LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Just to show that, like Fox News, I am fair and balanced; here's a beauty from the New Statesman .

This comes into the ‘if anyone knows it, they’ll most likely be a blogger’ territory - Chris Huhne was on Question Time tonight, and he’ll also be on it next week when it’s a Liberal Democrat leadership special. How many other people (Day, Sissons and Dimbleby aside) have ever been on it for two weeks [...]

I had a meeting at the Town Hall this evening (Group Officers meeting - I'm only a member because I'm a Local Party Chair) and, having had a pleasant chat afterwards, decided to attend the meeting for new council candidates, taking place downstairs. The intention was to have an introduction on the role and responsibilities of councillors, followed by a short briefing on the borough and a Q A

It's hardly the Shropshire Star, but I have taken to looking at the Hemel Hempstead Gazette site. Amongst other things, it has some good local history pages. This one looks at Hemel in 1973, which particularly interests me as that is the year I left the town and moved to Leicestershire. And one item stands out: Herbert Christopher of the Hemel Hempstead Amateur Dramatic Society declared that the town needed a theatre. He said: "What a terrible thing it is to confess that a town beginning to approach 80,000 people does not possess its own theatre." HHAODS went ...

As you may have seen on the Reflecting Britain site, or deduced from the new campaign button on our website (just below the one telling you how to help in the Dunfermline by-election), Ming Campbell has signed Reflecting Britain’s Leader’s Challenge, answered their four questions and added his own personal perspective as follows: I fully support [...]

As you may have seen there was quite a lot of media attention in Dunfermeline and West Fife, especially as Charles Kennedy was back on the campaign trail, along quite a large number of Liberal Democrat MPs and activists. Well I was there. In fact as I was leaving the campaign HQ Willie Rennie's agent handed me the campaign camera and asked to me to get as many pictures as I could. Now normally

How long does Sir Menzies Campbell think our troops should be in Iraq? Just over a year ago, he co-wrote this article in The Times, calling for occupying forces to aim for withdrawal in what was a year’s time - around now. Under the headline “Our troops must quit Iraq when the UN mandate ends in [...]

Andrew Pierce's story in The Times, which I discussed earlier this evening, makes free use of the term "Orange Bookers" to describe the ambitious group of MPs supporting the Campbell campaign. But that is nonsense. The Orange Book authors included Mark Oaten, and he always intended to stand for the leadership himself. They also include Steve Webb, who is supporting Simon Hughes, Susan Kramer, who is supporting Chris Huhne, and Huhne himself. It was notable that another of the authors, Paul Marshall, was reported - again by The Times - to be ready to withdraw his funding from the party ...

Today I found about that there is another opportunity to petition on the Crossrail Bill. This is because amendments are still being made. My apologies to Mr Haque and others reading my post below: point 1 states that all petitioning is over, as I got my facts wrong. The Lib Dems have called an Emergency Meeting of Full Council to debate Crossrail before the deadline of February...

I fail to see how the BNP leader and his colleague could be acquitted but there you go its a funny old world If the BNP leader is not a racist and is not guilty of stirring up racial hatred then (presumably) he should resign as the Leader of the BNP for failing to lead his party!!

Well, the campaign continues apace. I've even bought a Huhne T-Shirt from Ryan's site! But to write on a more serious level, the contest still seems to be a close one. Chris's best chance is to edge Simon Hughes into third place, and then get enough of Simon's supporter's second preferences to win by what would probably be a narrow margin. A lot of the discussion during the campaign has been on

There have been some interesting stories in today's press. The ePolitix site quotes a Simon Hughes interview with the Evening Standard where Hughes complains that Sir Menzies Campbell was planning his leadership campaign before Charles Kennedy resigned. The story ends: He said Sir Menzies had been planning his campaign at the same time as publicly pledging loyalty to Kennedy. "As soon as Charles went, Ming declared within minutes and clearly there was a campaign ready to take off," Hughes told the London Evening Standard. "I had not anticipated Charles going, never wanted that to happen and had not made ...

In an exciting day for Simon Hughes' leadership campaign, Simon has launched his agenda for fairness to a capacity crowd in Bristol. He will be on the Today programme tomorrow morning.

