Just back from my first gig in ages and oh how I’ve missed them! Nothing can touch live music and a beer when it comes to a night out Me and Dave went to see the Shiny Toy Guns at the Barfly, fast becoming my top Midlands gig venue. It seemed really busy early [...]
A few hours before the litter sweepers come, I wonder if they’ll take a peek down St Marys Road… To be fair it’s a very windy night and from the looks of the road a bin bag had split open, just off shot there was a couple of milk cartons and other similar items. I tried [...]
Tomorrow's Guardian thinks it knows what all the fuss has been about: Detectives are investigating whether Lord Levy, Labour's chief fundraiser, urged one of Tony Blair's most senior aides to shape the evidence she gave to Scotland Yard, the Guardian has learned.Police have been investigating whether Ruth Turner, the prime minister's director of external relations, was being asked by Lord Levy to modify information that might have been of interest to the inquiry. Officers have been trying to piece together details of a meeting they had last year. Ms Turner gave an account of it to her lawyers and this ...
Someone recently posted a comment regarding the collection of vividly coloured shirts that I allegedly possess, complaining that I didn't post any pictures of them or, equally importantly, me wearing them. And so, courtesy of Caroline, here is a picture of me, taken on Friday afternoon, after I had been to the barber... it's a lovely shirt, enhanced by the two rather more attractive women on
Eagle-eyed viewers of Newsnight may have noticed that the Guardian wasn’t included in their newspaper front-page round up tonight. They couldn’t include it, as to do so would breach the injunction currently in place against the BBC. If you want to know what it says, flick over to Sky news - they’re reporting it happily. [...]
The drip, drip, drip emergence of details about the Cash for peerages enquiry has developed a distinct couple of new themes this evening: 1) The latest revelations appear to potentially leave Lord Levy possibly, conceivably, arguably and/or allegedly in the soup and 2) a theme is emerging of alleged animosity, tension, discord (call it what you like) between Number Ten and Lord Levy. I wonder
Frustrated residents are joining forces to save their streets from commuter parking. Two groups have combined their efforts to battle for parking permits. Residents from Thomas Street and the surrounding area have been pushing for a residents' parking scheme for some time. They say the area, which is a short walk from the city centre, is currently a parking free-for-all. Camden Residents' Association has been fighting a similar battle after the issue was first raised several years ago. Now the two areas are joining forces to lobby for funding to create the permit zone in ...
Monday 5th March 2007 - Back to Brussels this morning after an excellent Spring Conference in Harrogate over the weekend. Among the highlights for me was the passionate speech by Ming Campbell during the Trident debate where he demonstrated true leadership and without doubt made a difference to the final vote. It was also good to catch up with so many friends old and new, not least colleagues
In his biography of W. H. Auden, Humphrey Carpenter writes: His elder brothers were called Bernard and John. By contrast his own first name, Wystan, was exotic; but it reflected one of his father's great interests in life. George Auden was a doctor of medicine by profession, but he was also widely read in many other fields, among them Saxon and Norse antiquities.This was partly the result of his having been educated at Repton school in Derbyshire, for the parish church there has a particularly fine Saxon crypt which attracted his attention when he was young. The church is ...
Thanks to the efforts of Local Liberal Democrats £130,000 has been ploughed into improvements at the Riverside Community Centre on the London Road. The centre, which is based behind the Porter Butt next to the river Avon, was a couple of years ago under threat of being closed down after an unfortunately unsuccessful bid to turn it into a Healthy Living Centre. However this did not stop Councillor David Dixon (Lib Dem, Walcot) and local residents’ enthusiasm for keeping this centre alive. The Riverside Community Association was set up under the Chairmanship of Cllr Dixon with the ...
After many efforts by a number of local residents at Ringswell Gardens, Councillor David Dixon is pleased to report that Bath and North East Somerset Council and Wessex Water have successfully worked together to stop the flooding which occurred after heavy rainfall in cul-de-sacs at Ringswell Gardens. Councillor David Dixon had been in contact with Colin Skellett (Chief Executive, Wessex Water) to make sure that this problem is solved once and for all, and passed on the positive comments received from local residents on the attitude and communications received from contractors working for Wessex Water and for the Council. ...
The small park at Kensington Gardens has had a revamp thanks to the efforts of local residents working closely with the Council’s Park’s Department. In the initial consultations a number of residents had concerns over the proposed loss of the handrail. Local Lib Dem Councillor David Dixon, sought reassurances from the Council that a handrail would be installed. Unfortunately as many would have noticed this took a while longer than anticipated but Cllr Dixon is happy to report that the handrail is now in place. On inspecting the handrail Cllr Dixon said, “I am really pleased that this ...
