LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Thursday 27th March 2008

Embryology on This Week

At the risk of sounding like Jay in Dogma: Oi, Catherine Pepinster! Why the fuck should your stupid, irrational, anti-scientific prejudice get in the way of SAVING LIVES you stupid woman Why do religious people get a special pass on "matters of conscience" that the rest of us can only dream of Why the fuck don't you get your teeth fixed It's a little ball of cells. A little ball of stuff that can't even be called tissue, because it's not advanced enough. Listen to Martin Kemp and stop trying to drag the irreligious majority back to the middle ages. ...

Getting married

Not a good week for marriage. Fewer people than ever are tying the knot; Those that do don’t really believe in the ‘til death do us part‘ part And a significant number aren’t terribly keen on the ‘in sickness and in health‘ either. We’ve been together for longer than 10% of marriages, apparently.

A Henley by-election

Writing on the Guardian website, Andrew Sparrow speculates on what a Boris Johnson victory in the London Mayoral election would mean: According to his spokeswoman, Boris has said repeatedly that, if he is elected mayor, he will not try to hang on as MP for Henley until the next general election.It's possible, of course, that he could "change his mind". Andrew Gimson, in his biography of Boris, quotes Conrad Black on how Boris gave "his solemn word of honour" before becoming editor of the Spectator that he would not try to become an MP and on how Boris broke his ...

Where I lead, Gordon Brown follows...

Well, well, well - just after I started Twittering, 10 Downing Street starts using Twitter too. Nice to know I have such influence. (Oh don't be a spoilsport and say it's a coincidence!)

Boris Bungles Plan to Reward Recycling

Boris Johnsons eye-catching plan to reward Londoners who recycle certainly wouldnt work in Camden as most of our households live in multiple occupation properties. Incentivising or penalising those who do or dont recycle only works if you can associate households with their bins. We cant. Back to the drawing board, Boris. A much better way to incentivise residents to both reduce waste and recycle more would be to copy Belgium. There councils sell colour-coded, bar-coded bags to local shops. Bags for residual waste cost the most. Bags for aluminium cans and plastic bottles the most valuable type of recycling - ...

Can anyone explain what humans have been up to here

Although left-handers currently form about 11% of the population, only about 3% of those born in 1900 were left-handed, a more than three-fold difference which requires explanation. Whether the difference results from social pressure for left-handers to become right-handed, artefacts resulting from response biases that can occur when questionnaires are used, or perhaps a greater mortality of left-handers is still controversial.McManus and Hartigan, Declining Lefthandedness in Victorian England See in the Films of Mitchell and Kenyon, Current Biology, volume 17 number 18, 2007

I am worried

I don't know about you, dear reader, but I am worried sick about Labour Industry Minister John Hutton's plans to build a vast number of nuclear power stations thus diverting resources from renewables; about collective and individual political failure to do anything about the destruction of natural habitats and wildlife both here and everywhere on our planet; and about the fact that the world population has more than quadrupled since 1900, more than doubled since 1960 and is increasing at a rate of 80 million a year. This cannot go on - that is what the scientists warn, but the ...

If the first day was going to be such a unique challenge

then why didn't BAA and British Airways do a phased implementation Why didn't they phase in the use of the terminal route by route Why go for big bang implementation There was absolutley no need for the fiasco at Terminal Five to happen. I understand that the pressure on the Programme Director from the Executive must have been immense but it was madness, storing up trouble, just such a big risk no no, completely unmitigatable to start like this! Incompetence on behalf of the BA & BAA boards and lack of backbone on behalf of the Programme Management team.

Our own Presidential Race - Ros or Lembit

Autumn conference will be abuzz with yet another Lib Dem contest. This time the race to find a new President of the party when Simon Hughes stands down. Ros Scott has been the quickest of the mark, but Lembit Opek has also made clear his intention to stand. This, I have to confess, gives me a big problem. I had always intended to support Lembit, but that was before I knew Ros was standing, or even knew a lot about her. Since then what has most impressed me about her was the inspiration she was to my daughter when she ...

