LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 27th April 2008

Leafletting at bluebell time

The last few days I have been in a flurry of leafletting - for Brian Paddick in Westminster and for local council candidates in Colchester. The Greens are intervening erratically in both places. In London they are encouraging supporters to vote Labour in the mayoral contest, which is odd given Labour's dismal environmental record, while in Colchester they have adopted a strategy that seems brilliantly designed to defeat their own objectives by leaving the Tories in control. I was leafletting in north Colchester's Highwoods ward, currently represented by Independents. The area was once a royal hunting forest, of which the ...

Simon Bellwood - The Whistleblower

Another blog related to the Jersey child abuse investigation. Simon Bellwood writes: Those of you who have been following the alleged child abuse scandals in Jersey may be aware that I was employed as manager at the Greenfields secure centre and that I was sacked after whistleblowing.I have decided to write this blog to tell my side of the story. My employment tribunal was settled after the States of Jersey had heard just a day and a half of my evidence.

If Brown was my boss...

It would mean I would probably have slipped into an alternative parallel universe, most likely a temp or an exploited intern - gaining the job suspiciously through 'a friend of a friend of a friend' whilst getting drunk in the red lion. Gordon's aides would conduct double rounds of false interviewing when really the job had already been promised to me. Failed candidates would realise that they had wasted their time and money. The realisation they were never going to work for Gordo would hit them as they swiped their oyster card at Westminster tube station and they would settle ...

Leicestershire small pipes

There was an article in the Guardian last Saturday saying that Scottish bagpipes as we know them are a 19th century invention. I did not find that so surprising. All that shortbread tin version of the Highlands is a 19th century invention, isn't it? But I was fascinated by a passing reference to the "Leicestershire small pipes". A variety of bagpipes native to this county? It seems so, but I cannot find any history of the instrument on the net. There is a modern maker, but he lives in Edinburgh.

Back to business

OK, time to get back into blogging action. I had a good time on holiday in Italy. Lake Maggiore is a fantastic place to visit which I can highly recommend. To the right is the view I had of Isola Bella from my hotel balcony in Baveno, which is one of the nicest towns on the lake - less of a tourist trap than its neighbour Stresa, but still pretty and welcoming. I also spent a few nights in Milan, which was worth seeing, although I wouldn't rate it as one of my favourite cities. But the Duomo is amazing, ...

Humphrey Lyttelton and philosophy

A nice observation from Kieran Healy on Crooked Timber: I first came across Lyttelton not on Radio 4, but in Peter Winch's The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy, of all places.He pops up there in an anecdote showing why some kinds of social practice are in principle not amenable to precise predictions derived from some (putative) social physics. Lyttelton was once asked if he knew where jazz was going, and replied "If I knew where jazz was going, I'd be there already."

BBC website rewrites political history

The BBC has a story about Harriet Harman's blog being hacked, with the result that it briefly announced her defection to the Tories. At the time of writing it is still down, but Guido Fawkes has a picture of how it looked. Further down the BBC story we are told: Last year, Conservative housing spokesman Grant Shapps was targeted by hackers who broke into his YouTube account to post a message under his name saying the party could not win the Ealing Southall by-election.Nonsense. The message posted under Shapps' name purported to come from a Lib Dem activist and said ...

Leafletting and allotment before the rain

David and I delivered a couple of patches in Whickham and Sunniside this morning where we don't have people to delivery for us as part of our network. We got around the lot in just over an hour. There was an attempt at rain but nothing serious. So we were free then to hit the allotment! We had someone in a couple of weeks ago to rotovate it. Cheating I know but we would never have had time to

Conservative arrested over proxy vote fiddle allegations

This time it’s Hampshire where the police are taking a close interest in the election tactics of Conservative Party members: POLICE have charged a political activist with attempting to rig one of Thursday’s local elections. John Hall, who has been campaigning for the Conservatives in Whiteley, is accused of applying for a proxy vote without the person’s [...]

Moving on

A non stop day with a common theme, but central was the Church Service to give thanks for and celebrate the life of St Marks Church, Fairfield. Sadly this Church was having too many difficulties to continue, and they had all decided that the best thing to do was to close the building and the congregation to move to Holy Trinity Church on Upsall Grove. The Church building used to be in my Elm...

