LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Saturday 1st March 2008

Who wrote the Lib Dems' referendum policy

I am not a great believer in conspiracy theories. In my experience they are drawn up in secret by close-kint groups who wish to control the world. But the Liberal Democrat policy of demanding a referendum on whether Britain should contiue to belong to the European Union - invented by Ming Campbell and maintained by Nick Clegg - is so bizarre that some such theory is needed to explain it. We may have found one. Nich Starling points us to a story by Danny Finkelstein who points us to Dominic Lawson who writes: I'm told that after Gordon Brown had ...

Plastic bags - I may be correct.

At least according to the government advisors. This is what frustrates me about so much of the environmental movement. So little thought, just bandwagon jumping and anti-progress neo-puritan rhetoric. This does not help solve the problems we have, if anything it makes them worse. Thankfully there are considered people in environmentalism, I just wish people would listen [...]

Stick to the Plan

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of a celebration at Elm Tree Community Centre. Today was a training day for the committee and staff with our external consultant who has done so much to help us to get this far. I must admit to groaning on the way there that this was yet another Saturday there. However it was good, it was interesting, it made us all think about how we take on our roles in...

Wake up and smell the coffee will ya

Please, please do make the time to read this post. And, I do mean - read. Then, can I ask one more favour When you've read it - can you stop what you're doing, get off your arse and actually do something to stop it happening! It seems we have all forgotten that we are supposed to be the party that actually gives a shit. The party that stands up for the weak and the defenceless. I've seen very little sign of any of that when it comes to what is going on in Gaza. It's shameful that we are ...

Jonathan Meades on urbanism

There is a review by the great man in this week's New Statesman: Urbanism, if it signifies anything other than what used to be called town planning, is an ill-defined pseudo-discipline that covers research into the economic, infrastructural and demographic ingredients of cities and supposedly draws upon such research in the creation of schemes to improve cities. Such schemes usually mean, in practice, building. Hence the construction industry's conversion to urbanism.There no longer exists such a thing as a builder. That man in the Day-Glo hard hat wolf-whistling is now an urban regenerator and the tempting cleft peeping from his ...

Why were so many children in care on Jersey

It is not just the political background to the Jersey scandal that needs to be understood. There is an economic background too. When Ceaucescu's regime fell in Romania it was revealed that thousands of children were suffering in primitive orphanages. It took a while for people to ask why there were so many orphans there. When they did, it turned out that may of them were not orphans at all. As an Observer article explained last year: The dictatorship encouraged breeding to staff state-controlled industries. Contraception and abortion were not available. Parents travelling to towns to find work were forced ...

The Pot Calling The Kettle Black

Just read this article where David Cameron has blamed the Labour Party for a "breakdown of public faith in the political system". Wasn't it practically every week during the last years of the Major government that the news reported sleaze upon sleaze by the Conservative ministers and MPs

Obama ahead in three of the four latest polls in Texas

The latest polls from Texas are perhaps the clearest sign yet of the end of the road for Hillary Clinton's bid to win the Democratic nomination. Three polls, published yesterday have Barack Obama ahead , with only one poll showing Hillary Clinton still in the lead. This confirms earlier polls done a few days ago that showed Obama eating in to Hillary Clinton's once formidable lead in this key state. In Ohio the news remains better for Clinton, but her 10% poll lead in this state too have evaporated. The average of the four latest polls only have her 4.25% ...

Prince Harry and the media

The media were right not to report the fact that Harry was serving in Afghanistan. They have to be responsible when Britain is at war. You may think the war misguided, but reporting it in a way that puts British troops at risk is not the answer. But there is a scandal surrounding the coverage of Prince Harry. It is not the media's failure to report Harry's presence in Afghanistan. It is their cloying treatment of him once the story broke. They have allowed themselves to be used in a campaign to restore his image in the eyes of the ...

Axing the tax in Scotland

At the Scottish Lib Dem Spring conference party leader, Nicol Stephen, urged the SNP to join with them to get rid of the Council Tax. I think it's quite right that we should get rid of the Council Tax, replacing it with a local income tax instead. I mean, is it fair people on the lowest incomes to pay more (proportionally)than those on the highest Not only this, but each year the Council tax rises than the rate of inflation, i.e. more than the cost of living. Replacing it with a local income tax would be a far fairer system ...

A Liberal Goes A Long Way - R.I.P.

