LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 17th February 2008

Mark Ronson on Steve Winwood

You see It's not just me. Here is Mark Ronson, a Young Person who has just won a Grammy for his record production, writing in today's Sunday Times: It was a good thing that I didnt know much about Blind Faith. I was oblivious to the backlash and antihype that marred rocknrolls first supergroup. All I knew was that when Eric Claptons finger-picked guitar line came in, with those heartbreakingly beautiful overdubbed fills, I was dazed. When Steve Winwoods reverb-tinged falsetto entered, with that first line, Come down off your throne and leave your body alone, I could have cried. ...

Rock Nationalisation just the start of Labours problems

Todays announcement of Northern Rock nationalisation is just the start of Labours problems. I like many other demutualisation shareholders have seen the writing on the wall for weeks but at the end of the day the whole fiasco should never have been allowed to happen. I hope tomorrow that Vince will ask the hard questions. The questions that seek to understand what the Chancellor was doing in

What took them so long

The news today that Northern Rock is to be nationalised comes as no surprise. The only surprise was that it took the government so long to accept that nationalisation was the least worst option available in terms of protecting the exposure which taxpayers had towards the troubled bank. It should be pointed out that Vince Cable and the Lib Dems have been calling for Northern Rock to be nationalised since before Christmas. I don't think that anything has changed in the bank's situation since then, so why have Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown sat on their hands and done nothing ...

Jailing old men for war crimes

When it comes to chasing old men across the world my head tells me that war crimes should always be punished, but in my heart this feels like persecution or, at least, something pursued beyond the limits of reason. Establishing the truth can be important. Knowledge of history is an inherent good. But what does penal punishment [...]

Northern Rock to be nationalised tomorrow in emergency legislation

I find this really rather embarrassing. Tragically mishandled by Darling/Brown and now they will drive out the nom doms. Great.

Kosovo - an unviable state

Others have welcomed the announcement by the Parliament in Pristina of 'independence' for Kosovo. I don't. I fear hugely for the state and worry that it will necessitate an even more lengthy engagement for UK and other international troops as well as significant cash injections. I cannot pretend to have very many answers, but at least allow me to pose the questions that come to mind: In welcoming UDI, what thought did Bush and Brown give to the rights of the remaining ethnic Serbs in the province Yes, they are a minority, but they are a significant number and the ...

The Proclaimers: Joyful Kilmarnock Blues

Following yesterday's concern with Englishness in music here is something quintessentially Scottish. It's a live perfromance of the best song from The Proclaimers' first LP.I remember buying it along with The Housemartins' London 0 Hull 4 in Market Harborough Woolworth's and thinking myself pretty damned cool for a councillor.

Barriers to employment

Just listening to Sarah Teather debating with a Labour MP Andrew Miller about temporary workers rights. I think the balance is in the wrong place and there need to be a thorough look at this subject. Granted there needs to be a proper look at holiday pay etc - more importantly though is the need for [...]

The Last Enemy

Just seen the first episode of ‘The Last Enemy’. Sunday night drama has a tradition of being bland, cosy stuff to soften up the wage slaves for the week ahead. Not this. Genuinely thrillling, well-acted and well-written. A challenging drama, not plot-on-a-plate. ‘The Last Enemy’ is set in a dystopian near-future, high-security surveillance society. The [...]

Jemima Khan interviews General Musharraf

Very strange. Read it here.

Not a blog meet

One of the problems with living in London is the sheer number of times in a week that you find yourself invited to the pub - or, indeed, to go out more generally. Not that I’m complaining, you understand; just making an observation, and one which may explain why, despite a week off work, I still feel like I need a holiday. On Friday (although, having been off work all week I kept mistaking it for Saturday), I went to The Ship and Shovell near Charing Cross to meet Gordon, stalwart organiser of Scottish blogmeets and webmaster of the temporarily ...

