LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 6th July 2007

Constitution approved

According to the BBC the Constitution Drafting Assembly has approved the final draft of Thailand's new constitution to go forward to a national referendum on 19th August. There will be huge campaigns on both sides to convince the electorate to vote yes or no. Former members of Thai Rak Thai see this as a backward step and as an anti Thaksin constitution. The new 309 article charter limits the prime minister's term to eight years and makes it easier to launch impeachment proceedings. It will also prevent the Prime Minister from holding major stakes in media companies ...

"An incredibly foolish false economy"

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Flooding fibs On Monday the new secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs made a statement on the floods. Hilary Benn thanked everyone he could think of – "the staff of the fire, ambulance, police and other rescue services, our armed forces, local authorities, the Environment Agency, the voluntary sector and local communities" – and said over 20,000 properties could be affected and flood-related insurance claims could run to £1bn. What he failed to do was admit the government’s role in the floods. Last summer, Defra ...

Fopp Shock

Whilst in my Fopp closes post, I stated that I wasn’t that shocked the the shops have closed, just checking my webstats now show that the post has had over 1000 in a week! That makes it the 5th most popular post of the year so far.

Ealing Labour: we don’t want you to know who our candidate is

After all the infighting in the Labour Party over their Ealing Southall candidate selection, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Ealing Labour Party’s official website - www.ealinglabour.com - isn’t saying anything about their candidate: As the screenshot above shows, there’s no story about his selection, whilst doing a search on his name rather nicely simply gives [...]

90 years old

My Mum reached 90 years of age today! She lives outside Cardiff and we took her out for lunch, with Stuart, Duncan and some of her friends, at a restaurant on the seafront in Penarth. She was properly congratulated throughout the day with phone calls, cards, presents and lots of flowers. I've put together an album of 'The Early Years' using old photos we'd found stashed...

Mentioned in despatches

A friend e-mails to point out that my name cropped up in Department of Work and Pensions' questions in the House of Commons on Monday. Obviously, Plaid Cymru MP, Hywel Williams stumbled across this article in the Western Mail and decided to make political capital out of it. The only thing is that the point he is trying to make is as clear as mud: Hywel Williams (Caernarfon) (PC): What would the Minister say to Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Peter Black, who said this morning in the Western Mail "benefits and disability payments discourage claimants from seeking work"? Does ...

A final point about the Battle of Trimdon

When we arrived at Trimdon, it seemed most houses had Labour poster stakes up in their front gardens. But as we were leaving, we spotted one of the Labour hooligans, who had tried to break up our campaign launch, removing the poster stakes. I wonder whether the residents of these properties, presumably at work at the time, were aware that they have been drafted in as temporary Labour supporters.

Labour's candidate in Sedgefield - a friend of George Bush

Look over Bush's shoulder. There he is. Labour's Sedgefield candidate Phil Wilson enjoying a visit to Trimdon Labour Club with his mates Tony and George.

Honestly. Ealing is going well for the Tories, after all, the Daily Mail, sorry Standard says so !

Iain Dale bases his assertions on the Tory campaign in Ealing Southall on the fact that the London version of the Daily Mail (also known as the Evening Standard), says so. Well, if the Mail says so it must be true, after all you could never call the Daily Mail the unofficial mouthpiece of the Tory Party.

Labour mob attacks Lib Dem launch in Sedgefield

Labour launched a mob attack on the Lib Dem Sedgefield campaign launch this afternoon. This is not uncommon in election campaigns as Labour appear to have a one party state mentality in which opposition is regarded as insurrection and insubordination and needs to be driven away. The scene I witnessed today however was far worse than I have seen in other campaigns.This was a disgusting and

Photos from the launch of the Sedgefield campaign

The launch of the Lib Dem campaign in Sedgefield was marred by a Labour mob who attacked the gathering in Trimdon Green (photos of that to follow). There are also rumours circulating about a video someone shot of the gathering that shows the Labour party behaving in an appalling way at the gathering. I wonder who shot that! And I wonder when that will first see light of day...... Anyway,

Talk to politics students and trees

Today was very special, I was invited to talk with our politics A level students about my recent trip to the EU and community lobbying. I was pleased that many of them could list at least 15 EU members and saddened to see that none knew the names of all 27. More children and young people need to learn about the EU as partner countries and communities! Anyway, they have a great politics teacher

Does anybody want to be Conservative mayoral candidate ? Digby Jones doesn't

The debacle that is the Tory selection of their mayoral candidate continues to roll on with another possible candidate, who wasn't interested in being a Conservative candidate being named and shamed. The Tories claim Digby Jones, a Peer with no political affiliation nearly became their candidate last year. Digby Jones' account appears to differ greatly from David Cameron's version of events, but what is clear is that the Tories were again having to try non Conservatives, such is the dearth of talent amongst interested Tories in the capital. Nearly a year ago the Tories said they would shortlist ...

