LibDem Blogs - Archived!

A document from the diocese of Middlesbrough (which covers Yorkshire and north east England reveals the state of play of Catholicism in this part of the world. The numbers of church going Catholics and priests to say mass for them is in sharp decline. Number of active priests: 1992, 135. In 1996, 91. In 2000, 89. In 2005, 61. In 1992 29,957 went to Sunday mass, in 2004 19,362. This diocese

Neil Harding, the blogger formerly known as "the only blogger to be pro-ID cards", has now officially changed his mind. He must be quite relieved to get that weight from off his back! Reading the comments on the post, however, disappointed me a bit more. Despite the various messages of congratulation, and offers of a pint, one comment expressed surprise by saying "no-one changes their mind on the Internet!" This may well be true (although Jarndyce successfully convinced my co-blogger Richard of an alternative mode of electoral reform in May), but if the British blogosphere is going to be anything ...

I wonder if there is anyone out there of a techy bent that would like to check something out for me. I am a bear of very little brain, and have been struggling to figure out how to put newsfeeds up on this blog. I kind of supposed it would be a simple few lines [...]

Strong and active students union NUS is currently carrying out a review of the role and resourcing of its Regions & Development Department and specifically its Regional Officers. As part of this review NUS asks what respondents think should be the definition of a strong and active union. My response to the questions for my input into the University of Wolverhampton response was "a strong and active union should be one, which campaigns on behalf of its members on education issues as well as issues, related to the welfare and future ...

Editor’s Statement on the Student Media You might have missed it, but yesterday's issue of Spark might have contained a breach of the Advertising and Sponsorship policy*. The President has issued a statement explaining the repercussions of this possible breach (found here) and this is a response to that statement. Please read it, as it seeks to reassure members of the student body, the Executive,

Just another reminder - on Tuesday the second SportBlog roundup will be here on Militant Moderate. All the best sport-related blogging of the last two weeks will (hopefully) be here. To do that, though, I need your help! That is, I need you to point out the stuff that has slipped through my radar. Email any submissions to sportblog at googlemail dot com

For those interested in the way that political parties are funded and who cannot be bothered trawling through the Electoral Commission website I would recommend this site run by the New Politics Network. From a Welsh perspective it is interesting to note that Forward Wales has received just over £30,000 by way of donations from its sole Assembly Member, Dr. John Marek. In fact Dr. Marek appears to be its sole funder. Those of you who enjoy going to the Glastonbury Festival will be interested in the fact that Glastonbury Festivals Limited gave £5,000 to the South West England Green ...

Returning to my theme of politicians liking to travel the Observer reports this morning that the most recent government figures cost Tony Blair's 21 foreign trips in the past financial year at more than £800,000. The solution being put forward by 'efficiency-guru' Sir Peter Gershon, is to purchase three aircraft to carry ministers and senior members of the royal family. Gershon of course was the man who mooted a 1% year-on-year efficiency saving in public expenditure that in local government terms at least has led to real cuts in services. In Wales the Assembly Government is holding back £33m next ...

by Peter Charles Kennedy and Vince Cable surfaced in the Guardian the other day to let the world know where the thorough-going review of policies had got to. The answer seemed to be not very far - or at least the emphasis was firmly on continuity. On tax rates, it seems that the 50% rate still has some supporters. I find this hard to swallow - certainly in combination with the other elemnts of the package. For example we are still talking about replacing council tax with local income tax. This means shifting the burden of taxation ...

Shami Chakrabarti, the director Liberty of was the special guest at the London Region conference yesterday. Her talk "New Rules of the Game? - defending civil liberties after 7/7". What a feisty lady - she really packs punches. Her passion for protecting Civil Liberties and promoting Human Rights is electric. The whole hall was riveted. My friend Baroness Kishwer Falkner arranged the speaker. She chaired the session with myself as her aid. Even after over-running time there were still many delegates who wanted to ask her questions. Some people followed her ...