LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 6th June 2007

Labour gives up on the white working class

After the uprising of the 17th June The Secretary of the Writers Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited the confidence of the government And could win it back only By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier In that case for the government To dissolve the people And elect another? Bertolt BrechtIn the Guardian yesterday Jonathan Freedland took Labour's concern with Britishness and citizenship to its logical conclusion: But it will be a bit odd if new arrivals have to clear a series of hurdles - language and history exams, voluntary service requirements ...

A poem for all of those tempted by the conservative snake Cameron.

As the night starts to sleep, And the day begins to dream, I can't help but weep, At the visions I have seen. At bigotry and torure, Rape, starvation too, And worst of all the murmurs, Of those in complacency stew. For insolvency of morals cannot be solved alone, By the compromisisers and trimmers who would stoop to selling bones, But by those who care, Are brave in heart, Whom live to dare, And would give no part, To those who feel with fingers cold and hearts colder still. To Machiavelli's children many who tilt the ...

Back on Line - Hooray

After being off line since the middle of April, after Orange so say upgraded my Broadband connection to make it faster we are back with a new ISP - Waitrose. It took a call to OFFCOM to get the MAC number out of Orange, so we could go to another company. I find it difficult to articulate my contempt for a company that can arbitrarily close down a Broadband business connection without any hope of getting back on - I wonder how many small businesses this company has put out of business. I now have to deal ...

Planning Applications

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 07/01345/LBA Parish: N/A Registered: 21st May 2007 ...

Comedy a la Mode

Things have been getting a leeeeetle heavy in the Lib Dem blog-o-sphere of late what with GLA selections and the role of religion in politics. No harm in that as there are important issues to discuss. But I’m just going to interupt to say I LOVE UGLY BETTY. It is very sharply written. It has enough ‘Desperate [...]

The Big Red Book of New Labour Sleaze

Last year Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes put together The Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze. It was written by the nation's bloggers, your humble servant included, largely over the course of one weekend. Now they are publishing an expaned version as, naturally enough, The Big Red Book of New Labour Sleaze. Order it here.

Shell mast plans thrown out!

Tonight Stafford Borough Council's Development Control committee refused an application for planning permission to erect a 15 metre mobile telephone mast on the Shell service station in Walton. This is a great victory for all those who have campaigned so hard over recent weeks. Town Councillors Jill Hood, Mark Green and I went down to Stafford to hear the decision being announced and left the

RICE and planning and Nuclear(NO THANKS) fast tracking!!

The old Bath and NE Somerset Council had three planning committees - one for NE Somerset, one for Bath and one for major projects. Before the elections we had decided this was going to be changed to just one committee to deal with all planning and policy development and improve consistancy and quality of decision making. On Monday we had our first set of site visits and today we had...

Estonia 0 England 3

Paul Keres, Arvo Pärt, Lembit Öpik... your boys took a hell of a beating.

My response to 'Cardinal error' on libdemvoice.org

I have a feeling there are one too many Richard Dawkins fans on this post (including the author). Freedom of belief and expression is important but only for the individual. The problem with the Archbishop's comments was that it was an institutional attack, not just his own views but actually saying an institution would punish its members if they disagreed on a political basis. For that i think the catholic church should have its charitable status taken away if it persists. However, secularism doesn't mean you take god out of the political process all together it means you take religious ...

Who's the most influential liberal economist today?

Just a little poll I'm doing, and remember its about influence today on liberal opinion, not influence in the past! take your pick and put your vote in the comments section. Adam Smith, Keynes, Ricardo, Malthus, Hayek, Galbraith, John Kay, Friedman? and any others you can think of Post away!atom.xml

Well done Channel Four - Diana: Witness in the Tunnel

There were some remarkable images and statements in the programme, Diana: Witnesses in the Tunnel. It was remarkable to hear and see the statements from the respected French photo-journalist Jacques Langevin, who was present at the Ritz and later in the tunnel. This is no “paparazzi”. I had not previously realised that the chauffeur Henri Paul, between 11.15 and 12.20, came out of the Ritz to

If You're Feeling Sinister

On June 1st Liberal Democrat members received an email from Nick Clegg MP, regarding ID Cards. On June 3rd members received another follow-up email from him. On June 5th members received an email from Chris Huhne MP, ostensibly about World Environment Day. I applaud our parliamentarians using all means available to them in order to keep in touch with us, but am I being paranoid, or is my inbox being used as battleground for heir-to-the-leadership skirmishes?

Freedom of Information: The Orphan Bill

The FoI Bill as far as I can tell still has no sponsor in the House of Lords. To that extent when it comes to be debated it will fall. Good news.

