Watch:
The Real Iain Dale has self-deprecatingly referred to his blog as a 1970's Trabant in comparison to Alix Mortimer's beautiful handbuilt Bentley... Clearly my blog is a Triumph Daytona 675 - British built and designed, but with some foriegn parts; small, fast, and noisy; cheap in comparison to the competition; openly hated by some, but inspiring bizarrely loyal affection among others; thought of as a bit naff and boring by hip young things, but considered incredibly cool by men with beards... ;) If your blog was a vehicle, what would it be? ginasketch invented a book meme:-Choose a book genre ...
Deep in the Tory heartland of the Notting Hill set, Vince Cable gave his perspective on the current financial crisis to a standing-room only Food for Thought event put on by Kensington and Chelsea Liberal Democrats this evening, compered by the former Strictly Come Dancing producer and local party chair, Robin Meltzer. Regular viewers [...]
I haven't been able to make my voluntary work for a number of weeks but they were kind enough to welcome me and not ask who I was! It is a pleasure to work with such nice other people. A 70th wedding anniversary was next - I didn't even know there was such a thing, but it is called a platinum anniversary. A really lovely couple that were an example to all of us. I liked their advice...
Amidst the more mundane and routine meetings yesterday was one on new initiatives for play in the borough. It's become obvious over the last 12 months that finally people like central government advisers and safety experts have concluded that children need adventure and that falling over etc is a learning experience and not something to be avoided at all costs. So there's quite a lot of money
She umm... well, she's having a bit of trouble with this question: Thank you Katie Couric.
An interesting post from Norfolk Blogger as he goes off on one assuming that Lib Dem Blogs hates him. I thought that this was fairly unlikely (although, to be fair, if I was going to ban anyone...) so dropped LibDemBlogs key genius Ryan a line to see if he knew about the issue and the allegation. And got a fairly robust response. Somehow, it seems quite a lot of people expect sites like this to be omniscient. It's not that dissimilar from some of my casework, where people wail "Why hasn't the Council done something about problem X?" First step ...
I'm just wondering, because when something goes wrong on LibDemBlogs, it seems that you no longer email me, but instead write blog posts. Which due to things going wrong mean I can't see them! I have now spotted the second "Am I banned?" post, which tries to make out that the blogger is a victim of a secret LibDem blogging conspiracy, whereas emailing me would have got the answer quickly. Then when LibDemBlogs goes down because my webhosting company think it's funny to display error messages instead whilst I'm busy at work, do bloggers think "I'll just drop Ryan an ...
The proposal for a sheltered housing development is being discussed by the Liverpool planning committee next week (7th October). I know there have been some worries about this, particularly re parking. Here's a link to the committee agenda. The report is recommending that the committee says no to the plan.
As my 'bloggers block' seems to have burst today I thought I'd witter for a few lines about blogging and me. I generally blog when I'm angry or amused about something (see earlier posts today regarding Cameron and the Tories) and when I feel that I may have something to contribute to a debate on issues. I'm fully aware that my style can be a touch awkward and my punctuation would have a teacher of English reaching for a shotgun but this is mine, my outlet, my rant & scream at this big, bad, unjust old world which, if the ...
Is this the new South Africa? I'd hoped a change in the Government could be a positive one, but this first major action by the new Government is not the leadership I'd hoped for. Remember the horrific Xenphobic attacks against migrants, which left 62 dead? Refugee camps were set up to protect the people who were left vulnerable. Now the Government are forcing them to be closed, despite the Constitutional Court saying they must stay open.
The Independent website has the Press Association's story: A Tory frontbencher was forced to apologise today after expressing pride that he might have contributed to John Prescott's bulimia. Shadow local government secretary Eric Pickles admitted he had been "silly" to mock the former Deputy Prime Minister's condition at a party fringe [...]
Another great story in the Sun today. Channel 4 is to broadcast a new sex education show aimed at teenagers at 11am in the morning - a 'time when young children could be watching' it says disapprovingly. But who needs Channel 4 when you've got the Sun. Today, the paper helpfully gives its readers advice on ways to increase the chances of having a boy. It tells us to eat bananas, have sex standing up, suggests deep penetration (rather than shallow) and make sure that he climaxes first. Let's hope our 14 year olds are reading the Sun.
