BBC1 is promising an "explosive" interview with Gordon Brown on Sunday AM tomorrow. Baked beans for breakfast perhaps? And the Observer reports that Gordon Brown has a vision for a "dangerous" year ahead: Gordon Brown today issues a powerful declaration that 2008 will decide the fate of his premiership as he pledges to push through a series of controversial decisions that will shape Britain for 
The Times reports that when Hilary Clinton attempted to go a bit negative at a New Hampshire she was booed and then Barack Obama followed and got cheers. And the Guardian reports that Obama is riding a wave into New Hampshire: The traffic jams and long queues of people standing in the snow round Nashua North High school, New Hampshire, today testified to the phenomenon that Barack Obama has
Philip Wilkinson at English Buildings celebrates the Oxfordshire village of Great Tew: The village is actually the creation of the early-19th century, when the estate was remodelled and the village became a star feature in the landscape. Thatched roofs were fitted or repaired, Gothic details added to the cottages, trees and hedges planted. The result is an uncanny combination of model estate village and old England.But there is more to the village's story than that. I visited Great Tew nearly 30 years ago and many of the cottages were derelict; some even had trees growing up through their decaying roofs. ...
You'll need RealPlayer to view but the clip from BBC Scotland on Dundee politics is well worth a listen. The politics of Dundee, including what Dundonians thought of local MP Winston Churchill. Click on the headline above.
I suppose this has to count as a result of a sort. The News & Star reports that a leading member of Carlisle City Council’s Labour group is to quit the party and stand down as a councillor because he has become disenchanted with mainstream politics. John Reardon, who was the Labour candidate when Tim Farron gained Westmorland & Lonsdale at the last election, told the paper: “The defining moment for me was when I read a transcript of Nick Clegg’s speech [when elected leader of the Liberal Democrats].“It was indistinguishable from the speech Tony Blair gave when he became ...
If Presidential candidates were stock gives a twist to the recent coverage on the election.
Lib Dem Voice ran an article yesterday on Nick Clegg's new media spokesperson, Hannah Gardiner, who was appointed as Lib Dem Head of Media in May of last year. A party press officer was quoted in the Independent as saying: "Puja has decided it was just time to move on and do something else. She was hired when Menzies Campbell was leader and so often these appointments are linked to specific personalities. For the time being, Hannah's appointment is still an 'acting' role but I wouldn't be surprised if that changed in the very near future." While this is a ...
The final season of The Wire has begun in the USA. It arrives in the UK in the summer but can only be seen on FX via cable, satellite or Tiscali's Homechoice. If you haven't seen any of it, see it. If you want to understand American politics, see it. If you want to understand American society, see it. And if you can't see FX then get it on DVD. Slate, the online magazine has republished an article about season four, The Wire on Fire, which explains why this is such an important piece of television. It isn't just that ...
{London Young Labour Press Release on Jo Swinson} They teach airbrushing technique young in the Labour Party it seems. You may recall, dear reader, that I took Chair of London Young Labour Omar Salem to task before Christmas for manufacturing a story about the Lib Dem reshuffle by selectively quoting this website and getting a whole heap of facts wrong, a story which sadly Independent Political Editor Andrew Grice allowed himself to be taken in by. Now it would appear that Omar has gone back and tried to destroy all the evidence of his stupidity. Of course, that leaves me ...
I've turned into an old fart. I sit here and hanker for the old days. The particular theme of my hankering at the moment is about measuring the success of the economy, and, specifically, annoyance about the currently elevated role of house prices in gauging the success of the economy. In essence, I couldn't care a "flying bat's fart" (phrase copyright: Nick Clegg) about house prices. If they go 
Peter Dunphy wrote an interesting post last week about the limitations of Political Compass. Of course, in the blogosphere there is very little new under the virtual sun, and this was a topic of debate 5 years ago. The late and much missed Chris Lightfoot was a great critic of the application and wrote his own version, along with this explanation. Entirely open source, it is ripe for someone to adapt and inflict on Facebook. Having said that, I’m not sure Chris would have approved of this in light of Facebook’s somewhat lax attitude towards user privacy - I do ...
One of the more annoying trends of the past few months has been the rise of the spamblog. I’m not sure if that is the correct term for them (although I notice at least one other person refer to them as such), but they are those weblogs, apparently entirely bot created which do nothing other than steal/reference other people’s blog posts in the hope of going up the Google ratings. I don’t know if it is simply that this site has become more popular of late, but I’ve been bombarded with them recently. Where they get annoying is you end ...
