LibDem Blogs - Archived!

A couple of reviews from this page of the Guardian site give the flavour of the place:Scarthin Books, The Promenade, Scarthin, Cromford, Derbyshire DE4 3QF; Tel: 01629 823272.Scarthin Books, in the old Arkwright village of Cromford, is for retrieving those rainy afternoons when visiting the Peak District. Advertising itself "for the majority of minorities", there is on first acquaintance no apparent order - yet the brilliant staff can pinpoint the book you are after. Stuffed with old and new books, I used to worry that the weight of the books stacked floor to ceiling would crash through to the floor ...

I did a little research in Derby this morning and then went to Cromford for the afternoon. The village is well worth a visit: Arkwright's Mill, the Cromford Canal and the excellent Scarthin Books complete with teashop. All highly recommended.

We won - despite the most negative opposition campaign I have seen in years which did not mention a single, positive fact about the Conservative candidate.

The Equalities Board of Newcastle City Council, says the Guardian, has recommended that the authority bans from its venues "acts contrary to the council's visions, values and social inclusion agenda, and which conflict with its community leadership role". Typical Labour PC nonsense you say with a shrug and turn over the page. Except that Newcastle upon Tyne is not a Labour council. It was won by the Liberal Democrats last May. You may remember Charles Kennedy hurrying there to be filmed congratulating the new council leader. The recommendation arises from a call by Unison for Roy "Chubby" Brown to be ...

Before flyng off on holiday I sent a universal text reminding everyone that I did not want to be disturbed unless it was unavoidable. On Moday I was upset to learn that Bob Waller had died. He was only 52. He had played a significant role in the election campaign organising poster sites and his wife, Jane, had organised the delivery network. Sometimes you realise that you don't know everything

First election was for Chair of the Parliamentary Party. This was interesting because this position is always announced by the Leader - with a footnote to say that the position is ratified by the parliamentary party. To date this has never been challenged and past Chairs have been Malcolm Bruce, Mark Oaten and Matthew Taylor. each have fulfilled this role in very different ways. Before my holiday there were rumblings that Phil Willis was going to put up a challenge but returned to discover that it was Matthew Taylor v Paul Holmes. Paul won and this seems to be ...

The Guardian reports: Allegations that African boys were being trafficked into Britain for slaughter during macabre church services were largely discredited by Scotland Yard last night.I told you it was nonsense. I don't blame the police: I blame the BBC and its overexcited report on Radio 4's Today programme. I think it was the idea that this was a "leaked" report that affected their judgement.

The other advantage of going away is that I was absent from Westminster when the staff had to pack up everything for our move from Norman Shaw North (the old Scotland Yard building) to Portcullis House (PCH). All I can say is that if the offices in PCH really cost a million pounds each then someone, somewhere, is having a laugh. I can't quite see it... Staff are very nice but are being very proscriptive about the sort of furniture we can have. At the moment we are only allowed desk and chair plus either two comfy arm chairs or ...

had a last minute holiday as was feeling completely wrecked after months of solid campaigning. SO insisted so we went to Andalucia and the idea was that we had 5 days walking in the Sierra Nevada and a day visiting Granada - I was keen to visit the Alhambra. Went mostly according to plan but twisted my knee on the first day when I slipped on some scree so took the second day off.This was hard (!!) as it meant that I had to relax for the day! I did have the opportunity to chat to our hostess - ...

News flash from Lib Dems HQ Strong local candidate chosen for Cheadle Earlier this afternoon, Councillor Mark Hunter (the Leader of Stockport Council, which covers Cheadle) was selected by party members to be our candidate for the by-election following the sad death of Patsy Calton MP. Mark said It is a great honour to be chosen to succeed Patsy Calton as the new Liberal Democrat in Cheadle. Patsy was a wonderful Member of Parliament for Cheadle who was always ready to help and to stand up ...

I apologise for those who have been logging in expecting an update but IT problems have frustrated me. In recess week I generally rely on blogging from home (trying to do so in the office crashes the case work system) and the system was unbelievably slow. I do not know what was happening but everything was failing due to a time out. Someone pointed out that NTL are trying to flog a superior service and may have somehow slowed down our current service in order to encourage us to upgrade. I really can't comment on this but eventually even my ...

This links to Friday's Questions. (I mean the answers).

It was quite funny really. The News of the World and the Mail on Sunday turned up at my house to see all the preparations for my Daughter's 5th Birthday party. I was out doing things. Sadly for them all the could find is people preparing to drive to Tamworth for a Farm Party (and no 5 year old because she was with me doing things). In any event there was a really nice kitten at the farm. Sadly

NOW IT'S WAR screamed the front page headline in Friday night's London Evening Standard, reporting the breakdown in talks at the EU summit. No it isn't. "War" is when countries fight one another with bombs, bullets and missiles. "War" is when thousands and sometimes millions of people get killed. "War" is something few journalists on the Evening Standard have ever experienced. All that these

Today started with Make Poverty History's march leaving from Chamberlain Square to go to Edinburgh. Then I did the advice bureau and then opened the new pavilion for Manor House Gardens Allotments (arguably the best allotments in the country). The little girl is my daughter Alice who had her 5th Birthday party today as Ash End House Farm. A good photo of the cycle ride trio of Lib Dem MPs. I

Yesterday evening I started getting chest pains while I was watching tv. Ian had something similar a few months ago; then we rang NHS direct who diagnosed a torn muscle and gave advice on painkillers. However, when I contacted NHS direct last night, they rang 999. Five minutes later, Jane from the First Responders arrived and within a few minutes more there were three more paramedics with an ambulance. I spent the night in the hospital. I wasn't having a heart attack; in fact I had exactly the same problem that Ian had: a strained muscle. Today I feel irrationally ...

This report in the Guardian hints at changes in technology that will alter the relationship between the user and their software. Not only is Google planning to rank news stories according to their accuracy and reliability as well as their topicality, but other developments are in hand that will allow generic programmes to be moulded to our needs. Microsoft is planning to put tools based around a concept known as "implicit query" in its next version of Windows, due to be launched next year, in which search technology will start to second guess users' preferences by analysing their online activity ...

I have just spent most of the hottest day of the year at a conference for school governors in Kingston. But it was worth it. The main speaker was Ann Holt, an adviser to the DfES and schools, who gave us inspirational common-sense. She had a wonderful way of challenging us with the obvious, then offering wise and straightforward advice on how to improve the governance of schools. She quoted Tim Brighouse on leadership. Leaders should: - display unwarranted optimism - regard crisis as normal and complexity as fun - have an endless supply ...

I’m in London for my sponsored walk which is tomorrow. If you’ve not yet sponsored me, please think about doing so, even if it’s just a few pounds. For more details and a secure online sponsorship form see Walk for Life.

The photograph in the Daily Mail today makes it quite clear that Kitty, (the cat that the Labour Party have claimed is dead) is not dead.

A bit more about the New Media Awards 2005, which I blogged about a couple of days ago. Four of the shortlisted entries were pilot projects within the Local e-Democracy National Project. They are: ... Visible Voices - an initiative of Surrey's youth site which gives young people the power to video and webcast their views. ... Delib's excellent e-democracy games for young people - from Chris Quigley's people who brought you the terrific election Spinon games. ... My own blog - part of the ReadMyDay pilot in Civic Leadership blogging. ... ...