'Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen' - the Lib Dem blogosphere's answer to the Now That's What I Call Music! album compilations - has reached its third volume. But I'm afraid you won't find any Duran Duran, Nik Kershaw, Sister Sledge or Howard Jones if you click here.
Like an exotic butterfly, the Britblog Roundup has alighted this week at poons. poons? Yes, poons.
Turning 30 in a week focuses the mind a tad on things not yet achieved. (I envy those able to take simple pleasure in focusing only on those things already achieved.) Today, I started whittling away at the list. Admittedly, I began with an easy one - climbing the University church tower here in Oxford, which somehow I’ve never got round to doing after 11½ years living in the city. It’s all too
Just doing a couple of bits of casework but had an e-mail from my sister who had just read my blog. She mentioned the other football news that I should have mentioned earlier... Wolves beat their local rivals 1-0. Although Steph couldn't go, Chris was there, so I expect he had a good day out.
So I've been indulging in some Sunday night reality tv. Not good, but just what I need at this moment. It's quite scary how attractive I find both Richard Park and Craig Revel Horwood (but not Patrick Kielty under any circumstances) no matter how much rubbish they talk. Mel Giedroyc was fantastic, so was Tara P-T. Tricia Penrose was slated by the judges for no good reason other than the fact that her stylist should be shot. Ray Stubbs, like football, hugely over-rated. Fred Macauley will probably get my patriotic vote and Shaun Williamson ...
Although I've talked a couple of times about the race to be the Democrat's presidential candidate for 2008, I haven't talked about the Republican options. So, instead of talking about it I'll just refer you to this post by someone else for starters: Clowns to the Left of Me: McCain isn't out of the Republican Primaries yet
Gay's The Word is the only gay and lesbian bookshop in the whole country, It's currently under threat of closure. Please read this letter from Jim and Uli, and do what you can... Dear Friend of Gay’s The Word, We’ve got some good news, and we’ve got some bad news. Some time ago we asked for your vote to nominate us for the Independent Bookshop of the Year 2007 Competition. Your wonderful response resulted in us getting longlisted, and we’re delighted to announce that we’ve now reached the Regional Shortlist. It’s a fantastic achievement and we’re really thrilled. ...
Today, Mark Young Welsh Liberal Democrat Rural Assembly candidate for the Vale Of Clwyd, highlighted the impact the Liberal Democrats new proposals to tackle Supermarket power would have for Welsh farming communities, independent traders and consumers. The new proposals are designed to create sustainable communities that are more responsive to the wishes of local people. Measures include: · Appointing an independent retail regulator and enforcing a stronger code of practice to protect supermarkets’ suppliers. · Tackling abuse of market power by big retailers and providing businesses with an outlet to complain in confidence. · Making ...
Trust in Wales Ymddiried yng Nghymru WELSH LIBERAL DEMOCRATS DEMOCRATIAID RHYDDFRYDOL CYMRU Welsh Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Mick Bates said: “The housing and building sectors contribute a large proportion of Wales’s carbon emissions. Tackling climate change requires immediate action in these areas. “That is why we will demand the powers over building regulations, so that we can start on the work of delivering energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes and offices. “Our aim is that all new housing build, and all new public sector buildings, are built to carbon-neutral standards by ...
On finishing leaflet bundle #1 … that wasn’t so bad at all. There was hardly anything in that bundle. I can do this all day if I have to. On finishing leaflet bundle #2 … hey, still not so bad. I’ll be home well early today. Maybe I will have the energy to tidy the house after all. [...] 
Photo: Dimitar Berbatov getting ready to take a free kick at Stamford Bridge today. What a cracking match. Only four minutes away from a stunning win and a perfect weekend, but I think most Spurs fans would have taken 3-3 before the start of the match. With our club captain Ledley King on the long-term injury list and both vice-captains (Robinson and Keane) out injured, Michael Dawson captained Spurs today. I hope it will be the first of many matches for him as our captain. I think I've said what I think about that a few times before... ...
“Many forms of slavery persist; including forced and bonded labour, child labour and slavery for ritual or religious purposes. The world is also now wrestling with a new form of slavery-trafficking in human beings, in which many vulnerable people are virtually abandoned by legal and social systems into a sordid realm of exploitation and abuse.” (Kofi Annan Dec 2005). March 2007 will see a world-wide network of events using the bicentary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade to raise awareness of the plight of the growing number of people trafficked in the world today-for labour or sex. ...
