LibDem Blogs - Archived!

In my recent article on education for Guardian Unlimited I wrote: In April 2005 a widely reported London School of Economics study argued that social mobility is declining in Britain. Comparing children born in 1958 and in 1970, it found that, among those from the poorest fifth of families, the proportion obtaining a degree had risen from 6% to 9%. Among the richest fifth it had risen from 20% to 47%. There is a page on the LSE website which links to a .pdf of the whole report and to lots of interesting press coverage.

Alright, the lies and the attempts to scare little old ladies were bad, and it is 'unfortunate' that Charles Clarke has released more than a thousand foreign criminals onto our streets as part of his 'tough on crime' strategy, but I never thought that Labour would stoop to personal attacks on one of our candidates. Banging on about the fact that your candidates are local is one thing (and I'm so

Pink Dog has apparently been getting around a bit… Incidentally, I’m thinking of starting a campaign to have Farming Today distributed as a Podcast. Who will join me?!

Charlie Whitaker has noticed some worrying historical parallels with New Labour's approach to policing: Crime was one of the main concerns of inter-war Germany, and the Nazis' "tough" anti-crime policies were a major source of their popularity. With respect to crime and policing, the major conceptual leap the Nazis made was from due process and punishment of the convicted to "preventive" policing, a major element of which was "protective custody". This change was popular and was taken up with apparent enthusiasm by the German police.I saw this posting last week and then forgot where I had seen it. Fortunately it ...

Iain Dale is claiming an exclusive over the parts of Tracey Temple's diary that the Mail on Sunday didn't print: I understand that the deleted pieces were "beyond unflattering", "very grim" and present an "overall impression of ghastliness".I suspect beastly frightfulness was involved too.

Just checked my car mileage for last month - 160 miles thats an offset of 30p Also return flight from Bristol to Biarritz gives an offset of £1.22 So bill so far this year with just over 1000 miles travelled by car on Council and political duties and one flight to Biarritz is £3.40 according to my calculator on ClimateCare . My bill is building up so slowly I will leave it...

Sorry to lower the tone but I can't resist this. Stephen Pound MP is after Prescott (with enemies like this who needs friends?) He says the story is causing big problems for Labour councillors (I really can't understand why - although I agree that people are mentioning it). And the BBC is having a go at proving that the taxpayer has had to foot the bill Ms Temple told the Mail on Sunday she had regular sexual encounters with Mr Prescott in his office with the door open while other civil servants worked outside. They also had sexual encounters ...

I was always amazed that the Labour Party got away with accepting a loan from Bernie Ecclestone that effectively changed the law on advertising smoking. Bernie got "access" the ability to influence the argument rather than a formal legislation for loans deal. The end result is, however, the same. We now have a mass of issues Bernie Ecclestone's Loan for a law change - seriously bad in terms of

Jock and Vivienne have already got the IPPR’s compulsory voting pamphlet covered, so there is little for me to add. All I will say is that before Geoff Hoon decides to force this measure through, he ought to consider the obstinacy of the British. I live in a Labour-Tory marginal; I vote Lib [...]

The case for compulsory voting is being made by the Institute for Public Policy Research. At the heart of their case is a belief that high turnout is a valuable end in itself. This justifies any means, including compulsion, necessary to secure it. I'm not convinced that turnout is valuable in its own right. If high turnout reflects a high level of engagement with the issues, a sense that political parties are offering people things that they really want and a belief that individual votes count, then such high turnout is good. But it is a symptom ...

There may be a few amongst my readers who do not buy the Sun every day. For their benefit I am pointing out this story in today's paper by George Pascoe-Watson: Bungling Home Secretary Charles Clarke did NOT offer to quit last week over the freed foreign convicts scandal. He told the BBC he had offered to go — which infuriated Prime Minister Tony Blair. The PM stormed out of the Commons on Wednesday after being humiliated about his refusal to accept the “phantom” resignation.

The IPPR has decided that we 'need compulsory voting'. Their reasoning (according to the BBC) is to encourage politicians to engage with all of the electorate, rather than just the 'core vote'. I think Britain needs compulsory voting like it needs carpet-bombing with lead aubergines. I agree with Mr Hoon that we must consider radical measures to renew our democracy... falling turnouts should

Issue of the day today has been local reaction to the government's poor handling of the roll-out of digital terrestrial TV. As most people in the south of Dundee (most places south of the Law Hill really) get their TV from the Tay Bridge relay transmitter on the south side of the Tay which doesn't carry Freeview, they are paying a TV licence for rather less of a service than people who can pick up

No not them...this isn't about Labour leaflets but about Tory opinion poll ratings. Camp Cameron have been falling in the polls for four months now Tory support (%) Jan 38.1 Feb 36.8 Mar 35.6 Apr 34.1 Cameron will be looking for a very good local result to turn around his poll ratings. Otherwise he will try and spin London results for all he is worth. In London Liberal Democrats need 14 gains to reach our record number of Borough councillors in the capital. The Tories need to gain about 750 seats to ...

My piece a few days ago about an article by David Hirsh criticising Chris Davies provoked a reaction from David Hirsh himself, complaining of its intemperate tone. He’s right, and I apologise. As Iain Sharpe suggests, it isn’t as if I was trying to exonerate Chris Davies’ comments, and I should not have allowed the [...]

