11:39 pm
I've noticed that it appears to be open season on the system by which the Party approves and selects Prospective Parliamentary Candidates. "Too complex, too bureaucratic, too time consuming, too expensive...", the arguments flow seamlessly. "We don't approve/select enough women/ethnic minorities/aliens," comes the cry from other quarters. So let's remember how we got here from the 'good old days'
11:37 pm
A fascinating piece of forgotten history from today's Times: A former policeman provoked panic in Buckingham Palace in 1931 when he insisted that he had a superior claim to the throne than George V. Anthony Hall argued that he was the 23rd descendent of Henry VIII and tried to convince mass crowds at a series of public meetings in the Birmingham Bull Ring that he was rightful heir to the throne. He started raising eyebrows in Whitehall and Buckingham Palace after making “scurrilous” attacks on the King, including a threat to shoot him. Hall wasn't claiming that ...
11:05 pm
Friday …when they say: "Słoń pokrywał w partiach futra" Oh, that's Poles ! I must offer my congratulations to Mr Black Peter, Prince of Arboria, for offering a challenge to our Emperor, Sir Mr the Merciless. This is very BRAVE of him, if a little UNWISE. I do hope the kingdom of Arboria does not get blasted into flinders as a result of this! It looks like quite a lot of Liberal Democrat chums are already flocking to Black Peter's banner… although most of them in order to tell him to put it away before anybody ...
11:03 pm
Thursday Do not believe MONTY PYTHON! Accountants are NOT among the top-ten most boring jobs! Actually they are 12th on that list!
11:01 pm
Wednesday Lord Blairimort speaks: It's your choice – be healthy or I'll make you!
10:58 pm
Tuesday Good news! Mr Oatcake has gone to the great Tea House in the Sky. Or any other television channel that will take him. It is nice to hear that his wife has forgiven him for being annoying. Good job this was before his appearance on “The Ultimate West Wing Challenge” this evening. It is nice to hear that his wife has forgiven him for being annoying. Good job this was before his appearance on “The Ultimate West Wing Challenge” this evening.
10:43 pm
A pretty good little Doctor Who story is out on DVD this week – 1976’s The Hand of Fear. With so many features on them, we’ve only just finished watching last month’s release which, appropriately for the current heatwave, was Inferno. From 1970, early in Jon Pertwee’s time as the Third Doctor, it’s the nearest Doctor Who ever got to a full-blooded disaster movie. This two-disc DVD has some impressive extras, but it’s mainly the gripping story of an attempt to drill deep into the Earth for new energy while the Doctor’s flung sideways in time to a fascist Britain. ...
8:36 pm
From Snowmail, Jon Snow's Channel 4 News e-mail bulletin: End of the week, I'm up the Khyber, well not literally but metaphorically.Thank you, Jon.
8:27 pm
Wycombe Liberal Democrats are incensed at the decision by Conservative Controlled Bucks County Council to cancel the much-needed improvement works at Cressex School. It has been suggested that £400,000 of taxpayers money has already been spent. Is this money down the drain? No doubt the Tories will try to pass the buck, [...]
8:19 pm
It’s going to be really really good. Today we rehearsed all the singers with conductor Martyn Brabbins, who will conduct Prom 20 and then singers and orchestra with David Robertson, who will conduct Prom 21. Both rehearsals went stonkingly well. Before and after the rehearsals the BBC people are still treating us like singing dirty bombs [...]
7:58 pm
This the last House Points - my Liberal Democrat News column - until October. Already dancing in the streets has been reported as far away as Cropwell Bishop. Fragile Times Two subjects dominated the Commons on Monday: bringing peace to the world's trouble spots and, harder, sorting out the Child Support Agency. "The security situation across Afghanistan as a whole is stable, but fragile in places, according to Des Browne, who should have been a curate. But the CSA is fragile as a whole and stable nowhere. The figures are shocking. Fewer than half the children whose interests ...