Gordon Brown gets lost at Sarkozy's state banquet

Or so Andrew Pierce claims in the Daily Telegraph: Gordon Brown, who is hoping that the two day state visit by President Sarkozy would chart a new course in Anglo-French relations, lost his own sense of direction at the state banquet at Windsor Castle.Amid the pomp and pageantry of the white tie occasion there was no sign of Mr Brown as the Queen and Mr Sarkozy took their places at the centre of the top table.The Queen, who hosted the banquet for 150 guests, looked bemused and was overheard clearly saying: "Has the Prime Minister got lost" after he failed ...

Mary Reid on Nicks first 100 days

Just before we knew who our new Leader would be, I wrote one of the pieces on Lib Dem Voice giving him some advice for the first 100 days. I said: We all know that our real power base is in local government. And it is here that some of the most interesting initiatives in community [...]

Drugs and democracy

The Neath Guardian reports that a Councillor who once passed a lit cannabis spliff around a council meeting is standing down after 21 years of dedicated service. Lynne Siegers, who represents Blaenhondden Community Council's Cilfrew ward recalled an occasion around 15 years ago when police visits to Council meetings were more regular and graphically informative: 'She said: "Back in the days when we met at the civic centre, a councillor asked the policeman at the meeting, 'What is cannabis' He said he'd bring some along - and he did. "He lit it and we were passing a spliff around. If ...

Cheat with Delia!

I had my first sighting of the new Cheat at cooking with Delia book by Delia Smith today. Yes, thats right, someone I encounter in my daily life has actually parted with her hard-earned (and oh boy it truly is hard-earned!) cash to own a book with a rather blunt picture of just a shopping basket on the wipe-clean front cover (no more romance for Delia). Perhaps, as the book is aimed at working mothers, its so they can wipe the baby sick away in one fell swoop. Perhaps this new even more eager and desperate audience is messier than ...

Boris Johnson: Trivia overload

To London for lunch with my new friends at the New Statesman. While I was down there I bought a copy of the magazine - it seemed the least I could do. But to a provincial it does seem terribly decadent getting it on a Thursday. It does not reach Leicester until Friday. This week's issue contains a couple of good articles on Boris Johnson. In one of them Sholto Byrnes provides more trivial connections than even I can cope with: Boris's stepmother Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter of Edward Sieff, the former chairman ...

Sexism in the city or simply over reacting

When TV Evangelist, Pat Robertson, said, at the 1992 Republican National Convention; Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians" very few people came out and agreed with him. Why, because it was obviously a totally ludicrous thing to say. Jo Christie Smith's 'Sexism in the City' should, I believe, be viewed in very much the same way. Jo tells us: A female attendee, asked a man at a business workshop to be quite. The man glibly says that hes glad hes not married to her. Whats the womans reaction Does ...

Tesco Direct ads - genius

Just seen the new ad for Tesco Direct (aka internet supermarket shopping) starring Martin Clunes. Absolutely brilliant.

What's the difference between the Greens and Labour - More beards and cardigans perhaps

A few days ago the Green Party signed away its right to be thought of as a separate entity in the capital city be signing an agreement urging its supporters to give their second preference to Ken Livingstone and the Labour Party. This desperate act by the Greens might have won them some publicity, but will lose them many votes. Recent opinion polls indicate Ken Livingstone is no longer popular and will lose of it is a straight fight between him and Boris Johnston. All the Greens have done is sign away their right to be seen as independent of ...

The Aylestone Panther

It's not only Shropshire where you find big cats. You get them in Leicester too.

Young Kingston

It's a good time to mention Young Kingston again. This is the charitable fund that I set up during my mayoral year. It gives grants to young people to help them carry out projects that will benefit the community. Young Kingston has some unique features: It can give grants to children from the age of 5 - the upper limit is usually 19 but can be...

New top secret Green Party campaign technique exposed

[trivia] Yes, it’s the … invisible placards. The Evening Standard reports today that Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson turned up to Cowley Street today brandishing placards. One small problem: they didn’t exactly. They turned up, walked in, handed over a letter, walked out again, unfurled one small little sign (not even on a stick), smiled for their photographer [...]

