LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Tuesday 5th April 2005 - After a break for Easter and a quiet week the announcement today that the General Election will be held on May 5th started with a bang with the Labour party candidate for Ribble Valley defecting to the Lib Dems and joining Charles Kennedy at a press conference at Manchester Airport to kick off our campaign. Unfortunately I think election law will prohibit me from

This was hardly a surprise but the fact that Tony wanted to launch his campaign from Weymouth was a bit of a turn up for the books and threw the media into a bit of a spin.BBC wanted to do a reaction piece for local launch which went OK - apart from the fact it all had to be redone because there was a fault with the first tape. These things have a knock on effect on the whole day as I was then

Following the polls is fasinating. The BBC vote 2005 is up and running with their sliding scale thingi. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/polltracker/html/default.stm

The government will not attempt to force its ID card bill through before the general election, reports the BBC.

There is an article by Matt Foot in today's Guardian advertising the launch of the group ASBO Concern: The reason for the diverse nature of Asbos is the ridiculous breadth of what constitutes criminal anti-social behaviour under the Crime and Disorder Act 1988. You can be served with an order if you have behaved in a way "likely to cause alarm". If the argument of Straw, Blunkett and Clarke is right and people are "terrorising" housing estates, why haven't the police arrested the "terrorists"? Surely they would be liable for arrest under, say, affray, harassment or perhaps even terrorism ...

After all the media hype, finally we have the GE date confirmed as May 5th. It’s so exciting after all the weeks of planning. All over the country Lib Dems have started delivering their ‘Flying Start’ leaflets.Up and down steps, remembering to close gates, being friendly to those who open their doors is all part of the campaign. As a people-person I prefer canvassing or admin work but delivering is an integral part of any election campaign.I don’t know how far I walked today. I just followed the map in an unfamiliar area. It was rather chilly and I was ...

I think we have had a pretty good start- a defection from Labour in Ribble Valley was a fairly cheerful way to greet the day. As the day unfolded I have received quite a few messages of support from many people I don't even know, which I found reassuring- Thank You! When you become a candidate it is slightly isolating- it is almost as though people think that you might have changed into that most dangerous and alien of creatures, "a politician". Most people I know who enter politics- across the political spectrum- are thoughtful, sensitive, caring people. It might ...

The best media coverage yet on the postal votes scandal was on Tuesday morning's Radio 4 Today programme. Former Liberal MP Michael Meadowcroft, who now works as an international observer in various emerging democracies, was interviewed live from Kinshasa in the Congo. He took a very robust line, arguing that, with the best will in the world, postal votes will always be open to corruption and

The virals have started - click on the link above and enjoy shooting the invaders (in this case, Howard, Blair and Kilroy)

One of the beliefs we have grown up with is that sporting performance improves year by year. But it seems that things are more complicated than that. Alan Buckingham writes on Spiked about the crisis in British long-distance running: Despite an estimated £2.2 billion of government and lottery spending on sport each year, both at elite level and club level distance running is getting slower. In 2003 not only was the fastest British male marathon runner eight minutes slower than in 1985 - a chasm in competitive running terms - he was also slower than Paula Radcliffe. The picture ...

Tony called the election today, as expected on May 5th. At work, I've pencilled in a couple of days off around that area, one of which will be the day after, cos I'll be quite hungover after celebrating Sue Doughty's victory. It's now time to see how much the polls change over the next four weeks with pure heightened electioneering between all three parties. Of course, I report that I am devastated with the fact that the Lib Dems don't have the support of the Sun. In fact, I quote: "We discount the Lib Dems from the ...

Amid all the postings about the general election, it is pleasing to find this one by James Oates, the Lib Dem candidate in Wycombe: As we walked we caught sight of the most dramatic of all of the creatures of the hills - a Red Kite. These magnificent birds, extinct for so long in England, were of course reintroduced to our area a few years ago. Since that time, they have thrived. Indeed, as we walked we saw more and more of the birds as they soared over the woodlands behind Skirmett. We lost count after 27 individual birds.People who ...

I have updated the sidebar by adding some new Liberal Democrat bloggers and removing the odd obsolete one! One of the new sites I am now linking to is the brainchild of Jonathan Calder. It brings back a character that first featured on the website of Susan Kramer during the first London Mayoral campaign writing a regular diary. Whittington the Cat will be recording his adventures as he sneaks unseen into all the major events of the forthcoming campaign, but has he got an invitation to THE wedding? I note that Leighton Andrews has announced that he is to cease ...

The BBC has secured the scoop of the election. They are to run a live Question Time featuring Tony Blair, Michaal Howard and Charles Kennedy. This is must-see TV. It is about time that a modern British General Election featured this sort of a debate.

