LibDem Blogs - Archived!

A report on Google Maps Mania appears to have triggered some enthusiasm from the Bivings Report across the pond for the map on Ming’s website: “Brit Beats US with Google Maps” Maybe I should ship Mr Bivings some of the virtual champagne from further down the page for starting off my weekend on such an encouraging note…

My usual reason for being in Friends Meeting House is a Stop the War gathering or a Unison conference.......this was.......a bit.....different (not quite so much heckling for one thing)! I have to say it reminded me of my very first hustings, standing against SWSO candidate Tony Greenstein (who anyone of my vintage involved in NUS - circa Dave Aaronovitch, Trevor Phillips and Sue Slipman - will remember). But I think the word they used to describe me was..........fascist! I took my friends Yasmin (she of the contraversial play "Bells" fame) and Vyv.....who had never been to hustings in ...

Well, he's done a good job at excluding socialism from the Labour Party...

After tonight's group meeting I attending the NHS Concern meeting about Dentistry. It is a bit unfair on the local PCTs. The government are forcing them to use a new contract and limiting the budget they have (recent cuts of £19 million per year from expected figures). The end result is they have to try to defend the indefensible. It was unusual to have a meeting about Dentistry. Birmingham

Oh dear. For the second night running I’m watching BBC One’s Just the Two of Us. I’m not even taking half an hour out of The IT Crowd because I watched it online yesterday. Despite the title, Just the Two of Us is not a new version of a 1980s Nicholas Lyndhurst sitcom (Pat Troughton was [...]

The 'Last chance to meet the Candidates' hustings last night was absolutely amazing. Was informed the Independent had sent out well over 500 tickets and the Regional office more that. With 1200+ people expected wasn't sure with the bad weather if they would all turn up. They did. The hall and the stalls were filled to capacity. All that hard work organizing everything and with an army of helpers the set-up went like clockwork. I feel so proud that the best hustings was in London and we organized it. We have a wonderful Regional administrator, Flick Rea with whom I ...

...and gets it right, in my humble opinion.

I am told that a senior Welsh Liberal Democrat member went with his family to take a look around the new Senedd building in Cardiff Bay recently. Being a fan of new architecture and iconic buidlings, he was very impressed, especially by the wonderful view of the water from the inside of the building, and the feeling of space and openness. He was also impressed to receive a cheery 'hello' from none other than the Presiding Officer, Dafydd Elis Thomas, who happened to be in the entrance, filming with some media outlet or other. However, things took ...

Judging by this article which went up on the Guardian website this afternoon I would say so. This weekend is really the last push for people to finally make their minds up and get their ballot papers in the post by Monday at the latest and it is clear that Campbell is worried about Huhne and so he should be. Having failed to execute a coup d'etat (not for the first time I understand) and having

In the last few months politicians and commentators have come to the view that it is highly likely the next General Election will result in a hung parliament. Why? There seems to be scant evidence for this. It is true that the last General Election (May 2005) narrowed the margins between the parties. One could look at that result and make some predictions based on this trend continuing.

Ken Livingstone is an unpleasant, bullying, hypocritical, lying, propagandist egomaniac. Just so you know, I don’t like him. That makes it all the more important not to give in to the temptation to rejoice in his suspension by the Standards Board. It’s tempting, but it’s wrong, and I was ashamed to hear Simon Hughes agreeing with the sentence when interviewed this afternoon. Liberal Democrats ought to say that Mr Livingstone was offensive and once again proved his lack of judgement, but that’s a reason to throw him out at the next election, and a politician who is unpleasant but not ...

Just listening to Chris Huhne clashing with Norman Tebbit (who said of the 2005 election, "the low point was Conor Burns losing to Chris Huhne in Eastleigh") on Any Questions. Tebbit just objected to Hitler being called right-wing, and said he thought Hitler was a left-winger... Suddenly, I understand why David Cameron could look left-wing in Tebbit's eyes. EDIT: Later, Trevor Kavanagh mourned that Islamic radicals had been allowed to drive the Soviets out of Afhganistan. Warmongering gives Neocons some very strange bedfellowes.

