LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 22nd April 2007

Underneath Edinburgh

It's not just Bath and Reading: it turns out that Edinburgh is riddled with old tunnels too.

The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line have been given permission by Network Rail to organise an event for people to walk across the magnificent Ribblehead Viaduct. Picture borrowed from www.visitcumbria.com.

Blarst my ol boots, bor

Thanks to Robin Whitmore for sending me this. Some of the narrative is a bit hit and miss but scroll down to the vocabulary (voocablary) section and if you have ever had the pleasure of living in Norfolk, you will larf til yoo croy.

St George's Day

It's actually tomorrow, but the Royal Kingston District Scouts always celebrate the day on the nearest Sunday with a huge parade through Tolworth. These are just a few of over a thousand young people involved. Note the centenary flag - Scouting began in 1907, and there are many events this year to mark Baden Powell's inspiration. The afternoon began for me with...

Foyled again

Having welcomed the return of Foyle's War last week, I found this evening that it had disappeared again. It's replacement was a new vehicle for Stephen Fry. My worst fears were confirmed when the first actor to appear on screen was Tony Slattery.

BritBlog Roundup

You can find a fortnight's worth of the best in British blogging over at the home of Mr Eugenides.

More Friends Reunited

This interweb thingy is marvellous for making contact with long lost Lib Dem friends. Last year one of my former colleagues on Rochford DC, Trevor Powell, said hello to me from his B & B in the Scottish Highlands. I've now heard from Pam Godsell, a former Lib Dem Councillor in Rayleigh, who is now living in Knaresborough and is a Town Councillor there (and former Mayor!). And Pam has received

I’m in the top 100!

Well OK, not me. But the Podcast I set up for my soon-to-be-former employers the Royal Society is currently at number 51 in iTunes UK Podcast chart - largely thanks to iTunes themselves giving it some great promotion on the Podcast home page: Which is just great. If they’d given me a heads up I would’ve [...]

POLL: Who would you choose in the second round of the French presidential elections?

Okay. This is a first, and it may all go horribly wrong, but... It's poll time!! And the question is this: Given that the choice is between an unreconstructed socialist with a winning smile and a right-wing moderniser who wants to liberalise the economy but stick it to immigrants, who would you choose in the second round of the French presidential elections? Or, if you disagree with the analysis above, how about just telling us who you would support anyway. Who would you support in second round of the ...

Remembering Virginia

One of my blogging acquaintances has asked me for a synopsis of the media coverage of the Virginia shootings in the UK. I'm afraid to say that for various reasons the last week has been a bit of a blur, and I really only followed what happened by radio and the net - no TV, didn't read much in the way of newspapers. But the immediate coverage that I heard on BBC Five Live was pretty

Kingdom on ITV 1

Well! More programmes like that and I might just become an ITV viewer. It’s just a shame that good dramas on ITV are often years apart.

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, but [...]

Bush chosses Respect over laughter

last night at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner President Bush choose to respect the memories of those killed at Varginia Tech instead of participating in the usual comic roast. Below is a look at back at the last 2 years speeches delivered by Bush, and i use that term very very loosley, as well as something from when Clinton was still around :) 2006 dinner: 2005 dinner: & finally From 2000 President Clinton's "Final Days":

It must be the internet: we’ve mentioned the Nazis!

An excellent post from Jonny Wright has encouraged me to break cover on the suggestion that the EU should ban holocaust denial throughout the Union’s 27 members. I probably don’t need to revise the background. Suffice to say that there are two questions: should one ban holocaust denial? And is it right that this should be legislated upon at an EU level? I have written before on the subject of banning holocaust denial. There is something truly grotesque about the attempt by some pseudo-historians and anti-Semites to rub the extermination of millions out of the pages of history. If ...

Chesterfield’s campaigners and councillors

We have a weekly briefing meeting in Chesterfield for campaigners and councillors, every Sunday at 9pm. It’s going on right now. They’ve all be trooping through, clutching completed canvass cards and the latest bits of opposition literature in their hands. They’ve all very tanned. Which is a good sign. It means that they’re spending every daylight [...]

The EU: When is it time to give up?

The European Union offers great opportunities to expand liberalism and to liberalise Europe for the benefit of Europeans and the rest of the world. However, the EU appears to be regressing even further into a protectionist talking shop where governments conspire with each other and with business against the citizens of Europe and against the [...]

