I was delighted to get a message from Ed Maxfield this morning directing me to the news on his and Dani's website. It's great that they are going to be welcoming a little Maxfield in September. Let's hope he or she will be a good playmate for Baby Dundas at conferences in the future.
I went canvassing this afternoon in Lobley Hill which is in the neighbouring ward to my own. Last year we reduced the Labour majority in the ward from 900 to 92. As you can imagine, it is the top target for us in Gateshead. Not a bad canvass but I was a bit surprised at the first house I called at. A retired person's bungalow and the person who answered the door was, I presume, the occupant's
Here is an article that I´ve written for Lib Dem Voice.... I didn’t vote for Ming Campbell to be party leader, but I’ve never been one of those who have criticised his leadership, I have had no time for those who listened to the media fluff about dissent in the party over his style & age. In fact his first year has been better than I expected or even hoped for. He has imposed a degree of organisational rigour on the party that was sadly lacking previously, he has set a clear policy lead challenging much of the ...
This is the coat of arms of Cuxhaven: In Cuxhaven, there is a tower built of concrete which is inaccessible to the public, which means to you and me, as well as to native Cuxhavenites. The significance of this inaccessible Cuxhaven tower for denizens of Hooting Yard will become apparent quite soon. There is a beach at [...]
What is the most frightening television programme you have ever seen? For me it is probably the episode of Sexton Blake in which the hypodermic-wielding villain measured Tinker for his coffin while he was still alive. Mind you, I may have been as young as seven when I saw it. After that. it is undoubtedly a play I remember from the early 1970s. Two wealthy couples were spending Christmas in a country cottage - the second home of one of them. Gradually they become aware that they are trapped in the building and the red wine they are ...
Magnificent, magnificent end to the Wales v Italy game this afternoon. Apologies to all my Welsh friends but for the last 10 minutes of the game I was on the edge of my seat chanting “Italia!” The build up to their try was fantastic and the conclusion of the match will make it on to [...]
Congratulations to Channel Four for two programmes they showed this week. First The Great Global Warming Swindle (more background on Spiked): then Bring Back the Orphanage, which is discussed in the Guardian and on The ARCH Blog. You don't have to accept the central thesis of either of these programmes to be pleased that ones like them can still be made and shown. With a new series from Adam Curtis - The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (preview here) - starting on BBC tomorrow, for once we are being spoilt with intelligent television.
What do the following have in common: The belief that global warming is a mythThe belief that we are not descended from the same ancestors as chimpanzees and gorillas, but were, as a species, created by God, more or less as we areThe belief that vaccines are dangerous and do more harm than goodThe belief that animal experiments are inimical to good science, producing more misleading results than
It has been a big week in Charlton Down, what with the Parish Council deciding on the divisive issue of where to place our allotments, developers pouring concrete for a planned nursing home (which I still think is a revolting design), and several other events. Topping the list was a meeting at Herrison Hall this afternoon on the thorny issue of a skatepark and multi-use games area. Les Fly skillfully chaired a packed meeting and, after quite a robust discussion, we reached a consensus. The favoured option is a concrete, sulken skating 'bowl' near the cricket pitch (pictured ...
Today we went leafletting in Holyrood ward, dropping off Focuses and Crime Surveys in the name of Cllr Wilf Davison, who is defending his seat on May 3rd there. This afternoon we went round the Polefield estate, but this morning saw us trek far further than I thought the boundaries of Bury should rightfully go - over the hills and far away across the M60, past Simister towards Middleton - to do
It just goes to show that it does not matter how much money you spend on a wedding, someone will always have too much to drink and want to start a fight. Although I'm not sure it was one of the guests who started it, at least Liz Hurley can say she had a proper traditional British wedding. Read about it HERE.
Taking advantage of a break in the Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference I find, via Liberal England, that a group called "The Strange Death of Liberal England" is playing Cardiff Barfly on Tuesday. I am sure that the name of this band has more to do with George Dangerfield's book than with the possible fate of Jonathan Calder's blog, but it is fascinating nevertheless. Should we form a group called the inevitable rebirth of Liberal Wales?
