LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Saturday 5th May 2007

Its Not All Bad!

Our performance in the Welsh Assembly elections is hardly going to set the world on fire, that much we are all agreed upon. However, it actually provides us with the opportunity to take stock, evaluate and move on to pastures new. By this, I mean we need a new direction. We need to communicate our message to the electorate in a more cohesive manner. Our campaign concentrated on delivering tabloid style newspapers that were predominantly negative in their nature and presented little of the Liberal Democrat manifesto. If we are going to succeed in the future we need to ...

And now for something completely different

I am suffering from election withdrawal symptoms. I feel the urge to sit at the pc and write focuses or election leaflets. And if not writing them, I feel I should be out delivering them. But with the election over, this weekend is an election free zone. Nothing political was done. So we did something completely different. My colleagues in Cowley St know me as a jam maker. I collect wild

A Bad News Day

And the winner of 'super Thursday' was..... well, actually no-one. The results I believe point to a stalemate where no political force in the UK is currently ascendant. The nationalists in Wales and Scotland advanced, but insufficiently to claim a genuine mandate or wield significant power. The Tories also moved forward considerably, but nowhere near enough to win them a general election or even necessarily become the largest Party. They are still largely stuck south of a line running from the Bristol channel to the Wash. Both Labour and the Lib Dems took losses, but it is the Lib Dems ...

Litvinenko House: survey to go ahead at last

Catching up on the situation with the Litvinenko house (where the victim of radiation poisoning, Alexander Litvinenko lived) - the father of a near neighbour of the Litvinenko house called me on Friday to say that Haringey Council have rung his daughter and are coming to meet with her in the afternoon – and he would like me to attend too. So I arrive and just afterwards so does a Haringey

Finding a good home for your old computer

That's the topic of my latest article (for the Highgate Handbook): As this is (hopefully) an era where we know that we shouldn’t just throw an old computer away and as I was sure that with a bit of work (new hard disk etc) it could be of use to someone – what should I do with it? Well - one of my recent constituency engagements provided the answer (almost)...Continued on my website.

Losing the air war

James Graham writes about the Welsh Assembly elections: Partly because we are at the mercy of the electoral system, the Lib Dems have a sad history of failing to live up to our ever declining ambitions in Assembly elections, and once again we have failed to break our duck of 6 AMs. Back in 1999, I remember being confidently told by the then-Lib Dem Chief Exec that we would get 11-12 AMs. In 2003, at least one person predicted we’d get up to around 10. This year, people were talking of 7-9 AMs being a sure thing. The worst ...

I worry about my son…

Just been chatting to young William on MSN Messenger. This is part of our conversation (I asked about the Garlecs thing - apparently they are like Daleks only more garlicky). If I was a responsible parent I would probably tell him off… i spent the whole day being chased by chavs Ed says: u shouldnt wind them up Quick! Get To [...]

Better controls on the arms trade

Last week I was lobbied by a trio of constituents - Stephanie Bell, Candida Barbato and Gerardo Paez - about the forthcoming review of the UK Export Control Act (ECA). This is about how the UK regulates arms exports - and so is an important issue in my area of international development as progress is tragically so often set back by war and conflict. That's why I want to see the review result in

Ure Street

I have been advised of the following by the City Council : "Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating drainage connection works. The Order is expected to be in force for two weeks from 14 May 2007. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic Ure Street at a point 100 metres or thereby south of Blackness Road. Access to premises will be maintained from either end of Ure ...

various things from the election (And a funny a photo I saw earlier)

a few things have come up over the last few days, ranging form my shock at a politics student who didnt know that the polls on election day dont shut until 10pm, to the democracy of a result; first in West Lindsey, Lincolnshire where the lib dems retained control of the council they won last year. However one result in particular has got everyones attention. Councillor Christopher Underwood-Frost retained his seat, not by winning the most votes, but rather by winning the toss of a coin. So how can This be democratic? when ...

After the Scottish elections

I hesitate to offer advice from a distance, but should the Lib Dems be so opposed to a referendum on Scottish independence? My instinct is that the SNP would never be able to win such a referendum. But if there is a majority for independence in Scotland, is it moral or realistic to think it can be permanently stymied simply by refusing to allow people a vote? People who believe in the Union have to make a positive case. In the past they told the Scots they could not possibly survive as an independent nation. These scare tactics ...

Thursday's local election results

The party line is that the local election results were "a mixed bag". Looking at the results locally, this was certainly the case. Where the Liberal Democrats were well organised and campaigned strongly, we did extremely well. We gained Northampton and Hinckley & Bosworth, and increased their grip on Oadby & Wigston. But we lost badly in both Leicester - where the council group had split - and Harborough - where we are short of activists and the party infrastructure was sacrificed in pursuit of victory at the last general election. This pattern was repeated nationally. As ...

