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Here you go Will 7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE 1. Finish this off...

There was excellent press coverage of yesterday's events in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. The Times even said what we already knew on the ground that most people agree that Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrat, is the best candidate in this by-election. The message is getting out and there are too many people that I have meet over the last few weeks to name them all here. But more and more people are coming to offer what time they have. Next friday we could have our 63rd MP in place. If can get up to Dunfermline come the atmosphere ...

Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. You may detect echoes of this posting about Bolsover Castle and of half a dozen columns where I have moaned about the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Olympic dreams After our recent alarums and excursions, there is something reassuring about questions on culture, media and sport. You know they are going to be a waste of time. Two Labour backbenchers stood out even amongst Monday’s festival of dross: Natascha Engel and Derek Wyatt. The former has flown beneath the radar of this column up to now. The latter has ...

The latest from No2ID: What you can do As the ID card bill approaches its final stages in the Lords you can help us by: + 1. Lobbying your MP When the ID card bill completes its passage through the House of Lords, the amended bill will return to the House of Commons for another vote so please encourage your MP to vote against the compulsory registration of UK citizens. To lobby your MP go to http://mps.no2id.net/ + 2. Writing to your local paper Personal letters to your MP or the local press ...

was a reminder what gem we've had in our midst all these years. An interesting life, straight talking, no evasion and all told in that wonderful voice. (Which used to drive the vulture voiced Margaret Thatcher berserk with envy, I remember being told.) Pretty good choice of music too. Details of the programme, Shirl's list of music and the chance to listen again to a great programmehere. What

From Dunfermline, where Charles Kennedy is campaigning in the by-election, The Independent reports the following: "Billy Johnston, a former dockyard worker, watched the procession of candidates up and down the high street and said: 'Who's going to vote for an alcoholic and two poofs.' OK... At least Charles is still thoroughly on-message: "It's a two-horse race," said Mr Kennedy. We should just be thankful it's not a straight choice, I suppose. And he clearly hasn't lost the inclination to take a humorous sideswipe at his ever-so-loyal colleagues: "Mr Kennedy was greeted warmly by people. 'I ...

Playing catch-up a bit here, due to an impertinent little cold that's laid me low for the past few days, so apologies for the fact this is posted so long after the event. I wouldn’t want to appear greedy – after all, there’s something so profoundly un-Liberal about it. I’d already been lucky enough to witness the various leadership candidates in person once at Meeting the Challenge and here I was trying to get tickets to the BBC’s Any Questions programme, due to be recorded a very short distance away from where I live. I ummed and aahed for ...

No, not more about this week’s remarkable triple news shocks on religion and freedom of speech; I’ve inscribed my name in The Book of the Damned and followed a link from more than one blog there to the slightly less daft than usual ‘politics test’ at www.ok.cupid.com (though it could do with a UK version). “You are a: Social Liberal (76% permissive) and an: Economic Liberal (33% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.” Well, that’s a surprise to no-one (I was never ...

Just listened to the latest podcast from Recess Monkey and Guido Fawkes, they’ve clearly had a couple, which improves things. Recess Monkey rightly points out that it’s extremely odd for a Departmental Press Office (DFES) to issue a denial of their SoS being in the family way (Ruth Kelly). Most curious… It’s pretty accepted that everyone in DFES hates Ruth Kelly; maybe the press officers are being egged on to be rather more cavalier than usual? Anyone want to give them a ring on Monday and ask what Ruth thinks about the Government pushing rubber johnnies in Africa?

The leadership contenders have all signed up to the Reflecting Britain Campaign - now is the time to get down to the specifics. Talk about organizing events at the speed of light - a 'Special' Leadership Hustings has been arranged in London by the Ethnic Minority Election Task Force (EMETF) which is expected to attract media attention. The letter from the Chair being circulated: Dear Colleague This is to advise you that there is to be a ‘Special’ Leadership Hustings to specifically address the ...

Friday 3rd February 2006 - Sir Menzies Campbell MP called into Liverpool to meet members today during a whirlwind visit to the North West region. It was a good opportunity for some local media interviews as well while also providing an opportunity to update Ming on how well the canvassing was going on Merseyside. Dinner with Simon Hughes MP again this evening, the second time in a week, hope

Chris Huhne today announced that his campaign is offsetting all of its carbon emissions. Chris announced today, at his manifesto launch, that he will be using an environmental company called Climate Care to minimise the effect of his campaign on the environment.

For those of you who, like me, need to assuage their guilt at not going to help out at the North Fife and Dunfermline by-election, the party is having a donation drive to fill the coffers with cash for the last few days of the campaign. You can even download a film if you need further [...]

