LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Some hope. Take a look at Tescopoly. That is a campaign well worth supporting. Stop Tesco's ruining small farmers.

The Times has now asked the editor of Web User magazine to assess all the leadership campaign websites. “Leadership candidates use web to snare new support” He’s write about the complexity of the menu on Ming’s site (as was). These happen through lots of small steps that add up to an overcomplex whole - I’ve already [...]

… might be interested in the merch available at http://www.libdems.spreadshirt.net Not my design, this time! One wonders whether maybe the by-election coffer is suffering after our wee victory. My Oor Willie mug is on its way.

The Guardian has a piece on the ‘e-election’.  Simon’s site dominates the piece, but I think that’s in large part because they used our site as the ‘traditional’ base against which the other sites with their more funky gadgets were compared. Nick represents my own views very well - we made a conscious decision to stick [...]

Brilliant Brilliant - long may this continue. So now we know why Sheffield (Uniteds) season is starting to collapse around their ears. They have been down the pub too often. But don't worry all you Leeds fans although Warnock has banned them from pubs until the end of the season he is quoted as saying "This is not an alcohol ban however, they can get drunk at home after the game if they want

I spent yesterday afternoon delivering........back to normal then. Excitement or despair on Thursday, followed by a couple of days pontification and navel gazing in Harrogate and then I guess we're back to the run in to local elections. Maybe we should have a leadership election every year........perhaps if we get Huhne or Campbell we will.....certainly livens things up a bit!

From Harry's Place: In fact, the cartoons published in Denmark did not surprise me because the Western states have been waging fierce attacks against Islam for years. These began by humiliation, insults and then occupation. Today they reached the point of ridiculing the prophet. This incident is worse than the 11 September attacks in the US and the 7/7 incidents in London.

One advantage of being in a local party which includes two constituencies from th esame council area is that you get an larger option of potnetial properties without having to change local party registration. Thus I making my third constituency change since I first arrived in West Lothian whilst not switching my local party. When I first came to Soctland I was registered in Stoneyburn and had

Fancy yourself as a political Mystic Meg? There are competitions at The Apollo Project and politicalbetting.com.

I am rather glad that the leadership circus is coming to a close. Whilst it helped reinvigorate my interest in the party (alongside the flow of bad legislation and the local elections) it has done little to push debate forwards in many areas and feels like its gone on a little too long. I expect we'll have a bit of a debate about the result when it comes, and the possible implications, they may

Or so says the BBC in this article reporting on the launch of the report from The Power Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy. I have downloaded this and will have a good read over the next few days to see what is in the detail. I assume that this is linked to Gordon Browns statement about being in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 which I heartily support. However, most encouraging

As Helena Kennedy finally publishes the independent report on measures to improve British democracy, I must confess to being pretty disappointed. Frankly, I do not believe that lowering the voting age to sixteen is anything more than a gimmick. It is, I think, clear that the government has far too much power visa-a-visa Parliament. MPs in the government party can be tempted to abandon their independence, when faced with a new, more lucrative role as government ministers. Meanwhile, opposition parties struggle to defeat the government unless a significant rebellion does take place. The whips, both government and opposition blackmail, threaten ...

Over in the real world (where even political bloggers have to go occasionally) a small anecdote. Someone who knows my political orientation from seeing me perform in public came over to me in the streets on Sunday and said Hello! And have you voted yet? I said yes, for Chris Huhne. He looked really pleased and stuck up his thumb. I think this was a well-wishers gesture.. Meanwhile back in virtual electioneering some members who signed on for information from Ming are getting last minute phone calls I hear (no live experiences reported of other candidates efforts). Note to Ming's ...

The Apollo Project is hosting a Lib Dem leadership prediction competition thread here. So, folks, why not pop over, and prove how in tune you are with the party membership's psyche...

After Germany and China Google is now censoring US users. According to The Register, Google is preventing access to footage of US Servicemen in Iraq performing a controlled explosion on a roadside bomb on their video service. Tags: free_speech internet

At least according to this article in this mornings Guardian Depending upon the outcome of the ballot this week this might not be a bad idea!

