LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Monday 17th March 2008

via captainlucy

As you may or may not be aware, there is a bit of a hoo-hah regarding Livejournal's new owners, SUP, and the recent changes which mean that (among other things) new users can no longer create basic accounts but either have to pay or put up with annoying adverts on their accounts. The problem isn't so much that they did this (although it is still a big problem), but it's more the way they tried to hide it under the carpet and hoped that people wouldn't notice. Our response A classic response of the proletariat throughout the ages: Strike! When ...

Opinion: The polls show theres all to play for

Whoever said that people tend to believe whichever opinion poll shows their party in the best light certainly hit the nail on the head. When I was younger, Liberals never believed Gallup polls because they generally showed the Tories in a better light than we wanted to believe (and they were published in a less [...]

Is it pensions rather than the Budget that are dragging Labour down

Well - there's a very clear message from the three post-Budget opinion polls! Good to see the Liberal Democrats holding our own - but there's clearly been a big move from Labour to the Conservatives. At least for the moment - and I say that because there have been some pretty huge swings back and forth in recent times (remember last Autumn). I must admit I find it difficult to believe Darling's Budget is the cause of all this - yes, it was full of missed opportunities and timid half-measures, but above all it was soooooo boring. Boring equals bad ...

Matthew Taylor's great-grandfather was Liberal MP for Harborough

This has to be the story of the day - or of any day - given my love of trivial connections. Except that this one is not trivial at all. This morning's Times revealed that Matthew Taylor, the Lib Dem MP for Truro, who was adopted as a baby, has traced his birth mother. It turns out that she is the granddaughter of Sir Percy Harris, who was a prominent Liberal MP. Sir Percy was first elected to the Commons for Harborough at a 1916 by-election. There was an official truce between the parties, but he had to overcome strong ...

It is now a crime to be a poor child

There was a lot of concern yesterday about the Observer's front page story. It involved a suggestion by Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard and the new DNA spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), that children as young as 5 should be put on the national DNA database because of their family background. For comment on this see Spy Blog and Action on Rights for Children. But there was another story in the Observer which was just as worrying: Children as young as 10 will face compulsory programmes to tackle drug use and other ...

The need to moderate

Sorry But the volume of spam is increasing and I didn't want readers clicking on virus's I'm not editing any comments from anyone and just clicking publish if it's from a real person That's it Ed

As recommended by Lib Dem Voice

Last week’s rant about hair, and my relationship to it and its female slaves, has made the recommended blogs list at Lib Dem Voice. Number 12 in a list of 12 is a start, at least! So thanks to Lib Dem Voice! And to anyone attracted here for the first time because of that post, please accept my apologies - it had been a stressful day all round. Rick

China cracks down on Tibet news coverage

The Chinese authorities' deadline has passed for Tibetan protesters to give themselves up. Instead of asking why the protests are happening and questioning whether just maybe their policies need to change, the authorities are blocking websites that report what is going on. To help spread the word, tell your friends to visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/video/2008/mar/17/china.media

Pictures of our future

What is our future, with climate change Most of Bangladesh is at risk. Where do 150million goIf you look at North Europe you see how most of the Netherlands is gone, parts of Germany and our East coast looks mutated. Look for where London is and you see the risk it's at. We might have coastal barriers. But realistically can we really stop the power of the sea

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #56

Welcome to the 56th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (9th-16th March), together with a quintet hand-picked by Lib Dem blog readers you might otherwise have missed. Lets get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

EU at last warns of climate change disasters.

At last someone it's been shown how climate change can effect climate change, human migration and security. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7287168.stm "(the report) warns that climate change could cause millions of people to migrate towards Europe as other parts of the world suffer environmental degradation." Look at one example Bangladesh, rising seas would flood nearly the whole country of 150million people, then there is Calcutta and area in India. Where are all these people going to go! They've lost a country, there's no space in India. It would be a Humanitarian Crisis that we have never ever seen, it would be the worst ...

Labour Councillor slams own government as 'disgraceful'

Camberwell Green Labour Councillor John Friary has surprised many of his colleagues, and with what appears to be an outspoken attack on the Labour government. "More possible bad news on the horizon as I recieved a letter with proposals to close the Job Centre in Camberwell! I will of course object but I really put the blame squarely at the feet of this disgraceful administration who have made it clear that they want to strip out Camberwell" I sincerely doubt that the Government or any other authority wishes to do anything of the kind with Camberwell or any other community, ...

