Last night I gave a short interview to BBC Radio Five Live about BritBlog Roundup 128, which was hosted on this blog on Sunday. You can find the interview (it's mainly about floods and self-abuse, as I recall) on the station's pods & blogs site.
Mark Bowen was the (unsuccessful) Conservative candidate in Feltham and Heston at the 2005 general election. In February 2005 he gave a speech to the local Conservative Party AGM. No surprises there. And he said the contest in the seat was between himself and Labour. No surprises that he should that either. But I think you [...]
Dear Mr Key, writes Tim Thurn, I am a huge fan of Hooting Yard and an even huger fan of computer and console games. Can you tell me if there are plans afoot for a Hooting Yard-based game I will be able to play on my Gameboy, Wii, or what have you? Oh dear, is all I can say. I can only assume that Tim is a teenage boy, for only teenage boys ought to be playing computer games. (Teenage girls are busy editing the features pages of The Guardian.) That so many adults spend their time “gaming” is clear ...
Jackie Ballard, the former Lib Dem MP for Taunton and current head of the RSPCA, has been named as the new chief executive of the RNID - now the Royal National Institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People. More details on the Third Sector website.
The BBC has the story about the latest twist in the Tory in-fighting involving Ali Miraj. I guess he didn’t like David Cameron being against rain.
This is my favourite song of the day. Its from an American parody of a kid's scifi show called zoom. I had to share in its wonderful weirdness.atom.xml
If you haven't registered for conference yet - tomorrow is your last chance before the price goes up. Sign up before the end of Wednesday 1 August for the advance rate of £84 at www.libdems.org.uk/conference/conference-registration.html After then the price goes up to £112, so make sure you catch this last-chance discount.
Well, well well, at the age of 42 I am going back to school. Without going into too much detail it's safe to say that my upbringing was such that any prospect of going getting a degree, or even A'levels was unimaginable for me when I left school 25 years ago. Indeed, it was a wonder I even managed the handful of mediocre O'levels I did. (Although I have picked up the odd qualification since) However, over time, I began to regret that I'd never been to Uni. It began to seem like everyone else around me had. And gradually ...
According to Gordon Brown today, "We have been standing at the crossroads of change for too long". Pardon me for asking, but isn't the answer to install a pelican crossing so we can cross the crossroads safely? PS Inside sources tell me Ming Campbell will be launching his "roundabout of modernity" policy next week. It's all go on the traffic flow front at the moment. Shame the same can't be said about the M25.
Someone clearing out their computer stuff has found some old photos of me, myself and I. Here's one of me working EARS with my ears during the Brent by-election, 2003. Ah, look at how pink and fluffy I was back then. Maybe I should book myself into a clinic for a course of Shake and Vac.
The summer break is the perfect time of year to do daft jobs I should have saved up to pay others to do as well as chase up case-work and meet residents to plan what needs doing next, do lots of leafleting, plan lessons for next year at college and tie down study time. As usual its almost half way through the summer break and I'm way behind with what I need to do! The major issue is sorting out
At midnight tonight it is officially the end of Operation Banner. ...Doesn't sound earth-shattering until you realise that "Operation Banner" is the army's longest ever deployment - in Northern Ireland. It's gone on for 38 years! But now it's over. Hallejujah!
The BBC reports that Ali Miraj has been dropped from the party's list of potential parliamentary candidates following his attack on David Cameron. It is easy to sympathise with him, particularly as his charge that Cameron is obsessed with PR is clearly justified. But Eaten by Missionaries, which comes to you from Watford where Ali Miraj was the Tory candidate last time, casts a different light on the affair: This latest outburst doesn’t surprise me much. Although many of those Watfordians who met him during the last general election campaign testified that he was charming and articulate, others who spoke ...
