LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 11th May 2008

Pelicans in the news

Is this the start of a worrying trend? The BBC website carries two apparently unrelated reports. In Florida: A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.The bird, which died in Thursday's collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker's face as she bathed near the city of St Petersburg.The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hit a person.In London: Families and tourists in a London park were left shocked when a pelican picked up and swallowed a pigeon.The unusual wildlife ...

Watch for the envelope

Watch out for the red and white envelope coming through the door. It is the beginning of Christian Aid Week, so I have been delivering my envelopes through local doors. It is quite a job getting them collected in - so please be nice, open the door and hand it back with something in! And if you are a tax payer, please take the time to fill in the form on the envelope - don't miss a chance for...

May 2008 Update to the West End Community Council

I have today launched my May update to West End Community Council. Issues covered include: * Perth Road - gas main replacement works * Youth football * Dundee airport - helicopter noise * Homebase site - update* Riverside Approach - site visit with Network Rail Click on the headline above to read the update. The Community Council meets this Tuesday at 7pm - location : Logie St John's (Cross) Church Hall.

Timpson reads us a bedtime story...

It seems Timmy is worried about seeing his kids again. I'm a bit confused. Is this a political blog or a family blog? The website seems to be about his campaign but he keeps nattering about his kids. Perhaps it's a letter to a marriage counsellor. I seriously don't know what he expects me to do about seeing his kids. Never mind, I'm sure the kids will see a lot more of daddy again soon... Timmy writes: "I am seeing as much of my family as I can but I would like to see more of them. The children are ...

Crewe soon.. and more walking

I am going over to Crewe later this week to help in the by election, but suddenly realised a major logistical problem that needed to be solved. My trainers have literally fallen apart. I think the crucial damage was done in Dignum Mead which, for the uninitiated, is part of a leaflet round in Netherley. I walked the shoes to destruction - next election I think I will get a reserve pair. Anyway - trip to the retail park means problem solved and am ready to start walking again!

Spencer Davis Group: Georgia On My Mind

With tomorrow being Steve Winwood's 60th birthday, I have an excuse for returning to this blog's favourite band. This performance comes from the same Finnish TV concert as the version of "I'm a Man" featured here a few weeks ago. Which means it comes from 1967 when Winwood was 18 and about to leave the group to form Traffic. Winwood's homage to Ray Charles is extraordinary. And it raises the question of why it was that in the early 1960s a generation of white middle-class boys found such affinity with the Black American music of the blues. I read somewhere ...

Playing footsie with Labour on the GLA

After my last post about Nick Clegg refusing to play footsie with the other parties, imagine my shock and horror to learn that our GLA members are doing just that! Newly elected Liberal Democrat members Dee Doocey, Mike Tuffrey and Caroline Pidgeon have supported Jeanette Arnold as Chair. This is the same Jeannette Arnold, who was quoted after the elections last week saying "I think Emily (Thornberry) is right to suggest that it will be Labour versus the Conservatives in Islington. The Lib Dems were fourth in the party vote. That is cause for concern for them. This was a ...

Obama on Israel

An interesting piece on Obama's website on Israel's 60th Anniversary, not much mention of occupation or the plight of the Palestinian's who were and continue to be, dispossessed. Does not bode well for a change in US policy post Bush.

The agony and ecstacy of football

I was reminded today in the beautiful sunshine of a not too dissimilar day three years ago when I travelled to London with my then girlfriend (now my wife) to watch Norwich City at Fulham on the final day of the season, For all those who do not remember the 2004/2005 season, Norwich just needed a win on the final day in order to stay in the Premier League. Norwich had, just a few weeks before, seemed doomed to go down, but a string of excellent wins, particularly a 2-0 win against Manchester United saw Norwich reach the edge of ...

ID Cards - Government's Own Security Experts Have Their Own Concerns

Today's Observer brings news that the Government's own security experts have many concerns about Labour's plans to introduce mandatory ID cards:“In a potentially damaging revelation, which undermines claims that the scheme will enhance national security, the group has concluded that [ID cards] will be prone to corruption… “The Isap report goes on to warn that the scheme may not be embraced by government departments, suggesting the cards are not being well received in some Whitehall departments. “The panel also warns the initiative is struggling to fulfil its remit. It states that the scheme lacks a 'robust and transparent operational data ...

'We win because our ideas are better' - Film Review

Primary Colours, 15, 138 mins. Primary Colours has always been one of my favourite films. It was released at a time when Bill Clinton was moving political satire from obscure TV slots to mainstream culture. Of course, as satire, it takes its inspiration from Clinton. However, as another Clinton's bid for the White House sputters and fades it is a film that is defiantly worth revisiting. John Travolta is Jack Stanton, an ambitious Democratic governor from the south. He is partnered by the equally ambitious Susan who is determined that her husband make it all the way to Capitol Hill. ...

