LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 29th June 2008

Crowds line the Route of National Veterans Day Parade at Cleethorpes

Crowds of people lined the route on Cleethorpes seafront on Veterans Day to honour those who fought for their country.The resort almost ground to a halt on Friday as about 200 ex-servicemen and women, led by the band of the Royal Air Force College, marched from the Market Place to the Strike Wing memorial in the first National Veterans Day Parade to be held at Cleethorpes. Read the report and pictures of the parade from the Grimsby Telegraph on the following link:-

Something for the Weekend: Shame, Shame, Shame

It's taken all day for me to get over last night's Doctor Who cliffhanger. So now that's done, let's get on with this. Beanz Meanz Bigotz Heinz have got themselves lots of free publicity this week by first releasing and then withdrawing this ad: So the controversy surrounds the footage of a man kissing a man - or, [...]

This above all else...

What has happened in Zimbabwe is hateful... the regime that swore it would fight for freedom ended up being the enemy of freedom. The price has been, instead of the country being a benchmark for freedom, it has ended up being a question of tolerance of lack of freedom. Mbeki, who thinks of himself as one of those who choose to be tolerant of those who set an agenda freedom. does not think that the 'winners' need account for themselves. However, the agenda remains how to eliminate the political crime, rather than acknowledge 'what happened' Actually the crisis of our ...

Egypt's Paradoxical Press Situation

Compared wth several other Arab countries, Egypt has a varied and robust press. Almost every day, not least in the independent and English-language newspapers, one sees articles highlighting human rights abuses (notably torture and extortion/bribery at the hands of police) or criticisms of the way that the Emergency Law — in place for the last [...]

Traffic: 40,000 Headmen

Sorry. I had not intended to feature Traffic again so soon, but this clip has just turned up on Youtube. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore introduce 'The Traffic', and you can't get much more sixties than that. The clip comes from Peter and Dud's ITV show Goodbye Again. Four hour-long programmes were made under this title in 1968. A mere 26 years later, Steve Winwood performed the song again on Later with Jools Holland.

Ten Things You Haven't Done

Seen all over LJ: Ten Things I've done I believe others on my f-list haven't: - sat on Geoff Capes' shoulders - fallen speechless when faced with Prince Charles - offended Scott Weiland (which kind of led to the following two instances of blatant cowardice) - chickened out of offering to buy Sandi Toksvig a drink, or indeed speaking to her at all, when she went to the drill hall bar right in front of my face - chickened out of speaking to Mitch Benn too, twice. - had an email read out on the BBC6 Music Rock Show by ...

The A-Z of Politics - F is for Floating Voter

A floating voter is not, as you may at first think, a voter who has been thrown in a pond and who is quite relaxed and chilled about it. One wonders how a sinking voter or a drowning voter goes about choosing a candidate to vote for, but as they are probably on their way to the nearest hospital we won't concern ourselves with them. Floaters are voters who 'shop around' for policies which suit them and swing between the parties from one election to the next. This may or may not apply in all cases. What does apply is ...

Money, Money, Money!!!!!

'Money, Money, Money, must be funny in a rich mans world', so sang Madonna. One has to wonder if Gordon Brown is laughing; Labour has nowhere near enough of it and he is now regularly taunted by David Cameron for his parties increasing dependence on the trade unions to stay afloat. In my view the rather corrosive role that money generally plays in politics are a symptom of popular public disengagement with politics. The financial problems of the parties are partially due to them failing to engage the population into political activity; engaging them to vote is hard enough work. ...

Prologue - Fiction

The inspiration for this was quite simple...War and Peace but I wanted to bring it up to date...I love the concept of different narratives interweaving against the backdrop of one big one....in any case. this was meant to be the prologue to an epic telling the story of an armed conflict between the US and a (much) more united Europe and how it effected the lives of different people.... Prologue Walking through the centre of town on his lunch break Dave noticed something odd, a huge crowd of people were gathered around the window of Sharps electrical store. Puzzled he ...

