One of the things that no-one warns you about when you are first appoint to speak for the Liberal Democrats on an issue is the party conference. Watching the conference on TV you could be forgiven for thinking that all we do is sit in a large conference hall listening to speeches and voting on motions. The reality is that most of the action takes place around the fringe, with meetings literally morning, noon and night. When I looked at my diary for this week I reckoned I had 18 separate speaking engagements on everything from the melting of the ...
I had a deputy for some of today, in the form of the very sweet floppy-haired eighteen year old intern from Cowley Street. He got very enthusiastic and even demanded ID from Vince Cable. Vince was very lovely about this. I didn't know whether to be proud or horrified, and managed to fall down somewhere between the two, and ended up looking like a total gimboid. I should have learned after the Scott Weiland incident that I am always going to end up looking like a complete pillock in front of people I admire... I must also report, sadly, that ...
By now, everyone knows that I'm 4 Ros, so I was a mite surprised to receive an invitation from Millennium Elephant (you were robbed, my friend... again...) to meet Lembit as part of the series of blogger interviews. I was even more surprised to be accepted... clearly, pachyderms have no sense of conflict of interest... As others have already mentioned, I did ask some fairly searching questions.
From Saturday Night Live - some acute comedy... And apparently I'm not the only one who didn't know what a flirge was...
Anyone who has never been to a party conference might wonder what we do all day. Well its not all sitting in a huge conference hall listening to debates on taper relief of capital gain tax, followed by partying till the early hours in the conference bar. There is training, fringe events, photo sessions, campaign groups to talk to, media and meetings with colleagues and various party bodies. There might be some drinking in the hotel bar, but tonight I am having an early night as I have an early start tomorrow. So I started the second day again with ...
Tonight I gave a speech at our party conference at a fringe meeting to mark the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage: Thank you for inviting me to speak at this reception. It is an honour to be here celebrating 90 years of women and the vote. I am always still shocked to remember that there was a time - in fact a majority of the time - in history when we didn't have the vote. Now, the arguments made against extending the franchise to women 90 years ago seem preposterous to you and me today. I looked at the old ...
Sealed over a conversation in the conference bar - Helen Duffett of Paint the Town Orange has joined the Liberal Democrat Voice team. Welcome Helen, and we promise we won't find too much for you to do...
I have just found this article on the BBC News website. Looks like a lot of old Tory men will be getting their kicks when they meet at conference. But will Cameron join them?
Welcome to the 82nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (7th-13th September), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. (This week's selection comes to you live from the LDV cupboard in the Bournemouth conference centre, where [...]
I ran the photo op this afternoon with Vince Cable. Over 150 people turned up and I had to get them through in less than an hour. Talk about conveyor belts! It was of course at times like herding cats. Much to my amazement we got the people through. We guessed this one would be popular and we were right!---Sent via BlackBerry
Meanwhile, in another meeting room somewhere in the Marriott Hotel, the non-award winning half of this dynamic duo was to be found at English Candidates Committee discussing the impact of the Bones Commission on our work. It's curious, because there are those who see us as part of the problem. And there is something of a dilemma here. We have spent many years, individually and collectively,
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage The Tweme site I have been linking to over the last few days to show how hashtags work also has a photo section which works with the photo sharing website www.flickr.com So, when I uploaded [...]
A few photos from today at conference including Jeff Reid, Leader of Northumberland, being interviewed for TTTV, Fiona Hall MEP speaking to conference, and a couple of randomly selected photos from the hundreds I took at the photo ops for campaigners.
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage A couple of gems from Clegg, both scripted and off the cuff, have made me chortle over the last couple of days. Yesterday there was this from his rally speech: The best George Osborne can offer [...]
Spent the morning delivering letters to residents in a couple of streets (Thomson Street and Kinloch Park) about local issues and also to traders in Nethergate and Perth Road about the forthcoming Christmas Week meeting. A lovely afternoon at Sheila Roy's 70th birthday party at Discovery Point. Sheila is one of the great stalwarts of the West End - Chair of Friends of Magdalen Green, a long-standing community councillor, key person in organising community events including the West End Festival and numerous West End Christmas Weeks, and fundraiser for various charities. Great to see so many people celebrating Sheila's birthday. ...
