstone in next May's London Mayor election. Today he gave his first speech as candidate. If he can get the Oyster card travel payment system extended out our way, I am sure many thousands of us who often travel into London will be pleased.
Cameron’s been busy and the bad news for us is that Europe and Immigration haven’t been dominating his agenda. What he’s been doing is announcing very specific, practical ways of giving local communities more control and power - at least, that’s the plan as far as he’s concerned. First the special party political NGO designed to help parents and ‘communities’ set up co-op trusts to run schools (this makes me think of Stepford Wives for some reason). Then there’s the rather flimsy Council Tax referendum idea. I’ve long advocated the local Liberal Democrat Group putting forward two budget proposals for ...
The Georgian Opposition has nominated a wine and spirit merchant as their candidate in the Presidential election on January 5th, taking on Saakashvili. Levan Gachechiladze seems to be seen as a independent, pragmatic choice - not being too closely identified with any of the nine parties which are supporting him. Georgian democracy being what it is, the opposition are optimistic about the chance of gaining second place. My guess is that this will depend on whether business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili decides to stand. Patarkatshishvili is currently under investigation for allegedly being part of a Russian-backed attempt to overthrow the Georgian ...
Got text message yesterday that Brian Paddick has won the selection for our London Mayoral candidate. This is great news - just as it was a real coup when he decided to throw his hat into the ring for this contest. No doubt there will be lots of 'stuff' about Brian - but he is the real deal. And I think Londoners will be impressed with him - and for good reason. You don't get to be Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Met for nothing and secondly - he really demonstrated the courage of his convictions in terms of fighting ...
Here I am, sitting in the Library at Swansea University doing work and all I can think about is doing another blog. (Actually no it isn't I am just bored of coursework, well bored isnt the right word, overloaded that's more like it, though it's almost done read through tomorrow!!!!) Any way so we've chosen Paddick to be the candidate for London mayor. I was quite gutted when I found out becuase although incredibly busy I did ask if I could help Chamali. However in Paddick we do have someone who has over 20 years in the MET. So he ...
Firstly very many thanks to those who voted for me in the European Parliament selection ballot: I got number 2 on the Yorkshire & the Humber list. I am looking forward to getting together with the other candidates in a couple of weeks time to set out the strategy for maximising the Liberal Democrat vote [...]
First of all the Tory Mayor of Chelmsford has resigned - as Mayor and as councillor - over allegations involving a council computer and pornography: THE mayor of Chelmsford resigned yesterday following accusations he used his council computer to look at illegal pornography. It emerged David Lee, a married father-of-three, was under police investigation after Chelmsford Borough Council alerted
Brian Paddick has won the contest to be the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London. It was a strong field - with my own Haringey colleague Fiyaz Mughal and Chamali Fernando - and I would have been proud to have any of the three as our candidate for next year's elections. When I went to the hustings in Brighton in September, all three impressed and there was a real buzz about the room. There's a genuine optimism now that Brian will be able to get Ken out of City Hall and bring real, liberal leadership to our capital.
Last week Simon Hughes and I spent an hour and a half or so talking with a group of 20 students at South Bank University I was so struck by how alienated they all felt from political discussion, and from the political classes. The idea of getting involved in politics had never even occurred to most [...]
I must admit, it was a shame for Brian that his appearance on “Question Time?” (Does anyone else pronounce that question mark? I know I do. My variation is very similar to, “A Handbag?!”) was marked by disagreeing with the Lib Dem official position of wanting Sir Ian Blair to stand down over the senseless death and smearing of Jean Charles de Menezes, putting him on a bit of a wrong foot with the studio audience from the outset. But, he was impressive and solid - a nice counterpoint to the “I own London! It’s MINE!” campaign coming from the ...
Tristan Mills’ provocative article on whether Milton Friedman should be castigated for engaging with Augusto Pinochet, and the Reason Magazine article that (I presume) inspired it, have raised the broader question of the extent to which we engage with, or isolate, unpleasant, illiberal and undemocratic rulers. For brief context, Milton Friedman once met the Chilean autocrat for an hour, and following that meeting wrote him a two-page letter in which he proposed means by which the Chilean government (then under the control of the military dictator) could improve Chile’s economy. Furthermore, the Chilean economics ministry was heavily influenced by “the ...
