LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 11th April 2008

Shocked by the Daily Telegraph....

Well, not the Telegraph so much as its readers. I was directed to a piece in today's Telegraph by Jeff Randall, "In a land without morals, it's no wonder children kill each other", a slightly confused "blame all today's ills on the sixties" fairly standard right wing flag waver. That didn't bother me too much - ordinary stuff by a journalist earning today's pennorth with some rehashed tripe. What did shock me though was the comments that this piece attracted. I was not prepared for the volume and level of sheer virulence and bile that spouted out from the comments ...

Wrong in so many ways

But so right: Via Sam Coates.

The gang of four becomes the gang of five

I blogged yesterday about the Gang of Four high ranking Labour councillors who have failed to get selected for the new Northumberland county council. The Four had decided to stand as independents. Well, I got the figures wrong. My apologies to Bill Garrett, Labour councillor in Prudhoe for the past 34 years. Seems as though I missed him off the list of those who have put their Labour membership

And now the Conservatives implode in Northumberland

Anything you can do, we can do better. That seems to be the new catchphrase for the Tories in Northumberland as they attempt to outdo Labour in losing councillors, bloodletting and general mayhem. I blogged earlier about the Labour meltdown in the county as the knives came to save local government careers from disappearing down a plughole, caused by the abolition of the district councils. Well,

I'm off

Heading on holiday to Italy via Edinburgh from tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be posting much over the next couple of weeks. Be good and/or have fun while I'm away.

Some cutting comments

Further evidence today that the Gnats' council tax freeze is continuing to cause problems for local councils, including Highland. Job losses of the scale described can not be passed off as efficiency savings, but are actual reductions in frontline services. I have blogged before (here and here) about the effects of the freeze. Given that the Gnats like to portray themselves as being a left of centre party, I wonder how many of the people who voted for them thought that they'd be getting cuts to local council services across the board And it's not just local authorities who are ...

"Labour need to earn my vote, not expect it"

Yes, that is what a savvy young professional black woman said to me today. I've been out every evening (and during the day) campaigning and meeting lots of people in London North East (Islington, Hackney & Waltham Forest), where I'm the London Assembly candidate. (Hence the sporadic blogging!) I had an interesting discussion with said young woman, who told me that her family- traditional Jamaican grandparents, who came to London in the 1950's, and who all voted Labour for years. She, however will not be. She says her grandmother worked in the NHS all her working life, her grandfather, a ...

The Monetary Policy Committee - Getting it so wrong on interest rates and inflation

The Monetary Policy Committee have a clear brief from the government to keep control of inflation, and arguably this has been achieved in recent years, but in times such as we have now it seems interest rates have a negligible effect on inflation and instead the MPC looks as it if is re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as the economy goes belly up and the housing market collapses. You could really argue that inflation has not really been controlled by the MPC at all in recent years. There are many who would argue that inflation has only really ...

Wareham goes gold

News reaches the Voice of the Lib Dems taking a council in unusual circumstances. Two resignations from independent and Conservative members of Wareham Town Council led to two vacancies intended to be determined by by-elections on 1st May. Nominations closed on April 4th, and when the dust settled it became clear there were only two candidates nominated [...]

[Poll:] Dialects, word patterns and lingusitic shift

There's a dialect meme (what do I call things) doing the rounds that I'm finding quite interesting, I've seen answers in Aussie, New Orleans, Yorksher, London and Real Places (ie Devon). So I thought I'd compile the common answers into a poll (linguistic shifts interest me). As always, if you don't have a Livejournal account you can login and vote with any OpenID, which everyone's got these days. So, without further ado... View Poll: Dialect meme: What do you call thingsHuge bunch of sources for some of those questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), and some of the ...

House Points: Anne Moffat says "bog off"

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Labour's losing it I know whats wrong with the Labour Party these days. Its called Anne Moffat and sits in the House of Commons for East Lothian. Let me explain. Last Thursday Norman Baker was asking the government to support Lewes District Council's offer to make a financial contribution to keep local post offices open. At which point Moffat piped up: "He's a horror - tell him to bog off!" If you don't believe me, look in Hansard. We Lib Dems find Norman endearing. He is sound on everything from Tibet ...