The Small Faces: Little Tin Soldier

A live recording from Belgian TV made on 2 March 1968, or so the person who has posted this on Youtube says. I have always liked "Itchycoo Park" best among Small Faces songs, but my taste is broadening and the presence of the iconic 1960s figure P. P. Arnold on stage with the boys makes this special. Two more treats for Small Faces fans...A 16-year-old Steve Marriott playing drums in the film Live It Up. Note too the presence of Joe Meek protege Heinz Burt on vocals and a young David Hemmings on guitar. Stanley Unwin performing part of his ...

Never knew love like this before - Stephanie Mills ( Remix)

Totally irrelevant to everything else on this blog, but driving back from visiting constituents in Taylor's Lane today, this came on the radio. Reminds me of being about 14! Brilliant!

The dreaded vote of confidence

In football there is a well known phrase "the dreaded vote of confidence. This relates to the board of a football club usually having a board meeting on a Monday where they give the manager the vote of confidence, only to sack him after they lose the next game. The are strange parallels to this currently in the Labour Party where ministerial colleagues of Gordon Brown (as well as some sycophantic journalists if Mariella Frostrup's sad defence on the Andrew Marr programme this morning shows) rally round Gordon Brown assuring us there is no question mark hanging over his continued ...

Tory charged with proxy voting offences

A Conservative activist in Whiteley Ward of Winchester City Council has been charged with a number of offences related to false proxy voting. The Daily Echo has the story. Meon Valley Lib Dem ppc Liz Leffman has more.

Slaughter of the Nancies

Today I'm mostly feeling very ill, though managed to get out with Richard and Millennium for a secret mission; curled up on the sofa for the TV equivalent of comfort food, though (well, for me that's really Doctor Who, but hey), with the results programme for I'd Do Anything. We've been watching it intermittently, in part for John Barrowman, in part because it's a good musical (I was once a terrible undertaker at school), and in part for that reality TV buzz of extermination. Tonight I'm typing those unusual words: I agree with Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Bah. Keisha was brilliant throughout. ...

I have no words for this:

Austrian man keeps daughter locked in cellar for 24 years, fathers seven children by her, and his wife didn't know what was going on. Like {[info]} bagfish says, When I hear things like this, I sometimes wonder whether humanity would actually be better wiped from the face of the earth, we have such a capacity for evil and wrongdoing. I feel sick now.

What will I do next ?

As Civilian life beckons what do Politicians do after elected politics? Local Councillors don't get to do the lecture circuit, build memorial Libraries or write there memoirs. There are no Historians to interested in there legacies so why bother polishing it ? Well I have a new Job which for obvious reasons I'm not going to blog about. Its with Headingley Development Trust and all I'll do is give people the link and say no more. www.headingleydevelopmentrust.org.uk I have become a School Governor for the first time at two schools in Horsforth. I will be doing some voluntary work with ...

Unity Day Fundraiser

I suspect this is one for da kids but a Fundraiser is being held at Burley Liberal Club on May the 10th 10pm to 2.30am with Tickets at �3 more details at dj_antix@hotmail.co.uk. The more culturally engaged will get the reference to Frequency FM whoes DJ's are performing. On a serious note what ever this music is like the Burley Liberal Club is an undiscovered gem and well worth a visit.

Tagged, and by my own fiance too

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. 2. Each player answers the questions about himself [or indeed herself]. 3. [because if you're not checking your f-list/blog roll/incoming links you're crap and off topic comments are rude]. So, to business: What I was doing ten years ago: 1998. I was in my second year at uni. Living at Newholme, which is apparently now a guest house, with Ian. Enjoying Land Law (why yes, I am weird). Being on the (sadly defeated) University Challenge team *shakes angry fist at the Durham posh boys* Five things on my To-Do ...

Zimbabwe

It was great to hear The Archbishop of York John Sentamu his morning speaking so strongly on the problems in Zimbabwe. Some good news - the electoral commission has confirmed the counts so the MDC won 99 seats and beat Mugabe's party. Now we need the confirmation that Mugabe lost the presedential vote. There is clearly no need for a run-off - why else delay the announcement...

The Brown narrative

"BROWN TRIUMPHS AT LISTENING" I am sure Team Gordon would love to see that headline. I am also sure that they haven't placed a bet on getting it any time soon. As far as I know, the dithering epitaph was started by David Cameron. It was then repeated regularly by the Conservatives. The media picked it up around the time of the general election that never was. After that events came thick and fast that meant that the word could be applied liberally. Brown keeps saying he is listening and making long-term decisions that are best for Britain. Clearly, the ...

