.... well,me, actually. To my astonishment I really did win in both categories for which I was shortlisted in the Lib Dem Blogs of the Year awards. So here I am sharing the glory with winners in other categories, one of the judges - and a severed horse's head. 
It turns out that the Guardian didn’t jinx it for me after all. What’s more, I appear to have a web exclusive here (which is rather sad as I should be out celebrating come to think of it). So, just to let people know, I won the Best Blog Post and Best Blog at the Lib Dem Blog Awards this evening. Ros Taylor, better known as the Guardian Backbencher and Comment is Free Honcho presented me with both awards. The other winners were: Hug a Hoodie (Best New Blog), Mary Reid (Best Blog by an Elected Representative AND Best Designed ...
So it's to be National Smiles Week at Brighton as we must all support the Dear Leader. Well, I for one am content to do so. I am happy to state that he was not my choice for leader but he is the leader and that's it. Mindless loyalty aside, Ming has demonstrable qualities. He has proven abilities as an MP of long standing, a wealth of experience of international affairs - not exactly marginal in the current febrile atmosphere we endure thanks to Blair's idiocy, and he has done much 'off camera' to look hard at key problems which ...
I been at special meeting with Don Campbell tonight. This present conflict with other important meeting, which big nuisance. Happily I make arrangements before I leave for Brighton and send letter via special courier... ---------------------------------------------------------- Dear Committee for Diary-Control, It is with regret I inform you I cannot be with you in person at Grand Awards Ceremony of Liberali Family Association of Tittle-tattlers, Scandalmongers and Egomaniacs. I instead busy with Don Campbell and team tonight, learning about important items on Family Conference Agenda. I very impressed by pending discussions on encouraging bullying, pulling teeth, building more slums, and making prison ...
I note from various blogs that an article in the Independent on Sunday makes reference to Ed Davey talking up our chances in key target seats. It is a shame, therefore, that the memo refers to "Broadlands" with an "s". I live in "Broadland" and I can assure everyone their is no "s" in it. We do stand a good chance here. A good part of Norman Lamb's North Norfolk comes in to the new Broadland seat, there are no Labour councillors in the whole constituency and the Lib Dems have been very active here recently. April Pond too has ...
Aren't Plaid Cymru lucky. They have a hand in running their own Parliament in Wales, something we English are denied the opportunity to do here AND they now want to be coalition partners to Labour so they can run England too. I don't blame them, after all, the rules allow it and it is totally constitutional. It's just that as an Englishman, living in England, it does not seem very fair.
The link is to the US based NCCPR. They have similar, but probably not as extreme, problems as exist in the UK. The culture of consequentialism that dominates child protection theory tends to drive the same patterns of misbehaviour where the checks and balances fail. They have a number of proposals for looking after children (and families) here I make no comment about these.
I spoke this afternoon in the Local Government debate at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton. As did fellow blogger Suzanne Fletcher from Stockton. I managed to capture her as she got started. She spoke about the need to attract more people to become councillors and to remove barriers, for example by paying carers allowances or compensating for loss of...
At the Liberal Democrat conference today the party debated the Local and Regional Governance Policy Paper - The Power to be Different.
Most disturbing sight at Conference so far this year, mugs for sale bearing the photographs of various leading party members including yours truly. An offer to buy the mug so as to get it off display is rebuffed. They can only be bought by mail order via the Liberal Democrat Image website. These are the same people who conspired with my staff two years ago to produce badges featuring a picture of me petting a goat (It is here if you want to better visualise this atrocity). Needless to say the badges sold out at the Welsh Party's Wrexham Conference, ...
