BritBlog Roundup 152
Thanks to Clairwil. Sunday 13th January 2008
11:35 pm
Thanks to Clairwil. 
11:25 pm
A real tonic
If you want a real refreshing read have a look at Lord Greaves's entry for 10th January in "They Work For You". He was speaking on the Government's Community Empowerment Bill. Anyone who has to read all of the nonsense we are bombarded with as Councillors will just love his take off of "going to the pub", will enjoy the tonic. All who write such documents should read it too - they... 11:11 pm
Tony Greaves on Labour jargon
Niles's Blog points us to Lord Greaves's contribution to a Lords debate on community engagement: Having read the report we are debating today, I had a vision of someone saying to their husband or wife, Im just off down the neighbourhood hub for a bit of community empowerment. We have been quality assured by the national empowerment partnership, and tonight we are embedding our practitioner learning and capturing and sharing it through the national neighbourhood management network.As Niles says: Language like this is everywhere and sad to say, all too often, it is there to cloud meaning not to illuminate ... 10:59 pm
Clive Gregson and Christine Collister: I Specialise
When I was a district councillor back in the 1980s (I was only 14 when I was elected) I served on the IBA committee which oversaw the Leicester commercial radio station Leicester Sound. One of the programmes I got into the habit of listening to was John Shaw's Here Be Dragons on Sunday evenings. Shaw (who is still around on Smooth FM) played a lot of folk and world music, and this is a record I remember from that time. Collister has a wonderful voice and the song's bleak sentiments appeal to me. There is more on Gregson and Collister ... 10:31 pm
Foyle's War disappears again
It seems that we shall have to learn to treat each episode of Foyle's War as a drama in its own right rather than as part of a series. Anyone tuning into ITV at 9 p.m. this evening was encountered with Dancing On Ice: The Skate Off and Kingdom. The latter did feature some nice shots of Happisburgh lighthouse, but as an evening's television it is hardly in the same class as Foyle. If you want to see Honeysuckle Weeks you will have to catch her in a touring production of The Turn of the Screw. 10:18 pm
Lib Dem localism vs. Tory localism
I arrived late at the one-day conference and missed the big speech (and the drinkable tea). Having heard what Nick Clegg said about public services, Ive been checking out the blogs this evening and rather to my surprise, actually they seem to be as enthusiastic as I am. Of course, there are difficult details that will have to be hammered out about the Free Schools policy letting local people set up local schools, under local authority oversight but it is still for me a transformative moment. It is, at last, a genuinely Liberal policy on public services, and (I might ... 10:09 pm
Stop being 'deliberately contentious'...we're not the Liberal Party!
Iain Dale has managed to ruffle our collective feathers by implying that a change of name may be on the cards for us all because dizzy suggests LDYS may change to 'Liberal Youth'. While the LDYS question is possibly due to purely wanting a shorter and punchier name than 'Liberal Democrat Youth & Students', the change of our name as a whole would signify a fantastically bold move by Nick. The original wranglings over the name are documented painfully in Paddy Ashdown's diaries...painstaking descriptions of negotiations with David Owen over the words 'Liberal', 'Democrat' and 'Social' after the media shortening ... 10:03 pm
National Debates
Is anyone else sick of politicians saying they want a "national debate" on a topic This is not the most egregious by any means, but it's a stock phrase that is really starting to get to me. We employ politicians to have those national debates. The only other place we get them is the ill-informed and ready-biased mainstream media, which does not represent true public opinion at all. If politicians are so enamoured of the notion of a national debate, then they should put forward a framework for having national debates, culminating in a referendum so that the public can ... 9:37 pm
Bons mots from Lord Greaves
Whilst queueing Baroness Ros Scott’s piece on last week’s Lords debate on Labour’s plans for greater community engagement, I was moved to read the debate through. And found this rather wonderful snippet from everyone’s noble friend, Tony Greaves: [M]y first message for the Government is to ask them, please, to start using plain English. Having read the report we are debating today, I had a vision of someone saying to their husband or wife, “I’m just off down the neighbourhood hub for a bit of community empowerment. We have been quality assured by the national empowerment partnership, and tonight we ... 9:28 pm
Why Nick Clegg won't rebrand us as "The Liberal Party"
Nich says that Iain says (having heard from Dizzy) that Nick Clegg wants to rebrand the Liberal Democrats as "The Liberal Party". Except he can't. That's because there's already a party registered as the Liberal Party. The rump party that stayed on under the old name, after the merger in 1988. The party that, until fairly recently, campaigned under the very catchy slogan of "Stuff the Euro!". All parties have to register their names with the Electoral Commission, and a name can be disallowed if it sounds too similar to an existing one. This is to stop the sort of ... 
