As the XCIVth Brussels summit broke up with Brian Cowan looking both physically and metaphorically like the new Gordon Brown, it strikes me that the coverage missed out one little detail that's worth considering as we go forward over the next few months. Specifically, it's worth remembering that the Treaty is the result of negotiations between twenty-seven democratically-elected governments as 
No less than three of us LibDem Eurocandidates for London were at the Slovenian National Day reception at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall this evening. With just a few days of the Slovenian presidency of the EU left to go, one could almost hear the sighs of relief emanating from Ljubljana. The Slovenians had hoped [...]
Today's ICM poll in The Guardian showing the Tories with a record 20% lead over Labour will increase the pressure on Gordon Brown. Conventional wisdom - backed up by the results to date of the latest LDV poll - suggest the Prime Minister is safe for the moment. And at least part of the reason [...]
A group of residents of Maxwell Court and Romsey Court presented a petition for the closure of the alleyway to a meeting of the Environment, Culture and Tourism Committee which took place earlier tonight. After hearing from the spokesperson for the residents and also from myself the committee took the decision to recomend that the alleyway be closed to reduce the antisocial behaviour which has taken place in the area for a number of years. The result was a victory for the residents and an example to us all! Closing a public right of way is quite a lengthy process, ...
Our second day dawned bright and sunny as we set off for our first experience of cycling in Holland. Amazing! Right of way (impeccibly observed by motorists) for cyclists at roundabouts and road crossings; dedicated cycle paths beside all the main roads; minor roads narrowed to a single lane to allow for cycle lanes. We had no maps, though one of our team thought he knew a little place
I couldn't go to the Total Politics launch party last night as I had a column to write for another magazine. (I used to think that being a writer would involve going to lots of parties. Actually, it chiefly consists of staying at home and writing.) But there is an article by Dominic Ponsford on the UK Press Gazette site which will tells you all about the magazine and Iain Dale's hopes for it: Total Politics will be available free online, at least initially, as a virtual e-magazine. And more than 30 political insiders - ranging from Hazel Blears MP ...
Iain Dale highlights an issue that one business has in the Henley by-election where the strategic placing of a poster has caused them to lose business. It reminded me of the personal bias I might have against businesses who are overtly political in the past, and I wondered if I was completely alone in being like this. In a by-election back in the early 1990's in a Broadland village the local Fish and Chip shop decided to put up a large poster on election day in its window promoting the main rival candidate to the Lib Dems. With a large ...
This morning, I chaired (most of the) TACTRAN Board meeting in Stirling and I am most grateful to Councillor Alan Jack (the Vice Chair, a member of Perth & Kinross Council) who kindly chaired the final item so I could get back to Dundee ... Why ? There was a packed meeting took place at the Paton's Lane sheltered housing complex this afternoon where local residents voiced their concerns at the proposal by Stagecoach Strathtay to remove the Number 72 bus service. I arranged the meeting so that the bus company could hear the specific concerns from residents about the ...
Iain is getting uppity about a person putting a Lib Dem stakeboard on her flat in Thame. I hope he's getting similarly uppity about the countless dozens of Tory boards erected in grass verges around the constituency. Putting them in farmers' fields, with the farmers' permission, is one thing. But putting them on the grass verges, which are Council or highways land, is quite another, in my view. PS, isn't it interesting the shopkeeper is prepared to nail their colours to the mast one way or another? A clear sign the constituency is teetering on a knife-edge and could go ...
News reaches me that one of the businesses which was due to be compulsorily purchased by the Council in order to clear the way for the new Oval shopping development has withdrawn from the purchase of its new site because the compulsory purchase is not going ahead. Furthermore, try visiting the Oval's website and you get the message, 'Website disabled'. As I understand it, Debenham's involvement
The Tories' Henley by-election candidate, John Howell, has been caught with briefing notes apparently aimed to help him appear "normal", with information about the cost of basic produce in the supermarket - a revelation surely more damaging than just admitting you don't know. It's an amusing insight into the Conservative campaign, but its exposure by the Liberal Democrats reminds me of one of the most memorable incidents in the 2006 midterms, when soon to be ousted Virginia Senator George Allen was caught using the slur "macaca" against an opposition activist. What made a big difference to the impact of Allen's ...