Party conference is back in Brighton, and I'm back doing a daily video diary too. Here's the first: Running time: 69 seconds
As a long standing supporter of electoral reform I decided to make my first proper fringe of conference the Make Votes Count fringe held a lunch-time today. It was basically a snapshot discussion of "where now" for electoral reform given the new Gordon Brown government. Jo Swinson MP spoke about the controversy over the handling of the recent elections in Scotland clearly making the case that it
Bill Jones - otherwise known as The Skipper - has a photograph of L.T. Hobhouse. He's the one on the right of the front row with the splendid dark moustache. He rather reminds me of a young Lord Bonkers.
The Independent on Sunday quotes what it claims is a "private memo for Sir Menzies and his senior lieutenants," written by Ed Davey. Most of the report covers the need for Ming to appear "hyperactive". But it also lists a number of Tory seats that the memo believes look more vulnerable than they did six months ago: CR [Lord Rennard, the party's election guru] cautious as usual, but key ones we should move up our Tory hitlist include: St Albans, Wells, North Wiltshire, Mid Sussex and Broadlands.
Well, I'm delighted to say that the Liberal Democrat Conference got underway in fine style, with the first debate being on Finchley & Golders Green's motion opposing the proposed academic boycott of Israel. The motion (which I must confess to having drafted!) was passed by a large majority after an excellent debate, in which three senior Parliamentarians spoke strongly against a boycott. An example of our party at its best, uniting in defence of academic freedom and a balanced, fair-minded approach to the Israel/Palestine situation. Got to Brighton last night after a long day on a stall at a major ...
There was a well-attended consultation session on Europe this morning at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton, chaired by former diplomat Sir Colin Budd. He is heading the working party currently refining the party’s position on Europe, with a target date of next September. Among the questions addressed by speakers from both the invited panel and the floor was how to ’sell’ Europe to our often Euro-sceptic electorate, especially given the anti-European vitriol of so much of the Press. Just as the people in ‘The Life of Brian’ demanded, ‘What have the Romans done for us?’, many Britons are now asking, ‘What has ...
Well here I am in Brighton for the Liberal Democrats Autumn conference. Brighton is my favourite conference venue, the weather is sunny, if a bit windy, and i've already run across several old friends so I am in a good mood. It was last year's conference that provided the main impetus for starting this blog. So this year I am going to try and blog my way through conference. I haven't tried the
The City Council has advised me that, because of repairs being carried out by Scottish Water, vehicles will not be able to drive northbound on West Marketgait between the Hawkhill by-pass and Lochee Road next Sunday (23rd September) for one day only. Pedestrian access is unaffected. If you have any queries, please contact the Planning & Transportation Department on 433168.
There’s something strangely comforting about watching Liberal Democrats dealing with procedural matters, so it’s apt that the opening item in today’s coverage is the FCC report. It’s also somewhat nostalgic for me, since Sunday was the only day of Conference I could watch last year and so most of what I saw was the reports. Of course, it’s also a little weird watching speeches on reports you can’
Time was, a trip to London on the Oxford Tube (actually a bus) meant 1.5 hours of seclusion from the internet, time to sit back and read, think or just zone out. No longer. It’s wifi-ed up, and I’m clinically incapable, it appears, of leaving my laptop be. I’m en route to Brighton for the Lib Dem conference. Last year, I was a first-time rookie, and had carefully planned ahead exactly which 
In today’s video from Liberal Democrat conference, Ming Campbell previews the opening night rally on civil liberties and human rights, where he will be speaking alongside the party’s Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg, Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty and Philippe Sands QC.
Welcome to the 30th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (9th-15th September), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. And two stories dominated this week’s listings: mayors and Ming: 1. Brian Paddick: He’s Not the Messiah, He’s a… Very [...]
The deadly virus which is threatening The Spotted Cow on Hither Green Lane is spreading to Rileys snooker hall on the corner of Lewisham High Street and Courthill Road. Residents are already up in arms because The Spotted Cow was sold over the heads of the managers to property developers who are threatening to knock it down and replace it with yet another block of flats. Which would be a crying shame, because it is quite a handsome building and the only boozer on Hither Green Lane. The Spotted Cow has been around since the early 19th Century and thus ...
