Is it just me or do both Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg sound pretty croaky at the moment? They both sound as if they are still recovering from the cold that was going round party conference. If they are, they have my sympathy. I got that bug and it was bloody nasty. Share This 
A few weeks ago, the political blogosphere united to condemn the actions of Alisher Usmanov and his lawyers for attempting to shut down Craig Murray’s blog. We were right to do so; what made Usmanov’s actions particularly reprehensible was the way he used the law to intimidate Murray’s hosting company while cowardly avoiding a fight with Murray’s publisher who had already printed the allegations two years previously. Now, Ben Goldacre draws our attention to another attempt to shut down a blogger. This time the fight is between a scientist and the Society of Homeopathy. Andy Lewis‘ allegations seem quite straightforward. ...
A Fair Trade Extravaganza organised by our Church gave an opportunity to do some shopping, that makes sure that disadvantaged producers in the third world are getting a better deal. I don't want to gain notoriety amongst bloggers for being the first to mention Christmas, but I do now have a cake, pud ingredients, and some cards. Lots of choice on all the stalls, have a look on the Fair Trade...
15-6 was a fair enough result and I do think Cueto's foot was in touch, but it still hurts to have been close for so long and for it all to slip away because of a couple of silly penalties. Oh well, at least Quins won.
James Watson, Nobel prize for discovering DNA (thanks to Rosalind Franklin’s research), got himself in trouble by suggesting in an interview with the Independent that blacks are less intelligent than whites. This is only the latest in a series of very unscientific statements. As detailed in the Independent, In 1997 he suggested in a newspaper interview that a woman should have the right to abort
It is often argued that football would benefit from having more decisions made by referee with the aid of a video in front of them in order to review decisions. This has proved extremely accurate in cricket, but it appears from the evidence of tonight's Rugby World Cup Final that there is sufficient evidence to question the validity of video refs. Despite England being second best overall in tonight's rugby, what was clear was that England scored a legitimate try early on in the second half that would have put England in the lead and would have changed the game ...
Got back late yesterday from a couple of days running a Conference in Grangemouth to the usual pile of phone messages, e-mails, etc... Thanks to Janet who stood in for me at my surgeries on Thursday (on basis that I can't be in two places at once!) As you can see (right) I was run off my feet ... (actually I was!) Spent some time today delivering flyers for the folk who are trying to set up a community group for the Ancrum/Pentland/Cleghorn/Polepark area to advertise their public meeting next Wednesday to discuss local issues. Meeting is at Balgay Church ...
Well, the leadership contest is well and truly under way even though nominations haven't yet closed and no-one is yet officially nominated. Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg have hit the ground running as the saying goes. Strangely, considering that we've just had an extremely good conference which set our policies very clearly for the future of Britain and in which both Chris and Nick were very
The answer to that question seems to be the Tories. Not only is there a thread on Politicalbetting.com asking whether the Tories should be afraid of Nick Clegg, but a few days ago, the ever-reliable Simon Heffer wrote in the Telegraph that "in answer to the question of which of them the Conservative Party would less like to see running the Liberal Democrats, the answer has to be unequivocally Mr Clegg." But last night I was out for a few beers with a Tory friend of mine and our conversation naturally turned to the Lib Dem leadership election. He was ...
Its election time in Poland and it looks like a close battle between the ruling conservative 'law and Justice' party and the Liberal conservative pro-european modernising Civic party. I know who I'll be supporting, Poland's 'law and order' government has become a bit of a joke in European circles due to its ridiculous right wing tendencies: anti-abortion, pro death penalty and rather divisive on social issues in general. Although I hardly find the civic party too appealing it would be nice to have people who don't consider homosexuals as second class citizens in power. 
Right, I feel like I've started to catch up with the blogging again after lunchtime's efforts. Finished delivering leaflets for the day now too, so an evening off. It definitely has been a busy few weeks, keeping up with casework (bins, strange smells, traffic, planning applications etc) has taken up the few bits of spare time I've had around work and Council. I also had to miss the first Fortismere governors meeting since Haringey Labour sacked their three representatives - as it was on Monday night and directly clashed with Full Council. So I need to go through the minutes ...
