After I finished giving classes at SOAS this afternoon, I wandered down to King's College to attend a lecture in Spanish on 'History and Literature in Latin America' by the Peruvian novelist and former politician Mario Vargas Llosa. A very sprightly 72-year-old, who looks more like a retired banker than a literary lion, Vargas Llosa [...]
I now break my silence on the Lib Dem Presidential Election. I can appreciate that Ros is the solid, sensible choice here. I can. She's worked very hard to win the Presidency (I do not remember a time when I did not see 'I'm 4 Ros' buttons on every other Lib Dem blog) . But, I am sad to say that despite the recommendation of twinkle toes and the entire Lib Dem blogosphere, I'm not wholeheartedly 4 Ros, no matter how much I like her as a person. I hope she beats Lembit, but at the same time I'm not ...
In which I engage in a quest in pursuit of hidden letters. As I was preparing to leave work last night, I got a notification that "wherenext" had followed me on Twitter. @wherenext's profile sent me off to What is the question?, which appeared to be a Masquerade style treasure hunt. Presented with clues, the task is to find 43 object hidden in a square mile of London - the very part I travel to every day. The clues stumped me for a bit but eventually I worked out they were referencing various blogs (had I seen the Guardian story ...
On Tuesday 21st October, work on widening the A4174 ring road at Hambrook will start at 9.30am as usual but will continue on beyond the normal end time of 3.30pm (weather permitting). This is because the surfacing work needs to be done in one go and cannot be completed in the restricted hours. There will be fewer lanes in use than normal and the traffic lights will be adjusted to keep traffic moving as best as possible but there will inevitably be delays.
Great news earlier today, as we heard that Furnival House in Highgate (see earlier post) has been given listed building status by English Heritage. All credit to local residents and my council colleague Rachel Allison in working with them to make this happen. It puts in doubt controversial planning proposals to turn former nurses quarters into just 15 flats. This has never happened in our patch before, but I think any planning permission will now have to comply with the listed designation....
Ifran Ahmed and Jonathan Calder both report on an Evening Standard story which says; "Feverish speculation is sweeping Westminster that the PM could well go to the country to seek a mandate in the midst of the current financial turmoil. This could be an option if the PM is worried that we won't have recovered from the impending recession by 2010, the latest date on which he can go to the country. Some say the PM is being urged to call an election now by none other than his new comrade-in-arms Peter Mandelson. A general election traditionally takes place 17 ...
Tue 14th
22:31
A Productive Evening, Stuff that is bad and wrong, and a meme. You guess which is which...
OK, first up was Lib Demmery. It was a meeting at which Stuff was Decided and Tasks were Allocated and it was amusing (Nick's legendary Jaffa Cake Moment which I suspect you had to be there for) and useful and actually productive. I am still slightly shell-shocked. A productive meeting! Who knew they were even possible? Anyhoo, I somehow appear to have volunteered to do lots of stuff, including knocking up a press release within 48 hours (no pressure THERE!) which you will all no doubt be relieved to hear, as it means I might be quiet for a couple ...
Congratulations to the two Yorkshire institutions (York and Sheffield) which make the top 100 of world universities. Inevitably dominated by the Americans, the list has 17 UK universities in all, with Yorkshire performing better than all parts of the UK save London and Scotland. An honourable mention should be given to Leeds which finished just [...]
Well if there is, it's not salt or sugar! Or Marmite, or tomato ketchup. Now being of a plump nature myself and with a 12 year old daughter, I am keen to ensure that she learns to eat healthily. I have always taught her that there are no bad foods, just that some foods should be [...]
The day after the governments plans to introduce detention without charge to 42 days are reduced to tatters the Security Minister, Lord West stands up and tells the House of Lords that the terrorist threat is "huge" and that there is; "There is another great plot building up again." We shouldn't be merely saying that this is "blowing the cover of an inquiry" but we should be asking very searching questions about the timing of this announcement. This is especially so as the BBC reports; "counter-terrorism sources were "slightly baffled" at Lord West's comments." Some people may feel that the ...
Today I break my silence on the US election. I've not wanted to comment on this because, frankly, I've not been interested enough to seriously care either way. To begin with I had a mild preference for John McCain over Barack Obama because I felt quite strongly that a Republican becoming president without having to parade his faith would be better for the world in the long term. A bitter and hard pill for me to swallow, but there was some sort of twisted inner logic to my thinking. It turns out that religion is my number one issue - ...