I didn't get called to speak during the Liberal Democrat conference debate on our new crime-fighting policy paper (details on the main party website), but it seems a shame to let my would-have-been speech go to waste - so here it is for the internet audience instead! The bitter irony of the debates around crime in this country is that so often those policies presented as being tough on crime are also those that not only do the least to cut crime - but actually increase it. Because often we are faced with this choice: do you wish to be ...
I wish I could say I was writing this at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth - but I can't. Because of a rather busy time at work, I made a fleeting, one-night-only visit to Bournemouth for a dinner with Haringey Liberal Democrats, and I'm now back home. The sun was shining and the seaside weather was hot. I kid you not. Here's my wonderful colleague, councillor Monica Whyte, in the conference hall this morning....
Thanks, BBC, for that stunning insight.
Why is it, that whatever Lembit does he ends up looking like something out of Monty Python? Hat-tip: Millennium Elephant
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage Oh dear - here we are again - hashtag taxonomies again, snigger, snigger. Actually, twittering from conference is working quite well. It's all the more important when hotels and conference centres are charging obscene fees [...]
By here, I mean in the Liberal Democrats. I'm asking as today's media coverage of conference (I'm not there myself) keeps harping on about whether we're closer to Labour or the Conservatives and it's pissing me off! Why can't people just be happy just being Liberal Democrats? What is so wrong with being our own party, with [...]
Posted by Chris: I took part in Theresa Cave's 'Peace on our Streets' March through Redcar today with John Hannon (pictured centre), Liberal Democrats Candidate in the Kirkleatham By-Election. Also pictured (front) is our 8 years old Granddaughter, Charlotte (front) who also took part, along with 4 years old Daniel who is not pictured. Daniel took the event very seriously and marched the whole way just like a soldier. People attended to support Theresa from Sunderland and Leeds and it ended in front of Redcar Town Clock with speeches and music.
No time for sociological observations today. Just one of the great songs of the sixties.
This afternoon, the Liberal Democrats discussed safe standing at football matches.
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage To the Marriott Highcliff Hotel for CentreForum and the Fabian Society's lunchtime fringe: Labour and the Lib Dems: Allies or enemies? Squeezing myself between John Piennar and Rita Chakrabarti, it was standing room only [...]
Blogging is light at the moment until I can find decent WiFi in Bournemouth. Still no news of Lembit's actual campaign - even the dejected-looking staff member collecting signatures has disappeared. lembitforpresident.co.uk has a new holding page. Someone sent me a picture of Lembit whizzing around on his (yawn!) Segway which I will duly publish as soon as I can blog using something other than an effing BlackBerry. And when I talked to Lembit myself this morning, he appeared to be a little hoarse - whether that was revellry or disease-related is currently unclear. Serously. This is starting to go ...
Former Police Officer Brian Paddick moved the motion "Cutting Crime by Catching Criminals" this afternoon at the Liberal Democrat Conference.
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage Being thrown in at the deep end is usually the best way to find out about a topic; and it was in this spirit that I cheerfully agreed to chair the Cooperative's fringe debate [...]
I don't normally give much thought to everything buried beneath our roads - I take it all for granted until I'm held up by roadworks to replace or repair some pipes or cables. But I thought I'd share this picture I snapped yesterday on Wilmslow Road in Cheadle, where the pavement's been dug up in a couple of places. Does anyone know if these are drains or a culverted waterway?
The link is to a Scottish Appeal about a case where someone took a child to England from Scotland and an English Family Court decided unlawfully to take jurisdiction. It is symptomatic of the way in which some English and Welsh Family Courts do not follow proper procedure and yet the system basically tolerates this. I have even seen a case where a couple were divorced without the husband being
Just had my photo taken with Vince Cable for use in future campaigning purposes. I'm sure that it shall appear at some stage here or over on Facebook. Really feel properly in the swing of things at conference now - lots of running from fringes to training to Ros for President campaign meeting to the auditorium to more fringes and meeting up with old friends and getting to know new ones. There is a really long and serious post brewing about the Gurkha Justice campaign which I suspect shall have to wait until after the conference due to the limited ...
Lib Dem federal party leader Nick Clegg gave an assured performance in the question and answer session at conference with Steve Richards of The Independent. In the preliminary questions from Richards, Clegg spoke about how the job of party leader differed from his expectations, saying it was a more physically demanding task than he'd expected. He was then asked whether frustration with lack of media coverage had led to him taking too many risks in his first few months, to which Clegg replied firstly that while he was frustrated at the lack of national coverage of a party which got ...
