LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Not a sandwich, but Nick Clegg's appearance on the Radio 5 Live Simon Mayo show. A great performer, but probably wise not to stand this time. For those not fortunate enough to have a radio on at work, you can listen again to the show, scroll through to the last half hour. The Lib Dem panel were introduced with the question, 'What's the point of the Liberal Democrats?' Is it a mark of longevity

This would be much more of a headline if the proposed bill was whipped by all political parties, and for some reason certain members of the LD parliamentary party were opposed to the party whip. In my opinion you can apply the classic JS Mill test, and that on balance smoking should be banned in public places because of the harm caused to others. This is not denying the right of people to smoke and cause harm to themselves, but in a private place.The significant policy differences in the debate appeared to be over approaches to the public sector.To claim ...

Two things need changing for next time: MPs should be able to nominate only one candidate. I assume this was the attention behind those who wrote the rules, but they have not been interpreted in this way by the returning officer. Even so, one might hope we could depend upon the common sense of our MPs, but apparently this is not the case. People should not be able to join the party and have a vote in a leadership contest after nominations have opened. Their being able to do so leaves us open to all sorts of undesirable influences, ...

As some of my longer term readers will be aware towards the end of last year I came to the end of a five year engagement. My ex-fiancee broke the news to me as I was still fatigued and recovering from the Livingston by-election that she no longer felt she could be part of a relationship with me at that level but that she still wanted to remain friends. Well for hte last couple of weeks I've been

I was pleased to see the BBC reporting that: People living in the Leicestershire district of Harborough recycle half of all their waste. Pleased and a little amused. When I was on Harborough District Council in the 1980s (I was only 14), I campaigned for and got the first bottle bank in Market Harborough. I was told by one officer that I risked bankrupting the council. Things are still improving in Market Harborough. The latest news is that we are getting a Marks & Spencer food store.

Chris Huhne's people have posted the first list of supporters on his campaign website. Writing this evening, they claim almost twice as many published supporters as any other candidate.

It has been a really busy day with very little time to post anything but, despite being bored with George Galloway and the Big Brother house, I felt that it would be remiss of me not to mention the latest controversy. Chris Bryant MP wants to know how it is that Twinkle could sign a series of early day motions despite being incommunicado in the Channel Four studio. It is a good question. In the Welsh Assembly we are allowed to nominate support staff to table items on our behalf however, I do not believe that this applies in ...

The Independent reports that the issue of a smoking ban is, ironically, showing some clear air between Lib Dem leadership contenders: But Mr Oaten retorted: "I can't support an outright ban. I'm a Liberal ... if you are going to be a Liberal, Ming, you can't pick and mix which subject you are going to be Liberal on." As I've said before, it is not illiberal to argue for a ban on smoking. The right to fill the room with noxious fumes may be a grey area, but it certainly conflicts with someone's right to breathe ...

Last night the House of Lords defeated the Government over it is proposals for ID Cards. The Lords defeated the Government 237 to 156 and has called for the scheme's estimated costs have been independently vetted by the National Audit Office. The Lords also defeated the Government to demand a secure and reliable method of storing citizens' personal data on the new national identity register, upon which the scheme will rely.

We interrupt this transmission to bring you the sixth edition of the SportBlog roundup. As ever, the aim is to bring you, the dear reader, the best posts on the topic of sports from right around the world. It's only as good as you and I can make it though; all submissions are gratefully received - show me the pieces I'm missing! sportblog at googlemail dot com is the address. First up this week is this effort from BlogTO. He's beginning to lose his faith in sports thanks to Vince Carter - it's an excellent essay on the capacity sports ...

I imagine that Great Court might take up this theme at some point, but the much vaunted zero tolerance 'crackdown' on prostitution seemingly doesn't extend to the Government's new plan to legalise brothels. I was fairly sceptical that the crackdown would work (still am), or that it was in the interests of the sex workers it would affect. But, I was prepared to accept that there was at least moral consistency in the Government's position. Only on December 28th last Home Office Minister Fiona McTaggart stated: Frankly I do not buy the view that it is the oldest profession and ...

For the benefit of some readers of this blog who do not frequent the Liberal blogosphere, and with apologies to those who do - some blogs I have enjoyed reading recently.... Cicero should be read for wisdom from beyond the grave, as should the more obviously alive Rob Knight at Liberal Review, while Femme-de-Resistance at Forceful and Moderate seems to be a fellow traveller in van of Cameron baiting Liberals. Joe Otten seems to be out of that stable as well, and I guess we'll find out more once his Orange Book fixation comes to an end. I'm expecting more ...