Day 2671: This Never Happened

Thursday: An air-raid, that Israel refused to admit to sending, destroyed a building, of which Syria refutes the very existence, containing a nuclear reactor, that North Korea categorically denies having anything to do with. So everyone is in agreement. I believe this is called DÉTENTE. You know, another advantage of developing the technology for RENEWABLE ENERGY - wind power and solar power - is that you CAN give it to countries in the Middle East so that THEY do not have to worry about energy security and YOU don't have to worry about them developing secret ATOMIC BOMBS to EXPLODE ...

Brian and Boris Woo the Latinos

Several hundred members of South London’s large Latin American community filled the main hall at the Elephant and Castle Leisure Centre this afternoon, to hear Brian Paddick and Boris Johnson make their mayoral pitch. Brian went down well with his observation that he left the Metropolitan Police because of his unhappiness over the handling of the [...]

Today's top cow fact

The first cow to be milked on a plane was called Ollie (a Guernsey, since you ask).

Encouraging news from Zimbabwe

A partial recount of the Zimbabwean parliamentary election votes has failed to overturn the MDC majority. It now looks virtually certain that the majority will stand. This is incredible news. I assumed the votes had been taken away for Farmer Mugabe's shredder treatment. But the Election authority is proving to have some independence of action. I only hope this now becomes infectious and they

Highlights from the Treaty of Versailles, 1919

The first, and possibly the last, in a new series: Article 246 It's a good one.

Biofuels v Food

The logical connective "or" doesn't translate well in English. You can have an inclusive disjunction or an inclusive injunction. The previous sentence is an example of an exclusive disjunction. The debate over biofuels is a case where policymakers are trying to figure out whether it is an inclusive or exclusive disjunction: is it possible to have biofuels and affordable food (inclusive) or is it one or the other (exclusive). Unfortunately, the debate - like virtually every other arena of environmental policy - is dogged by information asymmetries. How nice it would be to have a "view from nowhere" and get ...

All Blacks kneel before Saints and fall to Div 2

The Cornish All Blacks were simply outclassed by Northampton yesterday on their second trip to Franklins Gardens in a month. But the expected loss was not the bitterest pill for the Launceston side. Wins by both Sedgeley Park and Pertemps Bees confirmed relegation in bottom slot and even the chance of a reprieve if Coventry go into administration has gone. The manner of the Northampton win was no fluke. They are not just a team which deserved to win the league title. But their 35 and 0 winning season demonstrates that they will be genuine contenders in the Premiership next ...

Number of families in temporary accommodation soars

New figures show that since 1997, when Labour came to power nationally, the number of households living in temporary accommodation in Haringey has soared from 2,322 to 5,447 - the second highest number in London and four times the London average.This extraordinary increase in the number of people living in temporary accommodation, often in terrible and run down states, is one of Labour's biggest failings.Not only is Haringey failing to find decent housing for these often vulnerable people, but my casework postbag offers evidence of the terrible state of many of these temporary homes. Haringey Council needs to own up ...

Day 2669: Spink or Swim?

Tuesday: So the UKPNuts have gained their first MP. Which is nice for them. He is Mr Bob Stink MP, who was kicked out of the Conservatories for resigning; or possibly resigned from the Conservatories because they kicked him out. He dumped her; no she dumped him. There appears to be some confusion. Anyway, as an HONOURABLE member, Mr Bob has decided to represent the three-thousand four-hundred and thirty-one people who voted for UKPNuts in his Castle Point constituency at the last election. Rather than the twenty-two thousand one-hundred and eighteen poor deluded fools who thought they wanted a Conservatory. ...

Labour LPs fear Brown has become poll liability

...so screams the Observer front page. Disappointingly, there are no equivalent revelations concerning bears, woods, popes, balconies etc inside the same newspaper.

Ken To "Save Post Office & Work With LibDems"

Ken Livingstone was recently quoted in the Ham& High newspaper as saying that he would save our threatened post offices if he were to be re-elected. But nothing appeared on his website or in his campaign literature confirming that pledge. So I wrote to him asking for confirmation. Here's what he said in reply: Dear Alexis, .ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } .ExternalClass BODY.EC_hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma } Many thanks for your e-mail. I believe that the proposal to close 171 post offices in London is totally unacceptable. Post offices are ...

