LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 23rd November 2007

Bombs in St Pancras

One of my neighbours on Chalk Farm Road told me of the large crack in the wall of his basement. When he asked his landlord where it had come from, the answer was a V2 rocket which had hit Chalk Farm Road during the final months of World War Two. Its difficult now to imagine that the area I live in, Hawley Mews/Road/Street, was the scene of some of the worst bombing raids during the Second World War. Now, I end up moaning to myself about the people urinating on my doorstep. So, I'd really like to talk to someone ...

Steve Webb on missing data disks affair

There's an excellent post about this issue on Steve Webb's blog here.

Roadworks on road to Westerleigh

On Monday 3 December there will be temporary off-peak signals at the double railway bridge on Westerleigh Road to enable a bridge inspection to take place.

Nick was great on QT!

I thought Nick excelled himself on QT tonight. His answer to why the Lib Dems are needed drew a huge cheer in the hall.

Philosophy of liberty

Via Devil's Kitchen, I am reminded of this animation. I've seen it before, but it's worth watching every now and again just as a timely reminder of some of the fundamental principles of liberty. It's often too easy to forget some of these things, given how used we are to liberty in this country and how arcane political debates can become. Of course, the view of liberty being promoted here is still open to some interpretation; by a particular reading, it could be taken to say that all taxation is theft. Undoubtedly there are times and places where taxation is ...

"The Liberal"

...it is that The Liberal isn't much good. The latest issue seems to be an improvement though. As we don't have a leader at present (or atleast just an acting one) it doesn't waste time on telling us why he ought to resign (is there another way for Ben Ramm to get publicity?) And there is pretty good review of Liberty: Is the future of liberalism progressive?, an IPPR book that was launched (an more or less sunk) at Harrogate. The theme of the editors is that liberalism is clapped-out and past it, and the importatn thing these days is ...

Are you a member of a trade union? Watch yourself!

I've written on James Graham's blog tonight about proposals to expel trade union members purely on the basis of political party membership. Calling the BBC story back up from my favourites bar - where it was angrily placed on November 6th ready to email to my fellow exec members with outraged comments attached - I'm still in utter disbelief... Yes if these proposals go ahead you really will be in danger of being booted out of a trade union if you are in the BNP party, green party, UKIP and yes the Lib Dem party or any other party you ...

Lighting up for Christmas

Next Friday, Chas and Dave come to do their two-man show at the St Neots Priory Centre. Before that they will officially switch on our new Christmas Lights, currently being strung down the High Street and the Market Square. Before Chris Huhne phones, this is a Lib Dem Town Council, so the carbon will be offset by planting more trees in our Riverside Park. We have a thriving Town centre even though we have a massive out of town Tesco. A healthy mix of local shops, national chains, and Waitrose, Somerefield, Lidl and M&S Simply Food seemingly all do well. ...

BritBlog Roundup: A reminder

Liberal England is hosting the BritBlog Roundup on Sunday. If you see any blog posts you think particularly fine over the next week, please send the link to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com. Any posting from a British-based blog or a British-born blogger made before Sunday lunchtime can be be nominated. And, yes, you can nominate something from your own blog. So please send me some nominations.

The death of Dennis O'Neill and The Mousetrap

I have discovered another of those connections that mean so much to me, though possibly not so much to my readers. In 2004 I gave a paper on the history of child abuse to a meeting at the Tavistock Institute. It provided the basis for my chapter in the book Making and Breaking Children's Lives, which was published the following year. My argument was that child abuse was not a recent discovery, as theorists often claim. One of the arguments I used in support of my position was to point out that the country had been scandalised by the death ...

Will people who express a second preference invalidate their ballot?

I’ve had a message from a friend which indicates they expressed a second preference on their leadership ballot paper. The instructions say “Write an X or the figure 1 in the box next to the candidate you wish to be elected”, so did my friend who wrote a 1 and a 2 spoil their ballot paper?

Praise doesn't pay for flak-jackets, Gordon.

"I have nothing but praise for our armed forces..." said Gordon Brown today, responding to criticism of his miserly defence budget. I'm sure that the army will welcome the praise, but it would be nice if he had explained where they can trade it in for the equipment that they so desperately need. Not at the MoD, obviously. Perhaps if he had said "I have something other than praise..." the army might have felt a little less abandoned.A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.

Chris Huhne - Now he's the Economist - isn't he?!