Liberal Democrat Councillors and local landlord Andy Tanner are campaigning to ban lorries from the London Road. Unfortunately the Conservatives in charge of transport have failed to take action on this. Cllr Colin Darracott said, “Once we take power from the Tories over transport issues we can seriously look at banning HGV’s from the London Road. We are keen to work with local campaigners such as Andy to lobby for such measures.”
Having read the media coverage of of Ming's speech to conference yesterday, I am left wondering whether they were at the same conference as me. What was clearly a speech throwing down challenges for Brown in his first months as PM has somehow been retranslated by the media into the conditions for a coalition. The problem seems to lie with an unnamed official who frankly was suffering from a bout
My first encounter with Phil Taylor was back when I joined the Lib Dems for the very first time, in 1995. Then known as Phil Jones, Phil’s brass neck was legendary. Having resigned as Chair of LDYS, he restood despite by that point having secretly joined the Labour Party. If elected, his [...] 
Apparently he looks at our blog on a daily basis, which makes him an even more keen LibDem than either myself or Alexis, or even the both of us put together. As such I thought it'd only be polite to say a big HELLO, and welcome to the home of real political thought. And a decent recipe or two. (For anyone who doesn't know, Theo is the one Labour councillor who has most thrown his toys out of the pram following their loss of the council.) Hello again Theo. Don't worry dear, we'll be turfing you out ...
Black Truffle Risotto with sautéed Scallops and wilted Spinach. (Starter for 4 people) (This might make the cooking process tricky but I hardly even use a recipe. On the other hand it might make the cooking process easier as there's no long list of instructions for you to stress over) Ingredients: 2 Scallops - with pink roe - per person Some (I told you this was going to be tricky) spinach - probably about 2 bunches, or a couple of handfuls. 3 if you've got small hands or 4 if you like to really scrunch up the things ...
On the evening of 6 March 1987 I was watching Channel 4 News in my Chislehurst home. As I pulled on my coat to head for Orpington Lib Dem HQ, Peter Sissons announced that news was coming in of a ferry disaster in th North Sea. I was working for TVam - and due to be on overnight standby the next night. Seeing the news I dropped my pager in my pocket, though I didn't have a "fly away" bag of
When I first became interested in politics (some time around 1997, ironically), the two main parties rarely acknowledged that the Lib Dems existed. A turning point was reached in 2005 when the Labour Party, for the first time, launched a very direct and very expensive attack on us (the famous "if 87 people vote Lib Dem the world ends" job). They did this for a simple reason. Even though the mathematics was bollocks, the concern was real and well founded. They knew that the 3rd party votes could cost them seats, so they did what we've all done ...
Intrigued by the man who may save us from bird flu, I looked him up on Wikipedia: Mark Sykes was son of Sir Tatton Sykes, a 48 year old reclusive bachelor hypochondriac who was maneuvered into a most unsuitable marriage to an 18 year old girl by the bride's mother. They were never happy together and became less so as Lady Sykes descended into sexual promiscuity, drinking and heavy gambling. After spending large amounts of money paying off her debts, Tatton Sykes published a notice in the papers disavowing her debts and legally separating from her.Blimey. Inevitably, he was ...
Auntie is now permitted to report the following: The e-mail which triggered the probe into an alleged Downing Street cover-up was sent by Number 10 aide Ruth Turner.It was sent to Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, and concerned Labour's chief fundraiser Lord Levy. The injunction barring reporting of any details of the e-mail was amended on Monday so the BBC could say who sent the e-mail but not its full contents.And the Sunday Herald said yesterday: Scotland Yard's injunction against the BBC, preventing it from broadcasting new details in the cash-for-honours investigation, is expected to be lifted ...
The Trident fringe organised by PCA on Friday evening was excellent, even if Brendan Carlin (who chaired) hadn't noticed he had been ignoring calling the women to ask questions, until I pointed it out to him! After that, it has to be said, he called a lot more women. Sometimes I feel like a broken record on this one. My experience at fringes is always the same when the meeting is chaired by a man. On average one woman called to every 10 men. At the Meeting the Challenge event last year there were 14 white male speakers, no women ...
Alex Wilcock has written a pretty comprehensive article about Ming’s leadership style and speech this weekend. Not much I can add to it, really. A final thought - say what you like about this speech, but it is the first time in perhaps a decade that the actual content of a leader’s speech has provoked [...]
A strong, compelling Liberal vision will win us votes. So why isn't one being communicated?
