A dismayingly large percentage of the British electorate has shown little inclination to turn out in recent elections, but I suspect that several millions would just love to have a vote in the US presidential election next month. There is a rational case to make that the result of that contest will have more of an impact [...]
Today was the first day in the two week "I'm a Councillor...Get me out of here" on-line popularity contest for schools and local councillors. You can visit the site. This link will take you there: http://www.bigvote.org.uk/ Then just log in as a guest (it can take up to a minute at busy times) and have a look around. For some reason the first page you see is that for Coventry City Council, but
So there I was, getting all over-excited about the fact people are actually reading my blog, when tonight my excitement knows no bounds! Two, yes two, posts in the top five links on LibDem Blogs! But looking at the list, they are all linked. A high- wire act by Mr Ahmed and what it might mean for us [...]
Islington has an above average number of voluntary organisations based in the borough, including the National Council of Voluntary Organisations itself. Now Islington's going to host a specialist careers fair aimed at the charity jobs sector, forum3 (as in third sector). It's taking place at the Business Design Centre, from 10-11 October. [...]
I don't think they should. Today the Black Police Association (BPA), called for a boycott of BME applicants from applying to join the police force, saying the Met is still 'beset by institutional racism' The Mayor, Boris Johnson is to hold an inquiry into racism in the Met. Hot on the heels of Boris, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, playing catch up, ordered her own review of how ethnic minorities are treated by the Police. Today the Association of Muslim Police Officers publically disagreed with the BPA, saying that they believed that we needed more BME police officers if we are ...
The Annual General Meeting of the Bishopsgarth Association of Residents tonight. It was what a community should be doing, and our real role as Councillors. A number of people had come along for the "Bishopsgarth in Bloom" completion, now in its third year. I had given a silver salver when I was Mayor for the best garden, to be awarded annually, and John, being Mayor this year had been the...
It was already in the pipeline. The Draft Legislative Programme for the 2008/09 session of Parliament contains a Bill. Page 19 of the programme states, The forthcoming policing green paper will bring forward new proposals on a local accountability mechanism to provide a clear and powerful public voice in decision making through directly elected representatives to give local people more control over policing priorities and responsiveness;
How to Demotivate a programmer. Are the days of free web content numbered? The World's Oldest Surviving Bible causes arguments among those who believe that The Good Book is the unfiltered and infallible word 'o God. My review of this week's ep of Sarah-Jane Adventures is up at dw_academy And finally, inspired by this conversation: View Poll: Semantics And now it are time for BSG...
Oh dear, some cretin of a vicar talks nonsense about gays, little thinking that the majority of his colleagues like wearing dresses and smelling of perfume. I am reminded of Kind Hearts and Coronets: that aristocratic familes "sent the fool into the church".
I was refused a plastic bag for the first time today. It's been happening for a few months now in supermarkets, but I shop online so it didn't really affect me, other than being offered points for choosing the 'no plastic bag' option. I had bought quite an embarrassing magazine in WH Smith. I quickly paid for it, looked behind me to see if there was anyone I knew in the queue, then asked politely for a plastic bag. They are normally transparent anyway so don't hide an embarrassing purchase that successfully, but still, I needed one psychologically. "We charge ...
A series of free lunchtime talks at the Guildhall, entitled Sentinels in Stone, focuses on the statues at the Roman Baths and why they are there. The famous Great Bath at Bath & North East Somerset Council's leading tourist attraction emerged gleaming earlier this year after months of cleaning and stabilizing work to the stonework and statues that surround it. The famous statues represent...
I have to say that I'm not wildly chuffed that the Government has set the date of the Glenrothes by-election for 6th November. I would much have preferred it if they'd gone for either the week before or after. Given their other major failings on 10p tax, child poverty, pensions, encouraging a responsible and sustainable financial sector and data losses, my gripe that they have now ruined my long standing plans to thoroughly enjoy the climax of the US Presidential election is quite insignificant, but it's still annoying. Now, rather than sitting up all night with my friends watching the ...
A recently discovered, by me at least, Lib Dem blogger, Jamie Saddler, comments on the apparent decision by government not to press for a lower blood alcohol limit: Epolitix are reporting that the government have decided against lowering the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 50 mg... This is all well and good, but they are the ones who would do this regardless of the limit, and need to be the exception. It needs to be spelt out to people that if you are driving, even one drink is unacceptable. [From Jamie Saddler: Government Gets It Wrong on Drink Drive Limit] ...
