LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 1st August 2007

Lunacy

The week began with me doing an over night shift at a Mental Health unit. The night of the Full Moon. It reminded me of the contradiction about the Moon and its relationship on Mental Health. The belief that the Full Moon effects people is deeply held amongst many mental health workers. The problem is a distinct lack of any hard research evidence. It all points to the contrary. It was a misty night with the moon light refracted through thin cloud cover. For reasons of confidentiality I won't give specifics but something very weird was going on. At times ...

The Rise of Boris Johnson by Andrew Gimson

Another book I have read so you don't have to. This is a 263 page "In Joke". An in joke I am clever enough to spot but, not having been to Oxford, not quite clever enough to fully appreciate. This is why I came close to abandoning it and sending it to Oxfam. "Boris" appears to be an attempt to write a biography of the great man in the style of a Victorian Statesman. Disraeli most probably or perhaps Palmerston. It flirts with the idea its an early life of a future Prime Minister ( well I suppose stranger things ...

Queen Mary's Sidcup set for closure?

Much has been said locally about cuts at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup. Of course local Lib Dems have raised our concerns many times over the years - I did in 2003. Ben Abbotts did again, during the Bromley & Chislehurst by-election. And Cay Valley Councillor David McBride did again in May. But one point is being missed by the press. If you close A&E you reduce demand for major trauma

Cornish People need Affordable Homes

The housing situation in Cornwall just gets worse and worse ... My husband and I left Truro 5 years ago because we couldn't afford a house there, the average house price is now £300k (highest in the South West). So many people I know have either given up hope, waiting on really long lists, or struggling to pay bills that are out of sync with their wages. The house prices just keep rising, private rents are really high and there isn't enough rented social accommodation for people in the county. Kate and Vicky, two Cornish campaigners have launched a campaign ...

I have nothing to say about Leeds Utd

And there in is the problem. I haven't the faintest idea what is going on. On most other strategic issues facing the City I would just put that down to being a back bencher. Out side the loop. Above my pay grade. However I have the most awful feeling that no one in the City really knows whats going on. I would need to " Live Blog" if attempted to keep an up to date commentary on events. Even the local newspaper refers people to its website in its coverage because so often events are moving fast. I read today, ...

Empty Properties

Residential properties that are empty and unused for long periods of time are a national scandal when there is a shortage of homes for people (the number of people on council housing waiting lists across the UK is around 1.6 million. Birmingham City Council's Empty Property Team (which can be telephoned on 303 7978) is doing some very good work in bringing empty properties back into use for

GREAT SCOTT, I AGREE WITH DAVID CAMERON!!

Its true, David Cameron has actually said something of vague substance, which he is unlikely to go back on and to top that, for once I believe he actually means it! I've always been pretty sceptical of Dave, I think a good Tory friend of mine summed him up pretty well with a description that used to be given to our party in the simple description of 'a Thatcherite in sheep's clothing' I could not agree more. Those occasional mad Tory right wingers need to get their act together and stop feeling so threatened by 'compassionate Dave', he's a lot ...

...and they wear the rose the wrong way round as well

Lancashire Rose - Courtesy of the Friends of Real Lancashire North Riding - West Riding - East Riding Posted by Chris Moaning about Leeds United in my previous posting, and as it's Yorkshire Day, reminded me that the rose on the team crest is shown point upwards which is the Lancashire way round. It should be point downwards in the West Riding -see illustrations. I pointed this out to Peter Ridsdale, at a Supporters Club Meeting in Harrogate, some years ago and he promised to look at it but never did.The rose is traditionally displayed point downwards in the North ...

Here is to the next 100 years...