I've written a piece on Our Kingdom about the debate currently bubbling under in reformist circles about whether or not the campaign for fair votes should be abandoned in favour of a "compromise" in the form of the Alternative Vote system. In my article I seek to show how AV is not a compromise but a wholesale surrender, will not be any easier to get introduced than full electoral reform and won't do what a lot of its supporters think it will do: I would summarise the push for AV as a call for a lot of pain in exchange ...
Charlie Black has certainly managed to put his foot in it; he inadvertently let slip what we all know, that the Republicans best campaign agent would be a terrorist attack. This is not, of course, to go along with the more paranoid conspiracy theories but it is to recognise that the Republicans have used the politics of fear as the their main recruiting tool. Speaking to Fortune magazine Black admitted that another terrorist attack on US soil would 'certainly' be a 'big advantage' to McCain. Black didn't stop their, he said that the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister ...
This morning, The Times reported that Lord Ashdown had called for a military response to the Zimbabwean crisis to prevent a repeat of the Rwandan catastrophe. As far as I am aware, Paddy is the only politician of note to make the case for military action but even he, by later in the day, was rowing back from that position. Although I have no evidence, I suspect the Party leadership has urged him to tone down his comments. It is a curious position with all politicians trying to out do one another with tough language and threats but none prepared ...
I was bemused to discover that, according to figures released by the Department of Health, London had the worst figures by region for child obesity. The reason for my confusion? These figures (from 2006) showing a galumphing obesity risk in Wansbeck, Corby and suchlike, with the slimmest chances of getting fat for those living in... erm, Westminster, Camden, Islington... Yep, London boroughs had 
Heinz have pulled this advert and apologised to viewers: And so they should have done. Those sweet-as-candy kids and their doe-eyed innocence make me so angry I want to break my laptop screen in two just looking at them. * I couldn't think of a better twisting of their old slogan and I apologise.
Albeit on a small scale... My f-list has had many mentions this afternoon, mostly in shocked tones, of the fact that Heinz have pulled an advert because a few narrow-minded bigots complained that it had two men kissing in it. This is the advert: Well, blogosphere, I don't think we should stand for this. People have the right to kiss over a sandwich no matter what their gender, and I think we should let Heinz know. I now totally have the Bangles in my head: Robert De Niro's waiting, kissing my husbaaaaaand... Anyhoo! Clicky clicky sendy email. I went for ...
Straight answers to straight questions get you in trouble. No, Boris Johnson isn't racist. Nor was is his ex-advisor James McGrath. But evidently his temptation to pick a fight overcame his political skills (if any) and his training in avoiding the question. If you read the interview McGrath gave which resulted in his sacking, then you can see the relevant bit: I pointed out to him a critical comment of Voice columnist Darcus Howe that the election of "Boris Johnson, a right-wing Conservative, might just trigger off a mass exodus of older Caribbean migrants back to our homelands". He retorted: ...
Heres an extract from a press release from earlier today (from me....). 'Recent data produced by the Labour administration reveals child protection is getting overlooked. Last year the police notified the council of 6532 domestic abuse incidents where children live in the household. Thats's the equivalent of 17 every day'. 'Domestic abuse needs a higher priority - especially in the North, Central and East of the City. We need more services like WISH in South Bristol or else we are setting ourselves up with a North-South divide. This administration has recently developed a 3 year strategy but it seems slow ...
According to the BBC website council workers are going on strike on the 16th and 17th of July, but then, according to the BBC, I won't, as a Planning Department employee, be joining them, as the beeb tells us the strike will involve: • School dinner staff • Refuse collectors • Classroom assistants • Social workers • Housing benefit staff • Cooks • Cleaners • Architects • Traffic wardens It's a bit worrying that they think their audience need a complete breakdown of the different types of staff in the council. If our council was comprised of the above list ... 
