LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 3rd October 2006

Violent Bonham Carter

There is a lovely piece by Stephen Bate on Comment is Free. He looks at the recent revelation that the authorities feared that militant suffragettes were planning an attempt on Asquith's life. (I hope the first Lady Bonkers had a good alibi.) Bate writes: In fact they attacked him physically at least three times: twice when he was playing golf on holiday, at Lossiemouth and Lympne - when he fended them off with the aid of his doughty daughter Violet and doubtless a handy mashie niblick, and once more seriously when they waylaid his car outside Stirling, when he ...

City Council Meeting - 10 October 2006

The agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday 10 October 2006 has now been published and can be found here. Items on the agenda include: the report of the Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities - Councillor Sue Anderson (Lib Dem, Sheldon Ward);the Executive Action Plan on Devolution and Localisation within the Council;a report on Community Engagement from the Local Services anda Scrutiny

The new Tory candidates

I have just half-watched a Newsnight report on the background of recently selected Conservative candidates. I did not write the figures down, so I shall have to make them up. Of the new candidates: 59 per cent are men; 65 per cent went to Eton; 83 per cent are called "Rees-Mogg" I expect you can find the true figures somewhere on the Newsnight site, but you take my point.

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Juat watching Newsnight, featuring the super Tory A-List. They profiles Jacob Rees-Mogg, who isn't on the A-List but was selected for a shoe-in seat anyway. When defending the fact that the A-List basically consists of people who might be a different colour or gender than the average tory, but have the same background (public school educated, Oxbridge graduates), he stated that the Conservatives had to form a government and couldn't do with having "potted plants" as ?\s simply to make up numbers. Let me pick my jaw up. This guy, who have never had an overdraft, or a benefit ...

Fun with David Cameron

Watched this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdo0YurEG1Q today. Clever and true! Also rather amused by this David Cameron initiative.

Lebanon remembered

Now the guns have fallen silent, the "disproportionate" bombs no longer drop indiscrimately, the katushas have stopped their deadly flights its easy to forget the madness of the summer weeks of conflict in Lebanon. But the unexploded cluster bombs remain, the lives of so many families on both sides of the border remain shattered. Paul Reynolds offers an enlightened and enlightening perspective. The Lebanon conflict – Precursor to War or Peace ? Prof Paul E M Reynolds The recent escalation of the ‘Middle East conflict’ in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel may or may not provide an ...

Any future for the Tories in Scotland?

An interesting post by Cicero today reflects on The Strange Death of the Scottish Conservatives: Once, the Conservatives stood for a distinctive policy- "The Union". The idea that despite the legal, educational and cultural differences, despite the fact of government being devolved to the Scottish Office, the government of Scotland was in no way legally distinct from the government of the United

Our survey says...

John Reid has at least stormed into the lead in one poll. Sadly for him it’s the one I’m running at m’other gaff asking who you think would be the best Labour leader from a Liberal Democrat perspective? (Ie, who will be worst for them, and best for us.) Currently Dr Reid is in the enviable position, with 51%, of winning on the first ballot. To be honest, I’m not sure how to read this verdict. (

Ch-ch-changes

The Tories are not ‘Open-Source’ friendly. For the majority who are using Windows, I should explain that if you are using Linux (the FREE Open-Source operating system), you cannot see the videos on the latest crop of Tory websites. No great loss, you may think. I should point out the Linux is perfectly capable of [...]

Conservative Candour

The Conservative party conference is of particular interest this year as we all look to see whether they are a credible alternative government. What has struck me in the interviews I listen to with the leadership, i.e. David Cameron and George Osborne, is how much they refer openly to their messaging. I have to paraphrase [...]

How can you not be good enough for Norwich City bu...

In the summer Chris Sutton, a footballer of some repute having played for Norwich in the past, Blackburn, Chelsea, Celtic and Birmingham, made it clear he wished to sign for Norwich. Having had a number of injuries, he said he was prepared to sign a "pay as you play" deal, which meant that Norwich could have some degree of protection. However, Nigel Worthington (I know I shouldn't kick a man when he is down, but ...) declared he had no interest in signing him. So perhaps there is no greater reason to celebrate Mr Worthington's departure from Norwich ...

