Good luck to Nick!
Good luck to him tomorrow at PMQ’s. A tory troll on the outeverywhere site has said sneeringly `I am excited by Obama as I am in Nick Clegg`. So go do it Nick and wipe the smirk from that troll’s face! Tuesday 8th January 2008
9:41 pm
Good luck to him tomorrow at PMQ’s. A tory troll on the outeverywhere site has said sneeringly `I am excited by Obama as I am in Nick Clegg`. So go do it Nick and wipe the smirk from that troll’s face! 
9:39 pm
Getting to grips with a new brief...
I don't recommend you trying, but if you wanted to write to me formally, I am technically now the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Energy, Food and Rural Affairs - the office team are now demanding bigger business cards! One of the challenges is getting my head round such a huge brief, and one of the best ways is to chip in on 'bite-size' topics. Today I had to respond for the party to a 90 minute debate on the issue of fuel poverty - very topical given the huge hikes in fuel prices by NPower recently. ... 9:24 pm
The orgy of the plug-ins
As promised earlier, I’ve added a number of plug-ins to my site: creative commons license widget - cos I’ve been meaning to add it for ages Subscribe To Comments - because it’s so 2008. WP-PostRatings - as an experiment to see if anyone actually uses it. Hmmm… doesn’t look much like an orgy, does it In my defence I was going to add a couple more but I didn’t find anything I really liked. Knock yourselves out! Share This 9:15 pm
Duty calls...
A police officer has been dismissed after having sex with a woman in an office while on duty. Interesting to note that: - "Mr Khan said he had kept in contact with his office by mobile and radio during the sex session." Well...that's OK then... 8:57 pm
To Whom Are You Closest
I took the test and found I was closest to Barack Obama and furthest from Fred Thompson. I was surprised as I thought I would be closest to Edwards and furthest from Huckabee. Go to ... 
8:55 pm
Petitioning: the good, the bad and the ugly
I've {Lynne Featherstone, Susan Oatway and Neil Williams running a petition about Haringey's policing} seen (as a signer, recipient or even organiser) more than a few petitions in my time. Some are great a really effective way to help bring about change. And some go wrong in all sorts of ways too few signatures, unrealistic or confused objectives, aimed at completely the wrong target or just a mess a few barely legible lines on a rather tatty single piece of paper. The House of Commons is currently running a consultation on introducing an e-petitions option, so that in future people ... 8:51 pm
Tories "work for benefits" plan does have some merits
Far be it for me to heap praise on the Tories or their usually vacuous leader "Call me Dave" Cameron, but despite the incredulous comments from both the government and the Lib Dems about the Tories proposals for a "work for benefits" scheme for the long term unemployed, I actually think it has some merits on a number of counts, but it cannot work without a root and branch review of the whole benefits system In the first instance, I genuinely think a policy such as the Tories are proposing will have the effect of giving the proverbial "kick up ... 8:20 pm
The bureaucrat's choice for President of the United States...
So, it seems that I'm a Democrat - as a member of Americans for Democratic Action, I should hope so! I'm pretty mainstream too... 87% Chris Dodd 85% Barack Obama 81% Hillary Clinton 79% John Edwards 79% Bill Richardson 78% Joe Biden 74% Dennis Kucinich 71% Mike Gravel 48% Rudy Giuliani 44% John McCain 36% Mike Huckabee 34% Mitt Romney 27% Ron Paul 24% Tom Tancredo 24% Fred Thompson 8:19 pm
Don't do it Nick!
