It’s something like twenty-eight hours since I downed my first Gin & Tonic of conference, and yet I still have a slight hint of lime on my breath. I can remember when I drunk the first - but the timing of the last escapes me for now. I hadn’t planned to attend Harrogate, but was [...]
Norfolk Blogger thinks he can rain on our parade by pointing out that lunar eclipses happen really, really often. However, this is the first one we've enjoyed as a family and got excited about. It's also supposed to be the best in years. It may never happen again like this for us. So we're enjoying it. So there:-)
The loosing bonus point Quins secured at Welford Road this evening takes us to 39 points, one more than the highest points total of a relegated team (Quins in 2004/05). Surely with Worcester 18 points behind us that must mean we are safe in reality, if not mathematically. Five games, and five defeats, into the season if you had told me that we would be in this position now I would have bitten
Taken at 10.52pm on a pretty basic digital camera. I haven't had much practice at taking photos of an eclipse of the moon, so it's not perfect!
Well it should be by now but there's still a white edge to the moon. What's strange is that we're the only family out viewing this. Or maybe we're strange............ Have just remembered I haven't had any dinner. Lovely Oohla's Dunfermline burger at lunchtime has left me satisfied until now. 
Peacay, onlie begetter of the splendid BibliOdyssey site, sent me a link, saying: ‘Sometimes I see a link and they sing to me. This link sang “Hoooot Hoooooooooot Hooooooooooooting Yard”. http://www.forgottenfutures.com/pantech/pant1.htm I shan’t spoil the occasion by describing it.’ Peacay is right. Go there and be lost in wonder and delight.
In amongst the pearly white of the little bit of moon still visible, there's the shadow and a definite bit of orange round the edges. Daughter is out there with clothes, dressing gown, fleece and blanket. Husband still in t-shirt. But he's making hot chocolate for all.
It looks so much better through the binoculars. The camera doesn't pick up the half of it.
It looks fab. But when we try to take a photo on full zoom - no luck, and we can't find the shiny new camera we bought when we went to Mallorca at Christmas.
So what's feminism all about? God knows! There are various types but I can't see feminism being prominent, in fact I believe there's been a backlash which has not brought about a new direction, only negative reactions, especially from women wanting to be 'women', which for them equates to making babies and baking. Am I being dismissive? I hope so! I don't generally call myself a feminist and when I do I feel no pride, no self-confidence, rather a melancholic and powerless feeling. I call myself a feminist when I hear people talking about the essential differences between men and ...
Francis Spufford, in Backroom Boys : The Secret Return Of The British Boffin : I was collecting interviews for a radio documentary, and I had already gathered enough of the ethos of the rocketmen to know that Mr [Roy] Dommett was an eccentric in some ways. Those who survive from the heyday of British rocketry all [...]
He says it's 'cos of global warming. I disagree. The front door is open and it's bloomin' (this is a family blog) freezin'
Can you believe it? It's early March, after dark, and my husband is outside in his t-shirt looking at the eclipse. Not good.
Have gone to look for myself. It's not cloud. It's the start of the eclipse. Wow.
I can't believe how excited I am about the forthcoming lunar eclipse. Only half an hour to go. Typically, a cloud has just started to pass before the moon where we are.......................
I was absolutely heartsick when I heard the result of the Trident vote. Only 40 votes in it and I wasn't there. If I had known the strength of feeling in the party at large was so close, I would have gone. It wasn't just the result - the quality of the debate was utterly magnificent and the atmosphere must have been incredible. It does take guts for a leader, staring defeat in the face, to take to the rostrum and speak for his cause. He took a risk - if the vote had gone ...
Short answer: No, but the situation could've been handled better... And those who support Bryn should stop attacking Sally. The winner, Sally Pearman [Confused? Click here for background on this post] Bryn has admitted that he spent over £45 (the campaign budget limit)... in fact he spent (according to sources) several hundred pounds. He should have been disqualified from the race, but it's
Francis Maude was on Question Time making clear that he thought the school "lottery" was not fair or a correct system for allocating school places. Other Tory MP's were keen to get on the radio to say what the "Labour Council" was doing in Brighton was wrong. Now Hertfordshire County Council, a Conservative run council is following Brighton and Hove by introducing a lottery too. What will the Tories say now ? My guess is there will be a long silence.
