LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Thursday 1st May 2008

Wright Imitating Art

As I watched the Revd Jeremiah Wright’s Obama-busting comments to the Washington Press Club I couldn’t help thinking of one of my all-time favourite films, Bulworth. It was this quote from the Revd that especially rang a bell: “Politicians say what they say and do what they do because of electability.” Reminds me of Jay Bulworth in a moment of truth telling an audience that he makes promises at election time then forgets about people in between. Then there is this classic quote: Audience Member: Are you sayin' the Democratic Party don't care about the African-American community? Bulworth: Isn't that ...

Election highlights

Conservatives make gains in Bolton, but fail to become largest party in Bolton despite BBC reporting previously they had hopes of it. Liberal Democrats hold Stockport. Likely to advance in Warrington. Liberal Democrats hold Eastleigh, but council leader in Pendle defeated. Conservatives fail to gain Worcester. Liberal Democrats hold Rochdale, gaining one ward from Labour. Gain from Conservatives for Liberal [...]

Lib Dem highlights from tonight's ICM/Newsnight poll

Liberal Democrats are seen as the best on climate change, most united and least sleazy. The poll also asked whether various politicians are an asset or liability for their party. The public’s verdict: Cameron +44 Clegg +16 Brown -10 On two key personal ratings, Nick Clegg scored best: Too concerned with public relations and spin? Cameron 57% Brown 52% Clegg 33% Arrogant? Brown 52% Cameron 46% Clegg 22%

A busy week ...

A busy few days have passed - including the following! * I attended a meeting of Blackness Area Residents' Association on Tuesday evening. Amongst the matters discussed was the issue of wheelie bins on pavements and I was able to update the group on the steps the City Council is currently undertaking to address the issue. I also had a late afternoon meeting with one of our local Head Teachers about progressing the West End youth football initiative. * On Wednesday, a very useful visit to Scottish and Southern Energy's headquarters in Perth. The purpose behind this was to see ...

BBC Elections 2008 live blog

00.45am Harmony in the South-West. Aaaah. Mr Iain tells me there are two Con gains from Labour in Exeter which puts all three of us on a lovely even 12 seats apiece. Bad, though again not unexpected, news from Pendle - one Con gain from us there. Like Liverpool, it was always going to be a toughie. At [...]

Follhardy call from ConHome

ConservativeHome have "called" the London Mayor election for Boris... Obviously, now they've done this, I want Boris to lose. And I would probably be thinking that even if I had voted for him second, rather than a teddybear. The prediction is probably right. I say that based on the betting markets and the most recent opinion polls. However, ConHome say they are "calling" it based on (mainly Conservative) reports of canvass figures and turnouts. Which is a barking thing to do. The Mayor election will go down to second preferences, which is why we have seen such comic attempts by ...

BBC Bias?

Is it my imagination or are the BBC being just a little biased towards the Tories and Labour? I couldn't help but notice that in their reporting of the local elections they talk on their website of the Conservatives "looking to make gains, such as taking control of Basingstoke, Worcester, Solihull, Thurrock, Maidstone and Rossendale". As for Labour, they say they "will be hoping to retain control of Reading and retake Sheffield". When to came to the Lib Dems the best they got was, "The Lib Dems are defending 750 seats". Is it really that bad for the Lib dems? ...

Freedom of the Press

Christopher Walker, Director of Studies at Freedom House, New York, gave a presentation to the Association of European Journalist (AEJ UK) at the European Parliament office in London earlier today, outlining the situation regarding media independence in OSCE member states. This showed just how far some countries in the ‘greater Europe’ have to go before they [...]

Cancel the Election

Approximately 22:10 : politicalbetting.com has gone down. Message says: Error establishing a database connection What do we do now? 22:22 Update: It's back. Carry on as normal please.

Brown's timely bribe

Arriving home this evening, and my three year old son was keen to show me his new 'bookstart' box that he had been given at nursery today. This is a Government initiative where all young children in the country are given a box of books, pencils and other goodies, all paid for by the taxpayer. Sorry Gordon, I'd already voted - you should have posted them out earlier.