Bernard Salmon was quick off the mark with the new Scottish leader's speech this morning, and is rather better informed about Scottish politics than I, so I shall just make a couple of Anglocentric observations. Scott's speech (what a gift that man's name will be come election time; if the Scottish publicists don't come up with [...]
Nick Clegg was on good form at a reception for Euro Candiates this afternoon. He made very clear that the party will commit serious effort and resources to the European Election campaign and two of the party's most skilled campaigners (Ed Davey and Willie Rennie) will be Chair and Vice-Chair of the campaign. Nick also said the [...]
This afternoon the Liberal Democrats celebrated the 100th anniversary of the basic state pension.
I recently spotted this article on the US based Politico website - With new media, Obama camp takes stage It's an excellent analysis of how political campaigners in America maximise new media to communicate with voters.
I was going to suggest that I choked on my kulen (a type of Croatian sausage) here in Zagreb this morning when I read that the Liberal Democrat leadership had ditched their commitment to joining the Euro at the earliest opportunity but felt that such an image might be a bit of a "Carry on Croatia" double ententre. I can just hear Sid James' dirty laugh and Kenneth Williams intoning "oh Matron" as I write this. So, instead, I choked on my organic museli instead which is far more Lib Dem. I have to say though that I'm a bit ...
The Liberal Democrats now have a new-look website. On this more interactive site there is a quotation from Nick Clegg that reads: It's time for real change. Liberal Democrats will do things differently - so we'll help everyone in Britain build a better life for themselves This sentence defines the liberal narrative for the next few years and has three signposts that tell us how the party wants to get there. The signposts are: Time for a real change - the Government must change and now is the time Doing things differently - if you want real change choose the ...
One of the many things I have been up to at conference is training.
I did the first of my photo ops this morning. Steve Webb and a map of the UK if the polar ice caps were to melt. There was a group waiting for us when I arrived at the Tregonwell Hall where we are taking the pictures. It was only when I was about 20 minutes into the event that I turned round and saw the queue of people waiting. It went round 3 sides of the hall. I increased the speed of the
I shouldn't be writing this really. Occasionally I get asked to write a bit for Comment is Free, which is all very fine and splendid because I actually get paid real money for it, and one of those occasions was yesterday. Could I do a little piece on last night's rally? And about how, you know, [...]
Once again Gordon Brown's leadership is in the news. It seems that his colleagues in the Labour party want a narrative: a story of what the Labour party led by Gordon Brown PM is all about. I have no doubt that Brown believes he knows what his narrative is and has set it out in his speeches. It is about having a moral compass and making sure that people have the opportunity to achieve their potential. Lately, it has been about getting on with the job. If Brown has a narrative, why are people asking for one? For those of ...
This roundup comes to you live from the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth. To be more precise, from the Roma Internet Cafe, 20 St Michael's Road. It's not quite the Stiperstones Inn - there is no cat, for instance - but the coffee is good and it is a lot cheaper than the broadband access at the Bournemouth International Centre. There are some free terminals there for Lib Dem bloggers, but you have to stand to use them. Given the large number of submissions this week, I did not think that was a good idea. So let the fun begin ...
While Labour not so quietly self destructs, the SNP Government spins and the Tories huff and puff, Tavish Scott comes up with an idea that could easily and practically help everyone in Scotland. A 2p in the pound tax cut. We've all talked about supporting increased powers for the Scottish Parliament, but there are powers we already have that we could use. My personal preference would be that we should also raise taxes for the very, very wealthy as well to offset some of the cost, but Tavish's idea has lots of good points. A tax cut would help to ...
I have always understood the need for a slimmed down curriculum. It has always been a pain trying to fit everything in the school day, with little flexibility to slow the curriculum down if the children are taking longer to understand a concept or deciding whether to cut time spent on another subject in order to finish a piece of art/technology. The curriculum to us teachers has always felt over
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage As I write, a panel of experts is sitting on the platform and talking about social mobility and early years learning. This is a bit of a difference from how policy making usually works. [...]