9:25 pm
Telegraph has it both ways
Recent coverage of Nick Clegg in the Telegraph is trying to have its cake and eat it too. Political Editor Patrick Hennessy thinks Clegg is lurching to the right 9:25 pm
Nick Clegg - the other story
Part of Nick Cleggs political narrative resurfaced in one of todays Sunday papers. No, not the one hes telling. Its the counter story that others will tell about him. Watch for this over the coming weeks. Take todays Atticus diary column in The Sunday Times, which claims that the Lib Dem leader's new "image guru" John Sharkey has asked tried to make him "stop waffling". Remember too the especially snide profile of Nick in the Sunday Times just after Christmas. And just after Nick Clegg became leader, Peter Riddell captured the conventional wisdom of many Westminster commentators: During his leadership ... 9:14 pm
I'm for fairness! And what else
The latest Populus poll contains a potentially confusing message about the Liberal Democrats branding and messaging. People were given s number of phrases and asked which party best fits them. The one where the Lib Dems did best by far, with a 20% rating, was the party of fairness. Were already doing it, I hear you say. Well, the message is not getting through, at least, not yet. The Lib Dems were 6% behind Labour and just 3% ahead of the Conservatives as the party of fairness. There's a bigger point too: the word fairness is much more vague and ... 9:06 pm
GP Phone line Scandal
I was totally shocked to open my phone bill yesterday to discover that it was much higher than usual. Surely I couldn't have gone that mad voting for Alesha to win Strictly Come Dancing The cause of this high bill totally shocked me. Regular readers will know that both my husband and I have been ill over the holidays, Bob being quite seriously affected. We have spent more time at our GP surgery than we ever have before. Trouble is, the only way of getting an appointment is to ring on the day. If you don't ring early, you will ... 9:05 pm
I wish I were a man, I'd join the navy: Ad of the Week
Not technically politics, but still American. This is one of my favourite World War posters. (Not quite THE favourite, but never mind). The posters and other domestic propaganda produced by all sides in both World Wars were really fascinating. Recently there was an exhibition on this at the Imperial War Museum, which was damn good - but I think you've missed it now. As any advertiser knows, there are three things which sell better than anything else: New, Free and Sex. Politicians have to stick with New - basically, New is what 'momentum' in a political campaign is all about. ... 8:26 pm
The Last Few Weeks
When you spend a lot of time reading liberal blogs it can be extremely difficult to gauge what kind of impact the party is having outside. Having been desperately busy the last few weeks and so not been able to see much in the way of blogs, it seems that the Lib Dems have something of a low profile again, although we do seem to have a story on the BBC news politics page nearly every day. I even caught Nick on the education page, but other than I’ve seen very little. Obviously PMQs was a relief, with an assertive ... 8:20 pm
President Blair God Help Us!
