LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Monday 7th January 2008

Peter Hain still in breach of political donation rules

George Parker writes in the Financial Times: Peter Hain, the minister in charge of Whitehall's biggest budget, is still in breach of the rules on political donations, five weeks after he admitted failing to declare fully who backed his bid for Labour's deputy leadership.More than six months after his campaign ended, Mr Hain has yet to give a full statement on who funded his run to be Labour's number two. He should have made the declaration within 30 days of accepting a cheque.

Moving on up... but will the average reader know it?

A new poll published by the Times tomorrow will show the Lib Dems up three points to 19% at the expense of the Tories, following Nick Clegg’s succession to the leadership. The Conservatives are down three points to 37%, with Labour remaining almost unchanged on 33% (up one point), however to read the headline "Fresh [...]

Fasten your seat belts its going to be a bumpy ride...

With only a few hours to the New Hampshire primary vote it's looking a little grim for Hillary, however, it would be foolish indeed to write her off. There seems little doubt that Barack Obama's Iowa momentum will give him the win on Tuesday, and indeed we can expect him to win South Carolina as well. However, you shouldn't be too surprised if the gap in New Hampshire might in the end turnout to be somewhat closer than some people are expecting. A closer than expected second place, followed by a potential win in Nevada next week and then another ...

Guido 'Outed', The Independent and 1000% increase in readers today - read this...

I only started blogging a couple of months ago and casually check my 'visitors' usually getting between 20 and 100 visitors a day. I only aggregate or link from the LibDemBlogs Aggregator as far as I know so I was amused today to check and see 946 visitors today. This is due to this post about the interesting legacy of the YSD being picked up by John Rentoul of the Independent and being followed up by Guido himself. I don't think I've seen Guido so defensive. Classic.

Reinventing the State Chapter 20: To be a Briton - The Citizen and the State

William Wallace gives us a fine essay on the history of Britishness and of our relationship with the state. I have little to add or oppose, apart from bemoaning his occasional use of "economics liberals" as a swear word. I might complain that references to Roosevelt's post-war international order may leave me wondering which Roosevelt - I think he means FDR. And, topically, to his list of

An Awesome New Addition to the LibDem Blogosphere

Not only did I drop my mobile down the loo and "mislay" my Blackberry, my Internet connection also went down (start the year as you mean to go on eh?). So I have just picked up a message from Neil Stockley to alert me to his new blog. Here is a man who will banish us all to the shade..........I am not worthy! Neil produced an exceptional paper for FPC on the Lib Dem narrative. As some long suffering readers will know this is something I am really interested in, we talk about it all the time, but we still ...

Opinion: Resolutions for 2008; not "first things to do" just things to go on doing

Dear Leader, 1. Remember what you want. A part of that is that following the next general election you want to be Prime Minister; or failing that Leader of the Opposition; or failing that a cabinet minister in a government committed to a worthwhile part of the Lib Dem agenda; or failing that leader of a [...]

What the € was that?

No, not Mark’s post from earlier, but the random Euro signs which have appear across LibDemBlogs today. There seems to be a character set issue between my server and everyone’s RSS feeds, so when people used fancy curly quotes they just appeared as garbage. The true problem will need to be fixed, however for the time being, I’ve just got a find and replace script instead.

Strictly Come Exercise

I'm trying to ease myself gradually into a routine of healthy eating and exercising. I've done the yoyo dieting often enough to realise that going cold turkey on everything that is remotely pleasurable in life is not going to lead to anything good so I'm trying to make little changes, a step at a time. If I was going to have a hope of losing the weight I need to without moderating my eating habits, I'd have to get on the treadmill now and stay there for the next 50 years, so there will have to be some progress on ...

Lib Dems up to 19 per cent in new Times poll

That's more like it. The first Populus poll for The Times in 2008 has just been published: The poll, undertaken over the weekend, shows that the election of Nick Clegg as Liberal Democrat leader three weeks ago has given his party a three point boost to 19 per cent, all at the expense of the Tories, down three points to 37 per cent. Labour has remained almost unchanged, up a point at 33 per cent.Later: See Peter Riddell's analysis too: Despite the rise in Lib Dem support, the key finding for Mr Clegg is that about two fifths of voters ...