I tend to agree with Charlotte Gore. The real battle for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats will take place on BBC1's Question Time this coming Thursday. I have always likened this leadership contest to a TV programme - Strictly Come Dancing! It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are, what’s important is whether the public like you or not. This coming Thursday we will see who is Penny Lancaster-Stewart and who is Matt Di Angelo!
Oh god, oh no, oh dear - we’re all going to die of bird flu ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Or maybe not. [normal service will resume soon…ish] Share This
The comment that “Cameron is Clegg lite” troubles me a lot, especially because Nick Clegg said it himself. Lite is a low-calorie, slimmer, weaker, more dilute, more basic, version of the original. The converse of lite is heavy, full strength, even “classic”. If Cameron is “Clegg lite”, what is the full-strength version? With Nick Clegg, if you turn the sound off, you see someone who looks like Cameron, without a doubt. The similarities of age and physical characteristics between the two men are not something Nick Clegg can do anything about; but I wish he would give the way he ...
Busy day today. Started with a nice little jog down to Malpas and back. Even on a damp autumn day it's great running along the Truro River, really beautiful. Actually the jogging's going well, down to 38 minutes for 5 miles. Well o.k 4.5. I'm not going to worry Paula, but I'm happy. And a bit thinner. Then organising for 11million takeover day. I've arranged for young people to take over as Mayors of Truro, Penryn and Falmouth for the day. Finalised the itineraries today and it's looking like fun. Now off to the BIDS meeting to organise Christmas lights ...
A proposed development for 4 houses at 37 Flatwoods Road was turned down for the second time today. A previous application for 5 houses had already been turned down early this year. The Government's change in legislation to classify gardens as 'brownfield' sites has led to thousands of applications across the country to fill gardens with housing. This particular application would totally destroy the quiet little country backwater that is Flatwoods Road. We applaud this decision by Planning Officers. The clearcut reasons for the refusal are: 1. The proposed development of four houses, due to the type, size, massing and ...
With both ITV Wales and BBC Wales due to make their annual awards shortly, Miss Wagstaff offers the alternative version. This includes awards for the following: 1. Most overrated AM/MP; 2. Most invisible Cabinet Minister; 3. Politician most likely to talk about policy rather than coalition/constitution; 4. Most sycophantic politician during plenary; 5. Politician most likely to be dragged from the Senedd and flogged on the entrance steps; 6. Politician most likely to have done more for policy than any member of the Cabinet; and 7. Politician most likely to have nearly understood what's going on with the budget. If ...
Today marks the 8th month of the Birmingham Evening Mail's "big debate" and petition on having an elected mayor for Birmingham. Fortunately, I'm here to mark the occasion of the passing of this date. Unfortunately, the Evening Mail seems to have lost count of when they started their campaign, and last week reported that it had only been going for 6 months. If they can't even count to 8 months, how are they going to count to 36,000 signatures accurately? It would appear that very slow progress is being made towards the 36,000 signatures required. They have apparently verified 6000 ...
I'm very sorry to lose Eurostar from Waterloo. It was so convenient - I could be walking through those gates within 30 to 40 minutes of leaving home. And it is a much more comfortable and convenient way of getting to the centre of Paris or Brussels than traipsing out to the airport, hanging around for so long in Departures, sitting in a cramped seat and then travelling from the...
Many thanks to Darren Grover, who has given me a new hobby: Looking up IP addresses of visitors to my site to see what edits they have done on Wikipedia. Don't worry, I have only done it with three IP addresses, and don't intend to do it with any more. I tried two IP addresses which have been used to carry out searches on my blog for a certain MP. One of these IP addresses belongs to a certain
Via the BBC: A court in Spain has convicted Manel Font de Vila, the editor of the popular satirical weekly magazine El Jueves, and cartoonist "Guillermo" of "damaging the prestige of the crown". Both men received a hefty 3,600-euro (£2,539) fine. Their offence was to have published a cartoon last July making ribald fun of the heir to the Spanish throne, and of the government's scheme to
I have created a facebook group for APPROVED Liberal Democrat candidates for Westminster, Holyrood, the Welsh Assembly, Europe and the GLA. You don't need to be selected for a seat to join.