Oh my goodness, a Labour MP with principles ? Jim Devine is reported to have resigned his position as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Health Secretary Rosie Winterton because he opposes the replacement of Trident. Although a PPS is often described as a parliamentary bag carrier, it is the first rung on the ladder to becoming a minister and resigning from his PPS role with probably cause long term damage to his chances in the future. However, as former agent to the late Robin Cook, perhaps some of Robin's honesty and stubbornness has rubbed off. Either way, if ...
My wife is currently four and a bit months pregnant. We went shopping today for nothing in particular, but it is only when you shop with a pregnant woman that you notice some bizarre things. Firstly, why have NEXT moved their maternity clothes from the women's section to the children's section ? There are NO CHANGING ROOMS in children clothes department, so to change something on she has to go down a floor to the women's department to try something on. If NEXT knew anything about pregnancy they would know that stairs are just about the most tiring thing ...
Delivering leaflets today, but now just chilling out for a while before heading to Shepherd's Bush to see the Inspiral Carpets tonight. Someone has just pointed out the trailer to the Simpsons Movie on Youtube: Still a bit worried that it will fall flat... but South Park managed to transfer to the big screen excellently, so why not the Simpsons?
Steven Tall raised some interesting points a while back on University funding, drawing attention to the contrast between the US and the UK. The clear implication is that we have something to learn Now the 'New York Review of Books' in an article entitled 'Scandals of Higher Education' looks at some of the questions Steven raised here and takes a cooler vew of what actually happens in the USA. What do you think?
Ming will be doing a Q+A session with Friends of the Earth after a special screening of Al Gore’s film about climate change, An Inconvenient Truth. It’s on 19th March in central London; tickets £5. See FlockTogether for more details. Note: if you buy the DVD from Amazon via this link, the Liberal Democrats earn a [...]
Might there be some useful tips for spin-doctors in this handbook on how to train your horse not to panic when there are loud explosions? And would there be a market amongst FOCUS editors for an UK version of ‘The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: a guide to Field Identification”? Both of these are genuine book titles. The Bookseller Magazine runs an annual competition for the Oddest Book Title of the Year and the current shortlist (including the shopping carts one) are up for the vote… The 1989 winner was ‘How to Shit in the ...
Inspired by Godwin’s Law, I’ve decided to declare a new principle: As a political row involving any Jewish actors, no matter how tangentially, grows longer, the probability that someone will claim anti-semitism approaches one. Apparently, for example, the cash-for-honours investigation is now officially anti-semitism. This would be rather more believable were it not for the fact [...]
Defending the right of freedom of expression in the UK always ends up with a discussion of the BNP. Tom Miller passed on a link to a rather old post called Nick Griffin and freedom of speech by Tom Hamilton. He does raise some interesting points about why allowing people like Nick Griffin into the debating chamber might net the BNP a few new members but his argument ultimately falls flat - its core is that ignorance is bliss and people are better off not knowing how nasty the BNP are than finding out for themselves how nasty the BNP ... 
Pedro is a Braga fan who contacted me before Thursday's game and asked me for a short preview of the game for his blog. As you can see from the comment he's left on my last post and his write up on his blog (if you speak Portugese!), the game went really well for the fans from both sides - which is great news, especially after recent increased reports of trouble at matches. Pedro has also posted a good photo from the match. I'm going to ask him to do a review/preview of next week's match for me! ...
I’m very happy to see that Exeter University Green Society, an environmental group my friends and I set up a few years ago, has a new website, which can be found here. The events page explains that they plan on volunteering at an organic farm and finding out about alternative technologies – all of which sounds ace.
Hot on the heels of having to buy a new car comes this news.
According to the BBC here evidence has been found of a Roman settlement at Silbury Hill in Wiltshire. The 130ft Neolithic mound near Avebury is thought to have been created some 5,o00 ago. Experts are carrying out a project to stabilise the hill and during this work evidence has been found that leads English Heritage to believe that there was a Roman community at Silbury Hill about 2,000 years ago. Picture by NVM Digital.
