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Good news from North Yorkshire. The county council has turned down a application from Tarmac to increase its quarrying operations near Thornborough Henges. Thornborough Henges? All you could want to know here.

Revere at Effectmeasure gives a brief but compelling account of the social and economic results of a flu pandemic. Read here. The Sunday Sermonettes are a pretty good materialist counterblast, too. The term atheist doesn't work: how can you not believe in something that doesn't exist? It's beeen a long day in the paint fumes, maybe the logic is worse than usual.

We await the Iraqi foreign minister coming to Northern Ireland to bang Adams and Paisley's heads together. Now that is an event I would pay good money to see.

Prince Charles appears to be embarrassed that it’s come out he’s been meddling in politics. Apparently he doesn’t expect to be held to account. Well, colour me stunned. According to tonight’s Channel 4 News, he bombards MPs and ministers with ‘advice’ (while never replying to anyone else’s letters, as if only his opinions count), seeing himself as a “dissident” there to fight the political consensus and, presumably, any views later than the Nineteenth Century. Here’s a thought – why not stop trying to order the government about in secret, stop loafing about waiting to be King and stand for election ...

I believe Menzies Campbell is the best person to take the Party forward. I have known Campbell since his student days. When fellow Glasgow University students John Smith, Donald Dewar and Derry Irvine were honing their skills with the prospect of sound careers in the Labour Party, Ming - like me in the safer pastures of [...]

What on earth were the Bedfordshire police thinking when they detained and interrogated an award winning group of actors? They had just returned from an award ceremony in where their film “The Road to Guantanamo” had won a “Silver Bear” award at the Berlin Film Festival. Ironically, the film is about young British citizens who were [...]

Dragging my gaze for a moment away from the leadership campaign, an ICM poll in today’s Grauniad has the Lib Dems back up to 21%, the same level as before this little episode began, with the Tories on 37% and Labour on 34%. Together with the Dunfermline result, this is a good reminder of how easy [...]

Both the Scotsman and Herald in Scotland have given positive reviews to Chris Huhne following the Edinburgh hustings. The Herald in particular noted the warm reception given to Chris at the hustings and the wide support he has received from MSPs.

Via Guido, I find that the Campbell Campaign has bought David Cameron. Just type it into Google and see what comes up!

The decision by Israel to freeze payment of customs and tax receipts to the Palestinian Authority in response to the election of Hamas is both rational and sensible. Since Israel and the international community are united and correct to demand that Hamas renounce violence and recognise Israel’s right to exist, the question is how best this can be achieved. By withdrawing payments now, Israel have ensured that the coercive method of state-funding is firmly set as “carrot” (resumption of payment) rather than “stick” (threat of withdrawal). Hamas now have a simple choice – behave properly and the Palestinians will get ...

according to the BBC and an anguished Daily Mail (and no the gobshites don't get a link). When we get over 50% will maggot-eating hacks stop referring to us as illegitimate? Are we becoming the bastards who will grind you down?

So no reply from Simon in the e-hustings as yet. I was hoping he might assuage some of my fears about him as a leader. I would rather like to know what he means by 'redistribution', because it is a term too close to socialism for my liking (but has interpretations I would support) I also wanted to know what he feels about being termed 'on the left of the party' and what that means to him. I

Last week the government rattled sabres at Birmingham and said they would hold back £3 Million of NRF funding until a couple of tasks (which were underway and previously agreed, had been completed). Two Labour MPs immediately slammed the City Council. The responsibility for these tasks lies with the BSP Programme Board which is chaired by David Cragg who is the regional Chief Executive of the

No sooner have I written a dirge about parenting and women than this appears and makes my blood boil. It's unsubtly advancing an agenda and I'm not convinced by it. It's unquantifiable - all 'more and more twentysomething women' and 'increasing numbers of women' (each with a interview sample of one). I accept that there are women who genuinely "earn money to have a good time, but... [are not]

In today's Guardian, Alan Milburn tries to claim the newly-trendy mantle of localism, as he talks about a "me generation" who are accustomed to choice as consumers, but are disconnected from democracy because the state has yet to become similarly responsive. It is the fate of every generation of Liberals that their best ideas find power through adoption by other parties, and after 40 years it is unsurprising that a localist critique of the state is finally becoming fashionable in the mainstream. Even Matthew Parris wrote about it in last Saturday's Times (sounding all the world like the Lib Dem ...

ICM / Guardian weekend poll (1002 adults) : Tories 37%Labour 34%Lib Dems 21% Tories need 7% swing to unseat Labour who would be the largest party assuming uniform polling across the country [which never happens]. So much for the 'meltdown' in Lib Dem support much predicted by Marcus Wood (Torbay Tory PPC). He really is the 'Mystic Meg' of Torbay politics ! And, that's before the election of the new leader and the impact he might make ! This, of course, comes on top of overturning the 11,000 Labour majority in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. Just need to ...