Earlier this month Nick Clegg was criticised for not having done the sums on the Pupil Premium, but, it should be remembered this was a sum of around £2.5 billion with a potential £1 billion shortfall. At the Cambridge hustings Chris Huhne talked about raising spending on all children to the same level as private schools. A noble ambition, but we learn today that the IFS have costed this at £17 BILLION.............er......I may not be an economist, but that looks to me like ermmmmmmmm a £15.5 BILLION shortfall? If we were to implement this policy it would swallow up all ...

Soldier Soldier

There’s a typical shit stiring article on the Daily Mail website about a couple of women who basically caused enough of a stink to force a group of disabled soldiers (Iraq/Afganistan victims) to leave the swimming pool. Apparently a couple of lanes had been closed off to help with their rehabilitation as the military hosptial pool wasn’t big enough. The women complained about having part of the pool closed off when they had “paid to get in” and also said that the soldiers who had lost a limb or two would “scare the children.” Before I go any further I ...

Children and One-Night Stands: To Tell or Not to Tell?

In C (A Child) v. XYZ County Council ([2007] EWCA Civ 1206), the Court of Appeal considered the case of a child born to a young mother following a one-night stand. The mother hadn't told the father or her own parents about the birth, and she wanted to put the child up for adoption without informing the father. (Her own parents had found out about the birth due to a mistake by the local authority and offered to provide assistance). The judge below directed that the local authority had a duty to enquire into the child's background, thereby informing the ...

Cambridge Hustings - Part One

Having been chastised for tapping away on my Blackberry at the Cambridge hustings, only now have I got time to write up those arduously prepared notes! So, Chris kicked off and talked about Gordon and Dave having given up on big ideas and that his Manifesto was his statement of intent – that liberal political ideas should set the tone in the future of politics. He referred to the debacle of the HM Customs fiasco, a demonstration that we can't trust the government with the ID scheme. He acknowledged the good job Vince was doing over Northern Rock. His analysis ...

Oxbridge Twittery and Freedom of Speech

About every 5 years or so, some bright spark in the Oxford or Cambridge Union comes up with the “thrilling” idea of inviting Nick Griffin, David Irving or whoever happens to be the current racist fuck du jour to speak. This results in a wholly predictable row which the media then duly reports. Because we’ve all gone Web 2.0 these days it also results in Facebook groups and bloggers getting incredibly exercised about the subject. I’m sorry, but this simply will not do. I would not personally ban David Irving or the BNP, just as I would not ban Hizb ...

House Points: Northern Rock and the missing discs

Today's House Points from Liberal Democrats News. Darling's disaster Some people say government is hopelessly inefficient and cannot be trusted with the smallest task. Others believe free enterprise is hopelessly greedy and short-sighted and is not to be trusted at all. Worryingly, the events of this week suggest both are right. On Monday Alistair Darling came to the House to announce that he has loaned £24bn to Northern Rock with no immediate prospect of getting it back. That’s £900 for every taxpayer in Britain. And then there’s the £18bn he has given in deposit guarantees. Oh yes, and half the ...

I hate breaking news

As the title suggests, I’m not a big fan of the phrase “breaking news”, I like the phrase “breaking wind” it’s funny and is almost descriptive, I don’t mind “breaking the ice” as it can feel a bit frosty when you first meet someone - but “breaking news” really bugs me. Everybody does it from the Daily Mail and the Guardian to the BBC and Sky News - it happens across the English speaking news world and instances of it are growing - from radio, television, newspapers and new media - it’s horrible. It might be a new story, although ...

Fiendishly addictive site

I am getting so addicted to www.freerice.com that the same words are coming up again and again. I've facilitated a donation of 2000 grains of rice today and got my vocabulary level up to 44. Since the site started on 7th October, they've donated 3,403,520,350 grains of rice to the hungry, all caused by people showing off their English skills!

Lessons in incompetence II: A half-hearted commitment gives a half-baked outcome

Too often we hear the cry that "Something must be done", but all too often what we do is more about making ourselves feel better than allieviating the problem. We want to feel that we've done out bit, but we lack the necessary committment to do it properly. We do a half-harted job, and when the chips are down, we run away. Thus, while the UN were planning their mission to stabalise Rwanda and uphold the peace, the member states were not really committed to the task. '...the hard-liners I had met on my reconnaissance of Rwanda had attended the ...

