LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 4th June 2008

Gosh, these polling figures almost make Gordon and New Labour seem popular

If you thought Gordon was having a miserable time and Labour we're in utter desperation, unsure which way to turn, then just take a look at the German SPD. The party of government as recently as 2005, has sunk to a meagre 20% in the polls. Their raison d'etre, much like our Labour party, is being severely challenged. It looks like they are hemorrhaging votes to a more centrist CDU, to the liberal FDP (Lib Dem sister party) and to the Left Party, who are polling an incredibly 15%. They really are stuck. The challenge to their core vote and ...

Chipping Sodbury Festival 2008 cycle rides, Sunday 22 June

The Joint Cycleways Group will be organizing the annual Chipping Sodbury Festival Cycle Rides on Sunday 22 June as part of Bike Week 2008. There will be a choice of two rides, 12 and 25 miles. The twelve mile event will be suitable for families, and as usual there will be a quiz with prizes. Children from five or six upwards manage twelve miles quite easily (it's the adults who have more trouble!) For safety reasons children under secondary school age need to be accompanied by an adult. The longer ride is a little more challenging and will explore the ...

The politics of online spoilers

One of the things that always bugs me online is different peoples reactions to plot 'spoilers' for media things—unpredictable and at times downright weird, as Nick Mamatas demonstrated last month. Now me, I tend to seek them out for shows I like—before the internet I had a subscription to SFX partially for the spoiler zone section, I loved reading about shows way in advance and knowing what would happen. But then I tend to rewatch stuff I like a lot anyway. So, inspired by this old poll at {[info]} nmg's, I thought I'd update it a bit. Warning though, below ...

on road charging

Nick Clegg, in my view, has got this completely wrong. When 1.6million people decided to sign a petition on the Downing Street website last year, they did so to send a clear message: We do not want to be charged to drive. Why then did Nick Clegg yesterday advocate a road charging scheme? The plan is to raise funds to reinvest in railways, this will be done by, Cutting fuel duty and abolishing VED (vehicle excise duty) over the next 10 years and introducing a cost-neutral road user pricing scheme on motorways and trunk roads Building a high speed rail ...

Now this is a very good idea.

Ther returning officer for Henley has just started a blog, with the aim of helping people 'get a better understanding of how things work from start to finish'. I wonder if they'll set up a twitter as well? Hat tip: Jonathan Calder.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.

Today's Guardian contains a very thought provoking article by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, that argues, much like Will Hutton's The State We're In, that unaccountable elite stateless bankers are destroying the fabric of our society. Elliott and Atkinson want to fight back, however, and this is their plan: 'None of this will be easy. Some of it may involve abrogating Britain's signature to various international agreements, not least the various European treaties. Nor does much of this New Populism appear to be immediately in prospect, despite the darkening clouds over the world economy. It could move rapidly on to ...

Women in the driving seat

I had been invited to Sherwoods Stockton for 'Women in the Driving Seat', and it was an extremely useful couple of hours. We had a demonstration on driving safely from drive safe including what sort of things to have in the car at all times - I've made a list of all the things that need to be either checked ( how old is the drinking water, does the torch battery work is everything still there...

Developing Communities sub-group (and a bit about The Apprentice)

Here's a question - would Sir Alan Sugar hire a man who, when set the task of firing three job applicants and narrowing the shortlist to two, in fact manages to only fire one applicant, thus leaving four? Probably not. And yet Sir Alan himself did just that this evening, whilst hunting for his Apprentice on BBC1. Normally, I wouldn't care, but tonight I ws forced to watch The Apprentice having been cruelly abandoned by Tamsin. She has gone to see "Sex And The City," a movie so unappealing that I'd genuinely trade in my corneas for a medium popcorn ...

plicrecnessgummad

Inspired - very inspired - by John Dixon on LibDemVoice, I want to put a word in for political correctness. I agree with some of the critical things that have been said about it in the Libdemvoice comments - in fact I find myself agreeing with Darrell, James and Asquith all at once. But I don't agree with the conclusion that we should bypass it entirely. First of all, some of the definitions that have been used feel unduly exclusive to me. Although much of its short life has been unhappy, I prefer to remember that it was born out ...