A few months ago I found myself watching BBC Parliament. The Home Affairs Select Committee was on so I reached for our remote control quickly. I had never caught a committee before so thought I would be bored senseless. I flicked around to a few other channels before cursing the lack of entertainment and switching the parliament channel back on. A guy was in the middle of a statement about black kids needing better role models. He was telling the committee how the increase in family breakdown and the higher likelihood of black kids failing at school meant that they ...
I went over to help in the Newton Action day today ahead for the by-election on 24 January. Kay Allcock is the Liberal Democrat candidate, we are defending the ward after the sad death of Martyn Smith last year.
Today was the annual Lib Dem Council Group away day. Calling it an “away day” is slightly misleading because we went no further “away” than the St Margaret’s Community Centre, Prestwich. No tropical beaches and pina coladas for us, unfortunately. Still, it was nice for the group to get together and discuss where we’ve come from, where we’re going, and what the challenges and opportunities are going to be for the next twelve months. From elections to referendums, and committee places to more leaflets than it is ever possible to contemplate, it’s certainly going to be a hectic 2008. We ...
As you may just have guessed from some of my previous blog postings about Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs), I'm not exactly a fan. As I've written on Liberal Democrat Voice today: But the point at which I draw the line in defending my profession [politics] is Prime Minister’s Questions. What an awful testosterone-fuelled bear pit of badly behaved boys (and it is overwhelmingly boys!) that is! ... In the absence of a few ASBOs being dished out to the serial hecklers and shouters, what then is to be done? For my suggestions - you'll have to go and read the ...
9th October 2001 was the last time before today. As I wasn't that frequent an attender at Almondvale then let alone a trip to Pittodrie which is where Livingston last scored 6 in a match. One player appeared on both occasions. Scott McCulloch came on as a sub for Livi back in 2001 but was today again wearing yellow this time that of Morton's change strip. I know I started a chant for 6 goals a
Well, Nick Clegg will spend his 41st birthday on Monday preparing for his first big test. The timely intervention of Christmas has given him a little respite and opportunity to recharge his batteries. No doubt he has been working out his formidable intellect, practising his jokes, limbering up for the anticipated challenges. Many will be watching closely, will he glide through this close examination with the kind of ease I demonstrated on the ice skating ring last night? Will he demonstrate his prowess as a giant among men and women? Will he stamp his authority with indelible ink in such ...
{James Purnell at the Last Supper} James Purnell is quoted in the Guardian today as saying: “When Brian [McMaster, a former director of the Edinburgh International Festival who wrote a policy review to be published on Thursday commissioned by Purnell] talks about the potential for a new Renaissance, I don’t think that’s an overstatement. It’s exactly true.” There can be only one response to that (pictured). On a slightly more serious note, and we will clearly have to wait for the full report, but the suggestion that a) a renaissance can be contained within national borders and b) that it ...
One of the most interesting things about the Iowa caucuses was the sharply increased turnout, notably on the Democratic side. The pundits are putting this down mainly to the participation of Barack Obama, who seems to be attracting many younger people to his cause. Certainly, with three strong candidates competing for the Democratic nomination, this [...]
10am, Sunday Live, Sky, 6th January. (This previous post tells you how you can get advanced warning of such media appearances via the web, email or an RSS feed).
If you want to make lots of money and you are retailer, there is one easy way to do it. Sell Gift vouchers. It is estimated by the BBC that £225 million worth of gift vouchers are not redeemed every year. There are just left lying in drawers. So the retailers make £225 million just for creating some card and giving it to an eager present-giver. In addition they make about £13 million in interest
Lord Tom McNally, Lib Dem leader in the House of Lords has drawn LDV’s attention to a paper by Dr Meg Russell, a senior research fellow in the Constitution Unit at University College London. Dr Russell has analysed results from the Unit’s public opinion survey on factors influencing the legitimacy of the House of Lords, [...]