On the bus in to work this morning I noticed an advert for the film version of V for Vendetta . Coincidentally James Graham has a very interesting and highly recommended post about comic book movies , including V for Vendetta. The premise of V for Vendetta is that following a nuclear holocaust in the early 1980s, British society disintegrates presaging the rise of an authoritarian police-state. Eventually an anti-hero (“V”) engages in an anarchic campaign of terror against the state. The book ends rather ambiguously, and it is not clear whether ...

by Stephen Tall Here at The Apollo Project the arguments have raged over the last few weeks (or at least as close as we Lib Dems come to raging) as to which of the three Lib Dem leadership hopefuls – Ming Campbell, Chris Huhne or Simon Hughes – will emerge victorious. In truth, none of us really has any clue what will be the decision of the 73,000 party members when it is announced this Thursday. Which is what makes elections exciting. But the time has now come for us to set aside our own partisan views, ...

I posted earlier about Gordon Brown's support for votes at 16 and electoral reform based on the Power Commission's Report. I have now spent some time reading the Report, both the full Report (175 pages) and the Executive Summary are linked below. The Commission has done a really good job and there are a number of great recommendations in there.

You can get information about the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill as well as blog buttons, etc. here.

I'm linking to this chap because he asked nicely, although we won't be blogging about Welsh nationalism since we know nothing about it (sorry). *** Tristan has deleted his article on economic liberalism. I'd linked to it since I found it excellent - please bring it back! *** This article makes an almost identical argument to mine that it is middle-income women who are the group unable to

Gordon Brown writing in today's Guardian has signalled his support for lowering the age of voting to 16 and has said Labour must be prepared to reopen the debate on electoral reform for the House of Commons. Brown will today be attending the launch of the Power Commission inquiry's report which looks at a whole of host of changes to the way politics is conducted in the UK.

Only 52% of people favour ID cards according to a YouGov poll. But out of those interviewed: 80 per cent of YouGov's respondents are convinced that determined criminals and potential terrorists will always find a way of forging the cardsMore than 70 per cent of those in the survey believe that the proposed national system of cards will be enormously expensive to install and maintain and will

Am absurdly proud of this pic: James Cook learned his sailing from Whitby, and all of the ships he commanded on his three voyages of discovery were built in Whitby. Cook was a great seaman, surveyor and a superb leader. In 2009 it's 200 years since the birth of another great Briton who changed the world: Charles Darwin. His inspiration for the theory of evolution came from his five year

I enjoyed this in a message from Ming It is clear that this race is going right to the line. I have quite a lot of experience of hard fought races and I know that it is vital to keep going right through the tape. That is what I and my team will do. And - after the result - should you choose me to lead our party, I will work with you and campaign alongside you, to propel the Liberal Democrats from the party of effective opposition into the Party of Government. I very much hope Ming ...

In stead of twice weekly deliverys, in Birmingham we are sent a daily dose. Therefore I have to do an intray exercise every evening after tripping over the pile of post.

On the basis that there should be great rejoicing at a sinner repenting and entering the gates of heaven then today's conversion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reducing the voting age to 16 and local empowerment must be welcome. He says the executive must give up power, and again backs changes to the unelected House of Lords. Labour dropped the idea of voting at 16 after the proposal was rejected by the Electoral Commission, but Mr Brown's aides say the chancellor is in favour, so long as it is part of a package of "citizenship education" in ...

The report of the Power Inquiry, to which I submitted written evidence last year, is now available online. I’ve had a read through the Executive Summary (the whole report is 311 pages) and there’s lots of good stuff.. Those of us who’ve long recognised the need for constitutional reform will not be surprised by many of [...]

And now for that Tony Blair article. He's added a couple of paragraphs since yesterday, but it's still a big pile of balderdash. His claims are two-fold. First - the 'right' are conspiring to make Labour look authoritarian now they can't attack them for being socialist: The reason right wingers are keen on this is clear. New Labour has eschewed traditional forms of leftist statism. So the type of

So we have a Full Council meeting this week. As is often the case with the budget meeting it should clash with Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Over the years a small number of people, including me, have complained at this clash. Council meetings start at 2pm but can go onto 10pm and so you often have to miss the traditional "Imposition of Ashes" services held in an evening. Now part of me thinks the Christian Calendar gets more than enough protection from Bank Holidays and so people shouldn't grumble. But then we move Council meetings for other religious ...