LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Last week, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy gave the distinct impression that he believed his party's biggest handicap during the general election was its own policy. According to today's Guardian, however, it would appear he has changed his mind. The Liberal Democrats failed to establish a coherent philosophy during the election and must develop an overall narrative to make further

Occasionally, local campaigning works. In the last election, a big local issue was the proposed retail park near Danby in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.The North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority is the planning body hereabouts, and it's a pretty strict one as any heretic who dares to put uPVC double glazing in his sandstone cottage will tell you.Danby is in the quintessentially Yorkshire Esk Valley: green fields with (at this time of year) gambolling lambs, a peaty river, bleak moors above, stone cottages, and a former shooting lodge which is home to the Moors Centre - a ...

I am indebted to a colleague for this article from the New York Times. The US Air Force is lobbying President Bush for approval for a new Space Weapons Program. Yes, you can sleep soundly in your beds knowing that Uncle Sam is planning: Common Aero Vehicle - a military space plane capable of striking anywhere in the world at 45 minutes notice (where have we heard that figure before) Rods From The Gods - a program to hurl cylinders of titanium, tungsten or even uranium at targets on the ground at speeds of 7,200 mph ...

Look where I have been today. The castle remains date from the early part of the sixteenth century, and show a building dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure. Ironically, this mock castle went on to be garrisoned by the Royalists in the Civil War. There is no truth in Lord Bonkers' suggestion that is the ancestral home of the Skinner family.

Here is today's Election Points from Liberal Democrat News. Eagle-eyed readers may spot an amusing name that appeared on this blog earlier in the week. Hood-lums They make me uneasy. In part it’s what they wear – on their heads in particular. In part it’s the strange words they use. It’s almost a different language. Yes, there’s something about seeing the aristocracy out in force at the State Opening that makes my hackles rise. I remember the English civil war radical who asked who his betters were but the descendants of William the Conqueror’s generals. Slap a Norman ...

Mobile phone personal ring-tones are getting worse.I haven't got one just because it's not entered my head - the ones supplied when I bought my phone is enough for me. (obviously I'm not part of the modern trend)The various Crazy Frog's adverts on the telly really 'do my head in' because the stupid tunes stick in my brain. Obviously the advert is having some impact and boosting sales because everywhere I go these days I hear Crazy Frogs - feel like screaming 'turn it off'. Just yesterday one of my neighbour's phone rang in a shop - guess what- Crazy ...

The absolute highlight of my social calendar last night - the Mayor Making Ceremony in Weston-super-Mare. I should at this point say that such ceremony and pomp is what made Britain great (1) and we should all be rightly proud of the wonderful traditional ways in which we mark such events in this country. Any comments that I may now make should properly be disregarded by sensible readers as the

I have linked the text from Hansard of my maiden speech. The issue of the No 99 bus is quite an urgent issue. The difficulties arise from the 1985 Transport Act and the fact that it is difficult to plan bus services such that they work in a planned manner. London is allowed to use sector tendering. Why is Birmingham required to have a free for all.

It appears that the Labour Party are going to go-ahead and expel up to 20 Blaenau Gwent members for supporting Peter Law in the General Election. They are doing so at a time when Peter's vote could ensure that they face defeat in the Assembly on top-up fees and when he himself has indicated that he is prepared to consider coming back to the Labour Party. Even Ken Livingstone's supporters did not suffer this fate.It is possible of course that Wales Labour are students of the Genghis Khan school of diplomacy or just that they are so arrogant that they ...

The Conservative Party's minority debate on tuition fees next Tuesday has caused a storm, coming as it does, two days before the publication of the Rees Commission report on the subject. Professor Rees has allegedly written to AMs to express her dismay and disappointment at the timing of the discussion, stating that it "seems our evidence-based recommendations may not even be deemed worthy of consideration." I have to say that I am still waiting to receive this letter.I understand her point and at one stage even advised the Conservative Education Spokesperson to choose another topic. I did so on the ...

This is mainly a question for Will, but others feel free to comment. We are currently in Italy on a lovely weeks holiday, safe in the knowledge that finding a UK number plate was almost impossible. However as the picture shows, the Italians have CNPS style plates. So do we count any plates found in Italy, or wait until we come home to carry on?