LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The Independent has a wonderful summary of the liberties and freedoms that Labour has proposed (and the Tories have aped).

For a liberal I have a surprising number of doubts about the concept of human rights. Yesterday's case involving Shabina Begum has helped to crystallise them. I am not so much interested in the details of the case, though it is worth pointing out that this is not a case of a young Muslim woman being forced to wear traditional dress by community elders (as Western liberals tend to assume happens) but rather of her demanding it with great energy and resourcefulness. What interests and worries me is the idea that an appeal to human rights can be used to ...

The latest (5th March) issue of the Spectator has an interview with Charles Kennedy (to read it online, you have to register but it's free).Two interesting things emerge. The first is that, if there were a hung parliament, Kennedy says he would not work with the Tories.The second is that, while Kennedy claims that "in all policies, the presumption must be the maximisation of the individual's rights of expression", it is not clear that this is what he actually believes. The Spectator comments:This hardly sits easily with his support for outlawing 'incitement to religious hatred'. When I mention that the ...

Just a short note from yesterday's Plenary. It seems that the Westminster habit of planting questions for Ministers has spread to the Assembly. Certainly, Irene James was spot on with hers though the Deputy Presiding Officer was having none of it: Irene James: Does the Minister agree that it is ironic for a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member to ask for clarity on the Assembly’s budget? Is it not the case that Plaid Cymru refuses to offer us clarity over the cost of an independent Wales, as well as the wish list of proposals with which it regularly presents ...

Simon Titley complains of "another piss-poor performance" from Mark Oaten on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill. I was there on Monday, and it is hard to disagree. Judge for yourself here. Oaten is not an orator. Nor, by his own admission, is he not much of an ideologue. But then many people have successful and useful political careers without one or even both of these qualities. I would not, like some, accuse him of being a right-winger - if only because that tends to imply the existence of a coherent and shared philosophy on the radical wing of the Liberal ...

I am currently reading this book. I may write about in one day, but in the mean time there is a good review on the London Review of Books site. I have also posted a short extract to my anthology blog Serendib.

It turns out that it wasn't just Charles Kennedy who missed Monday night's Commons vote on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill.Altogether 17 Liberal Democrat MPs were absent for the vote. Had they all been present and voted against the government, the government would have lost by three votes.A missed opportunity and an utter disgrace.

We set the Council Tax at 4.9% at Budget Council last night. You have to add Mayor Ken's tax to that as well. See my FAQs on Council Tax, which explains how the figures are arrived at. The Conservative opposition wanted to impose a cut amounting to nearly 4% in non-teaching staff across the Council. It doesn't sound like much, but since schools manage their own budgets and we are told how much to give them, non-teaching staff could not be cut there. They also wanted to protect frontline staff, presumably social workers, educational psychologists, ...

The Beeb will be showing Making Your Mind Up (aka A Song for Europe) this Saturday. So, inspired by the Best Decade poll at Troubled Diva (where you can still vote until Friday night), I'm offering you, dear reader, the chance to rank the five songs shortlisted to represent Royaume-Uni. Andy Scott Lee - Guardian Angel You may remember Andy Scott Lee from such failings as boy band 3SL, Not Winning Pop Idol and having a sister who was the rubbish one in Steps (). Here he attempts to destroy any remaining credibilty (yeahright) by singing ...

Of the numerous calls I made to cancel my cards the other day, none was stressful and every operator was polite. Egg (I think) had a particular hip'n'trendy patter, which included "Is it OK to call you Will today?" which amused me for no good reason. I went to the bank today to sort out a new card and withdraw some cash for the weekend. The chap there was also very helpful and switched me to a better version of my account which comes with insurance for my mobile phone. Flashback: Thursday, December 16, 2004 Met up with friends ...

Somehow the Tory ex-MP Jerry Hayes has turned up to act as the barrister for two of the Aston Labour Councillors. Today we had two more policemen giving evidence (both PS) then myself. Jerry Hayes had clearly set out to rerun the whole of the local election campaign in Birmingham in the Lyttleton Theatre of the Birmingham and Midlands Institute. He was warned not to try to go into arguing that

The other day I was joking with a colleague about comedy election slogans. A firm favourite was "running the country - how hard can it be?" (to be said with a casual shrug of the shoulders). Today I browsed by the Conservative party website and found it plastered with a ...

Doing a history degree at Swansea University had many memorable moments. There was the party to celebrate Dutch independence (at least I think that is what it was for - I just wandered in off the street and joined in), the wonderful course run by Peter Stead looking at how historical events in the late nineteenth and the twentieth Centuries were reflected in the literature of the time, and of course, the tutorials with Rhodri Morgan's brother, Prys. However, if I were to be truthful the outstanding moments were the lectures by Professor Glanmor Williams on the Tudors.Glanmor was an ...

There is a good analysis of Charles Clarke's concessions on judicial oversight of house arrest, and why they don't amount to much, on The Register site.

My poster, I am happy to report, is all over bar working out the number of looks at each along-track position (which probably means nothing to anyone but me), fiddling with the introduction, 1 easy coherence diagram and adding a pretty picture of flightlines over Svalbard. My supervisors recommended that instead of doing extra slope coherence calculations, which are rather dry, I 'moistened' the poster a bit by including a pretty picture of the NASA P-3 aircraft and some pictures of flightlines over Svalbard in the rationale of the project. I should be all done by mid-afternoon (poster needs to ...

While we're on the subject of the Liberal Democrat party conference, I see that one of the exhibition stands in Harrogate next weekend will be hosted by a body called the Blackpool Conference Bureau.The party had the misfortune to be forced to relocate its September 2005 conference venue to Blackpool after a 15-year hiatus, when plans to hold the conference in Gateshead fell through.In the conference agenda booklet (pdf download here), the Blackpool Conference Bureau's blurb is upbeat:Your opportunity to get your first taste of Blackpool.Unfortunately it isn't, as there are still many of us with long and bitter memories ...