LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 13th July 2007

Boris wants us to 'wait and see'

Boris johnson has said the media and the wider world will have to wait and see, to see if he will run for Mayor of London. now bearing in mind that the close of nominations is on monday we will not have to wait long to see what the Henley MPs deceison is going to be, so to help boris make up his mind here are some pros but mostly cons, for him running. there is no doubting that Boris is one of the most widely known politicans in the country, allbeit not actually for political reasons, and in ...

Selly Oak Ward Committee - 18 July 2007

The next meeting of the Selly Oak Ward Committee will be at 7pm on Wednesday 18 July 2007, in the Selly Oak Centre, 648 Bristol Road (Location map). Items on the agenda include: an update on the proposal for a pedestrian crossing on Harborne Lane;an update on the Dale Road Residents Parking Scheme; and Selly Oak Ward Community Chest.

So there comes a moment when you’re laid out on the floor of the Albert Hall gallery with your eyes closed, as the slow movement from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony drifts up to you from the orchestra below…

…and you think ‘Oh GOD! THIS is why I’m alive’. Well, there comes that moment if you’re me, and prone to exaggeration and melodrama. So, yes, there comes that moment if you’re me. Which it did. Come. The moment, I mean. There came a moment when I was laid on the floor of [...]

A ballroom dancer or snooker professional

Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. Identity crisis On Monday a woman Home Secretary took questions for the first time. It was a piece of parliamentary history, but passed off with little comment. In part this was because Jacqui Smith had already made a statement after the recent attempted bombings. Yet it remains a mystery that, though she has achieved far more, Smith attracts little of the sisterly adulation that surrounds Harriet Harman. And maybe having a woman in this role will make a difference. The questions covered the usual depressing litany - antisocial ...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Being the uber-geek that I am, I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night, on the day it was released, because, of course, I couldn't wait any longer. Spot the puberty ... And I wasn't disappointed. This film, unlike Goblet of Fire, gets so many things right - the pacing, the emotion, the feeling that something tangible is at stake and the edits. The edits, in particular, are

When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

I used to smoke like a trooper but gave up earlier this year. Secondary smoke never bothered me unless it was in a particularly confined smoke filled area. Since the ban I have had to endu...

Wasps are coming to our bedroom to die

I don't want to talk about the current state of politics tonight, so here's a little personal problem instead.... Every morning we seem to find about seven dead wasps in our bedroom chez Black. And there's one or two weak and dying ones there as well. It's been going on for about ten days. Is there a wasp nest nearby that has been treated by an exterminator, and some of these wasps are just

Sedgefield - The One to Watch

Liberal England has a very interesting and plausible analysis on the current by-election fever sweeping through Ealing and Sedgefield. Whilst Labour and the Tories are fighting each other intensely in Ealing Southall over which councillor will defect, to whom, next. The Liberal Democrats are catching up fast in Sedgefield by campaigning on the local issues that matter to local people. Labour and the Tories can continue to play their powerbroking nonsense games, but what will really be on the minds of the electorate, on thursday, is who has been campaigning on the issues that matter. Below ...

Lord Black, Lord Archer, how many other crooks have the Tories given honours to ?

Lord Black, found guilty today. Lord Archer, found guilty some years ago. Both, as I recall, given peerages by the Tories. Both convicted crooks, both have been or would be allowed to keep their honours. Are there any other crooks the Conservative Party have given honours to aside from Jeffrey Archer and Conrad Black ?

Conrad Black - is schadenfraude appropriate?