It doesn't matter what they do at the moment, but Labour just can't seem to get it right. I suppose we should really give Iain Gray a chance, but I'm not sure he has what it takes to bring people to Labour. I think Cathy Jamieson, despite her faux pas last Thursday would have been better in terms of portraying that Labour actually understands what's happening in people's lives at the moment. However, the Labour Party in Scotland has managed to get through its leadership campaign without too much bloodletting. They now need to really get their act together at ...
Scrap the curriculum! is the glorious headline this morning on the Beeb in response to David Laws' speech this morning. I didn't catch the speech, but I like the coverage. The curriculum in its current dessicated form is, IMHO, nowt more than an outmoded article of faith among statists, and not something which should detain a [...]
Nick Clegg is really on Fire at this Conference. I am telling you he has really got some Political Power in him. His latest Comments about the Conservatives were: "The Conservative Party talk about fairness. They talk the talk, but do they walk the walk?" And that's not all Nick Said he also said that the Liberal Democrats are "absolutely not" becoming too similar to David Cameron's Conservatives. Which is true as we don't have as many Scamming MEP's as they do. They is no point me writing a list of all Scamming Politicians from the Conservatives as I Would ...
It's always good when someone you respect pays you a compliment. I was surprised and pleased to see that Paul Walter had given this blog a Good Egg award Good to see fellow Scots Fraser MacPherson and Stephen Glenn getting awards too, as well as Duncan Borrowman. I am impressed with Paul's insights into politics at home and in the US presidential elections and his has become one of the first blogs I check every day. Anyway, Paul said that this is "an increasingly active and engaging blog." Many thanks!
Last night, the hotel bar I was in seemed very unthoughtfully to have an unlimited polypins of quite nice real ale. Tanglefoot, I think. I have vague memories of doing all sorts of things last night, including signing up to nudist sunbathing and promising to write a standing order for some huge amount to some [...]
Personally, I have no problem with the party's new shiny policy paper 'Make it Happen'. On sale in all good bookshops (well Liberal Democrat Image anyway) for £4. Ordinary Conference Representatives have had to make do with a pdf. It does not contain much that is new. In fact its value is the way that it seeks to bring together existing policy into a coherent whole. There is still a fair bit of work to go before we achieve that but we are getting there. Taken at face value, even the tax cutting agenda it embraces does not give me ...
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage Party members who come to the Lib Dem conference frequently note the disparity between what's actually happening, and the way in which it is distorted reported by the press (whether through ignorance, prejudice, laziness [...]
The new Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott made his first speech since getting elected to the federal party's conference in Bournemouth just now. It was a fairly impresive speech and certainly seemed to go down well in the conference hall. He started off with tributes to Ray Michie and Russell Johnston, two stalwarts of the Scottish Liberal Party and Lib Dems. And then he moved on to a good attack on the cosying up between the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives, noting how they'd attacked each other before the Scottish elections last year but had been working quite closely ...
Today's Independent reports that both Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne have joined forces to signal that the party is going to drop its passionate commitment to campaigning for the UK to sign up to the European single currency: Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, and the home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said it was no longer [...]
Last night the blog of the year awards were presented at Liberal Democrat conference. Many congratulations to all the winners - details here - and now I'm off to be interviewed by a group of Lib Dem bloggers. Watch out on the internet for the results!
Here at the conference and already with my first hangover under my belt i have managed to find a free way of uplading my blog. microsoft (bless them) have given the delacates free acess to the internet on a stand at the conference. draw back is though as i write this there is a line of other people keen to get on after you and in an effort for you not to hog the computer you have to stand in front of the keypad and no opportunity to upload prepaired text. so the blog i wrote this morning about a ...
Charlotte Gore's Bizarrely Counter-Intuitive Theory of Liberal Democracy: (soon to be declared a law) The harder an individual tries to be unique, to be a true individual, to cut their own path in life, the more inevitable it becomes that the individual in question will vote Liberal Democrat. I'm priceless, whether I like it or not - it's not an arrogant thing to say, it's a simple statement of fact: There's only one me. My existence itself is highly improbable, but nonetheless it is a fact that I am here. This is it for me: My one shot at experiencing ...
