I do like the new Jib Jab cartoon for the US Presidential Election. As well as the entertaining content, the sheer quality of the graphics is stunning. I'm especially taken by the shadow effects on the 'faux Parthenon' towards the end of the film.
Are you off to conference? Then put this in your diary - Monday, September 15, 2008 Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm Location: Marriot Highcliff, Dorchester 1 The Electoral Reform Society with Lib Dem Voice ask - What's your one big idea to improve democracy in this country? Submit your idea to democracy@electoral-reform.org.uk . Then go to the Electoral Reform Society stand at conference in Bournemouth over Saturday and Sunday, and vote* to select the top five ideas submitted.The top five win the opportunity to pitch their idea, Dragons' Den style, to the Electoral Reform Society's expert panel at our fringe event ...
Recently my good friend Boyce Drake died in Gloucester. He was eighty when he died. He collapsed in Brunswick Rd of a heart attack. He came to Britain in 1953 from British Guyana on a scholarship to study Art. An absolutely unique person was 'Boy-cee' as he was affectionately known by Gloucester people who knew him. As a teenager he taught me clay modelling. A slightly different technique than others which i still use today. I am indebted to him. He also driled into me the importance of drawing and draughtmanship. He was spot on. Its the foundation for all ...
This is the Plans of a group of Tories from Pendle for a Independent Group in Whitefield. This group is known as the Whitefield Community Forum and the Conservatives want to run it down as shown in the word Cloud.
I can't do anything better than agree 100% with Paul's article below. It speaks for itself. If you are a Liberal Democrat going to Conference, please vote for his amendment. "It would appear that Liberal Democrat policy has changed to one of cutting public expenditure to fund tax cuts rather than switching wasteful or less desirable New Labour expenditure to fund needed investment in accord with Liberal Democrat policies. This has been announced at various press conferences and interviews since the 17th July - but has neither been discussed by the Parliamentary Party or passed by Conference. Given that - ...
For one blogger to champion one candidate so much is anti-democratic. To influence the media (which his blog does) on his choice for the Welsh Liberal democrat leadership is pure favouritism. Thats not too democratic either. When I interviewed Mike german I asked him who would he like to succeed him. He gave a very democratic answer. Jenny Randerson should stand. So should Eleanor Burnham. This nonsense about an A.M. needing another A.M.'s vote to stand should be done away with. Theres three good candidates. Let the party members decide without people with position in the party persuading a member ...
This article, received via Living Stones, offers another interesting perspective on the US Elections in general and Sarah Palin in particular. By Eric Margolis PARIS -- Trying to explain American politics to my French friends and Paris media is not easy. They are still struggling to understand how Barack Obama popped out of nowhere to run for the world's most powerful office. Now the French are even more stunned and confused by Sen. John McCain's surprise vice-presidential choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Wasilla, Alaska, a hamlet just a snowball's throw from the North Pole. Frenchmen, being French, think she ...
Having welcomed the idea a couple of years ago, I can only welcome the announcement that more children "in danger ... of being taken into care", as the BBC nicely puts it, will be offered places at boarding schools funded by the state. Indeed, it is a shame to learn from The Times that only 15 children have been given places in those two years. But what really interests me here is the career of the minister who made announcement, Andrew Adonis. He is almost unique in the modern Labour Party in coming from a poor background (which does not ...
Well it's time to go to conference! Of course the really keen ones have already made her way to Bournemouth already. I plan an early night...ish and if I can get my act together I should be there by lunch. It will be good to see everyone but the best bit is always the politics. Sadly I have been right through the agenda and list of fringe meetings and planned my week. I do try to go and see things I don't normally consider, still there are certain things I always high on the list. The southwest reception is always ...