Like many Scouts across the country, and the world, I woke up at 4 am this morning to witness sunrise and the dawn of what I know will be the next 100 years of Scouting. As this picture shows, it was an amazing experience surrounded by people of all sizes and creeds all sharing in the experience of 'Scouting', motivated by a common goal. And then at 8 o'clock in a field packed with Scouts of

The Get Jonathan Wallace on Facebook group and other things as well

I see a new group has been set up on Facebook: the Get Jonathan Wallace on Facebook group! (Creator David Hennigan of Team Sedgefield fame) Seems as though there is a burning desire amongst some for me to spread my wit and wisdom to this social networking site. As it is, I have been asked 4 times in the past week if I am going on Facebook. Now there is a group of 20 people awaiting my arrival. I

Happy Birthday Scouts

Today saw the Scouting movement celebrate it's 100th birthday. In my youth I was a Cub, a Scout, a Venture Scout and also a Young Leader. Scouting formed a large part of my youth and certainly shaped the person I am today, it instilled a moral code and also gave me a large number of opportunities from visiting the United States to flying a plane - so happy birthday and thank you!

Lack of information is a problem right through Leeds United

Posted by Chris: I concur with http://barcharter.blogspot.com/ regarding the inadequate amount of information coming out of Leeds United about the future of the club. I am checking the website regularly for news. I had never heard of the golden share until I read that Leeds had not yet got it back. The extremely dubious action taken by Ken Bates seemed at first to be a smart move to avoid losing 10 points at the start of the season but the way he overreacted to the action taken by Phil Willis and other local MP's made be worry. The fact that ...

Time Team comes to Market Harborough

Or Stonton Wyville, to be precise. The Leicester Mercury reports: Tony Robinson and Channel 4's Time Team are filming in Leicestershire this week. And they've achieved a series first ...It's taken 160 programmes and 13 years, but TV's Time Team achieved a remarkable first in south Leicestershire this week. Tony Robinson, the artist formerly known as Baldrick, and his crew of archeologists, have uncovered evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement about 1,200-years-old, near Market Harborough.They've unearthed the foundations of an old meeting hall, a workman's hunting knife and so much broken pottery it looks like they've been cleaning up after a ...

Opening Sentence of the Day

The winner comes from a report in the Shropshire Star: People in Telford were rubbing their eyes in disbelief after spotting what appeared to be a giant sausage floating in the sky above the town.

Bergman slams Antonioni shock

Two great film directors - Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni - have died in recent days. But how did they get on? An article in the New York Sun suggests that, at any rate, Begrman was not overimpressed by his rival: Ingmar Bergman, who died fewer than 24 hours before him, accused Antonioni in 2002 of being artistically "suffocated by his own tediousness." Bergman went on to admit that "Blow-Up" and "La Notte" were masterpieces, but complained about Antonioni's slow-moving style that bordered on inertia: "He concentrated on single images, never realizing that film is a rhythmic flow of images, ...

Day 2398: Heroes…

Thursday: …actually turned out to be JOLLY WORTH WATCHING. Sort of like a really gory version of "The Tomorrow People". It is on again tonight, so we will be looking out for it! Superpowers NOT seen in the show include those of the Princess of Norway who talks to angels. (and for €3000 a year so can you!) Unfortunately, Daddy Richard's SUPER-POWER of "Browsing the Internet at Work" has been curtailed by the new KRYPTONITE FIREWALL that his company has installed. Now, every page on the Internet returns a message like "URL blocked. Categorization: Education or Reference, Personal Pages" (that ...

Colourful Lembit says no to mayoral bid

Well, that didn't last long. This morning Ed Davey floated the idea of Lembit Opik as the Lib Dem mayoral candidate for London. This afternoon Lembit flattened the idea as thoroughly as if it had been struck by a rogue meteorite.

Flambe Goose a la Loo

Whoops! Never knowingly been one to shirk from the temptation to poke my head over the parapet.......today was no exception. It appears I have been vilified and praised in equal measure (well OK, maybe more vilified, but I am sure my fans amongst you will leap to my defence???!) Some clearly view my decision to talk to World at One as inexcusable. But, it was a decision taken with a great deal of thought and soul searching. As Leo helpfully points out on Lib Dem Voice this could well scupper any ambitions I may have for a winnable seat, or ...

Those few precious sunny hours!

