CONSERVATIVES: 34% (N/C) LIB DEMS: 29% (N/C) LABOUR: 27% (N/C) Changes based upon last time (yesterday). Sample consists of all polls with mid-point fieldwork dates within the last 10 days, including today (n=28). Includes all British Polling Council registered pollsters. The results above are the median figure for each party. Still nothing happens. And there ...
This week has been one of the busiest of the campaign so far. As well as my daily diet of campaigning I took part in two hustings - one organised by Reading Faith Forum and another by the Argyle Road Community Church. I was interviewed by BBC Parliament's education service for a video to be shown in schools after the election and I also found time to pen an article for the Reading Chronicle's election series on Lib Dem policies for tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. We've been campaigning all over the constituency and we are continuing to find plenty ...
Well they didn't mean to but they've caught themselves out! Several LibDem bloggers at the time pointed out that contary to the prevailing media narrative that we only gained support due to a post-debate X-factor style (oh, silly voters, won't you come to your senses) blip, an ICM poll taken before the debate had actually put us at 27% showing the surge had already started. It was convenient for the media to gloss over this fact in order to give the impression above. Oh dear, what a tangled web we weave...it seems the Telegraph can't remember it's own lies! In ...
Four polls published tonight: YouGov in the S.Times ... CON 35%(+1), LAB 27%(-1), LIB DEM 28%(nc) ComRes/ for the S.Mirror/S.Independent ... CON 38%(+2), LAB 28%(-1), LIB DEM 25%(-1) ICM in the S.Telegraph ... CON 36%(+3), LAB 29%(+1), LIB DEM 27%(-3) Angus Reid in the S.Express ... CON 35%(+2), LAB 23%(nc), LIB DEM 29%(-1) These are an improved set of polls for the Tories, all showing a slight boost, perhaps helped by the favourable media coverage of David Cameron in the final televised debate. The Lib Dems have dropped slightly in three polls, and seem consistently to be in the high ...
Thanks to the Wayback Machine I can bring you the diary I wrote for Whittington, Susan Kramer's cat, during the first London Mayoral election in 2000. It has some claim to be the first British political blog. Unless, of course, you know different.
Sorry, life has caught up with me and I haven't had time to finish it. I'll try to get at least a couple more out between now and the election, but they are taking up a good part of the day when I write them, and it's just possible that I should be doing something a bit less self-indulgent like going out and actually delivering some leaflets. ;-)
[IMG: Dave at the Digital Economy Act protest in Manchester] I have campaigned against the Digital Economy Act 2010. The law will require the University to spy on student Internet traffic, and could stop bars offering free wifi to customers. It can force people to be disconnected on mere suspicion of copyright infringement. I attended a recent demo in Manchester organised by the Open Rights Group (of which I am a member), wearing a gag to symbolise censorship. I handed out copies of the Liberal Democrats "Save the Net" factsheet to passers-by and discussed the issue of arbitrary disconnection without ...
This is totally unscientific and if you want to see the professionally executed polls, click here. That being said, it's interesting. There's a poll on Facebook at the moment asking who people want to be the next Prime Minister. Here's a screengrab of the current results: So, just to be clear, that's 46% for Nick Clegg, 29% for David Cameron and 25% for Gordon Brown. Five days to go, get ready to vote, vote for change, vote for a liberal future, vote Liberal Democrat.
Have to say I was pleasantly surprised, at Tracy Emin's neon creation, still this the view of a white van man, as I pulled up in the Transit for a quick gander on the way home after building railways in North London. I didn't actually get out the van since after a days work, I don't have the time, I'm surprised to say that this actually fits quite well, and find the girly pink colour, subtlety complements Droit House.
Why vote Liberal Democrat? Lynne Featherstone will tell you. And it seems that Lib Dem flashmobs are planned nationwide. I am not certain what a flashmob is, but Alex Foster on Liberal Democrat Voice will explain. It seems they involve the Facebook. Freedom Central has news of an opinion poll that "puts the Welsh Liberal Democrats on course for its best ever performance in Wales next Thursday". Meanwhile, Nick Clegg is visiting Neil Fawcett's dad - and the rest of Redcar. Neil says on A Liberal Dose: "The fact that a constituency like Redcar is even getting these visits demonstrates ...
All, I've finally got around to uploading some photos from the recent Transition Shipston Energy fair. Above is the Transition Shipston stall, with Dave Passingham who helped Bob Tolley from the Shipston Town Management Partnership run the day for us. I chaired the seminar on Peak Oil, and many of you will have seen me on the reception desk for most of the day. It was a pretty hectic occasion - Bob had me stacking chairs at 8am (not a time I'm used to at the weekend!). The event featured several exhibitors - either showing off their products which could ...