Just a thought. Al Fayed wants a 6 month delay in the hearing in to the deaths Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed to prepare evidence. Firstly, isn't nine and a half years enough time to get evidence ready ? Secondly, a six month delay will take us past the tenth anniversary with all the TV coverage, gnashing of teeth, sympathetic headlines and TV interviews. I would imagine that the last thing Al Fayed wants is the inquest to report before the 10 year anniversary saying it was his own drunk employee who was at fault. ...
I got back from a great weekend at the Lib Dem Spring Conference in Harrogate where I met up with a lot of good friends who I hadn't seen in a little while. I also liked Harrogate except for the awful weather yesterday. It seems that unfortunately it wasn't just the weather that peed on our parade. I was present at both the Trident debate where Ming wisely intervened and his end of conference speech. I thought that Ming was excellent in both (although whoever wrote the ending of his speech could do with giving their endings ...
On The Westminster Hour yesterday, Carolyn Quinn wanted to know what it is like being a woman in the House of Commons etc. This on the back of International Women’s Day coming up on Thursday and a debate on gender in the House of Commons. Well - it's still a boys school and we need more women. As to the atmosphere - water of a duck's back in terms of the male testosterone being sprayed about.
Trust in Wales Ymddiried yng Nghymru Welsh Liberal Democrat Enterprise, Innovation and Networks spokesperson, Kirsty Williams, has unveiled her party’s ten-point plan to revive Wales’ ailing transport network. Ideas include greater support for community transport, and investigating the potential for the Assembly Government to buy trains, and then lease them to the operating companies, to ensure a higher standard and improve passengers’ experience. Ms Williams said: “The current transport infrastructure is unfit for purpose. Businesses are losing money due to delays and congestion, passengers are fed up of being left waiting at the station ...
A change of government is the only hope now for Welsh farmers – that’s the message from Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Mick Bates and Mark Young Assembly cadidate for the Vale Of Clwyd. Mr Bates was speaking as AMs met at the National Botanical Gardens to discuss the future of the Tir Mynydd scheme which supports hill farmers in Wales. Mick Bates said: “The Labour Party do not understand the vital importance of these Tir Mynydd payments not only to the survival of farming families, but to rural communities and even the Welsh language ...
Trust in Wales Ymddiried yng Nghymru Welsh Liberal Democrat Culture spokesperson Eleanor Burnham, AM for North Wales, said: “The Welsh language is treasure that we can all be proud of. It enriches Welsh life and makes Wales special. The current Welsh Language Act does not do enough to facilitate and promote the use of the Welsh across all aspects of life and government. Wales deserves a new act, and the Assembly’s new powers mean it can be made in Wales “I want to see a new law which gives people the right to services in Welsh. By ... 
I was very sad to learn of the death of Chris Lightfoot last month. When I first started blogging, Chris’ blog was compulsive reading and Chris himself was an occasionally useful ally. He had a razor-sharp intellect and an excellent sense of humour, and his posts were always a joy to read. As time went on, [...]
This Wednesday sees the chance for electors in Northern Ireland to put an end to the merry-go-round of sectarian politics. It is time for a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly. This election is not about "them and us", it is about "you" - the people of Northern Ireland! This is your opportunity to put people at the heart of government who will deliver for you, and for the whole community.
Tonight I am writing the new edition of St Mary’s Focus, with articles about the budget and the still-looming Metrolink catastrophe of which we still know very little. I am still trying to get to grips with the desktop publishing software we use, which refuses to do as I tell it despite looking very easy to use back in the training session… It also makes my face look extremely pointy in photos,
With less than two months to go until I am no longer a councillor, I am now on my final lap of meetings. Today at 4pm it was the Trustee Board of the Fakenham Citizens Advice Bureau. I think for the first 18 months of meetings I sat there wondering what I was doing, what I could contribute, and basically felt like a bit of a spare part. However, the Citizens Advice Bureau in Fakenham had problem eighteen months ago, but under the stewardship of its indomitable and industrious manager, Jim Wallace, it has become a centre of excellence, both ...
So delighted to hear our Vince on PM this afternoon challenging the nonsensical idea to increase the powers of bailiffs to break and enter. Yet another indication of this government's contempt for the poor they affect to support. Debt is scary enough for those in debt, getting threatening letters and phone calls from so called reputable debt collection agencies is worse, so this idea beggars belief. What price any sense of personal space or civil liberties in Blair's Britain?
Ash have released I Started a Fire, their first new material in over two years. You can get the mp3 as a high quality free download here (needs registration). Also hear it on their myspace. Also the video is on their YouTube channel. Good stuff from the Northern Irish boys.