Today there was more leafletting in Holyrood - the Merton Road and Milton Road area. And kudos to our planners, who named parallel streets after literary God John Milton and "Have I Got News For You" panellist Paul Merton. Such variety... Tomorrow is the Bury Lib Dem Exec meeting - the final one before the election on May 3rd. So I imagine it will be a rallying cry to the party membership to
A joker, sorry, candidate for the Tories in Bournemouth called Brain Jenner appears to have 10 top tips for making campaigning successful, particularly when campaigning against Lib Dems. He has posted this to Conservative Home, and might be worth a look, purely to have a laugh. He appears to be very sure of himself in a cocky way. Perhaps we all know a Tory like Brain Jenner ? His tip to really wind us up is to "be nice to Lib Dems" - Ooh Brian, you know how to really hurt us don't you !
There has been a lot of talk recently that perhaps John McCain's bubble has burst with Rudy Guillani steadily building up a lead in the race to be the Republican presidential candidate. This post on Robert Novak's blog from a couple of days ago therefore caught my eye. It sets out how using push polling a pollster managed to come up with figures that had the almost unknown James Gilmore (a 
I have blogged before about my view that membership of a political party is a bit like a love affair. Yesterday's Launch event of the Burmantofts and Richmondhill Ward Campaign for May reminded me about what I first fell in love with about the Liberal Party. When you use the phrase "Campaign Launch" you probably think of a Candidate addressing a crowded venue with at the very least some balloons and a tele prompter. Of course Local Government is more prosaic and we made do with a dingy Church Hall and some very good home made scones. " stuffing ...
It is staggering how political deadlines get repeatedly blown in Northern Ireland, while the people plough on with their daily business. The last few years of "conditions" set by the UUP, followed by blown deadlines, have been a bit like "Groundhog Day". In response to ratcheted demands from the UUP, Sinn Fein have got the IRA to put their weapons verifiably beyond use. Then the IRA declared the
I thought we were going to get thumped, even at half time when we were only three points down and playing the better rugby I thought we were going to get thumped. France couldn't play as bad as that in the second half and at some point England would shoot themselves in the foot. But we didn't. Key difference between today and the game in Dublin? The forwards fronted up. The scrum creaked a bit,
After laying into the demented lunatics recently, what do I find in my very own inbox? This just cannot be down to chance.
Sir Thomas Browne tells us, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: There is found in the Summer a kind of Spider called a Tainct, of a red colour, and so little of body that ten of the largest will hardly outway a grain; this by Country people is accounted a deadly poison unto Cows and Horses; who, if they [...]
Take a quick read of this article about the agility of the Iraqi and Afghanistani insurgent groups. I just find it astonishing. America's best brains are now trying to get to grips with how to deal with this type of insurgency and one of their responses is a comparison to the tactics of the Warsaw Pact. It's almost 20 years now since the Cold War was over, but it's painfully indicative of the vested interests of military bureaucracies and their attendant political and industrial interests that strategy and tactics are still couched in terms of effects based mass land warfare ...
I have found myself wrestling with this particular nettle (sorry I do love mixing my metaphors!) following the news that the Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Devine has made his decision to vote against Labour public. On Friday I snapped a Scottish Episcopalians say "No Trident Replacement" banner in Edinburgh - as you may imagine I shouted a silent YES in support. I was reminded of a quote I used to have on my office wall from one of my political/religious heroes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu - " I am puzzled which Bible people are reading when they suggest ...
The proposal for a T-Mobile phone mast opposite 202 Dunstans Road has been defeated As reported previously local people, parent and Governors of Goodrich School and the local FOCUS team campaigned effectively to persuade Southwark’s Planning Committee to reject the application. As we always knew they would T-Mobile appealed against this decision. I am pleased to [...]
I missed Nich Starling's blog post about him seeing the Inspirals in Norwich this week. So to put things right - here is the link. Cheers Nich! Seems us Lib Dem bloggers share great taste (and a good time!) UPDATE: Matt Davies was also at the gig (though from his picture a lot further back than us - well I was holding the crowd rail in front of the stage) and Ryan Cullen was at the Lincoln one.
The third 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. And there’s no doubt what’s been exercising our bloggers and their readers in the last seven days: that Harrogate speech by Ming Campbell, and [...]
You can read about my latest update for the West End Community Council by clicking on the headline above.
Buried at the end of today’s report in The Independent about the cash for honours police investigation is this paragraph: A senior figure close to the probe said the issue of whether both main political parties broke the law by hiding donations as “loans” was still “live”. The Conservatives have quite a lot of form on, shall we [...]
"There is a general feeling that this is all about 'get the Jew'," Rabbi Schochet told The Daily Telegraph.This is a quote from Lord Levy's Rabbi and close friend. I seriously hope that this is someone not thinking what they're saying, if they start to surround this whole debacle with allegations of anti-semitism it will will take a real turn for the worse.