Boris combed his hair today

Boris resigned as MP today, just over a month after being elected Mayor of London. No real surprises, apart from how he describes the weekend tube booze-up in the Times today, as "anthropologically misunderstood'. I can think of many ways of describing the protest; 'misguided', 'a random display of eccentricity' perhaps, or 'an own goal', but 'anthropologically misunderstood'? Boris, Boris, wake up. This is earth and we don't understand you... He also 'implored journalists to stop calling his mobile phone because he kept giving accidental interviews "which get me into trouble". Shame Boris, can you not pass the call onto ...

OECD report truly awful news for the Government - Cable

Today's OECD report was 'truly awful' for the Government, the Liberal Democrats have claimed. The report's main findings were that: · Growth will be below 1.5% this year · Because of inflationary pressures, further interest rates cuts will not be possible this year · Disregarding Northern Rock, the Government will break its rule of not borrowing more than 40% of GDP in 2009 Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: 'This is truly awful news for the Government. It confirms all the worst fears about a deteriorating economy, and the lack of any freedom of manoeuvre due to lax ...

Tonight ... and parking again ...

A very informative meeting of the 'Community Spirit' group for the north of the ward (Ancrum, Pentland, Cleghorn, etc) tonight with an excellent presentation from a representative of the Waste Management Department and a good discussion thereafter on cleansing, graffiti and recycling issues - to name just three. Am meeting the parking consultants tomorrow morning (see yesterday's item below) to ensure progress on the residents' parking consultation process.

Nearly late for Downing St photos

I had been booked in to take photos and video this afternoon for Jo Swinson MP handing in a petition to Downing St about a hospice in her constituency. I very nearly forgot to turn up. Well, it be more accurate, I did forget to turn up until I was phoned by Jo's secretary as they were standing at the entrance to Downing St! I made it over in five minutes from Cowley St. Good exercise, as Jo said!

Rachida Dati and "Sharia law" in France

And they say we have silly arguments about so-called Sharia-isation in the UK... Share This

Henley's acting returning officer has a blog

A by-election first. Read it here.

Obama v. McCain: judge for yourselves

At last we have a US general election match-up: Senator Barack Obama (Dem., Illinois) versus Senator John McCain (Rep., Arizona). They both spoke at rallies last night after the Sen. Obama's victory was finally confirmed, and their speeches indicate the very real differences between the candidates. It's not just between their rhetorical styles (though if [...]

Henley by-election report: what's really going on?

Woof woof woof. Lovely day out in the sun scampering along the by-ways of Henley constituency. It's lovely. And it's biggggggggggggggggg. But with double the number of legs of the typical Focus deliverer, I did my part today. Morale was given a boost by seeing the Conservatives out delivering their leaflet from last Saturday which they'd boasted they were going to deliver in one day. Well they didn't. Or in two days. Or in three day. Or in four days. Or in five days. That's what happens if you don't have a dog delivery team to help you out on ...

Liberalism and technocracy don't mix

Oh dear. The cheerleaders for road user charging in the Lib Dems have decided to step up a gear. We will, no doubt, have another row about this at party conference in the autumn and Clegg will no doubt turn it into a vote of confidence issue and win (people who diss Labour MPs for meekly falling into line over their government on 42 days would do well to remember that our own party has a tendency to put the same party interests over principle). That doesn't make him right though. Can it really be more than 2 1/2 years ...

PMQs: Nick tackles Gordon on Zimbabwe

There was a Cinderella at the ball in today's Prime Minister's Questions: Labour's moves to increase to 42 days the length of time terrorism suspects can be detained without trial. Clearly both Nick Clegg and David Cameron decided there was no point going on the attack and risk uniting those Labour backbenchers who might still [...]

