LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 2nd May 2007

Target culture encourages electoral fraud

Today the constitutional affairs minister Bridget Prentice demonstrated the absurdity of this government's target culture. She was responding to call by Richard Price QC, described by the BBC as an "election law expert" for the government to implement they system of individual registration used in Northern Ireland across the UK. Prentice was quoted as rejecting this idea because: "In Northern Ireland the register dropped very markedly after individual registration was brought in and it hasn't really gone back to the same figures again."But why has voter registration fallen in Northern Ireland fallen since individual registration was introduced? ...

News Story of the Day

Congratulations to the BBC: A man has been jailed for 20 months for kidnapping his wife from hospital to stop her having a breast enlargement.

Oh meme, oh mymy

The “meme” meme Question though. Given the view that once heard an aphorism is unlikely to be forgotten, does that then not make a meme, which like the selfish gene is meant to propagate itself, very akin to an aphorism when applied to catch phrases? The best-known memetic melody is, I understand it, the ‘happy birthday’ song. Universally recognised and understood, a theme that cuts across cultural boundaries and language difficulties. All you need to hear are the opening bars and no matter where you are on the planet you instantly have a context and ...

Harehills Labour? Again?

I realise I’m coming to this very late, but I’ve been busy. My first reaction when I heard that Labour had been allegedly caught out fixing postal votes in the Gipton and Harehills Ward in Leeds was “Harehills? Again?”. I’m amazed they’ve apparently been caught out doing this in a ward where [...]

A football thought

Given that it will be at a neutral venue between the two losing semi-finalists, could this year’s FA Cup Final also be seen as the Champions League third place playoff?

Minus 24 hours

Its now around 24 hours till the polls close on the elections - in about 29 hours I could be a councillor - how very scary. Anyway - just a couple of quick election funnies to share with you. The first was while I was out canvassing and doing a small road that ran parallel with a main road. As a went to knock on the door the doormat caught my eye. It read 'clothes optional beyond this point' at which point a turned around and knock on the door in the same passage - saving my embarassment. ...

Day 2311: Car Made Bon

Monday: Last year I told you about Daddy Richard's car, Penfold, and the nasty Carbon Dioxide. I said how we went online and found a website that would let us buy a CARBON OFFSET, to cancel out all of Daddy's BADNESS. It is called a Carbon Offset because it makes your Car Bon! (This is a joke in FRENCH!) Well, that was LAST YEAR. It is time that I gave you an UPDATE! Daddy has just got a nice letter from Mr Frown demanding more CAR TAX – which Daddy could pay on the Wibbly ...

Good Luck from Edinburgh

Good luck to all Liberal Democrat candidates in the Scottish, Welsh and local government elections from Edinburgh. In particular to the three campaigns I have had involvement in: Siobhan Mathers here, Nora Radcliffe in Gordon and the whole of Wales! A picture of Simba, my lucky black cat accompanies this posting!

Opinion Polls April 2007: Lib Dems On the Up – A Bit

When activists stagger home the night before polling day, it’s not just their sore feet and the thought that they’ll be up again to deliver more leaflets before dawn that makes them wish it was all over. By this point in a campaign most voters have already decided, so the desire to know the outcome [...]

Good luck my friends

I write this to wish my many friends in the Scottish Lib Dems all the best tomorrow. if I listed them all then this post would go on forever but I would like to specially mention just a few people: Catherine Carruthers in the Carse of GowrieRuby Kirkwood in Irvine EastAndrew Chamberlain in KilwinningLewis Hutton in the North Coast & Cumbraes (also Cunninghame North)Jim Hume in the South of ScotlandSiobhan Mathers in Edinburgh CentralKathy McInnes in Strathkelvin & BearsdenNora Radcliffe in GordonAll the rest of my friends and colleagues across ScotlandYou've all worked extremely hard and deserve success!