Niles took his hotel key home with him, and wonders how many keys will be posted back to Harrogate by Lib Dems this week. Given that we're Liberals, I'm more interested in the things the Hotel proprietors of Harrogate now need to post back to us...
I’ve just stumbled across this post. It highlights how redundant the left/right description of politics is. Worth a read. Can we start talking about liberals and anti-liberals now?
I’ve just noticed that mysociety has launched another tool, Neighbourhood Fixit. This allows you to put in a postcode and report any problems such as graffiti or non-working street lamps or other problems to the local council. You can then update the record of problems as updates occur. This looks like a great tool for community activists to [...]
Here's the offical "reaction" video to Ming's speech. Spot the people you know, and look out for a certain 24 year old district councillor handing out leaflets in the background...
The aftermath of Menzies' speech is one of those occasions when I feel baffled down here in deepest straw-sucking Berkshire. The speech seemed to me to be a simple, and much needed, reminder that Gordon Brown will have to deliver a direction which is a marked change from Blair's drift at the moment. It didn't enter my head that this was some sort of coalition statement. Why would it be? We
As the hunt goes on to discover the identity of the senior party official who issued the unauthorised briefing suggesting Ming Campbell’s spring conference speech was the precursor to coalition talks with Labour, can I be the first person to label this episode ‘Harrogategate’?
A day later than I'd normally hope - due to circumstances entirely within my control - Lib Dem Voice has my second 'Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen' round-up here.
So this is where I was standing during the crucial Trident debate at the Lib Dems’ spring conference in Harrogate… Bruges. Deliberately out of e-mail and phone contact for a long week-end, I didn’t discover the actual result of the debate til I returned home early Monday morning. But I knew ‘the leadership’ hadn’t been defeated. How? Because Trident was discussed on the BBC's Sunday AM
There should be a special font for irony, as someone* once said.
The second of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories as listed on the Aggregator, together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. So, here we go, in order of popularity: 1. ‘Ming: “Put up or shut up”’ from Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England blog. A two-word put down from [...]
Press coverage from Harrogate should have been excellent for Ming. In the Trident debate, he delivered, with genuine passion, the best speech I have ever seen him give. However, attention has been diverted from the elected Leader of the Lib Dems to some appointed apparatchik who took it on themselves to negotiate the content of a future Queen’s Speech with other parties well before we even know when the General Election will be, know the outcome of the Election, or indeed have even written our manifesto. This highlights a problem that many candidates and activists have recognised for a ...
The following seats have recently announced they are seeking Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (people to run as the Lib Dem candidate for MP at the next General Election). We list the constituency name, application closing date, and the contact details of the Returning Officer, whom you should contact for an application form. The details are lifted manually [...]
No, not West Ham against Tottenham, but yesterday's other unlikely finale. Following Ming's decisive intervention in the Trident debate on Saturday, it seemed his fortunes and reputation were, finally, on the up. What a difference a day makes. A quick perusal of the broadsheets this morning does not augur well. According to the Indy, "the party was in a state of confusion over its commitment to proportional representation" (Campbell drops Lib Dems' insistence on electoral reform), the Grauniad follows suit with "PR precondition in reversed then reinstated" (Campbell sets Brown tests for Lib-Lab coalition)and the ever impartial Telegraph announces that ...
For my fellow Lib Dem bloggers: "A politician complaining about the Press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea" - Enoch Powell.
Where did the claim that Saddam was ready to launch attacks on British interests within 45 minutes come from? We were told that it was from intelligence, but there are lingering suspicions that it emanated from government spin doctors. This morning Iraq Dossier has the following story: Following up my investigations, Lib Dem shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Moore asked Margaret Beckett what would appear to be a straightforward enough question: "whether the first draft of the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction dossier authored by John Williams makes reference to Iraq's ability to deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 ...
Paddy has written a great article on the past present and future of liberalism.
My newfound Scots Nats pals are going to hate me for saying this, but this is an interesting bit of spin from the SNP: Party sources have pointed out there might be “advantages” to Mr Salmond remaining in the House of Commons beyond the next General Election. Nationalist thinking appears to be that remaining as an MP [...]
The Sunday Times reports that children as young as 11 are to be fingerprinted for passports: Leaked Home Office plans show that the mass fingerprinting will start in 2010, with a batch of 295,000 youngsters who apply for passports. The Home Office expects 545,000 children aged 11 and over to have their prints taken in [...]
