I've just got back home from Liverpool, and here is my own view of Nick Clegg's speech today. He gave an excellent performance - at times funny, but with immense conviction. You can watch it on the BBC site from this page. When I interviewed him during the leadership contest, and wrote about it under the title Clever Cleggs, I commented: "This is a man of high... 
For those who find that one line paragraphs are a bit much, I have taken the transcript from the Lib Dem website and turned it into the following, for ease of reading. Nothing has been changed about the content, but I have attempted to make it sit a little more naturally as printed word. NICK CLEGG'S SPRING CONFERENCE 2008 LEADER'S SPEECH My grandmother was a Russian exile; she fled the Russian
Simon Titley is at the very forefront of the attempt to renew the intellectual underpinnings of the Lib Dems, and his commentary in this months Liberator is an important contribution to this: http://www.liberator.org.uk/article.aspid=132304049 The real division in the party is now, he says, about what it means to be human. Are we primarily partners, parents and relatives; friends, neighbours and colleagues Or do we define ourselves more in terms of the things we buy... Do the Liberal Democrats envisage a society of active citizens or supplicant consumers That is exactly the right question (though I might quibble with the use ...
Back from conference, which was also my first visit to Liverpool - it was very impressive, and will be even more so when the construction work is finished. A Lib Dem city that is transformed from the rotten, dysfunctional basket case city we all read about in the early 90's. Who can forget former Labour leader Neil Kinnock's famous conference speech, when he attacked Derek Hatton and his comrades for 'hiring taxis to go round the city handing out redundancy notices to staff', when the city faced bankruptcy Back to the all important first ever conference speech by Nick. Given ...
Friday 7th to Sunday 9th march 2008 Party Conference time, so on the train to Liverpool. I was disappointed to find my hotel so far out, but set off in good spirits for the "15 minute walk" to the City Centre. I was struck with the way that houses earmarked for demolition in a regeneration scheme had the boarded up parts painted with different designs for every block. I certainly... 
This Sunday's video is taken from that seminal 1966 movie The Ghost Goes Gear. Most of the acts featured in the film, apart from the Spencer Davis Group, are pretty ordinary, but the St Louis Union are really rather good. Groovy mod sounds. St Louis Union were a Manchester band who had already enjoyed a top 20 hit with the Beatles' song "Girl". They had also won the 1965 Melody Maker National Beat Contest, beating - amongst many other groups - something called The Pink Floyd from Cambridge.And, yes, that is Nicholas Parsons at the start of the clip. The ...
Sometimes party conference is an escape into a feelgood cocoon, where everyone is a Lib Dem, and politics is about discussing ideas in the warm not pounding the streets in the rain. Politics is a tough old game and you need that comforting fix, that gathering of the clans, to give you the boost to [...]
After the week that the Liberal Democrats have just had it probably wasn’t the best time to have a conference. But actually the mood at conference was very good. It seeed to be that regardless of what side of the argument people were on, they just seem determined to put a difficult week behind them [...]
After a lengthy pause for a train journey home, a chance to edit the tapes very slightly, and the time taken to upload the file, Lib Dem Voice is very pleased to present a full recording of the proceedings on Saturday evening - including as an added bonus, a quick webinar from Lib Dem blogging [...]
Nick Harvey, MP, has launched Forces Focus, a new website concentrating on the state of our armed forces.
Vince opened his speech to the Liverpool conference: "I don't want to overdo my Stalin joke. But I did, I think, capture the pathos of Gordon Browns sad decline: from ruthless to rudderless: bully to bumbler; from Brezhnev to Blackadder." The speech in full should shortly be posted here along with the other platform speeches and summary of motions resolved. However, it's worth quoting Vince's coda: "Liberal Democrats represent the millions of families ignored by this Government. Yes, we believe in enterprise. Yes, we believe in an open economy. But we dont have to go down on our knees to ...
Ive recently been in a discussion on capital punishment and here are some reflections on the moral issues surrounding it. [I therefore will not discuss crime as a whole, its causes and what we should do about it. I would obviously want more to be done to tackle the causes of crime, including corporate crime, and create more opportunities for all.] I believe capital punishment to be morally
I was hoping to post a letter I had published in Lib Dem News last year, why reinvent the wheel But, sadly I was unable to find it on my computer. In that letter I wrote about the 'coalition' question. The should we or shouldn't we one. I argued that we are all in the politic game to make things better. And the only way to make things better is to play our full rule in government. In an ideal
I'm back in Cornwall and reflecting on the weekend. There were some obvious highs and lows: - As everyone seems to agree, the Crowne Plaza was a great conference hotel. The staff were hugely helpful and friendly. I know they'll not read this, but Tom the concierge and Frank the doorman were especially brilliant so thank you to them. - The hotel I stayed at in Bootle was also fab. Really cheap and chearful but friendly and clean. £25 a night well spent. - Liverpool Lib Dems did a great job in organising their end of things. - Unfortunately, I ...