Polls close

Polling has now closed in the local government elections. A number of counts are now taking place but a larger number will take place tomorrow, I will post the results as soon as I can.

I voted Tory and caused havoc in the polling booth

For the first time in my life I have voted Conservative. There was no Lib Dem candidate and Labour won't win round here. This ward is solid Resident Association. I find the whole concept of the Resident Association as a political force bizarre. It's like a form of soviet democracy. Each street elects a street rep. The person that goes to most meetings seems to get appointed the Council candidate (or something like that, I've never been). Their leaflets are full of derogatory comments about party politics. But at least with party politics, you have some idea of the values ...

BBC Question Time: open thread

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown is one of the panellists on tonight's Question Time (and is broadcast on BBC1 and online from 10.35 pm GMT). The panel will include the Secretary of State for Defence (but for how much longer?) Des Browne, the shadow foreign secretary William Hague, the “writer and author” (according to [...]

Minnie Driver on Election night!

Well maybe not the real Minnie Driver, but a very good impersonation of her, will be appearing tonight on BBC1's Election Results show. So make sure you watch her! Advertised in the middle of the BBC1 six news as one of 'Britain's Top Bloggers', Alix Mortimer is certainly riding the dizzy heights of beeb stardom with Charles Kennedy and David Dimbleby no less. The mind boggles as to what conversations will occur in the moments off camera. Will Alix divulge her insider knowledge of the Liberal Democrat party? Will she flash us a glimpse of her colourful high heels? Sorry, ...

Risking my life- in last minute campaigning

3.00pm I was leaving school and suddenly my back break on my bike breaks! Without my back breaks an emergency stop and I'd be over my handlebars. Knowing I may be desperately needed to deliver cards asking supporters to make sure they don't forget to vote, I rode home with one functioning break. Having a closer look when I got home I realised that it had snapped altogether. Anyway I still rode to Claines (walking would have taken an hour), of course I didn't tell the members. Sorry! However I did get home safely. So I risked my life to ...

Maidstone Borough Elections 2008 - My 11th hour predictions!

After so many weeks busy on the campaign trail, today, at last, saw the arrival of polling day. After a day spent “Telling”, “Knocking-up”, leaflet delivering and running around like a loon, I’m just showered and changed ready to go off to the count. For once I’m early and so I thought I might as well put together my predictions for tonights results. Maidstone is one of the key seats for the Tories. The Leader of the Council, Fran Wilson (Lib Dem) often says “Maidstone is an island of yellow, in a Kentish sea of blue”. The Tories are clearly vying ...

Blog a Free Book

If you're quick, you could get a free book from Penguin Classics, and all you have to do is promise to review it on your blog. Hurry on over to here, before they are all gone. * crosses fingers for On Liberty * Come on, give me Mill... Or The Trial of Lady Chatterley! That could be cool! ETA: Oh fuck. The email arrived. Your book is: The Penguin Book Of Romantic Poetry Not even HG Wells or Orwell? YOU BASTARDS, PENGUIN!!!!

'C'mon help me roll some hay'??

Why does the worst song I have ever heard have to also be the only song ever to have mentioned Taunton?

Well if my experience is anything to go by, Labour could be hit by low turnouts

Part of my school grounds, in a ward that typically elects Labour councillors, has a polling station in it every year, so as someone with a more than passing interest in politics it is always interesting to see the activity that goes on. In previous years we have seen tellers for the Lib Dems and Labour, but not this year. But the most surprising thing was that in the 45 minutes I was outside taking a PE lesson today, not one person came to vote. This is a polling station that covers about 400 or more houses, where more than ...

My Firefox plugins

Completely unsorted unformatted list from my extension list dumper, I'll probably go back and edit this into something more coherent later but I need the data posted somewhere so here it is: Application: Firefox 3.0b5 (2008032620) Operating System: WINNT (x86-msvc) May 1, 2008 Total number of items: 29 ColorZilla 1.9 http://www.colorzilla.com/ Firefox 1.5 - 3.0.* Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies Copy All Urls 0.8.0 (Disabled, Incompatible) http://www.plasser.net/code/xul/ Firefox 1.5 - 3.0b2 Copies and pastes all urls of open tabs inclusive history in structured and well defined form to and from the clipboard. Copy as HTML Link ...