Tresor Kandol celebrated his new contract with a 79th minute winner at Brighton. In a match that lacked passion and atmosphere United ground out their first victory at the Withdean Stadium. The team, who seem to have been low in confidence during recent games, were not playing well with many passes going astray. However, they pulled off another late result and that is what counts. If you can snatch winning goals when you are not playing well it makes all the difference. 10 wins and two draws now puts us within two points of the playoffs and we have nearly ...
`He has the depth of understanding of key issues that Britain needs at this difficult point in our history. He is willing to stand up for what he believes in - and it is his deeply held Liberal values and beliefs that strike a real chord with me.` So says Candy Piercey. Great - so did Ming. We have new distinctive policies and gravitas till it comes out of our ears. None of this means a bean to me unless it can be communicated to Joe and Joanna Soap in Stockport. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again - I’m sure ...
This term kicked off with a new school in the Neighbourhood. Buckland Infants and Moor Lane Juniors have amalgamated to form Castle Hill Primary. The school officially opened two weeks ago. Now there are lots of sound educational reasons for preferring an all-through primary school to separate infant and junior schools - the whole teaching team can work together to provide a suitable...
Is Huhne pitching for Vince Cable’s job? In this article in the Independent, Huhne invokes Clinton’s “It’s the Economy, Stupid” manta as support of his claim that his real life economics experience makes him best placed to take on Brown. I have an alternative suggestion. No-one expects Treasury Spokesmen, or Shadow Chancellors or Chancellors of the Exchequer to be charismatic, dynamic individuals. People want dull, dependable and trustworthy. Perhaps if Huhne isn’t successful in his Leadership bid, this is the job for him? Perhaps Huhne is wanting to move away from the Environment brief he currently holds? Of course, the ...
I suppose honesty is a virtue: I’m getting into exactly the kind of debate that would fill an LSE lecture hall and keep the public watching Rebecca Loos make a pig ejaculate. The path we chose was the academic’s polar opposite without the farmyard. So there you have it. The limits of the Ministry of Truth’s ambitions was to make a programme with the news values of the basest example of reality TV anyone could think of, in the name of populism. And even then the best slot they could get was 11pm on BBC2. Wonderful. Share This
Carlotta Luke's Happyfeet Urban Design web site has gone live at http://www.happyfeet-urbandesign.com/Home.html. It's a proposal for improving traffic flows in Lewes, based on her Masters degree dissertation.
On the Nick Clegg For Leader Facebook group, I found this written by “Tina Louise” as response to the question, “why would Nick make a good leader of the Lib Dems?” I have one reason that is from first hand knowledge - he communicates like a normal person and not like a politician. He has answered a few of my questions via email over the past year and each time - made sense, answered honestly and made the read easy. I have received replies from only a few other politicians and each has consisted of either spin, waffle or hollow, ...
Such is internal party communication that I wasn't invited to the Leeds launch of this Campaign ( Sniff, fights back a tear). Reading this weeks "Leeds Student" www.leedsstudent.org.uk Ed Davey seems to have done us proud at an event at Leeds University Union. The web link is www.standuptobullying.org I have made my head hurt deciding whether the slogan is an edgy post modern triumph or an example of what they are complaining about in the first place. However if I can live with Poptastics " You've got to be Queer to get in here" then I really shouldn't grumble. However ...
Well done to the idiot whe was in charge of the Merseyside Derby today. Never before has a referee dictated the result so much in a game. He awardee a penalty and a red card against Everton for no reason except for the fact that Steven Gerrard fell over. He failed to send Kuyt off for a clear red card offence and he missed at least two clear Everton penalties. To be fair to the ref, his red scarf did keep blowing in front of his eyes. What an absolute pillock.
For convenience of access I post up here both the video and text of Mr Clegg’s speech from yesterday morning (I’m afraid the video, which is from YouTube, is missing just the first couple of paragraphs of the speech). I would like to say a few words about my plans for the future. But before I do, I would like to pay tribute to my close friend and colleague Menzies Campbell. Ming is a man of integrity, honour and decency. Over the years he has also shown himself to be a man of impeccable judgement and extraordinary political courage. He ...
