LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Lord Bonkers' latest diary has been posted to his website. It happens that I know a thing or two about mazes, having a fine example of my own at the Hall. Planted with the fast-growing Rutland leylandii – if one ponders too long which path to take, both may disappear – it has proved a firm favourite with visitors, particularly since I hit upon the idea of charging them to leave the thing rather than enter it. As the scientists amongst us will know, these days “peer review” is all the rage; it works along these lines. If a ...

What's David Cameron doing in Iraq?

Liberal Dissenter (welcome back) has the details.

So it was exactly a year ago today that Robin and I got married to become the union or political alliance that is Leah & Robin Darbyshire (alias The Darbyshires!) and it's also Happy 1st Birthday to Mrs Leah Darbyshire (since before that she had been Leah Bobrucki!).We are very happy and just as crazily in love as on our wedding day. In fact we love each other more if that's even possible! In fact we were sooo excited about our anniversary last night that we unwrapped all our anniversary cards and presents as soon as the clock turned midnight! ...

Stimulated by the posting in the Appollo Project blog asking for suggestions on what LibDems should be reading at this time to build up an understanding of Liberalism. Well, three more suggestions. 1 Life, and How to Survive It2 At Home In The universe3 An Intimate History of Humanity Firstly, a pop psychology book, ‘Life, And How To Survive It’ by John Cleese (yes him) and Robin Skinner. A look at what it means to have various levels of mental well-being. It is a very funny book, as well as a good overview of one approach to a psychology ...

Normal day for rubbish or recycling collection / Revised day 26th December / 28th December 27th December / 29th December 28th December / 30th December 29th December / 31st December 30th December / 3rd January 2nd January / 4th January 3rd January / 5th January 4th January / 6th January 5th January / 7th January 6th January / 9th January 9th January / 10th January 10th January / 11th January

I said yesterday that I would post pictures of inside the new Assembly building and in particular the controversial artwork. The picture above is of the Members' tearoom at the rear of the new Chamber. As you can see a particularly garish pink was the colour of choice for the wall here. The aim is to be able to stage the first Plenary in the new building sometime in the middle of January. On our tour yesterday this seemed to be ambitious if only because of the large number of snags that need to be corrected and the fact that ...

The march of the egos continued yesterday with the launch of an on-line petition calling for the removal of Charles Kennedy as leader. The site is supposedly hosted by an obscure and hitherto unknown approved Liberal Democrats candidate called Ben Ramm. He edits a magazine called the Liberal. Despite claims that it is an 'in-house' magazine, I suspect that its readership can be counted on one hand. The one free copy that was sent to me was so appalling that I threw it straight into the recycling. James Graham has assessed the situation correctly in my opinion: In all ...

Religious extremism is a growing problem in Britain (see my earlier assessment of the problem). It is portrayed in the media as a mostly 'Islamic' issue yet Islam does not have a monopoly of intolerance or bigotry. While street protests and terrorist attacks win the media's attention, the most insidious manifestation of this problem is the rise and rise of the so-called 'faith schools'. I had

Liberator 307 - out now! If you already subscribe to Liberator magazine, you should by now (Christmas post permitting) have received the latest issue. Highlights in this issue include: Former Labour MP Brian Sedgemore on New Labour's authoritarianism.John Pugh, Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, on the liberating state.Rebecca Tinsley on the continuing problems in the Congo.All the regular

It looks as if the cat’s well and truly out of the bag with this Liberal magazine petition website calling for Kennedy to resign (you’ll forgive me if I don’t include a link). I think first of all it cannot be emphasised enough that the Liberal is not the party’s “in house” magazine, let alone the [...]

Every year there's the ritual of writing Christmas cards and actually getting round to posting them. Yearly, I try and reduce the list hoping I don't forget or offend somebody. Ironically, every year cards arrive from the most unexpected people. Have received some real surprises this year - I'm deeply touched by a few from party VIPs because they have obviously taken the time to write the message and sign the cards personally. When I think of the thousands that get sent out from their offices, it's heartwarming to think that Susanne is still on their personal list.The best card ...

I saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last night, I must admit I was perhaps over-excited about seeing it. The Chronicles of Narnia have a special place in my heart having loved them as a child, I have recently re-read the books in preparation for seeing the film.

Good news: apparently my adsl line is operating at 8000kbs!Bad news: the netgear modem router can't cope, and despite hard-reboots, firmware updates and magical incantations it still fails to make a connection.So have ordered a Linksys model via amazon. Should hopefully arrive just after xmas and I can resume my online life...

www.votesat16.org.uk On January 10th 2006, there will be a mass lobby of Parliament and a meeting with Elections Minister Harriet Harman MP. The next day, January 11th, MPs will debate the final stages of the Electoral Administration Bill. This will include a debate on Diana Johnson's amendment to lower the voting age to 16. The meeting with Harriet Harman will take place from 4pm on Tuesday January 10th in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House. The meeting will be divided into three sections. From 4-5, there will be a chance for supporters to discuss the ...

Rohin of Pickled Politics has a well-researched post on the Iraqi election results here.

I was wondering how long it would be before one or more of the Tory-Lib Dem defectors caught that the wind had changed and started making the journey back to where they came from. To be honest, I thought it would be a couple of months away now, but Harold Elletson has fired the [...]

My arse is sore. Not because I've been engaging in certain practices with another male, but because I've just been to see Peter Jackson's King Kong and like the legendary ape's first dump of the day, this is a meaty film, coming in at 3 hours and 7 minutes. Be warned, those with circulation problems might want to bring someone who can massage their buttocks to prevent unslightly bedsores. Insert