Year 5 Maths Challenge

My youngest son, Robert, has been selected by his school to be part of a team they are entering for the Year 5 County Maths Challenge. I hope he will do very well. This is being organised by Cambridgeshire County Council. This is the County Council who every year manage to overspend their Social Services budget, put up their council tax by the maximum possible and still routinely cut everything except waste. If they are looking for some people to help them work out how to manage this, I'm sure my son and his friends would be available after the ...

Applause for 'Hand'

It is not often I feel the need to blog about local politics in people terms but I really must applaud local district and county councillor Peter Hand. Today the local paper Bedfordshire on Sunday has reported that he will be challenging the County Council leadership. The Chief Exec has already resigned, good luck to her, she fought her fight and has moved on. The Leader however is...

Heather Mills - Spinning out of control and making people hate her even more

What a nasty piece of work Heather Mills is, and her "spin" today in response to her getting almost the minimum she could expect from Paul McCartney was an object lesson in bravado and spin over substance, with some really telling quotes which tell us as much as we need to know about her personality as we would ever want. in the first instance, it was hilarious to hear that she wanted £125 million of Sir Paul's money. In the end, she got just £700,000 more than Sir Paul was offering, meaning he has to pay her £16.5 million (she ...

A woman scorn'd

I understand Lembit Opik MP is the subject of a sordid 'kiss n tell' exposé in one of the tabloids. Can't say I'm too surprised by the news. Did nobody not warn Lembit; "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd

A brush with the law

Police in Northamptonshire are said to be investigating Basil Brush over claims of racial abuse. Apparently, the claims surround an episode first shown several years ago, in which a gypsy woman tries to sell the 'puppet' wooden pegs and a bunch of heather. A ridiculous waste of police time and taxpayers money You might very well think that, I couldnt possibly comment.

Glacier melt rate has more than doubled

I read on the Beeb that data from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) shows glaciers are melting more than twice as fast as they were between 1980 and 1999. This is a key climate change indicator. Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006 with some of the biggest losses in the Alps and Pyrenees. Experts have called for "immediate action" to reverse the trend, the Executive Director of UNEP saying that the glaciers are the canaries that are making the most noise in the climate change coal mine ...

MP absent from home-coming reception for troops

Here's an interesting scenario. In Parliament, an MP incorrectly says that a Council leader "wanted nothing to do" with a home-coming reception for troops. It turns out that the Conservative MP in question based that false accusation on an internal council email which he had been sent by the Mayor (a Conservative councillor), without checking the meaning with the sender (the Mayor). Indeed, the

How much does a war cost

There's a new book out by Joseph Stiglitz counting the real cost of the Iraq war (The Three Trillion Dollar War). But what I've been meaning to blog about for some time is the simple cost in cash. Why has the budget for the British military in Iraq and Afghanistan tripled from £1bn to £3bn Why is it going up even when we're trying to do less with fewer men Apparently part of the answer is re-equipping the Army with Mastiff armoured vehicles (they look like big armoured jeeps - safe against mines and bombs). But the cost of the ...

Mills Awarded £24.3 Million: the light side

Jokes in honour of today’s Mills v. McCartney £24.3 million divorce settlement: She would have got £48.6 million - that’s £24.3 million per leg. The judge, frustrated that she refused to retain counsel to fight her case and chose to be a litigant in person, threatened to award Paul McCartney her fake leg so we could all [...]

Positioning Livejournal in the blogging/SN marketplace

Interesting comment made at {[info]} minnesattva's: The sensible thing to do would be to differentiate LJ, position it if you like as an 'intellectual networking site', or the equivalent of a collaborative newspaper (it has news, opinion, cartoons...) - something you *read* (or write) rather than something you play at. You could even have a default set of people who would be added as your 'friends' when you started on LJ representing some of the best/most popular writing on here - people like say {[info]} bradhicks or {[info]} theyorkshergob who don't write about themselves on their journals much but write ...

Where is Tibet's second spiritual leader

Some years ago Tibet's second most important spiritual leader, the Panchen Lama, was chosen by the traditional Tibetan process, supervised by the Dalai Lama, The chosen boy, whose name was Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has not been seen since his detention by the Chinese authorities in 1995. He must now be over 18. Where is he Can the BBC talk to him If not, why not

Tomorrow's Conference

I am looking forward to the London Lib Dem conference tomorrow. This will be the first conference I've been to with them. One of the things I am looking forward to at tomorrow's event is hearing both Nick and Brian speak, for I've not heard them speak in person before, only in the media. It's also going to be nice getting to know other Lib Dems based in London; other than those who live locally to me. I have been to a London conference before, but that was a Labour one when I was in my late teens and didn't ...