Have been helping out at the Whitefoot by-election where the Lib Dems were defending a seat in difficult circumstances, rather reminiscent of when we first won Lewisham Central from Labour. We held Whitefoot by 85 votes. So the Council remains balanced, which presumably pleases everyone except Labour. And the National Front who also stood, and got trounced.
Attended the Transport Liaison Group on Tuesday. Wide ranging discussions with the local transport operators, including:The vexed issue of the entrance to Platform 4 at Lewisham station.Pressure on barriers at various rail stations at peak times. We asked whether staff could be given discretion to open these at peak periods. I particularly mentioned Charing Cross, in which I have a vested interested. I asked if a 225 bus stop could be put on Torridon Road so that people going into Lewisham in that area had a choice of the 181 or 225 bus. 
The Highways Agency put an advert in the local papers recently trying to identify previous owners of the Sea Stores site. It was bought during the Second World War. If land has been bought by compulsory purchase - or the threat of it - it has to be offered back to the previous owners or their successors at current market value. Part of the land was owned by the Newmans, and one of the family has now come forward. The Gazette reports that another part was owned by an electrical company that has stopped trading (Could this be another part ...
Last night proved to be yet another thrilling brush with celebrity, as we 'made our presence felt' at a party at which the bassist from Towers of London, perhaps Britain’s most uncompromisingly cretinous band, was also present. You heard me. My flatmate calls them ‘Tower Hamlets,’ which in its own way, is quite funny. And speaking of idiots in British music, on BBC Radio 4 this morning, Neil Spencer reflected on the NME’s adoption of a left-wing editorial stance in the 1980s. He justified the need to address reactionary trends in the music industry, explaining “we had Eric Clapton saying ...
There have been rumours for some time that Noel Edmonds has been house-hunting around here. He's been staying a few miles away while filming Deal or No Deal at Endemol in Bristol. The Gazette now confirms that he's signed a lease for a house in Bitton village. Photo:BBC
The linked story is to one in the Sunday Telegraph which reveals that the increase in numbers of newborns taken into care has actually been accompanied by an increase in deaths of babies from homicide rather than a reduction. To that extent it is clear that the changes in the child protection system are failing to protect children.
My first conference was 25 years ago, in Bournemouth, and coincided with my husband Steve Hitchins and I moving to Islington. Steve was a few months behind me in joining the party, so I was on my own in Bournemouth 1982. It remains my favourite location and the repository of my fondest memories, partly because [...]
Last week the Guardian's Backbencher got excited about the fact that Chris Huhne's photograph appears on the cover of Reinventing the State: And who is the ordinary Lib Dem worker and peasant featured taking part in a demo on the front cover? Though the photo has been artily bleached, it looks a bit like Chris Huhne MP, the runner-up for Sir Ming's job last time. Were the Ming Dynasty to crumble soon, he might still be in with a shout.A party insider assures me that there is an Innocent explanation. The designer, a political innocent, chose the photograph because he ...
Good bankers, like good tea, can only be appreciated when they are in hot water - Jaffer Hussein (1931-1998).Thanks to Very British Subjects.
This morning, Ming Campbell met with leading Liberal Democrat bloggers in Brighton, giving them the chance to question him on a variety of issues. The five bloggers are all shortlisted for the party’s Blog of the Year Award, which will be awarded at a ceremony this evening. Ming answered questions on a wide range of topics, including Europe, the party’s key messages for general election and his first eighteen months as leader. {Ming meeting with the bloggers} Clockwise from left: Alex Wilcock, Jonathan Calder, Ming, Mark Webster who chaired the session, James Graham, Richard Flowers and Paul Walter.