Tai chi for cows

The Shropshire Star reports that dairymen, tanker drivers and herdsmen from across the county have been striking tai chi poses to increase milk yields. That is all very well, but shouldn't they worry about stopping the cows falling down mine shafts first Still, you have to love the Star's headline for the story: Moo-ves to improve milk yield

Another myth exposed - Baby survival rates before 24 weeks

The anti abortion crown have been pushing the argument for some years now that babies born before 24 weeks gestation are surviving in ever greater numbers and this is the main reason for their fight to end abortions at 23 weeks. The actual figures, revealed today, show that on 27% of babies born at 23 weeks survive, and most of these will have permanent health problems related to under developed lungs and brains. It appears that the facts don't support the anti abortion groups claims. I have always been pro choice when it comes to abortion, but I have always ...

Crazy Queues at Finchley Rd Post Office

I recently tested the post office in the Finchley Road, one of the possible alternatives to my threatened local sub post office in Englands Lane. The queue stretched out of the door and down the pavement (see photo). One more reason to add to my list of why our post office should be saved: 1) We had three sub post offices in Belsize until recently all of which were much loved and much used. 2) The Post Office was negotiating with the newsagent on Haverstock Hill to re-open a sub post office there, but that negotiation was summarily ended on ...

New important planning Documents Published

Draft supplementary planning documents have been published for a six week period of public consultation (10th April - 22nd May): by Bath & North East Somerset Council. Existing Dwellings in the Green Belt SPD Locally Important Buildings SPD The draft SPDs set out detailed planning guidance to supplement policies BH.5, HG.14 and HG.15 of the Bath & North East Somerset Local Plan. The...

Clegg challenges Gordon Brown on Al-Yamamah

{Nick Clegg} The Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown urging him to re-open the the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal and demanding a full inquiry into how it came to be dropped. This follows yesterday’s ruling by the High Court that the SFO acted unlawfully when it suspended - under direction from the Labour Government - its investigation into the deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia. Nick Clegg also calls on the Prime Minister to update Parliament on the progress of other investigations into alleged corruption by ...

An unusual Conservative defection

Councillor quits party and stands as an independent candidate is not a particularly unusual story. It’s not normally a council leader doing this though … so enter stage left, Michael Walton, the Conservative Leader of Tynedale Council who is standing as an independent in May’s elections, up against an official Conservative Party candidate amongst others.

Libs Dems secure CANGO Bus link to Andover Railway Station

Dear Residents of Smannell, Little London and Enham Alamein I am sure you are aware of the Smannell Liberal Democrats Focus Team campaign to provide a bus service between the Andover railway station and Smannell, Little London and Enham Alamein. The campaign was launched by Parish Cllr Nigel Gooding and Alamein Ward Councillor Len Gates. I have given my full support to this campaign and have been in correspondence with the Hampshire County Council Community Transport Officers. Initial responses from the officers were not that promising but I can now report a very welcome positive reply. We have looked closely ...

As I'm not on Facebook, you'll have to read this instead...

My status is: is

on playing politics

Dithering and incompetent, every Tory press release is littered with these words, the attack on Gordon Brown has been simplified and is hitting home with people across the country. Simplify the message and repeat it over and over and over again. Cameron is no idiot, he worked in PR dont you know. So his latest attack on Gordon Brown If dithering was an Olympic sport he would have a gold medal" is cringe worthy but ask the man on the Clapham omnibus how he perceives Browns handling of the whole situation, and hell probably throw dithering or incompetent back at ...

Tory Council leader resigns and goes independent

It seems as though it isn't just the Labour party who are making a hash of the local elections for the new, all powerful Northumberland unitary council. I am pleased to bring you news of a big falling out in Tory ranks on Tynedale Council, one of the authorities about to be axed under Labour's abolition of local government policy. Michael Walton, leader of the Conservatives on Conservative

High hedges problems

The Courier this morning features an article about the issue of high hedges and comments from both myself and Bailie Rod Wallace, the Conservative Group Leader, supporting any renewed moves by the Scottish Parliament to look at this issue. I have received a number of concerns from residents in the past about this issue but where amicable resolution is not possible, legislation is currently inadequate. During the last parliament, Scott Barrie, the former Labour MSP, did attempt to resolve matters through a Private Members' Bill. This would have brought in an arbitration mechanism, which would be a good step forward. ...