Nick in Birmingham in Pictures

Nick Clegg was in Birmingham today to visit the Heartlands hospital in the middle of Hodge Hill constituency with PPC and local councillor Tariq Khan. Heartlands is a Foundation NHS Trust. Lib Dems were sceptical about the benefits of FT status but Heartlands is one which has grasped the opportunity FT status affords very eagerly. As well as recruiting more than 70,000 people to their electorate (the patients and local residents who can vote in Trust elections), they have also undertaken innovative development work to improve their IT systems. Whilst every major Government IT project seems to be late and ...

Groupthink and the story that really matters

It isnt just the Liberal Democrats who beat themselves up about their dearth of compelling narratives and storylines. Having plummeted in the polls, Labour are hard at it too (more on this soon). But no politician should imagine that the stories that they tell about themselves will transform their political fortunes. The winners are always who do the best job of understanding the stories that are in the voters minds and then adapt their own messages. At the same time, the publics view of the world will be strongly influenced by the stories that the media are telling. Their stories ...

A judge who blames the parents - Well said Your Honour

After the conviction of a 15 year old thug for the murder of a 20 year old girl in a senseless attack in a park with his mates, the judge has made clear comments criticising the parents of those involved. According to the BBC website the judge said "They have just done it without thinking but they have seemed to have enjoyed it and carried on remorselessly kicking at two very defenceless people who were unable to protect themselves because of the level of violence inflicted upon them. " "There was a total lack of parental control. " "I am ...

Sexism in the City

This Tuesday the Fawcett Society will be launching their campaign Sexism in the City. Ive worked the majority of my working life for Financial Services firms (although not in wholesale or investment banking which I understand are the worst) and most of that has been in the square mile; I can confirm that there is quite a lot of sexism going on. Sexist events or comments or whatever you want to call them happen on a daily basis and I couldnt tell you if it was getting worse or better. My most recent favourite was a couple of ...

McCain, Brazil and the G8

John McCain, the US Republican presidential hopeful, has made the Brazilians happy by suggesting that Brazil, along with India, should be admitted to an enlarged G8 — the club of the world´s leading economies. This is actually the lead international story in today´s O Diário do Nordeste, Fortaleza´s best daily newspaper. It makes a lot [...]

Full Council 26 March 2008

Last night was the last “Full Council’ of Bury MBC for the current Municipal Year. Full Council is the only meeting that brings together all 51 councillors across the borough. The last meeting of the municipal year has the bad habit of descending into a pre-election slanging match between the Labour and Conservative Party’s, with the Lib Dem’s trying to stay focussed on important issues that are affecting real people! This being said, and aside from the slanging match, there were a number of important decisions approved by the Council: - We agreed the draft questions that will be put ...

Work avoidance

It’s probably some kind of work avoidance behaviour (well study avoidance anyway), but I spent my lunch-break today sprucing up the local party website. No dramatic changes - just an orange-and-yellow-ification (watch how I carelessly mangle our beautiful language) of the old theme. I’ve added a link to http://planningalerts.com ,which looks like a rather useful [...]

Labour: A Deluded Government

It’s still only March, but Ivan Lewis MP, a junior minister in the Department of Health, is an early contender for the Heather Mills Award for Self-Delusion with this astonishing assertion: “In conversation with colleagues last week we were agreed that despite current political difficulties in reality we have been rather a good government. If [...]

'I'm 4 Ros' - an evening of thinking beyond the box with Brian Eno

I had the great pleasure of attending a function in support of the 'I'm 4 Ros' campaign last night, where the guest speaker was the apparently infamous Brian Eno. I say 'apparently' because a degree of fuss has been made about his recruitment as an adviser to Nick Clegg on reaching out beyond the core vote. He spoke to an intrigued audience on those issues about our democracy which trouble him,

Post Offices Que

Just in case you were in any doubt... As the deadline for responses to the 'consultation' [read 'sham'] get closer temperature is rising. There is genuine anger and genuine desire to 'do something'. I think Labour have got themselves onto a very sharp hook and will struggle to shake off this major major blunder...