Guy Nijike

{guy Nijke} A young woman constituent came to my advice surgery this week - fighting to save her friend Guy Nijike from being sent back to Cameroon. Legions of asylum seekers fail to get permission to stay and have to return - but Guy's story - and the ultimate decision by the Home Office to refuse his application and his appeal is unfair. It is unfair - because he didn't have the right documentation or information at his hearing - and he didn't have the information because he didn't know he needed it - and he didn't know he needed ...

Securitize your tax risks

Now I know financial engineering is unpopular at the moment with the credit crunch but a new market has sprung up that could be used, if you are a US tax payer, to lower the risk of an income tax rise., or even make some cash. Intrade has a market on what the top rate of income tax will be in the years 09, 10, and 11. You could protect yourself against these rises by betting on them, thus giving you a more stable position to base your other financial decisions on. Here's how it works in a simplified form: ...

Outsource your kids to India while you work

Check out this hysterical Onion video about the benefits of trade. Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas Hat tip: Greg Mankiw Oh and the Irish Spring body wash in the advert before the video is real. Its made by colgate.

Nine Lords a-blogging

All over the internet, people are welcoming a new initiative to bring peers of the realm closer to the rest of us. Lordsoftheblog.net is a group blog by a cross-party bunch of peers who want to demystify the upper chamber. And judging by the first few posts, it’ll be an interesting one to follow. And loudmouth that I am, I have already found the need to weigh in with my opinion. I came over to write a note about the sentence we dont know yet what really interests the wider blogging public, and I find someone has already responded to ...

Slagging of Smeato

BBC Scotland Political Editor Brian Taylor today blogs about the attacks on John Smeaton, who was one "hero" of last year's attack on Glasgow airport. He's fairly neutral on the subject of whether John is a hero or not and correctly suggests that the bigging-up of John was not of his own doing but that of the media looking for one "face" of bravery. Alex McIlveen, who has been reported as slagging Smeato off in the media seems to me to devalue his own brave contribution to events by having a public pop at him. I'm sure he feels sore ...

What a Show!

There are times when I am simply stuck for words to describe some events in this wonderful town of ours - and last night was a just such an example. Whatever I write here about Stone Revellers’ production of ‘Jesus Christ - Superstar’ will be totally inadequate to convey the magnificence of the show. There are insufficient superlatives to describe the quality, enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism of the entire show. St Michael’s Church had been transformed into the most amazing stage set - with a cross for the Crucifixion scene that was breathtaking. The lighting and stage effects were superb ...

Happy Monday

It appears from entries on a few posts rad today that some of you are planning to celebrate St Patrick's Day this evening. Um, why St Patrick's Day was last Saturday. Of course, I care not for such things but I was called upon to settle an argument at the bar last Saturday, one of the regulars was drinking Guinness, which was most out of characterit was explained why, and no one believed her, so I had to look it up online. (ETA: The Beeb site has a longer and better researched article on the same topic it seems) Apparently ...

Last call - members newsletter draw

Just a few more weeks left in our members’ newsletter competition. All you need to do is use a copy of our ad in your members’ newsletter, and post a printed copy to our staff in Cowley Street. Full details are here in a previous post. Many thanks to all those who have already sent in their [...]

United for Local Television

Earlier this month I gave an update on the blog on a number of Freeview television issues (see With specific regard to the issue of provision of local public service television for Dundee in the future, local MSPs Joe FitzPatrick (SNP, Dundee West), Alison McInnes (LibDem, North East Scotland) and Marlyn Glen (Labour, North East Scotland) all responded positively to my request to sign a motion in the Scottish Parliament on the issue - see below - I note that Nanette Milne (Conservative, North East Scotland) has also given the motion her support, so good to see all-party agreement ...

Looking into Iraq decisions

If the Independent is right.. Gordon Brown has said there will be a full public inquiry into Iraq. He has also said the time is't yet right. Good news if it actually happens.

Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear

AC Grayling on The Guardian’s Comment is Free makes a decent attempt at dispelling the age-old myth perpetuated mostly by supporters of the DNA database / ID cards: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear”: “The assumption behind the “if you have nothing to hide” claim is that the authorities will [...]

