LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Nine communal bins, like the one pictured here in Croydon Road, have recently been installed in the Bournbrook area of the Selly Oak ward. Six of the bins were funded by the Selly Oak Ward Committee (Dave, Alistair and myself) through Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and three by the University of Birmingham. The Bournbrook area suffers from rubbish being left out long before the normal rubbish

Two similar stories today, both of which give a pretty damning assessment of the government's performance. First, we learn that tax credits, the brainchild of Gordon Brown (the prudent "iron chancellor", lest we forget) have been overpaid to the tune of £2.2bn. Many families will now find that they are being asked to repay relatively large sums of money that they, apparently, should not have received. If this story sounds somewhat familiar, it's because precisely the same thing happened last year. The usual claims were made - that the system is doing good overall, and that any problems ...

Is it me or is this headline - Home Office bungle lets foreign murderers and rapists loose - unintentionally revealing? Home Office Bungle Bungle from Rainbow It’s uncanny, isn’t it?

Also in Prospect this month is a good article on John Stuart Mill - and On Liberty in particular. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Mill's birth. I don't know how long these Prospect articles will be freely available, but enjoy them while they last. For Richard Reeves is spot on when he writes of On Liberty: It is most famous, however, for the "simple" harm principle cited earlier, which guides the limits of interference in a person's actions. But the harm principle is a poor summary of the essay taken as a whole, and a small ingredient ...

Yesterday Charles Clarke was rounding on press critics who accuse him of imperilling our civil liberties. You can see his point. Today, says the BBC: Home Secretary Charles Clarke says he will not resign after 1,023 foreign prisoners were freed without being considered for deportation. He said he does not know where most of the offenders, who include three murderers and nine rapists, are. If Clarke is looking to bring in a police state, it is a singularly inefficient one. All of which reminds me of a joke reported in an article on Soviet humour by Ben Lewis. You ...

On Sunday the New Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair said he would "harry, hassle and hound" criminals until they stopped their criminal behaviour or left the country. Today we discover that over a seven year period a 1000 foreign criminals were let out of British prison. These 1000 were not deported. Nor were they tracked. In fact, they have disappeared. These 1000 include murderers,

I've just got back from Kingston's Youth Achievement Awards. This is an occasion when we celebrate the contributions that local young people have made to society. The awards particularly recognise those who have had to overcome difficulties in order to achieve, so it praises qualities like persistence, enthusiasm, thoughtfulness and social awareness. A record 85 young...

I am told that this month's Vanity Fair 'Green Issue' is required reading for Cameron's Tories. Tucked away in a section entitled 'Looking smart and doing your part' are instructions on the eco-friendly way to wash cashmere.

The Lion (aka Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary) has been roaring again, defending his stance on civil liberties* and generally throwing his toys out of the pram. He has argued that the media (and in particular The Guardian, Independent and Observer) have published articles which: "Are in my opinion symptomatic of a more general intellectual laziness which seeks to slip on to the shoulders of

Sky News: Sky Poll Shows Backing For BNP Policies For those without Sky, this was a worrying YouGov survey where over half of respondents agreed with BNP policies on immigration, and even when told that they were BNP policies, only a few less still supported them. I have tended in the past to dismiss the BNP as [...]

Following on from last week's Dave the Chameleon party political broadcast, Backing Blair have put up their version of that "hilarious and satirical" advert (stick around for their message at the end, definitely hits the nail on the head)

According to today's Daily Record Richard Lochhead the SNP candidate for Moray is determined to fight for Protected Designation of Origin for shortbread. He wants the European mark to be placed on the product so it can only be made in Scotland. Now while I admit that there are many fine examples in Scotland being of Ulster Scots descent I would like to point out that family recipes have crossed

I was dropped from the schedules of Radio 4’s PM programme at the last minute tonight so that they could instead have an interview with the so-called-home-secretary. Bah. What’s more interesting? Charles Clarke talking about three murderers and seven rapists on the loose, or me talking about the volume of the announcements on the trains [...]

Robbie Rowantree, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate who is well known for his involvement in the Highland community has joined to the Scottish Liberal Democrats just days before polling in the Moray by-election. "The Tories lack of any positive message confirmed they were so out-of-touch that the time had come when I could no longer remain a member of the Party. Contrast that with the Liberal Democrats who, under Nicol Stephen, have set out a radical, reforming, responsible agenda for the whole of Scotland". Commented Robbie. From the Guardian we have the following... Labour support has dropped to the lowest ...

It was Labour hopeful Nathan Oley who was thoroughly lacerated at the Columbia Road Tenants & Residents Association's hustings last night. Though he trotted out points I've heard Michael Keith use before, they held little water with with the audience. I estimate that 50% of the audience was Respect - Carole Swords (Respect Candidate in Bow West) and Glyn Robbins (Respect Candidate in...