I read on LDVthat a whole series of Lib Dem flashmobs are being held all over the UK for Monday Bank holiday (mostly around 3pm) - organised not by the Cowley Street or those clever party strategists - but by those brilliant RATM people. To be honest, I struggled about whether I should comment on these flashmobs. I actually chatted to a couple of other LV bloggers before posting (something I NEVER do) such was my concern. Because the BRILLIANT thing about the RATM stuff is that it is so very independent - so totally "outside" the mainstream. I have ...
With thanks to Sheena Wellington, an update from Friends of Wighton : Friends of Wighton are delighted that the renowned Scottish traditional singer Maureen Jelks will give the Lunchtime Recital on Wednesday 5th May. Dundee born Maureen is no stranger to the Wighton, as she takes the Tuesday afternoon song class, but the opportunity to hear "the singer's singer" in concert is not to be missed. Maureen has appeared at clubs, concerts and festivals, on radio and television, across the British Isles and the United States enchanting audiences with her sense of humour, wide ranging repertoire and, above all, " ...
A OnePoll opinion poll conducted for the People newspaper, published tomorrow, puts the Liberal Democrats ahead with 32%, Conservatives on 30% and Labour on 21%. Labour is disappearing from view. Here's some of the Dundee West LibDem team in Bankmill Road today - Chris, me, John and Craig. A great day's campaigning across the West End!
Another quiet election day from me – had a few more deliveries to do this morning, but just as I was getting ready to take them out, I noticed that someone had forgotten to put the letters in the addressed envelopes, and while delivering empty envelopes to people might be a good electoral tactic for ...
Well, over the last two days the Liberal Democrats have had unequivocal support coming from two papers that have in recent memory, unequivocally supported the Labour party - and it is of no surprise! Like The Guardian/Observer, I'm a bit of lefty, so supporting Labour could come ever so easy... There is a but though, and it is a rather big but. As well as being a lefty, I'm a liberal, with a rather ideological view of the way that things SHOULD be done, regardless of circumstance. So, I feel really rather let down by the last thirteen years (whilst ...
As I haven't done any blogging for a little while, I'm late telling you about the Haringey Lib Dem manifesto for the local elections on May 6th. Yes, there are two important elections in Haringey next Thursday. And they are both a straight fight between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, with the Conservatives an irrelevance - just take a look at the results last time on the top left of my blog. We published our local manifesto last month and plans range from the introduction of more 20mph speed limits on residential roads to improve safety to improving White Hart ...
I will be making myself available to meet at the times set out below. Please come along if you have any questions for me about my vision for the constituency and/or about general Liberal Democrat Policies of even if you just want to meet me before you cast your vote. I look forward to it! WEDNESDAY 5th MAY - WEST DULWICH TRAIN STATION - I will be outside the station between 5-7pm TUESDAY 4th MAY - BRIXTON TUBE STATION - I will be outside the station between 5-7pm SUNDAY 2nd MAY - BRIXTON FARMERS MARKET - I will be outside ...
Sat 1st
19:20
Clegg in the (Lib Dem-supporting) Guardian: "We have taken Labour's place in UK politics"
Today's Guardian carries an in-depth interview with Nick Clegg (it's labelled 'Exclusive', which seems a rather optimistic boast during an election campaign when the Lib Dem leader gives interviews every day). Much of what he says will be familiar to readers of his pamphlet, The Liberal Moment, in which Nick made clear that the Tories are our opponents, Labour our rivals. But it may come as a pleasurable surprise for those progressive voters still wavering between Labour and the Lib Dems. Here are some of Clegg's quotes: On the Tories: What is striking is despite all the blather from Cameron ...
Something I've been wondering about recently is over the question of extremist views and weather we should allow people with them to be in government. Certain statements made over the last few weeks have spurred these thoughts on with the statements from certain prominent Tories over gay people, immigration and comments from the BNP in ...
In this election, I'm hoping for the Lib Dem vote to be as high as possible, because I think both the Tories and Labour are equally despicable. However, I'm realistic enough to accept that many Lib Dem supporters (or people calling for Lib Dem votes in some seats) this time around are doing so purely ...
Watch this video taken at the Ham & High hustings for Holborn & St. Pancras candidates (queue up to 2:46), Frank Dobson after being quizzed by a member of the audience on why he didn't show up for the crucial vote on Iraq goes on to say "I dont think that that's accurate, I have to tell ...