If you are a registered member of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum - and any paid-up party member is welcome to join - then you now have the opportunity to make your views known on a range of issues in our special post-conference members' survey. Topics we are asking your opinion on include: - what you [...]
After last weeks Vice Presidential debate, as well as the first presidential debate, Senator Obama has opened up a commanding lead over Senator McCain. In fact if the election were held today it would come down to 10 states, and only one would need to go for Obama, in order for him to win. In fact the times are getting so bad for McCain that he has now pulled out of Michigan, effectively giving up on any hope of winning the state's 17 electoral college votes. As it stands Obama is predicted to be on 264 votes, to McCain's 174. ...
Tom Harris has started Blaming the Government for everything that is taking Place in his life, even when a Train doesn't run on time, something that he was the top man for until Brown Sacked him. You Can read his Post HERE.
The BBC says it is 6 November.
The Conservatives in Pendle have done it. They have now got a Muslim Candidate for Whitefield something that they haven't had in a long time. As in Pendle and Across the Country they have always been a Party for the White and always will be. But its better this time. The Conservatives haven't only got him for Whitefield they have got him for Nelson North and Brierfield. The Candidate is a Sohail Sarwar the son of the Owner of Searchers.co.uk and a Local Businessman. With the Labour Party putting Cllr Iqbal up and the Conservatives putting this guy up, The ...
Saturday entailed a latish start, as we weren't due in the award winning Tedburn St Mary (Best Village of 2001!) until after lunch but, as we had some time to spare and a little shopping to do, we made our way to Okehampton for a gentle stroll to ease the kinks out of my back (it's a little better thank you, although I still ought to have it looked at, methinks...) and grab some coffee.
Jim Cramer tells investors to dump everything they have. On FT.com the Market Live team are running a Capitulation special: Update: the latest from the Dow Jones is a bounce. But there will be a lot of support for the radical options Vince Cable is suggesting.
Epolitix are reporting that the government have decided against lowering the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 50 mg. This would have brought the UK in-line with every other country on mainland Europe, but the Department of Transport have back-tracked on the proposals, Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick arguing that: "Drivers who are between 50 and 80mg are not the ones we are most worried about. It's the ones above 100."This is all well and good, but they are the ones who would do this regardless of the limit, and need to be the exception. It needs to be spelt out ...
That's what a group of Drug Addicts in a Black Brand new BMW thought when they drove past me today and pulled up to ask if I had any "weed". Excuse me I don't deal Drugs and neither do I smoke them. Then they asked if I knew any drug dealers and had "any numbers". Why would I have numbers if I don't smoke Weed! At least I will now fit into the Conservatives Party as I have something in common with Cameron
It is generally accepted I think that the Wall Street Crash and the subsequent depression started with a major sell-off on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday 24th October, 1929 - the so called "Black Thursday". The day of the worst one day fall on the New York Stock Exchange was the following Monday, "Black Monday", October 28th 1929, when it lost 13% of its opening value. If all this does prove to be the start of a period of economic turbulance that will live in memories as long as the Wall Street Crash, I wonder which day will ...
Long, long ago, there was a time when Mark Valladares and I were close colleagues, as National Chair and Secretary of what went through half a dozen name changes to become Liberal Youth. Those of you that know us both will not have been surprised at our roles, he demonstrating a fledgling interest in administration [...]
It has come to my attention that the issue of the whole of the City of Bath being a world Heritage site has led to changes in planning legislation that will affect all planning applications in the City. Where as before we had Conservation areas that covered some of our more historic areas of the City it is my belief from what I have been told this afternoon that the conservation...
Balanced on The Wardman Wire.
My dad called me unusually late last night to inform me that Councillor John Beanse had passed away suddenly on Sunday. Although I hadn't really met John, his name was one that I had seen and heard a lot since I was knee high to a grasshopper. A stalwart of the Chingford and then Chingford and Woodford Green Liberal Democrats, John persisted campaigning in a Conservative stronghold when other
I was, um, interested by thomas's response to Jo Crispy Strips' recent post. However, I realise that I might be too close to this issue to be objective. I therefore present a poll: View Poll: Sexism at Work I mean, two of those options look completely ridiculous to me, but Thomas appeared to be seriously suggesting option one: no consequences for the harrasser, the victim is blamed and made to make all the effort. I know that there are those who think that option three is sensible too - I guess they ignore the fact that if bullies can't bully ...