Having condemned a windfall tax earlier in the week, I am delighted that Gordon Brown has seen fit to agree with me. Indeed, he has persuaded the energy companies to come up with £910 million to pay for free loft and cavity insulation for all low-income and pensioner families, with half-price deals for six million others. So, why aren't I impressed? Firstly, it's a question of naivety. Gordon
Rise Carr Social Club has been closed for some time, having become unviable as a place of entertainment. In one of my earlier attempts to widen my range of interests and accomplishments and meet women, I once went salsa dancing there: and a dim, gloomy evening it was too (the ballroom wasn't great either). Now the owners intend to convert it to apartments for rent. The target market will be
You'll recall my blog entry about "spin" on the SNP website about their Dundee West parliamentary candidate. Last week the SNP said about him : "He increased his majority in Logie in 2003 and in May 2007, was elected for the West End multi-member ward at Stage 1 with the highest number of votes of any of the candidates. " And now it reads : "He increased his majority in Logie in 2003 and in May 2007, was elected for the West End multi-member ward where the SNP gained the highest number of first-preference votes." Thank you to Dundee SNP ...
For the last 10 months I've been a member of a commission looking at home to school transport, especially whether or not it's possible to introduce to the UK a system of yellow school buses along the lines of those used in the US. Our report was published today, so the morning was spent doing interviews with a range of radio stations and newspapers, along with other members of the Commission, chaired by David Blunkett and made up of people from local government, education and the public transport sectors. Our approach was to combine academic research carried out by the ...
With the Next Couple of days having all the latest from the Lib Dems Conference, I will do my best and Focus on the Conference for a few days. I am not at the Conference but will blog about it from the comfort of my home. I know its not the same but its something...
This evening an email arrived from Yash Suri, whose daughter, Sandi, has her film "I For India" showing at the Arts Centre later this month. Where, Yash asks, is our Post House Wynd busker? I realised then that I hadn't heard him for some time, perhaps all year. It seems our Bryan Adams soundalike has a starring role in the film, as he strums his songs and sings at full, croaky volume. Yash is
The BBC reports: A junior member of the government has been sacked after breaking ranks to call for a challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Labour leader. Assistant whip Siobhain McDonagh said she wanted a debate about the party's future and a "huge number" of other Labour MPs also wanted a contest.And 12 Labour MPs have signed an article in the Conference issue of Progress Magazine - full text here - making a coded attack on Gordon Brown's leadership: We need to explain what we're going to do about the things that affect people day to day: inflation and ...
I have now set up a Flickr site for my photos. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanwallace There are only 10 pics of Gateshead up there at the moment but no doubt, some of the tens of thousands of photos I have will find their way up there as well.
The eagle eyed of you may have noticed the "Tweets" tab on LibDemBlogs. With conference now starting (I'll be there tomorrow), it though it was time to let the latest project go live. Liberal Tweets is a sort of LibDem Blogs for Twitter and hopes to cover the micro-blogging experiences of those both at conference and away from the venue. It's still in quite an early phase, but hopefully will hold out whilst I'm away from ftping for the week. Feedback and suggestions in the comments.
This week's Ham and High newspaper is rightly turning up the pressure on efforts to harangue the Council over the awful Colonel Sanders banners that threaten to turn Crouch End into a theme park for deep fried battery hens (see article and pic). However the banners aren't new - they were pretty awful before, but have been made more obtrusive by the current KFC ads. The council refers to previous ad boards on lampposts - but this is irrelevant as the new ones are four times bigger. We're looking at ways to push the Labour council to act - though ...
This review appears in today's Liberal Democrat News. The Crunch: The Scandal of Northern Rock and the Escalating Credit Crisis Alex Brummer Random House Business Books, 2008, £11.99 One of the abiding memories of last year's Liberal Democrat Conference is the long patient queue outside the Northern Rock branch in North Street. What we were seeing in Brighton was something no living Briton had experienced outside Mary Poppins: a run on a bank. This lively and approachable book will help you understand how it came about. It has many villains. Among them are the board of Northern Rock (which included ...
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage It has been impossible to have a grown-up debate on crime since Tony Blair became Shadow Home Secretary in 1992 and declared that Labour would be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of [...]
"It's a shit 'ole", said the taxi driver. "What?" I replied. "It's a shit 'ole, that hotel you're going to," he replied. "You've been conned, mate." This was not an auscipicious start to the Lib Dem Conference season. The taxi driver had complained about Lib Dems being tight-fisted bastards all the way from the train station, so I confirmed his prejudices by refusing to tip him. I had been dropped outside a hotel that resembled every seaside guesthouse since life first crawled from the oceans. It had awnings, and strange mannequins of fishermen in the windows. I approached the front ...
