LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Monday 28th April 2008

Imponderables

If life is like a box of chocolates, what do I do? I'm allergic to the bloody stuff... Why does the FFW always clash with the Mela? Why is Dyslexia so hard to spell? Why does {[info]} elephantfeed shop at Morrisons? (Yeah, I'd recognise those Lazy Taties anywhere - Sontaran Battle Group my arse - although YAY for the Mat-made press pass ;)) Why, on this day of all days, did two chavs think it was funny to speed their car up as Mat crossed the road, narrowly missing running him over on purpose Where's Deep Thought when you need ...

Lib Dem's set to overtake Labour in opinion polls ?

With labour increasingly looking like they will come bottom in the popular vote amongst the three main parties on Thursday, a new opinion poll from Communicate Research (reported via Iain Dale) shows Labour on 26% and the Lib Dems on 20%. This shows Labour down 5% and the Lib Dems up 3%. If Labour suffer a real trouncing on Thursday and the news continues to get worse there is a real chance that the next set of opinion polls could have the Lib Dems in second place and Labour in a real crisis.

Fantastic Films at the National Media Museum

I've mentioned the Fantastic Films Weekend a few times recently, but today the National Media Museum put the new website live so we have some details: This year the line-up includes the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse double-bill, the ultimate Cushing/Lee pairing in Dracula, Daughters of Darkness, Eyes without a Face, Blood on Satan's Claw and John Carpenter's The Thing in 70mm with an exclusive video introduction from Carpenter himself. Our guests will be cult filmmakers Harry Kümel, Peter Duffell, Piers Haggard and Robert Fuest.Now, I'm not a massive horror film fan (because most horror films don't involve space ships), but I can ...

Ken and Friends World Tour

Do as they say, not as they do

My first meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Partnership at Teesdale House on Teesdale (site of Mrs Thatcher's walk in the wilderness). Obesity strategy on the agenda, and what do I find ? a buffet with pastry, fried bits, thick bread sandwiches, cream cakes. There were some small chicken pieces and bits of fruit and I snaffled a few bits of garnish, but really! I made the point and I wait to...

Sitting next to Rory Bremner

Ha! Well, that was a surreal experience sandwiched between Rory Bremner and Iain Dale on TV. (He's rather funny that Rory Bremner). I'm just back from the Sky News Unplugged session after having been a 'pundit' at the last Mayoral Hustings. My back is killing from psending an hours perched on a bar stool and I have a massive headache but over al it was great fun. I thought BP had his best hustings yet and I was very proud of him. And papprently, my Mum's proud of me. As I got only four hours sleep last night (dog is ...

Lembit and Gabriela in Rome

All part of the service.

An ironic footnote to John Rentoul's article

I blogged yesterday about a couple of serious holes in the argument in John Rentoul’s piece for The Independent, in which he argued that the party’s fortunes had not increased under Nick Clegg’s leadership. Ironic really then that the newspaper carrying an opinion poll tomorrow showing the Liberal Democrats up three points to their highest rating [...]

First boss tries out train from Yate - and it's late

First Great Western's Regional Manager, Andrew Griffiths, accepted Steve Webb's invitation to try out the Yate train for himself today. And yes, it was late. And no, he didn't know why. We imagine he asked when he got to Bristol. But seriously - well done, Mr Griffiths, for being prepared to find out what it's like for local commuters. It would be good if more senior people in other services did the same. Let's hope that some service improvements come out of this. You can see Mr Griffiths and Steve Webb in a short BBC news film here. The Gazette ...

"Car-jacking, shooting policemen and running down pedestrians"

As I write this, I'm just listening to a discussion on Radio Five Live on the merits of new violent computer game Grand Theft Auto 4. I have to say, violent computer games like that do nothing for me. I don't see the attraction of such entertainment and I have never played any of the previous ones in the series, or anything similar. But I certainly don't think the game should be banned, unlike the spokeswoman from that tiresome body Media Watch, who has been given airtime by the Beeb to make that case. OK, she is certainly entitled to ...