Rumours are flying around the blogshpere that Nick Clegg will be changing his seating position in the house of commons. This is not the first time a Lib Dem leader has moved. In 2001, I believe, Charles took the front row position that for many years that was sat in by Dennis Skinner, then Ted Heath. I just hope he hasn't taken advice form the same bunch of advisers who told Ming to ask that 8:09 pm
The double standards of footballers receiving abuse
Portsmouth and England defender Sol Campbell recently launched a campaign to get action taken over fans comments to players during matches. Now Jamie Carragher, a Liverpool player, is in the news because he retaliated verbally at some fans after the Luton versus Liverpool match on Sunday. It is alleged that Carragher was provoked because fans swore at him and threw some beer at him. Whilst I cannot condone the actions of the fans, which was disgraceful and gives all football fans a bad name, I am somewhat bemused at footballers who dish it out, but seem unable to take it ... 7:56 pm
A consummate professional
Listening to Mr. Hain's campaign chair speaking from New Hampshire where he is working for Hillary Clinton on Radio Wales this morning, got me thinking. Who in fact is Steve Morgan Well according to this website he is Morgan Allen Moores Chairman and Director of Public Affairs. Apparently, he has a strong background in marketing and public relations. We are told that he has been responsible for grassroots campaigns that have changed legislation in the UK and European Union. The piece goes on to explain that Mr. Morgan has had 20 years experience working in and around Westminster and has ... 7:49 pm
Funeral held at Leicestershire school while lessons in progress
There has been a lot of clamour against church schools in Lib Dem circles - see the recent discussion on Lib Dem Voice in particular. I am not usually one to worry about such schools unduly. The idea that the average Church of England primary school is engaged in a dangerous programme of religious indoctrination seems daft to me. And I am inclined to think that critics of church schools should ask themselves why they are often so much more popular than the council-run alternatives. All that said, this story from today's Leicester Mercury strikes me as barking mad: A ... 7:45 pm
Watching the candidates why Obama looks like the best thing since sliced bread
Having been in the US for more than a week in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Ive been keeping more than one eye on the campaign. On the Democratic side, it is clearly becoming a two-and-a-half horse contest, with John Edwards likely to hang on in the hope of becoming the Vice-Presidential nominee it worked last time so why not this Hillary Clintons campaign 7:20 pm
And the Oscar goes to
Senator Hillary Clinton, for her heartbreaking reaction to the seemingly innocuous question "How do you do it How do you keep up … and who does your hair": The judges felt that Mrs Clinton’s ability to transform a hair-related question into a tearjerker showed how versatile and talented a performer she truly is, and they look [...] 7:18 pm
Photos from my recent visit to Kenya
I was in Kenya in November and Kenya (during the election campaign) for a holiday. I left before the troubles started but here are a few of my photos. 7:16 pm
Nick Clegg changes his position
Tomorrow Nick Clegg makes his debut as Lib Dem leader at prime minister's questions. All our good wishes go with him, even if the media will give the occasion far more prominence than it really deserves. Adam Boulton reveals that Nick has a plan to help him come over better on television: the Lib Dem leader ... lacks a stature-building dispatch box to lean on. In fact a tall man (which Clegg is) can look somewhat lonely looming over his colleagues as he stands next to the gangway.The Clegg camp have a cunning plan to make their man look more ... 7:12 pm
Don shakes up our war-planners
As part of process of shaking up Family to take us out of comfort zone Don Clegg announce new appointments. "First, to bring new thinking into the way we defend the Family I am reappointing Signor Rennard to manage our general planning. His vision of innovative continuity is exactly what we need to refresh our fighting capability with new traditional thinking." "Second to ensure a consistent show of force, I am dispensing with a single leading planner and appointing Signor 'Whippy' Stunell to manage our Capitani, Wee Willie Rennie to corral the Capos, and Signor Davey to plan the planning ... 7:03 pm
Obama or Clinton
