In between some Lib Deming today I have managed to catch a bit of the coverage on the US Elections. 32 states allow early voting and up to 1.5 million (I am not sure what percentage this is) residents in Florida have decided to take advantage of this. The one thing that has struck me is the huge lines of people queuing to cast their vote, with some waiting up to 4 hours. Now I am not sure, but i
In a remarkable email exchange obtained exclusively by Liberal Democrat Voice, Conservative Parliamentary candidate Zac Goldsmith has accused East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer of being "utterly blind to the value of the environment". In return, Helmer has attacked Goldsmith of "disseminat[ing]pejorative falsehoods". Here are the key extracts: Roger Helmer, 20 October: "I understand that you wrote to [...]
It seems that the time of year has come to debunk the Winterval Myth. Again. I am tired, and I have worked lots of hours this weekend, and I haven't seen today's new episode of Top Gear yet, and I can't be bothered to go into a full and frank rebuttal. Thankfully, someone else has done it for me. Read this and this. And then next time someone says, or prints in the newspaper THEY are trying to ban Christmas! It's political correctness gone MAD!!!! just remember what bollocks they are talking. Nobody wants to ban Christmas, not even atheists ...
We were out again in Chopwell again today. 6 of us were there to deliver a few hundred more Focuses. All part of our move into the Labour areas in Blaydon constituency. We have plans ready for launching for other activities in other parts of the constituency as well. I will say more about them once we have carried them out.
Nothing to do with Kingston, but having once learnt some Welsh, I just love it. Seen on the BBC website... When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed. Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be...
This is an alarming article about dirty tricks (false information about candidates and how to vote and outright threats). I regret to say I know of similar cases in this country. During the local elections in Sussex last year a Conservative candidate put it about, falsely, that the sitting Lib Dem councillor had a bad attendance record at [...]
Not surprisingly, Alex Salmond is telling everyone who will listen that the SNP are going to win Glenrothes on Thursday. He said they were going to win Livingston. They came second. He said they were going to win Dunfermline. The came a pretty poor third. It's not a record that inspires confidence and after their earlier confidence it will be a huge story if they don't win on Thursday. I was quite surprised to see SNP Towers in Markinch in darkness last night when I drove past at around 7:30 on my way home, although, to be fair, they were ...
Here is a song I heard late one evening on Radio Three. Vampire Weekend are a clean-cut American indie band with a fondness for African rhythms and an African guitar sound. According to Wikipedia their music has variously been described as "Upper West Side Soweto" and "trust fund frat rock". You may say there is nothing here that Paul Simon was not doing more than 20 years ago, but it is hard to dislike this track. You can also watch the band's official video of the song.
My turn to host this roundup has come around again and this time I have the luxury of doing it in the comfort of my own home rather than in a Shropshire pub or a Bournemouth cafe. Just as well, given the number of nominations. Let's start right away with the story of the week. No, not the collapse of the global economy, but... Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand What does this case tell us about the future of public service broadcasting in a multi-channel world? Search me. It's much easier to attack the Daily Mail. Quaequam Blog! thinks it ...
Something of a debate has been captivating the Liberal Democrat blogosphere recently. I don't think this is something unique to the Liberal Democrats as a party; each party and movement is going through something of a process of struggle and redefinition due to the new financial climate in which we find ourselves. Whatever your general [...]
The Poll has closed and the result is what I expected it to be. You the readers of this blog have expressed your voice in the latest poll that I had which had the question: "Should we call upon Cllr George Askew (party agent) and Andrew Stephenson (PPC) to come clean on who funds their campaign newspaper"? The result is very interesting as you can see below: 77% said Yes 23% said No Now that is clear then it could be, the readers of my blog have decided that we collectively should call upon them to come clean and that ...
I love Barack Obama as much as the next liberal, but I'm a bit concerned about a T-Shirt that a UK company is encouraging us to wear to show our support... it carries the legend: I ♥ BO I'm amazed, frankly, that their stocks of this design are running low. I would be too frightened of all kinds of armpit-in-face shenanigans to wear that in public!
A few years back, a pair of otherwise unremarkable London doctors started putting their own lyrics to well-known tunes and performing to other medical staff. It should have stayed there but, unaccountably, a song called London Underground became a word-of-mouth hit, travelling around the emails and mobile phones of the world. An album, Fitness to Practise, soon followed. This was a disgusting piece of filth that should never have seen the light of day but, tragically, some misguided people seem to have found it very funny and so it has survived. (Without paying a penny, you can hear such worthless ...
