LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 13th April 2008

Being the "local candidate" at last!

This year's election campaign takes me to my home ward of Headington Hill & Northway in Oxford. I have not had the opportunity to stand where I actually live, and have done for a dozen years now, but I have to say there is a certain amount of slightly smug satisfaction in saying so, as I find I am the only candidate in the ward who actually lives here. It will also of curse be the first time I have been able to vote for myself. I hope I remember! I can say with absolute honesty that "mine is the ...

Who says that the Chinese Governemnt controls the news agenda in China

How dare people suggest that there is censorship and state control over all media in China and that the Chinese people are uneducated about what really happens in the world. Anyone who had read the latest press release from the Chinese official news agency will see that the Chinese Government exercise no control over the media because it every single person in the world knows, as the Chinese claim, that the Dalai Lama is the enemy of human rights and not even Nancy Pelosi's children like her ! All hail the people's Republic for its munificent benevolence to the workers ...

Tee Hee

Everyone likes to help a new blogger find their feet, right Go forth, mighty f-list, and help this poor dear lady find the blogging light. (via The Englishman)

Ecuador - Bad News

Sometimes there is a story of a tragic happening around the world that hits you because it is in a place that is personally significant. The news today of 5 British students being killed in a bus crash between Quito and Puerto Lopez in Ecuador has such a meaning for me. Back in 1987-8, I spent around a year in Salango, the next village along from Puerto Lopez, excavating archaeological sites. As you might imagine, this was quite a formative experience for me, as these students must have been hoping it would also be for them. I remember well the ...

Bitter rivalry - baseball style

This is what you get when two teams absolutely hate each other - and have done for more than 90 years. Think Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner. In this case it's baseball and the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Well, the Yankees are moving out of their home for the past 85 years and there is a new stadium being built just down the street. One of the construction workers on the new stadium just happened to be a Red Sox fan. A chance for a little fun and games perhaps Certainly if your ...

Possibly the worst campaign photo ever

Spent most of today delivering leaflets in my ward for Enfield & Haringey's Lib Dem GLA candidate Monica Whyte and Lib Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick. Walking down Wellfield Avenue in my ward, thought I'd just take a quick snap of what used to be a nasty pothole. Unlike when I took the last photo, I was down there on my own today, so the picture is essentially just a piece of tarmac. I don't think it'll make the cut for our next Focus leaflet. But if you look at the old post, you can compare and contrast and see ...

Bribery and corruption!

It seems the old chestnut, the one about national security, is being employed again to stop relations between Britain and Saudi Arabia being soured. A close source who cant be revealed for his own security (!), who is employed by BAE Systems, has argued that bribery is the accepted way to do business in these countries and that, basically, if a country is dirty you have to play dirty to win the deal. He has said to me: Baksheesh is the accepted way of doing buisness in the arab states. If the UK didn't do it then someone else would, ...

Laibach: Across the Universe

I have the same problem with the Beatles as I so with Mozart. I can see that they are good, but for the life of me I cannot see why people think they are the greatest. If asked to name my favourite band on the sixties, I would think of the Who, the Small Faces, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones and, yes, the Spencer Davis Group before I mentioned the Beatles. But this cover version of "Across the Universe", sung by two women's voices, sounds rather wonderful. Unless you are a fan of Slovenian experimental rock, I had better say ...

Four ideas for better democracy

For every parliamentary candidate: 1. Criminal records indicated on the ballot paper. 2. Full CV and two references posted online for all to see. 3. Set your required salary (inc expenses) on the ballot paper. 4. Politics 101 test score also on the ballot paper (testing eg. stats, political history & philosophy, comprehension) And that's just with the current system. Don't even get me started on electoral reform...

War On Progress

What annoys me most about the term "progressive" is that it only every seems to be used by lefties who think that the left has a monopoly on "progress", whatever that is. A lot of people think that Thatcher made a lot of "progress" by crushing the trade unions in the 80's, but does she get the "progressive" mantle Of course not - progressivism is only for elitist left-wingers who think that their vision is the one and only true one. Just fuck off, m'kay If you want to say that you are an environmentalist feminist multiculturalist left-leaning liberal, then ...