A Trojan horse, not a gift horse

There has been some debate on Lib Dem Voice about the merits of the Alternative Vote for Westminster elections, in response to Labour's kite flying on the subject earlier this week. Some Lib Dems think that a move to AV would be a welcome first step towards proper reform, namely the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote. Before people glaze over completely, I should stress that the issue is not one of principle, but tactics to achieve reform. For Lib Dems, the principle is one of fair votes, with voters being given the maximum possible choice and having their preferences ...

A crater in the heart of Roding

In the centre of Roding Ward is a huge traffic interchange where the M11 meets the A406 North Circular Road (and others) in a car-crash of a planning failure. Many of you will know it as "Charlie Brown's Roundabout." Today's Wanstead and Woodford Guardian carries an interview with a grandmother who lives close to the junction. She is concerned about the air quality, as are most of the nearby residents whom I surveyed over the Easter weekend. Others mentioned the inadequacy of the noise barriers, the danger of the traffic, and the blight of the graffiti. So the heart of ...

Sarkozy, ou le nouveau Lamartine

The last time any French government made a particular strong point on being positive about Britain was during the Second Republic of 1848-1852. Indeed it was the most anglophile administration in French history, even including the period of the establishment of the Entente Cordiale. Much talk about learning from British institutions, working together, and adopting similar commercial and economic strategies. Britain was for almost the only time in French history described in positive terms, and held up as a model to be copied. The poet Alphonse de Lamartine was effectively head of government in the chaotic five-member executive and specialised ...

The day approaches....

No not election day - my second date with BBC's Mastermind programme. The recording is at the end of May and I am into revision mode. This is a pleasure to do, as my specialist subject this time is the TV show Seinfeld and watching and rewatching the episodes is actually very relaxing. Yada,yada,yada

Now a Tory councillor wants euthansia for children in care (UPDATED)

Headline says it all really: A RED-FACED councillor has had to apologise after calling for the legalisation of euthanasia to cut the number of children in care. First this week it was sterilisation, now it’s killing children. ‘Nasty party’ anyone UPDATE: It looks as if Hugh Jackson has now had the Conservative whip withdrawn.

Four hour Post Office marathon meeting

Four hours yesterday in marathon meeting trying to get through to the Post Office how dreadful the proposals for shutting many of our local Post Offices are. And they didn't really answer any of the questions put to them on finance at all properly. If they don't know the answers to the actual financial situation - then that probably explains their diminishing empire as the first step to running something well is to know what is actually going! The refusal to give information on profit on each of the proposed closures because of 'commercial' sensitivity means that none of us ...

Question Time photos

A couple of photos have appeared in my Inbox from the Question Time event at the Queen Elizabeth 6th Form College a couple of weeks ago. Apparently there are others knocking around somewhere in Democratic Services: if any more appear, I'll add them later. The event featured Dot Long, Barry Armstrong and myself, plus the politics teachers and students. If you've never been in this part of the

Exclusive guest post: green party on the open letter to nick clegg mp

Note: This article is authored by Darren Johnson, Green Party AM [pictured]. For this article, Ive been asked to make the case for Liberal Democrats giving their second Mayoral votes to Siân Berry, the Green candidate. But this morning, I visited Lib Dem HQ at Cowley Street in Westminster to deliver an open letter (which you can read on this very blog) to Nick Clegg making an even stronger ask: Lib Dems should give their first vote to Siân. Obviously I think everyone should give their first vote to Siân, but under normal circumstances I wouldnt expect significant numbers of ...

Council and Transport Network Committee

Last night’s full Council meeting was, in large parts, the usual depressing slanging match between Councillors who really should know better. Watching grown men (and women) making snide remarks and childish comments across a room, when there are people with real problems in the Borough, is not pleasant. I raised the issue of the Butterstile Children’s Centre, and was pleased to hear from the Executive Member for Children’s Services that it will be up and running on time at the start of next academic year. Also, the outreach facilities to Rainsough and Carr Clough will also be available, which is ...