Saturday To Afghanistan with our new leader Clegg for a flying visit. We are there to visit the troops at an airbase, and young Clegg takes a keen interest in their welfare, asking if they find their equipment outdated. The fellow cleaning the harquebus replies that, while it would be nice to have more modern weapons, it is the Army's way to make the best of things. All this is very commendable, but hellishly tame; what the accompanying journalists want is a bit of pizzazz, a bit of danger. I steal away from the crowd and into the Afghan foothills ...
Today has been hugely dull. Great gusts of tedium have blown themselves around me as I trudged from meeting to meeting at work. And because I am left handed and was at one point using a flip-chart marker, an untoward smudging incident occurred and now I have ink on my fingers and I look like an errant schoolboy. One of the necessary evils of my job as a Councillor is to chase up Council Officers who haven't responded to my emails. I don't know if it is a pathological thing with some of them, or whether the world wide web ...
Well - the much trailed Single Equalities Bill will be announced Wednesday or Thursday. We know that dealing with discrimination based on age is in (hurrah) and there will be a public sector equality duty. Equality in provision of goods and services for the elderly will be staged - exact timing not sure. Equal pay will be a biggee too - as there is still an unacceptable gap. We know the Government has baulked at mandatory pay audits in the private sector - so the hawks in the Cabinet won that one. Hope at the very least the Government does ...
It has come to my attention that Tesco are planning to build a hypermarket on the former Bath Press site although they have not said so publicly. I am concerned if this is their intention as this could be problematic with local shopping Centres. I hope that we can have some clarity from Tesco in their proposed consultation with the local community and I would hope that the...
Not a good day to be on the Conservative by-election team by the looks of it. In summary, we have legal action threatened over a magazine by David Cameron on Friday, which was within a matter of hours disowned by his media team (who told the media they were backing off it) and then today his candidate [...]
There are three ways to approach real life if you are a politician. You can be genuinely in touch with local people and real life issues. Alternatively you can make a virtue of your other-worldliness and be seen as a bit of a character (a bit like Boris, in fact). But the one that never seems to work is to be out of touch and yet still pretend to know about real life. Step forward 'Gaffe-er in Chief' John Howell (the Henley by-election candidate) who needed a written memo to tell him how much a pint of milk and a ...
In a sign that the Welsh Assembly Government may be bidding for more powers the Deputy Housing Minister has just told the Plenary meeting that the 'credit crunch will not last forever'. Well thank goodness for that. Perhaps she can now advise the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how to bring it to an end, or are we going to have to sit it out and let it take its course? Whatever the reality the impact on the Assembly's housing policies could be quite severe. The target is to build 6,500 affordable homes by 2011 but faced with a tight ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7471108.stm Business Man Sir Alan Sugar might run for mayor in 2012. The Amstrad Chairman and the Apprentice Host Sir Alan is one of the Country's toughest bosses and may become a candidate at the next Mayor of London Election is 2012. Well Boris Johnson would really get a run for his money is the Business man was to become a Candidate at the next Election. But the big Question is that is Sir Alan actually Mayor Material. Being a tough boss which he certainly is just shows that he does not like to work for people and as Mayor ...
A quick update on Philip Lardner, the Conservative candidate who praised Ian Smith a couple of days ago. He has now been suspended as a candidate by the party. That makes two Conservatives in just a few days who have run into serious trouble after remarks about race, with Boris Johnson's advisor James McGrath having been [...]
Oops - the accident prone Tory campaign in Henley is in trouble with Archant, publishers of the longstanding glossy mag Oxfordshire Life. You see, the latest Conservative campaign publication here is, er, a glossy mag called 'South Oxfordshire Life'. Publishers are, not surprisingly, keen to retain the good name of their magazines and get very angry about any instances of someone trying to borrow their magazine's title for their own ends. I understand that Archant are currently 'in discussion' with the Conservative campaign about the matter. A grovelling apology may well be demanded. Pics: The real Oxfordshire Life and Henley ...
