Saturday 24th May 2008

11:40 pm

The Millwall attitude

Gravatar Being a Lib Dem, you'd have thought I'd have got used to the idea of being squeezed out at political competitions. Seems not! Anyone watching the show would have seen Andy Abraham's (of X Factor fame) finish equal last with a score of just 14 points. How pathetic a score is that and that from a total of 43 countries. Not bad hey? We couldn't have done any worse if Elizabeth Shenton had been representing us! Given the terrible result it begs the question - why do we bother? It's obvious that most of Europe hates us, so why do ...
11:39 pm

Knife murder close to home

Gravatar Last night I escorted my youngest daughter and a friend back from a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. As we came through Sidcup there was masses of blue lights and a helicopter hovered above. I now know this was as a result of the murder of Rob Knox outside the Metro Bar. From what I read Rob Knox looked like a great kid who overcame bullying to become an actor, with a role in the latest Harry
11:25 pm

The MPs that were in the pub during the abortion vote!

Gravatar As noted on Lib Dem Voice seven Lib Dem MPs couldn't be bothered to vote in the crucial and highly important Abortion Debate. (Adrian Sanders was out of the country at the time) The biggest debate on the subject in twenty years seemingly didn't have any impact on: Jeremy Browne, Vince Cable, Tim Farron, Mark Oaten, Alan Beith, David Heath, and Charles Kennedy. I stand by what I said in the comments thread on Lib Dem Voice - I'm just giving it much more publicity by stating it here in my blog: 'I'm afraid I may become a little annoying ...
9:40 pm

Caravans & Camping

Gravatar Bank Holiday weekends often bring caravans out on to the roads in large numbers as people decide to enjoy their break away from home. This weekend has brought caravans to us, as Travellers have set up camp on the grass verge near Hunters' Green. For the moment it's not a problem - 5 caravans only. Certainly I don't think it's worth taking any action over a holiday weekend, especially as we're
9:30 pm

Lib Dems on tour and other stories!

Gravatar I have had a hectic couple of weeks, with little time for blogging - but it's all gone quiet now so time to catch up. Before the trip to Belfast for Liberal International Congress I was invited to the British Legion Parliamentary Reception. It was over populated with Tories so it was good to see Lib Dem MPs Jeremy Browne (my hero!), Andrew George, David Heath and Don Foster there. I was amused when Jeremy introduced me to someone as a 'top Lib Dem Blogger with a blog full of lively opinions, frequently expressed!' (now you know why he is ...
9:23 pm

Well said that man

Gravatar Guess who said this? 'There is no argument for having CCTV which both infringes on our civil liberty but is of such poor quality it does nothing to protect us or provide evidence to bring perpetrators of crime to justice - as happens now.' Shami Chakrabarti? Chris Huhne? Nick Clegg? Barack Obama? DCB? BHL? Well its not. It's David Davis, Tory Shadow Home Secretary. Perhaps a Tory Government really will be more liberal than Labour. To be far it wouldn't be difficult to be less authoritarian than this bunch of control freaks.
8:51 pm

Homeward Bound

Gravatar Although our enquiry is about protecting children from harmful content on the internet, my committee has the job of scrutinising the Government across a range of policies including tourism, so we met ...
8:49 pm

The Obama Coalition

Gravatar Check out Jay Cost's great graphs analyzing the Obama coalition. Check it out.
8:33 pm

Eating croissants at the French breakfast

Gravatar Last week we had a successful late morning French breakfast.... croissants, french toast etc. It was even better as we were able to sit in the garden and enjoy the sunshine. Leigh's boys had fun kicking a football around and playing hide and seek around the trees.
8:24 pm

Nick Clegg visits Cornwall

Gravatar Great day yesterday. Nick Clegg came down and made various visits including one to Playing Place Post office helping with my campaign to save rural post offices. I organised a March from Carnon Downs to Playing Place post office a few weeks ago and wanted his support on this issue. In July we will know which post offices are due to be closed. Mrs Williams came along on her motorised scooter. It is for people like her that we need to fight to save our post offices as they are so important in our communities. The local Conservative county councillor ...
YouGov
8:12 pm

City of Discovery video

Gravatar From the City of Discovery website : Dundee - City of Discovery is the jewel of North East of Scotland. In a setting on the banks of the River Tay described by actor and raconteur Stephen Fry as 'ludicrously ideal', Dundee offers a peerless quality of life. Modern Dundee is a city of discovery, diversity and dynamism, qualities encapsulated by world leading research in the life sciences, a burgeoning digital media sector, a vibrant arts and cultural life and a successful local economy.
8:04 pm