Back to the 3 day week

I know that Parliament has only been sitting for three days this week, but they've been quite busy days for me. We've reached the stage in the Parliamentary cycle where we have more votes - as Bills reach the Report and Third Reading stages we get to the point where we really take issue with parts of the proposed legislation and feel it necessary to "test the opinion of the House" as we so genteelly put it. Once that happens, the place springs into life, and we have 8 minutes to get into the Chamber, which can be tricky for ...

Petition to get rid of Glenda Jackson and Frank Dobson

Finding yourself on the wrong side of the debate I am agitated about Post Office closures and in particular the threat to South End Green, England's Lane and Harrow Road - on the one hand it's a great campaign and it's exciting collecting signatures, drafting responses, but crucially on the other hand it really really matters. Beyond the fun as we do the petitions, the campaigns, the leaflets the aim is to save the Post Offices from closure. MPs voting in the house last week could vote against the closure programme... Here in Hampstead and Kilburn we have two MPs ...

A black eye and a sore head

Following on from my previous blog written in the hospital, I can now report that Richard's re-enactment of Casualty resulted in a seriously bad black eye and a lump on the head. This was followed by a 4am discharge from hospital.Having failed to catch up on lost sleep I am now heading in to Cowley St where no doubt I will be working even later than normal tonight.---Sent via BlackBerry

Hants CC cannot be bothered to spend money on Smannell Roads!

Hampshire County Council Road Spending Campaign Remember last month we told you that we had been busy chasing Tory led Hampshire County Council on the conditions of road signs and the state of our roads in Smannell. We told you that part of that campaign involved finding out via the Freedom of Information Act just how much or little the Tories had spent on Smannell Roads well according to figures supplied to Smannell Lib Dems shows that the Tories in 2006/2007 spent £0, yes zero pounds, on road repairs and in 2007/2008 they spent just £6200. So thats just £6200 ...

Saying it in three words

Sometimes newspapers say the nicest things - or at least their billboards do... For some of us the Queen's Park by-election (march 13th 2008) wasn't a great shock - but the scale of the victory was at the upper end of anyone's prediction. But it's good to see it on the record. Well done to Simon Green - he's proving to be a great councillor already and has only done one planning committee for local residents.

Nick Clegg speaks out of MPs Expenses

Well done Nick Clegg on speaking out on MP's expenses. Nick Clegg said "The reason why this feels like a needless, additional hammer blow to public confidence in the House of Commons and what MPs do, is, I think we all now accept, that there should be full declaration of all MPs' expenses." Standing up on these issues is important. Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten, who was among the 14 on the list, said he had not been asked whether he wanted to appeal and was concerned it looked like "we are trying to hide something".

Government still wants to abolish parliament.

From SpyBlog I see that the government is trying to pass its ‘abolition of parliament’ act again. Given this allows a minister to alter any Act of Parliament without any debate. Surely this is equivalent to the Enabling Act It allows a minister to change any piece of legislation, a power which could be used to modify [...]

Asylum System in the UK bring shame on us

The Independent Asylum Commission has spoken of the shameful treatment of Asylum Seekers in the UK. It is a disgrace for us. A commissioner member said "We are concerned at the level of the treatment of children, the treatment of women, the treatment of those with health needs, particularly mental health needs, torture survivors." One Asylum Seeker has spoken up about it saying, "If claiming asylum is not a crime, why do we have these invisible bars around us all the time"

Exclusive: Greens were Labours second choice

The Very Orange (and currently, it seems, Amusingly Pink) Julian H was first off the blocks this morning with That Letter from the Greens, to the which alarming turn of events - wot, a Lib Dem can’t even trust their fellow eco-weirdies not to dump on their head any more - I can now add my own snippet. The fact that Siân Berry is now in alliance with a Labour party that has just [...]

The Abolition of Parliament Bill Returns

Remember the Save Parliament campaign It successfully fought against provisions in the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (now an Act) that would have effectively abolished Parliament and allowed Ministers to rule by decree. The Government’s much heralded Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill contains a rather worrying, and remarkably similar, clause: Part 6FINAL PROVISION 43 Power to make consequential [...]