During the last Lib Dem leadership election I voted for Chris Huhne. I believed we shared the same views on a wide range of issues and I was very impressed how he articulated these, often with passion, on television and during the hustings I attended in Brentwood. The only concern I had with Chris was the size of his majority, currently less than 1000 votes. I was worried that the
An advantage journalists have in dealing with the media is that they understand how journalists think. Hence either Chris or Nick is likely to do a good job as far as Public Relations go. The problem, however, is that the conventional wisdom within the media as to "what should be done" is: a) Not necessarily something that will achieve the objective. b) Not necessarily something politically
Despite being a Scotland supporter, I have just about talked myself into backing England in tonight's rugby world cup final. My reasoning is as follows. Last night's third place play off, in which Argentina convincingly beat France, was excellent for its own sake, showing the coming of age of a rugby nation outside the traditional eight 'founder nations'. But it also means that if Argentina beat the French by 24 points, whereas they only beat Scotland by 6, then clearly the Scots are 18 points better than France. By contrast England only beat France by 5 points, which makes Scotland ...
Am I the only one who finds it quite confusing that LibDems4Chris is written by a guy called Nick? For the record, I really am still genuinely undecided. My assessment is that Chris is the better strategist and Nick is the better communicator. Nick will win my vote if he can convince me he has some idea about how the party must organise and Chris will win my vote if he can overcome his seemingly poor reputation within certain parts of the media. The latter is important because certain journalists really do seem to have their knives out for him ... 
In January I reported that a wireless network had been installed in the Stiperstones Inn as part of a scheme to bring internet access to remote parts of rural Shropshire. I decided to investigate the scheme on your behalf. I am writing his post in the pub, a half of Stirling from the Three Tuns brewery in Bishop's Castle at my elbow, and I can report that the network works very well. The Stiperstones Inn also has a female cat called Skittles, incidentally.
This week Phil Upton’s breakfast show played host to a commuter challenge - the results of which make very interesting reading. Four people were challenged to travel from Wolverhampton to Birmingham in the morning rush hour. One by car, one by bus, one by metro (tram) and one by bike. What’s fascinating is the two quickest commuters were using the two most environmentally friendly methods. The first to arrive at Birmingham’s BBC studios at the Mailbox was the metro rider, in 55 minutes. A surprising second place went to the cyclist, in 1 hour, 25 mins. The car journey took ...
Moving with a speed previously unknown up at the Hospital, they have deleted the video I linked to in the previous post. A shame, but impressive. Perhaps the new Management are more efficient than the last lot. Implies that someone is reading my blog, though. Finishes off a bit of a poor week really. My motion that the City Council hold monthly surgeries out on the Farmers Market, you know, meet actual people, was defeated by the old dead party (Independents), and my piece on Radio Cornwall finally got broadcast at 7 o'clock Saturday morning. As if anyone is listening ...
Now, I am in no way condoning graffiti - indeed, getting the Council to put more effort into removing unsightly graffiti has been a successful campaign for Haringey Lib Dems over the years. But this graffiti, less than two inches tall, on the wall of a shop near my office, is surely nicer than your average scribble. I often wonder who wrote it and hope it was a general comment and not a sign that they'd personally missed out.
You'll probably have seen the news this week: Individuals can no longer be held responsible for obesity and government must act to stop Britain "sleepwalking" into a crisis, a report has concluded.I do agree that society needs to do more to stop obesity rates soaring - and by 'do more' I'm talking about things like funding for sports, clear food labelling, reducing health inequalities and the poverty gap in general. The news centred around saying that it's not the individual's responsibility if they get fat (whether that's a fair analysis of the report itself, I have no idea). But people ...
It looks unlikely that there will be any other candidates joining the race for the Lib Dem leadership following Ming's resignation. So, the choice is going to be Chris Huhne or Nick Clegg. Of other potential candidates, I would have really liked Steve Webb to run - or, of course, my old colleague Julia Goldsworthy. I've already been asked who I will be supporting. It's actually quite easy - Nick. Of course, Lynne is chair of Chris' campaign and has lots of good reasons why she is supporting him, but I've been looking forward to seeing Nick go for the ...
You're the most beautiful girl in the whole....room!
My Lib Dem colleague David Schmitz was selected this week to be our candidate for Tottenham at the next General Election, whenever that it finally called. Congratulations to David, who is a very formidable campaigner. He was instrumental in electing the first Lib Dem councillors in the Tottenham constituency for some time - Cllr Karen Alexander and Cllr Carolyn Baker, who won in Harringay ward. In the election before, the top polling Labour councillor had almost five times as many votes as the bottom placed Lib Dem, with Tories and Greens inbetween - which gives you a clue as to ...