The Sun newspaper reports today that Lembit Opik is signed up for the next series of Celebrity Big Brother, which starts in January. You really wonder how low can he get. The Sun very helpfully shows its readers how Lembit might look in a leotard. If I was the Conservative Agent in Montgomery, I would be using that photo more than the one of my own candidate. No doubt, there will be even more ammunition for them to use when the series is broadcast in the New Year. Update: Many thanks to the person who has responded saying the story ...
This map from Dick Morris is pure porn if you're an Obama supporter. The "flyover States" turn into a hopover (and on these kinds of figures Obama would probably pick up one EV in Nebraska too) but... ...don't take it too seriously, folks. The clue to how optimistic this is is Arizona: McCain is not really in danger of losing his own State. The map below (from FiveThirtyEight.com) is pretty (and let's face it) optimistic enough. The 538 gang are currently scoring the race at 336 v 202 electoral votes. As long as Obama scores 270, I'll be content. In ...
The Pink News conference blog reports an intriguing rumour circulating at the Tory Conference in Birmingham: a rumour was running ... round the room like wildfire. Nothing as exciting as a resignation, unfortunately.Just the frankly bonkers idea that Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter who is some sort of god to middle aged heterosexual men, will be standing as a candidate for the Tories. Against Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.Wiser heads pointed out that Mr Clarkson's stance on the environment is unlikely to endear him to the Tory leader.No, I don't believe it either. But it is worth noting, as ...
Today Conservative PPC Margot James (Stourbridge) said that homosexuals have a duty to vote conservative at the next election. Ms James said that homosexual couples often don't have children and thus they should vote conservative to get tax breaks. I was thinking that this would never get passed the pro-family conservative base, but then it came to me. This is just an extension of the Conservative's favourite family policy - you must have two parents; a man and a woman. This isn't support of the homosexual community by the Tory party this is a just new way or persecuting against ...
This month's Focus included the word 'licence' following the US convention of 'license'. I have now re-set my spell checker to use British English, rather than US English. In previous issues, I have failed to update our surgery date, substituted 'off' for 'on' and misattributed the A4. You may not know that Armand Edwards and I write all of our Foci, then I design the pages on my home computer. We print these at our own expense, one for each home in Bathwick. We, and a brilliant team of volunteers, then deliver these updates by hand once every two months. ...
I almost feel sorry for Iain Gray, new Scottish Labour leader. He got a bit of a pasting from Matt Bendoris in today's Sun His crime? Basically being boring. The Gray by name and Gray by nature thing was an easy an analogy to come up with and Iain does seem to think that he has to live up to it. The problem is that for all his talk of re-connecting with the people, he just doesn't have the interpersonal skills to get them to take notice. It was an act of collective stupidity for the Labour Party to elect ...
Liberal Democrats in Bath and North East Somerset have welcomed with caution the Council's new website which will allow residents a chance to get involved in transport decisions. Bath MP, Don Foster commented, "The Cabinet Member has been on the radio talking about letting people have their say and welcoming their comments. These are the right noises. Let us hope they can apply...
Following Tuesday's public meeting organised by Don Foster on the Regional Spatial Strategy, the Bath MP has confirmed that all the points raised will be put forward to Regional Minister, Ben Bradshaw MP when he meets him next week. Don said, "It was clear that local residents share my view that the Government's target of 21,300 homes is barking mad. . Given the...
This was intended to be the address of a statesman. David Cameron's speech set out to portray himself as a man of character, a man of vision and a man ready to lead. Cameron struck the right tone, his speech was measured and he wisely opted to steer away from too much political partisanship. Yet, as is so often the case with this PR savvy figurehead, the content of Cameron's address failed to match the authoritative delivery. Cameron began by insisting that the Conservative's meeting in Birmingham had been a 'sober conference', one overshadowed by the scale of the global ...
Following my comments on Conservative Margot James' bizarre statement that gays 'have a duty to vote Tory', I remembered that disgraced Conservative candidate Ian Oakley had a prediliction for sending gay porn to many of my colleagues, including parliamentary candidate Sal Brinton and Watford's elected mayor, Dorothy Thornhill. It is not mentioned anywhere as to whether [...]
