Big Red Book of New Labour Sleaze
My contributor's copy has arrived. As you might expect, it is an expanded version of the Little Red Book. Saturday 7th July 2007
11:59 pm
My contributor's copy has arrived. As you might expect, it is an expanded version of the Little Red Book. 11:47 pm
No I In Threesome
Another Live concert, another load of self-indulgent bollocks. Embarassingly crap line-ups, nauseating self-righteousness and utter, utter hypocrisy from the pop/rock glitterati. Madonna singing "Hey you/Don't you give up/it's not so bad/There's still a chance for us" as if she's some kind of redeeming deity come to relieve us of our sins and guide us with her shining moral light, is really not a way to spend a Saturday evening. Furthermore, if the best we can summon to mobilise the human race is her supreme wonderfulness, Graham Norton with his incessant tittering as if he's just eaten all the hash ... 11:36 pm
Fame, adulation, recognition and riches beyond my wildest dreams !
Well, not quite what the title of the post promised, but some recognition at least. In the last week this my local regional newspaper (The Eastern Daily Press) has made reference to this blog twice whilst the New Statesman has also started reading this blog and making reference to it as well. Now why won't the BBC let me review the newspapers on BBC News 24 ? 11:25 pm
Still Don't Panic
Varying political websites are reporting tomorrows Sunday Mirror ICM Poll of Lab 37 -2 Con 35 N/C and Lib Dem 17 -1. I remain of the view I expressed earlier in the week that the anonymous briefing against Ming and the Blog mutterings are misplaced. Given the political upheavals of the last two weeks these poll ratings look quite respectable in my view. They are of course much better at this stage of the by election campaigns than they were in Dumfermaline! I personally won't take to much notice of the trends in Polls until after the churn of ... 10:57 pm
For everyone on Lib-dem-Blogs & To the people who write Neo-conservative-lincs
i can fully understyand that peopel have different opinopns to me. it is a fact i truley welcome. but the hatered u use dicribe anything that is in opposition to your oppinon is those disguting, those hate-fulled that it makes me wonder, what is the point of even discssing politics with u, if u are going to reject my opinion becasue im different? a few moments ago i posted a responce to thier posint, and im going to publish their article here on my blog, so that all those who read libdemblogs, and any other people who read this, ... 
10:51 pm
Surprisingly little written about Brown's Tax dodge
Whilst Gordon brown has broken no laws, his transferring if a £700,000 flat in to his wife's name a few weeks ago, which could result in him saving thousands of pounds in tax each year, has received very little attention in the wider media or on people's blogs. I guess it's news if he acts hypocritically, but when he is full consistent in his actions, it isn't news. As chancellor I always felt he didn't do enough to close tax loopholes and his policies widened poverty, so I am not at all surprised by his actions now. 10:10 pm
Neuro-surgery and nurses
We now know that there will be a Labour-Plaid coalition*. However, even if this agreement had not been reached, there are already two good reasons for the electorate not to have given Labour an overall majority. The Assembly government agreed to pay the nurses pay award in full, without staging, as has been done in Scotland. Edwina Hart said that this was a principled decision, and drew attention to her trade union roots. Yet, as pronouncements by Rhodri Morgan showed, there is little doubt that Wales would have followed the English example if Labour had been able to ... 10:00 pm
London Calling...the Shots
I find something slightly Ruritanian about the fact that the Church ( the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentemu ) and the Monarchy ( The Prince of Wales ) have led the civic response to the Yorkshire flooding. Put at its bluntest if similar numbers of Londoners, Westminster or Chelsea for example, had been made homeless and lost everything would it have taken the Prime Minister of the day over a week to get his fat backside up there to visit. Or would the national media have taken quite so long to cotton on to the scale of the damage? ... 8:32 pm
The Battle of Trimdon Green (or how Labour really behaves)
This is the video I shot yesterday of Labour using a mob to try to break up the press launch of the Lib Dem campaign in Sedgefield. You need no more explanation. 8:27 pm
Smoking ban latest
"I see we have Mr Kennedy on board today." 8:27 pm
Parting of the Ways
