LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Saturday 14th June 2008

A day around St Pancras

It was my mother's birthday today, and being a dutiful son I took her for lunch at the champagne bar at St Pancras. I have used the new station several times now. It has undergone an extraordinary transformation - quite how extraordinary, only those of us who remember the dirty, neglected station it used to be. It was magnificent even then, and a wonderful secret confined to those of us who caught trains to prosaic places like Wellingborough, Loughborough and Long Eaton. So there is a small, nostalgic part of me that regrets the transformation, but the larger and more ...

The more I think about the decision not to stand against David Davis, the worse it gets

David Cameron's strategy since he became Tory leader has been to convince us all that it is possible to be a reasonable person - concerned about the environment and civil liberties - and still vote Conservative. You may say that this has amounted to little more than being in favour of motherhood and apple pie. But as (I think) Danny Finkelstein once pointed out, the Tories spent a decade giving every impression of being against motherhood and apple pie, so this marks considerable progress for them. All of which presents the Liberal Democrats with a problem. We are no longer ...

Local events

There's lots of stuff happening in and around Lee Green at the moment. I've posted the list from our latest E-Focus below. The Blackheath Bike & Kite Festival takes place this weekend from 11am until 4pm each day. There'll be mountain bike stunts, kite flying displays, and the chance to buy and fly your own kite. There'll also be a children's fair from 11am until 7pm, and Dr Bike will be on hand with advice on keeping your bike in top condition. Community Education Lewisham are holding an open day on 19th June at their Grove Park Centre, Coopers Lane ...

Tarsiers

For S104, I have been researching tarsiers, for a collaborative exercise we have to complete. They live in and around Borneo, are primates, closely related to us. I am supposed to describe their distinguishing characteristics, which, on an immediate impression, is that they are furry and cuddly, with gorgeous eyes. But I'm supposed to be more scientific than that. They are distinguished from other mammals by having elongated tarsal bones, rather than metatarsals. Less risk of David Beckham injuries then. This little fellow is typical. Though I must say he looks to me as if he's just spotted the arse ...

It's a (whisper it gently) post about a Trade Union

Sitting on the executive of a trade union for six months has taught me lots of things...but most of all it's gained me many choice comments from fellow Lib Dems (Linda Jack not being amongst them!). Misunderstanding the crucial role of money and Labour in trade unions I stuck to my guns and defended them, until a couple of months ago, when I began to feel frustrated. After all, misdirected anger can be frustrating. I had a feeling that my anger wasn't being thrown at the right people, and if it was, then it wasn't having any effect whatsoever, and ...

Viruses, web2.0, weight loss and a big behind

I've spent a portion of last week and this battling a virus downloaded onto a work machine by one of my colleagues who thought it was a good idea to have Limewire. Can't get rid of it, have to wipe the machine, not allowed to do it till they've taken off the stuff they want. It doesn't seem to have entered anyone's head that there's nothing they can do with it without risking infecting whatever machine they put it on. It's not going near any of mine. A while ago my doctor told me I really had to lose weight ...

Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves!?

I return from an enjoyable day in London to find that many people have been reaching this blog after googling 'Valerie Singleton'. I visit Google News to see what she has been up to, only to find this in the Daily Mail: For decades they have helped define a more innocent era of children's TV.But last night it emerged that two of the most popular presenters on Blue Peter - Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves - may have been more than simply colleagues.During a special edition of The Weakest Link quiz show both appeared to suggest a romantic encounter in ...

Four pieces of mostly unconnected news

One: Mark Penn, formerly of Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign, tells people in US that it was he who ran Labour's 2005 general election campaign. I suspect that'd be news to quite a few in the Labour Party. Such as those who ran it. Two: Alun Cairns, a Conservative Welsh Assembly member, quits post after insulting Italians. Three: Kelvin [...]