Nick Clegg's novel

Many thanks to Paul Walter for flagging up this Pendennis item about the Lib Dem leader in today Observer: After Cambridge, he wrote a novel. "It was a classic, late-adolescent outpouring of slightly maudlin, melancholy, pretentious thoughts," he says, "about an old man sitting in a room alone, once a powerful figure in the society, but now abandoned by everyone."Unfortunately Paul had to spoil things by quoting the newspaper's wholly unfounded conclusion: And they still claim he did not plan the demise of Ming Campbell...

It ain't Suffolk, but it's close enough

Mark and I were off to Colchester for the Local Partys Annual Dinner last night, after a day of making wedding arrangements. Colchester Liberal Democrats have had their ups and downs in recent years, but I was delighted to see so many friendly faces on what was shaping up to be a very cold evening, and a full hall was a clear sign that spirits are high in Uncle Bob Russells home patch. We were entertained to a lovely three course meal, before I was introduced with some unexpected stories from my past. It turned out that John Stevens, whose ...

Banking with Abbey: reasons to get annoyed

I've banked with Abbey for seventeen years or so, and generally been a fairly contented customer. The move towards e-banking suited me to a tee, and as someone who doesn't receive a lot of cheques, I suffered little from the reduction in the number of cashiers available. All this seems to have come to an end with the takeover by Banco Santander. My first problem came last year when, on a trip to

Edison Lighthouse - Love grows where my Rosemary goes

Just been watching American Idol on ITV2 and seen the worst ever (ever!) version of the classic from Edison Lighthouse, so here's the original, totally brilliant.

Nick Clegg has written a novel

Here's a trio of fascinating facts garnered from a detailed trawl of today's Observer: Nick Clegg has written a novel: 'It was a classic, late-adolescent outpouring of slightly maudlin, melancholy, pretentious thoughts,' he says, 'about an old man sitting in a room alone, once a powerful figure in the society, but now abandoned by everyone.' Pendennis cruelly comments: "And they still claim he

Northern Rock nationalised

About time too. I am no great fan of Alistair Darling but I was delighted to hear him say that the money put into the bank by savers and depositors' would be safe. However, I was not so delighted to hear him say that shareholders may receive some compensation following the nationalisation. To me that is wrong, very wrong. I have every sympathy for any employee who may loose their job following the nationalisation, and of course I would expect the government to offer them some form of assistance. But, I am sorry, I have no sympathy whatsoever for those ...

500 Sign Post Office Petition on Day One

Thanks to all those who signed the "Save Our Post Offices" petition on Saturday morning. An astounding 385 people signed the petition at our stand outside the sub post office in England's Lane and about 100 more signed petition forms that we put in some of the local businesses. We'll be back next Saturday from 09:00 to 12:30. My aim is to get half of Belsize to sign the petition.

Welcome to the World, Kosovo

There was jubilation on the streets of Pristina today, following the parliament’s declaration of Kosovan independence. Thus Europe gets its newest nation, born out of years of often violent tension between ethnic Albanians and Serbs. EU and other international institutions will continue to play a role in Kosovo, not only to help protect its territory, but [...]

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #52

Happy 1st birthday to the Golden Dozen, and welcome to the 52nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (10th-17th February), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Here we go, in descending order of popularity:

BoJo commie terror icon shame

Boris Johnson was on Virgin Radio this evening - talking about how morally feeble the Kaiser Chiefs are, and giving recipes for damson jam. He also admitted wearing a Che Guevara swatch in the presence of President Bush. Can any right-thinking conservative vote for him after this revelation Of course not.

Northern Rock - Time for Brown to fez up and ask Vince to be his Chancellor!

Sorry to go all military again, but, when you are in a war you need to assess the situation quickly, decide how and where to deploy your resources, and get on with it. This clearly hasn't happened in the Northern Rock debacle. Dithering has been the order of the day and much misery has been the result. I don't work for Northern Rock, I can't imagine what it must feel like to be one of their employees at the moment. I do work for the FSA (though not as a regulator) so I have a little insight into the wider ...

