LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Undoubtedly it was the one made by Kenneth Clarke. To read the old bruiser's contribution in Hansard, click here. My favourite passage was: There is a danger in our system of politics, which I have seen, that senior politicians and senior officials who have access to an exciting and hidden world of security will get carried away with their excitement. They can sometimes become vulnerable to advice to do things that, with hindsight, are not altogether wise. However, if I am not careful, that will get me back into discussions that we had last year about a war with ...

Tonight was the penultimate meeting of the Scrutiny review of the Youth Service of which I am a part. We looked at the results of January's OFSTED inspection. L.B. Tower Hamlets' Youth Service was judged as adequate. This is a considerable step up, especially as an 'adequate' rating is not often awarded to London Youth Services. We have a high profile Youth Service - councillors take an active interest, and where else does the Youth Service inspire the number of marches that we have seen over the past year? The inspection recognised that ...

This evening I have been writing a column about yesterday's Commons debate on the Prevention of Terrorism Act for Liberal Democrat News. It will appear here on Friday. (Please, form a queue.) One aspect that I have not had room to discuss is the figure of Siôn Simon, the Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington. It is not just that he looked odd, with his long hair, his rather too colourful tie and the way he obsessively stroked the underside of his long chin. It was his intervention on the timetable that was really strange. Opposition MPs were complaining about ...

Regular readers of this blog may remember that a short while ago, residents of Yates House were told they would have a consultation on major works at their block. They weren't happy with the cost & sustainability of the Council's proposed works, for a start. It turned out that because works were underway at their sister block, Johnson House, the Council thought it could simply replicate that in the next door block. As a result of the consultation, they realised that significant concessions would need to be made. At that point, we decided to ...

There is an interview with Matt O'Connor, the "founder and mastermind of Fathers 4 Justice", on the Spiked website. It looks at the organisation's tactics and influence, taking it more seriously than most commentators do. It is well worth reading.

I no longer have my wallet. There are three possible explanations.1. It was stolen from me in a carefully planned act of revenge carried out either by an individual or a small gang. I can think of five people with motives.2. TERRORISTS! Duck and cover!3. It fell out of my pocket.Of course, it would never have happened if I'd been safely under house arrest.Update: I searched the web for the phone numbers to call to cancel my cards. I Googled burtons store card and burtons card and got unhelpful but interesting results - particuarly the first one. But having lost ...

Tony Blair has been turned down for a cameo role in hit BBC comedy Little Britain. Apparently, the show's stars rebuffed his advances on the grounds that it would politicise the programme too much. Presumably, they also did not want to become props in a re-elect Tony Blair roadshow. I am unsure as to the welcome that the Prime Minister would receive in the actual village of Llandewi Brefi, as it is situated in a constituency that is not normally Labour territory. However, knowing the hospitable nature of West Walian people I am sure that he would be well received ...

It was hardly a surprise but a BBC opinion poll has found that 50% of those asked want the Assembly to have the powers to make a difference to their lives. The poll also found that those who wanted to abolish the body has halved. Let us hope that sceptics in Labour and the Tories are listening. By far the most interesting finding of this poll for me was the answer to the question "Whose policies are closest to your own, no matter how you plan to vote?" 33% or one in three of those asked said that they did ...

Good news, everyone! The US Supreme Court has abolished the death penalty for murderers who committed their crimes while under the age of 18, ruling it unconstitutional. Although the court voted 5-4, narrowly avoiding a penalty shootout, one vote is enough to swing it (if you'll excuse my putting the "pun" in "capital punishment"). According to the Beeb, this ruling affects murderers who were 16 or 17 at the time as a similar ruling was made for under-16s in 1988. As with all arbitrary age limits, this prompts a further question: why is it cruel and unusual to execute someone ...

Interesting story about new research that has found that politicians are among the most sleep deprived people in Britain. Odd really, as many people say that politicians put others to sleep well enough! Worryingly, the most sleep deprived are hospital doctors, with an average on call of just 4.5 hours sleep.

Lots of residents have queried recently that they are seeing Haringey bin men mixing recyclable materials together and also putting them into normal rubbish trucks. Not surprisingly, this has raised some questions about what is happening! Some of the news is reassuring. Because of the successes of campaigns from local groups and Lib Dem councillors to improve recycling in the borough, a wider

Today my middle sister is off to Australia (and thereabouts) for a year. It was quite a surprise to everyone when she announced she was going but today she flies out, thus proving that there's no point assuming anything about anyone as you'll inevitably be proved wrong. I was at my parents house in Newbury [...]

Somehow this case, which hit the court yesterday, has been deemed prosecutable by the police. This related to an Election in 2002 in which a Labour (now ex) Councillor was prosecuted and has now pleaded guilty to filling in 233 fraudulent postal votes (only 233 were proven, that does not mean that only 233 occurred). This case was in Blackburn, Lancashire. The point I have repeatedly made about

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector and former US Marine, has made a couple of interesting revelations about American foreign policy, according to this report: Scott Ritter, appearing with journalist Dahr Jamail yesterday [18 February] in Washington State, dropped two shocking bombshells in a talk delivered to a packed house in Olympia’s Capitol Theater. The ex-Marine turned UNSCOM