Rhetoric:

"If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail then the whole world, including the United States, and all that we have known and cared for will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights of a perverted science.' Churchill, July 1940. 'Let sunshine win

A Liberal approach to a free market NHS?

Oliver Letwin has hit the headlines again for his “no limits” approach to privatisation of the NHS. This isn’t exactly a huge difference from what Labour are currently doing, with “Private Treatment Centres” being given growing volumes of work, PPP putting the NHS in debt to private investor capital, and huge volumes of privatisation of non-frontline [...]

Ian Mcwhirter Now and Then

The other day I quoted Ian Mcwhirter's very sounds views on John Reid: If Labour installs him as its leader, the party will complete its transition to an authoritarian party of the populist right.It turns out that he has his own blog at Ian Mcwhirter Now and Then.

Carbon Off-setting from your local travel agent!

Not that I want to take ALL the credit (or, indeed, any of it), but just two days after I blogged about it, the Co-op have decided to offer travel customers the opportunity to offset their carbon emissions from flights purchased through their travel business. I think this is good news. More choice for people to take environmental concerns into

Who pays for Grandpa?

It’s always easy to talk about issues from a position of detachment. A lot of politicians get criticised for “not being in touch,” or “not living in the real world.” I admit, it’s not always easy relating to issues that I have no actual connection to, or thinking about problems when I have very few of my own. But I am encountering an issue for the first time at the moment that is making me see

More website jiggery-pokery

I’ve added an “about us” page and a “Westminster” drinks page. If you would like your Drinks to have a page, drop me an email with the relevant details. More fundamentally, I’ve set up two new email lists, which you can sign up to using the box in the sidebar: Liberal Drinks - a discussion list for [...]

Eric Empson calls for an end to political bickering over the Coatham Links development

Liberal Democrat Councillor, Eric Empson, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Development and Infrastructure has sent an open letter to local MP for Redcar, Vera Baird QC, calling for her to display real political leadership in ensuring a fair and open determination of the planning application for the Coatham Links development. Councillor Empson, who is also Chairman of the Cabinet, said: "I have sent the letter in response to my increasing concerns that party politics are jeopardising the determination of the planning application for the development at Coatham Links. "It does not help when the Labour Group switch sides ...

1,000,000 signatures - 1 seat

During a visit to Brussels to meet with the Liberal Democrat MEP team, Ming Campbell MP signed the OneSeat petition to have the European Parliament meet in only one location, rather than shuttling back and forth between Brussels and Strasbourg. The petition was started by Cecilia Malmström, an MEP from the Swedish Liberal Party, [...]

Brands, bottoms and Tories

The policy-Lite stance of The Tories may actually make some sense, but only if you accept the conventional wisdom of the modern advertising industry. There isn’t much mileage in ads listing lots of good things about a product, as the audience simply discounts these as puff. This is quite a problem when you have one specific item like a house or an used car for sale which is why estate agents and used car advertisers are so distrusted in popular culture. However if you have a big class of items for sale you can try selling a general image – ...

Cameron looking at everything

I am getting rather tired of hearing David Cameron saying he is "looking at things". It seems to be his catchphrase. His video blogs are peppered with things mentioned where he says: "we are looking at that". Today we have a big splash and Cameron says he is "looking at" tax credits for families. I think he will get tired eyes looking at so much stuff. He'll need Optrex .

"Spoof" of Webcameron launched by UKIP

Our own Will did it first and best (especially the cork screw joke) but UKIP have now set up a whole spoof site of "Webcameron". Unfortunately they haven't properly embedded the video so you have to go to youtube.com to watch it. Also, all they have on offer is the Time Trumpet "Changes" video, which most of us polanoraks have already seen and enjoyed. I still prefer Will's opus.

Great Accreditation Fiascos of our Time Nos 95 and 96

I am delighted to say that, as hoped, Iain Dale has revised and reposted his piece with the above title (except it was 'No 94') about the mayhem in the Tory Bournemouth conference queues. It turns out that it was the Deputy American Ambassador who had to wait for security clearance, not the actual ambassador per se. I am delighted that I did not join (phew!) the conspiracy theorists suggesting

Praise for the Church of England's inclusive schools policy

It is good to see the Church of England's inclusive schools policy being confirmed today. The BBC reports: New Church of England schools should offer at least a quarter of places to pupils from outside the Christian faith, the government has been told. The chairman of the Church's board of education, the Rt Rev Kenneth Stevenson, makes the pledge in a letter to Education Secretary Alan Johnson. The Rt Rev Stevenson said: Part of a school's Christian commitment is to reach out, to include, not with the purpose of indoctrination but in order to offer ...