Sore feet

Well that's all the leaflets delivered and all the campaigning over. I must have lost a fair few lbs over the last couple of weeks. Now all we wait for is the voters verdict. I think I have done enough work and campaigned hard enough to win a council seat but still have the usual butterflies. All will be known by lunchtime on Friday.

Flattered ego

My ego has just been flattered by news from a friend that I have reached the dizzy heights of 2nd in the Male category on sexymsp.com. A website which I hadn't come across prior to yesterday. No, I wasn't vain enough to vote for myself! The Tory Iain dale also mentioned this startling fact on his Iain Dale's Diary blog.

The irony of tomorrow's elections for some Labour councillors

It is perhaps fitting that Blair's last electoral test as Labour leader will be the same part of the electoral cycle that launched Blair's rise to power. In 1995, Labour candidates, many of who had never expected to win, saw themselves elected in great numbers to councils across the country on the back of a simple message. "We're different and not Tory", Labour claimed in leaflets carrying Tony Blair's broad smile, and aside from that, very little else. Yet, on the back of Blair's grin and a number of national attacks on the Tories, Labour made new breakthroughs at ...

Good luck everyone

Best of luck to everyone who is standing as a Liberal Democrat candidate; slightly more tepid wishes for other candidates If you are taking part in our Thursday / Friday results reporting operation, please remember to send in the information using the details sent to you by Sarah yesterday and today. And a handy [...]

Ofstedocracy

School governor training tonight, a local improvement programme where we learnt about "The Role of School Governors in the Ofsted Inspecition School Self Evaluation & Leadership & Management of the School". A wild evening. The nuts and bolts of the training was to give us an insight into the way the Government would like governors to be involved in their schools, particularly the inspection process, but the wider implications were very evident. The ideal governing body implied by the training is group of elite leaders intimately involved with the continuous improvement of the school through developing, monitoring and ...

Fortnightly bin collections - Which Tory councils do them ?

The Tories seem to be getting very excited about fortnightly (or alternative weekly) bin collections. However, they seem loathe to reflect on the fact that a number of Tory council's introduced fortnightly bin collections. My own local council area, Broadland, for example, is Tory run, and whilst Tory run introduced fortnightly collections. So does anyone know of a Tory Council near them that either introduced a fortnightly bin collection system or inherited such a system and now defends it as the right thing to do. Please, let me know

Alex Salmond wants an opt out with an opt in ?

I missed this story from the BBC website on Sunday which quotes Alex Salmond as saying words to the effect of that "an independent Scotland could rejoin the United Kingdom in the future". Pardon me Alex, but why would you even contemplate this if your plans for Scottish independence are so water tight ? If the people of Scotland want to be independent, then let them. I know that the UK exchequer sends more funds to Scotland than it receives from Scotland, and that includes Oil revenues (which would not all be in Scottish territorial waters anyway). ...

Zero (excuse not to vote)

Remember - polls are open from 07.00 - 22.00 on Thursday. You DON'T need a polling card to vote - just turn up if you've lost it or never received it. Even if you had a postal vote, you can hand it in at the polling station and it WILL be counted. If you want a lift to the polls, just give us a call - o161 798 0117. I will let you know how it goes. Thank you all so much for your kind words

Where Does All the Biometric Data Go?

As anyone who has transited through the United States en route for another country will know, the procedure is quite unlike anywhere else in the world. You have to go through immigration controls, as if you were entering the United States on a visit, and have your photo and fingerprints taken. And even if your [...]

One (day left to change the future of Prestwich)

Tomorrow is election day - the day YOU can change the future of Prestwich. Don't forget to vote, and think about how you want the future of Prestwich to be. Do you want four more years of shrinking services, potential school closures, increasing taxes, increasing traffic and Councillors caring more about staying in power than answering residents' concerns? Or do you want another hard working Lib

Two (Lib Dem Councillors for St Mary's?)

