This could be a major story this week. Via BBC News: "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is sending thousands of troops and tanks to the border with Colombia, marking a sharp escalation in regional tensions. Speaking on his weekly television show, President Chavez also said Venezuela’s embassy in Colombia would close. Mr Chavez said he was reacting [...] 
There was an interesting item on the BBC's Politics Show West today. They were talking about electronic petitions. Their first example was the 8000-signature petition to save the Bristol to Bath railway path, popular with cyclists and walkers, from being converted into a rapid transit bus route. The programme interviewed Steve Webb MP about the effectiveness and the disadvantages of e-petitions. Then they spoke to the campaign to save Lacock Post Office, which was based on a conventional petition. Finally there was a discussion with Dr Lisa Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of the West of England. ...
What does facebook have in common with pantomime I suppose that when you get something wrong, it is in front of 200 people. It has been a real pleasure to play the character of Simple Simon in this years Hallam Players panto Jack and the Beanstalk, alongside Nick Clegg and Richard Allan and many other talented locals. So I discover the hard way, during the final show of the run, that, having
This week's video features the punk diva Poly Styrene and a wonderfully bleak record from my first year at York. For some reason it always reminds me of the most dismal spot on the campus: Vanburgh College snack bar.X-Ray Spex have their own website and this clip from The Punk Years is informative too.
...can be enjoyed on Unmitigated England.
I was interviewed last month by the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK and their recording is as linked.
My house creaks an alarming amount in high winds, I have noticed this weekend. Of more concern is that, for the first time ever, I am now liable for repair bills should the breeze dislodge the foundations. In my former days as a tenant of various sub-standard hovels across the UK, all it took was a call to the landlord when a slate blew off the roof and scalped a pedestrian, and the problems went away. Now such liabilities rest on my shoulders, and it is a worry. I need to live somewhere low down, to avoid the winds. Yet ...
I realised what a small world it is today, when our young grandchildren called in and quickly spotted Brazil and Morocco on our globe, as they are learning about them at school. Friends at Church had been travelling on business, and Hungary, Italy and Belgium tripped off the tongue. I've taken a call from friends in the USA, and made on to Africa. That is just 2 days! However I do...
{Nigel Farage and Dmitry Medvedev} Has anyone noticed the alarming similarity between Dmitry Medvedev and Nigel Farage (or should that be Нигел Вараге) Surely the resemblance is too much to be a coincidence I think we should be told. Share This
Whilst I'd like to think I had a good sense of humour I have to draw the line at the assumption made by Gavin Whenman in his post Ed Davey on Israel. Gavin refers to me as pro Palestinian and anti Israel. I'm afraid Gavin has got it all wrong. Whilst I freely admit to being pro Palestine and a member of Lib Dem Friends of Palestine he is off the mark to assume that it naturally follows that I'm anti Israel. Such thought processes should be left to the George W Bush School of thinking; 'you are either for ... 
I should, before I write further, declare a personal interest, in that my parents own a second home, somewhere in darkest Gloucestershire. That said, despite the fact that they've owned it for twenty years or so, I've never been there. "Why not", I hear you ask. The first reason is a practical one. I don't drive, and never have done, making the property pretty much a trap for me. Yes, you can
Jailhouse lawyer has read carefully what Susan Kramer said earlier and bizarrely seems to have found what he believes to be the hidden truth in what she was saying. Apparently it is all about lesbians and drugs. Strangely it does make a comic sort of sense.
Note - This posting has been updated to take account of comments made. I like blogging because unlike so many things in politics and life, I have the right to state my opinions openly and people can judge what I say by their own values and beliefs. Some might agree with me, some other might disagree, but in essence my views are as valid as any other blogger's opinion. Be the blogger Iain Dale or someone who started their blog only yesterday, it shouldn't matter. All our blogs should be of equal merit, even if clearly some blogs get more ...
To be found on Suz Blog.
Iain Dale is trying to find conspiracy theories behind the fact that the Lib Dem walk out of Parliament earlier this week didn’t make it onto the front page of the party newspaper, Lib Dem News. Strangely, there is no mention of Ed Davey’s hissy fit or the LibDem walkout. Do you think they have now realised how ridiculous they made themselves look I suspect the answer is rather more prosaic. The print deadline for Lib Dem News is Tuesday so that the printers can get the publication off the presses, folded, into envelopes and onto the doormats of Lib ...