Another Labour Loophole

I’m not sure the government have thought this through properly. Surely, we are bound to see hundreds of rich millionaires sign up to fight in the worst warzones on Earth so they can enjoy tax exempt status? I mean seriously, would you want to see people such as Philip Green and Richard Branson being shot at and [...]

Prayers for Anthea and Michael Hill

Today, prayers are being said throughout the country for Anthea and Michael Hill and their family. Michael Hill is the Rt Rev Michael Hill, Bishop of Bristol. With his wife, Anthea, he was involved in a car accident on Sunday. Anthea Hill has a suspected broken neck and was undergoing an operation today in Oxford. Fortunately, Michael Hill was released from hospitalisation on Sunday with a broken collar bone. The Hill family spent a long time living in Newbury while Michael was Archdeacon of Berkshire. The family frequently attended our local church and Michael addressed our Church Men's group (women ...

Don't Look At Me In That Tone Of Voice

Wikipedia is a dangerous thing for me; it works far too much like my brain does. Occasionally the temptation is too great and I am lost to the world. Sometimes, however, that journey dredges up a priceless nugget of information, as it did today. Francine Busby is the Democratic candidate for the California 50th Congressional District. She was also the Democratic candidate in a special election

'Labour' - term of abuse?

We've been away for a while and all sorts of exciting things have been happening in our absence. Simon Hughes re-elected as President of party, the Tories are stealing all our policies and plenty of rude e-mails from Labour supporters. My particular favourite has come from frequent anti-Lib Dem letter-writer Janet Yatak, a local resident, who is furious at have been referred to as a "Labour activist" in a previous posting. Janet would like to make it clear she is not a "Labour activist" and finds the suggestion "offensive". She sees no connection between her written support for ...

YouGot to pay me more

I’ve just done another one of those interminable YouGov consumer surveys. The thing about YouGov is they don’t appear to have any quality control over their surveys. The reason why I take part in political surveys is that I’m interested in the result; I have no such stake in a survey about London restaurants or [...]

Webcameron. And on.

The Webcameron spoofs seems to be multiplying, even if you ignore webcameron.info. There is Stephen Tall’s provocative striptease (surely a Michael Kamen-style music career is now in the offing?), and Will Howell’s cheeky little number. And now, it would appear, Tom Watson has got in on the act and interestingly he doesn’t simply mock Cameron’s [...]

Tinsley Cooling Towers - important landmarks or ripe for demolition?

Like most cities, Sheffield has its fair share of architectural triumphs and disasters. Much of the debate has centered on the future of Park Hill flats and the architectural merit of the city centre’s new St. Paul’s Hotel and St. Paul’s Place developments. One debate though that is becoming more high profile is [...]

Cameron Luv Fest - final report

I'm leaving Bournemouth now. Thank goodness for little mercies! So here are my thoughts on the Tories. Well, they are in good moral and think they will win the next election. They have however a significant fear that that will be put at risk by having policies. Anything that can be attacked by opposition or media must be swept off the Tory stage. This was a common theme that ran throiugh speeches

Graffiti Update/Friends of Wighton Autumn Season

Firstly, re the graffiti I mentioned on Sunday in Riverside Drive - click on headline to view article - Scottish & Southern Electricity tell me its not their building. I suspect therefore its Scottish Water's so I have contacted them. Secondly, Sheena Wellington has kindly given details of the Friends of Wighton new series of free monthly lunchtime recitals : "On Wednesday 4th October, 1.15pm - 1.45pm in the Wighton Heritage Centre, Dundee Central Library, Wellgate Centre, the Friends of Wighton will hold the first in their series of free monthly lunchtime recitals. "Featuring Simon Chadwick ...

