EXCLUSIVE! General election date confirmed
There will be a general election in 2007. Not sure which country. But there will be one. I guarantee it. Thursday 2nd August 2007
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There will be a general election in 2007. Not sure which country. But there will be one. I guarantee it. 11:47 pm
Alistair Carmichael on Scotland Office waste
A press release from Alistair Carmichael reveals some startling facts about the work of the Scotland Office post devolution: The Scotland Office employs 20 policy officers with a responsibility for answering correspondence, despite receiving just 39 letters from MPs and Peers in the past year.and The department’s press office has managed to write an average of one press release per week during the past year.Alistair's remedy sounds sensible too: "The Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Offices should merge to create a Department for Nations and Regions, with a full time seat at the Cabinet table." 11:31 pm
Clash by Night
Well, I taped and have now watched the film Clash by Night, which I recommended the other day. It turned out that Peter Sallis's role was quite minor, but he did play a psychotic arsonist and child murderer. ("Let's leave, Cynthia, it's not a bit like Last of the Summer Wine.") The chief point of interest was a substantial role for an adult Harry Fowler. As a lad he had played the hero of the Ealing Comedy Hue and Cry and the chirpy Cockney evacuee who saves the day in Went the Day Well? 11:18 pm
The Stupid Papers clamour for a snap election
Yesterday I took a look over the Guardian's coverage of Gordon Brown's diplomatic ministering to the world, and found it slightly wanting. So today, I felt inspired enough to venture further afield in my reading, taking in the varied delights of The Daily Mail and The Mirror over the course of the day. First thing to catch my eye was Stephen Glover, making a remarkably tangled and bizarre 11:12 pm
Nice beavers in Scotland
Writing on the Guardian's Comment is Free site, Mike Small excitedly reports that it was announced earlier this week that beavers are to be reintroduced into Scotland. If you follow the link to the Scottish Wildlife Trust site you came across a press release (pdf format) that shows the position is not quite so clear cut: Nearly two years after the first proposal by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) for a trial reintroduction of beavers to Scotland was rejected, two leading Scottish conservation bodies; the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) welcomed the news that ... 11:00 pm
The Russians are coming - for your oil, gas, coal …
Two interesting stories today involving the Russians and energy. On the one hand there is news that the Russians have ‘planted’ a flag on the sea bed beneath the North Pole. This is part of their quest to secure oil and gas reserves in competition with the Americans, Canadians, Norwegians and others in the Arctic. There was a further story which examined how Hatfield Colliery was back from the dead and in no little part thanks to Russian investment. Whilst there undoubtedly is a place for clean coal technology linked to carbon storage under the North Sea, the fact that ... 10:56 pm
English whisky reaches Sweden
A month ago my posting on the attempted London bombings was mentioned on an Italian website. Thanks to Babelfish I was able to transalte it: "Nothing panic, we are English". Now my recent posting on English whisky has been noticed by the Swedish websie Rocks Off. Babelfish does not offer Swedish-English translation, but this site is happy to oblige: International whiskynyheterEngland first destilleri on over hundred year, is in kiosk that inaugurate for visitor in Norfolk , year 2010 wait the first whisky sell. BBC had heal affair. Bloggen Liberal England ring up attention to yet that one destilleri wide ... 10:33 pm
Don't vote for me!
Time {Photo of City Hall} to break the habit of a lifetime and see my name on a ballot paper - and not put a vote next to it! I'm talking about the poll over at Liberal Democrat Voice on who should be the next Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. Thanks all those who've put me (as I type) at the top of the poll, but sorry to tell you - I've no interest in putting my name forward for the selection when it kicks off again latter this year. As for the other names that are listed - ... 10:23 pm
GOP running scared of YouTube
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the recent CNN/YouTube Democratic debate. Although in essence it was only a little different from the kind of Townhall meetings that are a staple of the US scene, it had the advantage that the packaging of the questions made it seem much more entertaining. On the whole I thought the format worked, and since it is so simple to recreate I wouldn't be surprised to see some effort to replicate it here in a future General Election... or even as a Question Time special. In case you missed it, members of the public created YouTube clips ... 10:08 pm
Day 2399: Bare Necessities
Friday: What sort of a job do you have where you try to seduce members of the public into your curtained cubicle? Not everyone knows that you do it and some people DISAPPROVE! You're not hurting anybody but might bring a smile to their face? Yes, that's right – it is BEING a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COUNCILLOR. Even RESPECTABLE people like stripogram Ms Myrnna Bushell are doing it! So it is QUITE SAD when some people feel so EMBARRASSED that they have to quit. What a SHAME! You known, I did not know that you could earn money just by taking ... 
