LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Not blogged for a week or so, but have been couped up in various training sessions being trained.Last weekend I finally managed to attend the LibDem Training 4 Trainers weekend. This was held in the very pleasant Somerset surroundings of Keynsham (that K E Y N S H A M for you Radio Luxemborg listeners...). The course was held in the grounds of the Cadbury's factory their, which was kinda ironic as I live next to another Cadbury's site.The only issue I had with Keynsham was with the difficulty in using public transport to get there. Despite the railway station ...

Today's demonstration organised by Pro-Test is a good sign. For too long the 'animal-rights' camp has been the only vocal side in this debate. Animal experiments are necessary in much medical research, they save lives. Where alternatives have become available they have been used in preference. I do believe that we shouldn't be using animals for cosmetics testing, I suspect the vast majority on

This Saturday, the Independent declared for Chris Huhne. Having previously backed Sir Menzies Campbell, todays leader comment hassaid that "because of his showing through the campaign, we now lean towards Chris Huhne." I recently wrote that the media would question Ming's age and whether it was credible to offer him up as a Prime Minister. A comment was left saying that the media might do

I have just returned from Inverkeithing where I was distributing thank you leaflets on behalf of Willie Rennie. The Scotsman magazine today had a article on Willie's first fortnight in Westminster. It mentioned the fact that the first time he returned in daylight he got unto the bridge and realised that in front of him he saw his constituency. My timing of reading this couldn't have been better

Speaking after the Pro-Test rally in Oxford today, in support of the animal research facility, Dr Evan Harris, local MP (Oxford West & Abingdon), and Lib Dem Science Spokesman said, "The excellent turn-out of well-over 500 people shows how much support there is for animal research in Oxford from both Town and Gown. "The march and rally were in stark contrast to those who have opposed to the lab - whose speeches have full of venom, spite and anti-science. " "Today was a good day for the rule of law, the role of science and the rights ...

According to those lovely people in SPEAK, who are, apparently, completely unrelated to the Animal Liberation Front: An incredible event will take place in Oxford in 3 days time, Saturday 25th Feb 2006. A spectacle never before seen on the streets of Oxford, nor anywhere else. It`s an event that any normal, decent member of a civilised society would utterly condemn, yet still some sources predict that over 1,000 people will attend this event!! WHAT IS THIS EVENT I HEAR YOU ASK!! Quite simply, it will be a coming together of the most sick, twisted, perverted beings on ...

Ming’s podcast question hotline is a great idea and it is a shame they didn’t go with it earlier. Unfortunately, it was let down by the content. No Mr Campbell, it is not a matter of deciding between incineration and recycling. There is a third option which is usually labelled as “incineration”: energy from [...]

I'd never heard of the blog Special Bets before yesterday, when it touted its latest post on PoliticalBetting.com. It claims to have data from the most extensive telephone canvas of the Lib Dem leadership campaign so far, which I initially assumed to be a poll of some kind (which is strange, given the difficulty of sampling Lib Dem members from the general population). In fact, from what I can tell, it's the internal canvassing of one candidate-- and it's pretty obvious which one. If there was any doubt that Special Bets is not a betting tipster, but a partisan commentator, ...

Just back from the Pro-Test march, where students, researchers, staff and local residents mounted a show of solidarity against the animal rights protesters who have set up camp here for the past few years. I was really impressed at the event- the organisers ensured a professional, peaceful and orderly march, with excellent stewarding and some genuinely interesting speakers. I am not sure how many other marches finish with a round of applause for the kind cooperation of the police! My friend Ken was armed with a large banner saying "animal research saves humans", given to him by the organisers (which ...

Here, as promised, is the first of the answers to questions received via the Ming Campbell podcast question hotline and via email: Jim Elliott called to ask about how we should deal with residual household waste: Listen to Jim’s question in full and Ming’s reply (MP3, 595kB) Ted Finnegan called to ask about the responsibilities of the media [...]

You may have noticed that Nick Barlow’s weblog is down. This is not due to him being carted off to the gulag for having the nerve to run Bloggers4Chris, but is apparently due to a problem with his ISP. That’s what we’re supposed to think, anyway.

Contrary to the bizarre claims of Simon Hughes earlier this week, all the evidence is suggesting the Lib Dem leadership will be a close run thing between Chris Huhne and Ming Campbell. Indeed, if anything, it is pointing towards a Huhne win, with the Guardian today backing that up (although it is not entirely [...]

Thanks to Simon Titley for drawing this BBC story to my attention: A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders. They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi. "We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

causes no pleasure at all. Kent, the garden of England dry. Twisted ankles as the natives of Kensington and Chelsea go over on their heels while carrying jerrycans of water home from the stand pipes. Next it will be bath bans, and the residents of Mayfair will be queueing up for a communal monthly tubbing in cattle troughs full of murky water and Jeyes Fluid. Then the buggers can use their jacuzzis for keeping coal in, just they always said we did. Because soon we'll have to start reopening the pits to meet our energy ...

Welcome to the ninth Ming Campbell campaign podcast. In this interview, David Laws MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, explains why he is backing Ming to lead the Liberal Democrats. Listen to the David Laws podcast (MP3, 1,717kB) If you don’t know what a podcast is, don’t worry. Just select the link above, and [...]

