LibDem Blogs - Archived!

by Alex Sweet A pedant writes: today's robbery has been widely referred to in the media (e.g. tomorrow's front pages) as the UK's biggest ever robbery. It is thought that around £40m may have been taken. It ought to go without saying that to assess what is the largest robbery ever in Britain, you need to adjust the previous amounts stolen for inflation. Here is a ready reckoner, applying the UKCompare tool at Economic History to the amounts given at the BBC's roll call of past hauls. There are two major contenders in recent ...

Yesterday, in a council Executive meeting considering a report by the Audit Commission on the council’s performance, one of the Labour councillors responding made a reference to engine rooms and Scotty.  In other words, I think, much of what the Audit Commission was talking about was relevant only to a few people in the council [...]

Further to my earlier post touching on Gladstone’s high level of energy and effectiveness in his late sixties, seventies and eighties, John Locke’s Body has pointed out that Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who led the Liberal Party to its greatest ever victory, with one of its strongest front bench teams, and most radical reforming period in power, [...]

While I was away at the weekend someone sent me an email message with a huge attachment that clogged up my inbox. As a result a whole load of messages bounced back to the sender including one from David Steel in support of Ming's campaign and has created a stir over at Liberal England . The first thing that occurs to me is why the Ming campaign has used Steel and Shirley Williams for their last-minute email messages to members. I would have thought that most people who would be influenced by either of them would already be voting for ...

Two new categories of answer have been added to the e-hustings: economics, and personal politics.

In ten short, or maybe long, days.................we will be at Spring Conference - celebrating, or commiserating depending on who wins the leadership race. The fact that some people are voting for "whatsisname - the new one" is deeply worrying. I know I am hardly a Chris Huhne fan, but surely even he would prefer people voted for him because of what he stood for rather than because he was unknown? Or maybe I'm just naive, we all wallow in a vain hope that somehow, however how untried and tested the product is, it has to be better than what we've ...

My dear, simply everyone is in the Guardian today. Well, Peter Black and Mary Reid anyway. As well as Lord Bonkers, of course.

I see that Chris Huhne has declared himself a Lloyd-George man. I don't know that this is wise. Lloyd-George was someone fantastic on the frontbench under firm leadership, but who will be remembered above all for splitting the party. (At the first few conferences I attended, mention of the "Coupon Election" a mere sixty years earlier still sent shudders through delegates.) The Lloyd-George of the People's Budget is one thing. Lloyd-George as conspirator with newspapermen and Tories, and trustee of the Lloyd-George political fund quite another. The safe choice from the Liberal pantheon, was surely Henry Campbell-Bannerman. But of course ...

Every day the Guardian carries a feature called Today on the Web. It consists of short extracts from blogs on a particular theme. (Ironically it does not appear on the paper's website.) Today's Today on the Web is on David Irving, and it includes Lord Bonkers' comment on the subject from Monday. It does not credit the thought to his lordship, and fails to reproduce his characteristic use of capital letters for Very Important Concepts. So far I have not dared show him the cutting.

I am phelgmatic. I have got myself what feels like a mild viral infection. Lethargic, slightly feverish, sore throat and a wheezy cough. None of which anyone else needs to know, but sharing makes me feel better And, no, I haven’t been around any sneezing poultry. Tags: illness

Amid trying to catch up with correspondence after a weekend away yesterday's verdict and sentence in the David Irving trial passed me by. I suppose as a free speech zealot I should lament the verdict and sentence on Irving and defend his right to express his opinion, however repulsive. Yet on balance, I applaud the decision of the Austrian court and believe that Irving has got what he deserves. Here's why! Even free speech purists admit of some limit to freedom of expression – at the very least when it comes to direct incitement to criminal activity. In Britain we ...

I was quite shocked this morning on turning to page six of the G2 section of the Guardian to see myself centre stage of a large photograph spread over two pages. The photograph illustrates a piece by John Harris on the Liberal Democrat leadership contest. Although the caption claims that the photograph is of Simon Hughes addressing party members in Port Talbot, it is actually a press conference in Swansea. I am sitting at the top table with Simon and his National Agent, Swansea Liberal Democrat Chris Davies. Obviously, the sub-editor had problems distinguishing between population centres once he or ...

