The Crewe and Nantwich by-election has been and gone but there are still stories to tell. And here they are (thanks again to Tim Harkchild), with assorted other bumpf in your mostly-weekly Something for the Weekend. The by-election's been and gone But thoughts of it still linger A dog behind a letterbox Has anyone seen my finger? Saying different things [...] 
So I thought I'd post a poll on this auspicious date. Oh, and ask opinions on the new Indy film as I've sen mixed reviews from people that normally have similar opinions. View Poll: 25th May Also, am watching Sunshine on DVD. It's shit, unfortunately, I'd heard that people that liked Event Horizon liked it and others didn't, as I liked that film, I thought I'd give it a go. Ah well. ETA: It's stripped out the link to John's Wedding speech from the anniversary bit, silly LJ.
You need some marshmellows as well..... It seems an ideal home experiment for a bank holiday, and it's fully explained here. hat-tip: Stardestroyer.net
I'm only just back from Crewe and Nantwich, having been to see some relatives in Cumbria in the interim. My impression of the Lib Dem by-election campaign was that it was very well organised. The by-election HQ was terrific and there was a great team of people in charge. The only minor quibbles I have on this front are the usual ones you get at by-elections, about some delivery routes not being sorted into walk order correctly or about the size of delivery rounds being given to one person. But I wasn't impressed with the content of the campaign. It ...
I have spent this breezy weekend leafleting in various parts of the ward, and not doing much else. That my life crumbles to nothingness the moment Tamsin leaves me is as much a testament to her qualities as it is to my inability to make friends. She is in France and so, leaflets aside, my companions at the moment are this computer and the television downstairs, with its litany of pointless channels. Yesterday there were humans involved as well, and there probably will be tomorrow too. But today, oddly, they were all doing other things, and I pottered about here ... 
Talk about dumbing down. Take a look at the Independent today, which carries an article, seemingly hastily written, on a report by the IPPR - 'Thursday's Child'.* Despite, as you can see from the image, the report containing many brilliant ideas about recruitment, teacher assessment and selection (teaching only attracts graduates in the top 30% whereas in Finland the figure is 10%) what angle of the report has the Independent patronised their readers with? 'There needs to be an end to the six week school holiday', which has been said for years. Why focus on the 5% of the report ...
Another song - like Say It Aint So, Joe - that I heard once years ago and rediscovered when they invented the Internet. Rare Bird were a band from the late sixties and early seventies with big hair and a sound driven by Hammond organ. This was their only UK hit single, reaching no. 27 in 1970. According to one website Graham Field, who wrote 'Sympathy', called it "a sad little song ... inspired by a tramp who cleaned my car by mistake". Read more about Rare Bird.
I have to admit I doing my best to keep expectations down to a minimum with this film. I still bear the scars of the Star Wars prequels. On the other hand, this film had two things going for it that those films did not: firstly, the setting is (literally) more down to earth - meaning there was less scope for going completely green screen; secondly, with Spielberg at the helm there was a good chance he would be able to keep Lucas' worst excesses under control. At least that was the theory. The truth of the matter is, Indy ...
After a week in London ( and Crewe) I've just got home to Suffolk the pretty way via Somerset and Essex. I ought to explain that this isn't some aberrant sat-nav route, but because I've been campaigning in both places. We took the train to Somerset on Friday afternoon, arriving in plenty of time for a social evening with the Langport branch. Saturday morning was spent in Shepton Mallett with the parliamentary candidate Tessa Munt as part of a council bye-election campaign. Although Tessa is now firmly associated with the Wells constituency, she started her career in the Liberal Democrats ...
We decided that for this bank holiday weekend, we would spend it in London rather than at home in Gateshead. And how typical. The weather down here is wet, cold and miserable. Meanwhile, both the weather forecast and Mother, who is looking after our house and our cat, inform us that the weather is fine back home. And in particular, there is no rain. Alas, the allotment needs a good watering -
on friday i saw a film at the watershed. it as called Manufactured Landscapes - part of the Festival of Ideas. I was quite moved by the content. The film wasnt in any way political. But it did show vivid images of the world around us. Some often unseen. For example, pre-three gorge dam demolition, e waste recycling mountains in china and the bangladeshi ship breaking beaches. The last was the most shocking. Old ships broken up by hand. Not much personal protective equipment on show. Kids scooping tanker oil waste and sludge out of the bottom of the ships. ...
So pleased that Dima won the final - it was excellent performance full of hope. The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir7cDDMX8V0 btw my cat Dimara is named after him.
