Liberal Democrats from all over Bromley gathered at the Orpington Liberal Club this evening, to hear Acting Leader Vince Cable speak at an informal buffet supper. Buoyed by yet another good joust with a distinctly lack-lustre Gordon Brown at PMQs earlier in the day, Vince said he had two main concerns during his brief time [...] 
Entries for the Great Liberal England Win a Taking Liberties DVD Quiz close at midnight on Friday. To encourage you to take part, here is a review of the film from the BBC site:Tony Blair will have even fewer fans after the shocking documentary Taking Liberties. British filmmaker Chris Atkins has tracked down a host of victims of the increased security measures introduced by New Labour both pre- and post-9/11. From peaceful protesters to suspected terrorists, many have been detained and had their lives turned upside down for flimsy reasons. Disturbing footage combines with amusing testimonies and commentary in this ...
Strolling out from work at lunchtime today, even though we are in mid-November, people were sitting on the benches and steps in the new Pedestrian Heart, relaxing and enjoying themselves. I regret the loss of the traditional three levels and some of the classic features of the old High Row, but it's certainly more pleasant to stroll around that area now. But there are things I don't
I just picked this up on a BBC news piece. There's a new website by a group called Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) which has what it calls a pretty comprehensive database of power stations and power companies from across the world showing CO2 outputs right down to individual power station levels. It's worth a play with. I was astonished to see Australia has the worst record in terms of CO2 output per capita from power generation. Interesting too to note that France is way down the list with the greenest output of industrialized nations because of its preponderance of ...
I read that the EU's accounts have, for the 13th year, been rejected by auditors. A question for all the Europhiles. Is the EU corrupt or inept ? Either way, it's something we ought to be more critical of. There are some in the party who will say "oh isn't it awful,", but when asked should we integrate more with a corrupt and inept organisation like this ? They reply "Of course" To my mind the EU is the equivalent of the Labour Party. It says it does lots of good and I believe that it actually does want to ...
We are told that all publicity is good publicity. Personally I think this is absolute rubbish. If the chief executive of Super Dooper plc was suddenly charged with being a paedophile, it would create massive puclicity for Super Dooper plc, but little of it would be good publicity. The same goes with adverts. Some great, some awful, but people say if you remember them they are good adverts. but do they sell any products. I like, as a piece of art, the new Cadbury's adverts featuring the Phil Collins song "In the air tonight" being drummed to by a Gorill ...
I’ve just seen someone on a forum being pedantic about the meaning of ‘pedantry’. That sound you hear is the internet eating itself.
Nothing has gobsmacked me as much as the news on Northern Rock and Gordon Brown’s answers to Vince Cable. I’m still reeling from the news or rather what it says about Government’s views on the taxpayer. It seems to me that he is virtually saying that the rights of Northern Rock directors and shareholders are of higher [...]
It is always uncomfortable seeing another's family argue amongst themselves, especially when you don't understand the background. Statement of Regret Kwame Kwei-Armah's new play at the National gave me that feeling. In effect an extended argument about what 'black' means in British politics today, as the kind of white bleeding heart liberal that the play at times mocks I feel ill-placed to make a
Win a Taking Liberties DVD A couple of years ago I wrote about the fascinating area to the north of St Pancras station and mentioned Aidan Dun's poem Vale Royal, which offers a mystical geography of this landscape. The writer of BLDG Blog records that he used to be Dun's neighbour and tells us: I think it's from Dun – but I don't actually know; I just associate this with him – maybe I made it up? – that I heard a legend claiming that St. Pancras Old Church, stranded on its small hill behind the train stations next to ... 
The text below is the unedited version of a letter to the 'Herald Express' seeking clarification on the Tories' European policy. In what is becoming typical fashion, Marcus Wood Tory PPC for Torbay, preferred to attack the LD's than answer any points raised in my earlier letter(s). Here is the letter published on 14 November 2008 : Marcus Wood in his riposte to my earlier letter about Conservative Party policy on Europe chooses not to answer any of the points raised about the EU, but opts instead to attack the Liberal Democrats! Contrary to his implied assertions I do indeed ...