No... not our nomination papers, but the ones for the leadership election for the Labour party. Eagle-eyed prolific thread-commentor Hywel Morgan mailed voice - voice.hat.libdemvoice.org.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) to point out that the BBC says the Labour Party has confirmed they have [...]
I chaired the Waste Collection Advisory Group today. This was our first meeting after the summer and a very important one because we discussed the results of the consultation meetings that the council has been carrying out across the borough over the summer about the changes to our waste collection services. It was our job to review the details of the consultation and make a recommendation to the Council's Executive about changes to the service. On the whole the new waste collection policies are supported by local people and the amount of waste going to landfill is down by over ...
Fri 12th
17:48
Andover Lib Dems brand Tory led Hampshire Highways launch of "Pothole" busters as an election gimmic...
Andover Lib Dems have today denounced plans by Hampshire County Council to introduce a new team of "pothole" busters as a blatant gimmick in an attempt to cover up years of under spending on the County's roads. Speaking on Andover Sound Tory Councillor Mel Kendel admitted that Hampshire roads were not in good condition. Andover Lib Dems have had it confirmed from many internal sources that Hampshire Highways will not undertake "proactive" management of the highways and only deal with a problem when it is reported. Andover Lib Dems spokesman N.J Gooding said today "The people of Andover will not ...
From the BBC: A junior member of the government is out of a job after breaking ranks to call for a challenge to Gordon Brown as party leader. Government whip Siobhain McDonagh said she wanted to "clear the air" about the leadership issue. A government spokesman said that if Ms McDonagh has not resigned then she will be [...]
Many thanks indeed to everyone who nominated blogs for the 2008 Liberal Burblings "Good Egg" Awards. These awards are for LibDem blog authors who have kept up frequent and regular high quality postings this year. These awards are intended to complement, rather than detract from, the LibDem Blog awards and exclude LibDem blog awards shortlisters or ennobled judges. The winners are entitled to
More Lembit news today, but none of it is very good. First of all, the Western Mail reports that senior Welsh Lib Dem politicians are "snubbing" Lembit in favour of a "little-known candidate from England" (which is apparently a small place somewhere east of the Marches). Yet Lembit is apparently still standing, stating that: "Party members can vote for whichever candidate they like. It's called democracy and I support that. Ros Scott may have some supporters in Wales, but I have lots of people backing me in England. "I believe I am the right person to become president. I am ...
Friday: Here we are in Bournesmouth*. Clement... for the time of year... Still, our SYMPATHIES are with Citizen Alix who is trapped out of the country without holiday flight or channel tunnel. Good luck in getting here! *Twinned with Innsmouth. That's what Cuddly Cthulhu says. {Posted by Picasa}
A Junior Minister of the Labour Party has broken ranks and called Labour to hold a Leadership Election. This is the first High Flying Labour Who has done this. So this is really going to be a knock back to Brown who is already not coping with the Polls. Its only a small news release by the BBC and you can read it HERE Update: She has Now Resigned the job... They have Sacked her!
They is talk in the Labour Party that they might have a Leadership Election coming up after many MP's have called upon the Party. According to what I have read 70 MP's need to speak out about the issue before a Leadership election can be triggered. Will this Happened? And if so When?
At its meeting in July, the Liberal Democrats' English Council Executive (ECE) threw out the proposals contained in the Bones Commission for how the party could be run differently in the period between now and the General Election (or the Interim Governance Arrangements as they are known). Understandably, this will have annoyed some of the [...]
Bath and North East Somerset Council has tonight adopted a Liberal Democrat-led motion calling for the Council to support The Royal British Legion's "Honour the Covenant" campaign. Councillor Cherry Beath (Combe Down), who proposed the motion, said: "I was delighted to see this motion carried unanimously and that it received such overwhelming support from all...
Liberal Democrats have gave their support to a strongly worded response to the government on the hotly debated issue of the housing requirements within the regional spatial strategy at the full council meeting of Bath & North East Somerset Council that had cross party support. When will this arogant Labour government realise that a government that doesn't listen to people will...