Been a bit quiet around here lately, hasnt it Four and a half months, to be precise since my last posting. I could make lots of excuses... I changed jobs at the start of the year... Im house hunting... I have enough on my plate as a councillor... etc. But actually the real reason is both more practical and philosophical than that. First, the practical bit. Acting as commissioning

Rubbish and the Peoples Republic

We are very good citizens in my flat. We nobly take it upon ourselves to drink as much beer as possible in the interests of being able to recycle our collective bodyweight once a week in tinnies. Undeterred are we by our official demographic classification as young female problem binge drinkers. We recycle about half our [...]

Another endorsement

Back in January I commented on the endorsement from Peter Hain that appears on the website of Picture Financial Services. At the time, whilst responding to comments, I stated that "It is not usual for companies to use comments by ministers as a marketing tool in this way. Has Hain actually requested that the endorsement be removed from the website" Well it appears I was wrong. Whilst surfing the net in search of a suitable birthday treat for my wife I came across the webpages for The Towers Hotel in Jersey Marine, a very nice establishment situated in the Aberavon ...

Day 2610: Test for Britishness

Saturday: Q1: Answer the following question in your own words: what would be a good Test for Britishness Marking guide: full points to be awarded for "I'm British and we don't DO this sort of thing!" or similar.

Harry's return - round spherical objects

Ingrid Seward of "Majesty" magazine Harry's return from Afghanistan demonstrates the problem with 24 hour news channels. When there is something significant going on, like an election, then 24 hour news channels are relatively interesting. But then you get something like the Harry's return and they plaster it all over the shop.I employ what I call the "Seward" rule" on these occasions. The

The Westminster Hour: Sunday 10pm

{Appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour with Carolyn Quinn} I'm back on The Westminster Hour this Sunday: Radio 4, 10pm. If you miss the show you'll be able to listen again on their website. If you want to get advanced notice of my media appearances like this one, you can use the media events service at Flock Together. You've got three choices: Using this feed: or By email: register at FlockTogether and pick Media appearances as one of the categories of events you want to be emailed about. (If you are an existing Flock Together user you can ...

Council Core Strategy on Development released (latest)

The latest information on the Councils core strategy for future development including the government inspector's decision to increase further the amount of new house building that the Government expects this area to take from 15,500 to 18,800 between 2006 & 2026 are included in the report. Where they expect us to put all these extra houses I do not know, anyhow the report makes useful...

Local Employment Partnership Launch

At lunchtime today, I represented the City Council at the Local Employment Partnership Launch at Dens Park, and signed up to the partmership on behalf of the Council, along with a number of other local employers. Local Employment Partnerships are an excellent, innovative way of helping more people on welfare benefits into work and the City Council is pleased to be involved with the Partnership, to help improve employment opportunities in the City. After an afternoon on "day job" activity, I've just watched the highlights of Nicol Stephen's excellent speech at the Scottish LibDem Conference - summed up by the ...

Protect our Hillside

This is now published on www.readmyday.co.uk/twerton of where you can read all the latest information on this campaign.

Iain Dale faces both ways on Lisbon treaty

Oh dear

Education Capital Expenditure

The Courier today ran an article about the issue of education capital expenditure and the issue of the SNP's P1-3 class sizes "commitment" - I paste below my full response on the issue : LibDem council group leader Cllr Fraser Macpherson said, "The major problem with the SNP's so-called commitment to the class sizes policy is that it has been totally underfunded and the capital allocation the Scottish government has been made thus far wouldn't make any substantive difference at all to meeting their commitment. To get to the 18 class size position in P1-3 in all schools would require ...

Waiting for the Obama-a-likes

The rise and rise of Senator Barack Obama is an epic event in the history of political marketing. Politicos everywhere should watch and learn. Why Because a party 's appeal - its brand and narrative - sinks or swims with its leader. And that's because it comes down to telling a story that clicks with what the people listening to it the voters are thinking and feeling. Engaging the emotions, especially hope and fear, are what its really about. Someone has to tell the story and make the connection. That's usually the party leader. It all comes together when s/he ...

Save our Post Offices; Shuttern

This morning, armed to the teeth with banners and placards, 20 members of Taunton Lib Dems took to the streets outside Shuttern Post Office in Taunton. For those that don't know, Shuttern is one of 5 post office outlets in Taunton Deane that has been earmarked for closure. The others are; West Monkton, Bradford-on-Tone, West Buckland and Kingston St Mary. Whilst we were busy collecting signatures a member of public said your wasting your time the decisions been made and thats that. Hes wrong you know. Although its true an announcement has been made, nothing is as yet final. We ...