The story so far: About 2 weeks ago Charles Roy Taylor (age 71) was imprisoned by Nottingham Family Court (Judge Mitchell) in private proceedings for 20 months. There was a bit of confusion as to the nature of the proceedings. It has been clarified (not that it was unclear to start out with) that the UK cannot have secret prisoners and that his name, offence and length of sentence need to be
Two ex-public school, middle aged, middle-class and [in party terms] men hardly offering competing and contrasting visions for party direction leaves me feeling slightly bored. Differences thus are exaggerated and minor details aside it's down to personalities. On the margins, I feel that on public services and the environment I feel happier with Huhne than Clegg. Last time around the favoured media candidate was Ming Campbell and the received wisdom was that he was a 'safe pair of hands'. Now we are to be impressed by the 'youthful' and 'telegenic' Clegg. What on earth is telegenic ? I remember Blair ...
We’re in the middle of a leadership contest and it appears that certain people are under the impression they can attack Clegg indirectly by attacking me through the comments on my blog. Or perhaps attacking me is the point. As a new blogger I hadn’t really thought too far ahead about what I would do when this started to happen, so it came as a bit of a shock yesterday. Either way, I deleted 4 comments yesterday from 2 individuals that I found were “posting with malicious intent”. I’m naming no names. The reality is that none of this matters ...
The Welsh Local Government Association told the Assembly Finance Committee today that Council taxes in Wales could rise by between 8-10% next year: WLGA leader Derek Vaughan maintained the planned increase had been "met with fury right across local government." "The increase of 2.2% in our RSG (Revenue Support Grant) was the lowest we've seen in living memory," he said. "To balance the books next year they (councils) really will need to increase the council tax by 8-10%, and we've had some local authorities telling us that already," he added. Councils will find out tomorrow how much they are likely ...
Marcus Wood, nominally the Conservative PPC for Torbay, but selling himself on a "I'm not the Lib Dems' ticket replied to my second letter on European issues [see Herald Express letter 031107] in these terms : LIB DEMS ONLY WANT RIGHT ANSWER 11:00 - 07 November 2007 In response to Barrie Wood, Tory attack on EU reform treaty stance is a bit rich (Your View, November 30. I was so looking forward to reading his defence of the Liberal Democrat position on this matter. What a pity then he seemed intent on simply attacking David Cameron instead.Like so many issues, ...
Whatever the merits or otherwise prove to be with a finalised EU Reform Treaty the position taken by Marcus Wood and the Tories is one of political chutzpah of the highest order. Labour's stance, that of parliament deciding, is a coherent one, albeit potentially politically unwise. They take the view that in a representative democracy elected parliamentarians vote on the issues of the day.Further, those adopting this approach would say we have little tradition of voting by referenda. The EU we have today was, of course, shaped principally by the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty, both signed by ...
It is fair to say that nobody is going to feel much sympathy for the poor rapists, whom the Tories targeted in yesterday’s announcement. They plan a review of sentencing – “review” being political code for “lengthening”. There may very well be grounds for a review. If Theresa May is correct, sentences have been falling over the past three years; if this is due to changes in, or poor application of, the law then a review is warranted. Similarly, if Mr. Cameron is correct that “as many as one in two young men believe there are some circumstances when it's ...
I attended the launch today of Brian Paddick's campaign to become Mayor of London to take photos for various parts of the party. So this is an exclusive preview of some of them!
Magnificent programme last night on Channel 4 on ‘Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead’, the soldiers who survive wars and have to live with that fact. The stories remind us that failures of the Military Covenant are not a recent thing. Nobody gave my dad counselling for his experiences, such as having to walk forwards over burnt human bodies after the closing of the Falais Gap in August 1944, or later having to count and bury the dead at Belsen. Watching and listening to the participants last night I glimpsed just a little of the nightmares my dad still had at ...
