It was very good to see the two leadership candidates given a whole Question Time on their own, or at least with David Dimbleby. Nick Clegg seemed ten times more relaxed and passionate "on the box" tonight than he did in Bristol earlier this week. I think having David Dimbleby to "spark him off" must have helped. He was particularly impassioned on the question of coalitions. I was much more 
I've just been watching the Lib Dem Leadership debate and felt that Chris Huhne just about edged it over the length of the whole programme. To start with Chris exuded more confidence, spoke in a more measured and controlled way thatn Nick, his fluency was clear in the way he got his message across and by contrast nick seemed flustered and a little edgy. The first questions were, I felt, a poor way to start the debate and concentrated on negative comments made. Chris did well and sounded more controlled when asked about his comments likening Nick to Cameron whilst ...
Question Time has just finished and it proved quite illuminating. Both Nick and Chris performed well and there were unsurprisingly few moments of real tension. Chris did come out with some barbed comments about Nick's approach to Trident but generally this was good natured. Chris scord points with this viewer with some interesting comments about Trident tying us into a 50 year ontract with the USA and he of course spoke well throughout the programme, As for Nick, he was similarly assured. He must win the prize for 'bleeding heart' liberalism as he likes to raise problems in that earnest, ...
The world's largest authentic German Christmas market to be staged outside Germany or Austria has again returned to Birmingham with more than 90 festive stalls in Victoria Square and along New Street. The Frankfurt Market, is the centrepiece of Birmingham's annual Christmas events calendar, and will run from 15 November to 23 December 2007, open 10.00am to 9.00pm daily. More information is
Here are some of my impressions of tonight's Lib Dem Leadership Question Time. Chris Huhne's negative campaigning has come back to haunt him. David Dimbleby lashes Huhne for the "Cameron Stunt Double" quotation pretty quickly which puts him on the defensive. Chris is wrong over Trident. To my mind, his negotiating position would throw all the cards out of the window. I also think that he badly underestimates Russia under Vladimir Putin. Russia has increasing receipts from oil and gas which it is using to rebuild it's military. Nick has also realised that Russia is using it's oil and gas ...
At least the day started off in the fresh air and sunshine as again we were planting bulbs, this time in Bishopsgarth, with the help of local residents and Bishopsgarth School. Well done, thank you, and I look forward to seeing them bloom in spring. At a Housing Partnership meeting in the afternoon I heard about allocation of funding for our region, and it sounded good - an 8%...
Nick and John Shipley with the Earl Grey statue in the background Glyn Nightingale (left) with Nick and Chris
Just a few weeks ago: Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Minister for the Middle East Kim Howells joined dignitaries to welcome the king as he arrived at the central London parade ground with the Prince of Wales earlier in the day. The head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair, who led the force through the London terror attacks of 2005, also greeted the king with a handshake and a smile. The king reviewed a guard of honour before heading to Buckingham Palace in a carriage. Today: An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the ...
Back to the Fence, to observe the latest botch up from the County Council Highways Division. The local Lib Dem County Councillor Sandie Giles is pictured in front of the latest repair; holding on to the already rotting piece which will be the next bit to fall off! Press release tonight. I've had enough, so this time I'm asking residents to send photos of the Fence to me at our website - thefence@huntslibdems.org.uk - so we can publish them on line and send them to the local press. We will be asking them to get a picture for any special ...
As they say before the football results...........look away now if you don't want to know the results! Tonight's showdown on Question Time has been billed as the make or break hustings for both candidates.............For the vast majority of our members who can't get to party hustings, this will be perhaps their only opportunity to make a judgement on who they will support. So - who is making the running so far? Well apparently Huhne didn't get off to such a great start when Dimbleby attacked him for his Cameron Stunt Double jibe. And on Trident Nick said "This Trident debate ...
The two contenders for the Liberal Democrat leadership - Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne - go head-to-head on tonight’s special edition of Question Time (broadcast on BBC1 and online from 10.35 pm GMT). The pressure will be on. Though Question Time’s audience is not large (a couple of million, or so), it’s likely that a high [...]