It’s an odd leadership race for me. Though I’ve always tried to be measured in my blogging, I don’t usually find myself short of an opinion, nor find it difficult to decide which side of an argument I’m on. But this time round, I’m genuinely torn. There’s enough negativity in the Lib Dem blogosphere, so let [...]
Did Nick Clegg endorse school vouchers or didn't he? Well, the evidence that he did is rather strong. Not only Rachel Sylvester in the Telegraph on 29 October but also self-confessed Clegg fan Jasper Gerard, writing up an “exclusive interview” in the Observer on 21 October, state that he did. Gerard writes, quoting Clegg: "'I want a sense of empowerment on a daily basis for people accessing health care and good education.' Well that's clear. But he differs from free marketeer Tories in that 'having lived in Europe and had children born in hospitals in Europe, they have a far ...
Oh dear. The SNP have been caught out at the very first hurdle when it comes to keeping promises they made in order to win votes. In their first budget since taking power in Scotland they have decided not to keep their election promise to scrap all student debt. John Swinney, the SNP's Finance Minister then came up with the lamest of excuses when he then tried to pass the blame for this on to other political parties. He told MSPs: "I know there is insufficient parliamentary support for student debt servicing or for loans to grants, and we must ...
Lib Dem HQ was today the scene of an angry and sustained attack sparked by an out-of-date cheesecake placed in front of Nick Clegg. "We were having a typical wednesday afternoon boring meeting about w...
If you’re at home wondering what to watch, then don’t forget: Tonight, 14th Nov, Ed Davey MP and Susan Kramer MP are appearing on on Channel 4’s Political Slot - it’s only five minutes long (7.55 pm - 8.00 pm). They will, apparently, be talking “about issues that matter to the Liberal Democrats”. So expect proportional [...]
The wonderful website W4MP has a job advertisement up for a "Political Blogger". Before all you scamps get too excited, note that it is an unpaid position. Also, it is for the Social Europe Blog, which is of a 'centre-left' persuasion. Not quite suitable for the liberal Julian H, but we still respect their decision to recognise blogging as a serious occupation. Readers of this blog will know how serious and policy-orientated it is.
Our glorious acting leader, Vince Cable, once again proved what an asset he is to the party at this afternoon’s Prime Minister’s Questions, demanding to know (i) if it’s true that the Government has loaned Northern Rock a mammoth £24bn of taxpayers’ money; and (ii) if yes, that the money will be repaid with interest [...]
Last Friday 9th November Cllrs Roger Symonds and Cherry Beath met a council transport officer at the new bus stop at Hadley Arms. It was agreed with the officer that there is a need for a bus shelter at this location and that one would be provided. The shelter will be the same type of enclosed shelter as at the MoD bus stop and it will be erected at the bottom of the bank just below the bus stop. We don't yet have a date for the shelter, but we have expressed the view that it is urgently needed because ...
It took all of 18 seconds for the SNP to renege on the first of many manifesto commitments in this afternoon’s announcement on the Strategic Spending Review. Graduate debt will go unserviced, quell suprise, and that was just the start. It was stunning, the finance minister got to his feet and had the brass cohones to suggest that the SNP had ditched some of its manifesto commitments, not because of some inherent flaw in their spending calculations, but because they knew that in minority administration they would fail to obtain enough Parliamentary support. I have never heard, until now, of an ...
The Backpacker / Independent Travel market (referred to from here as the Backpacker market) is a unique market in global travel. It is both the leader in creating new destinations and the follower. The first travellers to visit a newly emerging tourist destination are usually backpackers, for example is ex war zones, however the market also likes to follow the long established travel routes, such as the beaches of Thailand. Over 90% of all backpackers travel through London at some point. This is for a number of reasons, partially to do with the number of flight routes using Heathrow and ...
