LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Have just returned from East Leeds again. A delivery round in Burmantofts and Richmond Hill Ward followed by much more folding a stuffing in preparation for the final week push. It was interesting to have a quick peep at the Becketts Street Cemetary which is looking much better than it did when I last visited two years ago. I'm not suggesting its now the Garden of Eden but it has clearly turned a corner and I know the Council has a refurbishment plan. I don't generally do PPB's but this is an example of the Parks Renaissance scheme slowly beginning ...

Today was the day for the rerun in those constituencies which failed to elect an MP on 2nd April. Many voters stayed away again and according to the BBC it looks as if at least 10 constituencies have failed to elect an MP this time round. This is a problem because parliament is supposed to convene within 30 days of an election but it cannot do so unless all 500 seats have been filled. However a report in The Nation indicates that the election commission may consider its job done and refuse to hold further elections leaving ...

After about 25 years of delivering leaflets , it's finally happened today - I got bitten by a dog.(well, I didn't actually see or hear it - so it could have been anything). So I'll use a stick from now on. I have to say, Basildon A and E were very quick and pleasant. Has this happened to any other Lib Dem Bloggers?

The wind of change felt in Camden was the main topic of discussion on this morning's Politics Show on BBC 1. John Prescott kept waffling on and did his best to try and bluff his way out of answering some of the more poignant questions by continually comparing Camden with Islington. Hadn't realized until then that the government has been pouring extra money into Camden as one of it's flagship boroughs. Hardly surprising the roads are all being repaved. The infrastructure looks smart and new but it's the local issues affecting their lives that the electorate are more concerned with. ...

Things are worse than we thought. Earlier this week Polly Toynbee wrote an article for the Guardian, saying what a good thing it would be if the details of everyone's salary were publicly available. Some people then decided that, in line with this idea, it would be interesting to know how much Toynbee earns herself. Among them was the Mandrake column from the Sunday Telegraph: Ms Toynbee has a basic salary at The Guardian that undoubtedly runs well into six figures (and it is happily supplemented with her freelance journalism, broadcasting and books such as Hard Work: Life in ...

Number 62 in this weekly series has been posted. Read and enjoy.

Biarritz 18 - Bath 9 a fabulous weekend in the Basque Country to watch Bath go out of the European Cup. No tries, a nasty spear tackle on Malone and a clear professional foul which stoped a certain Bath try. No matter - it was a great atmosphere and the Biarritz fans were fantastic and made us really welcome. In Biarritz they are putting car parking underground - why don't we do more...

Its interesting to talk to my father. When at college in the 60s (St. Lukes in Exeter, now part of the University) he first campaigned for the college to withdraw from the NUS (which could have precipitated most colleges leaving, bringing the NUS to its knees as most of its money came from colleges). Unfortunately he didn't succeed, but he then got elected to represent the college at NUS

There is a certain buzz starting to the effect that - despite starting from fourth place - Linda Gorn might just get a very good result in the Moray by-election. The Times has this to say The SNP, defending a majority of 5,312, are favourites to hold the seat. But following their by-election victory in Dunfermline and West Fife, the Liberal Democrats are confident they can at least move from fourth to second. Lib Dem sources say private polling has put the party in second place across the constituency — three points behind the SNP — and first in ...

Today The Observer publishes the email correspondence between Henry Porter and Tony Blair. They discuss civil liberties, the law and the Government's response to crime. Instead of sounding Prime Ministerial, Blair seems to think he is Batman. Blair claims that he is on the side of the victims. If our legal system fails them, then he wants to see the Police and Government be able to "harry"

If you get a chance to visit the Alexandra Palace Farmer’s Market, do please stop by the “Chocolate Alchemist” stall; As you might guess they sell organic chocolate products; This British company make a range of bizarrely spiced and beautifully packaged chocolate treats. I would certainly rate all of their products above mass-produced organic chocolates [...]