Thank you for your support

At the counts on Friday I lost my seat on Bridgnorth District Council and retained my seat on Bridgnorth Town Council. Thank you to everybody who voted for me and to all of the friends and family who supported me in the 2007 Local Elections. It has been a tremendous honour and privilege to represent Morfe [...]

a nice bit of good news

Some time ago I gave a reference to help with a funding application for the Friends of Millwood and Alderwood (the woods on the edge of speke). It was for a project to do some photography and help promote the woods (which not everyone knows about). Anyway the good news is that I am now told that the application has been successful and the group will get the cash. Great news. They work really hard and so deserve it.

Impact on elections of rubbish collection changes?

On a recent 'Have I got news for you?', Jeremy Clarkson joked to Krishnan Guru-Murthy that he had an easy job on Channel Four news: "Just turn up, read out the Guardian, and go home". I feel a little like this blog should be retitled: "Wot I liked in the Guardian today"....but as my father-in-law would say "Doesn't matter". The said organ today has a fascinating little piece on the impact of

The Republican way forward - nuclear war with Iran

Yes, really intelligent isn't it? The suggestion comes from an excellent article by Terry Jones in today's Guardian. I have always been a great Python fan since their first TV series, and Jones has developed a rapier sharp style of political commentary. The article is well worth a read.

Election bright spot: BNP fail to make inroads

One of the bright spots of the Thursday results is that the BNP failed to make any real progress. They made a net gain of two councillors which was far short of their goal to leap from 49 to 100 councillors. This was despite them fielding a record number of councillors.

George Bush: Lead weight in the struggling Republican balloon

George Bush now has the lowest presidential approval rating in a generation - 28%. This is according to a Newsweek poll. I am grateful to Simon Hoggart for pointing this out, in a piece about the pollster John Zogby, who "said George Bush's current 28% approval rating was the lowest ever recorded for any president - except Richard Nixon, two days before he resigned, and Harry Truman after he

The Westminster Hour: 6 May

I'm on The Westminster Hour on Sunday (Radio 4, 10pm or if you miss the show you can listen again on their website).

Will you people stop sending me dross!!

I know I'm not the only person this election who has been out delivering and found someone running after me down the pavement screaming abuse because I dared put a leaflet through their door. I've always had limited sympathy for such morons. It takes very little wit to put your recycling box under your letter box if come election time you don't want your world sullied by the horrors of democracy.

If only 21 councils did not exist….

A possibly interesting statistic: there were 21 councils in which the Liberal Democrats lost 7 or more seats on Thursday. The total loss across these seats was 255. In other words, across the rest of England the party made net gains (just). By comparison, the top 21 councils for gains saw the party make total gains [...]

My final citizenship ceremony

In this photo three people who work at Kingston Hospital with Ian were welcomed today as new British citizens. This was the last citizenship ceremony that I will perform, and like previous mayors I hold them amongst my best memories of the year.

Off to Wembley?

Both my second teams have made it to the play-offs. Oldham have finally managed to get there and Lincoln will be trying for the fifth time. Hopefully one of the teams will make it to the finals, and I’m sure that if they do, I’ll try to get a ticket for Wembley.

STV less confusing than AMS?

Amidst all the discussion over the invalid ballot papers in Scotland, the Electoral Reform Society have noted something interesting. The problem appears to have been with the ballot paper for the Parliamentary election, while the Single Transferable Vote ballot paper for the local council elections was around five times less likely to be spoilt. And one [...]

On Liberty, Online: It's 39, stupid!

Some of you may have guessed from the lack of recent blogging that I have been pounding the pavements in the run up to this week's elections. It couldn't have been more worth it. You may know that last May, Sheffield once again bucked the trend of national Labour decline by holding all of their 44 seats. We, however, had lost our Central ward seat to the Greens and had been reduced to 35 Councillors - our lowest total since 1996. (We were to be reduced temporarily to 34 a few months prior to the election by the ...

Welcome to the new world

After having a day of rest and recovery yesterday - I think I spent Monday to Thursday walking about as far each day as I was doing last summer - I had my first two pieces of business as a Councillor today. This morning, I went to my first Liberal Democrat group meeting this morning, [...]

Deleted comment

The lesson here is.. don't attempt to blog when you are really tired. This morning I accidentally deleted a comment I had been attempting to publish. Luckily I can remember what it said so will do it here instead. It was from PM Swimmer, a regular comment sender (if that is the right phrase). S/he complains that I have not replied to an e mail s/he sent. Well that's because I haven't received an e mail. I always reply to those I get. Over the last few days my system has screened one ...

blogging humour

Jon Ronson has a great piece in the Guardian supplement today about blogging - and searching for references to himself among blogs. Do have a look - its really amusing!

