LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Thursday 5th July 2007

The future's bright, the future's Lillywhite

Most of you will have been quite happy that there hasn't been much Spurs news on here since the end of the season. But now there have been three significant signings, thought I would do a quick one. Darren Bent - a lot of money, but a proven goal scorer (even at Charlton) and hopefully it'll pay off. Gareth Bale - a lot of money for a rather less proven player, but expecting Gareth to turn into a world class player. Younes Kaboul - French U21 captain, a player with lots of potential, so really looking ...

1947 floods in the Fens

The other day I wrote about the East Coast floods of 1953. A better parallel with our recent difficulties are the floods in the Fens that took place a few years before that. This website will tell you all about them. Incidentally, both these disasters formed the background to books by my favourite writer when I was a child. The 1947 Fens floods inspired The Luck of Sallowby and the 1953 floods Sea Witch Comes Home.

Live Earth Concert Wembley Stadium London - Surely the BBC can't cock up the coverage of this one

Last weekend I expressed a deep sense of annoyance at the ultimately very poor editing, presenting and organisation of the Diana Concert by the BBC. Most of the comments to my blog agreed that the coverage was a real let down, whilst some shared my almost allergic dislike of Fearne Cotton and her moronic ramblings (please BBC don't use her again). So this weekend the BBC has a chance to make up for the disaster that was the Diana concert, and show is that they are up to the job of presenting the Live Earth Show from London in ...

Hardly the time to cut back on flood defences in Norfolk

The Eastern Daily Press reports that government spending on flood defences in Norfolk is to be cut by £20 million. It is interesting that this is happening the week after some of the most serious flooding seen in this country for many years. Luckily on this occasion Norfolk escaped the worst of the rain, but Norfolk's flood protection has never really been a case of protecting the County from rain. Norfolk's problem is the sea. Norfolk is not as flat as people say, but inland from parts of north Norfolk, the county forms a series of large ...

Violent Pornography, a Conviction and a New Bill

Graham Coutts was yesterday convicted of the murder of Brighton schoolteacher Jane Longhurst for the second time, after his previous trial conviction was quashed. The details of the case are fairly grisly, but unfortunately have to be recounted to put into context what I'm about to write: he strangled Ms Longhurst with a pair of tights and stored her body for three weeks and visited it nine time

BBC - Busy Baking Cakes?

Thanks to Matt Davies who reminded me of a story I heard on Five Live earlier today. For those who missed it - the basic story is that a lady won second prize in a cake-baking competition despite being the only entrant. I suppose it’s a reasonable “and finally” item for the drive-time news and yes [...]

By the Pizzas of Babylon

Babylon Pizza 60 Springbank Road London SE13 6SN Have applied for late night refreshment Sunday – Thursday until 00:00 & Friday – Saturday until 01:00. As usual any objections need to be on the grounds of: Prevention of Crime and Disorder. Protection of Children from Harm Public Safety Prevention of Public Nuisance Any representations need to be with Lewisham Council by 2nd August 2007. The Council contact is Thracia Webster at Thracia.Webster@lewisham.gov.uk

The Ealing Southall Diaries - Day One

So here I am in West London, albeit a little annoyed at having to pay £5 for wireless internet access at the Travel Inn. Still, one must fund ones blogging habit! Despite arriving later than planned, I managed some delivery work with two young interns from Simon Hughes’ office. The feeling on the doorstep was mixed [...]

Nobody remembers who came second - except the person who came first

What a great story from BBC News. Made me wonder, with that sort of talent for beating the competition, if it was maybe the same person (a Tory) who got no votes in the local elections in Sedgefield this year. But I checked the names, sadly not the same lady.

Ealing Southall - one darned thing after another for Labour and the Conservatives

It seems to be one darned thing after another for both Labour and the Conservatives in Ealing Southall. The latest twist in Labour's travails there is that a local paper, Pardes Weekly, has accused the freshly selected Labour candidate of "dirty tricks".

EXCLUSIVE: Splitting and spinning

The ongoing farces within the Labour and Tory camps about their respective Ealing Southall candidate selections are quite eye-watering. First we hear allegations (still undenied, as far as I’ve been able to see) that Tony Lit only approached the Tories to be their candidate after the Lib Dems rejected him. Shortly after that, a disgruntled [...]