According to the 2001 census there are in the region of 24.5 million households in the UK. According to the Guardian, and a poll completed on its behalf, some 38% of households (equivalent to 9.3 million households) intend to install solar panels, and a whopping 28% (equivalent to 6.9 million households) said they intended to install a ‘wind turbine’. Wind turbines? The idea that the much maligned Wind-farm windmill is about to become a feature of every suburban back-yard is, of course, wishful thinking – as, I suspect, is the poll's stated claim that 63% would accept higher taxes to ...

When the Queen officially opened the second Assembly back in May 2003, arch-republican Leanne Wood stayed at home and worked. I can even recall the phot0-call as journalists interviewed her on what looked like her patio. Next week however, when the Queen is back to officially open the new Assembly building, Leanne is going to be in Cardiff. According to the Guardian's Backbencher column she and her friends will be gathering at 10am to 'protest "Mrs Windsor's" official opening of the Welsh Assembly'. This is confirmed by her own website on which she states: We may not be able ...

Dublin this February has been raw. The constant topic of conversation has been the icy blast and wet weather. Yet Cicero endures it and pays a visit to the fair city. Well, to be honest, Cicero has never thought that it really was that fair. In its tourism marketing Dublin makes much of its Georgian heritage, but in reality, much of the city has not been not well looked after. Huge mistakes stand out- like the Central Bank building, which towers over the narrow streets of neighbouring Temple Bar like a troll amongst a flock of sheep. Although on business, ...

David Lloyd George will always be a controversial figure in the history of the predecessor parties of the Liberal Democrats, because he is associated both with the great climax of Liberal reform after 1906 and then with the declining and divided years of the historic Liberal party after universal suffrage. But he is also the politician who best encompassed the hopes of the party to become the standard bearer for progressive liberalism. History could have been very different, and could have looked much more like, say, Canadian political history where the Liberal party remains the principal party of conscience and ...

This blog got a mention in The Guardian today. The article included this quote from a Hansard Society publication: "The problem facing politicians who blog is that they are professionally implicated in the very culture that blogging seeks to transcend. Blogging politicians are always going to be seen as a little bit like those old Communist apparatchiks who had to sit in the front row...

1. Go to Google and type in “Chris Huhne” (or just click on that link). 2. Click on the libdems4cameron advert. Ker-ching! Job’s a good’un! Spread the word.

On 26 January I wrote here of my fear and loathing of health secretary Patricia Hewitt arising from the blend of scorn, condescension and pity that characterised her tone of voice whenever she responds to criticism of government policy. It is good to know that I am not alone. In Saturday's Scotsman, Joyce McMillan asks: What is it, I sometimes ask myself, about Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary? As a feminist, I salute the brains and determination that have taken her to her present eminence. As a social democrat, I can only admire the years she has ...

Thanks for the comments on listening in to other people’s mobile conversations including the interesting research reference. Continuing this theme my thoughts turned to the way in which there are significant cultural differences in respect of the use of mobile phones. I am personally of the school of thinking that it is rude to answer [...]

This morning's Guardian reports that Prince Charles regards himself as a "dissident working against the prevailing political consensus", who scatters furious letters to ministers on contentious issues and denounces elected leaders of other countries. The views and practices of the heir to the throne were detailed in a remarkable witness statement by his former deputy private secretary and spin doctor, Mark Bolland, who claimed the prince routinely meddled in political issues and wrote sometimes in extreme terms to ministers, MPs and others in positions of political power and influence. The question is whether Charles should be at ...

Further to my post yesterday on Peter Hain's over-confidence that he can conclude the process of agreeing a single all-Wales Police force by Friday, the House of Commons Welsh affairs committee has now got in on the act. They have accused the UK Government of adopting a "one-size-fits-all" approach to merging Wales' four police forces and they say that Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has damaged the consultation process by saying he approved of an all-Wales option before the evidence had been collated. This is a particularly damning verdict considering the Committee is chaired by a Labour MP and has ...

Peter Jeffrey was a fantastic actor, and he’ll be on BBC4 shortly in two of his best roles. Look out for Our Friends in the North at 10 tonight, and The Avengers: The Joker at 7 tomorrow (repeated Friday). He’s superb both as a bemused police commissioner and a disturbing psychopath, and I also remember him with particular fondness as a wicked Count in Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara. With two of those memorable roles coming up in very memorable pieces of telly and having just recommended The Guardian’s latest 'In praise of...' I felt the urge to write ...