When the idea was first mooted that Tony Blair could become the EU’s first President, it was treated as a sick joke. As someone who had not only kept the UK out of the euro, but also failed to live up to his earlier promises to put Britain at the heart of Europe, and alienated [...] 8:20 pm
Compulsory Organ Donation Obsolete
On the day that Gordon Brown announces he wants our organs (presumably starting with our eyes, as his his left one doesn’t work), scientists announce they can get a defunct heart to beat again… bypassing the need for an organ donation. Coincidence I think not. Share This 8:17 pm
Can Carole do a 'George Galloway'
I have had a busy day delivering Lib Dem leaflets. First in Buckhurst Hill where the first FOCUS of the new year has been posted through doors. Then this afternoon in Leyton, where there will be a by-election after disgraced former councillor Miranda Grell (has she apologised to Barry Smith yet) was chucked off the council for lying about a Lib Dem councillor in the 2006 election. So far I 8:02 pm
Tory woman towers above sitting MP
I was reading this article regarding the Tory infighting over replacing Ann Widdecombe, when I thought that the photo of A-lister Julia Manning looked familiar. Then suddenly I remembered this in my Bromley & Chislehurst by-election library. The local Tories went for the white male... 7:59 pm
Liverpool - the Musical
Last night I was at the new Liverpool Arena for the second part of the Capital of Culture Opening Ceremony - Liverpool the Musical. A great mix of music, acrobatics and visuals. The Wombats in particular were really good - and I am amazed at the courage of the acrobats who climbed up and down ropes as if they were just a gentle slope. This Arena is going to be such an asset to Liverpool. Looking through the list of events planned, some are already sold out. 7:59 pm
The night that Barack Obama eschewed witnessing a "St Trinian's" stripper in Wokingham
It's all told in graphic detail here in the Sunday Mirror. Obama has a half-sister who lived in Reading. He attended her wedding in Bracknell and the story is from the stag night in Wokingham. You don't really expect a contender for US President to have visited pubs in Wokingham, do you But he was obviously developing acute political attennae, even then in 1996. As soon as the stripper 7:59 pm
A rambling miscellany
Norman Wisdom - When the joking is over Reg Varney and Ernie Wise's major roles in technological advances Irish sense of humour revealed through nicknames for Dublin's statues Let's hear more about Florey and Chain - and a little less emphasis on Alexander Fleming Stevie Wonder - Love's in need of love today 7:53 pm
Microchips for offenders
I thought at first the story in the Independent on Sunday today was a piece of satire. The government looking into microchipping offenders!! Like cats or dogs. Treat people like animals and don't be surprised if they respond in kind. 7:49 pm
How not to drive to the pub
I took this photo of David just before New Year when we were at his sister Sally's house in Kent. We decided to make a visit to the local village pub (for one pint only) which was a couple of km down the road. Sally's husband Michael drove me there in his car, and drove David back. Room for only two in the car, an Astin Martin drives just a few centimetres above the ground. A rather nice car 
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Are we set to become the "Liberal Party"
Dizzy tries to claim Nick Clegg is "spinning", and Iain Dale reads it as the Lib Dems no longer being "Dems". Are we set for a name change I don't really care, although there is not some brand loyalty from people who refer to us as Lib Dems, but it would cause Gordon Brown major problems as he refers to the party already as the Liberal Party (deliberately I am sure to be annoying), and if we changed our name he'd have to call us Lib Dems. Still, what's in a name. It's what you stand for that really matters. ... 7:27 pm
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
Todays weather forecast for the Taunton area was; low level cloud, 24 mph southerly winds and heavy rain. So, did I do the sensible thing and stay in Of course I didn't, I'm a Lib Dem. No, I decided to pick today of all day's to walk around the Taunton Deane countryside delivering the latest edition of the Lib Dem Somerset Clarion and Jeremy Browne MPs NHS Inquiry Results Oh well, another valuable lesson learnt; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. 6:59 pm
Sunday Evening
Its my favourite time of the week. Our evening meal is cooking, my hubby has poured me a glass of wine, my lessons are planned for tomorrow and emails done. Last week was hectic but I was miffed with my students who chilled out over Xmas and didnt do any work, bar one or two .. they worry me .. Yesterday, I got the opportunity to talk with delegates to a cllr training course. As usual, 6:48 pm
Fair-weather leafleter
Sorry at least Im honest. With vest, jumper, thick fleece jacket, hat, Vibram soled rambling shoes (terrible grip on wet pavements), I braved the winter dampness to leaflet this morning. Id even put extra protection nail varnish on as I am apt to get my fingers stuck in snappy-flappy-nippy letterboxes and loose bits. I do enjoy being able to talk to residents as I deliver though but 6:28 pm