Rice to be rationed?

With the BBC reporting that Lidl have decided to limit the amount of rice customers can purchase, to 10kg in the UK, and 5kg elsewhere, and some other stores set to follow suit, are we facing a crisis that necessitates the rationing of rice internationally? Tesco and Morrison's have put temporary limits in some of its stores, but both say that more comprehensive restrictions won't be necessary. As of yet, Asda and Sainsbury's don't plan to implement any limiits. In the US, Wal-mart, Sam's club, and CostCo, all major supermarkets have placed limits on the amount of rice its customers ...

Boris Johnson runs up £465,000 bill to help settle in to new job

As more details emerge, the costs of Boris Johnson's transition team are going up and up. As Tory Troll reports, the latest figures are £465,000, which is equal to 70% of the total annual cost of all the Mayor's permanent staff and deputies. That's an awful lot of money to be spending just on a [...]

Dirty Dozen 5

May's selection of the worst and best in Labour and Tory blogging - at least as chosen by me - can be found on Liberal Democrat Voice.

Do liberals hate Poles?

Yes, according to Daniel Kawczynski, who blames the "liberal elites" - and in particular the BBC - for increased attacks on Poles in the UK. If there is a widespread vendetta by the BBC against Poles, presumably the Poles themselves are up in arms about it? Well, not on Polish Forums they're not. The Federation of Poles in Great Britain are rather more exercised about the distinctly un-liberal Daily Mail (a paper which has lost no time in jumping on Kawczynski's bandwagon), yet strangely Kawczynski doesn't mention this fact. Kawczynski's speech doesn't actually cite a single example of what his ...

Maps, Governance and Young People

What do they all have in common? Mainly the fact that they were the topics of my three 'council activities' today. I actually started with an early session to arrange some dates to make progress on getting a report through the relevant stages in the right order. Then a brief session to ask a couple of officers for help with practical issues arising out of yesterday's climate change event.

Obama wins - the battle begins

So, Barack Obama has finally won the title of 'Presumptive' Democrat nominee for the November General Election. Good. One aspect of this that has been missed out is that this completes the fall from grace of every politician tainted by association with the Iraq war. In Britain, Labour and Tony Blair's fall from grace began with massive 'credibility cleavage' in it's case for invading Iraq. In America, anger and disapproval with the Bush administration began with a swing against it on Iraq. Clinton wasn't entirely undone by Iraq but it did underpin alot of the hardcore activist hostility to her ...

Dealing with prostitution

Attended a briefing on tackling the demand for prostitution. The Government is looking at some form of legislation to curb demand for prostitution as opposed to the more traditional emphasis on the supply-side of the equation. Not going to go into all the complexities of the discussion - as this is not an easy one to get right - but the MP from Ipswich (Chris Mole) where five women were murdered came to tell us of his experience. Since the murders, the social services, police and other authorities and agencies have all been working together to eradicate street prostitution. They ...

Congratulations to Jenny Willott

Congratulations to Jenny Willott - my Liberal Democrat colleague from Cardif Central who was promoted on Sunday to be our Shadow Secretary of State for Department Work and Pensions.About time Jenny joined our Shadow Cabinet - very talented and very experienced in the portfolio having been on the Select Committee equivalent for the last three years.It came about because Danny Alexander who had the portfolio has also been doing what was meant to be a temporary post as Chief of Staff for Nick Clegg. However, too much to do both and given that they get on so well - Danny ...

Who To Support?

Euro 2008 kicks off shortly with no England to follow.  Who are you going to support?  I'm running a little poll here: www.adriansanders.org My vote's for Italy, before you ask. Ad...

Polish Ebb tide

A few years ago there was a great deal of alarmist nonsense talked and written about the influx of Labour from the countries that joined the European Union in 2004. In particular, there was considerable concern that thousands of Poles would swamp the UK. In fact, as we now know, it did not happen like that. These 'economic migrants' were precisely that. Since they had an easy travel regime, they came to the UK freely, but they also left, equally freely. In fact several economists have suggested that the advantage that Britain has had over the past few years in ...