PCSOs

A County meeting this week showed a strong division over the issue of PCSOs. Roughly half of the members present felt they were a good thing while the other half felt they were a waste of time and money. Curiously this was not the urban/rural division of opinion we often see at these meetings, but was split even in the same district. Why such a divergence of opinions? Is this how residents feel? A top question for this summer's surveys, I think! There is no question that the desire for better policing has never been stronger and the feeling that ...

Extraordinary snatches of 'Do it again' on Doctor Who

Click here and here for The primeval urge to smash crockery

EU protects Darfur Refugees

Chadian rebels have taken a town in the East of the country and are threatening to advance to the capital N'Djamena again. But the town, Goz Beida is home to 15,000 refugees from Darfur. The fighting has been fierce, its thought that 80-100 trucks were seen racing towards Goz Beida. These rebels are supported by the Sudanese Government (there is a proxy war between Sudan and Chad, each country supporting certain rebels in the other). So these rebels could have done terrible things to the refugees. Rape, murder and abduction (of children for soldiers), perhaps in the hundreds or thousands. ...

Chris Martin should remove his head from his own arse

So Chris martin was bored doing an interview for Radio 4. Well the BBC should apologise straight away for giving him free publicity the day after his band, Coldplay, released their new album. Of course the BBC should be apologising to us. Coldplay are the very epitome of what is wrong with music at the moment. Turgid self indulgent crap served up time and time again is the most succinct way I could sum up their work, and for Chris Martin to believe he is so important that he shouldn't answer question shows why the BBC should not give him ...

Top 10 McBlogs

The other week Jeff from SNP Tactical Voting placed me in his top 10 blogs in the Scottish blogosphere. What with an action backed week in Stormont and Westminster and I didn't even get around to Zimbabwe I never got around to returning the favour and posting mine. Well this evening I'm going to do just that having just updated my links. Like Jeff I'm not doing it in any particular order and

Mugabe prepared for war

Robert Mugabe has said he is prepared to go to war for his country. Now in a free and fair election Morgan Tsvangirai would easily win, he would of won the first round of voting. But even so the support for him may be enough to win enough votes to get past the fraud. Apparently there are people in the Zimbabwean military that will back the constitution and allow Tsvangirai to become President. Also many soldiers are actually thought to vote MDC because of their poor circumstances. So it may be that the military wouldn't prop Mugabe up. But unfortunately ...

film book music reviews at...

www.ripplestonereview.co.uk

Slight fly in the ointment on Rupert Murdoch's pledge to fund Kelvin MacKenzie...

Michael Crick highlights a potential fly in the ointment concerning Rupert Murdoch's pledge to put the Sun's money behind Kelvin MacKanezie at Haltemprice and Howden: Former editor of the Sun newspaper Kelvin Mackenzie has indicated that he's 90% certain to stand as a pro 42 days candidate in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election; caused by the resignation of David Davis. And on the BBC's

Leading Welsh Tory's derogatory remark about Italians

There hardly seems to be a week going by without some member of the Conservative party letting slip the real Tory party behind the Cameron spin. This week it is the turn of Alun Cairns, a leading Tory member of the Welsh Assembly: A leading Conservative Welsh assembly member has resigned as the party's education spokesman after likening Italians to 'greasy wops'. Alun Cairns apologised

Have you caught Veep madness yet?

It's worth having a go with this....

Midnight - Tonight!

Whatever you do, tune in to BBC1 at 7.10 tonight for Midnight (a planet, and a title, not a time). The latest Doctor Who episode is the first I've ever seen before transmission*, and the first new Doctor Who on the telly since 1989 that I've seen for the first time without Richard. So while this little piece has no spoilers (just the odd cryptic hint, so you can read safely) I've not even told Richard that... I think it's terrific. It's a fantastic script, David Tennant is superb, and my prediction is: kids will either be bored or petrified. ...

Keir Hardie revolves as Ulster unionists prop up a Labour government

I can't let the week go by without commenting on the manner of the vote on 42 day detention without charge. I think Keir Hardie would be turning in his grave. Did he found the Labour party for it to impose internment and abolish the lower rate of tax? Gordon Brown is trying to out-Tory the Tories and will go down in history as a complete failure for doing so. If there had been a free vote on

Why do ITV employ match summarisers who cannot pronounce names ?