Following a recent letter in the "Evening Telegraph" which called into question the City Council's commitment to improving Dundee's roads, many thanks to the Tele for printing my response (as City Council Planning & Transport Convener) in last night's edition : Work ongoing to improve roads I refer to the comments by Road User about Dundee. Far from "nothing much has been done" to improve the city's roads' condition, Dundee City Council has already committed an additional £1 million capital funding this financial year for improvements and a further £1 million each year is committed for the following two years ...
So says Dave. Well, he would wouldn't he, as he doesn't have experience on his side. It was quite a decent response in some ways - now there's a battle on. But I can't help thinking about character. What do you say about the character of a party leader whose two main funders have broken promises, and clearly intend to continue breaking them, and he can bring himself to do nothing about it? Lord Ashcroft promised to be a UK tax payer if he became a lord. He is very secretive about his movements and his businesses. He's entitled to ...
If you listened carefully, you will have heard David Cameron mention the environment in his speech to the Tory party conference today. Here are his remarks in full: I want a clean environment as well as a safe one. and [We] didn't champion green politics as greenwash but because climate change is devastating our environment because the energy [...]
Bit after the Lord Mayor's show of you jumping onto the Gurkha Justice campaign bandwagon AFTER the High Court had ruled in their favour. Many more principled politician's have been supporting their cause for years. Peter Carroll was the first politician I was aware of raising the issue. My own employer, Elspeth Attwooll MEP first campaigned on the issue when the Lib Dem's last had Federal Conference in Bournemouth 4 years ago and I'm sure that Sharon Bowles and the rest of the Lib Dem MEPs have backed the Gurkhas. Our Leader Nick Clegg MP* has also been a high ...
From TED comes this lecture by psychologist Jonathan Haidt on the moral values that are the basis of our political choices (length about 19 mins). Enjoy.
Craig Murray has published the key section from his new book, which his publisher is unwilling to publish due to legal threats, on his blog.
In the context of talking about social breakdown, violence on our streets, and so on, Cameron offered three planks of policy to begin to tackle the problem: Families, Schools and Welfare. Under schools there was the usual complaint about standards, and then this:Listen to this. It's the President of the Spelling Society. He said, and I quote, "people should be able to use whichever spelling
I was highly amused by Conservative parliamentary candidate Margot James' statement that gays 'have a duty to vote Tory'. Apparently those whose sexual preference is for a person of their own gender are also selfish, child-hating bastards with short memories. Margot says of the Conservative Conference that "I have yet to meet another (gay) woman I regret [...]
I've had some really excellent news, in that Graham Watson (the Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, ALDE) has agreed to speak at our Conference on Saturday, November 15th. Graham will add lustre to our discussions, given his reputation as one of the European Parliament's leading figures, and I am hoping that, despite his early slot, we'll get a good crowd in for his
In a brilliant speech marked with gravitas and trembling underpants throughout the hall, Dave told the assembled and adoring Tory conference that he did not have any answers to the ills affecting the British economy but that he was the man to help. To solve all the problems faced, the country must change and Dave said he had lots of change to bring and his change was better than the change Labour had failed to deliver under Gordon Brown. Only under his leadership would real change be made. He called for an end to the new change being minted at ...
So, what did you make of it?
Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me! Well - actually - it's Happy Birthday to my blog - five years old today. And I've just finished listening to David Cameron's speech. Long - very very long. But as with most things - it's not always the size that counts. Strong on image creation, short on tangibles - even in this time of crisis it seems DC cannot come up with the goods. Perhaps once a PR man always a PR man. 'Fresh answers to the challenges we face' he said - but none of the 'fresh answers' were available ...
My silence regarding our objections regarding the adjacent development has been for a very good reason. We lost our objection and the Perth & Kinross Council Development Control Committee, despite the brave efforts of Councillors Lorraine Cadell and Sandy Miller, voted to approve both planning applications. I don't want to indulge myself in a potentially actionable outburst so will limit my comments to the fact that they approved the construction of a wall, which is unfit for purpose, on our property, and the potential intrusion onto our property by the developer. They approved houses which are 1.99 metres higher than ...