According to Liberal England, Gordon Brown is going to hold a snap election on the 6th of November. This is looking interesting. Do you think he will call the snap election or bottle it?
In my day Nouse was the University of York student newspaper. Now it appears to have evolved into a website. Today it has posted an interview with Nick Clegg by Peter Campbell: At home, Clegg feels the public has been let down. "We have a system that is not democratic, not transparent, over-centralised, and unfair. Our Government holds the purse strings in a more centralised fashion than any other country except Malta." He pauses. "Now Malta, is the size of Croydon."
This week I took part in a lobby of Parliament by campaigners calling for justice for Gurkhas who served our country with distinction but who are refused the right to settle here. The campaign has been led publicly by Joanna Lumley, whose father was closely connected with the Gurkhas, and has achieved a recent success in the High Court, where the Government's refusal to allow Gurkhas who retired pre 1997 to settle in the UK was deemed unlawful. The Government is now re-thinking its policy, but we need to keep up the pressure. My view is that it is a ...
I had an email late on Sunday evening asking me to take photos outside Portcullis House of Joanna Lumley and Nick Clegg with the Gurkhas again. The cause of this was the reading of the Bill by Lord Lee, a Lib Dem peer, which aims to give citizenship to those Gurkhas who have served in the UK armed forces. That took place on Monday afternoon. And on Monday evening, I was at the National Liberal
Responding to reports that Robert Mugabe has contravened the Zimbabwe power-sharing agreement by giving all key ministries to representatives of his own party, Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, Edward Davey said: "This action is utterly unacceptable and looks like the death knell of the Mbeki agreement." "South Africa and the Southern African Development...
I have an open mind on Liberal Democrats co-operating with the government. Matthew Taylor's work on rural housing problems (which he writes about in the current Liberator) seems to have been worthwhile, whereas Shirley Williams's role advising Gordon Brown on nuclear disarmament has never been mentioned again. But it is becoming increasingly hard to feel anything other than deeply worried about the way Alex Carlile is interpreting his role as the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. I say this in view of his contribution to the Lords debate on the proposed 42 days' detention for questioning of terrorist subjects. ...
A semi-abandoned car park next to the former Moravian Church on Coronation Avenue in Westmoreland is at the centre of a row over access and safety between local residents and the Council. The land was originally laid out as a car park for the church which has since been sold to a development company who intend to build flats on the site. The land was originally...
Fred E. Foldvary gets at the roots of the problem at The Free Liberal He also hints at the idea of the link between land and money (and banking), two of Tucker's four monopolies (the other two being patents and tariffs). We have fiat money which can be inflated with great ease, interest rates being manipulated rather [...]
That someone being neighbouring Haringey Council. Lynne Featherstone MP for Hornsey and Wood Green has the details here. At least they have had a Full Council meeting and been able to uncover some of the detail. Here in Barnet the only information Councillors have been given is the Q&A I posted earlier. I am hoping to be able to report soon that we will have an opportunity to learn more. The Liberal Democrat group on Barnet Council have called for an Extraordinary meeting of the Council. Under the constitution there has to be one if five or more members call ...
Perhaps one of the benefits of the credit crunch will be that companies will have to work harder for our pound than they have been used to. And not before time. By way of an example this is my wife's experience with Citroën. In the summer she a saw a car parked outside in the street [...]
I submitted a petition to the Number 10 website calling for this and was disappointed that it had not been published. However, it seems that someone else pre-empted me so could I recommend that you consider signing up to this worthy ambition at: THIS HERE LINK Hopefully the hyperlink will work this time. My luck so far with such new fangled wizardry has been zero.
I don't want to alarm you, but Heresy Corner says: The Evening Standard is reporting "feverish speculation" that Gordon Brown - egged on by "none other than his new comrade-in-arms Peter Mandelson" - is thinking of holding a snap general election on Nov 6th, cashing in his chips after single-handedly saving the world economy from meltdown.It's true. The Evening Standard is. Later. And so is the Financial Times.
The Liberal Democrats today called for Government action to shift from bailing out banks towards helping people struggling as a result of the financial crisis. Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg and Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable set out proposals to assist families by avoiding repossessions, tackling the social housing backlog and lowering bills through competitive energy prices. Nick Clegg said: "Families are facing a difficult winter. Rising mortgage bills, the fear of unemployment and high heating costs mean that the shockwaves of the financial crisis are felt in households across Britain. "When the banks were in trouble, they got ...
