LibDem Blogs - Archived!

It's not often that the Mayor gets invited to a concert that she was planning to perform in! Kingston Choral Society sent an invitation to the Mayor before knowing who it would be this year. So after chatting with the Chair, Marigold Haworth, we decided I could combine both functions. I arrived officially at the beginning to be greeted by the President, Joan Child, and...

Cllr. Gavin Ayling from Adur publishes what one presumes is the Tory "line" on Lib Dem tax plans. Whilst I'm not clear from his comment: Just a direct quote from CCHQ today, it’s all pretty obviously wrong… And yet the LibDems steal votes from the Tories in the country and from Labour in the cities… They’re lies, people, let’s hear that before wasting our votes! ...whether he's saying that the message put out by CCHQ is "all pretty obviously wrong" and "lies" but that aside, let's have a look at some of their criticisms: Among ...

Well, this is a turn-up for the books. Those Welsh football fans who have decided to support Trindad and Tobago rather than England must be dancing in the streets. England struggled to maintain a one goal lead against Paraquay, whilst a ten man Trinidad and Tobago team held Sweden to a goalless draw. Pundits who are expecting England to easily take three points in their next game and qualify may do well not to count their chickens too soon.

...Photographic evidence that I was in Bromley today and delivered the first of this weekend's tabloid, "IT'S 'THREE JOBS' BOB", at 8 o'clock this morning in Mottingham. As pointed out by Duncan Brack in this week's Liberal Democrat News, the constituency is far from the Tory detached house heaven which the media would have us believe. I live in West Berkshire - and I remember Christchurch,

Ming Campbell tells us that "crime is a Liberal issue". Certainly, it is an issue Liberals must confront, even if Ming's recent speech on the subject did feel a little like another example of his saying what he feels he ought to say rather than being himself. The question is whether the government's concentration on the recent concept of "antisocial behaviour" is making us feel more secure or less secure. Stuart Waiton thinks it is the latter. He has an interesting essay on the Spiked! website arguing that it is making society more lonely and fragmented. He writes: Until ...

Now the question is, should I be flying the flag of St George on RBK1?

In all the ways in which David Cameron has broken away from traditional Tory nastiness, I have few general objections. From what little detail he's offered, it seems clear that he is dropping the sorts of prejudiced bigotry eloquently expressed in his magnum opus, the 2005 Tory election manifesto. If he's going to try and make the Tories a mainstream party of moderate policies (whenever they arrive), they that's a good thing. Political parties thrive on competition and it can only be a positive thing for Britain. However, in one respect he has failed to be a very good "liberal" ...

In all the ways in which David Cameron has broken away from traditional Tory nastiness, I have few general objections. From what little detail he's offered, it seems clear that he is dropping the sorts of prejudiced bigotry eloquently expressed in his magnum opus, the 2005 Tory election manifesto. If he's going to try and make the Tories a mainstream party of moderate policies (whenever they arrive), they that's a good thing. Political parties thrive on competition and it can only be a positive thing for Britain. However, in one respect he has failed to be a very good "liberal" ...

As a member of the Liberal Democrat policy working group looking at issues related to crime in the community, I would be interested to hear the views of others on related issues such as restorative and community justice, the rights of victims and programmes aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour. Our challenge is to keep our liberal instincts intact yet still be shown to take cime seriously. Examples of good practise would be of particular interest.Thank you.

When you are a young politician seeking to establish your name it is natural that you will take every opportunity to get yourself to the forefront of the public's mind. Thus it has been with Plaid Cymru's number one list candidate in South Wales West, Bethan Jenkins. Judging from an item in the editor's column of the South Wales Evening Post tonight however, she needs to take just a little bit more care in future if people are to take her seriously. The editor writes: "Plaid Cymru regional list candidate for South West Wales Bethan Jenkins wrote ...

It has been 100 days since Ming Campbell was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. What a 100 days it has been. Ming has exceeded not only the expectations of his critics but also of his supporters. The style was set during his leadership bid when instead of selling his gas guzzling Jag, he had it recycled and stood there and watched it happen. Once elected his style and sense of

What I found intersting yesterday was confirmation (of course I cannot give sources) that there is some effort placed into news management from local trust by central NHS adminstration. This is something I expected, but the real question then is how bad would things be found to be if the news management stopped. These job losses are in Yorkshire. I am also a little confused on Herceptin. We

In the last few days I have noticed English flags on cars and draping out of windows. Today the streets are deserted. Could it be a football tournament is on and that England is playing today? You may have gathered I have no interest in football. What I find distrubing is the way politicians jump on the football bandwagon. On Question Time this Thursday, David Lammy was claiming that England could win the World Cup. Now everyone knows, even me, that Rooney is out of the running (as it were) and that there are ...

