LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Just a quick reminder that in just under a week I will have the fourth version of the SportBlog Roundup here at Militant Moderate. Any posts that loosely tackle the topic of sport, in all its forms, are eligible. Let me know what you've been writing! As usual, the email address is sportblog at googlemail dot com

The Mid, rather than the Jonathan variety, as Stephen Glenn has been blogging of late. Readers will be unsurprised to learn that I’m not terribly impressed by all this. It appears to be more a case of grown adults behaving like scared children than kids behaving badly. The alleged crimes appear to be nothing [...]

Well, positives first; at least the BBC story didn’t change much, although they’ve now added a post-meeting write up. We are to believe that everything is now sweetness and light, with the very clear exception of Menzies Campbell (see Nick Robinson’s interview with Kennedy for more light on this). The question is, where are [...]

The World Trade Organisation talks seem to be grinding to a halt already, the European Union has been accused of blocking the deal over farm subsidies. If this is the case it is outrageous of the EU, who should be willing to make concessions to enable the Developing World to compete on a level playing field.

Today's Guardian has a piece on the latest British Social Attitudes survey was conducted last year and published this week. As the report says - or perhaps that should be "admits": It shows that around two-thirds thought that patients should have "a great deal or quite a lot" of choice over which hospital they go to for inpatient treatment.It goes on to say: The survey also suggests critics' fears that choice will be colonised by the middle classes at the expense of the poor may be unfounded: the pro-hospital choice groups are women, people aged 55 to 64, and ...

Richard Allan points us towards FarmSubsidy.org. This useful site tells you which companies benefit from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. Fascinating reading.

Back in January 2003 I quoted a passage from Melanie Phillips on my anthology blog Serendib. Discussing a guide for children whose parents are getting divorced she wrote: It offered children advice such as: "Try to be honest if they ask you questions; it will help them make better decisions", or "Living with one parent almost always means there will be less money. Be prepared to give up some things." What the book was actually doing was asking children to be sympathetic, understanding, respectful and polite to their confused, unhappy parents; the sacrifice was going to have ...

Breaking News.ie reports: A minor earthquake measuring 2.6 on the Richter Scale has been detected just off the east coast of Ireland. The tremor was felt by householders from Arklow to Bray at around 3.20am this morning. It was centred around 30 miles from Bray Head and caused some minor structural damage, but no injuries have been reported.

Proof that ASBOs are not the best use of police resources comes today from West Lothian’s divisional commander. While Superintendent Jim Coupland admitted the recent ASBO in Mid Calder had been a success he also told councillors that he would not have resources to police 2 or 3 concurrent dispersal orders across West Lothian. This adds weight to the Liberal Democrats believe that Acceptable Behaviour Contracts are a better way to deal with anti-social behaviour. ABCs should be set up as a preventative measure rather than ASBOs having to deal with the effects when things go wrong. The ...

This week the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy is under the spotlight as the WTO tries to do a trade deal in Hong Kong. Some much-needed light has been shed on it recently by the most helpful FarmSubsidy.org. As I browsed the entries for the UK that have had some coverage in the press I found [...]

In the interest of posterity, and on the basis that the BBC’s article on the subject this time yesterday bore no relation to the one on their website 4 hours later, I thought I’d include their current line here in full: Under fire Kennedy meets his MPs Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy is set to meet his [...]

I was going to start my post, about the briefing in the corridors of power against the party leader, by supposing I had got elected in May. But then seeing as on some projections Linlithgow and Falkirk East would have given us a overall majority Charles Kennedy would be residing in Number 10 and the issue would not have come up. A lot has been said and written in the last 24 hours by my fellow Liberal Democrats. My fellow Bangorian Lembit Opik said "I would say if the boss delivers the best result in 82 years, you keep ...

What kind of a world do we live in where John Howard can be winning a poll as the “worst abuser of democracy” over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a factor of 7:1? I have no brief for Howard, who is extremely bad news and bears considerable responsibility for the riots currently going on in his country. [...]

As we seem to be in the middle of a Liberal Democrats leadership crisis at a UK level, I thought I would stir things up a bit here in Wales as well. Just kidding. Honestly! Kirsty Williams will kill me for posting this photograph here.

There has been a lot of debate recently about the acceptability of the use of torture. This article at Slate critiques Charles Krauthammer's defence of torture in limited circumstances, and also links to Andrew Sullivan's piece in the New Republic on the same subject. The one thing that all articles highlight is the problem of making good laws. For a good law should be applicable as an absolute

Now I can tell you that I have been promoted at work. I am going to be Head of Public Sector Events from 3rd Jan. I was waiting until my boss announced it to my team/colleagues (which she did yesterday) before I posted this news to the web. I am feeling very excited but also, naturally, slightly apprehensive. My new job combines topic generation with conference production and I have done both roles full time before but never half and half. It’s gonna test my time management skills that’s for sure! However, I have a lovely boss who says she ...

All of this talk about Charles Kennedy's leadership is truly fascinating. No, I really mean it. I'm intrigued that discussions are apparently going on all over the place, suggesting that he should either get better or get out. And yet, there are a few minor problems here that perhaps need to be dwelt upon. Ming and Simon have publicly sworn fealty, I've not yet been in a room where any group can

Like other Lib Dem bloggers, I'm fed up to the back teeth with reading in the media about authoritative, anonymous sources who have told Charles Kennedy to pull up his socks. Do I think CK is perfect? No. Does he sometimes frustrate me with his fuzziness? Yes. Has he been a successful leader? Undoubtedly. Does he deserve a bit of loyalty from a party he has led to its best position since the

It appears that tow of the so-called ordinary members of the public being fooling into not going to space on Channel 4's Space Cadets may actually be actors after all. How many of the other 8 are may need some more digging.