I am in Brighton and have just taken part in Ming Campbell's "Meet the Bloggers" session. This was essentially a press conferences with the five people shortlisted for the Lib Dem Blog of the year award. I shall write it up shortly, but there are no startling revelations to report and we bloggers behaved much like any other journalists would. Still, it is good that the party is making the effort to connect with bloggers and it is clear that they read us closely at Cowley Street - even if nobody else does. Thanks to Ming's official site for the ...
It's annual conference time again and I think we must have brought the warm sunshine with us from the westcountry to Brighton because sitting on the front just off the beach enjoying a glass of wine f...
It is starting to become clear that Argentina did in fact win the Falklands War back in the 80’s and secretly took over the United Kingdom. The first evidence of our having become a Latin American nation emerged in the Eva Peron style treatment of the death of Princess Diana. Now we see massive queues of worried small investors trying to recover all their money in cash as the banking system catches a cold. If the next demonstration against the Government in London brings out hordes of people banging pots and pans the we’ll have the final proof we need ...
The financial burden of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is secretly crippling the Israeli economy. But the price exacted by 40 years of occupation goes beyond a monetary debt – no more so than in Hebron. 40 years of West Bank occupation are causing Israel and Palestine to fragment. The Biblical imperative that settlers use [...]
With the news that Colin McRae's helicopter has crashed and he is feared dead, it seems, yet again, to highlight what a dangerous thing a helicopter is. The number of helicopter deaths seems to be rising, at least my anecdotal noting of reports of helicopter crashes leads me to that conclusion. Whatever the case, this death, and those of his friends is a great shame. Colin McRae was a real motorsport legend, a genuinely exceptional talent.
The press cuttings were delivered to my hotel room this morning. A quick flick through told me that David Owen (aka Dr Death) was making a reappearance on the political stage. Sadly for Dr Death, he is a figure that has now been largely forgotten by the good people of the UK. Instead of a front line political career in the Lib Dems when the SDP and Liberals merged in 1988, Dr Death (middle name
On Andrew Marr's programme this morning Ming rejoiced in telling Andrew Marr that the Lib Dems had "pushed the Tories in to second place in Ealing and Sedgefield" THIRD PLACE Ming, THIRD !!!!
Nick Clegg did a good job of defending Ming's position on the EU constitution this morning on GMTV, although this may well be that as a former MEP Nick thinks as Ming does on this subject even if the feeling is that the membership and parliamentary party would prefer a referendum There was, however, one answer to a question that stood out for me, and that was when he stressed his continued support for Ming. In answer to the Steve Richards question "There are continuing questions, in some ways they've intensified rather than gone away, about the leadership of Ming ...
The sun is shining on the Liberal Democrats in Brighton as we prepare to embark on yet another frenetic week of politicking and carousing. Unfortunately, I have to travel back to Cardiff first thing on Tuesday morning so as to debate the very important topic of affordable housing in the Senedd Chamber. My share of the fun therefore will be limited to just two days. Lots of speculation in the press about the future of Sir Menzies Campbell but a sense amongst representatives that this is yesterday's news. Ming himself makes it clear in an interview with the Observer that ...
According to Ed Balls in today's Observer 'the government has no policy to increase the number' of faith schools. What, since when? One of the driving forces behind Labour's schools policy in the last couple of years has been to increase the number and diversity of faith schools in order to increase parental choice (assuming the parents aren't humanists of course). If they don't want to increase
Reading reports about Adam Price's extraordinary speech to his party's conference yesterday one is left wondering where exactly Plaid Cymru think they are going at a UK level. For some reason the text of the speech is not on the party's website nor that of Adam Price himself, however the gist of it seems to be that the nationalists are now setting themselves up as potential coalition partners with Labour at a UK level. Mr. Price believes that the most likely outcome of the next General Election is a hung Parliament. He is a bit miffed that Gordon Brown has ...
Last month I posted about the Box of Tricks the Campaigns Department got me as a leaving present. I hadn't got the first pictures of me flying it off the camera until last night. Here I am on Blackheath, Pip is sat in a very dangerous spot!
