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The Huhne and Campbell camps are having a pissing contest at the moment over who has the most council leaders supporting them. Anyone with more time on their hands than me want to work out who has the most according to population size? Clearly, the fact that they are spending all their time on such important [...]

One of the other candidates for leadership has been getting very excited about having the backing of eight council leaders, “more than the other candidates combined”. Sadly, this latter assertion is not true. Just for the record, at the time of writing, the following ten council leaders are publicly backing Ming Campbell: Cllr Cathy Bakewell, Leader, [...]

This post discusses recent research in the US, which implies that private schools are actually worse (as measured by a standardised maths test administered to 11 year olds) than public (i.e. state) schools after correcting for the fact that private school students are richer, more intelligent, and come from happier homes. Actually, I'm not surprised. I went to a private school which did very well in the A-level league tables. Everyone there was quite open about the fact that this was entirely due to the selective intake. We didn't actually try to maximise A-level scores. For example, the school offered ...

At last my pride and joy is back home It has been away for about six weeks having some more chrome added and a few other bits and pieces done. The paintwork is now completely different as you will see in the picture which is below. This is a set of tank and fenders which I got from ebay for £320 - a bargain. The original set are now awaiting completion of the design work for new paintwork

Fatboy with new paintwork

I decided some time ago that I was too old to enjoy birthdays anymore so I was not too upset at the fact that I had to spend this evening (my 46th birthday) speaking at a hustings event in Port Talbot in a bid to be reselected as an Assembly candidate. My big problem now is how I am going to find the time to watch the DVD box set of the entire of series one to six of the West Wing that I had as a present.

Stuart Randall the leader of the Conservative group on Fife Council has quit the Tory Party because he is disillusioned with the leadership of his party. Mr Randall who stood against Gordon Brown in the last two general elections was overlooked for the short list for the current by-election in Dunfermline and West Fife. He claims that the party leaders in Holyrood are 'ambulance' chasing seeking

I don't really give a damn about the Palestinian elections. Israel is a country of 6.3 million people with no important natural resources or strategic significance. Palestine doesn't have accurate census data, but the best guess is that 2.5 million people live in the occupied territories. In the wider scheme of things, the Israel-Palestine conflict is about as important as the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, or the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. Yes, the Israelis are occupying Arab land in violation of international law. Yes, the Palestinians blow up babies on ...

The other day I wrote about Menzies Campbell's lack of enthusiasm for environmental taxation: Having first sounded warm about it, Ming went on to say that we should be careful because in a rural constituency like his a car was a necessity not a luxury. There is something in that, but all the same my heart sank. It is precisely the argument you used to hear Liberal MPs using 30 years ago when we were a tiny party representing a few Celtic fringe constituencies. Have we really not moved on since then?Judging by David Walter's Pravda-like account of the South-West ...

by Peter The Courier (published by the firm responsible for the Beano et al) has the latest in a sad succession of tory revelations. Bearded Tory Leader Stuart Randall is quitting the party so he could speak openly on the party’s poor management and what he called a “policy vacuum” He went on to say "It has been taken over by an incompetent clique, who can’t see past the next headline, and there seems to be no way for the grassroots to regain control. "Decision after decision has been botched and wherever one ...

From today's Shropshire Star : Bungling US customs officials were left with the hump after impounding a crate containing an hydraulic lift believing it was a camel.

Charnwood District Council has decided that new houses can only be built in Loughborough if students aren't allowed to live there. That this is illiberal does not need justification. That it is stupid and that the District Councillors are a bunch of peabrained oafs who probably wouldn't even get into Loughborough College, let along the highly distinguished Loughborough University (11 RAE 5 departments, 3 5*'s, with much award-winning research done by PhD students who the Council is proposing to throw out), might. So here goes. 1) The proposed ban is ludicrously overbroad, covering any student under 27. As a 25 ...

According to the Dunfermline and West Fife Lib Dems' web site, the "by-election will be a straight choice between Tony Blair's representative and Willie Rennie." Nick Assinder says that a leaflet with the same phrase is also being distributed by the Lib Dem by-election campaign. Lib Dems claim it is an innocent coincidence.

David Cameron is in denial but apparently not for a drink problem, sexual dalliances of use of illegal drugs. No apparently he is denying that is betraying the Tory Party principles by making the changes he is making to the party. The fact that he is having to make a public denial of doing so in a speech to the left-wing think-tank Demos, must mean that there are murmurings underneath the surface

You’ve got to wonder. Both Nick Assinder and Guido appear to think the phrase “straight choice” is a reference to a candidate’s sexuality and not a common term to mean “simple”. Given that the Labour candidate in the Dunfermline and West Fife is 8 months pregnant, I don’t think anyone is suggesting she hasn’t had sex with [...]