As I'm about to sit down and watch the first England game against Paraguay, I want to highlight my support for the team, and show my "patriotism". I would indeed like to score political points whilst doing so, and I will take this opportunity to attack my opponents for their clear lack of "patriotism" on this day. I will call this pointscoring system "The Dennis Method". All jokes aside, good luck to our lads. :)

I am getting a little nit picking, but my instinct is to take care on the ‘Tax Cuts’ chatter.Cuts are not quite what we are talking about overall – it is really a reformulation of the ‘Tax Base’. What we need to do, and are doing, is to set out how taxes will be collected and what areas and activities will be targeted. When we have done that we need to compare the old and the new tax bases by setting out a revenue-neutral statement; how we would raise exactly the same sum of money overall on the new base ...

{Flag St George} It's good that at long last, the English flag is being flown with pride. Can't believe that the media have taken time out this week to even discuss the political correctness of flying the English flag - commonly referred to as St Georges flag. It was a topic of debate on this week's Question Time - 'Should members of Parliament be seen to being flying flags on their cars and bicycles'. Later on the 'This week' programme heard Michael Portillo say it's considered kind of naff - associated with the working class. What a load ...

Personalised Learning Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what pilot studies involving personal digital assistants and other mobile technology are being conducted to help enhance personalised learning in the education system; and if he will make a statement.(John Hemming) A:The Department is currently supporting an innovative project in Wolverhampton called Learning2Go, involving provision of hand held devices to 1,100 students and their teachers across a range of institutions. This exercise is seeking to understand the impact: (a) on learner achievement when individual and personal access to a device enables learning to continue beyond the ...

It is considered that it was the Greeks who created democracy, now a Cardiff University Professor is speculating that they may have invented the computer as well. The Welsh Assembly has famously laid claim to being one of the most hi-tech democratic institutions in the World. This is despite the fact that the technology does not work properly most of the time. It is bad enough having to work with networked computers but when they are combined with a double firewalls, severe system paranoia and broadband links in constituency offices that have all the consistency and speed ...

The house, well half of it, has been well and truly plastered. I had Advanced Plastering of Wolverhampton in whilst I was away. They did a really good job - I have amazingly smooth walls and ceilings in the rooms they did, I also had lots of dust and some plaster to deal with but that was always going to happen.

Maybe Alastair Campbell should have seen this comment coming on his World Cup blog? "Alastair, if Iran find themselves behind at half time, do you think they'll be able to launch a counter-attack in the following 45 minutes?"BBC News reports.

I have to agree with Tony Ferguson here on the topic of World Cup flag-waving. While the "PC brigade" are usually non-existant straw men used by people who want some convenient cover behind which to be racist or intolerant, there seems to have been a higher than normal amount of jobsworthiness concerning this World Cup and the St. George's Cross. While there is an obvious correlation between the

There is an organisation called the Association for the Study of Peak Oil. They produce a monthly newsletter. This month's newsletter looks at oil production from Saudi Arabia - which is the largest producer in the world. The real evidence is that Saudi Arabia may now have passed the year of peak production. ASPO's base case prediction for the peak of production of regular oil is 2005. Venezuela has bought 100,000 barrells of oil a day from Russia because it (notwithstanding the fact that it is the 5th largest producer) cannot produce the oil it has promised ...

Nothing dismays me more than waking up to the sound of John Humphreys being allowed to talk complete rubbish and get away with it, which is exactly what happened this morning when he interviewed some poor anti-war protester who was obviously completely incapable of defending herself: (Transcribed from memory, so may be misquoted) Humphreys: "Surely only governments should be the only ones who

Please do not expect to get any common sense from me until after the 9th July. With two or three games to squeeze in every day until June 27th normal service is unlikely to be resumed for a while. I may blog about football, I may even blog about other stuff, but on the other hand I am just as likely to sit in front of the telly and forget all about blogging. The two opening games in group A today will not have worried England as none of the four teams looked to be a huge threat and if ...

He is the worlds longest reigning monarch - what an achievement. Those who know me will know that I am not renowned for being a monarchist but from my visits to Thailand it absolutely clear that the Thai people have the utmost respect for their monarch. The Nation has also produced a special website to mark the occasion - click here