Angry NHS Doctor bites the dust

An individual who used to post as Angry NHS doctor has been forced to stop posting and remove his posts. HOwever, I have found the old posts in cyberspace and copied them to my website. Please note that I do not in any way endorse anything he said, but I am unhappy with him being silenced by the management. Angry NHS Doctor - revived

Emissions from BAA

According to the Guardian, the BAA have been denouncing aviation taxes at Tory Party conference in favour of emissions trading. Sounds fair enough - I think emissions trading is a good idea as well (indeed, the Lib Dems have been flying that particular flag long before it was fashionable). But I can’t help but get [...]

Open for business

Saturday 30th September 2006 - I was pleased to be able to report to the Regional Executive today that our new phone bank operation would be officially starting work on Monday, providing additional resource to enable us to extend our phone canvassing operations. The team have been recruited and done their initial training and Regional Chair Gill Gardiner joined me to officially declare that we

Tory cheek!

Thursday 28th September 2006 - I was delighted with the support my EU-India report received when presented to the Parliament yesterday and during the vote this morning. The report will be vital in informing the debate at next month's EU-India summit in Helsinki. I did think it was rather cheeky of the Tories to try and claim the credit by issuing a press release saying how they were calling for a

Going our own way

The Conservative leader tells this morning's Western Mail that the Welsh Tories can go their own way on sensitive policies like top-up fees and increased powers for Wales: The Tory leader said he would let Welsh Conservatives stick with their plans for university fees, even though he disagrees with it, and would not block a parliament in Cardiff if the people vote Yes. Mr Cameron, right, said the Tories' Assembly leader Nick Bourne was free to promise not to introduce university top-up fees in the 2007 manifesto, even though he backs the idea in England. He told ...

Nearly there

Another quick plug for Nick Barlow’s walk. Five weeks since I joined him on the stretch from Linlithgow to Edinburgh, long-time blogger Nick has arrived in Cornwall, and is due to arrive at Land’s End on Saturday afternoon. It’s not just for the exercise - Nick’s raising money for the Brain Research Trust. He’s passed the [...]

Options for an organisation’s RSS feed on Flock Together

In response to requests, I’ve added some options for organisations Flock Together RSS feeds, such as you might want to use on a local party or organisational website. You can find the basic RSS feed on the organisation page of the party organisation you’re interested in - which you can find via search or via this [...]

Cameron Love Fest - enemy at the gate

I was a bit delayed at my hotel this morning as my laptop kept rejecting the audio files I recorded yesterday. I needed to clear them off the audio recorder or risk running out of memory space. At the third atempt I managed to load them onto the laptop.So I got to the conference entrance when the queue consisted entirely of myself and James Girling who is here on business (James is a Lib Dem cllr

The wrong sort of pollen

We have had one train company using the excuse of the wrong sort of leaves on the track as a reason for the late running of trains, now Wales has gone one step further. Today's Daily Post reports that Arriva Trains are claiming that the many problems on the lines between Birmingham and Shrewsbury and Pwllheli and Aberystwyth, are being caused by pollen clogging radiators, leading to engines overheating. The train company say that the effect of pollen on the Cambrian lines isnique, and is particular problem with trains climbing the Talerddig incline near Machynlleth. Nice to know ...

A tale of two Thais

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has resigned from his That Rak Thai party according to this report. It is apparent from that report and this report in The Nation that the Thai Rak Thai party is in the process of imploding with 62 former MP's having resigned already and I suspect that the announcement which is being mooted will confirm that the party is to fold. Meanwhile many ordinary Thais living in rural Thailand clearly still retain their affection for Thaksin Shinawatra and his polices which improved the quality of their life so much and according to this report would ...

Scotland's Climate Shocker

I hope Professor Bjorn Lomborg has seen the headlines in today's Scotsman. The report from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) shows what has already happened in Scotland. The summary on the front page of today's paper makes harrowing reading. In the last 10 years Scoland has experienced: A one degree celcius increase in temperatere 67% increase in rainfall An increased

T minus 5 and counting

Yes, I am still alive, just haven’t been able to get any internet access since Bristol, mainly because I’ve been having some long days and not wanting to go and try and track any down inbetween walking and sleep. But, I’m now in Cornwall, and thanks to the generosity of their library service, I’m currently online [...]