There was a fascinating interview with Tom Bower just now on Channel Four news. He is the author of several biographies, including that of Mohamed Al-Fayed (a fascinating read) and Conrad Black. He gave a fascinating summary of Black's downfall. He pointed out that Black has not been found guilty on some of the charges against him. The directors of Hollinger have taken the rap for failing to

Boris Johnson is no Bertie Wooster

On BBC Radio Four's PM today, Boris Johnson was described as being regarded as the "Bertie Wooster of Westminster". Obviously, whoever described Johnson as such has never read the Wooster books or has forgotten all of them, if they did read them. P.G.Wodehouse must be turning in his grave. Wooster was always immaculately turned out, due to the fastidious sartorial attention of Jeeves. Johnson,

The BBC cock up over the Queen is a resigning matter

There are a number of people suggesting the Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC1 should resign after the debacle over the way a clip previewing a BBC series about the Queen was shown in the incorrect order in order to misrepresent a particular situation. Personally, i agree that a resignation is due, but NOT from Peter Fincham. He presented this clip to journalists in good faith. Someone else put this clip together and someone else must have checked it and said it was okay. So yes Mr Fincham, keep your job, but don't let the oaf who cut ...

What has Sir Patrick Cormack done to annoy the South Staffordshire Tory Executive ?

I was surprised when earlier in the year Sir Patrick Cormack was deselected by his local party executive. I was even more surprised when it was revealed that there were voting irregularities and that more votes had been cast than there were votes issued. So I expected that he would walk the reselection meeting. However, the vote on whether he retains his place as the Tory candidate was announced as a tie, and will now have to go to a vote of the party members in South Staffs. Sir Patrick says he is confident of their support. But ...

Evening Post cover Royal Mail campaign

The Evening Post have taken up our Campaign to open south Bristol's Delivery office in the evening so those coming home from work can collect their post. The article is in the 3* edition page 12....

Sony give slap in the face to UK customers

The Playstation 3 has had a price cut in the US, but in the UK Sony have failed to offer the same deal to British customers. The EU version of the PS£ is already an inferior machine, with the PS2 emulator not doing what the US version of the machine does, and now UK and EU customers have to pay more for less than the US customer gets. Given that the Nintendo Wii is outselling the PS3 by a rate of 6 to 1 in Sony's home market of Japan, Sony really ought to be showing a ...

I know I am supposed to feel sorry for these people, but I don't. Does that make me a bad person

If someone dies whilst playing Russian roulette for fun, do you feel sorry for them ? Okay, so I must be a bad person, but I really cannot summon up the energy to feel sorry for idiots who choose to something as idiotically stupid as THIS. If you go tombstoning, you know you are doing something very dangerous and bloody stupid. You therefore accept the risks associated, which in these cases appears to be death. The shame of it is that we all pay the price through our taxes of the emergency services and the NHS having to ...

Regent's Park rubber crumb menace

City of Westminster Lib Dems are campaigning to stop current proposals to permit a company to install five-a-side football pitches for private hire in Regent's Park, sacrificing trees, wildlife habitat and the popular tennis school for something that I have never heard anyone say they want. So we are having a picnic this Sunday afternoon (weather permitting, and bring your own refreshments) at the tennis school site to enjoy it while we still can. It's the thought of the rubber crumb surface and wire netting where scores of established trees and acres of wildlife habitat used to be ...

Look at the calendar

If you have a strong constitution, and seven minutes to spare, then you too can watch all 160 killings from the Friday the 13th films, one after the other. Cheery viewing, and fun for all the family. For the superstitious among you, rest reassured there's another 11 months til the next Friday 13th.

Photos from Ming's visit yesterday to Sedgefield

The visit was to Hurworth School in the south of the constituency.

Six days that will define Ming's standing in the Liberal Democrats

Whilst I took it upon myself to criticise Ming Campbell for making mistakes in his dealings with Gordon Brown and because he lacks what I would call a "relationship" with the electorate there is no doubting that the next six days will decide Ming's fate. We all know that publicly the parliamentary party are behind Ming, but should the by-elections on Thursday fail to deliver what the party itself would call a "good" result, the outlook for Ming could be bad. From comments I have received from Lib Dems, particularly those with contacts, there is evidence of people ...