Councillor Hughes sets the record straight in a letter to the Andover Advertiser

Dear Editor, I am surprised that Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Recreation & Heritage, Councillor Margaret Snaith, should deliberately misrepresent how I and my fellow Liberal Democrat councillors voted at Hampshire's recent budget meeting. I hope you will allow me to set the record straight.While I voted AGAINST the overall Conservative budget (which included a Labour Party amendment adding £350,000 to the Book Fund), I voted FOR a Liberal Democrat amendment adding £500,000 to the Book Fund, an amendment which Councillor Mrs Snaith and the Conservatives voted against.There was no opportunity for a separate vote on the Book Fund ...

Pssst, there's still a war on

We may be at war in two countries and most people are against one of them and think it was a bad idea, yet we have ceased to consume news information about them. They are still ongoing. People are still dieing. Coalitions are fracturing (like the Virtue Party (Shia - Basra based - Sadr affiliated) leaving Maliki's government). Refugees are still fleeing. Not enough thought went into planning the aftermath of this war and it appears not enough thought is going into it know. If you've haven't been watching it I advise you to check out ten days to war. ...

Vote for my mates.. or else

Government minister Andy Burnham has rather crossed a line I think. Visiting Liverpool for various ministerial engagements -including the opening of the re vamped Bluecoat arts centre in his position as culture minister - he also spoke at a business breakfast. Nothing wrong with that in itself. But it's what he chose to say. The full story is on the Daily Post website -www.icliverpool.com but you can sum it up as..... vote for my mates in the Labour party here as the government always gives a better deal to Labour Councils. Whenever others have said that Manchester gets a better ...

Elected!

I just thought I'd mention that I've been elected as the new Academic Affairs Officer for the University of Manchester Students' Union for the 2008/9 academic year. The post is to represent students, individually and collectively, within the University, to advise students on education/academic issues, and to inform students about education issues. It's a full-time position, starting in June, and I'm looking forward to it (I have to graduate first though). Both my manifesto (PDF) and a video recording (QuickTime) of me saying what I want to do are available on the Union website. I aim to have a more ...

In a liberal society the building blocks are individuals not "families"

Here is George Osborne's response to the budget. Watch it. Family, family, family. Now obviously Steve Hilton is continuing the ape Blair strategy but a more important point emerges. What is your typical family of which Gideon speaks Is it the two parent with two kids Is it the single mum with one kid and two parents, or is it a couple who have no intention of having kids Families take a multiplicity of forms, are flexible and responsive, that is why they have endured as a mode of existence for the human species for millenia. Why can't they allow ...

Have I left it toooo late to start chatting about Spring Conference!

Council Tax and other fun subjects

My Council Tax bill has just arrived this morning. Not that it brought any surprises since I was at the Budget Council meeting last month - the one when the Conservatives didn't appear to have read the proposals, and didn't offer any alternatives. Ahead of that, I had been involved in discussions about the budget going back to last summer. I think it's worth explaining how the Council...

Government Minister campaigns against Government decision!

Vera Baird MP has been campaigning against the closure of Lazenby Post Office. She joins a long list of Labour Ministers campaigning locally against their own national decision to close 2,500 Post offices. Ian Swales, the Liberal Democrats Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Redcar said: "They should have listened to local people before taking the decision not afterwards. "The Government is killing the post office network by withdrawing business such as TV Licenses and Car Tax, by restricting what they can do and by restricting their opening hours. Our MP should be campaigning in Parliament to save the Post office network ...

When £24,000,000 just ain't enough

There are days when the divide between rich and poor are highlighted rather as in the biblical story of Lazarus (a poor beggar) and the rich man (who ignored him). Today is one such day. Heather Mills, bleating about only getting £24 million in her divorce settlement, clearly distraught at how she will manage. What planet does she inhabit I am sorry, but frankly if the most important thing in her life is her finances I feel really sorry for her. There are many many single mothers in this country who would consider themselves lucky if they had 1% of ...

XXX Lords

Very few Peers have an individual office, indeed some rooms are shared by up to a dozen members. I'm lucky, both because there are just three of us in my office and because the company is pretty good! One colleague is John Lee, who has been a Peer for about 2 years, having previously been a Conservative MP. John has taken over the defence brief after the untimely death of Tim Garden, and is doing a good job in what really has been a tough act to follow. He also makes a stonkingly good cup of tea. The third member ...