News reaches me from a Facebook contact that the Tories in Kings Lynn have been hand delivering a leaflet that should have been distributed in Ribble Valley. The Tories are blaming a "young inexperienced campaigner". How young do you have to be not to realise that the leaflet featured a different Tory MP from Henry Bellingham (the Tory who represents Kings Lynn) and the large words "Ribble Valley" instead of "North West Norfolk".
... We'd say a big thank you to the 114,614 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in April. That's DOUBLE our March 2010 figure of c.57,000, and we are up some 270% on the equivalent figure for April '09 ... anyone would think there was an election on. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 May 2009 - 30 April 2010) to 421,146, over 67% higher than the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 251,110. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: 1. The flow diagram which shows you who to ...
Thanks to Nick Barlow for alerting me to the fact that this blog is mentioned in the general election guide published with today's Independent. I happened to be passing a newsagent's who had a copy. Liberal England is one of four "Centrist" blogs listed, along with LibDemBlogs (which is an aggregator, not a blog), Liberal Democrat Voice and Nick's own What You Can Get Away With. I take their choice as a sign of sound judgement, but Nick has looked a little deeper and suggests that it may be based on scant or out-of-date research. Can't see it myself. Incidentally, ...
Every weekend for the last few months the team has been meeting up at 10am and 2pm on both Saturday and Sunday as our campaign to get Norman Owen elected moved into top gear. There has also been the small matter of the council seats we are defending, plus several targets we are confident of stealing from under Labour's noses. It was therefore extremely pleasing this morning to see I had been beaten to the office by half the Salford Lib Dem team who were all raring to go – what was even more gratifying was the 4 new volunteers ...
Hello. Today's list is a quick list of things to remember about General Election polling day: It's on Thursday (6th May). Polls open at 7am and close at 10pm. In many places there are local elections on the same day. If you're eligible to vote, you should have had a polling card from your council telling you where your polling station is. If you haven't had one and you think you should be able to vote, give them a call as soon as possible. You don't need your polling card to vote, but it helps the polling station staff if ...
Abolition of the unelected House of Lords? No more has-been Ministers and Bishops in Parliament without YOUR say so? A truly fair voting system, where you get to choose between several candidates from each party? Where you can put them in order (with the BNP last!). A Government which takes the environmental crisis far more seriously than we have seen so far? A Government which will get rid of Trident? A Government whose respect for education is 'bred in the bone'? All this is possible NEXT WEEK! If ... just one in three current Labour supporters switch to the Liberal ...
After visiting De Montfort University in Leicester and a clock family in Derby yesterday, Nick Clegg arrived at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. There he was presented to the crowd at the World Snooker Championship and greeted, according to the Independent, with "a variety of cheers and boos". This is great news. If Gordon Brown or David Cameron had been presented to that crowd, a mixture of cheers and boos is exactly what would have been expected. Why should the leader of the Liberal Democrats be any different? One of the most encouraging things about this Liberal Democrat campaign has ...
The blogger Anna Racoon has invited a range of people to put out the case for their own party. Here's my contribution: Dear Anna Racoon I didn't think someone like me could be a politician. I am second generation immigrant and came from a family with very few books where we were just expected to get out into the world and earn a living. So I was a really late entrant into politics - only joining the party at the advanced age of 39. However, all my worldly experience as a designer, businesswoman and ace nagger meant 'have mouth will ...
Any political activist or their offspring who is unlucky enough to be born in April or early May is going to find that their birthday most years is subsumed by election campaigns, even if it's a special one with a zero in it. Today Iain Smith, Liberal Democrat MSP for NE Fife, turns 50. Instead of being feted with champagne and cake, he is out and about campaigning to re-elect Ming Campbell, or maybe even Willie Rennie in Dunfermline and West Fife. While we're sure that Iain would much rather that the election disrupted his birthday than the Test Match ...
Regular readers of my posts about online politics will know my scepticism of the extent to which online fundraising can work in the UK on the same scale as it does in the US (e.g. because there's a different attitude towards supporting causes by giving money rather than time in the US and because in the UK campaigns, courtesy of their parties, usual start with a significant donor lists rather than having to create ones from scratch). However, what it certainly can do is to catch a moment of enthusiasm and to make it easy to do that which would ...
So, continuing my monthly stat porn, the monthly summary of my visitor stats according to google analytics is as below for April 2010. The busiest day on my blog last month was in fact Thursday 29th April and the story was about Labour's Twitter Czar breaching election law by tweeting postal vote results. Last month I had 3,436 absolute unique visitors, well up from 2,702 last month. They made 4,666 visits and 6,070 page views. So, my top 10 referring sites for the last month (with previous position in brackets) were; 1. Twitter (2) 2. Lib Dem Voice (5) 3. ...