Ok, so there are bigger niggles in life

But two questions are bugging me right now, as I try to live life as a cyclist who doesn't arrive in work soaked from a sudden downpour: 1) why is it impossible to buy an item of stylish rain-wear... y'know, something that doesn't look like it was rejected by Gyles Brandreth for being unutterably unfashionable; and 2) even if I accept I must of necessity compromise my designer trendiness,

Easy as Qwerty

A quick but public thanks to the Lib Dems' innovations team for helping make online campaigning so much easier. A particular local issue has arisen in my ward - a proposal by the County Council to close a popular underpass. Within 20 minutes, thanks to some techno-wizardry available to any Lib Dem party member, I was able to create from scratch a dedicated web presence and online petition,

Day 2346: My Eyes! My Eyes!

Monday: Terrible news! Just as the Olympic Committee were about to reveal the stunning, inspiring and beautiful new logo that has been designed for the London Games, a piece of art guaranteed to be remembered for hundreds of years as the acme of design excellence and a shining beacon to all the athletes, nay all the people of the whole wide world… it turned out that some GRAFFITI KIDS had broken in and TAGGED IT! Alternatively, the BBC suggest that the designer was hit by a car and woke up in 1974… on TISWAS! ...

At the Rennard summer party

Well, here I am at the Rennard summer BBQ. Exclusive photos and video to follow over the next day or so.---Sent via BlackBerry

The marvel of Kwik Cricket

I was thrown into cricket at the age of 11. It was straight into "grown up" cricket. I wasn't very good at it. To be brutally frank, even if I had been weaned on it from the cradle, I would still have been pants at it. Being the Scorer was my natural metier, and gave me a love of the game which has lasted a lifetime, and, for which, I am very grateful. Well today, I had quite a mind-blowing

TV Licensing “too aggressive”

Tory MP Gary Streeter has put down an Early Day Motion criticising the treatment of those who don’t have a TV set by TV Licensing. The wording of the motion explains it properly: EDM 1289 TREATMENT BY TV LICENSING OF PEOPLE WHO DO NOT OWN TELEVISION SETS Streeter, Gary That this House notes with concern [...]

Tory taskforce proposals make sense - Will the Tories support them though ?

The proposals outlined today in the Tory Task force report, under the Chairmanship of Kenneth Clarke, make a lot of sense and would, I believe, give much more power to parliament and parliamentarians and away from government and the Prime Minister. I like the idea of secret ballots to elect people to serve on select committees and I like the way select committee Chairmen could bring forward items for discussion form their committees to parliament. This makes complete sense. The greater level of scrutiny that select committees would have over ministers and the increased powers to call people ...

George Bush smashes hope for change once again.

Being from the generation which is going to have to pay for dealing with global warming, I actually had my hopes up that this time the Americans would actually get on board the road to prevention of climate change. Of course I'm dissapointed but atleast that bigotted idiot who was appointed to be president (and is probably now the least popular they've ever had) is finnally coming round to the idea it exists. Anyway this is a bit of Television with their song '1880 or so' from 1992 to soothe anyone's dissapointment. Comment as you see.atom.xml

Norfolk Blogger sets fine motoring example

There appears to have been a rampant discussion of the new cars of Iain Dale and the Norfolk Blogger, without mention of their relative carbon emission levels. A bit of an omission. Here is a comparison: Norfolk Blogger: Age 36 New car: Skoda Fabia Emissions:120 g/km Iain Dale: Age 44 New car: Audi A5 Coupe Emissions:191 g/km I treated you to the comparative ages because Iain Dale

International issues: water and Darfur

Water, water everywhere - but not where it's needed. Speaking for the Liberal Democrats in the Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries debate in Parliament yesterday, I went on two main themes: firstly that at some point in the future there will be a major war (or wars) over water. Water wars will dominate the next decades as scarce supply send millions into migratory patterns in the developing world. There are 263 rivers that cross borders - and as the supply shortens the temptation for countries to divert a river their way and cut off the river from another ...

Dundee City Council Website

The Council's website (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/) has been revamped and 'modernised'; I'll be attending the launch tomorrow morning. The new version is actually now live and well worth a look. If you click on the headline above you can read my surgery details page on it.

Would they have been so quick it if it had been stolen by the Nazis from someone Jewish ?

It's incredible how fast the police can work in Austria. When someone wants a painting back from them that was stolen from their family by the Nazi's in the war, it takes many years, lots of court cases and then still the Austrians drag their feet, yet for others, Austria's justice is quick.