Following on from my thoughts on compulsory voting, the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) has advocated the move. Reading through their summary, a lot of it seems to follow what I found in my own research on the subject (eerie, but unlike the Iraq War Dossier definitely not lifted from my work, as I haven't publicly published most of it) - most obviously that in Australia turnout hasn't

Labour’s last week was a real horror story, more like a script for the new Doctor Who series than normal political life. So says William Rees-Mogg in today's Times. Of course Rees Mogg is talking up Chameleon Dave in the article. However, looking at Russell T Davies latest plot-lines obviously John Prescott wants to avoid meeting or hearing about anymore Sarah Jane Smiths from his past and John Reid had better check his kitchen for vats of noxious liquids. But most scarily is has Charles Clarke released Daleks or Cybermen into the community instead of deporting them to Skaro ...

This is Dr Liam Fox according to the Times. Liam Fox, who came third in the autumn leadership election and established himself as an alternative candidate of the Right, said that the party risked being “tilted too much in one direction”. His coded warning chimes with unease shared by many Conservative MPs that Mr Cameron has failed to make a greater impact in the opinion polls as Tony Blair is beset by difficulties Fox's timing is a mite strange - as the article points out The timing of Dr Fox’s remarks is curious, days before local elections in which the ...

Oh come on, how many more revelations do there need to be before the Lion is given the boot?

Labour's mission to self-destruct a second time in Blaenau Gwent took another leap forward today with the news that one of their English call centres has been telephone canvassing voters there just days after the death of Peter Law. This activity has upset even the most die-hard Labour supporters including a Mr. Llew Smith, the former local MP: "Phoning people in Blaenau Gwent angling for their support before Peter Law's funeral is just appalling and shows they have no humanity or respect." The former Labour Party constituency chair, Eileen Davies, is to hand in her membership card ...

Sunday 30 - Baka Gbine in the Westonbirt Arboretum Baka Gbine are a group of pygmy musicians from the Cameroon Rainforest. They have just arrived in the UK for a tour and their opening Gig was at the Westonbirt Arboretum. From the Tropical Rainforest to a collection of managed trees from around the world. It was a great concert setting in one of the oldest glades with power by Rinky...

Just when we were beginning to think that the pressure on John Prescott was overwhelming, Rod Richards steps in and throws him a lifeline. The former Welsh Tory Leader has waded into the fray by demanding Prescott's head: In a phone-in on BBC Radio Five Live Mr Richards, who was a minister in the Welsh Office in John Major's government, and then led the Tories in the Welsh Assembly, said: "I resigned almost 10 years ago to the day for having had an extramarital affair. "At that time, John Prescott, who was an opposition front bench ...

There's a new cover version of that popular jingle "Britain 'needs compulsory voting'" out by those wild and crazy dudes at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Backing vocals are provided by Pete "Ha-ha" Hain and Jeff "Ho-ho" Hoon. But to make a mark in these days of digital media downloads, SMS voting and supermarket sweep the boards it would have to have that something special, and it doesn't. In Ballot Box Jury's "hit or miss" ratings, it gets a resounding "miss". Along with The Truants' version of "We don't need no edgewekashun" and ASBOs "Leave Them ...

... Do I care? Do I really care? Does anyone care? Has anyone actually cared what's on M&S's shop fronts except to determine it *is* M&S as opposed to Karen Millen or Next or The Discovery Store? Who are all these people who are about to be deeply traumatised by the fact it's not called Marks & Spencer on the storefront when no one EVER calls it Marks & Spencer? It's ALWAYS 'just popping into M&S'. [*tumbleweed rolls past*] As I thought... so why does The Telegraph spend 15 lines repeatedly explaining it's just a one store trial ...

32 INT. COMPUTER ROOM, DEFFRY VALE HIGH SCHOOL SARAH: He took me to the far, far future, and – ROSE: – And it was the end of the Earth! (They stare at each other. Beat) SARAH: I met this terrifying robot, but – ROSE: – But I was the only one who realised it had feelings, too! (They stare at each other. Beat) SARAH: We even went to this great big space station, and then – ROSE: – And then found ourselves back there in a different time, when we were travelling with this ...

Gordon Brown was quite effusive, for him, over the sad (though at ninety seven one could never say untimely) passing of John Kenneth Galbraith. Maybe he should read "Money: Whence it came, where it went". If Galbraith did one thing, I would say it was to challenge the idea that economists have some monopoly on wisdom that ordinary folk were excluded from. Rather, he claimed, they made up rules and complex models deliberately to obfuscate logic so that even the best educated who were not in their little club would accept their dictums unquestioned. Too bad ...

It comes from Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, as reported by the BBC: "When schools have been working hard to raise standards, it demoralises them when they are down at the bottom of the league tables."

This my contribution towards Blogging Against Disablism Day. The whole issue of sex and relationships for those with disabilities is a difficult one. Those with a disability have just as much right to happy and loving relationships and sexual experiences as the rest of the population. Of course in practice this is often not the way it turns out. Their disability can get in the way both in terms of how others see them and in more practical ways as well. Added to this is the issue of how those who care for those with a disability feel about getting ...