Today the Voice received the following email from a voter in Bristol, which we want to share with our readers: I have always voted Labour (for 52 years), not blindly but considering the situation carefully over the years. But this time, I am voting Lib Dem, because they are a breath of fresh air compared to the others. My local contact has been refreshing, both in the literature coming through my letterbox and in the media. There is an elememt of positiveness and hope in the message of the Lib Dems, yes times will be hard. But I do not ...
So, in a flash, the last full week of the campaign is coming to an end... It has been jam-packed with visits, and canvassing and leaflet delivery – so many hoots and waves and a sense of real momentum for the Liberal Democrats. Tuesday morning: a meeting first thing at Observer Towers with chief reporter Richard ...
A little break from politics – some music. Those of you who follow my musical interests will know that my tastes run in two seemingly contradictory directions. Half the time I like extremely harsh, visceral music – squonking jazz like Ornette Coleman, aleatory compositions like John Cage, Frank Zappa's orchestral music, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits, ...
The answer to that, and a fair few other questions, is to be found in the interview conducted by ShortList with Vince Cable. Here's a sample: What's your relationship like with your opposite numbers? It's perfectly cordial. There's no personal animosity. We're not close, but if I meet George Osborne in corridor I'll say hello. It's pleasantries - no nastiness. Who do you prefer: Gordon Brown or David Cameron? Well, I don't prefer either of them. They're both very disappointing in differing ways. Brown's whole reputation was based upon economic competence, yet we've had the mother of all busts. Cameron ...
...according to the Independent's guide to the election today. Yes, under 'Blogs, prominent political' they list a number of left and right wing blogs, then under 'Centrist' list Jonathan Calder, the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator, Lib Dem Voice and, er, me. While I'm always grateful for compliments, I suspect my inclusion in that list is due ...
A local resident has asked me to expand on my views on gay rights. My party has an excellent record on this and I strongly agree with Nick Clegg's stance on these issues. We candidates get sent a lot of web surveys to fill in, and in my answer to one such survey, I ticked something that wrongly implied that I might have doubts about gay adoption. I have no such doubts and am strongly in favour of gay couples having the right to adopt and foster children. In an ideal world, every child would live with its mother and ...
Just a few weeks ago we brought you the news of the unofficial Lib Dem Facebook group that was growing by 1,000 members an hour. Now its members are enthusiastically promoting a series of flashmobs. There's been one scheduled for London for some time, but I know many of us discounted going to that on the simple horror of getting to London on a bank holiday, whilst we should be shoving leaflets through letterboxes in our various provincial locations. The prospect of a series of nationwide flashmobs, however, makes attendance just a little easier, no? Here's the details from a ...
I am very sorry that former Presidential Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani is on trial in Ghana. It is undeniably true that corruption spiralled in the last couple of years of President Kuffour's second term, and particularly after the untimely death of Finance Minister Baah-Wiredu. I have a hypothesis, based on wide international experience, that it is a worldwide phenomenon that corruption increases exponentially from around the seventh year in power. In Ghana, it happened to the Rawlings governments too. I have written in detail about this, and I have argued that it is essential that corruption in Ghana is ...
Back in January, Nick Clegg took part in an online chat with the readers of Mumsnet. It seems to have paid off, according to today's Times: The Liberal Democrats have won the Mumsnet vote, according to a poll for the parenthood website. Nick Clegg was supported by 43 per cent of members of the network, compared with 26 per cent supporting Gordon Brown and 22 per cent David Cameron. Five per cent did not know whom to support. The poll of 1,000 Mumsnet users — who have been wooed assiduously during the general election campiagn — found that 40 per ...
The press and the impartial BBC were wetting themselves with excitement yesterday at the boos mixed in with the welcome applause for Nick Clegg from the Crucible snooker crowd. See this just proves, they might have said, that the Liberal Democrats don't enjoy support from 100% of voters. What we really want to see, they might have said, is party leaders speaking only to tame hand-picked audiences, like the other two do all the time. The fact that there is any surprise at a party leader receiving a mixture of boos and applause just shows how rarely they face real ...
May Day 2010 Yesterday I had a phone call from a woman in our constituency who was born in the United States. I'll call her Margot. She has lived here happily for ten years, contributing to the community, never feeling the need to apply for British citizenship. However Margot recently decided that she wanted to support Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. In order to do so she applied for British citizenship. This cost her £1,000. She had to take the citizenship test and finally take part in a citizenship ceremony. She was told that in order to get a ...
