LibDem Blogs - Archived!

This prestigious award goes to the blog Freedom and Whisky for this (even though it displays rather oddly in my browser): Walking back from photographing yesterday's march in Edinburgh I was approached by an elderly gentleman wearing a Scottish Socialist Party badge. He asked if I would like to purchase a postcard of Che. I asked him why on earth would I want to buy a photo of a mass murderer who shot small boys. I enjoyed this confrontation so much that I had to go and celebrate with a beer.

Well, not all, but last week's edition of A Picture of Britain did include an early film of the composer George Butterworth dancing a jig. It was worryingly reminiscent of Monty Python's fish slapping dance, but still a little piece of history I had not seen before. Not that Old Iron Bladder got everything right. He misquoted A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad, which is a heinous sin as far as this blog is concerned.

Rwanda award for sewage cooking (This story is a load of shit.) Nude protesters head for bull run (That story's probably a load of bullocks.)

The politics.co.uk site reports: The controversial Taser stun gun is a "dangerous weapon" which should not yet be issued to all frontline police officers, Home Office minister Hazel Blears has said. Her comments follow a recent survey by the Police Federation, which claims that 80 per cent of its members are in favour of rolling out the use of the stun guns. Somehow I find that "yet" less than reassuring.

Oh dear... proof that the Conservatives haven't quite stopped smoking what we weren't smoking. A step back for equality me thinks. How can they aspire to be a credible party that fights against discrimination if they constantly highlight the importance of attributes like gender. (Cue Lord Tebbit to come out and say "Single sex schools are breeding grounds for buggers and sodomites!")

Liam Fox has called for a reconsideration of the case for single-sex schools. Already two Lib Dems - Chris Ward and Peter Black - have made fun of the idea. But I wonder if they have blogged too soon. The evidence suggests that, paradoxically, coeducational schooling tends to reinforce gender stereotypes rather than break them down. As this campaigning American site says: Girls in all-girls schools are more likely to study subjects such as advanced math, computer science, and physics. Boys in all-boys schools are more than twice as likely to study subjects such as foreign languages, art, music, and ...

Anything I could write about Live8 would seem trite. So I just want to quote Bob Geldof, speaking on Radio 2: "This is the biggest democratic mandate in the world."

In February 2003 a million or so protested against the upcoming war in Iraq. Tony Blair ignored them, and what follows is one of the consequences. If you have a strong stomach read the British Sunday newspaper The Observer's account what happened to a suspected Iraqi 'terrorist' during 24 hours in detention by the Iraqi interior ministry. What ever he was, he didn't deserve to meet his end like this:What happened to him in his 24 hours in captivity was written across his body in chapters of pain, recorded by the camera. There are police-issue handcuffs still ...

Having a catchy brand like “Bulldog Broadband” is useful, because the chances are you will remember this article and not buy their services. I’ve been holding for their customer services for over half an hour, and the chances are that I will need to hold for another fifteen minutes before I have even a remote [...]

It was a shame that I did not get to see much of the Live8 concerts. From the highlights I saw the performances looked compelling and there were one or two duets that appeared interesting to say the least - Elton John and Pete Doherty for example. I also remember being rooted to the TV screen for the whole of the original Live Aid concert 20 years ago. To have done the same thing this time would have just seemed right. As it happened the reason for my absence from proceedings was that I had tickets to another concert. Instead ...

It is often said that Charlotte Church is an ordinary down-to-earth Cardiff girl with attitude. It is nice to see from this Wales on Sunday article that she is still in touch with her roots:Speaking in an interview with Q magazine the star said: "I have a £1,500-a-month credit card limit. I went over that last night. My trustee Terry phoned me and he was so angry.I need someone to keep me in check. I pay him to phone me and give me a telling off if I overspend."£1,500 is a lot for a girl like me in Cardiff. I ...

This weekend there is a massive media focus on Africa with the Live8 concert and the demonstration in Edinburgh ahead of the G8 summit. It is excellent that so many people strongly hold the view that it is unacceptable for wealthy countries not to do more to help our fellow human beings in Africa. The [...]

Uh oh, it seems that somebody gave Tory leadership contender, Liam Fox, a copy of Tom Brown's Schooldays for Christmas. Presumably, Mr. Fox has calculated that a call for single sex schools with strong male role models to help a 'lost generation' of fatherless young men find their way in life' will appeal to the Tory backwoodsmen still yearning after those public school experiences of cold showers, daily beatings and fagging. I wonder how the new intake of modern Conservative women MPs will view this tactic.

I had almost forgotten that I had this picture of the new Assembly Chamber or Senedd as it is to be called, on my camera. To the left of it the Pierhead building is completely clad in scaffolding as workmen seek to renew the roof, whilst behind it are the existing offices, which will continue to be occupied as now once the new chamber and committee rooms are in use. At what point we will be in situ is a matter for debate. I understood that the intention was to occupy the building at the beginning of next ...

Lynne Featherstones' latest news column - about life in Parliament compared with the GLA is very funny. Her light-hearted approach is a world away from the usual dry, boring style of most MP's. Q. What's the difference between the House of Commons and the GLA? A. Testosterone and Ken!..... In Parliament the divide is absolute - you are a Member or you are a Stranger. It actually feels like a type of apartheid - which indeed it is......... It's interesting and well worth a read.

Saturday 2nd July 2005 - A beautiful day for the Halewood Festival yesterday where Dave met Max the Tiger!! Lots of people attended despite the competition from Hyde Park and it was terrific to see so many local community and voluntary groups involved.