...or at least, has been suspended as a candidate: (The Conservative candidate) in North Ayrshire and Arran, Philip Lardner, has been suspended after describing Ian Smith, former leader of Rhodesia, as a 'British hero who came from the Empire and fought for his country'. He added: 'I am confident Ian Smith was a good man.' He also said that Enoch Powell's predictions about immigration had 'in
So Boris has been Boris-like and it's now caught up with him. Indeed the quote from Boris shows that well he is still Boris. In case you have missed it not since Pete Burn's gorilla fur coat was remanding in custody during celebrity big brother has an inanimate object raised so much police attention and headline. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, was until yesterday in possession of Tariq Aziz's
I am indebted to the BBC for this handy piece of information on military psychological operations: Writer Jon Ronson revealed the often darkly comic nature of American psy-ops in his book The Men Who Stare At Goats. But he warns that such techniques are no joke. "The've had scientists working on a hologram of Allah, which they [...]
Just been listening to the Radio Berkshire hustings for the Henley by-election. The bit that stood out for me was when the Conservative candidate, John Howell, was challenged about whether the Tories were actually going to take legal action over the famous Lib Dem magazine as promised by David Cameron last week. John Howell started by saying that Cameron hadn't specified that legal action would be on the magazine. The show's host, who had done the actual Cameron interview in question, made clear that it was. Howell then said that they were not pursuing legal action over the magazine but ...
Intervention is not popular. A military incursion into a former colonial dominion is especially awkward. So much so that whenever I have mentioned the prospect or urgency of an intervention to remove Mugabe and the lunatic elements of the ZANU (PF), like Joyce Mujuru, over the last three years I've been starred at like a black man at a KKK rally. It is a terrible weakness and frankly morally dubious that this option is only being seriously considered now. Its not going to be pleasant, there will be some unintended consequences, and we will have to reconfront the legacy of ...
My latest column for the New Statesman can be found on the magazine's website:Levy's recent memoirs are disappointingly sketchy on the subject, but it is known that Jack Straw, Patricia Hewitt and Dr John Reid all appeared as Wombles at one time or another.
Mugabe's remarkable comeback is the headline of a piece which leads me to believe that John Simpson must have forgotten his medication. His theme is that Mugabe was nearly dead and buried a few weeks ago but has 'remarkably' returned to life. He has apparently achieved 'an extraordinary turnaround'. THere's nothing either remarkable or extraordinary about the situation at all. The only calculation in the minds of Mugabe and his henchmen is how much violence they could get away with, and whether they could afford to pay all the thugs. They concluded rightly that a gradually escalating scale of violence, ...
I see that Park Communications have won yet another environmental award. When I worked in Cowley Street I set up the deal with Park that has lead to them printing 140 constituencies election addresses at the last General Election, nearly all of Wales for the Welsh Assembly elections this year, material for virtually every Parliamentary by-election in the last few years and lots of MP reports, PPC
Following Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawn the Zimbabwean Presidential election this weekend UN has condemned Zimbabwe last night for intimidation and called for the presidential vote due on Friday to be scrapped.
I find it amusing that the Conservatives seem to be spending more time writing solicitors letters than leaflets in Henley. A sure sign they are rattled. I hear they sent our campaign three in one day, none of any substance. I recall a Tory waiting in our HQ reception for 25 minutes during the Leicester South by-election to hand over a letter claiming one of our leaflets didn't have any legal
In so far as Davis Davis has framed his by-election as a referendum on 6 week detention without charge, it gives Liberal Democrats a chance to attract support. To become a party of national government we need to not just convince people of the merits of liberal ideas but unite every liberal-minded person behind one party. [...]
When I tell people from across the country that I work in Rochdale they invariably say - "Is that Cyril Smith still alive?" I don't tell them that I work in politics, or for the Liberal Democrats - just Rochdale! That is the mark of respect for someone who made a difference, and I [...]
Apart from the quite brilliant Henley campaign that's going on I just want to comment on Stephen K's website. Not only does it complement the campaign perfectly but it is so well-designed - informative, modern and stylish the thing that most impresses me is how it fits on the page so neatly on Mozilla Firefox. For [...]