Suffolk reviews: Kasztelan Cafe, Ipswich

Welcome to part one of a series which, I hope, will give you some ideas for things to do, places to go and things to see in my newly adopted county of Suffolk. I am a newcomer to the county, in every sense of the word, and everything is new and strange. If you're in the area, you might find this useful. If you aren't, why not... Breaking off from a busy day of wedding preparations, Ros and I

What was all that about jumping into bed with Cameron

Having been away for a few days I missed all the chatter about Nick Clegg allegedly threatening to do the unthinkable and jump into bed with the Tories. But the subject came up this morning when Simon Hughes was being interviewed by Steve Richards on GMTV. He made it quite clear that we would be looking at which party was adopting Lib Dem policies and would decide on a vote by vote basis unless we secured agreement on PR. I am still nervous about what this may mean, it has to be said. Simon, as ever, was as powerful an ...

Vince Cable was right - Lib Dems show better understanding of Northern Rock issue than the government

Vince Cable was right after all. Despite government dithering and trying to avoid the inevitable, it has been announced that the Northern Rock will be nationalised after all. Despite Tory claims that this shows a catastrophic failure on the government's part, at least the government have finally made a decision on this. Remember, the Tories have absolutely no stated policy in this topic and whilst opposing nationalisation have produced no alternative policy with which to lead on. What this does show though is that after three months, after claims at the time that Vince Cable did not know what he ...

More evidence of the value for money from Hampshire Highways!

The next time you walk, drive or ride through Smannell or Little London take a look at the condition of the street furniture. I know this might be difficult if you are avoiding the pot holes and speeding motorists but the condition of our street and road signs are quite frankly appalling. This picture shows the crossroads sign at Smannell which shows it in a dreadful condition. The sign on the right which is covered in dirt, it cannot have been cleaned for years and I am sure has fungus growing on it. The sign pointing to Little London is ...

Why do most supermarket prices have to end in 9

Iceland is to be congratulated on being the first large supermarkets to stop all this 99p nonsense. You know what I mean, there seems to have been an unwritten rule that all prices have to end in .99 or .49 or .9 etc. Well, go to Iceland and you see loads of things on sale for £1 or £2 or £3. Or they do halves and quarters: 1.25, 150, 1.75 etc. I did see one thing, on my recent visit, which

Hitting the Rocks - the inevitable decision to nationalise

After months of indecision, fed by their fear about their own past, the government has bowed to the inevitable and has announced that Northern Rock will, after all, be taken into public ownership. The dithering over this has been incredible. The struggle by Brown and Darling to find an alternative to public ownership was doomed from the start. The writing on Northern Rock was all over the wall

Independent Kosovo - victory for freedom or international tinderbox

The Independent last week drew paralells between the (now-declared) independence of Kosovo and the annexation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein: When Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait, the Western powers insisted that sovereignty and borders determined and protected by international law and the UN must be protected. Those same self-proclaimed guardians of international law are now turning their own

Bleary-eyed nonsense

In a society where a Government Minister chuckles merrily when questionned by Andrew Marr on using devices that only children and young people under the age of 25 can hear to move them away from shops, does it really surprise you that emotional ill health and suicide is rising in this age group As seen in Bridgend recently it's tragic when young people and children commit suicide. You remember how everything felt at that age, how small problems and issues blew themselves out of all proportion as a result of peer pressure and having lots of time to socialise and ...

Bridge Weight concern at Riverside Drive

I have this afternoon issued the following news release, following concerns about abuse of the weight restriction on the bridge over the railway just south of the Botanic Gardens on Riverside Drive: West End City Councillor Fraser Macpherson has raised the concerns of residents about abuse of the weight restriction by some HGV drivers at the bridge across the railway on Riverside Drive south of the Botanic Gardens. The main roadway of Riverside Avenue has been closed to through traffic since 9th February due to road resurfacing and, since then, residents have reported a number of abuses of the weight ...