The latest poll (ICM) in today's Guardian has the Liberal Democrats back up to 21% (up 2%) putting us back on track after a 'little local difficulty'. Labour has dropped to 34% (down 2%) and the Conservatives have stayed steady at 37%. This appears to show the Cameron recovery is still there, but I would have thought they should be even higher with the Liberal Democrats trying to implode of recent and unpopular Labour Government.

Ming Campbell has a new video on his campaign website, in which Nicola Davies (candidate for Birmingham Hodge Hill in the 2004 by-election) and Baroness Barker interview him about the women who have influenced him in his life and about his desire to see a more representative House of Commons. In it he [...]

What do David Irving and Stephen Gough have in common? Both should never have been jailed... The best way of dealing with Holocaust deniers is demolish their arguments. The best way of dealing with naked ramblers is probably to admire their courage (and their frostbite) since it's February.

According to the Guardian we are over the "leadership crisis" and are back at 21% in the opinion polls. In my opinion in no small measure due to the fantastic result achieved in the Dunfermline byelection. Even better Labour is down to its lowest point since the general election at 34%. Hopefully we will pick up some more good coverage when the new leader is announced.

It is not often that I am surprised by a political interview but Wyn Roberts' revelations in this morning's Western Mail have startled me somewhat. Lord Roberts of Conwy, as he now is, served as the Conservatives' Welsh Minister of State under four Secretaries of State for Wales between 1987 and 1994. He is now saying that the reason he was never given the top job was due to the fact that he was a Welsh speaker: Giving his own perspective on the situation to ITV1Wales' Waterfront programme, he said, "If a person speaks a language that you don't ...

Mat has responded to my previous blog here. So I will try to do the whole idea a little more justice. This project is talked of in some corners as a negative anti-New Labour project, and in others as a positive campaign for liberty and consitutional reform. First some background: New Labour, what is it? We all know about the abandonment of clause 4 and the embrace of privatisation and PFI.

I thought I was finished with this. but now I have four more bloggers to add to the list Simon Radford has a long and well-argued post on Missing Shade of Yellow. Worth reading in full (as always) but here is an extract Ming is certainly experienced, very well respected in the media (which is important for the favorable news coverage that we thrive on), and has been a commanding presence in the Foreign Affairs role. He is also likely to take on the activists when he feels that he needs to: I was impressed by his admission that ...

From the sublime to… Oh, dear. Much of ‘80s Who uses the past intelligently or fashions its own myths, often with considerable style. This, though, fails on almost every level. The Doctor returns again to his home planet but the ideas, the plot, the actors and design each seem drained of all life. The ancient founder of the Time Lords, who turned up in a story ten years earlier, comes back as the villain purely to have a villain come back, and wants to take over the Doctor’s body so he can live again. The plot doesn’t sound altogether bad, ...

Nothing to do with the Lib Dem Leadership, OK? This is Doctor Who’s nearest stab at film noir, a political thriller that keeps you guessing not about who the villain’s going to turn out to be (he’s pretty obvious), but about where it’s going to go next. The Doctor returns to his home planet after many years away, only to become a hunted fugitive when fellow exile the Master frames him for the President’s death. The disturbing themes are that everything’s corrupt and nothing is real, and I can’t think of another Who story with so many surprises, brilliantly employing ...

Yet another article about the 'baby shortfall'. I blogged about parenting a while back but some of the arguments are worth repeating. Women do still want to have families but don't feel able to do so in their twenties (or at all) in sufficient numbers. Meanwhile, the UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe whilst the Blairs have four children. Caring for children has a high economic penalty (as per the article) and a penalty in reducing the prospects for promotion and career success. A disturbing number of women are downgraded or fired when pregnant ...

This Council confirms that: It is this Council's duty to protect the community's rights not to suffer damage to the environment, health and business. This Council categorically rejects: · Any Crossrail intervention shaft in the Brick Lane London E1 area, as contained in the present Crossrail Bill in the House of Commons; · Crossrail plans...

The Independant today reports on last nights leadership Hustings in Manchester It refers to the 'Last chance to meet the candidates' hustings to be held in London on Thursday 23rd which the newspapers is sponsoring by commenting, Rival camps reported that many party members were waiting until after the final leadership debate of the campaign in London on Thursday, which is sponsored by The Independent. The Liberal Democrats said the event would be the largest hustings of the election, with the three candidates fielding questions from 1,000 party ...

Ming Campbell talks to Nicola Davies and Liz Barker about the women who have influenced him in his life and about his desire to see a more representative House of Commons: If you have difficulty viewing this video, for example if you only get sound and don’t have pictures, you may need to upgrade your copy [...]

Readers will recall that I asked Simon Hughes to answer the following question via his e-hustings service: Simon, you’ve made a big deal out of the environment and green issues in the campaign, yet you drive a diesel powered Taxi. Ming Campbell has said he will give up his Jag - are you prepared to put [...]

With just a few days to go now until the ballot closes, the Lib Dem leadership contenders are starting to bring out the big guns. Alarmed by the “increasingly confident” Simon Hughes’ coup of not just “Bingo” Bob Russell but also Charles Kennedy’s brother-in-law (a man of such seniority within the party that he is currently [...]