Last week I chaired a session on Campaigning with Web 2.0 at the International e-Participation Symposium in London. It was a lively session with excellent speakers: James Crabtree from IPPR, who gave us a broad overview of the American primaries, was followed by two practitioners, Cllr David Speirs who has set up a network of citizens in Bath and North East Somerset, and Steve Webb ... 
The date: 21st April, 1993. The subject: A consultative referendum on the Maastricht Treaty The following 72 Tory MPs, who still sit for their party in the House of Commons, voted against a referendum: Peter Ainsworth, David Amess, Michael Ancram, James Arbuthnot, Peter Atkinson, Tony Baldry, Henry Bellingham, Sir Paul Beresford, Tim Boswell, Peter Bottomley, Julian Brazier, Angela [...]
The deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip is one of the most depressing realities in the world today. And quite frankly, the outside world is not doing enough to remedy things. The continued lobbing of (distinctly amateur) rockets at Siderot and other targets in Israel is rightly condemned, but as UN Secretary General Ban [...]
Yesterday I wrote about it being a small world, and today it came together as we gathered at Queen's Campus, Stockton to hear Juan Aviles from El Salvador speak to is in Spanish, translated by Jana who is German on Fairtrade cashew nut production. It was fascinating, so I'm going to write quite a bit, as well as post a selection of the photos. If you haven't time to read on, take my word for...
Last year, writing about the John Bird and John Fortune sitcom Well Anyway, I worried that I was the only person left alive who remembers certain television programmes. Apart from Well Anyway the examples I gave were Gophers! and 1990. The good news is that I am not. Gophers! has an entry on Wikipedia: Gophers! was a Channel 4 children's programme about a family of American gophers who move into a new neighbourhood, called Sycamore Heights, living next door to a family of uptight but well-intentioned rabbits, The Burrows. There were many recurring jokes within this short lived show such ... 
Ken Clarke’s withering dismissal of David Cameron’s policy on the Human Rights Act as “largely gesture politics” on The Westminster Hour on Sunday has gone largely without comment so far. So here’s a comment: crikey.
you either love it or you loathe it. Personally, I love it. Not so sure about this lot though! Click here.
I am sure like everyone. I get a lot of jokey emails from pals, but this one really appealed to me! One morning, the husband returns the boat to their lakeside cottage after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap.Although not familiar with the lake, his wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, puts her feet up, and begins to read her book. The peace and solitude are magnificent. Along comes a Fish and Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. ...
The UN security council had placed a third round of sanctions on Iran. This is over having a nuclear program, but apparently we are allowed nuclear programs in fact we're allowed loads of nuclear weapons. Iran clearly doesn't yet have nuclear weapons, its just it could develop them in some years to come. I understand Iran would be a dangerous country with nuclear weapons but lets face it, the US intelligence would spot them and there would be a full speedy invasion. It's amazing the power we have through the UN security council, the sanctions were proposed by France and ...
A few years ago (1998 in fact), Labour were circulating a briefing paper around local campaigners entitled Beating the Liberals: Lessons from Lambeth, focusing, as the name suggests, on how to beat the Liberal Democrats. It was written by a guy called Luke Akehurst and it contains some fairly scurrilous stuff, so seeing as it’s [...]
Few of us have even heard of Somalia. It has an Islamic insurgency, it's Africa's version of Iraq, but because there are no western troops there and no oil, the press, the politicians and the public give it no attention. Our politicians aren't going to loose any sleep over it because they won't exactly loose any votes over there inaction. Somalia is one of the very poorest countries in the world and the UN describes it as the worst place for children to grow up in. Well Somalia hasn't had an effective government since 1991, since then it's been civil ...
Not the offputting Michael Howard, of course, but glossy 80s supersoap Howards Way, featured last week in BBC4s series on hit Sunday night shows. If youve read Neil Stockleys blog analysing successful politicians in terms of how they tell a good story about themselves, you might have an idea of what was going through my head about the narrative of Howards Way While both the BBC and ITV produced great drama in the 80s, different series often matched politics of the time in seemingly speaking to completely different nations. And the Howards Way nation looked like it had more fun. ...
A late result from last week, the Conservatives gained a seat in Slideslow Ward on Bromsgrove Council. The seat was previously held by Gordon Selway for the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats failed to stand a candidate.