Back to politics

This is my first post for three weeks. Christmas and New Year was a busy period at work - the couple of weeks up to Christmas are always the busiest two weeks of the year, as shoppers buy far more than they really need! At home, with all the kids back here, the holiday period was pretty hectic. The ward work didn't stop though. I had a message on the ansaphone on Christmas Eve when I got home

The Best Laid Plans

I thought I would be writing this having just returned from 11 days over Christmas in Mallorca. In fact, I had wondered if I might be able to do the occasional posting from Mallorca. However, we did not get there. My husband was the first to succumb to 'Flu in early December. I followed but mine was the Wimp's version, 'Flu Lite, if you like. It was deeply unpleasant, but not as serious as my husband's became. He ended up with a very severe chest infection and was very sick indeed. He is still off work and quite weak, but, ...

'Silly A-Level' warning

The Russell Group of top universities is warning state school pupils not to put themselves at a disadvantage by studying 'silly' subjects such as Dance or Media Studies at A-Level. They care nothing for the fact that state school pupils may not have a huge array of choice at the local FE college where they have been more or less forced to study through lack of transport or wanting to keep travel costs as low as possible or other considerations. Or for the simple reason of not being able to flourish in a school setting itself. My old FE college ...

One in the eye for Janet Street Porter

Iain Dale right takes Janet Street Porter to task today for her rather lame comments about blogs and bloggers. I doubt though that Janet Street Porter (whose main claim to fame seems to be that she allowed cameras to tilt from side to side on Network 7) has bother to check up on www.wwar1blog.blogspot.com, which is written about HERE. If she had, she might not be so keen to slag off everyone and everything by tarring all blogs and bloggers with the same brush.

Google trends

Google Trends is an excellent free service offered by the search engine provider. You type in your organisation or phrase or name, define your parameters i.e. year and geographical area and Google Trends will tell you how many searches have taken place for those words. The data is split between search references and news references. That way you can see how much is being written about your chosen trend and compare that with the searches. One word of caution. These days a lot of people no longer bookmark their favourite websites. Instead they use Google to search for them. That ...

Barcharts ready... vote for Liberal Voice 2007

Voting has topped the 100-ballot-mark in voting for Liberal Voice 2007 (see the sidebar to the right). Radio 4’s The Now Show stormed into an early lead, but is losing momentum as Shami Chakrabarti’s civil libertarian base gets motivated. There could still be time for the second-tier candidates yet, though. Make sure you vote… polls [...]

Inside a caucus: Iowa 2008

Dear God! Is this what democracy used to be like in Britain before secret ballots and electoral regulations? Bribery, blackmail and collusion in an Athenian style democracy.

(Not So) Happy D-Day Everyone

Family Lawyers have apparently nicknamed the first Monday after the Christmas break "D-Day", because they are snowed under with calls from people wanting a divorce. How unfortunate!

Liberal Democrat Shadow Ministers announced

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today completed his reshuffle by announcing the full list of Shadow Ministers.

FFS It's Monday: London Free Papers

thelondonpaper and London Lite are two freesheet papers that have been littering our capital’s streets and trains since 4th September 2006. Distributed by brightly-jacketed twentysomethings with a cheery attitude and philanthropic obsession, they’re like Scientologists without the spaceships and Tom Cruise. Stationed outside every Tube and train entrance, they encourage rudeness in every Londoner (who [...]

It's not only politicians who say one thing but do the other

David Gold, co-owner of Birmingham City has criticised the decision to appoint an Italian as the manager of the England national football team. He admits that if he had been in charge of the FA he too would probably have appointed Capello, but does go on to say "How would I protect myself just in case I ever became the chief executive of the FA? I'll tell you how. I think Fifa and Uefa should apply the same rules to the managers as they do to the players. By that I mean you must be English to manage England, Spanish ...

Online petition against Micheldever Eco-Town

The Dever Society has launched an online petition against the proposed Micheldever Station Eco-Town. Despite the Town’s supposed environmental credentials, I’m also opposed and have signed the petition, primarily because the Town’s environmental credentials are a sham: the proposal is not environmental at all. By creating a new transport node equidistant between Basingstoke, Andover and Winchester, the new town will create a huge amount of extra journeys. As and when we require further housing, our priority needs to supporting sustainable lifestyles in our existing town centres - this plan does the exact opposite. One element that takes a while to ...