Personally, I cant decide between Obama and Clinton. On many issues they seem similar. Like many people of my political persuasion, I am just desperate for a Democrat to win. Whoever triumphs out of Obama/Hillary, and it looks like it will be between them for the Dems, what I really dont want is for Hillary to be crushed. She is,(imho), an experienced, decent candidate, and whether the moment is with Obama or not, I hope thats respected. There are some excellent videos on the Guardian website, for example here. It is great to have a real surge of interest in ... 7:00 pm
Workfair - a question
This workfair business...can anyone answer me a question: If there are jobs that need doing, someone should be employed to do them. Are people at the end of their two years on JSA simply being herded into compulsory minimum wage jobs then - in which case they may be miserable with the job they get but they would, by definition, no longer be on benefit Or would they still be getting benefit rates, just being made to "do something" (anything) to "earn" their benefits Obviously I don't like this idea. Citizens Income would solve all of this without any potential ... 6:59 pm
We built this city
Like many Londoners, I generally sit (or rather, stand) amongst the bleary-eyed straphangers on the tube every morning. Shuttled through the darkness, it's easy to forget that we're travelling around a beguiling and wonderful city. And when we do surface, we're all in such a rush, that we often fail to see how interesting the familiar is. I've recently resolved to take more time to enjoy London's built environment. My office is a tatty but brightly painted art deco lump near Smithfield Meat Market. It looks quite cheery in the summer, though to be fair it loses most of its ... 6:44 pm
How safe is your vehicle this winter
Redcar and Cleveland Council's Road Safety Team is offering a helping hand to motorists with free advice at drop-in winter car clinics - and hope they get the message. The first series of three clinics in December checked on a total of 163 cars, with disappointing results, including 14 cars found with illegal tyres, 44 with road light bulbs not working and 157 cars in need of a significant windscreen wash. Now the Council is hoping for an improvement at two more free drop-in sessions at Asda car park, South Bank on Friday, January 18 and the Windy Hill Lane ... 6:22 pm
Happy New Year to you all
Ive been rather out of touch with this blogging stuff for the past fortnight or so, due to my absence from most things Liberal Democrat in Washington and Denver. So, I really ought to catch up watch this space 6:01 pm
Scrutineering once again
A new year it may well be, but the routine of being a Councillor doesn’t change with the date. Much as I love being a Councillor, and the fresh challenges it brings pretty much daily, there are certain things which come round with predictable regularity, and require attendance even if, like tonight, I’m not really in the mood. It’s the first meeting of the Resource and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Commission tonight. I will let you know all about it tomorrow, because I don’t have the time to now. I am sat in the Lib Dem Group Room at the ... 5:12 pm
Europe Goes on Air
Radio broadcasting organisations from 13 EU member states are joining forces to participate in a new European Radio Project, which will provide news and views on European matters. Due to go on air in April, the venture has been conceived by the European Commission as a way of bridging the divide between the European institutions [...] 4:37 pm
What is sleep
When I was younger, so much younger than today - a day felt like a week, a week felt like a month and a month like year. Back then time seemed to go by so much more slowly than it does today. I swear Ive been put into some bizarre time machine while sleeping and taken a year into the future It really does only feel like a week a go that it was New Years Eve 2007. Basically what Im getting at is my wife is nine months pregnant and our new baby is due on Friday 11 January ... 4:17 pm
They seek him here, they seek him there
With the recent announcement of Shadow Ministerial portfolios all Scottish Lib Dem MPs have got a berth except John Thurso, MP for Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross. I wonder what the mustachioed one has done to incur the "wrath of Clegg" The full list of responsibilities and portfolio's are: Jo Swinson - number 2 at Foreign & Commonwealth Office Willie Rennie - number 2 at Defence & Chair of Parliamentary Campaigns Team Mike Moore - Shadow Secretary of State for international Development Danny Alexander - Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions (Also Leader's Chief of Staff) John Barrett ... 4:00 pm
Obama - what is he about