Labour MP and the Parliamentary logo

Readers may recall my blog post yesterday in which I explain that the Labour MP for Tyne Bridge, David Clelland, has had to abandon claims to the public purse for the cost of his website because he was using it to launch attacks on me, to slag off the Lib Dems and to post up childishly defaced copies of the Lib Dem logo. Mr Clelland's spin machine must have got a bit constipated when it came up

Lochee outcome!

Attended the Lochee Ward by-election count this morning after a dreadfully cold polling day yesterday. The Dundee LibDems are delighted at our progress, with an increase in our share of the overall poll of almost 4%, more than any other party (and Labour and the Conservatives both fell back). My personal thanks go in particular to Chris Hall, our excellent by-election candidate, who worked exceptionally hard during the campaign. Chris is pictured with Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland and myself (above right) during the campaign!

LabourHome - it’s so painful

I quote from a post from LabourHome website from someone that went to a Compass Group meeting - my comments in brackets: `As the largest progressive party in Britain any progressive consensus must have Labour playing a central role (well - that’s just a perceived truth!) . That means that the leadership must trust the membership [...]

Well done Sarah Ludford and Jonathan Fryer

Well it's good news for residents in Hampstead and Kilburn that Sarah Ludford and Joanthan Fryer have been selected as our first and second placed candidates for Members of the European Parliament for London. Sarah is currently the MEP for London and Jonathan missed out on winning the second seat last time by a very narrow margin of votes. Sarah has been very supportive with our campaign to save the Kilburn State and Jonathan works in Camden and was my running mate in Hampstead Town ward in 2006 local elections. Pic one is Sarah signing the Kilburn State petition with ...

15 Seconds of fame

Dear all, Those yet to cast their vote may be interested in this clip from Radio 4's Westminster Hour. I particularly recommend you hang on in for about 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Although I admit to being somewhat biased - it does get very interesting then. The debate between Councillor Fran Smith and myself was at the Plymouth Hustings last week. Had I known at the time that we were still being taped I wouldn't have spoke so freely or in a somewhat lisping, plastic scouser voice! Regards Vinegar & Brown Paper

Verity

Very sad today to hear of the death of Verity Lambert at the age of 71. Verity was the very first producer of Doctor Who when it first aired exactly 44 years ago today. She was the first female BBC producer and the youngest - a year younger than I am now - when she took charge of steering such a ground-breaking drama serial through its first years. Many of the elements that featured in that first episode are present in the series today, so it’s no understatement to say that without her we probably wouldn’t have the hugely successful ...

Time for my garden - at last!

I was able to spend a few treasured hours in my garden this afternoon for the first time in ages and ages. I'd not managed to lift some plants for the winter so will have to wrap them in fleece and keep my fingers crossed. I sort of constructed a cold frame for my peppers but I doubt they'll last much longer. I potted two up to keep in the house so maybe they'll keep producing to spice up my

Football Anthem gaffe has Croats laughing

I wonder it we would be so forgiving if someone sang our national anthem wrong, as was the case for Croatia on Wednesday. The singer, Tony Henry, sang one wrong word, meaning that one line sounded to Croatians like "My dear, my penis is a mountain". The Croations, far from being upset want Tony Henry to now sing for them at the Euro 2008 finals.

Election results: Thursday 22nd November 2007

Carmarthenshire UA, Llandybie Ind 496 (39.9; +0.1), Lab 337 (27.1; -6.7), SNP 310 (24.9; -1.5), Con 52 (4.2; +4.2), Ind 49 (3.9; +3.9). Majority 159. Turnout 42.0%. Ind hold. Last fought 2004. Conwy UA, Rhiw LD Trevor Stott 548 (44.3; +44.3), Con 513 (41.4; +3.0), Ind 80 (6.5; -12.7), BNP 61 (4.9; +4.9), Green 36 (2.9; +2.9), [Lab (0.0; -13.2)], [PC (0.0; -29.1)]. Majority 35. Turnout 26.0%. LD

Trinidad vs Vargas

See the post below before watching. It explains all...

Crikey, these special advisors are rather cheap

Or perhaps there was something missing in my press cuttings this morning? After all, £6 doesn’t go very far… Reading the full report reveals that the word “million” was missing. Ah!