I have finally allowed my name to be included on Ming Campbell's list of website supporters - somewhat late in the day, I admit, but it...

As a good “citizen journalist“, I took notes at the Edinburgh leadership hustings to type up later. I don’t think that’s going to happen - I’m still full of cold and not up to long posts. Stephen and Richard were there and have written good summaries. Two aspects of the hustings I will mention. The first [...]

This Saturday Dr Evan Harris, MP for Oxford West & Abingdon, and Lib Dem Science Spokesman will be joining up with his constituents when they demonstrate in support of the animal research lab currently under construction by Oxford University. Dr Evan Harris, in whose constituency the facility is being built and who will be addressing the rally said, : “I am delighted this demonstration is taking place, It reflects the widespread backing in this country for well-regulated medical research using animals, and the overwhelming support locally for those who are working to so hard to find new ...

Peter Black has been chronicling the utterly pointless debate waging in the Welsh Assembly about its new building’s monoglot name. Personally, I think that Senedd is a perfectly fine name, speaking as someone who doesn’t speak a word of Welsh. It evokes a distinct identity which is absolutely what you want an assembly for a [...]

We Lib Dems, we hate the Standards Board, right? Got policy to abolish it even. Some of us, notably Islington Council Leader Steve Hitchens and East Yorks Councillor Colleen Gill, have even almost come unstuck by them. We have good reason to be very dubious about their rulings. So why - the fuck [...]

Well my vote is cast for Chris Huhne. This was a difficult choice with three excellent candidates to choose from. I feel that Chris has the fresh ideas to take the party needs to move forwards. The political betting website today shows Chris ahead so my early investment may well pay off.

Just finished delivering my last round in our latest Focus. As I walked round a few streets of Victorian terraces, I mulled over the possibility of presenting an emergency policy motion at the conference outlawing those brush type letter box draft excluders that are the bane of our lives and leave us with red raw knuckles. I am off to the slopes tomorrow for a few days skiing before the conference at Harrogate. This comes as a nice little break as I finished my recent project in the South West of England yesterday. I shall miss the countryside ...

The BBC is to end its current affairs radio service to the Falkland Islands, the reasonably titled Calling the Falklands; broadcast to the South Atlantic twice weekly for six decades. This another example of the BBC cost-cutting on tiny things which mean a huge amount to people: petty, mean and penny-pinching. This programme costs barely anything to make, is produced by two part-time BBC staff and provides a genuinely cherished service to Falklanders. Perhaps I’m a hopeless troglodyte, but I can't see the rationale behind axing it. Why is it “time for them to move on”?

Liberal Democrat leadership hopefuls last week revealed radical measures to encourage more ethnic minorities to become involved in the party’s politics. On the hustings on Valentine’s Day, candidates Sir Menzies Campbell, Christopher Huhne and Simon Hughes unveiled a raft of measures including a minority-only shortlist for peers, a trust fund for BME candidates, and a policy [...]

During my 20 years as a Liberal Democrat activist, I seem to have spent a lot of time (metaphorically-speaking) patrolling the border between libertarianism and authoritarianism. I have frequently taken fellow Liberals to task for being highly selective in their defence of liberty. So it comes as something of a shock suddenly to find the boot is on the other foot, as has been the case over the David Irving trial, conviction and sentence. It’s not just that fellow Lib Dems are taking an ostensibly more libertarian position then me on this. On last night’s BBC1 Question Time, only ...

Ken Livingstone has today been suspended for four weeks, from 1 March, by the Standard Board. Livingstone had likening a Jewish Evening Standard reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." Thomas Paine. Today is February 24th. It is the anniversary of the Estonian declaration of independence. Last night Cicero attended a very crowded reception held by the Estonian Embassy. A pleasant excursion meeting dozens of old friends. I reflect on what has been achieved by such a small country. In particular I am touched by how quickly ...

Commenting on the decision of the Adjudication Panel for England that Mayor of London Ken Livingstone had been guilty of bringing his office into disrepute, North Southwark and Bermondsey MP and Liberal Democrat leadership contender Simon Hughes said: “A large number of Londoners found the Mayor’s remarks clearly offensive. It is sad that the Mayor Livingstone [...]