Menzies Campbell and Greg Stone visit Hurworth School

Latest video from the Sedgefield campaign. Filmed yesterday when Ming came to the constituency.

Political campaigning on the internet banned

Amidst all the talk about how the internet is transforming political campaigning in the USA, with the UK soon to follow, Japan has gone in the opposite direction, preventing any online campaigning during the election campaign for its upper house. It is illegal to create a new webpage, or update an existing webpage, while the [...]

It's still the economy, stupid

I've just uploaded my latest article - this time one about the economy for Liberator magazine: I have petitioned and campaigned for - and against - many, many things since the world of political campaigning crossed my path. But the absurdity of the thought of running a petition calling for next month's inflation figure to be cut by at least 0.3% or running a street stall demanding an extra 0.1% on the third quarter's GDP growth figure should not become a reason for ignoring economic issues in our campaigning. You can read the full piece over on my website.

Ealing tomorrow

Today I got in touch with housing officers from Bury Council as well as members of Salford City Council to discuss some of the things brought up at the Rainsough TRA meeting last night - the pavements and roads, the vacant shops on Chapel Road and the site of the Rainsough Brew pub amongst other things.Up bright and early tomorrow morning to head down to London for the weekend and help out in the

Paul Keetch out of intensive care

The Hereford Times reports: Hereford MP Paul Keetch has been moved out of an intensive care unit at the London Chest Hospital. The Liberal Democrat politician fell seriously ill while on board a flight to the USA on Sunday. The Virgin 747 was turned back to Heathrow and Mr Keetch was rushed to the Royal London Hospital before being transferred to the chest hospital. The Liberal Democrat constituency office in Hereford this morning confirmed that Mr Keetch had been moved out from intensive care, but said he remained in hospital where his condition was described as stable. ...

By-Election Results: Thursday 12th July 2007.

Camden LBC, Haverstock LD Matt Sanders 1160 (43.4; -0.2), Lab 1000 (37.4; +3.0), Green 299 (11.2; +0.4), Con 213 (8.0; -3.2). Majority 160. Turnout 34.1%. LD gain from Lab. Last fought 2006. Craven DC, Cowling Con 351 (64.3; +47.4), Ratepayer 136 (24.9; +24.9), Ind 59 (10.8; -34.3), [Ind (0.0; -38.1)]. Majority 215. Turnout 31.2%. Con gain from Ind. Last fought 2004. Hounslow LBC, Hanworth Park

Who will take on Ken & Boris?

Ken Livingstone will be seeking a third term as Mayor of London in 2008. According to today’s Telegraph, Oxfordshire MP Boris Johnson will seek the Tory nomination. Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem candidate in 2004, is thought unlikely to run again. (See his comments reported here at MayorWatch.) So, if the 2008 London Mayoral election [...]

Look out below

If you’ve walked past Beetham Tower in Birmingham city centre you may have had the feeling that it could topple over at any time. It’s an enormous structure that dwarfs everything around it, yet has a small footprint. It may not be about to topple over, but it does seem to be moulting with alarming regularity. [...]

A matter of trust

A letter to residents looking for their votes from Virendra Sharma, Labour's candidate in the Ealing Southall by-election, says: People in your neighbourhood have already talked to me about Ken Livingstone’s tram scheme. I strongly oppose this proposal. But Council minutes show that he actually supports the Tram and has voted for it. Here are those minutes 7. West London Tram – Resolution Under

Liberals abuse our language too

Tristan Mills has dug up a fascinating little quotation from the 1950s. Democrat politician Joseph S Clark, then Mayor of Philadelphia, misuses the word “liberal” to mean “one who believes in utilizing the full force of government for the advancement of social, political, and economic justice” – a big-state viewpoint which would unsettle many modern-day British liberals. For Tristan, the word “liberal” has been corrupted from both sides: on the one hand, socialists and statists have tried to claim it for their own; on the other hand, conservatives abuse it as a slur against the left in general. ...