Another day, another entry... Tuesday I awaken to the alarming news that a peer has caught fire at Weston-super-Mare. I have to make several telephone calls, including one to the Somerset Fire Brigade, until my mind is set at rest and I am satisfied that the story does not concern my old friend Brian Cotter. (He is now a member of the Lords, having sat for the aforementioned resort between 1997 and 2005. He lost the seat despite my last-minute poster campaign under the slogan "Don't be a Rotter, Vote for Cotter"). Coincidentally, I am told that there has been ...
Many thanks to Liberal Burblings for including this blog in its 2008 "Good Egg" Awards! To quote Liberal Burblings: "These awards are for LibDem blog authors who have kept up frequent and regular high quality postings this year. "Cllr Fraser Macpherson - A very lively campaigning blog which is particularly insightful on Scottish affairs."
Here are the winners announced at last night's ceremony: Best new Liberal Democrat blog: The People's Republic of MortimerBest use of blogging or social networking by a Liberal Democrat: Baroness Ros Scott's campaign for party presidentThe Tim Garden Award (for the best blog by a Liberal Democrat holding public office): Peter Black AMBest non-Liberal Democrat politics blog (LDV readers poll): Bad ScienceBest posting on a Liberal Democrat blog: My inner disgusted colonel (The People's Republic of Mortimer)Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year: The People's Republic of MortimerMrs Joyful Prize for Raffia Work: The People's Republic of MortimerCongratulations to all the ...
Hotels at conference are a bit hit or miss. On a holiday you choose your hotel with real care. With conference, it's more a case of who can fit you in. Like many delegates I've stayed in some gems and some dives over the years. You can stay in an official conference hotel, surrounded by [...]
At the last Full Council meeting I pointed out that, for all its excellent rural and suburban cycle routes, if the Council was serious about increasing cycling in Darlington it would have to make it safe for cyclists to commute to work or shop in the town centre. Cllr Lyonette's response was to recommend I purchase a cycle map of the town. These videos show the reality of cycling to work in
The Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards took place last night, and for the second year running I am forced to regret the premature unscrewing of the bottle of Tesco Value fizz-wine, having come somewhere between second and fifth position in the "Tim Garden award for the Blog of the (pause, take breath) Year from someone who has been (pause, take breath) elected to public office" category. The winners can be found here. Let me give particular mention to Peter Black AM, for winning the solid gold statuette that was destined for atop my faux-marble fireplace, and to Alix ...
Not yet sighted: Anyone who thinks Barack Obama is going to win. Admittedly I haven't spoken to everyone at the entire conference yet. But everyone I have spoken to about it thinks that Obama is on the back foot and they're steeling themselves for the prospect of Sarah Palin as Vice-President....
Some more highlights of the things I've seen at Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth. This time from Saturday: Seen a man holding a skull on a stick. It was a walking stick but with a life-size skull stuck on the top of it. Heard Jenny Willott deliver a very good conference speech. Finally obtained a copy of the [...]
I was pleased that Peter Black won the award for the Best Blog by a Lib Dem elected to public office - I've enjoyed his punchy reports from Senedd and Cardiff Bay. But Alix Mortimer was the star of the evening, going home with three awards, including Blogger of the Year. I was one of many people who nominated her - her writing is always entertaining, surprising and very perceptive....
Day two of Federal Conference down here in VERY sunny Bournemouth. Needn't have bothered to have brought the laptop as neither the conference centre or hotel have WiFi available, so a quick post from the free internet cafe in the conference centre then off to a training session on taking better photos. Yesterday was a comparatively free day to ease ourselves into the hurly burly. The highlight was the Lib Dem Bloggers awards up at Harry's Bar in the conference hotel. It was sponsored by ALDC and the LGA (plug provided as requested) and although I wasn't nominated it was ...
Love the music...love the video. I like this one too, but the owner doesn't allow the video to be embedded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17UJnQWVTaI&NR=1
The Liberal Democrats are fortunate in having the first of the British political season's conferences, as often this means we bask in the last warm days of summer, as indeed is the case here in Bournemouth. There are even some hardy souls swimming off the long sandy beach and last night's almost full moon glistened [...]
Lembit Öpik was 20 minutes late for our interview, delayed by the public interest in the Segway that he was riding and promoting. So we tried not to make him look too ridiculous by posing him with two blogging cuddly toys, Millennium Elephant and Pink Dog. And in more pensive mode.... I asked him whether the media coverage of his more wacky exploits...