I am supporting Ming Campbell to become leader of our Party. Liberal Democrats can celebrate the commitment, talent and hard work of our MPs and peers. These qualities will take us much further given time and experience. Ming Campbell is the leader we need to guide us through the challenging years ahead. Years in which security [...]

Because I am not very much of a morning person, it would be very dangerous for me to assume that anything I ‘heard’ on the Today programme was actually said, rather than something I cooked up in a dream. On a number of occassions I have gone through a whole morning imagining that this [...]

Alistair Morris says this of Ming I'm going to throw my support (such as it is) behind Menzies Campbell. The man is a great political mind, and one of the last true statesmen we have in this country. And some provocative comments about one of his rivals: If Huhne gets the leadership, I predict a mad dash to the centre ground, just as Cameron has done, resulting in the Lib Dems losing their individuality and their integrity, and the return of the two-party system in this country. Elsewhere there has been a certain amount of controversy over betting ...

It’s been a while since our first thank you to the bloggers backing Ming. Thanks to the hard work of the Pigeon Post blog, here’s an updated list of the bloggers who’ve said that they are backing Ming. There’s been an encouraging, and sharp, increase in support over the last week. Simon Radford Principle and policy can [...]

I see Prince Charles is over the news for being a 'political dissident'. Much of what Charles says makes sense, on GM and Organic foods to human rights abuses in China but as a member of the Royal Family and heir to the Throne he cannot make 'political statements'. I think it is time to set Charles free, he should be allowed to make political statements and have his view heard.

Prince Charles may disagree with many people and many policies but his is hardly the image that springs to mind when one thinks of a dissident. Apparently he regards himself as a "dissident working against the prevailing political consensus". I find it hard to believe that the british constitution (unwritten though it is) was not a key part of the education of our would be Monarch. If he wants

No, not an admission that my blogging goes on a bit, but the glad tidings that Stephen Gough, ‘the Naked Rambler’, has at last completed his walk from Land's End to John O’Groats. Nudity’s one of the silliest things to get wound up about, and it’s heartening that several people in the news are making it a bit more acceptable: hikers Mr Gough and his partner Melanie Roberts, and Atlantic rowers Ben Fogle and James Cracknell, who were admittedly less likely to bump into people along their way but popped up more on TV, possibly because they’re the prettier pair. ...

Wednesday 22nd February 2006 - An additional Halewood Area Forum has been arranged for next week to discuss the development of our new approach to neighbourhood management and neighbourhood service delivery. This is an opportunity for local people to shape the way the Council tackles their problems and issues, no doubt there will be some good debate!!

People may be aware that the Lib Dems' Tax and Economic Reform group ALTER have been campaigning against the Kate Barker proposal for taxing the gains made on grant of planning permission, which is likely to be brought forward in this year's Finance Bill alongside the Labour Land Campaign. Though we recently discovered that despite their new found enthusiasm for real Land Value Tax, the

The BBC is running a rather pathetic story about the Tory MP for Bridgewater, who sent e-mails - and replies - to himself to improve his "responsiveness rating" on a website which helps people contact their elected representatives. I imagine that he is not the only MP to have resorted to such tactics.

So it looks like Ratbag Mladic is going to be taking a long overdue break in the Hague. Ashdown will be pleased. In fact, I’m pleased. It remains surreal and difficultto believe that ethnic cleansing was under way in our continent in the 1990s; and down in Yugoslavia, where a decade before they’d been hosting the Olympics in the winter and British families by the beach every summer. The documentary The Death of Yugoslavia is an interesting insight into the beginnings of the incredibly messy spiralling into war, and the roles of Slobbo and Franco Tudjman. Looking back on the ...

The Telegraph runs its tape measure over some present and potential party leaders.

This Grauniad article is full of gems... *** Such as this mildly naive Lib Dem Councillor: Councillor: "People who go into politics and get to high office are not, on the whole, what you might call normal people... You have never seen such a collection of geeks and oddballs." Grauniad: "Doesn't that also apply to the Lib Dems?" Councillor: "Not quite so much. With one or two exceptions, most

Is it 'cos I is a lawyer? [well, I'm not a lawyer but Cheney's pal was]