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I’m backing the Reflecting Britain campaign because although the party has made some progress on representation in recent years, I’m worried that the progress is too slow. Our message should appeal to many more people than it does, and it should inspire many more people to join the party and stand in elections. [...]

Reflecting Britain is a certainly Good Thing, but it makes me wonder how the Lib Dems can encourage more people who aren’t… how can I put this… middle class, to get involved. Of course, the advantages of being middle class are not only (or even mainly) financial, but relate to an amorphous system of cultural capital, [...]

105 107 Liberal Democrats, including dozens of parliamentary candidates and councillors, 4 MPs and 2 members of the House of Lords, have now signed up to the Reflecting Britain campaign, which was launched last week. The Reflecting Britain campaign is calling on the Lib Dem leadership contenders to support the work of the Gender Balance [...]

The Chair of the Ethnic Minority Election Task Force Cllr Rabi Martens has explained his reasons for supporting the Reflecting Britain campaign, and calls for the Lib Dem leadership contenders to outline their position: It is good to see the spirit in which the leadership contest is being conducted..open, frank and friendly…. in other words [...]

Back in the early 1990s the satirist Chris Morris, in his Radio 4 parody of the Today programme, ‘On the hour’, announced that 'under new government reforms, school headteachers will have to fight each other in the playground for the right to teach the brightest children'. Satire can often be uncomfortably close to reality and it gets close to the heart of the current education debate. The government have at the same time tried to claim that their education proposals are far reaching and that they are in keeping with Labour traditions. But as Martin Kettle pointed out in yesterday’s ...

Former Chair of the Gender Balance Task Force Baroness (Angie) Harris has leant her support to the campaign, commenting: All the candidates need to address this crucial question. It is imperative that women play their part in political policy and decision making. Our Party may have accepted this tacitly, but it is now [...]

...is another Tory. And a resonably high profile one at that. Dr Carrie Ruxton has produced an In Touch leaflet which shows her talking to what the public will preceive to be a concerned citizen of Dunfermline and West Fife to show how in touch she thinks she is. However, being the sharp eyed West Lothian political campaigner that I am I immediately spotted it to be Lindsay Paterson. Miss

Harold Elletson, the former Conservative MP who joined the Liberal Democrats in 2002, got some publicity last week by suggesting that some Lib Dem MPs were considering joining the Tories. He also implied that he might rejoin his old party himself. He was in the papers before Christmas too, accusing some of Charles Kennedy's advisers as suffering from "infantile liberalism". Elletson is usually described as chair of the Lib Dem Foreign Affairs Forum, a body that has previously escaped the attention of most party members. But a little research shows just what an unexpected recruit to Liberal Democracy he was. ...

Just received: ID cards campaign update The House of Lords has won a series of victories in the battle over ID cards. It's rather ironic that we have to rely on an unelected chamber to protect our civil liberties - but that is life under Tony Blair... The most important victory was the vote to block the ID cards proposals until the government has come clean on what the real costs are. It should be the obvious thing to do - find out the costs before making the decision - but Labour has been trying to ...

Today's Scotland on Sunday managed to take an extract from my post on Thursday offering continued support of Simon Hughes into a totally different apparent meaning. This is especially true when the following paragraph goes on to talk about tolerance. The Scotland in Sunday did not contact me before using this copyrighted material is such a spurilous way, in an article they guess I would not have

Just been watching a program on BBC4 that suggests that our Charles was not the only politician to like the odd drink or two. Well I cant say that I am totally shocked! What next!! We may find that Mark was not the only one to get involved with rent boys or perhaps even that there may be others that swing both ways.... Surely not! What a publicly elected representative of the people!

Today we ran the fifth Back to Basics session in Wales in Bangor. Again we have about 15 participants from the north-west of Wales, including a former member of the Welsh Assembly. This was scheduled to be the last of the Back to Basics sessions but I have been asked to do another, after the local elections, in West Wales - which must mean they have been well-received.

A corollary of Godwin's Law is that whoever makes a comparison to Hitler or the Nazis promptly loses the argument. But in some ways, the functioning of a dictatorship (all power concentrated on a single ruler and his advisors) is a useful primer on over-centralised government. It's for this reason that reading Who runs this place? shortly after Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives has proved to be

So go right now, click this living minute on the link that follows and become a friend of Charles Darwin. Then return and get the rest of the rant. Only 48% of Brits believe in evolution, according to a poll commissioned for BBC's Horizon. Read the story here. I've watched with increasing dismay as creationism and it's doppelganger Intelligent Design has gained credance in America. I always

Alan Beddow: Shanade Some of my many severals of readers may remember this post from October, no? well since the legendary gig in the Roebuck I have come across Shanade again a few times in various musical venues around the area. I learned that she was looking to get a band together and that I know her Mom from about 10 years ago when Kelly's in Leamington was the place to be for music. I arranged a Jam session yesterday as I felt that this was a project worth putting some effort into to get started. I invited ...