Ways to get yourself beaten up in a country pub number 57: call your quiz team 'free the Dando one' the week after Barry George was convicted (other effective ways include standing up for the Brass Eye paedophile special, and outing yourself and the bloke sat next you 10 minutes before closing). Anyway you may have guessed that I was never convinced that Barry George would have convicted had he
Martin Bright has an enjoyable interview piece with Clegg in the New Statesman, rather excellently titled ''Brown and Cameron are illiterate and parochial''. Amen! In blogospheric news, I find Nich Starling’s attack on Huhne supporters “going negative” more needlessly inflammatory than the material to which he is referring.
In Australia, Father Christmases have apparently been banned from saying "Ho, ho, ho" and have been asked to say "Ha, ha, ha" for fear of scaring young children who might think that Father Christmas is instead making reference to a "Ho", which is an American slang term for a prostitute. So I am sorry to for the Peter Hitchens of this world, but a Conservative led country like Australia is just as bad and it is not all the fault of Labour.
Foreign tourist numbers in London have fallen over the past year, and I am not surprised. I´ll wager that this has little to do with perceptions of terrorist risks (though Gordon Brown´s latest plans for heightened security are enough to scare away residents, let alone visitors). No, our capital — which I dearly love — [...]
Surely, it's a joke? Apparently, some people found my posting ‘Avoiding the question’ “incredibly rude”. I make no apology for my posting and stand by what was said. However, I am curious as to what part they found so rude and inflammatory? I wonder if they would care to elaborate? Could it be they are being a a little over-sensitive? Or is it a case of the truth hurting? Either way, I agree, let’s get things into perspective!! P.S Nick Clegg was asked exactly the same question. Rather than avoid answering it Nick Clegg said that he would totally support ...
I don't often try to catch the Speakers' eye at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs). I prefer to take my chances in the weekly ballot when if your number comes up you know you will get called.&nbs...
I am grateful to my old friend and former Liberal Democrat agent for Norman Lamb in North Norfolk back in 2001, Ed Maxfield, who is number two on the Liberal Democrats East Midlands Euro list (congratulations Ed, you will make a fabulous MEP) for sending me this latest story of negativity. More dastardly deeds in the Lib Dem Leadership race, surely not. Well actually, and thankfully, the answer is no. In this case the negativity is not from either Chris Huhne or Nick Clegg. Instead it emanates from a National Lottery ticket, and the unbelievable way that some adults fail ...
Over on Lib Dem Voice, Norman Baker gives a synopsis of why the David Kelly affair will not go away, and what he found in the course of researching for his book, The Strange Death of David Kelly.
Well, I haven't done one of these for a while... If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Igor Stravinsky.Known as a true son of the new 20th Century, my music started out melodic and folky but slowly got more dissonant and bizzare as I aged. I am a traveler and a neat freak, and very much hated those rotten eggs thrown at me after the premiere of "The Rite of Spring."Who would you be? Dead
I was slightly amazed to find I had received my first Christmas card today. They say Christmas seems to start earlier each year, but I don't think I have ever received a Christmas card this early before. Has anyone else received one yet ?
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, services right across the country took place to commemorate the fallen in the Great Wars and within others. It was a sombre occasion for many that brought home the horrors of war and the chance to reflect upon those not here since they truly had 'given their today's for our tomorrows.' In a world where conflict is caused by the lack of access to limited resources, there will I am afraid, be more wars that spark up across the globe. As populations rise, resources dwindle and arms are ...
Win a Taking Liberties DVD The Lib Dem MP for Lewes has an article on Lib Dem Voice to mark the publication of his book The Strange Death of Dr David Kelly. Norman writes: What is certain is that the conclusions of the Hutton Inquiry are an insult to the intelligence of the British people, and because of this, this is unfinished business. It will remain so until we have a proper inquest into the death of Dr Kelly, and a proper full-scale public inquiry into the disastrous and dishonest decision by the Blair Government to take us into an ...
