LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 7th May 2008

Does religion really battle apathy?

I posted this response to Martin Turner’s Lib Dem Voice article Apathy in the UK on the comments but I’m keen to see a response so I’m cross posting it here: What he talked about was why he was backing religion in general (Greenbelt is a Christian arts festival), because it was a bulwark against the single most destructive thing in society: cynicism and apathy. Really? Got any evidence for that? Or is it just based on "faith"? The New Scientist has recently published a collection of 24 "Evolution Myths" one of the ones it debunks is that "Accepting evolution ...

a long day - and a long time for many things to happen!

Another long day but the key event was the Celebrating Faiths and Beliefs in Stockton on Tees. A long title and long awaited even. We were delighted that so many representatives of different faiths turned up and were together. I did take notes, but I am too tired to write them up tonight, maybe another day. There were interesting stalls and people to meet and there are a number of photos on...

Clegg on Cameron: "I'm unimpressed."

We have been for tea and sticky buns in the tippety-toppety corner of the House of Commons (up in the guttering just by the gargoyles) with the Cleggster again. This event was brought to us courtesy of the awesome organisational powers of Millennium Elephant (very impressive for a fluffy toy) and I’m going to write up most of [...]

Random points about the London elections

I have a few things to get off my chest regarding the London elections and so I thought I would include them as a miscellenia rather than write seperate blog posts about them. Bozza and the bloke factor One thing that continues to perturb me is the rapid rewriting of history from the side of the Conservatives. Specifically, they have gone from fielding a candidate who was clearly selected because of his celebrity cache to insisting (now he has won) that his main appeal to the general public was his policy agenda. Pish, and indeed, posh. It wasn’t that Boris ...

Do you think somebody should tell them?

Look here

Have Your Say in the N E Lincs Waste Strategy Consultation

The strategy has already gone through consultation, but you can still get in touch and let N E Lincs Council know your views using the online consultation form. Further information about the latest Waste Strategy and the consultation form can be found by following this link:-

Free WiFi Internet Access comes to top Town

As a part of the Victoria Street improvement programme there is now free wireless internet access available in the area of Victoria Street and the Central Library. Read all about it by following this link:- http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/news/wifi.htm

Enough of this playground politics!!

Politics, as I'm sure we all know, is a dog eat dog world, but is there really any need for all this playground politics surrounding what Wendy Alexander did, or didn't say, about a Scottish referendum? It seems, deliberately or accidentally, that someone within the party has decided we should take what Ms Alexander said out of context. Why? The public aren't stupid! They know, as I do, that 'bring it on' is not an indication of support for anything. It's simply an act of bravado on the part of someone. Are politicians really that removed from the real world ...

Faith & Belief

The day's meetings started with a good discussion with the Town Centre manager and one of her staff about what might be done in terms of Fairtrade promotion in the Borough over the next year. It was very useful to be able to exchange thoughts about what could have gone better this year and to realise what a gulf of understanding there'd been between us on what each had capacity to do. It should

Banthis Johnson

The first week of the Boris Johnson administration is not yet complete, and yet already he has found something left in the capital to ban . Whilst Londoners are "liberated" from their right to swig lager on the tube home, right-libertarians maintain a polite silence.

Six post offices in the Borough will definitely close

This is a sad day for those of us who value small shopping parades, centred around a post office, and their place within local communities. The Post Office has announced that, in spite of energetic and informed opposition by all parties, it will close all six post offices in the borough that were under threat. In fact, 155 post offices will close across London. Only seven...

Sad news

Two leading LibDems have recently passed away and both made a huge contribution to our party: RAY MICHIE The former MP for Argyll and Bute, Ray Michie, has died at the age of 74. The daughter of Lord and Lady Bannerman of Kildonan, she chaired the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1991 until 1993. She was elected to the Argyll seat in 1987 and remained MP until she stood down from parliament in 2001, becoming a member of the House of Lords. Scottish LibDem Leader, Nicol Stephen MSP, paid tribute to her "tireless" work for her constituents and Scotland. Charles Kennedy ...

Cintra - options

Glenn and I met this morning with the senior officer for Parks regarding the situation with the travellers. You may recall from earlier posts that the Council will be going to court next Thursday 15th May to remove them. The discussion this morning was about what might be done to prevent future incursions. At the extreme, one could imagine fencing the boundary of the lawns and the length of the service roadway leading to houses 3,5,7,9 but this would likely be both expensive, visually intrusive and inconvenient. Another option might be to dig a series of wooden posts into the ...