To robe or not to robe?

That’s the question in Edinburgh, where Lib Dem Provost George Grubb is seeking to revive the tradition of councillors wearing cermonial dress for civic occasions. Full story over at The Scotsman.

Conservatives hold on in Staffordshire, swing to the Liberal Democrats not quite enough

The Conservatives held on to both Thistleberry and Keele Division and Westlands Ward in yesterday's by-elections. Both by-elections saw a swing to the Liberal Democrats. It is a great shame we narrowily missed out on gaining the Thistleberry and Keele Division by just 62 votes, well done to the team who I know worked very hard.

Malplaquet or cooking ?

Why is it now thought that education should prepare us for real life ? Why should schools teach cooking and mortgages and, God help us, national identity ? Perhaps real life can prepare us for real life and schools teach us the things that our real lives cannot show us ? Bertrand Russell, a progressive educationalist in his day running a relatively free school, nevertheless maintained that

Will Boris Johnson stand?

Yeah but no but yeah but no.

What is going on in Ealing Southall?

The excellent Pickled Politics offers some pointers.

Clareification

Today is the birthday of John Clare, one of England’s greatest, and earthiest, poets. This Friday 13th is unlucky for him, as are most days, because he’s been dead for 143 years. And shows no sign of recovery. It’s enough to make you want to self-consume your woes. Anyway, just a few lines from Summer Images. I love the south-west wind, or low or loud, And not the less when sudden drops of rain Moisten my glowing cheek from ebon cloud, Threatening soft showers again, That over lands new ploughed and meadow grounds, Summer's sweet ...

Ming's coming back into the lead!

22 want him to go with 34 determined he should stay beyond the autumn conference - so far its looking like the blogosphere might come through for Ming.

Graham's blog entry 13th July 2007

My head hurts

I have been suffering extreme sleep deprivation recently. Last night, with a heavy cold, it looked like I would get away from Southall at about 11.30, but then as I was about to leave, today's Greg Hurst piece for the Times appeared: Two senior Conservatives have admitted to The Times that they do not think they can win, but they believe a strong performance would demonstrate that the Tories were

Should we be watching Sedgefield?

As I said on 18 Doughty Street the other night (hem, hem), when MPs resign to take highly paid jobs elsewhere, their party often does very badly in the ensuing by-election. I also said that Tony Blair sometimes treated his constituency as no more than a film set - rushing up to Trimdon to announce he was going to stand down as prime minister and then resigning as its MP as soon as he had. So maybe we should be watching the result in Sedgefield more closely. Up till now, this contest has been rather overshadowed by the ...

Strengthening the union

Former Welsh Secretary, Paul Murphy, has an article in the New Statesman this week on the 'unthinkable alliance with Plaid'. In it he repeats his disagreement with the proposal to share power with the Nationalists. "For me," he says, " the conflict of ideology with Plaid - our vastly differing ambitions for Wales - meant that I did not favour the coalition." He continues: "Labour should always prioritise the public services that people care about, and the fight for social justice that changes lives. I felt that an alliance with Plaid Cymru, with their fixation about constitutional issues, endangered ...

Name of the Day

And to think the winner comes from right here in Market Harborough! Well done, Ann Meatyard.

Battle of the Nile or Mortgages ?

The national curriculum is being reduced (but not enough). A man called Ken Boston (the national curriculum gauleiter, tsar or general LordHighEverythingElse) suggested on the radio that children should learn about mortgages instead of the Battle of the Nile and cooking instead of Malplaquet. Naturally several historians argued the contrary. The argument misses the point. There shouldn't

Park and Ride facilities for Dundee

Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, has been in touch with me in my capacity as Chair of the Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (TACTRAN) asking what proposals exist to provide for future Park and Ride facilities for Dundee. Having discussed the matter with the Director of TACTRAN, here's the response to Marlyn's question : The TACTRAN Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) contains a specific proposal to develop bus-based Park & Ride/Park & Choose networks in Dundee, Perth and Stirling, with the aim of improving sustainable access and reducing congestion in all three main regional centres. During the ...