"For all their faults, Lib Dems are best of a bad bunch"

The Liverpool Daily Post LDP Business site displays great polical wisdom, and in passing wins Headline of the Day. Note too its observation that "you may as well vote Monster Raving Looney Party as vote Tory in this city".

Not such Good Value

We all know that British supermarkets are highly competitive and give outstanding value for money. And how do we know? We know because they told us so. If you smell a rat you are right. What we actually have are 4 near-identikit firms who maintain an illusion of competition but actually have no real interest in duffing each other up and every interest in maintaining a system that suits them just fine. What they actually do is to use their size and power to roll over and squelch any upstart competition that emerges so ensuring that real competition ...

Three popular Basils of the 1970s

A little fun for polling day. Click the pictures to learn more.

Anti Local Business Tories

A fierce debate is raging in Torbay over the introduction of parking meters. The area is not alone. A similar battle is being played out in Eastbourne, another seaside area. In Torbay the ...

Good Luck Everyone!

As much as I've enjoyed being removed from electionering being in Scotland, I must admit to being quite envious of my English & Welsh friends today - election day is always pretty exciting (although I am glad that I don't have to man a rainy polling station!!) Good luck everyone - I hope your candidates win (oh, and that you manage to stop Boris from ruining London!)

Leeds lose appeal - now let's get on and win the play-offs

Leeds United have lost their appeal against the deduction of 15 points. Three reasons given by the arbitration panel are bizarre. * United agreed in writing to the 15-point decision. * took too long to get around to the arbitration * it would be unfair to the other clubs pushing for promotion to give Leeds the points back at this late stage. United had no choice but to agree. They would have been out of the League if they hadn't signed. They have been arguing since 30th August for an appeal and did everything they could to get to this ...

Damp squib

This afternoon's meeting of the Council's Resources Scrutiny Committee, which had as an agenda item the consideration of the consultants' report on the �1.9m overspend on the Eastern Transport Corridor, turned out to be a damp squib. Opposition councillors called for a Task and Finish Review Group to be set up to look at the matter in more detail than was possible this afternoon. With only slight

The Afternoon After - Feeling Used by Boris

Apparently due to cheese poisoning, yesterday I spent the afternoon spewing out more vileness than UKIP. Beginning in the toilets at work, Covent Garden and Regent's Park underground station also witnessed these unpleasant episodes as I left a vomit trail from the West End to Hampstead, like some kind of modern-day Hansel. Today I convalesce from home, yet needed to venture out just once for food, a 'paper and to vote in the London Mayoral and Assembly elections. Sunny, mid-morning weekday West Hampstead is a wonderful place to be. Un-London-like relaxing, yet still enough shops, enough activity, to stimulate; a ...

Brown shafts himself

If I were Gordon Brown, praying that my party does not get wiped out in today's elections, the last thing I would want to do is remind voters about one of my Government's biggest cock-ups. So why does he pick today to hold a meeting in Downing Street with General Petraeus. All it can do is put the issue of Iraq in the minds of those on their way to the ballot box.

[Blogging tricks] Shared Brain Syndrome

Yesterday, I had two posts I was planning to make at some point. Then my shiny new work laptop arrived, but it wouldn't stay online for more than 5 minutes and fixing it took me ages. But in another attack of shared brain[1], {[info]} Debi's done very similar to what I meant to do, so go read: a handy guide to how I use Firefox and other tools to make my internet life easier Del.icio.us has proven ideal for those days when all I have to post is a bunch of links The former is a linkdump of Firefox extensions ...

Linkspam for 1-5-2008

Make My Vote Count: London-wide elections: good for the parties, good for democracy I agree with Luke Akehurst. Stranger things have happened I guess: 'This contest has proved that low turnout happens when voters think a race is a foregone conclusion. Presented with a...close contest they will engage ... enthusiastically. (tags: electoral+reform election luke+akehurst turnout) Charlie Brooker - Be a ZOMBIE for Dead Set! Londoners! want to be in Charlie's TV show? 'We need volunteer zombies willing to appear in Dead Set, a horror thriller type thing Iâ™ve written for E4 / C4. It will doubtless be the finest TV ...