Hot stuff at Crewe HQ!

I'm back in Crewe this weekend, at By-election Headquarters. It's blistering here - not just the hot weather, but the speed at which campaign literature is being produced and then delivered. Despite the amount of work, or perhaps because of it, the time is flying by. I almost wish the days could be longer, as there's plenty to do, and all of it very worthwhile. The people here are excellent (always room for more, so do come and meet them for yourself) and the mood is buoyant. My favourite quote so far is from a hard-working member of the Media ...

Labour have lost control of County Durham

Labour's suicide mission knows no bounds. Their National Executive Committee have just suspended 5 Durham County Councillors from the Easington area apparently in some spat over women candidates (Labour in Easington only put up 4 women candidates for 24 seats). But what has been missed by the BBC in reporting this is that the suspensions have now stripped Labour of their majority on Durham County

Why did Kirklees Council pay for this letter promoting a Labour candidate?

Consider a letter which starts: Dear Fellow Residents Working for you all year round The communities that make up Greenhead Ward deserve a team of experienced, hard working and effective Councillors, who will represent you and always put your interests first. As your Labour team in Greenhead Ward, we endeavour to work all year round on the issues [...]

This is just crass!

Labourhome are getting their pants in a twist over a Lab leaflet in Crewe - It’s one of those leaflets that make you realise that Labour are flailing about for ideas - this is real core core vote stuff and offensive on grounds of taste and decency. Will it work?

Why Brian Didn't get the cash

Brian Paddick's 'Mail on Sunday' Diary piece, has the rare qualities of being both very funny, well written and (to the best of my knowledge) almost entirely true, at least in the factual sense. I reserve an amount of ambiguity here to cover the unknown and the personal. I disagree on one major point in that I thought the Press team and campaign were excellent throughout. As principal fundraiser I am best placed to comment on this aspect of the campaign. Brian has laid much of the blame for a poor election result in London on lack of funding: "I ...

Good thing this town's big enough for the two of us

I have a blogging rival. Woof woof.

PSA: Mostly off-line

My laptop died on Friday night - we think it's the power supply. The hard drive is fortunately fine, and I'm currently using it with my old Tablet to work on my essay until I can get Dell to sort out the laptop. The Tablet is achingly slow, though, so I don't plan to be online much for the next 24 hours or so, after which I will probably borrow a laptop from work for a while. I'll respond to outstanding comments then.

The Leeds story

"How social workers took away our children for 11 months without a shred of evidence." This is the real world result of the single expert system. The experts get things wrong whether or not there is malice. At times you might as well toss a coin. The real problem, of course, is that they get rewarded financially for alleging abuse. Thats because they get family court expert fees.

Trial by Expert

The link is to a well argued article about the over use of experts in Family Proceedings. The only key point it misses out is that the courts tendency to allow the Local Authority to exclude experts from giving evidence (the single expert system) leads automatically to an unfair process. If parents cannot even ask an alternative expert about a case without permission from the judge they are

The Paddick Diary

Iain Dale draws attention to Brian Paddicks diary in the Mail on Sunday. What a shame that Iain appears to have been reading a different version to the one that is on-line. Despite the disappointment of not winning and the increasingly uphill slog that faced him, Brian shows that he retained his sense of humour throughout the campaign: April 2nd Time Out hustings at the University of London students' union. They want 24-hour licensing. I praise Ken for supporting Time Out's campaign by personal example. Increasingly he turns up for events the worse for wear, then drinks plenty. We're in ...

Government's own advisers say ID cards plans are risky and struggling

Today’s Observer brings news that the Government’s own security experts have many concerns about Labour’s plans to introduce mandatory ID cards: In a potentially damaging revelation, which undermines claims that the scheme will enhance national security, the group has concluded that [ID cards] will be prone to corruption… The Isap report goes on to warn that the scheme may not be embraced by government departments, suggesting the cards are not being well received in some Whitehall departments. The panel also warns the initiative is struggling to fulfil its remit. It states that the scheme lacks a ‘robust and transparent operational data ...

Linkspam for 11-5-2008

From the Hall: GmailThis! This are useful java bookmarklet-highlight some text, click the BM, get a pop up containing the text and the page URL, should work in any browser, nice way of emailing useful info or even just storing something. (tags: email Google gmail bookmarklet) Youtube and embedding correctly - Hapless band of staff and regulars Ryan geeks out over YouTube embed code. More useful than it sounds: Iâ™ve yet to work out why Youtube [have] the video at 425Ã—355px, when the resolution is only 320px wide, creating a blocky video as it is badly upscaled. here is the ...