At a meeting of B&NES Council last night Liberal Democrats called for an ad hoc debate on the Cabinet's treatment of residents during last week's Cabinet meeting, using the 10-minute debate rule in the Council's constitution. The Conservative Group however refused to allow the debate to take place. Dozens of residents made a particular effort to attend last...
My friend, the publisher Gary Pulsifer, has been kicked off Facebook — for acquiring too many friends too quickly. Apparently, they have a set rate at which you are allowed to add people, though given how many 'friends' added Nick Clegg after he was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats, I am surprised he hasn't [...]
Fri 12th
15:27
Appointment as Advisor to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Interfaith and Tackling Radicalism ...
Can I firstly congratulate and thank the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, on his bold vision to appoint Cllr Meral Ece and I as advisors. My new role as of this week is to advise the Leader on issues related to the fields of interfaith and preventing extremism and radicalism. Over the last 6 years, I have worked around building good community relations through interfaith projects which have attempted to promote commonalities between faiths, whilst then looking at and understanding key differences. These have been done through the prism of building resilient communities and more recently, my ...
This news is brought to you by the letters L, B and O and by the number 8 but that's enough on with the news. A well known Hollywood celebrity has spoken out regarding the the latest highlight in the press about putting lipstick on a pig and leaving it's status as still a pig. When interviewed in her Hollywood Hills mansion the star of stage and screen (pictured left) said: "Moi, always manages to put lipstick on a pig, mon cher-ee. I wouldn't leave the house in the morning without doing so."Asked what brand she used to that stayed ...
As promised, here are the photo ops for members at conference. The first is not organised by me but I'm doing Liberal Youth a favour by promoting it (they did after all help me with some of the props for my photo ops). Saturday 13th September 2.30pm - 3pm: BIC Entrance: Liberal Youth and Votes at 16 With youth violence, knife crime and antisocial behaviour constantly in the media and one of
I've got a piece in the latest New Statesman - really addressed at the question, 'What's an unhappy Labour supporter to do?':The behaviour of much of the Labour Party reminds me of the two main characters in Waiting for Godot. Dump Gordon or get behind Gordon? No matter how many times a deadline has been rolled out for Gordon Brown to turn things round, the malaise limps on. Just as in Samuel Beckett's play, where Estragon and Vladimir keep on deciding to do nothing - because it's safer or because something else may yet happen - so Labour carries on, ...
Believe nothing you read (especially this blog post!) In particular, if you are considering buying a mobile phone or other gadget, base your decision on technical specifications and online reviews at your peril. It may seem self-evident, but go into a shop and try before you buy. I have had two mobile phones in the last fortnight. The first went back to the shop with much ranting after four days
Dave V on Daily Kos analyses the Gallup polls from before the conventions until afterwards. In summary: The Palin bounce was largely contained to the South (+11) -- states that Barack does not need to win the election. It was also fairly substantial in the East (+6), but the East is largely locked up for Obama. The bounce was smallest in the crucial Midwest (+4) and nil in the West. Over both
I get these regular email briefings from Cowley Street on various topical issues. In general, I tend to ignore them, partly because as a non-parliamentary candidate they don't apply to me, but perhaps more in case they plunge me into a gloom because the party line differs from my own view. But curiosity led me to open the suggested response to enquiries on GM-food, drafted by Roger Williams MP, who is apparently our agriculture spokesman. I hoped our line might have softened since the days when Donnachadh McCarthy used to propose a seemingly annual anti-GM motion at party conference. My ...
What size is appropriate for a secondary school? Or more important how many pupils should fit into the space? These are questions perplexing parents in West Lothian at present and particularly those of Linlithgow Academy who held a meeting at the end of last month to look into the planned expansion of the school. This is especially prevalent at the moment with the promise of 2 additional non-denominational secondary schools in the county currently on hold due the credit crunch hitting the building trade and the PFI (or whatever it will be called) to complete these projects. West Lothian Council's ...
