LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Grant Shapps MP makes an important point: Householders in England and Wales are paying £80m extra council tax a year to subsidise students. Quite right - it’s a serious problem. Would the Lib Dems’ local income tax policy solve the situation? ‘Fraid not. It is a curious thing to come from a Tory however, [...]

That Tony Blair is now damaged goods is now beyond dispute. A man who came into power as the antidote to Tory sleaze, with a promise to be clean and ethical, now finds himself mired up to his neck in £14 million pounds worth. That the loans were 'within the law' matters not one jot. It is patently obvious that the intention was to circumvent the very transparency this government promised us. Cameron won't crow. Tories have long relied on rich benefactors and are in this deeper than Labour. But more than this, Cameron wants Blair to limp on for ...

Iain Dale lists the runners and riders: Paul Burstow Richard Younger-Ross Liberal England says: Is Ricky too nice to crack the whip?

Tim Worstall writes on the government's decree that reading must be taught by synthetic phonics in every school in the country: My objection is that it's made into the law of the land. Whether to use it or not as a method. If we are to still regard teachers as professionalss then we should actually employ them as such. Fine, you're a qualified professional person. We trust you. Get on with it. This sort of level of detailed instruction is simply insanely prescriptive, to insist, by law, on a specific method of tuition from the centre.He might have added ...

A while ago it struck me that Labour will not support electoral reform because it could really upset the status quo (being a rather conservative party really). If PR is implemented, this is likely to lead to more parties getting representation and less frequent majorities by one party. This could lead 'old labour' and the left wing of the party to split from Labour as a whole the new socialist

New Labour has produced some ludicrous figures in its time - Mandelson and Blunkett to name but two. But can anyone claim to be quite as ridiculous as Charles Clarke? The Labour Party is going down the pan due to 'Honest' T Blair's decision to accept secret loans to fund a bankrupt election campaign and who does Clarke decide to attack? The one bloke who appears to hold the only remaining shred of decency in the party. Liberal Democrats - get thee to Norwich!

The last two weeks have meant I've had little time for much blogging (reading or writing). My fiancée was visiting from the US so holidays were taken and she monopolised the home computer (scary thought that I'm marrying a bigger geek than myself :-p) To move on from drifting into The Derbyshires territory... Inspired by the sad departure of The Inner West I've been thinking about the changes

It's been a mixed week for black-and-white cats. Monday saw the sad death of Humphrey. But on a happier note, Postman Pat's cat Jess is to get his own series.

A piece of history from the Irish Student Law Review . You may care to consider the parallels between Blair and Lloyd George as leaders without parties: The sale of honours became particularly blatant and reckless under Lloyd George. The reason was that while he had won the 1918 general election he had broken with the Liberal Party, the coalition government he headed having a Conservative majority. In order to fight the next election he needed to found his own political party, which would need an enormous campaign fund. To sell the necessary honours he set up a ...

If Mark Almond sucks any harder, he’ll need Lukashenko’s dictator-juice pumping out of his stomach. Bring freedom to Europe’s last dictatorship. Younger adult readers may wish to brush up on their early 1980s urban legends. But possibly not while at work.

This is a public service announcement - in one week’s time conference registration fees go up by £18. Having just registered & booked my lodgings I can put my hand on my heart and say Brighton hotels aint cheap. I was this close (gestures small distance) to booking the conference hotel this year and re-mortgaging my [...]

No, I’m not flogging my collection. The other week I spotted Doctor Who: The Scripts 1974/5 in discount bookshop The Works, knocked down from £16.99 to £2.99. Bargain! If you have a Works nearby, pop out and pick up the full scripts for Tom Baker’s first season. I’m not on commission; it’s simply that these are terrific scripts, the stories that got me hooked on Who at an improbable age, and (unlike many cash-ins) this handsome hardback has a lot that’s of interest in its own right. Detailed introductions, notes on script changes, photos and Genesis of the Daleks. What ...

Does anyone know how to create topics and a topic index and then code each post with the topics it is related to? The idea is that I could have a list of topics (or codes or tags) such as Politics, Lib Dems, Football, Bikes etc etc and then code each post with the appropriate topic codes. There would then be a list of topics in the sidebar and people can click on the relevant topic to see posts related to that area. I am not sure if topics is the correct term but if anyone can ...