What's all the fuss? And why is the Beeb having such an orgasm over it? I actually like the guy. Yes, you heard correctly. Fortunately, being young enough, I've only encountered him as EU Trade Commissioner. He seemed to do the job competently and looking back at the 'scandals' which forced him to resign twice, one he was cleared of and the other in hindsight (and in comparison to recent MP scandals - Conway anyone?) was a technicality (although the promise by Blair to be whiter than white, ended up in most of his Ministers looking ghostly once caught out). ...
So I provoked a discussion on whether there is a place for community based discipline within the Liberal Democrat blogging community, and it turns out that you're a rather tolerant bunch (I knew that I liked you all for a reason...). It is clear that there is no desire for a policy of exclusion of individual bloggers from our community at this time, for reasons wholly liberal and laissez-faire.
What a day for the government to decide against cutting the drink-drive limit! The very day that footballer Luke McCormick is jailed for 7 years for drunkenly smashing into another car, killing two young boys and inflicting crippling injuries on their father. At first glance, the two major news stories don't seem to be related. McCormick was driving at double the limit anyway. The planned reduction - from 80 to 50mg per unit of blood - wouldn't have had any bearing in his case. And according to campaigners for the current limit, the biggest threat comes from drivers who seriously ...
Readers of this blog (at least, those with a) long memories and b) any concern about things I like whatsoever) may remember me mentioning Marc Maron before, here and here.Well, I now have the opportunity to plug a couple of things Marc is doing that you can actually go and find on the Electric Internet. One of them is that Guardian America, the US face of our very own Grauniad, has signed up
A reminder that the public enquiry into the Oval cricket ground starts next week - Tuesday 14th October at 10am in the Bedser Lounge (Hobbs Gate Entrance). This is to give further consideration to the plan for an additional 1,632 seats and 168 bedroom hotel at the ground. Local residents and other interested parties are entitled to attend if they want. Anyone who wishes to speak must be there when the enquiry opens. We have been told that the Planning Inspectorate will only send a copy of the Inspector's decision letter to those who specifically ask for one in writing. ...
An Earthquake has hit Tibet and the BBC has used this map: The Map actually suggests that Tibet should rightfully be an independent country from China. As it shows Tibet to be seperate to China rather than a State in China. For example it usually shows a state in China like this: Well it could have just been a mistake, but I would welcome the new attitude.Anyway, this isn't the important thing at the moment. 30 people have died. Many houses near the epicenter have collapsed.
I've mentioned Somalia many times. It truly is a tragedy, how ignored by the World it is. HRW (Human Rights Watch) has spoken up about how it is the World's most ignored tragedy. It has said how what has happened to Mogadishu, were to happen in Georgia or Lebanon it would be huge. Mogadishu has become a Ghost Town, it really is a tragedy. Read the report about Mark Doyle's visit. This film has some horrific images a totally destroyed neighbourhood, where the picture below is taken from. (There are several other clips with Mark Doyle's as well) Mogadishu has ...
Adaptations of Red Mars and Carter Beats The Devil in development? Don't tease me, Hollywood.
Although I'm relieved that both Nick and Vince have done pdfs, articles in broadsheets etc etc about this subject - Am I alone in thinking that we seem to walk the walk and not talk the talk! It's clear to me that if Vince had been Gordon Brown we wouldn't have been in this particular mess [...]
Some years ago, when the prospects of serious political success in Brent were, to be blunt, rather less than they later became, I was appointed as Returning Officer for the Parliamentary candidate selections in Brent. At that time, there were three individual, free-standing Local Parties, none of whom had a large membership. Indeed, Brent East had just forty-seven members, and only seven of
"I was performing extremely well in my firm and as a result took on the functions of a Director. However, I was told I had to 'prove myself' before the directorship was formalised and a pay rise given. There was no justifiable reason for this; I had outperformed all colleagues in my department. Shortly afterwards another Director was appointed (formally) on over double my salary without a requirement to 'prove himself'. To this day I am paid substantially less than all male Directors at my firm." So says Emma, a City Worker in response to calls for evidence of Sexism ...
I've always been an admirer of Chris Huhne. I've backed him twice as party leader and generally think he speaks a lot of sense. So I was delighted when I saw that he was the one senior politician willing to speak outagainst another sordid legal manipulation by nuLabour. Australian citizen Dr Gerald Toben was remanded in [...]
