LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Three surreal, unconnected events co-incided today: Adam Rickitt, former star of Corrie, and the guy on the receiving end of the soap's first gay snog, has elbowed his way on to the Tory Party's A-list of top-draw Parliamentary candidates. Who needs meritocracy when there's celebrity? I watched the absolutely brilliant video for Daz Sampson's Teenage Life, the UK entry for the Eurovision song

100 potential Conservative parliamentary candidates today received letters saying that they are on the party's 'A-list' for safe seats.

One element of Cameron's career which has yet to be widely explored is his time as PR man for Carlton TV in the 1990s. Stumbling and Mumbling points us to a piece on the Guardian website by Steve Busfield from the time of the Tory leadership election: The Sun's business editor Ian King described the party leader in waiting David Cameron as a "poisonous, slippery individual" - highlighting the time Cameron was PR man for "the world's worst TV company" Carlton in the 1990s. "He was a smarmy bully who regularly threatened journalists who dared to write anything negative ...

There's a very interesting post by Joe Otten, which immediately caught my eye as I tried to catch up with the Lib Dem blogosphere tonight. He asks "why do people vote Green?" and answers it from the perspective of having been a high-level defector from them. Obviously, having faced the Greens in my central Oxford ward, and living in a constituency where (with the exception of one ward) they are our opponents, the question interests me. And I am in complete agreement with Joe. The Green party has a tiny vote from people who actually want to vote for eco-communism. ...

If you have any interest at all in local democracy then you should head for Budapest this summer. Or, if you prefer, Baltimore. We held a small, highly successful international symposium last summer. This year it's bigger, better and there are two of them! Both symposia will be wonderful opportunities to network with local activists and policy makers from around...

The news that Iain Dale didn't make the A-List, but that Adam Ricketts did, is rightly being met with derision. While Iain's mean-spirited treatment of Lib Dems over the years may seem to earn him little sympathy, he's cleary a clever bloke who deserves consideration over a famous pretty face. Anyone who saw Mr. Ricketts on Question Time will wonder exactly what Cameron's Conservatives are up to... The A-List debacle should act as a good reminder to all political parties about the serious dangers of positive discrimination. As I type, Iain is meant to be appearing on Newsnight. I shall ...

I notice with distress that the tory "A" list does not include Iain Dale the blogger and bookseller?! Now let me be clear. The Conservative Party is a political whore designed to service the dark side of the human soul. Every day I work for its destruction. However regretably along side war, pestilence, famine and death it continues to exist for the moment and it has MP's. And while it must have MP's then Iain should be one of them. (and some should not**) His blog (Iain Dales Diary) convays humanity, wit, better writing than I can ever ...

Well, the election is over and I've caught but with my sleep, and the induction to Oxford City Council has begun... Full results can be found here. Gutted that Jock didn't make it in Quarry. He is a real loss to the Lib Dem group on the city council.

Climate Change Village - Monday 5 June 2006 As part of Environment Week Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Strategic Partnership will be hosting a Climate Change Environmental Village in Victoria Square (in front of the Council House) on Monday 5 June. A range of alternate fuel and transport ideas will be exhibited, including fuel cell driven taxis, electric delivery vehicles, a fuel

Today in the Guardian was an advert for Teleshop, a fictional arms trade company which at first glance looks a bit like C&A. Their advert, shown in cinemas recently, can be found here. It was so good, I've joined Amnesty (well, it was that and the free t-shirt)

The BBC are reporting comments from the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, in which he describes the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as "unacceptable" and calls for its closure. About time too. The BBC article: The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has called for the closure of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. He is reported to have serious doubts about whether the indefinite detention of "enemy combatants" - as they are known - is legal or fair. In a speech in London, he said the camp had become a symbol of injustice and its existence was "unacceptable". I completely ...

I feel for Iain Dale. Not appearing on the A-list is one thing. But losing out to Adam Rickitt? Really and truly. David Cameron is reported to have said: "This is not about appearance, this is not about political correctness. It is about being more effective," he told reporters. "I want to make sure the conversation the Conservative Party has in Parliament amongst itself is like the conversation we need to have with the rest of the country." This is Adam Rickitt the actor, yes? More effective? Not about appearance? Because the country is really made up of ...

Right, I'm off to hide behind the sofa while Middlesbrough take on Seville in UEFA cup final. Local t-shirts are proclaiming that the Geordies are 'staying at home and watching The Bill', cruelly pointing out that the Toon have little else to do while the Boro are off competing for European honours. What golden rivers of second hand beer there will be gushing along the gutters of Boro if they

Waiting times are down but are still the longest in Western Europe, deficits are spiraling out of control, nurses feel their vital jobs are under threat, and 40,533 people are waiting more than six months for an outpatients' appointment. The Labour Assembly Government responds by holding a reception for 70 NHS professionals. Worse still, no front-line staff have been invited to this party despite the fact that they have worked extremely hard in very difficult conditions to deliver the best possible service to their patients. Not only is this party premature, it is insensitive and is a kick in the ...

According to the BBC, the Conservatives' much-vaunted A-List of candidates for safe seats contains a tongue-tied former soap-star and an anti-capitalist with a £300m fortune. Iain Dale isn't on it.

If you look to the right (on the main page) you'll see my upcoming events.This is my first attempt at playing with the Google Calendar API. It wasn't as easy as some of the others I've used, and a lack of any real PHP code made it harder.For some reason the XML files return different date formats depending on the type of event. For short one day meetings I get a start and end time inside a tag down to the nearest millisecond. For all day events I just get the Year-Month-Day. For reoccurring events, a completely different set ...