I'm slightly perplexed at the moment. I had always thought that as Liberal Democrats we were, on the whole, against academies. Before someone comes on here and cites examples of Lib Dem councils backing them, I am not talking about what we are doing in specific cases where we have ended up supporting them simply [...]
Oh the excitement - fewer than five days to go until the new Doctor Who series arrives on BBC Radio 7. I make no claims to be a serious Doctor Who fan (I don't own a single Doctor Who book, video, DVD or action figure), but I thoroughly enjoyed the last series of Doctor Who on BBC Radio 7. Starring Paul McGann as the Doctor (surprisingly good, having escaped the script writers responsible for his on-screen abomination) and, even better, the lovely Sheridan Smith as his assistant. As is often the case, freed from the financial constraints of expensive sets ...
John McCain is behind in North Carolina, which would normally be a state which votes for the Republican candidate. Have no fear, however.Old McCainny is not to be outwitted and he has recently visited the state for the first time in ages and is bombarding it with adverts. Only one slight snag....however. Since he turned his attention to the state, the polls have got worse for him with vital
Nick Robinson, I think has used a little bit of Sarcasm, when he says "I said it before" about 42 days dieing. Actually it was David Davis who said (at his by-election) it would get thrown out of the Lords not you. Nick we can judge your Political forecasting by the Post you did saying Brown is high and Dry, you definitely told us, what wasn't going to happened didn't you.
According to John Cleese, Michael Palin's not the funniest Palin any more.
Looking at the poll that is still running, a lot of you don't think that the book "Jewel of Medina" shouldn't be banned from sale. I would have preferred it banned as it is clear blasphemy against Islam, but it probably isn't gonna happened, and the Poll is showing that. D'oh, that's democracy for ya! Anyway I definitely am telling all the people I know, who might want to read it, to boycott the book and the publisher, as they clearly have insulted me and my religion. The point that most people probably are failing to get is, that the ...
One of my roles in Parliament is to serve on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and one of its roles is to oversee the preparations and arrangements for London 2012. Last week we question...
...can I expect any changes? The truly unprecedented scale of the banking crisis has been breathtaking. At the centre of it all, I look at my bank (and others) and wonder who is to blame for it all. I gather the Tories are planning, in good time, to heap all of this at Gordon Brown's door. But it ain't that simple... Deregulation and liberalisation of banking has been going on since the Thatcher years. Dismantling a raft of restrictions on banks and building societies seemed like a great idea. But how many demutualised building societies are still going strong today? ...
There's been a fair amount of publicity today generated by ConservativeHome's 'scoop', a briefing they've been fed received on the party's analysis of the political impact of the current economic crisis, and in particular: Team Cameron readily concede that Brown has enjoyed a good few days. They expect the Conservatives' poll lead to drop into [...]
Chandila has really fascinated me with the email that he has sent out. He has used a very large font and it is in bold and he has used them words again, like "MODERNIZE", "STREAMLINE" and "DECENTRALIZE". Chandila mate, not to be critical but set your MS Word to UK English! And a pat on the back for finally getting your site working.
The Lib Dem PPC for Burton is once again a fully-fledged party member. Lib Dem bloggers Alex Wilcock and Paul Walter have the background.
Mike German has definitely got a point. He believes the Tolls should be scrapped on the Severn bridge crossing which seperates South Wales from England. In the old days people used to go through Gloucester if they were getting from London or the South West to South Wales. With a 5% rise in charges this may well happen again. People may think lets go home via Gloucester and Chepstow rather than take the bridge. This will only clog up this road and there may be protestations from locals. Some lorries do this already to save a few quid. Speaking in ...
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg - following on from his Independent article last wek - has once again spoken up for the need for the Government to put the needs of ordinary people to the fore. Here's how PoliticsHome reports Nick's appearance on BBC Radio 4's The World At One at lunch-time: Mr Clegg responded to [...]
Haringey has finally been forced to admit that they are almost certainly in breach of their own planning rules when it comes to the flogging of ad-space on their horrible lamppost banners. It took over a month to get an answer to my simple questions. It turns out these double-sided banners probably require something called 'advertising planning consent' - there to stop precisely these sorts of visual monstrosities from advertisements just appearing on our streets. The Council hasn't provided details of the process of consent used to permit the recent and controversial Kentucky Fried Chicken banners. I think we can ...