A good week of council by-elections

As the Press Association reported: Liberal Democrats are celebrating a by-election bounce during their leadership battle after taking two council seats from Tories. Their candidate Timothy Huggan won at Manor, Forest Heath District, Suffolk, where Conservatives were unopposed in May. The second gain came at Rhiw, Conwy County Borough, north Wales, where Trevor Stott triumphed in the ward’s [...]

"I Am The Greatest!"

I have always been a big sports fan. Whether it is football, baseball, American football, horse racing, basketball or rugby, I'll have a favourite and feel passionately for them. I'll look up their acquisitions, dispair at botched calls by management, and make foolhardy predictions of glory before the season begins. Boxing was a sport that I came into late. I had always been aware of boxing, probably in the way most sports fans are. We can name the heavyweight champion, and have probably watched one or two fights on TV. I would describe myself as a kind of lukewarm boxing ...

You can't keep Paul Flynn MP down ...

... though, no doubt, many in the Establishment would like to. Seriously, we were sorry to hear of his recent illness and glad to know that he is practically fully recovered.

Sustrans Connect2 wants your support

Please visit the Sustrans Connect2 web page to endorse the Connect2 campaign for Big Lottery support for new walking and cycling networks throughout the UK. Online voting opens on Monday 26th November at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk. (And thanks to Paul Hulbert for correcting a mis-typed link to the Connect 2 site.)

Audit reveals Government business incompetence

The business incompetence of the Ministry of Defence and the Labour Government is put in the spotlight by a National Audit Office report on the 2003 privatisation of the defence technology business QinetiQ. Initially there were seven bids for QinetiQ valuing the business at between £450 million and £600 million. The private equity firm Carlyle purchased a 37.5% stake for £42 million. That valued QinetiQ at only £374 million. That was in 2003. The value of the stake rose to £372 million. How did this happen? The NAO press release states: “Carlyle were appointed as the preferred bidder in September ...

Let’s get some factsheets

There are different sources of information on the latest Government blunders - now is the time to write letters to the editor, delilver leaflets or tell friends, relatives and neighbours about how we feel about this shambolic Government. What is necessary are simple factsheets that ordinary (and not so ordinary!) people understand on: Northern Rock fiasco 25m scandal ID cards Qinetiq Perhaps [...]

Graham's blog entry Friday 23 November

A bad case of imploding Trots

There was a by-election in Dundee's Lochee ward yesterday. Lochee isn't classic Lib Dem territory so it was good to see our candidate Christopher Hall securing a creditable 3rd place with 435 1st preferences. Both the SSP and their breakaway former colleagues Solidarity (aka the Tommy Sheridan appreciation society) stood candidates. The SSP candidate got 55 votes and the Solidarity candidate 57. The really strange part is that when the SSP votes were re-distributed only 8 went over to Solidarity. Message to Trots: Unity really is strength!

NW Euro campaign final result after recount

1 Chris Davies 2 Saj Karim 3. Helen Foster-Grime 4 Sue Maguire

Just cast my vote

Well boys and girls I’ve just cast my vote for party leader - you can probably guessed whos box I ticked from the banner on the right, from reading my pointless meandering rambles and from the fact that I’ve come out and said I’m voting for Nick Clegg. Not to sure about the inclusion of leaflets for each of the two candidates the letter I was sent - OK I can see why it would be useful for armchair members who don’t take an overly active interest - but can you really be a member of a political party and ...

Verity Lambert and Doctor Who: Legendary

On this day in 1963, the very first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast. It’s fantastic that it’s still going strong, but the celebrations have been dampened by the very sad news today that the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert, has died at the age of 71. Forty-four years ago, she was not just the youngest producer at the BBC but their only woman producer, and after making Doctor Who a huge success she became one of the legendary figures of British TV, producing such landmark television as The Naked Civil Servant, G.B.H., Minder, Jonathan Creek and Adam Adamant Lives! ...

Tactics and Positioning in 2009 - The Clues

I am a Clegg supporter and this post is not afraid of expressing opinions. However I do not believe this post will have an impact on the leadership election or people’s voting intentions and frankly I hope it does not. So, there’s two articles written for the Guardian by the two leadership candidates. ‘Radicalism will serve us’ by Huhne and ‘Time for a Power Shift’ by Clegg What they reveal is a hint of how they expect to tackle the next general election and how they plan to position the party. Huhne, as expected, says he wants to move the ...