Come to sunny Sedgefield!

A few pics I took today at the Sedgefield HQ. A rare site at a by-election - helpers eating healthily as Dave McCobb tucks into a salad. David Hennigan brings a footbal along for light entertainment. Carol Woods, prospective candidate for neighbouring Durham City, gets to work on something clerical. Thankfully most of those leaflets have now gone through local letterboxes! Candidate Greg

Ming to pay third visit to Ealing Southall tomorrow

A few minutes ago, I was delighted to receive a text message from Chris Rennard with the latest news from Ealing Southall. Ming will be paying his third visit there tomorrow. Chris asked me to go again to the constituency to help elect Nigel Bakhai. Fortunately, I had already firmed up plans to spend the whole of Sunday there with at least two colleagues from Newbury. PS. Yes, I know lots of

Overwhelmed

Today I have mostly been sending emails to people who have offered to help at the Ealing and/or Sedgefield by-elections. It has been a very positive experience, everyone from seasoned by-election helpers to new recruits are keen to help, and I know that the teams running both by-election HQs are delighted with the level of help they are getting. So a big thank you from me to everyone who has been in touch. If you can go to either by-election in person directions are available on the campaign websites for Ealing and Sedgefield. You can just ...

Norfolk No Smoking Sign

It is nice to see Norfolk County Council having a bit of fun with the no Smoking ban signs. I am not sure though that some bureaucrat wouldn't still try and fine someone who used this sign for not using the correct signs.

This child died because she was wrongly taken into care

The link is to a story about a child that was taken into care. She didn't want to be in care and ran away on a number of occasions.

£100m to bring the tube to Peckham Rye

On Monday, I joined representatives of neighbouring boroughs to launch a major campaign to secure phase two of the East London Line extension. Some prominent GLA members also attended, though, regretably not the Southwark and Lambeth representative. The campaign calls for a commitment by government to funding Phase Two when they announce spending on transport projects in the [...]

Restoring Liberties in 2007

Yesterday I wrote an extensive précis of Craig F Smith’s paper Taking Liberties, in which he explained how popular democracy has come to undermine freedom. This is a well-worn theme, notably with John Stuart Mill. Today, I intend to outline a number of proposals Smith makes in this sequel paper, Restoring Liberties. It should be noted that Smith proposes these as points for discussion rather than suggesting that any or all should or would be adopted. This is understandable. Untrammelled democracy is a seductive system, as Mill himself noted when he argued that “The disposition of ...

Charing Cross - dodgy smoking policy

Broadly I welcome the smoking ban, although I personally feel that allowing smoking clubs to buy expensive licences for well-ventilated smoking-only venues would have been a reasonable compromise. Much along the lines of the smoking cafes in Amsterdam. I think though the Community Support Officers currently working around Charing Cross might be taking the ban a little too far. While sheltering under the covered arches (which are outside) from the rain tipping down this afternoon I noted the Officers target and identify any smokers huddled miserably by pillars and physically eject them into the rain. Some of them clearly ...

A word of warning on Lloyds TSB internet banking - DON'T !

I mentioned yesterday about the problem I was having regarding Lloyds TSB bank and their inept policy of not answering phones in their Fraud Departments. Well for me it gets worse. It appears that the Fraud departments take over 45 minutes to answer phone calls and they lie when they speak to you. For example, yesterday I waited 45 minutes to speak to someone at Lloyds TSB about the missing money from my account. They said they would cancel my bank card for the moment, as I requested, for fear that my fraud could also be card fraud. ...

E-voting: Not a blind bit of difference

E-voting makes no difference, according to the BBC. This is what I've suspected. Most people do not abstain in elections because it takes five minutes to walk around the corner. There is a noticeable group of people for whom the trip to the polling station is a problem for reasons of age or infirmity; and for this group, postal votes work. For young people, the logic is very different. The difficult part of voting for them is not taking a short trip, it's being able to make a decision. Politics is about identity; by voting you are saying ...

A correction and an apology

I had a good chat to Tim Scott this morning. Tim is a very good pal of mine and I fear I've upset him. I first met Tim over three years ago when he'd arrived in town as the Administrator of the Stone Market Town Initiative scheme. We got on like a house on fire. Although he lives on the other side of Uttoxeter, he lives, eats and breathes Stone. He's totally committed to the town and has been,

Could Boris turn Livingstone out?