This is fascinating. It's a Daily Mail story - so watch it! Political correctness alert. Or indeed, in this case, political incorrectness alert. The headteacher of St John's Church of England primary school in Midsomer Norton, Somerset read out an excerpt from the last Harry Potter book to the children at the last assembly of term. The Daily Mail say she read out the last page so that she gave
I've been spending a few days working in London proof-reading & editing some technical documents for a software development bid we are working on. Its not the most exciting work but a good little stop gap until my next project starts. It gave me the chance to catch up with Shaun in the evening, a friend I worked with about 7 years ago when we were working with Pfizer. Shaun is now at the University of London and is on his summer break doing some temporary work for Transport for London promoting the Oyster Card. Oyster is fantastic, I have ... 
Hip and happening Radio One DJ Zane Lowe will be appearing on Today tomorrow morning. Weird or what? (It's the silly season - they had a piece on Country and Western music this morning.) Any road up, I know this because this evening on his show Zane started to introduce the first remix that Bob Dylan has ever had done of any of his tracks and then said words to the effect of: "I am appearing
There are some extremely encouraging personal poll ratings for Ming Campbell in the Populus poll for the Times carried out between 27th and 29th July. It seems that the recent few weeks have had a positive effect on the public's perception of Ming in key areas: All figures in percentage points compared to last month's poll Percentage of public thinking Ming Campbell is: STRONG - UP 8
I was asked yesterday which sort of Liberal I was a social Liberal or a orange book Liberal. My reply that I was a liberal was a little flippant really but also I believe the appropriate one. It has to be said on this issue that the difference between the two types is much smaller than the media blew them up to be and so the question a littler irrelevant. However, despite that I’m going to wade into the topic area, or actually use it as a reference point to another topic. What do we mean by a Liberal? I’m ...
Yesterday it was Ingmar Bergman. Today it is Michelangelo Antonioni. And it's another excuse for an iconic movie image. This time it's David Hemmings in Blow-Up. Incidentally, judging by his memoirs, Hemmings had no more idea what was going on in that film than the rest of us: I had a costume fitting that same afternoon, where they threw a pair of white jeans and a green corduroy jacket at me. And for the first time, I was allowed to see the script and was given a copy to take away. As soon as I was out of the building, ...
Not got round yet to registering for this year’s Lib Dem autumn conference in Brighton? Well, you have 24 hours to sign up at the advance booker rate of £84. Any later than the end-of-play on Wednesday, 1st August, and you pay £112, “the late booker and onsite registration rate”. So, to sign up without [...]
Just a very quick pick through some of the horrific stories from the UK that are filling the papers tells us much about Labour's ten years of being "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". In Wigan there was the story yesterday of an ambulance being attacked by local youths and prevented from taking a man who had had a heart attack to hospital. In County Durham it has been reported today that a man who died of a heart attack had his wallet stolen as he was being attended to by police and the policeman's life saving ...
{margaet-little.jpg} This afternoon I attended the funeral service for Margaret Little, the long-serving Liberal Democrat Councillor for Hampstead Town ward in Camden. It was a very Hampstead occasion, held in the parish church, followed by tea and biscuits at the Community Centre in the High Street, where Margaret used to hold her surgeries. She didn’t stand for re-election last year, because of the cancer that was devouring her. When I visited her in the Royal Free Hospital, she was remarkably resilient and cheerful. But she was saddened when our lead candidate in the ward, Ed Fordham, was unable to prevent ...
I am sorry that I am back into occasional blogger mode, this is not only due to the fact that I am still not online at home, but that I have been dealing with a very poorly sister. Having grown up with a manic depressive father, I am quite well acquainted with psychiatric units, they are always going to be difficult places both as a patient but also for visitors. Last week, after a few weeks of a deterioration in her condition my sister was admitted to a psychiatric unit which will remain nameless. They put her in a room ...
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform: Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many ministerial red boxes his Department and its predecessor bought in each of the last five years; what the cost of each was; who the suppliers were; and what tendering process was used in selecting them. A:The number of Ministers 
I see our old adversary in Watford, former Conservative candidate, Ali Miraj has cropped up again with the same toys-out-of-pram routine that he adopted in response to the local Lib Dem campaign at the last general election. This latest outburst doesn’t surprise me much. Although many of those Watfordians who met him during the last general election campaign testified that he was charming and articulate, others who spoke to him at any length on policy issues seemed to consider him lightweight. When under pressure he emerged as both extremely sensitive to criticism from opponents and unable to accept that if ...