The bureaucrat gets a face

I haven't really commented on the GLA selection argument here. But can I commend this posting by Mark Valladares, the Faceless Bureaucrat. In particular: At the moment, the trend has been to bring London's Selection Rules into line with those for Westminster and Europe. Perhaps we should actually look at using the London Rules as a laboratory for new ideas, freeing candidates to campaign in new

The remarkable life of Bobby Kennedy

It is rumoured that the BBC may be looking around for a channel or two to axe, in order to save some money, following their recent licence fee deal. I do hope that BBC 4 isn't chopped. It has some exceptionally good programmes. The Storyville documentary series is superb. Last night's programme on Bobby Kennedy - RFK - was breathtaking. At nearly two hours long, it really allowed you to immerse

I think my driving instructor's a BNP supporter

So I was finishing off my driving lesson earlier today driving back to my house when me and the instructor got onto the conversation of what I'm doing for my exams. I talked a bit about history and how I was fed up of doing Nazi Germany (we have been studying it continuously for the last 4 years or so) but this is where it got a bit odd. He paused for a moment and then said something along the lines on 'Well you know John there are some people around who can see where he was coming from' (by ...

Campbell calls for G8 action on Darfur

At Prime Minister’s Question Time today, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell asked Tony Blair about the conflict in Darfur, which Ming said had led to the deaths of 200,000 people and displaced 2 million from their homes. He asked: “What can the people of Darfur expect from the G8 summit?” The Prime Minister promised he would [...]

Roy Jenkins' excellent sense of priorities

Andrew Marr's Modern History of Britain is turning out to be a corker of a series. It is tending to be mainly a political history, but it is nonetheless brilliant for that. His commentaries last night on Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech and on Bloody Sunday were exceptionally good. I expect the great Marr will be climbing up some stairs to collect an award or twain for this series soon.

Environment deal at G8 that ignores science is unacceptable

Commenting ahead of the summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell warned the G8 leaders that they should not seek to play politics with the issue of climate change by reaching compromise solutions that go against scientific advice. In particular he warned that any attempt by the United States [...]

Southwark Green Schools

Spent an inspirational afternoon judging Southwark Schools entered for the London Schools Environement Award. It is just great to see so much effort being put in by teachers, pupils, parents and governors all over the borough. There are rare grasses being protected in Dulwich and Eco Warrior afterschool clubs in Camberwell. A special school in [...]

Beyond the G8?

Sundeep Waslekar, President of the Strategic Foresight Group, is in town and several of us from the LibDems’ International Relations Committee met up with him on the terrace of the National Liberal Club. I’d first encountered him at a meeting of the Liberal International Executive in the Philippines last year, since when he has been zooming [...]

More films to see before you die

A couple more films to add to that all-important list. Babette's Feast - based on the story by Karen Blixen. Is it about food? Art? Life? You decide. It Happened Here (dir. Kevin Brownlow) - a vision of England after a hypothetical Nazi invasion and occupation in 1940. And if you don't think it could have happened here, remember Oswald Moseley and the Brownshirts really happened here. Pauline, a nice Englishwoman who is a nurse, is not allowed to work unless she joins the Party. She is drawn into well-intentioned collaboration until the point ...

Fighting against the Newhaven Incinerator

The Liberal Democrats have been fighting against the Tory-controlled County Council decision to locate a waste incinerator in Newhaven for several years. Somehow, despite strong objections in the form of environmental and social reports, and a 16,000 resident-signed objection letter, the County Council gave planning permission for the incinerator, and despite demands from residents, the [...]

Understanding secularism

Once again, a Laurence Boyce article on Lib Dem Voice has sparked off a discussion amongst the party faithful. This time, Laurence is riled by Cardinal O’Brien’s pronouncements on abortion. Last week, the Roman Catholic leader called on Catholic politicians to oppose abortion, and suggested that political leaders who vote in favour of it should be barred from Communion. Laurence sees this as “subvert[ing] the democratic process.” To some extent, I sympathise. Laurence is right to attack the Cardinal’s stance on abortion. A woman doesn’t terminate her pregnancy for fun – she does so under very difficult ...

Makes you feel lucky to have the NHS

Ihope this actually gets people to change their system.atom.xml

Northern Ireland, Shelter, Parking Issues, Windsor Street

Apologies, no blog entries since the middle of last week, partly because I was in Northern Ireland for a few days with the day job and partly because of the backlog on return! My colleagues and I had the pleasure of meeting the Lord Mayor of Belfast while across in Northern Ireland (see right) and during a tour of City Hall yours truly was invited to model the councillors' robes! See below, right. On return, Shelter and I issued a joint statement about availability of housing/tenancy advice from Shelter and other organisations, following the recent issues about termination of ...