I have decided to leave the Hyde Park area. I've lived at more addresses than I care to remember around Woodhouse Moor ( known colloquially as Hyde Park ) since I moved to Leeds and the area 13 years ago. Its the "Bed Sit Land" of song title fame also known as "Studentland" and simply as " Leeds 6" . Academic research christened it Britain's first " Post Modern Suburb". In my time here it has had riots and reported to be home to " Britain's most burgled street. " It was also home to the 7/7 " Bomb Factory ... 8:11 pm
Lord Bonkers on the end of Blair and much else
Liberator 319 is now with subscribers - at least mine arrived this morning - so it is time to post the latest diary from Rutland's most celebrated peer. Incidentally, issue 319 is a cracker, so why not visit the magazine's website and subscribe? Sunday It began with the bells of St Asquith’s pealing across the Rutland countryside; soon spontaneous Morris dancing had broken out on the village green and before long there were unconfirmed reports of oxen being roasted whole from as far afield as Marston Trussell and Cropwell Bishop. I immediately took charge of events, declaring ... 7:04 pm
Day 2377: Mr Jonny on Questionable Time…
Thursday: …didn’t happen. So here’s one he prepared earlier! It was a HUGE SHAME he did not make the show. In the first place, we are big, big fans and were looking forward to seeing him and in the second place they could have done with a LIBERAL on the panel. It is always pretty infuriating when the grown up Questionable Time producers FORGET that there is a third major party in British politics or (EVEN WORSE) think that we are INTERCHANGEABLE with the Eco-Stalinist Named-After-A-Colour Party. When it is the officially designated “young people” producers ... 6:49 pm
Live Earth
I'm not going to be the first one to say this, and probably not the last, but: Live Earth: Raising awareness of climate change by burning fuck loads of carbonIf nothing else, you have to admire the logic. 6:13 pm
Wetherspoons in Headingley?
Credible intelligence reaches me that Wetherspoons is in the bidding for the Elenor Lupton Centre on Headingley Lane, part of the Leeds Girls High School site. This is a huge building and would be the biggest pub in Headingley by quite a margin. While I'm not entirely immune to the charms of wetherspoons - cheap beer, real ale and cider, food and family centric and with no live music or sport - I think 99% of long term residents of the area will be apoplectic. Another huge pub on the "Otley Run" can only add to enormous problems ... 5:43 pm
Bellwin
Councilrs in the north expecting a bonanza from Bellwin will not be surprised to find out that there is a substantial equivalent to an "insurance excess" before they get any dosh. Typical government spin. Sheffield's Threshold is: £1,393,290 In other words they have to pay the first £1.4 Million. Furthermore it only covers some costs. The "small print" of Bellwin is the following: EXAMPLES 5:26 pm
Lewis Hamilton in pole position!
My joy runneth over! Come on the boy! 5:06 pm
Williams' letter provides requested clarification and explanation of Peers' advisory roles for the government
On Thursday I wrote to the LibDem party leadership asking for clarification and explanation of the LibDem peers' advisory roles with the Labour government. Thank you to Linda Jack for pointing out that, the very next day, the Liberal Democrat News published a letter from Shirley Williams providing precisely the sort of clarification and explanation I thought was needed. I feel that Shirley's 4:45 pm
Shirley Williams' letter to Liberal Democrat News readers
The Liberal Democrat News is well worth subscribing to - a snip at 62 pence an issue. Here is a sample of why it is a great read - here is a letter from Shirley Williams to Liberal Democrat News readers in this week's issue: Dear Fellow Liberal Democrat, You and I have worked together for the Liberal Democrats over the past 25 years. So you, more than anyone, deserve an explanation of what is 4:28 pm
HoodieTV: Me v David Dimbleby
This week's HoodieTV comes courtesy of the BBC. If you want to watch me lock horns with David Dimbleby and the other four Schools Question Time finalists, just follow this link. 
4:26 pm
David Cameron and the Labour hoodie
And in news from the other parties in Sedgefield … there’s this clip on YouTube of a confrontation between Labour activists, David Cameron and a hoodie. Handy hint for Labour person on the right - holding the poster the right way up helps. 4:14 pm
Why I can't get excited about the Tour de France
A colleague of mine has done to London today to watch the Tour de France meanwhile I am utterly bemused as to why anyone is interested in it at all. In recent years the Tour de France has been consumed by regular stories of organised drug taking, organised by team bosses and it seems that the sport is reliant upon who ever has taken the newest or best drug. All this on top of the fact that it is just someone riding a bike and past you makes me lack any sense of awe or excitement about it. I can ... 3:53 pm
Could we, should we protect local shops?