I set out to carefully document and analyse Cameron's speech today. I was all set with my screen-grabber, notepad and my growing journalistic mean streak. Yet half way through I found myself watching the clock getting rather bored, so began amusing myself by trying to catch him pulling silly faces. I thought, it's probably safe to go make a brew (being a Northerner, of course, I suffer clinical symptoms when deprived of tea for too long a period). I suppose a bit of context is in order. When I saw Cameron's first speech to conference, after he was first elected, ...
I'm simply stunned by the rudeness of Michael Gove to Peter Allan on 5Live's drive programme. He just said to, with reference to smarmy Dave's speech him: "Either you haven't been listening at the back of the class or you have come to the speech having sucked several lemons."
"We've had a good conference this week, an optimistic conference - but a sober one."Obviously you weren't there when all the Tories were all chucked out of the hotel the bar at 4pm by the police last night. "[This] human rights act culture, has infected every part of our life."Yep, there's the true colours. "And while we're on this subject, there's one other thing that destroys trust in politics. And that's parties putting things in their manifesto and then doing the complete opposite."Is that why you haven't announced any clear policy commitments? "Next year [...] we will campaign with all ...
Eid mubarak to my Muslim friends.
Having just listened to Cameron's Leader's speech to Tory conference all I can say is what a load of utter claptrap, bollocks and tripe! Surely people are not fooled by his empty rhetoric? The Tories, the party that under Thatcher and her successors did not believe in society, laying claim to be the party able to repair our "broken society" is nauseating. To hear him claim that the Tories are the party with true green credentials stretches credulity to the limit. This from the man who cycles to work and has his paperwork follow in a chauffeur driven limousine. He ...
Very good to see David Cameron attacking the focus on human rights these days. Quite right - I mean, why does everyone always forget canine rights?
First in an occasional series (knowing me, *very* occasional) tracking once-good phrases as they are abused in modern language. Today Nick Clegg said that "We are in the eye of an economic storm". The eye of a storm features mostly calm weather, as any fool knows. I don't think the Dow sliding 5% and the FTSE circling 4800 really counts as "calm", more like "terrifying". Even if you don't believe in the "financial crisis" it must still be at least "a bit worrying". See also "more heat than light", desperately overused by Lib Dem bloggers this year. Anyone have any ...
This morning's Western Mail carries news of an interesting report by the consultancy Oxford Economics, which tells us that Wales pays £9bn a year less in taxes than it gets back in public spending: According to UK Government statistics analysed by the researchers, people and businesses living and operating in Wales pay £19.3bn in taxes but receive £28.4bn in public services and benefits, a difference of £9.1bn. The report states: "As in previous years, the analysis shows that it is only the wider South East of England (Greater London, the South East and the Eastern Region) that made a positive ...
We'd say a big thank you to the 19,753 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in September, our highest total ever, and a whopping 157% increase on a year ago. Whether you're a regular here, or an occasional 'popper-by', we're delighted you looked in. And if you enjoy reading LDV, why not try [...]
Seems Washoe County will be one to watch on Nov 4th when John King reveals that map on CNN. Scores of Democrat activists have crossed over state lines to the nearest county (Washoe) which the Obama campaign is targetting for a win. Intensive efforts are being made in voter id and contacting independents. Let's hope it [...]
Interviewed for BBC News, the Lib Dem deputy leader and shadow chancellor Vince Cable was asked if the UK is now in recession: "It does look like it. The figures on manufacturing are particularly worrying. The fact that they are declining shows that we've got a serious real economic fall out. We do have a lot [...]
Thank you for asking me. I expect the property developer has offered you something between £50,000 and £100,000 more than the market value for your home. Or he might have made an offer for part of your garden. What the developer tells you He is planning to build a handful of beautiful new homes on your site. He will also need to purchase a neighbour's...
I wasn't there, but I just heard that last night the police in Birmingham got a bit fed up of the Conservatives flouting the licensing laws nightly and staying in the bar well into the wee hours. In the end policemen 'ushered' the Tories out, having turned a blind eye since Friday. And I thought the Tories were so meticulously sanctimonious when it came to binge all-nighters. I suppose you're more likely to be sceptical of 24 drinking on Today at 7:00am if you have a hangover.
Now that the man himself has confirmed that the Scum story is absolute rubbish, I am hoping that retractions and apologies will swiftly follow. While we all love a good debate, please. let's keep this one respectful. All of the candidates will continue to be an asset to the party once this contest is over. There's been a tendency for some Lib Dems to play into the hands of the press during internal contests! That said, I'm bound to say that comments such as 'Ros has a clear lead' (you know who you are) are just ramping. We really have ...
