LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Never mind loans for peerages, I have bought a title outright! No, I have not become a member of the House of Lords! But, in return for the princely sum of £10, the Elect the Lords campaign has sent me this fetching Certificate of Inauthenticity. If I had a mantlepiece, it would now be adorned by my new (virtual) peerage of Baron Wright of Selly Oak! The Elect the Lords campaign was set up

Really productive Dundee LibDem meeting last night and a new local party secretary elected - Michael Charlton - who'll do a great job and has the added advantage of living in the West End! See http://www.dundee.prai.co.uk/news/134.html. Useful meeting today with a local resident and the Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Team about local problems today and also in touch with Scottish Enterprise

I have to admit to being astounded by the news that I've managed to upset our friends in Dulwich West Norwood at the General Election upset him (especially as he was the Conservative candidate!) but I would suggest that if he has a problem, he should contact me, either via this blog or via my e-mail address. In the meantime though, here is the link to the website which makes the allegations

by Steve Travis Thanks to Random Incident: 1. Are you male or female: Mr X 2. Describe yourself: I am alive 3. How do some people feel about you: Your name (has slipped my mind again) 4. How do you feel about yourself: Stranger within 5. Describe your day: Rage in Eden 6. Describe current gf/bf: Mine for Life 7. Describe where you want to be: White China 8. Describe how you live: Sleepwalk 9. What would you ask for if you ...

David Campbell-Bannerman has been in the news today as UKIP has responded to David Cameron's attack. He was interviewed on the Today programme this morning - see the end of this article on the BBC site. If the name sounds familiar, it is because he is the great nephew of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Liberal prime minister. If you do know much about Sir Henry, read Martin Kettle's tribute. While no one would have called the great man a fruitcake, he might well have eaten one.

From the Guardian: The review of Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables, which appeared in late editions yesterday, wrongly stated it was performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London, when in fact it was at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (Tables turned on 50s ethos, page 32).Still, I won't hear a word against the paper. My posting on SOCA was included in this morning's Today on the Web feature.

To quote from tonight's Southend Evening Echo : THE Labour Party has been left without election candidates in five Southend Council wards after a freak theft. Nomination papers for next month's elections were stolen from the back seat of a car minutes before they were to be submitted. One of the wards the party is now unable to contest is Prittlewell, where Ian Gilbert had been selected to

More good news for Redcar and Cleveland Council today. We celebrate Investor In People status, which has praised the Authority's good business planning, its equal opportunity culture and joint development working with other organisations. A cross-directorate group is already implementing a number of recommendations in areas for future development, centring on consistency and effective implementing of corporate policies and procedures, which will be closely monitored. The Investors in People Standard is awarded indefinitely, subject to regular reviews no more than three years apart to make sure standards are met and to assess progress made since the last visit.

I really don't think the government understand how to make things efficient. Large national processing centres do not in themselves make things more efficient. There is, of course, a critical mass that matters. In the case of the Birmingham National Blood Service Centre currently in Vincent Drive the plan is for processing, testing and cross matching to go to Bristol. That means that local

health secretary Patricia Hewitt visited a liverpool hospital yesterday. Housekeeping staff were asked to come in on days off to make the hospital look nice for her. Now I don't know about you but I would have thought that if there's overtime for cleaning it should be to make sure patients are in a clean environment not used for tarting up a building for a New Labour visitor.

I’m not a fan of Gorgeous George Galloway, but it has to be said that I’m on his side with this. He is now being gagged by the News of the World because he has rumbled an attempt by the notorious Fake Sheikh, Mazmer Mahmood, to entrap him. The News of the World apparently feel [...]

Congratulations to Steve Goddard , who was last night chosen to be Oxford East's prospective Parliamentary candidate - and therefore next MP - at the forthcoming general election. The seat is one of the Lib Dems' top targets, with Labour clinging on by just 963 votes in 2005, having suffered a 20% swing to to the Lib Dems since 1997. Steve was up against tough competition: both Julian Huppert and Liz Leffman proved excellent, worthy rivals. Talking with fellow party members at ...