Blogosphere rowlocks #9954
Iain Dale goes into hyper-ventilate mode: According to Dizzy, LibDem Youth & Students is about to change its name to Liberal Youth. Not LibDem Youth, Not Liberal Democrat Youth, but Liberal Youth. Couple this with Nick Clegg's constant use of the word 'liberal' in his speeches, I just wonder if he is subconciously preparing his party for a name change back to the Liberal Party. What would our 6:21 pm
Many questions for Northern Rock
First let me declare an interest, I am a demutualisation shareholder in Northern Rock. I had planned to sell my shares in June to finance a house move but the move fell though. Not long after the company issued a profit warning but the market advice was stay put. "Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said that Wednesday's announcement reflected "a period-specific strain in 2007 and does not 6:20 pm
Behind this blog - theme, plugins and hosting
This blog has been up and running on this Wordpress-powered site for 10 days now, which seems a significant, although in reality totally arbitrary, milestone at which to mark the occasion by revealing the plugins, theme and hosting package responsible for the glorious visual fest which you are currently viewing on your screen. The people [...] 6:10 pm
Why MPs need to back their pay deal in full
I had lunch today with one of our MPs, a long term friend we specifically decided politics was off limits for the day. They did said they will be voting against the full pay rise because of all the work they were doing in support of the police claim and it would be hypocritical to do otherwise I told them I thought they were wrong and we left it at that ,but here I thought I might explain why. 5:44 pm
Reading the commentators
These days to be a commentator is to be part of an industry. Every national newspaper employees several commentators, blogs like this one regularly comments on issues and commentators appear on television, commenting sometimes on the commentators. Believing commentators to be so important Julia Hobsbawn set up a company, Editorial Intelligence, to help guide public relation professionals. If you work in public relations, the media or politics you no doubt read the 'commentariat'. Some you read for work and others out of interest. If you read them for interest it will be because you agree with what they say, they ... 5:29 pm
Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #47
Welcome to the 47th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th January, 2008), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Here are the best-read posts this last week, in descending order: 5:27 pm
Peter Hain in trouble - Young Liberals/LDYS across the generations rejoice
Many Lib Dem bloggers have commented on the story of Peter Hain and his undeclared donations, but I have yet to see any comment, (I am sure someone will now correct me), about the double-downfall of these two defectors from our party - Peter Hain and Phil Taylor (the aide who was allegedly responsible for [...] 5:11 pm
Shafilea Ahmed's Murder was an 'honour killing'
I hate the phrase 'honour killing'. What possible 'honour' can there be in murdering a young woman because of the way she has behaved Last Friday a coroner ruled that Shafilea Ahmed, a 17 year old, bright, beautiful and intelligent young woman, was unlawfully killed. Her parents insist they are innocent, despite the fact they failed to report her missing a week after she disappeared from home. Her former teacher reported her missing. I know if one of my daughters went missing for a day, let alone a week, I would be frantic. More and more evidence came to light ... 4:48 pm
Wood Green bookshop update
A brief update on my previous posts about the attempts to restore a bookshop to Wood Green - things are moving along, though maybe not quite as smoothly as Tim and Simon would wish! Hope you keep at it and good luck to you both. You can read the latest over on the Wood Green Bookshop blog. 4:40 pm
Human Scale Education - lets draw on the experience.
Way back when my son was little, I seriously considered moving to Devon (from Milton Keynes) to be part of the community running the Small School at Hartland so he could be a pupil there. Other events (including employment infelicities) prevented this. But I still have a very positive feeling towards the Human Scale Education movement which by-the-by has tended to have a rather left image. The school was set up by parents in Hartland in order to keep an option for rural secondary education, rather than sending their children many miles away to a town based school. Parents now ... 4:29 pm
A twisted ankle & Livingstone's secrets
As a result of ignoring the 30 flood warnings currently on the BBC's website, and the weather forecast for Somerset this morning I nearly broke my ankle in an attempt to find the Observer. The accident happened when I stepped off the curb and a gust of strong wind blew my long hair into my face. I then looked a second time to my right to see if a car was coming as I really didn't want to die in a car crash! As I was busy doing this I fell and twisted my ankle. I was also wearing my ... 4:02 pm
Ripplestone Review Biennial Awards - Winners 2008!