Southwark’s record on street trees praised

I was very pleased to read that Southwark Council has emerged as one of the top performing boroughs for preserving and planting street trees according to a new GLA report. Southwark outperformed neighbouring boroughs Lewisham, Lambeth and Bromley. Trees contribute much to the local environment, offsetting the concrete mass of the city sprawl and framing offices [...]

Mrs Maria Rosa Picart de Francis' Vin d'Honneur

Earlier today I attended the new Ambassador of Andorra - Mrs Maria Rosa Picart de Francis - Vin d'Honneur. The Vin d'Honneur followed the presentation of her letter of credence to Her majesty the Queen.

Do you know if your child’s school is fingerprinting?

Lib Dem education spokesperson Sarah Teather has been busy highlighting the disturbing news that at least 285 schools in England are fingerprinting pupils without any guidance from the Government about how such data might be used. Even more worrying, there is doubt about whether parental consent had been sought or obtained in most of those [...]

Don't believe what you read in the press!!!

Last week the Camden New Journal erroneously reported that the Camden Green Fair was my “baby”. They even attributed a quote to me. I would be over the moon if the Green Fair had been my idea, but it wasn’t. And I've never talked to the CNJ abou it! The Camden Green Fair is now in its sixteenth year and has therefore been around for a lot longer than I have been evangelising about environmental issues. It is, and has always been, a community-led event and considerable praise deserves to go to the community activists and Council officers that ...

What a Waste!

It's hard to see how an inner city borough like Camden can charge residents by weight for the waste they produce because most of us live in multiple occupancy buildings and it’s virtually impossible to separate our bins. Penalising people for producing more waste, or for not recycling, is likely to lead to more fly tipping and a lot of ill feeling. Most of our waste starts as packaging and comes from supermarkets like Tesco. They need to be persuaded to reduce their packaging and to use materials that can be composted. We also need to be tougher ...

Is John McCain a Creationist?

This quote struck my eye from the write ups of last nights Republican presidential debates: Mike Huckabee : "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Either someone believes God created the process, or that it's an accident and it just happened," John McCain: "I can't say it more eloquently than Pastor Huckabee just did. I hold that view." So is John McCain a creationist or is

Written Parliamentary Question 6th June 2007

Trade and Industry: OM Energy Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to his answer of 27 April 2007, Official Report, column 1361W, on OM Energy, what assistance his Department has given to OM Energy in seeking a worldwide patent for this technology. A:The Global Entrepreneur Programme facilitated an introduction to a UK patent agent who helped the company with their

Marketing

Last night I met a very interesting young couple who were interested in talking about the local issues and maybe getting involved with us. After a great chat about all sorts of stuff, both joined the party and agreed to leaflet for us. Not a bad return for an evening that began with me wandering straight past their front door and having to turn back towards their house in full view of them.

Single Status and Equal Pay

The fact that the Council had developed over years a rather random system of working out how much people were paid is being reviewed at the moment. The biggest part of this is not Single Status, but in fact Equal Pay. Basically the council has to justify any differentials between jobs on the basis of some system of "measuring the job". This causes considerable stress simply because the council

When is a boycott not a boycott?

You spot some funny things on Facebook. Today, I come across the group “Boycott Channel Four Advertisers“: To boycott any company that advertises during the ‘Diana in the Tunnel’ programme. If Channel uses the photo of Diana dying the then advertisers who appear during the advert breaks should be boycotted. Er, except that to know who [...]

Knitted Bulgarian Folk Tale Puppet

Ahoy, Mr Key!, writes Dr Ruth Pastry, Thank you so much for affording us readers a glimpse of the inner workings of Hooting Yard in your piece on that Olympics logo. Brief as it was, I was fascinated by the reference to the editorial conclave, and to the fact that the bloated janitor remains an [...]

Richard Thomas slams Labour plans to stall Aylesbury regeneration

Councillor Richard Thomas, Lib Dem Executive Member for Regeneration, has slammed the attempt by a senior Labour councillor to stall the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate. Last night, Labour Cllr Abdul Mohammed, Chair of Walworth Community Council and councillor for Faraday Ward, petitioned the Planning Committee to reject the application for outline planning permission for part of the Aylesbury Estate regeneration.“It is incredible that a senior Labour councillor should be wanting to delay, or even halt, the regeneration of the Aylesbury estate,” said Cllr Richard Thomas. “This is a regeneration programme which has been in the pipeline for years and ...

Citizen Kelly

Ruth Kelly and Liam Byrne think we should have a national bank holiday. Britain's bank holiday's are curiously lifeless affairs. Most other countries have a national holiday - many also add additional days to recognise achievements of great men (and sometimes women) of the past. Britain merely notes that the Bank of England is closed for the day - and concludes that we should therefore all have a day off.Deborah Orr in The Independent goes some way in explaining the unease many liberals naturally feel about promoting Britishness:I'm just too British to stand around saying: "The British are special. The ...