Conventional wisdom has it that the slugfest of Obama and Clinton is allowing McCain to storm ahead in the polls and consolidate his position amongst the American electorate. This piece from the International Herald Tribune says maybe that isn't quite happening. And if you want some light relief, then try the Clintonian Rhapsody.
In this week's post, I've had a local couple contact me about the Animals Matter to Me Campaign. It's an international movement to support developing a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare. The draft Declaration recognises that animals are sentient beings and can suffer, commits signatories to respect animal welfare, and to work to end animal [...]
With Leeds United selling all their allocation of 36,000 tickets for the League 1 Play-Off final ticketless United fans had to nip down to Donny for one. Many of them were seen in the sparsely populated Donny end, proudly wearing Leeds colours. It was a bit like the scene on any day in Doncaster where there are always lots of fans wearing Leeds shirts in the streets. The Mighty Whites nearly lifted the Wembley roof with boos when the League Chairman, Lord Mawhinny, walked onto the pitch to shake hands with the Leeds players, who looked at his lordship with ...
Health minister Alan Johnson has said that the government is considering a ban on cigarette vending machines, removing cigarettes from display in shops and outlawing the sale of packets of 10. He said that he would be launching a consultation paper on new anti-smoking measures next week. In remarks quoted on Reuters he said that; 'Banning vending machines where you can't have any control over the age of the person who's buying it -- it happened in many other European countries a long time ago with startling results. 'Whether you should be able to buy 10 cigarettes or whether you ...
Saturday saw a party to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the very first Liberal Democrats being elected in Haringey - and both June and Julia (who with me became the first ever Liberal Democrat Group on Haringey Council) were there with many old and new faces to celebrate. Really great to see everyone again - even Ross Laird who came in when June had to move and then took over as Leader from me came down from Edinburgh. Really great occasion - much achieved and still the Council to be taken next time! {June Andersen, Lynne Featherstone and Julia Glenn: ...
Chris Rennard has responded to my recent blog on Crewe and Nantwich making some interesting points and I trust they will spark off further debate on our future campaigns. I am interested in what the learning points are for us as a party in the aftermath of C&N. Chris refers to the ratio of support (Con:Lab:Lib Dem was probably 4:2:1). Now that is a fascinating ratio, I would be interested to know how it compares with other by elections. If there was a drop off in traditional Lib Dem support I wonder why, or is this the normal ratio? I ...
Councillors Ward Surgery Every third Saturday in the month at least one of your Wallington South councillors makes themselves available to talk face to face to any residents who have a problem they would like help resolving. We have a small meeting room on the second floor of Wallington Library where residents can turn up between 10 [...]
The art of non-verbal comedy has all but died out these days. The great classics of the last thirty years have all been dialogue heavy. There's nothing wrong with that. And occassionally in episodes of Seinfeld or Curb your Enthusiasm there are moments that hark back to vaudeville and the silent era. I stumbled across this Sid Ceasar clip on Funny or Die. It shows how much can be expressed without words. I found it very funny but then I have been a fan of Ceasar for a long time. Along with Lucille Ball and Phil Silvers he helped define ...
Commenting on the Government's plans for a giant database of electronic information which would hold details of every phone call and email sent in the UK, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: 'Ministers have taken leave of their senses if they think that this proposal is compatible with a free country and a free people. 'Given their appalling track record of data loss, this Government simply cannot to be trusted with such private information.'
I should have mentioned it before, but there was a surprising letter in the Surrey Comet this week from Conservative Cllr David Fraser. In it he lambasts the Lib Dems for outsourcing the management of the Manor Park Hall, saying that it should have remained in Council control. Surprising, because the evening before his Conservative colleagues had recommended that the management of the...
Commenting on the Government's plans to build new immigration detention centres, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: 'Ministers should speed up processing rather than banging up claimants, and the obvious way is by setting up a Canadian-style independent agency to decide cases. 'At present, a fifth of asylum appeals are successful because politics hampers the decision-making. 'Another attempt to build a centre in Bicester that has already been mothballed once is unlikely to prove the magic bullet that this inhumane and ineffective policy needs.'
Amidst all the excitement of the Crewe and Nantwich by election, I'd like to draw people's attention to something they may have missed this week. Ministers are to consider a national database which will record details of: Every phone call you make Every email you send Every website you visit The plans are currently at an early stage, but may be included in a draft communications bill later this year. The reason given will be the ubiquitous 'fight against terrorism', which is now the justification for more and more erosion of our civil liberties. I am fully committed to the ...
