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The BBC website has a feature on Eric Lubbock's victory in the Orpington by-election, which took place on 15 March 1962.

I think the Commissioner has got this right. The underlying problem is the nature of the current law. A quick hearing without time for people to check the evidence which could result in the end of some people's careers would be unfair. On the assumption that the election court finds that the elections are voided the priority to me is to get the electoral procedures changed so that we have a proper democracy. Having a system whereby the most effective fraudsters win in some electoral areas is very damaging. In essence we have lost the basis of ...

The Guardian reports that one of the casualties of a General Election being called for 5 May is that legislation to introduce I.D. cards will fail for lack of time. This is good. These proposals are part of a general erosion of civil liberties being introduced on a semi-manufactured climate of fear. When the Assembly debated the Queen's speech back in December I set out my views on this state of affairs: Anybody who has seen Derek Jarman’s film Jubilee will be familiar with its portrayal of a derelict, morally bankrupt, lawless Britain. If you throw in the ...

Have been pondering on this since my canvassing on Saturday. Came across a delightful couple who said they used to vote Lib Dem but probably wouldn't this time. Was curious as to why because most travel is in the opposite direction (aka "The other two parties have b******d it up so we might as well give you a chance). Turns out that this couple in their much younger days were young socialists and

Was asked to do a News 24 interview on the recent court case involving a cannibal! This is not relevant to Romsey, women or older people so declined the opportunity as I had been asked in my capacity as Joint Chair of Mental Health Group. Trouble is that this close to an election the press office gets very twitchy if one shadow cabinet member speaks on another person's portfolio area.

This morning they were supposedly discussing the women's vote and has invited assorted skirts on to the programme. I arrived to be put in a studio with Eleanor Laing (this happens to us a lot) only to find that Meg Munn (who seems to be being put forward as the voice of Labour women - due for a promotion?) had been on the programme earlier. We commented that all three parties should have been

Watched our former Home Secretary being interviewed by Frost on Sunday. Is it just me, or is Blunkett really creepy? I don't know quite what it is, but I find his softly, softly voice quite sinister. And I see he is to be an ambassador at large for the Labour Party in the election campaign. Presumably a way of winning his way back into Cabinet after the election. But in what role? I really cannot

It seems that all three main party leaders have got it into their heads that the way to success in the general election is to win over the religious vote (whatever that is). Michael Howard is trying to corner the Catholic vote, Tony Blair is wooing evangelical Christians and Charles Kennedy is sucking up to extremist Muslims. Frankly, it is a sordid spectacle, as Nick Cohen pointed out in Sunday's

In a posting yesterday, I puzzled over Michael Howard's attempt to make abortion an election issue. All is now clear. Howard's announcement has been quickly followed by a statement from the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, calling on Catholics to support the Tories in the forthcoming election. That's not all. From Ekklesia (a radical Christian webzine), we learn that

If Charles Kennedy does only one thing today, it should be to read Salman Rushdie's article in yesterday's Guardian G2 supplement. He might then be better equipped to stand up to religious bullies such Iqbal Sacranie, who appear successfully to have persuaded Kennedy to back-pedal on the government's proposed incitement to religious hatred law (inserted in the Serious Organised Crime and Police