Charles Kennedy should know better ?

MP's should lead by example. This story does not show him up in a good light. Anyone of any party who supports the smoking ban should uphold it. Whatever next ? They'll be saying next he likes a drink too !

In Praise of Four Score

Lunch today’s at Francis King’s, with his publisher, Gary Pulsifer, and three other friends. Francis’s latest novel — With My Little Eye (Arcadia £10.99) — is just out. If I’m still having books published when I am 84, I shan’t be complaining! My honorary grandmother (not a blood relative, but that’s the role she played [...]

Another let down by Charles Kennedy

I see that our erstwhile leader has let us down again. He has apparently been caught having a sneaky fag out of the window of a train. I am appalled that the government has seen fit to ban smoking in private (they call them "public" because there are people there) places, but it is perfectly legitimate that individual train operating companies should ban smoking on their trains. Indeed, most had done so a long time before 1 July. What is more, I expect parliamentarians to uphold the law - unless, perhaps, they are making a deliberate protest against unjust ...

Williams 'would take Brown advisory job' if she keeps her independence and can still criticise government

This came from the BBC just as I was posting on this subject an hour ago: Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams has said she is willing to be Gordon Brown's nuclear proliferation adviser "subject to conditions".She told the BBC she would accept the prime minister's offer, as long as she is allowed to retain her independence.She also said she wanted the "right to criticise government policy".

Not the perfect dinner party

An astonishing story from today's Independent. I guess that uis what happens when you have pushy guests who take over.

W**ds we cannot say

I e-mailed a friend to draw his attention to the Sun story discovered by Craig Murray, but the NTL server rejected it because of unacceptable content. Perhaps it meant "Lord Levy" and not "...the p**n star". When I worked at East Sussex County Council the geeks controlling the firewall banned the sequence of letters "s e x" which made it impossible to look up any of the county's official

Taking Liberties

I got home from the by-election in time to meet some friends from our local party at Warwick Arts Centre to see Taking Liberties. This film takes a humourous look at the serious subject of the erosion of our civil liberties and freedoms under Blair's Government. Two things struck me about this film. Firstly how many of our rights and freedoms have been taken from us, its all to easy to forget in the constant stream of media. These freedoms have been fought for since Magna Carta (did she die in vain) almost 800 years ago and are ...

Campaigning in Ealing Southall.

Nigel Bakhai the Lib-Dem Candidate for Ealing Southall. On Wednesday I headed down the M40 to lend a hand in the Ealing and Southall by-election. Every time a by-election is called recently I cant stop remembering 'the only gay in the village' Dafid's line in Little Britain. "Its not just a by-election, us gays and straights can stand as well you know!" Heartened by this and the news that the wheels had come off the Tory campaign so early in the contest, (having selected a candidate who had joined the party milliseconds before, thus alienating many of the local activists.) ...

A question of identity

Several of today's political stories bring to the fore a question that has been rumbling on at least since the Scottish and Welsh elections in early May: the question of partisanship in the new political arena. Can politicians afford to maintain their traditional hostility to members of other parties at a time when party leaders want to appear inclusive and PR electoral systems require coalition? Let's look at a couple of examples:Some Labour peers are by all accounts apoplectic about the appointment of Sir Digby Jones as Minister for Trade Promotion and Investment, and they are unlikely to become much happier ...

Shameless plug button

I see from today’s news that former CBI chief and new member of Gordon Brown’s Cabinet (but not the Labour party) Digby Jones is having a spat with the Tories about who said to what to whom about the possibility of him being the Tory mayoral candidate. Apropos of nothing, here’s an image that those of [...]

Byelection Results Thursday 5th July 2007

East Northamptonshire DC, Hihamferrers Lancaster Conservative Elected unopposed. Con hold. Last fought 2007. Gateshead MBC, Dunston and Teams Lab 793 (62.1; +7.7), LD Michael Ruddy 285 (22.3; +1.6), BNP 131 (10.3; -4.3), Con 69 (5.4; -5.0). Majority 508. Turnout 20.3%. Lab hold. Last fought 2007. North Tyneside MBC, St Marys Con 1992 (76.8; +3.2), Lab 363 (14.0; +2.3), LD David Banks 239 (9.2;

Clarification requested on government advisory posts for LibDem peers

For the last week I have been trying to get more information on the government advisory posts offered to LibDem peers. I did a lot of googling and left some requests for information on the LibDem voice and Liberalism 2010 Apollo members' forums. Still facing rather a lack of information on some specific points, I yesterday sent this email to Sir Menzies Campbell, Ed Davey (Head of Staff) and

Cameron's Full Team

Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform: Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform: Alan Duncan Frontbench team: Mark Prisk, Jonathan Djanogly, Charles Hendry. Cabinet Office: Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Francis Maude Frontbench team: Greg Clark Children, Schools and Families: Shadow Secretary of