Being in government has not stopped Plaid Cymru Assembly Members asking feisty questions in Plenary, though nobody could have matched Alun Davies excoriation of Leader of the House, Carwyn Jones yesterday on the subject of cuts in ITV Wales' public service content: Alun Davies: I wish to return to the subject raised by Nerys Evans, namely the announcement by ITV, following last week's statement from Ofcom. I am afraid, Leader of the House, that the response to that request was somewhat inadequate. There is a crisis facing English-language television in Wales at the moment, and we need a statement from ...
{Turnip} On one of the more remote sections of the BBC news website, they have been scouring the internet for reports in other news publications about how the current economic situation is changing the daily lives of people. Some highlights for you: The Daily Express (not one of my regular reads) notes that the soaring cost of petrol and diesel has achieved something that many moons of Government hand wringing has failed to do - make children walk to school. This is notable mainly because, possibly for the first time in history, the Daily Express may actually be telling the ...
Back in July, I wrote about the vexed question of biofuels in my Guardian blog - and pointed to possible EU limits on vehicles' CO2 emissions as a positive alternative. Well the good news is that the European Parliament's environment committee has voted through the new rules. As Greenpeace reports, "In a long-awaited display of [...]
This week a number of charities, including Oxfam and Save the Children launched a new campaign called 'In my name'. The intention is to press for further action towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Set in 2000 with a deadline of 2015, the goals were designed to deliver a serious blow to poverty [...]
There really is only one response to this story about Sarah Palin trying to get Polar Bears' endangered species status declassified...
Claims that Lembit will be appearing on the next Celebrity Big Brother have now been vigourously denied. But there remain two problems. The first thing is that the story "rang" true. CBB is pretty much the only celebrity reality TV show Lembit hasn't appeared on. He's made much out of his appearances on I'm a Celebrity and Celebrity Apprentice*. And he has of course appeared on a myriad of other chat and panel shows. By contrast, no-one would have believed the story about Ros Scott or indeed pretty much any other MP. That is an image problem which Lembit himself ...
A group of retired Gurkhas fighting for the right to settle in Britain have won their immigration test case at London's High Court. They were challenging immigration rules which said that those who retired from the British Army before 1997 did not have an automatic right to stay. The judgement could affect some 2,000 former Gurkhas who retired before 1997.
A morning of claims and denials about whether Lembit is to appear on Celebrity Big Brother have come and gone. Now it looks like he was offered the spot, but turned it down. A skim through the online BB gossip forums sugegsts it has been common in the past for names to seem to be "leaked" to drum up interest in the show for publicity in the preceding months. This time round Lembit seems to be
I have managed to shuffle through the last two days of my life without having the spirit within my very soul tapped and extracted by an incompetent nincompoop whose job is ostensibly to actually help me. Which is a bonus. I was helped of course by resolving my DVLA issue on Monday and thus removing myself from within the whirlpool of idiocy that is that organisation. Any interaction with the DVLA is only marginally more pleasant than donning arctic explorer gear and locking myself inside a convection oven on "high" for three hours. But even the Council have joined in, ...
http://www.timflach.com/ On this website you'll find a slideshow of some gorgeous horse photos from Tim Flach's new book Equus.
Peter Black has passed on the information that Lembit has contacted the Liberal Democrat Group office at the Welsh Assembly and said the Sun story is not true. I don't question that, and am removing the poll. Now I have always stood by the line "Don't believe everything you read in the papers", but it does surprise me that the Sun would make up quite such an extended quote!
I am hearing that Lembit is denying the story in the Sun. If I hear something definite I will take the poll down.
Following MP Michael Foster's comments on the recent poll suggesting a Tory whitewash in Sussex, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, Nick Perry, says, "Michael is putting a brave face on it, but that he will lose his seat at the next General Election is almost a foregone conclusion. "He is obviously not being complacent, [...]
From Nick Clegg's website: Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today called for the Government to issue a temporary guarantee for all deposits in the British banking system: We are now in the eye of an economic storm. We have seen the dreadful effects of the bonus culture in the City that has led banks to take unacceptable [...]