For all those Cleggies and Huhnistas who want to have a rant. Alix has given you somewhere to vent your spleen and stop cluttering the listings on LibDem Blogs or the pages of LibDem Voice. So do us all a favour and get over to the People's Republic of Mortimer. 
I’ve just realised one of the things bugging me about Chris Huhne’s campaign is his choice of colour. He’s ditched the comforting gold/orange/yellow and gone for green. I assume this is trying to bolster his green credentials, but I can’t help wonder whether its a hint at a New Labour/New Tory style rebranding… (Labour of course [...]
Win a Taking Liberties DVD After posting my article the other evening, I watched the Panorama programme on ADHD that gave me an excuse for resurrecting it. Two things about the documentary struck me. The first is the theme park that gives all children diagnosed with ADHD a wristband giving them priority on all rides. It's hardly an incentive to good behaviour, is it? The second was Craig, one of the youngsters featured in the programme. He clearly has serious problems: He has no friends, has self-harmed, suffers night terrors, is aggressive and - after assaulting three school teachers - ...
Win a Taking Liberties DVD It seems that UNESCO has declared 17 November World Philosophy Day. So I'd like you to take a few minutes to Think Very Hard about something. When you have, why not explore The Bertrand Russell Archives at McMaster University?
I probably won’t be doing much writing over the weekend. In fact I won’t be doing much of anything except dancing frenetically in weirdly-lit hellish cellars because I am about to enter into a ninety-six hour gigtastic bender. As we young(ish) people say. So as a favour to the rest of the Lib Dem blogosphere I will be turning my [...]
This time it's from the District Council that I'm on - Rochford. 
Win a Taking Liberties DVD A report by David Pallister on the Guardian website says: A ferocious attack on the "chilling effect" of the English law of libel and its use by wealthy "foreign tourists" will be mounted in a top US court today, with backing from organisations that represent a majority of the world's media. The case is being brought in the New York state court of appeals by an American academic, Rachel Ehrenfeld, against one of the richest men in the world, the Saudi investment banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. Her lawyers describe it as the most important first ...
Posted by Chris: Glyn Nightingale and I spent an interesting afternoon in the company of Nick Clegg and a number of north east Lib Dems, including Newcastle Council leader John Shipley and Freddie Fletcher. We travelled up to the Newcastle/Gateshead Hilton, where Nick was to address the North East Economic Forum. Nick was introduced by Michael White, Assistant Editor of The Guardian, who chaired the session. "You will be aware he is standing for the Leadership of the Liberal Democrats and he is going to win," Mr White told the audience of north east business people, quangocrats, academics and civic ...
How to caucus, american style
As Iain Dale has revealed, he has applied to succeed Ann Widdecombe as the Tory candidate in Maidstone and if selected, this would land him potentially a very safe seat. You might have imagined given the Lib Dems success in North Norfolk of fighting off Iain's energetic campaign there in 2005 that Lib Dem's would be queueing up to fight Maidstone themselves. However, I read that the Lib Dem candidate has withdrawn recently. Perhaps the tide has turned for Iain. Where once we knew we could beat him perhaps in Maidstone we know we can't ? Surely we aren't scared ...
Although I fear that I may be in for a Rigellian Hotshot as a result, it is somewhat amusing to note that if you type Quaequam Blag into Google, the search engine comes up with the helpful suggestion “Do you mean Quaequam Blog?” It doesn’t work the other way. Well, it made me chuckle anyway. Share This
All the best of British luck to Iain Dale! He has now sent in his application form for the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary candidature (try saying that with a mouthful of Ann Widdecombe's brussel sprouts) in Maidstone constituency. It's so exciting!