When it comes to the Liberal Democrats, the sloppiness of coverage in the national press is unending. Neal Lawson has a platform on the Guardian’s Comment is Free today, in which he talks about Nick Clegg. He says: Despite his Orange Book credentials as more economically liberal, Clegg's Sheffield constituency gives him a base of experience to talk from. He is well versed in competing for progressive votes. It is one reason why he has attracted radicals like Steve Webb and Simon Hughes to his campaign.What does this mean? “Economic liberal”? I do hope so, he’s hoping to lead Britain’s ...
Who said this - in an editorial in the 'Wall Street Journal' earlier this year: "We endorse setting the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and working energetically on the actions required to achieve that goal" "We" in this case are noted peacenicks and defence patsies: Henry Kissinger (FormerUS Secretary of State)Gerge Shultz (Former US Secretary of State)William Perry (Former US secretary of Defence)Sam Numm (Former US Senator for Georgia, former chair of Senate Committee on Armed Services) This is in the context of a massive US programme to replace ageing existing nuclear warheads with a 'Reliable Replacement ...
Gordon Brown seems to have appointed himself Home Secretary.
I was slightly puzzled by the speed of the response to my last blog entry about 'Cranford', and Ros wondered whether or not someone at the BBC had been using Google to see what the response was. I was even more puzzled to find this on the 'Monkey' blog in the Guardian's online offering... Incredibly plummy? I'm
According to the BBC today: Smoking while pregnant reduces the fertility of boys by affecting a key testis gene, researchers say. Hold the phone - did I miss a memo? How long has male pregnancy been available on the NHS? Share This
There is still time to vote for your favourite location in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland as part of a unique online poll to try and prove it deserves Pride of Place. Redcar and Cleveland Council has posted ten top attractions in the Borough, with Roseberry Topping topping the votes cast so far ahead of Redcar's Kirkleatham Museum and Saltburn's Victorian Cliff Lift on the Pride of Place website, as part of the Government's Connect to your Council campaign. Other Borough choices are the beaches at Redcar and Saltburn, Huntcliff at Saltburn and the town's Victorian Pier, Winkies Castle ...
So what has happened to the Welsh Government's Legislative Competence Order on Affordable Housing? It was due to come before us on the first Tuesday of the term in September. It was pulled from the agenda and has not been seen since. Martin Shipton in today's Western Mail believes that this LCO is another casualty of an on-going spat between Cathays Park and Westminster on how widely drawn these orders can be. He says that a political source told him that, “It seems that Whitehall thinks the proposal coming from the Assembly Government is too broad.” This is the second ...
One sidebar argument in our current Leadership Dance is an interesting marketing question. How do ideas get circulated so that they stick in people minds? As the jargon goes, how to make the ideas ‘sticky’ so that they generate a ‘epidemic’ or become a ‘meme’. There are various skills needed to bring this about, and the people we are trying to persuade react in different ways. Studies of how ideas, (or new technologies) become accepted in society suggest that there are different tribes out there. Two of these are innovators and early adaptors. Innovators get the new stuff into existence, ...
Today’s post included an envelope with the now-familiar Electoral Reform Services logo. Not another Lib Dem election? We’ve chosen our Euro candidates, and our Mayoral candidate. Surely the leadership ballots aren’t out yet? In fact, it’s a ballot for elections to the first ever board - called the Shadow Board - for the new Islington Leaseholders [...] 
This is a reminder to any Tory MPs or councillors that might for reason stumble accross my blog (unlikely I know, since most tories are so out of date they’re still trying to work out how telegrams work), I would like to point out an excerpt from a guideline manual for MPs that I found online. I guess its equally applicable to councillors, or indeed anyone: “MPs have to observe the general principles of personal conduct identified by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. These principles are: Selflessness Integrity Objectivity Accountability Openness Honesty Leadership”
A post from my iPhone. It's a marvellous thing, with a real web browser, and a great mail client.
Adam Teladia, the West Midlands Liberal Democrats Training Officer has launched a new Training Survey.
