LibDem Blogs - Archived!

November 5th also is the anniversary of a shameful and (in the UK anyway) little known episode in New Zealand history - the invasion in 1881 by the NZ settler government of the pacifist Maori community of Parihaka. For the story outlined for today see the New Zealand blogger Idiot/savant. Why is it relevant to us? I will close with I/S's conclusion Why should we remember Parihaka? For the same reason we remember any event in history: to avoid repeating it. Parihaka was a gross injustice, but it is also awarning of what happens when government acts on fear ...

I had two items of casework today that related to people hiding their business identify. If you trade as an individual "Sole Trader" you are supposed to tell those people who you are dealing with what your real name is. If people have a problem with your business they need your name and address to take legal action. It appears that people are getting around this by concealing their names. I

Yesterday evening I was invited to the home of one of the people who lives near the Bullwhips. About a dozen of his neighbours turned up, along with my fellow ward councillor, Sue Baker. The Bullwhips is one of the little-known gems of Hook - a small park on top of a hill, hidden away behind houses. It has been adopted by a large crowd of young people, some of whom have been causing problems to the people living around the park. Now I would be the last person to demonise young people. They naturally meet ...

I see my question about David Blunkett has made it into the Lib Dem's weekly newspaper!

What Famous Leader Are You?personality tests by similarminds.com Hmmmmmmmmmmm dont' know about incresing sexual options. The writers of this quiz have clearly not looked around the House of Commons gene pool lately!

Martin Kettle has a column in this morning's Guardian in praise of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. He is the forgotten prime minister - the man who led the Liberals to their 1906 landslide. Kettle quotes from a speech of 1898 where CB answered the question "What is Liberalism?": "I should say it means the acknowledgment in practical life of the truth that men are best governed who govern themselves; that the general sense of mankind, if left alone, will make for righteousness; that artificial privileges and restraints upon freedom, so far as they are not required in the interests of the ...

Four hundred years after the event is perhaps time to review the jokes about Guy Fawkes being the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intent. And also review our actual history not the Patriotic Gloss that stands between us and a real appreciation of our ‘heritage and identity’. The despicable and self-destructive terrorism of the Catholic Powder Plotters is part of this,a sis the hysterical reactions. But there is more. Here is something for our newer communities to contribute. I hope that British Historians with a Moslem culture, for example, will do some serious analysis of these times ...

Britain's former ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, makes a re-statement of the obvious in this morning's Guardian. The sad thing is that he has had to say it and that a national newspaper considered the view to be newsworthy enough to put on the front page. That is because the Blair Government's view that the Iraq war has had little or no impact on the terrorist threat we face has become the establishment line, even though the majority of people in Britain do not buy into this spin.It is worth repeating the relevant passage from the newspaper article:So what, ...

If there is a sudden surge in interest in diving lessons in Pembrokeshire this summer then the explanation may lie in this article:NINETY-TWO tonnes of whisky and liquor have been swept into the sea off the coast of Wales.In an incident that had all the makings of a Welsh version of movie classic Whisky Galore! the container carrier Endeavour shed its payload near the Pembrokeshire coast on Thursday night. The four 40ft containers were swept overboard about 35 miles from St Ann's Head.Three of the containers each contained 22 tonnes of whisky while a fourth contained 26 tonnes of an ...

Local Councillors David Dixon and Colin Darracott are trying a slightly different approach to keep in contact with residents. The two Walcot Ward Councillors will be trialling their Councillor surgeries, at local pubs and at Morrison’s Supermarket. They have booked in for two evenings at public houses in their ward, The King William and The Porter Butt, and a morning at the Local Supermarket, and if they prove successful they will book in more. Councillor David Dixon said, “We have tried to hold surgeries before on Saturday morning but they did not prove to be too successful. We want this ...