Plague in the form of H5N1 has joined the rest: one death is confirmed, another suspected according to this from Effect measure. The first confirmed cases in the middle east outside Turkey. Poor health service, porous borders, chaotic society and above all barracks full of soldiers: couldn't have a better viral pressure cooker. The health white paper put out by Patrician (I, robot) Hewitt may

I am a natural skeptic of measures to try and create equality, sometimes the problem is not there, at least in the way that the measures are designed to combat and secondly schemes sometimes have a negative effect on other groups (or sometimes the group they are designed to help). Having said this, I have decided I support the Reflecting Britain campaign. There is a clear imbalance in the party

At last. I have been tagged in one of these blogger list things. The person tagging me was none other than Iain Dale, the owner of Politico's Bookstore. But as his blog is full of scurrilous anti Lib Dem propaganda I certainly shan't be suggesting that you visit it. Anyway, here goes... 7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE Grow old Move to Shropshire Write a novel Meet the first Lady Bonkers Understand why people rate Mozart so highly Read Jane Austen See a Liberal MP elected for Harborough 7 THINGS I CANNOT DO ...

... to comment intelligently. I may try later.

That politics quiz which is going round is interesting.It classifies 'economic liberal' as being more big spending, central control rather than what I'd call economic liberal which is a more laissez-faire attitude to economics with the emphasis on the individual and lower state spending and interference. This highlights the difference between the US and us when it comes to political terminology. This is something we must fight in the UK. The left/socialist/statists in the US acquired 'Liberal' as a term for themselves, in the same way Plato perverted the meaning of justice and Mr Blair and his friends are trying ...

You are a Social Liberal (73% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (61% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Chris Huhne today announced that his campaign has now secured the backing of eight Council Leaders from around England. This is more than the other candidates combined.

A fascinating article in The Economist about the crisis in the American healthcare system. Since the US is notorious for its lack of full health coverage (46 million people are left uninsured) then it's not well-known that the US spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world. I'm not au fait with the functioning of healthcare systems, perhaps because I live in a country with a centralised behemoth. T he US system is predominantly employer-based and arose from historic accident. The US government gives tax subsidies to employers who ...

Writer, radio personality, traveller and comedienne Sandi Toksvig has said that she is supporting Chris Huhne to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats. Sandi - novelist, travel writer and lynchpin of many TV and radio shows - believes that only Chris Huhne, of the three candidates, has the qualities the party will need in the coming years.

No, not the Daily Mail doorstepping me again but waiting to have my hair cut gave me a chance to read the Mirror, Sun and Express in the barber's shop. In The Sun an article that referred to 'pop pervert Jonathan King' curiously omitted to mention that the convicted paeodophile is a former Sun columnist. In the Express there was an opinion piece by right-wing commentator Leo McKinstry bemoaning the high salaries paid to local authority chief executives. Ho hum! I am not one who thinks that all criticism of bloated bureaucracies in local council is just right-wing propaganda. And ...

I have just been emailed by Sir Menzies Campbell asking for my support in his leadership campaign. Heaven knows why none of his team pointed out that I was unsuitable for such an approach especially as some of his most loyal Fife Lieutentants not only know where I stand but also know that I am not for turning from Simon. Anyway I'll not diclose the contents of the email nor of my response.

Went to these "unoffical" hustings in Kirkby-in-Ashfield near Nottingham last night. Because the leadership election timetable is a bit more compressed than usual, not all the regions have offical hustings. For most of our region the Coventry hustings would be OK and would be closer for me. But I have a son who is nearly two years-old and Thomas The Tank Engine is at the Great Central Railway on

Chris Huhne's recent interview with BBC Radio Oxford can be heard here.

All sorts of half-truths and plain lies are doing the rounds in the gutter press and broadsheets. Sometimes I think Murdoch has decided to be Witchfinder General trying to destroy the Lib Dems. The time has come to introduce a little Pravda. Myth 1: The Scotsman reports, "Simon Hughes is now out of the running for the Lib Dem leadership after revelations about his sex life, rival Chris Huhne has

It would seem that the manner of Charles Kennedy’s demise has ushered in an open season on Liberal Democrat politicians. In a return to a type of journalism not seen since the dog-days of the Major administration, two men’s private lives have been laid bare for public delectation, with little or no justification that this has been in the public interest. With the exception of some improbable rumours, it is unlikely that Mark Oaten was engaged in anything illegal. Sure, his sexual proclivities may have been, shall we say, and to put it delicately, bloody weird, but were a private ...