As you will no doubt have read by now, the Sun is claiming that Lembit Opik has agreed to take part in 2009's Celebrity Big Brother. Thus far, Team Lembit have issued no denial, suggesting it is either true or they are in complete disarray. A thought though occurs: assuming CBB starts at around the same time as it did in 2007, Lembit's participation would prevent him from taking part in either his first or second Federal Executive meeting (so much for that much-vaunted high attendence record). I find it awfully hard to believe that intense pressure will not be ...
Liverpool First is organising consultation sessions this weekend on three strategies for the City - Sustainable Communities, Culture and Climate Change. They'll be hosting public sessions at Wall Street in the Liverpool One area and in St John's Shopping Centre. These take place on 3, 4 and 5 October from 11 am to 4 30. They are called Your City Your Future. The documents, and a chance to comment, are also available on line here. There's a deadline of 31 October. Liverpool First, which is the City's Strategic Partnership which includes the City Council and a wide range of partners, ...
Via yuxonomei: replica ancient roman seige weapon, one careful owner, requires slight attention. A snip at £25,000. Me, I'd rather have a trebuchet. Flinging dead cows (or, indeed, flaming pianos and cars) at stuff is much more my style ;) Via Lynne Featherstone, the thing I have spent most of the morning playing about on is Yoosk. I've asked a question of George Osborne, but mostly I have been doing the very childish thing of going through all the politicians and marking them on things like honesty and clarity... And putting "good answer" and "bad answer" on lots of them ...
We're running out of planet. It has been calculated that if everyone adopted typical UK lifestyles, we would need three Earths. Clean water is already scarce in some places, including parts of the UK. Biodiversity is receding at such a pace that scientists have forecast mass extinctions, and although this might prove as threatening to [...]
Wed 1st
11:15
The serious business of the new FE starts in January - so where will Lembit be? VOTE IN MY POLL
The present Federal Executive ceases its term in office at the end of the year. In January the new FE, and the new President have to set to work as the body that will represent the party as a whole in the run up to the General Election. With the newly delegated powers to the Chief Officers Group it is crucial that the President and the FE are on top of the game to scrutinise decisions. So where
The Times reports that children and teenagers are still being treated in adult psychiatric wards despite a government commitment that this would end by November. It carries news of a report by charity Young Minds and the Children's Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green. The report, entitled Out of the Shadows says that only 15% of health trusts have complied with the governments wishes. Shockingly, it also says that 72 % of inpatient referrals are turned away. Research by the Royal College of Psychiatrists suggests that about a third of the 3,000 or so children and teenagers admitted for inpatient psychiatric treatment ...
According, that is, to The Sun (a favourite read of The Voice): Limelight-loving Lembit has signed up for the show — back next January after a year's break. Bosses picked the goofy-grinned Lib Dem hoping he'll reveal all about his doomed affair with Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia. Lembit might even copy fellow MP George Galloway when [...]
This paper looks absolutely fascinating. I've downloaded it to read later. I wonder to what extent this particular form of stigmatisation fed racism in the Mormon churches themselves? That would certainly be one of the responses that cognitive dissonance theory would predict. It's always interesting to note how complex the intersections between different forms of prejudice and oppression can be, though it has pitfalls: it must not be taken to mean that suffering prejudice or oppression is any kind of excuse for oppressing others, and it is important not to allow the examination of such intersections to trivialise the experiences ...
There has been an angry reaction to a government-backed report, which effectively concluded that family courts were not biased against non-resident parents (usually fathers) on the whole. There are indeed problems with drawing this conclusion from the fact that most NRPs are successful with their contact applications, and that only 10% of cases require a court order at all. The researchers themselves avoided such a simplistic conclusion, which overlooks, inter alia, the difficulty of enforcing contact and the fact that an NRP has to even consider going to court in the first place in order to secure what he or ...
In the dead slot of the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, after 8.45 when everyone is arriving at work, there are often interesting debates about the issues of the day. Today Nassim Nicholas Taleb was one of the guests and, as he has done before, he spoke out about the systemic risks that bankers did not realise that they were undertaking. He also made the point that in the 1982 Emerging markets crash the Bankers lost all the money that they ever made, and then they did it again in the 1991 Savings and Loans crash. In other words, most ...