An article in today's edition of the Jewish Telegraph has made me very angry. It describes the efforts of defeated Conservative council candidate for Sedgley ward Jonathan Grosskopf's efforts to clean up graffiti in Prestwich. It has numerous errors, uncorroborated slurs on the Council, Councillors and the Local Area Partnership, and sounds more like the rantings of a deranged party political broadcaster than the serious efforts of credible journalists. Once again, I am sorry to say that the JT has completely misrepresented the actions of local Councillors and the Prestwich Local Area Partnership, and once again has mislead the community ...
Guildford BC, Stoke LD Zoe Franklin 864 (56.0; +3.0) Con 410 (26.6; +7.6) Lab 211 (13.7; -14.4) UKIP 59 (3.8; +3.8) Majority 454 Turnout not known LD hold Percentage change is since May 2007 Harrogate BC, New Park LD Matthew Webber 843 (61.1; -14.2) Con 491 (35.6; +20.9) Lab 45 (3.3; +3.3) [UKIP (0.0; -3.6)] [BNP (0.0; -6.4)] Majority 352 Turnout 33.7% LD hold Percentage change is since May 2007
Factcheck.org does a fairly effective demolition job on the latest McCain ad which accuses Obama/Biden of being "disrespectful" to Sarah Palin but uses what Factcheck.org calls "distorted quotes" to make its case: The McCain-Palin campaign has released a new TV ad that distorts quotes from the Obama campaign. It takes words out of context to make it sound as though the Democratic ticket is
The Obama campaign goes onto the front foot:
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage Here's another interesting way of making the technology go a little bit further. The Twitter user @PartyConference has suggested a hashtag taxonomy to bring together a variety of twitterers in a common purpose. If you're twittering [...]
Following a highly successful public meeting at the end of July, the Stapleton Conservation Society was formally re-constituted last night. Recent planning issues in the village, and the felling of trees in Grove Wood (see elsewhere in this blog) have heightened awareness of the need for preservation of the character of the area. A committee has now been formed, and a website and Facebook page will follow shortly. Stapleton has been without an active amenity society for a few years, and it is good to see this being re-established. Muriel Cole and I, as local Liberal Democrat Councillors will continue ...
Not my words but those of Macaulay describing Hampstead's Whitestone Pond - it was of course such a high spot that it was the location of one of the Armada Beacons of 1588. There is still a white stone (though I haven't taken the time to hunt it down yet) which apparently reads "4 miles from St Giles Pound: 4.5miles from Holborn Bars". Now the area feels curiously drab and run down - part of autumn of course, but on a wider point the signage has had some attention but needs proper repair and so it's welcome that the refurbishment ...
And you will find details and sometimes even me on the PCA (Parliamentary Candidates Association) stand. It's opposite Lib Dem Image, I believe. There's going to be a laptop on the stand where you can come and register and all sorts of help. If you want to question me about something (related to either who's Who or being a Parliamentary Candidate), I do tend to spend a lot of my time on the stand in any case, persuading people to stand for our various parliaments and assemblies, BUT I will also be getting people to sign up and register there ...
Football is a game of two halves so the old cliche goes. That includes a club's shirt. It has a front and a back this is the tale of two halves from the world of football yesterday. Well Gianfranco Zola may have been smiling yesterday when he was appointed the new West Ham United manager. However, turn the shirt over. And there will be concerns still with the club board following last night's news that the club's shirt sponsors XL Travel have entered administration, which has left tens of thousands of tourists stranded overseas will all flights grounded.
The BBC Trust, set up recently to oversee output (after the BBC's row with HM the Queen), visited Brussels on Monday. Chairman Sir Michael Lyons was keen to listen to the views of MEPs, though I'm not sure he and his staff expected the ear- bashing they received. MEPs generally view the BBC's coverage of the EU as lazy (following the tone set by the tabloids) and ill-informed. And it did not help the hapless hacks that their Director of Political Programming referred repeatedly to 'your MEP', clealry believing that MEPs are elected in single member constituencies! But at least ...