Situation in Zimbabwe

One of my local LibDem colleagues has just e-mailed me as follows: "I just signed a petition calling for the release of the results of Zimbabwe's election - and urging South African President Thabo Mbeki to pressure Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to honour the will of the Zimbabwean people. Please join me in signing." You can do so by clicking on the headline above.

Day 2656: Jodrell Bank UPDATE

Wednesday: You may remember that a month ago I protested that the most important scientific instrument in Great Britain or even THE WORLD, give or take a hadron collider at CERN and a neutrino observatory in Sudbury, Ontario was under THREAT. Well, this week there was new news, with two BBC programmes covering the calamity: The Sky at Night and the Newsnight at Night. For the Newsnight Show, Ms Susan "mega" Watts reported on the brouhaha with an introduction that you may find EERILY FAMILIAR. (Nothing wrong with that, though there are worse jobs than being Newsnight's Unpaid Scientific Advisor ...

Labour councillor in sacking row over Liberal Democrat nurse

As the Manchester Evening News reports: Mayor elect in ’sacking bid’ row A MAN earmarked for mayor is accused of abusing his position in a bid to get a political rival sacked from her job as a nurse. [Labour councillor] Robin Parker, who is due to take over as mayor of Rochdale next month, admits repeatedly emailing bosses [...]

Our ignorance of Ireland

The British political classes seem to pay far less attention to the politics of the Republic of Ireland than it deserves. I was reminded of this when reflecting on the resignation of Bertie Ahern last week. There seems to be a level of ignorance of, and in large part an indifference to, the politics of Ireland amongst MP's, commentators, and journalists. You only need to contrast the acres of

The three-year-old terrorist from Dorset

Poole Borough Council has just admitted using anti-terror laws to spy on a family. Who were these neighbours from hell, you may ask. Did they stand accused of stockpiling nitroglycerine Hijacking a superjumbo Receiving illicit shipments of heroin from Poole Harbour at 4am, and donating the proceeds to Hezbollah No. They were suspected of lying about their address, to get their three-year-old daughter into a better school. Now, this may well be a gross overreaction by one individual local authority, and I'm sure the government will try to write it off as the work of one loony council, rather than ...

"Ridiculously disproportionate" and "intrusive"

The BBC are reporting that laws originally designed to track terrorists and criminals are being used by Poole Borough Council to find out if parents really live in school catchment areas. I kid you not! I couldn't make this sort of stuff up, even if I wanted to. Poole Borough Council when asked, confirmed that they did use powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to track a family who they suspected of 'fraudulent school place applications'. What's more, they don't think they have acted unreasonably. I couldn't disagree more! For me, James Welch, legal director for Liberty, ...

Look at this picture and tell me what you see...

Lest anyone think I only pick on Tories, today I shall be having a go at a self-proclaimed leftie. So, like the title says, look at the picture and tell me what you see. Is it someone deserving of a diatribe like this Those of you on Facebook might like to make you way over here.

Can Clegg Demand Internal Controls on the Torch

I've just read that Nick Clegg is now demanding that Gordon Brown should object to Chinas plan to take the Olympic torch to Tibet. Now as someone who once had aspiration to be an Olympic athlete I'm wondering what does Nick Clegg have against the Olympics and more to the point why attack the Olympics and not take a real blow against China. Now imagine the scenario: March 2012. In the previous

Taking the campaign to the North East, and vice versa

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, this entry comes to you from somewhere between York and Darlington, courtesy of National Express East Coast's free wifi service. It will therefore come as no surprise when I tell you that Ros and I are on our way to the North East to campaign in Newcastle, Berwick and Durham as part of their campaign in the forthcoming local elections. Whilst Ros has a

Sandra Gidleys favourite crash diet under investigation

LighterLife, already in my bad books over TOAST and fat suits, are the subject of a BBC investigation tonight: The liquid-based programme, aimed at people who are three or more stones overweight, involves dieters consuming just 530 calories a day for 12 weeks. But Inside Out has heard from some dieters who have experienced disrupted periods, hair loss and water poisoning. Share This

Olympics: Clegg calls for Torch to skip Tibet

Politics.co.uk reports: Gordon Brown’s decision not to attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony is not enough for Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who has called for the prime minister to object to China’s plan to take the Olympic torch to Tibet. “He should now follow his decision not to attend the opening ceremony by insisting that the [...]