Well done to Norwich, winning two away games on the trot, scoring three goals in each game, and seeing the club pull away from relegation worries. Obviously, this decent run needs to continue, but a real highlight of the recent run has been the discovery of young Chris Martin, a product of Norwich's youth setup, who has now scored four goals in recent weeks, with three in the last three games. Norwich have in recent weeks liked to manager Peter Grant, but unlike previous manager Nigel Worthington, Grant has been willing to give youth a chance, and it ...
A close vote today in the Lib Dem spring conference saw Menzies Campbell win the vote on Trident. Well done to Ming for making clear his support for the wait and see policy, which takes account of the fact that in a turbulent world where it is difficult to predict the future, making instant decisions now not to replace Trident makes the party seem out of touch with British people who, although not supporting Trident wholeheartedly, want a government which will look at what is going on in the world before making decisions.
Thanks to my posting on Lord G and his injunction, today is already the best day for visitors in the history of Liberal England. I wouldn't claim it was my best ever post, as I was largely passing on second-hand gossip. But I did have the story about the injunction being sought to avoid the investigation being prejudiced before BBC2's Newsnight did.
This morning began with a crap breakfast in my B&B. Ignore what I said yesterday, I’ve gone off this place! Over at conference, I made it for 9am to hear Phil Willis and Simon Hughes open conference. Following the speeches, I dashed over to the training suite to attend the ‘Beating Labour’ session which [...]
I must have missed this but the government has made proposals to make it easier for public authorities to refuse Freedom of Information requests on cost grounds. The effect of these proposals would be to severely restrict the amount of information that could be obtained under the Act. I only realised this when reading this weeks edition of the New Statesman. The opening lines of their leader article this week read as follows "Information is power, and any government's attitude about sharing information with the people actually says a great deal about how it views power itself, and how ...
The hardest part of this week was organising and chairing a big public meeting on the future of the LGHS site. We had over 130 people over the two hours. I though it was reasonably good tempered and we made quite a bit of progress. However the sense of unease amongst some members of the public I though justified my decision to call it. Having the meeting in the first place was not universally popular with some colleagues. The truth is simple. NO decisions have been taken about this site. The School hasn't already sold it. No planning applications ...
The Social highlight of the week, god how sad, was the Burmantofts and Richmond Hill Quiz night. Of course I was on the winning team and travelled home with a Bottle of ASDA sparkling perry and half a box of cadbury's chocolates for my efforts. Despite enjoying the evening enormously I couldn't help but draw one serious point from it all. State funding of political parties is fundamentally wrong. Parties that can't attract members and donations deserve to die. This is a simplistic view I admit but the quiz night represents something fundamental about politics in Britain ...
Saturday Morning of the Spring Conference brought the much discussed debate on Trident. The current Trident System has 20 years life left in it and the decision as to whether we replace Trident is not needed until 2014. In 2010 there is the next round of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Talks. Tony Blair’s New Labour party want to take the decision to replace Trident now. This has been an emotive issue within the party and the debate was well argued from all sides. Now I am no great fan of Nuclear Weapons and though I was willing to be persuaded ...
We welcomed more new British citizens today, including this young woman from the Seychelles. I chose this photo because it also shows Dennis Mulligan, the Superintendant Registrar, who usually conducts the ceremony.
BBC News 24 is covering today’s march against cuts in the NHS in Sheffield. Unsurprisingly the BBC wheel out a representative of UNISON to condemn the government for the way it has treated the NHS and the cuts it is making. What they don’t say is that very representative of UNISON - John Campbell - [...]
A lot of people in the Borough have now heard of the Landirani Trust. It was set up only two years ago in Surbiton by Heather Palmer after a trip back to Malawi, where she had grown up. The country has tipped into extreme poverty especially in the villages, and she was determined to do something, so set up this new charity. Landirani supports around 2000 orphaned children through six...