Apprentice "Toff" shows that we are not a classless society

The Apprentice last night on BBC1 was the typical entertaining hour that those of us who are fans of the show have come to expect. But the show did highlight an appalling lack of "class" from some contestants who believe that their own "class" put them above the rest. Sir Alan chose to fire Nicholas de Lacy Brown, a straight "A" student and barrister who despite only making a small error on pricing up goods, chose to launch an astonishing attack on his project manager for "not being educated", in that he did not go to a private school and ...

South and North Korea get nasty again

The last South Korean President worked towards peace with North Korea. A new train link was set up and an industrial estate was built by the south on the Northern side. The new conservative South Korean President has said he will be less tolerant towards North Korea and has shown it. Now in responce North Korea has sent away some of the South Korean managers. It's hard to think of how diplomacy should be balanced. Do you let North Korea get away with things in the hope of peace Or do you question and stand up against North Korea and ...

McCain wants change in foreign relations

Coming back from his tour of the Middle East and Europe to show his Presidential capabilities. John McCain has spoken of stronger foreign ties. Could he provide a break from Bush's isolationism Well I don't think he wants anything radical, like Obama talk of speaking to enemies. Some actually question McCain capabilities in Foreign Affairs. That his senior moments go as far to stop him knowing the difference between a Shia and a Sunni, causing him to make a connection with Iran (Shia) and Al-Qaida (Sunni). The difference is very important when it comes down to trying to make peace ...

Lib Dems welcome latest court decision over Coatham Links

The decision by the High Court not to allow another Judicial Review of Redcar & Cleveland Council's decision to reject the second application for Village Green status on land that was formally part of a golf course (see pic above) has been welcomed by Liberal Democrats. We welcome this decision as yet another Judicial Review would mean more delays and more public money wasted. It is time we told the Friends of Coatham Common that enough is enough. Their never ending attempts to subvert local democracy by using people who qualify for legal aid to run up enormous legal bills ...

Will the French hand over Comoran rebel

The Comoran Army backed by 1,500 AU troops retook an Island that had been controlled by rebels. It was justly done and there's nothing too controversial about it. The Island Anjouran which was semi-autonomous tried to break free of central control after the central authorities declared the new Anjouan Presidents election illegal. France is though to of liked the Anjouan President, so he has fled to the French Island of Mayotte. Protesters have rallied outside the French embassy in Moroni, capital of the Comoros to get the President extradited. France should now negotiate that with the Comoros. If they don't ...

Democrat senior statesman: Moves afoot to make Hillary bite the bullet

Stephen Tall writes a very interestingly article on LibDemVoice entitled: "What will convince Hillary to drop out" I wrote a comment there asking whether the US Democrats have a equivalent of the "men in grey suits" who might pay a late night visit to Hillary and, after plying her with a stiff Jack Daniels, persuade her to raise the pearl-handled revolver to her temple. Imagine my surprise

Upsurge of opposition in Zimbabwe but is it enough

Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) has spoken of surprise of the "the upsurge on the ground". Opposition Rallies have been allowed in rural areas known as strongholds for Mugabe, but the support has been huge. The BBC has shown reports of how views have been changing: Rebellious mood in rural Zimbabwe How a loyal Zanu-PF supporter is praying for change (I remember reading the previous article three years ago) The question now is, will it be enough On my previous posts on Zimbabwe I've shown the fraud attempts that are happening. The latest is how opposition ...

Sarkozy surprises me in his visit

I never liked Sarkozy, for instance he has started deportation of illegal immigrants in France. It's hugely expensive, when they can actually do the economy good if you can give them a path to citizenship and taxpaying. But Sarkozy has surprised me. He has been making much needed reforms in France, but he's pushing harder for relations with Britain and he is showing signs we should actually look forward to France's presidency of the EU. Britain has long wanted to overhaul the horrible agricultural system of subsidies, (the Liberal Democrats of course involved in pushing hard on that) but it's ...

Edm 1258

It took over a week for a Sub Judice check, but finally EDM 1258 has popped out of the system. It recognises the need for action following the Slough Election Court judgment.