Camden and Sedgefield - Labour's losing link

Great to see Camden keeping up the winning streak by stuffing Labour out of sight and grabbing another of their council seats in the by-election yesterday. Now I can bring you (another Wallace exclusive!) news of a Labour link between Camden and Sedgefield. Readers will no doubt be aware of the Battle of Trimdon video I shot last week of Labour thugs and hooligans trying to break up the press

Kafka (and Munch) in Cyberspace

Here is a tale of woe that has (touch wood) ended. This morning I attempted to log on to my blog. I got the following message: “Username and password do not match. " I tried again. This time I got this message: “The email you provided does not exist.” I checked my spelling (several times). My e-mail address does exist and was working. I tried to find a contact or help address on

The joy of extracts

To continue today's theme of excellent news extracts...UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."Full story here.

How rich are you?

The new Liberal Democrat tax plans (which benefit the environment and the vast majority of families, at the expense of those households with incomes over around £68,000) has resulted in the usual predictable burst of comments from people saying, “ooh, but being on £68,000 isn’t being rich”. Here’s a handy way of putting that into perspective: [...]

Lib Dems closing on Labour in Sedgefield - Mirror

“The Tories, a poor second in 2005, are nowhere. But the Liberal Democrats are closing the gap rapidly on Labour … Labour’s fixers are worried” Paul Routledge in The Mirror. I think you can guess from the rest of the piece that he doesn’t really like us

Promoting Arab-British Understanding

The Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, was in town yesterday, for talks with the foreign affairs spokesmen of the three major parties: David Miliband, William Hague and Michael Moore. He had a separate meeting with Tony Blair, who is off to the Middle East at some as yet unannounced date, to begin [...]

Japan bans E-Campaigning ... and every other sort of campaigning

Japan has banned online campaigning by political parties. They seem to do politics differently there altogether, with limits which mean only few percent of voters will ever get a leaflet from their candidates. Politicians apparently drive around in speaker cars waving at voters. I'm slightly surprised that I haven't already suffered from spontaneous combustion at the very idea. Though different political cultures are always interesting to learn about. I think this might be the solution to Labour's overdraft problems - banning campaigning altogether would mean that the Tories' bank balance wouldn't be an issue. I wonder if Japanese ...

Lib Dems win Haverstock byelection

I'm delighted to tell you that the Liberal Democrats have gained another councillor in Camden - 24 year old Matt Sanders. He beat the Labour candidate in the Haverstock byelection by 160 votes. The Greens came third and - as in the Kentish Town byelection - the Tories came last. I've been canvassing the "Belsize" bits of Haverstock quite hard in recent weeks. It felt close. Labour fought hard and dirty. But in the end the margin was bigger than I expected. Our candidate was good. We put a lot of effort into the campaign. When we ...

Unravelling

Is the One Wales Agreement starting to unravel already? I ask because according to reports, Peter Hain's press conference yesterday raised a number of questions about Labour's commitment to deliver some of the more crucial aspects of the document. In particular, Mr. Hain was quite emphatic in his insistence that a referendum on a Welsh Parliament is unlikely to be held before 2011, effectively kicking it into touch until after the next Assembly elections. The Western Mail suggests that this is a sign that figures in Labour and Plaid are already interpreting the deal in different ways. They ...

