LibDem Blogs - Archived!

First meeting of the new parliament was on the subject of ageing and fascinating it was too. Unfortunately I was too late to make the AGM but apparently Evan Harris took along his wooden spoon and asked why none of the speakers over the past year had been female! Discuss. The after discussion dinner was also very lively and it is clear that not enough time or energy is being given to

Blair, Campbell and 'astroturfing' Guardian - How Labour used its election troops to fake popular support : America call it 'astroturfing' (what a word): 'the faking of grassroots support for a politician or a product whose popularity is on the slide'. Claimed a tactic invented by US pharmaceutical firms to promote drugs - adopted by the Republicans to shore up George Bush after 9/11 - imported to Britain to help get Tony Blair re-elected. Tonight Channel 4 screened a documentary, filmed by an undercover journalist who got a job in Labour's war room, ...

It was wonderful not to listen to the Radio 4 Today programme this morning. Though the selection of repeats broadcast in its place was not inspiring, there was something very restful about not hearing politicians, John Humphrys or reports of the latest disaster. It may sound naive to say that if there were fewer newspapers and broadcasting outlets to report it then less would happen. But so much news now consists of events staged for the media or commentary on other media reports that I suspect there is some truth in that argument. Legend persists (and this website dates it ...

The saga with Moor St Station is an example of the difficulties of coordinating large numbers of different organisations. We have new platforms, but Network Rail won't sort out the signalling.

Why are we so depressingly anti-European? The Independent today visited Lorraine and spoke to a retired French priest who had lived though the occupation. In school he had been taught English and German - French being illegal. Of course, he will be voting 'Oui' in the French EU Constitution referendum. But he's worried about younger eurosceptics. At the top of the list of 'what has the EU ever given us?' must be '60 years of peace, co-operation and trade between former enemies'. However, the EU isn't just a peacekeeping system - it's so much more than that. It's a ...

Locally our news has been dominated by the horrific murder of a pensioner by what appears to have been a gang of teenagers. Such savagery is appalling, so it is almost apologetically that I feel that I can say nothing on the subject. The law will proceed and doubtless justice under the law will be done. Small comfort, though, for the family and friends of the victim or even those responsible, who have also ruined their own lives. As the new Parliament gets given its orders by the government (not, you may note, the other way around) I sense an ...

A suggestion by Adair Turner, the head of the government-commissioned Pensions Commission, that lower-paid workers should retire on a full pension at 65 to reflect their shorter life expectancy, are interesting to say the least. The question has to be asked however, is his proposal that those who study at university should work until they are 70, related to the fact that students may need this additional period of employment to pay off all the debt the Labour Government is saddling them with through variable top-up fees etc? Perhaps this is a question worth asking in tomorrow's Assembly debate on ...

If there is one thing that I think all of us can unite around it is the sheer awfulness of the website of the National Assembly for Wales. The idea being mooted by Wales' National Librarian, Andrew Green for a Welsh 'virtual embassy', a place on the web where internet users abroad would congregate to find out about Wales, is welcome provided that it involves the complete revamp of that site. Oh yes, and I suggest that we don't have any internet polls either!I have long argued that Wales loses out because of its inadequate web presence. If, for example, ...

From this BBC report comes the depressing news that Simon Hughes has joined the chorus that is blaming the policy of local income tax for the Liberal Democrats' "disappointing result" in this month's general election. This is such a stupid thing to say. Let's leave aside whether you happen to think this particular policy was good, bad or indifferent. Elections and voting behaviour are complex

Had been contacted by Dave Hartley during the election (father of the four boys and husband to Allison) and invited to go along. Told him that I would attend "whatever the outcome" The 4 mile walk was at Broadlands and Sally Taylor had agreed to go along and take part. Pleasant atmosphere and the weather held. Wish I had worn my pedometer to find out how many steps 4 miles is but had decided to

This time for some local deliverers and arranged by the co-ordinators. Not the greatest percentage turnout but nice to have a chat with those who turned up.

Freedom is on the march George W Bush Freedom is indeed on the march, though Dubya was a bit optimistic all those months ago if he thought that Iraq would soon become a liberal democracy. Not too far away and much closer to the European Union, the shadow of oppression has been lifting from countries at an increasing pace over the last few years. This hasn't come about by an invasion of foreign armies as the neo-conservatives often yearn for, however neither would it have come about by just turning our back on the dictatorships around us and ...

Lying in bed this morning listening to Radio 4 and heard the dulcet sounds of Lembit pontificating on fair voting systems. "Predictable!" says I, "Bet he is really talking about the Eurovision Song Contest" This proved to be the case (rather than PR) so husband is trying to decide whether I am psychic or too clever by half. I suspect the reality is that I have just been around politicians for

Not one for gimmicks on blogs - broke my own rule. Noticed the Babel Fish translator on some others so just thought to give it a go to see what happens. (It's one of those HTML add-ons that you have to cut and paste a code then tweak it). It says click on the flags presuming you know which flag belongs to which country - not like me who cannot remember anything like that off head. It's a bit limited only 6 languages but who cares for now. Well it works and so do all the links - looks funny. ...