First-Cousin Marriages among British Asians

Today's Sunday Times carries a thought-provoking article about first-cousin (and frequently forced) marriages in British Asian communities. Of particular interest are the following points: Despite accounting for only 3% of births in this country, British Pakistani babies make up a third of those born with birth defects. This might suggest that there are still biological justifications for the incest laws/prohibited degrees, and that this is not simply a matter of concern about family structures or confusion for children. Of course, the irony is that marriage and sexual relations between cousins are perfectly legal in this country. Some forced/arranged marriages have ...

Northern Rock latest

So the Government is, after all, to bring Northern Rock into temporary public ownership. The Chancellor admits that the other alternatives just don’t offer the best value to the taxpayer, while nationalisation will keep Northern Bank’s customers’ money safe. It’s tempting for oppositions to criticise the Government of the day whatever they do. On Northern [...]

Northern Rock nationalisation - bowing to the inevitable

At long last the bullet has been bitten. Northern Rock is to be nationalised. The BBC's Robert Peston comments: It's a momentous moment. Nationalisation has become a dirty word associated with industrial failures of the past. Financial services, by contrast, have been considered the great British success story - so for such a seemingly growing bank to end up being nationalised is a big moment

Targets, ID Cards and Climate Change

The continuing stupidity of the know-all Labour Government and its ever-growing list of targets is revealed in this report from the Observer. And for those Labour politicians still in love with their outrageous plans for ID Cards, tune in to BBC1 tonight for a drama where Government surveillance, backed up by rigid enforcement of ID Cards, creates a chilling society of the near future. And...

Northern Rock to be nationalised

Labour have at last admitted that nationalisation is the only sensible way forward for Northern Rock, with Alistair Darling deciding to announce its nationalisation imminently. Nice to see another Liberal Democrat policy being nicked by other parties

Gordon Browns Economic Competence: RIP (updated)

Northern Rock is the gift that keeps on giving for the opposition parties, as the BBC’s Business Editor Robert Peston is reporting on BBC News 24 right now that emergency legislation will be put to the House of Commons tomorrow nationalising the beleagured bank, probably wiping out its share price and marking the first full-scale [...]

Celebrating in the Cowley St Campaigns Dept - exclusive photos

Okay, not a celebration of the recent well-deserved thrashing of Labour in the Leyton by-election, but a knees up for Sarah Morris who has just completed 10 years working for Cowley Street. Meanwhile, youngster Andrew Reeves, the man behind Brian Paddick's campaign, was beginning life as a 40 year old. Long time to go before I reach that milestone (not!). Anyway, inevitably I was on hand

The moral, political and economic case for allowing David Heath to voice his conscience

'A rebel in the ranks!' 'A raised voice against our glorious leader!' 'How dare we tolerate such insolence!' Such was the reaction to disloyalty and treason in the past and although the language may have changed the sentiment remains. Such is the case for the rebellion of David Heath. The man has spoken his mind and made his thoughts heard in defiance of the party line. The party's reaction to this is important, not only because it affects how the public sees us but it also reflects deeply on Nick Clegg's leadership skills and his ability to run a successful ...

Northern Rock: Time's Up!

The BBC is reporting that the government has finally taken the decision that the Lib Dems have been advocating for the last 4 months!

Freedom of the press

The plight of Sayad Parwez Kambaksh is attracting some international attention, including the obligatory Facebook group, but not as much as it should. Kambaksh is a journalism student who downloaded material from the internet which was said to offend against the rules of Islam, although there seems to be confusion about exactly what law has [...]

Today's exciting Madonna statistic

She wore 56 pairs of earrings for her film role as Eva Peron. I think I'll file that under "slightly excessive".

Say it quietly, but I think the elephant is a bit greedy...

I have just discovered that there are thirty pieces of Lego available for each living human (leaving none for us dogs, sniff). A bit of inter-species Lego reclamation seems in order, but I fear the neighbourhood elephant has been a bit greedy on the Lego front over the years and may get us all into trouble.