Presumably ITV employ Sam Allarcyce and David pleat because they can summarise what happens in football match. The problem is that I fail to understand fully what they are saying because they keep making reference to players who are not in the pitch. Why ? Because they cannot pronounce foreign players names (although David Pleat has, for years, had problems with English names too). Hearing Sam Allardyce referring before the Sweden vs Spain match to Zoltan over and over again (presumably he meant Zlatan Ibrahimovic), made me wonder if he was referring to some comic book alien King, whilst David ...

Are Labour in danger of looking a gift horse in the mouth ?

If reports are to believed, Labour are unlikely to field a candidate against David Davis in Haltemprice and Howden. There is a logic to this line in that it allows Labour to paint it all as a gimmick and one that they are not taking seriously. Likewise, Labour can be accused of cowardice on the 42 day issue by the opposition. Either way though, it becomes a non issue if Labour don't take part. but what if Labour did take part ? A simple Tory win for Davis will do nothing to halt the Tory momentum they have at the ...

Call centres

I visited an elderly couple this week. They are having problems getting their insurance company to pay up on a claim. I read through the paperwork and as far as I am concerned the insurance company are well out of order and they are demanding money off them! The gentleman cannot sleep and has already been in hospital for high blood pressure. This couple are in their 80's. I rang the insurance company but of course the person you want is never around - on a training course. And no-one has bothered to ring back even though they said they ...

Penryn Bowling Club

Had a chat with Susie at the Bowling club. At last South West Water have come up trumps and put the cap on their sewage works in Penryn. This means that the bowlers can now play without the awful smell they have had to put up with for several years. But it still took time and I had to call them every month to put pressure on to make them do this work. Anyway must ring and say thanks for getting it all sorted. Result!

Celebrating the Liberal Revival

It was a joy to take a break from work and active political campaigning today, in order to attend a seminar on 'Torrington 58: Liberal survival and revival 1958-1979′ at the London School of Economics (LSE). Supported by the Scurrah Wainwright Charity and the Liberal Democrat History Group, the event served up a scintillating array [...]

David Davis believes in the death penalty

Have just come across a Facebook group ... David Davis believes in the death penalty and I imagined it was just some loony group until they posted this link to an article on the BBC website dated from November 2003 Tories' Davis backs death penalty. Extract ... The death penalty should be brought back for some pre-meditated and cold-blooded murders, new Tory shadow home secretary David Davis says. This should apply in cases involving multiple murders where there is clear evidence and no doubt, he says. This would not include the Soham case, but would include cases such as the ...

Moral Maze

The Oxford English dictionary defines a moral thus: 'concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour and the goodness or badness of human character'. However, that is far from exhaustive definition: in essence, when seeking to define a moral and morality we can start with its charactisation as something that is purely subjective. Morals and morality are not tangible, they can't be touched. They exist purely in the vastness that is humanities mental universe but yet that is not the entire truth. Values and morals are a form of mediation between our mental universe and the physical one that ...

Dog free delivering

Well what's a political activist to do on a nice day like today but go delivering? Off to Kensington first and then over to Knotty Ash. And although there clearly were lots of dogs around, none of them got their gnashers anywhere near my digits. Hurrah

Sex and the City was.....

SOOO disappointing. Nice clothes and scary shoes.. but a less predictable plot would have been nice!

Something for the Weekend: The Sun Goes Down

It's been an exciting week in the Westminster Village, with MPs pulled this way and that (it was the annual Commons-Lords tug of war) and a shocking House of Commons resignation (Andrea Simmons has stood down after fifty-six years as chair of the Palace of Westminster Parking Regulations Committee). Oh, and Haltemprice and Howden MP [...]

The little things....

