LibDem Blogs - Archived!

I spent several hours today in the Arcadia Ale and Wine bar in Headingley. I always feel slightly shame faced when I drink in here as I devoted so much energy in stoping it being built. I argued that yet another pub in the area would increase the town centres problems with Anti Social Behaviour. It was a "kitchen sink" campaign with street letters, public meetings,media coverage and an appearence at the plans panel. The low point was the public meeting where the applicant (market town taverns) explained why the they had selected Headingley. He told everyone that ...

There was an announcement by the Mayor of London on 24th March that there would be no major intervention shaft to insert boring machines from the surface in Hanbury Street and consequently no tunnel to Pedley Street and no spoil being carried by conveyor belt to Mile End Park. However, I for one will breathe more easily when I have seen this in writing from Crossrail. Even the Council...

A fact of life, after an awesome episode of Lost, there shall be a "Jack or Kate" episode.

The BBC's on this day today features the acquittal of Peter Hain for the rather unlikely Barclay's Bank robbery. Watching the coverage again, it is remarkable how far-fetched the prosecution case seemed. I was fourteen at the time, and remember the coverage first time around. I think the "no smoke without fire" view was pretty prevalent. This had little to do with the facts of the Hain case, and much to do with the timing. Rinka had been shot in October 1975, and the Newton trial finished in March 1976. So the Hain trial took place between the ...

Watching David Cameron rallying the twinsets in Manchester was an unexpectedly amusing use of weekend time. "We must not put our foot on the brake", he said, "but the accelerator". A bit ho-hum as a line, but not as vacuous as "we must become the party of aspiration once again". "We must lead the debate on pensions". Well, looking round the conference hall, one could certainly see why the Tories would want to lead that debate. Exactly how, ah well, that was not on offer- this was a policy free zone. "Forward, not back". Oh wait a minute, that was ...

You can't wind up creationists early or often enough, and what better way to do it than wearing a Trollart t-shirt with this kind of artwork on. If this stuff isn't on his t-shirts, it should be. Go see, right now. Tags: evolution, DARWINISM, Science

The winner is Boston Borough's Old Leake & Wrangle, which had a by-election on Thursday. But it's not in the same class as Winchester's Oliver's Battery and Badger Farm Ward, where one of the Lib Dem councillors writes a blog.

Tim Worstall has offered his latest selection. And Ken Owen at the Militant Moderate is again offering a fortnightly round up of the best blogging about sport.

This piece by Chris Dillow struck a chord with me. Whilst I don't pretend to know enough about tax policy to verify his figures, or claim that all of his tax and spending proposals are perfect, he does make a very interesting point at the end of the post: Very few people are committed to ideals such as equal opportunity or liberalism. Instead, politics is dominated by two tribes. One wants to protect the vested interest of public sector bureaucrats. The other wants to protect the unearned wealth and privilege of the rich. Both combine to exploit ...

Should I be in favour of this man for breaking new ground for ethnic minorities, or against him for choosing to do so in the BNP?

There has been some debate in the media recently about children and delivering leaflets. Now and again I take my own children out delivering leaflets as I did with two this morning. There is an interesting question as to how old a child has to be before they actually do more to help than hinder. My 5 year old, who said today that she had not been to the park for "ten years", is very close to

Not content with plunging Iraq into civil war.... "Bush has also been privately consulting with key senators about options on Iran [taking out their nuclear sites] as part of a broader goal of regime change, according to an account by Seymour M. Hersh in the New Yorker magazine." Using? "The targeteers honestly keep coming back and saying it will require nuclear penetrator munitions to take out

Disaster! Walkers have changed all their Sensations Crisps flavours (you know, the ones in the gigantic bags about which you always tell yourself, ‘Just because I’ve opened it doesn’t mean I have to eat them all at once’). Gone are favourites like Roast Lamb and Mint or Four Cheeses, and just because the new Lamb and Moroccan Spices are particularly nice obviously won’t stop me fulminating about the missing ones ;-) Right now, News 24 is also talking about resistance to change in the reaction to Camilla replacing Diana. The Labour Party face a similar problem. They too will ...

Anyone can have a postal vote these days - you don't need any special reason. So if you would find it more convenient to vote by post in the local elections in Kingston Borough on 4th May then you can find information and a downloadable form on the Kingston Council website. Your application for a postal vote must reach the Electoral Registration Office at the Guildhall by...

From The Observer Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer also expresses reservations about David Cameron's ability to reform the Tories: David Cameron is a pilot who can't get his undercarriage up. His leadership of the Tory party left the runway with impressive speed, considerable élan and a strong following wind from a friendly media. But now he is struggling to gain any altitude. I sniff the sweet smell of panic in the Tory leader's cockpit about what he and his modernisers can do before the right wingers in their party try to storm the pilot's cabin. ...

I've add MyBlogLog for the time being to both this blog and LibDemBlogs.Currently it's a trial, after both Will and I thought it would be nice to see which stories actually got read on the LibDemBlogs site during the LibDem Spring Conference.You can see the stats for LibDemBlogs here or my blog here.Any feedback welcome.

From today's Observer: Rebel Labour candidates, including the brother-in-law of a senior cabinet minister, are publicly distancing themselves from their own government in a frantic bid to salvage votes in next month's crucial local elections. In some areas the party has also resorted to 'stealth' leaflets that do not appear to come from the party - including a letter to voters in north London

Those who doubt Gordon Brown has the right temperament to become Prime Minister, will not have had their fears confounded by Andrew Rawnsley's account of what happened following Labour's ludicrously stage-managed media launch on Thursday: More revealing about [Blair and Brown's] tortured relationship is what actually happened when the two men were forced into each other's company on the back seat of the limo. The Prime Minister tried to engage the Chancellor in conversation. I'm told that Mr Brown responded by taking out some papers and burying himself behind them, refusing to reply ...

Classic moment in time - couldn't resist this Shropshire local news report and photo of Lembit, shades and all. MP's Lembit Opik with pillion rider Mark Williams will be taking part later today in the Easter Egg Run from Newtown to Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth when they join 200 other bikers taking to the roads of Mid-Wales for the charity event.In my book, Lembit is a real star. He's game for anything adventurous and has more bottle than all our MP's put together. He's a real laugh and such a happy-go-lucky person. It's sad he's frequently the butt of ...

by Steve Travis OK ... 6th December: Three events1768 - The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published. 1921 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives 2005 - David Cameron becomes leader of the UK Conservative Party, defeating David Davis.* Two birthdays1896 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (d. 1983) 1977 - Andrew Flintoff, England cricketer One death1882 - Anthony Trollope, British author (b. 1815) * - strictly speaking I'm not sure if this qualifies as an "event"