So, one day after Gordon Brown launched his great constitutional consultation (add inverted commas where you wish), the plural character of modern British politics is demonstrated by a couple of news stories about English government away from Westminster. Top of the bill, of course, is Boris Johnson and his on-off campaign to challenge Ken Livingstone for the London mayoralty next May. For the broadsheets, this is primarily an example of Tory disarray:With theatrical aplomb, the floppy-haired Tory higher education spokesman walked into the farce that is the party's selection process yesterdaywrites Will Woodward in the Guardian ('Indecisive Johnson adds to Tory ...

Ealing Southall: local paper accuses Labour candidate of dirty tricks

This from the latest edition of Pardes Weekly, one of the local papers in Ealing, talking about the Labour candidate Virendra Sharma’s activities just before he was selected: With both Labour and Conservative infighting over their candidate selections, the prospects for Nigel Bakhai are looking better and better.

Farewell the one and only George.

So farewell then George Melly, one of those people who must have been quite exciting to know. I never met him despite my son (on his mothers side) being first cousin once removed to his brother’s wife and so second cousin to his brother’s children. One possible reason for this is that the connection is through a family of outstandingly conventional solicitors and estate agents in Torquay. I did meet the solicitors and so on... but how we waste our life’s opportunities… dreaming our dreams away. Tributes in The Guardian to George ...

The new school - fact and fiction.

There’s been a lot in the local press recently about our plans to build a new secondary school, not all of it correct, so I wanted to let you know what we’re really thinking. Camden does not have enough secondary school places at present. There are two areas of the borough that are particularly short – the south and the north-west. When we were elected we wanted to build two new secondary schools, but we now understand that this is unrealistic for financial, timeline and procedural reasons. To be honest, even building one school by 2010 will be a ...

Illegal traffic in the High Street

Jill Hood attended a meeting at the Crown Hotel last night and sat in a seat near the window overlooking the High Street. She tells me that during the two hour meeting she counted 29 cars travelling down the street - some of them at very fast speeds. I would guess that they were all using the street illegally. The High Street is a pedestrian zone 24 hours a day. It is completely closed to

Sandy Campbell: My great great grandmother's brother

I originally posted this extract from Robert Smith's book A Queen's Country (published in 2000) on my anthology blog Serendib. As few people read it, I thought I would give Sandy Campbell more publicity here. It is not everyone who has a relative who told Queen Victoria where to get off: Sandy Campbell sported a magnificent beard. Queen Victoria didn't like it and asked him to remove it. She said she liked all her stalkers and ghillies to be clean-shaven. But Sandy refused to part with his beard, saying he had never shaved all his life and didn't intend ...

Boris Johnson in a nutshell

As Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote in the Observer in November 2004: The hard-hearted might say Boris's real sin wasn't bonking Petronella so much as publishing her.

More power for communities is good news if done properly

This morning's news that the government's new Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, has announced plans for more powers for communities, is good news. The government have said that ten pilot areas will trial the idea of giving budgetary powers to local people - essentially giving communities a voice over how many millions of pounds of local money is spent. I applaud these ideas, but I think we

A Degree of Doubt?

I see that Ian Pearson , MP for Dudley has just been appointed as Science Minister. Well, good luck to him. But I notice that his qualifications are a BA Hons. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford University, an MA in Industrial Relations , and a Ph.D in Industrial and Business Studies, And I can't help feeling surprised that the country hasn't got a science minister with a science

Salmon Youth Centre coming on strong

Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, Southwark's Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Children's Services and Education today visited the Salmon Youth Centre to see progress with their building works. The Salmon Youth Centre will be hub in the north of the Borough and will be one of the largest youth centres in the country. The sports hall is already up and running and it is hoped that the final works will be completed over the summer for an August/September opening.

Sir Humphrey in trouble?

A senior civil servant who was allegedly involved in the decision by the Serious Fraud Office to drop its BAE/Saudi arms deal inquiry was close to the deal itself in the 1980s, today’s Daily Telegraph reports. We now have a new Prime Minister, but the BAE arms affair - raised with Gordon Brown by Liberal Democrat [...]

Councillor Pete Ashby

Sadly I have to report that Councillor Pete Ashby passed away earlier this week. Pete was Councillor for Abbey Ward in Nuneaton, he will be sadly missed.