Hast thou gumption, my child? I have oodles of gumption, O mighty Prince! And hast thou vim? My gumption is matched only by my vim, O Prince! Then thou shalt not wilt with weediness when I send thee hence to the huge and terrifying fiery Mountains of Awfulness? I merely await your word of command, O Prince, and I [...]
I’ve been trying to puzzle out for a while what it is that 18 Doughty Street reminds me of. A brave and brazenly partisan media venture, seeking to address what its loyal (even zealous) staff regard as innate political bias and reporting inbalance. I think I’ve worked it out. Yes, it’s News on Sunday. But whilst the brash and short-lived leftie paper boasted about its absence of tits, the same cannot be said of Doughty Street, as roving reporter Mike Rouse demonstrates here.
Just had the speediest of browses of Lib Dem Blogs to see loads of people saying 'I wasn't at conference but I don't like what the BBC said Ming said in his speech...' etc, etc. Well, I was at conference, was in the audience of the speech and don't recognise anything in it that said we wanted to go into coalition with Labour and would be prepared to drop PR as a pre-condition! Go and read
An independent scientific audit of the UK's climate change policies predicts that the government will fall well below its target of a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 - which means that the country will not reach its 2020 milestone until 2050.
I enjoyed reading Alex Wilcock's analysis of Ming's speech. As we all know it's not what you say it's the way that you say it. So some of my own reflections on both his Trident and end of conference speeches. On Trident: I was impressed by Ming's delivery, powerful, passionate and yes, as he said, leading from the front. I was less impressed with the content which as we know matters so much less anyway (isn't it 7%?!) in terms of swinging an argument. I would have preferred he dealt with the very real criticisms of his policy. Anyone ...
Several of my friends were standing for election to the Estonian Parliament. Estonian politics are quite tightly defined. In many ways the cross party debates that take place in Estonia are mirrors of the debates that take place within the Liberal Democrats in the UK- so dominant is the Liberal strain of thought in the Estonian body politic. Two parties: Reform and the Centre Party are members of Liberal international, while the leading right wing party also defines itself as a classical liberal party. Even the Social Democrats espouse overtly liberal policies. The outgoing coalition was between the ...
I was not there but if Sir Menzies Campbell was really setting down his terms and conditions for a coalition with Labour yesterday then I suspect that the price is significantly higher than any future Labour Leader would be prepared to pay. Even without proportional representation, and that would definitely be in there, the idea that Gordon Brown might effectively reverse many of the policies that he and Tony Blair have implemented over the last ten years is fanciful. What Ming was in fact doing was setting out our stall. It was just unfortunate that the rhetorical device ...
Good news today from the Waste Management Department to me : "Leaflet deliveries to households offering the appropriate services are scheduled to commence Monday 12th March."
This is a quick post to say a really big Hello to everyone I met at Harrogate who knew me from my blog! To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't sure that many read it. It was really nice to meet so many of you and to know that the blog is being read! Responding to your feedback, I have removed the permissions for commenting so hopefully you will now feel a but more like leaving a comment! But, nobody be rude please! :) For those of you at The Glee Club, I must apologise for ...
Pluto is now not a planet and there are 8 planets. Southampton is not a core city and there are 8 core cities. There have been debates about the relative sizes of Birmingham and other cities. The facts are: The eight largest English cities outside London are Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Manchester, Leicester and Coventry. The eight largest English authorities outside
More stories about the problems in the Health Service. Whoever takes over from Tony Blair is going to have their work cut out turning the situation round and convincing the public that they are serious about improving and protecting the NHS before the next general election. This story from last weeks New Statesman is about West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust which is apparently one of the most indebted in the country and as part of its cost cutting measures it has decided to abolish antenatal classes. First they told partners that they would no longer be able to attend the ...
A majority of voting representatives backed the official Trident motion at conference, and it has also received some positive reception in the Lib Dem blogosphere. However, while the media have been busying themselves with their made-up story about future coalitions, some questions are also being asked about the mechanics of how the Trident motion was won. Writing [...]
Oh dear, oh dear. It was all going so well. I wasn’t at party conference and was having a nice lazy lie in when Ming’s speech was going on, but I’ve been following how the BBC’s line on his “five tests” for Gordon Brown has been developing. And it ain’t good. Ming began his leadership [...]
I wasn't lucky enough to be able to get to Conference, but I've been trying to follow events as closely as possible, through friends, blogs, and of course the news. I got home this evening, made a cup of tea, pulled up a chair in front of the PC, and sat down to enjoy the Dear Leader's address. I was looking forward to it a lot - Ming's performance on BBC Question Time last week was first class, and he'd had a day of positive press coverage for his debate-saving Trident intervention. Here was a party leader who had ... | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
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