CNN reports: Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticized two of his future running mate's hometown projects in broadsides in 2001 against congressional "pork-barrel" spending, records from the Arizona senator's office show. McCain and running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have criticized such spending as a central part of their campaign for the White House. McCain has made
Speaking to Andrew Marr, John Hutton appeared pleased with Labours current predicament. 'We may not have received three cheers for our energy package, but we received two'. He refused to criticise colleagues calling for a leadership election/new narrative and accepted the Chancellors position that we are facing the worse economic conditions for 60 years (how old are these people?) Interestingly he refused to mention the Prime Minister by name (just call me Gord) and said he supports the government because he is in it. Thus distancing himself from the governments policies (or the Prime Ministers policies as he stated). He ...
I see that the Scottish Labour Party has a new leader, Iain Gray. From a Lib Dem point of view, I'm quite happy about this, as I think both Andy Kerr and Cathy Jamieson would have been more formidable opponents and more likely to provide the new thinking which Labour in Scotland desperately needs. Gray is to be congratulated on his victory, but he faces one of the toughest jobs in Scottish politics - taking on Alex Salmond and attempting to make Labour a credible party of government again, following the Wendy Alexander debacle. As an aside, Gray extends the ...
I'm at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth. It started earlier this year, and it was a bit of a challenge to return from Canada, repack and get down here within 24 hours, whilst my head wasn't quite sure which time zone it was in. But I wanted to be here for the beginning of the conference yesterday afternoon because I had sponsored the very first policy motion on "Giving...
Saturday: Victory for Fluffy Justice! Soft Protest Success! {Posted by Picasa} OH YES! I am guaranteed to be the one-hundred-and-seventy-seventh* Blogger of the Year! Meanwhile, this year was ALWAYS going to be Citizen Alix's night. And QUITE RIGHT TOO. And we were VERY pleased to see that she had managed a DARING escape from abroad, rescued by a Republic of Mortimer AIRSHIP. Well done to all the winners, several of whom were Citizen Alix, but also Mr Black Peter Prince of Wales for the Tim Garden Award for Best Blog-by-an Elected-Liberal-Democrat, and Ms Baroness Ros for Best Use of Social-Networking. ...
The Liberal Democrats this morning will discuss the lack of social mobility in the UK.
The Obama campaign has issued a memo listing McCain myths and facts: McCain Myth: Palin visited troops in Iraq FACT: Palin did not venture further into Iraq than it's border with Kuwait McCain Myth: McCain's appearance drew crowd of 23,000 to event FACT: Crowd-size estimates provided by campaign aides Not backed by Officials. McCain Myth: Palin is a fiscal conservative FACT: Palin has grown
The People's Republic is on the march. Congratulations to Alix Mortimer, President for Life of the said republic, on her triple triumph in the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards. Alix picked up the awards for new Lib Dem blog, best posting on a Lib Dem blog and the big one, Lib Dem blog of the year. I didn't actually nominate anyone for these awards, or for Iain Dale's political blogging shindig, but had I done so, I would certainly have put Alix number one for both. Her blog is consistently brilliant, being superbly well-written, funny and thought-provoking. The ...
Ali x Mortimer swept the board at the Blog of the Year awards last night. So, to avoid her getting too excited, here is an unflattering picture of her.
The rally itself was hosted by the effervescent Tim Farron, MP for Westmoreland and Lonsdale. Tim was his usual funny self and praised Leader Nick Clegg for his fertility amongst other things. After Time came Dorothy Thornhill, re-elected Mayor of Watford. After Dorothy came journalist Henry Porter who has been writing about privacy issues for many years. And finally the Leader who gave a very upbeat speech and described the Labour Party as being in perhaps terminal decline. Maybe, maybe not, but what is certain is that Labour has massive problems and the Lib Dems are placed to capitalise by ...
In a fit of Hughesian impetuousness, Lib Dem President Simon Hughes arranged for a young dance troup from Grimsby to come to Bournemouth to perform at the Conference. Both Simon and Nick Clegg had seen the troup rehearsing during campaign visits to North East Lincolnshire earlier this year. No 12 year old hippos here, the performance brought a deserved standing ovation. Here are a couple of pics.