Sum Ego!

Oh the world of the meme. I have very kindly been tagged by Rachel North, and being keen to dispel my grumpy image, I will take part in the game. You just say eight things about yourself, which might be of interest. 1. I do not eat potatoes. 2. The first girl I went out with (sort of, we were 12) broke up with a guy who, it was claimed, was the son of Iron Maiden’s drummer, in order to do so. 3. I once worked on a mushroom farm. Briefly. 4. I tried on two occasions to sit ...

Where Southwark leads - the Government catches up (eventually)

Liberal Democrat Cllr Columba Blango, Southwark’s Executive Member for Communities, has welcomed the Hazel Blears' announcement that local people will get more say in council decision making. “I welcome the conversion of the Labour Government to the concept of local decision-making. It is better late than never,” said Cllr Columba Blango. "In Southwark, we have pioneered the use of community councils with powers to make decisions and spend money. We have consulted with local people on giving yet more power to them and will be devolving extra powers shortly.”“I have invited Ms Blears to come to Southwark and see ...

Ealing Southall: Labour select Virendra Sharma

After all Labour’s Ealing Southall selection problems, it’s Virendra Sharma.

Sayeeda Warsi: at last, some Conservatives speak up

The strange case of the silence of Conservatives over the anti-gay views of their new Communities Spokesperson, Sayeeda Warsi, may be drawing to a close. There is at last a small whiff of criticism, reported at the end of a different story in The Times today, but even so there is a rather eerie silence out [...]

The Carpet Warehouse of Doom

After little too much vino yesterday afternoon, I get lost in back-alleys of Little Ealing and find myself stumbling into the yard of an old carpet warehouse. Delivery doors are open and the carpets look very comfy, so I clamber between rolls of Axminster and Wilton and am soon sleeping it off. When I wake it must be some hours later as only light come from flicking bulbs in loading bay. I think about getting up and finding my paisan when a stream of headlights pull into bay and many men get out of some long black saloons. I ...

I agree with Hazel Blears??!!

For possibly the fist time ever I agree entirely with Hazel Blears (*shakes with terror*): According to the BBC today Hazel Blears, talking about the new local referendum powers, has said: "In these areas people will be given a direct say on their big mainstream budgets. This is not about small grant-making, such as a community chest of £5,000 to organise a tea party. This is about involving the public in some of the big choices." "My overriding belief is that people are capable of making quite complex difficult decisions, setting priorities, doing trade-offs if they ...

Australia admits that oil was a factor in Iraq after all !

The Australian Government has admitted what many have suspected about western involvement in Iraq for some time. It was about oil. The Australians have said that securing long term access to oil was one of the main goals of their involvement in Iraq. I doubt we'll see such honesty from our government.

Oh no, not more Tory hypocrisy ?

Is it hypocritical to call for an organisation to be banned when you yourself have written to them and thanked them ? Work it out for yourself by clicking HERE.

Ming at PMQs, Iain Dale misses the mark

Rather unsurprisingly, given his love of trashing the LibDems, Iain Dale missed the mark when it came to the reaction to Brown’s first PMQs (although he has the decency to concede that the media reaction differs from his) I agree that PMQs has not been Ming’s strong point, but having heard the exchange I do think [...]

A Threat to National Security?

Thoughtful extract from Simon Jenkins piece in yesterday's Guardian, on the true nature of the last week's spate of attempted bombings: "British national security is not remotely threatened by these bombs. They do not, as Blair loved to claim, "undermine the British way of life and threaten western civilisation". They kill people and damage property. When last November Mr Justice Butterfield

The 101 bus service

Since being elected I've started to receive quite a lot of mail from various groups and organisations - some of it pure junk mail and some of it quite interesting. Yesterday I received a newsletter from First, the bus operator, which fell into the second category. Entitled 'firstNEWS', the newsletter contained the usual news about improved services and awards for drivers but hidden away on the

44 Scotland Street

Last weekend I read Alexander McCall Smith’s quite fun novel 44 Scotland Street which was originally printed in one hundred parts in The Scotsman. By coincidence, a friend mentioned to me the other night, that the author (as well as being an expert in medical ethics) is a card-carrying Scottish Liberal Democrat. The book is littered with affectionate references to Edinburgh’s political scene, and a key event in the novel is the Edinburgh South Conservative Ball, at which there are only six guests. The are, however, an enormous number of tombola prizes, including some expensive cutlery. The Ball’s organiser notes ...