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Sleepwalking and kicking yourself at the same time
Last week, in a friendly chat with one of our Labour councillors, he expressed the view that we were "sleepwalking towards a directly-elected mayor". Maybe it's because of the holidays, but so far, apart from a press article about the historical role of our traditional mayor, there has been very little heard from the "no" campaign. Is there even going to be a "no" campaign? Most councillors ( 8:45 pm
You Saw It Here First....
I don't know, it's my first week so I'm a bit new at this blogging thing. But, even if it's just a clip from The Daily Show, if you post something at least a day before Guido does, is it bad form to crow about it? Remember folks.... you saw it here first - And just in case you missed it the first time 8:24 pm
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David Cameron accused of "point-scoring"
Whatever next?! 8:07 pm
Leaning to the Right
Not personally and politically, you understand, but definitely in the blogs that I read on a daily basis - Iain Dale, Caroline Hunt, Guido Fawkes, A Very British Dude: all right-wingers of varying hues. I gaze sometimes over LibDemBlogs and LibDemVoice, but there's an element of preaching to the converted when I read them, which dampens my enjoyment - although occasionally a true gem will pop up 6:49 pm
Bound for Wales
I'm off to north Wales to do some photography around one of my old stopping grounds. I'll be staying in a village called Penmaenmawr which is where I used to stay in the days over a decade ago when I worked as the organiser for Conwy constituency. So I have just lugged the cameras across rush hour London to Euston station, having called in at a camera shop to buy camcorder tapes. Unfortunately, I 6:41 pm
Autumn Election Off
I see Mr Brown has given a memo from Philip Gould to the Mirror, and told them it could mean an autumn election (BBC article) Do we think this is consistent with: (a) Mr Brown actually planning to hold an election this autumn, or (b) Mr Brown wanting to everyone thinking that he’s planning an autumn election, to create confusion and general havoc in other parties’ election planning, and further damage Cameron while he’s vulnerable? The answer seems pretty clear to me. I must say I have always been pretty sceptical about the idea. This was confirmed last night when ... 6:34 pm
Who benefits from an early election?
Let's ignore the high politics and the messages for a moment and think about some of the more predictable factors. 1. Money. Gordon Brown doesn't have much, the Conservatives have lots (even if they may have to pay back an £8M legacy from someone who was 'deluded and insane'). So it's almost received wisdom that Brown will have to either raise serious cash or fix the expenditure limits before the General Election. It would probably be easier to rush a bill through Parliament limiting campaign expenditure to 2p and a dog per party than for the Labour Party to raise ... 5:59 pm
Jackgate and Collective Responsibilty.
Irrelevant of whether or not Ming is capable, which so far he has proved to be, the Lib Dems collectively put him there in a fair and free vote that we all knew would last until after the next GE. Linda's critism of Ming then perhaps ask us what in the Lib Dems we think of collective responsibility. It has to stand to make internal elections mean anything that we all sign up to the result or at least keep our misgivings private, this is the basis of collective responsibility. We all need to respect that point. It isn’t right ... 5:21 pm
IPCC report in to Stockwell shooting leaves more questions than answers
The report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission is clearly very thorough and I don't doubt for one moment the honesty of the results. However, the response from the Metropolitan Police and in particular Sir Ian Blair leaves a lot to be desired. The report makes clear that when Sir Ian Blair was making statements to the press after the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, he did not tell any lies. Sir Ian Blair made much in his statement about how he had been shown to be proved right about this. However, the fact that he told no lies ... 4:34 pm
Written Parliamentary Question 2nd August 2007
Environment Food and Rural Affairs: Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many ministerial red boxes his Department 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:During the last five years DEFRA has purchased two 4:29 pm
Glamis Road
Residents here have pointed out to me the lack of bus shelters in Glamis Road between the Dickson Avenue roundabout at north and the Blackness Road roundabout to the south and, following my contacting the City Council about this, the location has been added to the list of outstanding bus shelter requests. The street here is quite exposed and shelter provision would be a boon. In my capacity as Planning & Transport Convener, I have recently asked the department to undertake a review of requests for bus shelters. Well over 300 were replaced as part of the SmartBus project (this ... 4:07 pm
"File on 4" on ID cards
If there is a single issue that is likely to give Lib Dem MPs the opportunity to jump around shouting "I told you so!" then ID cards are that issue. The latest edition of Radio 4's documentary programme "File on 4" gives us some of the reasons why. 3:59 pm
Ming 'Over-promoted'? Who promoted him?