I have been known to be sceptical about focus groups. The problem is not what they tell us but how political parties use that information to mould policies, feed spin and override internal party democracy. This article however, had me intriqued, if only because it reinforced what I am picking up on doorsteps. It helps as well, of course, that the Liberal Democrats came out of the exercise in a good light. Ironically, the 30 undecided voters brought together by Newsnight had as their chief hate the spin and insincerity that focus groups breed in politicians. Although they came ...

The Royal wedding had to be changed to Saturday because of the funeral of the Pope on Friday. Now we have the time of the Grand National at Aintree Races changed from 3.45 to 4.10 so there is no conflict with the wedding. The mind boggles. I wonder how many race-goers will be watching the wedding?

30 days till polling day. I'm not sure if I should be excited that we're into the final straight, or scared that it's so little time left! On balance - excitement it is.

Last night I went to see Mel Brookes' award winning musical "The Producers", starring Brad Oscar and Lee Evans, and I don't think I've ever seen anything like it in the West End.This show is as sharply satirical as it is politically incorrect and with songs like "Springtime for Hitler" and "Keep it Gay" it isn't for the easily offended, but if you can plant your tongue firmly in your cheek, go see it.PS. Watch out for Little Old Lady Land.

Well, now we know- Tony Blair has gone to the Palace and the election will be on May 5th. The PM clearly feels that this is the best time for the election (after all he is not compelled to call an election for another year). However he stands on a woeful record and may get a major shock on May 6th as the votes are counted. This Prime Minister has done the worst thing a Prime Minister can do- he led our country into an illegal war in Iraq. He did this even though he knew that the case for ...

Am somewhat concerned by the morbid titles that this blog is acquiring... I'm still on the GI Food Plan (I say 'Food plan' because anyone who knows me will know that the only diet I probably need to be on is a rapid weight 'gain' programme... Despite the general consensus amongst gentlemen-friends that I would be better being a bit more curvy, I vigorously defend my right to look like a furry-ended pencil) and now have a cookbook (the Times Supplement recipes seemed to involve an awful lot of cheese and I felt eating so much feta probably wasn't healthy). ...

The elections in Zimbabwe were, quite rightly, denounced by the EU as "a sham". One again, we counted our blessings at living in a truly free society. But we must not rest on our laurels. News that a judge branded the Labour postal vote scandal in Birmingham as something that would 'disgrace a banana republic' must put us on our guard. We are used to thinking that our electoral system is scrupulous and fair (inasmuch as a first past the post system can be), but this just goes to show how the devious and the desperate will always try to ...

Over the weekend I, and a few friends, went for a walk in the Hambleden valley. It is one of the most beautiful corners of the Wycombe constituency, and I always enjoy hiking over the Chiltern hillsides. Of course, the fact that the weather was so warm and sunny was a particular bonus! As we walked we caught sight of the most dramatic of all of the creatures of the hills- A Red Kite. These magnificent birds, extinct for so long in England, were of course reintroduced to our area a few years ago. Since that time, they have ...

As I write, Tony Blair is no doubt on his way to see the Queen to ask her to dissolve Parliament and call a General Election for May 5th. We're nearly off. I am really looking forward to getting out and about over the next 30 days to take our message to local people. The response so far has been extremely encouraging, and now the phoney war is off, I am relishing the chance!

The first proposal I have put is that a change is needed so that postal votes are counted separately to non-postal votes. The second proposal is that the same access is given to parties to check application forms as exists for checking DoIs. The third proposal is to extend the period for Election Petitions to 2 months from 21 days. The fourth proposal is to require presiding officers to keep a list of voters who attend to vote in person and are found on the absent voters list and to allow them to submit a tendered ballot. This means that ...

So, it is today that the Prime Minister is expected to go to the Palace and get the General Election campaign underway. Thank goodness for that. We appear to be in the middle of an overlong phoney war and I think that all of us will welcome the opportunity to get out there for real and to work towards an official date. The latest opinion poll shows the Labour lead to have been cut by 5%, with the Liberal Democrats up one to 21%. This must be the highest base for a third party to go into a General Election ...

You can find the same element to this story in various locations including:"The Labour party last night suspended the six councillors and sent officials to monitor elections in Birmingham."Now ... what we have is Six Councillors found to have been involved in electoral fraud to the criminal burden of proof.The criminal burden of proof is "Beyond reasonable doubt".The Labour Party's immediate response is to "Suspend them".Now I would accept that if merely allegations were raised that may be appropriate. However, we have had a High Court sitting for over a month going through the cases.The question is "Where is ...

The relationship between the Gershon report of the government and the Conservatives' James report is coming to light now. The big problem for the tories is that their James report actually includes the Gershon savings.For example if you look at page 56 of the report on James you will find that of their identified potential savings in education of £5,687,000,000 this includes the Gershon figure of £4,133,000,000.In other words the total figure of £34,864,000,000 includes the Gershon figures of £21,480,000,000. All big figures.The real question is what is means when implemented.This information is much harder to find. ...