I have spent the past two days in glorious Edinburgh. ........sadly without internet access.The place is buzzing with chat about the elections and I was interested to talk to a Labour supporter on Thursday night who put the lack of student fees and free care for the elderly firmly down to us, which got me pontificating again about the idea of coalition. Heresy maybe......but we have had a week of speculation! I think it would be madness for us to even hint that we may be prepared to do a deal with Brown, but even if coalition isn't a starter ... 
No not a post about Ken Livingstone; but the news that Newt Gringrich the former Speaker of the House of Representatives has coughed up to having an affair whilst leading the charge to impeach President Clinton for lying about his. According to Iain Dale this means that Newt is out of the running for the GOP presidential nomination. Not so fast my friend. I (and a lot of the pundits) think
I'm delighted to see that Anna Lo got elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly and made history as the first person of Chinese descent to be elected to any major legislative body in the UK. I hope that she will inspire more of the ethnic Chinese community to engage with the political process in the UK. I also want to congratulate Alliance on a good result. Here's to greater advances in the future for a non-sectarian Northern Ireland that respects the rights of all its citizens. Let's hope that the Assembly can be made to work. ...
On Monday, the BBC reported on the Freud Report on welfare reform. This report discusses the use of the private firms and charities to get the longest-term unemployed into work. However, the most newsworthy part was suggestions that private companies may pay for tattoo removal. The Freud report approach incentivises firms and organisations to rapidly push the long-term unemployed into any type
Hard on the heels of proof that Richard Benyon does not practise what he preaches on global warming, comes news that he is an extreme reactionary: (In the House of Lords vote last week), he voted first of all for the House of Lords to have no elected members at all. Mr Benyon would prefer a House of Lords full of Cameron's cronies to a House of Lords chosen by the people. This disdain for the
It has been quite a week with various events. The Lords vote now has a majority of the commons agreeing on a number of possible ways forward. Labour MPs were finding it odd that having fewer Labour MPs made democracy in the House of Lords more likely. The House of Lords still may vote for an appointed house, but this change can be got through with the Parliament Act. It is important that the
I predicted that Tory girl, Clare Hilley, would be at the centre of some fireworks on BBC1's Castaway, and, no sooner had she dried off from the swim ashore than did the said fireworks erupt around her. Jonathan (unemployed, of no fixed abode) and Tory girl were at daggers' drawn almost immediately. Jonathan calls himself an Anarchist. A more accurate description would be "pain in the neck". He
The Local Party Executive of Walsall Liberal Democrats invites applications for selection as Prospective Candidate for the constituencies of Aldridge Brownhills, Walsall North and Walsall South.
Well obviously I am disappointed at Thursdays result in the by election here. We had a fantastic candidate who would have made a brilliant councillor - but in the end we lost. She is a very determined lady though and I know she will stick with this and I feel sure that at some point in the future it will be Councillor Lynnie Williams. I managed to pick up a stinking cold a day or so before polling day, so have probably managed to pass it on to half the politicians in Liverpool by coughing and sneezing ...
An extremely busy week dealing with issues right across the West End and City Centre areas.On Tuesday, we had a site visit to Magdalen Green with residents, representatives from the embryonic "Friends of Magdalen Green" group, the Police and Leisure & Communities staff to look at the parking problems.Additionally, good news - the Planning & Transportation Department has agreed to my request for a further speed/traffic safety survey in Magdalen Yard Road, following up on that last one carried out in 2004.I also asked that the bus shelter on Perth Road at the Invercarse get side panels as the current ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference in Swansea got off to a good start last night with a lively rally containing some outstanding speeches. Kirsty Williams in particular excelled but then so did prospective AMs, John Dixon and John Davies. Last week of course, the Welsh Tories held their conference in Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and their Welsh Assembly Leader, Nick Bourne was booked for not displaying a valid tax disc. The fact that we have chosen as our venue the DVLA Conference Centre appears to be a remarkable coincidence. What it says about the future relationship between the ... | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
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