Obama-mania is spilling over the edge of many cups. What to make of him Well for a LibDem an interesting fact is that he made his first political impact in community politics initiatives in Roseland, part of Chicagos South Side, working for grass-roots projects and fighting a corrupt political machine run by his own party. I came across this interesting note from a book published before his current candidacy. Observing him in 2003 even before his election to the US Senate- the Canadian thinker John Ralston Saul said: (Saul 2005. p273) Obama already had a calm, clear idea of how ... 3:46 pm
Nick Clegg; Parliamentary Team
Deputy Leader: Vincent Cable Chief Whip: Paul Burstow Chair of Campaigns and Communications: Ed Davey Economy and business Vincent Cable Jeremy Browne John Pugh Colin Breed Business and enterprise: Sarah Teather Lorely Burt Home affairs Chris Huhne Tom Brake Justice: David Heath Jenny Willott Shadow Attorney General: Lord Thomas Shadow Solicitor General: David Howarth International 3:27 pm
Thailand Photos (2)
The most relaxing swimming pool I have ever encountered 3:21 pm
The End for the Clintons
The BBC’s Robin Lustig tastelessly (but validly) speculates about whether Hillary Clinton’s failure to secure the Democratic nomination for US President will lead to the breakup of the Clinton marriage. This can go only one way: an Italian supermodel for Bill Clinton and twenty eight cats for Hillary. Share This 
3:18 pm
It seems I should be backing Barak
Bernard Salmon on his Blog http://thesoundofgunfire.blogspot.com alerted me to this quiz which, depending on your response, tells which US Presidential hopeful is closest to your own views. It seems I'm closest to Barack Obama, which slightly surprised me as I expected it to be Dennis Kucinich, based on what I'd read and heard about the Democratic runners. The results are on the left hand column of this blog, with alink to the questions should you wish to see who's closest to your own views. 3:16 pm
No Stars for Eurostar
Eurostar promises you all kinds of good things about its futuristic new terminal at St Pancras - the only railway station in Britain to boast a champagne bar instead of the obligatory stale sandwiches and cardboard coffee. But while the 'extras' delight, one aspect of the service is noticeably missing. One of the worst things about the old terminal at Waterloo was the crazoid xray machines you had to lift your bag one metre off the ground to reach. These were normally manned by strapping security-guard types who would refuse, on grounds of 'health and safety', to help you lift ... 3:05 pm
Network Rail cock up yet again
I should have started back to work yesterday but was still lurgy ridden enough to have a 4th day in bed which, it transpires, was quite fortunate. I commute between Irvine and Glasgow and there had been Network Rail engineering work planned between the 25th December & 6th January which meant that it would have been train to Paisley then bus into Glasgow which would have added anything up to 45 minutes to my commute each way. I therefore took a couple of days extra annual leave so as not to have to undergo the stress of my return journey ... 3:04 pm
On, off on off, back on the Incapacity wheel of fortune.
Way back in 1997 I was on an electronic conference (kind of prehistoric blog), one other member of which made a credible threat to kill himself. He was fairly seriously disabled and on incapacity benefit. The medical and welfare bureaucracy surrounding this his condition was one which saw ups and downs in his capacity to work made him so depressed that he spent General Election night 1997 with the means and determination to commit suicide if the Tories had been returned to office. Background: in the last Tory years people were encouraged to go onto Incapacity Benefit because it took ... 2:48 pm
ScotRail's response
On the 19th of December I contacted First ScotRail to ask of them why a return from Irvine to Edinburgh was 75p more expensive than purchasing a return from Irvine to Glasgow then one from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Their letter dated 20th December didn't actually arrive until the 4th of January and provided no great enlightenment: "our Research and Pricing Manager is aware that there are anomalies in the system, such as these fare anomalies, which we have inherited. we are working to remove these, however this process takes time." That's about the total substance of their response. They didn't ... 2:34 pm
Change can't just be a slogan
Although I have yet to meet him, I was led to believe David Wrede, the new Chairman of Taunton Deane Liberal Democrats was a man with many admirable qualities; a respected hospital consultant and member of many medical associations . A man capable of taking the local party onwards and upwards; to better and greater things. However, a recent email to constituency members suggests that due to time constraints he will now only be able to provide what's being described as 'a coherent focus and an intermediary for the different component parts of the local party'. Oh come on! It's ... 2:20 pm