It appears that John McCain doesn't know how to use a computer (or at least doesn't use one). Should the US President know how to use a computer? Well, there have been at least 40 US Presidents who haven't been able to use a computer. So the answer has got to be 'no'. They have enough staff to avoid it. But in 2009, one would expect the US President to be fairly computer literate. I would
I am as outraged as everyone else by our Home Secretary's ridiculous statement that it's OK to send gay people back to Iran because they won't be executed if they are 'discreet' about it. The thing is... Jacqui Smith got where she is today because we allowed it to happen. The people who selected her to stand, the people who voted for her, the people who didn't bother to vote against her, the people who put her forward for promotion to home secretary, the people who cheered that we finally had a woman home secretary without examining who that woman ...
The Old Bell Pub is one of the oldest pubs in Kilburn and probably even dates from the time of Kilburn Priory. At the bottom of the Kilburn High Road it's at the strategic junction of the old Roman Road Watling Street, the old Kilburn River and the now railway line and associated bridge. In more recent times it was the principle pub in the 30's at which many Irish workers could find accommodation - there used to be blackboards with chalk listings of landlords and bedsits. It's credited with being on the spot behind which was the preaching field ...
One wonders whether, if there were a Conservative government, they would be in any less trouble than this Labour government. Yes, there would be a honeymoon period, but if Cameron was now a post-honeymoon Prime Minister, the press would be all over him like a rash with headlines about disaster, gaffes and sleaze just from the stuff that has happened in or to the Conservative party recently (but
The recent Liberal Democrat local government conference provided an opportunity to visit Birmingham's Council House, one of the great municipal buildings in Britain. Built in the 1870s in the classical style it resembles nothing more than an Italian renaissance palace. A Victorian extension to the building houses the city's museum and art gallery, which contains one of the finest collections of Pre-Raphaelite art in Britain. It should remind us that despite the image of Victorian industrial Britain as being all Hard Times, Coketown and Grangrind, it was not all facts and philistinism. The point is best made by the inscription ...
Recent travels took me to Manchester where I saw the new and recently installed plaque to commemmorate the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 in which 15 protestors were killed when the cavalry charged a peaceful demonstration demanding reform of Parliamentary representation. The demonstration took place at St Peter's Field in Manchester and in a reference to the Battle of Waterloo four years earlier the term 'Peterloo' was coined. Following a spirited local campaign, the new red plaque was installed last year, replacing a previous blue plaque that managed to sanitise the incident by making no reference to the fact that people ...
So David Davis continues his tour of the news channels this morning lambasting the Government because no Cabinet Minister will come and debate with him on 42 days and his widening 'civil liberties' agenda. Funny that, because the local Liberal Democrat MEP, Diana Wallis, who also happens to be the President of Haltemprice & Howden [...]
Sometimes I get criticism from Lib Dem activists over the way I operate my site, Politicalbetting.com, and the usual complaint is that I am not operating it in the interests of the party. Well, I don't run it to further the Lib Dems or any other faction. It's moved to its position as the [...]
I see that Sir Paul McCartney is suggesting people should give up meat for one day a week in an attempt to go green. Meat production, especially from cattle, has a significant impact on the environment. It takes 10kg of grain to produce one kg of beef. At a time when grain prices are soaring because of food shortages (caused in part by big increases in demand for meat), giving up meat for one day
We're in the very last days of the Henley by-election campaign and excitement is mounting: see the latest video from Henley Lib Dems: stirring stuff -and it even contains a contribution from me! The same day that my bit was filmed, a bunch of Lib Dem bloggers were at Campaign HQ to interview Stephen Kearney. It was my pleasure to take part, along with Millennium Dome, Elephant, Richard Flowers, Linda Jack and Alex Wilcock. Our discussion with Stephen left us all fired up and saying, 'For goodness' sake, this man has GOT to get elected!' He is the real deal: ...
Over recent years the Council has had less and less money to spend on repairs and improvements to its housing stock. The main reason for this is the scandalous 'housing subsidy'. When I tell people about this they don't believe it - but it's true! Council tenants pay rent to Kingston, but 31p in every £1 is taken by central Government and then redistributed to other...