Caulkin on Camden

Simon Caulkin writes the management column in the Observer. This morning he turned to local government, and looked at a council that slipped out of Labour control last May. He doesn't tell us whether councillors or Officers have made the running - but praises the progress made. Labour-controlled for nearly four decades until last year's local elections, it has always been an unrepentantly 'big-government', high-spending council. Yet although it was highly rated, financial pressures (for example, staff costs had soared by 37 per cent since 2002) were forcing the council to scrutinise every aspect of its organisation, cost structure ...

Fighting the BNP

After this morning's post I thought I would give three top tips for beating the BNP, I don't care if the Tories or Labour read this its something all three political parties should be doing anyway.

UKIP, BNP, and the missing link.

It is interesting to see that UKIP are denying any link with the BNP. UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has categorically denied his party is racist and said it had "no links or associations" with the far-right British National Party. He also pledged that anyone who was found to have been a member of the BNP would never be allowed to be a candidate for the party. Information on this sort of thing is sketchy. There are many rumours of BNP inflitration, but it is very hard to know how far it went. One ...

Real equality?

I also want to talk some more about PROMISE I was invited to attend the annual PROMISE conference last Friday, and once again had the pleasure of spending time with some of the kindest people you will ever meet. It’s a bit like not being able to recognise a sociopath in a crowd. You would never tell just by looking at these folks that they had the kind of personalities and depth of care for there fellow human beings that they demonstrate for the young people that the =y mentor. Let me tell you though, that ...

Alright with being awry

This was my prediction on PoliticalBetting.com of the results of the first round of the French presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy 28.9% Ségolène Royal 22.8% Jean-Marie Le Pen 16.5% François Bayrou 15.3% This compares with the latest set of figures at LeTemps.ch: Nicolas Sarkozy 30.0% (+1.1%) Ségolène Royal 25.2% (+2.4%) François Bayrou 18.3% (+3.0%) Jean-Marie Le Pen 11.5% (-5.0%) So,

House!

Right then, back to House. Our unkempt anti-hero, responsible week-in and week-out for synthesising the contributions of his small team of very clever specialists. Now, we all know that House isn’t the only clever bloke on the programme. He is however that rarest of rarities, and actual genius, in as much as he demonstrates through his words and actions that he is capable of seeing and thinking of solutions (ahhh……originality…….) that even the really clever people around him can’t. This is not to say that he could do it without them, but that between them they ...

Interesting run-off likely in French election

There always seems to be a clearish result from the French elections, a few hours after polls close. It seems Sargozy got 30%, Royal 25.2%, Centrist Bayrou 18.3% and Le Pen 11.5%. There was a record turnout. This makes the second round fascinating. If Royal gets a good chunk of Bayrou's vote she could be in with a shout. The idea of Sarkozy in power is fairly nauseating. Did you see him on a

Effluent release into Firth of Forth - open goal for Salmond

Alex Salmond goes where other politicians fear to tread. It is only a matter of a few hours, I suspect, before he comes up with a cunning joke linking this unfortunate event to Labour's last days in power in Scotland. John Smith got a laugh about "hotels falling into the sea" under John Major's faltering premiership. Surely it is a bit of an open goal to do a similar thing linking Labour with....

Joan Oatway

Sad news that the grandma of one of my Lib Dem colleagues, Cllr Susan Oatway, passed away recently. I had no idea, but Joan Oatway had a very active life helping the community, through charity and voluntary work - and her husband was mayor of both Hampstead and Camden. She was a divisional nursing superintendent with the Hampstead branch of the British Red Cross, and travelled to Hungary twice during the 1956 revolution, leading a team of volunteers. She was also the founding secretary of the Friends of New End Hospital in Hampstead, a member of the ...

The Ten Green Commandments

The Church of England has issued The Ten Green Commandments, which include sharing cars, using energy saving bulbs and taking local holidays. I know they have done this, because I heard it on Radio Two's news. That was during the Alan Titchmarsh programme. (Hello? I can't believe I am listening to Alan Titchmarsh). But can I find the story on the web? I cannot. Anyway, well done CofE, and I am

Has reality TV gone too far?

BBC 1 tonight: Diane Abbott learns to play the piano. Hello?

Dirty Pretty Things again!