Like thousands of others, I have received an email from Lembit Opik soliciting my vote for the position of President of the Liberal Democrats. I have to say almost the first line put me off voting for him: "I have always believed the Party President is the ideal job for me", he writes, as if that is a recommendation. Hmmmm. Modesty? Evidence of fitness? Strategy? No, just vote for me to make me happy. Encouraging, isn't it?
Well this morning the other Iain Dale's link to new blogs unearthed on Total Politics highlighted one that immediately grabbed my attention for Bo'ness Labour, this in turn led me to it's sister publication Grangemouth Labour. While the Bo'ness seems more lively with some local stories posted both are ghosting the same input (but not since 24th September, and neither appear to have currently hit the MP's radar as they're not linked from his site. I'm just posting about them here so I know where I have the links saved.
Within a few minutes of each other, three emails land in my inbox - one from each of the candidates for Lib Dem president. Chandila Chandila Fernando's missive assaulted my eyes first, and it did feel like an assault. Big, shouty text and somewhat tortured phraseology (for example: Ignoring this, assuming that as the third voice in British Politics the doors are closed and that no matter what we say it would not be heard is defeatist! ). Chandila wants to sex up the Lib Dems with a big re-branding to drag our image out of the 1980s. He's at ...
The photo is by Bruce Langridge. Its the time of year for mycologists and nowhere better than the National Botanic Garden of Wales. This rare Waxcap (photographed) was taken at the Garden recently. For me its another attempt at 'Chicken of the Wood' . I have drilled some holes in a Ash log I found and pushed some dowels with spores on them which will hopefully yield some mushrooms. Hopefully is the word..
I was a little surprised to receive an email from Chandila Fernando; at least it shows he is campaigning to the wire. The first plank of his 'radical agenda' is calling for a re-branding of the party which he says is dated and makes us "look, act and feel like a 1980's brand". He is right to argue that brand is important in modern politics at least as far as perception plays a powerful role in determining voters attitudes. Unfortunately, he is totally missing the point of the core problem with the Lib Dem 'brand'. The core problem with the ...
Chandila's first email to the party is knacker-kickingly awful. I sympathize with the guy, who is clearly trying to shake things up, but someone who is leading on rebranding the party who can't even get his headings the same colour is clearly not the person for the job. The text itself is not very high quality, the sentence structure and punctuation is odd at the best of times. Basically Chandila comes off as an Apprentice runner-up, and I don't mean that in a nice way. Sorry mate, I think you raise some valid points and hopefully these will be taken ...
First it was Ceredigion Council denying their pupils the opportunity to consume Marmite with their free breakfasts, now we have Rhondda Cynon Taf banning sixth formers at Tonypandy Community College from putting sugar in their tea. We also have an incidence of bought-in tomato ketchup being taken off the menu at Vale of Glamorgan primary schools. Tomorrow the Assembly is debating a private members measure being brought forward by my Welsh Liberal Democrat colleague Jenny Randerson. Her objective as I understand it is to enable the Assembly to issue statutory guidance to schools to ensure that the food they serve ...
Betsan Powys reports on her blog that hot on the heels of Jane Davidson, Labour's number one European list candidate and MEP, Eluned Morgan is also standing down to spend more time with her family. In her statement Eluned says: "I have had the tremendous honour of representing Wales in the European Parliament at a time of rapid change and development. However, after fifteen years with a constantly punishing schedule in Brussels and Strasbourg, and the huge task of representing the whole of Wales in addition to the need to better balance work and family life, I believe that it ...
The BBC brings news that, following their defeat on 42 days, the Labour Government has backed down in the House of Lords on its plans to replace independent coroners with its own hand-picked, paid-by-results stooges sitting in secret to make sure any deaths the Government finds embarrassing are kept quiet. This is fantastic news, as I've been quite cross about this for eight months now (including this very morning). However, this time it's a concession to get their Counter-Terrorism Bill through - so it'll be back later with other coroners' "reforms". Today's a good day, but keep your eyes peeled... ...
There's been lots in the press about how the Credit Crunch is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and about how capitalism is on the brink, but very little linking it to the other big crises of our age - Climate Change and the end of cheap oil or Peak Oil as its known (although it would probably be more accurate if we described it as Peak Everything). As usual George Monbiot is out on his own. Here's his latest piece entitled "This is what denial does." "This is nothing. Well, nothing by comparison to what's coming. The ...