7:56 pm
Looking back at my posts I was struck by how often I have written about current events, the machinations of the Liberal Democrats and the authoritarianism of New Labour. I have occasionally discussed Liberal Democrat party policy or what a liberal society should look like. There are a lot of people within the Liberal Democrat party working away at policy. However, in the next few weeks I will
7:53 pm
Scarboro' and Whitby Lib Dems have reselected Tania Exley-Moore as their PPC. Tania made a good fist of the 2005 election, almost doubling the LD vote. She is a good choice: driven, local, well-known, a good performer and recognizable. Although we were among the first group to select, the process still wasted a valuable campaigning year in which much of Tania's momentum post-election was lost.
7:11 pm
Only six four three more people needed to fulfil the pledge to write to Jack Straw in support of TheyWorkForYou.com. Please read it, sign it, and do it. Update: Success! Tags: theyworkforyou, jack+straw, pledgebank
6:28 pm
Remember wacky American commentator Ann Coulter, she of Newsnight fame? Well, apparently her brand of right-wing lunacy knows no bounds: Ms. COULTER: I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality. DEUTSCH: OK, I think you need to say that again. That Bill Clinton, you think on some level, has — is [...]
6:13 pm
The storm over Prestwick Airport's involvement in US bomb sales to Israel that I mentioned yesterday is gathering a head of steam, featuring as the lead item in the Glasgow Herald and even reaching the London dailies. Good to see that an answer to the SNP's sniping was printed too. Only blogging for a fortnight, and already agentmancuso is setting the national news agenda..
4:33 pm
Yes, my chickadees, I know you’ve been champing at the bit for the latest Library of Congress/Dewey Decimal System subject mappings, so here, my gift to you, is a veritable smorgasbord. Tuck in. These numbers come from here, here, here, here and here. Rhyming number: Barbadian Canadians - 305.896972981071 Most Victorian number: Baker Street Irregulars (Fictitious characters) [...]
4:27 pm
Blogger Peter Black (and Welsh AM) manages to get a post turned into a full BBC News story
3:55 pm
James Graham's worthwhile pledge to point out the error of his ways over theyworkforyou is nearing its deadline. We only need a cricket or football team more of people to sign up to reach the century. I notice Stephen Glynn, another policital poster I'm sometimes confused with, has joined me and also signed up and there is quite a cross party mix on there. So if you think that theyworkforyou is
3:26 pm
On a hot summer day with searing temperatures throughout the day I think I had the easy job in yesterday's by-election; I was running the nice, cool committee room sheltered from the sun. But if the day was hot, the result was explosive. By winning in Mile Cross, Carl Mayhew ended Labour's honeymoon period in Norwich in a ward also represented by the recently appointed Labour Council Leader.
2:02 pm
Amidst the continuing noise in the Middle East, economic news has been a lower priority. However, the collapse of the Doha round of negotiations on tariff cuts is a potentially very serious development. The failure to tackle the need for free trade is creating more unstable conditions in the global economy. This is a political issue, but is also a moral issue. Poverty in Africa could be ameliorated far more rapidly if there was freer trade allowed for African goods. The large tariff barriers of the US and the EU have distorted the global markets for most agricultural goods. Whole ...
1:32 pm
(This might be a bit confusing, as I’ve just told some of the same to Ben to post here, then discovered that there’s internet access at the Tourist Information centre here) A Tolkein reference seemed kind of apt at this point as I’m in Helmsdale which sounds like it should be somewhere in The Lord Of [...]
1:02 pm
Dr Dave of Spam Karma fame warns of a potential security risk: If you are running Wordpress as your blogging platform and if you have been trusting enough to leave User registration enabled for guests, DISABLE IT IMMEDIATELY (in wp-admin >> options: make sure “Anyone can register” is not checked). Additionally, delete or disable ANY guest account [...]