This blog had 91,200 unique visitors last month, which is the second best ever. It makes me feel all warm and sociable. Hello, everybody! Please join in and comment - it does make it much more fun.
I was recently contacted by some leaders of our local Nepalese community, most of whose households include a Gurkha who has served in the British Army. I was delighted to go and meet some of these Gurkhas to answer their questions about what I would do as Hendon's next MP and I got a very positive response, although everyone will make up their own mind how to vote in this election. It was the Liberal Democrats who won the Parliamentary fight for justice for Gurkha veterans and it really is an honour to have met men who have served with ...
Nick Clegg – who clearly isn't campaigning hard enough, apparently having time to spare to read literature! – has the following to say about which avant-garde writer C.20th dramatist and writer: His appeal lies in his directness - the sparse, unembellished prose that can make his meticulous stage directions unexpected. He leaves you with a sense that you knew what he meant, even if explaining it back would leave you lost for words. Direct and disturbing - it is impossible to grow tired of X. Who is X? Find out here.
They'd been banging on about it for so long you could almost convince yourself that they believed it. 'We want everyone to get involved in the political process!" they cried. "It's your country - you can make a difference." They bemoaned apathy amongst the younger generation; they harked back to times when our predecessors campaigned tirelessly, so that we - ordinary people - could have our voices heard in the establishment. They wouldn't give us a debate, though, until 2010. America has been televising Presidential debates since 1960; it took us half a century - half a century - to ...
show details 8:22 AM (2 hours ago) International Bangladesh Foundation Patron Lord Dholakia Chair Lord Avebury 315 Collier Row Lane, Romford, Essex RM5 3ND Tel: 01708 448055 Fax 01708 470 256 http://hem.bredband.net/secularvoice/ 30 May 2010 PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE Bangladesh has made all preparations for war crimes trial: Syed Ashraf Syed Ashraful Islam, LGRD minister, who is here in London on a short visit, met Lord Avebury, Vice Chair of UK's All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, Chairman of Bangladesh International Foundation & Co-Chair, Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission on Friday 30 May 2010 to discuss issues of ...
First, the good news: all the reports so far indicated a strong surge in people registering just before the deadline earlier this month. The Independent has some further figures to add to earlier reports. Thankfully, Havering Council with its hostile approach to people using the Electoral Commission's website seems to be very much the exception. Whilst its electoral division has called "ridiculous" the number of people registering at the last moment, other councils have welcomed the surge of interest rather than criticised it. Then the not so good news... Allegations of postal vote fraud: the scale of the allegations, and ...
The economic crisis in Greece has many ironies, one of which is that an appalling fiscal mess, left by a very right wing government, is the responsibility of a left wing government to clear up. It is the same Augean task (to stick with Greek cultural heritage) as will face whoever takes over from this very right wing government in the UK. Being nothing but a lowly party member, I cannot pretend that the Mervyn King scenario had not occurred to me too. I had considered that a Cameron administration, with a tiny majority, propped up by some Northern Irish ...
According to the Evening Gazette, Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg is planning to drop in my Dad and sister this weekend. Well not just my Dad and sister, but the good folk of my home town of Redcar. Redcar has already been blessed by visits from Party President Ros Scott and Deputy Leader Vince Cable. The fact that a constituency like Redcar is even getting these visits demonstrates just how far the political ground has shifted. When I was growing up, and indeed when I did my first ever canvassing in the town, Redcar was donkey with a red rosette ...
David Cameron has announced that the Conservatives will be sending out 3 million copies of their "Contract with the voters" as part of their final push for Downing Street. Claiming to give sixteen cast-iron guarantees to the voters, the document itself threatens to be as meaningless as Labour's 1997 pledge card, or Cameron's long-forgotten promise ...
I was emailed today by Sunita, a potential constituent, who raised a number of issues that, I have to confess, I haven't mentioned so far on this blog or on the local Lib Dem website (you can take a look at that website HERE). I want to say thanks to Sunita for flagging this up. So, I thought I'd blog about them to correct that. On this issue of tackling the health inequalities in the city, the Lib Dems have an explicit manifesto pledge to reform how GPs are paid so that those who accept patients from areas with the worst ...
Here is a great photo of Cleggmania in action with media scrum in tow as well.
Any political activist or their offspring who is unlucky enough to be born in April or early May is going to find that their birthday most years is subsumed by election campaigns, even if it's a special one with a zero in it. Today, Iain Smith, the Liberal Democrat MSP for NE Fife is 50. Now, I think on balance he would probably prefer that the election disrupted his birthday than his watching of the Test Match series, but even so, when he should be feted with champagne, basking in the adoring affection of his many friends from all over ...