I feel like Bill O'Reilly when I say "The assault on Christmas has started early this year", but here goes, via The Australian Daily Telegraph: Santas across Sydney are rebelling against attempts to ban their traditional greeting of "ho, ho, ho" in favour of "ha, ha, ha". Recruitment firm Westaff - which supplies hundreds of Santas across the country - has told its trainees that the "ho ho ho"
More than three years after Lord Hutton published his Inquiry report, the death of Dr David Kelly simply won’t go away. It won’t because Lord Hutton, charged with examining the circumstances of his death, did nothing of the sort, instead devoting nearly all his energies to refereeing the spat between the Government and the BBC. [...]
Well, we've had an interesting couple of months after making an offer on new house back in September. But over the last week we've had to pull the plug on the offer. From a buyers perspective, the sooner HIPS are in place for all properties the better. If we'd had sight of a survey, carried out at the expense of the current owner, then we would never had made a serious offer at the level we did. Indeed, I doubt the estate agent would even have tried to market property at the price they did! As it is, someone else ...
Clearly Ann Summers are going to take a hit from the scottish legal decision that having sex with an inanimate object in a locked room means you should be placed on probation and on the sex offenders register. I presume Ann Summers in Scotland are clearing their shelves of Rampant Rabbits.. Madness
Lynne Featherstone draws our attention to this piece in the Financial Times describing life under Prime Minister Brown: He has been in Number 10 less than six months but, to the horror of civil servants, he has already hunkered down and cut most communication with the rest of government. Insiders say that no papers, no ideas and no decisions are getting through the barbed wire – only announcements from the leader that have been discussed with no one outside Mr Brown’s inner circle.As a result, the corridors of power have become the corridors of impotence. Whitehall teems with unhappy cabinet ...
Hey Jude, don't make it bad take a sad song and make it better Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better Hey Jude, don't be afraid You were made to go out and get her The minute you let her under your skin Then you begin to make it better And anytime you feel the pain Hey Jude refrain don't carry the world upon your shoulders For well you know that it's a fool
It seems that substance misusers are to be another casualty of the Labour-Plaid Government with news today that local health boards (LHBs) will cut the number of beds they provide for residential detox treatment in Wrexham to 13. Cais, a charity, which runs Hafan Wen, a purpose-built centre treating people addicted to drugs and alcohol, has warned that people will die waiting to access drug and alcohol detox treatment. Although the LHBs say that this is part of a move to more community based treatment, Cais says that up until the end of August there were 120 people in North ...
Rather amusing letter in today's Guardian: Russell Brand (G2, ad nauseam, November 13) is clearly very excited about himself, and writes about it very well, but, I must say, I find my own narcissism infinitely more compelling. Gil Elliot London
I have been attacked by another Labour MP in Gateshead. I think it was Dennis Healey who once described being attacked by Geoffrey Howe as like "being savaged by a dead sheep." I think this is one of those situations! David Clelland is the Labour MP for Tyne Bridge. He lacks the charisma of Geoffrey Howe and certainly doesn't have the ability to issue a quiet knock out blow, as the former
Localism is a great concept, its definitely part of the liberal vision. Devolving power closer to the individual. Unfortunately it is offered as a panacea for so many problems and often as a way for people to get what they think is best. We appear to fail to comprehend the most democratic institution of all- the [...]
There has been much talk lately of what job Charles Kennedy should be given in the shadow cabinet. This has been fuelled by both Nick and Chris heavily indicating that they would like to see Charles back on the front bench. My position for a long time has been that Charles should be put in charge [...]
My latest article on Comment is Free is now up: Instead of doggedly trying to outpace property prices, imagine if the exchequer went the other way. And imagine if it used the extra revenue that resulted to cut income taxes. Wouldn’t it be fairer to allow people to keep more of the money that they earn in exchange for having less inheritance to look forward to? Wouldn’t that be better for the economy: lowering the costs of labour while doing more to capture unearned wealth? Shouldn’t at least one of the main political parties be championing such a position? Share ...