Bosnia gaffe bursts Clinton's "super-stateswoman" bubble

I've blogged before about my annoyance at Hillary Clinton's insistence that she is some sort of Super-Stateswoman with a history of solving the world's conflicts from Bosnia to Ireland. So, it was with an element of schadenfreude and vindication that I witnessed Hillary's Bosnia discomfort. She said she visited Bosnia in 1996 under a hail of bullets, running "with our heads down into the

Monks disrupt escorted journalists in Tibet

China being pressured by the international community to open Tibet to journalists, led them to escorting journalists in a three day visit. It sounds a bit like a coach holiday. This is China's attempt at pleasing the international community at the same time as keeping control themselves. A bit like when it comes to democracy, China has a national assembly in which there are only members of the Communist Party. So these journalists won't be able to see very much, they won't exactly be aloud to go and interview some protesters. So instead some Monks made themselves heard. As the ...

EXCLUSIVE (just about): Greens Urge Liberal Democrats to Vote for Siân

This morning Green AMs Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones will deliver an open letter to Nick Clegg arguing against the candidature of Brian Paddick for London Mayor. In a strongly-worded attack of Paddick's policies, the letter maintains that Liberal Democrats should forego their support for the ex-cop and vote instead for Green candidate Siân Berry. The full text of the letter is as follows: Dear Nick, We are writing this open letter because we are concerned that your voters are about to go into a London election with no Liberal Democrat candidate. Although we do not always agree with the ...

Defence Budget in a Critical State

Commenting on todays Defence Committee Report on Defence Equipment, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey said: This highlights the critical state of our defence budget and the continuing burden of expensive, unwieldy and inefficient procurements. With three key procurements already forecast to cost almost £3 billion more than the original cost, seven of the largest equipment programmes experiencing slippage in 2007-08 of over six and a half years, and Key Targets unlikely to be met, the DE&S needs to get its act together quickly to avoid even greater slippage and costs, which could irrevocably damaging our future capabilities. (more…) ...

Dave, you're fired

It's a delight to welcome back The Apprentice into my living room each week. Such a shame that David Cameron looky likey, Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, should be first man overboard. Still, I bet Dave would know you can't get lobster for £4.90 a throw.

MP's second homes legal fight - adding insult to injury

We've been here before. It happened in connection with publication of detailed MP's travel expense claims. Good old Norman Baker fought to have them released. The reactionary drag on progress which is the Speaker's office, in cahoots with the worst of the MPs, fought to keep them covered up. They were released. Now the same thing is happening with MP's second homes' expense details. I am just

Publish and be damned

After a prolonged Freedom of Information wrangle MPs living expenses were due to be published this week.The only details the information commissioner explicitly judged should not be published wer...

Gordon turns into a sofa

2000th post There is a determined and subtle sofa-isation of Gordon Brown going on. On GMTV this morning they were trailing: "We'll be talking about violent video games and how to better protect children from them. Psychologist Tanya Byron will be here....with the Prime Minister". See what he did there ...Subtly smarms his way onto the sofa holding onto the skirt tails of our Tanya... Never

Greens turn Brown

It is unbelievable that the Greens have gone into coalition with Gordon Brown's Labour. That's the Gordon Brown which is pro-nuclear, pro-airport expansion, pro-Iraq war and pro-unlimited capitalism.

Webbo on webbo campaigning

From here to here to the video below. We seem to be the best party at this but we could be doing so much more. It’ll be interesting to see what Jerome Armstrong does with Paddick’s Campaign.

Talking Rubbish

The final meeting of the Environment Select Committee was yesterday afternoon, with the agreement of the final report on Waste management and Recycling as the main item on the agenda. We'd agreed to start with a presentation of a summary of the rationale for the review and the evidence we'd received for all interested councillors before we went on to finalise our recommendations. Unfortunately

Clegg calls for MPs expenses to be published (UPDATED)

From a party news release: The Liberal Democrats have today written to the Commons Speaker asking when the detailed breakdown of MPs expenses will now be published. Commenting Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, said: “There are legitimate grounds for appealing the decision to publish private addresses. However, there is no earthly reason why the rest of the information [...]