Slashdot has an interesting post about visitors to Hate My Tory. The sites owner notes that when linked to by Guido, the number of visists from Linux users rose and when linked to by Harry’s Place, the number of Mac usesrs rose. So, does the right use more free software? Given Guido is not a typical Tory (if [...]
This is an interesting story. The Mail on Sunday publishes a photograph of Gordon Brown leaving a private dentistry clinic in London. The disclosure that Mr Brown, who has fought hard to stop Tony Blair introducing private-sector methods into the National Health Service, has gone private may shock some of his Left-wing supporters. But the Chancellor's allies played down his use of private
That is the headline in the hard copy Sunday Telegraph today. It is delightful that Al Gore is relentlessly increasing his carbon footprint to encourage us to reduce ours. After his private jet photo-op trip to Norway, David Cameron obviously sees a kindred spirit in Al Gore. Presumably, like medieval indulgences, Gore and Cameron are buying carbon off-sets like no body's business.
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 [...]
A quick blog before I cross the pond. Reading the Sunday papers it's clear that the right wing press have got it in for Comservative leader David Cameron who this week sacked a front bench spokesman f...
Following a query I received yeserday about why the tickets for The View concert did not go on sale yesterday at the City Square Box Office, click on the headline above for the explanation - apparently they will be available from tomorrow morning.
David Cameron: fighting climate change with the wrong allies. David Mundell: helping Scotland vote against the tories Patrick Mercer: Showing that one Tory stereotype has legs left in it.
So the Tories have decided to prove their eco credentials by announcing a tax on air travel. The Conservative think this can be done, apparently, by raising tax on aviation fuel. Strangely, they seem to miss the obvious point of air travel. If you raise fuel taxes in the UK the aircraft simply fill up with fuel overseas. According to an opinion poll this morning, 58% of electors oppose any more tax rises on air transport and as Paul Walter reminds us, 57% of Tory delegates opposed these plans at their conference. The answer, Mr Cameron, comes ...
An opinion poll this morning has the Tories in the lead with 40% support (nc), Labour at 29% (-2%)and the Lib Dems on 21% (+2%). But not everything looks rosy for the Tories.
So, the big squeeze is on, the news this morning is full of Tory plans to tax air travel and frequent fliers. Their potential policies (still lots of time to row back) are being lauded this morning - being promoted as the "greenest" party, without so much as a passing glance at our Green Tax Switch policy. Therein lies the rub. The BBC is one of the worst offenders, falling into this two party trap at virtually every opportunity. Last week I tuned in to one of my favourite, must listen, programmes The Westminster Hour, expecting for a change to ...
I perhaps should have posted this the other week, I have just done a Crime Survey in Tettenhall Regis (there is a little bit left to do but the bulk has been delivered by the delivery network). I have had a lot of survey replies and have started going through them.
Ken Clarke this morning, on Andy Marr's increasingly dull programme, referred to a future second chamber not as the House of Lords but as the Senate. Great stuff. Maybe that also means we could soon start having a dispassionate and serious debate about Britain being a fully-modern democracy.
I am grateful to Sven for alerting me to this glorious You Tube video of William Shatner advertising the Commore Vic-20 computer in the 80s. It is a classic!
Pleased to note that Union Street has now reopened three and a half weeks early – following completion of a £170 000 gas mains project by Scotland Gas Networks. A few residents had asked why it looked like it was complete just before it actually reopened – part of e-mail from the City Council explains why : “...some road markings needed done for a few days, and they had to finish the connection at bottom of Union Street and test the gas pressures (otherwise, they would have been back to Union St to re-open for faults) hence it ...
Christopher Ohlson writes in the Guardian yesterday about the Church of England: Favourite old hymns seem to have disappeared from the repertoire. Traditional Anglicans go to church for the King James Bible, the old hymns and the architecture. The Bible and the hymns have disappeared, which leaves only the great cathedrals. Our church has the Bible very prominently featured. Indeed, I would be
It was so exciting yesterday to go for a meal at Planet Hollywood in London. The sheer excitement of being cheek by jowel with scores of other guests, the wonderful plastic hand prints of stars which you can press to hear their quotes, the sheer glamour of being in a place surrounded by stardom.... It was absolutely awesome. I particularly enjoyed sitting on the wonderful classic cafe chairs (
Cameron's Torys in actual policy shocker! According to today's Sunday Torygraph the latest wheeze being considered by the Conservatives to burnish their fading green credentials is to increase the tax on air passengers. Nothing particularly controversial about that. However to get around the charge that they will be denying poor people their two weeks in the sun in Majorca they are proposing a
We took our daughter and her friend to see Spamalot yesterday as a birthday treat. We all enjoyed it hugely, especially as we were so "up in the gods" that we needed oxygen. I have always been a great fan of Python, since the early TV days, but I have been pleasantly surprised how their humour seems to surpass the generations. I felt a little uncomfortable when they played the song 'You won't
It has been a long time since I have been able to use those two words together. This follows yesterdays 1-0 victory over Luton and was precisely one month since they had last registered three points. Sadly, fate conspired against them and Southend and Hull both won. The good news was that Luton were dragged into the relegation zone as a result of this result. I wonder if Kevin Nickolls is so keen to rejoin Luton now? Also Barnsley lost and QPR only picked up a point so the bottom of the table has tightened up again with six teams ...