South Liverpool Housing Meeting

Off last night to a board meeting at South Liverpool Housing, where I am currently one of the representatives of Liverpool City Council. I have to say that the organisation has made huge strides and services are genuinely a lot better now for tenants than they were some years ago. There are still problems, and I suspect there always will be, but I have noticed a change in the type of problem. A few years ago there were issues around really basic things not happening. Now the problems seem to be around individual circumstances, where there ...

One of my faves

enjoyatom.xml

Poor Mother Russia......

They've had to put up autocrats, communist dictators, oligarchs, fascists and now this guy. One can't help but feel sorry for the Russians. They've had to put up with so much and just when you think things might get better in the country they just get allot worse. When the Tsar was forced to abdicate and a government of Liberals and socialists were set up (the liberal movement was once rather strong in Russia but destroyed by communists much like it was destroyed in Spain by Fascists) the Bolsheviks came along and decided they wanted a bit of power for ...

Grey Building

Our meal last night was really fun, with chair movement between courses we all met and talked to people we've not had the opportunity to before. We ended the evening in a superb square, sharing a bottle of red wine and chatting to the early hours. Today at the Plenary session we look forward to the EU President welcoming 18 new Bulgarian MEPs who start at the EU today. The road-map towards the

Making laws

The First Minister is going to be coming to Plenary today with an initial list of the new Welsh laws his minority government want to pass. Unfortunately, they have not consulted the other three parties as to what is on that list. If they were still in a majority then I would not expect Labour to initiate such a consultation. After all it is not traditionally how majority Labour Administrations operate. However, this government is meant to be part of a 'left-of-centre consensus' and we were promised by the First Minister that he would be doing things differently from ...

Great blogs I've never written

I have to admit it: I’m an idle blogger. I wake up in the night with the text of a well-crafted posting half there in my mind. I have good intentions actually to sit and type it in the morning. But then there are e-mails to answer, there’s that report which has to be read before 9am or – heaven forfend – there’s actually some work to be done. And so, the posting is posted to the back of mind and becomes just one more which could have been a contender. I can still remember some ...

Invasion of the killer logos

There is nothing funny about this: A segment of animated footage promoting the 2012 Olympic Games has been removed from the organisers' website after fears it could trigger epileptic fits.Nothing funny at all. Dear me, no.

Gordon Brown: Spinning like a top

Iain Dale is on a roll tonight, with two great stories about our prime minister in waiting. First, a rather amusing one about a photo opportunity on the London Underground. Then something far more sinister about new anti-terrorism powers. Read them both.

Alfred Austin on John Prescott

Alfred Austin is universally regarded as the worst Poet Laureate ever. Nevertheless, I find his words oddly comforting at this time of crisis: Across the wires the electric message came: "He is no better, he is much the same."A nation holds its breath.

Lib Dems Consult on Higher Education

The party’s policy commission on Higher Education has prepared its consultation paper and is now seeking comments. Overall, the commission clearly seeks to keep an open mind, but I hope many grassroots members will make their voice heard. Personally, I’ll be writing in to back our current policy against tuition and top-up fees. I am sure [...]

Drink Ye Every One The Waters Of His Own Cistern, Until I Come And Take You Away

“Drink Ye Every One The Waters Of His Own Cistern, Until I Come And Take You Away”. As we have learned, this was the title of a song written by the out of print pamphleteer Dobson, one of several appalling stabs he made at the form. No one with any sense has ever listened to [...]

Day 2345: Happy Ninety Days Are Here Again

Sunday: This is the news that NOT-SO-Secret Stalin Mr Frown would like to have another go at abolishing the MAGNA CARTA. Coming hard on the heels of Lord Blairimort's desire for more "stop and question if you're looking at me funny" powers for the police, now Mr Frown has weighed in. You are not going to fool us by picking up sensible Liberal policies like admitting phone tap evidence when Civil Liberties campaigners warn that your plan amounts to INTERNMENT. Apparently Mr Frown intends to "guarantee" our Civil Liberties by GETTING RID OF THEM! ...

Making a Difference

The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) and the Local Government Association (LGA) Liberal Democrat Group are working together on the first Liberal Democrat Local Government Conference. The Conference, to be held at the ICC in Birmingham on 23rd June 2007 will bring together Councillors, Parliamentarians and campaigners to discuss policy, exchange best practice and feature a packed programme of training.

Wednesday 6th June 2007

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