Doctor Who's peak oil moment

Doctor Who explains why some solutions to Climate Change won't help with Peak Oil: The two problems are closely related, and responses need to be carefully evaluated in terms of both (oh, and with land use, too) Here's a quick list of some possible solutions, with their impacts (+ positive, - negative, = neutral) on the three problems. Peak Oil Climate Change Land Use 2nd Gen biofuels + + - Solar Arrays + + - Wind Power + + = CO2 Scrubbing = + = Reduce meat consumption + + + Coal to liquids + - =

Shouldn't today's polls make Conservatives criticise Lord Ashcroft?

I’m puzzled by some of the coverage in today’s News of the World / ICM poll of voters in Labour - Conservative marginals. The Conservative share of the vote in that poll is 40%. At the last general election their share of the vote in those seats was 38% (assuming that the same seats have been polled [...]

Who would Kant Vote for on 1st May?

I actually don't really know the answer to this one. Kant was a fairly conservative sort and might have been tempted over for the guffawing beanbag that is Boris Johnson. What I thought I'd do is look at how Kantian the three main contenders are. I've also drawn up a tiny Kantian manifesto for London (post to follow). Ken claims that his priorities are transport, crime, housing, the environment and community relations. Tackling climate change seems pretty important thing for the Kantian because it is a perfect example of treating others as merely a means to an end. He has ...

Ming for Speaker?

Today’s News of the World reports, Commons Speaker Michael Martin has told friends he will quit at the next general election … Ex-Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell is favourite to replace Mr Martin.

The leafets go on and on and on and on and on

I am a bit damp at present, having just returned from leafleting in a downpour. Obviously now that I am back inside, the sun is shinning, but that’s just the typical fun God likes to have with me. With just three days after today left until polling day, it’s full pelt for the Bury Lib Dems as we campaign for the local elections. As well as Mary D’Albert in St Mary’s, long-standing and hard working Councillors Ann Garner and Vic D’Albert are standing for re-election in Sedgley and Holyrood wards respectively, and we have candidates in all the other wards ...

Politics, Football, Shirley Williams, Julian H, Censorship, Unimaginative Blog Headlines

Like the classical everyman, I spent a portion of yesterday's sunny afternoon sitting in the launderette reading The Liberator. The owners of the launderette have become accustomed to this and have stopped with all that 'if you're not here to wash clothes, please leave' nonsense. It is, really, the most conducive setting for a Liberator reader. On page five there is a story that I will synopsise: Baroness Shirley Williams was on a train to the Liverpool conference, caught in the same carriage as 'loud, obstreperous and foul-mouthed football fans'.My attention was caught by this as not only am I ...

The fixer speaks

I am currently looking through the programme for the Hay Festival at the end of May to see which events I want to buy tickets for. The on-line booking facility is not yet available so it looks like I may have to rely on snail-mail. One talk that is looking more and more enticing takes place at 11.30am on Sunday 1st June. The entrance fee of �6 is looking increasingly like good value for money to listen to Lord Levy talk to John Harris about his political career and his memoir 'A Question of Honour'. All of the Sunday papers ...

An attempt at content: meme time

Still not shaken my block on writing Actual Real Contenttm, so in an attempt to write something that isn't linkspam, I'll do this. that bastard Duncan tagged me for it anyway, so might as well. 1. The rules of the game get posted on the beginning. 2. Each player answers the rules about himself [or indeed herself]. 3. At the end of the post, the player tags five people and posts their names as a link then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read his [or ...

Sick of these new labour apologists

I’ve mentioned before about Mariela Frostrup - i think she represents everything bad about new labour. Don’t get me wrong she does a good book programme - but on politics she doesn’t seem to have a clue. First, she’s well-off and lives as far away as possible from a Council estate. All she experiences is her [...]

Harriet Harman's Brain is Missing. Can Anyone help?

Apparently, not content with forgetting to declare donations and an inability to hold the same thought for more than a few minutes, Harriet Harman's brain has told her that it's a really good idea to use the following passwords for secure, safe access to her own blog:"Harriet" and "Harman"(listen to her make the craven admission on radio four here) * headdesk * How the hell did this woman get to the position of power she is in? Can't she see that by being so utterly dim and incompetent, she's making the argument FOR all the misogynists who say that women ...

One John Rentoul article, two questions

It is hardly a surprise to read a piece from John Rentoul in The Independent painting a bleak picture for the Liberal Democrats, but there are two particular puzzles about today’s article: no one has cast real votes in real ballot boxes since the Sedgefield and Ealing Southall by-elections Err, local council by-elections anyone? If in your [...]

