LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Monday 7th May 2007

Local elections analysis

My old LDYS colleague Anders has put much more thought into an election analysis than I would have got around to - so I'll just suggest you read this.

The Scotsman claims to have the inside track on what has been going on around Holyrood over the holiday weekend: The Liberal Democrat group met again yesterday afternoon. The mood was still sceptical, with some MSPs wanting nothing to do with the SNP, preferring to retreat to the back-benches without even talking to the Nationalists. Eight years in government and a bad election result have led to introspection within the party and many MSPs feel it would do the Lib Dems good to regroup and reassess in opposition, regardless of what could be achieved in government with the SNP.

Remembering ‘97

Today was a family day, but I still managed to catch most of the key moments of the 1997 General Election results on BBC Parliament. I was having problem with our set top box but I just managed to tune in in time for David Mellor. It was weird watching it - on the night [...]

Wither John Reid?

I’m rather surprised at the positive spin the media are giving John Reid’s bombshell announcement that he will quit when Tony Blair resigns the premiership. (It seems Dr Reid is such an ultra-Blairite that he feels compelled to follow his leader, and pre-announce his resignation, too.) ‘Reid’s resignation boosts Brown’ trumpets The Guardian: “Gordon Brown's path to a radical rejuvenation of the

Almost a metric dozen

My latest round-up of the best of the Lib Dem blogoshere has reached its eleventh birthday… which must mean it’s first day at big school. Which means next week the Golden Dozen achieves its life-long ambition, and hits 12.

How long does it take to count some votes?

I’m just curious… Some 88 hours have passed since the polls closed for the local elections, yet the BBC graphic still says there are two councils yet to declare their results. Assuming it’s not simply because Auntie can’t be arsed to update, can I ask which two councils have decided to leave their candidates on tenterhooks over an entire Bank Holiday week-end?

A belated local election analysis

It might be four days late, but I should perhaps still comment on last week’s local election results. I make no apologies for the time it has taken to write this, as I was determined to have a weekend that was, almost, completely free of politics. As Sheffield held its count on Friday this year, [...]

Blake’s 7 Reborn

A small band of fighters for freedom, having scored years of remarkable victories against impossible odds, are finally annihilated by the overwhelming forces of a pitiless right-wing administration. But enough of the depressing world of the local elections: do you remember Blake’s 7? More than a quarter of a century since its heroes were shockingly gunned down at the series’ finale, the Sci-Fi Channel today relaunches Britain’s bleakest sci-fi as an online audio drama starring James Bond’s Colin Salmon and This Life’s Daniela Nardini alongside Derek Riddell as Blake – the only dramatic hero going labelled as a terrorist paedophile. ...

Have the Scots saved us from a deal with Brown?

It's with some relief this weekend that I read that Scottish Liberal Democrats have ruled out doing a coalition deal with either the Scottish National Party or Labour. I am hopeful that this sets the benchmark for the UK party's decision should we face a hung-Parliament after the next General Election. What is particularly interesting is their dismissal of the option of forming a Unionist alliance with Labour was reported in the Scotsman thus: "The Lib Dems also flatly rejected the prospect of working with Labour to form a government. There is a feeling that it would be ...

Power Corrupts

I caught an hour of the BBC Parliament Channel rerun of the 1997 General Election night before going to work today. While having to leave for the train just minutes before the "Portillo Moment" I did catch two classic political moments. The first was David Mellor suggesting James Goldsmith go back to mexico and the second was Neil Hamilton making a concession speech with his head sandwiched between two red plastic breasts. Well at least that what it looked like. I also caught Jeremy Paxman's caustic question to Ceil Parkinson about who the next Tory leader would be " assuming ...

Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #11

Welcome to the eleventh of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (29th April - 6th May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Rather unsurprisingly, this week’s selection is dominated by Thursday’s local elections. So here is our ‘mixed [...]

Why is John Reid resigning?

Paul Linford considers the theories and comes down in favour of my own view: He is staging a canny tactical retreat to distance himself from what he sees as the impending disaster of the Brown premiership so that he can live to fight another day after the next election.

A Mixed Bag

While this is the cliche of the Hour about the party's Local Election results it seems apt for the Leeds results as well. Indeed the Leeds results I would argue reflect the strengths and weakness of the national position. Let us start with the good news and work along the spectrum to the warning signs that are there if we are brave enough to read them. In 6 of the 9 seats we were defending our majorities went up particularly in the Council wards in the Leeds North West Constituency which we now hold. ( we "won" the constituency ...