"LibDem income tax 4p cut" - We'll have to trust Statler and Waldorf

The Guardian reports that "a LibDem commission" has rethought the party's package of tax proposals and, without changing the overall tax take, have proposed a basic rate income tax cut of 4 pence in the pound. The proposals will be presented to activists for approval at the autumn conference, along with Treasury spokesman Vince Cable's six-point plan to increase the amount of tax paid by the

Recycle your phone and support Burgess Park

Picture shows Groundwork Southwark Executive Director Steven Gauge, Mayor of Southwark Bob Skelly, Southwark Council Executive Member Caroline Pidgeon and fonehouse Manager Bernard Toyo outside the store on the Walworth Road Groundwork Southwark have teamed up with local store fonehouse on a new scheme to recycle old mobile phone handsets with the money raised going to support Burgess Park.Every year, many millions of us upgrade to a new mobile phone. It's great to get the new handset with all the latest features, but what do we do with the old one? Most of them either end up ignored in ...

PM Twittering

No, not the Prime Minister, I hope he’s too busy to keep fishing his mobile out and firing a few off to the Great British Public. No, it’s Radio 4’s PM. Now you can have the wonderful Eddie Mair in your pocket. Sign up by texting subscribe eddiemair to +44 7624 801 423 or popping to this [...]

Herring, Trellis

Mr Key is currently a-moanin’ and a-groanin’ and generally feeling sorry for himself, laid low by a seemingly endless series of colds. Perhaps it is the same one, punctuated by brief periods of what passes for being hale and hearty in these parts. Anyway, to the accompaniment of much snuffling, here are a couple of [...]

Smeaton Two Veg

In the week that we learned the new meaning of médecins sans frontières, and applauded John Smeaton’s warning to terrorists that he’ll "just set aboot ye", it's apt to have something from Glasgow. Belle and Sebastian are a nice bunch. I wouldn’t be that confident of their performance against flaming Jihadists, but then, that’s not what we pay them for. This is Funny Little Frog, from last year's album, The Life Pursuit.

Day 2376: Ex-ex-gay

Wednesday: Listening to the The Today Programme before seven, my Daddy Richard caught an article about another of those WACKY Christian groups that claim that they can cure you of being a gay daddy. They claim that being a gay daddy is not something that happens to you by nature, but a CHOICE. What I want to know is: and that makes it a bad thing, why? And more importantly, that makes it ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS, why? (Of course "business" might be the whole point – not that I am thinking about the Silver ...

A new phase in the life of historic Kintore Way school

The new Kintore Way Children's Centre in Bermondsey opened yesterday with cellist Julian Lloyd Webber doing the honours. Also there were Southwark's Mayor Bob Skelly, Leader of the Council Nick Stanton, Children's Services Executive Member Caroline Pidgeon and local MP Simon Hughes. This children's centre has been on the cards since 2005 and Southwark's Liberal Democrat run Council put more than £2.4 million into the scheme. It will provide new places for under 3s and massively improved facilities for 3 and 4 ye ar olds. As well as that, the centre will provide a base for extended community learning ...

Tonight's happy agenda

Tonight I have a couple of engagements - first I am going to the Prestwich Cricket, Tennis and Bowling Club to attend an open event to hear about their plans for development and the future. This is a great Prestwich club which rightly has the respect and support of local Councillors and the population in general. It will be very interesting to see and hear about their plans. I will rush home

PTA Transport Network committee this morning

This morning I attended the first meeting of the year for the Transport Network Committee of GMPTA. This is where we talk about issues connected to the transport network - the buses, trams and trains that operate across the area. I took the opportunity to raise a couple of crucial points that had been brought to my attention in recent days. First, I asked about delays to commuters struggling on

This World is not Enough

The Grace levee was rudely interrupted this morning by Mark Mardell on the Today programme. The jolly red-faced fellow was in Ljubljana, Slovenia expressing surprise that there were still federalists in Europe. He was at the International Summer University ("This World is not Enough") of Young European Federalists, over whom I presided back in the 14th century. We were, I fear, a very

Ed Davey meeting

Went to a meeting last night organised by Chris Davies MEP. He's sorted out a series with speakers to give members more chance to hear about and discuss policy. Last night we were in central Liverpool to hear from Ed Davey who is chair of the Lib Dems campaigns committee. It's always inspiring to hear from someone who won an "unlikely" Parliamentary victory and then turned that into a huge majority through sheer hard work. We all took away the message that we need to turn our hard work into a victory in Liverpool next time. ...