Embarrassment for Cameron - he thanked the Islamic group he wants banned

Sky News reports an embarrassment for David Cameron: A radical Islamic group that Tory leader David Cameron wants banned was thanked last year in a private letter - from David Cameron. The revelation by Sky News will be seen as an embarrassment after the Conservative leader's question about Hizb ut Tahir in the House Of Commons was seen as drawing blood from Gordon Brown in his first Prime

The taxman as judge and jury

The latest suggested expansion of state power is the desire of the Inland Revenue and Customs to be able to take money directly from your bank account if they decide you havn’t paid enough tax. This was discussed on the Today Program, without any discussion of the effects on the rule of law or civil liberties [...]

Oscar Wilde of the front bench?

Political commentators can be very fickle and there is no better illustration of that trend than the coverage of yesterday's Prime Minister's Question Time. For over a year these selfsame journalists have been talking Sir Menzies Campbell down, and then he tells one indifferent joke in the House of Commons and suddenly he is Oscar Wilde, the new Disraeli and David Lloyd George all rolled into one. Long may it continue.

Not so reluctant rebels

This morning's Western Mail picks up on the rebellion by the remaining members of Labour's Gang of Four, joining Lynn Neagle in objecting to their party's link-up with Plaid Cymru. Meanwhile, the BBC are reporting that former Welsh Secretary, Paul Murphy, has joined in, telling Dragon's Eye tonight that he speaks on behalf of the majority of Welsh Labour MPs in being opposed to the coalition. Paul Murphy is a heavyweight politician but he knows and has admitted that he is in a minority within his party as a whole and will lose the vote tomorrow. This ...

"Stuttering Prime Minister stumbles into Ming's trap" - Guardian

Simon Hoggart is on fine form in the Guardian today on yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions: Then, for the first time, Ming Campbell won the session. The Liberal Democrat leader has been the subject of much grumbling from his party - disloyalty has always been the Lib Dems' secret weapon - and he needed a good performance. He gave it.He too wanted to know if there was going to be any real

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

BBC Breakfast this morning featured some clips from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is out soon. The main attraction of this film, for me, is Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. At a very early age, my daughter took an interest in my newspaper. This was nothing to do with its fine news coverage and comment. It was because it reminded her of one of Harry Potter's spells:

Lennard Woods' funeral

Lennard Woods funeral will be at 2:30pm on 16th July 2007 at Hither Green Crematorium, Verdant Lane, London, SE6 1JX. Flowers in yellow or white only please or donations to Amnesty International.

Stop raining on my leaflets

I'm beginning to believe, after the fifth day of near constant rain in Southall that Gordon Brown has strange powers... or at least produces his own dark clouds at will.... It doesn't though deter team Liberal Democracy... Chris Huhne MP Steve Goddard, PPC Oxford East

The noble savage inhabits Vanuatu

At the risk of arousing the ire of colleagues with first hand knowledge of the island paradise of Vanuatu (which to my mind was memorable as the team with which it was hardest to win FIFA 98 on the Nintendo 64), I have just seen the most stupid article on the BBC News. As my regular reader will know, the Beeb have set a pretty high standard, but this article leapt over its rivals with the grace of a gazelle. The general premise of the article was a romantic paean for the simple life of the ...

Brown's new Cabinet

After taking over as prime minister from Tony Blair, Gordon Brown has chose his new Cabinet last week unfortunately as I was busy with other work I didn't get a chance to comment on it so this is a little later then most peoples comments.

Conservatives don't "Singh" when they're losing - By-election hypocrisy in Ealing Southall

Does anyone remember the Tories in the Leicester South by-election claiming that the Lib Dems were racist for not using Lib Dem candidate Parmjit Singh Gill's full name in some leaflets ? The Tories kicked up such a fuss when the more Anglicised "Parmjit Gill" was used by the Lib Dems. Perhaps then the Tories would now like to explain why it is okay then for the Tory candidate in Ealing Southall to be called "Tony Lit" on their leaflets when even they admit that he is registered as a voter under the name of Surinderpal Singh Lit. One has ...

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Thursday 5th July 2007

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