This link really does deserve an entry all to itself: it's Andrew Rilstone's review of last night's 'Doctor Lite' episode of Doctor Who:Gareth Roberts classic 'Bang-Bang-A-Boom' is set on a space craft ('Dark Space 5') during an intergalactic song contest: transferring the action to Belgrade and making all the contestants human seems to remove the episode's central point. Thanks to {[info]} andrewhickey for flagging this one up. Terry Wogan will now forever be 'the Irish Space Agent' in my head... 
Watching coverage of the Hay-On-Wye Book Festival on sky news has brought to mind all the occasions where I've been highly excited to meet an author...and been let down spectacularly. I'm excluding politicians here, obviously. Although they can be pretty disappointing too if they are very good actors and halt the performance. The best way to keep company with a writer is to read their writing. Only very rarely does a writer live up to your expectations of him/her socially. It's perhaps puzzling why people expect writers to be of any use at all in social situations. Their career means ...
The Bank Holiday edition can be found on Suz Blog.
Keeping it in the family didn't work for Labour in Crewe and Nantwich and it looks like the Conservatives have decided that a Johnson political dynasty in Henley wouldn't work either. The Daily Mail reports that Stanley Johnson, Boris's father, hopes of inheriting his son's seat have been dashed by David Cameron. Following Boris's victory in the London mayoral race Stanley had expressed some hopes of being put forward for the seat. However, Tory strategists feel that Johnson senior entering parliament would be a 'complete disaster' and only serve to remind voters of Johnson juniors huge gaffe potential. Celebrity chef ...
Something else wrong on the internet, though this one is an interesting point of language. Nick Robinson has omitted a hyphen on his blog and said the complete opposite of what he means as a result. What he says: As MPs take a whitsun break, I'm taking a few days to recover from Manchester United's night of glory in Moscow and late night by electioneering in Crewe.What he meant: As MPs take a whitsun break, I'm taking a few days to recover from Manchester United's night of glory in Moscow and late night by-electioneering in Crewe.Thanks to H. E. Elsom ...
David Tibbs recently reported that our mutual friend (and former Chair of Islington Lib Dems) Mark Thatcher is seriously ill. Now Paul Walter has posted a helpful link to Mark's friends & supporters' website. Mark is a genuinely nice and decent man, & I am so sorry to hear of his illness; Mark's many [...]
I did not attend the Cherie Blair talk in Hay yesterday but if this account is anything to go by it was quite lively. I am particularly intriqued by this part of the report: He was, she also claimed, still an idealist. 'Am I the only person in the world who thinks my husband is a socialist?' she asked the audience. Answers on a postcard please.
The Labour cabinet have been having a minor nervous breakdown since the Crewe and Nantwich by-election result. As Iain Dale pointed out, Cabinet ministers chickened out of appearing on the Election night programme and Any Questions on Radio Four. They finally managed to get their act together for Sunday AM, and Alan Johnson, bless him, put up a sterling performance. To bolster up the great
If the weather clears up I am going over the Birmingham Pride later on today. I remember the first Birmingham Pride, it was a cosy little affair - these days there is a lot more to the event spread over a weekend with many more people there and stuff going on - why is it preferred prefered it when it was small and cosy?
Depending on who you believe, either Charles Clarke is trying to get Jon Cruddas to challenge Gordon Brown for Labour's leadership (Independent), or half the Cabinet have decided that Brown must go and David Miliband is plotting to run for leader (Sunday Times), or Brown is being put under pressure to appoint a Deputy Prime [...]
No real surprise that the UK came joint-last. The song was absolutely dreadful. That said, no matter how awful the song, Greece can always be relied on to give a maximum 12 points to Cyprus and Russia will vote for the Ukraine. The Eurovision Song Contest has long since become as famous for political skulduggery as it has for its musical content! Terry Wogan said at the end of the 'performance' last night that the Eastern European power blocs are so strong, West European countries now have little hope of winning and questioned why Western European countries are continuing to ...
The entry from Portugal at last night's Eurovision didn't half bear a resemblence to this from Army of Lovers.
The Russians send one of their internationally renowned top stars; we send a former bin man unknown beyond his own family. The Russian wins. Surely no surprise in that then? No - Terry Wogan says it must be a political plot and is threatening to quit Eurovision. Good riddance! What version of history has Terry [...]
... is that I hate, loathe and detest Indiana Jones, from his stupid theme tune to his stupid whip; from his unattractive actor, to his equally unattractive plots. Indiana Jones' FANS, though, I rate really highly. In contrast to, say, Eurovision watchers, Indy fans have, without exception, put their rambling entries of squee behind cuts to make it easier for those of us who wish to scroll past. The foregoing paragraph is as close as I get to a gentle hint. If you posted anything important between 11am and the commencement of Eurovision yesterday, do let me know, because I ...