...would the last person to leave London please turn out the lights

{Planet of the Apes homage} Come on London! Don’t let this happen! Share This

on statism and quangos

The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy... Source - page 17 Source - page 425 It would be interesting to see how this graph has changed for the last two years...On quangos, although a small reduction has been recorded this can be put down to:The statistical reduction in numbers has been achieved through amalgamations, organisational reclassification and devolution of responsibility for many bodies to the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly (see HC 367, 2001, para. 8).Moreover, the expenditure of executive NDPBs has not been significantly reduced...[it] remains at around 25 billion pounds per year - ...

Carry On Governing

The Daily Telegraph today carries a story about the new logo for the Office of Government Commerce. A colleague has nominated the following for ‘government spokesman quote of the year’: A spokesman for OGC said: "It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters OGC - and it is not inappropriate to an organisation that's looking to have a firm grip on Government spend." I leave to your imagination the subsequent comments, sourced directly from ...

Talk Talk raises the online voting myth

Another polling day, another chance for internet firms to push online elections. According to Iain, a YouGov poll for TalkTalk claims that 50% of people would be more likely to vote if they could do so online. As usual, this poll is complete bollocks*. Apart from the uber-geeks, no-one is going to vote purely because they can do so online. They will do so because they are inspired to vote for (or against) a particular candidate or party. All internet voting can do is to make voting a little bit simpler. When I worked for the Electoral Reform Society, we ...

It's Thursday, Ya Bastards!

Well, here it is, election day, and I've decided it might be nice to make this post a polling day tradition. So: Vote by Marc Maron If you want to rewrite what's been wrote Vote If you want to squeeze the bastard's throat Vote If you can't find the remote Vote If you're in a german u-boat Vote If tomorrow you want to gloat VoteGet out there people!

Notes from polling day so far

I voted at 7:30 this morning. I live in a fairly solid Tory part of Hounslow (South West constituency) although I have seen virtually no Tory campaigning (its been pretty slim from all parties, although I did get a Ken leaflet and some LibDem bits). It was very quiet in the polling station, I saw a [...]

on coalitions

Who do we love? With local elections taking place across 160 local councils in England and Wales today (included in this figure, the London Assembly) I thought I'd do some number crunching on council control and coalitions. Conservative led councils the Lib Dems are in coalition with: 7 (+1 London Assembly) Labour led councils the Lib Dems are in coalition with: 3 Lib Dem led councils the Conservatives are in coalition with: 7 Lib Dem led councils Labour are in coalition with: 1 Majority Lib Dem controlled councils: 12 Minority Lib Dem controlled councils: 5 So we partner with the ...

Online buzz and the London Mayor election: final figures showing Paddick getting the most positive coverage

The latest figures from http://www.opinion-tracker.co.uk/ about the online coverage being garnered by the London Mayor candidates show Brian Paddick as the only one out of himself, Livingstone, Johnson and Berry to overall be getting more positive then negative coverage. Full details on their site.

And you thought we had problems with data protection?

Click here. UPDATE: Oh, we do.

Shameful Boris breaks promise on polling day !

What an absolute outrage this is ! After repeatedly saying for at least six months that he would stand down as an MP if elected Mayor of London, the Times now reports that Boris Johnson will not stand down as an MP if elected Mayor. This is a disgusting, cynical move. To smuggle such an announcement out on polling day is unheard of and quite appalling. Conservatives should hang their heads in

It will be "Three Jobs Boris" if he wins today

Boris Johnson will have three jobs on the go should he become Mayor of London following today’s election. The Times is reporting* that not only will Boris take on the job of representing and running London (population: 7.5 million, City Hall budget: £3.1 billion), but he’ll also keep his seat as MP for Henley for [...]

But I'm a complete heathen!