So farewell, then, to the "greatest Living Englishman"

Nigel Dempster, who has died, awarded himself the sobriquet "Greatest Living Englishman" and was awarded the nickname "Dumpster" by Private Eye. Love him or loathe him, he was a remarkably successful journalist. I am now going to make a sordid confession. From the age of three (or whenever I could read) until 30, I read the Daily Mail on a daily basis. My family had it each day (along with the

Camden Lib Dems still taking seats from Labour

Great news this morning - Lib Dem Matt Saunders won the Haverstock by-election in Camden yesterday. That's a second gain from Labour in the two by-elections since May 2006 when the Lib Dems became the largest group in Camden, sweeping Labour from power. The result: Conservative 213 Green 299 Labour 1000 Matt Sanders, Liberal Democrat 1160 This is particularly good news for me - as I was so busy with work and other stuff that I didn't go over to help the campaign at all (even missing Good Mornings at an election for the first time in ...

Ealing Comedy

The Ealing Southall By-Election has thrown up probably the single worst attempt at a smear site I have ever seen, run by some Ealing Labourite. Almost entirely devoid of any substantive criticism of the Liberal Democrats, the main charge seems to be that Nigel Bakhai is a local resident, but has not previously stood for the local council. Despite the fact that he ran for Parliament in 2005. I should imagine there are actually a fair number of Labour MPs who have never been Councillors. In fact, I don’t believe that either Gordon Brown or Tony Blair were ever Councillors ...

Boris Johnson confirms Mayoral run on his website

On his website, Boris Johnson has confirmed he will run for the Tory candidacy for Mayor of London. Anyone who saw his blustering appearance on Question Time recently will know that this man is vacuous and bordering on the offensive (and often actually offensive). This is despite his well practised "lovable buffoon" act, which fools less and less people these days. London is an extremely

Warning to all iPod users?

Given the weather we're having at the moment, this story is perhaps even more worrying that it otherwise would be. The report (of someone being struck by lightening whilst listening to his iPod) contains the quite wonderful phrase:"The victim had earphones on and had been sweating from jogging so this was a case of disrupted flashover and the earphones transmitted the electrical current into his head"Ouch.

50% want Ming out!

Its neck and neck in the Ming Poll, 17 want him to stay, 17 want him out and 1 doesn't know who he is.

Scotland vs England adoption target issues in parliament

John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): The Leader of the House might be aware that in Scotland more than 65 per cent. of children who leave care aged under five return to their parents. In England, more than 60 per cent. of children taken into care aged under five are adopted. The children in care Bill will be debated later this year, but will the Leader of the House ensure that Government time

Winning in Camden

Hurrah! Wake up to two texts on my phone saying we won the by-election in Camden by 150 votes - which is pretty huge and a great sign of things to come. Well done Matt. No one is going back to Labour (it was a Labour resignation that caused this by-election) and no one is swinging to the Tories. So - hey - not resurgent after all!

Political Merry-go-round in Ealing

Notwithstanding the political merry-go-round going on in Ealing some Tory MPs have told The Times that they don't think they will win. (See link) There are 4,000 postal votes which means that the election will be won or lost on the day. All the signatures are going to be checked which does help, but doesn't prevent gangster politics where the voter is watched whilst voting.

The last weeks of the Mugabe regime?

Paul Walter has written here about his local Newbury's MPs call for an uprising in Zimbabwe to overthrow the Mugabe regime. Things are going from dire to even more dire in that country. To quote from This Is Zimbabwe on July 5th: It’s hard, sometimes, not to feel complete despair at what happens in our country. And I hit a low this morning when I read this via VOANEWS: Members of Zimbabwe’s

Conservative MP says: we’re not going to win in Ealing

A Conservative Shadow Cabinet member has today admitted that the Conservatives ‘do not think they will win’ the Ealing Southall by-election. As the party’s press release puts it: A Conservative Shadow Cabinet member has today admitted that the Conservatives ‘do not think they will win’ the Ealing Southall by-election. Local Liberal Democrat Nigel Bakhai who finished second at [...]

Lib Dems gain seat in Camden

The Liberal Democrats have won a local by-election in the Haverstock ward of the London Borough of Camden, gaining the seat from Labour. The full result is at Liberal Democrat Voice. Well done, everybody.