Copying CDs could be made "legal"
International law is often mocked for being breached so much it effectively does not exist. Intellectual property law, particularly as it pertains to file-sharing music in whatever form, be it cross-network or CD burning, puts international law in the shade when it comes to the frequency of its breach. If we were to measure the [...] 2:19 pm
Todays musical inspiration
Today we have Finntroll with Trollhammaren. A Finnish band who sing in Swedish and manage to combine black metal, folk music, humppa (a traditional Finnish dance) and a sense of humour. 2:18 pm
"Patio heaters are an eco disaster" - British Gas
"Gas-fired pub patio heaters are disastrous for the environment," says British Gas Energy Efficiency Manager, Jeremy Parsons. Tell me something I didn't know! He goes on to say that "Research has shown that the surge in these types of heaters since smoking bans across the UK came into force could actually stop us from achieving our Kyoto commitments by 2012. The problem is the amount of CO2 these devices emit. One heater can produce almost 4 tonnes of CO2 a year: that's more than a gas-guzzling 4x4 would produce in the same time period and around two-thirds of an average ... 1:55 pm
Opinion: Should we have primaries in Britain
With the US primary season now in full sway, the question about whether or not UK political parties should hold primaries will inevitably be debated once again. Tory MEP Dan Hannan makes the case for over on the Telegraph Blogs. In fact, primaries are now practiced in the UK by the Conservative Party, although only in [...] 1:55 pm
Up the poll
How much should we read into todays Populus poll in The Times, which shows the Lib Dems on 19 per cent (up 3 per cent) Not much. Populus suveys of this type usually have 1,500 respondents, which gives a margin of error around plus or minus 3 per cent. In other words, the Lib Dems could still be on 16 per cent, or perhaps up at 22 per cent! That, and the fact that polls are time specific, means that we really need to look at the trends in Populus and all the polls, probably over six months. But the ... 1:49 pm
Do they want us to use public transport then
First major grumble of 2008. Last week, on my first day at work of the New Year, I went to the station to renew my season ticket. A simple task you'd think. But no. Merseytravel had, in their wisdom, decided that the ticket I used - the TrioPlus - was to be no more. The decision, whatever the reasoning behind it, was put into effect with literally no publicity. So not only is there a decision to dump a season ticket in a way which will force some of us public transport users to spend a lot more money - ... 1:46 pm
The meaning of "large"
Why is it that "large" when applied to clothes means "would fit a pint sized six year old", whereas "large" when applied to coffee means "you'll be overdosing on caffeine for the rest of the week" Rob, with serious jitters after a foray to Costa's. 1:23 pm
Belated happy new year
I’ve not blogged yet this year cos of various problems with my home broadband (cheers BT). Last week BT told me it would not be back until next Friday, but it seems to be back today. It’s ironic as one of my new year’s blog resolutions was to blog more promptly about topical issues. My [...] 1:21 pm
Another "which presidential candidate am I nearest poll" - Dennis Kucinich leads
Thanks to Bernard Salmon for pointing me at this one. I also agree with his postings on the subject. The big question for me still is what will happen on Super Tuesday. I paticularly agree when Bernard says: It's also clear that Barack has managed to inspire quite a lot of people in the last few weeks, although whether he can translate his charm and appeal in the personal 'retail' politics of 1:20 pm
Media Airtime
This has been a subject that has greatly exercised me over the past month or so. I’ve heard Nick, Vince, Steve and Norman. I’ve learnt that we only have equal airtime in an election period (does that include a false election period!) Isn’t it time we did the following: a) challenged the rules themselves b) complained everytime there’s a Tory [...] 1:13 pm
Arena visit
Still recovering from a bug which laid me low for most of the holiday break - so hardly any blogging to date. Illness also meant I've been less than active - but I did manage to get along to the new Arena and Convention Centre on Friday for the sneak preview for 08 ambassadors. I remember several years ago taking part in a question and answer panel for young people - and one of the big gripes was that they had to keep going to Manchester to see bands. Well that should be less of a problem now we have ... 12:59 pm
Why Liberal Democrats have better skin