According to the BBC website, there is currently a shortage of Wii's on the highstreet. As a consumer who's been trying to buy one, that doesn't come as any sort of surprise. Any shop you walk into, in any town will normally give you some form of "if they come in, then its on Friday, but we don't know how many we'll get, if any". Of course you're asking this question on Saturday or Sunday, when the sign says "out of stock". But today, my new Wii arrived. I ordered it on Sunday evening, got despatched from amazon.de on Monday ...
It must be admitted that my social calendar has taken an upward turn of late. Opportunities to mix with non-Liberal Democrats were few and far between before Ros entered my life, part of the problem of dedicating yourself to the dark side (that’s bureaucracy, by the way, not liberal democracy…). Last night, we had the great pleasure of attending a screening of the first episode of the new BBC
On Monday evening I attended a hustings-type event with Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne at the National Liberal Club. I will inform you of my overall findings in due time, but for now want to focus on just one question raised from the floor and the candidates' responses to the said question. After an hour of gloriously hardcore liberalism in which the candidates stirred our loins souls on classical issues such as civil liberties, internationalism and, basically, freedom, it seemed a tad odd when a question popped up about drinking in town centres. Without wanting to denigrate the author of ...
Local people will have their chance to put their case to the Planning committee over the proposed Children’s Centre at Butterstile School next Tuesday, and I have been asked to speak on their behalf. This is a repeated item on the agenda because last time a lot of residents were unaware of their right to make representations, and so didn’t. Now the Council has consulted more widely and I can give across the views of local people very concerned about the increases in traffic on School Grove, and the increased danger to school children caused because of it. I think ...
A single meeting with the Prime Minister, if this BBC report is to be believed: During the Today programme interview at 0810 [still available here], former Admiral Lord West said he still needed "to be fully convinced that we absolutely need more than 28 days". "I want to be totally convinced because I am not going to go and push for something that actually affects the liberty of the individual
This evening is a meeting of the Performance and Resources scrutiny commission - the last of the calendar year and the final one of four in eight weeks. And tonight is important for me personally because I am presenting to the Commission the findings of the sub-group on alternative service delivery models. As exciting as that sounds, I will try to keep the audience’s rapture to a controllable level and present the findings accurately. It is certain-to be an interesting debate because officers and Members don’t agree on everything here, which means potentially tough decisions to be made. Rick
Following on from James Graham’s ‘Inter-generational equity with background of handbags’ moment, Alex Foster has an interesting poser - why have no women yet submitted video questions for the candidates, as invited by Chris ‘cunning as a’ Rennard? Answer: because we are far too busy doing all the actual work to have time to video ourselves asking why other [...]
I wish I was a tory. Tory’s can be b*stards, and get away with it. Tory’s can treat people like dirt, and it’s OK - because its expected of them - they don’t know any better they’re Daily-mail readers, or red-top readers, or wannabe aristocrats. When you’re a tory, its every man for himself, everyone can be a winner as long as you’re winning more and nobody gets in your way, otherwise they’ll be hell to pay. Being a tory means you don’t care about education or the NHS, because you can send your kids to private school and you ...
Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick has called on Ian Blair, the under-fire head of the Metropolitan police, to quit. There were some eyebrows raised a couple of weeks ago, when Brian stopped short of calling on his former police colleague to step down in the wake of the Met’s conviction by the courts [...]
Today is the sixtieth birthday of the great American satirist and Libertarian, PJ O'Rourke. One could hardly let the day go by without quoting my current top ten all time great PJ quotes: 10. I'm a registered Republican and consider socialism a violation of the American principle that you shouldn't stick your nose in other people's business except to make a buck. 9. The larger the German body, the smaller the German bathing suit and the louder the German voice issuing German demands and German orders to everybody who doesn't speak German. For this, and several other reasons, Germany is ...
Sometimes I think there’s a lot of confusion between these two. It explains a lot of the confusion over what liberal means for those involved in Liberal Conspiracy. Liberalism is not humanitarianism, although the two are very often held by the same person, and the two often seem to be confused. Liberalism is a political system which [...]