This morning's Guardian reports the results of an exit poll conducted at this week's London hustings: The Guardian's survey of 422 members is the largest conducted to date and offers an indication of the mood of the party, rather than a precise cross-section of opinion. Carried out at the final campaign hustings in London on Thursday, it gives Mr Huhne a clear lead, despite the fact that he was elected to parliament only last May, with 152 first preference votes (36%). Sir Menzies garnered 124 (29%) and Simon Hughes, the party president, 87 (21%). But 59 (14%) of the ...

Will Howells has the latest developments.

Marple has been suspended from ITV1 for four weeks, it was announced today. The Adjudication Panel of the Standards Board for Television took the action following a complaint from the Agatha Christie Society, which described the series as “deeply offensive”. The complaint cited Geraldine McEwan’s awful acting and a string of hammy guest actors. A spokesman [...]

According to this article in the Times Campbell gets 4/5 Huhne, 3/5 and Hughes 2/5 (although I think they missed the separate bloggers for Hughes site) for their campaign sites. I have to say that I thought the Campbell effort on e-campaigning was good although I agree with the comment on the difficulty to navigate but of the three I think this one was the easiest to sign up to if you just

Chris is winning! No -

One way of cheating at this blogging lark is not to write one's own opinions but just point readers to another article one agrees with. In this case rather than write at length on the nonsense of Ken Livingstone's supsension as Mayor of London, I am happy to point readers to Alex Wilcock's posting on the subject at Love and Liberty , with which I agree wholeheartedly. Also there was a good piece (follow 'Listen again' links on the Today programme this morning in which Steve Hitchens of Islington was interviewed about his own battle with the Standards Board. ...

Finding myself on the opposite side of a debate from Alex Wilcock (see comments on previous posts) gives me pause for thought and before moving on to pleasanter matters I will try to bash back a couple of the objections to my arguments and perhaps even end on slightly conciliatory note. First it is a myth to think that exposure to public debate automatically exposes dishonest or fallacious arguments. In reality figures who don’t play by the normal rules, such as Irving or representatives of Northern Ireland paramilitary groups, frequently get the better of interviewers on radio or television. Listen ...

In its leading article today, the Independent has withdrawn its previous backing for Ming Campbell and is now "leaning towards" Chris Huhne in the contest for Party leader. With just a few days to do before polls close, the change confirms the strong momentum towards the Huhne campaign over the last few weeks.

A Guardian poll conducted on Wednesday shows Chris Huhne could be poised to take the crown next week if the party echoes the verdict of members who compared all three candidates at the last hustings.

I’ll vote this weekend, but I’m ever-more convinced that it’ll be a tight and far from whole-hearted decision. After spending a night at the London hustings (with the most entertaining hair, from dashing between shops in heavy rain despite chronic impending water shortages) I was resolutely un-struck by the ‘blimey, he’s fantastic’ thunderbolt I yearned for. No surprises from the candidates: Simon the most charismatic but with dodgy material; Ming authoritative but with a nasty edge; Chris talking much sense but still boring. This is the most detailed report you’ll read. Yet I feel strangely hopeful – each was far ...

The last few nights the news has shown members of the US Senate and House of Representatives opposing the but-out of P&O by the UAE state owned Dubai Ports World. The reason is that P&O currently run New York, Baltimore and four other ports and these Senators and Representatives do not want them being run by Arabs! Well that strikes me as racist as they don't mind that the ports are currently run by Brits.

With only days to go to the close of voting today's Guardian reports that a significant number of Liberal Democrat members have yet to make a choice for any of the three leadership candidates. Views do not appear to be as polarised as during the previous contest (except amongst bloggers of course) and nobody has a clue who is ahead. An indication is provided in another exit poll of members leaving the London hustings. This gave Chris Huhne (36%) the most first preferences closely followed by Ming Campbell (29%) and Simon Hughes (21%). However, even here there is a sizeable ...

The Standards Board (or strictly the Adjudication Panel for England) showed the reason why they need to be abolished when they threw london's regional government into a mess for a month. The Standards Board fails to deal with the increasing corruption in public life, whilst undermining local government. The system has clearly brought itself into disrepute and should be scrapped.

As astonishing story in The Times this Saturday reveals a large number of outspoken Lib Dem MPs have not exercised their right to pledge a second preference vote for Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Lib Dems are selecting a replacement to Charles Kennedy, who resigned as Leader in January. All 75,000 members of the party vote one for their first preferred candidate, two for second and three for third… we call it proportional voting and it’s a rather sacred belief amongst Lib Dems that this form of second transferable voting is a better option to 'first-past-the-post'. The ...

Great minds think alike and apparently so do I and Matthew Paris... We both think Labour ministers invent their proposals in the bath. He writes: Here in no particular order is a selection of horrors of which a handful — unbelievably — have made it on to the statute book (and sunk into oblivion), a handful are bogged down in the House of Lords, and the rest have simply disappeared into an embarrassed silence. The point about all these is not that nobody should even have dreamt them up in the bath. Many brilliant ideas start in the bath, ...

You couldn't do this over here. Someone - probably those great defenders of children, the tabloid press - would call it a shopping catalogue for paedophiles. But over in Tampa, Florida, there's a project called the Heart Gallery that's making a real...