Welcome to the 54th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (24th February - 1st March), together with a quintet hand-picked by Lib Dem blog readers you might otherwise have missed. Here we go, in descending order of popularity:
In his post that cowardly Norfolk blogger tantrum Alex Wilcock appears to lampoon Nich Starling (aka Norfolk Blogger) for throwing a drama-queeny strop about the fairness of bloggers interviews. Having now read Nich's post in its entirety, I would have to say that it is Alex and not Nich, who is guilty of playing 'his or her character in an overly dramatic, spotlight-hogging manner' (definition of a drama queen, for those that didn't know). However, I am grateful to Alex for one thing. Until now I had only suspected that Lib Dem Blogs was a site made up of two, ...
Posted by Chris: Liberal Democrat Councillors on Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council today opposed Labours budget which included an excessive 4.9% council tax increase, the biggest rise for years. In addition Cleveland Fire Authority have set a 4.9% increase and Cleveland Police Authority have imposed a massive 9.97% increase. Lib Dems are concerned that the Labour-run authority runs a serious risk of being capped by central government and having to re-bill residents. The Local Government Minister, John Healey, has said that he expects council tax increases to be substantially below 5% or councils will face the risk of capping. There ...
Fortune, via CNN Money describes how the Obama campaign have displayed a mastery of the internet which is helping them to outmanoevre the Clinton campaign: Fortune: Who is using media more effectively in the Democratic primary - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama Rishad Tobaccowala (chief innovation officer of the media buying division of Publicis, the French advertising giant) : Definitely,
Following I Want A Referendum’s um… interesting poll results, the Liberal Democrats have done some polling of their own* which shows voters would prefer, by 2:1, to have a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, rather than on the narrower issue of the Lisbon Treaty. Or at least, that’s the way Cowley Street is [...]
There's a petition here for a real referendum on Europe. Full marks to Nick Clegg for going on the offensive on this one - particularly with the MORI poll which shows 2:1 in favour of our approach versus the Tories' sham policy. I fully respect the stance of those like James Graham who want a referendum on the Lisbon treaty while accepting that it is not a (or the) constitution (see James's
As referendums are in the news of late, I thought this excerpt from The Times of March 1911, which I stumbled upon yesterday (as you do), might be of interest: With regard to Lord Balfour’s Reference to the People Bill, it is expected that at least two days will be occupied by the second reading debate. It is probable that in Committee amendments will be moved limiting the scope of the measure, which as it stands would not only allow either House to demand a Referendum on any legislative proposal, but also gives that privilege to a minority of 200 ...
I wrote the following letter to Lib Dem News last week but they saw fit not to print it. Fair enough, but here it is anyhoo: Just what point is Sandra Gidley trying to make by prancing about in a comedy fat suit (People, 22nd February) As someone who is at least as fat as she was when she ‘fatted up’, I can assure her that if her experience involved feeling exhausted all the time and being unable to tie her own shoelaces it wasn’t an authentic one. I’m not convinced her suit simulated diabetes for her either, one of ...
Childhood apparently ends at age eleven, or so the media are telling us today. I wonder though if anyone pondered to think of the link between age eleven and this also being the year children go to secondary school school When I was training to be a teacher in Northamptonshire a few years ago they still had a Middle School system which took children in years 5, 6, 7 & 8 (aged nine to thirteen). Teachers repeatedly told me at these schools that they seemed to be able to keep the children "as children" for a couple of extra years ...
Hillary Clinton is reported as 'going for Obama's jugular' with her campaign ad about children sleeping and a call to the White House at 3m (watch it here). If anything the video shows up her own lack of experience. It implies that she is someone who "already knows the world's leaders". Well, she couldn't pronounce the new Russian leader's name last week and said "Whatever" after she failed to
The Lib Dems have unveiled the results of a recently commissioned MORI Poll today with great flourish, insisting it confirms that their position for an in-out referendum is supported by twice as many people as a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. That’s fair enough, but there are two caveats. First of all, the questions are incredibly leading, being (in order): Do you think there should be a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, or not As you may know, the Lisbon Treaty, currently going through Parliament, makes changes to the way the European Union is run. If there ...
The leader of Neath Port Talbot CBC, Cllr. Derek Vaughan, says that the youth centre in Cwmgwrach only needs a lick of paint to make it fit for use. Mrs Chattington and the community council say that The Cabin is falling down and that total rebuilding would be necessary if youth activities were to resume on the site. These views are based on the same report by council officials, which few members of the public have seen. Liberal Democrats say: publish the report, and let the public decide. 