Great that Gurka veterans came to Henley on Sunday to help our by-election campaign. Sorry though that I missed meeting them. My dad fought beside Gurka troops in the Malaya Emergency (so-called) in the 1950's and when he left Malaya the Gurkas presented him with one of their famous Kukri knives, which I believe is quite an honour. Britain's treatment of these ex-Servicemen (in terms of pensions and of UK citizenship rights) is disgraceful and we as a party must continue the campaign to change this. A little story from my Dads wars. He was responsible for training the Malay ...
NORTH East Lincolnshire Council is looking for an individual to help oversee the ethics and conduct of its elected, co-opted and independent members. The vacancy is on the council's Standards Committee, which aims to promote high standards of conduct in the council, including town and parish councillors, and to consider complaints relating to breach of conduct. This position will suit anyone with a keen interest in standards in public life, who wishes to serve the local community and uphold local democracy. Ideally, they will be able to demonstrate high standards of personal integrity, and be objective, independent and impartial. Applicants, ...
Politics Home is reporting that Paddy Ashdown has spoken out strongly against military intervention in Zimbabwe. He said that the; 'conditions for military intervention were NOT in place - if any such intervention in the future would be necessary, then it would be up to the African Union, not Britian.' and felt he felt there was a 'diplomatic game to be played'. He also hints Mugabe may be the least of anybodies worries; 'It isn't Mugabe, but the people who are behind him - maybe even holding him metaphorically prisoner - who we have to worry about.' {Digg!}
Yesterday was the deadline for submitting motions for the next full council meeting of Liverpool City Council. This is a copy of the one I sent in, written jointly with Colin Eldridge, another Lib Dem Councillor in Liverpool. ********** Council notes the recognition given by the Government to British Sign Language. Council notes that those deaf people who are deaf from birth may have BSL as their primary language. Council notes the existence of a deaf community in Liverpool as well as the existence of deaf organisations for which the use of BSL is crucial. Council notes that although there ...
It has been revealed that one third of GP surgeries are failing to offer appointments to patients within the government's 48-hour target by figures released by the Liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg unveiled the figure in a reecent speech in which he attacked Labour for imposing too many central targets on the NHS. A Lib Dem survey covering more than 200...
Busy day yesterday as I joined other members of the Broadcasting Committee on a train to London where we had an informal meeting with the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. We actually started off our meetings by hosting a working lunch (well sandwiches anyway) with the Scottish Broadcasting Committee. There we discovered that we have been reaching much the same conclusions about the state of British Broadcasting and its inadequate treatment of the nations and regions of the UK. The Welsh Affairs Select Committee were very positive and helpful. They are already carrying out a number of pieces of work that ...
Britain has used the strongest language yet about the recent goings-on in Zimbabwe by not recognising the legitimacy of Robert Mugabe as President elect. Paddy Ashdown has warned that Zimbabwe could descend into another Rwanada if the attacks on MDC supporters continues and heads towards genocide. Morgan Tsvangirai has sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare following his stepping aside from
Its pathetic response to the growing crisis in Zimbabwe is further evidence that the United Nations is a toothless talking shop, irrelevant to the main issues of the day. Calling for the presidential elections to be delayed "until there is a clearly free and fair second round of the presidential election" is just nonsense. Does anyone honestly believe that free elections can ever take place while Mugabe remains in power? The only possible outcome now is that Mugabe and his thugs will strengthen their grip on the country or it will slip into civil war. Both are horrific prospects and ...
Oh Lordy, I don't know if hope this is real or a joke... (hat tip to {[info]} boxcarwilly)
Saturday: This week's photo has been ERASED from the timeline! Here's Daddy's review... Looked at objectively, a copy of Donna is created out of thin air, runs half a mile and then kills herself. Where did that Donna come from? If 'our' Donna turns left then none of the things that lead to the other Donna being created happen. But if Donna turns right... then it leads to the creation of a Donna who kills herself to make sure that Donna turns left. So the 'turn right' time line is ultimately self-negating. So where does the 'other' Donna come from? ... | < | June 2008 | > | ||||
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