Remember the good old days when every right-thinking Tory knew that homosexuality was a disease? Children could be infected if they were taught about gays in school, read about them in books or saw them kissing on TV. With enough time and effort, though, those infected with gayness could be cured. After all, a lesbian is just someone who hasn't met the right man (or has met him but scared him off with her shaven head and dungarees). So imagine my surprise at the comments of Conservative Parliamentary Candidate and lesbian Margot James that our gay brethren "have a duty ...
Last night I joined the Liberal Democrat campaign in Wednesfield. There are by-elections on 23 October for both Wednesfield North and Wednesfield South (due to the resignation of Conservative Councillors Carol and David Bourne).
Woo Hoo!: BBC radio is to launch a major cross-station drama season based around the science fiction genre, which will see BBC 7 broadcast its biggest original series commission to date. The season will be spread over two weeks in February and March and will see BBC Radio 4, Radio 3 and BBC 7 play host to a number of science fiction-themed plays, featuring both original works and adaptations, including Arthur C Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Iain M Banks' The State of the Art.I loved Rama when I was a kid, but haven't read it since, so that'll be ...
Wed 1st
10:20
Do the Tories really believe that the Police should be able to shoot first and never answer question...
A big hat tip to Anthony Hook for drawing our attention to Dominic Grieve's speech to Tory conference. What Grieve appears to say is that the Police should not have had to face a Health and Safety prosecution for the de Menezes case. In a way, I agree. I think that the use of Health and Safety law appears a bit desperate when you are dealing with something as serious as the killing by the State of a completely innocent man. I would far rather see the prosecution of the officers who pulled the triggers if they are culpable or ...
Can anybody explain why the Sun website always crashes Firefox on my computer? (Am running sh*tty-Vista)? Tried to go from Stephen's Linlithgow Journal to his link to the Sun story about Lembit and, as ever, it crashed. All help appreciated
My friend and colleague Vince Cable MP is visiting Torbay at the weekend. He has become a familiar figure on TV news and politics programmes as the man who five years ago started to warn about e...
Don't forget the public meeting at King Edmund School, Yate, tomorrow (Thursday 2nd October) at 7.30 pm. Come along and hear the latest from Steve Webb MP and local councillors. WHAT ELSE CAN I DO ABOUT IT? (1) Sign our petition by Friday (3 Oct) so that Steve Webb can present the petition in the special debate in Parliament - you can do this online at http://www.stevewebb.org.uk (2) Tell the Government what you think (by 17 Oct) by responding to their consultation: - online at http://tinyurl.com/6z6pdz - register with the government "Consultation Portal" (click "Login" top left, then "Register") and ...
I've noticed that a number of my fellow bloggers have blog lists, whereby you can see what some of their favourite/most interesting colleagues are saying. Never let it be said that I am behind the times, so I am introducing my own blog list, one at a time. I'm starting today with Jennie Rigg, whose astonishingly cool blog on LiveJournal is one that I tend to keep an eye on. I voted for her in
Starting next Monday, running for two weeks, Darlington is participating in this year's "I'm a Councillor...Get me out of here!" competition. There is no suggestion yet that this involves anything to do with eating live insects or having to guess which one is Ant and which one is Dec. Six Darlington Councillors, three Labour (all very senior), two Conservatives (newly elected) and me, do battle
Have decided to get Yoosk a try - it's a website for asking (and answering!) questions. I like the way people can rate answers - that should be a good discipline for ensuring that answers are more useful than you get in - say - most political interviews! I'm on the site at http://www.yoosk.com/celebrity/801/Lynne_Featherstone.aspx - so ask away and let's see how things go.
I was taught that, if you don't like the question that you're being asked, answering another one with sufficient conviction will do. Whilst I'm not convinced that it is ethically sound as a theory, I listened to a fine example of the art this morning on 'Today', courtesy of Edward Stourton and William Hague. It is presumed by many that the Irish will vote again on the Lisbon Treaty and that, if
The Liberal Democrats believe in business. More specifically, we believe in small business. We need to make sure business has the opportunity to survive, to grow and to flourish. From small acorns, mighty oaks can grow. This web page is hopefully a useful forum for you to tell us what would help small business and for views to be shared. We are passionate about small business and...