We have all arrived back at Westminster with our new pencil cases, scrubbed faces and uniforms slightly too large for us. Business in the Lords started on a sombre note as we remembered those colleagues who passed away during the recess, two of them from the Liberal Democrat benches. On a more cheerful note , the Leaders of the parties paid tribute to Kathy Ashton who has gone from being Leader of the House over to the European Commission. The Tory Leader told us that they were having lunch together last week when she received Gordon's call - he didn't ...
The man-they-love-to-hate is back. Peter Mandelson may be unpopular with his Labour colleagues; but it is the Tories and right-wing press which truly despise him. His crime? Being part of the New Labour team which got Tony Blair elected and consigned the Tories to the footnotes of history for a decade. And now they are, [...]
This afternoon I visited Warwick School to speak at the sixth form afternoon assembly. I briefly spoke about what Liberal Democrats stand for and where we sit in the political landscape. I kept this short as I wanted to spend more time answering questions and talking about what the boys wanted to talk about. The questions asked were excellent and at times tough, covering a range of subjects from the economy, immigration, Europe, taxation, the balance between a free market & social policies and electoral reform. I left some information containing a set of websites that the boys might like ...
Barack Obama is making the Keating 5 scandal the theme of a new attack on John McCain. Charles Keating (no relation) was in charge of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association - a kind of building society. When, in 1987, they came under investigation for dodgy business practices, Keating used his Senate contacts to get the investigation stopped. When Lincoln finally collapsed in 1989, costing the taxpayer $2 billion, five Senators were criticized by the Senate Ethics Committee for their dealings with Charles Keating. One of those was John McCain... It's a theme with relevance today, with banks falling over ...
As I begin investigating the esoteric world of the Preamble, I thought I'd start by jumping on the Word Cloud bandwagon and put our Preamble throught the works: I can safely say I learned nothing from this exercise. Update: Original Idea FAIL
Tavish Scott, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, is coming to Dundee later this month to speak with students at the University of Abertay. The meeting takes place on Thursday 16th October at 7.30pm at Room 1517 in the University. It is open to the public and attendees should enter the university buildings via the main door on Bell Street, up the stairs and then head along the corridor parallel to the street. You can download a poster advertising the event by clicking on the headline above.
The Register is reporting that the announced prosecution of a 35 year-old civil servant under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. "So what?", you ask. This Government is an old hand at doing things many of us find pretty obscene, whether it's leaving pensioners to freeze over winter or sucking up to their friends in the City. No, this is a little different. The gentleman in question (35-year-old Darren Walker) wrote a story of a sexual nature which was published on the Internet. To quote The Register: The story describes in detail the kidnap, rape, mutilation and murder of band members ...
According to the Guardian the Electoral Commission has cleared the Conservative party of breaking electoral law by using a commercial company as a front to provide millions of pounds of services to Tories fighting marginal seats.
Yesterday I had a very nice lunch with pal Paul Reynolds and learnt something about Peter Mandelson that I had never heard before. Now I knew a little about how he took over the Labour Party press office, displacing a wonderful woman, Veronica Crighton (Veronica was my tutor on a TUC media course, who knowing she was dying, without saying a word to anyone, gave up her weekend came and ran a course for me for a very difficult group of young people two weeks before she died). But what I didn't know was that he was very much part ...
The BBC's Nick Robinson thinks it is in spite of the Labour Government's official denials. The Lib Dems' shadow home secretary Chris Huhne wrote here on Lib Dem Voice back in the summer explaining why detaining without trial terrorist suspects for 42 days was wrong both in principle and in practice: Detention without charge for terrorist suspects [...]
(by privatise I mean privatise in the Rothbardian sense - abandon it to those who use it, ie the firemen, not selling it off to the highest bidder to boost the state's coffers and benefit their friends). I know people will hand-wring about universal coverage, something I'm mildly concerned about but generally think communities would provide [...]
Yesterday, I drew attention to a posting by one of our fellow Lib Dem bloggers, indicating my concern as to the implied homophobia of his comments about the new Labour cabinet. A number of you commented, indicating that I was not alone in my view. Indeed, some of you posted comments on Irfan's original posting, advising him that, at the very least, the language used was unwise. It was apparent
The decision by the Electoral Commission to clear the Conservative party of breaking electoral law by using a commercial company as a front to provide millions of pounds of services to Tories fighting marginal seats is no surprise. After all the Labour Party's argument that the scale of pre-election donations, running in excess of £1m, to the centre would have meant the Conservative party had broken electoral law by breaching legally binding spending limits when it fought the 2005 general election is nonsense. The law is very clear as to when and in what circumstances spending limits kick in for ...