Lush, the natural cosmetics company, scourge of unnecessary packaging, unrepentant drawers of little smiley stick figures and manufacturers extraordinaire of Jasminey Things with Glitter in them need no advertisement, but I’m going to give them one anyway for once again bringing joy to my liberal and girlish heart. Not only have they started using popcorn* in their mail [...] 12:51 pm
Political Donations
Hard-pressed treasurers of local political parties manage to complete their PPERA returns correctly, while the campaign of a minister of the crown, members of a well-funded national party which brought in the rules in the first place, suffers from cock-ups. Later Guido Fawkes believes that Peter Hain's campaign was well-run until his first campaign manager was replaced. He also reports that one of the donations came from the sort of loan company that consumer programmes advise potential customers to look at very carefully. "Guido Fawkes" is an avowed traditional Tory, but he is also a well-informed journalist. One cannot dismiss ... 12:06 pm
History, thrift and nuclear energy
Say what you like about New Labour, under either Blair or Brown, and you come back to two extreme truths about them: they are extreme modernists and obsessive utilitarians. Their blind spot, therefore, is history. They dont believe in it or understand it. Hence Iraq, and goodness knows how many other misjudgements which a simply knowledge of history would have avoided. This also applies to recent history. They dont remember what went wrong with nuclear energy last time, dont even think its important to know, dont see that its relevant. My feeling is that, despite their announcement, only one or ... 12:06 pm
Honey of the Week - Kirsty Williams
Normal service resumed. Today there is no guest, there is me, Julian H and hence in-depth political discussion takes a step backwards and Honey of the Week returns. Hip-hip-horay! For the rest of 2008 there will be an official Honey every week. I promise. Todays winner is the almost-unacceptably-hot Welsh AM Kirsty Williams. Kirsty, as a child, attended the same school as Cerys Matthews. I once saw Catatonia in concert. I was only a teenager at the time and ask for your forgiveness. I also ask for your pity, as well as some kind of apology from the band. Back ... 11:42 am
TV Liberty
I’ve just come across a blog which features videos related to liberty, TV Liberty. I’m currently ‘watching’ (more listening to) a discussion between Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins about their atheism and secularism. Its very interesting. They are very tolerant and level headed. Sometimes they disagree, sometimes they agree. Well worth watching if [...] 11:37 am
LDV readers vote to save the monarchy
Amidst all the excitement of the poll for Liberal Voice of the Year 2007 - have you voted yet - LDV clean forgot to post the results of our earlier readers survey, which ran over the New Year. We asked you: Do you think the British monarchy should be retained or abolished You told us, albeit by [...] 11:37 am
Allotments
We have quite a waiting list for allotments in Truro, about 84 people at present. If you applied today you would probably be looking at a four year wait, and here I should declare an interest my wife having been on the list for about two years. But it seems that under the Smallholdings and Allotments Act 1908 we are obliged to satisfy demand on receipt of a petition with six signatures on it. Our Parks Manager has been searching high and low for some suitable, and affordable, land. Affordable being a key point with every garden being regarded as ... 11:27 am
Dave Stood On The Burning Deck
I don’t normally pay any attention to polls* but it’s awfully tempting to begin this post with “On a day when a Populus poll shows the Tories to have lost three points to the Lib Dems over Christmas…” so I will. On a day when a Populus poll shows the Tories to have lost three points to the Lib [...] 11:16 am
Your picture next to your comments
You may have noticed that next to people’s comments is a small picture of themselves. If you want a picture to appear next to your comments you need to do two things. Visit Gravatar.com, create an account and upload a picture. Post a comment, ensuring that your email [...] 11:14 am
Rubbish and Cambridgeshire County Council
This week we learnt that St Neots will enjoy a new indoor recycling centre to replace the outdoor one in the Town Centre. This new centre will be on the outside of Town, but easily accessible and it has the advantage of freeing up the current site, which is of great interest to our Lib Dem Town Council as a possible site for our new multi-screen Cinema. This is good news then, for once, from Cambridgeshire County Council. But don't hold your breath. Just in case you thought they had got something 100% right, they somehow forgot to tell the ... 11:10 am