I have been on NHS Direct trying to work out a way of having a flu jab without involving myself in the sheer psychological wear and tear of speaking to my doctor’s surgery. I don’t find such a way, but I do find this engaging little paragraph: Note: The flu jab only protects you against ordinary flu, there is no vaccine for pandemic [...]
I would like to thank the 75 people who gave me their first preference votes for their support in this selection campaign (thanks also to anyone who gave me one of their other preferences). There was a cluster of people who got between 54 and 81 first preferences, ranging from me as runner-up to the people who were selected in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place on the list. So my 75 first preferences was not unrespectable, although I would naturally have been pleased to have been elected on to the list rather than being runner up. Congratulations to those ...
Interesting that Chris H appears to be rather stretching his imagination by suggesting that he was first to reach 1000 supporters. This is clearly not correct, maybe he hasn't been paying enough attention to Nick C's website......... First rule of combat Chris!
I was delighted to note that Nick Clegg has come up with a brilliant idea, that of a Military Covenant Commission, chaired by Ming. It is an example of his ability to recognise that it is not just important to highlight what is going wrong with current government policy but also to offer practical, well considered, responses. His initiative has already been picked up, I quote from an email I received from the Royal British Legion this morning - "We were delighted by Nick Clegg's statement on the Military Covenant Commission over the weekend." Having successfully had this issue highlighted ...
I have voiced my views of the failings of the various candidate selection processes administered by the Liberal Democrats English Party in various places. Many may think I would like to see the English Party abolished - nothing could be further from the truth. The problem is that for the important decisions that the English Party makes it is a remote body with poor democratic accountability. This
You can find it at Philobiblon. Win a Taking Liberties DVD
Yesterday I travelled through St Pancras on my way to Sheffield on the eve of the Eurostar service from the station starting. I was reminded on the train that it was 20 years ago this week that St Pancras was the scene of the fire in Kings Cross St Pancras Underground Station - referred to usually as the Kings Cross Fire, as the focus of the blaze was at the Kings Cross end of the station. When
Salma Hayek is not just a pretty face. Few people know that, in fact, the bikini-clad beauty is one of the most eminent liberal philosophers of all time. Born in Mexico, Hayek is for some reason considered part of the ‘Austrian School’ of economics, and is famed for her works promoting classical, market liberalism. During her time at the London School of Economics Hayek penned The Road to Serfdom; to this day the LSE has a Hayek Society, which until recently was headed by a personal friend of Orange By Name – Dominique Lazanski. On top of being an economic ...
First up Megan McArdle sums up some of the blogosphere If all I wanted to do was insult people, I could just spend the day riding mass transit, which offers an equally rich source of targets without the risk of carpal tunnel. Hit & Run demonstrates the amazing rate of progress and its exponential growth, from the [...]
Perhaps due to some perhaps controversial posts I made last night, I have had a few visitors from the Houses of Parliament. Now, as any webmaster will know, when someone visits your website you can find out their IP Address. An IP Address is basically the address of your computer on the internet (or any network). ‘Googling’ the IP Address of the Houses of Parliament computer used, revealed that MPs apparently have a lot of time to mess around on wikipedia, vandalising several articles. This is nothing new - after a bit more searching, I found that this occurs so ...
The Conservative commitment to the environment and giving local people more of say is barely skin deep. For instance, in Chelmsford their solution to traffic congestion is measures they think will make the traffic move faster but usually just hinders pedestrians - such as in Victoria Road, Market Road and Springfield Road. They also think it is fine to cram large numbers of houses and flats into
I returned from Jean-Luc’s funeral in Brussels last night just in time for the LibDem leadership hustings at the National Liberal Club, co-hosted by the Club and Liberal International British Group. The meeting had been moved to the David Lloyd George room, as the turnout was so great. The two candidates did not disappoint. As [...]