We've had a lovely warm day today. But such days have been few and far between this year. So everytime we go for a walk I have taken my camera. Taking photos is a way of "pinching oneself" to reassure oneself that the brief spates of nice weather are real and not a mirage. Above, here's a photo of the Newbury Waterways Festival and our favourite pub, the Blackbird at Bagnor.

Oh, so this is how you boost your blog stats

There was me naively thinking it had something to do with posting regularly, and writing the occasional bit of intelligent political commentary. Well, I'll let you in to a secret... Actually, all you need to do, it seems, is write an article about the gay subtext in the Harry Potter books - here are just a few of the search terms which led folk to my gaff today: sirius remus subtext harry

Silly Season romps ahead #497

Wacky races? For a brief time London had the prospect of Lembit vs Boris vs Ken So says a special little box on BBC News Online. In fact there is a photo of Lembit, and then another box with another similar story with another photo of Lembit. In fact, I have calculated that Lembit is taking up 16.8% of the space of the BBC News Online politics page (top bit as shown on the average-sized

So, how many Lib Dems did the BBC phone to get an anti-Ming quote?

On BBC Radio 4’s The World at One this lunch-time, the programme featured an end-of-term report on the Lib Dems - how the party’s doing, how Ming Campbell’s doing. And, in particular, if the Lib Dems would do better under a new leader. I knew it was happening because I received an e-mail this morning from one of the BBC’s WatO producers asking to speak to me. Other Lib Dem bloggers got the same

Yorkshire Day

We are big enough to be a EU member or make a perfectly reasonable US state. However here in Leeds, Yorkshire's Capital City*, we don't seem to make much of our national day. Representing one of the shrines of the County's identity ( Headingley Stadium ) I often mull over the confusion. On the one hand I'm certain if we had had a referendum on an Assembly of our own it would have received a North East sized "No" vote. On the other hand I have always felt the one nationality you can't naturalise into is "Tyke". I have been ...

Guardian's Love Letter to Brown the Internationalist

One of the things you miss from looking at papers on the internet is the overall effect that the composition of a page of news has on the reader. So it is today with page 4 of today's Guardian. Here is a picture of it: Of course, one cannot see from this the content of the stories, which are: UN vote backs Brown's call for action to end Darfur conflict (the picture is of my copy, which is a

Griff Rhys Jones secures his pension

We've just caught up on Mountain presented by Griff Rhys Jones (originally shown last Sunday on BBC1). The whole programme was stunning. The photography of the mountains and the views from them was heart-stopping. The climb up Suilven (pictured left) and the view from it was just out of this world. What a staggering piece of geology! For some reason, the very north of Scotland and the Highlands

Festival Weekend

A plug for this weekends two big Festivals in the area. Our very own Unity Day ( www.unityday.org.uk ) starts at 12 noon on Woodhouse Moor on Saturday 4th of August. This is the 12th Annual event and show cases all that is good about the Leeds 6 area and attracts crowds from way beyond. The official after party is at the Burley Liberal Club from 11pm to late. They still need stewards for the day and pay a £10 " Thank You" to those completing a 4 hour shift. Sunday 5th sees the 2nd Annual Leeds Pride march and ...

Going to the polls?

Start booking those poster sites now! If, as the Times and the Guardian would have us believe, Gordon Brown is giving serious consideration to an October general election, then all three parties have work to do to prepare for the imminent poll. The Times quotes Labour vice-chairman and Reading West MP Martin Salter as saying that the PM has put the Labour Party organization, and especially its fundraising apparatus, on standby for an October campaign ('Brown drums up funding for snap autumn poll'), whilst a Guardian piece suggests that Brown's visit to the US - and especially his successful initiative ...

More Yorkshire Day Pictures

This is the first year we have had sound and music equipment, loaned by the Redcar British Legion. Eric Howden, second left, cream shirt, who organises all the local British Legion ceremonies, recited Humbert Wolfe's 'These Are The Yorkshire Folk' and 'The Rose Of York' (author not known). Stewart MacFarlane warms up the crowd. Saltburn Victorian Society in attendance in their spendid costumes.