City cuddles up to Cameron

Gravatar The Times reports that a growing number of large companies are approaching the Conservative Party looking for meetings in the hope of shaping policy. Alan Duncan, the Shadow Business Secretary, has recently met the chief executives or chairmen of BP, Shell, Vodafone, EdF and Total. The Tories have promised to cut corporation tax from 28p to 25p, although they plan to cut research and development tax allowances. Some companies have started 'double briefing' - setting up shadow public affairs departments to improve relations with the Tories. For it's part the Conservatives have been busy building links over the past 18 ...
7:45 pm

Power of the blog revealed

Gravatar You may question how valuable your blog is on the net. Whether or not people do pick up on your views. Well it's amazing how people can stumble across your blog. I was looking over MyBlogLog Stats for 22nd May and found how 11 people unsurprisingly came to my site through libdemblogs. But 1 person came found my entry on 'Why is France deporting it's illegals' by searching 'filling in the jobs' on Google France. Sounds odd why someone would be typing that in English on Google France. On Google Mexico someone typed IMF Food and found my entry 'More ...
7:30 pm

Kicking up a rumpus

Gravatar Compass seem to think Labour are losing the plot. The centre-left group of Labour MPs have attacked the doomed Crewe & Nantwich campaign as 'inept, negative and poisonous'. They're also criticising the illiberal stance on young people, migrants and ID cards, although the latter is hardly news from new Labour. Meanwhile, Compass concludes, 'the problem [...]
6:55 pm

Are councillors too old?

Gravatar Confronted with one of Virginia Woolf's 'moments of non-being', or in other words a dull laundry late morning/early afternoon, I've been surfing the Communities and Local Government website sniffing around for statistics on councillors. Are they all elderly, retired men who are highly educated? Did they all serve in the Army? Are they just looking to supplement their pensions? Is it the professional version of meeting at the Post Office on pension day for a moan about the state of the world? Would they be there if the competition was increased, a salary introduced, and younger more energetic men and ...
6:43 pm

Chelsea: Avram Grant sacked, Jose Mourinho to return?

Gravatar Avram Grant has been sacked as manager of Chelsea. Getting to the final of the Champions League clearly was not enough. Though how far Grant was really in charge of the team was never clear to the outside observer. So who will take his place? The BBC report mentions Frank Rijkaard, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Brian Laudrup and Roberto Mancini. But maybe there is another candidate. This morning's Sun says: Jose Mourinho has been rebuilding his relationship with Roman Abramovich.Former Chelsea manager Mourinho and the club owner have shared cosy chats at least three times in the last six weeks.The news comes ...
6:38 pm

Haringey Council leaves confidential files abandoned - again

Gravatar {Confidential files left insecure by Haringey Council} They may say that lightning never strikes twice, but when it comes to Haringey Council and stuffing up - one often wishes they could never make the same mistake twice! It was bad enough when the news broke that Haringey Council had left files containing personal data on thousands people abandoned in a building (see my blog posting or watch the news report). And then - after being told about it and saying they'd secured all the files - it turned out there were yet more files still left behind in the building. ...
5:25 pm

Changes and (hopefully) improvements

Gravatar I'm going to make a few changes around here. I think this blog needs improving. The first step is to introduce a regular weekly article of comment, opinion, analysis, and news you might have missed. So starting next week we shall have: Middle Eastern Mondays (articles on lands between Morocco and XinJiang) Election watch Tuesdays (news, comment, and background about an upcoming election) American Wednesday (monitoring and opining on US politics in the runup to November) British Thursdays (a weekly opinion piece on a facet of UK politics, maybe the odd policy) The Friday Rant (pretty self explanatory) Open Society ...
5:20 pm

Clinton hints at Obama's death!