Results: Thursday 10th April 2008.

Herefordshire UA, Old Gore Con 422 (37.9; -8.1), Ind 401 (36.0; -1.8), LD Josephine Lane 241 (21.7; +5.4), Green 49 (4.4; +4.4). Majority 21. Turnout 46%. Con hold. (Percentage change since May 2007). North East Derbyshire DC, Holmewood and Heath LD Jan Robinson 382 (42.3), Lab 356 (39.4), Con 165 (18.3). Majority 26. Turnout 25.6%. LD gain from Lab. (Lab x2 unopposed in May 2007). From David

Slough electoral fraud update (UPDATED)

Last month a special election court ruled that Eshaq Khan (who has since been expelled from the Conservative Party) and his supporters carried out corrupt and illegal practices to secure his election in Slough. The police have now charged four men with electoral fraud offences. UPDATE: A fifth man has now been charged.

Graham's blog Friday 11 April 2008

The 'summit' of Liberal leaders in north eastern Finland last Sunday and Monday did not attract a full house; two of our Prime Ministers and a few of our EU Commissioners were absent. Nonetheless it was a success. It will go down in my memory as the 'snowmobile summit' since we were all taken on a snowmobile safari (see photos at www.grahamwatsonmep.org) before the obligatory Finnish sauna and the formal part of the meeting. We agreed the outlines of an EU-wide campaign for the 2009 EU elections and a strategy to maximise the influence of Europe's Liberal Democrats in top ...

Sorry ...

There have been a couple of glitches since ReadMyDay was moved to a new server yesterday. Not all comments are being posted, including my own! Apologies if yours has been lost. It should be working properly very soon.

Let me be indelicate

So it turns out that new music isnt rubbish, its actually really good. All week I have been hammering American Demo by The Indelicates. Accomplished, literate, cynical its a top drawer piece of work. You can read more about the Indelicates on Playlouder. The bands lyrical sentiments will resonate with many liberals, perhaps those who feel that Green Days mornonic anthems amount to political child abuse. Get the kids to listen to this instead, even if the Indelicates do hate them. They sing that: Despite all the fools and liars Despite all of the wars The pursuit of liberty is ...

Thornaby Issues

The council day was dominated by a special meeting of Executive Scrutiny committee to hear two requests for call in of Cabinet decisions. This is quite a technical procedure to allow front line councillors to question whether the Cabinet has acted properly in coming to a decision. So it can't change the decision but it can ask cabinet to look again in the hope that it might change. In the past

Fafblog

If you don't read Fafblog, then you should. So for the last five years all the liberals and the hippies and the nattering nabobs of normalcy have been coming up to Giblets and going "Was the war a mistake Giblets" and "Are we losing the war Giblets" and "Oh look at all the dead people Giblets, maybe we should stop the war." And the correct answers to these questions have been "Shut up," "Shut up you traitor," and "We'd be winning already if you'd just shut up." It's great. Scroll down to Now They Hate Us With Our Freedom, too. ...

Whose licence fee

Today's Western Mail reports on the findings of communications regulator Ofcom, that licence fee funds may be needed to secure ITV Wales future as a public service broadcaster. Putting aside the fact that ITV Wales is not a public service broadcaster but a profit making company, it is nevertheless an intriquing idea. I am no fan of the licence fee but at present I do not have an alternative which would secure the future of public sector broadcasting. It seems to me that the American model of wholly commercial companies competing through producing programmes which appeal to the lowest common ...

Self sacrificing or self promotion

The sterling work being carried out by Ros Scott, as she visits councillors up and down the country in the run up to the local elections, should be acknowledged and saluted. Well done Ros! However, we shouldn't kid ourselves that what we have here is a totally selfless act by someone sacrificing their own interest for the greater good of the party. Because I personally, don't believe that it is. It's worth remembering that Ros is also standing for President of the Liberal Democrats in the not too distant future. A little self promotion along the way maybe Nothing wrong ...

