LibDem Blogs - Archived!

As my waistband is feeling tight I thought I ought to renew my aquaintance with this drop in session which takes place on a weekly basis. When I saw my weight I realised that I will be trying to pop in every week from now on. I did try the well worn excuse "I am exercising more so perhaps the weight is due to increased muscle?" Sadly they were not convinced and I think they have heard better

Had tabled a question on the alcohol strategy and the "Law of Sod" dictates that I was succesful on the week that there were three other questions on the order paper that were relevant to my portfolio. The follow up was to ask why the Government had not mentioned Older People in the strategy . I had read some research to show that the level of alcohol misuse in older people was on the increase

Good to see the Tories (well one of them) not getting Kids TV, Dick and Dom, really aren't much different to Tiswas.

Yet another article in the Western Mail on the grand coalition idea for the National Assembly. This time they are reporting the views of the Director of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. He believes that Labour will do significantly worse at the Assembly elections in 2007 than they did in 2003. He gives six reasons for this: Welsh Labour will have been in power in Wales for two terms and many voters will be looking for a change; At the UK level, Labour will likely be mid-way through its third term with frustration and disillusion mounting; The

Here's another article on rabid censorship on US television that I mentioned yesterday. It mentions the BBC drama, but it's only when you read the article that you realise just how out of hand the censorship has got. Media regulators need to dismiss obviously co-ordinated complaints out of hand. A lot of the 'complaint' emails about 'Jerry Springer: The Opera' had exactly the same wording and were obviously cut--n-paste jobs. These should be ignored (as should complaints about a programme that is yet to air, come to think of it).If right-wing Christians can decide what I am allowed to watch then I'm going to start campaigning against religious programmes. I have nothing against such things of course, but let's see how they like a taste of their own medicine...

George Monbiot has written an excellent article in today's Guardian about how the media in the US prop-up the right wing agenda. It's an interesting read. It's tempting to think that such things could never happen here, but with the government seeking to control the BBC and destroy its ability to question (just look at the Hutton report), how long is it until we have a media that is just the same?Don't think it's a coincidence that the current government has relaxed media ownership laws - it will be a matter of time before Murdoch and other right-wing crazies own all of the media except the BBC, and you can bet that they'll try to get rid of that.