Not long to go at all now - and the choice is clear: Another four years of Labour let-downs or second Lib Dem Councillor for St Mary's. Since Donal was elected last year we've achieved so much and made a lot of progress - on The Retreat, on traffic, on improvements to the local environment and on recycling. I have been lucky enough to play a role in these campaigns and now I can make it

Wolverine can sing & Dance!!!!

to put your mind off thinking about tommorrow, coz apparently something quite important is happening, here are some videos from Youtube. WARNING THESE VIDEOS MAY RUIN YOU IMAGE OF WOLVERINE IN THE X-MEN MOVIES

A tribute to Tony Blair

He did it his way: http://eclectech.co.uk/blairsway.php

Now the Department of Justice is investigating

Today’s Times carries the continuing story of the United States’ interest in the allegations of bribery against BAE Systems plc. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is in talks to establish whether it can launch a formal inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption in BAE Systems, The Times has learnt. The newspaper reports that the inquiry would [...]

No to War

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } No to War, originally uploaded by Up Your Ego. No Tags

Iraq: What do we know?

At Prime Minister’s Questions today, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell asked the Prime Minister who would take responsbility for errors in planning for the aftermath of the Iraq War. Responsibility for the illegal war itself, however, lies with those who instigated and supported it. As Ming said at PMQs: “The President made the decisions, the [...]

Labour yielding in Wealden

Stumbled across this story about the local elections in Wealden, the district where I grew up. Now, all parties, including my own, have trouble finding candidates in some areas, but, even knowing how sparse Wealden is for Labour (they have no seats on the district and only five at county level), their number of candidates really [...]

Heathrow petition to (this week's) pime minister answered

No 10 has replied to my signing of the petition: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop expansion of Heathrow." Details of petition: "2 million residents, predominantly of West London, will have their quality of living reduced if Heathrow Airport is expanded. The expansion is against Government targets for curbing all forms of pollution and will intensify locally the increase in

Help Stop Rene being deported tomorrow

Can I urge everyone reading this to please go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/rene/index.html to sign a petition against the deportation tomorrow of Rene Murabukirwa. Full story is in the Evening News It seems extremely unfair to deport someone who has friends and fiancee and who has made their life here for 11 years and been an active part of the community.

Written Parliamentary Question: 2nd May 2007

OM Energy Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when his Department expects to cease providing support to OM Energy Ltd. A:The key objective of UK Trade and Investment's Global Entrepreneur Programme is to create self sustaining, high growth UK technology businesses by attracting both worldwide intellectual property and entrepreneurial talent here. The latest phase of the OM

New Statesman blogs

First a Conservative candidate for Hull council wrote a New Statesman blog post predicting a “yellow revolution” in Hull. Then a senior Labour candidate for the Welsh Assembly predicted on the same site that Labour would lose two seats - only be told off by his party for daring to suggest as much. (Hat-tip: Peter Black.) Batten [...]

Eve of poll

Just a few days ago the papers were predicting meltdown for Labour. Indeed the Guardian ran "Labour in dissary as SNP takes eight-point poll lead" on 29th April. However we're treated to two polls today in three papers (The ICM poll was shared by The Guardian and The Scotsman - though The Scotsman neglects to mention this fact!)For easy comparison here is a handy FreeThink table: SNPLabour Lib Dem Conservative Other Seats 2003 27 50 17 18 17 ICM Constituency (Change since last poll) 34 (+2) 32 (+5) 16 (-3) ...

Litvinenko house Emergency Prohibition Order

Litvinenko house: what the lawyers say

Went back this morning to get further clarification of what the lawyers for the directors of the company that owns the Litvinenko house are actually after - and their view on whether the funding will be forthcoming. My take on what I have been told is that the lawyers offered to talk to Haringey in February. Nothing followed. They don't know on what basis Haringey applied the Emergency

Question: What connects Tony, Gordon, George W. and Dave?

Answer: One four-letter word. Those present in the hall on the final day of party conference in Harrogate may recognise this excerpt…

To the gorgeous brunette

I got tutted at for giggling on the train last night, so I thought I’d share what made me a social exile. The London Paper has a ‘lovestruck’ column in which people who have had chance encounters on public transport or+ out and about appeal for their interlocutors to fall in love with them and have their [...]