Saturday: What a magnificent sight it was to see as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister glided down the hill towards us atop his electric broomstick on wheels. What a slightly-less-magnificent sight it was as he went on rolling down the hill straight past us, to the accompanying cries of "Good on yer!" and "Wa-hey!" Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' {Posted by Picasa} Eventually we were able to hunt him down and disable his Segway, after which we found him to be both a top interviewee and totally on top of his stuff in the face of our toughest grilling to date. ...
And welcome to Bournemouth for the lovely Lib Dem conference and so lots of pictures. I say lovely because it's sunny here at the moment. Expect mood to change on Monday according to the weathermen. Here are my first few images: Nick chatting to delegates in the bar last night, Campaigners for Votes at 16 outside the conference centre. The people in the costumes are demonstrating some of the things you can do at 16 despite not being able to vote, MPs David Howarth, Jo Swinson and John Leech with Henry Vann, the Lib Dems' youngest PPC.
Some fun from Saturday Night Live. The last two minutes are the best:
Last night, one of the team hurried home from the bar to bring you the exciting news of the winners of the 2008 Blog of the Year Awards, or "BOTYs" Now, in the cold light of day we can bring you much fuller coverage, with a podcast recording of the entire evening, just as earlier in [...]
It's Lib Dem party conference time, so I'm blogging from Bournemouth.... The Daily Telegraph is running a feature this conference week on 'the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats'; it's a countdown, starting with 41-50. As ever, I'm interested in all things Islington, so was delighted to see Islington Council leader, James Kempton, in at 43. As [...]
Did anyone else notice that Bryn Terfel's jacket had an Irish tricolour on the sleeve, but the Cross of St Patrick was nowhere to be seen? Controversial!
... And that someone is Nich Starling. Bless him. His article in the Total Politics Thirteen Quid Thin Pamphlet elicited many cries of "WHAT THE FUCK??!!" from me and hysterical laughter from one of Millennium's daddies. We particularly liked the bit about the Lib Dem Blogosphere being very "on message". LMAO!!! And Gavin Whenman, the sly bugger, got a free media pass by virtue of working for That Tory Blogger's Vanity Project. This means he got in for nothing without having to do huge long "voluntary" stewarding shifts. Sunny? Liberal Conspiracy needs to get it's arse in gear on this ...
Five plus years of blogging and suddenly I am winning awards. I now have a very nice little statuette to commemorate my receipt of the Tim Garden Award for the best blog by a Liberal Democrat holding public office. I must have got something right at last. The full awards are here. Especial congratulations to Alix Mortimer for deservedly winning best new Liberal Democrat blog, best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog and Liberal Democrat blog of the year.
The Daily Telegraph is publishing its top 50, with numbers 41-50 released so far.
The Conservatives of Pendle Call the Liberal Democrats Cowboys but now Party Leader Nick Clegg has Called the Conservatives Cowboys. You Can read the Whole News Release HERE. Clegg is a good leader despite whatever Cameron and his group of silly Conservative "cowboys" think! The Conservatives who are reading this at this time will be boiling and on the edge of exploding, but its the Facts Tories you are not all you make out to be! Cameron is going to be like Thatcher, He will have a all singing and dancing start to running the Country, but like Thatcher his ...
Some one has been leaving silly and inappropriate Comments on this Blog. Most of them are targeting me and this person doesn't have it in him to leave his Name so he can tell the World who he really is! On a few Comments which I have deleted he has Called me a BNP, I don't know how that happened, but that would mean I am racist to my own Culture! Because of this I have Closed Anonymous Comments and lets see if this Person is so Low to make a Google Account to leave Comments! Update : I have ...
Much was made on tonight's Match Of The Day of the strange scenario at The Hawthorns, where West Brom played without a shirt sponsor because they don't have one and West Ham played without a shirt sponsor because XL Holidays went belly up on Friday, leading to this rather fetching example of the seamstress' art; What went less noticed was that there was another club playing today whose shirt
Tonight has been the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year awards, with the prizes going to: Best new Liberal Democrat blog: The People's Republic of Mortimer (Alix Mortimer) Best use of blogging or social networking by a Liberal Democrat: Baroness Ros Scott's campaign for party president The Tim Garden Award (for the best blog by a Liberal Democrat [...]
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post. 21:24 Has spent the day issuing passes and telling people where they're /supposed/ to be. Is now in bed resting. Conference exhaustion. #LibDem08 #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