Plus ca change, plus c'est toujours the blooming same

'Breaking news' from the BBC is that US Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has pledged to support Israel, protect its security and to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. While all these pledges are fundamentally decent - and he was speaking to the rabid AIPAC - you feel he could have maybe been a bit more even handed in his first foreign policy statement. How about justice for the Palestinians? Or dialogue with Iran, perhaps circumventing loony President Ahmedinejad, rather than just a bald threat? What about telling Israel to butt out of its regular incursions into Lebanon to help ...

Once again the judges get it right

Arriving in Westminster earlier, I bumped into two friends from the Iranian Resistance movement, the PMOI, who had come to brief MPs on the latest developments. As I have mentioned in a previous posting, the PMOI has been fighting to get itself removed from the Government's proscribed list, which in effect designates them as terrorists. Despite a number of court rulings, the UK government has refused to remove the terror tag and has led the way in keeping the PMOI on the EU list. However, the Court of Appeal has now ruled that the PMOI is a legitimate secular opposition ...

on wind power

By 2020, every household in Britain could be powered by offshore wind farms. This bold announcement by The Crown Estate, dubbed Round 3, sees an expansion of the levels of investment in wind power. This would allow Britain to meet its contribution to the EU target, of 20% of energy coming from renewable sources by 2020. The Crown Estate is planning to co-invest up to 50 per cent of the cost of obtaining planning consents for windfarm sites, including the funding of enabling works intended to speed up windfarm delivery. This may include action to address generic, zone-wide environmental concerns, ...

Doctorin' the Asylum

Interesting article here about the 1994 BBC serial Takin' Over the Asylum starring David Tennant. Leaving aside the "before they were famous" anecdote and the interesting stuff about how mental health issues are portrayed in the media, what caught my attention was how the BBC is now cashing in on the fact that a bunch of fans put the serial up on YouTube. It is now available on Amazon, priced £12.98. We're always told how much piracy costs the entertainment industry. Given that in this case the reverse is clearly true, should "Catyuy" and "Midcirclenine" be expecting a cheque in ...

So he's done it..

So, after a month of trying to be Mayor of London and MP for Henley, Boris is stepping down as MP for Henley. Having taken his Henley constituents for granted for quite some time (campaigning in London means you are not in Henley!) he has hung on for long enough for the Tories to select their candidate for the by election, which looks to be late june. We clearly had foresight when we planned our trip from Liverpool to Henley this weekend to help in the campaign!

Neighbour in the papers

This lady is clearly very calm. She runs the little newsagent near my house and I was in there this morning to pick up a paper.

Personal narrative given to Liberal Democrat soc at UEA

What is to be done? (reference to Lenin not intended!) The current situation of politics at UEA · There is a severe lacking in what one might call democratic participation. Voter turnout amongst students is poor, political activism is confined to a small but dedicated group that is largely divided on campus between the divisions of the far left (greens, respect, socialists, 'save (insert oppressed third world country here)' groups and the harder Labour supporters) and a relatively Thatcherite conservative group with a few Blairites holding the centre/centre right ground. · The nature of these groups is largely based around ...

Boris Johnson Resignation Watch: The End

Posted on the Treasury website today: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has today appointed Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead. This effectively means Boris Johnson has resigned as MP for Henley and the contest to replace him can begin in earnest. Only took him 4 weeks and a day...