Before this election was called, no one could have dared to think that the top issue the politicians would be talking about would be immigration. After all, we've just been through the worst political crisis in decades, exposing corruption and deceit at the heart of our democracy. Oh, and that little thing that was one ...
Looks like David Cameron isn't the only one to fall into the trap this week of having an inappropriate photo of him taken to appear on the web. Opps! Filed under: General Rantings, Spiderplant Says, woking Tagged: jonathan lord, peacocks centre, woking
News reaches me of an incident that did not leave a good impression as a hustings meeting was finishing last night. At the very end, when the candidates were "meeting the public", when one member of the public commented about the age of the photos used on one candidate's leaflets, he was called by the candidate "a pathetic little man". Oh dear. Certainly not good practise for a candidate who under any circumstance should not allow himself to be rattled in public, and it perhaps speaks volumes about how this Tory candidate, who assumed he was set for any easy ...
[IMG: Dave at Platt Fields for Volunteering] Every third Sunday of the month, Friends of Platt Fields holds a volunteering afternoon. A couple of weeks ago, I went along to find out more, accompanied by some friends. Platt Fields is supported by the Council, but a lot of the excellent work done in the park is undertaken by volunteers. On this particular afternoon, I found myself working as part of a team of half-a-dozen, stuffing barley hay into tubular bales. These bales will be dropped into the boating lake at Platt Fields, where they will counteract the troublesome lake algae ...
So many people are still playing the old game.... voting Tory not because they are loony, homophobic, Eurosceptic numpties but because they feel they have no other way of getting Labour out of power. That's not fair politics. That's electoral slavery. Well now there is a another way, a nicer way, a fairer way... Vote Liberal Democrat. Vote for fundamental change. If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
I think one of the good things about the Prime Minister's debates is it has brought the attention away from the politicians who have abused the expenses system (many who are standing down) and engaged voters once again in politics.This time last year, knocking on doors was a difficult experience. 'You're all the same' was the common response, especially as our local MP was involved in it all.Now
In amongst all the usual clichés about "the only poll that matters is the one on polling day" and "our canvassing returns are excellent" one sure insight into what a party's is really planning and how it really thinks are going is where it sends its party leader around the country. The campaign visits this weekend by Nick Clegg illustrate in public what I've heard from party campaigning sources – an aggressive move against Conservative seats combined with a long list of possible gains from Labour. The visits this weekend are to: Burnley – one of the main Lib Dem ...
Friends of the Earth came up with a fun, visual way to show which of the three main parties has shown most commitment to their climate pledges - see the YouTube video below. And, yes, they are biodegradable balloons, apparently!
Thursday's party election broadcast from the Liberal Democrats.
The surge of new volunteers and supporters which has come in following the first TV debate and the rise of the party to unprecedented election campaign polling heights means that often there are people wanting to help in areas where existing local parties don't have that much for them to do. [IMG: A4 leaflet thumbnail] As I wrote when giving local parties suggestions on how to respond to this new help: Two basic principles apply: Don't abandon targeting - big surges of votes in 1974 and 1983 did not turn into many extra seats. The party has since learned how ...
"The Liberal Democrats are different. Not only will we oppose any raising of the cap, we will scrap tuition fees for good, including for part-time students," the Liberal Democrat Leader said.
I was thinking about this when skimming through the Times' endorsement for Cameron. Its basic premise is similar to that of the Economist (see last post): reform of an overmighty and just-too-large State is the essential challenge of the era, and the Conservatives are best for this: Amid the sound and fury, a fundamental philosophical ...
UKIP according to the Bracknell News gate crashed the hustings at the Easthampstead Baptist Church on Tuesday, April 27. The Bracknell Standard has 'UKIP picket over hustings ban'. The 2nd headline was what actually happened. You have to give it to the local UKIP activists they really know how to get a story in the papers. During the week before I also spoke to UKIP PPC Murray Barter who was handing out leaflets at Bracknell train station, he is enjoying the campaign and why shouldn't he it looks like alot of fun. UKIP have some very clever ways of getting ...
It has come to our attention that the Council have sent out application letters to residents for permits for the Camden Scheme, but have omitted a covering letter stating when the scheme will come into place. A new covering letter should go out next week to say that the scheme will come into force from 1st July!
I've been involved in a fair bit of discussion with Christians in recent weeks about the general election. Some of it has occurred on this blog, a lot of it has been on Facebook and, strangest of all, some of it has even been face-to-face! When passionate people with very different views come together to talk about something as potentially divisive as politics it's sometimes very easy for Christians to forget the common ground that lies, or should lie, beneath all our decisions and thoughts. At such moments I'm very grateful for my wife, and people like her, who are ...