Laurence Boyce at Lib Dem Voice offers us a good argument that genetics is not irrelevant to the way we turn out, but that this raises fears, particularly on the left.So why all the discomfort? Pinker sets out four "fears" that might make us hesitate in the face of what the science is increasingly telling us. These are the fear of inequality, imperfectibility, determinism, and nihilism. I can't
Youth Communications Network - an organisation I am involved in - is looking for young people who want to write an article for a one-off publication. The deadlines are quite tight but its a great chance if you have something to say and want to be published. I am pasting the details - including contact details - below. **************** YCN is looking for young people with different experiences/opinions of housing and housing-related issues to submit an article for a special Youth Live edition called "Yoof Roof". The article can talk about being in care, or leaving care, homelessness, runaways, domestic ...
So, a bit of packing and some last minute tidying to go, and then an eight hour shift at work, and then straight on till Bournemouth. I am excited and nervous and stuff... Mat is sleeping. As is his wont. Those of you who will be meeting us there? Here is a recent picture: The only difference being that my hair is now this colour: The icon above is of my arm, too. I suspect that nobody else will have that tattoo, but recognising me by it would require me having bare arms, which may or may not happen... I ...
This week in the run up to Conference Liberal Democrat Party Leader Nick Clegg launched a One Million Door Challenge. Below is an article I wrote for www.libdemvoice.org regarding it.
It's a topic I've written about before - how the pressures from TV advertising can pressure and commercialise our children's upbringing - so interesting to see Nick Clegg in today's Telegraph:Mr Clegg, who is due to become a father for a third time, said young children were being bombarded by advertising and their innocence needed to be protected.He said he had become acutely aware of the commercial pressures on children."There is a channel of cartoons that my children watch in which they are bombarded by advertising every 15 minutes. I don't like it."I'm increasingly, as a father and politician, thinking ...
The new approvals process for Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates is now up and running in England. (Scotland and Wales will be adopting the process in the near future). I'm one of the first to have gone through the new scheme, so I thought I'd give the inside track on it - and encourage more people [...]
Oh dear me. Sarah Palin stumbles at the first fence in her first interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson. See her squirm in the video below. Palin was asked about the Bush Doctrine... She doesn't know: GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine? PALIN: In what respect, Charlie? GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be? PALIN: His world view. GIBSON: No, the Bush
Apologies for the lack of posting. Yesterday was our 15th wedding anniversary. Yes 15 years since our wedding and a honeymoon split between a week in Venice and a week at Federal Conference in Torquay! Last night we enjoyed a very nice dinner for two at home. I provided the food and Matthew opened the wine and [...]
Of course, Secretaries aren't always the kindly person sitting in a corner with a set of coloured pens, faithfully recording every utterance and smiling in an encouraging manner at the Chair. There is, of course, the risk that your Local Party couldn't administrate itself out of a brown paper bag with the aid of satellite navigation. You will, as Secretary, encounter colleagues who can irritate
Later today I am off to the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth, it is on from Saturday 13th to Wednesday 17th September.
All this week, Lib Dem Voice is publishing the results of our September survey of party members conducted through Liberty Research via our private members' forum. This is the second of our monthly surveys - if you have ideas for future survey questions, please email me at stephen - stephen.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden [...]
There is a meme doing the rounds to answer the following questions about yourself in the titles of songs by one band to here you go here's my take on this meme. All you have to do is guess the band. 1) Are you male or female? European Son 2) Describe yourself? Obscure Alternatives 3) What do people feel when they're around you? Fall in Love with Me 4) How would you describe your previous relationship? Love Is Infectious 5) Describe your current relationship? All Tomorrow's Parties 6) Where would you want to be now? Canton 7) How do you ...
News Release from Alison McInnes Liberal Democrat MSP for North East Scotland McInnes dismayed by radio jobs threat North East MSP Alison McInnes has contacted the owners of Radio Tay after plans emerged for standardising evening and overnight broadcasts across seven Scottish stations. Bauer group anticipates redundancies or reduced hours as a result of the decision to centralise broadcasts between 7pm and 6am. As a result, listeners in Dundee will be listening to Clyde FM's Glasgow-based broadcast, rather than the local programmes currently aired by Tay FM. Mrs McInnes has written to Bauer group urging them to rethink the proposals. ...