Three Cheers… Brokeback Mountain has won four Golden Globe Awards… it’s the Oscars next! “Real-life couple Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams were both nominated for their performances in Brokeback Mountain: he for best actor for his turn as Ennis Del Mar, and she for best supporting actress for playing his long-suffering wife Alma” José and I went to Bath (a city about 40 miles from Swindon) to see the film last Sunday. Despite our key home town of 180 residents and two Multi-screen cinemas with ten screens each – neither being prepared to show this film, we had to travel ...

Final call for Liberal Drinks - 7pm, Silver Cross, Whitehall. Looks like there’ll be a decent crowd (12 confirmed on the website alone), and I know of at least 1 MP coming. So hope to see you there!

I’ve been in blogging overdrive recently (a phenomenon known as procrastination I believe), but I do have a number of articles up here that I’m genuinely interesting in hearing people’s feedback on, but that readers may have missed: Telling stories, or my rant about the need for political narrative. Generational Theft?, or my rant against wrinklies (joke!). Scrap [...]

The campaign has been up and running now for a week and I'm still to hear from any of the candidates, their supporters or, for that matter, anyone else, asking me how I'm going to vote and whether I'll campaign for them amongst our members (Dulwich & West Norwood has about 0.2% of the Party's national membership). Surely it must get more interesting, mustn't it? Or perhaps not. I've been

by Peter MatGB at Not little England (does everyone in Torquay blog?) has a piece on the candidate websites. A good read for the techies among you.

Well, having had the fifth candidate in the leadership election brought to my attention, I now have a third preference! I shall be transferring my vote to pink dog.

Chapter 9: Children, the family and the state: a liberal agenda. By Steve Webb and Jo Holland This chapter is an apple in a basket of oranges. Webb and Holland address themselves to an issue that tends to be of the greatest concern to social conservatives. One might almost conclude that the intention of the Orange Book is not to reach out to economic liberals in particular, but to the right wing

I have not read James Lovelock's new analysis in any detail. There are issues relating to global warming, however, that don't seem to have hit the consciousness of government. The essential problem is that if it is the case (which it most likely is) that a certain level of CO2 concentration implies an increase in the amount of heat trapped, then even if CO2 concentrations stabilised at the

Staying at the Hilton Newbury North for the week, David and I went for dinner last night in jeans and t-shirt. We went to give our room numbers but we were just waived in. When we sat down we suddenly realized. There must have been at least 20 chav's all staying the night. Somebody must have been paying their bill, but the hotel staff must have believed that we were with them too! Whilst the

This surname profiler has caused great excitement and distress in the household, after my mother discovered her maiden name is southern [shock! horror! gasp!] and in 1881 was predominantly concentrated in Reading.

VAT Q: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has plans to charge VAT on domestic flights.(John Hemming) A:VAT is already charged on aircraft fuel supplied for flights within the UK at either the standard rate or reduced rate of 5 percent., depending on the type and quantity of fuel being supplied. (Dawn Primarolo, Paymaster General, HM Treasury)

No, not that closet! I've been agonising since the weekend as to whether a blogger's place was to commentate neutrally or to nail colours to the mast, so to speak. I've come to the conclusion that as blogging is about opinion, neutral leadership blogging would quickly become boring! Readers will know that I predicted that Chris would stand, and that he would be 'one to watch'. This is not without good reason. Whilst Chris may not have the wider profile of the other candidates, he has won respect and admiration within the party. He has an impressive ...

This George Monbiot article points me to Melanie Philips latest screed about global warming. The politics of both these articles is an attack on decisions made under scientific uncertainty. If the results published in Nature are accurate, then planting trees is not a carbon sink. That does not mean that decisions taken while we thought that planting trees was a carbon sink are evil - it certainly does not expose any kind of ideological conspiracy. It just means we made a mistake. Melanie Phillips' belief that global warming is not real is not ...

The Independent highlights the differering view of the leadership contenders on smoking bans. I remember last year I wrote to Lib Dem News taking colleagues to task over excessive enthusiasm for a smoking ban. My letter provoked five responses, all hostile, a personal record. My concern is that Liberal Democrats, while keen to proclaim commitment to freedom in the abstract, are rather keen to ban things they disapprove of in the specific. So our commitment to personal liberty, even in the social rather than economic sphere, seems highly suspect. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we have to ...