How the hell did I manage to get 97%? You know the Bible 97%! Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic! Ultimate Bible Quiz Create MySpace Quizzes

It's polling day!

Well - out with the lark delivering our 'Good Morning' bright and breezy leaflets to remind everyone that today is the day you can VOTE for Mayor, constituency rep and list member for London Government! I was elected through the list vote in 2000 and 2004 - that's the third vote where you just get to put an X for against a party name. Monica Whyte is the Haringey / Enfield constituency Liberal Democrat candidate - so an X next to her name for that vote would be good. And then obviously X for Brian Paddick for Mayor! You get ...

Straw poll

Today, we cast our votes. Here's a nice poll for you to tell me what you voted for, if you did. Don't worry, nobody else will be able to see what your answers are. Also, please note that for questions six, seven and eight, the word is THINK, not HOPE. View Poll: Elections In other news, happy birthday {[info]} becky_spence, and happy Beltane to the rest of you.

LDV local election competition - the scores on the doors

Last week we published our Lib Dem Voice competition to predict the results of the local and London mayoral elections taking place tomorrow, 1st May, and win a limited edition LDV mug. The thread is here, and, to date, we've received 20 entries from LDV readers (who may or may not be Lib Dem members). [...]

The Sun's warm words

The Sun can be so considerate. It knows many of its readers are torn between the two major candidates for mayor as they are both such attractive political prospects. Consequently they give their loyal Londoners a helping hand: "if you are a terrorist", support Castro, like slimy newts & Billy Bragg then vote Livingstone, if you are a motorist, like the Rolling Stones, wld decrease the congestion charge & hang out at the Garrick, vote Johnson."I spy blue smoke on the horizon.

Bath & North East Somerset set to remain Tory run for another year.

The full council papers have just been released for the council AGM on 8th May 2008 and with the new rules set out by government that council will need to vote out an administration rather than vote one. This means that the Tory Minority administration would have to resign or be voted out by council which is highly unlikely as they are being propped up by the three independent...

Frit Tories back out of poll promise

According to the Times, Boris Johnson won't be standing down as MP for Henley if he wins the London Mayor contest today. This can only be because the Tories think that they might get beaten in any by-election. This is David Cameron's new emboldened Conservative Party that is confidently predicting more than 200 seat gains and over 40% of the poll. And they're scared. Of the little old Liberal Democrats. (Oh, yes. And announcing a massive backtrack on polling day when the broadcasters won't run any 'contest' stories is a very, very cheap trick)

Shèngmu Feng Speaketh

After all the careful preparation, and trying to control everything, Chomolungma (Qomolangma) "the Goddess Mother of the Earth" if you're Tibetan, Sagarmatha "Goddess of the Sky" if you're Nepali, or if you're from Darjeeling Deodungha "The Holy Mountain", or just plain Shèngmu Feng to the Chinese or Everest to the rest of us seems to have spoken and taken things into her own hands. Having

Has Boris Johonson chosen polling day to bury bad news?

Curious timing for the story in today’s Times saying that Boris Johnson wouldn’t, after all, quit as an MP if he is elected Mayor of London. Given all the criticisms made of him during the campaign about whether he’s really got what it takes to do the hard graft of being London Mayor, admitting that you’d only [...]

Before the body is cold ...

Labour have called the Crewe and Nantwich by-election for May 22nd, just three weeks from today. Labour's chief whip moved the writ in Parliament yesterday. This is eight days ahead of the funeral of Gwyneth Dunwoody, the Labour MP whose death has prompted the by-election - a sign that Labour are desperate for a quick election to minimise the time opponents have to gain momentum in the seat. Elizabeth Shenton will fight the by-election for the Liberal Democrats. Lib Dem Chief Executive Lord Chris Rennard said: "Elizabeth Shenton is a very strong candidate for us and we will fight this ...

Lull before the storm

It is polling day. I think I am going to be very busy for the rest of it. Please go and vote and if you can vote Liberal Democrat.

Don't you just love those early morning deliveries?