Children, Schools and Families: Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many ministerial red boxes his Department and its predecessor bought in each of the last five years; what the cost of each was; who the suppliers were; and what tendering process was used in selecting them. A:Red boxes are ordered as and when they are needed
Children, Schools and Families: Adoption: Standards Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effect of the targets on adoption on the numbers of children remaining with their birth families. A:A national adoption target was announced in 2000 to increase the number of adoptions of looked after children by 40 per cent. by the year
I am just back from the visiting the World Scout Jamboree in Hylands Park (home of the V Festival),Chelmsford. This one is particularly special as this year Scouting is celebrating 100 years, which I have been part for around one fifth of that time. I must admit I was truly amazed at the size of the park and the number of Scouts from across the world, all with a welcoming smile. Everyone
Twelve days on from the Ealing by-election disappointment, and David Cameron is still suffering a barrage of negative publicity; most recently from sacked front-bencher Graham Brady, former candidate Ali Miraj, and general grandee Lord Saatchi. I'm always pleasantly surprised by the intensity of the bombardment Cameron gets from his own side. It is almost as if the disaffected store up their shells for months on end to make sure Cameron gets a lengthy World War I-style barrage of criticism. Perhaps I'm just amazed at the intensity of anti-Cameron coverage because it takes a lot for anyone to care about any ...
The Law Society has proposed that cohabiting couples should by default have protection if they split up. I am opposed to this- taking on responsibility towards another person should be done with explicit consent. You give that when you get married or form a civil partnership (which should be the same as marriage but that is [...]
... I thought the first rule was to stop digging. Yet the Cats-in-a-sack Conservatives do not seem to be able to resist taking chunks out of each other. The bile and bitterness that comes through in these exchanges does not show the Tories in an especially happy light- in fact it must be miserable to be a Conservative right now. Despite the polls, the quality of debate and the lack of rancour amongst the Liberal Democrats is a complete contrast to the atmosphere amongst "Cameron's Conservatives". The Tories can not take too much more of this before the voters are ...
The first written reference to the Ridings of Yorkshire appears in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles 876AD and this Yorkshire Day, 1st August 2007, we celebrate their 1132nd birthday by reading the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity (a statement of allegiance to the Ridings of Yorkshire), in York and Redcar at 11.32am. Yorkshire Day, Wednesday 1st August 2007: In York - Readings of the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity, will be in the four languages used since 876AD (Latin, Old English, Old Norse and Modern English) around the walls of York, including Micklegate Bar at 11.32am. York City Council have also organised events ...
I'll be honest. It has been a bit tough losing out on the selection for my home seat by just 1 vote. I have been surprised at the mixture of emotions it left me with - but I suppose that is because you throw so much of yourself into it that it makes you feel a bit empty at the end. At the same time as working hard you are trying to prepare for what may or may not happen to change your life. Having a young family thrown into the mix makes it even harder as it's not just ...
I know it’s the summer silly season, but the quality of political reporting in the British media appears to have sunk below even its customary July nadir. As a partisan Lib Dem, I’m quite content for the ‘feral beasts’ to decide now’s the moment to stick it to Tory leader David Cameron. He has, for [...]
Frustratingly my sister's PC will not allow me to open a pop-up (even when it says it will) to leave a comment about lefthandedness on Nich Starling's blog. So will have to make my point here...................apparently whilst only 10% of the population are left handed, 66% of geniuses are left handed...........I rest my case! Oh...........and the propensity for accidents, have to confess, that will have to be my excuse in future!