No, I can't work it out either !

Today Gordon Brown announced what sounds, on paper, an excellent idea. Yes, everyone in the UK will be offered regular health check ups to screen for illnesses. Er ... No. Apparently, six million people are to be offered health screening, the rest of us, will have to go without. Ah, but at least of those six million, it will mean the early detection of illnesses which can be treated better surely ? Well, it depends what drugs you will need. The problem is the the National Institute for Health and clinical Excellence (NICE) are rather loathe to license drugs for ...

Obama wins by 3%

Inspired by Stephen Robinson and Nich Starling (see links) I took the US presidential test. I come out as a supporter of Barack Obama which, in a quiet, European sort of way, I already was. Here are the results 87% Barack Obama 86% Chris Dodd 84% Bill Richardson 82% Hillary Clinton 81% John Edwards 80% Joe Biden 76% Mike Gravel 75% Dennis Kucinich 51% Rudy Giuliani 46% John McCain 36% Mitt Romney 33% Mike Huckabee 32% Ron Paul 23% Tom Tancredo 18% Fred Thompson 2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz I make it a three per cent margin because Chris Dodd ...

No Fear of a Taunton Deane Loss

I am grateful to Liberal England for drawing my attention to Sean Fear's 'Focus on the South West'. Had he not done so, I may well have missed it, having only just returned from my winter break today. Having now read the article, I am inclined to agree with Sean's overall analysis of the political makeup of Somerset, with one exception - his analysis of Taunton Deane. Whilst it may be true there are 'solid blocs of support for both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats', and 'neither party has won decisively since 1997' Sean is unwise to look upon Taunton ...

The best hotel in Middle Earth?

Still in South Africa, but think it is necessary to break off the Holiday to pimp up the Hobbit Hotel in Bloemfontein (so called because Bloem is Tolkein's birthplace pub quiz fans). Not only is our luxurious suite (well after a week in backpackers) beautifully kitted out, and cheap at only 900rand; but how many Hotels provide you with a large teddy bear to cuddle during your stay? made my

What do you think when you see Barack Obama on the TV?

I've expressed my doubts about Barack Obama previously, but - whether or not it helps propel him to victory in the Democrat selection contest - his victory in the Iowa caucuses (an overwhelmingly white state) comes with huge symbolic resonance in a country where race relations are so often strained and racial divides are so often so very stark. This post seems to capture the raw emotion of what his victory meant to many American blacks - it's a bit long, but well worth reading to the end - especially for its account of what went through the author's mind ...

Not much time

A busy day at work today has meant no time for the likes of this. However, I have tried to figure out a way of getting some dangerous branches lopped back off a tree which is swaying alarmingly in the ward. Hopefully nothing will come crashing down before it’s sorted out. Tonight I am attending the first Bury Lib Dem Exec meeting of the year, at Prestwich Liberal Club. And because of that, the busy-ness isn’t stopping, so I really should. Rick

The Lib Dem B Team (UPDATE)

Since my last post on Clegg’s frontbench reshuffled caused such a stir, I thought I ought to at least comment on the finalisation of his team. Firstly, on the question that adding the names makes the teams too large, I don’t accept this. The Shadow Ministers have limited roles to focus on specific areas; there is no question, as far as I am aware, of them taking a lead on issues. They are there to deputise primarily. While there is certainly an argument that the party should focus on pushing a handful of personalities - just the leader even - ...

What sort of people do we want to be our candidates?

"We could avoid so many of these problems if we made it clear to all people who join us that they are expected to prove themselves by years of hard work on the ground before being put into positions of responsibility".So says Martin Land in response to Cllr Faraz Bhatti's defection to the Tories in the North West. I don't want to get into a particular discussion here about diversity, representation or even defections here but instead question Martin's assertion that anybody wanting to be an elected representative should have to undertake 'years of hard work', (by which I presume ...

Magdalen Green Notice Board

Many thanks to the City Council who today erected a splendid new notice board on Magdalen Green following discussions with the Friends of Magdalen Green. Another success for the Friends in enhancing the Green!