I really wish this sort of commentary in this mornings Guardian would stop. The gloves came off in the Liberal Democrat leadership race yesterday as Chris Huhne suggested that his rival Simon Hughes was no longer a serious contender after coverage of his personal life. I did see a really good piece on another Blog yesterday with regard to Chris

Hard to believe, I know, but there used to be a time - only a couple of weeks ago - where I could go whole months without posting about politics, instead filling these pages with reportage, bon mots, raconteurism and other pretentious Gallic words that...

I believe that two things are going to happen in British politics over the next few years.Firstly, when Blair goes there will be a backlash against young, slick media-friendly politicians. Gravitas and dourness will be in, charm and twinkling...

Sir Cyril Townsend the former Conservative MP for Bexleyheath (1974 to 1997) has defected to the Liberal Democrats. Sir Cyril has also announced that he is backing Ming for Leader..

{Peter Black AM} "I am supporting the Reflecting Britain campaign because I believe that the Liberal Democrats need to better reflect the diverse society we live in at all levels." - Peter Black AM

Jonathan Calder adds to my consternation about why Harold Elletson is in the Lib Dems.

I’ve spent the last few days running a workshop in Cardiff. A lot of fun, a lot of ideas, some of which I may talk about here. Haven’t been to The ‘Diff since 1999 and its interesting to see how it has changed, particularly the Bay area. The Millennium Centre in particular impressed me [...]

I don't post often enough about one of the football teams I follow, non-league Kingstonian. The team from Kingsmeadow have a pitch next to the athletics track I used to train at as a student hence the affection I have for them. I also have a tape of the first of their two back-to-back FA Trophy wins. However, the reason I am posting about Kingstonian today was because of one of those quirks of

I was wondering which candidate would be the first to succomb to the temptations of the bar chart. In the end, I was unsurprised to discover it was Simon Hughes on his new (vastly improved) website. It is a shame however that the Hughes Campaign have chosen to endorse data which is statistically meaningless, methodologically [...]

Here's a report. Meanwhile in the Guardian. Chris Huhne suggested that his rival Simon Hughes was no longer a serious contender after coverage of his personal life. The people I have spoken too seem more concerned about the way Simon has slagged off the people who worked so hard to get him elected in the first place. The Sunday Times had some more positive comments on the campaign: There is a debate in the Lib Dems, not spoken of by the media or even leadership candidates, about which course the party should take. It is after Sir Ming ...

Monday 30th January 2006 - caught up on the press coverage and web feedback of the candidates' performance at the first official hustings event in Plymouth at the weekend. Good performances by all three I understand, with Ming cracking a very funny joke at George Galloway's expense. Read the full text of Ming's speech here

The Government has suffered another blow to its ID card proposals with the announcement by Lord Carlile of Berriew that he has changed his mind on the subject and now believes that they will be of 'limited value' in the war on terror. Alex Carlile has worked for some time as the official reviewer and overseer of Britain's anti-terror laws, so his views carry considerable weight. He was previously in favour of ID cards but according to the BBC he has now concluded that they are not needed. He says that they would not have prevented the terror attacks on ...

Oh, for pet's sake ... Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, is to produce detailed codes of conduct telling pet owners how to feed their animals and where they should go to the toilet, along with ways of providing “mental stimulation”... Every domesticated animal will have a code of conduct tailored to their species, each of which is expected to run into dozens of pages... Although any breach of these codes is not an offence in itself, failure to observe elements of the code will count against defendants ...

One of the reasons I am so enthusiastic about Chris Huhne in his bid for the Lib Dem leadership is precisely because he is something new. Obviously there is the fact that he's only been in the hothouse of the Westminster "bubble" for such a short time, and that he would be the first party leader to have served in a parliament we, as Lib Dem, put a lot of store by in the form of the European

Some of what makes Oxford a fantastic place also puts intense pressures on those who live in and use the city. We are rightly precious of both our built and natural environment and heritage. The City Council's current local plan, the document that sets out policies about how they expect Oxford to develop in land use terms, neatly encapsulates some of these pressures: We have about 145,000