LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The Stupid Party is living up to its name. The latest Tory wheeze is to have another go at the BBC for 'left-wing bias'. Today's Observer reports that the drama Faith, set in the 1984 miners' strike and due to be broadcast on BBC1 on Monday evening, is the focus for the attack. Tory spokesman John Whittingdale alleges that this play is "the latest in a long line of left-wing dramas screened by

One of the more entertaining news stories of last week was Labour's removal of Christine Wheatley from the short-list in Copeland. If you read the Guardian or the Independent you will have come away with the idea that this was purely because she had admitted working as a prostitute in Paris in the 1960s. The Daily Ablution has read more widely, and tells a very different tale.

Helena Kennedy writes in today's Observer on Government proposals to introduce 'control orders'. It is worth quoting her conclusion in full. Indeed, I intend to e-mail it to the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs' Spokesperson to ensure that he has read it. What we should be reaffirming is that people should be detained only pending a criminal charge. If people are suspected of terrorism, they should be investigated thoroughly and if there is evidence they should be put on trial. If not, but suspicion remains, they should be kept under surveillance. Instead we have a misconceived suggestion by some decent ...

Did you see me on BBC West's Politics Show segment on council tax today? No? You mean that the BBC's flagship Sunday lunchtime current affairs programme isn't your first choice on the day of rest? What do you mean you were watching Hollyoaks? Seriously, it was good fun chatting to the pensioners about council tax and promoting the Lib Dem policy of a Local Income Tax. For the five minute segment

This might have been out motto this weekend as we took to the streets of Clevedon and Pill in mammoth sessions getting literature out. With the next edition of our tabloid newspaper 'Clarion' arriving hot of the presses on Friday, we needed to get the last of the February edition delivered. So 10am on Saturday saw us gather in a windy car park in Clevedon for the first session. We carried on

I have just been listening to the Radio Five Live phone-in after the Carling Cup Final. Thanks to some of the Liverpool fans, it was one of the most depressing programmes I have ever heard. It was not that they were moaning about the referee - that was the England coach Andy Robinson's reaction today, accelerating the rate at which rugby union is coming to resemble soccer. No, their target was their club's best target Steven Gerrard. He wasn't trying. He scored an own goal on purpose because he has already agreed to join Chelsea. He should never be picked ...

I've been watching Babylon 5 from the beginning on DVD and have reached the (excellent, I recall) fifth season episode The Fall of Centauri Prime. However, the Region 2 release is missing the pre-title sequence, a pretty vital component as it pays off the cliffhanger from the previous episode and sets up the following scene. Trawling the net, I found that other people have reported this problem with the UK and Australian releases. It seems that three minutes were cut from the episode in a ham-fisted attempt to remove the "Previous on Babylon 5" sequence. No news yet of Warner ...

It is obvious that care in the community is not working. The issue of patient’s rights is also compounding the matter when it comes to the treatment of the mentally ill. Paranoid schizophrenia is treatable but only if the patient takes medicine on a long-term basis. What happens when a patient does not accept that he or she is ill and refuses to take their medicine? They get sick, start hearing voices and in their own paranoid world end up doing things, which affect the safety of the public.

Yesterday on Serendib I quoted Gilbert Adair's review of Shepperton Babylon from the Spectator. What I did not quote was the part where he upheld the critical orthodoxy that British films are no good. In today's Sunday Times Martin Scorsese does not share this view. The interviewer Jasper Gerard reports (you may need to register) that Scorsese is planning a documentary on British cinema: His documentary will focus more on earlier British films that influenced him: "Everything from The Shape of Things to Come, to Green for Danger to The Happiest Days of Your Life to The Carol Reed films, ...

Today's Observer leads with this story: Food giants told: clean up or face prosecution Britain's food safety chief issued a stark warning last night to the country's multi-billion-pound food industry to put its house in order or face plunging public trust and prosecutions for failing to protect the nation's health.Two things are worth saying here. The first is that the Sudan-I scare is being blown out of all proportion. The Spiked website's Don't Panic section makes two important points: Sudan-I is not, as frequently stated, a 'known carcinogen' in humans. In large quantities, it does increase the frequency of ...

Imagine it: The federal government tracking you in real time, while compiling a database with information on your speed, route, and destination; where you were when; how many times you went to a certain location; and just about anything else related to your travels in your own car. The idea of systems to track where cars are already exists. There are lots of schemes whereby the real time

I've been playing about with my webstats, looking at phrases which people used to find my blog. 24 Spoilers, is really popular at the moment (304 hits!), although I'm sure they are all disappointed with a story written in August 2004. Javascript Hack and Drinks Promotions are currently making me feel lucky. And rather amazing Arsenal New Ground is second behind the BBC, but above

Peter Black points out an article about Prince Charles on the <spit> Daily Mail website.Meanwhile, new questions arose last night over the Queen's faith in Prince Charles's ability to succeed her and about her view of Mrs Parker Bowles. According to Royal sources, she was 'having to do a lot of deep thinking' about Charles's future as King - with a suggestion that the best outcome for the Monarchy would be to skip a generation and for Prince William to be crowned instead. In the unlikely event that the Queen really is considering this, she would be proposing a massive ...

Where do newspapers columnists find this stuff? Things you didn’t know but something to ponder! * Four out of 10 people who come to a party in your home will look in your bathroom cabinet. * Whoopi Goldberg acquired her first name because she had a problem with flatulence. * Millions of trees are accidentally planted by squirrels that bury nuts and then forget where ...

Another day, another opinion poll. This time, it's Communicate Research in the Independent on Sunday, where the headline figures are Labour 41%, Conservatives 34% and the Liberal Democrats 17%. This poll confirms the trends indicated in the MORI and ICM polls a few days ago, of a Tory revival and a slippage in Lib Dem support. Since the main movement in support lately has not been between the

According to The Observer Government Ministers believe that Tony Blair risks becoming an electoral liability as he faces fresh accusations that his 'presidential style' is starting to affect Labour's support. Private Labour polling reveals that one of the most important sections of the electorate - married mothers - are deserting the Prime Minister and that the Tories are closing the polling gap. How much of this is Labour spin to galvanise their core vote, it is difficult to say. These private polls do not leak by accident. Certainly, Labour strategists will not be unhappy to see headlines like these at ...

Somebody should tell Prince Charles that the so-called "divine right of Kings" ended with the English Civil War and that if you want compassion and sympathy then you have to earn it. Given his behaviour over the years I am astonished that most people in Britain can even accept him as a future monarch. He certainly should not expect such an endorsement. More to the point, perhaps he should show some self-awareness and realise that if people are demonstrating disapproval of his forthcoming marriage they are merely following the example set by his mother.