Prince Harry is cool!

It's always awkward when there are more people than seats to accommodate them, like when you only have a two seater sofa and all your friends end up coming back from the pub with you, only to scatter onto the floor and the arms of the sofa. It's difficult to look cool sitting on the arms as they were designed to stop you falling off the main part of the sofa rather than provide comfort for your derrière. It soon becomes uncomfortable, especially if male I can imagine, and the elevated position the 'seat' provides over your friends can become ...

Labour axe Melbourne Grove Post Office

Six days after the London elections, Labour have confirmed that all eight post offices in Southwark that were under threat will get the chop - including Melbourne Grove. You can’t help but wonder at the cynicism of the timing of this announcement. Clearly the consultation exercise was as much a sham as our local MPs opposition [...]

Local election results point to more Lib Dem MPs in Sheffield

The Sheffield Star has been looking at the local election results in the city last week and calculating what they could mean at the next general election. The Star can reveal further misery for Labour, which once counted Sheffield as one of its heartlands:Heeley MP and junior Foreign Office minister Meg Munn would lose an 11,000 majority and crash to a narrow defeat by the Lib Dems.Hillsborough MP Angela Smith, who is standing in the new Penistone and Stocksbridge seat, would come third, with the Lib Dems winning the seat and the Tories, who see the constituency as a potential ...

Stephen Pound in "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush"

Welcome to the second and probably last in our series of postings on Labour MPs in British films of the 1960s. (The first was about Hazel Blears in A Taste of Honey.) In February 2003 the Daily Mirror reported: Steve Pound has revealed that he had a showbiz career in the late 60s before he became a Labour MP. He appeared in a movie called Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, shot in glamorous Stevenage."I appear twice in this film," brags Pound. "Once at the then Stevenage Locarno where I am seen in the crowd watching the Spencer Davis ...

Latest planning and transport initiatives

Here's a couple of the latest news releases from the City Council - these matters will be on the agenda of Planning & Transport Committee, the City Council committee I chair, on Monday coming. The proposed multi-storey car park at Hunter Street will be a boon for the residents in the West Port area and provide parking for students and staff at the University of Dundee - which will, in turn, relieve parking problems in the West End. The proposed footpath repairs are very welcome news for the West End and for other parts of Dundee too. MULTI STOREY CAR ...

The duplicity of South West Water

Here in Cornwall we have the delights of being 'served' by South West Water. This is the company that managed to poison the people of Camelford by dumping poisonous chemicals into the drinking water supply. To be fair, they are trying to cope with an area that has 30% of the country's coastline and only 3% of the population. That's why our water bills can reach �1000 per year without breaking sweat. Being a tourist area, one of our key requests is that the company does more than what is known as 'primary treatment'. I won't go into too many ...

on Ireland and the possibilities for British constitutional reform

Today I had my first hit from Ireland. A country with a population only twice the size of Estonia at 4.3 million, but one which is largely ignored by the British press. Yesterday, Bertie Ahern the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, served his last day in that office, having resigned in April following allegations around financial irregularities. Today the former Finance Minister, Brian Cowen has taken over the post. The most remarkable thing about the Irish political system is the voting procedure. The Lower House (House of Commons if you will) is elected using Single Transferable Voting in ...

If laws are not worth enforcing then they should be abolished

Listening to some junior Home Office minister this evening trying to justify the reclassification of Cannabis highlighted what a complete ass most of our legal system is when he tried to explain why cannabis was changed to a class B drug. The Minister (don't ask me who, I've never heard of him) was telling BBC Five Live that the reclassification was necessary because it told the police that they could, if they wanted, prosecute someone on the basis that it is a class B drug. When pressed as to whether the prosecution was mandatory, the Minister replied that it was ...

Bendy Wendy

Another gratifyingly dodgy and shady story surfaces and gasps for air on the BBC website about the Scottish Labour Leader, Wendy Alexander, providing me with a glorious opportunity to publish an awful picture of her. It wasn't hard to find one. How this woman manages to squeeze her face into an array of positions to rival Lee Evans with a pile of elastic bands is beyond me. It's great when the hair lifts up in the breeze, a bit like Boris hair or your uncle's combover wafting in the wind. Classic. Oh, sorry, back to the story. Oh, never mind, ...