Conscience and Reform: The Liberal Democrat Agenda for Britain I know that Charles Kennedy made the Conscience and Reform: The Liberal Democrat Agenda for Britain speech back in July but being lazy I only got round to reading it today and there were two quotes which I picked out and think should be repeated to the Parliamentary Party again especially since after a “calm and thoughtful meeting” to promise to stop briefing against Charles Kennedy articles appeared on the BBC website and in today’s Guardian and Independent that “senior” Liberal Democrats parliamentarians want Charles to resign. ...

UK Air Passengers Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what average number of flights was taken by UK passengers (a) in 1997 and (b) in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by social class.(John Hemming) A:The results by socio-economic classification for 2003 are given as follows. Respondents in managerial/professional occupations had a higher mean number of air

Will Lib Dem parliamentarians please desist from briefing against party leader Charles Kennedy. This is doing the party no good at all and we need to hold our nerve and see what how any 'Cameron effect' impacts upon the Tories [and Labour and ourselves]. As I've said earlier, Charles does need to raise his game, particularly if the Tories get reacquainted with political reality again, but his lack of obvious ideology enables him to bind together the differing strands in the party. Whilst we might see the debate raging between economic and social liberals, this has not registered with the ...

Day 357 of my Confinement :-) I was reflecting last night on our first year of marriage. I remember talking with some of my friends a year ago about married life. Many of them said it was miserable and awful. I have to say that as we come up to our first year together I disagree. Marriage is liberating, I love it. My wife is wonderful, she is so supportive and I find life so much more fulfilling with someone behind me and supporting me through everything I do. So my message ...

by Phil Grant It emerges from Strasbourg that the Tory MEPs' convulsions over their future in the EPP are merely a smokescreen for a deeper issue. It's Secret Santa. (Who said they don't live in the modern world?) Surprisingly, the value of the gifts was limited to 10 euro. Perhaps David Cameron will intervene.

The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has further enraged Isreal by saying the Nazi Holocaust is a myth.He then says, if this happened, the countries responsible should give up some of their land in Europe, America, Canada or wherever to give these people a homeland. Therefore he is ignoring millennia of oppression of the Isreali people, including from the Persians, that forced them from their own homeland in the first place. Somehow he is attempting to justify oppression of the Palestinian people by oppressing another nation. There is no reason why we cannot come to an amicable solution over the ...

Yesterday's Independent had an interesting article on the Dr. Who Christmas Special in which they reveal that the programme will contain a pointed anti-war message and raise the suggestion that the Prime Minister is a poodle of the US President. They also provide some tasters for the new series including the fact that the Doctor and Rose will exchange a kiss on the lips. I predicted that this would happen as soon as I heard that they were casting Casanova as the Doctor. Much more exciting is the return of the robot dog, K9. When I was a kid K9 ...

It seems that my e-mail correspondence with Sainsburys over their decision to ban Jerry Springer:The Opera has been brought to a premature close. I responded to their first answer by seeking to probe their assertion that the ban was a commercial decision: Thanks for your e-mail. You argue that the withdrawal of this DVD was a commercial decision and yet you admit withdrawing it prematurely as a result of complaints. You cannot have it both ways. Would you be able to supply me with some comparative figures for the sale of other DVDs in the same period so as ...

I've spent an evening watching a politician talk about liberty, responsibility and fairness. All things that a Liberal Democrat would applaud, you might think, and you would indeed be right. The only catch is, the politician in question is the Chancellor of the Exchequer (and kind of my boss), the Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, PC. He made all of the right noises in terms of principles, and

The monkey has spotted that Liam Fox appears to have been shunted out of the Tory Shadow Cabinet, despite seemingly issuing press releases as Defence Spokes just hours ago. See? That’s how you perform a political assassination. Smooth. Clean (tip to Cameron: this is about to backfire. Badly).

Quite so: This has gone on for far too long. It’s time to put up or shut up. Making Kennedy damaged goods is all very well, but if you aren’t prepared to stand up and be counted now, you are simply arseing about. The problem is, I suspect, is that no-one wants to be another Heseltine - caught holding the bloodied knife and thus rendering themselves unelectable as a future leader. But all this isn’t damaging Kennedy; it’s damaging the party.

The lead story in this morning's Times reports: A revolt by senior Liberal Democrat MPs has left Charles Kennedy fighting to save his leadership of the party. An attempt by Mr Kennedy to pre-empt a growing rebellion within his ranks at Westminster was rebuffed yesterday at a private meeting of his Shadow Cabinet. Facing an unprecedented crisis of confidence, the Lib Dem leader tried to stamp on peculation by urging his most senior colleagues to stop briefing against him and rally behind him. But his plea was rejected when he faced 30 minutes of criticism of his leadership style, ...

I’ve been at a lecture and a dinner this evening but before leaving the office I made a mental note to blog about how magnanimous it was of the Lib Dem shadow cabinet, after a “calm and thoughtful meeting” to promise to stop briefing against Charles Kennedy. This was in response to the article [...]