LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Yesterday I blogged about Holly Robertson, Kingston's e-democracy project officer, so was delighted to see her featured in an article More Power to the People in the Guardian today. The projects she manages at Kingston are part of the National Project for Local e-Democracy, which I also blogged about recently.

Having been involved in political campaigns using telephone canvassing over several years, I have become quite familiar with the Telephone Preference Service. For those not in the know, this allows you to register your phone number as not wanting direct marketing phone calls. If someone makes calls without ...

A new political blog The Returning Officers points out that, were one of the candidates in the Sedgefield constituency to die during the campaign, then the poll in that constituency would have to be postponed "possibly until as late as Thursday June 23 (assuming polling day was originally 5 May)". Not only that, as the first comment on the posting says: The Queen could still appoint Blair PM but it would be such a drastic change to the current constitutional position that I can't imagine her doing so. And while Blair would be out of office for just a ...

No scarecrows awaited me in Central Lobby but did meet two pleasant young men from the Student's Union (which I think is still the only one that has disassociated itself from the NUS). They were asking me to sign an Early Day Motion on charges for renewal of student visas. I agreed.

It is Wednesday so time for a mass lobby - of Scarecrows! Serious point is that it is FOE lobbying on GM crops. Have just been paged by the Doorkeepers so am off to meet my lobby caller. I do hope it will be a scarecrow as that will be a first!

Now I am not sure that 'Women's Issues' are, in the main, very different to men's priorities, however the pension issue highlighted by Charles Kennedy is an issue that should get more coverage and enter the political dialogue as an Election approaches. Women who spend years caring for children or relatives, disproportionately live in poverty due to discrimination through pensions. I welcome our

I am sorry but this does not wash. A Teacher's union is claiming that because Wayne Rooney gets away with bad language on the football pitch then he is setting a poor example to children and undermining the authority of teachers.In my limited experience of young people, they will use any excuse to justify bad behaviour but no adult will accept that youngsters can abrogate responsibility in this way and nor should they. There have always been sports people who are considered to act in a manner that may be considered inappropriate, whether it is Ille Nastase, John McEnroe or ...

Do you envy political pioneers? Do you ever wish you had been among the first to start a successful campaign? Well now's your chance.If you possess even the tiniest spark of humanity in your soul, you will not need to be convinced of the vital importance of the good old-fashioned British greasy spoon. Invariably Italian-run yet quintessentially British. Caffs with 1950s Formica decor and matching sets of red and brown plastic sauce dispensers, where you half expect Tommy Steele to come through the door at any moment. A home-from-home, where you can order a large fry-up and a mug of ...

I was planning to write a spiel about the government's dreadful plans for house arrest on the whim of the Home Secretary. However, since Chris Lightfoot has already said what I was planning to say, I'll suggest you read that instead. The soundbites of the debate shown on TV last night were particularly dispiriting. I heard rhetoric about balancing civil liberties with national security and about Charles Clarke having a responsibility to defend us all from The Terrorists. But I didn't hear why house arrest (which he admitted wasn't needed at present) is the answer. Just saying "It's necessary" over ...

For those of you who like reading the runes, examining the tea leaves or poking around in the chicken entrails, today brings another clue about the date of the general election.Gordon Brown has announced that the budget will be on Wednesday 16th March. That would rule out a snap election on Thursday 7th April (the day before the royal wedding) because parliament would have to be dissolved before the budget date.The government then needs parliamentary time to pass its Finance Bill, if only a shortened bill, making an election on 14th, 21st or 28th April highly unlikely though theoretically possible.If ...

Yesterday's council meeting had two main items of business: The Council Plan - a summary of what the council is trying to do. The Budget - next years planned finances including a Council Tax increase of 2.8%, The behaviour of the Labour Party was unusual. They said that they had no proposed changes to our Council Plan. They also called for a Council Tax increase of only 1.5%. Their calculations

This one's about the sex of your brain. Despite often quibbing that I'm actually a gay transvestite trapped in a woman's body (and thus I'm perfectly happy being there :D), I come out as being an absolutely average woman with a score of exactly 50% female. The breakdown of topics is more interesting (although not entirely unexpected). I got 11/12 in the manipulation of 3D shapes test, 6/10 in recognising facial expressions (which is apparently pretty high), poor on word association (about 4-5 words only) and low on recognising the positioning of objects (below male and female average). Proper ...

Suddenly, journalists are lining up to go onto the broadcast media and talk about their sources. Unfortunately, they do not wish to refer to deep throat. Instead they are more preoccupied with Worcester Sauce. Well it was very early in the morning.