The strange death of the Scottish Conservatives

One of the key reasons that Cicero joined the Scottish Liberal Democrats 27 years ago was that they believe in a Federal Britain. Federalism is not, as the Separatists would argue "the Union in another form" and neither is it "Devolution" in the sense of powers handed down from Westminster to Scotland. Federalism is based on "Home Rule"- that is to say that the Scottish People agree to share certain areas, like defence, foreign affairs, environmental policy and some finances with the rest of Britain, but otherwise control their own affairs, including most taxation. This is not the system that ...

REAL Tory policy views !

The Conservative.Home / 'The Independent' survey of Tory grassroots makes interesting reading. Included in it's principal findings are the following nuggets : Right-wingers are most popular members of shadow cabinet: The members of the shadow cabinet who would traditionally be seen as right-wingers - David Davis (72%), William Hague (56%) and Liam Fox (44%) - generally produce much higher levels of 'net satisfaction' from members than those who could be categorised as 'modernisers' - Francis Maude (2%), Theresa May (3%) and Oliver Letwin (10%). On Cameron : 27% ...

Meritocracy - ' Dave' Cameron style !

Having posted last week on the fact that one affluent and atypical London borough seems strangely so awash with Tory political 'talent ' that it provides more A-list party candidates than from Lancashire and Yorshire combined, it seems that Eton public school is similarly blessed. 'Dave's ' shadow cabinet of 35 contains from one public school - Eton - as many representatives (5) as there are from the thousands of state schools nationwide. That says more about the Tory party than any level of cosmetic makeover. Welcome to the new 'inclusive' Conservative party of 2006 !

Liberal and blogging

A big welcome to Auberius and Liberal Gothic.

Is autism a term of abuse?

Using the term "Autistic" as a term of political abuse is about as low as one can get. Great quote in this piece from BBC online from the Lib Dems Norman Lamb MP who said: "This may have been a casual off-the-cuff remark from George Osborne, but that doesn't stop it being offensive. Opposition politicians have reason enough to criticise the Chancellor without having to descend to these ill-informed comments. This won't do much to help the attempts to portray the Conservatives as a caring, sharing, modern party." Well said Norman. As for George Osborne instead of trying to wriggle ...

Spotted: One newly elected MP spending too much time in Westminster

There is a Lib Dem MP who I keep passing come out of stores in Victoria Street, just up the road from Parliament. Two things. You’re in your first term. Your majority isn’t huge. During recess, you should not be spending so much time in Westminster. It’ll still be there when you get back (V for Vendetta [...]

h-tunes

My other listening pleasure at the moment arrives via the innovative h-tunes website. h - or Steve Hogarth - is the lead singer of Marillion and has spent a chunk of this year out on the road doing a solo tour. I saw him play at the Bush Hall in London earlier in the year and on Sunday at Riffs Bar in Swindon as part of the Oxjam festival. He plays solo, with only his piano to accompany him, and played sets which combined a number of his own songs, some Marillion songs and quite a few covers. He ...

I, Davros

I'm currently listening to the first part of the new I, Davros mini series from Big Finish who produce Doctor Who audio adventures and much more besides. This series tells the back story of Davros - the creator of the mighty Daleks - and is a sort of prequel to my favourite Who story of all time - Genesis of the Daleks. (That's the one where Tom Baker's Doctor has to decide whether it is morally right for him to kill off the Daleks at birth) Terry Molloy makesa fantastic return as Davros and on the basis of this ...

I do have a life, I promise :o)

One of the things I’m keen to do with my newest project, Lib Dem Voice is to share the load of editing the site. My appeal a few days ago solicited lots of offers - I just have to sift through and decide who to take on at this stage, and who to bring on [...]

How was your conference, Dave?

I well remember being at conference in Blackpool where the media were trying to show the Lib Dems as battling with the leader over the post office motion of the time. It was plain that gentlemen of the press had arrived not just with preconceived ideas of what was going to happen but pretty much [...]

The best pictures are on the radio

Doing anything at 2 am on Tuesday morning? Me either, so why not tune into Radio Five Live's Pods & Blogs show?* I'm on, together with ConservativeHome's Tim Montgomerie and Labour's official conference e-scribe, Jonathan Roberts. The three of us muse on the triumph that is Webcameron and chew over the merits and risks of political blogging. They even play a clip from my vidcast - though

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