A new poll in the Western Mail puts the Welsh Liberal Democrats on course for its best ever performance in Wales next Thursday. Pollsters have placed Labour on 37.5%, down on the 42.7% of the vote they secured in 2005. The Conservatives are in second place, 14% behind Labour on 23.5%, up on the 21.4% they polled at the last General Election. The poll by Wales-based Research and Marketing Plus found the Liberal Democrats were in third place on 21.0%, 2.6% up on their 2005 share of the vote, while Plaid Cymru's support was at 10.8%, down by 1.8% on ...
Fascinating report on this morning's 5 Live News regarding the harvesting of proxy votes for the forthcoming British general election in Mirpur, Pakistan - and it's no coincidence that the only wards left in the actual city of Bradford (as opposed to the bits added to the borough in 1974) that vote Conservative are Mirpuri-majority. It's very peculiar in our constituency with the way the poster count's going; strange how once you head south along Killinghall Road, past Undercliffe CC, there's a clearly marked line of demarcation where the sea of yellow posters in the northern half of the seat ...
So today the Guardian officially, and surprisingly, came out in support of the Lib Dems for the coming general election. Most of us who are resolved to 'Keep Calm & Clegg On' are happy to recognise that newspaper endorsements – certainly by left-of-centre newspapers – do not swing elections. But, equally, it would be wrong to dismiss the Grauniad's conversion to the Lib Dem cause as irrelevant. For a start, it is the first time since 1974 that the paper has unreservedly supported the party. That alone is a real fillip to activists. It's good for morale, therefore. But it ...
Last night, Janet & I attended the Wave 102 Pride of Dundee Local Hero Awards at the Hilton Hotel in the city. I had the pleasure of presenting the Contribution to Sport Award to budding golfer Matthew Sime aged 6. It was a superb evening with worthy winners of the various award categories. With apologies for the out of focus photos (!!), here's Adam Findlay, Managing Director of Wave 102 and myself, plus the stage set.
Last night I caught the second half of Gordon Brown's interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC1. After only a few minutes I was tempted to switch off, not by Brown's evasions or untruths - in fact he seemed to by trying to respond to the questions relatively honestly - but by Paxman's constant interruptions and hectoring. Whilst I have long believed that it is the way politicians respond to each other with rudeness and contempt which turns people off the political process, it is increasingly clear that the media themselves contribute to this attitude. The nadir of the interview came ...
Spare a thought for the hapless Labour candidate in Swansea West. Geraint Davies lost his seat in Croydon despite claiming £176,026 in expenses and costs, and sending £38,750 worth of mail, using 130,000 first-class stamps. Now he is seeking a return to Parliament but alas is struggling to attract support, on-line at least. Just under three weeks ago I highlighted the fact that the invitation on Geraint Davies's website to donate to his campaign had not attracted a single penny despite having a target of £7,500. Today with less than a week to go the total raised still stands at ...
Saturday: This week, we watched the most powerful dangerous monster in Doctor Who history. It's Mr Kronos the Time Monster in, er, The Time Monster! This week in his incarnation as Mr Flappy, the man in the front-axial-projection bird-suit. Yeah, that's how to do REALLY SCARY. Meanwhile, Daddy has some thoughts on some completely-not-flappy monsters... Steven Moffat is a memetic jeweller. His gems are ideas, some his own, some other peoples. He takes them and polishes them up and places them in a setting and creates a work of art that is, perhaps, more than the sum of its parts. ...
In my visit to Orchard Close in Portishead on Thursday this week, I was able to hear directly the problems that the residents are facing. The first issue raised was the removal by the Conservative run North Somerset Council of the warden system, so that the housing unit no longer has residential care on hand, but has to share this with a number of other sheltered housing units, thus down grading the care that is available. We also discussed the problems of crossing the road at Cabstand, and again I call on North Somerset Council to get a move on ...
International Workers' Day that is!
Luckily for me I currently live in a Liberal seat where the second biggest party are the conservatives, but for some Lib Dems who live in Labour/Conservative constituencies they face the tough choice. To follow their hearts and vote for the Lib Dems, or to bit their tongue and vote for one of the other two parties. ...
Sunny Hundal, founding editor of the most influential left-of-centre blog Liberal Conspiracy, has just blogged his endorsement of the Lib Dems for the coming election: After last night's debate one thing really struck me. We on the left and many Labourites who are also on the left, fight against discrimination and marginalised people. This is why we attack the Tories for their homophobia and their flashes of racism. But the way that both Labour and the Tories (the latter expected anyway) not only dismissed the idea of an amnesty, but actually dog-whistled throughout about how the Libdem plan would wreak ...