More grim news from IMF-Food Prices

A while ago the IMF were warning of the worst financial problems since the wall street crash. (the General public don't seem convinced when they think back to intrest rates at 20% and the unemployed of the 80s). Now they're talking of thousands of people starving. Of course the world is on edge, in Egypt, South East Asia and especial Haiti. These food rices were coursed by, Australia's bad harvest, George Bush wanting to grow Ethanol and generally and worldwide bad harvest. If there is another bad harvest it could be devastating. What's quite sick is the way much of ...

Tibet "complicated"

The Chinese ambassador in London has been complaining about how the media are representing China. Saying, "There may be complicated problems of religion mixing with politics, but people are well-fed, well-clothed and well-housed.", well they built a railway link, which has helped the economy. So perhaps they have a type of economic liberalism (but not true economic liberalism), however they lack individual liberalism, political liberalism and social liberalism (China has been abandoning their rural areas). It's not complicated! It's simple- these people lack freedom! Remember Tank Man and the Tiananmen Square protests. Those days are long gone. It's so shocking ...

For Fawkes sake...

Come on...who set Clegg up

Chips

My local Sainsburys (and if you know Bath, you know it's not a big one by any means) devotes an entire frozen aisle to selling chips. It sells 26 varieties of frozen chips. TWENTY SIX! Twenty six products that are, at base, potatoes sliced into a particular shape. Furthermore, of those 26, many are simply duplicates by a different brand - so there is McCain's straight-cut oven chips and own brand straight-cut oven chips, which are different in price by pennies. What I find most frustrating about this explosion of choice in the supermarket is that they still never manage ...

Vote Match

Now here's a good idea. Answer a short quiz, then find out how your views compare with the candidates standing for London Mayor. You'll find it on Vote Match, which has been created by the non-aligned Unlock Democracy (I had to say that in case you thought it was biased towards my own political preferences). Just one hint: for each question you have the choice of 'Agree',...

Coalition cabinet finalised in Kenya

In Kenya a deal for the cabinet has finally been struck, after political deadlock. It includes a bigger cabinet, with 40 posts! Activists have been complaining about it being a way for politicians to pay themselves more. Considering bribery makes up a third of household payments in Kenya, and government is corrupt - they're right. The deal being struck is partly due to international pressure, this pressure was around when ethnic cleansing was being reported and it helped push forward negotiations. But what were the costs 1,500 killed and 600,000 were made homeless. Homes and churches (as people seaked shelter) ...

Madonna sleeps with her Blackberry.................

...........so Doesn't everybody

Darfur

Just got an email of Nick Clegg- via e-supporters network of course. Anyway he's talking about Darfur and talks about how the UN mission needs helicopters and equipment. UN missions are always underfunded and lack equipment, our government wouldn't dream of lending the UN some of our stuff, or perhaps they'd lend some early cold war broken down machinery. (In "Shake Hands with the Devil" Romeo Dailare talks about how the UN mission in Rwanda were offered broken down British trucks). Anyway Gordon Brown was on the news today, with the whole Darfur protests, of course he wasn't there to ...

The Blog's Address!

The blog is very well read across the West End of Dundee and further afield (I had an e-mail from a lady in Australia recently, who was tracing her family's history in Dundee and looking for a bit of advice as to who to contact in the City Council...!) BUT http://frasermacpherson.blogspot.com/ is not the most memorable web address in the world, so the new and rather more memorable address is : http://www.dundeewestend.com/ (The old address continues to work OK as well!)

Busy weekend, with no rest in sight, not even for my birthday!

The weekend has been a very busy one. I must have shipped four-figures worth of leaflets myself, and of course I am just one small cog in the local election machine across Bury which has been whirring away spewing leaflets and letters out into doorsteps across the Borough. I was out in Holyrood and Besses wards as well as lots in St Mary’s, and if you saw a bedraggled person swimming across Prestwich at high tide during the downpour yesterday lunchtime, grimly holding onto some mulch that resembled a Focus leaflet, that would’ve been me. But I’m dry now. Just. Being ...