Herald Express Letter 010807 - Casino Referendum

According to Marcus Wood, Adrian Sanders MP should abandon his principles and integrity by adopting a position in favour of a second casino for the Bay. If he were to do so, would Marcus talk about a 'U-turn' and call him unprincipled and opportunist?I did contact our MP to ask what the balance of opinion was from correspondence received from constituents and was told that a bare handful had written in favour of a new casino development and that two of those are senior local Conservatives. I accept that the casino has its supporters, but I'm convinced there are far ...

BBC’s The World at One focuses on Ming’s future

BBC Radio 4’s The World at One today featured a six-minute segment on the Lib Dems: how the party’s faring, and whether it would do better under a new leader. You can listen to it by clicking here. The programme included an interview with prominent Lib Dem blogger, Linda Jack, a member of the party’s [...]

Opinion: How the Lib Dems should win the next election

In the light of the fantastic tailspin the Tories are currently in, is it too ambitious to seek to position the Lib Dems as THE opposition? Lib Dem blogger ‘Cicero’ comments that we have an impressive array of policies, a clear philosophical underpinning, and a positive glut of sensible debates raging at any time. Armed with [...]

Good news for Mr Duncan!

My keyboard brings cheery news for Conservative MP Alan Duncan. He can now vary his day calling for the expulsion of Michael Howard and other Conservatives by also calling for Labour to drum this candidate out of their party, along with this one, this one, Alan Milburn MP and Julie Morgan MP. Their sin? They’ve all [...]

What a difference a year makes

A year ago when David Cameron went to Afghanistan a friend of mine who votes Labour joked somewhat sarcastically "Wouldn't it be a shame if Cameron was attacked by the Taliban". Now, the same friend has repeated the same line, but this year it is no joke, he is serious. It speaks volumes about the difference in Cameron's perception now from 12 months ago. So let me echo what my friend said. Come back Dave, safe and well.

Council should be more open

Neath Port Talbot council observes the national Code of Conduct regarding declaration of councillors' interests, but only on paper. The register of members' interests is accessible only during office hours at the Port Talbot civic centre, and only when an officer is free to supervise access. We feel that our council should follow the lead set by Swansea City - on a Liberal Democrat initiative - and put the register on its web pages. This would make it available to anyone who can use a PC, wherever they live in the county borough. The council has had poor press in ...

Lembit now more than likely to stand as Lib Dem London mayoral candidate

According to this report on the BBC, Lembit Opik now seems very likely to stand as Lib Dem candidate to be London mayor. Using phrases like "I think I might go and have a chat with the boss to see what's going on. The momentum seems to be developing a life of its own." and "Me, Boris and Ken would be a splendid contest. It would get a lot of interest and get the public voting," Shows that it is more likely to happen than not. We just better all hope that he does not get his girlfriend to do ...

Football League consider Leeds future (or lack thereof)

A terse statement on the official Leeds United site states: "Discussions are ongoing between senior representatives of the club and the Football League surrounding the transfer of the share. We will endeavour to keep fans updated as and when there is any further information." That seems barely adequate for the gravity of the situation. The new Football League season kicks off on 11th August, and at this stage it is still unclear if the authorities will return the 'golden share' that will permit Leeds to participate in the new season from the start. Something that would almost certainly spell the ...

This might be a short book

Not that I am suggesting the Keith Richards autobiography wouldn't be absolutely fascinating, but given his excesses over the years I would be amazed that he remembers anything at all to put in his autobiography. I bet his life story would make a damned good holiday read.

Paging Mr Duncan, paging Mr Duncan: another expulsion demand is required

Conservative MP Alan Duncan says he doesn’t like it when people say an election is a “straight choice” as the only people who would say that are nasty horrible homophobic people. So he must been busy calling for expulsion from his party of a past general election candidate and also a past leader, both of whom have also [...]

Why not write for Lib Dem Voice?

Lib Dem Voice is exactly what it says it is: “an independent, collaborative website run by Liberal Democrat activists, where any individual inside or outside the party can express their views.” In particular, we welcome opinion pieces from party members, and have published articles by 10 different authors in the past six weeks on a range [...]