Chat on Facebook

So one day I just logged on to Facebook as usual, and there it was: a bar across the bottom of the page proclaiming the birth of Facebook Chat. A click on a button on it, and up pops a list of all my Facebook friends who are currently online, offering me the opportunity for online chat with them just from another click. At a time when every online community or system there is seems to be offering a chat facility, I guess it's hardly surprising that Facebook is following suit. And in fact I think Facebook is in many ...

What A Dope!

She has done it again!! You will remember of course, that Jacqui "the Joke" Smith asked an independent commission to adjudicate on the salaries of police officers in England and Wales. When they came back with a figure she didn't like she ignored it and gave the police an insulting 2.5% pay rise. Smith then asked the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to look at the classification of cannabis. Today they came back with their expert advice that it should stay as a Class C drug. So, because they came back with a result she didn't like ...

The first sign of the sunshine

This rather blurred picture does not really do justice to how red my neck actually is. Every year when the sun comes out my neck also goes red whilst no other part of of is affected. I only became aware of it when a year six boy cheekily (and ai should stress jokingly) asked if he could slap my neck. Needless to say I refused his kind offer.

Just for the record

The Kentish Times says that John Getgood is the "Leader of the Opposition on Bromley Council". He is the leader of the Labour group, who are the third group on Bromley Council. Lib Dem Leader David McBride is the Leader of the opposition on Bromley Council.

Environment fun day at Yate library

This Saturday there will be a free event, "A wish for your world", at Yate library where families can take part in a range of environment-related activities. Activities aimed at 4-7 year olds will start at 10am, those for older children at 12.30pm. Activities will include junk modelling, paper making, stories, quizzes, music and songs, plus there will be a chance to win a fruit tree. A Sort-it adviser will also be available to answer questions about recycling, composting and waste minimisation.

Why Sky is the Liberal Democrats of TV news

I had decided to ask Gordon Brown a question at PMQs today - on listening to the people and learning (post disastrous election results last week) and suggest that if he had the guts he could prove he was listening by dropping the Post Office closure program. (Bad news for us by the way - none of our Post Offices were saved. We will have to get the info on why only a meagre seven in London were saved using FOI and then make hell let loose.) Anyway - sadly I had to go to a funeral of an old ...

Jobs for the boys, Ian Clement quits Bexley

The Leader of Bexley Council, Ian Clement, has resigned as a councillor to become Bobo's Deputy mayor in charge of government relations (at home and overseas). So there will be a by-election in the Christchurch ward of Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency. This is the man who has overseen the increase in Council Tax and cuts to vital services. Oh well, he says he will stay living locally while

Housing bombshell - have your say

As you may have read in the last Focus, the Minister is currently considering recommendations for an extra 30,800 homes in South Gloucestershire. At the same time, South Gloucestershire Council has to consult on where the new housing should go. If you care about how much Yate, Sodbury and our villages should grow over the next 20 years you need to get involved NOW! South Gloucestershire Council has officially launched its "Core Strategy Issues and Options" consultation. This runs for only 6 weeks, which means your comments have to be in by June 13th. You can read the document online ...

PMQs: Nick tackles Gordon on the 10p tax-con

If the Prime Minister was looking for some respite in the Commons today - after last week’s drubbing by the electorate - his hopes were dashed. It’s just one damned thing after another for poor Gordon: the 10p tax fiasco (of which more later), post office closures, 42-day detention without trial, and the Scottish Labour [...]

Save Your Post Office

Post Office Closures I met today with the Royal Mail to discuss the pending announcement of the post office branches that will be recommended for closure in the next year. The Government's polic...

An inspiring new partnership for London...

Bob Crow of the RMT has shown an early and unlikely solidarity with new Mayor Boris Johnson, by insulting the people of Liverpool. Brilliant.

Keep Plastic out of Recycled cardboard waste urges council

Bath & North East Somerset Council have given out some new advise about how to keep plastic out of Cardboard recyclable waste.Users of the cardboard and garden waste collection service are being advised by Bath & North East Somerset Council how to avoid contamination by plastic materials.The main materials that have been contaminating the loads include: Plastic film - particularly from boxes...