From Iran and the US to something just a bit more local: Hertsmere Borough Council, situated in the delightful commuter belt county of Hertfordshire. As one might expect, the council is run by the Conservative Party (28 seats), with the Liberal Democrats as the main opposition (7 seats), and Labour (4 seats) not too far behind. So, that gives the Tory party a 17-seat majority and boy, have they
Having been tied up yesterday until very late (including an evening with the First Sea Lord (!) more about that later) I missed all the kerfuffle about my comment about doing absolutely nothing in the Euro campaign. I felt that warranted a perhaps clearer explanation. I had not intended to stand for Europe as I was gearing myself up to go for a Westminster seat, I explained this to the region and I went for my conversion interview on the day nominations closed. I agreed to stand because I felt it was so important to have women on the list ...
I read a report in the Observer over the weekend that a new grouping called the Alcohol Health Alliance will launch this week, calling for a 10% rise in taxation on booze, and a ban on advertising it on TV before 9pm - and I see that they have today launched their campaign. The Observer went further, going on to quote a Professor Sir Michael Marmot from University College London, as saying that that doesn’t go nearly far enough, and that alcohol prices should be doubled, to discourage people from drinking - indeed this is highlighted in the article’s headline ...
The following is an advisors meeting in London. Thanks due to Ian for taping it. The meeting continued, but the tape ran out.
Another day, another flakey tory policy proposal. Davey C's floated proposal that Council's should have a referendum if they propose Council Tax raises above a certain %age certainly does sound like its devolving power and decision making right down to the people. But I think there are two faults with this: 1) The %age trigger rate set by Government will effectively be a cap in all but name. No Council would ever try putting a referendum on higher taxes. Just like the Government doesn't have a referendum on capital punishment. 2) There are quite a lot of voters who don't ...
My wife’s Uncle has just undergone major surgery to remove a cancer from his face. Being in the US and being lucky enough to have health insurance despite being unemployed he is having excellent treatment and care. The first estimate he got was of a 36 hour operation, but given the choice in health care afforded [...]
Listening to the Queen's speech debate from the House of Commons after work on BBC Parliament made me think about what I think of compulsory schooling post-16. Personally, I should be opposed to it as...
It’s only Tuesday morning but this week we’ve already had both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives proposing referendums (*or referenda), on Europe and Council Tax respectively. The Lib Dems have been characterised as uncritically pro-Europe, and we’ve not always done much to challenge that. We should. I believe that countries working together to solve [...]
Islington’s Remembrance service is always special but this year’s was particularly well done. We were blessed with fine weather - after an alarmingly rainy start to the day - and the new war memorial on Islington Green was a perfect setting for around 1,000 people to join in the service. The Green was redesigned last [...]
Congratulations to Brian Paddick for being selected as the Liberal Democrat London Mayor candidate, winning 73% of the first preference votes. The party’s website has the story as does the BBC. PS: The Wimbledon Guardian reports the story under the intriguing headline, ‘Former Gay Copper Picked For Lib Dems’. We knew Brian had retired from the [...]
Since I last posted Musharraf put Benazir Bhutto under house-arrest allegedly for her own safety - its a shame he wasn't so concerned when she arrived back in the country.
An email from Vince Cable has popped into my inbox to tell me that former Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick has been selected by party members in London to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor. Congratulations to Brian on his selection. You can sign up for news from his campaign at brianpaddick.libdems.org.uk. Update: Here’s the BBC story and the announcement on the party website.
What do you get if you cross a sphinx and a geiger counter? No, I don’t know either, but I’m guessing you’d get something like my cat Percy when he wants your attention at - in today’s case - 4.45am. One moment I was dreaming that I was in 1940s army uniform, leaving for some [...]
Lib Dem Voice has picked apart a somewhat cack-handed attempt by someone apparently called 'Joanne' with a strong desire to cast doubt on the conviction under section 106 of the 1983 Representation of the People Act of Labour hate-campaigner Miranda Grell. 'Joanne' it seems has been caught lying through 'her' teeth... or should that be keyboard... about the existence of a court transcript that she implied cast doubt on the evidence against Grell. Only it turns out no such document exists. This stunt gone wrong is presumably unrelated to the unsubstantiated claim on the 'Justice for Leyton Ward' campaign website ...