Gravatar Hillary Clinton had to apologise after remarks to do with Robert Kennedy's assissination. Robert Kennedy was in the Primary stages of the democratic race in 1968when in June he was shot dead. He had given people lots of hope as he talked about withdrawing from Vietnam and investing back into much need reforms in the US instead. It's no wonder many people have compared Barack Obama with Robert (or Bobby) Kennedy. Hopefully Obama will make it to the Presidency. But Hillary Clinton in her desperate attempts to justify her staying in the race said, 'My husband did not wrap up ...
5:16 pm

It could only happen in Haringey, part 94

Gravatar More problems with the plans to redevelop / expand Muswell Hill Library as it turns out that the latest plans to sell off land at the back of the site to pay for the work ... wouldn't leave enough land left over for the library to expand after all! In other words - sell off land to pay for work that they can't be done because, er... the land has been sold off. So very Labour Haringey! As my colleague, Cllr Gail Engert (Muswell Hill) put it, 'It is ludicrous to think that the very development that was meant to ...
5:10 pm

Little Miss Sunshine?

Gravatar We met with Myspace at the 20th Century Fox studio complex and dined in Shirley Temple's dining annex - a small room off the main restaurant that kept Miss Temple apart from the artists and technician...
4:30 pm

A new Council year begins

Gravatar Thursday evening saw the first Full Council of the new year, with our new mayor, local lad Ian Hazeldine. There was little of interest or controversy on the agenda, though former Tory leader Tony Richmond, perhaps remembering Veronica Copeland's hesitant response to my question to her a year ago when she took over the Environment portfolio, mischieviously asked her what her top five priorities
4:22 pm

If I won £2.7million on the lottery...

Gravatar ...I wouldn't tell the whole world about it on the front page of the Northern Echo! Especially as his ex-wife is laying into him big time in the comments section of the on-line edition of the Echo. I hope his win brings him some happiness, but why invite envy and greed by teling your story to the local press?
3:43 pm

Blogging gap

Gravatar I moved into Kinross-shire last week and haven't worked out my Internet connection yet and we are off to Prague tomorrow so I probably shan't have the chance to blog before the 1st of June. See you all soon.
3:07 pm

Back in the land of living

Gravatar So I am back. After an eventful month or so, I hope to bore you all on a more regular basis with my views and opinions of the moving world. Of course there is the recent local elections to talk about and I am sure some of the anonymous readers who leave comments have plenty to add. There is the school's recent OFSTED inspection to reflect on as well as the usual day to day ups and downs of the
DataFlame
2:23 pm

Dr Who?

Gravatar Russell T Davies may be quitting (boo), but delicious David Tennant is staying on as Dr Who for now (hooray). But just in case, handbag.com has come up with some suggestions of alternative castings. I'm not convinced. Here's my shortlist: scary, posh, ginger and, er, ginger....
2:10 pm

The europop (pop) makes me dizzy

Gravatar It's that time again: tonight is the final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. I missed both semi-finals and haven't had time to listen to the contenders, so I'll be watching tonight (at the local LibDems' annual Eurovision party) with an open mind. One of my two predictions for the contest has already come true: Ireland's abysmal entry by Dustin the Turkey was knocked out in its semi-final. My other prediction is to disagree with the BBC's tiny and unrepresentative Eurovision panel that Sweden will win. Although Charlotte Perrelli has won before, her entry this year, Hero is - based ...
1:39 pm

A local frenzy as Hull City bid to be Yorkshire's top team

Gravatar The state of frenzy which has gripped Hull and the East Riding since Hull City beat Watford in the play-off semi finals comes to a head at 3pm today. Evidence of this is the number of balloons, car flags, outdoor flags and general Tigers paraphernalia around the area. As I cycled round to the village shop [...]
1:09 pm

What Would Tony Do?

Gravatar Can Labour recover from the disasters of May? First, came the local election results, when the party trailed in third place, with 24% of the national vote; then Ken lost to Boris; and now the Crewe and Nantwich by-election has left the party reeling. Few of us will sympathise with the plight of Gordon Brown: [...]
12:59 pm

Henley: Great countryside, weather, pubs - all you need for a great weekend jaunt!

Gravatar Yes, South Oxfordshire is beckoning! Let's not leave it too late like with Bromley. It's wonderful weather, Henley constituency has some of the most picturesque countryside and towns/villages in the UK. And don't forget the wonderful pubs - many of them Brakspear pubs which are excellent (beer now brewed in Witney). Don't waste the Bank Holiday weekend without a visit to support our campaign
12:46 pm

Our Glorious Leader

Gravatar For anyone who hasn't actually seen it yet, here's the footage of our lovely Prime Minister picking his nose and eating it: Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VaP1HB7Vew Am I alone in finding this rather endearing and humanising? Bless him! He might be a shit prime minister, but he can pick his nose like a pro!
12:10 pm