Ming vows to fight against any post office closures

North East Fife's Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians Sir Menzies Campbell MP and Iain Smith MSP have vowed to fight against any Post Office closures in North East Fife. Liberal Democrat MP's including Menzies Campbell campaigned to stop the government's Post Office closure programme when a motion was proposed recently in the House of Commons demanding the Government halt their plans to make 2500 branches shut up shop. But enough Labour MPs rallied around the Government's closure plans to reject the motion and ensure the closure programme can continue unhindered. Commenting, Menzies Campbell said, "The loss of any local Post Offices will ...

Gurkha Campaign Reaches the Floor of the Commons

Today in the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell put forward a Ten Minute Rule Bill calling for a change to immigration law which would grant indefinite leave to enter and remain in Britain for Gurkhas. This is part of a wider campaign to give Gurkhas fairer rights and recognition. Despite being recognised as outstanding and well-respected members of the Armed Forces, and serving in numerous operations around the world, at present many Gurkhas are prevented from claiming equal rights. {bob-russell-and-gurkhas3.JPG} Read more to see the full text of his speech: (more…)

In Memorium - Ray Michie

It is with great sadness I discover the death of Baroness Ray Michie at the all too early age of 74. I simply do not have the time to post a full tribute until tomorrow but will for the time being point you towards the BBC News Website. This news is a great sadness to all of in the Liberal Democrats and to the people of Argyll & Bute whom she represented in the Westminster Parliament until her 1987 retiral.

Comical Ali appointed as Labour spin doctor

Former Iraqi propaganda chief Comical Ali has been signed up as spin doctor for the Labour party. Or so you would think if you read the unbelievable claims from Reading Labour party who, according to their website, gave the Tories a "bloody nose" in the local elections. For the uninitiated, Labour lost control of Reading council on Thursday last week, losing three seats to the Tories. And rather

Linkspam for 7-5-2008

Independent dubs El Reg lesbian | The Register Why I rarely buy the IndyTab anymore: The final para begins: "So the trial of lower-case lesbian vs upper-case Lesbian is going ahead. Now, a lesbian on-line magazine called The Register has put forward a solution..." (tags: newspapers the+register the+independent) Johann Hari: BNP votes are a cry of white working-class anguish - The Independent Hari is one of those people that I either agree with strongly or disagree with vehemently. This analysis of WHY people voted BNP is better than many I've read, and accentuates the futility of the No Platform posturing. ...

Did Obama win BOTH IN and NC?

The reason i give is that he handsomely won a contest that was only open to Democrats and Indies (unaffiliated). He didn’t win by 2% one that was open also to Republicans. I fear that he didn’t because of sly Republicans voting for Hillary as the weaker choice for November. Could I be right? Has anyone crunched [...]

Boris Johnson Resignation Watch Day 2: Spotted in the House of Commons

Continuing the Boris Johnson Resignation Watch, spotted today in the House of Commons: one part-time Mayor of London representing Henley (in um…. Oxfordshire) at Prime Minister’s Questions: (Still from this PMQ’s video) 2 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes without a full-time London Mayor so far…

Hillary's lost - but will she concede?

The results of the Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina look certain to end Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 bid for the White House: Senator Barack Obama is now the presumptive nominee of his party. Though Clinton won 'blue-collar' Indiana, the wafer-thin 51%-49% margin severely undermines her claim that only she can appeal to the [...]

Quote needed...

Can anyone help me find this quote and who said or wrote it. It's to do with when a government does something or other nasty that may affect the citizens they have lost their legitemacy and the citizen is no longer obliged to follow their decree. My hunch is that it was perhaps Locke but I can't find what I'm looking for anywhere. Anyone help?

Essex Road Post Office: victory!

We finally got the news today! Post Office Ltd have issued this announcement: “Public consultation has been held on a proposal to close Essex Road Crown Post Office in N1 but Post Office Ltd announced today it has been decided not to proceed with the closure of this branch at this time as discussions with [...]

As all West Wing fans will testify, good elected officials like to spend time barbecuing

Now that the election is over, there is less need for me to spend every waking hour out on the streets, so of course God has warmly mocked me by stopping the rain and blasting us all with a premature taste of Summer. I took advantage of the nice warm weather last night by unpacking a flat-pack barbecue, and attempting to build it. Obviously, this being a construction project overseen by a British elected representative, it drastically over-ran. However, the delay in completion was only a few hours long, and was caused less by chronic maladministration, and more by my utter inability ...