Jeremy Clarkson changes gear on privacy

Doyenne of reactionaries and climate change sceptics, Jeremy Clarkson, decided to belittle the concerns of civil libertarians last year. Protesting at the clamour over the government’s loss of a HMRC CD of people’s personal details, he published his Barclay’s bank account details in the Sunday Times, asserting that readers would be able to do nothing [...]

US Presidential Candidate Quiz

A number of my friends including Will Howells and Peter Black have taken a quiz to see which US Presidential Candidate most closely matches their own views. Of course, viewing the issues from a British perspective, rather than American, undermines it a little. Nevertheless "just for a bit for a fun let's see what the figures would be" (as Peter Snow might say on Newsnight). This is who I should

Thailand Photos (1)

Corn on the cob on the beach.

Apparently I should be voting for someone who has no chance of winning

It appears that if I take the "Pick Your Presidential Candidate" quiz, I end up being told I should vote for someone who has no chance of winning No change there then, after all, I am a Lib Dem. 88% Dennis Kucinich 83% Mike Gravel 82% Barack Obama 81% Chris Dodd 80% Joe Biden 78% Hillary Clinton 78% Bill Richardson 77% John Edwards 36% Rudy Giuliani 28% Ron Paul 28% John McCain 23% Mitt Romney 20% Mike Huckabee 13% Tom Tancredo 10% Fred Thompson 2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Janet Street Porter gets it wrong on blogging

Well - Janet doesn't like us bloggers! Now - normally I'm a big fan of hers (sorry Iain!) but today she's got it wrong in her attack on blogging in The Independent. My main point of disagreement is that she points out that a lot of blogs are - not to put too fine a point on it - crap. Well, that's true. But then the same is true of published books: an awful lot of published books aren't that good and are read by hardly anyone. Of the 86,000 books published in 2007, the majority only sell trivial numbers ...

Euro becomes legal tender in British territory for the first time

One angle to the story of Cypus and Malta joining the euro at the start of the year which you may have missed: The euro will also become legal tender on British military bases in Cyprus, the first part of sovereign British territory to adopt the currency. Although the bases at Dhekelia, Episkopi and RAF Akrotiri are [...]

At least I'm clearly a Democrat

Its a me too as well, it would appear these US Pres Front-runners just don't cut it with us UK liberals. Looks like I too fall into the Obama for pres camp. 73% Dennis Kucinich 72% Mike Gravel 68% Barack Obama 67% Chris Dodd 67% Joe Biden 65% John Edwards 64% Hillary Clinton 60% Bill Richardson 34% Rudy Giuliani 26% John McCain 25% Ron Paul 25% Mitt Romney 17% Mike Huckabee 15% Tom Tancredo 13%

Is Hilary toast?

Goodness knows. She has enough dosh to take her to Super Duper Tuesday but Reuters Zogby has Obama "rocketing" past her by ten points. Obama talks about change. This is credible as far as personel is concerned - electing him would mean that the Oval Office contains a President from outside two families for the first time in an incredible 19 years. It is not entirely clear what it would mean in

Is Jeremy Clarkson the luckiest idiot in the UK?

On the basis of this, I think so: The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people’s personal details on two computer discs. He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. But Clarkson admitted he was “wrong” after discovered a reader had used the details to create a �500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK. Clarkson published details of his Barclays account in the Sun newspaper, including his account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address. Given how much ...

Low emmisions please

You may have noticed some new signs as you drive across the boundary between Kingston and Surrey, indicating a Low Emission Zone. For some reason the first ones to appear were placed as you drive OUT of Greater London into Surrey, which did strike me as odd, because the Zone applies to the London boroughs, not Surrey. The zone comes into force at the beginning of next...

The start of something new

So here we are in 2008! A Happy but belated New Year to you all! Well what an exciting year this is like to be for me! Chair of Lincoln Lib Dems, Press Officer for the Lincs Lib Dems, Lincs Rep on the East Midlands Executive and a member of DELGA's Executive also means a whole lot of pressure! But I am certainly up for the challenge and I am ready to fight anyone who tries to put a downer on it! Anyway - I have made a couple of New Year's Resolutons this year. 1 - to learn to ...