Heinz: remember salad cream

In 2000 Heinz announced they were withdrawing their Salad Cream from sale due to lack of interest. There was a huge outcry amid vast free publicity for Heinz. Then, a few months later, they changed their mind (surprise, surprise) and said they would be re-starting their Salad Cream range, albeit rebranded and with a slight change of recipe. Their rethink got them.....you gussed it...vast free

Planners dream, residents nightmare

I am contacted by a resident of a new estate that has only become part of our ward in the last few years. He is complaining about cars being parked all over the estate on roads and pavements making it difficult and dangerous drive as people cannot see well. Added to that there are lots of children playing on the streets, and there is no green or open area on that estate. Nightmare, and I don't...

BritBlog Roundup 176

This week's selection of the best in British blogging can be found at Suz Blog.

Bill Clinton says Obama must 'kiss his ass' for his support

Reported in today's Telegraph - apparently Bill Clinton, who has been over here fawning over Nelson Mandela at his birthday celebrations, is reported to be so bitter about Obama beating his wife, that he has told people that Barack Obama must 'kiss his ass' for his support. He won't, apparently 'reach out ' to him. He was told by a fellow Democrat: 'You can't talk like that about Obama - he's the nominee of your party, not some house boy you can order around' I'm quite shocked by this. This is the man who was known as America's first 'black ...

Do you actually want Gordon Brown to stay on ?

All the pundits are saying that it looking more and more ominous for Gordon Brown. The polls are against him, events (like the resignation of Wendy Alexander and the new by-election in Glasgow East) are not with him and he has lost the confidence of big Labour donors. But the question is, do you want him to stay on ? Its similar in many ways to when IDS was in charge of the Tories. As a Lib Dem I was desperate for him to stay on even though I knew he was bloody useless as a leader. I guess many ...

Fooling some of the people?

What can one possibly say about Zimbabwe, without sounding trite? Well, I did want to congratulate John Simpson for his courageous broadcasts from within the country in defiance of the ban, and for carrying through his very risky interview with Morgan Tsvangirai. In all the horror I am left with one conundrum - does Mugabe really think he is fooling anyone at all? The whole...

So, Doctor Who then...

Right, you bastards! Since I have had to read eleventy billion reviews of last night's Who for {[info]} who_daily, you are now going to be subjected to MY review! There were things I liked and things I didn't like, but I liked it enough to be sucked into wanting to watch it next week, so I guess it's a qualified success. Things I liked: - Elizabeth Sladen's acting - Martha is important! - The bee thing. Bees really ARE disappearing, and I like the little tie to reality. - Bernard Cribbins and the paintball of DOOM! - Bernard Cribbins full ...

concerts to lift our hearts

I didn't finish writing about the Mandela 46664 concert last night, I was just glued to the TV for once. It was brilliant. Also good to see so many people there supporting the event on the day that our party of government came 5th in the Henley by election behind the BNP. It seems so unlikely that a man about to be 90 can so inspire tens of thousands of people there on the night as well as...

Heinz Failure to Listen (Or Maybe Just Read)

H.J. Heinz when they initially pulled the New York Deli mayo ad said they listened to their consumers. Well it looks like they can't read then. Yes the first of the long awaited responses to the fact that they pulled the ad in light of 200 or so complaints from people not valuing the rights of all (another alleged Heinz promise). Yeah Tim Trent got a response which is exactly what Michael Mullen

Donor says Brown must go!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7479840.stm A donor to the Labour Party has said that Brown must go or else the Party is doomed. Even people that donate to the Labour Party are against the Prime Minister and they feel that Mr Brown must go. The Labour Party is in debt as shown in a previous post that the Labour Party are auctioning tennis games with Tony Blair just to raise money and pay of the debt that they have. If the Donor's are against the Brown then i totally agree that Brown needs to go! The main question is who will come after him ...

Nick Clegg on 'The Big Idea'

If you haven't caught up with it, yet there's a must-read interview with Nick Clegg by Dominic Lawson in today's Independent. Here's an extract to whet your appetites: In the half year since Clegg became Lib Dem leader, Gordon Brown has gone from hero to zero. Yet, I asked him, why is it that, at least [...]