So, we're going to get to hear later today what Dave means by "localism": BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories offer votes on council tax: Councils should hold referendums if they want to bring in "high" council tax increases, Tory leader David Cameron is due to say. If people voted against a rise, they would get a rebate the following year, he will add in a speech in east London. This would replace the current system of central government "capping" bills in England and Wales...Mr Cameron is expected to say he wants to improve "democratic accountability". Under the plan, there ...
Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne are the only remaining contenders to replace Sir Menzies Campbell as Liberal Democrat leader. But what do they say? Where will they take the Liberal Democrat party? Where will they take the country? Well, Clegg, aged 40 speaks an astonishing five languages, and fought for reform in the EU during his time as an MEP. He wants what he calls “tough liberalism”. He promises to “create opportunity for all, deliver security through liberty and find the confidence to shape the changing world”. He is strongly against ID cards and in favour of a nuclear weaponry ...
When I was in Ottawa, I went for a tour round the Canadian parliament. Although it's clearly based on the British model, there are some interesting differences. For a start, it appears that there's the dangerous innovation of allowing every MP in the Canadian House of Commons their own desk within the chamber, meaning that MPs are more likely to attend debates as they can actually get some work done while listening to their colleagues speak. I suspect the British House of Commons is probably too small to allow that to happen at the moment, which is another good argument ...
There were times in the last nine years when I never thought I would be able to write this: tickets are now on sale for the first season in Kingston's new theatre. Photo by Chris Pearsall The Rose Theatre's first production will be Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya', directed by Peter Hall and starring one of my favourite actors, Neil Pearson. A further seven...
Chris Rennard wants your questions to put to the Lib Dem candidates. Now, I’m sure I could have borrowed a video camera from somewhere and done this with all the bell and whistles, but instead I thought I’d try to encourage other people by demonstrating how incredibly easy it is to record a video on your mobile phone and have it up on YouTube within 5 minutes. Have to admit, it was a struggle to fit everything into the 10 seconds my phone will allow, but here it is: I hasten to add that the handbags in the background are ...
While I was in Siena, I took the opportunity of climbing up the campanile of the Palazzo Pubblico, which is the town hall in the city. Siena is one of the few Italian cities to have a civic rather than a religious building as its main focus and the views from the top of the campanile are certainly worthwhile. Afterwards, it's worth popping in to the Museo Civico in the building, to see the fresco paintings by Lorenzetti entitled Allegories of Good and Bad Government, which I thought were excellent. Appropriately enough, the fresco devoted to Good Government has survived ...
Saturday: General Must-be-having-a-laugh of Pakistan continues to STRETCH, SQUEEZE and otherwise REDEFINE what it means to be a Democracy, by expelling three British journalists for their use of FOUL LANGUAGE. Here is the Friday leader from the Daily Torygraph that got them condemned. The offensive term is, apparently, describing General Must-be-having-a-laugh as "OUR son-of-a-Mrs-Lady-Dog". And goodness me, yes, that IS rude. To give you the PROPER language, it should have read: "I want these Mr Samuel L Jackson-ing SNAKES off of this Mr Samuel L Jackson-ing DICTATORSHIP!!!". Of course it is WORSE for people IN Pakistan, where local television stations ...
As people who know me will be aware I am opposed to the UK government's plans to introduce identity cards.
Friday: Mr Power Cable, our stunt-stand-in for Sir Mr the Merciless, is right: the big surprise about Mr Frown's "vision" for the country – as laid out in Mrs the Queen's Speech – is not after ten years of waiting and planning how much he wants things to CHANGE but how much he wants them to STAY THE SAME. Although he will ALWAYS be remembered for the invasion of a Middle Eastern Country, the REALITY of Lord Blairimort's regime was built around the triple pillars of a target culture, a surveillance society and a corrupt executive. And Mr Frown ain't ... | < | November 2007 | > | ||||
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