The Blame Game, brought to you by the Labour party

The out going leader of lincoln city council, Ric Metcalfe (Labour) has today blamed Tony Blair for Labour loosing power in Lincoln's city council. he specifically states that Tony Blairs announcement that he is leaving office was 'idiotic'. Cllr Metcalfe, who has been re-elected to serve a 3 year term, was beaten into second place in his ward by Charlotte Louise Metcalfe (Conservative and no relation to him). now while this may be so there is some important things happening in lincoln, or to be precise that will hapen in a little under 361 days - ...

Broadland Tories and their stories

Just a couple of gems from the elections, two stories of mass deception in separate wards from Tories. Firstly, in Sprowston, the Conservative Party were canvassing with the message that the local Lib Dems had supported Norwich's bid for unitary status, which is a blatant lie. I have also been told their was a Tory leaflet stating the same untruth, but sadly, you cannot libel an organisation or a political party, so the Tories can get away with blatant lies. Oh Dave must be so proud. The other story is a tale of two independents who, I am ...

A day trip to Rotherham

Things just can't get better than this! A day trip to Rotherham! Actually a trip to the new home of David's sister Jill and her husband Colin who moved from Cambridge on Friday to this gritty Yorkshire town! Colin's job has just changed, hence the move. David and I drove down today to visit them. It's only a couple of hours in the car. Anyone who read my recent blog posting on making nettle

Victoria Wood does guilt very well

Recently, Guardian Weekend did a big piece on Victoria Wood's new TV series, Victoria's Empire. It was very absorbing. She is basically going round the world to all things named "Victoria", like her, after Queen Victoria. This evening I watched her visit Ghana, Jamaica and Newfoundland. It is marvellous to see someone like Victoria Wood touring our ex-Empire, showing the appropriate amount of

Good Practice

Any Councillor will tell you that he/she is deluged with direct appeals for cash from community groups or at the very least help raising it. This is a perfectly reasonable demand on a local politic an but as ever demand outstrips supply. Following the principles of devolution and empowerment the local Lib Dem Councillors in our neck of the woods 5 years ago set up the Inner Northwest Fundraising Project. We use a chunk of our Area Committee Funds not to give directly to local Groups but to help them to help themselves. The project has an office and 1 ...

Festival of the drowned rat

Normally only the contestants get wet at Newbury's Crafty Craft race. This year everyone got soaked. When we ventured out it was just drizzling slightly. So we didn't take any heavy duty rainwear. Big mistake. It poured down. We watched our little one taking part in the Steps Ahead dance routines on the 2-Ten FM stage with some trepidation due to the slippery conditions. Fortunately, we managed

Local Links 2

Firstly can I plug the excellent Bargain Hunt/Hyde Park Highlights event on Woodhouse Moor next Saturday May 12th between 12 noon and 4pm. Bargain Hunt is a free table top sale ( email j.mcnee@leedsmet.ac.uk to book) run by student volunteers to try and shift some of the crap that is thrown out of shared tenancies at this time of year. Hyde Park Highlights is a community festival designed to promote adult learning opportunities in the area. Although I can't go this year previous years events have had a Carnival Atmosphere and are very well worth a browse. Bargain Hunt will ...

US Presidential candidate: It's OK to fire gays

I always have a good laugh when I see the first US presidential contenders' debate. It is a case of "spot the difference" or "work out which one is which". The first Republican contenders' has just taken place at the Reagan library. There were ten of them lined up. The Guardian put it very well in its headline: "You sir - the white gentleman in the suit and tie". It was described as less a

Patronising the Dragon

With so many irritating adverts on TV at any one time it's hard sometimes to pin down one deserving of special loathing. The recently removed Trident adverts, with their associations between a stereotyped Jamaican accent and daft behaviour were particularly awful, but obviously so. Or at least obvious to everyone outside the Cadbury's Marketing Department. The one that's getting my goat at the moment though is the 'Chinese crowd' advert for Uncle Ben's Oriental range. The plot of the commercial is that of a typical white English mum using a jar of Uncle Ben's pseudo-Oriental glutinous sugar-saturated slop ...

Paper Tigers?

district07.xls During the recent District Council campaign, you may have received literature from Wycombe Labour which tried to portray the Liberal Democrats as a small and insignificant force in our area. They called us ‘paper tigers’. Now that the votes have been counted, we can set the record straight! In the recent election, at total of 17,370 [...]

Another voice

Swansea Council leader Chris Holley has now publicly added his voice to those opposing a coalition with Labour. In tonight's South Wales Evening Post he has openly condemned the prospect of keeping Rhodri Morgan's party in power: Councillor Holley said: "Wales has said it doesn't want a Labour Government. I don't think it's right, when we are fighting Labour locally and nationally, that we should hold them up." Leaders of Liberal Democrat-led councils in Cardiff, Wrexham and Bridgend are all said to be against a Lib-Lab deal in the Assembly. Councillor Holley, who heads a Liberal ...