Paddick the East End boy

Brian Paddick was in Brick Lane yesterday for a visit to the Brick Lane Mosque and a meeting with local community leaders. He was joined by Party President Simon Hughes, Euro candidate Jonathan Fryer and local GLA candidate Rajonuddin Jalal. First up, being Brick Lane around lunchtime, was a curry in a restaurant owned by a Lib Dem supporter. After that, Brian met local residents emerging from the mosque after Friday prayers. The local Conservatives were along as well, but got nothing like the good response that Brian and Jalal were receiving. We were then invited into the mosque to ...

Chris Huhne supports Clegg on walk-out and EU poisition

In tomorrow's GMTV Sunday programme, Chris Huhne strongly supports Nick Clegg's Commons walk-out: I think Nick has been absolutely right on this and we entirely agree both on the European issue and on the way in which we protested over the ruling that our vote would not be called because, frankly, for a major opposition party with more than a fifth of the votes in the country, to be denied the

Hillary's double bind

Shirley Williams makes some very pithy comments about Hillary Clinton in a special report in the Guardian by Emma Brockes: German culture, for example, welcomes the idea of there being a somewhat different, feminine leadership style, and likes the fact that Angela Merkel is a peacemaker and is always seeking consensus; it's what they expect from her. Americans might expect it and see it as

Bringing the game in to disrepute

What a disgrace. Just a few minutes after Norwich city kicked the ball out of play so the Blackpool physio could treat a Blackpool player who looked to have a serious injury (it turned out he had hurt his arm), Blackpool repaid this act of generosity in the most appalling way. The picture shows norwich captain Mark Fotheringham being stretchered off with a serious head injury. Despite his injuries, Blackpool decided to play on, and taking advantage of the serious injury went up field and scored a goal. Of course, the was nothing to stop the ref blowing his whistle ...

When did the Leader of the Opposition write his Budget speech

A mystery... At Budget Council on Wednesday I picked up a small but significant detail in the main speech given by the Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Howard Jones. He was talking about the Hook Centre, and said that the café was still closed. He then looked up from his printed notes and said that he knew this was no longer true, but was the case when he wrote...

Brian Paddick marches to save Queen Mary's

Brian Paddick and Simon Hughes joined local Liberal Democrats on the march to save Queen Mary's Hospital today. Hundreds of local people turned out to show their opposition to the proposals to close the Accident & Emergency and Maternity departments. It was a shame that even though the Conservatives (who did organise the march) threw an open invitation at public meetings and on the internet, and

Tax rise row over £128m reserve fund

Tax rise row over £128m reserve fund. Smannell residents will have to pay for an above inflation increase in council tax from April, with Hampshire County Councils Tory led Council surviving a Lib Dem onslaught to rubber stamp proposals pushing through a 4.5 per cent rise. Thursdays annual budget meeting saw the Tory- run council "whip their rebellious" councillors and pull rank to quell a rebellion over their controvesial £128m reserve fund which could have been used to reduce the increase. Furious Lib Dems accused the Tories of planning a cynical council tax cut in time for next years elections ...

Naughty Lemming

In my defence, parts of the reason why I still have the same amount of leaflets sitting forlornly in a box in my living room that I had on Thursday are valid. I mean, it isn't easy to prioritise your life and I did need to collect something from Pembroke yesterday. I need to spend some time with my daughter before she forgets what I looked like. I need to do some housework and get some groceries. I don't technically need to sleep until practically lunchtime and then faff about on facebook for two hours though. Naughty lemming. Thursday was ...

How big does the pupil premium need to be

In 1996 a group of Oxford academics produced a book called Options for Britain. It was intended as a thought piece for an incoming (Labour) government. 12 years on, and with less clarity as to the makeup of the next government, we are working on a new volume along the same lines. To that end [...]

Blue-Gold Coalition to Save Queen Marys Sidcup

Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the London borough of Bexley don’t always see eye to eye, not least since the LibDem PPC for Old Bexley and Sidcup, Duncan Borrowman, has been trying to shame local MP Derek Conway into resigning over his parliamentary family business. But such enmity was set aside today, as respectable numbers from [...]