They've Taken OUr Proctor Away

You are my Proctor My Mark Proctor You make us happy when skies are grey We want to tell you How much we'd miss miss Don't take our Proctor away. Sung to the tune of you are my sunshine this was the chant that the Livingston faithful sang over and over at McDiarmid Park on the last day of the 2007-8 SFL Division 1 season. There had been talk that then owner Pearse Flynn was going to sack him

Government ignorance on unexploded cluster munitions incredible - Davey

The Government has no idea how many unexploded British cluster bombs remain from conflicts around the world, the Liberal Democrats have found. In a Parliamentary answer, Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth admitted that he could not provide an accurate estimate of the number of unexploded British cluster munitions which still have to be cleared following their use in Iraq, Kuwait, Serbia and Kosovo. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, Edward Davey said: 'These weapons have a terrible legacy, yet the Government appears to have no idea how many it has used and how many have been made safe. 'It is incredible ...

Fizzy pops are made of soda

US county map of soft drink names USians are so silly, arguing over the generic name for a fizzy drink. We don't bother with such things... (unless you count cup cakes, but that's food, which is IMPORTANT) (tags: maps linguistics america)

The friendly Minister

The Welsh Assembly Government's favourite UK Minister, Ben Bradshaw was at it again yesterday with his assertion that longer waiting times for Welsh patients are a "consequence of devolution". He pointed out that only 109 English patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for outpatient treatment, compared with 25,042 patients in Wales. Mr. Bradshaw of course is making precisely the same point as that made by the Welsh Liberal Democrats: there are no such things as 'free' prescriptions or parking. These 'perks' are paid for by diverting money from frontline services. Free prescriptions should not cover millionaires and free parking ...

Bye Bye Boris

So Boris has said that he is definitely going to resign as MP for Henley. I met Boris a few times during my time as a County Councillor and always found him a genuinely pleasant and good-natured guy. He also appeared to do a good job representing his constituents, certainly in the dealings I had with him. I'm sure he is genuinely sad to be leaving Henley where he has been a well regarded MP. Let battle now commence to choose his successor.

Obama wins the nomination

Barack Obama appears to have secured the Democratic nomination for President, he is certainly claiming it and the delegate count from the Associated Press gives him it.

'Antifreeze Kills' Petition

Llewtrah's Soapbox reports:Antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is highly toxic and it has a taste that is attractive to some animals. As well as accidental poisonings, it has sometimes been used deliberately to poison animals including domestic pets. There is a Downing Street petition to make antifreeze safe. 'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Enforce that the manufactures of engine

Obama wins Montana and Clinton wins South Dakota

In the last two primaries, the spolis were yet again shared.

Some libertarian quotations (or why the Conservatives are not the natural home for libertarians)

In the past, libertarians tended to defend actually existing capitalism because the most likely alternative model was much worse. Capitalists also were willing to talk about the value of free markets, even if they wanted protection - the reason being that they needed an apologetic that was not naked class privilege. With the collapse of [...]

Friday 30th May 12 noon

LEAVING DO FOR DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT & LEISURE Tom Jeffrey has been Sutton's Strategic Director of Environment and Leisure for six years and today was his last day before moving on to Croydon Council to take over a similar role. I attended his leaving bash to say goodbye and add my thanks for all his good [...]

Ireland's EU Referendum

A few thousand Irish voters could decide the short-term future of the European Union, when Ireland goes to the polls on 12 June in a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. It is the only country in the 27-nation EU that is putting the issue to the public (because of a constitutional obligation), but a 'no' [...]

Councillors' training

One of the areas I am now responsible for in my portfolio at the City Council is training and support for elected councillors. So I went to a training session with two hats on last night. The session, for newly elected councillors (and I am sort of that) was on equal opportunities. I wanted to benefit from the training as an individual, but also see at first hand the sort of training we were offering. The good news was that this was a really good, thought provoking session. The bad news was that, out of the new councillors, there were ...

Up the alley!!

I don't usually go wandering round the back of other people's houses - but I did last night. A group of residents at the surgery on Monday described a situation which is causing a lot of grief to them and others, but there is nothing like going out and having a look at it for yourself. So if you saw a strange woman peering at a pile of rubbish - it was me!