Yesterday afternoon Danny Alexander had an article on Liberal Democrat Voice explaining the party's taxation policy. He wrote: "Liberal Democrats will end about £20bn of this wasteful government spending - this is the "spending review" process Vince Cable's team has been leading. We don't yet know the final outcome of this review - but I can guarantee it won't involve trimming investment in frontline services."Much of the money we identify with this spending review will be reallocated to our own priorities for additional spending. The manifesto group, which I lead, is busy identifying those spending priorities, like the pupil premium ...
Caron has received her copy of Total Politics Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2008-9 but apparently in the Scottish section there is the following quote: "reading the likes of Fraser MacPherson, Stephen Linlithgow and Underdogs Bite Upwards is a useful insight into Lib Dem thinking and how this might affect things in Edinburgh"Erm, who is this super blogger? Sarge?No!Rosemary the telephone operator?No!Penry the mild-mannered janitor?Erm...enough of this phooey.It says quite clearly at the top of this page under the title "Blog of Stephen Glenn". Even the posted by bit at the bottom of each entry unless done by ...
Kirsty Williams' leadership bid launch has certainly got the blogosphere buzzing and no more so than in the musings of BBC Welsh Affairs Editor, Vaughan Roderick here. Sanddef has very kindly translated the post on his blog. Vaughan identifies the Welsh Liberal Democrats essential problem as having no core vote: 'It is a party which has to struggle for each vote and each seat. The other parties have constituencies where any fool can be elected as long as he wears the right colours - the Liberal Democrats have to push hard to get their people in - be they fools ...
I just ran the Pre-amble to the Lib Dem Constitution through Wordle.net and got this rather beautiful jumble of text. Maybe we should put it on t-shirts. On Wordle {Lib Dem constitution}
An interesting post on Magistrate's Blog gives us a picture of armed response police officers and asks why some of them are wearing balaclavas that obscure their identities. I think the fact that the picture is still easy to find months after the incident probably answers the question. It seems entirely fair to officers put in this really difficult situation that they not become public figures because of the actions they have to carry out. I wouldn't want to be an armed policeman, and I sure as heck don't want to see the police carrying guns as a matter of ...
At last! An unsuspecting John McCain pounced on by a smart journalist. Seems on Russia it's go in with all guns blazing. On National security it's really about energy. On Same-sex marriage it's up to the states themselves yet his party platform's policy position is to add a constitutional amendment that outlaws Gay marriage. When pulled up on [...]
We all know that she is against aborting a pregnancy caused by rape. In 2000 when she was Mayor of Wassila it was policy to charge rape victims for their own forensic exams straight after the event. In 2000 Joe Biden as part of the `Violence against Women Act` made this illegal should the state want [...]
You've probably already read Danny Alexander's attempt to clarify Nick Clegg's position on tax cuts and Paul Holmes' riposte to it. For the record I'm nothing like as sceptical as Paul Holmes is about tax cuts. I only ask for two things - that we are prudent and that we are clear about what we're doing. For possibly the first time in my life that puts me on the left of a debate, which is at least novel. Joshua Vincent has written a factinating comment on yesterday's links post about Land Value Taxation in Namibia. Alexandra Runswick reports from yet ...
Andy Burnham, he of the eyelashes, thinks he can use his "dream job" to not only bolster Brown, give British kids "quality culture", but save Premiership football. I wish he'd just go away. He has said that the FA should have tighter regulations on foreign ownership of football clubs in the wake of the Man City take over. He says all this money and foreign ownership is going to make people fall out of love with the game and that interest will dwindle. This isn't baseketball. This is reality. Are Man City fans going to lose interest in their club ...
View Poll: Suits Seriously, why bother putting pockets IN a suit if you don't intend people to use them? And as for FAKE pockets... WHAT IS THE FRIGGING POINT?? Pockets are NOT attractive, they are FUNCTIONAL. If you render them functionless they make NO SENSE! Why yes, I have been sorting out clothes for conference, why do you ask?
The West Midlands Liberal Democrats Agent Training will be on 20th September 2008. Colin Ross and Mike Dixon are running a day long Agents training session in Kidderminster.