Over the last week or so the furore around the death of Joyce Vincent - the woman who was found dead in a flat in Wood Green and who had been dead for two years - has swirled around me. As I listened to each piece of information from whatever source I became more and more concerned as there were so few answers that actually answered anything. Following my request to the local Police Commander

I have just returned from Warsaw. I have always found Warsaw a slightly extreme city- the mementoes of the appalling destruction of the city during the second world war are on every street corner. The serenity of the old town -the Stare miasto - is marred by the fact of it having been rebuilt in toto. It seems strangely artificial- beautiful, but almost like a mask- and the reality underneath is, like much of the rest of the city actually pretty ugly. Yet Warsaw is a city of broad shoulders, and talking with friends in my rather rusty Polish, I ...

Two Times articles today reveal a lot about the challenges that modern politics currently faces. The first is an account of the practical problems of targeting people living in gated communities; the second records that the Tories last year spent £400,000 on mailshots to pensioners but just £50,000 on mailshots to young urban professionals [...]

Apologies for the interruption in blogging. I'm doing too much writing outside of the blog and am trying to keep off the computer otherwise. This has been on the BBC website and generated a lot of comment, both positive and negative. It's definitely worth having a read and making a reassuring or empowering remark in the comments box if you have the chance. Some negative remarks query the

It was with great sadness and regret that I learnt of the death of Peter Law this morning. His contribution to Welsh political life and to his own community has been immense and he will be greatly missed. He was a principled and courageous man and a politician with great generosity of spirit. I had the utmost respect for him and for the way that he fought so hard for his constituents and his beliefs. The Welsh Assembly will be much the poorer for his passing.

Apparently, it is a week of fireworks here in Malta. Alas, being some distance from the capital we can hear them but not see them. Walking out of the hotel in Attard last night on our way to the Presidential Palace for a reception, the noise was overwhelming. It was as if a small war was being waged. Yet, we were unable to enjoy the compensation of actually witnessing the show. Much of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference so far has centred around peace and security in the Europe and in particular, the Mediterranean. There was an interesting ...

Independent MP and AM (Assembly Member) Peter Law has this morning died after a 12-month battle with a brain tumour.

Yesterday I managed to get 6 plates in a row. If only I could have spotted a 385, then I would have got 8 in a row with the 386 down the road.

Yesterday's ICM Poll: Labour 32% (-3%)Tory 34 (-1%)Lib Dem 24% (+3%) Sweet. Meanwhile Stephen Glenn draws attention to the fact that we welcome a former Conservative candidate into the fold.

...has done a great job at showing just how far Cameron is singing the tune of "pollster" Frank Luntz. Get over there and join in the debate.

Peter Laws who last May overturned the 19,000 Labour majority in Blaenau Gwent has died from the brain tumour that was diagnosed during last year's general election campaign. He was also the Welsh AM for the area. He stood down as a member of the Labour party in protest against them impossing women only short lists and in the end took what was Labour's safest seat in Wales. The list of previous holders of the seat is an impressive who's who of Labour politics, Llew Smith, Michael Foot and Aneurin Bevan. But only 100 of the 700 party members in ...

This article written by Chrisco. ‘Dave’ Cameron probably owes his leadership to the ubiquitous Frank Luntz, the U.S. Republican strategist and pollster who has been hired by Newsnight to conduct focus groups for their programme. Without that exuberant programme in which Luntz demonstrated that Cameron had an appeal to the electorate that no other candidate offered, Cameron would never have got past Davis. A resurgent Liberal has outlined the main charges against the impartiality of these focus groups and the personal links between Luntz and Cameron. Beyond that, however, I have been giving some thought to what Mr. ...

Excellent news when you consider where we were just some three months ago. Also at last it appears that all Labours recent woes (The Mills scandal, Loans for Peerages, the problems with various pieces of legislation and the troubles in the NHS) are starting to be reflected in the opinion polls. Tag Politics Lib Dems

The latest from Thailand is that 13 seats were unfilled last weekend and there will probably be run offs this weekend according to the BBC. According to The Nation (see here) There will be a further election in the 13 seats on Saturday after which the Electoral Commission will declare the election over regardless of the outcome. Only then will the political parties approach the Constitutional Court for a ruling.

Lots of stuffing and folding tonight. Very interesting mass delivery session as well. You can do quite a lot of damage with 8 people in terraces like Harehills. Very thought provoking but I will reflect on this post election. The negative part of going campaigning straight after work is that I'm knackered at the moment and neglecting ward email. The plus side is I'm being very well fed at the campaign HQ. Home cooked fresh food with, dear god, fruit and vegatables. The thing that stood out most though was the tension in the actual candidates. You forget what its ...

Interesting Guardian/ICM poll today. Not the stuff about Labour hitting a 19 year low with the Lib Dems up; encouraging though that is I know better than to get excited by such things (although it is delicious irony seeing this just a couple of days after Blair harrangued his critics as being out of [...]

Oh, I do love being right. Less than a week ago, I accused Charles Clarke of fighting his old student union battles from his vantage point of the Home Office. Then he goes and makes a speech that illustrates my point. I agree with much of what Rob Knight and Michael White have said [...]