I am Spartacus, I am Obama

I was going to write something about Henley and the rut that the Brown narrative is stuck in. I might have thrown in something on the new NHS constitution that is going to be announced tomorrow in the House of Commons by Alan Johnson and how that might begin a new page in the Brown story. At least that must be the plan and hope for the Prime Minister. But then I saw this story in the International Herald Tribune. When the rebels are defeated and caught, the Roman soldiers ask, which one of you is Spartacus. Tony Curtis stands ...

Sex for Money

An article has just gone up on the Guardian by Catherine Healy, the national co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective. It argues that the UK should adopt the reforms passed five years ago in New Zealand and decriminalise prostitution. Healy's point is that legalisation increases the security of sex workers and gives police the opportunity to target violence against women and sex trafficking. Prostitution and pornography divides many on the traditional left. Some libertarians believe that it should not be controlled and constitutes a victimless crime, with prohibition being the underlying cause for the problems associated with both. Others, ...

Cartoons from the Middle East

Cartoons have the ability to put some humour into something at the same time as touching deep issues and making key points. Here are some very interesting cartoons from the middle east.

Save the Allotments - Wheelbarrow Walk.

I attended one of the most fun demonstrations this afternoon, the Wheelbarrow Walk to save Leamingtons Allotments from the threat of development. A colourful procession of allotment owners carrying watering cans and pushing wheelbarrows headed down the Parade during a busy Sunday afternoon to the Pump Room gardens. The demonstration was organised after the District Council issued a consultation on possible sites for future development. Residents in Leamington became concerned when Option 1 featured a large arrow pointing right across land where their allotments stand. I was asked to speak after the demonstration had assembled at the bandstand, along with ...

Netcasting

It's days like this when I really wish {[info]} who_daily was more like Casting the Net. Why do we have to link to EVERY post for WD? Surely nobody actually reads them ALL? Anyhoo, all three WD posts are up (here, here, and here) and so is Casting the Net. Don't forget that if you want to follow my netcasts, WD is at {[info]} who_daily and CtN is at LC, syndicated to LJ at {[info]} jennier_lc_feed I go die now.

West End Under 10s football team ... and River Crescent Residents' Association ...

At lunchtime, the new West End Under 10s boys' football team played its first 'official match' and the photo (right) is of the team at Riverside Playing Fields today with Paul Johnston (Team Manager), Stuart Ferguson of Barnetts Motor Group and myself. It is great to see an under 10s football team established in the West End - a totally new initiative - and I am very grateful to Paul Johnston of West End Community Council, whose drive and initiative has made this possible. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Barnetts Motors Group, who have sponsored the team ...

Monday 23rd June 10am

Beddington and Wallington Local Committee Pre-agenda This meeting took place with Malcolm Barker, the Locality Lead Officer for this Local Committee; Mariette Akkermans, Executive Head of Older and Disabled People's Services and Steve Farrow, Regeneration Projects Manager. The purpose is to refine the agenda for the meeting to be held on 17th July. Mariette will be talking [...]

Mongolians like their democracy

The people of Mongolia obviously are very grateful for there democracy. The BBC reports of people queing from before the polling stations opened and of nomads travelling 30km to get to a station. A big issue two major parties are campaigning for is to get more money from the mining companies. I hope they will actually put their words into action. Turnout is expected at 70%. I don't even know if there are any constituencies or wards that get turnouts near that in the UK! A bit of a strange way of putting it in the BBC's report they say, ...

Thursday 19th June 11.30am

Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Meeting Chair Stuart Gordon-Bullock & myself met with Neil Talbot the temporary senior policy officer for the committee to discuss the committee's workplan.

Wednesday 18th June 9.30am

Ward Meeting Colin, Richard & I went through the usual topics: new planning applications, common casework and issues affecting Wallington. We were very pleased to see the outline planning application for Wallington Square and we hope to encourage the applicants to offer residents the opportunity to discuss the plans with them & us. Sgt. Le Shirley of [...]