I didn’t put this in my original account of the Ed Davey bloggers interview earlier this week as it didn’t seem particularly interesting at the time, but in light of Israel’s recent actions (and the reactions of two Lib Dem bloggers: both reactions being pro-Palestine, anti-Israel), Mr Davey’s comments have become somewhat more contemporary. He was [...]
Comes to Bristol
Welcome to this week’s fun-packed Something for the Weekend, looking back over the last week from a Liberal Democrat perspective with a squint glint in our eye. Storming out of the Something for the Weekend chamber today: two by-elections in Louth; more from HMRC; witches, prostitutes and charlatans; and more!
Is it really the 4th Sunday of Lent already It's no time since Christmas, or so it seems. Yet 3 weeks today is Easter. Mothering Sunday is a great tradition, largely lost in the commercial world of Mother's Day, but still lurking in the background and giving a base to that modern version. Children may not trek home to see mother from wherever work has taken them but they still keep in touch.
Susan Kramer may have made headlines here on the blogosphere with her ideas on job sharing, but viewers in the west have been treated to a different issue entirely. David Heath has finally appeared on The Politics Show to state in very definite terms that he still supports a EU referendum. As I noted in February he can hardly do much else. He strongly defended his position on the issue, which, he told viewers, has stayed the same for the last 30 years, and in answer the question "So you are putting your job on the line" Heath cooly replied ...
No real surprise here but Dmitry Medvedev is likely to win about 70% of the vote, according to a poll by the All-Russia opinion research centre, VTsIOM. The closest rival, Communist party chief Gennady Zyuganov trailed with 16.8%, the exit poll said.
I've had a pretty quiet, rather domestic weekend at home in Suffolk. With the nuptual countdown clock now down to seven weeks and two days, a sort of controlled panic is setting in at the prospect of tasks still to do. First time round, both Mark and I opted for the "small registry office do", as it was rather patronisingly called. This time we wanted to push the boat out a bit, and it takes a deal of organising. There also seem to be hundreds of decisions to take and just when you think you've made them all, someone asks ...
Hundreds of people attended the developer's exhibition at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall last week. The major change to the site layout is that the Waitrose store has been moved further from the church, which seems sensible. The layout is still pretty notional - there are no detailed deisgns for the store, the car park or anything else. It's mainly about land use. Broadly there seem to be two opinions. Many people seem to think that it's not a bad design and that Waitrose will fit in well in Sodbury, but people living nearby have serious doubts about the look of ...
How would YOU improve our local community The police and local councillors have worked together to set up a meeting at King Edmund School this Tuesday (4th March) at 7.30 pm. Maybe you're concerned about crime, or perhaps traffic issues or the local street scene. Whether it's anti-social behaviour or grass cutting, come and tell us about it! You can read more about the Safer and Stronger Communities Groups here.
Almost unbelievably, given her massive leads in the state just a few weeks ago, the latest poll from Ohio now shows Hillary Clinton's lead has evaporated and Barack Obama is dead level with her. The results of the poll are shown below. Reuters/C SPAN/Houston Chronicle/Zogby tracking poll Date: 2/27-29Ohio Added: 3/1/08 Est. MoE = 3.7% Hillary Clinton 45% Barack Obama 45% Mike Gravel 1% Unsure 6% Other 3% This is surely the end of the road for Clinton, isn't it 
There was a nice little story in the Eastern Daily Press yesterday which highlighted how much more people think of Lib Dem MPs than Labour ones. A charity function that the journalist attended had as auction items tea on the terrace with three different MPs. Norwich South MP Charles Clarke's offer raised a respectable £100. Regular Labour rebel Ian Gibson (Norwich North) saw his offer of tea on the House of Commons terrace raise £120, but Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk saw his similar invitation receive the highest bid of the lot, raising £170 for charity. As ...
Tomorrow, 3rd March 2008, marks the 20th anniversary of the official formation of the (Social &) Liberal Democrats, and Lib Dem Voice will be featuring a special article by Chris Rennard, the party’s chief executive. Today Martin Veart, a party member in Aberdeen South, describes how he came to join the Lib Dems… One winter, the [...]