Sun 2nd
18:42
Councillor returns from holiday and writes about fireworks, gardens, the week's forthcoming meetings...
I am back from London. I won't rattle on about it. There was family involved. And a trip to Kew Gardens. And a couple of friends, and a new pair of curtains for the spare room, and tea last night at a place in Golders Green which saw me eat more than is strictly necessary in a week. If you're anything like me, you won't want to hear any more than that about my break. Suffice to say that nothing scandalous or salacious happened, the same number of people came back as went in the first place, and there are ...
If you would like a trip to Brussels 2-4 December inclusive to see Parliament and learn more about what goes on in Brussels please drop me an email or leave a comment to this post and I will email you. The trip is organised by the Liberal Democrats European Group. I am not going on this [...]
There is probably no extravagant verbiage which hasn't been visited on Melanie Phillips by cumulative LibDem blogs over the last few years. However, on today's Daily Kos pundit round-up there is a little American perspective on the great Mail columnist: Melanie Phillips: The Brit wingnuts could teach our wingnuts a thing or two about wingnuttery. Example: "Insofar as the American public has
I've been dusting off my little spreadsheet, looking at how the land lies for Tuesday's US Presidential election. What is extraordinary, when you reflect back on the tasks which Kerry and Gore had in 04 and 00 respectively, is that Obama doesn't have to seize Ohio or Florida to win - although they would help. If he wins all the states that Kerry won in 04 plus Iowa, New Mexico and Colorado,
Even though I have heard it suggested that Daniel Craig is a Liberal Democrat, I found the new film, Quantum of Solace, okay but not great. If you don't want to have any idea what happens in the film, do not read on. Starting with the good points, the "opera scene" is one of the best scenes [...]
News for caffeine-fuelled campaigners! From Transfair USA, a non-profit organisation which certifies and promotes fair trade products in the States: Starbucks, one of the largest buyers of Fair Trade Certified coffee, will double its purchases to 40 million pounds in 2009, making the company the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee in the world. "This commitment from [...]
With the USA Presidential election around the corner and people around the world betting and guessing who the next president is going to be. Obama is the favourite in the whole race, and him becoming president would make history but the question is: Are the Republicans looking forward to a defeat or are they going to fight hard? I have to put my money on Obama winning and he is also my preferred candidate as the world needs change and I think America needs to make history by making Obama their first black president.
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> Tesco has decided to increase the time it takes [...]
Commenting on the news that Barclays have announced a proposal to raise up to £7.3bn from Arab investment in order to strengthen its balance sheet, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable said: "This is a scandal of mammoth proportions. Here is a bank which relies on the taxpayer to bail it out if the going gets rough but which has offered Middle Eastern investors a much better deal than...
Commenting on Friday's speech by George Osborne on the economy, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "George Osborne is clearly way out of his depth." "His arguments on how to get us out of recession are entirely incoherent. He argues against continuing Government spending on the basis that it will push up borrowing, then announces un-funded tax cuts which would do...
Leaders of Liberal Parties from across Europe met in Stockholm, Sweden, last week to discuss the Liberal manifesto for the 2009 European Elections. The Leader of the British Liberal Democrats is Andrew Duff MEP (the Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Westminster is, of course, Nick Clegg MP) and the Liberal Group (of MEPs from across the 27 states) also have a [...]
We're a funny old people in the UK. Give us any kind of rules and we bend them to distraction with a cheeky grin, and break them when nobody is looking. Irrepressible. Watch the motorways, where they aren't completely traffic-bound, and you'll see people slow to precisely the 70mph speed limit where they know there is a speed camera, or where a police car is in sight (indeed Douglas Adams and John Lloyd coined a term - a Grimbister - for the body of vehicles around a police car, travelling at the speed limit in their book The Deeper Meaning ...
A mail on Sunday story about another example of the system working against families.
The link is to Fabulous. That is the News of the World's magazine. I am not sure the link will last for ever. Hence I have extracted some of the article. As they count down to their due date, most mums-to-be are busy putting the finishing touches to the nursery and packing their hospital bags. But not 19-year-old Sam Thomas. In the last weeks of her pregnancy, she became so terrified the
Well, there was the 600 e-mails that I am still ploughing through, the large pile of post and that is before I get into the office, and of course, the cold weather. Can it really be this cold or is it just that I have come back to it from the Mediterranean? Apart from that I don't think I missed much else. Of course there were the news stories but my self-catering apartment had a TV and the only English language channels were BBC World, CNN and Sky News*. This enabled me to keep up with current affairs especially when ...