Mains water has started to return to Cheltenham today, and will be back across the county by the weekend. The following advice has been issued by the Council and Severn Trent water BEFORE THE WATER RETURNS Make sure all your water taps are turned off. If you are not sure whether all your taps are off, turn off your stopcock. WHEN THE WATER RETURNS When the water supply first comes back on it will not be fit to drink. During those first few days the water must not be used for any human consumption. Do NOT use tap water, even ...
With the MPs away, for mere plebs like me who have Parliamentary passes, the ringing of the bell for the end of the Parliamentary term is an important event. It means we get on to the terrace at Parliament which is otherwise reserved for the great and the good (ie MPs). So on one of those rare days of sunshine, we went to the terrace for lunch today. And then we get there to discover work is
News reaches me that my recent opponent for the job of Regional Secretary, Havard Hughes, has defected to the Conservatives - which indicates that my beloved Regional Party dodged a bullet there. For those out there who voted for him, and against me, I promise not to make barbed comments about your judgement... But seriously, I do have some regrets about the loss of a pretty decent person from
Radio Four's World at One interviewed one Mrs Gabrielle Joyce, Deputy Chairman of Ealing Southall Conservative Association. She said she had no involvement with the decision to put "David Cameron's Conservatives" on the Ealing Southall by-election ballot paper. She also said she knew of no-one in the local association who was involved in the decision and said that this wasn't unusual in
So, the Law Commission have published their final report on remedies on the breakdown of cohabitation. Regular readers will know that this is one of my hobby horses, so I won't bore you with the same old arguments again. I just want to make a few point to reign in the extremes of the debate on both sides, as typified by the infamous BBC Message Boards: The remedies are not the same as on divorce. Under the proposals, cohabitants would have to point to an advantage gained or a disadvantage suffered, rather than a presumption of equal division. The remedy ...
David Cameron's decision to "go negative" on his critics in the Tory party is relatively mad. He is stirring up the hornet's nest which is the Conservative party, even more than it was stirred up in the first place. Virtually the whole of BBC Radio Four's World at One was devoted to chronicling the woes of the Mr Cameron's party. A spokesman for David Cameron was reported as accusing Ali Miraj
Sanddef is providing a very useful service at the moment in translating Vaughan Roderick's series of blog posts on how things may pan out in Wales politically in 2008. The one I have taken the most interest in is the post relating to that part of my own region which is in the former County of West Glamorgan. Here Vaughan predicts little movement in terms of the political tenure of the five parliamentary seats in the County. Even Swansea West, the one seat that looks most interesting, seems destined to stay with Labour if Vaughan is correct: Geraint Davies the ...
JailhouseLawyer has an excellent analysis of David Cameron's appearance on BBC Breakfast News today, and from the analysis of it, it appears that Mr Cameron was severely out of his depth and showed himself up to be vacuous and uninformed. Read the views of JailhouseLawyer for yourself HERE.
Can we decently admire a feat of engineering which led to the destruction of an owl sanctuary, the obliteration of a fairground, and the destitution of a grubby yet loveable hamlet of genetically intriguing peasants? For some, the answer is a straightforward “no”. They will point to the facts – and they are unassailable facts – that the Blister Lane Bypass was completely unnecessary, and that in the years since its construction a mere handful of carts have ever been seen toiling along its grey Stalinist empacture. Yes, I meant carts, not cars. Conversely, one might argue that owls are ...
Is it only me who finds Cameron's current choice of policy issue - school discipline - rather unfortunate, given the current state of his party? It's practically begging for someone (my money's on the Clunking Fist) to say something along the lines of, "how does the Leader of the Opposition expect the country to listen to his proposals for discipline in schools when he can't even maintain discipline in his own party?" Poor Dave - it's just not his month, is it? UPDATE: Looks like Alex Wilcock at Love and Liberty has beaten me to it; ah well, 'twas too ...
When someone is away for a while, and then they come back, you realise how brilliant they are!
An office full of children today. In one corner we have the Young Friends of Burgess Park preparing for a day of consultation about play. They are setting off armed with clipboards and all our spare biros to find out what people using the park think we need as play facilities here. The Southwark Alliance has come up with a substantial budget to improve the play facilities so it is vital that we make sure it gets spent properly. And who better to organise some of the consultation than the young people who live around here. And in the other ...