The joke of the weekend (told by almost everyone I talked to all weekend): "Liverpool. A great city... When it's finished."
Well, I’m barely in the door, coat off and bags in the hall, before he’s jumped on me, licking my ear and demanding cuddles on the sofa. Or failing that, some biscuits. Yes, Percy the cat is very pleased to welcome me home. Sunday night is ironing night; Richard has started early, but in my absence [...]
Enham is soon to get its 30 MPH speed limit thinks to nearly 13 years of campaigning and Police objections from Councillor Robin Hughes. The notices have been posted this week and the 30 mph limit is nearly there.Since being elected for the Enham ward in 1994 Robin has worked tireless for a reduction in the speed limit, and last April despite numerous objections Robin was able to secure the 30 MPH limit.Writing on the 27 th April 2007, which happens to be one week before the last council elections Robin finally secured Hampshire County Councils approval. Here is the ...
Parliamentarians: Nick Clegg as Ros Scott notes, very accessible and relaxed. Highly approachable. Except that I didnt approach him. But you could have! Chris Huhne spotted coming out of the arena Jeremy Browne spotted pacing outside the Crowne Plaza late on sat afternoon with phone glued to ear. Lembit Opik he was coming out of the gents Willie Rennie I was going to talk at him but he turned round and started walking in the opposite direction. I have that effect sometimes! Vince Cable I think, from the dark recesses of my mind, that I saw Vince, but I did ...
More people than ever have been blogging from Conference - here’s a quick round up of some of the excellent non-LibDemVoice coverage on the LD blogosphere. The Lanson Boy has some excellent photos here, here and here. Don Liberali is a hoot as always as is the Lib Dem’s favourite fluffy elephant. In an interesting experiment with new [...]
Nick Clegg’s Spring Conference Speech, which I was lucky enough to witness from my very own bedroom (because after all, who wants to be in stuck in a conference venue with 2,000-odd men and women of questionable personal hygiene), was impressive for a number of reasons: No sign of “sclerotic“, a challenge to the established [...] 
In his first conference speech as leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg demanded a shake-up of the whole political system. A running theme of the speech was the need for a new kind of politics. Nick Clegg said: “The great political story of our time is the story of the vast and growing army of people who look at the two main parties and say no thanks. People who, like me, like you, want something different.” He said most people were tired of politics: “Tired of a system that swings like a pendulum between two establishment parties. Tired of ...
Just a brief posting about the new St Mary’s Rose, the Labour leaflet, which I read whilst out leafleting in the ward today (this is about the third one they’ve done - there must be an election coming up!). Having turned their vitriol-fuelled fire up to “furnace” with the last issue, this time they plunge new depths with an outright and massive lie, putting on paper for the first time what they’ve almost said in the past - that Lib Dems in Bury shouldn’t complain to the Council when things go wrong because the Lib Dems and the Tories “are the ...
Following the success of the Smannell Lib Dem weblog Alamein Liberal Democrats have launched a similar service for the parish of Enham Alamein. The blog will be used to report to residents news from their local councillors at Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council. It will also give parish residents the opportunity to comment on matters of local interest. The blog can be found at http://enhamlibdems.blogspot.com.
This weekend was my first visit to the city of Liverpool, and although it is difficult to get much of sense of place from the context of a party conference, I had quite a few instinctive Londoner prejudices torpedoed within the first few hours of arriving. Part of that was the evident forest of cranes and cool buildings along the Albert docks. Part though was the attitude of some of the Liberal Democrat Councillors currently running the City. As part of a party policy review we were lucky enough to sit down with some members of the Regeneration team who ...