How exactly do you run up a bill of £105,500,000? The second questions is why with all that borrowing is there any cuts to services? I understand why the council tax is up yet again - but surely the Conservatives, who just tis week David Cameron proclaimed themselves the party of Businessmen and e

So much for the revival of Cameron's Conservatives... Nominations for candidates contesting the City Council elections on Thursday, 4th May, closed last Monday, 3rd April. Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens are all fielding a full slate of candidates across the city – the big surprise is the Conservative Party’s failure to field candidates in SEVEN of the 17 wards in the Oxford East constituency. So, if you live in (in alphabetical order): * Blackbird Leys;* Cowley;* Iffley Fields;* Lye Valley;* Marston;* Northfield Brook; or* St Mary’s (as I do) then tough luck if you want to ...

An arbitrary poll reported by ITV News reveals: Conservative party leader Cameron topped the Worst Dressed list, but also made fifth place in the Best Dressed one. It’s the open shirt thing, isn’t it? (Via.)

Three million people on the streets of Paris. All protesting about the most minor of changes to labour laws that would probably have a slightly positive effect on the high rates of French unemployment. This seems to be another waymark in the decline of France into political and economic irrelevance. President Jacques Chirac, himself re-elected for his second term only in preference to the extreme and thuggish Jean-Marie Le Pen, continues to brazen out a leadership that has utterly run out of ideas. The narrow elite of the French Republic, educated in the Grandes Ecoles, seems gripped with doubt. The ...

Posted by Chris The dreaded part of our regular Saturday visits to my Grandma, for my brother and I, when we were kids, were the doses of cod liver oil she gave us before we set off for the bus home. Yuc!!! I can still taste it now. As soon as we got out of the door we were into the bag of sweets, she always gave us to share with our other brothers and sisters, to take the taste away. The practice seemed to have gone out of fashion, though Glynis used to give our kids a cod liver ...

PE Roos on Norwich Road, Fakenham, is one of 26 dental practices in Norfolk that has left the NHS this month for adult patients. New NHS contracts for dentists came into force on April 1st, which have been unpopular with many dental practices.

Kirsty Williams AM gave birth to a baby girl in the early hours of this morning. On the same day she launched a new website. Is this effective multi-tasking or just devotion to duty?

A row that has been simmering under the surface has erupted into the columns of the Western Mail today with accusations that the Assembly is denying professional lobbyists the sort of access they had to Assembly Members prior to the move into the Senedd. As a member of the House Committee I have had letters from some of these lobbyists and have referred them to the Deputy Presiding Officer for consideration by the new Building Sub Committee. However, in essence the complaint is that prior to the move Assembly Members had to pass through a public milling area ...

Press speculation on the Moray By-election at this early stage is already gathering pace and that is only set to get more intense. Easter recess is usually ’silly season’ for political journos, but this year they’ll have to tear up that annual leave request and get down to business. The Scotsman today heralds Moray as a 4 [...]

There is no city on Earth that can do without one of these: A Knob Shop Other pretty pictures from Bath:

I attended the Parish Council meeting last night, as I always try to do. For me, the most interesting things discussed were the plans for the Oliver's Battery 50th Anniversary events later this year and the meeting taking place later today about Park or is that too much to hope for?

At the top of Garston village on St Mary's road is a derelict building - the old Garston hotel. It's been destroyed by fire.. and vandalised.. and people seem happy to use the outside as a general dumping ground. But good news is on the way as a developer is going to demolish and build flats.. and even better some of the homes are sold already. The sooner the better you'd think. Not according to the Labour party though who are telling people they would rather have a compulsory purchase order - delay of 2 years plus ...

David Mills claims he was used as a stick to beat his wife but then goes on to attempt to give everyone else some sticks to beat him with. According to the article he describes the saga as "very exciting". "It's like a thriller, all of this" I wonder whether his wife feels the same way about these events as they unfold. He then goes on to talk about a payment of £2m from a Berlusconi company. I

There's a meme going round where you answer questions about your life using song titles from your favourite band. I don't usually do these things, but Beloved Other Half challeneged me to complete it using the immortal words of Phil Oakey and the Human...