After a couple of frustrating weeks things are looking better. A bit of dodgy kerb that has been causing wheelchair users problems down by the Shell garage, has been fixed. Ming is moving towards a referendum on EEC membership. Its not that I'm anti Europe, just a bit unhappy about the way its gone over the last ten years. Its been thirty odd years since we joined and its changed from the original trading group plan. A referendum would clear the air. And the Guardian says that curly haired men and black suits are in. So it's of to Conference ...
This blog is in danger of becoming a show case for the best TV advertising Love it!
From BBC News: Liberal Democrat president Simon Hughes said the party was "united" despite low poll ratings and doubts over Sir Menzies' position. Yep, we're all united behind Ming... with a knife in our hands.
At the Lib Dem conference in Brighton this Monday (11.25 am), Women Liberal Democrats will be proposing a motion focusing on Women in Prison. The full text of the motion is reproduced below. Debbie Enever, Vice-Chair of WLD, explains why the issue needs to be addressed: Sometimes people need to be treated differently to be treated [...]
Malcolm Rifkind seems to have been designated as the Tory attack dog. I never thought I would hear a Tory grandee, such as Rifkind, attacking Maggie Thatcher and accusing her of, among other things, being "brazen".
According to the Independent, the LibDems are pouring money into North Wiltshire, as a top possibility for a seat gain at the next election (the Tory MP there had an affair while his wife had cancer.) The internal paper quoted also mentions these seats as needing to be prioritised: St Albans, Wells, Mid Sussex and Broadlands. Ed Davey also tells Ming and the front bench that "hyperactivity is
Mr Huhne is very busy at the moment. In the Sunday Telegraph he says: As a party we need to be more ambitious. We are every bit as capable of running an effective government as the Tories or Labour. We should not be hiding our light under a bushel. We should be going out there to say we are ready and want to put Liberal principles into practice.
Conference is a bit of a tough challenge for Ming. We've got Lord Rodgers (remember him? - nice old cove) talking about "lack of energy and absence of direction" The BBC say: One poll of 130 Liberal Democrat constituency association chairmen found that nearly a third were not convinced Sir Menzies was doing well. However, when you look at the detail it is not exactly a "slam dunk" finding. 9
On September 4th I mused: It could be that Brown has a cunning plan. Speculate about an October election. Get Cameron firing off all his salvoes in the form of his various policy initiatives. Then don't call an autumn election and pick and choose the best of Cameron's initiatives and implement them as government policy before the actual election next spring, or whenever. Clever that. No sooner
Of course bankers, we know, ruleown the world. And they will stop at nothing, ultimately, to keep the rest of us from really understanding what's been going on these last few weeks but with one predicting, according to the Sunday Times, that the run on Northern Rock, which is what it undeniably is, could go as far as savers removing up to £12bn, it's worth a little reminder of what that number amounts to. Going, going, gone! There's only £50bn of the stuff in existence. Originally uploaded by Ste D I'm sure not everyone is demanding cold hard cash with ...
Greetings from the south coast. The weather was glorious today so as soon as I arrived at the hotel I dumped my bags and headed out. There can’t be many better places to be in Britain when the sun is shining? It was great to see so many familiar faces wandering around the streets - everyone easily identifiable by their yellow lanyards! Following a short stay at the Brighton Centre to register and pick up my *shudder* ID card, I spent some time flicking through the various brochures etc to try and make a rough plan for the week. There ...
"Off to Brighton tomorrow night! I truly wish I could have got down today but it's a measure of how busy I've been this past week that on Saturday night about half past six it suddenly dawned on me that... oh yes, today is my birthday isn't it! Very excited by some of the discussions we will be having in Brighton around constitutional change (surely requires a whole conference in itself if Iknow my fellow party members), the Middle East (my special subject) and particularly by Tuesday's 9.00 debate on the devolution of planning powers to local authorities. This is ... | < | September 2007 | > | ||||
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