Seasoned Lib Dem campaigners are used to starting election days in the early hours. Sleepy-eyed, we crawl out of bed whilst the rest of the world is sensibly snuggled up under a duvet. Complete with lists of streets and bundles of leaflets, we attempt to put "Good Morning" leaflets through doors without rattling letterboxes, slamming garden gates and waking up dogs. And once done, we get back

A day off on Thursday

A day off on Thursday 1st May off to have Lunch at Oceans Pearl at the Podium to celebrate Tim's 5oth Birthday with Family then up early Friday Morning to meet the Mayor of Braunschweig with the Delegation.

Tea with the Mayor

On Wednesday 30th April we had visitors to the Parlour for tea which was won at a coffee morning celebrating the 70th Aniversary of the Auxiliary Territorial Service at St John's RC Church Hall. We chatted and had tea then Audrey Woods gave a talk on the history of the Mayor's Parlour and then we had a picture taken and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Britain Goes to the Polls

Which makes a change from the Poles coming to us. All across the country, polling stations are open in the battle for around 4,000 seats on 159 councils and for London mayor and the London Assembly. So if there’s an election in your area, make sure to have your voice heard, and as Robert Mugabe says "Vote [...]

Here we go again .......

Parents moaning about their children missing out because they didn't get their first 'choice' of school. As a member of Somerset Schools Appeal Panel I do wish people would get it right. Parents don't have a 'choice'! They can express a preference but not a choice. I can see why some parents might get it wrong but there;s no excuse for some of our biggest national newspapers not to know the difference. Today's Times leads with this dramatic headline; "A quarter of pupils to be denied their primary school of choice". I'm sorry that's simply not true. A far more ...

Opinion: How to drive public value in the NHS

The 60th birthday of the NHS presents a great opportunity to review what health means in a modern society. The world has changed so much in the last 60 years; and these changes if they are harnessed present a great opportunity to create a truly 21st Century service. A major change has been in [...]

Brother Steps in to Brother's Shoes

I'll admit that with the elections across the country today my cursory glance of the news this morning didn't really inspire me to write much. Plus for obvious reason's I'm not going into last night's football, especially as it had never happened in my lifetime, in that competition. What I was drawn to was the news that Ali Campbell who quit earlier in the year as lead singer of UB40* has been

Polls open

Polls are now open in the local government elections, please vote Liberal Democrat today.

Polling Day

It’s polling day - so this is going to be a short post as I’m about to go out leafleting. I’m glad it’s nearly over as I’m exhausted and my studies have suffered. I’ve got high hopes that we’ll pick up a couple of seats this year (and hold on to the ones we’re defending). All [...]

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.10:12 is wondering what colour the sky is where Mad Nad is from. She sounds so rational on the Radio until you pay attention to the words :-( # 20:52 is delivering leaflets with a 4 year old. She's much better than me. # ETA: Nadine Dorries, referred to as "Mad Nad" was on Woman's Hour discussing abortion law. She was being as economical with the truth as she normally is on such things.Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

I was Charles Kennedy's stunt double

I wanted to be Vince Cable really, but I got into it after a while. At times I even caught myself attempting the accent. Other than my impersonation of a gingery Scotsman, today’s run-through at the Beeb alongside Iain Dale and Luke Akehurst (a pair of total pussycats! Can’t imagine what all the fuss is about) for the election programme was chiefly [...]

Writing the Truth about Europe

Last night, I attended the first UACES-Reuters Reporting Europe Awards, at the splendid Reuters building in Canary Wharf — or, to be more precise, the headquarters of the new company Thomson Reuters, as it became less than a fortnight ago. It’s nearly 25 years since I worked for Reuters in Brussels, but the need for accurate [...]

Day 2677: GO TO THE POLLS!

Thursday: This is NOT about all the migrant plumbers who are now all heading home because the weak pound means it is no longer worth their while putting up with our grey weather, high cost of living, poor provision of services and generally snippy attitude, especially when they can get a warmer reception in warmer parts of Europe where the Euro is holding its value thank you very much. Obviously this means the British economy will collapse from lack of willing labour... bet you're feeling VERY smart now, UKIP! No, this is a call to go out there and VOTE, ...

Thursday 1st May 2008

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