We had an excellent inaugural meeting of the Hancock Nunn House Gardening Club last night. Hancock Nunn is one of the blocks on the Fellows Road housing estate in my ward. I wrote a letter to all the residents recently suggesting we grow food on the estate because of rising energy and food prices. I actually wanted to start by putting a few fruit trees in, but some of the residents in Hancock Nunn House have gardens they don't use and have offered them up for communal food growing. In return they'll get some of the food. We're planning to ...
BBC-2 Wales' "AM:PM" programme has reported rumours (well-founded, according to Vaughan Roderick) that Eluned Morgan is standing down as MEP in 2009. Unless Welsh Labour reruns its selection process (any Labourites willing to comment on their rules?), that would automatically put Derek Vaughan, councillor for Neath North and leader of the county borough council, at number one on the party's euro list.
How should I feel about this? As recognition for his academic work the consensus seems to be that it is well deserved. The problem is that for the last 20 years he's abandoned economic science in favour of political propaganda. This means the Nobel prize will be used to lend weight to partisan politics. I suppose at least [...]
So - the world saviour is enjoying his moment in the sun. Lord knows it's been a pretty frozen existence for the rest of Gordon Brown's first year or so. However, the recriminations over the financial meltdowns have kicked off big time and it was him stirring the financial pot and writing the recipes over the last ten years. Here in sunny Haringey we feel a cold wind blowing in from Iceland - and up until now have been relatively restrained in blaming Labour for what has happened with £37 million of local reserves caught in the Icelandic net of ...
I noticed this story on Iain Dale's Diary and I have to say it caused a little concern to say the least. Further investigation finds the story also reported in The Star (local, not national) newspaper; "A LIBERAL Democrat leaflet distributed in South Yorkshire used BNP-style language to highlight that a Labour councillor is a "non-British citizen", an MP has claimed. A furious political row has broken out following the distribution of a Lib Dem leaflet, which includes an attack on Danish-born Doncaster councillor Eva Hughes. The leaflet states how: "Labour selected this non-British citizen who cannot vote in general ...
I see that further to my previous posting as well as Hartlepool the Lord Voldemort has taken the Barony of Foy as well as he stood clad in ermine yesterday. But just where is Foy in the county of Herefordshire and what is the new Baron's connection to it? View Larger Map You can try looking for it on Google maps but will find it just acrross the River Wye from Hole in the Wall, maybe this is the Lord's new source of money for property purchases. He owns or owned a cottage there apparently as you can see it ...
The House of Lords overwhelmingly rejected the 42 days detention proposals by 191 votes yesterday, as a result the Government have said that the counter-terrorism bill would continue its journey through parliament without the 42 day measure.
I am not an economist, but until this morning I thought I had a reasonable grasp of the factors contributing to the current banking crisis. But according to today's Telegraph (savour that clause, you won't find me writing it often), Gordon Brown has said that the banks quasi-nationalised yesterday will be expected to revert to 2007 levels of mortgage lending. Isn't a big part of how we got into this mess that those levels were unsustainable, having been achieved through allowing self-certification and lending people ridiculous multiples of their annual salaries, and were fuelling the housing bubble?
A news release today from the City Council with good news on rail services to and from the City : Tuesday 14 October 2008 IMPROVED RAIL SERVICES FOR DUNDEE Fraser Macpherson, Dundee City Council Convener of Planning and Transport and Chair of Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (TACTRAN), has welcomed a planned increase in the frequency of First ScotRail services to and from Dundee. Due to start on 15 December 2008, the package of improvements for rail passengers on Edinburgh-Dundee-Aberdeen services will see: * An additional Edinburgh-Dundee service stopping at the intermediate stations in Fife. * A regular half ...
Commenting on the announcement that 722,000 people were added to the DNA database last year - the largest amount ever in any one year - Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: "The Government is rapidly building the world's biggest DNA database, by stealth. "Guilt or innocence and the negative effect the database has on children and ethnic minorities are of no concern to ministers. There are also large numbers of people who were convicted of crimes before DNA began to be collected who are not on the database. "Rarely has so much effort been made to collect so ...
I was in Liverpool on Saturday, so unfortunately missed the Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference, but here's a good video piece from the Herald in which Tavish calls for the Scottish Parliament to use its tax varying powers for the first time.