Maximal Vigilance

There is an excellent piece on todays Comment is Free by AC Grayling. Talking about civil liberties, the Birkbeck Professor elegantly demolishes the nothing to hide defence of growing state power. He writes:It is all or some of naive, lazy and irresponsible not to be maximally vigilant regarding civil liberties and human rights, because it is a datum that the liberties of individuals are inconvenient for all states and their security services, and in dispensations where there are few if any restraints (think the Soviet Union, or even today's Russia - and China) it is liberty which quickly and comprehensively ...

Cookies, Google and Prefetch

Out of curiosity, I have set my Firefox browser to ask permission before accepting cookies from any website I visit. The first thing to note from this is just the sheer prevalence of cookies. Some sites will hit you with five or six - typically a couple of their own and then 3 or 4 from their advertising partners. But one thing struck me as especially curious. When you search for something on Google you are asked whether to accept a cookie from the site which is first in the search results. This is not Google asking you to take ...

Intriguing Incoming Traffic

I've started to get hits from a new blog SNP Tactical Voting. Now all I gather so far is that the guy posting it is called Jeff and that he lives in Edinburgh North and Leith. What is intriguing is that I am the only Lib Dem blog that he links to. If the name of his website is a reflection on what he is looking to achieve I trust he will therefore be supporting my friend Kevin Lang his Lib Dem

Why you should care whether Czechs need visas to go to America

We frequently decry this government for making us perhaps the most spied-on nation on earth, ever. And having got hold of our extremely valuable information, they have then managed to use it to put us at risk - which as Nick said in his speech in Liverpool last Sunday, if it weren’t so serious would be laughable from a government that at the same time was advising us all to buy personal home shredders to protect our personal information. But the ways in which they’ve put our information at risk are not only through their own actions - but also ...

Lib Dem v. Tory (Round 2)

The Liberal Democrats stand for a distinct political ideology. It is an ideology built around both socially and economically liberal precepts. In as far as our ruling Labour government can be said to have an ideology at all, it coincides with Liberalism only incidentally. Labour stands for pragmatism, and where it does not there is still a core of values that are collectivist and not individual. Sometimes people are prepared to claim the moral high ground for policies of social solidarity and redistribution of wealth. Liberals may argue in favour of equality of opportunity, we can not argue in favour- ...

To Talk or Not to Talk

There is of course a world of difference between keeping channels open with terrorist groups and giving in to their demands. In the past, Northern Ireland, Palestine and others have seen the former terrorist come within the fold and actually have some share of power over some regions. It appears that Tony Blair is not averse to keeping communication channels open with terrorist groups. He had

Spearmint Rhino and their ilk

So, this morning I read this. Yes, it's written and funded by folks with an agenda. Yes, there are flaws in the analysis and the data is mostly from 2001/2002... But it's still troubling me. I really, honestly, don't care what consenting adults get up to, as long as it doesn't hurt any bystanders. What's troubling me is that it looks very much like bystanders are getting hurt.Camdens female rape rate per 1000 for 2001 was three times the national average, and 12% of these were aggressive, causing mild to moderate injury. Comparing the rape and indecent assault figures for ...

An evening with Frank

I had a fairly eventful weekend, which involved a trip to a Brazilian restaurant at one point, and a significant amount of leafleting. The latter hopefully burned off the many millions of calories consumed at the former. Tonight is a meeting of the Bury Liberal Democrats. All members of the party are welcome to come along to Elton Liberal Club from 7 o’clock, to hear about the latest developments in Byr, plans for the election campaign, and various other excitements. Also on the agenda is some training on canvassing and “knocking-up” voters, which is less alarming in reality than it ...

Holy Man - Part 2

Now, onto McCain's wacky guy. Big Mac isn't a real believer, I don't think. He recently changed from episcopalian to Southern Baptist, one imagines to carry Huckabee voters in the general election. He, however, does have a "spiritual guide", Rod Parsley. This great, spiritual, and holy man wants a holy war with Islam and doesn't want a separation of Church and State. Big Mac is only cavorting with this nasty weirdo because he thinks, and is probably correct in his analysis, that it will help him carry the all important state of Ohio. However, as I said of BHO, we ...

