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I'm not sure about this. Whereas Thatcher was an orthodox Conservative on many social matters, her economic policies were liberal and progressive. To give one example: the first thing that the Tory government did in 1979 was to relax capital controls. I think progressive can mean many different things - and one measure that can be progressive (for example, the liberalisation of the market) can at

This little widget describes my head today. The heavy rain is so depressing and to make matters worse, it's like banging my head against a brick wall trying to make some people think positive. My son Sule called a few minutes ago to say Naim my grandson has just started walking. One of those miracles of life. What makes a baby just get up one day and decide to walk. A week is a long time in a childs life. Last weekend he was on his bum and this weekend he ...

Todays House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. The printed version now appears with a spiffy coloured background. See what you miss by not subscribing? Hot coals Suddenly everyone is talking about coal. On Wednesday last week two of New Labour's brightest young things - Ed Balls and Edward Milliband - took part in a Westminster Hall debate on the future of the industry. So did Paddy Tipping, but he sounds like a practice favoured by unscrupulous Victorian mine owners. Why this sudden interest? In part it's down to the way Labour gets trusted new blood into Parliament. ...

I heard Beverley Hughes (Minister for Children, Young People and Families) speak today at a the LGA Social Services and Education Conference in Birmingham. She was asked why there was so much emphasis on childcare in all the pronouncements about extended schools. I share that concern. Schools that truly serve their communities throughout the year should be able to respond to many local needs and demands. They should be able offer a really wide range of services, from health clinics to yoga classes, from support with children's problems to advice sessions with the police, CAB etc. ...

Wednesday evening I went to an Iftar at the London Muslim Centre. I hope most readers are aware that it's Ramadan - the month of fasting for Muslims - and Iftar is when the fast is broken for the day. This event was organised by the Council of Mosques for Tower Hamlets and speakers focussed on Community Cohesion. Led by Jim Fitzpatrick MP everyone tried to keep their contributions short so that all the speakers were finished by 6.03pm when the sun set. After having dates & water, we went to pray. I sat at ...

Although I knew some pretty amiable swizzers at university, I am not unusual in finding the SWP and their infant scion SWSS generally quite pitiable. These are my reasons why: (i) They never do anything useful. I imagine that they would consider supporting a community campaign, building a dry stone wall, doing casework or advocacy, anything of that order, as ‘palliative’. If you help people, they won’t be so pissed off and the revolution might not come. This is why Galloway never does anything of worth, and spends his time coming up with verbose insults for Chris Hitchens or ...

Gas and Electricity Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what demand modelling he has performed to examine the interplay between gas and electricity generation in the event of a one in 20 cold winter. (John Hemming) A: The Department has not undertaken demand modelling to examine the interplay between gas and electricity. This is undertaken by National Grid, as system operator.

My old employers the Open University are taking a look at Globalisation. The new course DD205 'Living in a Globalised World' looks like a good bet if you want to engage constructively in arguments on this theme - and registration for 2006 is open until 31 October. To emphasies - I have no connections apart for old professional pride in this. I suspect it will be of interest to many LibDems and others. As the course blurb says: Living in today’s globalised world feels challenging, even confusing attimes, with distance no longer a reliable indicator of our involvements in ...

I had the great fortune today to stumble upon the single most inciteful interview I have ever read, the dialogue between the subject (John Penrose MP) and the interviewer (a young Tory – name unknown) is so powerful that it almost brought to weeping. Penrose is exposed: raw, vulnerable and painfully honest. He reveals that the first album he ever bought was by the Rolling Stones, although he doesn’t recall which one (perhaps ‘The Very Best of the Rolling Stones’, available for £5.99 from all good motorway service stations?). The discourse ends with perhaps the greatest revelation of them all, ...

Seems like a good week for young candidates.  Lewisham now has an even younger Young Mayor, 14 year old Wilf Petherbridge from Forest Hill school. For Wilf's campaign message (also in mp3 format) see: Wilf Petherbridge's entry on the Young Mayor campaign site.  

It's from theguardian: Bee farmer Ahn Sang-kyu covers himself with bees yesterday in Daegu, south of Seoul, to mark a new underground railway in the town. Later: Pearl Swine has a picture of Ahn Sang-kyu wearing his bees, though not the one that appeared in theguardian.

Full details on the Common Ground site.

I find myself in London to support the Private Members Bill in support of parliamentary approval of the initial deployment of troops before going to war. This is an important piece of constitutional legislation. One interesting argument a Conservative used against it was that the PM should be able to go to war and sign treaties without coming to parliament. One would presume that he would make

The next leader of the conservative party will be David. This of course is being cursed by political editors across the country as there goes the David v Goliath headline. Although that would only have applied if Clarke had made the run off as I don't see any paper calling Liam Fox a Goliath of the Conservative party. At least the party has maintained some semblance of democracy as David Davies

Ward: Walcot App.Ref: 05/03324/FULRegistered: 4 October 2005 Expiry Date: 29 November 2005Location: 8 Queenwood Avenue Fairfield Park Bath BA1 6EUGrid Reference: 375474 - 166362Proposal: ...