Sandwell invades Amsterdam

Thanks to Matthew for sending me this snap of Amsterdam culture. Not sure exactly what those born and bred in the Black Country will make of this

Well if The Sun says so, it must be true !

Iain Dale reports that "The Sun" are to report that "They (the government) want to scrap the teaching in history of Winston Churchill". That's odd, because they chap on the radio from the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) who are proposing the shake up of the curriculum explained that children learning about World Wars One and Two were absolutely vital to history teaching. Anyone who knows anything about World War Two can tell you that you cannot teach it properly without knowing about Winston Churchill. Also, anyone who knows anything about the curriculum as it stands will also ...

Cable and Campbell invoke the Wizard

No, they've not pre-released the final chapter of Harry Potter, but dared to conjure up the lowest income tax since Reginald McKenna's first budget in 1916 just before the Wizard, Lloyd-George, took the premiership. {Reginal McKenna} Now, I don't want to do down the significance of this. Any move towards the eventual abolition of income taxes is surely a good thing. And, whilst the media and other bloggers seem to pick up on Local Income Tax as the preferred replacement for the Council Tax (even if it would put back most of the four pence ...

4% off Protection Payments

So, Don Campbell call meeting of Liberali Family to discuss impact of Don Brown's new slums proposal. "This is troublesome", say the Don "As soon as we propose to free up our Capos to build again, Don Brown pops up with a very similar proposal and people forget that it was ours in the first place. We need a new idea, one the Labouristi Don cannot take from us. What are your thoughts my generals?" There is deep cough. "Yes Knuckles?" Signor Carmichael has creased his furrowed brow and from the rumbling noise from the bowels ...

Iraq: what now?

Going to war in Iraq was, in my opinion, a mistake - and such an obvious mistake that it seems unbelievable we blundered in. So the thought of drawing the debacle to a conclusion does appeal and there is immediate happiness at the vote in America. But, like any policy of setting a withdrawal timetable, could it be the wrong way to deal with a problem "we" created? Turning back time and starting again (or not) would be great. But as we can't do that, is just getting out of there the best option? Maybe it is, I'm ...

Liberal Democrats win Haverstock by-election

Matt Sanders (Lib Dem) 1,160 Labour 1,000 Green 299 Conservative 213 Turnout 34.1% Result: Liberal Democrat gain from Labour The result last time (three member ward, all up) was Lib Dem 1,417, 1,085, 1,058, Labour 1,118, 1,106, 1,034, Conservative 362, 338, 337, Green 351, 347, 244. The seat up for election was a Labour seat. This is the third good by-election result [...]

Gordon Brown

One of the things I've missed blogging about, grumpily or otherwise, is the great Blair-Brown handover. Whatever your views about the last few weeks it is difficult to deny that it has been politics with a capital 'P'. Blair, so much the dominant figure in British politics over the last 10 years or so, has gone. Although the great "search for the legacy" will seemingly linger on for a bit. You'd

Is this really news?

Clearly not. But BBC News 24 not very subtly used it to promote their TV programme *all day* today, much of it as their 'top news story'. And I know I'm just helping them out by giving them another plug, but, really. Did someone say dumbing down?

The Facebook Song

Thanks to Gavin Whenman for bringing this to my attention:

Day 2382: Hit it till it works – the Conservatory way of mending our "broken" society

Tuesday: Mr Iain Drunken Swerve is back, and this time it is PERSONAL! When Dr Who's TARDIS is not working he will often THUMP it. This might get him moving again, but often has the unfortunate side-effect of taking him BACKWARDS IN TIME. Funnily enough, the Conservatories' Social Justice Policy Group seems to have a similar problem. After the leak of his alcoholic binge-drinking policy (which revealing that the Conservatories intend to put a 7p tax on a PINT OF BINGE), now we get the full report, in which Mr IDS goes BACK to the FUTURE ...

Friday 13th July 2007

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