LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Still anxious to understand the world we live in, I turned from Conrad's The Secret Agent to John Buchan. Greenmantle is set during the First World War and tells of a German attempt to raise the whole Islam world in support of Turkey, thus defeating Russia on the Eastern front and turning the course of the war. There was another reason for reading Greenmantle. The BBC Radio 4 was dramatising it in two parts and had aired the first when the bombs exploded on 7 July. The second part was pulled from the schedules. It was not just pulled ...

I was tidying the library’s name authority file today and came across this gem of a name entry: Choppy, C. Alas, I had to change it to “Choppy, C. (Christine)”. It doesn’t take much to amuse me… Tags: name+authorities

Labour have been whittering on about the archives being close to the reference Library. The archives are currently so close to the reference Library that many of them are in Gloucester and Wolverhampton. Viz Archives at Gloucester Record Office CO-OP Records Large run (to be returned to Central Library 8th August 2005) Town Clerks Deeds Large run of 19th-20th century title deeds of council

The big question about the current system is whether the policy of assuming a warning for juvenile crime actually encourages, discourages or has no effect on the level of crime. The government don't have information to hand about how many young people who have been given cautions continue until they are prosecuted. Anecdotal evidence is that the policy of cautioning actually encourages

The pro ID card arguments get sillier by the day. According to a Home Office spokesman: Instead, the scheme would provide people with a more convenient way of showing their identity - something already needed to access public services, he said. Strangely I've never had much of problem accessing public services so far. But it's always nice to know that yet another non-existent problem might be solved by ID cards.

Don't leave it 25 years between visits!

Java is much better than C++. It really is. C++ is crap. Discuss. ;)

ID cards can Seriously Damage the Nations Health! Lib Dem health spokesman Steve Webb said today that he is worried by plans to bar people without ID cards seeing NHS doctors - except in emergencies: quite right too. This could be especially be true if the Scottish Parliament maintain their stance of not making ID cards compulsory for devolved services. However, there are obvious concerns that

With regards to what David Davis said the other day, there has been quite a wide discussion both on this blog and in the media with regards to the damages or benefits of multiculturalism. The problem appears to be with the wording. As I said in the above post, with situations like this, you need to ensure you iron out every single ambiguity, so as to not maim your argument with the confusion of misinterpretation. This is what many Tories will call "political correctness". However, I call it being educated and skilled enough to think about the ...

I have, today, started the judicial review process relating to me chairing the Birmingham Strategic Partnership. Afficianados will know that the first step is to use the "pre-action protocol" in accordance with the rules and practise directions of the Supreme Court. This involves doing a "Letter before Claim", in this instance to the Treasury Solicitors.

Some politicians can never resist leaving well alone. As I heard the Prime Minister set out what he sees as the reform of the Human Rights Act, my heart sank. The mantra of this government is that its principles are based on "what works"- pragmatism it certainly is, but hardly principled. So we have had a government that insists on taking the brakes off the power of the state- on ID cards, on trial by jury, on the rights of prisoners- this government has ended centuries of what we had been accustomed to think of as our ancient liberties. The ...

Radio 4's "You and Yours" programme looked at cold calling today. I am pleased that there is recognition from the industry that aggressive cold calling (and particularly silent calls) is not welcomed. One of the problems with TPS is that it does not prevent the particularly nasty international cold and automated calls. It also creates a situation in which larger organisations can "own" a

A while ago, I mentioned that I’d been an extra in a music video. Said video (which the faint-hearted should be warned contains some men in drag) is now online: High bandwidth / Low bandwidth. I crop up a few times in the audience and am easily identified thanks to my much-derided flat cap. The [...]

Brendan O'Neill has written a very interesting article for Spiked, pointing out the similarity between the latest statements from Al-Qaeda and the sentiments expressed in parts of the Western media, blogs included. I think he manages to capture the opportunism of Al-Qaeda very well, pointing out how their message is often redefined to refer to our current fears. There has always been something a little "Wizard of Oz"-like about Al Qaeda. Whilst I don't subscribe entirely to the view that Al-Qaeda itself is a myth, it is an organisation that makes powerful use of modern myths in ...

This article in today's Guardian is one of the better ones written on this, the 60th anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons against people (rather than purely in tests). Nuclear weapons are horrific of course, but I don't think this is especially because they kill a lot of people on the day. As the [...]

Don't know what practical purpose it serves, but the WayBack Machine is still pretty good.

Our garden is being redesigned. By yesterday most of the shrubs and turf had been removed, leaving a patch of bare earth. Suddenly it became a public open space. Children from both sides wandered in through the gaps to play, and the neighbours came in to attack some rampant ivy from our side. The English tradition of enclosed domestic gardens in one of the glories of our culture. But it does seem to represent the private nature of the English psyche - we shield our family life, emotions and philosophy from others. ...

Radio Wales reported this morning that Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas will not be celebrating today's 80th anniversary of Plaid Cymru. He believes that the party is stuck in a cycle of permanent opposition and needs to buck up its ideas if it is to become more than a political protest group. In particular he wants them to take the idea of a coalition with the other opposition parties seriously.His views are echoed by Party historian and former Plaid Cymru candidate, Professor Laura McAllister. She is quoted by the BBC as saying that the party is still struggling between the tension of ...

It may simply be that we are into August and real news is scarce, but the existence of blogs is starting to permeate the consciousness of the mainstream media. This morning I was in the Swansea BBC studios at 7.15am to contribute to a piece on the growth of blogs. I shared the limelight with Peter Cox, a long-time blogger from Cardiff, who I had not been aware of before. I was asked the inevitable question as to whether blogging was a bit risky for a politician, given the propensity for gaffs. As I tend to be fairly frank then ...

As referred to by Simon at The Liberal Dissenter, there has recently been much debate within the Lib Dems over tax policy. This debate appears to be between two schools of thought: those who favour a continuation of the existing policy (local income tax, 50% income tax rate on those earning £100,000 per year) and those who believe it should change. The advocates of change vary in their prescriptions, but one proposal garnering much attention is the "flat tax". Personally, I find much about the flax tax proposal to be appealing. The notion that everyone should ...

A few months ago, an acquaintance of mine, a young Japanese woman, was attacked while travelling on the tube in London. A group of white youths shouted racist insults and pelted her with screwed-up pieces of paper. It was not a serious physical assault yet, when I happened to meet her shortly afterwards, she was shaken and in tears. It turned out that the main reason for her distress was not so