Tobacco industry turns to Africa

You may have been surprised that despite a fall over the years in people smoking tobacco that there haven't been job cuts in the industry. That subject hasn't been in the news. Well as the industry looses customers here it turned to the poor vulnerable people in Africa, including children. Single cigarettes have had an effect on getting young people to smoke, and we of course know once you've got them addicted (after just about 3 cigarettes) they could be addicted for life. They won't have the money to afford cigarettes and they won't have the money to get help ...

In Memory of Richard Vingoe

Past members of Rochford District Council will have warm memories of Richard Vingoe, who was a district councillor here until 2002. He led the small Hockley Residents Association group, who were influential on the council in the 1990s and early 2000s. Richard sadly died last week at the age of 59, and we had a minutes silence for him at Thursday's council meeting. He was dedicated and honest,

Livingston doesn't Blame Brown

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7479854.stm Ken Livingston doesn't blame Brown but like many other Labour Candidates at all sorts of different levels have been loosing thanks to him an his party. I know many Labour ex Candidates who would agree that the main fall for them and the reason for them loosing the May local Election was because of the Anti Brown Vote. This Anti Brown Vote helped the Conservatives get the most amount of seats at the local election and it helped the Lib Dems get second knocking Labour into third. I hope people don't make the mistake they made with Labour in ...

So what's the news?

When I landed yesterday at Heathrow, I posted a blog and ended by asking what news was there from the past 2 weeks.kay, I knew about Henley as I used my blackberry to check LibDem Blogs on Friday morning. But other news seems to have developed since I set foot back in the UK. Firstly, as I got to Victoria Station, the news on the overhead screen screamed that Wendy Alexander had resigned. And

Here's to you Gordon!

If I were a Labour candidate who had just been told I had lost my deposit at a by-election and was likely to come behind the Greens (they didn't know they would also be behind the BNP at that stage) , I wouldn't be photographed sitting in the corner of the count laughing and drinking toasts. But then, I'm not the 'almost heroically useless' Richard McKenzie. Pics: A laugh; a toast; a naughty finger from the agent; a smug grin when you hear you've come fifth. The 'useless' quote comes from Anne Treneman's sketch in the Times.

Doctor Who: The Stolen Plot Device

So, watched it last night, then went to the pub, then came back, and watched it again as a few points were bugging me. There now follows a poll, and that poll does contain spoilers. As always, non-LJ users can log in to vote using their OpenID blog url. View Poll: Doctor Who: The Stolen EarthOverall, I enjoyed the show, but I enjoyed the penultimate show last season as well. This is Rusty's last ever finale, and I refer my honourable friends to the opinions expressed this time last year. ETA: My friend the astrophysicist says: Basically, doing this with ...

Some pictures from the Count

Sorry for the delay , but here are some pics from the Henley count:

Have Plaid Cymru missed the boat?

This morning's Wales on Sunday reports the possibility that none of Plaid Cymru's three candidates for the House of Lords may be nominated for the ermine this side of a general election, if at all. It is believed that the Prime Minister has no intention of creating any new peers ahead of the long-anticipated reform of the Lords. Plans are due to be announced in the next few weeks with a referendum to be held on the various options at the same time as the general election. Dafydd Wigley supports the reform of the second chamber but is frustrated at ...

We must be a crusade or nothing

Of all the post-Henley posts, I find myself most in agreement with Bernard Salmon - people will not vote Lib Dem (certainly sustainably) unless they know what we are for. That may not have been obvious before, but it is increasingly important now. Neil Stockley and I have been banging on about the importance of 'narrative' for some years now, with some effect but not much. I think it's time to express it in a different way, and like this... The truth is that, at this precise moment of Lib Dem history, it increasingly matters that we are being squeezed ...

Fings Ain't What They Used To Be

Well done Spain, one-nil winners of the European Championship Final against  Germany.The German's fielded a player called Fings and uncharacteristically lost a final.Obviously fings ain't wh...

Things we CAN do about Zimbabwe

Given the way Thabo Mbeki has shielded Zimbabwe's murderous regime and shown his ANC led South Africa to be traitors to the struggle for freedom in Africa, many people will wonder if there is anything we can do to affect Robert Mugabe's ability to cling on in Zimbabwe. So here is my list of suggestions of things we can do. 1) Boycott Barclays Bank. Barclays Bank have provided funds for Mugabe's henchmen to illegally acquire farms whilst they provide a conduit for getting money out of the country for Zanu PF members. The evidence of all this is HERE, but ...