I try not to post memes on this journal

... because, you know, OMG!SRSBIZNESS BLOG! But this one has such creative questions, I urge anyone with a passing geekery to do it. And yes, I did sit and vacillate for five minutes over the which starship captain are you question... I'm a nineties geek! {[info]} elliptic_eye, I liked because you have to actually think of answers and justify them: Who's your Fantasy Tardis Team Fantasy Eleven: Kulvinder Ghir. {[info]} elliptic_eye on this one. Drawing my team of writers from Time and Space, I would like to continue with the PJ Hammond and the Joe Lidster and the Moffatness, but ...

Boris Johnsons after dinner circuit -nice work if you can get it!

I was out campaigning in my own ward today- Mildmay, when I bumped into a supporter who asked for several of my posters for his house. This person, a real pillar of the local community, told me that he thought that Boris was - "the greediest person" he had come across. He was really very angry, and even used the F word! Intrigued, I asked him to elaborate. He told me that he was involved in a leading charity, and a while ago, they had invited Boris Johnson as a guest speaker at their annual dinner, at a very posh ...

Why the slaughter of Labour (not so) innocents should be a warning to us all

We're on our way back from the North East, having spent the day campaigning in Durham. As in Northumberland, the highly unpopular imposition of a unitary authority across Durham has been the cause of much infighting amongst Labour councillors, many of whom have lost their seats through the abolition of the district councils, slashing the number of available positions by as much as 60%.

76th Annual White Ensign Dinner.

After the sea cadets, We attended the Bath White Ensign Association Annual Dinner 76th Anniversary it was a great night, it was lovely to see them all again as we were there when I was Deputy Mayor, we had a lovely dinner when we had speeches we had a heckler join in so we called him noisy' which went down very well, even with him. When we finished, he came over and spoke to me and he liked my...

Ed Balls: The webs wet dream

Mock Pity the poor Children’s Secretary Ed Balls this week for he has been subjected to two web-based attacks. First up is the flash game A Kick in the Balls. Inspired by reports that Jack Straw threatened to punch Brown’s protege, it’s a fantastically satisfying, if very simple, beat-’em-up (hat-tip: Shane Greer). Following hot on its heels, [...]

I hate to say I told you so, but...

You know all that anti-terrorist legislation I keep bleating on about That doesn't actually appear to be catching many terrorists You know what they are ACTUALLY using it for Spying on a THREE YEAR OLD. Because, yeah, we have totally non-power-mad non-autocratic people in power in this country. * headdesk headdesk headdesk * FFS, people. We need to get rid of these tossers. In other news: Nick Clegg answers question well shock! Yes, in the Torygraph quiz dealie he did, he answered a question thusly:What question are you never asked and most want to answer "How many noughts do you ...

Shuffling deckchairs

Well this is sensible isn't it Do I detect a certain amount of frustration and a feeling of powerlessness amongst Welsh Assembly Ministers Perhaps they do not have enough to do that they have to start interfering with local government as well. Maybe, they just do not understand that local democracy means making decisions locally and Councils being accountable to local people for their decisions. Either way, the last thing that local government needs is another reorganisation to distract them from delivering services. If they are struggling to meet the Welsh Government's targets now then see what happens when you ...

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #60

Welcome to the 60th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Lets get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: 1. Will the real Lib Dem leader please step [...]

Gordon Browns Tony Blair Impression (Video now embedded!)

I can finally embed the video of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Tony Blair impression on Fox’s American Idol (prop. Rupert Murdoch) this week: So uncanny Rory Bremner would be proud (and children should be hiding behind the sofa).

Stoli ad - inspired by visionaries

It is a while since I comment on an advert - previous ones have been the PG Tips Monkey, Paddington Bear for Marmite and the Cadbury Gorilla (bit of a fluffy theme going on!) But a definitely unfluffy one I have just seen is for Stolichnaya. Brilliant imagery, including Lenin... I first drunk Stoli in Moscow the then USSR, it was pretty hard to get in the UK then (the only place I knew that sold

Video of the Day - Dawkins edition

Check out the rapping Dicky D below.