Mike Huckabee - message vs. narrative (and symbols)

This article from the Wall Street Journal backgrounds the novel, "pro-faith and pro-government" platform that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is running on and how if would represent a paradigm shift for the Republican Party. But it confuses Huckabee's message with his narrative - the stories and anecdotes about himself and his family that he is using, very effectively, to sell to explain what he stands for. These stories have been explained very well by Dan Balz of the Washington Post. Says Balz: "Some were tender and touching . . . others reflected less positively on his family . . ...

Diversification and some Ned's Atomic Dustbin

I’m thinking of diversifying this blog a little (we’ll see how long it lasts). Perhaps to include some more music, books, arts, science and technology stuff. In that mode - I’m currently listening to Pere Ubu, but this morning I started off with this classic of indie rock - Kill Your Television by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin: This [...]

Guest Feature - Constitutional QWERTY

Hello darling readers. I am delighted to introduce Orange By Name's first guest feature. We have several beautifully brilliant contributors lined up who will, starting from today, be publishing their insights here. Today, as the first, allow me to introduce Edmund in Tokyo. Take it away, Edmund... --------------- With a real chance that the LibDems may finally see a little bit of one of their wishes coming true in the form of an elected second chamber, there's been a fair bit of discussion recently about what form it should take; Some people want only 100 or so senators, others want ...

The UK is NOT richer than the USA

I see that something is being made of a new statistic that purports to show that Britain is richer than America for the first time in over a century. Well, as Disraeli might have said there are"lies, damn lies and statistics" In fact the reality of the difference in wealth between the two countries should reflect the relative purchasing power of the Dollar versus the Pound. There are several ways of measuring the difference in purchasing power, and one of the best is the Economist "Big Mac index". The Big Mac is a standard basket of different goods: bread, meat ...

2008 US Presidential Matching Quiz

Hat tip to No Geek is an Island for drawing our attention to this quiz, which helps you select the candidate in the US Presidential Election who is most matched to your views. Actually we both prefer Barack Obama and if we had to have a Republican favourite it would be Rudy Giuliani. This is how it came out based on the quiz: Chris's result: 82% Barack Obama 79% Hillary Clinton 78% Dennis Kucinich 77% Joe Biden 77% Bill Richardson 76% John Edwards 76% Chris Dodd 75% Mike Gravel 49% Rudy Giuliani 41% John McCain 28% Mitt Romney 27% Mike ...

To Show or Not to Show?

Here’s a dilemma. A film grosses $77 million at the US box office, and proves mildly popular at the UK box office (taking fourth positions when it opens). It’s about the Second World War, and we all know how obsessed with that period in history us Brits are, so it’s surely prime BBC material. But [...]

New plant in Bermudian gardens

Bermudian gardens were invaded over the Christmas period by a species once thought to have been banished to the outside world. Political stakeboards peered out from behind cedar trees at passing cars and mopeds. The general election was imminent, and pride of political expression seemed to have taken root on an island where voting loyalty once resembled the love that dare not speak it's name. Bermudian elections were once disorganised or one-sided affairs. For 30 years the United Bermuda Party macheted their way through contests with the help of wealthy donors and overpaid political consultants. They held office between 1968 and 1998 and gradually became corrupt, self-serving and petty. ...

Hackney Pensioners Pay More Council Tax than Gordon Brown

I read this piece over the weekend in the Times. Seems Gordon Brown's government still has no plans to do anything about inequality. In his infamous vision for the UK, the poor will continue to pay more taxes than the well-off.

Brown at the midterm

In the six months since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister there has been an extraordinary volatility about British politics. Opinion polls have shown first a strong Labour lead, then, following the mishandling of the speculation concerning a possible autumn election, the Conservatives took the lead. The election fever that gripped the country created unexpected pressures: the Conservative leader was able to relieve the pressure on him by some astute handling of his party conference. Liberal Democrats, by contrast, were squeezed so intensively that Ming Campbell felt compelled to stand down. Now, as we enter 2008, a new political agenda seems ...

Political Quizzes

Recently people have been commenting on the political compass style quizzes and how unsuitable they are. The same applies to the quizzes now going around to see which presidential candidate matches your views best. For example I’ve just come across this question in this quiz: How do you feel about marijuana legalization? It should be legalized and regulated [...]