A few months ago there was a lot of guff on the internet about how the Harry Potter failed to properly represent society as there were no gay characters. Never mind that the Harry Potter massively over represented people with magical powers, some people used harry potter as an example of what a homophobic society we live in. Oh dear. So it will come as something of a shock to those people to read that J K Rowling has revealed that Dumbledore is gay.
Having written a post a while back which explained why it wasn't remotely odd that J.K. Rowling hadn't included any gay characters in Harry Potter, i find the revelation today that Dumbledore is gay quite surprising, and to a degree amusing. I mean, if there was going to be one closet gay in Harry Potter, surely Malfoy would have been the most likely candidate? At any rate, those who questioned the lack of gay characters clearly share some common ground with Rowling. Doubtless, this will get that small but vocal minority of Christians who condemned Harry Potter for its 'glorification ...
I’m going out for the day, so won’t be able to see them, but the first unofficial hustings of the campaign take place this afternoon in Newbury. If you’re there, or saw them on television, what did you think of them? How did Chris do? Will it affect how you vote in the election? And as a side-note, someone from one of the press teams (either the party or one of the campaigns) is doing a good job. When I looked initially, this story was just one of the ones on the sidebar, but now it’s the lead story on ...
I was really chuffed by the posting and the comments on the Haringey Blog: Lynne for Lib Dem leader? which is run by the Haringey Independent newspaper. I love it that people even put my name in the frame - but the reality of leadership is gruelling - and right now I would not be ready for such a role. But it warmed the cockles and it's always nice to have your cockles warmed.
Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne will go head-to-head at the South Central Regional Conference in Newbury, Berkshire today. I’m sure it will be carried on News24, so if anyone can enlighten us in the comments as to when the hustings is due to start (for some reason News Online systematically deny their readers information like this) [...]
This story appears in the Guardian and other places: Commenting on the resignation of Northern Rock’s chairman Matt Ridley, Liberal Democrat Acting Leader and Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP said: “The Government should have made Mr Ridley’s departure a condition of its loan, rather than waiting for him to go. “Furthermore there are other directors, including Derek [...]
The news that Charles Kennedy's old team are backing Chris Huhne has been used by some as a rallying cry for other to back Chris Huhne's leadership campaign. However, I am not so sure. As I understand it from books, articles ,various newpaper reports and having spoken to people with some knowledge of the issue, some in Kennedy's team when he was leader have to share some responsibility for keeping his alcoholism under wraps. But in doing so, there was a deep problem in the Kennedy camp. The reason why many Lib Dem MP's felt it was time to speak ...
{burma-monks-protest.jpg} Ever since South Vietnamese monks set themselves alight in the streets of Saigon in the 1960s, in protest at their oppressive government and the Vietnam War, I’ve been impressed by the ways that the superficially powerless make their message heard in the face of totalitarianism. Four decades later, I’m astounded at the ongoing ingenuity of some non-violent action. The latest is the campaign by Lanna Action for Burma, encouraging women around the world to send their underwear — clean or dirty — to the generals in charge of the particularly nasty regime in power in Burma, which has recently cracked ...
I haven't really blogged much about the dreadful time the tenants of the Chocolate Factory - the wonderful artist colony - have been having (though see previous posting here). I won't lay out the whole story - but the long and the short of it currently is that the tenants have been issued with new licenses for their tenancy which must be signed within seven days. If not they will be booted out. I don't know if this is the result of a panic because of the workshop with the London Development Agency scheduled for November 8th being almost upon ...
This morning's Western Mail reports that homeowners in Wales are paying nearly twice as much in monthly mortgage repayments as they did five years ago. People's average monthly mortgage cost has rocketed from £201 to £465 since 2002. This figure represents 18.8% of Wales’ average joint take-home income. In many ways this should not be a surprise. There has been a huge and sustained increase in house prices over the last few years that has led to people borrowing more and more to get onto the housing ladder. Lenders have responded to this crisis by relaxing their rules as to ...
If I were a student still, and I have been a student under "New Labour", given the extra-ordinary debts students now have, Labour's broken promises when they pledged that they would introduce legislation to "prevent tuition fees", and subsequently introduced them, I would take little solice from Labour appointing a Minister for Students. If Ministers actually worked in the interests of those they are supposed to represent, then it my be a cause for some joy, but anyone who has any experience of this Labour government knows that Minister's are there to make cuts in the right places, make excuses ...