Over the Summer the Liverpool PCT ran a consultation about changes to the health service in Garston. There were two main strands to this. One was about the organisation of GP surgeries with a move towards grouping them so that there would be fewer locations but more on offer at the locations that remained or were created. The second strand was about Garston hospital becoming more of a centre with more services on offer. You can see straight away that everyone would be in favour of more health services in Garston village all in the same place at the hospital ...
It could be a really classic FPTP nonsense soup in Canada today as the 40th General Election finally gets to the polls. Yes, the 'True North' uses the same beloved electoral system as our own dear First-Past-The-Post Westminster Parliament, and with five parties in serious contention in one region or another no sensible person is making any serious bets of their farms on the outcome. The main tracking polls show the Conservatives in the lead nationally (35%) eight point ahead of the Liberals (27%) with the New Democrat Party on 19% , the Bloc Quebecois on 10% and the Greens ...
Passing through Canary Wharf yesterday and playing a game of 'Spot-the-dead-bank', I had a chance to develop my thoughts on the likely outcomes of the credit crunch, and how the Lib Dems can respond to them. I don't pretend to be an economist, but I do pretend to be a politician. In my mind, there [...]
Winston Churchill once spoke of a world 'made darker by the dark lights of perverted sceince', in response to details of the horrific experiments carried out by Nazi doctors in concentration camps. But as the writer and broadcaster Gordon Thomas chillingly portrays in a book published in Britain this month, Secrets & Lies (JR Books, [...]
I'm late, I'm late... Chicky Yog has a timely warning about why triumphalism over the defeat of 42 days is a bit of a pyrrhic victory. If you'll forgive the mixed mettyfor. Himmelgarten cafe has been inspired by the 42 days debate too. But there is good news today. One might even call it awesome news. Neil Gaiman and Mitch Benn are writing a musical together!. I don't think there's any possible way this can be out-awesomed. Anyway, ought to get out of bed; have to be at work in 20 minutes... I am working till 7 and then have ...
Okay, work hat semi-on again. Today is a big day as it is when the government formally invites local authorities to take part in the process outlined in the Sustainable Communities Act. The LGA are holding a conference today on the subject and 55 organisations have written to every council leader and chief executive in England urging them to opt-in to the process. Over on Lib Dem Voice, Seth Thevoz is excited. I am too. The SCA is unique as legislation goes. It's expected effects are nuanced and subtle. As a result it is prone to misunderstanding. So let's start ...
Gavin Webb has been reinstated as the PPC for Burton! Back of the net! Trebles all round! Gavin says in a mail to friends: I can happily inform you that my suspension from standing for the Party for three years has now been dropped by the West Midlands Regional Party as they acknowledge they didn't follow the proper procedure whilst investigating the original complaint against me. Therefore, I
Tue 14th
10:50
42 day detention abandoned..creepy crawlies in the garden... and something to smile about
Glad to see this most dehumanising bit of legislation has been thrown out by the Lords and we that are not a police state quite yet. The march of creepy crawlies in our gardens is underway, yet more spiders...as if there aren't enough at this time of year, now we have to watch out for tube web spiders and false widows... Off to go on spider safari in the garden... While searching for the above BBC link I found these credit crunch jokes... something to smile about!
Conservative Home has got it's hands on a briefing note from a top Tory strategist. In handwriting that actually makes me semi-confident I am not the worst handwriter in the world; it says that the Conservatives expect their poll lead to sink to single digits but that this won't last and that Cameron and his crew will get 'back in the game' with a "laser beam focus on the 'real economy'". Ignoring the cringe-worthy language it seems to me that this poses further dangers for us in the polls. It is my view that we are being seriously squeezed at ...
If you've been following the story of Councillor Gavin Webb, in-out suspended by the party since April in a series of embarrassingly illiberal stomps from above, you may be happy to learn this morning that his latest suspension - the West Midlands Regional Party decreeing the day after Burton Liberal Democrats voted to adopt Gavin as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate that the members were wrong and stopping him standing - has been called off and he is now, as local members decided, officially Liberal Democrat PPC for Burton. And it's not Gavin's Liberalism that's called into question by all this. ...
Tue 14th
10:12
The Sustainable Communities Act - at last an opportunity for liberal local government!