www.ripplestonereview.co.uk Ripplestone Review Biennial Awards Winners for 2008 1) The first category is Best Music Album Reviewed The nominees are: RHCP - Stadium ArcadiumTommy Lee - Tommyland-The ... 3:49 pm
Opinion: Labour miss the point on communities
I spent last week in Westminster, where in the Lords we spent Thursday afternoon debating the Governments recently published Action Plan for Community Empowerment. Its hard to know which pair of words is the more depressing Action Plan or Community Empowerment Their Lordships certainly failed to be either empowered or [...] 3:31 pm
Organ Donation and Factory Farming
There have been two very interesting debates over the last two days. Factory Farmed Eggs and Organ Donation for human transplant. Let us start with Organ Donation. There is no doubt that there is a large waiting list for organs. There is no doubt that organ donation saves lives. There is no doubt that we need to encourage more citizens to donate and that more sympathetic counselling... 3:27 pm
Demand Responsive Transport and Riverside Drive - graffiti problem
On Friday, I attended the AGM of the Dundee Accessible Transport Action Group (DATAG) and was able to update the group on moves to improve public transport both in Dundee and across Tayside/Stirling for those with accessibility problems in terms of existing provision. TACTRAN, the Regional Transport Partnership, recently approved a consultation exercise for its buses strategy and, within this, specifically, community transport and demand responsive transport. Last week, I was pleased to receive confirmation from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth (following a meeting I and the other RTP Chairs in Scotland had with him before Christmas) ... 2:08 pm
Brian Paddick comes calling
{Brian Paddick} Brian Paddick came to my house for a fundraising dinner this weekend. What a star! The (would-be) donors were all won over by him. I think it is actually his genuine sincerity and absolute determination to deliver to London. As he says - that is his track record. In the Met he delivered. In both his commands crime dropped more than anywhere else in London. If he can translate that sort of record of delivering results in a key public service - the police - to transport and so on in London, it would be phenomenal. That's really ... 1:55 pm
Peter Hain: latest donation trouble round-up
It all started off with Peter Hain (in the Cabinet with two jobs - Work and Pensions and also Wales) admitting that he had failed to declare a £5,000 donation to his Labour Deputy Leadership campaign. But it didn’t end there, oh no… 1:32 pm
Farcical
The current position with regard to the establishment of a new government in Thailand seems at times to be entering the world of farce or soap opera. The elections took place on the 23rd December and as I write this on the 13th January we seem to be no closer to the formation of an actual [...] 1:06 pm
Three stories you may have missed
Here’s three stories from last week’s press you may have overlooked: 2007 - worst year ever for data protection The Register carries a Lib Dem story on data protection - Nick Clegg points out that what with the Child Benefit CDs, learner driver records, patients’ NHS files and many other data failings, up to 37 million [...] 1:04 pm
Osborne and Hain - donation declarations
It is important for people to know who any substantial funders of politicians are. Such declarations of interest should be public. However, there has to be a sensible approach to techical issues. George Osborne declared his funding to the Electoral Commission, but not the parliamentary commissioner for standards. I don't see this as anything other than a technical breach. Peter Hain, however 1:03 pm
Nick Clegg on public services
I couldn’t attend yesterday’s Liberal Democrat manifesto conference (I was at another Lib Dem event in Harrogate), and so like many people I have had to rely on the copy of Nick Clegg’s speech that is posted on the party website and various comments by other bloggers (I recommend James Graham and Paul Walter). I admit [...] 12:50 pm
Its Torture when you do it to me: US Director of National Intelligence
Waterboarding is one of those delightful techniques the US intelligence services use to extract information from people when they’re fed up of asking questions (or when they haven’t asked any questions and just fancy inflicting pain on somebody else). It involves "a person being stretched on his back or hung upside down, having a cloth pushed [...] 12:21 pm
Nick Clegg: an apology
I had always made a rule that I would never blog about anything to do with my current employer. Basically, it’s so I don’t inadvertently undermine them or say something that can be used against them, when it wasn’t them that actually said it. Working for the Liberal Democrats has made it difficult at times, but [...] 11:55 am
Conservatives refer themselves to watchdog over undeclared Osborne donations
It’s all in the Mail on Sunday today: The Tories were plunged into a party donors’ row last night after it emerged that George Osborne secretly received almost £500,000 last year. … though as you’ll see if you read the piece, ’secretly’ isn’t quite the full story because: The money comes from donations to the Conservatives which have been [...] 11:52 am
Setting Priorities
A big meeting of all the "partners" and "stakeholders" of Stockton Renaissance to propose priorities for our local plan for the borough last week. This is hugely important and very difficult for most people to influence, but I tried to do my bit. One of the areas of debate was employment, with lots of work going on (funded mainly by central government grants) to get into employment those few 11:50 am
Paddick Campaign Launch on Monday
