LibDem Blogs - Archived!

At today's rally Charles Kennedy pledged that the Liberal Democrats will fight a positive campaign based on real issues, not yah-boo politics. The music for the campaign was also unveiled today. This is the Karelia Suite by Jan Sibelius, rearranged by Philip Pope. Plus we launched the Kennedy battle bus and the venue for their daily press conferences, designed by Stage Electric, at Local

I started the day in Marlow. A very pleasant day delivering leaflets for Jim Campbell and Maurice Oram- our County Council candidates for the new united Marlow ward. They are so much a positive part of life in Marlow that almost everyone I meet gives them a name check and either says that they will support them, or (if they are anti) just asks how they are. I introduce myself as the Parliamentary candidate and people are suprisingly positive. Only a couple of curt "Thank You" (meaning "Sod Off") comments. About half are positively in favour- "I am definitely voting ...

Peter Hain has been talking more nonsense than usual. The Observer reports him as follows: 'There's now a kind of dinner party critics [sic.] who quaff shiraz or chardonnay and just sneeringly say, "You are no different from the Tories",' he said. There is something ludicrous about the way the educated, metropolitan elite which runs this government pretends to be simple and men and women of the people. It is the spirit which saw Tony Blair telling his local paper in Sedgefield that his favourite meal was fish and chips, while admitting in an Islington cookery book that it was ...

Prize for the most ludicrous statement in the election so far must go to Peter Hain, who has been stigmatising left-wing critics of New Labour as "chardonnay socialists". According to the front page headline story in today's Observer, With the mood among voters still highly volatile, cabinet minister Peter Hain launched a fierce attack on self-indulgent 'dinner party critics' among the liberal

Choosing the right staff is very important in an election campaign.

I will be demanding a copy of the Cabinet Committee Minutes for April 20th 2004 relating to Postal Vote Fraud as part of his legal case against Tony Blair. It is reported in the Sunday Times that Labour decided to allow postal vote fraud as the anti-fraud measures would have cut Labour support. As part of my legal case I have a right under Article 6 (equality of arms) to the disclosure of the Cabinet Committee minutes. I challenge the government to formally deny the report in Today's Sunday Times.

A story from November 2003 which included: "Yesterday it emerged that members of the group of Birmingham business people who helped to kickstart a local bid for MG Rover in 2000 are considering legal action to force Phoenix to appoint independent directors. John Hemming, a local businessman and the Liberal Democrat leader on Birmingham city council, said he was considering the action because he was concerned about the recent disclosures. He said he had helped put together the original group of people from which the Phoenix four emerged to buy the company. He said: "I want an improvement in ...

The Sunday Times have written an excellent article showing that Labour thought safeguards were needed, but didn't implement them for electoral benefit. My barrister Jerry Hayes feels this is all grist to the mill for the election fraud JR. He has now written the Skeleton Argument and with a bit of luck everything should go to court tomorrow. This is his Skeleton Argument: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEADMINISTRATIVE COURT IN THE MATTER OF: JOHN ALEXANDER MELVIN HEMMINGClaimant -and- ANTHONY LYNTON BLAIRDefendant CLAIMANT’S SKELETON ARGUMENTIN RELATION TO ARTICLE 3 OF PROTOCOL NO. 1OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN ...

Those nice people at Asbo Concern have now sent me a link to their new website. You can find it here.

Yesterday I was out handing out flyers about Enfield Lib Dems public meeting. It is on the 12th at 8pm at the Bourne Methodist Church on The Bourne near Southgate tube station. There will be all 3 Lib Dem candidates in Enfield and the meeting is open to everyone.

When I was a student I would often approach an essay with an idea of what I was going to say, write it, work through the argument and the facts logically and then find that I had come to a completely different conclusion altogether. Perhaps that is why I did not make a career as an academic. Having read Nick Cohen's Observer column today it seems that he had the same problem except that he left his original conclusion in, unchanged. Mr. Cohen seeks to debunk the idea of protest or tactical voting so as to persuade people that the ...

A General Election campaign has not properly started unless I have spent some time leafletting or knocking on doors in the southern part of the lovely Brecon and Radborshire constituency. Thus it was that on Friday night I found myself delivering leaflets in the village of Coelbren, apparently situated on one of the highest populated areas of the constituency. Its isolation is underlined by a google search which shows that the nearest ten places to eat out are not in the village at all but in Aberdare, Seven Sisters, Glynneath and Ystradgynlais. Nevertheless it must be a lovely place to ...

The BBC's news coverage yesterday of the royal wedding was restrained compared with the ridiculously OTT coverage of the Pope's funeral. Perhaps the Grand National helped keep things in perspective. Not so overseas. Last night, I zapped through several French and Belgian TV channels plus CNN, to see how events were covered. The wedding was the lead news item throughout on these channels, which

My programme for the campaign hit top notch on Saturday, now that I have finished work to concentrate on the election. I started the day in Nailsea and Backwell, talking to people in the streets. Then went to Portishead for a high-profile 'meet and greet' session in the High Street. I was delighted by the response and we had 10 helpers out backing me up, which looked really impressive. There is

On Friday, most campaigning was suspended due to the Pope's funeral. We did go out leafleting in the evening, but otherwise it was very low key. I am not a religious person and to be honest, I had not paid much attention to the Pope or much he had to say. But you cannot escape the feeling that the world has changed. As I'm 31, John Paul II was the only Pope I had ever really known, and there is a

Since I was still at work during the day on Thursday, I wasn't able to do too much on the campaign trail. But I left early and joined a team in Clevedon delivering our flying start leaflets before heading out for dinner with a friend - probably the last chance before May 5th!

I had a phone call last night from a friend who is setting off on the Camino de Santiago today. The Camino is the old pilgrim road that crosses northern Spain, ending at the Cathedral of St James in Santiago de Compostella. There are various routes, but the most popular, the Camino Frances, runs from Mid-France, crossing the Spanish border through the pass of Roncesvalles then through Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos, Leon, and so to Santiago. From Roncesvalles, where the majority of Pilgrims start, to Santiago is about 500 miles. The reason why he called was for advice, because I walked ...

As they say in East Yorkshire. In Hull, however, just 17 miles away, it's "Scurld today, innit?". Having something of a mixed accent (but definitely Northern), I talk about being 'curled' all the time. Bristle is a bit quiet at the moment with it being out of term so I spent last weekend leafletting a residential area by myself. Hence, I decided since I was in Bristol West between now and the election, I would take a trip to do some campaigning in Cambridge where I happen to have a good friend who is also a PhD student and is ...