Candidates Quiz
85% Barack Obama 82% John Edwards 82% Hillary Clinton 80% Bill Richardson 79% Chris Dodd 74% Joe Biden 74% Dennis Kucinich 73% Mike Gravel 46% Rudy Giuliani 40% John McCain 34% Mitt Romney 30% Mike Huckabee 26% Tom Tancredo 20% Fred Thompson 19% Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz Today will see the second state to vote on the nominees to be president, in the New Hampshire primary. But voting has already taken place in two small hamlets(Dixville Notch and Hart's Location), and have given Senator McCain and Senator Obama more good news as they did what is expected ... 10:58 am
Clegg signs top management guru for Party Reform Commission
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, President Simon Hughes and Chief Executive Chris Rennard have announced a party reform commission to undertake a complete review of all the party’s functions. Nick Clegg said, “the Party Reform Commission is critical in ensuring that we make the best electoral impact over the coming years. I am determined that [...] 10:52 am
One step forward - two steps back
After all our pressure back in December, the good news is that there is now going to be an extra consultation workshop for the City Council’s Local Development Framework in Littleton Village Hall. But the two other consultations in the new Winchester Constituency - in Alresford and Winchester’s Discovery Centre are already fully booked out - with 9 or more days to go before the meeting itself. We still need at least one more consultation in the City itself. The Local Development Framework, while sounding boring, has huge implications for our city over the next 20 years. As I said ... 10:38 am
Rennard reappointed to run general election campaign
Nick Clegg has just announced that the party’s Chief Executive Chris Rennard has been reappointed as Chair of the General Election Campaign for the Liberal Democrats. Lord Rennard had previously been given the role by Ming Campbell. Andrew Stunell is chair of the local election campaign. The party’s press release also mentions Willie Rennie’s new position [...] 10:36 am
Quick, george! it's tuesday: let's attack people on benefits...
So Dave wants long term unemployed young people to be required to do community work if they have been on benefits for more than two years. Hey ho. I wholeheartedly agree, as I imagine most people will. No sensible person wants to encourage people to stay on benefits long term and those able to work should work. So far, no dispute with LD principles, IMHO. I seem to recall Paddy Ashdown proposing just such a scheme many years ago and it receiving widespread support. Come to think of it, hasn't every Tory leader since Michael Howard proposed such a scheme ... 10:27 am
A Pipe, A Chancellor, Security and the New President of Russia
Nord Stream is the extremely controversial plan to build an undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. It is controversial for two different sets of reasons. One is concerned with the potential environmental damage of the pipeline on the already damaged and degraded waters of the enclosed Baltic Sea. The seabed of the Baltic is said to contain a large amount of different poisons in its sediments that would be stirred up by the construction. Such poisons included heavy metals, phosphate and other pollutants that have run off from the land, but also includes the remains of large numbers of ... 10:02 am
Hain struggles for closure
What is Peter Hain up to Five weeks after it first came to light that he had failed to register a £5,000 deputy leadership campaign donation, due to an "administrative error", the issue has not been resolved and in fact is beginning to grow out of his control. Political guru, Steve Morgan, who was called in to manage the Hain Deputy Leadership bid halfway through, told Radio Wales this morning that he found the campaign to be in a state of 'chaos'. He said that every donation that crossed his desk up to when he closed the office at the ... 10:00 am
Another US quiz:
I prefer this quiz at selectsmart. It asks more varied questions and has more possible answers. There’s still some questions which I have to answer neither on, but it seems to interpret that close to what I mean. The top results and are: Kent McManigal (campaign suspended) [Libertarian] (84%) Ron Paul [Republican] (72%) Christopher Dodd (withdrawn) [Democrat] [...] 9:30 am
Taking that quiz
Unlike most LibDems I get Republicans at the top. Why is that I think its down to a few things - I am against gun control, I feel giving the bad guys a monopoly on guns is dangerous. I think the right to bear arms can sit comfortably with liberalism Despite being in favour of abortion generally [...] 9:00 am
And my preferred candidate is...