Higher Class

Small rare agreement with a Labour Home Secretary here (savour that if you will). The drugs advisory board argued there is not conclusive proof of the link between cannabis and psychotic illness. They also concede that there is no conclusive proof that there is not a link. It is the Home Secretary's prerogative to make a judgement based upon that information. Perhaps Smith is posturing but who cares, its probably the sensible decision in principle. The only pertinent questions concern whether the tougher punishment reclassification entails will bring negative or positive results overall. However, I hope the coverage brings up ...

Brown is unbelievable

I hate to say this, but David Cameron is right. Judging by today's exchanges at Prime Minister's Question, Gordon Brown has indeed lost touch with reality. For Brown to deny that Wendy Alexander had called for an early referendum on Scottish independence is simply unbelievable. Which bit of "Bring it on!" does he not understand? I know he's probably still in shock over the local election results, but this just raises questions over his sanity. UPDATE: I see that Nick Robinson is highlighting an exchange on last night's Newsnight Scotland in which Wendy Alexander specifically says that she's discussed it ...

Pot

I've submitted a couple of FoI requests to the home office for their data on the public consultation run before Christmas, but I suspect that my emails are being handily blocked by their mail server. Anyone else feel like dropping an email to public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk asking for both the raw data and any statistical or summary information compiled relating to Question 39a and b on the consultation? Here's the email I wrote: Hi, I note that the IPSOS/Mori report on the Home Office drugs consultation of late last year has now been issued, minus the section on cannabis reclassification, which is ...

SEN and IN/NC

CentreForum's latest publication on special educational needs is published today (read it here): arguing that parental empowerment and choice should drive SEN provision - rather than the opinions of bureaucrats or the artificial 'inclusion' debate. It gets trailed in today's Guardian ('Minister seeks more help for dyslexic pupils'); keep an eye out for more press coverage coming soon...On to the US, where the democrats can now definitively be said to have a nominee. Hillary Clinton went into the night needing a big win in Indiana and a narrow loss in North Carolina to solidify the doubts about Obama's electability in the minds of undecided superdelegates. It didn't ...

Ne'er cast a cloot til mey's* oot

In other words don't start removing layers of clothing until the mey plant is in bloom. Well the west of Scotland is rather chock full of people ignoring the advice of the old Scottish proverb including in Glasgow's George Square, over which my office window looks - it's absolutely packed with people soaking up the sun and, I dare say unwittingly exposing themselves to increased chances of melanomas. It's being so cheerful that keeps me going. If the truth were to be told it's simply jealousy on my part as I can't go home and get into my shorts and ...

Nemesis from Taunton Deane

Dear Bloggers, please pay careful attention to what I am about to say, the like of which, you may never see or read again. "I Bob Shaw, have been very, very silly and somewhat naïve". God, how painful was that! However, before anyone takes this the wrong way I'd better explain what I mean. Until about 20 minutes ago I had simply put yesterday's personal attack by Mark Valladares down to bad manners. However, it seems I could have been hasty in making that assumption. It seems Mark may well have been playing the 'over protective spouse' rather than being ...

PHWOAR!!! Miss Great Britain runs for Crewe and Nantwich!!!

So I was reading the popbitch message board today and I came across this little gem. Lovely blonde Gemma Garrett is apparently making an attempt to stand for Crewe and Nantwich in the upcoming by-election . What are her policies? Why does she want to stand for election? well..... "I want British politicians to be sexy not sleazy," So instead of having affairs Prescott will be doing page 3 shoots? 'Among her pledges will be a bank holiday dedicated to beauty, a greater focus on women's issues and "to make Britain more beautiful".' Yeh, womens issues, you know, like how ...

Day 2682: Ironing Man

Monday: You know, I just BET that Lord Woolfie's list of ETHICAL recommendations for Weapons Manufacturer BAe does NOT include building a bionic suit of armour and using it to go around the world blowing up all of their weapons that have fallen into the hands of BAD PEOPLE. It is, incidentally a GREAT, if SLIGHTLY ultra-right-wing, popcorn movie, largely hanging on the performance of Mr Robert Downey Junior as self-indulgent alcohol-dependent billionaire playboy Robert Downey Junior. Er. It's also a great Mickey-extraction of DC's two biggest names, with the genius-vigilante-who-builds-his-own-superhero-kit inside of the Man of Steel Iron.