The Council's summer recess officially starts tomorrow, and there is a noticeable decline in the number of scheduled meetings ove rthe next month. Lib Dem Councillors work for you all year round though, and we have taken it upon ourselves to oorganise our own meetings over the next few days! Oh joy. At the last (which was, confusingly, the first) meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership,
After years of research scientists have discovered the gene that makes people left handed. The bad news is that they have also found that this gene is linked to an increased risk of developing psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia. Who cares anyway - I'm right handed !
The Chinese Communist Party has declared Jackie Chan's new film "Rush Hour 3" to be un Chinese because it features Chinese people as members of triad gangster groups. In the same vein the Chinese ordered cuts to be made to Pirates of the Caribbean 3 because it featured a Chinese pirate. If the Chinese have a view that all Chinese people are law abiding and never break the law, why do the Chinese need a police force at all ? It is a sign of an immature state that they don't believe that out of 1 billion people, they have ...
I am an avid Firefox user - it is the business as browsers go - but one thing has been niggling me. At work, my connection onto the internet emerges through an access point in the Netherlands. This means that Google, trying to be helpful and localised, gives me search results from google.nl when using google.com. I have been entering google.co.uk manually to get the right search in the main browser window, but the Firefox search box top right stubbornly stuck to giving me Dutch results. Today, I finally fixed this for my Mac with the aid of this hint ...
You may have seen some of the news coverage about the latest infighting in the Tories following the attack on David Cameron by Ali Miraj, their 2005 general election candidate in Watford. But if you went looking on the internet to find out more about him this morning, you’d find that his website, www.alimiraj.com is “temporarily [...]
David Cameron is launching a major initiative today "to increase discipline in schools". All very laudable, except that he has chosen some strange ways of doing it. -Expelled children's parents will no longer have the right of appeal to the LEA. But they will be able to appeal to a governors' panel. The difference is????? Well, Cameron says it will allow headteachers to be "captains of their
After I wrote about the EU's Solidarity Fund last week in relation to the flooding I have been asked for more information on it. The European Union Solidarity Fund was set up in 2002 so that the EU can respond in a rapid, efficient and flexible manner to come to the aid of any Member State in the event of a major natural disaster. The Fund has an annual budget of one billion euro. Below is a summary of the Council Regulation - (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 - that establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund
I have not seen anyone else post this video yet but it seems to have made it on to every TV show in the last week (this Morning, Richard and Judy, Channel Five News, etc), so I thought I'd put it on here for your enjoyment too. It's from a prison in the far east (the Philippines I think) and they teach the prisoners a new routine each month. There are videos of them performing to other songs on YouTube too.
David Cameron's use of his school's announcement today to start a fight-back has been over-shadowed by his claims that Ali Miraj, a recent critic of his, asked him (Cameron) for a peerage.
David Cameron is building up a formidable band of enemies in the Conservative party. When Sarah Montague on Today put to him his list of recent critics, Cameron gave the old "ad homines" response. He discounted Lord Kalms because he said Kalms had not given money to the Conservatives during Cameron's leadership. (That seems a strange argument - sort of chicken and egg, I would have thought). He
The first event for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil, which I chair, was held on 24th July and David Strahan of The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre gave the major presentation with Chris Skrebowski of The Energy Institute and myself answering questions. This was an informative event with about 50 members of the public present. The objective of the APPG is to raise the debate about
Whoops. With everything going wrong for David Cameron in recent weeks, this morning he dropped three different messes of his own making all over the Today Programme. Reaching for another Tory core vote issue to shore up his fragile position, he chose the wrong one: what idiot prattles about school discipline whilst his own party are rioting? Then he fell flat on his pitiful by-election failures, describing the Conservatives without qualification as the third party. Finally, unable to answer multiple Tory attacks on him, he chose to attack each of them in turn, sounding like just another feuding, useless Tory. ...
Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman Alan Beith admits he was once a witch. Talking in Bella magazine he says “in my youth and early teens I attended covens, cast spells and adopted awkward poses over a metal cauldron. I wore loose, ill-fitting black witch’s garb and swore. I guess we all did in those days.” Armando Ianucci Radio One Show, 27th March 1993
Like Chris Black I enjoyed this, and it is much better than the latest Harry Potter film.
While I had sometime I added links to organisations that I am a member or subscriber of. on the links page you will now find links to CentreForum, Electoral Reform Society, European Movement, Republic, United Nations Association UK and Unlock Democracy.
Ali Miraj, a one time Tory candidate who, if I am correct, took the Tories from second to third in Watford, has criticised David Cameron for being all about PR and lacking substance. This isn't new in itself as so many Tories have criticised David Cameron in recent days that the list is turning in to a telephone directory. However, David Cameron's response was interesting. "Call me Dave" claimed in response that Mr Miraj had asked, just a few hours earlier, for a peerage. Presumably David Cameron's response to Mr Miraj had been a negative one and this is the ...
It is the time of year when the media have a lot of space to fill and very little real news to put in it, so they write about politicians and their holidays instead. Lembit Öpik sums up the phenomenon in this piece in the Guardian: Not to be outdone, Lib Dem leader Menzies Campbell is taking his traditional holiday on the Hebridean island of Tiree, while Lembit Öpik plans to take a camper van around Wales. Like most MPs, he'll be hard at work in his constituency. "It's journalists who go on two-month holidays because they have nothing to ...
I received details late yesterday of the outcome of the appeal in respect of the planning application I successfully moved refusal of at the Development Quality Committee some months ago. I am pleased that the Reporter has agreed with the decision to refuse planning permission, particularly as the planning application had been of concern to residents nearby; and note that, in upholding the decision to refuse permission, he writes: "... as I consider that greatest weight requires to be attached to the adverse effect on the conservation area, contrary to Policy 61, I find that, overall, that the proposal would ...
The Lancashire Evening Telegraph reports: Renegade anti-war MP George Galloway is considering standing against Jack Straw in his Blackburn constituency at the next general election. After uprooting Labour's Oona King in London's Bethnal Green seat at the last election in 2005 Galloway promised to only serve one term. Kevin Ovenden, spokesman for Galloway, said that he was now considering whether to stand again as an MP and if so where.Thanks to Harry's Place.
I don't know about you but I think this is a pretty good candidate to replace our usual leaflet picture of Blair and Bush. Within weeks of taking office Brown is already pushing aside the very recent suggestions that he would be less beholden to US foreign policy: Not withstanding his failure to consult Parliament over bringing the US missile defence system to Menwith Hill WITHOUT CONSULTING ANYONE (what happened to 'I'm listening'?), underneath his expressionless exterior he was clearly (*puts on rubbish American accent*) 'like a kid in a candy store' when he visited Camp David with Bush. The ...
Last year Iain Dale published a guide to political blogging and named his top 100 UK political blogs. For the 2007 edition he is not choosing the list himself but throwing it open to a popular vote. Hmm. Iain's is a Tory blog with a predominantly Tory readership. No doubt the blogs chosen will reflect this. And I know from having just edited a BritBlog Roundup that there are a lot of shouty right-wingers out there. Still, we Lib Dems may as well do our best to influence the vote. So do send your list in to Iain. Since you ...
Back in May, Lord Bonkers revealed that Lembit Opik was living, not just with Gabriela, but with several members of her family: “Have you met Gabriela?” he asks. “And this is Monica, her sister. And this is their mother Margit. This is Margit’s cousin Florian. And this is Florian’s great uncle Dmitri and some of his sons. And their families. And I am not sure who those others are."Other sources are only just beginning to catch up with this story. Digital Spy reports: Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik has been forced to welcome Gabriela Irimia's twin sister into his home. ... | < | July 2007 | > | ||||
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