I watched the Iowa Caucus on Thursday night and was extremely pleased to see that Obama won the Democratic nomination. I think that he will be a great President of the US and will do away with some of the Washington baggage which most of the other candidates will bring to the job. However there is a worrying amount of people talking about his race as a major issue. They are probably right, as
The YSD, Young Social Democrats and its sister organisation SDP Students enjoyed short lives between 1982 and 1987 and splintered hopelessly in the merger - yet the legacy of the intake of the groups is quite remarkable with influence in no less than 5 different political parties and none... If you look at the membership lists at point of 'destruction' in early 1988 you can find (with appropriate colour coded links: Shami Chakrabarti (now Director, Liberty) an exec member; Paul Staines, now the leading blogger 'Guido Fawkes'. Mark Oaten MP, who ran the Watford branch; Paul Burstow MP, defeated in ... 
Leeds United made five changes for the game against Northampton Town. Amongst them were new signing, Aussie International, Neil Kilkenny, making his debut and striker Tore Andre Flo, who started the game in place of Tresor Kandol. With the crowd subdued for the first 20 minutes United had 65-75% of the possession without any real chances. The Cobblers seemed content with defending and the first real chance fell in the 22nd minute when a shot by Flo from 12 yards was cleared off the line. Former Birmingham midfielder, Kilkenny, who looked good when he played on loan for Oldham against ...
I've had a busy morning, firstly holding my regular surgery at the Mildmay Library where I get a chance to meet local residents, and help them with their problems. Mildmay Library has a special place in my life. It was the first library I ever joined at the tender age of 9. I remember going along, by myself to join, and coming away the proud owner of 4 pocket library tickets (remember them?) After that I was hooked, and escaped into the world of reading, and continue to be to this day. Today, I saw several people with housing and ...
The Norfolk Blogger (aka Nich Starling) has taken issue with Iain Dale’s opposition to gay hate crime (which our esteemed Shadow Justice Secretary, David Heath, has oddly chosen to support). The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill currently working its way through Parliament, as well as outlawing violent pornography, will also make it a crime to [...]
One of the things I find amusing about the modern media, and society in general, is how quickly well-known-facts become orthodoxy after an amazingly short period of time. Six months ago, Cameron was looking extremely shaky. Then, following Brown’s wobble and Gideon Osborne’s promise of tax breaks for dead rich people, it became an established Truth that the Tories were unstoppable and Labour is in terminal decline. But neither of these “facts” ring true to me. Take the argument about Labour’s implosion. Iain Dale yesterday observed that “there’s so much about the present day Labour Party that reminds me of ...
Today is FA Cup 3rd round day. The FA Cup is now sponsored by energy firm E.On. E.On have been advertising using the slogan 'carbon free football' and are campaigning for fans to car-share and the such like, all very good, however whilst promoting this they are also planning to build the first new coal-fired power station in more than 30 years.
Many say that liberalism is based upon open mindedness. I disagree. It is perfectly possible to be a bigotted liberal. Say you believed that homosexuals are sinners and are going to hell and that they’re evil. Does that preclude you from being a liberal? I don’t think it does, it may not make you particularly welcome [...]
One developing story I didn’t get around to blogging about over the past couple of weeks is nuclear policy. There have been several stories in the papers recently on this. Most recently, the Nuclear Consultation Working Group issued a damning condemnation of the government’s second consultation on nuclear energy. This is bad news for them as they’ve already had one consultation thrown out in court. The most bemusing line I’ve read about this was on the front page of the Guardian yesterday was this: The government is expected to insist it has a mandate. In meetings in the autumn, more ...
I went to log in to my bank account this morning on line to pay Prater Raines for my website service fees. This is not a simple task. I have to go to the Barclays log in page. Enter the last 10 digits of a 12 digit membership number. Put my bank card into a PINsentry card reader Enter my PIN. Then put the last 4 digits of my card number and the 8 digits that appear on the screen of the reader
Barack Obama's win in the Iowa caucus suggests that his campaign can inspire Independent and wavering Republican voters to turn out. If I were an American Democrat I'd probably be backing Obama, because he can evidently reach parts of the voter other candidates (particularly Hillary) can't reach. This is probably because he's not bogged down by the 'culture wars' baggage which any Clinton is. But don't forget that caucuses and primaries are predominantly positive affairs. Candidates don't do much negative campaigning for fear that voters wil 'splatter' away from both victim and attacker to their other rivals. Those attacks which ...