The official campaign gets going on Monday with an official launch event with Nick Clegg. There has already been lots of good publicity for Brian but this will increase from now on. The campaign is co-ordinated fully with London Region and the GLA candidates and will be Chaired by Tom Brake MP and run from Cowley Street by Andrew Reeves. I have taken over responsibilities for fundraising. A launch party is taking place at the Hop Cellars on 22nd January at 7pm. Tickets are £20 - contact Flick Rea on (020) 7222 0134 or email . There will be a ... 11:38 am
Supreme ruler of the universe
Sunday is becoming a very bad day for my blood pressure especially when I open the paper to find articles like this. The Observer tells us that yesterday Tony Blair launched his campaign to become the first fully-fledged President of the European Union. My first reaction was who is standing against him and where do I sign up to campaign to prevent this disaster. I had started to draw up canvassing schedules and plan out leaflets in my head. A letter-writing campaign to the papers, followed by a big push on postal voters and a slick telephone canvassing operation must ... 11:25 am
Watch Cleggs Scottish interview
Nick Clegg gave an interview to The Herald on his visit to Scotland during the week. You can watch it here (note: it may start automatically on your computer): 11:21 am
When columnists lose it
It is my own fault for even reading these columns I suppose but I take the view that if I am going to spend 85p for the Wales on Sunday then I should make the effort to peruse it comprehensively. Thus I stumbled across Angharad Mair's piece this morning. Now Ms. Mair has a bee in her bonnet about Richard Brunstrom and I perfectly respect her right to vigorously disagree with him on drugs policy. In this respect she is reflecting the views of a large number of her readers. However, I consider her latest rant on speeding to be ... 11:14 am
The mystery behind the new goal celebration is finally revealed
Anyone interested in football will have seen a number of players celebrating their goals by forming their hands in to an "A" pattern. For some months the meaning behind this has been a mystery, but finally it has been revealed what it all means and for once it is a sign of professional footballers being positive role models, so well done to them. To read about it in more detail, the Evertonian blogger "Things and Stuff" has all the details (and yes, I am a week late with the story). 10:47 am
A new range of opinion coming to LDV
The Voice is very pleased to announce we’re starting a new strand of articles tomorrow. We’ve commissioned some articles from authors outside the party, which we’ll be running here as The Independent View. The series will begin tomorrow morning with original research from Prof Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart with interesting findings on our relationship with other [...] 10:24 am
Is this why the Tory front bench were not keen to call for Hain's resignation
There has been a strange gap developing in the last few days between Tory Bloggers who have been calling for Peter Hain's head and Tory MP's who have been much calmer and less willing to demand his resignation. I thought, perhaps naively that this was a new more balanced Conservative party being fairer to Labour than Labour had been to the Tories in the last years of Tory rule. But I appear to be wrong. This morning it turns out that Gideon Osborne has had problems with donations received to run his office. The scale of Mr Osborne's problems can ... 9:58 am
Who owns your body when you die
Easy. Your next of kin. How do we know that for sure Well, it is the next of kin who pays for the burial, usually with funds from the estate which they inherit. John Dixon on "A Radical Writes" raises this issue - thanks to him. John puts forward the argument (without endorsing it fully) that because you are dead when you body becomes, er, a dead body, then you cease to own it and have any 9:58 am
Sunday Telegraph: "Nick Clegg shifts to right"
UPDATE: The Sunday Telegraph covers Nick's speech yesterday with an article entitled: Nick Clegg shifts to the right". (That's inaccurate in my view - what he is proposing is historically "liberal"). This now joins my list of links to web stories and blogs about the speech - below. Here is a fully updated round-up of media, website and blog reaction to Nick Clegg's speech this morning, so far. 9:31 am
Frost Affects the Have Nots
Ok there has long been an argument that outwith the SPL there is very little money and tightening of purse strings for other football clubs; yesterday was a great illustration of this. It was fourth round of the Scottish Cup the day the big boys come into the competition. Seven games were postponed due to unplayable pitches due to a heavy, yet predicted frost, overnight. None of these games 8:01 am
Clegg on Prime Ministers Questions
The Guardian interviewed Nick Clegg down a dodgy quality digital line for one of their regular podcasts. An excerpt appeared at in Thursday’s “Newsdesk” broadcast and the full interview is also available separately here. Clegg makes clear he wants to use PMQs to test the PM on the issues that matter to real families and confesses [...] 7:36 am
An assumption of choice Should the dead's organ's be taken for medical purposes without the deceased's consent
Well, yes, according to Evan Harris our very own MP for for Oxford West, although I can imagine one or two fellow liberal democrats having disagreements with him. The question here is rather more philosophical that what usually pops up in politics, usually questions like 'how do we fund education' can be answered without too much meditation upon the fundamental nature of funding and indeed education, 'do the dead have rights' however seems to be getting into some quite tricky territory. If we assume that the dead don't have rights to keep their bodies to themselves (if that is spiritually ... 