Monday

The Courier today carried the concerns of residents at Sinderins Court about the recurring problems with the lift in the sheltered housing complex, including my comment that I had immediately contacted the landlord (Home Scotland) about this. I am pleased to say that the lift was back on as of this afternoon, but the substantive issue (ie permanent and lasting repair) remains to be achieved. I quote the area manager for Home Scotland : "I have been able to get a full update from our Maintenance Team in response to your query. We have being trying to resolve the problem ...

Golden Dozen #62

Welcome to the 6nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (20th-26th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Let's get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: And the libdemmo-blogosphere has been lit up this week [...]

Spoken like a true sofa member...

It's just as well Iain Dale is on the panel commenting on Election night on the BBC. He knew the news at 11.10 this morning. If our bloggers are going to show their worth they may want to break news like this to us a bit sooner than 7 hours later. Not a great omen for the night itself huh? At that rate Alix may not get to bed until midday! Never mind, I'm just jealous of Alix, although appearing on the BBC would bring me out in hives, so I think I'll slouch on the sofa instead and be ...

Clegg: Labour failing to tackle childcare inequalities

Nick Clegg used a speech to the 4Children conference today to attack Labour’s record on childcare and early years education: The sad truth is that, in Britain today, opportunity is in short supply for too many children. A child's chances in life are more determined by his parents' income than anywhere else in the developed world. Social [...]

The Judiciary

The Daily Hate and stuff are forever going on about judges gone mad, and stupidly lenient sentencing (which does happen on occasion, but not nearly so often as people think). With that in mind, it's nice to report a judge getting it pretty much spot on: Judge Anthony Russell QC, I salute you. ETA: more details in the MEN.

Ken's Oxy-moron

Bruce Kent, writing on The Guardian’s Comment is Free blog, argues that Brian Paddick should name his second preference: "The Lib Dems have earned a reputation for independence and radical politics. If they do not make it quite clear that they understand and reject what Johnson stands for they will be throwing away, not just in [...]

The Older I Get The More I Think Life of Brian is Depressingly Real

What has brought this on? Yesterday was the 30th anniversary concert for Rock Against Racism. I am ambivalent about RAR and it's legacy. Eclectic music is one of my things, and I approve of the stated aims of RAR, but its execution left a lot to be desired: the repeated ignoring of Asian acts being top of my list. There is, of course, also, the association with the Socialist Wanker Party, and the profligate misuse of such words as "Nazi" and "fascist" which continues to this day, and has resulted in both becoming generic terms of abuse rather than the ...

Search of the Day

Someone at the BBC has just Googled for "brian paddick" round the horne. Sigh. It was Hugh Paddick - though Wikipedia claims they are distantly related.

Thankfully we cannot vote for Boris in Epping Forest

First there was the 'mistake' the Boris sent letters to Epping Forest residents asking them to vote for him, when in fact they are unable to cast any vote in the London Mayoral elections. Now the headline story on the Epping Forest Conservatives' website is they are backing Boris for London Mayor. Someone should give the Conservatives in Epping Forest a geography lesson.

The perils of taking your fox up the aisle

My latest New Statesman column is up on the magazine's website.

When you use false figures to justify yourself you know you've lost the argument

Jim Knight, schools minister and Labour MP, has justified the pay settlement given to teachers because, he claims, "the average teacher earns �34,000". The problem with Mr Knight's statement is that this figure includes all qualified teachers including the salaries of headteachers and deputy head teachers. So the �34,000 figure is not actually the typical average pay of a classroom teacher. Whatever side you are on in the argument of teacher's pay, it hardly helps to have a government muddy the waters with incorrect figures that attempt to misrepresent the truth. It would be like me claiming the average MP ...

I didn't realise the average primary school was full of so many artists

Apparently THIS is art. If it is I would suggest that our primary schools are full of thousands of artists. Talk about the emperors new clothes, who buys in to this rubbish except Lord Saatchi ?

10p tax rate - fixed??