Swiss Cottage - formerly The Swiss Tavern

Swiss Cottage is one of the significant landmarks of London - not least because it is the traffic landmark for many people arriving in London. Certainly when travelling down to see aunts and grandparents as a young boy, we knew we were close when we got to Swiss Cottage. Now the main landmark is the pub and the tube station - I was discussing yesterday with a friend whether anyone actually lives in 'swiss cottage'. It's also an administrative district for elections - Swiss Cottage Ward in Camden - but as a residential area... In the Swiss Cottage ward many ...

Abortion - statute is not the answer.

One of the problems in the UK is that there is an obsession with using laws to get solutions. This arises in part from the fact that parliament is hobbled from properly holding the executive to account. There is no doubt that the number of abortions in the UK is high. The question is what the best way of dealing with this is. Yesterday I had a meeting with the pro-life group and I made the point

HFE Bill - consultation set for Saturday

Any constituents wishing to attend this meeting should contact the constituency office. 722 3417.

What London Region must do now

1. Realise that we need to concentrate on winning assembly seats back. 2. Draw up the most simple selection rules. 3. Get the process started now, for both the list and constituencies. Every day lost on this is a day less rebuilding. Don't get dragged down in red tape like last time. Time is running out!

Congratulations to Camden

The Liberal Democrat-led administration has just had the piece of good news that it: has become the first English council to achieve top marks from the local authority watchdog. Audit Commission inspectors praised the council’s responsiveness and the strong leadership of its councillors and officers, who it said have displayed “excellent” understanding of the social, economic and [...]

Torture, extraordinary rendition and the UK

Binyam Mohamed, the last British man left in the US’s terrorist holiday camp in Cuba*, is asking the UK if they wouldn’t mind awfully providing him with the evidence that he has been a victim of torture and extraordinary rendition**. Mr Mohamed needs this evidence so that he can defend himself in a prosecution before [...]

Cannabis

I do hope the party is going to make a bit of noise about this. Not because we're all doped up beardies, you understand, but because reclassifying cannabis as a class B drug would be daft. The police have said they wouldn't change back to policing it the way they did when it was class B, and now Gordon Brown is clinging to reclassification, desperate not to be called a ditherer, in the face of

The end of Hillary

After a double digit win in North Carolina and a "virtual tie" (pollster John Zogby's words) in Indiana, Obama will be unleashing about 30 new super-delegate endorsements over the next 36 hours (we are told). This is probably, at last, the "killer blow". Radio 4's Today were earning their licence fee on this subject this morning. They had John Zogby in the studio, which was quite a coup. I had

Pachyderm in bureaucrat-induced non-rampage!

Most people with Indian blood in their veins love elephants, or as the press here refer to them in their curiously old-fashioned manner, pachyderms. I am no exception to that rule so today was an opportunity to meet an elephant and, more importantly, introduce Ros to one for the first time. I had arranged a sightseeing trip to an organic spice plantation in central Goa, as I know that Ros loves

Did I say never?

{Jock, aged 18} ...no, good! An opportunity has arisen. Friend and Lib Dem colleague Richard Huzzey, councillor for Holywell ward, has had to step down owing to a fantastic work opportunity he couldn't turn down, so there will be a bye-election in the ward on 12th June. This is a ward which we won last Thursday and the bye-election is two days before the end of the university term so we can get it in with the same electorate. I'm sure there will be others who want to throw their hat in the ring for it, and there are some ...

News of Wendy's Neverendum Spreads to Englandshire

It's good to see that Wendy Alexander's comments regarding a referendum on Independence has raised some post from the non-Scottish Lib Dem blogosphere. Nick Barlow writes with barely contained excitement about the possibility of a Super Thursday in 2010 if the referendum falls on the same day as the by election. Many of us in Scotland, especially those who advocate a referendum, fear that

Terror legislation and encryption keys

There's a good article at The Register about the police not making much use of the powers they've had since October 2007 to demand that people hand over encryption keys to material on their computers, on pain of a stay at HM's pleasure of up to five years. They've used it precisely 8 times. That's one a month. And only four of the eight were actually terror related. So basically they've hardly used one of the powers the government said they had to have, and half of the cases they've used them on had nothing to do with terror. The ...

