LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Regional Committees fulfil a useful function. They provide a vehicle for the Assembly to interact with the public in their own communities, whilst taking evidence from local bodies on key policy matters. One of the innovations that I initiated when I was the first Chair of the South West Wales Regional Committee in 1999 was an open mike session or public question time. This has since evolved into a variety of different formats including Cabinet road shows and, in the last Assembly, question time with the First Minister at the North Wales Regional Committee. The value of

The Western Mail on Wednesday accused the Welsh Labour Government of perpetuating a huge con on the public with their promise to provide a free breakfast to every primary school pupil in Wales. Internal Assembly Government documents , they say, prove that when the First Minister promised free breakfasts "on a universal basis", his "£16m scheme" was based on an assumed take-up rate of just 11% - one child in 10. These revelations seem to have hit a chord as today the Education Minister replied with an article in which she accused the paper of getting "it wrong again".

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News: Banning the Beeb There's nothing like imminent retirement to make a politician talk sense. Invited on Monday to condemn the BBC for showing Jerry Springer - The Opera, Estelle Morris robustly refused. "I would rather have free speech than try to legislate against people being offended," she said. "What is broadcast or printed is not and never should be a matter for the government." Quite right too. This is the sort of programme - taking something enjoyed by the metropolitan elite and making it available to

Haven't been posting for a while, mainly because my new house didn't have a) my computer b) a phone line (well BT had reconnected the line, it just happened that we didn't actually have a physical line into the house) My new room is small (really small), although the large kitchen and living area makes up for this. The house is very pink, but that's because I live with two female art

One of the useful things about the internet is that you can go back to source. Whereas prior to the net it was possible to get hold of the original text. Now it is very easy. Bush's inaugural speech has various elements to it. "So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate

So, here we are with one week down of ID Card Bill Committee and one to go (the Government have generously allowed this multi-billion pound project with all its implications to be discussed over two whole weeks in a House of Commons committee). Some things have become clearer ...

I attended last Night's City Housing Liaison Board for half an hour. Last time I attended there was an attempt to exclude me from the meeting which resulted in 22 votes for me to remain and 8 votes for me to be expelled. Last night, however, noone objected to me being there as an observer. It appears that a number of those members of the board who backed Labour when there was a move to

The Tories are not quite dead yet. Yesterday they won a remarkable by-election victory in the inner London Borough of Hackney. The result is particularly interesting for two reasons. First, it took place in Queensbridge ward, where the Blairs attended their first Labour Party meeting and where Tony first held political office, as the Labour Party's branch secretary (does anyone know whether the