Abdullah Quilliam Lecture

Last night was the second lecture in a series organised by the Abdullah Quilliam Society and Hope University. They'd managed a bit of a coup by getting Professor Akbar Ahmed to talk about "Islam and the West - Dialogue or clash of civilisations". A very interesting and thought provoking talk - which did what a good lecture should do - leave you wanting to find out more. The Society is working to set up a heritage centre, and to have an opening next year. As Chair, Mohammed Akbar Ali says it will be " a fitting ...

Punch accuses Judy of floods

I had to laugh reading the title of the webcameron email today: Brown’s been PM for a week, and it hasn’t stopped raining. At least it isn’t those pesky gays again. This is in relation to one of “Dave’s” blog posts (which the newsletter instructs us to believe is amusing written (sic)), in which he [...]

On Liberty, Online: LabourHome's sheer delight at Southall selection

Feel the love, people.

Constitutional Reform - Brown didn't go far enough

Earlier this week Gordon Brown outlined to the House of Commons his thoughts on the constitution and its reform. Much of what he said was good and I looked forward to the reforms taking place, as with many of the reforms Labour has introduced since 1997 they simply do not go far enough.

Tories "campaign" in Ealing

The Tory campaign was spotted on Wednesday while out on the streets of Ealing and Southall. But it must go down as one of the most environmentally unfriendly ones: driving up and down the streets in cars with speakers on. What would "cycling" Davey Cameron say to that? The most bizarre thing is that they're doing it over 2 weeks before polling day. Have they nothing better to be doing? Meanwhile the LibDem campaign in Ealing Southall goes from strength to strength. Nigel Bakhai was out on the streets with Charles Kennedy MP meeting and talking to real people in ...

Graham's blog entry 6th July 2007

Blogger isn't working.

The post I put up yesterday about Hazel Blears isn't appearing so I'm posting this in the hope that it might do something.

BARA and BBC

Since my last blog post, on Wednesday evening, I met with over 30 residents of Abbotsford Place and Street and Corso Street, together with a member of the Waste Management staff to discuss the proposed 'mini' recycling centres for each of the three streets. The meeting, organised by Blackness Area Residents' Association (BARA), arose out of residents' concerns about the siting of these. It was clear the residents welcomed the opportunity to have these facilities, but did not want them at the locations proposed for a variety of reasons including too close to lounge windows and gardens. I'm ...

OPUS

I haven't done a restaurant review in a while, mainly because I have been going to the same places. Last night I went out for Kate's birthday with John and Caroline. We went to Opus in Birmingham (54 Cornwall Street), and had a really good evening.

Council work goes on

By-election campaigning is fun - but there is still much to learn about being a Councillor, and plenty of interesting work to do there. Yesterday, the Environment Scrutiny Committee organised a conference for councillors from all scrutiny committees about climate change. Starting at 10am it was planned to continue until 3.30pm. All councillors were invited: about 10 of us started the day, but

Bromley Times

After another long day at the Ealing Southall by-election I have come home to my email, to see that the sad death of Lennard Woods is the front cover of the Bromley Times - it is good to see that he has received this rightful attention by the paper. Also in the paper is a diary piece recycling the ridiculous accusation by Grant Shapps that the Lib Dems pay people to put up posters in

That is the land of lost content

Thank you Radio 4 for a big helping of Housman this afternoon. If you already know "A Shropshire Lad" go to Radio 4's listen again for the Thursday afternoon play. If you don't know it, rush there and listen for the first time. Meanwhile, the poem that always gives me goosebumps. Into my heart an air that kills From yon far country blows. What are those blue remember'd hills ? What spires,

What Will Survive

Writers and journalists were out in force in the Attlee Suite at Portcullis House, Westminster, last night, when Denis MacShane, MP (and former Minister for Europe), hosted a book launch for his partner, the Independent columnist Joan Smith. What Will Survive (Arcadia, £15.99) is a novel partly set in the Middle East, in which a bewitching leading character, a [...]

Day 2375: A Brisk Constitutional

Tuesday: Following Mr Frown's first appearance at Prime Monster's Please Kick Me Time, there has been much speculation: Is it less "Clunking Fist" and more "Flunking Missed"? is the question that has been asked. Certainly, he was no Lord Blairimort… though that, of course, might have been the POINT. I think that people feel GOOD about Mr Frown at the moment ENTIRELY BECAUSE he is conspicuously NOT Lord Blairimort. Does it do Mr Balloon any good to land a clever-clever blow (especially when that turns out to be "blow" in the sense of "ooh, ...

Government Departments, Secretaries of State and Ministers

In my posts Brown's new Cabinet and The revolving doors of power I spoken about how government departments have been changed, reorganised or reshaped. As Prime Minister Gordon Brown has renamed the Department for Trade and Industry and split the Department for Education and Skills into two departments the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Some people may remember how Tony Blair tried to abolition the Lord Chancellorship and rename the Department for Trade and Industry to the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry.

Friday 6th July 2007

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