{With Nigel at the bus stop in Little London} I am happy to join Smannell Lib Dem campaigner and transport consultant Nigel Gooding in launching a campaign to provide a greener, safer, reliable bus service to Andover Railway Station from Smannell, Little London and Enham Alamein.Nigel, who was responsible for establishing the award winning National Rail Enquiry Service, has undertaken a survey of public transport in the villages of Smannell, Little London and Enham. His findings found that despite daytime CANGO Hampshire County Council time services to Andover, no bus service actually went to Andover Railway Station. As a result residents ...
I'm just watching Nick Clegg's leadership speech on the BBC website. Generally good stuff, and I'll post a more extensive discussion once I've finished listening. But one section really jumped out at me, and made me want to draw attention to it right now: If it means walking out of parliament when the big parties collude against us, I say "fine". If it means boycotting banquets that celebrate our
This weeks search through my blog stats shows that one blogger got to my blog this week via Google using the search term "most interesting blogger". Usually I ask if the person getting here is disappointed with the story that the search links to, but in this case I am the one who is disappointed. I was really excited to see that someone searching for "most interesting blogger" got to my blog, but disappointed that it didn't link to me, but instead to this story HERE.
After a hectic 48 hours, we're heading away from Liverpool. I must admit that I was a bit nervous on the way up after what had not exactly been a vintage week for the Parliamentary Party. I needn't have worried... Nick is very deft of touch and has a wonderfully self-deprecating style, which served him well over the weekend. He is highly accessible, in that you see him around the conference centre and hotel, actually talking to people, rather than sweeping through with an entourage in pursuit. But beneath his rather laid back exterior lies a politician of great conviction ...
My friend Oli Harvey has started a blog. I hope he keeps it up. He has two very good and full posts on the escalating and sour relations between Ecuador and Venezuela on the one hand and Colombia on the other. Well worth a read (here, and here).
Welcome to Something for the Weekend, which this week comes to you live from Production Office 1 in the Artists’ Village, deep in the heart of Liverpool’s new Arena and Conference Centre. On the Something for the Weekend speakers’ podium today: bikinis; a liberal singalong; the steam pipe trunk distribution venue; and more!
This weekend I have been mostly playing about with Twitter. First I created a CNPS (Consecutive Number Plate Spotting) TwitterBot. The bot watches for @ and d messages to it, it then adds the plates to my database. Anyone with a Twitter account AND and Artesea account can get it to work, just visit the mashup page here for more info. Next I managed to exceed the weekly allowance for tweets to my mobile. Think it was something to do with a large number of followers at Conference. And just now I’ve installed a New Post -> Twitter plugin. This ...
Many thanks to the A Capella Glee Club, the handful of conference delegates who hadn’t had enough singing at the actual Glee Club by 1am and continued for a further two hours into the early hours of the morning, long after the staff had cleared away the chairs and shooed us out. I always feel [...]
Last night's Campaign for Gender Balance Blogging Awards was a very thrilling affair. I have never been nominated for an award alongside MPs and parliamentary candidates before so it was a great honour. It was fantastic to put faces to names and to find out who really needs to update their photographs! The results were: People's choice of Best Blog - Lynne Featherstone MP - congratulations on your first win Lynne! Judge's choice of Best Blog - Alix Mortimer - a consistent and highly reliable blogger, Alix will go from strength to strength I'm sure! Best Blog Posting - Jo ...
Our Vince Cable the Able was the main event of a lot of people’s Saturday conference. It will therefore surprise precisely no-one to see that the Red Box is desperately attaching electrodes to the equine corpse of the “Should Vince have stood” non-issue. The giveaway in such tedious toilet paper coverage is that it actually [...]
Having just done the photos at the Nick Clegg speech, I now find myself in similar physical circumstances. In other words, I am on the train heading out of Liverpool. Doing leader's speech photos requires camera and elbows. Getting on the train and claiming one's seat simply requires elbows. The problem is, the person next to me is all elbows and laptop. On a crowded train, this person is typing
Following a response by Mark Littlewood on this post, I have been persuaded that the opinions I expressed in the post below were wrong. I do not believe that Mark is motivated to make appearances by the possibility to cause damage to the party, and it was incorrect for me to suggest that his appearances are always critical. I would like to apologise for these comments. I will not be removing the
I am very pleased at the positive response from Tayside Police to my request that the Force upgrade an area of pathway in their ownership, that is extremely well used by residents in the West End, but currently in very poor condition. Last month, I raised the condition of the thoroughfare from Shaftesbury Road to Perth Road, adjacent to Seymour Lodge (click on headline above to view) and this led to two representatives of Tayside Police meeting me on-site last Wednesday, and a resultant agreement by Tayside Police to upgrade and resurface the west side of the thoroughfare, adjacent to ...