Alzheimers War: A New Hope

In the US a new treatment for Alzheimers is showing encouraging signs in the early stages of testing. The drug etanercept appears to have found a way of improving brain cell communication according to the US Institute for Neurological Research. While there is improvement it appears that the affect plateau out after a weekly does at about 3 months, but patients do not return to normal but Prof.

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates. 13:20 drinking a very large coffee. Unexpected weeks off are bad for my work ethic. OK, I don't have a work ethic but... # 19:09 being beaten at Ludo by a 4 yr old... # 00:44 wondering if the BBC is ever going to tell us if This Week is going to be on at all. Bloody golfers, who cares Nearly as bad as F1... # Microblogging by SMS, using LoudTwitter and Twitter.

It isnt a cake, and it doesnt taste like tea

I despair of the EU at times. Fair enough, a Jaffa Cake is a cake - no doubt about it. It is made of cake mixture. It might be a little cake, but it is still a cake. But a tea cake A tea cake is a chocolate covered marshmallow with a biscuit base. The key word there by the way was biscuit. I can guarantee you that the judges at the ECJ have never had one, preferring their poncey Belgian biscuits. They probably think shortbread is a type of small baguette and all. The problem with this ruling is, ...

Gordon Brown: smile, though your heart is breaking

The worst thing about this is not that Gordon Brown appeared on American Idol, it’s that he spent the whole broadcast doing that horrible new fake smile of his. Eeeargh! It gives me the willies. Share This

This Week... or Not

So nearly an hour since this week was supposed to start and it's STILL FRIGGING GOLF. Normally I'm a very strong defender of the BBC, but if they deprive me of Michael and Diane like this without adequate justification (and while still claiming on both the website and the TellyBox tv guide to be showing This Week when plainly they're not, too) then I'm going to get angry. And they wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Can we nuke Augusta, please Then this will not happen again, because they'll have to play their stupid, pointless, walk-in-the-country-spoiled game in civilised places ...

My life as a member of the grasping classes

A blogger who shall remain nameless wrote on my Facebook wall on the day that my partner and I bought our new apartment: “Congratulations on joining the grasping classes! Pah.” Ouch. Over the last few months, the significance of this comment has started to sink in. On Friday for instance I was at a friend’s birthday dinner party. As my friends dribbled in, I was asked four separate times how selling the apartment was going. Each time this resulted in me reflexively talking about the housing market, negative equity, tax, estate agents, the whole kaboodle. And each time I realised ...

Nick really good on Newsnight

I thought Nick was really good tonight on Al-Yamamah. The trouble is we have to fight this cosy conspiracy of the establishment parties who think that saying `it’s all to do with national security` makes it right to cover things up. He was on a head to head with Rifkind - who basically said it’s important [...]

I Feel a Letter Coming On

When Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government pledged to clean up its human rights record. But in fact the opposite has happened. It’s not just the recent crackdown on Tibetan and Uighur activists. Political dissidents are getting it in the neck, too. Hardly a day goes by without my receiving more reports of arrests [...]

Day 2655: Olympic Torchwood: May the Farce be With You

Tuesday: Stormtroopers, it would seem, are IN. At the High Court in London, the Jedi Master of Lucasfilm, Oh-Beardy-One Kenobi (George "don't do that" Lucas), defends his right to use SITH LIGHTNING against anyone who tries cashing in on his multi-billion dollar merchandising EMPIRE. Meanwhile, in London, Paris, San Francisco and worldwide, the People's Liberation Army Formation Jogging Team of China "handsome" and "mighty" according to the China News Service; "thugs" according to the less diplomatic Lord Olympics & Coe have been manfully keeping alight the Torch of Freedom by, er, oppressing anyone who tries to get close to it. ...

Yeah...

The first half of that post I made before I went to work has been worming its way round my brain all day. Then I came home and read the journal of one of my f-list and... Well, I've not been in a good mental place. Trying not to burst into tears randomly, and holding back the urge to be sick has led to me doing some online snapping at people, so if you're one of those, I'm sorry. However, in my boo at lack of Question Time, and frantically trying to distract myself from Dark Thoughts, have just seen ...

Friday 11th April 2008

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