For God's sake, can't someone persuade David Cameron to ditch the intern and get someone who understands economics as his Shadow Chancellor? Fair enough, he does clearly recognise good spin when he sees it, but surely even Dave can spot the hypocrisy of his party's position on tax and spending? A freeze on council tax? Sounds great, until you realise what is actually on offer. Councils will be
...please leave the Presidential Race. ****NEWS UPDATE - SEE BELOW****NEWS UPDATE - SEE BELOW**** I'm sorry if the Sun report is true that party president candidate Lembit Opik is to enter the Celebrity Big Brother House I would kindly ask him not to stand for the respected position of party President a role he would assume at roughly the same time, if elected. I want a full time Party President who will get down to that job from the off not spend some of the early weeks of it cooped up away from all externalities. Sorry Lembit this is a ...
We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV - of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you [...]
Following the Irish Government's move yesterday to guarantee all deposits in banks for the next two years, Nick Clegg and Alex Salmond have called on Gordon Brown to go further than his promise to raise the guarantee level to the first £50,000 deposited. Following on from what was seen as some partisan politics stateside and a failure to recognise the knock on effect to ordinary bank customers of the crisis facing Wall Street is it a sense of reality here in the UK. Gordon has yet to to promise more than the £50k limit but pointed out that the government ...
The Sun claimed Lembit was to star on Celebrity Big Brother this morning. Peter Black tells us that Lembit has assured the Welsh Assembly group that it is not true. Outrage was the initial reaction from many I spoke to. The problem of course is that we all know Lembit and have woken up to news that has made us say 'Oh no, what this time?' But the question still stands. Is...
The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has said that holding suspects without charge for 42 days in inadequately equipped police cells is a "considerable concern". They have after visiting the high security police cells at Paddington Green called for such suspects to be transferred to prison for further detention. So now not only would a suspect be considered guilty until proven innocent they may also be innocent and detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure because the police are incapable of providing pre-charge facilities up to the task of long ...
Charlotte Gore; our resident crusader against anything that sounds vaguely lefty is worried about a grim future where we; "During times of boom, embrace Capitalism. During times of bust, embrace Socialism." Her economic reasoning is truly dreadful though. Apparently; "The banking system has failed because the CEOs of the demutalised building societies did not correctly consider the long term interests of their owners." Well, why didn't they do that Charlotte?? Maybe it was because they were too concerned about maximising profits; something that is always the driving force behind any capitalist enterprise. In a refrain that is going to become ...
After all these hilarious Sarah and Katie videos etc I finally totally get it. Both Dems and Repubs are trying to square the circle of winning the election. To win you have to have your base vote - fully understood. The swing voters though are divided between two groups - the hard-thinking Independents and Liberal minded [...]
This is getting too easy! Katie Couric's professionally restrained face gestures are becoming a household name as she interviews beauty queen Sarah. What not even the Beano? Does her campaign staffers think ANYTHING through?
One of the most promising lesbian conservatives has posted this ridiculous piece of conciousness: "I think gay people have got more angst on this issue than anybody else because gay people are paying in, through their taxes and actually using far less of the NHS because they tend not to have families, less of the education system for the same reason and all the more reason to be angry with this government for the waste of their taxes." Now I know a great deal of gay and lesbian folk, and I have yet to encounter one who has cited a ...
Mark Valladares - it's about more than just ideas, it's about making them live! Last year, I claimed that I would be a radical voice for change on English Candidates Committee, and you gave me the chance to prove that it was more than just a slogan. Since then, I've been working to put my ideas into play, not just on the committee itself, but on the newly created Selection Rules Review Group.
Podcastle, the fantasy department of Steve Eley's Escape-Artists podcasting collective has just entered the dangerous realm of slash-fiction with it's latest production: "Red Riding Hood's Child". It's not just regualr slash... you now the kind where Batman get it on with Catwoman. It's furry-slash. If your idea of fun is being raped by anthropomorphic man-wolves then this story is definitely for you! In case you are unaware of them, Escape Artists are currently world's biggest genre-fiction Zine. Their subscription is probably as big as all of the print SF magazines put together. They've been going for about three years and ...
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has welcomed the High Court ruling condemning the Government's policy of deporting retired Gurkhas. Mr Clegg has called on ministers to now give all retired Gurkhas the right to become British citizens.