Supermarkets, Booze, SNP and the Border

Way back on 18 June over at Jeff's blog he rejected my comment that the SNP price per unit policy would lead to booze drives over the border to England. Something I'd earlier that day covered in more detail here. Well it appears that the Supermarkets themselves are thinking of ways to circumvent just such a proposal. ASDA chiefs say there is nothing to stop them setting up distribution centres

Booklist 2008, part 27

40) James Thurber, Writings and Drawings (New York: Library of America 1996, ISBN 1883011221). This was a Christmas gift from {[info]} rmjwell and has been my bedside book ever since, as it's a bit too heavy to carry around. I finally finished it this morning. It was going to be a bit of a nostalgia trip for me, as several of the stories in it - particularly The Night the Bed Fell on Father - were childhood favourites shared with my Dad. Coming to them again now, though, I was a bit startled by racial stereotyping that I'd missed at ...

Wimbledon saturday..can't wait for monday!

Loving the tennis this year - although I think the bottom half of the men's draw will be a real toughy this year, Tipsarevic, Murray and Nadal are all looking unstoppable and I would think any of those three could be in the final with Federer, although Safin is looking pretty good in the top half of the draw..roll on Monday!

Amy v Duffy at Glastonbury

I had the misfortune of watching Amy Winehouse on BBC2 last night. She was a headline act over other talented artists such as Duffy, who was relegated to the red button. I don't know about you but when I switch Glastonbury on I expect a good if not excellent performance. I often buy into a new artist after hearing a performance at Glastonbury. It was responsible for me getting into the Manics and Radiohead at the age of 18. But, after having Amy Winehouse on for a few minutes I realised I was not going to get it with her ...

Property treadmill

A little birdie warned me that the Torygraph had a particularly stupid article up about house prices. On reading the post it turns out to be a lot less stupid than most MSM writing about economics, but I promised Femme-de-R I'd fisk it, so I am going to have to go into detail on a few particularly egregious points. He also warned that the 'severe rationing' of mortgages was preventing first

Pigeon/banker joke of the day

It's very rare you can find a joke involving both pigeons and bankers. So it's with great pleasure that I present this credit crunch gem: What's the difference between a stockbroker and a pigeon? A pigeon can still leave a deposit on a Porsche.Thanks to the FT and LibertyCat who tells me that, to make the joke perfect, it just needs to incorporate a ferret's mother-in-law.

From look-out to full blown fire station.

I've mentioned beforethe Fire Station in Lancaster Grove, Belsize, and the other day managed to get these snaps of it. This is of course the successor fire station to the old look-out station that was at the top of Hampstead High Street (and had an old look-out tower). I'm giving here the front of the station as it were - but the architecture is really interesting and curiously of it's type - from the back - as a I walked down Eton Avenue I was reminded of the architecture of Hampton Court! In keeping with the building of public ...

Standing in for Nick Clegg

Last night I went to an NAHT dinner hosted at the Houses of Parliament by Vernon Coaker. Part of the evening included a tour of the two chambers. Although I have been to Westminster before, I had never stood in the Common chamber so, sad as I am, I made sure I stood by the Lib Dem benches (we were not allowed to sit). It was a really nice evening, drinks on the terrace, followed by the tour,

The Daily Twits

Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post.19:53 watching Doctor Who and wandering if it's really worth the effort. #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

Choose our future

Discussion in Lib Dem circles over the last couple of days has centred on whether our campaigning tactics are up to scratch and whether people are clear about what we stand for, as a consequence of our somewhat disappointing result in the Henley by-election. I don't propose to discuss the former now, but I think the latter is worth addressing. We in the Lib Dems do have a very good set of values, as expressed in the preamble to the party's constitution. And, on the whole, we also have some very good policies. What we haven't managed to do successfully ...

Sunday 29th June 2008

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