Ed, by now, the UN Secretary General has managed to comment very sensibly on the fairly appalling actions of Israel in recent days. Why have we said nothing on this In 2006, when the Lebanon business flared up, Ming took a very sensible and proactive stance in calling for Israel to call off its grossly disproportionate and aggressive campaign. Surely this is an equally obvious situation in which
Out campaigning with our wonderful candidate Rachel Allison in the Highgate Ward by-election. We are clearly doing well judging from response on doorstep. However, Rachel was really shocked by the wording in a Labour leaflet we found where they are claiming dirty tricks 'cos one of their stakeboard posters had been vandalised - and they clearly infer it as Lib Dems. Outrageous - and simply lies. Indeed, we currently have about six of our stakeboards that have been vandalised - we assume (probably rightly) that it is kids or people coming out of the pub drunk simply vandalising our boards. ...
Or, has David Cameron really agreed to debate in the House of Commons, any petition made to Number 10, so long as it gets more than 100,000 signatories If its true MPs can look forward to debating such complex issues as this one. Dont laugh, it could just happen. This petition currently has more than 46,000 signatories and has every chance of making the magical 100,000 figure. Talk about a man thats so desperate to be liked he's prepared to do anything! He should listen to his idol; Margaret Thatcher. She is quoted as having said; "If you just set ...
.... It's been over a month since I posted anything. Reason Partly , it's spending too much time at the keyboard doing other things, such as Facebook. But I haven't looked at Facebook for a while now either. Normal Service will resume in a while.
On Friday the Conservatives launched a major advertising campaign and I think its quite an interesting milestone for showing where they have now got to in the development of Camerons Conservatives. The top slogan for the campaign is You can get it if you really want, with ten individual promises in specific areas: health, schools, immigration etc. This structure has taken some flak, for example from the Guardian, for emphasising different messages to different groups of people: so for example the immigration ad has gone in the Daily Mail, crime in the Sun and the education one in the Guardian. ...
I am very sorry to learn of the death of John Mortishire. I blogged about John last year in the context of transplants and the national donor register. John’s sister Rachel is married to one of my cousins; and John’s parents have stayed with my parents on some of their visits to John at Harefield. [...]
There appears to be at least one MP wondering aloud whether Nick Clegg is the right leader for the Liberal Democrats*. On today’s Politics Show: SUSAN KRAMER: I actually feel quite guilty because, you know, we had a leadership election in my political party, and what I should have done, and dammit, I didn’t, was get [...]
Yesterday I wrote about a portest outside Shuttern Post Office in Taunton. Today it was the turn of Bradford on Tone. Unlike yesterday there were no banners or placards and it was left up to Jeremy Browne MP to put across the reasons why we think closing the post office at Bradford on Tone was bad idea. He had an excellent platform on which tomake his presentation. The BBCs Politics Show were at Bradford on Tone to report on the affect post office closures would have on rural communities. Having just watched the show (online) I have to hand it ...
Susan Kramer has set up a fascinating What if today, with her revelation on the BBC London Politics Show that she wishes she had contested last years Liberal Democrat leadership election as a job-share with one of her fellow female MPs: I actually feel quite guilty because, you know, we had a leadership election in [...]
Or at least according to um… pro-referendum campaigning group I Want a Referendum. The words "no surprise there then" leap to mind, which is why I’m wondering why BBC News thought it worth a write up. Look out for future BBC News stories revealing that Iraq as the least favourite holiday destination and Gary Glitter [...]
Firstly, football. Last Wednesday, one of the West End Community Council members and I had a really productive meeting with the University of Dundee's Institute of Sport and Exercise and the City Council Leisure & Communities Department to progress a proposal to establish an Under 11s junior football team for the West End. The Community Council member has good experience of this prior to moving to the West End and we're confident of the support of others in the local community including local primary schools, but for this to succeed, access to facilities is vital and we were very pleased ...
The serialisation of Ming Campbells memoirs is continuing in the Mail. The latest instalment considers his own 18-month tenure as Lib Dem leader not, perhaps, the happiest time of his life. Mings prose is as starched as his collars and cuffs. Pre-publication rumours suggested he had been instructed to sex up his autobiography and [...]