More pointless EU legislation

Is it any wonder people regard the EU with such disdain when it introduces so many laws that seem to interfere with people's lives. The latest example is highlight by the Sunday Telegraph today. "By any measure the Douglas DC-3 Dakota was one of the great aircraft of the 20th century, playing a key part in the Normandy landings and the 1948 Berlin airlift, and for decades after the war was the workhorse of local air services all round the world. Every summer thousands of air show addicts in Britain share in this piece of history, by taking flights in ...

Shorts

Thank God for Michael Gove. So few MPs appear to have any interest in life outside politics, and the few like Gove who display a genuinely wide-ranging curiosity in cultural and artistic issues should be prized. A shame Oona King is out of parliament, she really does know quite a lot about dance music. ** Gove is what, in countries where the term isnt considered a pejorative equal to paedo, you might call an intellectual. The term intellectual comes from Émile Zolas day, when it was used as an insult for those who argued the innocence of Jewish army officer, ...

Starling the Dictator - How did you get here

In this week's look at how people used search engines to get to my blog by mistake, I have to point out this AOL search from Monday. Someone typed in the words "Starling Dictator" and got to my blog ! I don't know whether to be upset or delighted. I hope they were not upset to get to THIS story.

A rotten way to pick a President

I'm just watching Washington Journal on C-Span, as you do. They featured an article (titled as above) in the Washington Post which chronicles the history of the primaries and caucases in the States. The commentary, by Sean Wilentz and Julian E. Zelizer, notes the weaknesses of the current system: The old ways were unfair and autocratic, of course. But the new ones have grave problems, too. For

Opinion: How liberal are liberals obliged to be

The Archbishop of Canterburys suggestion last week that the state should give some kind of recognition to sharia law raised important questions for liberals. We tend to believe that what the great philosopher of liberty John Stuart Mill called experiments in living should be permitted, as long as they do not harm others. And, surely, the [...]

Pizza and Politics

Jeremy Hargreaves has started an interesting discussion on Lib Dem Voice about policy discussions. It’s about a minute’s work to add a ‘Pizza and Politics’ group - like the one for Liberal Drinks - so that people could easily see all the Pizza and Politics, Pasta and Politics, Poppadoms and Politics or Curry and Politics meetings around the country. (Or should the group be called ‘… and politics’) Or would you be interested in being able to easily see all policy discussions going on around the country - a bit like the one for meetings in general (That’s about twenty ...

Why is the private sector so rubbish

So far this month i’ve had cause to complain about the following My mobile phone company charging me for internet viewing i’ve never done - ie sky news comes up on the screen and i seem to be charged for trying to get rid of it Then when I called to switch over they gave me a [...]

Can you give 5 minutes of your time to improve discussion within the Liberal Democrats

One of the things we’re most proud of as a party is that it is representatives of our local parties across the country, who make our policy at conference. Its one of the many things that makes us stand out from the other major parties. But away from Conference, how much discussion of the key political [...]

Breaking down barriers between communities

I'm quoted in the Sunday Times today: Children from ethnic minorities are to be sent on adventure holidays with white youngsters in a scheme to break down racial and religious barriers.Ministers want children from different backgrounds to mix at summer camps where they can enjoy extreme sports together. The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) centres also offer workshops in skills such as circus tricks and producing pop videos...Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat youth and equality spokeswoman, said: Breaking down barriers is a good idea. [But] we need to look at the long-term effects of these schemes: they have to be more ...

Living in 'Cloud Cuckoo Land'

I've just finished reading an article on the BBC website that says some parents are to get new powers to enable them to check and see if people they know, have any paedophile convictions. Apparently, the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith seems to think this is an excellent idea. Is she 'havin a laff' Does Ms Smith really think that once this information had been released into the public domain it would remain confidential for long Of course it wouldn't. It would spread quicker than a bush fire. Here in the real world, away from Ms Smith's world of politics and ...