I think the first TV I saw that could be classed as possibly offensive to a religious group was Me Mammy This was back in the late 60s . It featured Milo O'Shea an Irishman in the UK, frequently frustrated by his mother's interference in his life. It also cocked a snook at the Catholic Church - I dimly remember one episode where they were playing a (board game called Popeopoly. Of course ,

So this chap in Chicago goes on Ebay and says I'm an atheist, but for each $10 I will .... (found via Marginal Revolution) ... and this chap's own blog is here

As if the battering the Danish economy has taken from Middle-East wide boycott of Lurpak wasn’t enough, armed goons are now intent on bullying representatives of our beloved EU in Gaza. I would have thought Palestinians had more important things to get stroppy about, still it brings a fresh twist to the idiom 'publish and be damned' I suppose. Would it be awfully undiplomatic of me to suggest they all just grow up a bit…as my colleague and self-confessed ‘lazy Muslim’ commented today “why give a shit”?

A blog I read regularly has the following comment on the moral problems of lying: I can’t see any rationale for saying something that isn’t true. Plus it’s against the 10 commandments. I’m not religious, but let’s face it, that moral code was written for a reason – it makes sense. The first commandment is: "I am the Lord your God" (as anyone who remembers the first episode of West Wing will remember). Readers with a more biblical grounding will know that commandments two and three involve not taking God's name in vain and keeping the sabbath: the first ...

{Baroness Kishwer Falkner} Unless we improve representation from diverse candidates in this party, we risk looking white, pale and male. I don't want to give our supporters the impression that we do not care, as we obviously do. But we now need to translate talking the talk into walking the walk. Let's go for it.

The problem with “hatred laws” is that if you start handing out prosecutions like sweets, there is a genuine possibility that you might end up giving the Bad Guys a propaganda coup. Case in point. I had a horrible feeling this case was going to go badly months ago. Prosecuting someone for saying that [...]

Yesterday's Plenary was the last to be held in the old chamber. From Tuesday we are to be ensconced in altogether more salubrious surroundings. Naturally, this drew comment throughout the day as members told us what they would miss most about the place and what they were looking forward to. Caerphilly Labour AM, Jeff Cuthbert, was not sure whether to weep or to jump for joy. He has been stuck behind a pillar ever since he was elected in 2003. As a result he has often had to endure a restricted view of his fellow AMs. On the plus side ...

I must admit to have been taken aback by the ageism of so many people who have attacked Ming Campbell. Sometimes they overtly say "He is too old", sometimes they are more coded: "it is an image thing". Personally I can only think that it is a symptom of the irrational obsession with youth that everyone seems to deride in others and ignore in themselves. In the US, Ronald Reagan was 70 when he became President for the first time. John McCain- a leading candidate for the 2008 election would be 72 on taking office for the first time. In ...

Simon Mollan has clarified his assertion that eco-taxes are "sackcloth". Oddly, however, the arguments he goes on to make are about social justice, not prosperity in general. Yes, pensioners, students and unemployed people will be hit by fuel taxes. Perhaps there will be specifics in the Huhne manifesto as to whether all these groups will be compensated. Even so there will be winners and losers,

Now that a court has decided that Nick Griffin - full-time Cambridge graduate and leader of the BNP - is not guilty of race hate, I can only assume that he will come under considerable pressure from members to resign. Is he qualified for the job? An important question. After all, if the BNP are not racist, what do they stand for? Have the members been mis-led? The investigation into the BNP was carried out by an undercover journalist, Jason Gwynne, who... ...infiltrated the BNP with the help of a mole. What kind of mole? I find the idea ...

I have held the view for several years that Ming Campbell is one of the pre-eminent opposition politicians in this country. His articulation of the case against the war in Iraq was brilliant. But there have been very many other causes that he has fought with clarity and power. From a personal point of view, Ming [...]

James Graham has noted: Simon Mollan has dismissed Chris’ environmental policies as “sackcloth wearing,” yet appears oblivious to the fact that every pound Chris proposes to raise through eco-taxes would be offset by a rise in personal allowance. This is tax cuts and a real incentive to change behaviour.I’m not oblivious; I am unconvinced. Here’s why: First, I am assuming that when Huhne talks of eco-taxes he refers to taxes on fuel consumption. If he does not then his policy is a canard (though it is rather fleshless at the moment, so who knows what kind of bird ...