Ed Balls bans journalists from his website

File this in the bizarre but true category: take a look at Ed Balls’s website, and in particular his terms and conditions for use of the site: The User undertakes: (a) that they will only view the Information for their own private purpose and it [sic] will not publish, reproduce, store or retransmit any of the Information [...]

Is the terror threat to Britain growing

Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary, April 2008: there are “30 active plots” and “since the beginning of 2007, there have been 57 people convicted on terrorist plots.” Peter Clarke the head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch and national co-ordinator for anti-terrorist investigations, July 2006: Scotland Yard involved in 70 anti-terrorist investigations and over 60 people facing [...]

Nick Clegg on Darfur

Dear Cllr Macpherson Think back to 13 April 2003. Five years ago. British Airways had just announced it was scrapping Concorde. We were all of us getting on quietly with our lives. And in Sudan, millions of lives were beginning to be torn apart. In Sudan, every one of those 1800 days that has passed has been the same: fear, hunger, and suffering. There are children, now of school age, who have known nothing but the life of a refugee. This must end. We must focus the world's attention on Darfur and end this crisis. That's why today I'm speaking ...

Perth Road closure concerns

Following concerns raised at the weekend by Dundee West MP, Jim McGovern, regarding the proposed closure of Perth Road by Scotland Gas Networks starting 21st April (click on headline to read the original article about the proposed SGN works), I have contacted both Scotland Gas Networks and its contractor Turriff, seeking clarification regarding assurances previously given by them about informing and consulting with the local community. Along with City Council Planning & Transportation officers, I met with Scotland Gas Networks and their contractor towards the end of last month regarding their proposed works in Perth Road. Work like this over ...

All Blacks looking good into the stretch

The Cornish All Blacks recorded only their second away victory yesterday, but it was their second in a row and the side has now climbed out of the relegation places for the first time this year. Yesterday's victory was all about defensive power. No fewer than four times, Moseley had the ball in the red zone for concerted efforts only to see try saving tackles, players held up over the line and simply no way through. Their one-dimensional offence was simply not good enough to beat the likes of Larry Ovens, Tinus du Plessis and, particularly, Tim Collier, the on-loan ...

Let's get physical

Or: It's not a sprint; it's a marathon. It's not just Brian Paddick pounding the streets today. For all those campaigners, delivering and canvassing in the run-up to elections on May 1st: You may be considering whether to take your tired limbs on the campaign trail again today. You've already put in a lot of miles, countless doorsteps, and met the odd dog.(I met a very odd dog while delivering in Camden yesterday. A fox was being kept in a tiny cage in someone's front garden, with no water and a couple of half-eaten birds for company. It just stared ...

Why Gordon Brown is reminding me more and more of John Major

Chancellor takes over as Prime Minister. Has brief burst of popularity. And then it all goes wrong. Sounds familiar A big problem for Gordon Brown is that he now seems firmly fixed in the media and publics mind as someone who took over as Prime Minister, failed and is now in trouble. Once youve got a [...]

Three great local organisations

On Friday, a woman came to my advice surgery. Odiri started and runs and inspires an organisation called Kori. Kori works with young people - mainly from ethnic minorities - to improve their skills, language, vocabulary and general education - but extending this help on through to their performance and artistic activities. I was really impressed with the work they do - it is about creating leaders and inspiration and aspiration. But it is such a struggle for genuinely excellent groups like Kori to keep going and to get bits of funding. That's what makes me mad about Ken Livingstone ...

How not to report an opinion poll

You’re a Sunday newspaper. You commission a poll from YouGov. It shows the Conservatives back up to the level of support in an opinion poll that you commissioned from YouGov in December. So how do you report it If you’re the Sunday Times, you report it as the highest Conservative rating for since 1992. Oops.