Linda Jack is a diamond in the LibDem blogging jewel box. We should respect and cherish her. She says “Unfortunately it’s the case where (Ming) has perhaps been over-promoted”. That’s an interesting one, isn’t? Is the phrase “over-promoted” or indeed “promoted” apt for someone who has been elected? I have never heard, for example, someone say that George Bush was “over-promoted” or referred to 2:09 pm
Latest attempt to catalogue the population
Is reporter in The Register. The police are now requesting the power to take DNA samples from people suspected of non-recordable offenses. These are offenses such as speeding or dropping litter. Obviously this is to help fishing expeditions rather than police work to solve cases. There will be some sort of consultation which “will be involving a small, [...] 1:31 pm
Have A Look At This!
Unlike the States and some other countries we don't allow political advertising on TV. Instead we have party political broadcasts (PPBs) which outside elections all Parties represented in the H... 1:31 pm
When the facts change...
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? — John M. Keynes The English version of the European Union reform treaty was published this morning, a few days later than the French version which came out last week. The Constitutional treaty is a dead letter. Is the Reform treaty just an attempt to impose the controversial "constitution" by a more roundabout way? Well, the UK Conservatives certainly seem to think so and demand an immediate referendum on the new treaty. Their reasons for asking for this are dressed in the language of principle, but as ... 1:27 pm
Cowley Street makeover
Cowley Street is getting a makeover, or rather, the main stairwell is. This is the view from the landing outside the office in which I am based. The carpets, which were getting rather well worn, are also being replaced. More exclusive, where-the-action-is-taking-place photos will be posted over the next few weeks. These will include photos of paint drying and other such interesting views! 1:06 pm
Cheap
It's amazing what deals are possible if you shop around. I fancied a few days in London at the end of October, since my trips to London at present invariably follow the pattern of motorway-friend's house - restaurant - friend's house - trying to sleep on floor - motorway - home. I quite like the idea of going to London and being able to take in the interesting parks and buildings and history, 1:02 pm
Kilroy-Silk not sighted in East Midlands
Two years ago I reported that that the East Midlands Tory MEP Chris Heaton-Harris was offering a bottle of champagne to the first person to spot Robert Kilroy-Silk in the region. As I said at the time: Kilroy-spotting fever is reported from Cropwell Bishop to Eyam, and from Newtown Unthank to Ingoldmells. According to today's Daily Telegraph, the prize remains unclaimed. 
12:26 pm
Grant Shapps: another history lesson
Right, let’s keep this brief. The Welwyn & Hatfield Times (his local newspaper) reports of Grant Shapps MP: The Welwyn Hatfield MP said it [the Ealing Southall by-election result] was not a total whitewash as the Tories had slightly improved their share of the votes, something which the party had not been able to do for years in [...] 12:20 pm
Opinion: Save the Local Post Office - Why?
I know, I know, it’s shooting at Bambi, but I confess I just don’t get the Lib Dems’ Post Office Campaigns. I don’t mean by this that I have a rabid desire to close every post office in the country, or even that I don’t accept the case that, in some locations, like remote rural [...] 12:04 pm
Nor way would that happen here
More news from Norway. It seems that all the youth wings of the country’s main political parties have doubled their membership in the past four years. I don’t think it would be giving too much away to suggest that LDYS, CF and Labour Students can't claim anything approaching this. What are the Norwegians getting right? 11:22 am
Missed birthday
I forgot to mention last month that my blog has now passed its fourth birthday and I am still not fed up with it. That feeling may not apply to everybody else of course. The number of hits that this blog is getting is also rising, from 1739 in October 2004 to 17, 616 last month (there were over 10,000 unique visitors). Best month so far has been May 2007 when, for some reason I topped 27,000 hits and 15,200 unique visitors). I note that I managed to secure third place in the Witanagemot Political Blog Awards 2007 for best ... 11:06 am
Not so silly season
The columnists are sticking with tried and tested issues. So much so that when you see the list of topics (poor schooling, poor prisons, poor planning) you wonder if the pieces themselves will be derivative. One such piece is Steve Richard's in The Independent ('How the bloggers are making politics more febrile, more fun - and more challenging') In it, he rehearses the rather patronising political-blogs-are-quite-interesting observation. So do today's columnists put up a reasonable fight? EducationJohann Hari in The Independent blends the true life events of Big Brother with the failings of the education system. ('Big Brother and the ... 10:55 am
Will your area be losing an MEP?