Labour using the power of money

It doesn't take long to find the cost of the full-page advert which Neath Port Labour took out in the Evening Post yesterday (Saturday). Northcliffe Media publishes its rates on the Web. It's just over �2,850. Add to that the cost of two centrally-produced glossy leaflets which individual candidates are putting out, and it is clear that Labour is trying to spend its way to victory, in the American way. Peter Hain's unsuccessful bid for the Labour Party deputy leadership should warn them that throwing large sums of money at an election campaign is no guarantee of success. Such an ...

If Cameron is the answer, what was the question?

David Cameron was interviewed by Andrew Marr this morning, demonstrating, if demonstration was necessary, why there are so many soft Tories. I confess to being surprised, if you looked at the polls you would expect to be encountering hard Tories at every other door. The opposite is the case, in fact I have spoken to many who are saying - well, I normally vote Tory, but I'm not so sure this time. Cameron, despite the polls, is certainly not setting middle Britain alight. His crocodile tears for the poor are not sending those on poverty pay rushing into his arms. ...

The perils of being school governor...

Reading last night's blog entry for Chris Jenkinson, about excluding a pupil made me want to leave a comment at the end...however I can't unless I register with wordpress...so I thought I would ramble on in a blog post of my own for a bit. As a school governor myself I decided ultimately (after christmas when I got more into the role) that I wouldn't blog about my the activities of my fellow governors or pupils or teachers. For me it's a separate sphere to the one I inhabit when I'm on Lib Dem blogs. I imagined walking into a ...

Photoshop Disasters

Uncovering the truly awful commercial uses of the blend, clone and other digital manipulation tools in Adobe Photoshop is the blog Photoshop Disasters. Their uncovering of Red Bull’s Hungarian advert caught my eye: Red Bull gives you a bigger mouth as well as wings it would seem.

A government built on sand

Easily the most cringe-worthy event of last week was the utterly disastrous appearance of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie on Newsnight Scotland on Wednesday night, in which she fell at the first hurdle in trying to defend the SNP government's Scottish Futures Non-Trust, the smoke and mirrors the SNP claims will replace PPP capital funding and provide Scotland with hundreds of new schools in the next few years. Christina's frankly hilarious "performance" is neatly summed up by Atticus in the Sunday Times today: "Car crash of the week was the toe-curling appearance by nationalist MSP Christina McKelvie on Newsnight Scotland on ...

Lib/Lab coalition...on the opposition benches?

Controversial memoirs by Lord Levy, former aide to Tony Blair have been published in the Daily Mail and reported this morning in the Observer. While the Mail gets stuck into the speculation that Carole Caplin gave Tony massages when he was alone at Chequers, the Observer focuses on Tony's hatred of Gordon: "Levy said Blair still believed he could have won a fourth election, adding: 'But Gordon? "He can't defeat Cameron," Tony told me. Blair believed Cameron had major strengths - political timing, a winning personality and a natural ability to communicate to Middle England that Gordon would be unable ...

Wider blog ...!

You'll have noticed the blog is now a bit wider, with an extra column. It took a bit of playing about with the blog template, but we appear to have got there in the end!

Levy does Brown a favour

Lord Levy, the man who brought us "My Coo ca choo", says there is a lack of strong leadership under Brown. Gordon ought to thank Levy for reminding us of the "strong leadership" of his mate Blair, against which comparison, Brown is a breath of fresh air.

Bill Clinton kills Hillary's 3am red phone argument

Bill Clinton seeks to excuse his wife's "mispeaking" about her trip to Bosnia by saying that "60 year olds are apt to confusion when they are tired". Ah. That kills the 3am red phone argument stone dead then, doesn't it?

Unity Day Community Meeting

My engagement in community work in Leeds 6 began with Unity Day and it will end with it. Having a bit more time after May the first I went to the Unity Day planning meeting on wednesday and signed up to all sorts of fundraising tasks. The phrase grass roots could have been invented for the meeting. It was held in Wrangthorne Parish Church Hall ( OT but I was recently able to push through a �5k grant for redecoration and refurbishment from the Council) which could do with a lick of paint but is a much loved venue just ...

Eagles suprise everybody in NFL draft

The Eagles surprise everybody by trading their first two draft picks. Moving out of round 1 by trading the 19th overal pick and then trading the second round pick they aquired with their first move. However, they have address some signifcant needs on the Defence and by adding a promising wide receiver and return man [...]

Sunday 27th April 2008

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