After perhaps the most fascinating electoral contest in modern political history, with more twists, turns and surprises than could ever have been imagined two years ago when it all began, the race to the White House is drawing to a close. In just three days (barring any hanging chads) we will know if the USA [...]
... but getting there. Beer Festival continues today, and I am knackered. I was ill anyway before it started, and the level of hard physical work involved is tough when you're healthy.... Oh well, tomorrow I can safely die. In the meantime, netcast is up at LC (don't forget to add jennier_lc_feed to your f-lists!), and I thought I ought to post just so that you all know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.
Sun 2nd
11:14
Exclusive (for now): Bloggers Interview with Nick Clegg Part I: Stimulate Growth by Cutting Taxes
I'm not your typical Lib Dem. I drive to the Sheffield Cathedral, location of yesterday's Yorkshire and Humber Regional Conference in a hideously polluting Mazda MX-5 and, arriving in Sheffield I go straight to a McDonalds to get something to eat. Painful memories of the last time I'd bumped into Nick were running through my mind. Would I be reduced to a giggling mess again? Pull yourself together, Charlotte, I told myself. That was a long time ago. Nick is now leader, and has been for a while now. I'm different too. I haven't spent the previous couple of months ...
Just as Clegg and the Lib Dems say the UK is as far away as it has ever been from joining the common currency, it seems that the rest of northern Europe is starting to change its mind. As yesterday's Independent reported, The Danish and Swedish governments have begun preparing the ground for referendums on joining the [...]
For weeks after her seeming disastrous arrival on the national stage people were speculating as to how long it would take McCain to ditch Palin from the ticket and replace her with someone better qualified to be next in line to a presidential candidate with a history of health problems. However, it seems that rather than McCain ditching her from the ticket, she has in fact ditched him. Look no further than this article over on the CNN website, which reports that Palin signs were all over the place at this Florida rally, but there was a conspicuous absence of ...
I have listened very carefully to this prank call (below). I am convinced that it is the pranksters themselves who were pranked. It is obviously not Sarah Palin on the line. The voice is far too girlish - there's too many little giggles and "aw shucks" remarks. In particular the "We love you" is far too over the top. I am convinced that it is Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin on the recording.
The link is to a story from Canada where similar mistakes are being made to those in England and Wales. I don't think they have the problem in Canada where cases are dragged out merely to increase the legal fees, but the same problem with assumption of guilt causes tragedies like the one involving the murder/suicide in Canada.
Here are the musicians who played at the Eid Party I went to at Kingsgate Community Centre, organised by the Bengali Education and Cultural Association (BECA).Great event, very young, superb atmosphere and wow on the rice! Thanks
Paris Hilton has said that Brown and Cameron need make overs, with that in mind the NOTW designers have animated some images that you can see by following the link to what Paris Hilton thinks Cameron and Brown should look like! And they both look f***ing funny!
According to the NOTW's Politics Blog Cameron has sent out a memo to his high flying Conservatives asking them to shape up and concentrate on winning the next general election. Cameron has said to his cronies to not do anything apart from campaign for the general election. This news will put a smile on the faces of people like Andrew the Saviour Stephenson as he will think this would mean more high flying politicians to visit Pendle, but I think he has got that wrong! The only politician who would I think will visit for campaigning will be Lord Ashcroft ...
Back in September I had a little rant about the Observer's Ethical Living column. Part of my annoyance, to be fair to the journalist responsible, Lucy Siegle, isn't with her column but the general appropriation of the word "ethical" to a cause as an alternative to discussing the issues. It's something the green movement is particularly guilty of, with a whole range of activities being branded as ethical or unethical. No need for debate or discussion then - if it's already been decided that what you're doing is unethical, the discussion's over. All very Daily Mail. But the Observer column ...
Yesterday's 'Courier' covered my concerns about the deterimental effect on queuing at the GPO following the closure of 4 Dundee Post Offices, including those at Lochee Road and Nethergate. Click on headline above to view. Early yesterday morning, I got a call from a lady in the Paton's Lane area to complain that she had had to wait 45 minutes in the queue at Perth Road Post Office last week. You are not trying to tell me that Post Office Limited properly researched the effects of their Post Office closures on adjacent Post Offices! Here's the news release I issued ...
One of the two men George Osborne says are his key advisers on the economic framework he wants to put in place is Alan Budd. He was chief economic adviser at the Treasury when Britain was in deep recession in the early 1990s, including before and during Black Wednesday, when sterling crashed out of the [...]