Steve Guy: Reflecting Britain After putting my head up over the parapit the other week, I had plan to avoid doing so again so soon. However Steven Guy in my view seems to focus more on the real issue in his blog. Its not just having more candidates, we need to appeal to the ethnic minority community as a whole for votes, members and support. I would also add that we need to appeal to young people as well of every gender, orientation, social background and race. In Susannes Blog she posts a comment from ...

Chris Huhne has signed up the the leadership challenge set by the "Reflecting Britain" campaign at www.reflectingbritain.org.uk/leaders-challenge/. The campaign believes that Parliament, and the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in particular, needs to better reflect the diversity that can be found within 21st Century Britain. More than a half of the population is female and just under 10 per cent of the public is from an ethnic minority, yet just 20 per cent of MPs are women and 15 MPs (2%) are members of ethnic minorities.

Last week, blogger Steve Guy pondered his moral dilemma about whether to support the Reflecting Britain campaign. Steve has now made up his mind, and we are delighted to have his support: I think the Reflecting Britain initiative is a genuine attempt to focus more attention on our failure to get more female and ethnic minority [...]

As the theme tune to Enterprise (spit) says, it’s been a long time. But now, my friends, it returns: the best bits from the latest Dewey Decimal subject mappings. Longest number: Segedunum Roman Fort Site (Wallsend, England) - 623.19362879 Geekiest number: Reverse mathematics - 511.3 What the Tories do want/don’t want/who knows for the public services - Creative [...]

It was not just the chamber where things were getting heated yesterday. Behind the scenes those opposition members who were in the know were outraged at the way that normal practice was cast aside for apparently vindictive reasons. As in the House of Commons there is a convention in the Assembly that when a Labour member is unavoidably absent and has a good reason for being so, then the opposition will 'pair' one of their members with him or her, so as not to gain an unfair voting advantage. This week, the Labour AM, Tamsin Dunwoody, was away ...

{LibDemBlogs} Looks like a rogue blog is crashing the build script. Until I get home to run some tests, you might find the site not updating itself as often as it should.

After much soul searching, I decided that, on balance, I should support the initiative. I do believe in the importance of getting more people into government from all sections of our society. I think the Reflecting Britain initiative is a genuine attempt to focus more attention on our failure to get more female and ethnic minority candidates - and for that reason I applaud it. But I would also like to see the campaign focus on why we fail to attract more grass roots activists from ethnic minority backgrounds, for it is from the local activists that the politicians of ...

Stephen and Jonathan have tagged me with this. By filling it in, I become an Adherent of the Repeated Meme. I keep changing my mind on some of the answers. Best to post, I think, or I’ll just keep amending them… 7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE Run a marathon, but I would die. So: lose weight Work [...]

let’s call the whole thing off. As an aside, Simon Hughes is actually visiting Portsmouth today, but that’s not the point )

I’ve never read it, but: Bye-bye, Smash Hits.

Being something of a future techie, I was fascinated by this article in the Guardian. Madeleine Bunting says that the future she's "outlined... [is]the most benign" she could imagine? Do I think it is? Yes... and no... I'm certainly not convinced by: The other thing that concerns us is that many of the children in my grandchild's school have had much better enhancement programmes.... she'll be

Chris Huhne is steadily showing that he has the momentum to win the Leadership of the Liberal Democrats. Only a little over a week ago he was being dismissed as a rank outsider. Now he is firmly established in second place by most commentators and is amassing supporters from all parts of the Liberal Democrat electorate.

Chris Huhne will launch his campaign manifesto at Green-Works in Wembley on Friday. Outlining the key themes of his campaign to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats, the manifesto will also be available on-line from Friday at 11am at www.chris2win.org.

As part of our new drive to encourage people to consider applying to get on the Lib Dem’s approval list, we’d like your feedback. What are the most rewarding aspects of going through the process and being a candidate? What are the greatest challenges? What hints and tips would you give to people thinking of applying? Please add [...]

