LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Yes, yes, I know I’m two weeks behind the times, but I’ve just seen MoFo’s A Very Social Secretary. Pluses? It was useful to be able to put the events of the Blunkett Affair in perspective with the deeply serious events that the man was intricately involved with at the time, even if I doubt that [...]

In the early days of this blog I mentioned one of my favourite books: Roads to Ruin by E. S. Turner. Crooked Timber has a recent posting about the book by John Holbo.

Umm... Not quite Mr Clarke. The Lion continues to roar It's actually Parliament that tells Ministers what they can, not the other way round (Bill of Rights 1689) Nice try though.

It is no surprise to hear that the National Union of Teachers is against the government's new plans for schools. The NUT has opposed every education initiative - good, bad or lunatic - in living memory. But there is something depressing about the argument it uses. The BBC quotes Steve Sinnott, the union's general secretary, describing the plans as "pandering to the pushy middle classes". As long as the left believes there is something illegitimate in parents wanting the best for their children, the Conservatives will have every hope of an eventual return to power. Meanwhile Liberal Democrat policy still ...

I was wondering when someone was going to mention smokatoriums.

A mere 20 years after Yes Prime Minister first proposed a form of it (and after many, many academics have pointed out the flaws in the current system), we have the National Education Service (in all but name) being proposed by Government. Tony Blair (centre) Let's just wait and see how watered down the Bill becomes before re-joicing however.

There was someone else shot in Lozells last night. "Luckily" it was an "ordinary shooting" and not related to the racial disorder that happened on Saturday night. It is really sad, however, that we are now in a situation in which there are "ordinary shootings". The situation in Lozells/Handsworth/Perry Barr is from one perspective simple, but from a more detailed perspective quite complex. Although it is not directly faith related the council has been working on supporting multi-faith activity recently. Sadly this has been undermined partially by the bureaucracy creating unnecessary hurdles, but hopefully I knocked over ...

that doesn't know its own number. As we all know according to Revelation (Ch13, v18), the Number of the Beast (which was 'given a mouth for uttering haughty and blasphemous words') is 666. Errr, not according to fragments of the earliest known copy of Revelations routed out of the ruins of Oxyrhynchus which give alternative numbers for the beast: 665 and 616. So on average, the number of the

For the last week, I've been training for 8 hours a day and its knackering. The company is allowing those of us being made redundant to train (in my case) or be trained (the rest) on Microsoft Office Suite. Its been a real challenge but I'm chunking through it. Friday night and it's anither leaving do. Went to an american resturant and then onto the "SoundHaus" in Northampton. We ended up in the Goth room. For an alternative lifestyle they don't half wear the same gear , I was in a black jacket, silk shirt and trousers with a purple ...

There are some very interesting blogs on this weeks Tim Worstall's Britlog Roundup # 36 Had to smile to see David Davis now has a campaign blog. It's not that interesting but at least he's having a go. Curiosity got the better of me - started to nose around some of the Conservative links on his blog and Conservative Bloggers Weekly 2 One blog mentioned which I occasionally read - it's written by somebody in my area - Blog of Funk ...

Yesterday I spent a wonderful afternoon at Cairn O' Mohr a winery in Perth. Yes! Scotland does produce wine and these are award winning fruit wines. Really pleasent surroundings and did the whole tour the Elder platation, the winery the work. Of course the best part was the tasting and this also took the largest part of the day. But was very enjoyable.

PA100002 Originally uploaded by Radders. Their teeth are covered with flys... Photo (by James Martin) is from the birmingham circumnavigation earlier this month. Pity about the flare and shoulder, but I managed to be in the centre of the frame!

by Jabez Clegg "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." opines Kevin Spacey's character in The Usual Suspects . For one blogger, Neil Clark, who also happens to write for the Guardian, Tory leadership front-runner David Cameron is managing to pull off a similar feat. It is no secret that Cameron's impact so far has been long on presentation and short on policy. No-one is quite sure what he's for, save mouthing some Blairesque platitudes. But this doesn't matter - he scrubs up well, all pink cheeks and hand-made ...

A winter like the 1963 freeze. A probable flu pandemic. Terrorist attacks. All these potential disasters expose the vulnerability of our interdependent society. And the vulnerability is increased by the centralisation we develop in both ‘state planned’ and ‘private market’ institutions. Take our food distribution system. We no longer have local market and distribution facilities. Supermarkets do not have in-store on-site stocks for more than immediate normal trading. They depend on daily deliveries from a few massive distribution centres with huge lorry traffic lads running on our roads overnight. These centres employ a large number of less well ...