On the tube to Shepherd's Bush, for the Dirty Pretty Things gig which they're doing in support of the Make Roads Safe Campaign. Also found out that the support are Hot Club de Paris, who I saw supporting them in November and were pretty good. Seem to have spent most of the day travelling, even though I've only been coming back from a wedding near Northampton. Congratulations again Gill & Stu. I only get to keep up with the Spurs match yesterday through texts from mates - but I've seen the highlights on my phone and Jermaine Jenas' ...

Holocaust denial: what happened to European principles?

In a climbdown from its earlier plans, the EU has decided not to introduce a blanket ban on Holocaust denial. The new proposal, a compromise agreed between Ministers, makes it illegal to trivialise crimes of genocide, but only if it has the effect of inciting hatred or violence. It sounds rather like a waste of time, as you'd have thought inciting hatred or violence was illegal anyway, but even if it's superfluous, it's still a considerable improvement. Chris Davies, Lib Dem Euro MP for the North West, responded with this superb little nugget: There are stupid people ...

Crooked Spire in Fog

Took this one morning last week after my all-nighter. Rather pretty view of the famous Chesterfield crooked spire through the early morning fog. Just as impressive were the market stalls, still almost deserted as at 6am, only the first traders were arriving. The Lib Dem council has recently refurbished the stalls by attracting grant [...]

Cargpan And Beppo

A topic of consuming interest to a number of people is the manner in which Detective Captain Cargpan cut his crime-fighting chops. So impassioned are some that there is a weekly magazine to cater to their needs, entitled O Cargpan! That Thou Were With Us Still! in which beetle-browed fans with nothing better to do [...]

Pebble Time

Once again it is Pebble Time here at Hooting Yard, so here is a picture of a pebble for you to contemplate, possibly with furrowed brow and drool spilling down your chin.

Birmingham Vaisakhi Handsworth Park 2007 No 308

I attended the Vaisakhi as usual this year. It is interesting to see this developing. There is a clear movement towards events having people from all communities at them. Going back to 1999 (No 300) it was overwhelmingly Sikh. Today I would think that there were many many people there who were not Sikh. This is to be welcomed (as was the Sikhs performing as part of the St Patrick's day

Tales from the campaign trail no 2

When is an old school a new school? Well, according to the Labour party on my patch in Gateshead, it's when it's a cafeteria! Whickham School (my old comprehensive) which serves as the secondary school for most of the kids in my ward, is a very successful school which has to endure worn out buildings, many of which are not in the best of shape. General agreement is that a new school is needed.

Independents can't find their way...

Out canvassing in Bathwick Estate this morning and the best part for me was chatting to a resident who told me that she was voting for the independent candidate and then to find out that Annette Martin (standing in Bathwick) had been door knocking in Walcot! The independents pose no threat in Bathwick Ward if they can't find it!

Donner leurs voix

Visiting South Kensington this afternoon, I was puzzled to see people queuing around the block. The line went on so far I couldn’t see where it ended, or, therefore, the reason for it. On my way back, I noticed the French flag hanging from a building near the back of the queue and realised the people [...]

Who Really Owns Our Country?

The agricultural land of the UK at 41 million acres, is 69 per cent of the country. It is held by around 296,000 people, less than half of one per cent of the population. This tiny group g...

Famous or good looking? No sorry, you can’t join

I found out today that Jo Cameron - a contestant in the last series of The Apprentice - is standing for the Lib Dems in the local elections in Walsall. She may not exactly be an A-list celebrity and most people won’t have heard of her, but I was quite excited by the news. That’s [...]

Cameron: Not(t) a Tory?

So says a here-ages-ago, gone-longer-ago-than-you-can-remember Conservative politician. Speaking on the Sunday Programme, Sir John Nott (according to ePolitix) attacked David Cameron for following public opinion. Former defence secretary Sir John Nott said the Tory leader was taking up "daft ideas" in a bid to win the support of floating voters. Sir John argued that Cameron was more concerned with presentation and focus groups and not enough on long-term policies for government. Everyone thinks that, I suppose - even Cameron himself. The Guardian adds something to the report: Describing himself as a "radical Tory" and ...