Rail theft no light matter

A man has admitted stealing 171 tonnes of railway track at Acton Turnville, near Yate and Chipping Sodbury. He pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court. Unsurprisingly police said he could have caused a 'serious rail crash'. According to the BBC the track had already been removed and put next to the line for a renovation project. A crane was used to load it onto five lorries which took it to scrap metal merchants in Newport. Hat-tip to Teletext West News for this item.

Top of the Blogs: The Dirty Dozen #5

When I agreed to write this monthly round up of Labour and Tory blogging I said I would aim to "keep a balance between pointing to interesting postings that we Lib Dems may have missed and laughing at the folly of our opponents". So here goes. Labour There is only one place to begin this time: Crewe. Let's visit [...]

Polish Immigrants as a Class within a Class?

A Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, has blamed the BBC for the apparent increase in attacks on Polish immigrants. He claims that the 'liberal elite' at the Corporation focused on the 'soft touch' of 'White Christians from Poland' in dealing with the immigration issues, rather than on what he calls 'more controversial' (as well as larger-scale) immigration from the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the West Indies. Mr Kawczynski is introducing a Bill into Parliament that would establish a bank holiday in celebration of the contribution made by Poles to the UK since the Second World War. I agree that the focusing ...

Obama Wins! Yet Another Important Photo Opportunity

I'll stop now. Unless of course you want me to continue.

Obama Wins! Another Important Photo Opportunity

Obama Wins! Important Photo Opportunity

LDV Campaign: stop the big, mad database

You may have seen the news that the Home Office is thinking of putting together a database of every phone call and email in the UK. Well, don't get angry - get campaigning! We've decided this is a good topic for The Voice's first campaign, but a campaign is only as good as its participants, which is where [...]

A transport policy to shout about

The latest announcement from the LDs is on a transport policy which includes a lot of good stuff. Road pricing is fine if it replaces fuel duty and road tax, rather than being an additional tax. Why not have 'oyster cards' in every car, van and lorry? The technology exists and, having paid even more this morning to fill up my car, I can see the value in cutting fuel duty. The other side to my personal experience is that I drive 46 miles a day to and from work. Alternatives are difficult but available and if driving this distance ...

And they're off...

Boris Johnson has just announced at his London Mayor press conference that he's standing down as MP for Henley. By-election to follow shortly...

Boris won't resign twice in one day

By-election HQ has just erupted in cheers as news of Boris Johnson's resignation as MP for Henley comes through. While Boris won't be resigning as Mayor of London too, his stepping down from Henley has coincided with calls for him to apologise to London Underground staff. Saturday's last-gasp 'booze party' culminated in chaos (funny, never saw that coming) as trains were damaged, arrests were made and revellers 'celebrated' the Mayor's alcohol ban on public transport. Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT called it, 'a half-baked gimmick designed solely as a publicity stunt and without a moment's thought for the ...

MOD helicopter dithering beggars belief

Today the NAO released a report on airworthiness problems with Britain's Chinook helicopters. In response to the findings of the report our Shadow Defence Secretary Nick Harvey expressed his disbelief: "Even by the usual standards of MoD procurement sagas, this report really beggars belief. It is scandalous that while our troops are desperate for helicopters in Afghanistan, eight Chinooks have been left on the tarmac back in Britain. (more...)

Quick Link

Mark Steel in the Indy, talking about the problems in education:the only way the Americans could increase the suffering [in Guantanamo Bay is] if they followed torture sessions by sending my old maths teacher in to drone, 'So - what is the average number of electrodes applied to each prisoner? Come on, someone.'

PACT records good starting results.

The Second meeting of the Twerton PACT went off quite well last night with about 30 people in attendance; this was down from the first meeting due to a failure to get the printed advertising material ready in time. The community heard back from Somer Housing concerning the number one priority of our first meeting and that was the security of the Flats in Twerton. Somer announced that...

So farewell then...

While quite a few people are doubtless going to get demi EJ Thribb about the demise of the candidature of Hilary Rodham Clinton, I must admit to laughing a lot at this Adam Smith Institute reaction....