Holy man - Part 1

Jeremiah Wright is Obama's spiritual guide and pastor. Now I don't think that BHO has views or styles similar to his personal holy man. Is this man a holy man Would you follow him Its sad that the Presidential candidates all have to pander to ridiculous beliefs. Don't take it from me. Watch these two clips from his sermons yourselves. It is important that we investigate the spiritual guides of our proposed leaders, even if it is just a front to pander to highly religious voters. If they are going to use these peoples influence to get votes they should ...

Vince Cable shines again

Should the Liberal Democrats back nationalisation of the railways Does Vince’s wife think he’s beautiful How should binge drinking be tackled Who is the leader of the Liberal Democrats They are just a sample of the rather eclectic mix of questions for Vince Cable in today’s Question and Answer session printed in The Independent. It’s safe [...]

Lords of the Blog

We are definitely moving into the 21st century! The House of Lords has set up a new initiative for blogging Lords ( sounds like a swear word) as part of the Lord Speakers outreach programme aimed at spreading the word about our good works to a wider world. The site, http://www.lordsoftheblog.net/ has been set up by the Hansard Society so that people can learn more, not just about what we do in the Lords, but about the individuals who are there. Whether or not you support an appointed House, it can only be right that the second chamber is visible ...

Cross-bench support for Members' Taxation Status Bill

All members of the House of Lords will be forced to pay full British taxes on all their income or leave under a Bill which received its second reading last Friday. Speaking ahead of the debate, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott, said: Lords with millions stashed in tax havens from Liechtenstein to the Cayman Islands must not vote on laws for hard-pressed British families paying their full whack of tax. I have joined forces with Labour MP Gordon Prentice to get a Bill through Parliament this session, to make peers who dodge British taxes pay up or pack ...

Lords of the Blog

This is what they say: Lords of the Blog is a new collaborative online blog, launched and written by Members of the House of Lords to increase public engagement with the work of the Upper House and its Members. Nine Peers have come together from across the House to make short regular entries providing an insight into the business of the House of Lords and to talk about their own activities in

The Winchester Passion - this Friday

Come along to a truly amazing event on Good Friday 21st March 2008 from 6 p.m. Invite your friends and relatives from far and wide to see the dramatic re-enactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus on the streets of Winchester, with a cast of hundreds. The production will mix modern and classic styles and will include some spectacular effects. It all starts at Oram's Arbour with a

Release the liberals!

The more I read LibDemVoice, the more convinced I am that we could usefully direct more of our incredible online energy outwards. There are - as we know all too well - plenty of small-L liberals out there, but there are so few big-L Liberals taking on the crazed adherents of NuTory that even comment threads on a relatively centre-ground site like the [...]

Weekly Catchup 10th - 16th March

Our weekly round-up of all that’s good on Lib Dem Voice. We kicked off our week here with a thoughtful piece from Joe Otten about faith schools - and the F word on Voice is a red rag to several of our regular bulls. The piece has had a discussion continuing with over 120 comments to [...]

Prescotts son loses bid for Daddys seat

Apparently nepotism is not entrenched in our political system: “The son of former deputy prime minister John Prescott has failed to be selected for his father’s seat in Hull. David Prescott lost out to local barrister Karl Turner in a seven-way selection battle.” Just what we need, another bloody lawyer in Parliament. The selectors probably felt David [...]

Newcastle

Something that’s appealed to my inner geek: I was browsing Newcastle council’s website and spotted a page with councillor’s contact details. You can tell which party controls the council by the relative file sizes of the contact sheets: “Councillors by Party Liberal Democrat (pdf 20.9kb) - contact information, ward, party and date due for re-election Labour (pdf 16.1kb) - contact information, [...]

Memoirs of a Republican Revolutionary....not

By strange coincidence, shortly after saying I would only swear allegiance to the Queen after a stiff whisky, I was called upon to indicate, if not fully swear, allegiance to her on two occasions. First of all, I attended a formal dinner, something I do about as often as Julian Clary carries out a bit of spot welding. I managed to bring myself quietly join in the "loyal toast", although I used

End of the beginning of the Credit Crunch

The emergency rescue of Bear Stearns brings down one of the most original investment banks on Wall Street. The Bear Stearns culture was not the same ethos as the white shoe investment banks- of which its new owner, JP Morgan, is the classic example. Instead of connections and education, Bear preferred to focus not so much on CFAs and MBAs, but rather "PSDs"- poor, smart, but with a desperate desire to become rich. Over twenty years, the legendary chairman, Ace Greenberg wrote folksy and thoughtful "Letters from the Chairman" pointing out the virtues of thrift and discipline in the financial ...