"LET THEM TAKE TAXIS" Shamed Tory David Mcletchie is back on the road. Panic-stricken Tory bosses in Scotland have recalled the former Tory top cat to the frontbench. Mcletchie was forced to stand down as leader last audtumn after * claiming 11,565 for transport * charging taxpayers for journeys between Holyrood and his office * pocketing 5000 for unspecified journeys. The high-flying lawyer later paid back 550. The Tory traveller is poised to make his return to frontline politics as TRANSPORT spokesman. Political rivals claim that his answer to Scottish transport foul ups will be "let them take taxis!"

I am told Sir Michael Spicer is to stand down at the next General Election. Sir Michael is currently the MP for Worcestershire West, which saw one of the better results at the last General Election with the majority slashed from 5,374 to just 2,475. Sir Michael standing down with the continued campaigning of the local Liberal Democrats should see this seat fall to the Liberal Democrats next time, the last two results follow.

The Guardian has launched a new site, called Comment is Free. This site is billed as a fusion of old and new media, where traditional commentary meets the brave new world of blogs. It follows the example of The Huffington Post in combining the blog format with professional contributors. So, does it work? In my opinion, leaving aside that it may be too early to say for sure, it doesn't quite work. The Guardian's main website has long been one of the best news sites in the UK and possibly the world. Whatever you think of the ...

Classrooms Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many classrooms in schools have been built under private finance initiative schemes; what the size is of each new classroom; what guidance she has issued on the minimum size of classroom; and if she will make a statement. (John Hemming) A:The Department does not hold information specifically on the number or size of new

Redcar and Cleveland Council is investing a total of £2million in a new consessionary travel scheme, which comes into operation from April 1. It will provide free, all day bus travel on most bus services across and within the boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool. The current pass will automatically be valid for the new scheme until it expires. The new free pass can be obtained at any time during the passholder's birthday month, taking proof of your address to any of the Borough's libraries. To qualify for a new pass, you need to be a permanent ...

When am I going to receive the next edition of the naughty, haughty, silly magazine that is the Liberal? I paid for a subscription, in the days before activists spat at you for reading it, but haven’t had a copy for months. The website boasts a new edition (along with a somewhat pompous explanation of their unremarkable stance on the Danish cartoons) but I have yet to get sight of it. Trouble with the Royal Mail perhaps? It wants part-privatising, it does.

Still distinctly under the weather, but thanks to Jonathan Calder for noticing that the superb Went The Day Well? is on Channel 4 this afternoon. Still briskly made and quite gripping, it’s the original ‘What if the Nazis secretly invaded Britain?’ turn, done many times since – for fun in The Avengers, with great length and self-conscious worthiness in The Eagle Has Landed – but never bettered. Parts of it can shock me more than 60 years after it was made; I’m always aghast at the businesslike way one character deals with a hand grenade. The violence is more shocking ...

The link is to my speech yesterday about Health Finances. Although there are problems at the moment which are in part hidden by the money-go-round in the health economy it does appear that the goverment are putting a lot of effort into ensuring that the problems are far greater in the coming financial year. The government's big mistake is to reorganise everything when actually the system needs

MERGERS AND AQUISITIONS FEVER HITS WESTMINSTER (from City correspondent Peter Pigeon) The M&A fever that took the FTSE-100 index above 6000 last week is about to spread to Westminster. Rumours are circulating that private equity groups have built up significant stakes in both the Conservative and Labour Parties. Now insiders suggest that these groups will seek to realise their investments (provided in the form of secret loans) and take control of the boards of each Party. They then propose to push through a merger. City Analyst Vince Cable has told the BBC that Labour is suffering from negative equity - ...

Watford took 3 points last night with a well deserved (at least from the bits I saw) win over Southampton. Leeds take on Crystal palace tonight and cannot afford to lose if they want matters to remain in their own hands. A win would be ideal and would leave them just one point behind Sheffield United a position that would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago. A draw would be ok given that they still have to play Sheffield United. If they lose then they require others to slip up and on recent performances ...

The House of Lords defeated the Government again last night, for the fourth time, over Identity Cards. Peers voted by 211 to 175, a majority of 36, to ensure that the scheme remained voluntary until 2011. The Bill will again return to the House of Commons, Labour may well have to use the Parliament Act to force this legislation through.

An interesting stand-off is developing in the Welsh Assembly that will come to a head on Wednesday. On that day we are due to debate the report of the Committee set up to scrutinise the Government of Wales Bill. That committee was politically balanced, containing five Labour members and five members of the opposition. It was chaired by the Presiding Officer who made an early decision to abstain from voting. As a result all of the opposition's amendments were defeated on the casting vote of the chair in accordance with Assembly procedures. When the report comes to Plenary tomorrow all ...