A few months ago I realised that I needed a better way to track the blogs and news pages that I read. I was aware of RSS feeds but had yet to get to grips with them. Then I heard about bloglines and set my feeds up on that. I had a look at Google reader but for some reason couldn't quite understand how it worked. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Google. I find everything they produce simple, intuitive and useful. I am writing this blog on Blogger, software provided by Google. I have a ...
Councillor Len Gates reports: Local residents hoping to see the start of planting and landscaping of the East Anton MDA this spring have been told nothing will now happen until November 2008. The landscaping will be in two parts each area will be planted with native woodland species 1) A woodland landscape feature along Dark Lane, 25m deep and a similar feature 25m 40m deep between the proposed playing fields and Woodhouse/Smannell. Work will start once plans have been approved and must be finished within the planting season after the first house is built on the MDA. 2) A 20m ...
Colleagues do you know the same person has voted 6 times in "mind the gap" poll on the web-blog. The person who has voted has always voted not for keeping the fields green and allowing developers to build all over them. The only problem is I have the IP address(the internet address of every computer) of everyone who votes so it is not a "secret ballot" So your 6 votes have been discounted, and will only count one, sorry! Editor
On warm summer days my favourite place to wander out to at lunchtime is the Quaker Graveyard behind the Friends' Meeting House on Skinnergate. After a busy morning at work there's nothing better than half an hour eating lunch, or dozing off, in this beautiful, peaceful corner of the town centre. I find that many people don't even know it's there. I have never, though, visited it during
Monday: In or Out, obviously! It's taken a bit of a while, but finally the unlikely combination of frothing Conservatories and Mr James Graham have convinced me that we really SHOULD have a vote on everything to do with the European Union and not just on the Lisbon Treaty. To use Mr James's analogy: voting on JUST the Lisbon Treaty is like voting whether to have icing or not on your cake. Even if you vote "NO" you still have a CAKE or in this case a stack of older treaties okay, it is more like a pile of PANCAKES. ...
There’s a long preview of Brian Paddick’s autobiography Line of Fire in today’s Mail on Sunday. The book will, the article says, “offer an insight into police culture and practice - from the era of Life On Mars to the era of the suicide bomber.” Paddick is, of course, the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for Mayor in May’s London elections. His thirty years in the police force make him the ideal person to lead the fight against crime in London, and those three decades of experience are charted in his book, from the Brixton riots to the shooting of Jean Charles ...
The Observer also informs us that David Cameron is driving along the positive discrimination route where women MPs are concerned: "Cameron said when elected as leader that the Tories must end the 'scandalous under-representation of women'. With only 17 female MPs to choose from, he has just seven women in his 30-strong shadow cabinet." Great stuff, or not so great, depending on where you stand on positive discrimination and ways to get women involved in politics. However, his ideas are somewhat ruined by proposals to automatically debate in the commons any electronic petitions on the downing street website which gain ...
Local residents hoping to see the start of planting and landscaping of the East Anton MDA this spring have been told nothing will now happen until November 2008. The landscaping will be in two parts, both areas will be planted with native species: 1) A woodland landscape feature 25m deep along Dark Lane and a similar feature 25m 40m deep between the proposed playing fields and Woodhouse/Smannell. Work will start once plans have been approved and must be finished within the planting season after the first house is built on the MDA. 2) A 20m corridor from the playing fields ...
Another step in the wrong direction for social mobility and equality by Labour if this report in the Observer is anything to go by: "New figures show that religious schools, in England, admit 10 per cent fewer poor pupils than is representative of the local area. Local authority schools, meanwhile, take in 30 per cent more and have a disproportionately deprived intake. The result is a school system deeply divided by social class. "Barry Sheerman, the MP who chairs the Children, Schools and Families select committee, said he believed head teachers were trying to boost their league table positions. 'It ...
The big newstory at the moment is Prince Harry had been in Afghanistan and the media kept the news secret. Well done to both Harry and the media.
