LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Ken writes: Both Question Time and This Week devoted airtime to discussing the advent of civil partnerships on Thursday night. The most common angle taken was to emphasise how great and tolerant Britain was, that such a measure could be brought in with hardly a breath of opposition. Some people, of course, were quick to bring up the contrast with the US - and others quite rightly pointed out that it was calling them "civil partnerships" rather than "marriages" that was crucial in setting the tone of debate. The interesting point here is the way in which the terminology ...

Our local Conservatives in Rochford seem really disappointed that David Cameron has become the new Tory leader. We've only found one councillor who actually voted for him, all the rest wanted somebody more right-wing. (we'll keep his name a secret to avoid him being de-selected). When I mentioned in a council meeting that Cameron wanted a more compassionate, modern and inclusive Tory party, this

The big bang in Hemel Hempstead throws up a lot of questions. One of them is whether we do have fail-safe resources for our supply chain in Britain, a point I raised earlier with the correct definition of fail-safe. If the M1 is closed for any appreciable time all those thousands of lorries carrying food in just-in-time delivery operations to supermarkets will have to find alternative routes. A second accident or even a non-accidential event could jam things up in all sorts of senses. LibDems have quite rightly campaigned on the food-miles issue already but I think we do ...

There are now over 100 different regions entered into Constructaregion. This is more than I expected, especially given that there have been only 145 entries in total.

Monday 12th December 2005 - Apologies for the lack of updates but as you can see from the pic above Sarah and I are currently "down under' in Australia having a great holiday. The weather is great, we have been diving on the Great Barrier Reef and are off to Sydney this morning. Regular service will resume in the very near future!!

While at Arkwright's Mill yesterday I bought a remaindered paperback copy of Peter Oborne's Basil D'Olivera: Cricket and Conspiracy . This only came out in April this year: I will never understand the economics of the publishing trade. Back in July I quoted at length from a review of this book on the Crooked Timber site. The reviewer listed some of the people who came out on the side of the angels over D'Olivera's exclusion from the party to tour South Africa in 1968-9 - John Arlott, Ray Illingworth, Revd David Sheppard, Mike Brearley, Tom Graveney - and commented: ...

I spent yesterday in Derbyshire, going for a walk in the Derwent valley and introducing friends to the pleasures of Scarthin Books in Cromford. There is more to see at Arkwright's Mill these days, and the Derwent valley mills as a whole have now been denoted a World Heritage Site. Whatever that means.

This week's selection can be found in The Devil's Kitchen.

Today has been a strange day, since the news of the explosion broke. Now I know what I witnessed in the early hours of this morning was definitely the fallout. The smoke trails have been clearly visible streaking across the sky all day. It has darkened the sky of what under normal circumstances would have been a lovely day. Residents have been looking out of their windows at the back observing the phenomenom. Telephoned my friend's mother, Ann, to see if she was OK. She lives in Enfield which is obviously in the path of the smoke. She was having ...

A quick round up of my last few days as a local councillor for Lewisham Central.On Wednesday evening, went to a public meeting in the United Reformed Church in Courthill Road about the pilot traffic management scheme in Lewisham town centre. Officers update us about the latest development, including the enforcement by camera of the bus lanes in the High Street, which was now resulting in fines being levied on transgressors. Residents were particularly concerned about the number of large vehicles using Clarendon Rise and Albion Way, cars speeing along these roads from about 8-10pm, and the fact ...

It is with some surprise that I concluded yesterday that I have a job to do, and that there is a debt to be repaid. And so, gentle reader, it is with some puzzlement that I announce that I am a candidate to be Regional Secretary of the London Liberal Democrats for 2006. A number of people far wiser than I have counselled reflection and been far nicer about my actions than I perhaps deserved.

I am resisting commenting on the Wales on Sunday's report that Charlotte Church's family has been rocked by a lurid sex story or even that a racism tsar has been hired to teach Welsh kids how to be nice to the English (actually the headline writer appears to have made that up). I am sorely tempted to refer to yesterday's story that Royal Mail delivery offices across Wales are expecting the biggest postbag of the festive season on Monday, but only because I have already written and posted all my Christmas cards. Instead I am going to resort to triviality ...

Like many others I am appalled at the decision of Sainsburys and Woolworths to succumb to pressure from fundamentalist groups and withdraw from their shelves the DVD of Jerry Springer: The Opera. I have e-mailed the two companies customer services departments to protest. You can also do the same if you feel strongly enough here and here. The mediawatchwatch site has more details about who and where to complain to. The background to the ban can also be found on the mediawatchwatch site here. Liberal Democrats MP, Lynne Featherstone, has taken up this fight and offers some useful advice as ...

As I yesterday there were reports of a massacre near Shanwei in Guangdong province. The Chinese authorites have up their declared number of people killed by 50% to 3. Howver, the locals are still claiming as many as 20 have been taken. This is the second rural demostration in rural Guangdong this year the previous one occured in Taishi village. Most of these demostrations are against corruption,

by Peter The Telegraph has some upbeat coverage of Sir David Cameron's coronation. But even here doubts creep in"Switching the focus from traditional fare such as tax and asylum to green issues, increasing the number of women in the party and improving inner cities, will form the basis of Mr Cameron's attempts to rebrand his party and face down the Right. But while this faction was notably quiet last week, it is naïve to think that it will remain so. "Even at the height of the euphoria, there were hints of the tensions that remain. Minutes before Mr ...

As somebody who always leaves their phone on, last night I switched it off. When I turned it back on at 8 this morning I had 3 new text messages.Mum, Rebecca and Heather informed me to watch the news. I went straight downstairs, and saw the pictures. It's seems that an explosion has happened at the Buncefield Fuel Depot (which is actually in Hemel, BBC), large flames can be seen on the TV and well as the huge amount of smoke.I've spoken to my Mum and sister who were awoken at 6am by the large explosion, and they both seem ...

The most bazarre thing happened about 6 am this morning. There was a strange loud noice and a heavy thud against the back windows in my flat - the panes started to shake violently for a few minutes. Looked outside and couldn't see anything unusual. Sat pondering what on earth had caused it - knew I hadn't imagine it because I was awake drinking tea in the kitchen. Just turned on the news to hear that there's has been a massive explosion at the fuel depot in Hemel Hempstead.

Ward: Walcot App.Ref: 05/03731/LBA Registered: 30 November 2005 Expiry Date: 25 January 2006 Location: ...