LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Is it Conservatism or Howardism? I don't know. What I do know is that the superficial line on immigration strikes a chord with many people but when the situation is explained to them they begin to see the flaws in the Conservative line. What I have started to pick up is that ethnic minorities in some areas of the constituency have started to experience an increase in harrasment. These are people

Former Labour MP Brian Sedgemore, who is standing down at this election, is leaving Labour to join us. He impressed many people with his final speech in the House of Commons. In many ways he has nothing to gain by joining us which is why I admire his decision. See the Independent tomorrow.

“No sane person with any sense of moral balance could vote for him” – Retiring Labour MP Brian Sedgemore on Tony Blair. Brian Sedgemore the veteran though retiring Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch has just defected to the Liberal Democrats. Reading the quote probably explains why. I will be joining my fellow candidates on Three Counties Radio at about 8 am tomorrow. Followed by a later hustings at Wycombe High. I hope that we can reach more people than the first two hustings did. Meanwhile on Friday we will be taking part in a programme for Polish Television. ...

With thanks to regular comment contributor, Claire Smalley, for bringing it to my attention, this site enables you to express your politics through your underwear. Rather intriquingly the site also contains a poll indicating which parties are most popular amongst knicker-buyers. Currently, those saucy Tories are in the lead, with the open-minded Liberal Democrats in second place. Labour, who appear to be having problems covering up their inadequacies in the underwear stakes, are trailing in fourth. This is one on-line poll that will be difficult to hi-jack.

It seems to have been another fairly long day, but I am feeling increasingly excited. As we open up the issue of Iraq, I am struck by how many military metaphors there are in elections. We "fight" a campaign, we "defend" our positions against opposition "attack" and so on. It seems a little strange, if we really regard politics merely as the contention of ideas. Yet the reality, I suppose, is that politics is as least as much about the emotions as about the intellect. This is why I am so respectful of people who have been prepared to re-examine ...

Which other major party supported the war... ...when they could have prevented it?

Someone told me that only 3% of voters will decide their vote on the basis of the Iraq invasion. If this is true, I find it rather disturbing that we are able to forgive and forget so readily. Please register your view on the online poll at the top right of the page. Two years ago, the demonstrations against the war were the biggest this country has ever seen - and rightly so. If you are the Prime Minister, surely the most onerous decision you ever have to make is the one that involves committing your armed forces to battle. ...

The author of the Alastair Campbell proxy blog goes public in The Times today and she is a woman. Anna Corp's insight into how she achieved a "complete mind merge with Campbell" is quite interesting, if only for what it tells us about proxy blogging. I thought her conclusion was particularly apt: It’s been fun, but I am left wondering why more politicians are not blogging. Even with the research, each entry took only a few minutes. Asked by this newspaper about my site, the real AC said he had "better things to do than worry about blogs". But ...

Never mind who'll win the general election. Here's the poll that really matters. What are the "All Time Top 200 songs"?In my home county of Lincolnshire, the listeners of the local commercial radio station Lincs FM think they know the answer. They have voted "in their thousands" in this annual poll and the results make for some grim reading.It is unfair to pick on Lincolnshire, since a similar opinion survey in any other part of provincial Britain would probably yield similar results (as Nick Barlow recently pointed out). Rather than quibble about the specific choices (tempting though that is), the ...

Well, we've managed to have someone or other bring up the issue of fake marriages, allowing economic migrants entrance to the country, but because it's an election the Home Office isn't going to comment.I guess that with 2 weeks left until the polls, all the other scare stories about how immigrants get themselves onto this island have been exhausted.Well, we should all be very happy that Labour are currently in power, because they've decided that any non-EU citizens who want to get married have to get (and I'm not kidding) a "certificate of marriage approval", meaning that the state generally ...

Suppose there were no inhibitions, regulations or restrictions on Party Election Broadcasts. What PEBs would the parties actually like to make?Channel 4 News commissioned Lee Ford and Dan Brooks, creators of 2005's most forwarded viral email (the spoof TV commercial where a suicide bomber blows himself up in a VW Polo), to make three such TV ads, one for each of the main parties.You can watch all three spoof ads online here (you will need Windows Media version 8 or above).The Liberal Democrat ad is terrific. It packs a real emotional punch. Watch it before you next go out canvassing ...

This weekend, whilst bored in Camden, me and Heather decided to go to London Zoo. Compared to previous times where I've been for free because Dad worked in the garage over the road, and fixed someones car, this time I got free entry by making a charitable donation of £28. Now it's the first time I've seen this happen, but I'm guessing other attractions are doing this too or will be soon. As by

My postal vote arrived today. How exciting! I also received an email to find out if I am up to delivering 5 am on Election morning. That's not so exciting but what can I say. It has to be done.

This weekend has been a blur of public hustings meetings, meet and greet in the town and frantic folding and delivering of leaflets. There were times this weekend when I envied the bigger, wealthier parties. Labour have managed, so far, to deliver me three glossy, expensive-looking leaflets. Meanwhile my wife and I are still some way off our target of delivering one piece of printed matter to all of the homes in our two wards. She now has blisters on both feet. Funding between the three parties has always been severely unbalanced and it shows on the ground at times. ...

Last night we had the second hustings, at All Saints. A reasonable, but not spectacular, turnout of about 100 or so people. Again, a very positive feeling. Even committed activists for other parties were complimentary about the points I was making. Although, as always, I am self-critical, knowing that could have said more and on more subjects. Yet the feeling still seems to be that we won on points although I, of course, would have preferred a knock-out. News coming in from across the country is increasingly exciting. I spoke to my uncle- who has been a Liberal Democrat MP ...

I was doing some research today on the rate of teenage pregnancy in the good ol’ US of A and ended up with a rather interesting website. The site, 4parents.gov, was recently published by the current administration in the hope of encouraging bashful parents to talk to their teens about sex and encourage “healthy behaviors”. All well and good so far; it’s only when you start reading the site in more depth that it gets more interesting. In the section of the site that suggests ways in which parents can start a conversation with their teen about sexual health: ...