Tonight we will vote on the Government's plans to scrap the 10p starting rate of income tax. But the parliamentary excitement seems to have drained away now that the 'Labour rebels' have been persuaded to behave themselves after being promised concessions by the Government. The truth is however that the proposed 'compensation' package is full of holes, as will become apparent when we get to see the details in the Autumn. The first problem is that the Government really doesn't want to spend a lot of money compensating losers. As a result, there has been talk of giving 'average' compensation, ...

Who Wants to Waste a Shit-Load of Money?

Hertsmere Borough Council* it would seem, who have retained Tribal Resourcing to help them find a new Chief Executive. The position has been vacant since October last year, when Eden Lee resigned following allegations of corruption for "personal/family reasons and to allow him to take his career in a different direction" (like away from gaol). The [...]

People's Republican State Television

Having mounted an armed coup against the treacherous enemy pigdogs of the People’s Republic carried out protracted negotiations with our most honourable and wise comrades in the media, we are delighted to announce our takeover of BBC One. The People’s Republic will be available in live televisual form for one night only on Thursday 1st May from 11.35pm onwards at each [...]

Will George Galloway be on the London Assembly?

The BBC is reporting that more Labour voters will turn to RESPECT and the Left List (split from Respect) due to people's anger about Labour, the 10p tax and labour's performance in general. Lindsey German, the Left List candidate for London's Mayor knows she won't be Mayor, but she's hoping for above 5% of the vote. Both her and George Galloway are competing for a seat from the city wide assembly election, all they need is 5% each. One could stand a fair chance at getting that. In other worrying news UKIP are optimistic. That purple bus is seriously scary. ...

BBC Election Night 2008...

… will kick off at 11.35pm on One this Thursday, and will feature a regular bloggers’ spot on the programme itself and an accompanying minute-by-minute blog of results, news, anecdotes, pictures, groundless speculation and, please god, a few laughs. Your present correspondent will be in the yellow corner, diametrically opposite to, and equidistant from, Iain Dale and Luke Akehurst. Part of [...]

LDP falling to DPJ in Japan!

Japan has long been controlled by the 'Liberal' Conservative (can't stand Liberal Conservatism, you can't be liberal and conservative) Liberal Democratic Party. The last PM Shinzo Abe (the wikipedia article is quite ammusing, the picture is currently one with a union jack in the background!) got into some trouble, through a whole load of things. In 2007 he lost the Upper House (House of Councillors) to the Democratic Party of Japan (the center-left Social Liberalists). Abe got seriously ill and quit, an old man in his 70s then became PM. (To think what out media did to Ming for being ...

Community cohesion

'One Community, Many Voices' was the apt title of the conference organised by JAN (Joint Association of Nissa Trusts) on community cohesion. As one of the keynote speakers I was delighted to hold forth on this subject as it is so fundamental to making life work for the multitude of communities that choose to make Haringey their home. It was also about tackling extremism and eradicating radicalisation of young Muslims. On my way to the conference, I heard on the radio that new figures showed a 300% rise in race crimes in the last few years - so the need ...

Bath Spring Flower Show a Day out to remember

Are you looking for some where to take the kinds on the may bank holiday weekend if so can I recommend that that you take a look at the Bath Spring Flower show. I can assure you that it is a day that you will remember. From 3-5 May Bath's Royal Victoria Park hosts the 22nd annual Bath Spring Flower Show. The show is the largest regular event organised by the Council for...

Should Robert Mugabe keep his honorary knighthood?

Ed Davey thinks not.

Should Brian Paddick express his second preference?

There are cries all over the place for Brian Paddick to come out and name his second preference and recommend the way all good thinking Lib Dem voters should vote. In fact, it has been claimed that it our duty and that our London MPs and Brian are failing in that duty if they do not recommend a second preference to us Lib Dem activists, members and voters. After all Sian Berry has done it for Ken and the BNP have come out for Boris. Ha! Shows how much they know about the Liberal Democrats! The clue is in ...

Dogs in the pews

Yesterday St Paul's Church, Hook, held its first ever Pet Service. About 20 pets were brought along by their owners - or a photo had to do in the case of fish. Amazingly there was not a sound from the assorted dogs, cats, guinea pigs and hamsters throughout the service, and as far as I could tell no 'accidents' either. We read the beautiful Canticle of the Sun by...