Teachers Without Borders: update

Thought this might be a useful point at which to update progress on 'Teachers Without Borders'. It's the Liberal Democrat proposal to make education to part of the humanitarian response to disasters and crises – and something that Save the Children have put at the forefront of their campaigning this year. Affectionately now called the 'Ed Cross' - as it is to some extent an education version of

Appeaing on GMTV

Had recorded on Friday for this morning’s GMTV program with Steve Richards. Having woken up early, I actually watched myself - which is something I do not usually do. We ranged over local elections, the Liberal Democrats’ right to the environmental crown, Ming's leadership and how to hold seats won against Labour at the same time as holding on and gaining when Tories are the opponents. All

Lost Greens ?

Whilst driving through a village in Broadland today I noticed a "Vote Green" poster. What's odd about that ? There is no Green candidate standing in the ward or anywhere even very close to that ward.

Sunday best

My ninth weekly round-up of the best (and/or most popular) of the Lib Dem blogosphere has just been posted on Lib Dem Voice here. And - shock! horror! - I’ve actually managed to hit my self-imposed Sunday afternoon deadline. Enjoy…

Shameless Graphic Design Type Plug

Sarah Trentham, an aspiring graphic designer, has launched her own website, which provides plenty of her previous work, CV and contact information for anybody out there that wishes to hire her. The reason for this seemingly random plug? She's my girlfriend.

French presidential election poll: hearts say Bayrou, heads say Sarkozy

That, at least, seems to be the message so far of the polls running here. Here’s how you, dear readers, have so far said you’d vote if you had a say in today’s French presidential election first round: And here’s what you reckon will actually happen: Only a few hours before we know for sure who’ll be facing each other in a fortnight’s time for the second and deciding round…

18 April 2007: The Empire Strikes Back

Attended the Mayor and Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and found myself giving a not particularly good impromptu speech on behalf of the Healthier Communities Select Committee and hydrotherapy in Lewisham. I was mainly there to follow the progress of consultation on the travellers who live at Thurston Road, and also to discover from Lewisham's Oracle of Truth why she hadn't allowed an agenda item referred by my local area forum - concerning the plans for the new pool at Loampit Vale - to be considered by the Mayor. My worst fears about democracy in Lewisham were not yet ...

Good news at Victoria Park!

Further to the recent article and photo about the graffiti mess at Victoria Park (click on headline above to view) - and the promise to me that the City Council would get community services to have it painted, pleased today to see it has been done (see right).However, there's still a huge amount of graffiti across the City - not just in the West End - and we are specifically proposing an additional Rapid Response Team whose sole responsibility will be graffiti-busting, as part of our 2007 local election campaign in the City.The local campaign here in the West End ...

Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #9

The ninth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere is back in its rightful Sunday afternoon position, and features the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (15th-21st April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Without further ado: 1. ‘“It has been an absolute public relations disaster”’ by [...]

Use your postal vote!

Those local residents you elect to vote by post will be receiving their postal votes in the next few days. They can be returned any time up until polling day itself (although they have to ARRIVE by polling day, so if you fill it in late, make sure you hand it in in person at the polling station - don't post it on polling day). I have written to all postal voters explaning the reasons why a Lib

Busiest Weekend

This weekend has been the busiest of the campaign so far. With just over ten days to go until polling day the Bury Lib Dem team have been busy across Prestwich delivering Election Special number 3 to residents across town. There's been a fantastic response to our call for help from supporters, and there have been new faces helping out from far and wide, which is great news. In the time I've been

Technical Difficulties

Apologies for there having been no blogs for the last few days. My internet connection was broken, and the engineers at Orange Broadband were scratching their heads. THey appear to have stopped scratching and commenced the mending process, hence allowing me to resume blogging now. Hurrah. Rick

The Mother of all Conspiracy Theorists - Melanie Phillips in action over WMD

It is possible that some LibDems might mention the Iraq war from time to time, you know suggesting that since the UK and USA went into Iraq after Weapons of Mass Delusion and that none were actually found, the War was an illegal crock of shit that forever stains Blair's Trousers of Legacy. This causes grave distress to American and UK neoconservatives and also to assorted New Labour types trapped into support of the war. Well watch out on the doorstep – Melanie Phillips has had a revelation and written it up in the Spectator. Summary of the ...

Prescription Relief

The Liberal Democrat pledge on prescription charges is set to bring relief to anybody who currently has to pay large amounts of money for prescribed drugs for chronic conditions not covered by current exemptions. The plans mean that the maximum anyone will pay will be one prescription charge per month. Everything above that will be free to all, and those people currently exempt will pay nothing at all. I have been in contact with a fair number of people through my work whose lives have been blighted by illness and who currently have to find the ...