Two new newspaper / magazine columns out this week - one about local shops and whether we should help safeguard them and the other about the handover from Blair to Brown. 2:48 pm
Brown's first PMQs
As the dust settles on the new Prime Minister's first PMQs, the reaction has been surprisingly critical. The assumption seems to be that after 10 years of waiting to be PM, the transition to actually doing the job would be straightforward. But, although I'm no great fan of Gordon Brown, I think the critics are missing the point. As Chancellor he had to answer questions once a month. And at Treasury questions there are three other ministers to share the load. And you know what the topic is going to be ... 2:36 pm
Autistic mum’s baby taken into care
THE grandfather of a baby taken into care immediately after he was born is accusing social services of discriminating against his daughter because she has a form of autism. The baby’s 21-year-old mother has Asperger’s Syndrome, a condition associated with problems concerning social and communication skills. see link for more details. 2:35 pm
I was stopped three times yesterday, and once toda...
I was stopped three times yesterday, and once today, by people with casework problems. I told them, obviously, that I was no longer a councillor. All but one actually knew that, but quite simply didn't want to go to one of the Labour councillors with the problem. Hmmmmm. I said I would help as best I could and have put some information in the post today for one lady. 2:19 pm
A journey through libertarian anarchism
One of the great benefits of working at Oxford Brookes University is that, perhaps unlike more snooty institutions, we IT Guys do get to mingle with the egg-heads and boffins at lunchtimes and so on because we can only afford one staff dining room! And summer vacations are usually better for such opportunities as the academics seem to be less rushed between lectures and so on. So Friday was such an interesting occasion, and we were lunching with a particular friend from International Relations. {Murray Rothbard} She can never understand, when I get talking about my ... 12:27 pm
CNPS on Five Live
Last night for about 3 minutes Heather and I were on Five Live, where she said that marrying me might not have been the best choice! You can listen again here any time this week, and you’ll need to skip to around 2h56m. 12:17 pm
Conservatories in Ealing
Millennium Dome in The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant, refers to the Conservatives as the "Conservatories". So when I saw a link on LibDem blogs aggregated for "Conservatories in Ealing" I went to click on it assuming that I would read Fluffy Elephant's latest comments on the antics of the Tories at the by-election. However, it turned out to be a link to information about.... 11:47 am
Looking for the exit
The highlight of Liberator is inevitably Lord Bonker's diary and Jonathan Calder has surpassed himself once more: I see that Alan Johnson has been defeated in Labour's Deputy Leadership contest by Harriet Harman, who is some sort of niece of Lord Longford. I can only regard this as something of a shame as Johnson has always struck me as the best sort of postman - the sort of fellow who whistles in the street, always closes your gate and has the sense to leave parcels behind the buddleia if you happen to be out. Harman is best known for ... 11:34 am
"That was a complete cock-up" BBC Director General on Blair PMQs cut-off
The BBC's Director-General Mark Thomson has called the cutting-short of Tony Blair's last Commons speech "a complete cock-up". It's good to hear such bold language and to see an official holding their hand up so honestly. BBC TV's Daily Politics broadcast Tony Blair's last Prime Minister's Questions. But they cut it off 45 seconds before it ended. They therefore missed the speech's climax and 11:31 am
Hanging on the telephone
I have an article in the latest Liberator magazine attempting to explain the chain of events that led up to the Welsh Liberal Democrat special conference on coalition. It was written in the middle of June so it is not up-to-date. Since writing it I have had two inaccuracies pointed out to me as follows: Firstly, the disagreement between the Group leadership and the Executive was to do with a much earlier stage of the process, that is the point at which the Party decided to negotiate with another party or parties. On this some AMs wanted the ... 10:48 am
Campaigning in Ealing Southall
Took a carload from Winchester up to the Southall by-election yesterday. As usual at by-elections we were all impressed by the organisation and high level of activity. We delivered leaflets at the Ealing end of the constituency and were stopped by passersby telling us they were planning to vote Lib Dem and, in one case, by an Irish builder who "wasn't ever going to vote ******* Labour again and 10:43 am
Will we survive??