Crime Prevention Advice

Cleveland Police crime reduction officer Ian Solomon will give crime prevention advice at Roseberry library, Redcar on Tuesday, January 8, from 1.30pm-3.30pm and Ormesby library on Thursday, January 10m from 10am-noon.

Happy Birthday, Nick!

Nick Clegg turns 41 today. He’s not just entering his fifth decade (which in my case, I rather enjoyed), but also what will probably be the most challenging year of his life so far. As MPs return to Westminster from their Christmas break, one of the things they will be eagerly anticipating will be how [...]

What will happen to oil prices?

This is the first of a regular series of columns from economist Tim Leuning. January is the time for predictions. Every year economists make them. Sometimes we are right, and sometimes wrong. Some predictions, like inflation, are easy, but others are not. The oil price is not. For fifty years, 1921-71, the oil price was fairly stable [...]

New Year

I had intended to resume blogging on New Years Day. I did the run from Jamaica Inn to Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall. It's quite a tough run being uphill through bogs and across rocky paths on the way out, and not helped by most of us having New Year hangovers! I thought I would work it into a metaphor for the year ahead, saying that only by being bold, taking on the big challenges and working hard could we achieve our objectives personally and as a party. But then I read up country blogs moaning about all ...

Clegg slams Bishop for non-Muslim "no-go areas" comments

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has criticised the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, for his article in The Sunday Telegraph, Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity. Most controversially, the Bishop argued that: there has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism. One of the results of this has been to [...]

Would Lib Dems be happy with a Democrat President's foreign policy?

I think it’s safe to guess that there aren’t many Liberal Democrats who are fans of George W Bush’s foreign policy, whether it is on Iraq, international action on climate change or a host of lower-profile issues. However, would a victory by either Clinton or Obama bring about a US foreign policy that Liberal Democrats [...]

It's a long time since I did this journey

The last time I travelled to London on an earlyish Monday morning was in mid November. I have forgotten what a drag it can be to get up so early to experience dark, cold mornings and the joys of National Express operated trains, (the successor to GNER). We are passing Durham now and the sky only just has a hint of daylight. Lack of daylight also restricted what I could do on the allotments

Who to vote for?

From the No Geek is an Island blog comes a quiz that helps you pinpoint which presidential candidate is best matched to your views. My top pick should be Dennis Kucinich but of those with a realistic chance then it seems Barack Obama is my man. Just a bit of fun, my results are below: 83% Dennis Kucinich 82% Mike Gravel 79% Joe Biden 79% Barack Obama 77% Chris Dodd 75% John Edwards 74% Hillary Clinton 71% Bill Richardson 41% Rudy Giuliani 34% John McCain 32% Ron Paul 27% Mitt Romney 26% Mike Huckabee 15% Tom Tancredo 15% Fred Thompson ...

Government play blame game on power price rises

Obviously stung by the media backlash against disproportionate price increases for gas and electricity, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now seeking an urgent meeting with Sir John Mogg, chair of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, and Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, the regulator for the industry, to ask whether the rises are justified by the recent increase in oil and gas prices. This is despite the fact that energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, indicated just 24 hours earlier that ministers were unlikely to intervene. Mr. Darling appears to have been spurred into action by a decision by npower, ...

Slow blogging again

{Screenshot of new template} Just a couple of weeks after getting back into full swing blogging frenetically after redesigning the site it's likely to be another slowish week ahead. Mark Wadsworth thinks the new design is a bit confusing, and, whilst it appears to have achieved some of its aims in keeping more readers on the site to look at other stories, I tend to agree it's not been ideal. But I learned a lot in the process and so am starting again and will hopefully take a lot less time to rebuild, this time with more bling. And I've ...

Twelfth Night or 2nd February?

In former times people would leave their decorations up until 40 days after Jesus's birth - i.e. 2nd Feb. It was the Victorian traditions that settled on 12th Night as the definitive end of christmas decor. Tradition now says twelfth day is the last day for decorations to be taken down. It thought bad luck to take decorations down after this date, though decorations may be kept up until the next Christmas to avoid this bad luck. Those who forget to take down their decorations before the twelfth day never keep them up all year round. I spent a slightly ...

Monday 7th January 2008

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