Winning a free education

I’ve written a guest article for the University of Manchester Politics Society titled “Winning a free education” - here’s a snippet: We need a policy which enables campaigners and activists to reach out to less politicised students and allows them to take ownership of the campaign, engaging them and ensuring that even small actions taken are steps towards victory.

Say No To Britain's Long Hours Culture

I have vaguely been thinking about returning to Britain from Brussels. The thought normally comes to me when I am running late for my daily, and utterly pointless, 8am meeting. Each morning, as I attempt to negotiate the traffic and my own grogginess just to get to the office in time, I ask myself - what's the point? This is making me unhappy. I have always hated early mornings. I even told them so in the interview. It doesn't help me do my job better and I'm still stuck here til 7 or 8 o' clock at night. Maybe I ...

Signing the book

I went in to the Municipal Buildings yesterday to "sign on" as a Councillor. You have to do this to accept the elected office and if you don't do it by a certain date you are out(although why anyone would not turn up after so much campaigning effort is beyond me). There is actually an opportunity to do this at a sort of ceremony a bit later this month - which is nice for new people. For myself I just want to get going!

A leader adrift

The Times reports that more than half of Labour's supporters believe that Gordon Brown should stand down to make way for a more electable alternative. Of course this is just one poll and things could easily change tomorrow or next week or even next month. Nevertheless, it cannot be a comfortable position for any leader to lose the support, confidence and even trust of some of their key party members as well as large numbers of their potential voters.

Caption contest?

Opinion: Apathy in the UK

I went to see Billy Bragg in August. Not canvassing, mind you. He’s one of a very few celebrities who doesn’t seem to have a house in my constituency. It was a gig at the Greenbelt Festival. He tried to play his entire first album in just nine minutes, but broke a string and had [...]

Should we be happy with second or third place?

Some people seem to think so. Whenever I read posts like; more on those Jeremy Vine election night graphics and the list where Brian wins! I ask myself - why concern ourselves with how good or bad the graphics were on election night. or how few or how many, second preference votes Brian Paddick received. In the great scheme of things it's all immaterial! The graphics weren't responsible for the party's poor showing in London and despite the number of 2nd preference votes Brian Paddick got, he still came a very distant third. Wouldn't our time be better served by ...

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.14:43 is wondering how the media can possibly take Mad Nad seriously after she's been debunked so often. #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

The Drainage in the Lower Field

Am making Mat watch the Fast Show. This might be slightly cruel of me, given that a lot of the jokes are visual, and he doesn't so much watch TV as have it on while he's on the computer. Thus, he misses lots of subtleties in... pretty much everything we watch, really. Anyhoo: View Poll: The Fast Show

Reinventing the State Chapter 22: Communicating Social Liberalism

The "at least three brains" team of Steve Webb and Jo Holland has made a noble attempt to bring together this disparate collection of essays. As much as I would like to go with the flow I found much of the language and argument grating. "Relying exclusively on unfettered market mechanisms to deliver a liberal and democratic society is doomed to failure." This looks like a straw man to me.

Elementary Logic #107

In the days running up to the local elections there was an excellent reminder, if it were needed, that Tory logic is very much of the push-me-pull-you* variety. Their Dave was around and about in Manchester (a digression: did anyone else pick up on the cringeworthy Cathy Newman segment on C4 news when Their Dave, on being asked to speculate on how the elections [...]

Day 2681: Görd-erdämmerung (Twilight of the Frown)

Sunday: Everyone's been asking what caused the Labour's MELTDOWN in the local elections? The SHORT answer is: Mr Frown. The LONGER answer is: ten years of Lord Blairimort... followed by Mr Frown. Mr Frown's career has always been a touch OPERATIC: the lust for power, the hubris, the betrayal. But when MORE THAN HALF of his own party want him to be GONE, when even party loyalists like Mr "Wendy" Alexander are making PANIC decisions on the assumption that Mr Frown will lose them the next election, you have to wonder if the FAT LADY is getting ready to SING! ...

Wednesday 7th May 2008

Previous days:

Archives

Search for...

Adverts

Buttons

LibDem Blog Box

Contributors

Campaigns

Backlinks...

From the LibDems...

Featuring Nick Clegg...

From the BBC...

From the Independent...

From the Guardian...

Adverts