Election Week

The rain battered me this morning when I was leafleting - I have taken the week off work for the conclusion of the campaign, and our candidate Mary D’Albert and I were out in the storm this morning. Mary is obviously significantly cleverer than me, and had remembered a coat. My t-shirt did not take kindly to the soaking it received. Remember, there’s only two full days after today, and then it’s polling day, when the people of St Mary’s get to choose who will represent them on the Council for the next four years. Will it be the local ...

Lembit visits Wolverhampton

As part of our local election campaign we had Lembit Opik MP campaigning in St Peter's Ward in Wolverhampton this afternoon. Lembit is the third Liberal Democrat MP to visit St Peter's Ward this year.

Linkspam for 28-4-2008

nihilistic_kid: But women are so strange and mysterious Follow up from the link the other day: One of the barriers people seem to run into is \"but small talk is so inane!\" - it progresses into finding commonalities and creating a bond (tags: nick+mamatas social+mores) SFWA Election Results 2008 This years SFWA elections were fun to watch in the early stages (see Scalzi post, see Burt squirm), but the final results are slightly more amusing. Look at the write-ins... (tags: sfwa john+scalzi funny) The year rock found the power to unite | Rock | guardian.co.uk Music A brief historty of ...

Travellers return to Cintra Avenue

We are aware that a group of Travellers has set up camp once again on the green at Cintra Avenue. RBC Parks Officers and the Police have attended the site. I received the following update from Parks this morning:We attended site shortly after they arrived with the police and have asked them to leave the land immediately. We are expecting a decision from the police tomorrow as to whether they are willing to use their powers to remove this group. If not, we will use the court process to regain possession as quickly as possible. I will update you once ...

Fenton House front and back...

I posted the other week about what was the oldest house in the local patch and Fenton House still seems to be the front runner I've taken two pictures here: one of the front (small angle lense so slightly arty tilted angle to get as much in a poss) and then what I tjhink is propably more interesting and less seen anyhow is the picture of the back of the building. I am now clear that these two pictures do little to reflect the full glory, and after the election, I'll be padding round with my big proper camera ...

Indian politics: it's all about loyalty, really

It's rather warm here in Bangalore but, just as at home in London, Karnataka is awash with election fever, with polls due to take place here on 10 May for the State Assembly. The various political parties are vying for supremacy, as observers are of the view that the result in this southern state will influence the timing of Lok Sabha (the Indian equivalent of the Commons) elections to come. One

Mortality inequality

There's an array of interesting articles in the papers today with no particular (or even contrived) links:Demographics and inequality are two issues that CentreForum has shown a strong interest over the last two years (See 'Does Britain need a population policy', 'From boom to bust: fertility, ageing and demographic change' and 'Climbing the ladder: how can Britain become more socially mobile') Today, the FT publishes an interesting piece by Christopher Caldwell that brings the two together with the concept of 'mortality inequality'. See 'More mortal than some'. Jackie Ashley tries back-peddling a bit from her more interesting piece of 7 ...

Hillary Clinton is Really Winning

From The Cagle Post, proof that Hillary Clinton is winning the race for the US Democratic Presidential nomination: It just couldn’t be clearer.

Last London Mayoral Hustings on Sky TV tonight

This is just a reminder that the last and largest hustings for London Mayor the London Debate Unplugged will be broadcast by Sky News on Monday evening. It will of course include the three front runners: Ken, Boris and our very own Brian Paddick. amazingly, I have been asked by Sky to take part in their programme along with Iain Dale and Alex Hilton aka Recess Monkey to provide comment and 'insight' into the proceedings. The first part of the programme at 7.30pm will take part both on line and be broadcast on Sky News, then the debate will start ...

I'm not blogging about Grant Shapps...

… because I’ve nothing really to add to Alex’s excellent piece, other than to say, “Oh dear BBC, you really did get your story horribly wrong, didn’t you?”

on migration

With the upcoming local elections, I thought I'd higlight some of the problems facing many local towns, on that topic no one but the BNP wants to talk about, migration. Many towns are being flooded, in ten years alone one town has had the population increase by over 200%; over 70% of the population are foreigners the majority of whom do not speak the language. The parents send their children to local schools and complain when they are not taught in their language. With no intention of returning home they are beginning to take part in the politics of the ...

