LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Many people in Enfield North have concerns regarding immigration and asylum. There is a sense of a system out of control. While Labour have presided over a processing system that is chaotic, with requests taking huge amounts of time- politicians have a duty, especially on such a sensitive issue as immigration and asylum, also to match rhetoric to fact. The politics of fear is the lowest form of

I thought that I might share a very interesting article that I was reading on The Council on Foreign Relations website. James Dobbins, who has been U.S. special envoy to Somalia and Kosovo, amongst other posts, has written a most interesting article that expresses many of my views on the current state of Iraq, and the ambitiousness of the reasons for war- creating a lasting, and transformative,

The Labour Group have expressed concern as to the accuracy of my earlier report on the refurbishment costs of the Labour Group Offices. To confirm the figures are:RoomDecorationsCarpetLightingTotalM1872,3014,5453507,196M1911,8854,5457007,130M1853,1204,5451,050 + 3269,041M1832,5351,2357004,470M1772,9703,0258806,875M1792,6003,1857006,485 Total 41,197

In the interests of fairness, readers may be interested in this BBC News guide to the three Party policies at a glance.

The more you think about New Labour's latest wheeze of 'citizenship ceremonies' for 18-year olds, the more ridiculous it looks. This policy has been hastily knocked up as a reaction to an assortment of moral panics about national identity, 'community cohesion', political alienation and binge drinking. It is unlikely to address any of them. It could also have unforeseen consequences. When the

This excellent leader in the Guardian says it all about Howard's asylum and immigration outburst - Rational debate recedes

The last few days have been a bit of a blur. Sitting here now, I can't for the life of me remember what I have been doing. This is no doubt a sign of my advancing years, being 32 this year.* The weekend was primarily taken up with campaigning. Saturday morning I was in Nailsea for a photo-call with Lib Dem Councillors campaigning for a new pool. Saturday afternoon, I was in Portishead for

Michael Howard has been talking about his plans to cut the number of refugees that Britain accepts each year and introduce some sort of quota system. This is the ugly face of the xenophobic right. Can any of us honestly refuse to allow refugees into the country, knowing full well that they will probably be killed? Who could live with that decision? Well, it seems that Michael Howard and the Tories could. Paying a bit more tax so that we can protect these people (and a 'bit' would be maybe a pound or two per person) is so abhorrent to ...

A Cardiff University academic has declared today to be the most depressing of the year so far - and it has barely started! Apparently, he has used a scientific formula to calculate that January 24 is the worst day of 2005. This is due to the combined effect of bad weather, mounting debt, the length of time since Christmas, failed New Year's resolutions and a lack of motivation. Well, it is sunny outside, I do not make New Year resolutions, I am about to steal myself to go out and take a very brisk walk delivering leaflets, and my ...

Congratulations to Wetherspoons, who have announced that they are to ban smoking in all of their 650 pubs by May 2006. This is an important step forward but it is not a moment for complacency. I can see those who are opposed to an all-out ban on smoking in public places using this announcement to show that voluntary action works. That is not the case. Wetherspoons have made a commercial decision, it is true, but it is noticeable that they have not sought to reach a compromise measure involving improved ventilation as FOREST argue is possible. The fact ...

Something in Heather's house has made me ill, and now I have a Lesley Ash bottom lip, and a Jimmy Hill chin. :( Just waiting for a chemist to open, to get those antibiotics.