LibDem Blogs - Archived!

by Steve Travis Perhaps an unwise title given recent events. Have no fear - this isn't a confession, but a take on the Independent on Saturday Magazine's questionaire. And while we're at it, why not make it a meme? I drive/ride ... a Saab 9-5 Aero Estate. Practical, but fun; and more fuel efficient the quicker you drive. If I have time to myself ... I write letters. Nothing beats the physicallity of handwritten correspondence. You wouldn't know it but I'm good at ... making game pie. Port being the secret ingredient! ...

I met a Thal today. Well, all right, today I visited Tenth Planet, one of the best little shops in Britain, to meet an actress who in 1964 played a Thal in ‘The Daleks’, the second Doctor Who story. It’s just been released on DVD in Doctor Who: The Beginning, a superb three-DVD set of material that’s 42 years old yet still some of the most startling and imaginative television ever produced, and actress Virginia Wetherell was signing to promote it. In Troy McClure style, you may remember her from such films as A Clockwork Orange and Dr Jekyll and ...

A quick round up the Council meetings which I attended this week. Monday 30 January was the Area Forum for Lewisham Central, Blackheath and Lee Green wards. Began with a presentation by the developers and discussion on the plans for regenerating Lewisham town centre. Then a general Q&A session. Perhaps because the meeting was in the Pentecostal Church on Lee High Road, on the border of Lee Green and Blackheath, it tended to be people and issues from those wards which dominated the discussion. Although inevitable Ladywell Pool came up, and I said my piece, ...

have called for an end to the slaughter of Wales following their 47-13 drubbing by England. I listened to the last uproarious ten minutes on Radio Five Live but sadly could not join in the chorus of Swing Low Sweet Chariot as the occasion deserved, being at the time in Newry High Street.

Disgraceful scenes in Syria: can their authorities really do nothing to prevent a national Embassy being razed to the ground? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4681294.stm

Much as I’d love to take President Bush’s ‘addicted to oil’ remark at face value – more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and so on – I notice most of the headlines missed that it was only in the context of dependence on foreign oil. I used to watch Dallas in the ‘80s and it never struck me as a model of environmental sustainability. “Woof!” “Market! Heel!” John Prescott has decided of his own free will to back the government’s education ‘reforms’ after all. Shocker. I’m still mulling over a temperate response to the illiberal mush that ...

Apparently, there is no truth in the rumour that Egypt's refusal to allow George Galloway to enter their country has anything to do with the ancient Egyptians' love of cats.

Something like 18 months after Labour ex-Councillor Tony Kennedy pushed Jim Pendleton into a wall at the Prince of Wales pub in Moseley the Judge has now produced a judgement in the "Malicious Falsehood" case brought against Lib Dem Councillor Martin Mullaney for sending an email saying "Tony Kennedy is going to be Arrested." As a sort of Small Claims version of Libel none of the outcome is

You know, when I first started Quaequam Blog! 1.0, one of my objectives, such as I had them, was to tease out the intersections of politics and comics. Over the past two years I have to say I’ve found myself getting less interested in comics - I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find anything [...]

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 ...

I almost wish I'd been a law student in Iran insted of the UK. Rather than endless Denning dissenting I could have been memorising the words of Iran's charming Chief Prosecutor, Morteza Moqtadie, who said: "Any Muslim who hears an insult to the prophet must kill the person who commits the insult. It is better that those closest to that person try to kill him first"Crazy fella, crazy country!!!

The Ethnic Minority Election Task Force have called a ‘Special’ Leadership Hustings to specifically address the issue of how the Leadership Contenders intend to move forward the agenda of making Liberal Democrats more appealing to ethnic minorities. They also want to hear their views on what they intend to do to ensure we have [...]

The old phrase "We're all socialists now" is still almost true, although the overt planning of 'hot' socialism has been abandoned, the collectivism at the heart is alive and well. On 'The Week In Westminster' just now the Chairman of the Tory Cornerstone Group saying that the Tories are moving away from individualism which he characterised as uncaring materialism. This is the fallacy of Plato, he

Willie Rennie and his team are campaigning hard to beat Labour in the Dunfermline and West Fife. They need another £10,000 to be raised by 9pm on Sunday. You can help Willie’s campaign by going in person to the Dunfermline by-election HQ or by making a donation now. Ming will be in Dunfermline again on the eve [...]

Suzanne Lamido has asked me to publicise a special hustings of all three Liberal Democrat leadership candidates to be held at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London on February 14th 2006, at 6.30 pm. The objective is to specifically address the issue of how the Leadership Contenders intend to move forward the agenda of making Liberal Democrats more appealing to ethnic minorities. It is also to hear their views on what they intend to do to ensure we have proper ethnic minority representation in Parliament and on local councils across the country in order to reflect the diverse culture ...

Not for the first time opponents of government plans to change the Assembly's voting system have said that they are considering challenging the moves under the European Convention on Human Rights. They may well have a case and I hope that they are successful. After all the fact that Peter Hain gave the statement 'In my view the provisions of the Government of Wales Bill are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights' does not amount to an authorative rebuttal of these claims. Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel that if one went onto the streets and ...

Whilst Chris Huhne was stranded by freezing fog, 200 miles from his manifesto launch, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Lembit Öpik, made an offer that is guaranteed to send a chill down the back of any politician: Mr Opik said his flight offer extended to the other two candidates: "Air Lembit is just a phone call away." It is not that I am calling his pilot skills into doubt it is just that all this talk of the 'curse of Lembit' inevitably makes a politician nervous. Seriously, though it is a very generous offer. I just hope ...

My Leadership Poll after 412 votes has CHRIS HUHNE  184  (44.7%) +1.1*  MENZIES CAMPBELL  137  (33.3%) -1.1*  SIMON HUGHES  91  (22.1%) -0.1*  * change since last weekend

We’re sitting up watching The Avengers: The Superlative Seven on BBC4, and my, it’s fantastic. It begins and ends with the most gorgeously frivolous ‘shooting’ you’ll ever see, and in between does a remarkably sinister take on And Then There Were None. Though bursting with guest actors like Donald Sutherland and a quietly menacing Brian Blessed, Patrick Macnee steals it utterly, turning in an instant from fey to dangerous. We both laughed for sheer pleasure when instead of driving himself to his appointment he arrives standing upright in Mrs Peel’s Lotus wearing the full rig of an 18th Century general. ...