The Oxfordshire news headlines on the BBC pages make for grim reading today with reports of two cyclists killed: one on a Lands End to John o'Groats charity ride, the other in Abingdon. I'm a keen but lapsed cyclist who used to brave the streets of London regularly. Now I'm in the country I would like cycle more with my young son but it seems that rural drivers are, if anything, less aware of cyclists than their generally more aggressive city counterparts. I have noticed a marked increase in bikes on the roads since the recent petrol scam began but ...
I pondered on my blog at the weekend whether Baroness Ashton's appoint as European Commissioner would require her to leave the House of Lords, and whether this might cause the Government to act to allow life peerages to be given up. This is similar to an issue which affects one of our MEPs, Baroness Ludford, [...]
Another week begins with a panicky market marking down value across the board. Even though the UK banking system has now largely reverted to the Pre-liberalisation big four: Barclays, Lloyds, Natwest (RBS) and Midland (HSBC) plus the government and the large Spanish bank, Banco Santander, there is still pressure on the British government to follow Germany, Denmark and Ireland and issue an unlimited guarantee to British bank depositors. Now, this is getting silly. Firstly the scale of the guarantee is much bigger for the UK banking sector than it is for the others- largely because the UK depositor base is ...
If a 22 year old man had a consensual sexual relationship with an 18 year old woman, would that make him a sex offender? What if the 22 year old were a teacher at the local comprehensive and his partner a sixth former? Would that make a difference? Should it make a difference? The teachers' union NASUWT has [...]
The Bevan Foundation and Positif Politics is to stage a debate in the Assembly from 6pm to 7.30pm on Tuesday 21 October 2008 on the value of political blogging. Speaking in favour are myself and BBC blogger Betsan Powys. Opposed are Eleanor Burnham AM and Annabelle Harlle from the Electoral Reform Society. In the chair is Victoria Winckler, who is Director of the Bevan Foundation.
I'm keeping a close eye on the FTSE share price. As of 11:51AM, the share price is at 4700 or so, a fall of 5% on yesterday. That's a 14% slump in a month, or a 30% slump compared with this time last year. The Dow Jones, in comaprison, has been acting somewhat like a ball, bouncing up and down between floors and ceilings. It has only lost 21% of its value in the last year. Germany's is similar. This tells us one thing, economically. When this crisis hit about 6 months ago, we were hearing that we were the ...
I was very disappointed today to hear from the Council's Head of Waste Management, who contacted me to say that the promised street cleaning rota sign will now not be coming to Prestwich. As a reminder - having been contacted by many residents concerned about street cleanliness, we asked for (and were promised) a sign in the centre of the precinct indicating the street cleaning rota for that week, signed after each clean to let local residents know when the cleaning had been done. The rota was not suggested by me. It was suggested by a large number of the ...
Tonight is a meeting of the Bury Liberal Democrats. It is taking place at Fishpool Liberal Club from 7pm, and all members and supporters are welcome. Recently the attendance at these meetings has gone up markedly, and whilst they're not quite large enough events to necessitate the hiring of ballrooms and convention centres (yet) they are certainly worth coming along to if you're interested in the Lib Dems in Bury and/or are a bit of a meeting junky. Luckily for me, and handy for those looking for an explanation as to my ongoing unpopularity, I am both of these things, ...
If the justification for merging Liberalism and Social Democracy is that it creates a 'broader church', that it appeals to more people people, why don't we add Conservatism in there as well? Wouldn't that create a broader church? Wouldn't that appeal to more people? Or, why does the logic that allows Liberalism and Social Democracy to be squeezed together into the same knickers not allow room for another?
Sometimes I am too soft for my own good. Despite my misgivings about the exclusivity, insularity and pointlessness of it, I have (possibly slightly grudgingly) publicised Ryan Cullen's new Geek!LibDem project on the netcast at LC (feed syndicated to LJ at jennier_lc_feed), and I'm doing it here too. If you're a party member (you have to be a member) you can use it like normal people apparently use Digg. If you're not a party member you have a fascinating insight into the hive mind of early-adopting and geeky Lib Dems. Not including me, because I don't get on well with ...