Friday 9th March 2007 - I was delighted to be able to visit two very different Fair Trade projects today at the end of Fair Trade fortnight this week. In Frodsham the ladies of the Co-operative Women’s Guild are fervent supporters of Fair Trade products and it was great to meet them and learn of their support for the scheme. And in Liverpool it was terrific to see the work
The Tories are to launch another consultation on environmental taxes. It is timely, therefore, to remind ourselves that at the last Conservative conference "members rejected a motion suggesting cheap flights were "a false economy" by 57% to 43%, indicating the difficulties the Conservatives will face in setting out a green agenda." One Conservative member, a pilot from Norfolk, said during the
The admission by UK government Ministers that the cost of the 2012 Olympics is to hit £9bn, and that it could go even higher, is bad news for Wales. The Observer reports that Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has lost her battle with Chancellor Gordon Brown to limit the amount of National Lottery funding to £1.5bn. This leaves the prospect that many good causes around Wales could lose vital funding so as to bail the Government out. The time must surely now have come for Wales' Culture Minister to start publicly standing up to Westminster on this issue. ...
Friday 9th March 2007 - I attended a debate on the future of Trident organised by Nelson & Colne College today and was pitched against the Labour MP for Pendle, Gordon Prentice, and the Tory who will challenge for the Pendle seat next time Andrew Stephenson. Gordon gave a good account of what we can expect from Labour rebels in next week's debate going as far as describing the
Welsh Liberal Democrats yesterday voted to remove subsidies from Ieuan Air, the new Welsh Assembly sponsored air service between Cardiff and Yny Mon. This service has been criticised because of its cost, the damage it will cause to our environment and the fact that it is so inaccessible that practically the only person who could take regular advantage of it is the Assembly Member for Anglesey. As our Ceredigion candidate, John Davies, said: “Why are we spending money on an air service when our train service is in dire straits across the whole of Wales?”
Many years ago I did some basic counselling training and learned a few things about personal relationships. Where one partner in a relationship is emotionally manipulative it is easy for the other partner to fall into the trap of trying to second guess the first. To shape what they say and do in order to provide in advance what the manipulator wants. This classically puts them at the manipulators mercy as they can shift expectations and keep the other off balance. I have seen this in terms of my own experience and of the experience of friends. ...
Joe has a wonderful article about the Channel 4 program on global warming. This includes a link to George Monbiot, saving me the trouble of blogging about the program's producer, Martin Durkin who seems to be up to his old tricks. More from Monbiot on Martin Durkin and the RCP here, here and here. Full response to the arguments made in the film will be linked to in due course. The place that I
Well as billed, we were at Shepherds Bush for the Inspiral Carpets tonight. Superb. Grace was leaning on the front rail, with me immediately behind in the pit... With Tom Hingley shaking our hands, sitting on the rail by us and singing hanging over the audience. Awesome gig. Moo! We were being videoed, so I'll be keeping an eye on YouTube. Play MooMan here.
The Independent is rightly highlighting the appalling treatment of British troops and is promoting a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to improve the situation. The paper is asking readers to add their name to the letter which I have just done. I've commented before on the shameful decision to invade Iraq. But whatever my views on the legitimacy of the conflict itself, I believe we have an absolut duty to do right by the brave men and women who risk their lives in service to their country. Yet Blair, shamefully, refuses to even ...
The excellent Marillion have a new album out in April. This promo has appeared on YouTube and was filmed at the recent Marillion Convention in Holland which I was very lucky to attend.
Congratulations are due to my colleague and friend Ed Maxfield has a baby Maxfield on the way. Characteristically his first thought appears to be the cost ;-)
Awesome. On a par with the Charlatans gig in Brixton, the Inspiral Carpets were immense tonight. Went with my mate Dan, as an early birthday present for him. Having had a few drinks during the first support act - don't know what they were called but they sounded fairly tuneless (if anyone wants to tell me their name or that they're actually really good, feel free) - got cornered by a couple of smashed blokes from Lincoln. They were alright really tho, despite being Milwall fans and pretty keen on boxing/fighting generally. We went in for the second ... | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
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