Since I posted this morning, acres of newsprint and bandwidth have been turned over to these Danish cartoons. The European newspapers were entirely within their rights to publish and should not have been prevented from doing so. There is no point in free speech if only popular, unthreatening things can be published or said. Which is why Karen Armstrong is kinda missing the point when she

In response to a recent letter in the Oxford Mail... I believe Alan Page (1st Feb) is completely wrong on drugs, though I am probably in a minority. Prohibition, especially of something addictive, is mad. It makes criminals of people who literally who would go to the shady man in the darkened windowed BMW to get a supply of unknown quality or strength if your local pharmacist or nightclub were

David Duff and I have been exchanging views on the use of social science gobbledegook. I thought this would amuse. Thanks to Harry's Place for the link. I've never actually read any Chomsky. From the looks of these cartoons, this may be a good thing. For the sake of completeness, here's a link to the Sokal Affair.

My tuppence worth on the "cartoon" issue.I will defend the right of the newspapers/tv to print/show the cartoons, but I also believe in responsible use of free speech. Its a right that has been hard fought for, so it needs to be used carefully, just so that some nanny state doesn't come along and rob us of it (pretty much as the "religious hate law" may have done).I don't personally think the cartoons are bad taste (they were on C4). They are certainly crude in their ideas. In tolerating others beliefs, I don't think responsible reporting should self censure because ...

Earlier this week we learned of a Labour press release from Home Office minister Hazel Blears blaming Watford Borough Council for a recent outbreak of criminal and anti-social behaviour on the town’s Sherwoods estate. Youths have started congregating in a local subway and a few weeks ago they drove a car there and torched it! According to Ms Blears the local authority by not installing CCTV, rather than the young people themselves, is responsible. It may surprise some that the minister is able to take time out from her busy job to comment on a relatively small issue in a ...

OK. Well, in the interests of full disclosure, I should say from the outset that I am a Hughes supporter, and that if you go to his campaign website you will in fact see my name in the list of supporters. That said, what I want to explore is why I have arrived at this decision. The place to start for a look at this contest is, I would say, a look at the party's position. We have come out of the last election with a strong but simmultaneously disappointing position. The Lib Dems won extra votes for their ...

Chris Huhne’s leadership manifesto is available to read here (pdf format) and you can read an interview with him about his policies here.

For those of you haven’t seen it, it’s viewable online here. Those of you who are also members of Outpost Gallifrey may also wish to watch it because of the presence of Adam Rickitt on the panel as well. Will has already blogged his opinions on it and I’ve found a couple of other interesting reactions [...]

Not sure Hughes chose the best ending to his interview on the Today programme this morning. He basically said he's the only option if you don't want a safe pair of hands, or inexperience.

Perhaps oddly for a political animal, I don't usually watch Question Time. My other half does, but I find that I'm either too sleepy to start watching it or that, when I do, I shout too much at the screen. As there's a Liberal Democrat leadership contest on at the moment and I remain undecided between the three candidates, I've broken my habit recently and started watching it again to see if Chris, Ming or Simon's performances enthuse me into a commitment. As it happens, I thought Chris Huhne was fairly impressive last night - best on the first question, ...

I am delighted that Chris Huhne today (Friday 3rd Feb) launched his leadership manifesto at a Social Economy Organisation. I talked about this kind of organisation in an earlier post hoping to stimulate some thought in the party on how this kind of initiative fits in with modern Liberalism. Chris has taken all this several steps further. If I had been hesitant about my first preference vote, Chris would have swung it for me this morning. Great leadership here. For too long the idea of ‘enterpreneurship’ has been annexed by the ideological right. Lets liberate it and see what all ...

So Chris Huhne's manifesto is out. I was waiting for this point to look at the issue of eco taxes in more detail and contrast Chris with Ming. I don't mean to suggest that policy is the main factor when choosing a leader - it isn't - so it is a little self-indulgent of me to focus on policy. On the other hand if there are signs of an ability to construct a compelling narrative that would be a big

Gosh, my first blog post. I'd love to say it was about swimming, but sadly I've got out of the habit of that (and rather out of condition). So, hello to anyone reading it, and welcome in. I thought I'd start with a nice one, as I have a curious feeling some of my posts may turn out to be rather intemperate...

We live in a world where you can type the word ‘Islam’ into Google and receive well over 51 million pages of information. Some of them are not going to take a favourable view of this faith, some of them are going to be openly hostile to its belief systems and some of them are going to just make fun of it as a religion. That is an unavoidable inevitability of the modern world. No belief can go unchallenged, and no faith can go unmocked. Today, people anywhere on Earth, people can see what everyone else thinks. It is absolutely ...

I notice in today's Metro that Congress has voted to drop cotten subsidies and tariffs. Hopefully this will lead to more cutting of subsidy and even to the EU taking a more positive line on abolishing CAP. Free trade is one of the greatest means to help people out of poverty, and one of the best ways to ensure peace and stability. It is of course hypoctritical of us to ask developing countries to

Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Chris Huhne has this morning launched his leadership manifesto. The manifesto is titled "ideas - leadership - experience". The launch took place at the Wembley workshop of Green-Works, a social enterprise project which renovates office furniture for resale. There is a link to the manifesto below:

See here. Haven’t read it yet, but this line grabbed my attention: I will not be a bridge to the future, because I am ambitious for our party now. Exactly.