Liberal Democrats have every reason to be excited about the Sustainable Communities Act, which kicks in this year. Co-sponsored by our very own Julia Goldsworthy, and passed with cross-party support, it offers a unique opportunity which Lib Dems would ignore at their peril. Quite simply, it's a piece of devolved, 'opt-in' legislation. Participation isn't compulsory, [...]
Thank you, BBC, this is just not what I want to hear, especially first thing in the morning. I can cope with normal house spiders - they eat flies after all, but I don't like the idea of finding the poisonous critters under my sofa. LibDig This!
I'm very relieved that Ian Oakley, the former Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Watford, has finally been sentenced for his part in the campaign of criminal damage, harassment and intimidation against the Watford Liberal Democrats. Oakley has made the lives of well over 30 people a misery for the last two and a half years. I was [...]
It is just over seven months since Bear Sterns was forcibly incorporated into JP Morgan. It is just over six weeks since the United States government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is a month since Merill Lynch sought an emergency sale to Bank of America and Lehman Brothers went under. AIG was rescued four weeks ago. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were transformed into bank holding companies on September 22nd. Over the past four weeks all of the listed former building societies in the UK have disappeared. HBOS has been forced to merge with Lloyds TSB. Of ...
If you have noticed they is a Poll, on the sidebar, to ask readers the question "should 'Jewel in Medina' be banned from Sale in the UK?" Please Participate in the Poll in the sidebar, as this will help me determine what my readers think, should happened about this book. It will also show if people are actually irritated by this book or if they don't care about it.
Full Council was a noisy affair last night, with Labour on the ropes over the Icelandic bank deposits, Ally Pally (again), the Woodside House fiasco (again), recycling (again) - to name but a few. Cllr Ed Butcher and my ward colleague Cllr Martin Newton made excellent speeches on the environment and the charge on the £37 million in Iceland was led by leader Cllr Robert Gorrie, deputy leader Cllr Richard Wilson and past leader Cllr Neil Williams. As always, if you want to watch the full proceedings you can see the webcast on the council website. One good piece of ...
What's the real reason Jacqui Smith and the Labour crew really want to hold terrorist suspects for up to 42 days without charge? Could it be... The Labour Government believes our police and security services are so utterly incompetent that they need four times as long as other countries to perform investigations.There have been some big terrorist attacks, hushed up in a giant Government conspiracy, that could have been avoided if 42 days was in place.Labour's last-ditch hope to cling onto power is to scare us all senseless about the nasty Muslim extremists and realising that only Gordon and Jacqui ...
It is undoubtedly a good thing that the Government has decided not to go ahead with its draconian, illiberal and unnecessary proposals to detain terror suspects without charge. I did not like Jacqui Smith's tone, though. Basically she said that we opponents of the measure are a bunch of wimpish soft lefties and woe betide us if anything happens. And if it does happen, woe betide us if we don't pass this special piece of legislation in it that will have 42 days and heaven knows what else in it. 42 days' detention without charge is just plain wrong. There ...
As I typed yesterday the 4 of us the Lady Caron, Mister Pinkfish, Mister Stephen and myself found ourselves facing Mister Viking Leader over a cup of coffee or Earl Grey tea. Having long been a fan of the pachyderm school of blogging I was longing to get into my first political interview. However, I found myself a little tongue tied and left the asking of questions to my three human blogging friends. The Party He was asked by Mister Pinkfish how did he find his new role as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Mister Viking Leader said it ...
To all my fellow Lib Dems, (readers of other political persuasions may or may not wish to ignore this post) You will shortly, if not already, be in receipt of your ballot paper for the election of the President of the Party. This is one of only two posts in the party that every member nationwide has a vote in the other being that of party leader so you vote does matter. I'm backing Baroness Ros Scott and I'm not alone many of our best people are supporting her too. Vince Cable our economic expert, Chris Huhne who stood for ...
Battlestar Galactica? I just got to the end of the season 4 box set. WTF? I WANT MOAR BSG!! Was cute to see Roslin/Adama proper canon luvins though. It are can be January 2009 now, pls?
I had the honour of meeting Tul Bahadur Pun VC who won the Victoria Cross fighting for Britain in the Gurkha Rifles during the Second World War. He is one of only 10 living recipients of this country's highest award for valour and now along with Joanna Lumley he is fighting for the rights of comrades to live in the UK. On Tuesday 30th September, the high Court ruled that their treatment by the Government had been unlawful in terms of the right to live in the UK if they retired before 1997. Following the High Court decision the Government ...
Oh happy day!