YouTube endorsements for Chris Huhne

I was just tinkering around on YouTube and found these videos with people saying why they are voting for Chris Huhne. Firstly, here's Markshark01: Here's Seanoftheliving: ..and here's David Steel:

Iain Dale: the finest and most impartial political commentator in the world

Thus speaks wise and wonderful Iain: Since David Cameron became leader, he has tried to avoid the European issue dominating political debate. It is only the European constitution that has encouraged him to speak. He - alone among the three party leaders - has re-committed his party to holding a referendum on the European reform treaty. But [...]

Vince Cable to appear on Politics Show this Sunday

Another reason to be thankful that Vince Cable is our acting leader - he'll be appearing on the Politics Show this Sunday to have a go at Gordon Brown.

Selly Oak Constituency Committee Meeting - Tuesday 27 November 2007

The agenda for the meeting of the Selly Oak Constituency Committee on Tuesday 27 November has now been published and is available online. The meeting will be held at 7pm in Elmshurst School for Dance, 249 Bristol Road, Birmingham B5 7UH. This is not in the constituency, but the meeting will follow the launch by Birmingham Royal Ballet of its Community Arts Champion Programme earlier that

Highcrest Celebration -Exceptional OFSTED results –Cllr Trevor Snaith -Nov 2007

This week Cllr Ray Farmer and Cllr Trevor Snaith had the privelege to be invited along with other local councillors to the celebration of Highcrest Community School achieving exceptional Ofsted results. This is even more exceptional as the school was a “fresh start school ” a few years ago The crowning jewel in its success is the fact its results places it at the forefront in terms of Ofsted results in Bucks — ahead of the top grammar schools in Wycombe !! Well done to the pupils staff and team who made a success See their web site for more ...

More flack over Tory Richard Willis’s pro-Ian Smith comments

From 24dash.com: A Tory councillor came under fire tonight for praising former Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith as a “great and wise” leader. Richard Willis - a member of Reading Borough Council and aide to local MP Rob Wilson - insisted Mr Smith’s white minority government had been “benign and successful”. The death of 88-year-old Mr Smith, who [...]

A Grand Day Out!

A by election yesterday; over to Manor Ward in Forest Heath District Council (West Suffolk) to help my good friend Tim Huggan. There were five us there for polling day. A neat little campaign (there are only 650 houses in this rural ward) followed by an active polling day. It felt good, but you are always a little cautious when the ward hasn't been fought in a long time and the Tory was elected unopposed in May. But there you go. On the night Tim won with a comfortable majority of 70. Where is this newer, stronger Tory Party? It's ...

Day 2516: Mysteries of Doctor Who #13: What's Wrong with Calling them Silurians?

Friday: The especially SPLENDID thing about "Doctor Who and the Silurians" is the way that the title misnames both. Obviously it was never anyone's intention that the Target Book-esque "and the" should end up on the caption roller. But more importantly, the titular monsters get lumbered with the moniker "Silurians", which has a snakey, lizardy feel to it but is scientific COBBLERS. The Silurian Period, GEOLOGICALLY speaking, is an era of time from about 440 million years ago to about 415 million years ago. Life on Earth at that time was mainly GIANT SEA SCORPIONS, like this almost cute example, ...

The Generals - A very British coup?

Via Nick Robinson I was alerted to this blog from Ben Brogan which notes that as soon as Brown flew abroad the (former) generals took over the airwaves. It normally happens the other way round though - African President flies to London and ends up staying longer than anticipated. This time Brown flew to Uganda - and, sadly, it seems likely that he will come back.

My vote is in the post

My ballot paper is in the post so thats another definite vote for Nick Clegg. I was surprised to see a report in this mornings Guardian that there was all still to play for and that their sample poll showed Huhne ahead. To be fair they did state that “The figures need to be treated with caution: [...]

Thatcher: Is there any politician so terrifying?

Don't get me wrong. I met Maggie T and she seemed a nice lady. And of course, the title is provocative. There are and have been much more terrifying politicians abroad, but not many in Blighty. I had the privilege to have a nose round the first floor landing of Portcullis House on Monday. They have some remarkable portraits of politicians there. Something for everyone, of all persuasions. I

Those Foreign Elements in Iraq in Full

From the New York Times: So... None from Iran then.

All quiet on the Euro selection front

We in the Scottish Lib Dems are in the middle of the process to select our party list for the 2009 European elections. As an employee of the current MEP, who is retiring, I'm making no public pronouncements about who I'm supporting to replace her. However I shall make one public comment on this election: Are you shy folks? There are 8 of you running for top of the list but only one of you has been in touch to ask for my 1st preference. Speaking to friends and relatives across Scotland I find that most of them have been ...