Artificial eggs (and other bad food news from China)

Man-made eggs. This is not the ‘Dried Egg’ of British wartime meals horror stories – realistic looking eggs are made industrially in china without benefit of chickens bottoms. Instructions on how to make them here, in a report of the Internet Journal of Toxicology. In the news because of the great pet foods scandal in the USA involving products from China. Apparently pet-food manufacturers in the USA have been buying raw materials from China that contains wheat gluten contaminated with melamine. Melamine is used in the manufacture of plastics, cleaning agents, glues and fertilisers. Hundreds of cats ...

Breckland election count fiasco rumbles on

The Eastern Daily Press has further information about the story I raised yesterday about the fiasco happening at Breckland Council where hi tech voting systems have collapsed leaving some results announced that could be incorrect and other candidates waiting until Tuesday to find out if they have won or lost. The returning officer, who I understand was not previously returning officer fro the council, seems to have a lot of explaining to do. My understanding is that returning officers get paid a substantial amount each year on top of their normal wages. I also note that Breckland staff are ...

Some of the mix from the bag

Well the Tories came in hard to get six of our seats in Milton Keynes, and we saw them off in five of them. We also narrowly missed taking two Labour seats. One of our seats up for grabs is a single-member ward, the biggest ward in area, a huge slab of rural fringe around the north of the New City, all small villages. We had held this seat for years on the personal vote of a remarkable councillor who retired this year and everyone and their aunt (even LibDem ones) had this inked in as a sure Tory ...

Lessons to be learned for the Lib Dems

Thursday's mixed bag of election results for the Lib Dems really should make the party ponder its future and the way it operates at all levels. Here is my analysis of where we go wrong. 1) Clinging on to power - The Lib Dems tend to be obsessed with clinging on to power even when they do not have the influence to actually be in control. Let me give you an example. In Norwich three years ago, the Lib Dems decided to run a minority administration. As a result, they were in charge, but actually had no power to influence ...

So those elections then...

The danger of commenting on elections before they're over is a tendency to get carried along with the spin the press put on it. On the surface Super-Thursday was a small set back for the Liberal Democrats, down from around 2,400 Councillors to 2,150 and 27 Councils to 23 in England, no change in Wales and a tiny setback in Scotland (1 MSP & about 10 Councillors). But then overall we received more votes than we manage in General Elections (26%), have 300 more Councillors than Labour, advanced against the Tories in key General Election battlegrounds like Eastbourne ...

Cameron Candidate Gets No Votes

The "Cameron Effect" clearly has not hit Tony Blair's constituency wherein a Conservative Candidate managed the relatively rare achievement of getting no votes at all. See link for press story. New Trimdon & Trimdon Grange Bowes Shirley Conservative Party 0 Foster Amanda Marie British National Party 75 * HOVVELS Lucy Labour Party 441 (from the Sedgefield Election Web Page)

Chicken Entrail Psephology

One of the things about elections is that after them there is no shortage of people talking absolute nonsense about what the results ‘mean’. Take Alex Salmond, who has been quick to claim that Labour has lost the “moral authority to govern”. Leaving a philosophical argument about what morality actually means in this context to [...]

Chelmsford: Lib Dems up 4; others down 2 each

In the Chelmsford Borough elections, Liberal Democrats gained two from Labour (their last seats) on a 22% swing and a net two seats from Conservatives. http://www.chelmsford-libdems.org.uk/news/000142.html

Those Local Election Results: Get a Grip

Well, the good thing about the fact that some people are dissatisfied with the party’s showing in Thursday’s elections is that the party is now being ambitious for us to succeed seriously at a national level - in the past too many people have been happy simply to be a third party in opposition. That [...]