Has anyone else noticed the remarkable resemblance between the new Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev and Dolly the sheep Are their respective methods of conception related I think we should be told... Dmitry and Dolly - how they are relatedDolly's mum = Microscope]Dolly = Boris Johnson]Dolly Parton = Boris Yeltsin]Premier Dmitry Kisov (from Dr Strangelove) = Peter Sellers]Natalia Brezhnev =
I recently applied to join the Liberal Democrats; something that represents something of a political full-circle for me. During the 1992 General Election my Primary School held a mock election and I was part of the team that led the Lib Dems to a resounding victory. After that my political activism drew me into the [...]
A curiosity from the “I want a referendum” campaign. Their news release today claims: I Want a Referendum today releases an ICM poll of 1,000 people who voted Liberal Democrat at the last General Election … The poll also finds that if only one question is to be asked then Liberal Democrat voters would prefer a [...]
A full planning application has been submitted for the erection of a mixed used development Consisting of 106 residential units, commercial offices and associated car parking and Landscaping including flood alleviation measures. Change of use to C3 and A2. The site of the application is Twerton Mill Lower Bristol Road, and this was registered on 25th February 2008. A decision on this...
This month's Lib Dem conference will see the first Gender Balance award for female bloggers. But did I make the cut Did I heck! Mind you I suspect mindlessly losing a whole year's posts in an attempt at clever editing didn't help. I have voted for Linda Jack who is outspoken and clear - although quite frankly all the shortlisted women have great blogs. Memo to self - must do better!
Dear Councillor Macpherson Last Tuesday, my colleagues and I tabled an amendment in the House of Commons on the Liberal Democrat proposal for a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. We did so because we believe that the European debate has poisoned Britain's politics for too long. If we are to look to the future and tackle the new global challenges such as climate change and international terrorism we need to decide once and for all whether that future lies within the European Union, or outside it. The arcane procedures of the House of Commons meant that we ...
I have just come back from the Liberal Democrats' Scottish conference in Aviemore. A good time seemed to be had by all. I had thought that, not being an office bearer any more, I would be able to wander round doing pretty much as I pleased. No such luck - I spent less than an hour listening to debates all weekend as I kept being dragged off to various meetings. I managed to miss both Nick Clegg's and Nicol Stephen's speeches, much to my annoyance. One meeting I was determined not to miss was the one organised by Willie Rennie ...
With Apologies to Lennon and McCartney. It was twenty years ago today, A new party came out to play They'd been two parties for a little while The leaders puppets raised a Spitting smile. So may I introduce to you The act you've known for all those years, The Social and Liberal Democrats that was. We were Paddys Social, Liberal Democrats, But we started off kinda slow Cause David
At last they have announced the 'potential' training venues for the Olympics and thank goodness the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace is one of them. It's been quite difficult to find out about this over the last couple of years and my only hope of a consolation prize for our fantastic park being completely ignored as a potential events venue. Still, I reckon that out of the 96 potential training venues in London we, with 20 different sports on offer, have more variety and scope than any of the other training venues. Now, rather like signing up to a ...
Each year A renewal Each flower A confirmation Of life now
I've just got back to my office after being in the Lords for Questions. House of Lords procedures for questions aren't the same as in the Commons. We have a daily 30 minute session for oral questions at the start of each sitting day, in which 4 questions are put to the government and responded to by a Lords Minister or Whip. Peers wishing to ask a question have to go along to the Table Office in person, or e mail their question, and if it's in order they negotiate a convenient day. You can only table one oral question ...
The claims by Manfred Novak, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, that Diego Garcia has been used as a detention centre to hold US suspects, challenges the account that the US gave to th...
Tomorrow's Democratic contests in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont are the most critical thus far. Most analysts expect that Obama wins would force Clinton out of the race. For Clinton, quite what a 'victory' would amount to is unclear and under debate, and both camps are happily playing down expectations with the intention of then exceeding them. My own view is that Rhode Island and Vermont are sideshows, and that Clinton needs to win the popular vote in both Ohio and Texas in order to remain a credible factor in the race - an Obama victory in the popular vote in either state ...
So David Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party promising to transform their prospects. He reached out to supporters of other parties and called on them to support his new vision. He sat in some snow and looked meaningfully at a bunch of dogs. He rode a bike. He generally did good things. Then the nasty Real World broke through the aura of invincibility and general loveliness he had surrounded himself with and forced some thorny issues onto his radar. One of these was prison overcrowding, which is a daily problem as the current government introduces a new law every ...