Yesterday evening I attended my first Cabinet meeting, deputising for our group leader. The leaders of both the opposition groups and the independent councillor are all invited to attend, with speaking rights. Also present were five senior Conservatives in the public seats and two members of the public. The Chair, Leader of the Council John Williams, asked the two members of the public if they
The Independent reports today that Labour MPs are worried that Gordon Brown is rolling back the public sector reforms of Tony Blair. Perhaps its an intelligence test: the ones who are worried are the thick ones so they can more easily be sidelined. How refreshing it is to see the new Prime Minister recognising that the 'scattergun' approach to dragging in private sector companies off the street, getting them drunk on power and throwing money at them to see if they can run public services any better, while trying to keep all the extra spending on the astronomical and ludicrously ...
Top marks for this insight: Later, Mr Miliband also warned that Mr Brown could lose the next general election unless the Government was seen to be effective and competent.
I walked in the door likely to support Nick Clegg - and I walked out with the same feeling. But Chris Huhne was excellent and, insofar as its possible, won the bout comprehensively. <>We began with 15 minute speeches from each candidate. Chris went first and was passionate, entertaining and engaging. He outlined a number of key pledges and ideas and conveyed a real hunger for the job. <><>However, I found two aspects about his speech disappointing: first, were the couple of digs at Nick Clegg. I appreciate the desire to demonstrate differences - but I am not sure that ...
This time my new word is in English, not French. It comes courtesy of David Miliband, who has said that Gordon Brown would also have invaded Iraq had he been Prime Minister at the time. Well, thank arse that’s cleared up. Diplomats of the world, stand down. Miliband’s words were as follows: [David Miliband] conceded that decisions taken since the war [...]
After it's lashing by the US Congress, Yahoo! has finally been forced to apologise and compensate two Chinese cyber-dissidents, Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning. It is a pity that it has taken the US Congress to shame Yahoo! into this aboutface but it is welcome nonetheless. I'm also glad to see that they will be creating fund to provide legal aid for online dissidents. I hope this sees the beginning of the end of the collaborationist mentality of internet companies and a recognition that freedom of speech and internet freedom of expression are global freedoms that should not be compromised. ...
Was called earlier this morning by Professor Malory Nye, Acting Principal of the Al-Maktoum Institute to be advised that, following my recent meeting with him when I raised residents' concerns about the state of the former Logie Secondary School site (earmarked for the proposed Al-Maktoum Cultural Centre), work starts today on tidying the site. The Al-Maktoum Foundation has employed the City Council (Dundee Contract Services) to undertake the work. I am pleased that the area is to be tidied as there have been many concerns from residents about the state of the area. Attended West End Community Council last night. ...
I haven’t updated this website for some time now. The reason has not been because the Liberal Drinks idea is dead - far from it. It’s because the Facebook group has been the most successful part of this ongoing experiment thus far and I’ve concentrated on that at the expense of this website. But there is still a place for this site and its integration with Flock Together and I need to get back in the habit of using it again. One of the things I’m very conscious of is that a lot of people out there want a Liberal ...
I see the corpulent Simon Heffer has outdone himself in ranting this morning. He essentially demands that the Union that links England and Scotland should be dissolved because England and Scotland are different nations and that the Scots have too much power over England even though the whinging Jocks are just a bunch of subsidy junkies (I paraphrase lightly). I have warned about the Conservatives' attitude to the Union in the past, and it is now quite clear what the agenda of much of the right wing press has become: to "big up" Alex Salmond and drive Scotland out of ...
Christmas lights meeting a bit more eventful than expected. One of the main sets of lights that had been put up in Boscawen Street Monday evening, came crashing down Tuesday lunchtime, injuring two people, damaging a car and forcing QS to close for two hours. Unbelievable. For years people have been clambering up ladders and hanging the lights off whatever was handy. Now Health and Safety have stopped all that, and we've had to employ a major company to do it, at a terrific cost, which included £30,000 to test and renew the infrastructure, and we have our first major ...