I want to tell a story. This story isn't the most exciting thing you will ever read. No thrills and only one spill. It certainly won't be made into a movie or win an Oscar in the very very unlikely event it was but still, to me, it's a story about one of those things that can make life worth living. I was on the way back home from town in the early hours of the morning (well, 9 am is early to me) and I decided to catch a bus considering I had just wasted a sum on a ...

£10bn taxpayer subsidy to high flyers

According to Government figures uncovered by one of my colleagues, Norman Baker MP, the aviation industry is receiving up to £10bn per year in a hidden fuel tax subsidy.You can look on this subsidy as...

A solitary bureaucrat in a sea of councillors

I'm on my way to Gloucester, having spent this morning with Ros at the joint LGA/ALDC Local Government Conference in Birmingham. Last night, we attended the pre-conference dinner in the extremely grand Council House, a magnificent example of Victorian municipal architecture. Richard Kemp and Paul Tilsley made brief speeches before Ros took her turn. I don't have much involvement in the

It's about Murdoch, Stupid!

Isn't it ironic how Murdoch's sticky fingers are all over recent events. First, our esteemed Prime Minister has to go into coalition with the DUP to look macho for the Sun (judging from recent copies the Mirror is just Pravda anyway). Then David Davis decides to call a by-election. Mr Brown again doesn't know what to do [...]

We, the undersigned...

'We, the undersigned note with scepticism the recent resignation of Shadow Home Secrertary David Davis. We note that his campaign will be receiving no financial and logistical support from the Conservative Party and therefore feel that in fact his resignation is the result of internal wrangling within the Party. While we share his concerns about the recent passage of legislation to extend the limit of pre-charge detention to 42 days for terror suspects. We also share his concerns about this governments attacks on civil liberties. However, we do feel that he is not the best representative of our concerns. If ...

Die Schöne Müllerin

If you should happen to be free and in London in the evening on Monday week (23rd June) and like Schubert, please do come along to Christ Church in Highbury, where Sarah Wilkinson and I will be performing his song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin. It's a few years now since I have done any serious singing of extended length, so I've been enjoying spending time learning the cycle and just getting back into singing properly. Although I've sung various of the twenty songs in it on various occasions over the years, there are a good many that I didn't know ...

Arise, Sir Alan!

Hearty congratulations to the former Mr Beith: Senior Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith has spoken of his delight at becoming a Knight. The long-serving Berwick-upon-Tweed MP becomes Sir Alan in recognition of his services to Parliament. A former deputy leader of the Lib Dems and its predecessor, the Liberal Party, Sir Alan, 65, was first elected to represent [...]

Overgrown shrubbery complaint

Two years ago, following residents' complaints to me that I passed on to the City Council, shrubbery at the roundabout on Riverside Drive/Riverside Avenue near the Marmalade Pot was trimmed back (see earlier story by clicking on the headline above). I have now received further complaints that the shrubbery is again in need of trimming back (see photo above) as it makes it, in particular, difficult for pedestrians crossing to see vehicles approaching the roundabout. I have therefore contacted the City Council asking for action to improve sight lines for both drivers and pedestrians here.

Class Sizes

I was pleased to see that, during the past week, in a debate in the Scottish Parliament on cuts to the education budget, Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Jeremy Purvis MSP demanded urgent clarification from the Scottish Government about how much extra money is necessary for the SNP to achieve its class size targets. This is an issue I have raised locally here in Dundee on a number of occasions, as there is concern locally at the lack of funding from the SNP government for their own policy. Jeremy said, "The SNP provided no additional resources to deliver what, before ...

You're Being Sued Mrs Robinson

Before I start I would like to assure Mrs Robinson this is not a witch hunt, her words not mine. Merely trying to get to bottom of just what she has said and has continued to say in her defence since I first posted this, then this earlier this week and also where the story has led. It appears that on Tuesday the MP and MLA tried to defend her comments made on Stephen Nolan's Radio Ulster show

In re B (Children) (FC)

The link is to Bailii for this case. The case was one where the Guardian ad Litem asked for the standard of proof to be a 'real possibility' of a 'risk of significant harm' for the S31 A threshold rather than 'balance of probabilities'. Had the Guardian at Litem won then it would have confirmed that parties to a Family Court case need to prove their innocence rather than the state prove (even

Where is Kelvin MacKenzie? Who is Kelvin MacKenzie ?