I'll take Angus' question here "We need to know why people vote Green and what we can do to get them to support us instead." as a personal challenge. I was a member of the Green Party for 12 years, a candidate in local and European elections, a member of the party executive and so on. I left it some 5 years ago, disagreeing with many of the policies, and spent some years allowing my head to clear

Due to my imminent selection battle, the number of posts I’ll be able to make will be significantly diminished - but do keep checking and of course posting - normal service will be resumed towards the end of june. ACH

Following a series of intimidating letters to shareholders, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have obtained a high court injunction* preventing animal rights activists sending more letters (like this one) to its small shareholders or publishing their names and addresses. The Government has also announced changes to it's Company Law Reform Bill, currently making its way through Parliament. Currently, anyone

If you don't laugh along with this trailer, you must be dead inside*. * Or just not have the same sense of humour as me of course.

There really are some strange goings on back home in the world of politicsNorthern Ireland style. It looks like to get the Assembly up and running the leader of the second largest party is prepared to nominate the leader of the largest party for the role of First Minister. Nothing unusual about that you might think. Until you realise that this means that Gerry Adams has offered to nominate the

The highlight of yesterday's Plenary Meeting was a statement by the Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside on the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) (Wales) Regulations 2006. Put in plain English these regulations lift the ten year long ban on the export of British Beef. Naturally, this has delighted the farmers but it also raised concerns amongst those who are not keen on seeing live calves bundled up in crates and shipped across the channel for slaughter. One of these was the Labour AM for Cardiff South and Penarth, who is well-known for her views on animal rights: ...

There is much speculation at the moment as to exactly how committed Ruth Kelly is, as the new Equalities Minister, to ...er.....equality. As a a member of Opus Dei, a conservative religious organisation which takes a hardline stance on homosexuality, Ms Kelly is obliged to bring her moral and religious beliefs to work. Indeed as Peter Tatchell, has pointed out she has been absent from 12 votes on legislation promoting gay rights since 1997, including the introduction of civil partnerships and an equal age of consent. Ruth Kelly herself is keen to rebut these notions: On her first ...

The good news about the local election results is that, by and large, Liberal Democrats are disappointed by them. There is usually a tendency (notably from Pravda) to look on the bright side. And there certainly is a bright side - we have only come ahead of Labour twice in the last 75 years as far as I can see. If we are honest it is the third time in a row that the result we thought we might have had a week out has not been confirmed when the polling box was opened. We thought the same thing in ...

Been out of town for bits of the week running day-job seminars in sunny Grangemouth (beautifully sunny actually!) but on Monday did spend some time inspecting damage to the seawall and footpath in Riverside Drive with a Community Councillor and neighbouring ward councillor Neil Powrie. Also meeting of Dundee House Project Board, looking at the replacement of Tayside House proposals. (The existing

I've not seen much blog content about the latest "revelations" over Mark Oaten, so thought I'd give it my tuppence.As someone who lost their hair at an early age (21-22), in a relatively short time (about 6 months) I did have an early crisis. But I didn't turn to rent boys and unspeakable acts.I was in a high pressure political position at the time (students' union welfare officer), but I found support from my friends and colleagues. As someone who has now entered public life, I still find it important to maintain some semblance of a work/politics/life balance, so I ...

Liberal Review speaks;... Ed Vaizey listens.

In today's Guardian, Geoffrey Wheatcroft makes the case for Liberal Imperialism. This follows a path trodden recently by the likes of Niall Ferguson, amongst others. The "E-word" tends to induce paroxysms in those of a progressive disposition, but Ferguson makes a convincing case to say that America's problem is not the intervention per se, but that its neuroses about its Imperalist role lead it to leave too soon. He uses examples such as Germany and Japan, with both still having a significant US presence dedcades after their "colonisation", as examples of how stability and democracy can be made ...

So, I’ve only been posting sporadically recently, mainly because a lot of the time I used to spend blogging I’m now spending walking. While both tend to be rather solitary and involve going round in wide circles to end up in either the same place or a completely new place with no idea how to [...]

Scary map of the effect of sea level rise on the UK for you to play with here. The mudline: if you live around an estuary (Thames, Humber, Tees, Forth, Clyde, Mersey, Dee, Bristol Channel, Solent) or in low-lying areas inland of them, start thinking houses on stilts, flood defences and evacuation as Focus topics.

Jonathan Freedland writing in the Guardian says that the Blair leadership crisis is 'pure Shakespeare part Macbeth, part Coriolanus'. It won't be at all Macbethian until someone screws their courage to the sticking point and (in company) utters the line: 'Infirm of purpose, hand me the knife!' Meanwhile know what they're all thinking: 'Out, dungheap!'

The Thai Supreme Court has asked the commissioners to resign and has effectively stated that it will take control of the rerun of the election. The commissioners could in theory hang on but I find that hard to believe given that the King asked the Supreme Court to sort the mess out in the first place. The opposition has agreed to take part in the elections which will probably take place in early July given that they have to take place within 60 days and also given that one of the reasons for annulling the results of the previous elections ...

On a recommendation from Samizdata, I purchased A Load of Blair. It's a book about the vacuousness of political rhetoric, specifically Blair's vacuous verbage in the run-up to the last general election. Although the vacuity of political speechmaking is uncontroversial, which is why I remain unmoved by party conference speeches, this book explained the specific reasons *why* political speeches are

Lots of ink is being spilt over the Government reshuffle but not very much on one unfortunate casualty of it. Alun Michael has been very useful to this Government taking on challenging jobs like the first First Secretary of Wales and the Minister in charge of the hunting bill. He was appointed [...]