The Hidden Cost of the SNP

Having been ordered to take the day off by the boss (he also forbade me from going anywhere near the computer, so please don't tell him) I was looking around for a new laptop. I went on one well known site and saw what I thought I wanted at a reasonable price. By the time I'd got through all the extras, the cost had pretty much doubled. It's a bit like that with the SNP. They can talk but they sure can't count. If all their spending pledges were implemented, you'd have to put income ...

People turning to the Liberal Democrats

The Times poll this week showing the Liberal Democrats gaining support is no surprise to me. On the ground, all over the country, there is evidence that people want change. They are totally fed up with Labour because of cash for honours, Iraq and Trident, among other things. They absolutely do not want independence - not even a quarter of people actually support the idea. So, they are turning to the people who have made the difference over the last eight years - free personal care, free eye and dental checks, ending tuition fees and ...

More on the BNP

There have been quite a few very instructive responses to mt recent post on the BNP, and they’ve caused me to review my position. The BNP are the most blatent anti-liberal party in the country at the moment (although Respect come a close second). The areas where they will naturally be strong are not going to [...]

Tales from the campaign trail no 1

Hopefully the first of many interesting, amusing and thought provoking blog postings from the campaign trail in Gateshead. One of our campaigners had a close encounter of the 3rd kind with a Gateshead Labour councillor when out in our top target seat of Lobley Hill and Bensham last night. The councillor in question suggested we have not been putting out any material recently, stating that Labour

Blair's Babes

A fascinating article here in today's Observer about the 101 female Labour MPs elected in 1997 in which whinging and uncomfortably acute observations about archaic practices and sexist attitudes are about equally mixed. Having read the article a few curious anomalies sprang to mind. Firstly, the Tories are and will remain the most predominantly male and traditionally chauvinist of three main parties. Yet they are the only party to have elevated a woman to their leadership and to the highest office in country. In addition they owe their dominance of twentieth century politics to the enfranchisement of women who ...

Borrowman Fan Club - Scottish Branch

There's a lot of high quality literature going out in Scotland at the moment - and much of it is due, either directly or indirectly to Campaigns guru Duncan Borrowman. He has trained many of our best literature writers as well as coming up here to help in Edinburgh Central. I remember during the Livingston by-election when we were working to a very tight timescale, Duncan went in to Cowley Street on a bank holiday weekend to finalise the production of our first tabloid. He then held my hand through a couple of major crises during the ...

Ladywell Fields re-development

I'm pleased to see that a compromise has been reached on the number of trees to be removed as part of the redevelopment of the part of Ladywell Fields which is in Lewisham Central ward, and that work is beginning on the project. The following info is takend from Lewisham Council's website: A massive regeneration programme has begun to enhance and improve the northern part of Ladywell Fields the area near Ladywell station. Consultation with local residents and other users of the park has meant the original draft plans have changed in a number of ways including: ...

New Planning Rules

We’re just about to go into a long period of consultation about updating our planning rules to form a new Local Development Framework. As Chair of Camden Council’s Sustainability Task Force I’m particularly keen to make sure that we make our planning rules far more environmentally friendly, but if you have any thoughts on how we might improve the planning system, then please let me know so that I can feed them in before the formal consultation begins.

An apology to Helen Cordell of the BRA

"We, the Belsize Councillors, withdraw the previous suggestion on our website that Helen Cordell, Chair of the Belsize Residents Association, accused us of 'failing in our fiduciary duty'. This was the result of a complete misunderstanding on our part. We apologise unreservedly."

Election of a Central Lewisham representative to Lewisham Homes Board

Just to let people know that there is currently a vacancy on the Lewisham Homes Board for a resident from the area currently covered by the Central Lewisham Housing Panel. Lewisham Homes will shortly be convening a meeting of the panel to elect a member to the board. This is a complicated issue because of the number of management options for properties within Central Lewisham, which are: Estates represented on the Housing Panel which will form part of Lewisham Homes are: Clarendon Rise TRA; Mercator CA; Northbrook and Cordwell TRA; parts of Sportbreak, Engleheart and Shorndean TRA ...