The more light-hearted conference: In the registration area we have BBC News 24 running most of the day with subtitles. Yesterday as someone talked about “Ming Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader”, the subtitles came up with “Fidel Castro, the Liberal Democrat leader.” Intriguing, and I hope not what someone in the BBC thinks of his politics. I [...] 
The political highlight of the week for me was Wednesday's Friends of the Earth sponsored Business presentation on alternatives to Incineration. The Liberal Democrat led Council has set a firm direction of travel towards a waste strategy which will be built upon a single Incinerator for the City to deal with the 60% of waste we aren't planning to recycle by 2020. The main motivation is avoiding crippling LATS fines and the projection about doing nothing certainly focus the mind. The Labour Group was briefed in the morning with the Joint Administration parties and Independents having a separate presentation ...
A good conference so far, but I am unfortunately not seeing a huge amount of it. I am spending most of it sat in a room the size of a small country waiting for the hoards to descend for registration. Well the rush has still not materialised, and although there are more at this Spring [...]
Tony Knights has served the Borough as the Director of Finance for twenty years. Yesterday he retired, appropriately just a couple of days after the Budget process was finished for this year. He was enormously respected, and a good crowd turned up in the Guildhall to say farewell. I took five photos of him during his speech and they all came out like this!...
Excitement is mounting in the run-up to the Publican Awards 2007, to be held at the Grosvenor House on March 20th. In particular, the competition is hot this year for the Barperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Fairy. The nominees are: Tiffany Brown, The Alford Arms, Frithsden, Herfortshire Hannah Walter, The Bay View Inn, Widemouth Bay, Cornwall Hilli Scranage, The Fox, Lower Essex Street
Radio has been buzzing with an ad campaign on Hepatitis C awareness. Check out details at www.hepc.nhs.uk What makes the illness really awful is that you can all to frequently not know its there and so not be treated. As an aside, when I working in a drug clinic last year, we were doing a lot of work trying to get I/V drug users to take tests as so few people think hepatitis goes past B. I reason I raise the issue is this. Would the government really have done this quickly arranged campaign if it wasn't for Anita ...
Peter has taken the initiative. Bloggers' drinks after the Lib Dems Online event on Saturday evening.A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.
As readers of my blog and the West End FOCUS newsletter will be well aware, I have been actively discussing with the Planning & Transportation Department ways in which the problems many West End residents face getting parked can be tackled. The City Council has set up a "Focus Group" to look at the issues, starting with the City Centre, but also to tackle the problems in the areas immediately peripheral to the City Centre including the West End. The intention is to consult residents on alterantives (eg residents' priority schemes) later in the Spring. Recently, many residents in ...
Preston. David Van Day. Adam Rickitt. Mike Read. Patti Boulaye. These are all "celebs" who have been or want to be Tory candidates. Any common link? Well, one common link is that it takes someone with a fairly anorakish knowledge of the arcane minutiae of 70s and 80s pop to know all of them. I know of another common link which unites all but one of them, but I would only divulge it in
An odd thing is happening right as I type this. There is a giant TV screen to my right, showing BBC News 24, and they are currently interviewing someone "live" in the very room that I am sitting. I have looked round for the camera and the interviewee, but can't see them anywhere. It's clearly this room, and it can't be anything other than live, but I honestly can't see them... Very strange...
Whatever else you think about Socialists they do know how to organise a good public meeting. Last week I went to the launch of "Right to Rent" a Campaign to build more socially owned homes for rent in Leeds . Check out the campaign at www.leedstenants.org.uk In my experience there are two sorts of public meetings the " Entertainment/Catharsis " model where people who all agree with each other turn up and get stuff off their chests. The second is the "Discursive" model where by facts are presented and you try to grapple with what to do about them. ...
In a leader entitled It isn't easy being a Lib Dem, the Guardian today calls for Ming to be "tougher and quicker". It seems that ing has responded brilliantly by an impassioned and crucial appeal to the party conference on the subject of the Trident motion.