Q&A with Ed Davey

Ed Davey, Lib Dem MP for Kingston and Surbiton, and Ming Campbell’s chief-of-staff, gives his views on a range of issues over at ePolitix - you can read the interview here, or listen to it here. Topics covered include: * Whether Lembit Öpik would make a good Lib Dem candidate for mayor of London; * What date [...]

Ed Davey: Lembit a better mayor than Boris or Ken

From ePolitix.com: The Liberal Democrat leader's chief of staff has said that Lembit Opik would "make a much better mayor than Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone". Senior MP Ed Davey made the statement in an ePolitix.com podcast and also revealed that his party was now gearing up for a general election on October 25. Since Boris Johnson announced his intention to stand for next year's London mayoral poll, speculation has been mounting about who the Lib Dems would put up. Now the colourful Montgomeryshire MP's name is being linked with the candidacy by Davey.I like that "colourful". I think we ...

Days of the Day

Happy Playday. Happy Yorkshire Day.

Gay Rights: a shit writes

It’s fascinating to speculate the psychology behind Alan Duncan’s decision to publicly call Jo Swinson MP a “shit” for inconveniently pointing out the Tories’ lamentable record on gay rights. As I pointed out a couple of months ago, the Conservative Parliamentary Party response to Cameron calling for his party to support the Sexual Orientation Regulations was to do the opposite. This isn’t a dead issue, it is a very much live one - particularly at a time when Cameron, via his predecessor Iain Duncan Smith, is reintroducing Back to Basics. With the appointment of Sayeeda Warsi, the fact is that ...

Fake television and the death of Malcolm Pointon

So it turns out that the ITV documentary Love's Farewell does not show someone's death after all. As the BBC says: Publicity for the programme, to be screened next month, claimed it showed the final moments of Malcolm Pointon, a composer from Cambridgeshire. ITV now says the footage was of Mr Pointon slipping into unconsciousness days earlier. Film maker Paul Watson blamed the mistake on ITV publicity material.It does seem that this current row is down to ITV's overenthusiastic publicity for the programme, though Mr Pointon's widow did seem quite happy to go along with the company's presentation of the ...

Cyber aims

The Professional Association of Teachers yesterday called for websites such as YouTube and MySpace to be closed down so as prevent on-line bullying. Much as I sympathise with their attempt to deal with this problem I believe that their objective is unachievable. There are a number of reasons for this, not least the fact that both sites are commercially successful and based in the United States of America, however the chief reason is that there are so many of these types of site now that it is almost impossible to contain them. I am aware that since YouTube was taken ...

Children's Centre Update

This morning Cllr O'Hanlon and I met with staff from the Early Years team at the Council regarding the proposed Children's Centre which may be built at Butterstile School. I am a governor at the school, and of course also a Councillor for the local residents, which could put me in a bit of a bind if the school want the Children's Centre and the residents don't. There have been concerns about

Alastair Campbell on the daily show!

The links here if your interested It was certainly an interesting watch and one of those interviews where Jon Stewart managed to combine keeping the interview pleasant and humorous while still throwing a few well aimed punches at Blair's Iraq policy. Campbell says there's more of his diaries to come, God forbid.atom.xml

Faith, religion and violence to language

Here we go again. Here is yet another in a seemingly endless string of 'authors' taking advantage of the public's renewed interest in religion in order to sell books. Christopher Brookmyre rightly observes that “belief in spite of an absence of proof or even in the face of compelling contrary evidence … needs not merely to be challenged, but to be given the full point-and-laugh treatment”. He will thus be pleased that his faithful claim that “no belief in the afterlife equals no suicide bombers” qualifies for such treatment. Mr Brookmyre strangely connects spiritualism with religious faith to discredit the ...

The Guardian on the culture in Social Care

The link is to The Guardian's perspective on how social workers approach assessment of their clients. Taking out a few quotes: "My experience is that when it comes to advocating for resources, social workers are inclined to present the worst aspects of someone's case and skip over some of the positives to get maximum impact. Obviously this is a dodgy path to tread, because your argument is that

Nasty Dave.