Thursday night's City Centre Harbour Community Council - there seems to have been a really encouraging response from City Centre residents to the Community Council's recent residents' survey. I had hoped to make it up to the Moray by-election at the weekend but pressure of work rather overtook this - I have promised to help early morning on polling day next Thursday which means a late night

Havn't been doing any canvassing, but some good stories from our very hard working candidates (they were up until 5:30 stuffing envelopes yesterday morning, then up and about delivering letters, but an army of helpers got that all done very quickly :) ) We have one new member from canvassing, a very keen Lithuanian lady who has already been delivering focuses - out of the blue she asked to join and then was delivering the next day...Another relatively new member has volunteered to help delivering and will be running one of the committee rooms on polling day (taking away half ...

Haven't been doing any canvassing, but some good stories from our very hard working candidates (they were up until 5:30 stuffing envelopes yesterday morning, then up and about delivering letters, but an army of helpers got that all done very quickly :) ) We have one new member from canvassing, a very keen Lithuanian lady who has already been delivering focuses - out of the blue she asked to join and then was delivering the next day...Another relatively new member has volunteered to help delivering and will be running one of the committee rooms on polling day (taking away half ...

Whilst I was up in Elgin my heart also had a part of it left in Fife at East End Park. While out and about delivering I was tuned in to Radio Scotland to find out how the Livingston Lions were doing in their crucial, must-win game against Dunfermline. The first problem was transport. As kick off time approached and the weekly sweep of team news was going on there was no team from Livingston, the

Yesterday I rose early to head into Edinburgh to catch a coach to Moray by Election HQ in Moray. Amongst the other travellers on the coach was fellow Lib Dem Blogger Alex Cole-Hamilton. So a merry band made their way north, picking up more at Willie Rennie's office taking the 4 hour trip up to Elgin from Edinburgh. Shortly after we entered Moray we saw our first sign of election activity a Mary Scanlon poster in a farmers field. This was just a picture of Mary and her name but somebody had rather helpfully grafettied on 'Is a Tory, ...

I'm never complacent at election time but things are going moderately well. Latest local news is on our onlinefocus . However, we've hit one snag. When we told one of our new candidates that she could have anyone as her counting agent, she chose George Clooney. Not something easy to arrange at short notice. Besides, he's probably already a counting agent in one of the more high-profile places,

This is my wifes new Fatboy which should be with us soon. As you can see it has been repainted in Pink and Blue and as soon as the Sportster is sold we will have room for it. Somebody is bouncing around the ceiling in anticipation. Tag Harley-Davidson Motorcycles

There is something strangely poetic about flying to the George Cross Island on St. George's Day.

This is an article I have written for today's Wales on Sunday: On the occasion of the Queen’s 80th birthday we should acknowledge her achievements as the Head of State. She has succeeded in fulfilling her constitutional duties from a position of interested and involved neutrality and has used her role to promote Britain and British interests on the world stage to great effect. It is only right though that we look to the future. The vast majority of people retire at 60 or 65; it is time that Elizabeth Windsor passed on the baton as well. Who or ...

Recently: Labour In the heart of the Cash for Peerages row, with certain party figures insisting that Lords appointments are suspended until the matter is resolved. Of course, ending with the embarrassing situation of a former government minister being arrested. Conservatives Originally jumped on the bandwagon attacking Labour for the above, yet took a few stumbles backwards when the spotlight turned on them to reveal loan doners. They still have not published the full list. Their former Deputy Leader seemingly disagrees entirely with the Tory stance on the Iraq situation, and says that ...

This blog has lost its raison d'être, since my campaign work is coming to an end. But, it has become my favourite toy, so I'll continue it as an account of my immigration to Canada and how I find life there. We took steps to put the house on the market this week and we've told most of our friends that we are going. We've also begun the massive clearout of stuff we won't be taking with us. The whole process is emotionally taxing. We both love the Staffordshire countryside; we enjoy our life-style here and we've made many friends ...