12:37 pm
I've finally got the minutes of the council meeting at which there was a vote on ID Cards. I'm delighted to say the motion was carried, unfortunately all present Labour members appear to have voted against the motion, but several of them have an eye on a parliamentary career and don't much like Walthamstow MP Neil Gerrard (a well known critic). The Tories (who are in opposition) sided with the
12:18 pm
No, you haven't fallen through a time-warp back to 1898. It relates to the news that leadership of UKIP is up for grabs. This particular Campbell Bannerman is David, the great-great-great-great-nephew of Sir Henry. He is a former Conservative, and now UKIP Chairman. The favourite is MEP Nigel Farage. UKIP is, famously, a party concerned with a single issue, albeit a pretty important one for those energised by such matters. But the astute and televisual Farage has been seeking to widen UKIP's appeal with a move towards a broader, more traditional (ie Old Tory) right ...
12:04 pm
James Graham has set up a pledge to write to Jack Straw to tell him to not be such an idiot in attaching TheyWorkForYou.com.Straw's premise is that recording the number of MPs Written Questions to ministers is encouraging MPs to submit more questions to appear higher in the stats recorded by TheyWorkForYou.The website has already bowed to some of this pressure unfortunately: they no longer give an absolute ranking of the MPs quantity. But they have maintained the record of the number of 3 word alliterative phrases used.Straw's outburst prompts one to wonder why government and other agencies publish "performance" ...
10:36 am
This week Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats had a visit from Dave Hodgson - English Party Membership Recruitment Officer. Dave came and gave the local party some training on how best to recruit, there was firstly a theory session and then a practical session in Park ward where a number of people were signed up to the Liberal Democrats.
10:27 am
The semantics game is a dangerous one, it can lead round in circles, down dead ends and get stuck in a quagmire of argument (for an example of this, ask a bunch of goths 'what is goth?' or jazz fans 'what is jazz'). Sometimes however it is necessary, even if it is just to define what you mean by such terms. Debate on what liberalism, socialism and capitalism are is the most prominent example on this blog. MatGB talks of liberal socialism, in which he talks of cooperatives and the organisation of business along the lines of the John Lewis ...
8:49 am
4.00 am start and am picked up by car to get me to GMTV for a 6.12 appearance. Drink driving is on the up. Over the summer the police did a one month campaign and found that 1 in 10 drivers are driving over the limit and that about half the people the police pick up for suspicion of driving whilst having taken drugs and are therefore impaired are also nicked. Seems to me that there is a bit of
8:42 am
The Jack Straw Pledge needs just 29 more signatures before we can all write to him and call him a cretin. The deadline is today, so sign up now!
8:15 am
Who would have thought that Welsh Black Cattle could arouse such passions? The Royal Welsh Show suddenly appears in a completely different light: Witnesses said the woman was hosed down during the performance with water normally used to wash and feed the cattle. One witness, who did not want to be named, said security guards rushed to the scene late on Tuesday, but had difficulty grabbing the woman because the water had made her skin slippery. Another said the woman's thong, discarded during the act, was returned to her on the end of a pitch ...
7:28 am
I appear to have spent the evening somwhere trendy. This is highly out of character, and I'm not at all sure I approve of myself for it. Nevertheless, ta very much to the fine folks at Sticky Content and to Justin - it was fun. There was obviously a lot of fun going on at the police station in Chiswick today, too. I could tell this when I phoned them for the third day running inquiring whether they'd yet visited an address where I'd been told some items stolen from me might have been spotted. In fact, I think ...
7:07 am
.... to James Graham's Pledge But time's running out!
12:17 am
The Jack Straw pledge I started a week ago is nearly at 2/3rds the target 100 I set. If you haven’t already signed, today’s the deadline to get to it! And whether you’ve signed up yet or not about it, if you’re a blogger, please blog about it. With a bit more of a push today, [...]
12:07 am
I have been watching today the BBC Parliament coverage of the Power Enquiry. I know I'm rather behind the times again on this one, but nonetheless I found it engaging viewing. I learnt a few things: 1. Saira Khan is a drivelling idiot. She couldn't open her mouth without some horrendous, almost Prescott-like, ill-formed sentence wresting its way out. That wouldn't be so bad necessarily (indeed,
Thursday 27th July 2006,
Wednesday 26th July 2006,
Tuesday 25th July 2006,
Monday 24th July 2006,
Sunday 23rd July 2006,
Saturday 22nd July 2006