Incinerator - update needed

In January of last year, BBC-Wales was reporting that: "One of the main issues in Neath Port Talbot is the future of the controversial incinerator and recycling centre at Crymlyn Burrows. The council is hoping to settle a legal dispute to pave the way for a new private investor to run the site." Residents will remember the fire of 2004 and the �40 million bankruptcy of the PFI company in 2005. In March 2007, Peter Black AM called for continuous monitoring of the air near the incinerator, with particular reference to dioxins. To date, there have been two spot-checks, using ...

Standards Committee

With all the accusations of collusion and electoral misbehaviour flying around Neath Port Talbot, one would imagine that the council's standards committee was in permanent session. We understand that the opposite is the case, and that the standards committee has not been constituted for at least six months. Could it be that there are outstanding referrals which, if heard, might prove embarrassing to councillors this side of local elections?

Monday morning blog - terrorism laws to tackle dog fouling

This week's Monday Morning Blog is not being written on the train to London but instead comes live from my office at home in Sunniside, Gateshead! I am home this week because of a certain event taking place on Thursday! Meanwhile I am brushing up on my knowledge of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act as I am due to do a BBC Look North interview on it at midday. I was phoned yesterday by

The bare-faced hypocrisy of David Cameron on poverty

I thought Nick Clegg Today interview started very hesitantly for him, but got very much stronger as it went on. I really thought the Piers Morgan/GQ interview was a refreshing example of a politician being open and honest, without thinking cynically of the spin-value of everything he says. Of course, Groucho Humphrys painted the interview as a disaster because that's what political journoes do.

The Curse of Shapps Hits the BBC

When Harriet Harman showed she's as brilliant at running her website as she was at following election law, who'd have thought that BBC coverage would focus not on her being an idiot but being a "victim"? And who could have imagined that the BBC would then go on to refer to well-known Conservative comic figure Grant Shapps in a way that's more flattering to him even than his own laughably improbable claims... And that's provably untrue? This uncritical embellishment on Tory spin is even more irritating than John-Spray-On-Testosterone-Humphrys' typically dumb line of questioning to Nick Clegg on Today this morning. ...

The expansion of Bath - how can it be managed without spoiling the City?,

Bath & North East Somerset Council has responded to the conclusions of the Better Bath Forum Meeting that was Held on 10th March 2008. The Forum have published the response on their Web site and have invited residents to review what was said. The Forum's first meeting, on the expansion of Bath - how can it be managed without spoiling the City?, reached eight conclusions, and the...

Two faced

Plaid Cymru has been criticised for facing two ways over an aerospace exhibition which was previously criticised by the party as a showcase for arms dealers but is now being praised by party leader Ieuan Wyn Jones. The Aerolink Wales exhibition at Glamorgan cricket's headquarters in Cardiff involved major players in the aerospace industry, including Airbus UK and BAE Systems. It was organised by Aerospace Wales Forum (AWF) which is part-funded by the Welsh Assembly Government: Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, who is Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport, welcomed the event, saying: "The aerospace industry ...

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.11:35 is pondering breakfast, and laughing at Harriet Harman (again) is.gd/4dQ # 12:39 hopes posting a silly meme will help break the writers block & tagged Justin because he hates that. matgb.livejournal.com/299924.html #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

Day 2674: In Tribute to Humph we present: MILLENNIUM CRESCENT

Sunday: My Daddies and I were VERY SAD to hear of the passing of the LEGENDARY Sir Sir Humphrey Lyttelton. But before he has to go, there is just time for a round of MORNINGTON CRESCENT. The usual rules apply for the standard tournament game, EXCEPT you must start from here: North Greenwich for Millennium Dome {Posted by Picasa} and Elephant and Castle is automatically in NIB. As an easy and obvious first move, I will play here: King's Cross St Pancras {Posted by Picasa}

Monday 28th April 2008

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