The Electoral Commission has published its proposals for reducing the number of British MEPs from 78 to 72. The cut is driven by the expansion of the EU, with the number of MEPs countries have being reduced so that the total size of the European Parliament doesn’t swell to ridiculous proportions. Their proposals don’t automatically become [...] 10:43 am
Chewing-gum droppers face DNA swabs
The Daily Mail finally cottons on to the government’s plans to take DNA from people for non-recordable offences, like littering, speeding and driving the wrong way up a one-way street. Here at Home Office Watch, we spotted this months ago (OK, so we forgot to mention DNA, focusing instead on the fingerprinting powers, but no-one’s perfect). Fact is, whenever you noticed it, these are dramatic proposals. A DNA sample is already added to the database every minute; add in the minor motoring offenders, litter louts and fare evaders and we could have half the population on there. 10:38 am
Here’s a man full of shit
Sorry to bring Leigh back into the mix and once to be a day behind but here’s a quote from the Conservative MP that should make Alan Duncan REALLY MADDDDD!!!!. Oh and yes you can put me on record as saying Liegh is full of shit. As Duncan shows saying a swear word and saying you can put that on record, IS REALLY HARD HITTING!!!!. So the quote, when told he had the worst record on gay issues he said, "I had to giggle as I read the accompanying letter, which informed me that I came last equal with 0% ... 10:37 am
Recruiting bloggers
A further sign of how so much more influential bloggers are in the USA than over here is this report about the way that Democrat Presidential candidates are actively trying to recruit them to their cause. The Guardian tells us that US presidential contenders including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are heading to Chicago for the biggest gathering of leftwing and anti-war bloggers. All eight Democratic contenders will be present for the second YearlyKos convention, which opens today, in contrast with last year when only Bill Richardson turned up. Professor Darrell West, who specialises in politics and the mass media ... 10:28 am
Voting security
Today's Guardian reports on the Electoral Commission's scepticism about the security of electronic voting following pilots in Rushmoor, Sheffield, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Buckinghamshire and Swindon this May. They have recommended that the government should halt pilots of telephone and internet voting until they are more secure: Broadly, the trials were a success, it says, but there were problems including accessibility, public understanding of the process and technical problems, especially in Swindon, where many voters could not be connected properly.The commission says that no further e-voting should be commissioned until the government introduces "a comprehensive electoral modernisation strategy, outlining how ... 10:20 am
What a Lib Dem TV advert might look like
There are no political advertisements on broadcast TV in the UK, by law. However, the Internet is increasingly used for political campaigning, and the YouTube website is very popular for showing video clips. During the 2005 general election an advertising company produced examples of what TV ads for the main parties might look like. Here is the one for the Liberal Democrats: 10:10 am
Storm in a teacup
I swore yesterday that I was not going to blog on this, but surely the massive media coverage of Lembit's non-candidature for London Mayor must be the silliest story of the summer so far. It is only when one understands that this story started as a nasty rumour on Tory blogs determined to undermine the Montgomeryshire MP, that one starts to question whose agenda is being followed here. Ed Davey was equally as silly to allow himself to be drawn on the subject in his interview with epolitix without, apparently, checking with Lembit first. What puzzled me was why Lembit ... 9:45 am
Rugger Buggers...