Comings, goings

In Gosport, two Labour Party stalwarts - Mervin Bradley and Paul Keeley - have joined the Liberal Democrats and are standing in May’s elections, along with the area’s former UKIP Parliamentary candidate, John Bowles. Meanwhile, in Shropshire Cllr David Gibbon has switched from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives.

Terror Threat "Severe" and "Growing"

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has given an interview to the News of the World in which she describes the terrorist threat as "severe" and "growing". And her, um… evidence: "We now face a threat level that is severe. It’s not getting any less, it’s actually growing. There are 2,000 individuals they are monitoring. There are [...]

"They are quite sensitive about this kind of thing"

In a new collection of essays published by the Fawcett Society on the issue of ethnicity and gender, Dawn Butler MP describes how she was insulted by the Conservative MP for Wells. The Observer reports: Butler describes how former Tory minister David Heathcote-Amory confronted her as she went to sit in the members' section on the terrace. 'He actually said to me: "What are you doing here This is for members only." 'He then proceeded to ask me: "Are you a member" And I said: "Yes I am, are you" And he turned around and said to his colleague: "They're ...

Are you a twitcher

Every morning I log on to the Into Stone website just to see what’s going on and to keep up to date with topics on the Forum. The other day I came across a posting from a Stone resident who has insatlled a webcam into a blue tits nest in his garden and is transmitting live pictures of the birds building their nest. A real gem! Take a look at the site here to see the latest pictures and for details of how the camera was set up.

The Relentless Schedule

Well here I am on a Sunday morning when I should be out delivering. But I'm taking the time out to reorganise the boot in my car which has been used as a dumping ground during the week for all sorts of canvassing paraphernalia - and anyway - I just want a rest! So how has the week gone. Apart from the day job in the hospital which is always busy it's been busy,busy,busy - so no surprise there! Out every night all over the patch - Mells, Faulkland, Rode, Coleford and then Rode again canvassing on successive nights - ...

Proud to be...a political traveller

Councillor Ian Proud of Newcastle City Council, has, shall we say, a colourful history. He started off many years ago as a Labour councillor. Then he defected to the Lib Dems. Not content there, he decided to return to the Labour fold, though by then, Labour's ranks on the City Council were somewhat depleted. But Labour's welcome did not last long. Mumbling of discontent about his performance

A tale of two concerts

On Friday Janet and I thoroughly enjoyed the BBC Philarmonic Orchestra concert in the Victoria Hall in Hanley. We have season tickets and have sat in the same seats for years. We really are so lucky in this area. The Stoke Festival season brings orchestras such as the BBC, the CBSO and the Halle to Hanley on a regular basis - culture on our doorstep! The Victoria Hall was, of course, refurbished at considerable expense some years ago and is now an outstanding venue. Sir Malcolm Sargent was heard to say that it was his favourite venue and Sir Adrian ...

Those two Labour hypocrites at it again

David Anderson and David Clelland, endured by Gateshead as two of the Labour MPs for the borough, are at it again. They have just put in new entries for the Westminster Hypocrite of the Year Awards 2008. Both have put in the same entry, demanding a "rethink" on the doubling of the 10p income tax starter rate. This duo of Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber voted for this very same tax rise just 3

New London Poll shows Johnson ahead of Livingstone

It looks increasingly like the election for London Mayor may come down to who ever can get their voters out on the day as a new poll indicates that Boris Johnson has overtaken Ken Livingstone again. Taking in to account second preferences, Johnson is on 51% and Ken is on 49%. Obviously there is a small margin of error to take in to account, but you would have to imagine that the Tories have an advantage over Labour in having motivated activists and motivated voters who will come and and vote in greater numbers than Labour. There is already a ...

How did you get here Referee Lee Probert

Every week I like to have a look at my blog statistics and see what old stories people are reading because a search engine has linked to it, This week's interesting search saw a number of people look up the "Lee Probert Referee". One of the joys of blogging is that you can make people aware of things that they might not otherwise know about. But when it comes to football, it allows people to scrutinise a group of people who seem completely unaccountable and oblivious to the effect of the decisions, and these people are referees. I think my ...