Nick Clegg has just finished giving a fantastic speech. Others can do words on what they thought, but here are a few pictures fro m the event. I'm off back to Cornwall now but will post further thoughts and photos later.
So, I made my first federal conference speech this morning. And what a one to choose! Called immediately after former housing spokesperson Andrew Stunell's opening speech I was asking conference to reject his paper with a wide range of what are probably pretty popular measures in it because it lacked one measure - LVT. And boy did the assembled throng let me know how wrong they thought I was - I reckon I counted half a dozen votes at most to reject the motion . Maybe that's some kind of a record or something for a maiden speech But it ...
Department for Work and Pensions IT projects are running a total of 21 years late and £315m over budget, according to figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats. One project, the Pensions Transformation Project, which aims to improve customer service and deliver efficiencies is running £169m over budget. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: These figures confirm that Government IT projects are an utter shambles. Ministers seem completely incapable of delivering workable IT systems on time and on budget. Given the Governments appalling track record on computer projects, it is essential that a full investigation is launched into this ...
It just struck me that since I abandones blogging my trips around the Scottish first Division Stadium since the untimely death of Phil O'Donnell at the end of last year that I have since completed the cycle that I started out at with Dens Park. In fact Livingston are returning there this Tuesday. So over the next few days I'll be playing catch up starting with the stadium we visited on that
A chance for all those at home listening to Nick Clegg’s speech on the radio or BBC News 24 to have their say, before all those who were actually there get home and start weighing in. In previous years, conference representatives have arrived home to hear very different spins being applied to the words they heard, [...]
So - what have the Liberal Democrats being getting up to at our spring conference Watch my diary to find out:
The situation in Gaza was rightly highlighted in an emergency motion at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Liverpool this morning. This was comfortably passed, unamended. There was only one controversial paragraph, namely: “Conference calls upon the EU to review with immediate effect whether Israel is in enduring breach of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement by refusing [...]
The Liberal Democrats have said that the Governments Home Information Packs (HIPs) are failing, following the publication of the schemes pilot studies report today. The study found that: - Almost 60% of buyers did not see the HIP early enough in the house buying process - After their property had been sold, sellers were less likely to agree that their HIP had helped sell their property (fell than 44% to 22% of sellers) - 58% of buyers did not agree that HIPs speed up the buying process - Over three quarters of buyers said that the HIP had no effect ...
Hi Mum, I'm in the hall for the Leader's speech here in Liverpool. We're all in high spirits after a wonderfully fun conference, something you might not have guessed from reading the papers earlier in the week. Nick looks incredibly relaxed, has mingled with the rest of us and, whilst I know his entourage were probably not too far away, there isn't that sense of 'deity come to visit the
One of the debates yesterday was about illegal abductions, otherwise known as the US kidnapping people around the world. You can read the text of the motion here, which called for a full independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the abductions. And for other conference news, here is Lynne Featherstone’s Sunday morning diary: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=LO2bNdLvd08
The Click programme on the BBC this week featured a nifty website for a tetris-style game that relies on your mental arithmetic skills! Get in training now at www.koozac.com and hone up your skills for working out how we will be paying for the New Labour deficit, I mean budget!
Following on from the debate about getting access for bloggers from outside London to key figures in the Party, I was innocently minding my own business in the bar of the conference hotel last night when who should appear in front of me but Nick, our glorious leader. I'm not much of a groupie and tend to leave the celebrities alone but, on this occasion, I asked him if he would be willing to
Continuing in the little-known twenty four hours later school of live-blogging, we come to the moment on Saturday morning when I unglue my eyelids just in time to hear Brian Paddick deliver his London setpiece. He is as impressive as ever, and plays on his background in just the right way - “I’m not a politician. [...]
It is not often that one sees unalloyed good being done by a commercial enterprise. One million people have joined the organ donation register through their Boots loyalty card: New customers simply tick a box on the application form to register their wishes. Seven times more women than men have signed up since the partnership was launched in 2000 and 89 people have donated their organs after
Leaving aside her rather dire performances at First Minister's Questions, donations declarations and overall lacklustre leadership, Wendy Alexander's latest pronouncement on a by-election in South Lanarkshire on Thursday rather defies belief: Wendy Alexander welcomed the Labours victory in Cambuslang East by-election today after the count was completed as an excellent result for the party. What is particularly satisfying is Labour won the seat from the SNP, something they have significantly failed to do in any council by-election since the May elections. This result is a major blow to the nationalists and their inflated claims about their own by-election performances. A ...