Lodz is he on?

The kindest thing to say about Daniel Kawczynski's appearance on the Today programme this morning is that it was eccentric. He accused the BBC, "yooou, Mr Humphreys" of provoking violence against Polish migrants, because they are "white Christians". Very curious. It certainly wrongfooted Humphreys, who thought he was in for a light-hearted natter about a hopeless Ten Minute Rule Bill. Evoking US political language, Kawczynski repeatedly referred to the 'liberal elite', which as he explained last year, is anyone who has never been to Saudi.

Road Pricing

Amazingly no newspapers appear to have picked up the Road Pricing announcement yet. The BBC's got a story but it seems that it's something of a damp squib. This, really, could be a very lucky thing for us. This blog post struck me as nailing the issues. It comes from someone who considers themselves independent. I really have nothing further to add on the subject, short of adding my own concerns that there's no way it's possible to run road charging without a centralised database that logs details of journeys and can then issue bills. THis system sounds incredibly complicated, ...

Opinion: The Politeness of Freedom (A short essay on Political Correctness)

Political correctness is an odd matter for we Liberal Democrats. The inherent contradictions contained within it seems to symbolize the strains between the right and the left of our party. However, we cannot simply continue to ignore the issue, for doing so is allowing the debate to be taken over by a reactionary right-wing press [...]

"Immigration hasn't caused crime wave"

Well, that's the headline the Daily Mail could have used if you read the quotes in their article carefully, along with a subhead of "Action to tackle knife crime amongst immigrants has been a success says top cop". But their actual headline is rather different... (and also wrong because the 'spikes' comment wasn't made by a [...]

A Tale of Three Speeches

I'll admit that the political geek in me overcame the need for sleep last night to witness what promised to be an historic evening in American politics as it happened. Yes folk yesterday while South Dakota and Montana marked the end of the 2008 Presidential Primary season all eyes and cameras were focused on New Orleans, New York and St. Paul, for it was here that John McCain, Hillary Clinton and

Green taxes' place in the big picture of climate change

I hope you've all read Charlotte Gore's avalanche of posts against green taxes. I have defended the idea a little in the comments section, finally reaching the point that green taxes need to be seen as an effective part of a bigger picture of how we combat climate change. So here goes. The insignificance of the individual Does it matter what I do, whether I drive or fly or explore outer space

Start lobbing those grenades!

Hmmm, I see I've made it into this week's Lib Dem Voice Golden Dozen for my posting on the Crewe and Nantwich by-election campaign, a post which was critical of my own party. The only previous time I (sort of) featured, it was also for a posting critical of my own party. The moral of this is clear: if you want to get your blog noticed, just start lobbing a few grenades against your own side. The buggers will soon start paying attention!

Shop local - no really, you should and must!

I've gushed about how good specific shops and traders are on West End Lane and yep, here's another. Farrants the fruitiers and greengrocers. Fresh, open, like a market stall and full of the charm and simplicity that isn't a supermarket chain. My preference every time is for the little, independent local shop - and West Hampstead holds that secret by the spadefull. Now of course Tesco is on the way, and the reality is that most people use these chains - despite preferring not to. But I increasingly find that I consciously don't buy fruit and vegetables from supermarket ...

Day 2710: The Terrorising of Mr Frown

Monday: Politics is all about TIMING isn't it. So, on one side of the Atlantic, the Monkey-in-Chief is soon to step down and is desperate to secure some kind of legacy (clue: it is BIGGEST LOSER EVER!)... hence the SURPRISE announcement that al Qaeda has lost the War On Terra. Meanwhile, on THIS side of the Pond, Mr Frown is desperate NOT to be stepping down soon and so is announcing that terrorism is more terrifying than ever! He wants to prove he's more of a MAN than Lord Blairimort; but he's really only showing what a COWARDY-CUSTARD he is. ...

Wednesday 4th June 2008

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