Will a dead badger become the new symbol of devolution in Wales

On Friday I was circulated the copy of a stock letter to be sent out by Welsh Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians with regards to the Labour-Plaid Cymru's proposed attempt to control bovine TB by culling badgers. The letter stressed that, 'the Welsh Liberal Democrats support an integrated approach to tackling TB which involves the identification, containment and eradication of this disease, with the long term aim of eradicating Bovine TB through the use of vaccines. In light of this I welcome the commitment by the Welsh Assembly Government to pursue a programme for the eradication of TB in Wales.' It then ...

Don't blame the current Prime Minister

The current Prime Minister cannot really be blamed for the financial mess the country is in. That is because these things develop over a number of years. Instead the responsibility should lie with the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Treasury was run with a concentration on short term tricks which caused long term damage for 10 years. The raid on pensions is still playing out. The

Still in England, for the time being, anyway

Heading ever northward, we travelled up to Berwick-upon-Tweed, where we were met by my colleague from the Lords, Diana Maddock, known in these parts as Cllr Mrs Beith. Diana is not standing for the new unitary Northumberland Council, so our first canvassing session was with her (hopefully) successor, David Wilson. Having dealt with the legislation in Parliament, I was interested to see how the move to the new unitary authority was working out in practice. In the south of the county, Labour selection has turned into a bit of a bloodbath, with disappointed former councillors running as independents. The chaos ...

Freedman brace sinks the Blues

Is Dougie Freedman the new Bobby Collins The veteran Crystal Palace striker has certainly made a huge impact since he was brought in on loan at a time when Leeds United's season seemed to be falling apart. His influence on the team has been dramatic and reminds us of the late great Bobby Collins who inspired Don Revie's young team in the early 1960's. Dougie's deft touches and unselfish play have made a huge difference. His second-half brace of goals that sunk Carlisle could help ensure that United at least make the play-offs. Gary McAllister should consider making him skipper ...

Pratchett and Accolades

From the Telegraph today: "For years I have been asking why one of the greatest satirists who ever lived - in this country or any other - is consistently ignored by those who ought to be lionising him. I'm talking about Terry Pratchett, who may have the financial rewards commensurate with his talent - but where are the Booker prizes, or the Whitbreads Where are the literary accolades Whenever

A bureaucrat's response to artistic criticism

I really knew that I should have researched more on the haiku form before I blogged yesterday. On the other hand, canvassing in Alnwick seemed to be more immediately relevant. At least the erudite nature of my readership is apparent. So, here is a response to the anonymous Tory leafletter in inner London... Tory Boris fan Get used to some frustration Johnson is a fraud

Doctor Who: Volcano of Doom

Sat watching Doctor Who ranting at the computer while doing so. Here there be spoilers... 18:48 sitting down for Who and annoyed with Tate already. Can I really stick this series # 18:50 on the other hand, the pretty girl in red is rather nice. I'm such a goth. # 18:51 prophecy of the blue box Where've I heard that before... # 18:53 crazed art collector, a pervy teenage son and an appeal to the household gods. Cliché or actual plot # 18:57 well, there's the crazed soothsayerempire of Pompeii Possible I suppose, but fixed point in time and all ...

Regularising Undocumented Workers

All four main London Mayoral candidates this week endorsed a call for the regularisation of undocumented workers in Britain. This issue is of huge concern to the large Latin American community in London, in particular. There are estimated to be 300,000 Brazilians and maybe 250,000 Spanish-speaking Latin Americans in Britain, the majority of them in [...]

Deja Vu - Iran "aggresses" the US in the Gulf

Oh God. Not again. The US Navy has claimed that three small Iranian boats "taunted" USS Typhoon. Firstly, grow up. Find better language than "taunted". It sounds so fucking school yard its painful. Secondly, remember last time this happened The US released a dodgy video, the Iranians countered and so US intelligence invented a story about the "Filipino Monkey". I did a bit of digging and wrote about it at some length. Of course boats, planes, indeed any sort of military personel will "taunt", goad, piss off, irk, and attempt to rile any vaguely hostile opposite number. So big deal. ...

Sunday 13th April 2008

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