Martin Land on Nicks first 100 days

Dear Nick, Well, not bad. The polls look better and on the doorstep I’ve not had a single person ask me why we got rid of Charles Kennedy. The Bones Commission was a good idea. It was a less of a good idea to allow those who could be part of the problem (I only say could) [...]

Getting onto the housing market

This morning's Western Mail covers my press release from yesterday on the decision by the Assembly Government to axe the Homebuy scheme for first time buyers. There is no doubt that there were flaws in this scheme but, rather than abandon it altogether, the Minister could have reformed it and turned it into a Wales-wide key-workers housing programme. The news of this u-turn by the Labour-Plaid Administration came in a letter from Jocelyn Davies AM, Deputy Minister for Housing, in response to my question on the 12th March on the future of the Homebuy scheme. The letter states that the ...

Independence Referendum - Do We Have an Approved Policy

I have for a long time felt there was nothing wrong in holding a referendum that including looking at independence. Indeed I am very much of the persuasion that by calling just such a referendum and defeating the idea of a independent Scotland the whole thrust of the Scottish Nationalists could be blunted considerably. Well it was pleasant reading this morning to see that my firend Iain Dale is

The Apprentice Polluter

Well the Apprentice got off to a new start last night, the 16 new potential Sugar portegees were sent straight from their boardroom finery off to sell fish. Nice way to bring them down to earth with a bang. So after a long day of the boys alledging to sell Emporer Breen and Mackeral, as well as selling Monkfish Tails as far cheaper Turbot, and lobsters for £4.80 each. They clearly had a bad day

Texts and twitters

12:00 looking at the cheap coffee and wondering if a trip into town can be justified # 15:13 trying to keep my eyes open but failing :-( #Microblogging by SMS, it's all the rage donchaknow. Using LoudTwitter and Twitter.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin the Blue Corner, representing batshit insanity and The Cornerstone Group, Nadine Dorries, MP. In the very definitely not-blue corner, {[info]} matgb's mate Unity, representing sane but slightly pompous windbagginess. I'm willing to run a sweep on whether Unity can bore Mad Nad to death with screeds and screeds of well-meaning tl;dr before she gets into double figures in her naming and shaming campaign... Seriously, though, how in the hell did such an intellectually bankrupt, morally inconsistent, vapid, irritating hag get elected in the first place It's people like her and Hazel "situated at the heart of the regional centre" ...

Today's Loose Theme is Bigotry

Remember the Tory councillor who said on his blog that poor people should be sterilised because they're all just sponging off Hard Working FamiliesTM He's now resigned, after trying to claim that he didn't really mean it. And you know what my reaction was on reading the news story Shit, is Iain Dale such a well known person that even the BBC won't correct his grammar, now I mean, I know I quite regularly make errors, but srsly A your/you're error on the BBC... The world is coming to an end, AMIRITE I have to resist the urge to label ...

Sitting in the hospital A&E

I got a call at midnight. A friend had fallen and bashed his head. So I had to get a taxi over to Lewisham Hospital. He of course is unconscious and I am currently surrounded by machines going ping with lots of cables dangling from them. Human bodies are now like electrical appliances. They can just be plugged in to be recharged or kept ticking over. The doctor says he will be okay. I think I

Oooh. Get you, Derek Conway!

Mr Conway said: "I have nothing to add and certainly nothing in response to Mr Borrowman. Well of course not, because you don't actually have to answer to your constituents or the taxpayer anymore, do you

Paw stroking - a new art

By all accounts, M. Sarkozy has wowed the UK establishment in a way not seen since the French toffs all came here to escape the Revolution (I take my history from Blackadder, but some of it might be true-ish). It comes to something when the top bod in France starts describing the UK as leading the way and expressing such outright gratitude for all the UK has doen for them. Never again will we be able to describe them as ungrateful so-and-so's. There go a million pub diatribes. All was described to me earlier today as being the art of ...

Thursday 27th 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