LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Was part of a number by 10cc in the 1980s Tablature for this is available along with the lyrics. (in the chorus). Art for art's sake money for God's sake Art for art's sake money for God's sake. Gimme the ready Gimme the cash gimme a bullet gimme a smash gimme a silver gimme a gold make it a million for when I get old Which raises a number of questions. The role of semantic

Just got back from seeing Brentford put Swindon to the sword at Griffin Park. I finally had time to have a good look at some of the papers. What is striking is the amount of jostling for position, attacks on opponents' plans, and shadowboxing. Labour and us seem to have had the best of these skirmishes thus far. The 'James Review' seems to have gone done rather less well than the Tories might

Here is a good harrumphing piece with more than a little truth to it: The "don't-blame-me" mentality personified by Vicky Pollard - the Little Britain character who refuses to accept responsibility for anything - is becoming more prevalent, according to a new study. Researchers say that young people increasingly believe that their fate is out of their hands and that parents, schools, government or bad luck are to blame for their misfortunes. You may have to register with the Telegraph site first. (It's not my fault.)

There is nowhere that I would rather be right now than in the Millennium Stadium watching the start of the Tsunami aid gig that hopes to raise a million pounds for the victims of this natural disaster. Alas, I have a diary clash and will be fulfilling a long-standing engagement instead at the annual dinner of Bridgend Liberal Democrats. I wish the organisers of this concert every success in exceeding their fund-raising target.

The scale of the housing crisis in Wales was outlined today in a survey by the Halifax Building Society. They found that around 86% of properties are beyond the reach of first time buyers. This is an increase from the 62% of two years ago. The report also found the average house price paid by first-time buyers in Wales rose by 25% last year. The rise was the UK's second largest in 2004. Aberdare was highlighted as one of the ten most affordable places to buy a home in the UK. This survey underlines the scale of the crisis ...

Forget Beirut or Baghdad. According to the Shropshire Star, it's Cleobury Mortimer we should be worrying about: Two new rows have blown up in a strife-torn town near to the south Shropshire border, which was plunged into chaos when four parish councillors quit their local authority in protest. The new rows blew up today in Cleobury Mortimer, which has been at the centre of a series of controversies during the past 18 months. Those rows in full Former parish councillor Jim Reynolds, who was sacked as editor of the town's Cleobury Bulletin newsheet (sic.), ...

Iron Angle in The Birmingham Post on Saturdays is an equivalent of the Parliamentary Diary written about Birmingham City Council. Today it features me confirming that yes the City Council does have a biscuit budget. The background to this is a debate at Full Council where the Labour Leader (Sir Albert Bore) criticised the Lib Dems for having lunch at £14.95 each on the general fund when we

Went along to the opening of the new studios. Very flash, modern, clean state of the art stuff and all packed into a very small space so hot-desking is the name of the game . Boss of ITV made a speech commenting that Regionally made programmes would be on the increase. Tackled someone from Meridian at lunch about this because I have been receiving cards from staff who are worried about the