Rather than type this on the wicker chair in my front room, as is normally the case, I am at present on a wooden bucket chair in the Harrogate International Centre, in between sessions at the Lib Dems Spring Conference. I think I prefer the wicker. This isn't as gentle on my behind as I am used to... We seem to be the only major party to bother with Spring conferences these days, and Harrogate
Trident didn't provide a classic debate. But Ming's speech brought it to life.
Hat tip to Clowns to the Left of me. I love this one. Switzerland invaded Liechtenstein yesterday. We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," spokesman Daniel Reist said.As well as the obligatory Swiss army knives, the troops were armed with assault rifles - however, they had no ammunition, Mr Reist said.Officials in Liechtenstein, which is on Switzerland's eastern
An interesting one. Just think, most people sweat blood for decades and are then rewarded with a cabinet post. This fellow did nothing and got a cabinet post. "Did nothing" is understating it. He didn't even have to make the effort to exist: Andre Kasongo Ilunga was the rising star of Congolese politics. Just 34, he had risen from obscurity to be appointed minister for foreign trade in Congo's
That is the title of a story today, as I continue my handy digest of "wot I have read in the Guardian today". I was fascinated to read some criticism of Rudy's 9/11 record, something I thought was Unamerican: The most excoriating analysis comes from Wayne Barrett, a senior editor at Village Voice, and Dan Collins in their book Grand Illusion. They argue that quite apart from being the hero of 9/
The remarkable thing about the Grayrigg rail crash were the photos of the aftermath. Normally, rail crash photos show absolute carnage - smashed carriages, roofs torn off, sides buckled, debris all over the shop etc etc. However, the photos of this crash showed an intact train, carriages still linked, no smashed walls or windows. Sorry to sound like a Virgin Trains PR man (not a likely persona
I notice that Ruby Wax is pictured in the Guardian with David Cameron at some glitzy ball or suchlike. I said all along she was rubbish.
When the formation of the Headingley Development Trust was announced ( www.headingleydevelopmenttrust.org.uk ) I must admit to being very sceptical. Over a year in I must now admit to being very wrong. The collision of mass Landlordism with an educated middle class resident population has spawned a complex ecology of local committees, groups and working parties. I doubt an area of Leeds has had such a detailed, repetitive or academically rigorous assessment of its needs as Headingley. The problem of course is the lack of follow up action certainly from the Council. My concern at the time was that ...
The Peruvian government is getting tough on lateness. It has launched a vigorous campaign to promote punctuality. This is in a country where "Peruvian time" means an hour late. Unfortunately there is a slight snag, as reported by The Times: Officials arrived 30 minutes late for an event to unveil details of their campaign against lateness. My wife says of me: 'My husband doesn't do late'. The
Estonia seems to be at the cutting edge of technology at the moment. During the week, the 'Safety Elephant', Charles Clarke, visited one of those three Baltic states swopped under the Treaty of Versailles which I had to learn for O' Level history. He was filming for a Channel 4 programme, Fighting Identity Fraud. The purpose of his visit seemed to be to "prove I was right all along" on ID cards.
Following the vote on the future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference, the party has voted to cut Britain’s nuclear arsenal by half and kick-start disarmament talks. Responding to this decision Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell said: I am proud to lead a party that is capable of having such a mature, [...]
A knife-edge vote this morning at the Lib Dem Spring Conference at Harrogate. We were debating our response to the Government's plans to rush through a decision in favour of replacing Trident. The motion argued that any decision now was premature and that instead we should be announcing plans for an immediate cut in our nuclear arsenal as our contribution to kick-starting multilateral talks. An amendment had been tabled calling for an immediate decision now to rule out replacing Trident. I would say that at the start of the debate views were pretty evenly split and there were good speeches ...
Two busy days in the run up to conference. Thursday was spent trying to get ahead of self, and largely failing. As well as all the work, I had to get a Lib Dem newsletter printed and off to the volunteers who will stuff it on Monday. Since I’ll be in Harrogate away from my [...]