It doesn’t happen often, and in some ways is ironic, but Iran’s foolish nuclear policy has – as a matter of logical consistency – united anti-nuclear environmentalists with most of the international community including Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, as well as neoconservatives and liberal internationalists alike. They may disagree with the means (I can’t see Friends of the Earth – or France - advocating airstrikes, though you never know), but on ends (I assume) they are of one mind: Iran should not be allowed to develop a domestic nuclear capability, let alone become a nuclear power militarily. ...

I hope Peter from the Apollo Project is on commission with the BBC after they have copied his idea of a leadership quiz.

Even Marina Hyde hs become interested in the Liberal Democrat leadership election. In her Guardian column, she writes: [D]o forgive me if any subtleties to the affair have been missed - but as far as I can make out, Sir Ming's leadership ambitions were ended the second he laid himself open to a joke. Most encouraging. Most encouraging for whom?

Early on Tony Blair decided that the way to electoral success was to be perceived to adopt the centre(-right) ground figuring that enough traditional supporters could be retained for the electoral arithmetic to pilot him to Downing Street. The tribal nature of party politics meant that a majority did stay on board, especially prior to the Iraq war, despite having in straight policy terms arguably greater affinity with the Lib Dem policy programme, as the GE voting intentions expressed in the traditionally pro-Labour 'New Statesman' suggested. It seems like David 'call me Dave' Cameron is attempting the same tactic. Sod ...

I notice a posting on Lib Dem Aggregated blogs warning us that with all the interest in the leadership election, our blogs are reaching a wider readership, including the media and political opponents. Oh bugger! I can't be seen in public looking like this. Hang on while I put a tie on and scrape the tweak strands over the bald pate. For those 'outsiders' who are researching party members’ views on the leadership election, this blog is all you really need to read. This is because I have an unerring knack of backing losing candidates. Whichever candidate I decide to ...

Observant viewers will notice that by the Sky News debate, the Lib Dem leadership contenders had managed to sort out their tie difficulty. Chris Huhne went to for the 'Coooey, I'm a Lib Dem' canary yellow tie option (always a safe bet) but the colour was a bit loud - perhaps he was trying to look more dynamic. Simon Hughes opted for a red/blue striped number (perhaps representing a desire for equidistance between Labour and the Tories or something). Mark Oaten went for burgandy which is somewhat confusing politically-speaking but apparently suits dark haired men (I think he's being a ...

Well it looks like all three of our candidates where thinking along the same lines as the nation with their comments last night. According to a Mori poll only a slim majority accept Nuclear power but an overwhleming 80% are seeking sustainable, renewable alternatives as the answer to our energy concerns. We as Liberal Democrats need to be bolder in what we propose and more creative in the types

by Peter I haven't seen it yet - but here are a few thoughts from the newspapers and my mother. The news concentrates on the silly story about the car (and I hope Ming keeps it - it is important that our leader looks as if he enjoys life and is not condemned to wearing a hair shirt. If he has to, voters will assume that they will have to if we win any influence. Then we're stuffed). Oaten and Hughes both made errors in setting specific seat targets. From the Scotsman Sir Menzies Campbell, the party's acting ...

Irrespective of preference one thing is clear from the Sky TV debate and the Lib Dem leadership campaign thus far. In Hughes, Campbell and Huhne there are three heavyweight contenders to choose from, each with their own emphases and merits. I would be happy to support the party under any of these three men. As for the campaign from what I can gauge from my armchair, Huhne has been the most impressive in terms of talking policy ideas. Hughes may have offered a 'hostage to fortune' with his 100 seat tally measure of success and Campbell remains a formidable politician, ...

Tuesday 17th January 2006 - After a visit to the local pharmacy yesterday for some advice on quitting smoking I was given a prescription for NiQuitin patches and have now started my determined fight to quit smoking. Today is the first day!! I will keep you posted on my progress!!

I have been observing the leadership campaigns for the past few days with an open mind. There has been no need to force a decision yet, knowing that it would become clear to me over time who I would vote for. Whilst I may still change my mind, one candidate does impress me, Chris Huhne. Perhaps I have a perverse sympathy for the underdog, as a child I was never one to switch allegiance to which ever team was winning, something I observed on the school bus each season. Perhaps Chris' race will gain in a party who's members ...

I’m starting the process of building a compehensive Lib Dem links page (follow the link below for the first few links). It’s not exactly state of the art, but it will do the job.. It will probably take a long time to build up and will be an ongoing process. Other than links to the [...]

Despite being the late entrant, Chris Huhne has already been more successful than any other candidate in this race in terms of shifting the debate onto both policy in general and his agenda in particular. As has been mentioned elsewhere, he was the only one on Saturday who made a point of talking about [...]