Religion and the Law

Gravatar Amused Cynicism links to Charlie Stross's reaction to the young lad getting arrested for waving a placard calling Scientology a cult. He uses Charlie's ire as a jumping off point to explore what he thinks are the best methods of removing the privileged status of religion, without actually persecuting religious folks. I think he maybe crosses that line somewhere about the paragraph that begins 'Having considered these measures', but I think I have a better plan. The best way to remove the privileged status of religion for the irreligious majority is to continue to let religious folks behave like twats, ...
11:57 am

on the US Presidential election - assasination

Gravatar With the New York Times delegate count reporting that Obama has 97%, of the 2,026 delegates needed, is the race for the Democratic nomination a done deal? Perhaps not, as Hillary Clinton yesterday revealed how she intends to win the nomination. She will wait for Obama to be assassinated next month, thus taking the throne. In another moment of classic misspeak she said, It is a historical curiosity to me. She had been citing the previous campaign of Robert Kennedy in 1968, who was assassinated in June of that year. She later expressed regret, but did not apologise. All three ...
11:50 am

BBC apologises for misleading political comments from Jeremy Clarkson

Gravatar Andy Jaeger's blog has the story.
11:49 am

Diana Wallis slams MEP expenses reform

Gravatar Via the FT: An attempt by the European parliament to clean up expenses led to acrimony on Thursday when a member charged with drafting reforms called its decision-making more shambolic than a village council. Diana Wallis, a British Liberal Democrat, complained that proposals to force deputies to account for some of their €4,000 ($6,230, £3,185) a month [...]
11:46 am

Ah, my precious leaflets...

Gravatar There have been some remarkable re-unifications in my lifetime. East and West Germany... Madge and Harold from Neighbours... And today, one to top them all, as I am finally allowed back to my precious leaflets after almost a whole month of joyless and utterly free weekends where I could do sensible things like sitting in the garden, enjoying walks, and not helping us come third in Crewe. It is, seriously, a happy event. Lack of leafleting means that my sole entry-point into the world of exercise is temporarily blocked, and my arteries have been audibly groaning for the last few ...
11:44 am

A brief update

Gravatar 1 Hello Sarah! Gorgeous as ever I see:-) 2 We will be back in our home by June 9th at the latest. It is now plastered, decorated and has a new bathroom. The floor is half way there and then there is just the kitchen. 3 I still don't have internet access at home so haven't been blogging much but plan to resume when we move back. 4 I'm currently spending most of my time in Thame at our Henley by-election HQ. Do come and say hello!
11:29 am

LibDemVoice Down

Gravatar Someone forgot to check the meter and it seems that LibDemVoice is currently down because we've run out of bandwidth. As soon as the guy in a field in Scotland pays for some more, it'll be down until further notice. UPDATED: site now back up.
11:06 am

Labour plotters 'couldn't organise a coup'

Gravatar You can always rely on Austin Mitchell MP to put the boot in on Labour generally. Well, today is no different. As I sit having breakfast in the garden checking the BBC News on my blackberry, I read the following quote from Mitchell, directed at possible leadership contenders:'This lot wouldn't know how to organise a coup if the research department gave them a manual on how to do it.'As I have
10:57 am

Is this the coolest most controversial ad out?

Gravatar Be warned perhaps not totally work-safe! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sPQAgRSydU http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/85af2bd5f4
10:25 am

Final tonight!

Gravatar For the many who feel that the Eurovision Saturday is a special day or just those that view Eurovision as interested observers the main thing to do is to remove the wheat from the chaff - essentially finding those gold nuggets that deserve to win. Here's my cut-out and keep guide: 1. Romania - Not sure why [...]
10:08 am

The unsavoury and unsuitable Hillary Clinton

Gravatar The Democratic nomination race has seen two very contrasting campaigns from its front runners. Obama's campaign appears more about aspiration whilst Clinton's campaign has become more and more about desperation. Take for example Hillary's campaign team criticising Barack Obama's wife. Once might have expected that Hillary, herself the subject of lots of attacks whilst her husband was in office in the White House, would have realised that this type of campaigning is hurtful and pretty irrelevant, would have stepped away from such campaign methods. But no, her desperation was clear. But by raising the spectre that someone could assassinate Barack ...
9:57 am