5 May - part 1: not everything goes to plan…

Up early to catch my flight, which involves reaching Bauerfield International Airport at 6.45 a.m. for my 7.30 flight to Tanna. I make it easily enough, check in and wait for something to happen… and wait… and wait… before there is a scurry of activity, and the airport fire engine heads out towards the runway. Air Vanuatu’s pride and joy, its only Boeing 737, has had a fire warning light activate

4 May - if I’m going to get wet anyway…

I needed to get away again, and so decided to take a trip to see the Mele cascades. The idea is that you get a nature walk, a pleasant stroll and a chance to play in the cascades. So, I packed some swimwear and caught the bus out of town. I had astutely decided to wear my Fijian sandals and change into my swim shorts and a t-shirt before we set off on the walk. As it decided to pour down with (

3 May - at last to Tanna? I need a lie-down…

Pentecost having finally bitten the dust due to a waterlogged airport, I have finally managed to find a way to get to Tanna. I’ve managed to get the last seat on the early morning Air Vanuatu flight, non-stop to Tanna International, where I will be picked up and taken to see the volcano… on Saturday. I can only hope that all goes to schedule… So, another lazy day by the pool but, by way of

CHURCH GROUPS SPEAK OUT ON TAX AND JUSTICE

Christian Aid, Cafod, Church Action on Poverty and the Church Council for Monetary Justice have urged Chancellor Gordon Brown to close the legal loopholes used by Britain’s super-rich to avoid tax. The statements, which are believed to have the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, were made against the backdrop of an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. Britain is on the IMF’s list of tax havens, with the country’s super-rich having trebled their wealth since New Labour came to power. ‘As finance ministers fret over reaching aid commitments they made at Gleneagles, they should also be focusing on how ...

Bush’s Brains

Is he the only man in the world to have his heart in his stomach? If so, can anyone guess the location of his brain?

Well done Mike

My wonderful father shocked the local Tories in West Dorset. Having contested one of the safest Tory wards, Mike McGuinness gained 540 votes. It is a great result, particularly as he had no help apart from my mother, myself and one local farmer. Across West Dorset, the Lib Dems built on all the hard work of the General Election campaign and, despite a rather low key campaign, gained four seats at the District Council. I was delighted to see hard working, Lyme bay man, Daryl Turner elected with an impressive 769 votes, in Lyme Regis, and ...

Lib Dem performance

An interesting piece of analysis from Norfolk Blogger on our performance in Councils where we have sitting Lib Dem MPs. Results around here seem to back him up. In Solihull (Lorely Burt MP) we gained two Councillors, in Birmingham Yardley (John Hemming MP) we performed well in comfortably holding the Council seats. We also took the [...]

Badly digested results

It is probably better to wait until results are digested before trying to reach any sort of conclusion. But Rob Fenwick has rushed into print (or hypertext) and provoked these few intial thoughts. So blame him! Overall our share of the vote at about 26% looks pretty good. I don't think we can justify knocking the party’s efforts centrally too much. (I have my arguments with some of the national campaign and I will come back on the eco-loans camapign -a good issue badly handled becuase we got the numbers wrong.) A big issue affecting the local results ...

Day 2315: Scotland and Wales – Just Say NO!

Friday: Sometimes, “No” is the hardest word. In Scotland, the new Parliament has been chosen and… it’s a bit of a mix. But most obviously, the Labour have LOST seats and the Scottish Nasty Party has gained them – gained quite a LOT of them actually. Although it does not seem to be being reported that the Greens have actually lost MORE seats than the Labour! If there is “no moral case” for putting the Labour into government because they have lost seats, then it is TRICKY to see the moral case for putting in the ...

Not so manic now...

Well, the most manic week of my life is over. Aside from the election, I crashed my car, and my mum sold her house! But here I am now at 10.30 on a Saturday with no campaigning to do at all. Joyous. The final couple of days of the campaign were truly hectic, and I don't think I've ever worked so long and hard at anything in my life. The most inspiring thing about the entire process was that

Winning and Losing

Well, the good news is that I won my campaign, polling the top vote in my three members ward. As a group we managed to pretty much maintain our number (14) on North Cornwall but the Tories disappointingly have increased theirs from 3 to 6 ... whilst this is not of great impact the press releases that will surely follow will boast of 100% increases. As regular readers will know I have been campaigning all over Cornwall during these local elections and the news from across the districts is more unsettling. We lost Carrick to no overall control - ...

Scotland's butterfly ballot

Much attention has been given, rightly, to the confusion that has been caused by holding elections under two different PR systems (one, a "mixed" system already) on the same day. While this confusion clearly did exist, and many voters put numbers or Xs on the wrong ballot papers, most of the spoilt parliamentary papers I saw were not like this. A great many had two Xs on the list vote, and

Sri Lanka stays high on the agenda

Wednesday 2nd May 2007 - Another Sri Lanka Day in the European Parliament. First thing, I caught up with a member of our Sri Lanka Human RightsNetwork from the International Commission of Jurists. We discussed theinvestigation and inquest into the Killing of 17 Aid Workers from theFrench NGO, Action Against Hunger, in Sri Lanka last August and Compared campaigning notes ahead of the next round

Cable Vision

While LibDems across the country were last night slumped in their armchairs, from exhaustion in victory or defeat, a group of us got together in a church hall on Twickenham Green, South West London, to hear Deputy Leader Vince Cable give his take on Thursday’s results. Given that he had been up until 5.30 in [...]

