LibDem Blogs - Archived!

If Tony Blair had written this on his office wall in 1997 and really, really done something about it, he'd have had his precious legacy assured by now. He's had all this time, two huge majorities and pissed it up the wall like a New Labour endorsed 24 hour drinker. Those whom the Gods make Prime Minister they right soon make bloody fools.

Morning surgery in freezing cold room at Hornsey Library! Then rest of day paperwork followed by speech to Haringey Phoenix Group - who help the blind and partially sighted with the provision of talking newspapers, arts and crafts and IT classes and home visits. I have been trying to support the call for more rehabilitation officers as there are virtually none available. Here in Haringey there

An evening spent at headquarters, looking at candidate review forms from the General Election (and you thought that they just got filed...). The London Candidates Committee held its eighth meeting to examine the respective review forms from the Local Party and their candidate(s). Some of them have obviously been completed with care, others less so. Most candidates appear to have reached the same

Saturday: Rushed off to attend the Bi-Annual English Council. The meeting's where party representatives from all the Regions get together and vote on decisions affecting the English Party Lib Dems. Took time to re-read the mamouth amount of documents before I left. It's a strategy I've adopted when envisaging a complexed meeting. I've been a London Rep for three years and this was the most interesting and certainly at times the most rowdy session I've attended so far - my intuition was spot-on. We updated the rules on Parlimentarty candidates selection and drastically revised the rules on party membership and ...

These relationships sound unlikely but appear to be true: Lauren Bacall and the former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres are first cousins; Daily Mirror agony aunt Miriam Stoppard is also the real aunt of former Labour MP Oona King.

How often do young people get a chance to take part in the process of selecting a headteacher or a senior council officer? At my suggestion we have done just that in Kingston. We have been appointing a new Head of Children's Services and Safeguarding at the Council. This person is responsible, amongst other things, for social work with families and children, for adoption and fostering, and for services for disabled children. One very important element is the work with those children for whom Kingston Council is the 'corporate parent' - the Looked After children. So who ...

In 1925 Tennessee prosecuted a biology teacher for teaching evolution and in 2000 the state of Kansas voted to give evolution and creationism equal time in the state's science curriculum. President George Bush said in 2000 that the 'the jury is still out' on evolution. The Presidency seems to have taken a step backwards since the days when Theodore Roosevelt said, 'Thank heaven I have sat at the

Simon Hughes MP and President of the Liberal Democrats has pledged to go to jail rather than carry the proposed new national ID card. I welcome Simon's pledge to join with me and 11,000 others who have already signed up to No2ID's pledge campaign.

by Peter Several of my early cricket heroes were Pakistanis. The first day of first-class cricket I ever watched featured a century from Sadiq Mohammed - if he hadn´t been there I might never have gone back. There were a few who didn´t play for Gloucestershire - Imran Khan (who I first saw in a benefit game at Arle Court) and Javed Miandad (who I remember as young, skinny and an athletic out-fielder). But the big two for me were obviously Sadiq (short, rather rotund, combative when batting, a smile on his face when he wasn´t) and the legendary Zaheer ...

Through the good offices of Dave Weeden I have come across this fascinating story from the book "Rendezvous -- The psychoanalysis of François Mitterrand" by Ali Magoudi. Mr. Magoudi met the late French president up to twice a week in secrecy at his Paris practice from 1982 to 1984. The book, to be published on Friday, is one of several on France's first Socialist president to mark the 10th anniversary of his death on January 8 1996. This episode about Mitterand's relationship with Margaret Thatcher is fascinating and not a little disturbing: "Excuse me. I had a difference to ...

Yet another hectic weekend. But not all liberal democracy.The biannual LD English Council was held in London. After attending my first in June I was sceptical of this body, as I couldn't see why/how it fitted into the federal structure of the party. But after this meeting I can see it as a big bear just waking up and stretching itself: we updated significant rules on membership and selection of parliamentary candidates. Hopefully the revised membership rules will help to prevent problems of entryism, a problem that has afflicted Labour for years, but has spread with the growth of the ...

You can see a two minute video of Fraser Henderson, from North Lincs, and me talking about e-democracy. This was played on the UK stand at the EU Ministerial conference.

Child Protection Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have been placed on the child protection registers by child protection committees as a result of an allegation of Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy in each year since 2002; and how many of those children were taken into care. (John Hemming) A:The Department for Education and Skills does not collect this

This Thursday 1st December will be the second public SNAG (Safer Neighbourhood Action Group) for Weavers Ward when our local police meet with local people to discuss priorities for the neighbourhood. If you want to go along, it's at St Hilda's Community Centre on Club Row between 5pm and 7pm. Tower Hamlets is the first Council in the country to have these teams of police who focus on the locality in every ward. This is being paid for not by the Met, but by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund from the Government which our borough gets ...

Today's Western Mail reports that extra cash for pensioners could clinch agreement tonight between Rhodri Morgan and the opposition party leaders over next year's Assembly budget. They believe that Labour will suggest a £100 payment to all pensioner households to offset the effects of council tax rebanding. This offer will be made, they say, in response to opposition demands that taxpayers in Wales should be assisted with the impact of revaluation following the abandonment of a similar exercise in England.Of course any deal will have to accomodate the other demands in the amendment to the draft budget as well, namely ...

It is hard not to recall David Kelly. An US military ethics specialist in Iraq dies, possibly from suicide. As the LA Times story says:WASHINGTON — One hot, dusty day in June, Col. Ted Westhusing was found dead in a trailer at a military base near the Baghdad airport, a single gunshot wound to the head. The Army would conclude that he committed suicide with his service pistol. At the time, he was the highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq.The Army closed its case. But the questions surrounding Westhusing's deathcontinue. Westhusing, 44, was no ordinary officer. He was one of ...

One explanation many gave was that they were afraid that health visitors would call in the social services, leading to the possibility they would lose their children. The extract is from a BBC story (see link) about mothers fearing the involvement of social services. There was an important change in court procedures which started on 1st November which allows people who have been through the

National Grid Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consultation has occurred with (a) the general public and (b) industry about the reduction in voltage on the national grid that may be required in the event of a one in 50 cold winter. (John Hemming) A: My officials are investigating the impacts of voltage reduction measures undertaken in other countries in the past year.

Ward: Walcot App.Ref: 05/03246/ARRegistered: 20 October 2005 Expiry Date: 15 December 2005Location: Morrisons Supermarkets Plc London Road Walcot Bath BA1 6AECity Of Bath Conservation AreaGrid Reference: 375720 - ...

FREEDOM: to what extent is it justified to limit civil liberties in order to fight threats to those liberties such as terrorism and crime? Full paper. This section of the paper is a strange hodge-podge of different issues that don’t fit into the other sections comfortably. As a result, “freedom” is broadened out to cover [...]

Some say we should welcome more private funding into the NHS to help keep costs down. Well that argument was tried in the USA in the 1980’s when those parts of their system working on a not-for-profit basis was privatised. And the result was that spending on health matters went up from 10.5% of GDP in 1984 to 15% of GDP in 2004. That means expenditure this year is in round terms $500,000,000 higher than it would have been if the 1984 proportion was still operative. And how does this work out in terms of actual care outcomes?Critical Condition: How ...