Here is the front and back from the Lib Dem Freepost leaflet in the Broadland constituency. I can't photograph the fold out centre as my camera is not to hand. I might have time to do it tomorrow.
Here is the Tories second Freepost leaflet going out in Broadland. It does seem to use all the same photos as their first Freepost.
Due to being very busy with work and delivering leaflets, I have been unable to keep up to date with posting copies of all the leaflets on my blog, however, in an attempt to catch up I will post a number of them here in the next 24 hours. Here is the Labour Freepost leaflet, which arrived last Saturday and another copy of the same leaflet arrived on Tuesday. Quite why the post office are delivering two copies of the same leaflet, is beyond me. The other issue that is beyond me is why the Labour candidate, who is seeking ...
This is definitely the Election-Like-No-Other. It is more like the plot for a political novel in which the storyline gets more outlandish the more into it you get. With the Labour campaign widely regarded as a car crash, what do we get? None other than a car crash right in front of the PM, just as Peter Prince of Darkness Mandelson is speaking. He is halted by the screeching of brakes and the
In 1975, I was due to sit my O'levels and the big political story of the time was the conflict in South East Asia. Throughout the Spring of the year I remember the Americans being supremely confident of being able to prop up the regime in Viet ...
As I blogged this morning, Haringey sent out some general election ballot papers to postal voters in Hornsey and Wood Green with a very unfortunate error - telling them to vote for "no more than three candidates". Of course, we all have just one vote on a general election ballot paper, not three. The council have now put a statement on their website, which you can read here. They are sending replacement ballot papers to those who got the incorrectly printed ones and asking people to use those instead. Many people will already have sent their original ballot papers back, ...
Sat 1st
00:20Pollwatch Day 25 #GE2010 - Lib Dems at 28/32% in today's polls. And are we headed for 120 MPs?
Two polls published tonight: Harris in the Daily Mail ... CON 33%(+1), LAB 24%(-1), LDEM 32%(+2) YouGov in the Sun ... CON 34%(nc), LAB 28%(+1), LDEM 28%(nc) No significant changes there, all within the margin of error; though certainly encouraging to see the Lib Dems still polling at c.30% of the vote, at least level with Labour, and potentially even gaining support. Let's see what the weekend polls, which will also include public reaction to the final debate, have in store. Anthony Wells' UK Polling Report 'poll of polls' is resolutely stuck at Con 34%, Lib Dem 29%, Lab 27%. ...
Sat 1st
00:17
Wow: 180 poster boards now up (though some been stolen!). Lots more sites waiting but we're running ...
Wow: 180 poster boards now up (though some been stolen!). Lots more sites waiting but we're running out of posters.
Today I was delighted to welcome Floella Benjamin OBE, amongst many other things the star of Children's television programme 'Playschool', to Chorlton. Floella joined John Leech and myself at 'Head over Heals' to meet local parents and children. Floella who is an advisor to Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems on on policies relating to children and early years provision, seemed to really enjoy her time in Chorlton and was very positive about this popular local business. Floella said: "The Liberal Democrats are the only party who can provide long term ideas for real change. It is clear that this ...
I won some coverage in the Herald recently when I called on the council to take action to clean up Eggbuckland Vale community woodland, which had been a mess for months. This is the piece in question: [IMG: Herald article on Egg wood] Shortly after this appeared I was asked to see if I could help with what's going on in Forder Valley Local Nature Reserve, near Leigham. So, earlier this week I went over to have a look and by chance bumped into the local residents who'd raised it with me. I'm very pleased I did as I ...
A Couple of weeks ago the headline in the local paper was about the closure of playgrounds because the council cannot afford to improve the safety surfaces. So 19 have to go with the hope that others can be improved. Yesterday I wrote about defensive policing and defensive medicine. Here we have defensive actions from a council. There is an argument that says that the council has a case to answer if children are injured on a park. There is an argument that medical negligence should lead to compensation. There is an argument that police actions should be accountable and ...
Alberto Costa has sent a letter to postal voters in Angus, in which he writes: Remember, a vote for the SNP or the Lib Dems will only risk another five years of Labour or a hung Parliament. Of course, the only thing that would make another five years of Labour more likely in Angus, is a vote for Labour candidate Kevin Hutchens. But Alberto does not mention that, as his intention is clearly to spread Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) about voting for the SNP or the Lib Dems. Mentioning the Lib Dems as well as the SNP, but not ...
