LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The announcement of the forthcoming royal wedding has demonstrated that nothing, not even a possible nuclear war, can keep the royals off the front pages.The royal engagement has divided the media and individual commentators into two camps; those who devote pages to this topic because they believe it has real significance, and those who devote pages to this topic because they claim it has none. I disagree with the former camp but at least it has the merit of consistency.Frankly, I couldn't give a toss about this wedding. But it does raise two more important issues.First, the timing of the ...

As with other Michael Crichton books, you feel like you're reading a research paper. I really enjoyed this book, and whilst I'm pretty sure many of my friends will disagree with the message, it's a really good read. 9 out of 10

I've managed to stuff up my computer so much that I can no longer use my mouse or keyboard when windows is running. Back up discs and CDs aren't working, so I'm a bit stuck. Oh well, I'm sure Heather won't mind that I've stolen her laptop.

As I am the sort of person who is interested in the mechanics of elections I thought I would have a look at the seat allocation procedure. It is a different procedure to that used by the UK for the European Parliament (D'Hondt). The details are available at the link above. The initial quota is 30,750. All parties with less than that get excluded leaving only the remaining groups. I'm in bit

England have gone down to their third successive defeat whilst Wales are on the crux of something great. Things are really looking up!

I have added my first pastel painting/drawing. It's an imperfectly remembered scene I saw at a demonstration of Bob Ross classes/paints whilst visiting Hobbycraft at Cribbs Causeway last week. Something vaguely like this, although it wasn't this painting. I personally think that going to a class where you follow step-by-step brushstroke instructions to produce exactly the same as everyone painting as everyone else from a set series of proscribed paintings is slightly soul-destroying and pointless. This guy kinda agrees with me but I don't think he'd be wild about my choice of subject matter.On the other hand, utopian landscapes at ...

Tony Blair responds to a question about how many supporters he has.

Started on Thursday with a mad dash around Muswell Hill, Highgate and Hornsey taking clerical work to a raft of new helpers. Next day out again, this time with both clerical work and our latest leaflet to get to helpers. Bit of variety on Saturday - more deliveries of leaflets to our helpers but this time rounded off by a couple of hours folding and stuffing letters in front of the TV for evening

There are those that say that the Vietnam Election results from 1967 are a precedent that informs the Iraqi Results announced about 90 minutes ago (1pm GMT, 4pm Iraqi Time). I would argue differently. The national results which *provisionally give the following:130 Kurd Alliance2,175,55126%169 Shi'a UIA4,075,29548%2851,168,94314%Total Votes8,456,266 Are a clear victory for the Shi'a UIA list

The Observer reports this morning that Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest. Well what is new? Any law can become difficult to enforce in the face of mass disobedience and those who support hunting are counting on that fact to try and force a rethink from the Government. However, I believe that they will be gravely disappointed. Whatever their reservations the Police have a duty to enforce the law. Even if the Police are unable to catch everybody, those who ...

I have put the 10 point plan in the sidebar (blogroll). I have also copied it below. If we find that there is a particular debate about any specific item then I will put in a specific entry for that. Top ten reasons to vote Liberal Democrat Put patients first - free doctors and nurses from Whitehall meddling. Free personal care when you need it – no one forced to sell their home to pay for