Labour candidate apologises for speaking his mind

The old joke about Labour politicians being told when to breath via a direct line to Peter Mandelson was always an outrageous exaggeration, but one does wonder sometimes especially when new examples of the party's control freakery surfaces. The latest case of over-the-top manipulation is the row over Kenneth Skates, Labour’s lead North Wales regional candidate, who blogged on newstatesman.com that his party would lose two AMs tomorrow. Mr Skates has now emailed the magazine to ask if his contribution could be removed after he was contacted by party officials: In a statement, he said, “What I’d hoped ...

Selective quotation

In Prime Minister's Questions today, Tony Blair quoted from the Liberal Democrat document The State They've Put Us In. I'd already read it, but I hardly recognised the words Blair read out. In quotation after quotation, we apparently praised the Government's record in glowing terms, as a horde of Labour backbenchers cheered us on. At the climax Blair said that according to the Lib Dems, he had pursued an "ethical foreign policy". The problem is that we said no such thing. We said that in 1997, "a Foreign Policy with an ethical dimension was announced", which is true. The ...

Gibbonsgate

The row about Brian Gibbons' grant of £2 million to the Cardiff Children's Hospital rolled on today with the revelation that not only did he not make the announcement when the decision was taken back in March, but he did not tell the Noah's Ark Appeal either. In the Radio Wales' discussion on this issue this morning, Labour's Huw Lewis was adamant that the health minister was right to bring the decision into the public domain now so as to put the record straight. Incredibly, Huw claimed that the Western Mail had egg on its face and had made ...

Big election day tomorrow

In London we are election-free tomorrow (except for a by-election in Westminster, good luck to the team there). But all around England, Wales and Scotland there are key clashes going on. If you have an election near you and are thinking about who to vote for - or whether to vote at all - then you might want to look at this short video on YouTube. Good luck to all those that have worked so hard over the years for good results tomorrow - of course, they'll all be too busy out delivering eve-of-poll leaflets to read this, ...

Who will come out on top tonight?

There is a very interesting battle shaping up... and, no, I'm not talking about Radcliffe v Salmond. Tonight, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be playing each other in the "Battle of the Surfaces". As you might have guessed from the name, this comes from Federer being the best in the world on grass and Nadal being the best in the world on clay. They could have perhaps played a match on each surface or maybe a set on each surface. But that wouldn't have been crazy enough - you can see here on the photo from BBC Sport ...

Browned off

To sympathise, or not, with Lord Browne, until yesterday Chairman of BP - a real liberal dilemma. That anyone should be forced to relinquish a job they love, directly or indirectly, as a result of their private life is a personal tragedy. This is a principle which applies equally to the highest-paid company boss, and to their lowest-paid employee. I have to say I’m rather disturbed by the

Alternatively ...

Or if you live in Sherborne, you can vote for me on Thursday!

Eco-ngratulations to Charles Dickens primary school!

Councillor Lisa Rajan was thrilled to be part of the flag-hoisting ceremony at Charles Dickens primary. The school was the first in Southwark to be awarded an Eco-schools Green Flag. The school won the prestigious award for putting the environment at the heart of its curriculum, as well as composting, recycling and growing vegetables on site. Cllr Rajan, who joined Simon Hughes MP in raising the flag and congratulating the school on its ground-breaking achievement, said “It was a truly proud moment for the pupils of the school and I was thoroughly impressed with their knowledge and enthusiasm for ...

Vote for my father!

If you live in Bradford Peverell, Stratton, Charminster, Cerne Abbas and lots of places in between, tomorrow you have a once in a life time opportunity to vote for Mike McGuinness. He is my father, a lovely grandfather, mad about recycling, loves gardening, rants about the increase in Dorchester's traffic / planning decisions / state of British cricket etc and is completely FAB. He'll be awesome on the District Council. On Thursday, please vote McGuinness!

There should be a law against this

Some people (or shoud I say animals?) might think this is funny. I don't. It's sick. There should be a law against it. Incitement to pulverize perhaps?