Compare, contrast the wonders of polling questions which should give consistent answers: Has your opinion of Gordon Brown gone up or down in recent weeks, or has it stayed much the same? My opinion of him has gone up 21% My opinion of him has gone down 27% My opinion of him has stayed much the same 48% Change: -6% Are [...]
On his recent visit to Torbay my colleague Vince Cable MP shared his view that local action must accompany anything done nationally, and internationally, to pull the economy out of the doldrums. If Go...
This week I will start teaching a new course on writing non-fiction at City University in London, the first class being on Nostalgia and Selective Memory, with Marcel Proust's Du côté de chez Swann as the core text. As I haven't read the opening volume to A la recherche du temps perdu since I [...]
Tuesday I was never tempted to invest my money in Iceland, despite all those advertisements on the moving television featuring that jolly young lady and all her party food. You see, hereabout memories of the Cod War are still raw. In 1975 Icelandic trawlers appeared on Rutland Water and began to harvest our fish with the intention of taking them back to Reykjavik to be salted, dried or whatever Johnny Icelander does with les fruits de mer. Well, we simply weren't having it. The Rutland Navy put to sea with your diarist, as a Rear Admiral, to the fore, and ...
Total number of Facebook supporters for Obama and McCain: 2,602,269 Total number of MySpace supporters for Obama and McCain: 1,024,128 (Figures from TechPresident.com, as of 31 October, via Weekly NetPulse email newsletter)
A substantial proportion of the population, not least in the police itself, are of the firm view that the country has gone to pot since policemen were stopped from habitually hitting wayward children. Yes, those halcyon days when police violence solved everything. Sometimes thumping a child around the head did the trick. On other occasions a suspect might have tragically fallen down the stairs, persuading him to cough to a few of the outstanding crimes and improve the local constbularies clear-up rate. Failing that, a gun in the mouth was surprisingly effective in encouraging suspected terrorists to confess to almost ...
Are all over 30. Surprised? The BBC was. LibertyCat wasn't. F&M have blogged about Strauss and Howe's 'generations' theory before. This poll is further confirmation that our cultish devotion to this theory is not misplaced. Back in 1990, Strauss and Howe wrote a book called Generations. It argued that people did not get more conservative with age. Instead, a devotion to sex, drugs and rock
Sooner or later, if you take yourself too seriously as a public figure, you're going to come up against people who will send you up in style. I was a huge fan of The Sunday Show for this brand of humour - Dennis Pennis had it nailed. The more ubiquitous form of the gag is the radio DJ wind-up call. Normally these are a touch on the mundane side, but BoingBoing just brought me pure gold. Two guys from a station in Montréal called Sarah Palin this morning. And she actually thought she was talking to President Sarkozy of France ...
So as Huffpo have put it `the stench run` has started - when the darkest moments of fear, hatred and a kind of psychotic evil pervade politics before the light is reached. The two sides of America have come out to play and in desperation the dark underbelly - the racist christo-fascist fist is lashing out [...]
Gurkhas have served all across the world in the defence of our Country for nearly 200 years. Over 45,000 died in the two World Wars as part of the British Army. They are still fighting in the British Army today. This month Joanna Lumley will be taking the Gurkha Justice Campaign petition to Downing Street. The campaign is not looking for a Government "review" of cases of ex-Gurkhas. It is not
OK, anyone can make an occasional gaffe, but Sarah Palin seems to be making a nasty habit of it. Her latest is to state that the USA is at war in Iran, as this video from a Fox News interview makes clear:
At last, Evertonians have a home victory to celebrate. Granted, they had to wait until the 85th minute of a game that would probably go down in the "nothing special" column, and had to weather Fulham hitting the post twice. But a win is a win, and crucially, Everton have finally won a home game this season, ending the worst run of any football league team on their own soil. It was a solid, hard-working and inventive performance, even if we did struggle to produce anything clear-cut in the final third. I thought that Jagielka was outstanding today, putting in ...
I am impressed with the regeneration of Sheffield. The city feels more pleasant and prosperous, but it also still feels like Sheffield. It is not cursed with the sort of "iconic" new buildings that could equally well have been plonked down in any other city. The Winter Garden, pictured above, is one of the most welcome new additions to the city scene.
England 99 all out Stanford Superstars 79-0 (9 overs) Somehow I don't think we are going to turn this one around. Later. England lose by 10 wickets.