I'm not sure the latest advert from the Paris Tourist board is going to attract a single extra rugby fan to Paris for the world cup, but you can't deny its a thing of beauty: 9:35 am
West Midlands to lose an MEP
Not unsurprisingly the West Midlands is set to lose a Member of the European Parliament in 2009. The UK sees its number of MEPs reduce from 78 to 72 and the Electoral Commission has recommended the West Midlands lose one (along with London, North West England, the South West, East Midlands and probably Scotland). The reduction is a result of Bulgaria and Romania joining the European Union. 9:34 am
First and second loser placings for me in 2007 Witanagemot Club blogging awards
I found out this morning that this blog came second in the 2007 Witanagemot Club blogging awards in the category "best Lib Dem Party Blog", and third in the category of "best centre-ground blog". In the second category, rather bizarrely the winner was Iain Dale ?? When coming second or third in anything I am reminded of a comedy routine I once saw (apologies to whoever it was), which pointed out that coming second means you are just the first loser, and third place makes you second loser. I wonder what the prize is ? Er, what, no prize ? ... 9:22 am
Tories are frustrated that Linda Jack story hasn't taken off
The Tories are very disappointed that the Jackgate WATO (World at One) thing-e-me hasn't taken off. Here is Chatterbox on the Iain Dale's Diary comments board: Right we have now got a Libdem criticising Ming so where is the big headline splash on the Beeb?Oh, if its not someone slagging off Cameron then it is not news?Balance is all I ask, if it was important to highlight this sort of thing in 9:09 am
Tories have given up on winning the next election
Conservative Home reports their survey which shows that most Tory members now think that it is unlikely that David Cameron will be Prime Minister after the next election (the actual figure was 52%. The same rating was 77% in January 2006). 87% of Tory members want David Cameron to remain leader. 42%, however, are disastisfied with his leadership. 9:07 am
Time to suspend e-voting says report
A welcome report on to the e-voting initiatives taken last May has concluded that e-voting schemes should be suspended until systems have been checked more thoroughly and security has been increased. Given the debacle in Breckland this year where it took several days for the count to be concluded, and in one case a seat was counted manually and by e-machine, giving a significantly different result when using the machine's count rather than the verifiable human count, a question mark still hangs over the results in Breckland with many residents I know still believing most of their councillors to lack ... 8:48 am
Smoke-Free Pleasure
I went out in central London last night for the first time since the ban on smoking in public places came in and what a difference it makes. This morning there is no smoke smell on my clothes and I feel much lighter than I remember doing after evenings spent in smoky bars. The friend I was with is a smoker so we had to nip out for him to partake and this did reveal to me a new social feature of the ban. If you don’t want to lose your seats and carry bags and jackets around then you ... 8:37 am
Aw, shucks
Erm, it seems Lib Dem Voice has won an award in the prestigious 2007 Witanagemot Club blogging awards - for best Liberal Democrat supporting blog. Congratulations to Nich Starling (Norfolk Blogger) and Peter Black AM on coming second and third respectively. 8:12 am
New poll: who do you want to be the Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate?
After yesterday’s brief flutter of excitement - when Ed Davey hinted Lembit Öpik might consider running as the Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate - it seems we’re as we were, Lembit having ruled himself out. So, over to you - which of the following do you want to be our mayoral hopeful? (And, yes, I know [...] 8:06 am
LDV readers say yes to opinion polls
Okay, we’ve got the message - so you like opinion polls… Here’s the result of the poll Lib Dem Voice has been running for the past week: Should Lib Dem Voice report opinion polls? Yes: 64% (76) No: 21% (25) Only if they’re good for the Lib Dems: 14% (17) Total Votes : 118 Look out for Alex Wilcock’s polling [...] 7:26 am
Over Promoted?
Nobody is pretending that there are not some people in the Liberal Democrats who would not prefer that the party was led by someone else. After all, this is a democratic party full of intelligent and opinionated individuals, a party that enshrines the right to non conformity in it's constitution, a party that has been famously compared to herding cats. North Korea with it's 'dear leader' this ain't. So it is hardly a surprise that the BBC's World At One programme was able to find a quote to support their 'Ming under pressure' story. Indeed, it would have been more ... 6:55 am
Telegraph: "Why we need Ming Campbell"
I know I am a bit late, but this is from the Commons sketch in the Telegraph on PMQs this week: In a second round of questions, Mr Cameron attacked Mr Brown for failing to hold a referendum on the European treaty, and Mr Brown attacked Mr Cameron for reverting to "the old agenda". But what's so wrong with the old agenda? Mr Brown went on to deliver a statement in which, with sly deliberation, he 6:44 am
Damp squibgate
Well done to Vince Cable for brilliantly performing on the World at One (WATO - or I what I really want to call it - WHAT HO!) yesterday. Whereas Cameron on Today on Tuesday made his internal divisions worse by attacking his detractors, Vince very carefully applied the political equivalent of halon gas* to the situation. The Linda Jack story has really taken off. Apart from the BBC's initial 12:31 am
40 years ago today the second Blackwall Tunnel was opened
Maybe we could celebrate by reintroducing the contraflow! But the crossing making the news at the moment is the East London River Crossing AKA Thames Gateway Bridge. Good old NuLabour - the inquiry doesn't get you the answer you want, so do it again until you get the answer you want. The bridge is a monstrosity. If there is to be a bridge it should be a bridge for local people - public 12:02 am
West Midlands Liberal Democrats launch Regional Team
The West Midlands Liberal Democrats have launched a team regional spokespersons, the team will be led by John Hemming MP who has been appointed as the Liberal Democrats Shadow Minister for the West Midlands. 
