LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Niall Ferguson wrote a typically provocative argument in today's Sunday Telegraph. His conclusions are in the main very sensible - whilst we continue to harbour and tolerate radicals, we encourage a hotbed of extremism to grow up in our communities. And he addresses one of the key points of the whole debate, which is that whilst there shouldn't be an Islamophobic or racist backlash (the two are very different) as a result of the bombings, the Muslim community needs to address the problems in its own communities. However, when he writes that: Nor, I suspect, would he have failed the ...

I'm talking about Tim Worstall's latest Britblog Roundup, of course.

Tonight's BBC1 show Secrets of the Sexes has attracted hostility from the left before it has even been broadcast. As one would expect, a pop science programme on BBC1 in prime time is likely to oversimplify scientific knowledge. Further, the argument between nature and nurture is not new and much of the existing science remains highly contentious. However, I fear some commentators protest too

Peter Hain offers his analysis of the result of May's general election in Progress magazine: Worryingly, the trends underlying the 2005 results indicate that the Lib Dems could now pose a direct threat to a significant number of Labour MPs. And unless we take that threat seriously, our chances of a fourth successive majority could be significantly diminished. In the past, the Conservatives were seen as more vulnerable to a Lib Dem challenge because Tories held a higher proportion of the seats in which the Lib Dems took second place. But that assumption no longer holds water. Since 2001, ...

Leek was having a food fair yesterday, a celebration of local foods. We treated ourselves to a couple of bottles of dry white wine from the Halfpenny Green vineyards in South Staffordshire. We also got a copy of the Staffordshire Local Food Directory. It is going to be useful because it has the addresses of a number of farm shops locally that we did not know about.

Remember the daughter character 'Saffy' in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous? It turns out that this dramatic creation was quite prescient. In today's Observer comes the alarming news that there is ... a growing army - coined the 'new puritanicals' - who would be happy to see restrictions on the hedonistic activities their parents once freely indulged in. Cigarettes, alcohol, sweets, chocolates

This week, the sporting world said goodbye to one of its greatest legends. Jack Nicklaus truly was the greatest champion who ever lived; a true professional in every sense of the world. Glorious in victory, but graceful whether winning or losing; Nicklaus embodied all that we want to see in a top sportsman. In many ways, I am glad that Nicklaus failed to make the cut this week. Finishing on a Sunday may have been the fairytale story, but it would have distracted from two things: one, the farewell to the Great Bear, and two, the victory of the champion. ...

with their great space oddysey Pigs in Space, the Chinese have gone one further, according to this BBC story.

This message has been widely circulated to organisations in Kingston in the last couple of days, and it has been read out in places of worship, including my own church. I have been asked by Chief Superintendent Angela List, Kingston’s Borough Commander, to pass on the following message in relation to the atrocities of 07 July: The Metropolitan Police is currently working hard to bring those responsible to justice, and we continue to ask anyone who has any information, no matter how insignificant this may seem, to contact us. We particularly express our solidarity with those caught up ...

appeared on the BBC website with the headline Camilla's coat of arms unveiled. Read it, and weep. The fact that it appeared under 'top stories' suggest that someone at the BBC has a rich sense of irony, or overdid the continental lager last night. For those not up with the doings of our dim, pampered and feckless aristocracy, the Camilla in question is wife of Prince Charles, the constantly

Definitely have to tell the girlfriend this. Spread the good word people! (Just wish the story was true)

It is important to understand how the families of British Troops feel with every story such as the one relating to 3 soldiers dying on Saturday. Their worry about their family members at risk every day in Iraq increases. The government's problem (and the problem of the US Government) is that every day the belligerent troops remain in Iraq the problems get worse. The foolish actions of the US in

Good grief! Peter Law MP AM is to set up yet another new political party. "People feel that they want to have the opportunity to vote for views traditionally held by Labour in public office," he said. Presumably these 'traditional' views include selecting Peter Law to fight elections and avoiding women-only short lists. Why is it that politicians who quit their party over fundamental disagreements feel that it is necessary to set up another one in their own image? There was Robert Kilroy-Silk and Veritas, George Galloway and Respect, John Marek and Forward Wales and now ...

This article, about the workings of spies, is actually very interesting. It was listed in Yahoo! News, however, under the heading "Maintaining cover critical for espionage". Wow, really newsworthy.