But Mark Valladares has a good account of proceedings. Instead I met one of the MPs backing Chris Huhne instead - and was not converted to the Huhnite cause (charming as she was). Now off for lunch with John Bright's Body - it is a heady social whirl for us bloggers, you know...

Aviation Policy Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the 2006 Aviation White Paper Progress Review will be published; whether it will include revised passenger forecasts to take account of the increased cost of oil; whether his Department will seek the views of (a) other Government departments and (b) external stakeholders on progress made; and whether it will include an assessment

Ahead of next week's Budget Council the local Conservatives have been making much of the fact that they want to cut staff numbers. There are two problems with this. First, cutting staff numbers means cutting services. But they are not saying which services should be reduced. Second, they claim that under the Lib Dems staff numbers have increased by 500. I have no idea...

Can anyone recommend a bank with branches in London and a good ethical stance that isn’t the Co-op? Having been with the Co-operative Bank for a decade, in the last six months they’ve made repeated and ludicrous errors with my account that – if I didn’t check it regularly and wasn’t fairly articulate and assertive – would have cost me an inordinate amount of money I can ill-afford. This morning I discovered yet more mismanagement, and though half an hour on the ‘phone (including being hung up on by mistake) sorted it, I’ve now lost all confidence in their competence. ...

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Chris Huhne, contender for the Liberal Democrat leadership, has received the thumbs up from members of the Liberal Democrat's Youth and Student organisation. In a poll carried out on the organisations web site members were asked how they had voted in the party's postal ballot and 55% of respondents said they had opted for Mr Huhne.

Spoiler warning for Romans in Britain and Edward Bond's Lear At the after show talk, the director Sam West, the crew and the audience were quite clear that this is an anti-war play. I wonder. There are some nice comparisons with Edward Bond's Lear, performed in Sheffield the previous year. (Lear is only loosely based on Shakespeare's King Lear.) Both occur to a constant backdrop of war, both

Plaid Cymru are set to re-launch themselves today by abandoning their "Triban" emblem and colour and adopting the singular name of 'Plaid'. Cymru is of course Welsh for 'Wales'. That has not prevented the party ditching this part of their name. Is this the first instance of a nationalist party seeking to disassociate themselves from the Country in which they take so much pride in their promotional material? The Nationalists are now to be known simply as 'Plaid' or 'Party' in English. Presumably, they are hoping that we will identify ourselves with the blandness of this label ...

So the Home Secretary's deadline has arrived and not one of the four Welsh Police Authorities are prepared to voluntarily sign up to his new all-Wales Police force, despite the earlier confidence of Peter Hain. Charles Clarke is now set to force the merger onto us on Wednesday. I presume that he does not see the irony of a Westminster-based Home Secretary choosing St. David's Day to impose his will on Wales. New Labour do not appear to do irony.

The election for the new leader of the Liberal Democrats will close at midday on 1st March. So if you have not yet returned your ballot paper, post it as soon as possible to the return address at the foot of the ballot paper. The count and declaration will take place the following day, 2nd March.

Eaten by Missionaries has written a post about David Irving and raised some questions in my and LibertyCat's comments boxes. I think Holocaust denial should be legal in Austria. My reasoning runs as follows: Making Holocaust denial a crime is bizarre because it ignores other instances of mass murder such as those carried out by Mao or Stalin. This helps perpetuate the myth that there is something uniquely bad about the far right which assists apologists for the authoritarian left Given the Holocaust did happen and historians find this easy to prove, then it would be better to show ...

Hard on the heels of the inclusion of Lynne Featherstone (54) in Adam Boulton's "

To Euston for the biggest and best of the Liberal Democrat leadership hustings (alright, so I'm biased, we hosted it). First though, the Spring Regional Conference... I have to admit that it was a bit low key, with the hustings hovering over it, the air thick with anticipation. Under the circumstances, all went well, with Paul Burstow kicking things off and two of our Council leaders (Sean

Just spotted this. Looks like it has a lot of potential - shame it doesn’t seem to do Steve Bell (at least not yet).