Yes, I think it is. And here's why. We are a party that has a core belief that says; 'The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved'. Yet, how often do we actually practice what we preach Truth be told, not that often. I joined the Liberal Democrats because I thought they were the party that stood up for the weak and the defenceless. It's starting to look as though I was wrong. ...
Older people face age discrimination every day. A new law on age equality would give older people the same protection against age discrimination that currently exists against other forms of discrimination including race, sex and disability. At Westminster there's recently been a review of laws on discrimination, with Harriet Harman MP (as Leader of the House of Commons) being the Minister heading the review. The Labour Government is now intending to draw together all the different discrimination laws under a Single Equality Bill but appears unconvinced that age discrimination exists, and may not include it in this legislation. I support ...
I see that Nicol Stephen has asked Alex Salmon to work with the Liberal Democrats to bring about change in the form of a local income tax. Scotland has a history of being bold and showing the rest of Britain the positive effect of it policies, you only need to remember it was the Lib Dems in government that abolished student tuition fees. They should now lead on a local income tax. I know many
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is escalating its probe into alleged bribery and corruption at BAE Systems, with one line of investigation being a series of commission payments personally overseen by chief executive Mike Turner during the late 1980s. You can read the full report in the Sunday Telegraph.
I have just picked this up from yesterday's Guardian. They are reporting that there is a very real possibilty of a government defeat on plans to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days. A survey by the paper has found that as many as a third of the party's 205 backbench MPs could rebel against the government. A lot of credit for the possible loss of this proposal is being given to Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, who is engaged on what is being dubbed the "war of the tea rooms", a series of debates with ...
Radnor Hills is one of those companies that you would think the environmental lobby would like; a small, independent, family run business. The Watkins family has been farming in this part of mid-Wales since the start of the 20th century and in 1989 began extracting mineral water from their land. Today, the family employs eight people and has won numerous awards for sustainable development producing a wholesome and natural product that contains no artificial minerals, carbohydrates, vitamins, flavourings or sweeteners. But Radnor Hills, along with the other bottled water companies, are finding themselves facing a backlash from a campaign which ...
Tell me it is not so. Matt Withers in his Wales on Sunday column reports that Lembit pik and his girlfriend, Gabriella are to appear on a revamped version of Mr. and Mrs. on ITV1. I cannot wait.
Liberal Democrat Leader on Hampshire County Council, Councillor Adrian Collett, is calling on Hampshire’s Tory MPs to explain why they all sat on the fence when the cash settlement for Hampshire County Council, which is well below the average rise given to other councils, was agreed by the House of Commons. Every Hampshire Tory MP abstained rather than vote against the proposal for Hampshire to have a rise of only 2.0%, which is far less than the average increase of 3.6%. The low rise in the amount of money from central government to help pay towards council costs in Hampshire ...
A Tory Peer, Lord Mancroft, has described NHS nurses as grubby, drunken and promiscuous after spending time at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. It sounds like a good description for Tory MPs in the 1990s.
Today really couldn't have gone much worse for the AB's. Losing at home to one of your relegation rivals with no bonus point to soften the blow. Seeing your star fly half stretchered off with a suspected broken leg. Watching as the line out collapsed yet again to gift the opposition a couple of tries. And not even being able to blame poor refereeing. The only dubious call he made all day in my view was to allow one of our tries which looked like a double movement. The best thing about this match was that new boy Gavin Quinnell ...
It’s hard to believe that it’s 25 years since Simon Hughes won the sensational Bermondsey by-election, seizing what had previously been a safe Labour seat. What’s more, he has hung onto the seat despite Labour throwing everything they could at it. This has been thanks to an extraordinary record of hard work in dealing with [...]
Sunday: Apparently it is all about CLASS. If you're criticising Mr Speaker of the House Martin, Speaker of the Commons, then you are a BAD person indulging in SNOBBERY. But if you're defending him, then it is PERFECTLY OKAY to dismiss his critics as "stuck-up upper-class hooray-henrys". It is no wonder people get confused about the intricacies of our CLASS SYSTEM! There are only TWO questions that are important, and Mr Speaker's BACKGROUND is IRRELEVANT to either it is neither proof of fault NOR any excuse, and people should address the QUESTIONS and stop making SNIDE INNUENDOS to avoid them. ... | < | March 2008 | > | ||||
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