As you’ll know if you’ve been near a telly or a radio recently, the Lib Dems are engaged in a leadership election right now. In order to let the 70,000 members who get to make the decision on who the next leader will be, we have hustings where both candidates set out their stalls, and people ask questions to check which candidate thinks the right things. Those hustings are taking place up and down the country. There was one in Derby recently that I attended with a hundred other local Lib Dems - but there are still many more around ...
In the interests of promoting healthy dialogue I have this idea that it would be nice to give bloggers the excuse to promote their candidate and perhaps enlighten people about what’s driving people to choose one candidate over another. Today it’s Chris’ turn. It’ll be Nick’s turn tomorrow. The rules are simple. First rule, fill in the blank, “One Good Reason to vote for Chris: BLANK”. Concise is good. Second rule, It’s got to be a positive reason for Chris. Third rule: Assuming anyone joins in (either in comments here or on your own blog!) these “Good Reasons” are not ...
Not satisfied with slurring Nick Clegg by claiming he supports vouchers in education when he doesn't and using Chris Clarke to branch Nick a Tory (quickly withdrawn once challenged but those comments should never have appeared in the first place) we saw yesterday yet another dubious claim from the Huhne camp. This time Chris claimed to be the first through the 1000 barrier. Oh really? So why has the Clegg campaign already got 1500 supporters and rising? I recognise that Chris is a good economist and has many admirable strengths but does he have to be economical with the truth ...
Just to take a break from the leadership for a moment, fans of U2 will be intrigued by this iLike video. Wave of Sorrow was originally something which didn’t make it on to the classic ‘Joshua Tree’ album, here we see Bono explaining the song, and then singing it - all captured on a camera phone in someone’s living room!
The new Realpolitik podcast is now available here. In this week's show: Bird Flu - the end of civilisation? Brown’s “hard-headed internationalism” and other such bland rhetoric. Is the West going to war with Iran? Cameron’s council tax referendums. Cameron (again) and rape involves careful tip-toeing… and is rape a political football? Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is finally involved in a cover-up
Cell phones have been adopted at a pace unmatched by any technology in the history of mankind. While conventional use of these devices continues to expand, mobile phones are also increasingly being viewed as tools for conservation and development. In the poorest parts of Africa, where the infrastructure for landline telephone systems are scarce, mobile phone use has proliferated. With this is mind, Kiwanja.net have developed FrontlineSMS. FrontlineSMS allows not-for-profit organisations use their computer to send and receive SMS ‘text’ messages to a large group of people, quickly and easily. The uses for this are numerous, but could include ...
Monday: DO not panic, it is NOT the Big Tent on fire… it is merely the Olympics! London's Burning {Posted by Picasa} Oops! And we thought the London Olympics weren't meant to be a disaster until 2012! Anyway, we were NOT watching that, we were watching THIS: Sarah Jane, again! Here is Daddy Richard with another review. (Spoilers ahoy, of course!) As I'm sure you know, 1994's short play for Radio 4 "Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman" saw the real Susan (Carole Ann Ford) replaced by Jane Asher. Guess what… We're back on spooky territory this week, after the more ...
The West Midlands Liberal Democrats are committed to monitoring the quality of training we offer. To do that effectively we need your help. The West Midlands Liberal Democrats would be very grateful if activists, agents, council candidates, councillors, local party officers, members, organisers and parliamentary candidates could take a few minutes to fill in a questionnaire in order to help us improve the training offered.
Sunday: The funny thing is that I BELIEVE in people who are sent to prison being given the chance to REFORM. I believe in prison being better if it is a place to RE-EDUCATE. I believe in people REDEEMING themselves after prison. What I do NOT believe in is Mr Jonathan Aitkin , creator of the famous Aitkin's Diet ("Indulge yourself and then lie about it – you're bound to lose pounds!") You don't put an alcoholic in charge of wine-testing for Threshers and you don't put a Minister who was imprisoned for PERJURY over CORRUPTION in a position of ... | < | November 2007 | > | ||||
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