{askalot_large.jpg} Askalot Community Shop on King Arthurs Way will be celebrating its first birthday on 18th October. To celebrate the success of its first year, Askalot will be hosting an afternoon of activities which includes face painting, balloon sculpting, book stall and more. A number of agency staff will also be on hand to provide advice on a wide range of topics Activities will be held at the shop from 12:00-3:00pm. It will also be an opportunity for members of the public to meet Petra, the new Askalot Project Co-ordinator, who is based in the shop Monday to Thursday 9.30 ...
Full of enthusiasm for the new Lib Dem Dig It site, you'll see that every story now has a little "Dig It" box next to it. This allows Lib Dem members, with an account on www.libdems.org.uk (not the Extranet) to Dig my posts, whereupon they magically appear somewhere around here. Lib Dem members can Dig any web page at all, the buttons just make it easier, remind people to do it and tell you how many digs an item has got. The instructions for adding the widget to your blog are here. The instructions for Blogger are a little off. ...
Liberal Democrat Voice has offered each of the three candidates for the post of Party President three platforms pieces on LDV during the contest to make their case to party members. How they choose to use these platforms is entirely up to them. Today it's Ros Scott's turn. In my view, one of the key jobs [...]
According to Charlotte Gore; "our constitution, in the Preamble, which I have read tonight for the first time in years, clearly sets out our stall as, in effect, a Social Democrat Party." I have read the preamble and to be honest there is nothing there which says anything of the sort. What it does in fact represent is what we already knew; that the Liberal Democrats as a party represent a coalition of interests. On the one hand there is the liberal wing and on the other a wing that is more inclined towards social democracy. The preamble embodies that ...
The link is to an article about how plumbers at Lincoln City Council are going to be trained to spot child abuse. What all of this ignores is that more people that are under pressure to report things the more reports there will be. The system's problem is not a lack of reports, but instead a lack of action. The more reports there are the less action there will be as there is no additional
So, like a Hollywood horror sequel, the 'Prince of Darkness' has returned to government; Peter Mandelson has returned from exile to the European Union to be Gordon Brown's new Business Secretary. Of course, it is not his record of "getting things done" in the economic field that earned him his moniker but his reputation as Tony Blair's 'spin-doctor-at-large'. This probably was a secondary consideration for Brown's embattled government which is desperately in need of a better public image. Labour has been guilty of many things in power and I would be the first person to point them out. However, the ...
One little snippet in the middle of the government reshuffle is the departure of Malcolm Wicks. Malcolm Wicks has been responsible for Energy issues although how much freedom of manouvre he has had is unclear. Our energy situation is a total mess. We continue to have insufficient gas storage even though the situation is clear. The market trades at the marginal price resulting in increasing
RESHUFFLE: Ministerial appointments The Prime Minister has completed his reshuffle. Downing have announced the following appointments: Liam Byrne MP, John Healey MP, Jim Knight MP, David Lammy MP, Pat McFadden MP, Anne McGuire MP, Malcolm Wicks MP and Michael Wills MP are to be made members of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. Stephen Carter CBE and Paul Myners CBE. are to become
Sharon Hodgson, soon to be the former Labour MP for Gateshead East and Washington West (she was dumped by her local members in favour of an older man for the new Gateshead constituency) is on yet another food mission. Last week, it was reported that she had visited an establisment that promotes healthy eating. On the trip, which she found "truly inspiring", she heard from some "who are
Not only is Barack Obama a cheese-eating surrender monkey, he's also a Commie-loving terrorist. Oh, and he's a Muslim, so he'll be crashing Air Force One into the middle of Disneyland first chance he gets. Coming up next, Barack HUSSEIN Osama Obama's recipe for sauteed baby in barbecue sauce.
Only God and maybe Peter Mandelson know what that means as not many other people know. If the "Labour Family" is a family that has not even an inch of unity in it and has Rebel MP's challenging the Prime Minister to Leadership Elections then I know of this rowdy group of clown who called themselves a Government. But now Brown has had a shuffle and the new Group are the serious Group of MP's for a Serious time. Tom Harris the Labour Blogging MP got the Boot out of the Cabinet, So he must not be serious about the ...
The Political Team at the News of the World have a Blog. Yes I know this might be a shock to many but the Political Team (I don't think they have one) have made a Blog. The Blog goes by the name of Politics and Can be read HERE. It will be interesting to read what this talented group of people who like to share scandals with the world have to rant about in Politics.