Recently made referece to anti Cameron comments by Cornerstone Group member, Edward Leigh found a full blog on the subject on the cornerstone group and it is well worth a look. He starts of all good about it not been that bad at the mo, well and good. Then comes this. "First Conservatives must give up self-loathing and self-flagellation. We are not the nasty party. And if some people think we are, it’s not because we’re right-wing, but because sometimes we’ve been nasty to each other." Actually I think the Tories are nasty on both counts, they're nasty to each ...

ITV plunge to new depths in desperation for advertising revenue

ITV has had to admit that the pre publicity they have released claiming that the documentary " Malcolm and Barbara : Love's Farewell " is completely made up and false. But what is particularly sick is that ITV press releases they have been telling the press that "In moving scenes, Malcolm is surrounded by his family and Barbara strokes his head as he passes away" The truth revealed today is that Malcom died three days after the faked death scene that ITV was talking about. The amount of press and free publicity ITV has received as a result of saying ...

UN to go in to Darfur - and about time too!

The United Nations Security Council yesterday voted for an Anglo-French proposal to deploy a a 26,000-strong international force to Darfur. The only real question is why did it take them so long?

Out Of Sight – In UNAMID

Last night I was knocking back a few lagers with Liberal Democrats and Tories in Westminster, where the subject of Darfur arose. Gordon Brown’s apparent role in helping convince the United Nations to commit 26,000 troops to peacekeeping duties in Darfur appears significant and eminently praiseworthy. It’s universally accepted that the African Union troops in Sudan have failed to make any palpable headway in abating the ongoing violence and mass internal displacement, and their bolstering with a major multi-national peacekeeping force provides hope that the wanton acts of cruelty committed in Sudan, with the connivance or indifference of the state, ...

Happy Yorkshire Day

Today is Yorkshire Day. I suspect that this might pass most people by including those who live in Yorkshire. But I thought it worth commenting on and I did a piece for the Yorkshire Post today which is below. Unfortunately Yorkshire Day will not be marked in any significant way at least not beyond the civic procession in Hull. Ignorance? Apathy? After all it’s not a public holiday. Perhaps it comes down to the fact that most people are on holiday on August 1st and the people in Yorkshire at this time of year are, for the most part, visitors. So ...

Today is Playday

Today, Wednesday 1st August, is Playday, the annual celebration of children's right to play. See www.playday.org.uk for more details.

There's bound to be an autumn election - Martin Salter says so. Oh well, that's a cast iron certainty then

The Times and others are reporting that we are likely to have an autumn "snap" General Election. The reports are based on a quote from Martin Salter MP. So, given that priceless imprimatur there isn't a remote chance of getting that story confused with other typical August stories about the Cornish "JAWS 2", Crop Circles, the Loch Ness monster, the Beast of Bodmin etc is there?

West Midlands Lib Dems launch Regional Team

The West Midlands Liberal Democrats are announcing their team of regional spokespeople. John Hemming MP has been appointed as the Shadow Minister for the West Midlands (and Regional team Leader) and will be shadowing Liam Byrne MP. Lorely Burt MP is the Deputy Team Leader also dealing with Business and Enterprise. Her husband Richard Burt joins her in the regional shadow cabinet dealing with

Things we don't like to think about

Being a councillor often brings with it an insight into issues you would avoid knowing about in real life. I am Vice-Chair of the "Children and Young People's Local Area Group" which is a multi-agency group which will eventually commission services for young people in North Cornwall and had to chair a very heavy meeting on the 18th of July. This group has defined that Domestic Violence is a big issue affecting the work of many different agencies in our district so we have been looking into starting a project that could help children affected by the issue. We initially ...

Is this the most exciting set of photos on Flickr?

Just look at those legumes.

Why the Tories are going backwards

Hat tip Martin Tod.

Job Hunting

Since I got back from my holiday in Malawi in June I have been job hunting and I have found a number of websites useful unfortunately I have not had much luck in finding employment, so if anyone knows of any websites I can use to find where there maybe vacancies then please email me with the website addresses.

Wednesday 1st August 2007

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