Leeds back to winning ways as Kandol header beats the Robins

Swindon Town: P. Smith, Comminges, Kanyuka, Aljofree, Vincent, Allen, Peacock, Easton, Roberts, Cox, Paynter. Subs: Brezovan, McGovern, McNamee, Ifill, Ashikodi. Leeds United: Ankergren, Kenton, Richardson, Michalik, Marques, Prutton, Kilkenny, Howson, Johnson, Beckford, Kandol. Subs: Lucas, Sheehan, Thompson Carole, Elding. Referee: C. Foy. New loan signing Steve O'Halloran limped off during the warm up and did not feature as expected. Frazer Richardson took his place in the team and Alan Sheehan was elevated to the subs bench. Leeds fans welcomed back midfielder Neil Kilkenny to the starting line-up at the County Ground, Swindon. The first 20 minutes saw Swindon, a team ...

Smack dat!

Hereditary peer Lord Mancroft doesnt like the fact that some Somerset nurses get drunk and shag people. After Eton, Mancroft enjoyed a successful career as Chairman of Scratch-n-Win Lotteries, and as a smackhead. Since the death of his father, he has sat in our legislature.

Contexts of abuse

The revelations about child abuse in Jersey have been very disturbing, and will no doubt get worse as more evidence is found and more information is put in the public domain. For me they awakened memories from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Not that I suffered any abuse myself, but I feel an irrational guilt about the way abusive behaviour was often considered acceptable then. It...

Exclusive - How Nick Clegg prepares for PMQs

Nick Clegg was in Watford on Thursday to visit the West Herts FE college which has been turned from a failing institution to one officially regarded as excellent thanks to an inspirational new principal. While he was in Watford, he also met members and was asked what he really thought of Prime Minister's Questions. As you know, some politicians love PMQs and others hate it. Paddy - never a lover of the Commons - didn't like it ve ry much. Ming was famously taken to task by the media for a perceived poor performance and former Tory Leader William Hague ...

Delivering in Kensington

Off to Kensington this morning to deliver leaflets with a team plus Lib Dem Councillor Frank Doran. Got lots done. Frank is very recognisable and was stopped for chats by quite a few people. He had to shoot off to do his councillors surgery - but we went for what must be one of the best value cafe breakfasts in Liverpool. Hope I get given that area again

Post Office closures: Tory & Labour hypocrisy

Conservative (and Swansea emigrant) Nigel Evans has proposed an Early Day Motion (no. 997) which regrets the proposal to close up to 2,500 post offices. As you will see by clicking the link, the EDM has been signed by both Labour and Conservative MPs. This is a bit rich, seeing as how that, under the previous Conservative government, over 3000 branches were closed, and that the closure programme continued unabated under Labour. At the Blackpool Conference in 1996, which set Labour's course for election victory in the following spring, Gordon Brown made an impassioned 30-minute speech. In the course of ...

Opinion Polls Trend Report - February

There were only 5 UK voting intention opinion polls during February. 2 of 5 were YouGov, traditionally poor for the Lib Dems. The average rate for the party is 17.4% against 17.3% last month so little movement. Updated figures are as follows - the number of polls by particular organisations can skew the figures so I am also including data for the range and which polling organisations contributed the outlier numbers - there is a very clear trend there with ICM providing the highest numbers and usually YouGov providing the lowest.. February 17.4% (5 polls - 16% YouGov, 21% ICM) ...

Eurovision: Your Decision

It’s Eurovision time again - hurrah! This May there will be not one but two semi-finals - that’s three Eurovision TV shows in one week. My my. The UK, of course, goes straight through to the final, regardless of how badly we did last year. But before we can do that, we need a song, and tonight’s the night we get to decide who will represent us in Serbia. Not for the first time, I won’t have a chance to vote in the selection, but it’s a sacrifice I’m prepared to make. Once again, the singers include a healthy share ...

Day 2609: Stupid By Design

Friday: No, no, no! It is no good giving an INCH to the Unintelligent Design crowd: give them an EYE of a NEEDLE and they will try to force a DIPLODOCUS through it. AND claim that Noah had them on the Ark! Along with all the cat-monsters and donkeys and upwards of five million species of beetles. In pairs. I am referring to this article by an American scientist suggesting that science should try to RECLAIM the word "design", and say that yes evolution DOES "design" things. This really IS NOT helpful. Evolution does not DO design. It just DOESN'T. ...