Capital infrastructure projects

Gravatar Further to my blog entry earlier this week regarding Claypotts Castle Primary School and the issue of the funding of capital projects across Scotland, the Scottish Government has now unveiled its much hyped plans for a 'Scottish Futures Trust' to pay for major infrastructure projects, such as new schools and hospitals. The reaction to the Scottish Government's proposals is sort of summed up by the Scotsman - 'Warning SNP's finance plan may be illegal' (click on headline above to view the full story). For once, Wendy Alexander got it right - calling the proposals 'legally incompetent and financially illiterate.' Liberal ...
9:17 am

Even Hillary Central's turned against her

Gravatar I note the strange, and perhaps, tasteless comments from Mrs Clinton referencing Bobby Kennedy's death in June 1968 as a reason to carry on (the supposed reason being the month not the event!). Even Steve Soto of the www.theleftcoaster.com has finally given up on her. Like a malevolent alien on a Dr Who set she's become like a subversive [...]
9:09 am

Garston Embassy event - 31 May

Gravatar Next weekend the Garston Cultural Village project has another event which sounds like it will be great fun. Using a former school on Wellington Street in Garston Village (tocky tech to those who know it) there's going to be the opening of the Garston Embassy. There'll be a ticker tape parade, a President, a band etc. There are flyers and teaser posters all over the area - so hopefully there'll be a big turnout. It all starts at 2 30 on Saturday 31st. It's part of the Biennial and I understand there are also 'pavillion' projects in Kirkdale and Kensington. ...
8:48 am

Comment of the day

Gravatar On the blog of Paul Flynn MP: 'Tamsin Dunwoody did a little better than Labour's 24% rating in the opinion polls promised. She got 31%.'
8:00 am

Day 2698: Oil Shock Shock: Highest Price Ever... Until Next Time!

Gravatar Wednesday: You do realise that oil is just going to keep getting more expensive, don't you? That's not necessarily to say that EVERY price change will be an increase, and at the moment the price is being driven up as much by a BUBBLE as demand: all those futures traders who think that buying oil is a one way bet... because they were SOOO right about mortgages being a one way bet, weren't they! Bit with the emergence of CHINA and INDIA as nascent economic superpowers, there are more and more people wanting the stuff and only a FINITE supply. ...
7:47 am

The National Ballroom could make a comeback...

Gravatar I'm told you could see queues down the Kilburn High Road at the peak of the cinema going 40's and 50's and oft course it is easy to forget that there were at least 4 cinema's. The National was one of the most grand (though not as grand as the Gaumont State) and is still there today - only now as a church not a cinema. Taking a walk around it you realise just how large and in fact dominant it is - an entire island off Grangeway that looms over Kilburn Grange Park. Now it's a bit tatty and ...
7:37 am

Off to Thame/Henley...

Gravatar Just off to Henley (or in actual fact Thame) for the second time this week...
12:49 am

24 hours with Nick Clegg (part 1)

Gravatar Nick Clegg is in Cornwall for a two day visit (well - 24 hours split over today and tomorrow). As well as arranging the tour, I've been following him around taking pictures of the visits. Safe to say, it's been both fun and lots of hard work. It's got to be the same for Cameron and Brown as well, but my goodness these guys work hard. Nick has been in Afghanistan for three days and in Crewe before coming here, but he has been full of vigour throughout the trip. We started off in St Austell to see the massive ...
12:42 am

Awkward with your Exe

Gravatar This week I learnt that Gilad Atzmon had been making his presence felt at my old university. Sad though it may be, I was curious to see how it was seen by the campus media. In January the university's Guild of Student voted to ban the BNP from campus (a move I oppose), and its Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer, John Cox, said: "You have to ask yourself, what do you want your university to stand for? What kind of university gives legitimacy to extreme violence?" Sophie Wardell, features editor of the university newspaper, Exeposé, wrote about both the event ...
12:22 am

Gordon, let's admit it, you don't cut the mustard

Gravatar Listening to Gordon this evening I felt that horrible cringy feeling. Oh please stop, you sound pathetic. He may have been a sound Chancellor, but, as with others, he has surely been promoted to his level of incompetence. His total lack of self awareness has lead to him applying for.......and getting........a job for which he is not qualified. He is clever, has an eye for the big picture and the detail, a political heavyweight. BUT he totally lacks any ability to communicate, where are his people skills? Whatever anyone says about Blair (and regular readers will know I am not ...

Previous days:

Friday 23rd May 2008, Thursday 22nd May 2008, Wednesday 21st May 2008, Tuesday 20th May 2008, Monday 19th May 2008, Sunday 18th May 2008