LibDem Blogs - Archived!

There was a letter in The Times this morning demanding that all everyone caught in the bombings in London last week, "including those involved indirectly and even people who experienced 'near misses'," should be offered counselling. A few years ago there was a widespread belief that this sort of psychological first aid could prevent the development of serious post-traumatic symptoms. The trouble is that as the evidence base grew it became clear that this mass therapising was useless and could even be counter-productive. Certainly, many people found the process intrusive. I knew a woman whose husband worked for a building ...

Learnt a new word this evening. I was a last minute substitute to speak at a Hansard society meeting on blogging. The main focus was on the impact of blogs, such as Jamies Blog, on the political process. Some of the discussion ranged around comments and I had asked whether Jamies Blog attracted very many negative comments and mentioned that political blogs attracted comment from the main

Every Wednesday when parliament is sitting the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party holds a meeting. This Wednesday's meeting was in Cheadle (it is a three line whip as was the vote on the Religious Hatred bill on Monday). I came up to Cheadle last night. There are quite a few posters in amidst the green trees at the side of the road. Some are quite big. There are quite a few of them. I also

was more risky in the past than today. The Italian freethinker Lucilio Vanini did (among other atheistic sayings), and for his trouble had his tongue cut out, was strangled then burned at the stake. (Another Italian freethinker Giordano Bruno was condemned to the flames in 1600 on the say-so of grand inquisitor Robert Bellarmine, who the church has subsequently seen fit to make a saint. Bruno

There are some factual differences in reports about the London transport bombers from the Beeb and the Grauniad. The Guardian says he went to the same university as me (and Harold Shipman), but the BBC says he went to Leeds Met. The Guardian also claims one of the bombers’ credit cards were found at the scene [...]

Some people were angry at the US travel order on Thursday, where army personnel were banned from going within the M25. Apart from the fact that in light of the disinformation given much of the time on Thursday, keeping army personnel out of unnecessary danger was a perfectly reasonable decision to make, it sparked off a lot of comment (since removed) from the BBC website that it was pretty typical of the Americans. Rather than wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with us, they run at the first sign of trouble. Last night was the baseball All-Star Game. Coverage of ...

It was ironic in view of today's announcement that Rhodri Morgan was talking about job-finding agencies yesterday. Not that he will be looking for a job of course when he stands down. However, he was clearly much more on form than he had been for some weeks: The First Minister: I am afraid that your timing is all wrong, Mike. Think how long it takes for a project to move from the time the job-finding agency—the ‘punter hunters’ as you might say It may be that 'punter hunters' is a common phrase for these agencies but it ...

It is becoming a convention in the Assembly that the Government uses the last Plenary day of the summer term to unwrap a news story that will dominate the headlines for some time. Last year it was the abolition of the WDA, Wales Tourist Board and ELWa, this year Rhodri Morgan has announced he will be standing down as First Minister - in 2009! This assumes that he will still be First Minister after the next Assembly elections of course, but we will not go into that now. Rhodri's calculation is that whatever happens, the opposition will not be able ...

The Western Mail devotes an entire page this morning to who might succeed Rhodri Morgan as First Minister. Nothing really new there except a realisation at last that a coalition of the opposition parties is not an option now and will be very difficult after the 2007 elections:Mr Bourne is included in our list because if current voting trends continue, the Conservatives could overtake Plaid Cymru in 2007 to become the second largest party in the Assembly.It is also very likely that Labour will not secure an overall majority, thus leaving open the possibility for an opposition alliance to take ...

The excellent Youth Unlimited magazine is out now. This is written, edited and published by young people in Kingston with the support of youth workers. For the first time they have used professional designers to give it a strong and colourful style. Young people can find the magazine in schools and youth clubs, or you can download a pdf version from the YoungLivin' website.

Waking up on Monday to news of an Assembly Government initiative on affordable housing was an encouraging experience. Some of us have been pushing for this for some time and it was pleasing to that at last see some of the ideas we have come up with are being adopted.Measures such as updating planning guidance to ensure that the planning system plays its part in delivering more affordable housing across Wales have been suggested by my Liberal Democrat colleague Mick Bates for some time. Partnership working to produce local housing assessments, which will provide the joint evidence base for housing ...

Having received three emails about ICE in 24 hours I thought I would share this simple but effective idea here. The recent bombings in London have given added emphasis to a recent In Case of Emergency ( "ICE" ) campaign started by the East Anglian Ambulance Service with the support of war hero Simon Weston. The idea is that you store the word " ICE " in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency". In an emergency situation ambulance and ...