Why it was right to bring Harry home

I fully agree with the Ministry of Defence bringing Prince Harry home. If Harry's presence would put more of our siliders' lives in danger and by simply removing him from the front line would make the area 'safer' so that the soldiers can carry on their significant role then this is the right decision. I did wonder whether it was really necessary to extend the news on the day that it was

Send in your Golden Dozen nominations

Regular readers of our weekly Golden Dozen feature will know that we have opened up five slots to reader nominations. All you have to do is drop me a line at stephen - stephen.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one), highlighting the best [...]

The Birmingham Three

Interesting blog post by Deborah Summers on the Guardian Unlimited website. Apparently the Labour Spring Conference is so dire she's heard the following comments from the lonely three people who are in attendance: "What reason would anyone except prospective candidates and those hoping for a seat have to come to this" one activist asked. Another suggested the prime minister was simply losing the public-relations battle and becoming ever more isolated at No 10. "Brown doesn't have an Anji Hunter [a close aide to Tony Blair who acted as the then prime minister's 'eyes and ears' on the ground] and he ...

US military secrets sent to Suffolk factory worker

There is a fascinating story in today's Eastern Daily Press which claims that a Suffolk factory worker has been sent scores of emails containing classified and top secret information by the United States Air Force (USAF). It appears that the gentleman in question purchased the rights to 'mildenhall.com' a few years ago, but as a result top secret e-mail meant for the giant US air base at RAF Mildenhall are being sent to him on a regular basis. I'm not sure if this is a worry or whether it is re-assuring to know the US is as bad at looking ...

Is Lib Dem policy being dictated by back seat drivers

Danny Finkelstein claimed yesterday that the Lib Dem policy of abandoning a manifesto pledge to give the people of Britain a referendum on the EU treaty was made because Shirley Williams was threatening to leave the party and join the Labour Party if we didn't do it. Mr Finkelstein comments that it was a deal hatched with Ming last summer when Gordon Brown and the Labour Party were enjoying high poll ratings. If this is true, then it is disgraceful. But given that anyone joining Labour now would be rats joining a sinking ship, shouldn't we again look at our ...

Can you save your local Post Office

With Post Office closures in the news again (though strangely none of the Post Offices in the Palace of Westminster are facing the axe…) I’ve seen a few people ask, “but is it worth campaigning against the closure of my local Post Office Don’t closures always go ahead” So here’s a reminder of why campaigning is [...]

Fay Presto!

And now for something completely different. Hampstead and Kilburn Liberal Democrats and their friends gathered at the Hampstead Theatre in Swiss Cottage last night, for an evening of magic, mystery and mischief with the inimitable cabaret artiste, Fay ‘more than a woman’ Presto. It was probably a good idea that there was a reception before, rather [...]

A question of pronounciation

Interesting little postscript in this morning's Western Mail regarding yesterday's poll on 'Who runs Wales'. Apparently, it could be Plaid Simroo: Rev Aled Edwards, chief executive of Cytun, Churches Together in Wales, and a former Commissioner for Racial Equality, said, I was rung up last Sunday afternoon and asked to take part in the poll. I was rather surprised when the interviewer referred to Plaid Simroo. It seems to me that some people would be confused by this, and it might affect the results. It is nice to see that we can rely on pollsters for some accuracy in their ...

Day 2608: Extraordinary Apology!

Thursday: Mr Millipede, Secretary of State for directing passengers though the Airport Lounge of Airstrip One, has apologised. He has apologised on behalf of the Foreign Office for misleading the House of Commons, and, as I am sure you realise, that is quite SERIOUS. It is ILLEGAL to put people on aeroplanes against their will and fly them off to countries that practice torture with the aim of having them tortured on your behalf, since you are reluctant to be seen with their blood on your fluffy feet. That is, WE call it "illegal". The Americans call it "Extraordinary Rendition". ...

Biggest Flock Together upgrade ever Easy to show whether you are going to a Flock Together event or not

It’s now dramatically easier to show whether you are attending a Flock Together event or not, by clicking in the ‘Are you going’ box at the top right of every meeting page. By using the kind of Web 2.0 technology used on sites like Flickr, the page will automatically update without needing to reload. Have a go by registering on the party conference page at You need to be logged to get the full benefit. For those interested in such matters, it uses the prototype Ajax library to update the page without reloading. All comments welcome.

Saturday 1st March 2008

Previous days:

Archives

Search for...

Adverts

Buttons

LibDem Blog Box

Contributors

Campaigns

Backlinks...

From the LibDems...

Featuring Nick Clegg...

From the BBC...

From the Independent...

From Politics.co.uk...

From the Guardian...

Adverts