A site visit by the Council’s Planning Committee is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, 20 November 2007, to consider the planning application made by the club. The Committee will be at the Club at 3.50pm on Tuesday where they will look at the proposals for improved car parking, fencing and floodlights prior to a decision being made on the appliation at the Planning Meeting that evening at 7.00pm. I am planning to be at the site visit, to brief members of the Planning Committe of the concerns that many residents have raised concerns over the proposals. Tim
I understand why the Government would like to include people like Lord Carlile as an `Independent` reviewer of terrorism legislation. My argument though is whether people in this position should forgo their party membership. To be honest I’m sick and tired of hearing him going on about going over 28 days. What I’m also sick and tired of [...]
Am I the only person scared, worried, angry about the attack on our liberties that are happening in this country? Just listened to the wonderful Shami Chakrabati from Liberty and hearing her talk about `salami slicing our liberties`. She’s concerned that there’s developing a `permanent state of emergency` and that axioms are being presented as truths to [...]
Back in late 2005, and in the wake of the 7/7 bombings, the Government asked Parliament to extend the period certain types of criminal suspects* could be detained without trial to 90 days and lost. This was the first time Tony Blair was defeated in the House of Commons, but the House agreed to extend the limit to 28 days and the measure was eventually promulgated as a part of the Terrorism Act
Reading Lib Dem blogs over the last few days, I would strongly suggest that it's time to calm down to a frenzy and start getting life into some form of perspective over the leadership contest. I'm open about backing Chris for leader but you won't find me posting such incredibly rude headings such as "Just how low will Huhne's supporters go" or "Avoiding the question" as posted by two obviously pro-Clegg supporters. I'm sure that there are similar inflamatory postings by pro-Huhne bloggers too. Come on folks, we're all going to have to work together after the leadership contest and ...
When I decided to make my life more eco friendly one of the first issues to resolve was waste. In our household of two we produced at least two black bin bags of rubbish a week. Now we recycle about 80% and produce about a bag of general waste every 3-4 weeks. So how did we do it? And can everyone do it? About a third of all waste is food so this seemed like the obvious place to start. We share a garden with the other seven flats in our house so we installed a compost bin where we ...
I don't believe I am the only person who is being put off greatly and perhaps narked off at the same time by the antics of "Team Huhne". Perhaps the biggest example of this has to be the constant diatribe of personal and negative attacks on him by Lib Dem bloggers who should know better. Take for example Paul Walter, who has written the most terribly biased and one sided accounts of a hustings meeting ever, with little or no attempt at balance or fairness. Reach comment of praise for Nick Clegg is instantly destroyed by some negative comment. For ...
Just doing a sample of six or seven fellow Cllrs - almost to a woman and man were voting for Nick Clegg. One was for Chris and one unsure. One of these cllrs (although very good at his portfolio role) voted in opposite direction in the Euros and for Ming Campbell last time (I voted Hughes, Huhne). [...]
I recently asked Chris Huhne to answer the following question. “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 on occupied land. As leader of the party, will you fight ...
My colleague Cllr Dave White, transport Exec member for Stockport MBC, has done his forensic sleuthing and found the following (which i copy from his response to `about me` on this blog): `Has anyone noticed that the new Local Transport Bill allows the Government to control the Franchises through appointed Approval Boards (Clause21)? Also there is a provision to [...]
Lynne Featherstone raised an issue in her reply to my “One Good Reason To Vote for Chris Huhne” post that’s worth discussing further. It’s something I highlighted very early on in this contest, and I’m surprised that it’s not featured more prominently on the LD blogosphere or in hustings. It really is very important: Chris Huhne’s manifesto, when he last stood for leader, had a profound impact on the policy agenda for this party even though he didn’t actually win - he won the ‘battle for ideas’. The emphasis on taxing pollution, not hard work, was something that stood out ...