Labour axe five councillors in female candidates row

From the BBC: Five Labour councillors, including the former leader of Durham County Council, have been suspended from the party. Former miner Albert Nugent was one of those caught up in the dispute over failing to have enough women candidates. Read the full story here.

How is Boris Johnson doing as London Mayor?

It’s early days, but there have been some interesting write-ups already, including in today’s Sunday Times which, amongst other things, points out that, At least two ideas mooted by Johnson during his campaign have been squashed by his rigorous new policymen. Dropping a couple of election promises so quickly is the sort of act which often gets [...]

Up And Downs of the Cup

Like every Torquay supporter who went to Wembley yesterday I'm feeling frustrated and deflated, as well as lighter in the pocket. I've been to Wembley three times before to support the Gulls, one win ...

Paddick Speaks

Brian Paddick has published in the Mail on Sunday a selection of his diary entries over the period when he was running for mayor of London. (Hat-tip: Matthew Pearce for bringing it to my attention.) They make amusing and sometimes painful reading for Lib Dems, but it's worth a look. After the London election results were published, I said that I hoped the party was going to be looking at what

Avon County Council by the back door

I thought that I had seen the end of the former Avon County Council when I came off that council at the end of its life in 1996. From what I have seen & heard over the last few months then I am convinced that is what we are heading back to in one form or another. Bath always done really badly under Avon & I for one do not want to see a return to that sort of super council or...

"Burma exports rice as cyclone victims starve"

I haven't written anything about the disaster in Burma - what can I possibly say that isn't trite? But the report in The Observer today was headlined Burma exports rice as cyclone victims starve. Yes, this takes callousness and obscene power to even greater depths. Burma is exporting rice to Bangladesh from one port, whilst millions are on the edge of starvation in one of...

London Elections Post Mortem

I have not posted for a while due to a rather frantic April in which I have been involved in a major deal at work and have been involved in the London elections at both 'air war' and 'ground war' levels. Then I went on holiday for a week ! Obviously the result was disappointing. None of the results - assembly list, constituency or mayoral reflected our understood strength either in the country as a whole or in London (based on recent local council by-elections and opinion polls). The Ground War Although the campaign pumped out what seemed to be ...

Andover Sound goes Live

The airwaves over North West Hampshire burst into life for the very first time this week as the areas new radio station ‘Andover Sound’ started to broadcast test transmissions on 106.4fm Anyone who now tunes into the frequency will hear the broadcasts. They feature a mix of the type of music the station will play and information about its full launch on Bank Holiday Monday, May 26th. The first record played was “1973″ by James Blunt, who grew up in St Mary Bourne. Ian Axton, the Managing Director of Andover Sound, said "To finally hear 106.4fm come to life was a fantastic moment. People ...

Interviewing in Morpeth

I am up in Morpeth, outside County Hall, having just done an interview for the next members' video newsletter in the North East with Jeff Reid. Jeff is the new Leader of the Northumberland County Council. We are now the largest group and Labour are now in third place. The elections gave the Lab Cons 17 seats each but a couple of indies have joined the Con group therefore making Labour the third

Review of the last few days

Wednesday * Met with the new acting Managing Director of Travel Dundee, and raised the concerns of residents about the re-routing of the 9X bus service - this no longer serves the Ninewells Avenue area. She promised to review this. * Attended the Deaf Awareness Open Day at the Central Library, organised by the Sound Sense project. It was good to see a number of organisations promoting their services to deaf people locally and the event was extremely well-attended. * Attended the "Community Spirit" group evening meeting at Mitchell Street Centre. "Community Spirit" is the new residents' group for the ...

Q - When is a leader not a leader?

A - When her name is Wendy Alexander. Ms. Alexander has had a disastrous time ever since being appointed as the Labour Leader in Scotland. First of all she had to face allegations of wrong doing on behalf of her leadership election fundraising committee. When it emerged that her campaign had taken an illegal donation from a non-UK resident, she had to admit that she had no idea who was funding her campaign and that she was signing "thank you" letters without knowing who they were going to and why. Hardly the actions of someone who is on the ball. ...

Wendy About to Make Double U-Turn

On Friday I decided that's I'd had enough personally of blogging about the Wendy house of cards over the referendum for independence statement Labour's Scottish leader made last week. However, when you wake up this morning and the Scottish Edition of the Times headline is 'Mad' Wendy on Brink over new U-Turn some promises, even those made to yourself have to be broken. They do say a week is a

Paddick bows out from politics...