Why this week has brought good news for your personal data

{ID cards button} Well - having been banging the drum for a long time that one of the problems with Labour's national mandatory ID cards scheme is the risk of all that personal data being abused, misused or mislaid - I think you can guess my views this week! But good to see - as Liberal Democrat Voice reports - that the latest polls now show a decisive majority against ID cards. So - if all the problems of people's personal data being lost by the government has helped to highlight some of the problems with ID cards, perhaps some ...

Radio 4 interview on blogging

Am doing an interview with Radio 4 today about politicians and blogging. It's for the PM program tomorrow - and, as this is their interactive edition, you can see the work in progress on this story over on the Radio 4 iPM website. I think this means the interview will be broadcast tomorrow too, sometime after 5:30pm - so listen out!

‘A majority now opposes the introduction of ID cards’

That’s the news from The Times today, whose latest Populus poll finds people opposing the introduction of ID cards by 55% to 29%. It looks as if the data chaos in the government this week has severely undermined public support for ID cards, although previous polls showed that a majority might oppose them depending on the [...]

When computers don't bollox things up

When I tell someone that I work in "logistics", their eyes glaze over and the subject moves on to something else - rapidly. If I become insistent and actually explain what it means, they usually assume I am mad. So it was nice to read an article in the Financial Times on logistics. The delivery of goods. But what delighted me even more was that the process described including an element of "

Radcliffe rules himself out of England job

Today, I have formally announced that I will not be seeking the England managers job with the FA. Now is the wrong time in my football managerial career to be stepping up to international level from simple fantasy league football management. I will of course lend my full support to whoever is the unlucky guy who does get the job.

Day 3

Hello again, faithful readers. Welcome to the Day 3 report. As you may expect, most people here speak English and thus practicing Czech is a bit of a struggle. All the more pleasant it was, therefore, when two elderly Czech women asked me for directions to Karlov Most. I am still rather baffled as to why they didn't know the way (it's pretty bloody obvious) but was rather proud of my instinctive use of the words 'ano' (yes), 'karlov' (Charles), 'most' (bridge) and ability to point using my right arm and hand. Whilst sending them on their merry way, I ...

The excitement of a three member Liberal household

Things are going to be interesting over the next few days here at Burble Towers. Our three ballot papers arrived yesterday. Of course, I immediately marked my "1" against Huhne and sent it off. The other two members of the household are what could be described as "more normal" members. When I asked what was in the post, the executive comptroller of Burble Towers remarked "Just rubbish". "Just

Australian election gets tighter

Conservative Home calls it a "dramatic tightening". Dingoes kidneys. It's a tightening. 52 to 48 (it was 54 to 46) - in one poll. It's not all that dramatic. But it makes the contest all the more interesting. The Australian calls it a "cliffhanger". Gulp.

£1 billion missing from overseas aid

I tend to keep to local things on this blog so rarely write about overseas aid and international development. But Kingston has recognised that we can 'Think globally, act locally' by becoming a Fair Trade borough. So this piece of research last week by Lynne Featherstone (Lib Dem MP for Hornsey & Wood Green) was a bit of an eye opener. She discovered that £1 billion had secretly been...

Cemetery Policy moves nearer

There was some tough questioning at last night's cabinet, especially on the recommendation to employ a member of staff to enforce some of the other recommendations. Understandably there was some unease about the budget implications at a time when belt-tightening is going to be the order of the day. In the end the report was accepted in full and, unless the decision is called in for some

How close is the Lib Dem leadership race?

The short answer is: no-one knows.* And don’t expect to become any the wiser today as a result of The Guardian’s ‘sample of members’, despite the paper’s assertions of its significance. The Guardian asked c.200 of the 300 Lib Dem members present at Wednesday night’s Cambridge hustings how they would vote. Here’s what they said: [...]

Guardian reports contest wide open

A Guardian survey of Lib Dem members has convinced the paper that the Lib Dem leadership contest is still wide open. They asked activists leaving a hustings in Cambridge, Duncan Borrowman notes. Obviously, this is not a very reliable poll, but Mike Smithson reports that a YouGov poll of members is underway.