apparently Dennis Kucinich. Like a few other Lib Dems (most of whom also seem to be natural Kucinich supporters, even if like me they'd probably vote for someone else if they had a vote), I took this quiz and my results are as follows: 87% Dennis Kucinich 85% Mike Gravel 77% Chris Dodd 76% Joe Biden 76% Barack Obama 73% Hillary Clinton 72% John Edwards 72% Bill Richardson 36% Rudy Giuliani 35% Ron Paul 30% John McCain 23% Mike Huckabee 23% Mitt Romney 12% Tom Tancredo 12% Fred Thompson 2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz I'm slightly surprised that Barack came ... 9:00 am
Liberal Democrat research reveals 2007 as the worst ever year for personal privacy
A record 37 million items of personal data went missing last year, new research by the Liberal Democrats reveals. 7:58 am
Clarkson with egg on his face
It's been an up-and-down week for Jeremy Clarkson. One minute he's being touted as Prime Minister. The next he's revealed as a "42 carat plonker". He said the loss of the 20 million bank details on 2 discs was a "palaver about nothing". To prove it, he printed his bank details in his newspaper column. Now, some kind soul has made Clarkson the unwittingly donor of £500 to the British Diabetic 7:55 am
Handy tip for male political bloggers: dont call women thick
Oh dear. Scottish Labour councillor Terry Kelly seems to have landed himself in a spot of bother on his blog: Patricia Devlin said Why are no women allowed to comment here Youve mentioned one being banned, youve called a black woman a liar for talking about racism but then no others have been allowed to comment.Councillor are [...] 7:42 am
Hain in more donations trouble: tens of thousands went undeclared
Today’s Guardian reports: Peter Hain will be forced to admit that he failed to declare tens of thousands of pounds worth of donations from businesses and unions when he stood for the deputy leadership of the Labour party, the Guardian has learned. The disclosure will reopen the controversy over Labour party funding and is likely to anger [...] 7:35 am
New attempt to abolish blasphemy laws
A cross party initiative by Evan Harris (Lib Dem), Frank Dobson (Labour) and David Wilshire (Conservative) has won the backing of Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury: Lord Carey argues that the existing legal protections for Anglican Christianity are outdated and should be abolished. The move, supported by a former bishop as well as writers, [...] 5:17 am
Energy Islands
The architect that put the windmill on Cameron's Notting Hill pad is proposing an idea to build artificial islands in the tropics to harness the natural energy that exists in those latitudes to produce electricity. For a while now I've been interested in something similar, but subtly different - the idea that if we could harness just a tiny proportion of the solar energy that reaches the earth we could solve all our energy needs. From a distance it looks like an island paradise, but get closer and those tall structures that could be palm trees turn out to be ... 12:32 am
Is truly liberal multiculturalism possible
In my weakened state over having to do back to work on Monday I managed to get myself into a ridiculous argument about the Bishop of Rochester’s comments about Muslim “no-go areas” over at Lib Dem Voice. Apologies to all concerned who are already banging their heads in weariness of the debate. I just thought I’d make a few points in (slightly) less inflammatory terms. I’ve lived and campaigned in a variety of multi-cultural parts of England for much of the past 15 years. Originally as a student (and penniless graduate) in Rusholme, Manchester; in Beeston, Leeds (just around the ... 12:17 am
Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet
Lib Dem Voice recently announced the list of jobs under new leader. It's great to see that Leeds MP Greg Mulholland has kept his job in health. Fighting for a childrens hospital in Leeds is still vitally important. 12:05 am
For a Hillary supporter
This pencil is in an unfortunate place 12:00 am
News for nothing
I’ve been reading lots of my local newspaper today as part of our press monitoring process, and it seems to have been a slow week for news. As I was getting into it, I was highlighting non-stories in the political field to my colleague in the Lib Dem office this afternoon. Some of the stories included “X Party delivers leaflets - campaigners for B MP in the Y constituency say they will deliver 40,000 leaflets in the coming months. This comes after many local people have received information from the Y party’s new PPC.” Erm wow. Delivering leaflets is news ... 
