LibDem Blogs - Archived!

This problem has been occupying some of my time this week. The frustrating aspect is that everyone claims that nothing can be done since Hampshire County Council closed down the dedicated site so there is now nowhere to move the travellers on to. Following up in a number of ways bit am particularly interested in the steps they have taken in Ireland to reduce this problem. There is some dissent

I am painting our window frames with gloss paint the colour of pea soup. Dulux call it "English Mist". Is this deliberate irony? I am a survivor of the Great Smog of 1952, the worst man made environmental disaster prior to Bhopal: The effects of the smog I was 10 weeks old. At our home in Catford, my mother sealed all the doors and windows with rags and tape to keep the smog out.

I was in Westminster today and looked in at the Commons Press Gallery. There was an Opposition debate on "Electoral integrity and democratic accountability", and it was of a surprisingly high quality. I may write about it when I have the Hansard transcript in front of me. There is one thing that probably won't appear in Hansard, though. It was something of a surprise to see Harriet Harman on the Government front bench. In fact it was something of a surprise to learn she was still alive, so dark is the eclipse of her career these days. She was once ...

Hotting up in Cheadle!! Wednesday June 22nd - What a glorious day to get out and help our excellent candidate in the Cheadle by-election, Mark Hunter, and with the date almost certain to be known soon we have no time to loose! I am sure I will be seeing plenty of familar faces and Party friends in the coming weeks as we all look to get a good tan BEFORE we go on holiday!!

A Shropshire family enjoying the summer sunshine were stopped in their tracks when they saw a huge black cat prowling in the field behind their house.It's in the Shropshire Star, so it must be true. More here.

Received a letter from the organisers for the competition to find the Westminster Dog of the Year. Was rather concerned to learn that the award had been won by Vera Baird. It could have been better put - surely it was her dog that won the award?

Disappointing that there were few rebels and the vote was a healthy majority for the Government. There may yet be some voteable changes during future stages of the Bill to provide better ways of tackling the identified problems.

Gavin Henson and Kevin Pietersen share some things in common. They are young, they are loved by the media, and they have strange, flashy haircuts. That is where the comparison ends. Whereas Pietersen is able to back up his hype with talent, Henson remains the centre of media attention yet fails to deliver the goods on the pitch. Furthermore, whereas it appears Pietersen is able to treat the two impostors of triumph and disaster just the same, Henson's performance after the Southland match yesterday showed just how little of a team player he is. Yes, in many ways it's good ...

Once again, the Royal Family have produced their annual expenditure report, full of self-congratulatory nonsense, such as saying they cost "only" 61p per heard, or that that they represent "value for money". My point isn't so much that they cost £37 million a year. My point is that that money is being given to a family who are in their position purely by accident of birth. Whether the functions being performed by the Royal Family are being performed cheaply is totally and utterly irrelevant. In a democratic, meritocratic society, we should be able to choose whomever we like to fulfil ...

Somebody commented the other day that there is only three weeks left before the Assembly breaks up for summer recess. If that is the case then we need to relish the finer moments of Plenary sessions whilst we can, after all the next lot will not be held until September. Plenary can be raucous too, of course. Today was a good example of that and I plead guilty in provoking half an hour of heated and angry exchanges on the subject of variable top-up fees with a throwaway remark that was in retrospect out-of-order, though a jolly good debating ...

A larger-than-life Moon will be the best show on Earth - and better the farther north, according to Sky News.

USB Finger Key for €60 - you’d want one to just to be freaky. Or is that just me? (Via.)

Paul Rowen (Rochdale) and I attended an event to support the London Olympic Bid. Notwithstanding the lack of support for Birmingham's Bid or Manchester's bid we supported the principle in terms of supporting the UK as a whole. London should reciproicate at a later stage. Part of the process involved meeting up with Jonathan Edwards Just days before Olympic gold triple jumper Jonathan Edwards

That this House calls for the Strategic Rail Authority to expedite the opening up of the new platform at Moor Street Station to use by passengers and trains. With a bit of luck we should have three Birmingham CC Area MPs signing this soon. Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield) and I have already signed it and Khalid Mahmood is looking at it.

There was a quite reasonable statement from the Paymaster General (Dawn Primorolo) about Tax Credits today. The problem is that if you have a responsive system which changes as people's incomes go up and down then you will end up with some overpayment. These overpayments may from time to time need recovering. There needs, therefore, to be a system for this. The problem with this is that the

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me. A venerable mixture of work colleagues, Who fans, LibDems and assorted friends took the total raised to over £250. The walk itself was a bit of a trial. In principle, walking 10km should have taken me under two hours and been quite relaxing. Three factors mitigated against this though: Walking [...]

Labour MP Harry Cohen has proposed an EDM on the subject of <DOCTOR.WHO>: That this House congratulates the BBC, writer Russell T. Davies, the performers and the production staff on the outstanding series of Dr Who recently broadcast; and looks forward to the next series. Carping about use of taxpayers money aside, I’m sure that all right-minded [...]

It is worth looking at a couple of pieces in this morning's Independent before they disappear behind its firewall for ever.The front page story by Maxine Frith and a comment piece by Penny Fowler from Oxfam both look at the EU sugar subsidy regime. Because this is the Independent, the comment piece is a lot less polemical than the front page.From Maxine Frith's report:John Fellowes, the fourth Lord de Ramsey, receives more than £500,000 a year in CAP subsidies for various crops grown on his three farms in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.In addition, a minimum pricing system run by the CAP ...

Lifeline that failed victim of system - the depressing and tragic tale of the Government’s failure to follow its own unit’s recommendations to cut reoffending.

I have a significant birthday coming up tomorrow. Ian has given me that ultimate vanity present - a personalised car registration. It rather gives the game away - but at least I can remain 60 for the rest of my life. Where does the K come from? Well, my first name is Katharine. My parents and brother are all, like me, called by their second names. We are quite comfortable with this, but the rest of the world seems to think it very odd. At one stage my bank ...

This is the link to today's questions. (Plus my comment on the Religious Hatred bill where I abstained). I don't really like abstaining, but there are times when I don't support either option. Incidentally it took 15 minutes for my colleague to walk the same distance (he is not affected in the same way by traffic lights).

That's 9 minutes and 25.83 seconds. I have found the stopwatch on my mobile phone and used it to measure how long it takes to cycle from my flat to the House of Commons today. One of my London team is doing the same route on foot and I should be able to compare times later. I can understand why many London cyclists take traffic lights as being advisory given that there are so many of them. The

It appears that the rigours of a General Election campaign has caused a number of MPs and journalists to forget which institutions make which decisions under the devolution settlement.On Monday the Western Mail carried an article exploring the possibility of Wales losing European funding for its most deprived communities. The article speculated that Rhodri Morgan will face the same fate as his predecessor, a no confidence motion tabled and passed by the opposition parties. Although the Tory Assembly leader was quoted, the journalist concerned chose to seek comment from the Plaid Cymru Parliamentary Leader, Elfyn Llwyd and Welsh Liberal Democrat ...