So Israel is bombing the Hell out of Gaza again in response to a rocket attack which killed some of its citizens. What have we learned from this and what is the likely outcome What we have learned is that, regardless of all the fluffy pronouncements of the Middle East envoy and despite the wonderful, fully foldable, wipe clean road map for peace in the region and despite the USAs principled calls for restraint and despite the USAs likely veto in the UN against any motion condemning the violence, nothing ever changes. And the likely outcome Peace, stability, a developing ...
Whilst out and about delivering the March Smannell Lib Dem Parish letter we came across the latest example of another pot hole which had been missed by Tory led Hampshire Highways. The pot hole is on the Smannell Road South of Parish Church and is already in the in tray of Hampshire Highways thanks to Lib Dem County Councillor Robin Hughes. The stop watch is on to see how long we have to wait to have this one filled and a permanent solution in place.
Last night, Nich Starling threw a drama-queeny strop breathtaking both in its bitterly negative attacks against Liberal Democrats hes never met and has never bothered getting in touch with and as readers of Lib Dem Voice will know in getting almost all of its facts wrong. I know that several comments have gone unpublished by his censorship (presumably hell let them through much later, so he can claim to permit dissent while keeping it all locked up until everyones stopped reading) while, rather than apologising, hes re-edited what he said to make himself look better. Here is the unexpurgated version. ...
Might I say how enlightening it has been to read the responses to yesterday's posting on second homes. The response from my economic liberal friends has been, frankly, much as I might have expected. So, let's see if I can respond in kind... The notion that a wholly free market model can be allowed to destroy rural life cannot be left unchallenged. It is, as James Schneider so cleverly put it,
On Saturday Livingston were returning to a football ground across the Forth for the first time since the removal of the tolls on the Forth and Tay Bridges. On this occasion we were returning to East End Park to take on Dunfermline. Due to my personal arrangements now seeing me spend the bulk of my weekends in Edinburgh rather than Bathgate, it was obviously easier, faster and more convenient for
It has been brought to my attention that it is National SPAM Appreciation Week. That's the food product, not the email variety, celebrating being 72 years old (the recipe, not an individual tin).
The campaign to save this important crown post office in Islington is gathering momentum. We now have over 5,000 signatures on our petition. I was at the demonstration this morning, joining dozens of local people, Lib Dem councillors, the Canonbury Society, campaigners Dolores and Rita of the Zimmers There is anger and a renewed sense of determination from local people that they will campaign hard to keep this PO open. Labour's opposition councillors have been challenging me about my previous blog on this, and asking for proof that Labour MPs, including Emily Thornberry, actually voted for these closures last year. ...
Colin Ross interestingly reports that Portugal is to “ban small political parties” defined as those with less than 5,000 registered supporters. I agree with Colin that on the face of it this would be a disgraceful development. It risks a closed shop in which the limited number of established parties stich up the democratic process. Portugal [...]
You can read all about it here. I am very happy about this and maybe I should eat my previous words on this subject I am going to have a think about that and come back to you!
Apparently there's a email system-killer virus on the loose, do not open emails entitled along the lines of 'life is great' unless you absolutely can vouchsafe who they are from!
Last week, along with my fellow bloggers, I had the great treat of interviewing Ed Davey. Gavin, Milly, Meral and James and James have already blogged about it, but afraid I am late as ever, but not as late as Jonny it seems, so that makes me feel better! Ed is such an asset to our party, although I have to admit I havent always thought that (!) coming as I do from a different wing of the party. But it has to be said he has been growing on me for some time, particularly as I have seen him ...
Nick Clegg has just finished a press briefing at which he published results of a poll commissioned from MORI, which shows that by a margin of 2:1 voters prefer the Liberal Democrat policy of having a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU to David Cameron’s policy of only having a limited referendum on the [...]
The Liberal Democrats have called for a review of the Dangerous Dogs Act after a 43% increase over four years of people being admitted to A&E because of dog attacks. Hospitalisation of children and young people has risen by a fifth, with 58% more adults being admitted to A&E as a result of dog attacks over the same four year period. The problem is particularly bad in London, where there has been a 119% increase in A&E admissions for dogs attacks on under-18s. These are enormously disturbing figures. Almost 4000 people were rushed to emergency wards in the last year ...
It appears they can and will cooperate. What is the first thing that the two have done since yesterday's sham Cut the gas supply to Ukraine. Putin is still president and it is being reported as his decision to undermine Victor Yushchenko. However, the chairman of Gazprom, the company which is shutting off the gas, is one Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, President-Elect of the Russian Federation. So it appears that all of the hopes and dreams that "freedom is better than unfreedom" Medvedev would be a liberal are going to be crushed. I think he is going to surprise us by ...