I despair. (I blogged about this earlier and have since been receiving lots of hits from a link in a very dark area of the internet.) Cleaners in a hotel used a master key to unlock a locked hotel room and found a man having sex. It really should have stopped there. He was doing nothing wrong. He was in private. He can do what he likes. Bikes are sturdy things - they can take it! This is
Domestic flights in the UK used to be convenient, fairly priced and fast. Now they're hugely inconvenient, almost to the point that driving would be quicker and less hassle. Obviously if we had a reasonable Train service from Cornwall to London th... Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Those of us who signed up for No2ID’s pledge to resist ID cards got an email this morning asking us for the £10 we pledged to set up a legal fund for defense of anyone who is prosecuted for civil disobedience in this matter. I hope everyone who has signed up does this, but I also [...]
There's the regular hoohah going on about foreign players in the Premiership, with people like Stevies Gerrard and Coppell calling for a quota for English players. I don't believe it would do any good. Getting more players into the Premiership doesn't make them better. We need a different system for training them and getting the best out of them. If it's really the players that make a difference, why aren't they sacked when the club performs poorly? It's the manager who gets it in the neck. There's a good reason for that - it's the manager that makes the most ...
The leadership election is getting interesting. The contest started with the two contestants sitting on Andrew Marr’s TV sofa appearing to be agree with each other on virtually every issue. However as the contest has evolved the differences have started to emerge. Differences not just over policy but also over campaigning style and strategy. How someone campaigns in a leadership election might not seem terribly important at first but actually it tells you a great deal about how that person would lead the party if they were elected, how they would try to define the party and themselves if they ...
This judgment made is very clear that the SBS triad can occur through a fall. (where the baby's head is bigger than normal). There is still the question as to what is really evidence of a baby that has been harmed through shaking. This comes back to the Evidenced Based Medicine Question. Where James Munby is particularly good (he was the judge here) is in recognising the harm of care
More news is emerging from Cowley Street about this attack. Chris Rennard, the party's chief executive, was found to be hoarding 11 purple quality street chocolates in what is being hailed a 'shamefu...
Q6. [163661] John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): In England in 2006, 4,160 children under five were taken into care and more than 60 per cent. of them—2,490—were adopted. However, in Scotland 574 left care and 373, roughly 64 per cent., went home to their parents. Can the Prime Minister explain why in England children under five who leave care get adopted, while in Scotland they go home to
Our two local MPs appeared on the Channel 4 Political slot last night, to launch their campaign about train fares. Here it is ....
Two by-elections have taken place that I missed, as there was no Liberal Democrat candidate - one on Bridgnorth District Council and one on Telford and Wrekin Council. In Bridgnorth an Independent was elected unopposed taking a Labour seat and in Telford and Wrekin the Conservatives gained a seat from Labour.
One of the big downsides of being in a political party is fundraising. I'd rather give them £20 than have to do a jumble sale. But it doesn't seem to work that way. Perhaps I missed the meeting or just wasn't paying attention, but I've got stuck with organising this years Christmas Fair. And it's been a complete pain, and very nearly a disaster when I almost forgot to organise Traders Licenses, and with me being on the Licensing Committee, well you can imagine how bad that would have been. Thank you Licensing Department. But having moaned my way through ...
I listened to David Davis on "Today" this morning and I agreed with every word he said. He was talking about the proposed 56 day detention with charge limit. I even had to surpress a "Way to go, Davis!". I think I'll book myself in for a check-up....
Thanks to Stephen Tall of Lib Dem Voice for pointing out this excellent piece from Channel 4’s Political Slot last night. For those of us that don't often turn on a TV, it's nice to be able to watch retrospectively what our MPs have been saying to the electorate! In this piece, Ed Davey and Susan Kramer discuss the an issue close to my heart - the railways. Railways for me are an opportunity to bring this country closer together. Advances in railway technology have come thick and fast - just look at Shanghai's Transrapid Maglev system. By contrast, our ...