Karl von Clausewitz' book "On War" provided the German High Command in the 19th century with a strategic maxim: "War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means". Thus the German high command prosecuted brief and rapid wars: with Denmark, then Austria and finally culminating in the humiliation of France in 1870. Eventually the willingness of the High Command to risk war led to the catastrophic miscalculation of 1914. Post Imperial Russia seems to have new maxim: Business is the continuation of Politics by other means. This has led to a new, more twisted form of Russian ...

Anyone else this morning amazed to hear Rick Astley on the Today programme this morning? I thought he was either dead, or exposed as a slowed down version of Kylie. Apparently he now has a 14 year old daughter. Fourteen? I feel so old!

I had an extremely vivid dream this morning which revealed to me that most Lib Dem MPs - and by extension most of Westminster - were regular users of crystal meth. I am fervently hoping I haven’t acquired the power of prophecy (although it would be nice to have fatwas called on people who drew rude [...]

Chris Huhne today launches his leadership manifesto: "ideas - leadership - experience". The launch takes place at the Wembley workshop of Green-Works, a social enterprise project which renovates office furniture for resale. Green-Works champions environmental action and social justice, two themes which are the basis of Chris's policies in the leadership race.

Chris Huhne today launches his leadership manifesto: "ideas - leadership - experience". The launch takes place at the Wembley workshop of Green-Works, a social enterprise project which renovates office furniture for resale. Green-Works champions environmental action and social justice, two themes which are the basis of Chris's policies in the leadership race.

There’s an excellent leader in today’s theguardian about them thar cartoons. While I value freedom of speech and right to cause offence, I agree with the article that this doesn’t include an obligation to cause offence - so there’s no chance of me putting the images online here in solidarity. People who are offended by these [...]

I think Will’s discovered the Campbell campaign using irregular verbs, in this case the rather arcane construction ‘I come to conclusions based on my experience and gravitas, you use instinct more than reason, he is a naive populist’. Also, see what James has to say about black propaganda, and don’t forget to read the comments there [...]

Simon was on the Today programme this morning. If you missed the interview, you can listen again online.

There seems to be getting to be a pattern of Ministers denying that they are responsible for Silent Calls. First we had the Chancellor saying "The Treasury Does not use predictive dialling". OK so that was a true statement, but it ignored the fact that the Inland Revenue made hundreds of thousands of Silent Calls. Now we have the health minister claiming that that department is not responsible

BBC Wales is going large on Rhodri Morgan's embarrassing performance on Question Time last night. This was a UK-wide TV programme being broadcast from Aberystwyth and featuring the First Minister of Wales. It was an opportunity to show off the best of Welsh democracy, instead we got a vacillating Labour veteran who would not venture an opinion on the key issue of the day let alone offer any leadership. Rhodri's argument that he would not comment on whether we should have gone to war with Iraq because it is outside his range of competence as a non-MP did not stop ...

Overheard in a pub last night. Tawny Owls, the speaker (by now on his fifth pint of the black stuff) opined further, are wimps.

I don’t usually watch Question Time, but I’ve been tuning in recently as each of the LibDem leadership contenders have taken turns on the panel. (Next week will see a debate between all three.) Last night, it was Chris Huhne’s turn so I was particularly interested, and expectant. I wasn’t disappointed. He was calm, collected and [...]

There is an interesting piece in the Independent today, which ends with a quote from an e-mail from Anna Werrin, who ran the leader’s office in the Kennedy days. It was a leak of an Anna Werrin e-mail to the same newspaper that put one of the first nails in Mark Oaten’s leadership coffin. The only question [...]

Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats are currently advertising for their Parliamentary Candidate for the next General Election. I see Shrewsbury and Atcham as a key seat for the Liberal Democrats in the West Midlands, even if it is not won next time it is certainly one we should be looking to gain in the future. Their advert, which will appear in Liberal Democrat News is below:

An excellent post by Essex Moonlight. I've read the introduction of Britons which argues that Britain was a marriage of convenience between Wales, Scotland and England. British nationalism was defined, not by similarities, but in opposition to the 'Other'. Britain was predominantly Protestant (with the exception of Ireland which was treated like a colony) and 'the Other' was Catholic France.

Welcome to the three Liberal Democrat women MEPs who have declared their support for Ming Campbell to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats. This now means that eight of the party’s twelve MEPs are backing Ming Campbell’s leadership campaign. Yorkshire MEP Diana Wallis, former leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs, Fiona Hall from the [...]

Welcome to the fifth Ming Campbell campaign podcast. In this interview, the UK’s youngest MP, Jo Swinson, explains why she is backing Ming to lead the Liberal Democrats. Download and listen to the Jo Swinson podcast (MP3, 699kB) If you don’t know what a podcast is, don’t worry. Just select the link above, and if your computer [...]

Neil Stockley has written a great article on the Meeting the Challenge website about developing the Lib Dems’ narrative. He makes a lot of important points and I would urge everyone to study it. This brings me back to my earlier post about narrative, and the point that the party’s narrative will be largely dependent [...]