Why the Elephant needs regenerating...
With thanks to Graham for forwarding the pic... the Elephant subways are designed to protect pedestrians from traffic... clearly not so effective in some circumstances... Saturday 21st April 2007
11:55 pm
With thanks to Graham for forwarding the pic... the Elephant subways are designed to protect pedestrians from traffic... clearly not so effective in some circumstances... 10:50 pm
Weather going in our favour -
When I stood as a candidate and was leafleting for a now fellow lib dem Cllr for his ward - I had to phone him and apologise that I'd run out of clothes - it had been tippling down and I'd gone home for five changes and had literally run out of something to go back out in - his reply, do you want me to lend you a pair of over trousers! They are a tough bunch, these Lib Dems. They push us hard 9:29 pm
Chip and Pin Scam
Today the BBC report about a credit card skimming scam that has been found in Hull. Now whilst I haven’t blogged about this before I’ve been saying it’s possible since the new machines arrived. The scam is quite easy. Step One, get a card reader like the ones at Tescos which is attached to the till screen. These [...] 9:23 pm
Book review: The Great City Academy Fraud
A dismal tale of betrayal and failure in our education system has been penned by Francis Beckett in recent times. In The Great City Academy Fraud, Beckett exposes the con which lies at the heart of what is nothing more than the Conservative’s old City Technology Colleges scheme, rehashed and reheated by New Labour. The [...] 7:44 pm
TV film of the week: The League of Gentlemen
Forget Tubbs, Papa Lazarou and Royston Vasey. The League of Gentlemen is a British heist picture from 1960, directed by Basil Dearden. Jack Hawkins is Colonel Hyde, cashiered from the Army after 25 years of service and bearing a grudge because of it. He revenges himself by planning the perfect bank robbery. He recruits former Army colleagues to help him, each of whom is struggling to survive in the civilian world and needs the money. Hyde appears to have planned the perfect crime. But no plan is ever quite as perfect as it seems, and when one former comrade too ... 7:43 pm
Backing Borrowman
I’m very pleased to see Duncan Borrowman coming out top of today’s head-to-head of websites of aspiring Greater London Assembly candidates. I can’t remember if I knew Duncan before the Leicester South by-election, but that’s certainly where I’ve spent longest in his company. I was data-monkey and he was drafting target letters so we had to [...] 7:38 pm
A treble win for the local community
Maxitech is one of our local triumphs, really. A company that takes old computer stuff, waves a wand over it to make it top condition - and then gives it to those who can't afford computers. And by the by - not only has it created jobs in Haringey for the hard to employ - but it also operates training for the hard to employ or long term unemployed. Win, win, win. Today's event sees Hewlett 7:11 pm
The Battle of Wood Green
Thirty years ago today, Haringey Trade Unions and community groups took a stand against racism – it was the Battle of Wood Green. Three thousand Haringey Trade Unionists, locals of West Indian descent, members of Rock Against Racism, the Indian Workers Party, and many others, came together to disrupt a fascist march through Wood Green, with many being arrested. Today the TUC organised a rally at 6:57 pm
Why did nobody tell me Doctor Who started at half 6?
Would it be too much to ask for the BBC to start their flagship Saturday night entertainment programme at the same time every week? I've now got to explain to an irate house mate why I've only recorded the second half. My blood is on your hands BBC! 6:45 pm
Community Rail Day 2007
Community Rail Day is being held on Saturday 26th May 2007. The major goal of the day is to increase local awareness of the public transport services on offer in the community. It is also hoped to strengthen community station adoption groups on the Southport - Wigan line and to provide a fun day to involve the community. 
6:28 pm
Chilling McCain joke - Bomb Iran
The John McCain joke about "that old Beach Boys song - 'Bomb Iran' - Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran" is chilling. It's on You Tube here. I suppose we should be grateful for this insight into the mind of the man who could well be the next President of the US. It just infuriates me that such bovine stupidity exists as an undercurrent in influential US circles. It is all a long way from Winston 5:38 pm
5:28 pm
Ming Campbell's election tour film
A new film has been put together with some of the highlights from Ming Campbell’s intensive campaign tour ahead of the elections on May 3rd: 5:15 pm
"You are the nasty party": former Tory chair
More fallout from the sacking by the Conservatives of someone for having cancer. This week’s Sevenoak Chronicle contains a letter from the former chairman of the Conservative Association: Your article last week on the tribunal verdict was a credit to the Chronicle: it was accurate, balanced and informed (Woman speaks out over bitter Conservative row, April [...] 4:11 pm
Notes from the Campaign 4
I spent 4 days over the last weekend in Gipton and Harehills Ward. Perhaps its because I don't have children of my own but I always smile when you see little kids picking up leaflets in open doorways. It happens in every campaign and they are usually excited that a strange man has put something colourful with pictures onto there door mat. If only adults were as excited by election leaflets. I feel that there should be a slushy sound track in the back ground as I type this but Children are our future and if politics isn't about ... 3:54 pm
Avoiding the need to activate Flash controls in IE7 & some versions of IE6
The ‘click to activate and use this control’ “security feature” in IE irritates the crap out of me, as it interferes with the behaviour of some embedded Macromedia Flash apps, and goes against the grain of all the human-browser interaction behaviour I’ve subconsciously learned since day one of using the web. I was looking at the [...] 3:54 pm
Litter Pick - Riverside Youth Centre
This morning we had a good team of us help to litter pick the access road down tot the Riverside Youth Centre. When we arrived we found lots of this... With help from these guys... We left it like this... 3:45 pm
What should I do if I nibble Her Majesty's ankle by mistake?