I went last night to the reopening of the Burley Lodge Centre. ( Burley Lodge Centre, 42 - 46 Burly Lodge Road, Leeds , LS6 1QF. Tel 0113 2754142 http://www.bureylodge.org.uk ) The area is very lucky is to have such a facility. Perhaps lucky isn't the right word as yesterday demonstrated its all down to the hard work of local people. The event was held over 8 hours and I got there late on as I had been working. Most events like this would have been winding down but a riot of colour and activity hit me as ...
Conference debated Trident today, the amendment I was supporting failed to pass, by just 40 votes! The motion that passed is an improvement on our current position, the Liberal Democrats are now committed to reducing Trident by 50%. I put a card in but was not called, if I had spoken I would have said the following:
Just come out of Trident debate and I'm now sitting in the Lib Dem European Group fringe (LDEG asked me to video it) but the great news is that the amendment to the Trident motion was defeated. This is excellent news and gives us a good policy on the doorsteps. Mind you it was very close. It went to a count. I was in the middle of the hall when the vote was held. I thought the amendment was
The head of the local Police Safer Neighbourhoods Team, Sgt Jason Moseley, and I have agreed to hold monthly surgeries at the same time in Belsize Library on the first Monday of the month. The idea came out of a recent residents meeting on the future of Belsize Library. The first double surgery will be 17:30-19:00 on Monday 5th March. Sgt Moseley wants to make the Safer Neighbourhoods Team as accessible to Belsize residents as possible and this seemed like an excellent way to do that. At the Library meeting people were extremely positive about the idea of ...
We’ve got three films up so far: a. How Liberal Democrat councils are cutting crime - film from the Friday crime rally b. Crime rally report - interview with Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg after the rally c. Conference diary, day 1 - from Lynne Featherstone MP
It's party conference season again so we're up in Harrogate with the Liberal Democrat Conference pondering the great issues of the day and waving our yellow badges at them. The Spring conferences are mercifully short these days, Friday through Sunday, and there are two items on the agenda that will attract most media coverage. One is the party's excellent, "We can cut crime" campaign, the other is the debate that's just happened on renewing Britain's nuclear deterrent, Trident. The big surprise of the debate was Sir Menzies Campbell's direct intervention to support the Leadership position of a 50% ...
For those who are interested: the two amendments tabled to the Trident motion at party conference in Harrogate were defeated, and the motion was passed with just a few lines deleted (74-76 if you have the agenda).
And the motion, now lacking lines 74-76 (or was it 72-76?) was then passed. The official motion won the hearts and / or heads of the conference. I understand that the Parliamentary Party were whipped to vote against the amendment, which given the tight majority may upset some delegates.
Amendment 1, eurobomb, was clearly defeated. A move to delete lines 74-76 was carried. Amendment 2, which drew the most fire from the party’s policy staff, is too close to call and is now being counted row by row. The debate was reasonable, rational, and respectful. Menzies Campbell was called to speak like any other delegate - possibly [...]
That great annual popularity contest, the RUSU* elections, came to a bizarre end last night, with the disqualification of one candidate, but the election of my favourite, Sally, as President and my friend Pete also getting in. Here are the full results, before I move on to more about the disqualification: RUSU President: Sally Pearman Vice President Education: Pete Jeffreys Vice President
I love the fact that the BBC are now on You Tube, it’s a great step forward and a potentially brilliant marketing opportunity and way of getting people that normally wouldn’t watch the BBC interested in the corporations output. However there are a few things that annoy me about the service. The first is the fact [...]
Phil Willis MP has just moved amendment 2, to huge applause and cheering, in the process accusing the movers of the ‘official’ motion of “misrepresentation” of the amendment. It’s worth noting that Phil Willis also spoke in favour of the 50p top rate of tax at the last conference, again to significant applause - but his amendment [...]
Tim garden moved the FPC motion to a hall that is eight tenths full. Basic message is that amendment 2, perceived as the ‘rebel’ amendment is not the option you should vote if you believe in disarmament. His call to oppose both amendments was warmly applauded. Amendment 1 proposes a ‘eurobomb’. Very weak applause so far.