On the fence (Part Two)

I have to admit that although I noted Ieuan Wyn Jones' attempt to save his own bacon in Anglesey by u-turning on nuclear power, I had not paid much attention to the so-called conditions he has attached to that about-face in an effort to salvage some credibility with the anti-nuclear lobby. However, reading his interview with Matt Withers in the today's Wales on Sunday all became clear. In that piece Ieuan spells out the three caveats for his support for a replacement for Wylfa. These are (1) that he likes the kind of reactor that is to be ...

On the fence

Today has been designated as 'equality day' and all four main parties have joined together to give cross-party support to an anti-racism rally in Cardiff Bay. It is a fair bet that the BNP will not be joining them. Their Party Political broadcast is due to be transmitted on Monday and Tuesday and no doubt, will generate a great deal of controversy. Like other parties in Wales, the Welsh Liberal Democrats find the ideas and values of the BNP to be abhorrent and we are giving support to the many cross-party groups that are springing up locally to fight ...

YouTube hits new depths

This is just disgusting – naked bodies (male and female) cavorting about in front of the camera just for human entertainment.

Lib Dems up pressure on tax exile Laidlaw

Conservative peer Lord Laidlaw is a major donor to the Conservative party, and he has a problem. He pomised before being appointed a peer to stop being a tax exile, but several years on he still hasn’t kept his promise - and has saved himself large sums in tax in the meantim. Liberal Democrat Matthew Oakeshott [...]

Well, dear reader

Since I’ve spent today staring at either the folding machine or the printer, I thought I’d share that thrill with you. Here’s the printer, a gorgeous, pouting MZ770E capable of printing 150/minute in up to two colours at once: And here’s the folder, slightly slower, variable speed, semi-automatic fold settings (ie they are automatic, but the automated [...]

Hurrah for The Bird

Thanks to the wonders of the postal vote system saw a real live ballot paper the other day .. and how the party symbols look. The ‘Bird’ is best for visibility and catching the voters eyes, followed by the UKIP ‘Tipsy Sterling’ symbol. But the new Tory ‘Hollow Oak’… well it may look all trendy in colour printed literature, but in the grey and white of a ballot paper printing it looks like a child’s dirty thumbprint. The Tories were right I think to ditch the ‘Manic Arsonist’ symbol but obviously their marketing and brand consultants had no experience ...

ITV is beyond salvation

Populus do a monthly survey. This month they asked several questions about ITV, including questions about the company's priorities. Unfortunately they didn't allow space on the survey for comments, otherwise I would have had a serious Victor Meldew moment. I do not watch that much TV, particularly compared to the average British family, but it would be hard to have not noticed that ITV is in a terrible state. It is almost beyond salvation. Take tonight for example, David Gest has been given a show after the news (quite a good slot on a Sunday). ...

Fighting the BNP - How not to!

I have just seen on the BBC that a Liberal Democrat councillor has been suspended after nominating a BNP candidate for May's local elections. Stephen Jones, who was the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Darlington councillor not only signed a nomination form but signed it for some standing against himself!

Good luck to Lib Dem marathon runners

Best wishes to Peter Golden and Mark Morris, and any other Lib Dem London Marathon runners!

Union Street and new housing office official opening

Following my earlier article about the new West District Housing Office (click on headline above to view), I attended the official opening on Friday. Much improved facilities - for both the public and staff - compared to the previous offices. I had recently received a complaint about the bus facilities in Union Street. I have now received a response from the Planning & Transportation Department saying that the facilities in Union Street (full length) are to be renewed but as part of the improvement programme for the street, which is some time off. ...

London Marathon and cats

Tomorrow was a scheduled day out of Lib Deming to go and watch the London Marathon with Grace and my youngest daughter Philippa. But Philippa's cat Holly is the vets on a drip, and it doesn't sound good. Poor Holly. Simba hasn't helped by being sick on the stairs, which Grace then slipped on and has got a very swollen toe (don't think there are any breaks though). So a trip to the vets to visit

It’s All Greek to Me

Harold Margolis — who prints a lot of Liberal Democrat literature for London and beyond — turned his beautiful Georgian house and garden in Southgate into a Saturday night taverna, to host Enfield LibDems at a well-attended Greek evening, as a fund-raising social, complete with taped bouzouki music. The taramasalata, moussaka, Greek salad and baklava were washed [...]

Rather pathetic stuff from British Airways

This story is self explanatory, but shows British Airways up to be pretty pathetic.

Sunday 22nd April 2007

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