With the exception of new loan signing Dougie Freedman on the subs bench, Leeds United fielded an unchanged side at Elland Road yesterday. We listened to the match on Radio Leeds as we drove back from the Lib Dems Spring Conference in Liverpool. The Cherries were in a confident mood as they faced United in strong winds and at times driving rain. They had beaten Pools 2-0 last Saturday and Manager Kevin Bond was a little over optomistic in his pre-match comments. This will have helped spur on United who were unbeaten in four. Just 11 minutes into the game ...
From top to bottom: Vince Cable speaks to conference ; and receives a standing ovation from the Leader ; Nick Clegg joins the purple ribbon campaign to tackle gun violence following the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones; Nick with local councillors and officers tours new social housing built by the Lib Dems in Norris Green ; Nick joins a rugby session at Ellergreen Leisure Centre ; Party President Simon Hughes addresses conference ; Nick Clegg takes to the stage at the Glee Club .
The firs t evening of conference traditionally sees a rally for party members. It's an occasion to, well, rally the troops. This conference was no exception with speeches from Carol Woods, PPC for the City of Durham, by-election winners Sarah Teather and Willie Rennie and from Party Leader Nick Clegg. Th e event was introduced by the ever genial Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool city council.
Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg's arrival at the conference hotel - with the landmark Liver Building in the background. Former leader of Liverpool City Council Mike Storey receives an award for lifetime endeavour from Nick at the Council Group of the Year Awards.
Liberali Family is in Liverpool this weekend for Spring Family Gathering. I take this as good opportunity to stay at home and work on lemon trees, but have sent enthusiastic cugine up in my stead. For Liberali Junior, my nephew, this will be first Gathering. So he still full of keen enthusiasm and optimism that less evident amongst those in regular attendance. For now though he leaf through briefing papers on socially responsible carjacking and benefiting from cross-border crime with with wide-eyed wonder and curiosity. He been pestering me with questions all week about which way he should indicate his ...
A quick plug for two stories: residents in Bounds Green are threatening Haringey Council with court action for failing to properly consult residents over parking plans: Plans to seek a judicial review have the support of Hornsey and Wood Green MP, Lynne Featherstone. She said: "My understanding is a large proportion of residents were not properly consulted, and that is unacceptable."Meanwhile, Labour is talking about getting children to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen: Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat youth and equality spokeswoman, said: I dont think pledging allegiance to the Queen is the answer to young peoples ...
Today's debate on housing shares a common factor with many motions that come to Liberal Democrat Federal Conference, it makes an attempt to acknowledge and take account of the devolution settlement but does not quite make it. The motion is starred as applying to England only but in fact two proposals, one to create a level playing field for Council tenants by giving them an alternative to stock transfer and the second, suggesting changes to the way that Housing Revenue Accounts are administered, impact on Treasury policy and thus would apply across the whole of the UK. What is unusual ...
The Liberal Democrat Campaign for Gender Balance awards for women bloggers came to a head in an award ceremony last night. Two Welsh bloggers had been shortlisted for best blog by a non-Liberal Democrat woman. They were Betsan Powys and Bethan Jenkins. The results are here. As you can see Betsan Powys won a well-deserved award in a competition presided over by a number of distinguished judges, including, I understand, the editor of the Guardian blog. There is a certificate, which I will be passing onto her in due course.
The full results of the blog awards… James has them. And hopefully I’ll be able to bring you a podcast of the full event tomorrow, including comprehensive advice from ReadMyDay’s Mary Reid, after I’ve had a chance to tinker with the sound a little.
Friday: It is Spring Conference weekend for us Liberal Democrats, and so My Daddies and I are off to Liverpool. Your accreditied correspondent {Posted by Picasa} Here we are, in the European City of Culture 2008 - this must be culture out of the window... the elephant in the (hotel) room {Posted by Picasa} Look! Trains! {Posted by Picasa} Then it is off to Liberal Drinks... (Do not worry, NO alcohol for me! Yuck!) I'll have the Nuts, Please! {Posted by Picasa} ...to meet fluffy friends old and new! The Republic of Mortimer provides a warm welcome {Posted by Picasa} ... | < | March 2008 | > | ||||
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