It is hard top take in the latest twists and turns in the saga of Leeds United. Revenue and Customs waited until the final hour before launching a challenge to Bates plan to take the club out of administration. This despite a last ditch effort by Bates to prevent a challenge by upping his offer from 1p in the pound to 8p in the pound. The High Court case has apparently been adjourned until September and Leeds are supposed to kick off the season on 11th August and KPMG (the administrators) have said that unless the ... 10:38 am
Rebellion at Sunrise Radio (Ealing Southall)
There appears to be some splitters in the ranks of Sunrise Radio. Apparently not all the staff got the memo that their former (temporarily one hopes) MD Tony Lit is standing for the Conservative Party. It looks like one of their presenters, Yaqub Masih will be standing for the Christian Party of (wait has anybody told Ann Widdecombe that the Conservatives aren't the christian party anymore?). 10:11 am
Government must use Britain's veto to stop EU VAT increases
The Telegraph reports on the EU's wish to end Britain's exemption from EU VAT rules that allows us to have a zero rate for children's clothes, books and newspapers. Of course, you have to take anything the Telegraph says about Europe and the EU with a pinch of salt, but if it is true, then Gordon Brown must flex his muscles and use Britain's veto to put a halt to any plan to remove our exemption. The EU has a rule that the lowest rate that can be charged is 5%, and this is only for essential items. ... 9:50 am
Out of hours doctors services in Norfolk are "degrading"
The East Anglian Ambulance Trust won a contract a few months ago to provide out of hours doctors services throughout Norfolk. However, the Eastern Daily press has revealed that for 5 of the 7 centres, out of hours does not mean 24 hour care. A number of the centres will not have doctors available throughout the night and the services has been labelled as "degrading", with some health professionals saying that people in Norfolk get a worse service from doctors than pets do from vets. The out of hours service should have been a flagship project extending health ... 8:45 am
"CIG DEM" Front page Sun splash as Charlies defies smoking ban
There is heavy newspaper coverage this morning for a story first flagged up by the BBC, Liberal Polemic the Norfolk Blogger yesterday. The coverage is as heavy as you can get really - you don't more high profile than the front page of the Sun - main story - with a three inch high headline in big bold capitals saying "CIG DEM". "Cops swoop as Charles puffs at fags on train".."MP FLOUTS SMOKING 8:16 am
The Ealing Southall Diaries - Day Two
The Conservatives stepped up a gear yesterday. They appear to be targeting the Heat-magazine readership with a celebrity campaign full of glossy magazines (including a crossword!), slick/slippery photography and a louderspeaker-covered ToryMobile. HOWEVER! During lunch at the Hanwell Harvester, we overheard a phone conversation from what appeared to be a senior Tory activist talking down [...] 7:40 am
Poster campaign dirty tricks allegations - evidence at last
So this is how Labour gets posters up. Meanwhile, Greg Stone has launched his Sedgefield by-election campaign, where yet another photo of Blair and Bush is getting regular use. Look out for the man in the background. 3:43 am
Higher Education Market
University fees. Oh dear, what a sensitive subject. I've just watched Question Time's "Next Generation" edition and the biggest applause came for a question on scrapping tuition fees, and today I had my last Academic Board here in which we were treated to a presentation on the National Student Satisfaction Survey initial results. {The market future of Higher Education?} I'm reminded that Stephen Tall takes an apparently very un-Lib Dem position on tuition fees and that we are currently thinking about the party's future policy on Higher Education funding. But, horror of horrors, I think ... 2:17 am
The romance of port wine...
It's not that I am usually a luddite. Nor do I necessarily mourn the fact that workers have priced themselves out of a job. But there is something very sad about the Telegraph's story that the Symington port family is to phase out crushing grapes by gangs of human feet: Centuries of port heritage ended by family firm The world's oldest and largest port producer is finally trampling on 2,000 years of agricultural history. The Symington family, which has been making port since 1652, has announced that it will no longer crush its ... 12:44 am
Good bloggers disappearing
For all the stats that are constantly reported about how ever many thousands of new blogs are started each day, one that is often ignored is the number that fold, close or are deleted each day. In recent months regular blogs I used to read like Cassilis, John Wilkes Blog, Maltheus and now David Anthony's Republic have all stopped. Most of these were Tory blogs but were also good reads. So I occasionally get worried when some blogs go a long time without being updated. So come on some of you other bloggers on my blogroll, particularly Hunter and ... 