The purpose of state education

A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare, the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue. Justice H. Walter Croskey That is the purpose of state education. There are [...]

Melville Terrace Street Sign

I have received residents' complaints about the state of the street sign in Melville Terrace, at its junction with West Park Road - as you can see above, it has seen better days! I have asked the City Council for a replacement.

A brace of family tales

David Prescott, son of John, has failed to be selected as the Labour candidate to succeed the former Deputy Prime Minister in Hull East. (BBC) Matthew Taylor (the Liberal Democrat MP, not the Labour think tanker), who was adopted, has talked to The Times about discovering his biological mother.

Bottomless potholes (sorry for lack of pointing in photo)

On my way back from an excellent (as always) breakfast at the Muswell Hill Broadway Cafe yesterday, I noticed a load of potholes along Wellfield Avenue in my ward. Wellfield Avenue seems to get bad holes, especially at either end of the road, on a regular basis. I have repeatedly got them filled in by the Council and when I first raised it in 2005, I was told the road would be recommended for resurfacing in the 2006/07 municipal year. The potholes keep appearing though. Have just asked the Council to come and fill them in... we'll see if they ...

Oakeshott Bill may be blocked

Today's Guardian is reporting that Labour and the Tories will join forces to block a Bill being introduced by Liberal Democrat peer, Matthew Oakeshott, which would have tightened tax laws to make sure that only full British taxpayers resident in the UK could sit in Parliament's upper house. Under the bill, peers would have to be "resident, and ordinarily resident and domiciled, in the UK and no other country for tax purposes". One of the first victims of the measure could be the multimillionaire Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, who has business interests in Belize and who has not spelled out ...

Save our Hillside Public Display

Do You Know What is Happening Do You Want to Find Out More Walk in and talk to concerned residents from your part of Bath Wednesday 19th March from 2:00pm onwards At the White Horse.SEE THE PLANS, VEIW THE PHOTOGRAPHS,HEAR THE FACTS, JUDGE FOR YOURSELFIf you agree with what you see and hear then please make your views known by signing the petitions either on line at...

Local elections 2008: a preview

No doubt you were looking at your newspapers yesterday, and feeling not very happy about this poll in The Sunday Times: YouGov poll reports 16% lead for Conservatives : Con 43% Lab 27% Lib Dems 16% My reaction to this poll is “Whoopee!” Now before you think the worst, no, I have not succumbed to the charms of [...]

Save Our Hillside

The on line petition to Protect the Hillside at the Hollow above Cotswold View has now topped 100 with 102 people signing this petition a paper copy at the white Horse is also going strong with hundreds of signatures. A few of the comments made F.J. , BA2 Very concerned about possible flood risk to The Brow A.T. , BA2 This is one of the only green areas in...

Monday morning blog: gone with the wind

Tickets on the 7.20am train from Newcastle to Kings Cross are like gold dust and have to be bought weeks in advance. So, there I was, feeling rather pleased to have a ticket for this train. It was worth having to get up that bit earlier for it. And then I arrive at the station. Train cancelled due to "technical difficulties." Oh great. Thanks a bunch. So I have half an hour to wait and there will

Anfield

For the second weekend in a row I visited the Lib Dem controlled city of Liverpool. This time it was my first visit to Anfield to watch my resurgent Reading take on mighty Liverpool FC who are on a long winning run. It's still difficult to believe that after years of standing on the South Bank at Elm Park, I'm now watching The Hoops on parade at all the top grounds in the country When the

Christvertising

I hope this is a joke or somebody has realised how stupid people are and decided to make a buck. This company prays for your brand because God apparently actually brings profits. So God must like monopolies and .... (actually the ramifications are so large and absurd I don't think I can be bothered to spell them out). Either way check out christvertising.com for yourself. I gotta turn pro, because its just so weird.

Oh dear lord don't be true

This has to be the worst user generated campaign video I have seen. I don't know whether to vomit, laugh, or cry. I much preferred the Ron Paul song. Do you have any worse campaign vids

The changing of street names

A few years back I was tracing the death of my great-grandfather - it was all a bit unclear, no member of the living family with whom I was in contact had been present, no-one was very clear on the date and all that was known was that it might have taken place in Stoke-on-Trent. A couple of years later I found myself working in Stoke-on-Trent and took up the scent again - I duly obtained a death certificate and headed off to find Lord Street (as identified on the certificate) - it was then that I found out that ...

Monday 17th 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