The paper review on BBC News this morning was interesting as it highlighted the complete absence of Kelvin McKenzie from any newspapers despite his claims yesterday that he was 90% certain to stand against David Davis if Labour fail to put up a candidate in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. It seems, even the Murdoch press, have gone cold on the idea of kelvin McKenzie standing in the by-election. But then again, when you read just a few facts about kelvin McKenzie you can understand why his support might collapse when put under public scrutiny. A quick check on Wikipedia ...

Parenting and the loss of identity

One of the problems of living in a small market town is that everybody knows you, especially when you are a politically active member of the community. As we Lib Dems control our Town Council by 13 to 5, I'm often approached by people and asked if I could have a word with the Mayor about this or our Councillors about that. But as a parent life can be much more disconcerting. I'm no longer Martin Land, Lib Dem County Officer, but Frank or Robert's Dad. You are accosted in the street and invited into bizarre conversations along the lines ...

Government maintain secrecy - shock!

This morning's Western Mail reports that the UK Government's Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has threatened to cut off all discussions about the possible transfer of powers over energy policy, unless complete secrecy is maintained. Officials in the Assembly's Environment Department explain: "BERR has made it very clear from the outset that as energy is a sensitive sector and the development of policy in connection with the transfer functions in that sector would necessitate wider consideration of the wider policy in that sector, they would consider it detrimental to the sector in its future development if information were ...

Voting power

So just how many people of Italian descent live in the Vale of Glamorgan exactly? I am sure that the Tory PPC in this highly marginal seat will be anxious to find out. Update: Alun Cairns has resigned as Tory Education Spokesperson in the Assembly and as Chair of the Assembly's Finance Committee. Bizarely, he appears to be hanging onto his role as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan. Surely, that is quite a sensitive position and from a Tory point of view, the one most likely to be impacted by his remarks. After all he will be ...

Irish thrown the EU into confusion

The Irish have voted 53.6% to 46.4%, against the new Lisbon Treaty this week.

David Davis: The Don Quixote of British politics

12/6/08 22:15 Well, I have to say it's been quite a day. Bizarre. I have just seen Iain Dale wetting himself on Newsnight about 'if David sparks a real national debate' on freedom then it'll be worth it. As if. I still see no other real interpretation of this Davis implosion other than that it is an act of pique and ego. I'm sorry. I am far too cynical, I know. But I think Davis is being

The Daily Twits

Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post.12:56 Watching the wrong Brain Dead. It makes Jackson's film look good. # 14:14 is at the Fantastic Films Festival waiting for the next film. Lesbian vampires in goth club London. Sounds like a plan... # 20:06 No one ever told me American Werewolf was Funny. Would've watched it ages ago # 22:48 is thinking 502 minutes of film running time is enough for one day. Now we go clubing? I need sleep! #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

Have you had a David Davis moment?

I am sitting in my office at home having just spent the past hour watching the Dispatches programme from earlier this week on Gordon Brown and how it all went horribly wrong for him. Was the decision to allow election speculation to get out of control last year Brown's David Davis moment? I suspect there will now be a new term entering the lexicon of political language given Davis's decision to

Alan Beith knighted

And not before time. From the Press Association: Senior Liberal Democrats MP Alan Beith has spoken of his delight at becoming a Knight.The long-serving Berwick-upon-Tweed MP becomes Sir Alan in recognition of his services to Parliament.A former deputy leader of the Lib Dems and its predecessor, the Liberal Party, Sir Alan, 65, was first elected to represent the Northumberland constituency in a by-election in 1973.

Saturday 14th June 2008

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