The Conservative Party’s campaigning guru Grant Shapps has had another setback, almost losing a council seat in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency on a 22% swing. Apparently it was all a cunning stunt to undermine Nick Clegg, just as his Ealing Southall Lits-up was a ploy to get rid of Ming. So much for the partisan willy-waving. What ticked me the most is this follow up comment from Sal Brinton: I’ve just had an email from Grant, who says he doesn’t swear, and given that it was an amicable (albeit exciting!) count, shall we just say that he certainly made his ...
Being a politician I am – not surprisingly – happy to stick up for politics and politicians in general. I think politics is essential for our country – imagine what a country where government ruled without elections would be like – and I think most (though not quite all!) politicians are in it for decent reasons. [...]
Next Saturday sees the Lib Dems gather in London for a special one day conference entitled "Setting the Agenda " which will be looking at shaping the next manifesto. I'm due to be on duty in halls at the weekend, though I have Friday night off and so could come down for most of the day on Saturday but will need to be back in Oxford by about 6pm so will miss half the afternoon sessions. Looking at the agenda, there's probably only one of the morning break-out sessions on a subject I really want to help shape the manifesto ...
An email arrives at the Voice from Danny Alexander MP reminding us that a one-day conference is imminent. Danny helpfully reminds us that registration forms and an agenda for the day are available on the party website. The purpose of the day is help set our next manifesto. Sessions are set aside to discuss all manner of [...]
The use of energy saving light bulbs can, according to reports today, lead to an increased risk of skin cancer, particularly amongst those who have more sensitive skin. I guess we have a choice. Destroy the ozone layer and get skin cancer from the sun or use energy saving light bulbs and get skin cancer indoors.
This morning's Western Mail is quite right to highlight the shocking mobile phone coverage we get around Wales. It is only to be hoped that the mobile phone companies will now do something about it. However, this will involve the erection of a significant number of new mobile phone masts, an act which in itself will involve some controversy. This could be interesting. On which side of the fence will the Western Mail sit when things start to heat up?
News that energy provider Npower will be raising electricity prices by 12.7% and gas prices by 17.2% is not unexpected but is outrageous nevertheless. Npower is the UK’s fourth largest energy provider and has four million customers. The price rises will take effect from today. The company claims it has been forced to increase prices because of the soaring cost of wholesale energy. It is estimated that 240,000 welsh households currently live in fuel poverty, meaning that 10% or more of their income is spent on heating their housing adequately. The average annual fuel bill of a Welsh household is ...
Based on the amount of traffic they’ve passed on to www.libdems.org.uk in 2007, the top five local Liberal Democrat sites were: brentlibdems.org.uk ealinglibdems.org.uk lorelyburt.org.uk vincentcable.org.uk sedgefieldlibdems.org.uk Congratulations to Brent on once again pulling in such heavy levels of traffic. No great surprise that the Ealing and Sedgefield Parliamentary by-elections propelled those sites into the top five, nor that Vince Cable’s high profile as [...]
I liked this . I do hate washing up so I might be interested in this, but I wouldn't exactly call the idea an innovation. For hundreds of years we ate off a "trencher" a piece of think bread used where we now use a plate and eaten afterwards. And being a Yorkshire lad of course I know they've kept the idea alive with Yorkshire Pudding which are not always those dainty little gravy holders on the side of your plate: For those who can't stand the washing up, help is at hand with one of the strangest culinary inventions ...
I should point out that the US primary system is all about delegates. Hillary Clinton is still well in the lead, and the real crunch will come on Super Duper Tuesday. For those who don't understand how the delegate system works, you should read for the Democrats and read for the Republicans.
Anyone out there who listens to Radio 4’s Any Questions on a Friday evening at 8pm? We frequently have “open threads” for TV’s Question Time and we can easily run them for AQs too if there’s demand. Tonight’s programme came from Chandler’s Ford. Upmystreet.com tells us this is in Eastleigh Borough Council. Run by the Lib [...]
Saturday: Last Saturday actually, and Uncle Alan treated my daddies and me to a trip to the Old Vic, where Ms Sandy Topsywig presented us with the King's Magnificent Balls... and the all the rest of "Cinderella". Meanwhile, while we were out, the recorder was recording the conclusion of the second series of Robbing Hoodie: a double-parter (or two episodes bunged together) of "A Good Day to Die" and another trip to a faraway land in "We Are (not in the third series of) Robin Hood". Let me just say this: only one of these productions had CONVINCING BACKDROPS! Cinders ... | < | January 2008 | > | ||||
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