Lib Dem Voice will be providing enhanced coverage of this Spring’s Lib Dem Conference - live from Liverpool. Voice reporters will be at the Liverpool Arena with all the inside information from the movers and shakers on the conference floor, and up-to-the-minute coverage of the Conference fringe and exhibitions. Lib Dem Voice has also been granted unique [...]
I take thousands of photos a week. For each job, I'll try to get a large number of different angles and set ups so that my client has as much choice as possible. Clearly, there will some that are better than others. There are also many images which are simply unusable because people have their eyes shut or are pulling silly faces simply in the normal course of holding a conversation. To my mind it is unfair to publish these images because the person is not deliberately pulling a silly face. If they are doing so deliberately then they are ...
Stagecoach Strathtay has recently informed the City Council that its bus fares are set to increase on 17 March 2008, and all commercially operated services in the Strathtay area will be affected. As many constituents in the West End use the Strathtay services, this will not be welcome news for them. The company says the increase will give it a yield of 4.76% and if you click the headline above, you can see the effect on particular fares. There is no doubt that fares generally are now on the increase, with the government's decision to freeze the bus service operators ...
The Guardian have written up a rather glowing feature on Total Politics (and the application of the freesheet advertising-only model to magazines), the new monthly political magazine I’m joining in May / June (and which will launch around then too).
radical blueprint for rural recovery or just another pipe dream I know which one my money's on!
Play with it here. Its lots of fun, and can help show correlations (not necessarily causation though) between different statistics and how they change over time. Anyone who likes playing with graphs or wants to know how India’s income per capita has changed over time or what countries have the highest female labour force participation and if [...]
This morning's Today Programme carried a report on how the RSC wants to encourage more primary schools to do Shakespeare. I certainly didn't come across any Shakespeare until secondary school, and then it was Midsummer Nights Dream - which seems to be the one most commonly used with children. But I am sure I could have understood some of it at a younger age. Last year I went along to Banks Road School in Garston for their annual Shakespeare performance. This is a primary school. But every year they do something from the bard and on that occasion they were ...
Trent Reznor has released a new album with little warning (a few blog posts saying something was coming, but I think everyone thought it was just an announcement). The first part is free to download, the others can be bought for $5 as a download, $10 as a CD, $75 for a deluxe version or $300 [...]
There is no getting around it, the British really love to moan. In fact they are famous for it, as the old Australian joke goes: -How can you tell when the plane from London has just landed in Sydney -Because when they switch the engines off, the whining still continues. Just recently, though the political negativity has reached almost unbearable proportions. The sense of gloom, pessimism and defeat about almost any subject is practically tangible. Yet, come on! Those who live on this island enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world, we are amongst the most ...
Catchup brings you best of Lib Dem Voice in a helpful package first thing on a Monday morning. You can read it by clicking on the link at the top of the page or get a feed of it here. It’s been a tougher week to choose than normal, with more posts than either of the [...]
I was going to blog about our public meeting on Friday night (29th Feb) about new houses at Yate, but I see I've been beaten to it by the Gazette and by Cllr Paul Hulbert. Says it all really!
The Liberal Democrats are twenty years old today. Back then, I was an enthusiastic then-Alliance supporter, still at school, and I sent off an application to join the new party as soon as I found out where to send it. Since then there have been plenty of ups and downs, but whenever theres a panic about the latest opinion poll I yawn and remember the partys first couple of years: 4% in the polls; our shiny new Leader the fourth most popular; near-bankruptcy; at 6%, a very distant fourth in the Euro-elections; no-one knowing what our name was (including us) ...
This morning it’s a beautiful bright day, I was up and out early, delivering to an entryphone-protected block. That’s the last of the weekend deliveries done. I got back to find more completed Save Essex Road Post Office petitions on my doormat - we’ve got over 5,000 already. Now I’m having a quick cup [...]
I blogged last week on the train to London about the Cowley St cake that David had made for my colleagues. Well, my generosity does know its bounds. No more cake, not today at least. Instead, I have a bag with me that is filled with homemade jams. This will be enough to keep colleagues in jam until tomorrow, and a few more days besides. I found a lemon in the bag this morning. David put it in.
I was asked whilst on Wolverhampton Community Radio on Friday about proposals in Portugal to ban small political parties. Apparently a new law comes into force in Portugal in March 2008 that states political parties must have 5000 registered members or they will be declared illegal.