We might not have the 42 days Enforced on us. As they is claims that the PM is scrapping the bill that he wanted to pass through the Lords as he had scrapped it through the Commons. Maybe the By Election caused by David Davies, the election that cost the tax payer and was full with loonies and people like Miss Great Britain as a Candidate, might have pressured Brown to Scrap the Legislation. I think not...
Life has been a little quieter this week as the Conference season concludes, the world comes to the brink of financial meltdown and Dr Pack sets off on his tour of the world's paperclip factories. Our own Vince Cable gave his thoughts on the economy, kicking off a Lib Dem campaign to highlight our plans for [...]
Schardenfraud is a nasty trait, and yet it was hard to avoid enjoying the experience when Sarah Palin got caught out in a high profile interview recently. The question she was asked was about specific actions that John McCain took to tighten regulations to prevent irresponsibility in the financial markets. The only way she could have answered the question is to not answer and quickly move on to another point and make the interviewer ask questions on that instead. No doubt some politicians can do it, and it is one thing to have the skill to do it, but the ...
Autumn definitely arrived this morning. We had our first ice on the car and on the way to Newcastle Central Station, we could see the Team Valley filled with low lying cloud. It was quite spectacular, looking down onto the cloud on the way in to town.Talking of ice, or more realistically an ice age, there now appears to be a thaw between Mandelson and Gordon Brown. There more I think about it,
Back to The Westminster Hour last night - and the gang is all there. They are kicking off for the new Parliamentary season with the three of us - me, Ed Vaizey and Emily Thornberry. Before that it was a busy day campaigning for Nigel Scott in the Alexandra Ward by-election which takes place on Thursday (Yom Kippur). In fact, I have referred Haringey's refusal to change to avoid the clash to the Equality and Human Rights Commission as religious Jews are actually forbidden to make a mark during their holy day. Of course - that doesn't change the date ...
The national media seems to have given up reporting the Jersey child abuse scandal, but if you go to the blog written by Stuart Syvret you will find some explosive new claims.
I cannot deny that travelling the length and breadth of the country with Ros has been educational. I've already noted that I've learnt about the rural dimension of Party policy, about the problems caused by our internal processes and about how activists locally see the Party nationally. However, sometimes I learn something of a non-bureaucrat nature. On Friday, Ros and I were taken to see some
Many councils, including those with SNP as part of the governing set up, have raised concerns over Holyrood imposing that they provide free school meals to those in primaries 1 to 3 withoug any additional funding. Half have already said they cannot afford the scheme, 13 have yet to consider it fully and so far only three have said they could afford to cover the costs. Fiona Hyslop the education secretary announced the propoal last week after a £5m pilot scheme. Surely that tells you something, this idea good though it is does cost money. So with the Nats sucessfully ...
So Welsh Tory Leader, Nick Bourne gave in to the pressure from his own party and went onto the Politics Show yesterday to apologise for apologising about that dossier. In the most public act of penance since Henry II humbled himself at Thomas Beckett's tomb in 1174, Mr. Bourne donned his hairshirt and said sorry for authorising the document in the first place, sorry for giving the impression that it had nothing to do with him, sorry to all the AMs, MPs and party officials who squirmed on the wrong side of a TV camera defending the dossier, and sorry ...
The Daily Telegraph obituary of George Thomson reveals his family connections to the high command of the old SDP: his daughter Caroline was married to the former SDP candidate Roger Liddle (later an adviser to Tony Blair) and her elder sister Ailsa to Dick (now Lord) Newby, the party's national treasurer.And a wonderful trivial fact: George Thomson began his working life editing The Dandy.
So John Prescott allegedly flicked the V sign at SNP activists at Glasgow Central. That's small fry. On Saturday evening the car in which a rather dour looking Nicola Sturgeon was leaving the SNP headquarters in Markinch almost came straight out into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The reason I know this is that I was in that vehicle also making my damp retreat from a day on the stomp. Fortunately the driver of Nicola's car did pull to a halt before heading straight out into Markinch High Street.
After only three months of sporadic blogging, I'm celebrating my sixth 'Golden Dozen' award from Liberal Democrat Voice. Coming on the back of a nomination for 'Best new LibDem blog of the Year', where I was competing against blogs up to 48 weeks older than mine and I couldn't help a little preen Does [...]
....Jim Jay has compiled a good response to my challenge of yesterday over at The Daily Maybe....well worth a look :)