New Barbecue

On my return from Scotland I was delighted to find that Grace had cleared the patio. She had also bought a new barbecue, garden table and chairs and a swinging garden seat. In addition there were solar powered lights shaped as Dragonflies and Butterflies and lots of hanging garden candle holders. It really was a wonderful surprise. So the first task was to sit down to a scrummy barbecue feast :-

Patientline - cheap at twice the price

It's been a fairly relaxed bank holiday weekend. Finished off some leaflet delivery, did a little bit of casework and also some work for my job - but on the whole it's been quite pleasant. Didn't do a huge amount on Friday after work, as Thursday night's drinks at Smiths after our awayday had ended up being pretty late. Saturday evening though was Susan's 40th birthday, so headed up to her party which was in a village hall in Arkley (nice little spot). Yesterday evening went to Stoke Newington (for the first time in my life) to meet a ...

Face in the crowd

I’ve been a bit of a saddo today - as I’ve been going around the house I’ve had the 1997 election programme on BBC Parliament on the telly. It’s about 5am on the day after polling day in 1997 now. Those pictures that would become famous of Mandelson and Prescott ‘dancing’ to things can [...]

The disaster that is public transport in SE London

Saturday evening saw me head off to a celebration in Kingston of Ed Davey's 10 years as an MP. Getting home was another matter, far from a celebration. The only way home was on a night bus. However it decided it was terminating before the end of the route. The driver assured me the next one would be along in 10 minutes - and would go all the way. 20 minutes later another night bus appears, and

May Community Council Update

If you click on the headline above, you can read my update for tomorrow night's West End Community Council meeting.

bank holiday

this weekend has been mostly spent revising and relaxing. its been strange not getting a phone call from Ross or Ryan asking if i can help out delivering the latest leaflett. as much as i hate delivering, in a strange way i think am going to miss it, although thats mostly becasue over the last 4 weeks here in lincoln its beeen lovely weather and perfect for delivering. Strangely ever since the Conservative Party victory on thursday night/Friday morning the weather has been horrible. anyway i have one more exam to go and then i've finished year 2 of ...

Way forward, Utility Box fly-posting

Yesterday saw our councillors from across Scotland meeting in Perth to discuss ways forward. Obviously different Councils have different priorities and will form differing administrations depending on local circumstances, but it was good to meet colleagues. Although some disappointments in a few councils, the picture is generally very good. I was asked (along with Kate Dean, who has been the LibDem Council Leader in Aberdeen) to speak to a group of new councillors in authorities where we had not had representation in the past. It is brilliant to see the breakthroughs in ...

A short post about Rugby

I haven't written much about Rugby recently, partially because I've been tied up in trying to win other people's elections and mocking the Tories, but also because the administration of the English game seemed to be in such a tailspin that it didn't seem worth writing about something that wouldn't exist in a few years. However brighter news this weekend. It seems like the IRB have brokered a

Day 2316: DOCTOR WHO: The Lazarus Experiment

Saturday: [R: elephant temporarily hiding under blanket – normal service will resume tomorrow; meanwhile, here is my review…] It’s difficult to know what to say beyond “that was very ‘Quatermass’ wasn’t it?” In 1953, the BBC broadcast the first play written for television, Nigel Kneale’s in every way seminal classic, the story of a man, Victor Caroon, whose capsule returns him from space with his DNA altered so that, under alien influence, he mutates into a monster. Fleeing from the laboratory, he seeks sanctuary in Westminster Abbey where finally his human nature overcomes the alien. The ...

Dunfermline Delight

It was a great moment, in an otherwise very sad evening, to witness the election of Jim Tolson as the MSP for Dunfermline West. It made the long hours, the exhaustion, the sheer slog, all worthwhile. We had a fantastic team ably managed by Willie Rennie, Tony Martin and Elspeth Finlay. The amount of work everybody put in was phenomenal. The icing on the cake came the following afternoon when 8 councillors were elected across Willie Rennie's constituency. We now have representatives at all levels, including Elspeth Attwooll as MEP, to deliver for the ...

E-Counting Misery

I can't stand e-counting. Thursday night was as close to torture as I'd ever come. We were all gathered at the Fife Institute with no real idea what was going on as the screens did not update regularly, and stayed the same for several hours. First we were ahead, then we weren't, then we were again - and we had no idea which boxes still had to be counted so we knew if our best areas had been done. This is a system which sure knows how to mess with your head. Usually at a count, there is plenty ...