“Talulah Gosh are neither stupid nor superficial”

This morning I have enjoyed reading a 1987 interview with Talulah Gosh on Max’s website, Twee Amigos. They certainly have fun taking the piss out of New Order, understandably I suppose. I have mentioned Amelia Fletcher before on this blog before. A word has to go to excruciatingly talented Peter Momtchiloff, who articulated the band’s tounge in cheek lo-fi philosophy, saying “I think Dolby Noise Reduction represents everything we stand against in the music business.” He currently plays with Would-be-Goods and is responsible for philosophy at OUP.

Marathon Session

Stomping shoes on for the last big push ... I have various places to be out over the rest of the day delivering last literature through doors - just hope I don't encounter any angry second home owners like yesterday ... more on that after the election! Up early tomorrow for Good mornings in one of our target wards so had better get a reasonably early night - although nerves may well put paid to that! Just in case I don't manage to blog later, I'd like to wish everyone standing for the Lib Dems across the country the ...

Iraq returns to YouTube

Here’s the recipe: a clip from a conference speech, some photos of politicians, and a message about culpability for an unpopular war. The result: a new video on YouTube.

Lib Dem team for coming year unveiled

Liberal Democrats on Southwark Council have unveiled their nominations for key positions on the authority in the coming local government year. The list of nominations is largely unchanged from that which has successfully managed the borough since last May’s election. This list of nominees which will be presented to Constitutional Assembly on May 23rd is: Group Leader* and Leader of the Council – Nick Stanton Group Deputy Leader* – Caroline Pidgeon Executive Member for Children’s Services – Caroline Pidgeon Executive Member for Community Safety – Jeff Hook Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Sports – Lorraine Zuleta Executive Member for ...

BP - Browne's Probity

BP boss Lord Browne dramatically quit yesterday after he admitted lying to a court during a battle to block stories about his private life. Lord Browne, who was due to step down in the summer after 41...

Conservative candidate in Worcester has joined UKIP

The Worcester Evening News has uncovered a nice little story that the Conservative candidate for Arboretum ward of Worcester City Council is actually a member of UKIP!

Predictions for Thursday

Blogging has been light recently as I'm in the midding of a very large election campaign in Ashfield (perhaps the fact that the Tory bloggers appear to have no such distractions says something about the relative workrate). I thought I'd pop up however to point out a quite comical predication via Iain Dale. The "Projecting Politics" group has published its predictions for the elections tomorrow, and they confidently predict that Labour will gain overall control of Ashfield District Council. I don't want to tempt fate, but I'd be stunned if that happens, which leads me to believe that the ...

Did you know…

Did you know that: 21.6% of BDC’s net budget is spent on Administration, whilst only 1.4% is spent on administration by SCC. This is the highest amount in Shropshire. The average Council Tax per dwelling in Bridgnorth District is the highest in Shropshire at £1284 and well above the UK average per dwelling of £1,101. 1 in 7 people [...]

Blackberry respite

I have been the owner of a Blackberry since last December - a christmas present my husband now bitterly regrets! It has completely changed the way that I do things and has allowed me to be much less worried about being away from my desk(s) as I can pick up my emails anywhere ... the drawback is that there is no peace and I have to admit to having developed a bit of an obsession for the flashing red light that signals the emails arriving. For all of you who share this problem, there is some ...

Local Elections less than a day away

With the keenly contested local elections less than a day away, here are a few points to remember as you go to the polls. The Conservatives are a one trick pony. They are bitterly divided over Unitary. Resulting in two groups on the district council - Conservative with Independents and Independents with Conservatives. Labour have all but disappeared locally. [...]

Day 2310: That Pink Dog Condensed

Sunday: As a new service for my Daddies, I have boiled down several posts from that Pink Dog into one sentence, thus saving them much time and bandwidth! This week: “Got a letter from old lady.” Say ‘woof’ li’l doggie {Posted by Picasa}

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

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