As you can see from the photo, I've written to Her Majesty today. Why? Well, being a well brought-up dog, I always thought the correct response to mistaken ankle nibbling was to say, "Pardon, I am most sorry and in fact I am pleased to meet you" (Etiquette for Dogs, Chapter 4, Lesson 3). My world has therefore been turned upside down with a discovery made whilst catching up on the British press from last week out here on holiday. For the shocking revelation is that the mother of Kate Middleton (the woman who now won’t be Queen) had ... 3:04 pm
The Liberal’s nuclear mistake
As the defence secretary Des Brown has willingly admitted, there is no current strategic threat that justifies Great Britain keeping a nuclear deterrent. There are no hostile nuclear weapons states, and it will be many many years before potentially hostile states develop delivery mechanisms possible of hitting Britain. A nuclear response to a terrorist attack [...] 2:59 pm
Walsall: Conservative councillor, Respect candidate join Liberal Democrats
Headline says it all really. Details on Colin Ross’s website. 
2:39 pm
What've u got to hide???
What has Tory MP David Maclean got tohide? well as his Private members bill is almost certinally not going to become law, im sure we will find out sooon enough 2:29 pm
Sir Ming visits Malvern
Visiting a youth football team set up by parents and Police Community Support Officers in Malvern, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ming Campbell yesterday accused the Government of breaking promises on sports funding. He emphasised the importance of sports facilities in reducing youth crime and anti-social behaviour. 1:44 pm
GLA candidates websites reviewed and rated
Soon, members across London will select their candidates to run for election to the Greater London Assembly. Most of the selection campaign e-mails from candidates have included a link to a standalone selection website, which has been approved in advance for publication by the Returning Officer. As a London-based member who will have a vote, [...] 1:07 pm
I'm having a Ball
Last night we held the Mayor's Charity Ball on Ravens Ait - the culmination of our fundraising for Young Kingston and a great evening out. It's a superb venue and taking the boat across to the island only adds to its special atmosphere. Peter Moore, Kingston's Tipstaff, acted as toastmaster for the evening so we posed for a photo before the guests... 10:36 am
The Gulag of the Family Courts
The book in the headline was written by Jack Frost who is one of the many victims of false allegations in the Family Courts. The link takes you to more details about this book and how to order it. 10:24 am
What are the implications of TV text and e-voting cock-ups for government plans for e-voting in real elections ?
With more new coming forward that after weeks of bad news about e-voting scams, 10,000 votes from last week's ITV Gameshow marathon were not counted, it makes you wonder if there is actually a problem with technology at the moment which means that electronic forms of remote voting simply are not stringent enough in their checks and are not robust enough in their design to accurately handle voting. If so, what are the implications for the government's attempts to extend e-voting ? It is clear that text voting has had numerous problems highlighted in recent week, yet this is ... 9:33 am
Former Conservative Councillor joins the Liberal Democrats
Mohammed Yaqub, the former Conservative Councillor for St. Matthews Ward of Walsall Borough Council has joined the Liberal Democrats and is backing them in the forthcoming elections. 8:43 am
Tale of the over-sensitive
In this morning's Western Mail, Plaid Cymru illustrate perfectly why discussing the make-up and terms of any future coalition before the voters have given their verdict on the parties is a very bad idea indeed. Labour and the other parties will be jumping up and down with glee. Ieuan Wyn Jones' dramatic offer to hold talks with Labour to stop any prospect of the Conservatives entering government in Wales is a demonstration of hubris that his Parliamentary equivalent, Elfyn Llwyd, would be hard-pressed to match. Ieuan is not just making assumptions about how people will vote ... 6:46 am
Siobhan Mathers for Edinburgh Central!
There's no point in pretending that I don't get emotionally involved in election campaigns - in every election, I have close friends standing and I desperately want them to win. So I'm going to use this blog to do a bit of shameless plugging for some of them - starting with my friend Siobhan Mathers in Edinburgh Central. We have a friendship which was forged on the streets of East Dunbartonshire helping Jo Swinson in 2005. Since then we've been through the Livingston by-election, where Siobhan's husband Charles Dundas was the candidate, the Moray by-election, the ... 1:27 am
Lovely blog, one (usually) careful owner
I’d just like to repeat this message that Lib Dem Voice needs someone to take over the running of it. There’s a great community of regular users here - anyone want to step up? If someone wants to do a trial run - see how they get on, with the option of giving it [...] 12:03 am
Day 2301: Freedom from Freedom of Information
Friday: Hooray for the Liberal Democrats, and in particular Mr Norman the Baker MP, who not only bakes the bestest sticky buns in the whole of the House of Commons, he has also scuppered a Conservatory's attempt to get MPs out of having to answer Freedom of Information questions! Yes, it seems that in Mr Balloon "new" Conservatory Party, the commitment to open and honest government extends about as far as not letting anyone see your expenses claims. Though it is a BIT ironic that they should try to reduce the reach of free public inquiry ... 