Yesterday morning I discovered that North East England is in the top 30 "must visit" places in the world, according to a Lonely Planet Guide. It ranks alongside Mumbai and other (to us) exotic places for its wonderful countryside, historic architecture sitting alongside modern icons like the Sage, and amazing events including SIRF. Well done, us! Meanwhile we continue to struggle at home with
I am still hoping they'll be more candidates, but I am carefully considering the ones declared so far. Here goes with two studiously balanced comments on the candidates so far in strict alphabetical order. Nick Clegg - I am looking for his "Great Reform" speech on video. Does anyone know where I can find it? I have read and watched his launch speech in Sheffield. The words are good and I like
Just off to the first Euro Hustings in Yorkshire today (in Sheffield this morning and in Leeds later). Given that the ballot packs which included details of the hustings venues and times only seemed to arrive across the region yesterday, I will be very interested to see how many members are able to attend. I am not expecting more than a dozen at each. I will post later on how it went.
So here we are, World Cup final day. I'm sure I'm not the only bloke (and quite a few ladies too) who has woken up with a knot of apprehension in his stomach this morning. In fact its been building for several days. It is fair to say that for once the taxpayer did not get their money's worth out of me this week. This week has been different to the last couple. Having witnessed our thrashing to
Originally posted: 19 October 2007, 10.27am. Thus far, it has looked like Nick Clegg has been getting it all his own way with regard to getting public support from the party establishment. The support of Steve Webb and Paddy Ashdown are, for differing reasons, clearly coups. But he hasn’t entirely had it his own way. I understand that both Anna Werrin and Dick Newby - the key figures of the Charles Kennedy leadership team - have joined Chris Huhne’s campaign. Is this tacit endorsement of the former leader himself? Both have remained close to him. UPDATE: Late news here, but ...
As far as I understand it, Huhne and Clegg have an agreement in place that they will not go negative or open up large policy divides in this leadership contest. This, from a pragmatic point of view, makes the contest rather dull from the point of view of those outside the party - the perception being that this is, in fact, a beauty contest and little else. But the alternative - a bitter, acrimonious battle that opens up huge fault lines in the party would be a complete disaster for whoever wins. My feeling is that if lib dems members ...
A warm welcome to the TeeT-Shirts Shop in Cradley Heath, selling an interesting range of Black Country inspired tops! Here’s my favourites…
Life was moving along at its normal (hectic) pace with work to fret about and babies to take up the rest of my time and then….. the Ming went on Monday of this week. And since then it has been all hands to the pump getting the Nick Clegg for Leader campaign up and running. Ah, the fine unpredictability of politics - utterly addictive for a particular kind of adrenaline junkie, amongst whom I guess I should count my number, however strenuously I try to kick the habit.
This posting is dedicated to Liberal Democrat Eastern Region Campaigns Officer Ian Horner. Ian is ex-RAF, and is addicted to Vulcans. I remember as a child going to Biggin Hill Battle of Britain Air Shows at the RAF base. I was awe struck by the Vulcans, I wondered how that huge monster stayed in the sky, but the engine roar told you how. They were not only huge monsters, but also amazingly
Saturday 20 October 2007 is "Standby Saturday", a campaign to see the first nationwide overnight switch-off of non-essential appliances, such as TV's, home computers and mobile phone chargers, with the aim of significantly reducing the amount of energy wasted by standby power. The Standby Saturday campaign is not just about one night of course! We all need to get into the habit of switching off
A few days ago I said the leadership contest should offer members a range of options. Which is why I am a signatory on this letter to MPs.
Wednesday: It is the duty of a party leader to ATTACK THE ENEMY! So here goes… Oh very fluffy dear – the Conservatories are headed back to Mr Peter Lilley territory. Do you remember the nineteen-nineties when he "got a little list" (I THINK that that is not a EUPHEMISM)? He sang a little song before SLASHING benefits for single mothers? Now, Mr Balloon announces that he will "Make Poverty History"… by SLASHING benefits for the long-term sick. How the BLUE BLAZES is THAT going to help make poverty history… except in the sense of returning to HISTORICAL levels of ... | < | October 2007 | > | ||||
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