…thanking Liverpool for the warm welcome while standing in the middle of Leeds. For some reason it springs to mind when reading this story from The Herald: Asked about the comments, Sir Menzies, the acting leader, was typically restrained as he skewered his rival. “Anyone who was in Portsmouth on Saturday, when we had a good-tempered and [...]

Thursday 2nd February 2006 - Have been canvassing members and colleagues this week to get them to support Ming's campaign in the leadership election and am getting some very positive feedback. There is a lot of support and sympathy for Simon among colleagues as well but many feel Ming is the best choice and a lot of people saying are they do not know enough about Chris Huhne. Many are waiting

According to the Paul Keetch MP website www.paulkeetch.org.uk Sir Menzies Campbell came out as the favourite in a party ballot to succeed Charles Kennedy as Leader of the Liberal Democrats at a recent Hereford Liberal Democrat gathering.

A busy few days at Watford Borough Council, during which time we have, among other things, passed a budget with a 1 per cent council tax increase - which will probably prove one of the lowest in the country. So I didn't manage to comment on the vote in the House of Commons on the Religious Hatred Bill and now other Lib Dem bloggers have said it all! One of the particularly unpleasant characteristics of New Labour is sanctimonious humbug. So they promote a measure that was quite obviously designed purely to win back to Labour Muslim voters who ...

I am still pondering the question of how to vote in the leadership election. I guess the matter is not yet pressing as I have a few weeks before I have to make my final decision and as we all know a week is a long time in politics and a lot can happen between now and then. I can see strengths and weaknesses for all three candidates. I have spoken to supporters of Ming, Chris and Simon who have all made strong arguments for their candidate. Maybe I should draw up a table, list the factors ...

The one thing that had been missing for the Liberal Democrat Leadership contest until the last couple of days has been the policy or at least the guiding principles behind the candidates. It has actually been difficult to find some of these statements - thanks for James Graham and his blog for pointing me in the right direction in his post "Finally, some meat" which said "At long last, the leadership election is starting bring out real issues, with both Ming Campbell and Chris Huhne starting to develop their policy stalls. Simon Hughes meanwhile is still stuck in willy waving ...

I prefer George Osborne to Cameron (or he photographs well anyway - he didn't look particularly sexy on Channel 4 News). But it's all about recognition, which is why no one was voting for the genuinely dreamy Nick Clegg whom I have no doubt would be far more engaging company on a date than either Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom (for starters...). Ever seen a romantic comedy where a woman falls for

It seems that we have someone who thinks that whispering to the press (see Times articles here and here) is a way of influencing the leadership contest. Our loose-tongued friend alleges that Chris Huhne agreed with Ming not to stand against him. This is true, but Huhne asked Campbell if he could be released from that agreement. Campbell said yes - fair enough. Then our jealous one whispered that Huhne had 'only just become an environmentalist'. Please, put your claws away. Had you wanted to stand for the leadership, you should have done so. Sniping at someone else who had ...

Surely this is a deliberate attempt to undermine Ming’s campaign? The backstabbers of Charles Kennedy going around calling people traitors? Secret handshakes? My guess is the source of this piece is very much a non-Oranger Booker (most people accept that, insults aside, there is no such thing), probably a Simon Hughes supporter who has [...]

All three Liberal Democrat leadership contenders have accepted the Reflecting Britain leadership challenge and pledged to support the party’s Gender Balance and Ethnic Minority Election Task Forces. Chris Huhne commented: “I have made the equalities issue – for women, ethnic minorities and the gay community – a key priority of my campaign. I was the only candidate [...]

Yes, Iraq, of Arms and the Man, ‘what is what’, and what should be done about ‘what is what’. As the most considerable Parliamentary political organisation originally opposed to the Iraq adventure we have a responsibility to carry forwards the debate in dangerous times. And new decisions have to be made urgently. The UN Mandate for coalition forces in Iraq come up for renewal in June 2006. What, as a party, will we recommend? This will be a key early decision for our new leadership team. Not surprisingly, the issue as emerged in our leadership election. We need to ...

Pink Dog, the outside contender for the Lib Dem leadership, has just launched the world’s first dog-cast. It’s innovative, you’ve got to give her that. Though it may be the amount of time she’s spent in Dunfermline, I think her dog cast sounds distinctly Scottish.