'Labour is conspicuous by its conservatism'

Stirring words from Chris Huhne in today's Guardian: ... On climate change too, Labour is conspicuous by its conservatism. Carbon emissions are up, green taxes down. Climate change research has been cut. Firms have been let off reporting their environmental impact. Road freight tolling was vetoed. Flood defences were cut last year. The climate change bill sets a target lower than the science demands. None of this will meet the greatest challenge of our times ...For the country's sake, the Liberal Democrats need to get back a sense of anti-establishment insurgency. With Labour and the Tories scrabbling over the same ...

Opinion: Will you take the ‘Bunker Pledge’?

A recent post on LDV speculated who would be in the new leader’s shadow cabinet. A more interesting question is who will occupy his kitchen cabinet. Every political leader has one – a group of staff and unpaid advisors acting as an ‘inner circle’. At best, such groups provide leaders with a sounding board and confidential [...]

Fisking the budget

I am substituting for Jenny Randerson on the Assembly's Finance Committee on Tuesday as members continue to try and make sense of one of the least transparent budgets since the Assembly was set up. It is so opaque in fact that even leading members of Plaid Cymru are having trouble with it. Sanddef carries a translation of a recent post by BBC Welsh Affairs Correspondent, Vaughan Roderick in which he reveals that Adam Price got a bit carried away in claiming successes for the Nationalists. Writing on his blog, Adam said: "Poring over the details of the One Wales budget ...

Gordon Selway

More sad news, Councillor Gordon Selway of Bromsgrove passed away at the weekend. Gordon was a key figure in Bromsgrove Liberal Democrats and indeed across the region.

Remove the HMRC CD Burners

I have been appointed by Vince Cable to head up the Lib Dem investigation into Government Data (in)Security. My first call is a simple one. Remove the CD Burners from the HMRC computer room until they have sorted out security. There is no sense allowing any more horses to depart through the same stable door. Thanks due to b3ta for the image.

Huhne leads in Guardian poll

40% per cent of just over 200 Lib Dems questioned by the Guardian after a hustings in Cambridge on Wednesday evening were backing Chris Huhne. Another 40% were undecided or preferred not to say and only 20% were planning to vote for Clegg.

Good news from Wickham: Angela Clear wins with swing from Conservatives

Good news from the Wickham by-election in Liz Leffman’s new Meon Valley constituency (part of Mark’s Winchester constituency and Winchester District Council). Angela Clear wins behind a 1.3% swing from the Conservatives… Candidate Votes % vote +/- Angela Clear, Lib Dem 630 60.9% -0.2% Conservative 349 33.7% -2.9% UKIP 40 3.9% +3.9% Labour 15 1.4% -0.9%

Is Fascism Left Or Right?

Following on from a post by Tristan Mills and a follow up by John Dixon I thought I’d offer my own perspective on the question “Are fascists far left or far right?” I have my own perspective on left, right and liberal and how to categorise various ideologies and I thought I’d share. This was developed a few years ago now. The Right wing considers authority to be, in itself, a good thing. Rules are important. The Right look for certainty in what is good and what is bad and feel frustrated by mitigating circumstances and ‘grey areas’ in general. ...

Why i voted for Clegg

I could go into all the reasons why I voted for Nick but in the main it comes down to this: I am sick and tired of this party talking to itself instead of to the British people. I don’t think there’s any difference between the two candidates in policy terms (and if there are Chris’s [...]

Ashes to ashes

The Islington Gazette has printed my letter about prison overcrowding. However, I’m much more struck by the story about human ashes being abandoned in a carpark outside Leroy House - the block where Islington Lib Dems are based. I have occasionally worried about finding something dead in the less tidy corners of our office; but [...]

Dodgy procedures

The government are saying that the Child Benefit data went missing because procedures weren't followed. It seems to me that means the procedures weren't adequate. But, here's a much, much, much more scary example of insanely lax procedures. Thank your lucky stars it wasn't one of these nukes that got "lost in the post".

All Style and No Substance

Debating takes up a lot of my time. It's an activity i'm majorly involved in, but which i don't blog about much, for some reason. I will endeavour to do so more in the future, starting with University College London's Schools' debating competition, this Saturday. A write-up may be in order. It depends how i do. Over on his blog, Sam Tarran - a conservative blogger i've crossed swords with on many occasions - has just written about his experience in the first round of the English Speaking Union's public speaking competition. Our local round of the ESU's Schools' Mace ...

Friday 23rd November 2007

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