Disappointed to read in today's Mail on Sunday that Brian Paddick has hung up his political rosette and with it his ambitions to pursue politics. We really need more flamboyant characters in the party. Had hoped that Paddick would be parachuted into a winnable seat for the May 2010 General Election, but alas it does not look likely. Just a few quotes from the self deprecating diary article penned by Brian: "Some people have asked if I'll run for Parliament now. It's as likely as me running another marathon. Not for anyone." Would you like to get to know me ...

The Welsh Language and the BBC

There has been a fair amount of publicity in the last week for the Heritage Minister's reannouncement on Thursday that 57 new organisations will soon have to adopt a Welsh language scheme in accordance with the 1993 Welsh Language Act. It took Normal Mouth to point out that this was an almost identical announcment to the one made by the previous Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport on 21 March 2007. It makes one wonder when the government is going to stop announcing it and get on with doing it. One of the organisations you will not find on ...

Quick - find someone to blame.

I almost feel sorry for Gordon Brown*, it’s like the whole world has been doing its best to make his life utterly miserable. Just how much more can go wrong for him? Before we got to the count at the local elections I warned people that any losses faced by Labour would immediately be blamed upon [...]

"No-one minds a toff!"

In an extraordinary burst of Tory passion, Jonathan Dimbleby has used his slot on the BBC Andrew Marr show paper review to attack the Labour accusation that Ed Timpson is a toff. He ended his review by obviously supporting the Tories and telling Andrew that no-one minds a toff. Very true, Jonathan, but should you be saying that on the BBC in the run-up to a by-election? Strange, how presenters seem to sometimes forget the BBC's rules about being impartial. Perhaps he just couldn't cope with the reality that Labour will lose and the Tories may not win either. He ...

Tesco eye Bath press site

St James investments are reported to have bought the former Bath Press site on the Lower Bristol Road for what is thought to be around �15million, it is understood that Tesco is also linked to this deal. Local councillors will be seeking more details on this one as the main Bath Press building is not listed it could mean that the whole site could be developed which would cause concern...

Labour lose the plot on ID card scheme

The Observer reports that a government-appointed panel of experts is warning that the new ID cards system will be open to fraud by the people running it. Their conclusion undermines Government claims that the scheme will enhance national security. The group has concluded that it will be prone to corruption: A new report by the Independent Scheme Assurance Panel (Isap), set up to advise the government on the implementation of ID cards, states: 'Based on the likelihood that the scheme will aggregate a lot of valuable data, there is the risk that its trusted administrators will make improper use of ...

Democratic race 'over' - Rasmussen

Rasmussen, the polling organisation that has been tracking the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee for 19 months, has announced it will stop tracking Sen. Hillary Clinton. It's website said that while Clinton "has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure" it was now "become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee. " A commentary by Scott Rasmussen argued that the Clinton teams efforts to portray it's candidate as more electable were futile: "Clinton and Obama represent different types of general election candidates and it's impossible to know who would end up as the stronger candidate ...

Bring on the clowns

The "Sunday Times" today -'Bring on the clowns - Wendy Alexander's referendum U-turn' (click on headline above to view) - along with the other Sunday papers, sums up the depth of the disaster of Wendy Alexander's week. Nicol Stephen MSP, speaking at First Minister's Questions on Thursday, said Alex Salmond could not believe his luck over Alexander's ridiculous u-turn on the referendum issue. Nicol said, "First he had the Tories cosying up to him on the budget, now we have the farcical floor show of the Labour Party offering him his lifetime's ambition on a silver tray." Now it appears ...

Peak Oil EDM

The link is to my most recently tabled EDM relating to Peak Oil which states: That this House notes that current movements in energy and food prices are in conformance with the predictions as to what would happen as oil production peaks; and calls for the Government urgently to review its predictions as to when peak oil occurs with a view to determining whether or not urgent policy adjustments

Another plug -environmental initiative in South Liverpool

Transition South Liverpool invites you to a Climate Change Visioning Day! Transition South Liverpool is a community-based group thinking about what climate change and the end of cheap fuel means for Liverpool's future. This is a chance for us to think about what the main issues are for Liverpool, and get some practical projects up and running that will make a real difference to a sustainable Liverpool given climate change and the end of cheap fuel. What kind of projects would you like to be involved in? What groups would you like to see developing projects? Come along and exchange ...

What will Boris Johnson be like as Mayor of London?

No prizes for guessing what my first newspaper column after the London elections is about...This weekend eight years ago I was elected to the London Assembly - and Ken became London's first Mayor. It was so exciting - a blank page on which to write the capital's future. And now it's Boris! Unbelievable... What will Boris Johnson do to London? I have to 'fess up immediately - I was upset by Boris even throwing his hat in the ring - let alone winning. To me he was not someone who had ever shown the slightest interest in London and its ...

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.19:29 so the next Doctor Who spin off is... #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

Sunday 11th May 2008

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