So I'm a Democrat (just!) ... Thats a relief - always thought I was. I found this test thanks to Femme de Resistance You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (20% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok CupidAlso: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

If the Lib Dems feel they're having a hard fortnight with sex scandals then they're not alone. For the benefit of those who don't manage to read this Screws of the World article before it disappears off the site then it's all about Nigel Farage (apparently the leader of the UKIP MEPs) and a "half-German, half-Swedish blonde" who is pictured in the altogether apart from a strategically located

Sunday 29th January 2006 - Attended a very enjoyable North West regional dinner on Friday night to celebrate the success we have had over the last two years in the region and it was a great way to put the events of the last couple of weeks out of our minds and talk about more positive things. We were joined by party President and leadership candidate Simon Hughes MP and our own Regional

I had an email yesterday from a Lib Dem friend (not the one in my previous post!) who had the following thoughts - not simply pro-Chris Huhne, but highlighting how important environmental and resouces issues are, and why it's a good thing that Chris is focussing on them: I was looking at various leadership campaign sites and I came across your blog. I have also opted for Chris Huhne, not on the

Hopped down to Bath for a happily boozey evening with friends from school last night. Threatened to turn sour at one point when John insisted on picking a fight with someone who was singing Wurzels songs, with the claim that Bath wasn't in Somerset. This upset the bloke, who though rather yobbish, and very drunk, was more than aware of which unitary authority he lived in. Anyway, it passed off without fisticuffs, which is the main thing. Happy news this morning. Having spent mucho time, effort and dosh trying to lure Lib Dems over to the Tories, and succeeding in ...

A fascinating piece in today's Observer by Mary Riddell about the role of image in politics: Personal enhancement, though, is a side-issue. The humbling of Galloway and the treatment of Hughes are, in their different ways, examples of a more suspect form of image manipulation. They belong to what American social historian Daniel J Boorstin described in 1961 as 'pseudo-events'. Boorstin's theory was that prosperity and success had led rich citizens into expecting the impossible. They wanted to be rich and charitable, powerful and merciful, greedy and thin, solitary and neighbourly. And so, like Napoleon, they ...

Isn't it completely predictable? Having knocked down CK, Mark Oaten and Simon Hughes (not exactly difficult tasks, admittedly) it's now time for for the guns to be turned on Ming. It starts

According to that well known Murdoch organ the Sunday Times some Lib Dem members are leaving the party because of Simon Hughes bisexuality. If this is really the case (and I have my doubts) then all I can say is good riddance. If this is really how these people feel then what on earth were they doing as members of the Liberal Democrats in the first place is beyond me. I am proud to be a member

David Walter was Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Torridge and West Devon in 2005: The hustings in Plymouth cheered South West activists up no end. The events of the past few weeks had taken a bit of a toll. When you toil away year in year out delivering leaflets and raising money for a cause which [...]

I usually have a lot of time for Matthew d’Ancona’s political columns in the Sunday Telegraph: may not always agree, but the points are pertinent, the style irresistible. All of which makes this week’s column the more bizarre. Half of it is lazy, sloppy and cheap, the other half is the quality analysis I’ve come to expect; like two cars – a Robin Reliant and a Rolls Royce – grafted together by a

Earlier this week, my comment on Alan Beddow's blog gave him food for thought. He posted it later in the day as a main posting Reflecting Britain - I knew this would provoke some comment, and concluding with: Having said that, having lived for most of my life in a White middle class environment and worked in a young industry where equality is a given and never an issue, perhaps I am a little Naive. The Posting from Susanne Lamido I thought presented a very good case that I shall consider. I have posted it here so it ...

Becoming a Blogger4Chris has given me one unexpected pleasure. One of my former colleagues on Rochford DC saw me on the Huhne website and has got in contact with me again. Trevor Powell succeeded me as our group leader back in the 90s before work took him away to Suffolk. He and and his wife Nita are now considerably further north, running a bed and breakfast in Avoch, Ross-Shire! Trevor is

A struggle on the state of shopping looks like it is on its way. The all-party Parliamentary small shops group recommends a thorough investigation of the commercial strategies of the big supermarkets. Now this could be interesting. Bear with me with what looks at first like a slight detour. But first question – who are the LibDems (if any) on the Small Shops Group? The dreaded European Common Agricultural Policy has many excuses, one of them being stabilising the markets for farmers. Point being that raising a crop requires a big investment upfront, and payback at harvest time at very ...

Because you're unlikely to read this in any of the broadsheets... ...Post on Who Runs this Place: The Anatomy of Britain in the 21st century? tonight.

Apparently there's a story going around (in another Murdoch rag) that certain "important funders" of the Lib Dems are threatening to withdraw financial support for the party if Simon wins. They say he is "unfit" as a result of his leftward stance and his supposed "dishonesty" about his sexual identity. I find this pretty nasty stuff. My reaction is "do your worst, we're bigger than the odd

Some people appear to be criticising the way Simon has handled the sexuality issue on the basis that what he said a couple of weeks ago was misleading, or perhaps some kind of legalese "technical" answer along the lines of - "Are you gay?" "No, I've had sexual relations with women". Or that he's been avoiding the "B" word ("bisexual"). Many such people are people who should know better, having

Liberal Democrats : Former Conservative MP Sir Cyril Townsend joins Lib Dems I'm sorry that is such a good headline someone had to do it... Just had to check this was true for a moment, that really is excellent news, best news all week. I expect a full front page coverage on this one in all the papers. I shall even allow the Sun to use my 'Nice one Cyril' headline. A

I have just finished watching a program on BBC2 about the final days of the fall of Berlin in 1945. Much has been said about Hitler, yet this film showed him in an almost naked light. Based upon the accounts of eye witnesses it describes the atmosphere in the Bunker and how he refused to surrender Berlin even whilst planning his own suicide. To see Hitler at the end stubbornly allowing the destruction of everything he had build, allowing it all to go up in flames. Its difficult to conceive of a mentality like that, it was described as ...

Simon visited Woodford, Manchester, Southport, Whiston and Plymouth on Friday and Saturday.