Shades of the People's Front of Judea v Judean People's Front

An excellent letter to the Guardian: Your clarification (15 February) of the contrasting attitudes of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Communist Party of Britain on the political opportunities afforded by a recession was appreciated. But what does the People's Front of Judea think (Or haven't you asked her) Andy Cook,Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. This follows on from this priceless

Swansea on the celeb map

The Swansea bay area can boast already of Catherine Zeta Jones, Katharine Jenkins, Max Boyce, Mary Hopkin, Richard Burton, Ivor Emmanuel, Rob Brydon, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Potts, Michael Sheen, Gavin Henson (and by association Charlotte Church), Peg Entwistle, Dylan Thomas, Pete Ham and Mike Gibbins of Badfinger, the rock group Man, Terry Williams of Dire Straits, Mal Pope, Russell T Davies, Sir Harry Seacombe and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to name but a few. Yesterday we got Jordan. She packed them in at W.H. Smith's when she showed up in curlers to sign her latest book. Of more significance ...

Je ne regrette rien

No doubt both Labour and Plaid Cymru will be playing down the significance of Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Murphy's speech to the Wales Labour Conference yesterday. According to the Wales on Sunday he told delegates that pushing for a referendum on a Welsh Parliament should not be Labours priority: Mr Murphy, in his first speech to the Welsh Labour Conference since his return to frontline politics, said the party should concentrate on improving public services rather than providing more devolution. His remarks are likely to infuriate Plaid supporters, who regard the referendum commitment as key to supporting the ...

Is England really that bad

On the day Kosovo (hopefully) becomes an independent nation, we in England apparently have our own breakaway province: Berwick-upon-Tweed. According to an ITV1 poll, the residents of this small border town voted 1,182 to 775 in favour of becoming part of Scotland, after politicians in the town had vowed to block any move moving the [...]

Non-doms flat tax - regressive tax which will drive out workers

Robert Peston writes an excellent summary of why the Non-doms flat tax, espoused by the Tories and Labour, is a truly regressive tax which will be a "flea bite" to the super-rich while driving out "lawyers, academics, bankers, computer experts...journalists...(and) doctors working for the health service."

Pakistan's Attorney General predicts vote rigging

You can hear Pakistan's Attorney General, Abdul Malik Qayyum, predicting vote rigging here on the Human Rights Watch web site.

Jessica Randall - the culture of cover up

The link is to an article in The Telegraph about the death of a baby in Northampton. As usual the local "safeguarding committee" conclude that there was nothing that could be done. At least Ofsted are not part of the complacent cover-up consensus.

Valentine's Day in America

Hat Tip: Daily Kos

Liberal England and Enoch Powell

Jonathan Calder highlights that within a week of his starting to write a column on the New Statesman website, the magazine's editor John Kampfner resigned. A little further investigation reveals that Kampfner resigned over a row with the owner Geoffrey Robinson MP over the publication's costs. So how much must they have been paying Jonathan Perhaps Lord Bonkers was demanding a cut to help subsidise his Rutland estates. The price was clearly too much for the Statesman's proprietor. All of which puts me in mind of a story I heard about Enoch Powell, who was notoriously tough in negotiating fees ...

Journal of Liberal History

Sticking to historical matters, the latest edition of the Journal of Liberal History includes my review of James Moore's The Transformation of Urban Liberalism: Party Politics and Urban Governance in Late Nineteenth-Century England. The latest edition isn't available on the web, so far as I can see, and I suppose it is not quite the done thing to put the review on this blog. But this seems as good a moment as any to plug the Liberal Democrat History Group, which publishes the journal, a peer-reviewed publication that includes not just general articles, but original research by practising historians across ...

Bermondsey revisited (again)

We are approaching the 25th anniversary of the Bermondsey by-election. To commemorate the event, Jonathan Derbyshire has written fair-minded articlea, which appeared in last week's Time Out. The author is the son of one of my Lib Dem colleagues on Watford Borough Council (although I gather he is not himself a Lib Dem).

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