I flagged up last night that Lib Dem MPs Ed Davey and Susan Kramer were occupying Channel 4’s Political Slot: Edward Davey MP discusses rising train fares and talks about Liberal Democrat plans to fund investment in the railways through tolls on foreign lorries. If you missed it, don’t worry - here it is again, courtesy YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9r0-_2uuZ0
Sky News’s Jon Craig has the exclusive: Brian Paddick, the controversial former top cop chosen by the Liberal Democrats as their candidate for London Mayor, is being backed by rock legend Sir Elton John. … Revealing his celebrity backing from the superstar whose hits include “Rocket Man”, Paddick told me: “Before I got the nomination, I got [...]
I don't often feel like praising David Davis, but credit where credit's due - he's just given an excellent interview on the Today Programme on why he is opposing Labour's plan to double detention without trial to 56 days. So forceful was he that he barely allowed the interviewer - John Humphrys of all people - to get a word in edgeways! It helps, of course, when you have the facts on your side. He's quite right that the Government already have powers to declare a state of emergency if they want to question people for longer than 28 days ...
After the positive response to my “One Good Reason to Vote for Huhne” post, it’s time to do one for Nick. Lib Dem Voice are doing something similar, which I mention because I plugged these posts over there {:)} Yesterday I wrote, “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.” The rules are simple. First rule, fill in the blank, “One Good Reason to vote for Nick: BLANK”. Concise ...
I’ve already written a fair bit about the Chatham House conference I attended recently, but I did just want to add something about the excellent points made at it by William Wallace about the UK’s position in relation to the EU and the US. For he did a very good job of highlighting some of the choices faced by the UK. We are in many ways prisoners of the way in which the British public and media like to see some of these issues, which does lead us into some quite odd positions. This view, which he says in a ...
You will recall that I've been having serious problems with AOL, attenpting to get broadband in my new home. Last month, I finally persuaded AOL and BT that I deserved the broadband connection that I had been paying for, only to discover that the telephone cabling in the house refused to cope with this new 'treat'. Hmmm, what to do? Whilst visiting Nottingham a few weeks ago, Liam, Ros's nephew,
Phew. As you can probably tell, it's been a long day today. The Clegg campaign in Sheffield has gone from having too little to do... to drowning under a mountain of paper. It's all feeling very by-electiony. That said, I still can't say I'm feeling very inspired by this leadership campaign. Maybe that's the nature of leadership campaigns. Maybe it's because I made up my mind early. Or maybe it's because I've been watching The West Wing again from the start - real politics just isn't as poetic, goshdarnit! It's at least preferable to the long periods of stultifying boredom ...
If you run a cafe, restaurant or shop, or you are a supplier selling Fairtrade products then South Gloucestershire Council would like to hear from you. Any organisation supplying, selling or promoting Fairtrade products in the district can get a free listing in the South Gloucestershire Fairtrade Directory. Email details of your organisation and the Fairtrade products you provide to sustainability@southglos.gov.uk by Friday 30 November 2007. The free directory will be available from local retailers, libraries, leisure centres and council offices in time for Fairtrade Fortnight in February 2008.
I’ve just found that when you type the word “procrastinating” in your Facebook status update, the website adds a space before the “g” at the end for no apparent reason. Why is this? By the way, if you got a dictionary out and looked up “procrastinating” this blog post would be there. UPDATE: The space is gone. What is this crazy shit? Is the government sending radio signals in my brain again? UPDATE 2: It’s back again! See below: {Facebook Screenshot which clearly shows a space before the g in the word procrastinating} And now it’s gone again: {Facebook screenshot ...
It's been a very interesting evening's blogging. Jo Hayes once again repeated the outlandish and discredited claim on behalf of Chris Huhne that Nick Clegg supports vouchers for education. Dredging up the words of journalists (one of whom has made it very clear that he added the word "vouchers" and not Nick) she claimed that the words of journalists were enough to be evidence that Nick supports vouchers. One of them was from that well-known Lib Dem loving newspaper The Daily Telegraph. Jeremy Hargreaves had already taken this claim apart here Unfortunately for Jo and others who have tried to ... | < | November 2007 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
