LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The London Review of Books site has a long review of the snappily titled The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City For Ever by Christian Wolmar. Two points stand out. The first is that the man whose vision lead to the first underground line, Charles Pearson, was born in the eighteenth century. The second is Lord Palmerston's reply when, at the age of 79, he was invited to attend the opening of the Metropolitan Railway. He said that at his age he would rather stay above ground for as long as he ...

A great day in Wycombe. The stall in the Octogon attracted a good deal of interest- and the meet and greet was better than ever. Lots of people wanted to talk and the atmosphere was increasingly supportive. Even a few Conservatives we spoke to said that the momentum was all in our direction. Labour's support is growing ever weaker. There is no doubt that our team are on course for a brilliant result- and the enthusiasm is infectious! When I came home I checked the news- a 5% surge to the Liberal Democrats- and this from a poll taken before ...

Today was another "roadshow" day where we visit shopping centres. Before that, however, I joined with the other trustees of the Westley Vale Millennium Green to tidy up the site. Just in case people do not believe that a candidate in a suit will pick up rubbish, here is a photo of me picking up rubbish. - and a picture of the rubbish I collected in about 15 minutes.We then visited the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre, Yew Tree and Poolway Shopping centres. Everyone seemed very friendly even the Labour Party. After that I saw a novel campaigning ...

I must confess that when I picked up the Western Mail this morning and saw the headline, "Rhodri outrages Tories with mother-in-law jibe at Howard", I immediately thought of Bernard Manning. It turns out that the story is far too serious for such levity.Nevertheless, there does appear to be a bit of over-sensitivity on the part of both sides here and not a little hypocrisy. The scenario is this: Michael Howard endorses a campaign in which posters and mailshots concentrate on MRSA rates in UK hospitals as a sign of the failure of Labour to get to grips ...

Fair play to Nick Barlow for drawing our attention to this article in the Independent reporting the thoughts of Professor John Curtice on Tony Blair's ludicrous statement that a vote for the Liberal Democrats will elect a Conservative Government. It is worth quoting extensively from the piece: Labour's attempts to warn its wavering supporters that a vote for the Liberal Democrats could allow Michael Howard into No. 10 "by the back door" was undermined yesterday in a detailed study carried out for The Independent. The study found that a swing of 11.5 per cent from Labour voters ...

We can not afford the current pensions system. Unless major changes are made people in employment today can not look forward to the relative levels of prosperity that many pensioners enjoy today. We have mortgaged our future to pay today's pension bills and the time of reckoning is coming. The future of the pensions system is probably the single most important issue facing the country at this election. It is shocking how little attention is being paid to it. Steve Webb is the Liberal Democrats guru on pensions and he is well qualified since before becoming an MP he was ...