It’s 20 years ago to the day since the Liberal Party and SDP formally became one party, the Social & Liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrat Voice invited Chris Rennard to take a trip down memory lane… Twenty years ago the ‘merger’ of the Liberal Party and the SDP was generally seen by the media more as a [...]
This morning's Western Mail reports on the conclusion of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee that the Government is set to miss its target of halving the number of children living in poverty by around one million unless more resources are made available and further reforms are made to the benefits system. In particular the Committee expressed concern that the Jobseekers Allowance regime was too inflexible to cope with the "complexity" of many lone parents lives, particularly those with disabled children. Some of us have been arguing for some time that the 2010 target was unrealistic simply because ...
But according to the Guardians Gavin McLean, ITV's contemporary drama, Rock Rivals, is a sure fire hit. Mmmm, you can call me old fashioned if you like, but is a TV drama about a TV Reality Show actually the way forward for British TV. Besides hasn't it all been done before Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach Whatever happened to REAL drama in this country
Who might have said that In what country might you find this vile language Well its from Lebanon. Who do think it came from Hezbollah The Communists The Phalangists I'm afraid not. It came from the Future Movement. As in the main component of the supposedly liberal democratic western backed March 14th coalition. Most upsetting. Gun prices are rising too as demand sores. This cold civil war could thaw so easily. You can find the quote in the last paragraph of this article from tayyar.org (in Arabic) By the way. The man in the centre of the photo is Saad ...
Over on the Ludwig von Mises Economics blog last week, Ben O'Neill, an Australian libertarian and academic, wrote a piece against the welfare state in Is the Starving Man Free and the full article is here: 'Modern "liberals" who advocate the view that government should provide us with the necessities or alleged necessities of life rarely appreciate that this assistance rests on a system of mass robbery and enslavement that is highly inimical to their professed belief in liberty. In fact, the advocates of such policies present them in quite the opposite light, as enhancing our liberty.' Now, much as ...
I'm sorry but this is a dreadful policy. If people in idyllic villages did not want outsiders buying second homes there then they shouldn't sell to them. This will limit the supply of second homes driving up the price. There will then be non price competition between vendors to lobby the council so that they can sell their house for an artificially high level. This will be exacerbated by the fact that the demand for houses that do not get the "OK for 2nd home" stamp will fall, as will their prices. So this will lower the value of the ...
There are loads of small architectural features in the upper levels of buildings - usually just above doorways and shop signs - and seeing these made me stop and think. I find myself invariably walking down a street and looking up now, the camera is an almost instinctive part of my 'what am I carrying when I leave the house in the morning' routine... and it's these little features that spur me on with this endeavour. It's not uncommon to see kings and queen's, indeed in Kilburn I found four musical greats: But these two didn't seem quite so ...
The iconic nature of a letterbox is really quite interesting - the red is so distinctive, the VR in fact pretty old now (being Victorian) I was struck when in Sierra Leone that the old letterboxes I came across were green - it was the familiar shape, but a different colour... This little pic I took in The Avenues just off Queen's Park - small, discreet and charming. I just found myself wondering, with the loss of Post Offices how long before we start to lose postage points as well
Here are the top ten posts of last month The Failure of Orientalism Human Rights Abuse in Russian Prison Video Philosopher 08 PML-N & PPP discuss a coalition End the Nixon Doctrine in the Middle East The Most Articulate support for Obama I've seen Christian crazy video alert - "thou shalt piss sitting down" China's coming out party Cuba - a world leader in biotech and sport The richer a nation is the less religious it becomes
Weird humour warning. There are only two days left in the big vote of 2008. The early front runner Kant has been caught up by Nietzsche. Poor old Kierkegaard is struggling with a distant third. Vote on the right hand side and watch the campaign videos here.
In local council by-elections in London since the beginning of the year, the Liberal Democrats have come out top — a fact conveniently ignored by most of the political journalists who, one would have thought, are paid to notice such things. In seats we already held (such as Fortune Green, Camden), we increased our majority. [...]
Thursday: No, seriously, they're giving the boss of Network Rail a KNIGHTHOOD on the same day as they fine his company a record FOURTEEN MILLION POUNDS. "It is Londons commuters who deserve a knighthood for putting up with the cattle-class travel conditions they experience day-in, day-out, not Network Rail's boss." said Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor, Mr Brian. Handily, that fine will come out of one government bank account and go back into another, rather than, say, being spent upgrading the West Coast Main Line In an emergency room somewhere, satire is flatlining again! | < | March 2008 | > | ||||
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