Conference would not be Conference without administrative hiccup and the odd officious official (which sounds slightly like a tautology). I attended last night's We Can Cut Crime rally in the hope, among other things, of hearing the Great Leader speak. In times gone by other leaders did not attend the pre-Conference rallies, but now it has been turned into a second opportunity for a leaders speech. Unfortunately, late in the evening as it was, it followed a couple of jars in the bar at the Holiday Inn, and what goes in must come out. So during the We ...
Well Conference officially opened this morning. I have just done a training session with John Bridges on behalf of ALDC (the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors). The session was on using canvass data to target wards better, it was well attended and the feedback good.
In the last 24 hours I’ve spoken to a number of people on various sides of the Trident debate, which begins in the main hall in 1fifteen minutes. No-one is confident, everything is to play for, and there is a real sense that the speeches in the hall will swing the debate one way or [...]
Tim Ireland from Bloggerheads conjectures that red noses are probably illegal in Parliament Square, unless you’ve got permission from the police for such a flagrant display of political idealism of course. Depressingly, he’s probably right, though it’ll be up to the police to decide if someone’s antics look to them like a protest. The Serious Organised [...]
No posts from me last night - because I had the joy of a third power cut in four weeks! The power went at approx 7.30am on Friday and was still out at 8pm when I left to stay with a friend. I arrived home this morning to find power restored, hurrah! It does worry me [...]
Suppose you’re the minister responsible for criminal records. You receive a letter telling you British citizens have committed a series of rapes, including of children, while in Germany - and administrative breakdown means their details haven’t been put on their police records. You’re told this is only the tip of the iceberg. Do you: a) notice [...]
It's party conference, so it's time for another conference diary! Here's today's, with many thanks to Will and Betsy for doing the filming: You can find out more about the crime campaign I mentioned at www.wecancutcrime.com and about party conference at www.libdems.org.uk/conference
I had a strange conversation with a guy yesterday who was handing out a flyer backing the amendment to the Trident motion. I asked him why he was backing a position that appears hostile to Trident but then keeps Trident at full strength for the next 20 years. He claimed the amendment had nothing to do with that and that it was a "disarm now" call.So I pointed out what his amendment does and at
For those running Wordpress: One of their servers was compromised and malicious code inserted into downloads of version 2.1.1 A new release, 2.1.2 has been released and all users on 2.1.1 are recomended to upgrade. 2.0.x users are not affected. More details here.
Friday: {Posted by Picasa} {Posted by Picasa} Yes, one of these images is an ARTIST’S IMPRESSION because the ORIGINAL photo has been BANNED. PS Mr Balloon’s past at Eton isn’t the only thing we’re not allowed to talk about today!
With so much to do before the Assembly elections and so little time to do it in, I have skipped the Party Conference in Harrogate this year and will be spending the weekend out and about delivering leaflets and meeting constituents. As it is I will be fully occupied next week with the Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference in Swansea. I could not afford two successive weekends of conferencing. If I had gone up north of course I might have missed this gem in today's Western Mail in which the Welsh Christian Party claims that having a red dragon - ...
It recently occurred to LibertyCat and I that we had completely failed to blog about the much discussed e-petition on road pricing and Tony Blair's subsequent letter to the signatories. I started blogging about the Social Market Foundation's February paper on road pricing [click to download], and Mr Ladyman's speech at that event. Then it occurred to me... why road pricing? Vehicle Excise Duty
If you click on the link you will find out why it is arguable that red noses are now banned in the SOCA Westminster Zone. I think the police will probably be sensible, but it points about the absurdity of much of Labour's proposals.
Having watched his conference speech live, I thought Ming had a good day today. That's why I couldn't be more annoyed to get home and find that the top politics story on the BBC News website is the following: "A Newsnight poll suggests voters want Charles Kennedy rather than Sir Menzies Campbell as Lib Dem leader." To which I say to BBC editors: a) The results of the poll were exactly the | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