Lib Dem results bode well for sitting Lib Dem MP's

Although the local elections were in no way a triumph for the Liberal Democrats, the results do show some interesting trends, particularly when looking at councils which have sitting Lib Dem MP's. The Conservatives like to talk up the possibility of winning Lib Dem seats at the next general election and I am sure there will be one or two that go that way. However, the very best results from last Thursday tended to be in Liberal Democrat MP's seats or in long term target seats which have a strong Liberal Democrat tradition built up over a long time. ...

Two schools

Some of the Youth Achievement Award winners could not make the celebration last week so I'm gradually catching up with them. This is Arash Falahati from The Hollyfield School who was the runner-up in the Caring category. Thames Ditton Junior School is outside the borough but the children in Year 4 have been studying Kingston. So they invited me along to tell them about the history of...

Desmond Tutu pricks the conscience

There is a sobering and timely reminder of the impact of climate change on Africa from Desmond Tutu in the Guardian's 'Comment is Free' section today. Reading this article reminded me to order "How many lightbulbs does it take to change a Christian? - A pocket guide to shrinking your ecological footprint". I'd been meaning to do it for a while. This booklet is what has been called in the press,

West Berkshire and Newbury Town Council election results

Quite a few people are googling for local election results in these parts. The Newbury Town Council results are here (albeit without figures). The West Berkshire Council results are here.

Election count

Thursday night/Friday morning was the count for the local elections. In our case this was at the tennis centre in Wavertree (where they are also building the new 50 metre swimming pool). Counts are always quite stressful and emotional. There's a lot of standing up and peering at piles of paper. If a result is close you can end up with recounts. I was there for most of the counts - although I left before the final one, just as well as that one was so close and contentious that it was stopped and restarted the next day ...

Forming a government

And so it begins. I have had a bit more sleep and I am now preparing to drive into Cardiff for a group meeting followed by a joint session with the Welsh Liberal Democrat Executive. My result did not come through until 4.30pm yesterday so I did not have time to sign on. That is my first task today. My instincts are that the Welsh Liberal Democrats do not have to be the deal-makers in this process. We have our own issues to sort out first around where we are going as a party and what ...

Election 2007

Well I lost. As of early yesterday morning Speke/Garston ward has three Labour Councillors (I was the last remaining Lib Dem representing the ward). I am obviously disappointed - although given the scale of the Labour victory last year I can't say I am surprised. Many people speculated that I would simply run away from this one and let someone else take the flak. That would have been not only a cowardly thing to do, it would also have been letting down a large number of people in Speke and Garston who I have worked with ...

Something to make you laugh

Whether you had a good or a bad result yesterday, here’s a chuckle for Lib Dems everywhere. We embrace technology in Wycombe, so my wife was trained on inputting telling numbers into EARS on polling day. Tellers were equipped with mobile phones to text numbers back from our target polling stations. At about 6.30pm, one of our [...]

BBC bias & vote counting 'fiasco'

Watching the BBC 10 o'clock news tonight, it seemed that their piece on the election results had been put together by someone who really doesn't like the Lib Dems... It essentially said polling day had been a disaster for us. At one point, it said that we had been decimated by the Conservatives across the south of England and gave a couple of (good) examples, Torbay and Bournemouth. But then they said that our *only* consolation had been taking control of Hull from Labour. Uh, hang on, didn't we take control of Eastbourne from the Tories, might that not ...

Thoughts on the elections:

If there’s one thing guaranteed to put people off politics I think it must be politicians and political bloggers after elections. The Tories had a good result, you’d expect them to be rather crowing. I will take it as a compliment that many Tories have been attacking the LibDems far more than Labour - it shows [...]

Day 2314: May the Fourth Be With You!

Thursday: It was a dark time for the Liberal Alliance [No, no, no, no, noooooo]… Oh bobbins! It seems like the EVIL EMPIRE have been using their ULTIMATE WEAPON – the BALLOON STAR – to explode several of our planets. There is only one thing for it, we must use the HIDDEN WEAKNESS by finding the SECRET PLANS… ah, now I realise why Mr Balloon HAS no plans! It has been a bit of a HORRID night, all in all. I am sorry to have to say that, but it is TRUE. Mr James ...

Saturday 5th May 2007

Previous days:

Archives

Search for...

Adverts

Buttons

LibDem Blog Box

Contributors

Campaigns

From the BBC...

Backlinks...

From the LibDems...

From the Independent...

From Politics.co.uk...

From the Guardian...

Adverts