I see from today's news that the Home Office is to remove the local police authorities power to appoint and sack chief constables and their deputies. Is that good, or bad news? Personally, I think it's terrible news! It's hardly surprising that some senior officers are already expressing their concern and say that this is simply "a big centralising power". I tend to agree. One senior officer seems to have hit the nail on th head when they said "there seems a a grave danger that chief officers, who in the past have done their best to do the job ...
Even Wogan's fed up with the voting and may quit and he has joined several million viewers who have dumped watching an evening of rubbish for another evening of rubbish and now watch ITV instead. It was interesting that the BBC the other day asked one person from each of the 43 countries to vote for the song they liked best, and I must stress here the key word was 'song'. In this BBC vote Sweden were clear winners, yet when it comes to the night itself Sweden were closer to the bottom than the top. What does this tell ...
Amazingly it was still sunny when we started the second day of Nick Clegg's tour around Cornwall with a visit to the Community Land Trust project in Blisland, near Bodmin. There we met local MP Dan Rogerson and councillor Sandra Amy. There are lots of villages in Cornwall where local people simply cannot afford to buy homes and houses very rarely come to the market in any case. This leads to a downward spiral as people move out and into the (slightly) more affordable towns. The houses that do come up for sale tend to be bought by retiring couples ...
Good to see the fact that Dundee will play host to one of the most exciting events in Scotland's musical calendar - GoNorth 2008 - on 5th and 6th June 2008. The acclaimed music industry convention and new music showcase will include live performances by over 60 unsigned bands and solo artists from all over the UK and Europe, and also brings high-level representatives from the creative and digital industries to a packed programme of seminars, workshops and panels. In addition, there will be an exciting film programme celebrates music and the movies, with documentaries, the world premiere of The ...
Posts have been scarce this weekend as I am up and down to the Hay Festival. Yesterday I very much enjoyed watching Nobel Economist, Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes discuss their book, The True Cost of the War in Iraq, which they place at about 3 Trillion Dollars and Julian Barnes discussing his memoir, Nothing to be Frightened about. The highlight of the day had to be Gore Vidal however who, at the age of 82 retains all the wit and sharpness for which he is renowned. He is backing Obama in the Presidential election and has very little time ...
On Friday, together with half-a-dozen other councillors, I climbed into a mini bus for a quick journey up North Road to visit John Wade's recycling centre at Aycliffe Quarry near the A1M. John Wade has won the new contract to handle our waste and recycling when the current contract with Durham County Council expires next year. Planning permission has just been applied for to build the
This should be an end to it. Hat tip: Democracy in America
Sobriety is overrated. Especially if you've spent the evening in the company of a beautiful girl serving beer in the best real ale pub in Yorkshire. During their bi-annual beer festival. Oh, she's also (finally) started work on building the pub website. So it needs some links in so that Google starts to pay attention. Hint.
PBC has a new thread about the rumours doing the round that Miliband, D is ready to unseat Brown. Purnell and Straw also appear interested. McDonnell will run too, unless Crudas strikes a deal with him. All hypothetical but the C&N ramifications are looking large.
I have never really appreciated 'camp'. Graham Norton sets my teeth on edge. But there is something wonderfully over the top about the Eurovision Song Contest — especially when one sees it at a Eurovision party, as I did with Lewisham Liberal Democrats this year. We all drew lots (at a pound a ticket) to [...]
So the gangsters who run Colombia's cocaine production and exports aren't very good at protecting the environment. Quelle surprise. In fact they appear to be awful at it. So there is a new campaign between the UK and Colombian governments, using Alex James (formerly of Blur fame) as the front man. The idea appears to target the demand for Cocaine in the UK. The thinking is that if people hear about monkeys losing their habitat, people will be less likely, at the margins, to take that extra line. It may very well have an effect. You may have your doubts, ...
Thursday: Let's get one thing quite clear from the get go: the Conservatories AREN'T 'back'. They never went away. It's just that for the last ten years they've been called NEW LABOUR. Lord Blairimort decided that the Labour couldn't beat the Conservatories, so he chose instead to be 'The Conservatories, but NICE'. Well, Mr Balloon has got 'The Conservatories, but NICE' in solid silver spades, and Mr Frown is looking distinctly NASTY PARTY. So the result in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election isn't the start of something different. It's a vote for more of the same with FRESHER SOCKS on. ... | < | May 2008 | > | ||||
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