LibDem Blogs - Archived!

In the normal run of the things this is not popular - but this version just might well be. Thanks to my daughter for pointing it out..

For the last time this parliament (will they bother after the election) so decided to honour the occasion by referring to the importance of work-life balance for men. Rather disconcertingly there was a cheer from the Tory men - I can't be sure that Eric Forth joined in but if he did it was a first. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that women's questions is a tokenistic waste of time. There

Out canvassing and committed the cardinal sin of going into a house (but the lady in question was not well so it didn't seem right to keep her on the doorstep and she was clearly keen to talk). Lady in question was very keen to tell me that she had had Lord Russell sitting on her sofa for over an hour. It transpired that this was during the by election and I could actually remember the details of

Chandlers Ford last night and generally a good reception. It is clear that asylum is coming up more frequently on the doorstep and I recount (as best I can) a conversation Wife: "You've got my vote but my husband is thinking of voting Tory this time" Me: "Oh, do you mind if I ask why?" Husband: "I like what they are saying about immigration." Me: "Do you know what our policy is on

Up at the crack of dawn yesterday to travel to the Rose Bowl for launch of Lib Dem campaign in the south east with Charles Kennedy. Had been given the task of chairing the press conference which was much better attended (by press) than the equivalent conference four years ago. First question was about Paul Marsden but Charles merely wished him well. The interesting thing is that he had only

Where Prince Charles leads, Lembit Opik follows. According to David Cornock, Lembit and Sian have also delayed their wedding. The reason they gave was that there was not enough time to carry out all the arrangements after the General Election.Charles and Camilla, of course, moved their wedding to Saturday so that the Prince could attend the Pope's funeral. One consequence of that decision is that the time of the Grand National has been put back so as not to clash. Presumably, Charles was anxious not to miss the race.Still at least Ken and Deirdre are still getting married on Friday, ...

I still can't find a home page for this organisation, but there are more details here.

The visit of Charles Kennedy to Cardiff today was not without incident. Unfortunately, the incident in question underlined better than anything I can say how Britain has taken a turn for the worst under Labour. As Charles Kennedy was undertaking a quick tour of key areas of the UK, he effectively flew into Cardiff Airport, held a press conference and then flew out again. He will be back for a more substantive visit to the City itself. He was met by a large number of Welsh Liberal Democrats candidates and activists including Caerphilly candidate and Cardiff Councillor Asghar Ali. ...

The Commons has risen and will return for the State Opening 17th May 2005. Prorogued - what a word. I wonder how many people would have to look that up in a dictionary.

Not much to say except that I didn't forge this screenshot! This is one of the tools on the BBC website that allows you to analyse the effect of different swings. Out of interest, I wanted to see how fair (or unfair) our "First Past the Post" sytem would be if the votes were split equally between the three main parties.

I see that Labour have just chosen U2's "Its a Beautiful Day" as their campaign song. As I have just been out in a hailstorm, I admire their sense of irony. I wonder what the Tory song should be? I did think about "Its the End of the World as I know it (and I feel fine)" by REM, and of course there is the widespread suggestion of Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves", though I can also go for Marilyn Manson's "Death Song".For the Liberal Democrats: "Golden Brown" by the Stranglers or maybe "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd- either is a ...

In a survey of 26 City Economists the consensus is that taxes will rise after the election under Labour. Perhaps even more interesting was that about a quarter of them beleive that they would rise under the Tories too. The Liberal Democrats have already said which taxes would need to move and by how much. Labour won't comment, except to say that thay can't "rule out tax rises". The Conservatives say that they would increase expenditure, just slower than Labour. OK, how is that to be paid for? Meanwhile, if taxes are to fall, as Howard Flight and others in ...

I have been asked to help with the drafting of the manifesto's for our county council candidates. I have dubbed myself "communications director", which is a post I would one day like to officially fill.

No matter what, the fallout from the Flight affair still comes back to haunt Michael Howard. The selection process in Arundel and South Downs Conservatives has thrown up a candidate with identical views to Howard Flight. The reality is that large numbers of the Tories are very keen to make cuts far deeper than those publically outlined in the James Report. As it happens, David James is one of my father's oldest friends and David is not one to pussyfoot about. I think it very likely that when told to write a report to "think the unthinkable" he came up ...

Don't forget!

Wednesday marked day 2 in the campaign so far - and busy it was too. Lots of leafleting and meeting key organisers today. Went to Portishead, Pill, Long Ashton, Clevedon and Wrington. Things are well underway now, the first election leaflet is going out and I saw my first couple of poster boards in gardens. I don't know if it makes a huge difference to the local residents, but it certainly gives my morale a boost to drive past 'Bell' posters as I make my way around the area. Lots of friendly comments from people - in Tesco's (I am ...

The big danger of bringing some bigwig English politician into a Welsh constituency is that they will put their foot in it without really realising it or understanding how. So it was with Tory MP, Caroline Spelman, (who?) yesterday when she popped up in the Vale of Glamorgan to launch the campaign of my Regional colleague, Alun Cairns AM.If Ms. Spelman had not declared that the Tory Party's local candidates are the key to electoral success in Wales we might never have noticed that only around half of them actually live here. It transpires that:A list of the 40 Tory ...

Article in the Guardian about women's magazines... To me, the whole concept of a 'women's magazine' is an oxymoron (is that the word I'm looking for?) since women are not a discrete category who have entirely separate interests from men. Thus, you either sell magazines about eyebrow plucking and lipstick lesbianism... or you sell a magazine about burning your bra and hemp t-shirts.I would say that women who want to read about more politically charged and deep issues than what Jordan is wearing during pregnancy buy a specialised magazine on the subject rather than a 'women's magazine'. I buy with ...

Here's a good way to put your Labour and Tory opponents on the back foot. Their line on the Iraq war is already a matter of public record but, regardless of what it is, ask them whether they would pledge to oppose an American military attack on Iran. The Our World Our Say campaign will be seeking pledges from leaders and candidates of all the main parties so, if you're a candidate, don't be