Deal or No Deal?

I am pretty well disposed to the idea of talking to the SNP. Apart from the obvious disagreement on independence, we do have some similar ideas on policy and could probably form a stable government which would be good for Scotland. However, having said repeatedly since way before the start of the election that we would not support a referendum on independence, we can't really go back on that now. To do so would be a betrayal of our commitment to the people who voted for us and would make us look like we had no integrity ...

Lewisham Primary Care Trust public meeting: 16 May

Just to let people know that the next public meeting of the Lewisham Primary Care Trust will be in the Civic Suite at Lewisham Town Hall at 6.30 pm. The next meetings are: 19 September 2007 - VENUE TO BE ADVISED 19 December 2007 - VENUE TO BE ADVISED

A difficult choice for French liberals

Rightwing bloggers Andy Mayer and Tom Papworth have been picking fights with their own party, accusing large numbers of us of being guilty by association of being unreconstructed socialists. Andy cites the fact that UDF supporters were split 50/50 in the Sarko/Sego playoff, while even more incredibly Tom bases his argument on an online [...]

One final day of rest

As well as writing a blog, I also like to read other people's, and applaud those Councillors / MPs / candidates etc who have their own - especially when they write their own. We local Lib Dems are pretty good, with Cllr Ann Garner flying the flag for us, as well as this one of course. The only other regular blogger in Bury that I'm aware of (and please correct me if I'm wrong - by regular I'm

The first nail in the coffin of Local Income Tax?

I’ve been very good this past month and have managed to keep schtum about the Liberal Democrat Youth and Students’ decision to reject local income tax in preference to land value taxation until after the elections were out of the way. Now I see that the entire motion is up on the ALTER website, [...]

Scots Lib Dems make the right decision - Now for Wales

After my plea yesterday to the Lib Dems in Scotland to sit in opposition and give up any chance of sharing power with the SNP and the Greens, I was delighted to read THIS this morning. I am still concerned about Wales where it is clear Lembit Opik seems very keen on a deal with Labour . Oh dear ! Now I hope a number of Lib Dem council groups will take similar advice and avoid propping up council administrations. Because we take up the middle ground, Lib Dems often feel it is our moral duty to work ...

Fool’s Paradise

I must apologise to readers for the distinct lack of recent posts. I have been preoccupied with a number of matters which have left me, bafflingly, bereft of fresh insights into the world o’ Hooting Yard. I expect my pea-sized yet pulsating brain will soon generate further reports from that fool’s paradise, but in the [...]

Blog in New Statesman

I was delighted to see this blog mentioned in The New Statesman magazine recently. I must confess that I don't read it (although I might start now...) and am an Economist reader instead - but still, this is great news, and hopefully will push the regular readership up towards the magical double digits. I have to say though that I am not entirely sure whether the article will attract people to the

Lib Dems Beat Labour in Norwich South

The Liberal Democrats achieved a higher share of the vote than Labour across Norwich South constituency in the local elections on Thursday.

Respect wins three seats

I have linked to the story about Respect on their website. Nationally they won three seats. (Birmingham, Bolsover and Preston) They have lost a councillor recently (in Tower Hamlets) who has defected to Labour. What we noticed was that they piled people into Springfield, Sparkbrook and Moseley Wards. We won 3 of the wards in the Hall Green Constituency and Respect won Sparkbrook (but with a

The curse of Lembit

On Radio Wales just now Lembit Őpik unreservedly backed Mike German to stay Assembly Group leader and to negotiate a coalition deal. Despite Eleanor Burnham's remarks on Saturday, he also said that no other senior Liberal Democrat had doubts about Mike's leadership. Not in public at least. In reality for the majority of the Assembly group it is just a matter of timing. Their disagreement with me is that I have gone public at this time, not with what I have said. Lembit added that nobody else is putting up for leader. That could be ...

what doesn't get done!

The problem with elections is..... the stuff you are too busy to do. In my case this tends to be housework. So this weekend has seen me attempting to sort out all the cleaning, sorting out and tidying that's been left for the last few weeks. I am never going to be a domestic goddess though!

Florida

I am off to Florida today for a little while. I am going to the wedding of two very good friends, Miranda Piercy and Shaun Roberts, as well as the wedding, and seeing some of the State, I will also try an get a bit of rest and relaxation.

News from home

First the good news - the Lib Dems in Tynedale are now the second-largest group on the council, and ousted the wretched Tory council leader on Thursday. Now the bad news, a Hexham institution - Robbs, an ‘old school ‘ centre-of-town department store, is to close - staff were told in the car park of the [...]

Monday 7th May 2007

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