LibDem Blogs - Archived!

I had a holiday in Australia last year, coincidentally during the final build up to their election where John Howard beat someone. It was interesting to see the Conservative election broadcast tonight as it was virtually copied from the main advert that the same election mastermind organised for the Australian campaign. Over there you are guarranteed in every advert break to have one or two for both of the major parties. In John Howard's case, you would see a (not very pleasant looking) photo of the opposition, what he said he would do, a newspaper ...

Fascinating programme on tonight by a body langauge expert on the various body language clues given out by our potential leaders. If Michael Howard pushes his tongue out at you, you're probably saying the right thing :-)

While I was out delivering, it seems the heads were at it again. The BBC reports: A head teachers' leader has warned of the danger of giving "irresponsible parents" power in schools. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, was referring to the government's strategy of reinforcing parents' roles. That could send the wrong message to irresponsible parents, he said. "Giving more power to those parents who lack responsibility is like putting an alcoholic in charge of a bar," he told his annual conference. Let's leave aside the point that anyone using the argument that ...

Charles Kennedy has stopped short of calling Blair a liar over Iraq. I agree that it's probably more dignified to let people view the (mounting) evidence and decide for themselves. But I am sick and tired of hearing the lie about 'voting Lib Dem lets the Tories in by the back door'. It's absolute hogwash. For a more dispassionate analysis check out this BBC Factcheck. It's a sign of desparation that the man who promised to review our polling system in his 1997 manifesto - and didn't - is now lying about how the system might lead to Lib Dems ...

A beautiful day- sunny and warm (although a few showers early this morning). I visited the French market in Marlow with Ian Morton, my agent and Maurice Oram our councillor for the town. James Campbell, our other County Council candidate has very sadly had to go up to Scotland for the funeral of his brother, who died earlier in the week. We all feel so sorry for him- having lost his wife a few months again, James has had a very sad year so far. All of the team send our condolences to him. James is almost universally liked and ...

Our permatanned Tory candidate for the County Council has a main squeeze who is standing as an independent in the next ward, up against a Tory of Councillor long standing. If she would appear hereabouts, I'd ask her if as an official Conservative she is supporting her squeeze against the official Tory in the next ward, but so far in this campaign she has been MIA. We also have an independent in this ward. His battlebus was in the village today: a Toyota 4x4 pickup that looks like it's done service as a technical in the rougher parts ...

Checking through the aggregated blog I noticed that Liberty Belle has been borrowed!! :D I'm pleased because I think she's kooky... She should be appearing as the cartoons for "Young, Free and Liberal: A Young Person's Guide to Liberal Democracy" soon... In fact, YFL is being launched (preliminary date) on Sunday 15th May in Bristol so watch this space.

On Friday the conference of the National Association of Head Teachers heard calls for compulsory parenting classes for all. As the Scotsman reported: Delegates also condemned Kelly’s promises to give parents more “power” over their children’s education, demanding that the focus should be on parental responsibility instead. David Gray, head teacher at Babbacombe Primary School in Torbay, Devon, called for compulsory parenting classes for new mothers. He said local authorities should set up “weekly sessions which mothers and babies from all social levels would be expected to attend”. “The parents could be taught the importance of a regular routine ...

As the debate moves firmly onto the question of whether voters can ever trust New Labour again after Iraq, the Western Mail highlights the fact that large numbers of soldiers who are risking their life abroad may be disenfranchised in Thursday's election.They reveal that an information campaign informing overseas troops of their voting rights did not allow enough time to register to vote. The Representation of the People Act 2000 requires service personnel to register each year like civilian voters. Previously they were able to register once and remain on the rolls for the rest of their military career.Under ...

The gloves are off in the search for those crucial last-minute votes. John Hemming certainly thinks so. He was forced to put pictures of two of his cats onto his blog so as to dispel rumours that he was Blofeld in disguise. As a result he won the endorsement of Whittington who, alas, is not resident in Birmingham Yardley but in North Shropshire. I have to confess that having spent most of yesterday leafletting I took a few hours off in the early evening to sort out my garden. The picture above is Mitsa, the cat who lives with me. ...

So, the parties have unveiled their final images for the campaign. Labour have gone for Howard looking very much like Big Brother, with the threat that if we don't vote Labour, we'll get Howard. Tories have gone for a grinning Tony with an invitation to tell him what we think. Lib Dems have gone for the more positive image of how many seats would fall to us if we weren't afraid to vote for our first choice party. It's sad but true that in the last days of this election, the best reason that Blair and Howard can give us ...

As previously announced, I interviewed the Parliamentary candidate for the Monster Raving Looney Party in Wokingham, Topcat Bananaman. Here's an extract from the interview: 1. Education is a key issue for students. What does your party propose to do to improve educational prospects? "Cambridge and Oxford will be relocated to Blackpool and Bognor Regis, leaving the other universities with a chance

Irate Tories ringing the office yesterday to complain about what they regard as a "systematic" destruction of their posters. They seemed to regard the fact that lots of ours were torn down overnight as irrelevant. We have asked everyone to leave posters alone but if anyone can throw any light on this matter can they get in touch with the office on 01794 511900 as this did seem to be a little more

As a break from work (lots of it) and deliveries (lots of those too), I'm doing a new piece of artwork, this time in acrylics.It's currently at this stage but after some thought and a poll on the LDYS forums I'm probably going to take out the right-hand side of the picture just after the tower and replace that area of the picture with distant hills. I am going to draw the Emmanuel II monument on the right-hand edge of the picture under the eyes and 'near-field'.I printed lots of pictures of Venice to get an idea how to draw ...

The election news continues to be good for the Liberal Democrats. The Prime Minister is continuing to defend his unsustainable line that a vote for the Liberal Democrats could let the Tories in "by the back door". On the current opinion polls, there is almost no prospect that this could happen- indeed as the Guardian said this morning it is about as likely as finding WMDs in Iraq. The latest tracker poll from The Times has the Conservatives dipping below 30% for the first time. Charles Kennedy is right to be sharp with Tony Blair- spreading false scare stories in ...

Clearly not everyone is enamoured with the election - or myself! Canvasser came in to the office on Saturday and commented that there had been a man at the end of the lane shouting "It's all bollocks. You tell Sandra Gidley it's all bollocks" from the description it sounded suspiciously as though this was the same man who I had encountered in Woolworths five minutes earlier who had seemed

Having been up at 5:30 my energy levels were probably not at their peak. The last time I was at All Saints church it was a celebratory affair and everyone was dressed up as Saints. I have a reaonable memory for faces but not many seemed familiar. As I introduced myself to person after person - who looked blankly at me when I mentioned the Church and whose body language was not the most welcome it

Was up at dawn again on Friday for a Press Conference on Older People. Steve Webb was also there but we both felt a little redundant. Time pressures on Charles (a chance to grace the GMTV sofa if we are honest) meant that the Press Conference had to be very short and we had to forego the statements by Steve and I. It was agreed that we would make ourselves available to talk to journalists

Came across The awful life of an MPs wife theother day which is written by Linda McDougal - wife of Austin Mitchell. She paints quite a depressing picture in a way but it made me think about what it is like for MP/candidates husbands. Came to the conclusion that it was probably even worse. He does not do my ironing but has cooked quite a few meals and kept things going on the domestic front but