I spent today at the Autumn Conference of the London Lib Dems. There were a lot of good sessions - speeches by Graham Watson MEP, Chris Huhne and Simon Hughes, lots of discussion about the forthcoming Euro elections, and a consultative session on developing a narrative for the London party that felt like it might be getting somewhere - but the highlight for me was Mark Pack's fringe meeting on lessons to be learned from Barack Obama's campaign, which I thought conveyed a real sense of excitement and innovation. He had nine key points; here are my notes on them ...
Another interesting panel discussion at Temple Church on Thursday in the "Islam and English law" series, this time entitled Family Law, Minorities and Legal Pluralism: Should English law give more recognition to Islamic law? I wrote up a previous discussion in this series here. This time, the discussion was chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss (a former President of the Family Division of the High Court, and highly regarded in the profession). The panellists were Ian Edge, who is Director of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at SOAS, and Sheikh Faiz ul-Aqtab Siddiqui, who is a barrister and Chairman ...
I see that some sections of the British media are tearing themselves apart because some survey has identified that some parameters of health care are better in Estonia than in the UK. Well like... duh. My experience of the Estonian health care system is very positive, while for chronic illness like cancer, they probably can not score better than Britain, since the number of patients is so small, there is little doubt that the flexibility of Estonian health care is better than in the UK. At my doctor's surgery in London I may call on Monday in order to get ...
On Wednesday Gordon Brown accused David Cameron of being party political because he raised the Baby P case at prime minister's questions. Today, says the BBC: Gordon Brown says he is disappointed by "partisan talk" after the shadow chancellor warned his actions could lead to sterling's collapse.Brown has clearly convinced himself that he always acts in the national interest and that those who criticise him can only do so from base motives. It is tempting to compare him to the dictator of some old East European state. But he reminds me more of the Conservatives I used to tangle with ...
During the week I had a piece up on the Guardian website: I refuse to shrug my shoulders and accept the inevitability of horrific tragedy as Haringey Council fails to prevent another child's death. They say lightning never strikes twice - in my home borough, it has. Calm reflection in the wake of media frenzy is a sensible response. However, turning this intense scrutiny to something purposeful that will help to prevent it happening again is extremely important. After the national spotlight moves away, Haringey residents will still be left wanting answers - ultimately, are our children safe? Guaranteeing zero ...
...a society made up almost entirely of mendacious megalomaniacal psychopaths, do declare that the causes of the current economic crisis are basically nothing to do with us: 3. During a period of strong global growth, growing capital flows, and prolonged stability earlier this decade, market participants sought higher yields without an adequate appreciation of the risks and failed to exercise proper due diligence. At the same time, weak underwriting standards, unsound risk management practices, increasingly complex and opaque financial products, and consequent excessive leverage combined to create vulnerabilities in the system. Policy-makers, regulators and supervisors, in some advanced countries, did ...
Frequently on this blog I've suggested how our Government and others in the West will pretend to forget Human Rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and China in return for them helping us. Now our Government is accepting that China has the right to rule Tibet! That's disgraceful. Of course we are in desperate times and it seems we need to help of these countries. But we have fought so hard for our freedom. We have in the past gone through the unbearable because we have stood up for the freedom of ourselves and others. The economic climate may be bad, ...
New YouGov suggests a Conservative lead of 5 percent leading to a hung government. The results can be read below: Conservatives 41% Labour 36% Lib Dems 14% The Conservatives at this moment will be thinking about ideas of trying to over come this, but I am afraid to say to the Conservatives that your 5 minutes of fame are going to be up and you are going to lose at the next general election as suggested in a previous post!
We're still playing catch-up here at LDV, so apologies for belatedness... Welcome to the 90th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (2nd-8th November), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. How about starting with [...]
Of course, I don't watch them myself. I really don't watch Strictly Come Dancing, but I know that John Sargeant has emerged as a cult figure. However, he is not quite the innocent journalist taking his first steps in the world of show business that many must think him. Because Sargeant was an actor before he was a journalist. As I wrote on this blog back in the days when no one read it, Sargeant: appeared in Alan Bennett's 1966 comedy series On the Margin. (It was widely expected that Bennett would cast Sergeant's Oxford contemporary Michael Palin, but he ...
The European elections may still be a little over six months away, but they were very much the main focus of attention at the Liberal Democrats' London Regional conference in Camden today. In the morning there was a session at which both the sitting MEP Sarah Ludford and myself (as No. 2 on the LibDem list) [...]
The emotional outpourings of grief and anger at the case of Baby P (as evinced on this Lib Dem Voice thread for example - h/t Alix too!) are to be expected. It is truly a galling case with a litany of failures on the part of those supposed to protect the vulnerable and unutterable cruelty by those who should have been closest to the child. This was to have been a rant that leaving things up to "the authorities" is a recipe for disaster. I was going to say that these sort of incidents are mercifully rare. So I looked ...
Finally a government of worth is to enter the White House, and what an amazing person to lead it. I hope all youth learn Barack Obama's encouragement and leadership and use his example that you can do anything you put your mind to. Motivation is a rare trait among today's youth and Barack Obama has become a pioneer in the voice of the youth speaking louder and louder. Use this new volume to
About 30 years ago I bought the superb My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by David Byrne and Brian Eno. As a huge fan of both of them, I loved it. Now they have collaborated on the excellent Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Available as a download now or on CD later this week. I am off to a party at Brian's studio later this week, if the man himself is there I will have to struggle not to
The award for laugh of the week has to go to Michael Stone who claimed that his "attack at the Stormount parliament in November 2006 was merely a work of performance art, and that the axe, three knives, garrotte, imitation handgun and homemade bombs found on him were artistic props". As he left the court to be taken to jail, Stone shouted "Make art, not war".
that's Mrs. Clinton. Rumours are about that Clinton is to return to the White House as Obama's Secretary of State. Which explains why she wasn't the VP candidate. Watch this space.
People living and working in South Gloucestershire have the chance for an online chat with the man in charge of local policing later this month, says the Avon and Somerset Police website. Chief Superintendent Andy Francis is the South Gloucestershire Police District's commander. He will be available for a webchat on the police website between 6.30 and 8pm on Wednesday November 26 2008. C/Supt Francis said he hoped local people would take the opportunity to log on and have their say. He said: "We are working really hard to make sure our priorities reflect the needs of local communities. We ...
For your entertainment, my top moments of idiocy in today's Guardian (it has lots of sensible bits too, but they don't annoy me). In reverse order: In third place, Bill Taylor: the office maverick A nice example of Obamaballs, Bill Taylor has not only drawn all the lessons there are to learn from the Obama campaign but figured out how to apply them to the world of business. Pretty much bollocks from start to finish. Bill starts by describing Obama's victory as "one of the most miraculous political events in memory". Yeah, right. Miraculous how the better funded, youthful and ...
{Appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour with Carolyn Quinn} I'm doing the paper review with Adam Boulton a bit after 10:00am on Sky in the morning, and then it's The Westminster Hour on Radio 4 from 10pm in the evening tomorrow (Sunday). If you miss the radio show you'll be able to listen again on their website. If you want to get advanced notice of my media appearances like this one, you can use the media events service at Flock Together. You've got three choices: Using this feed: or By email: register at FlockTogether and pick "Media appearances" ...
I have often asked myself that question and was fascinated when I saw the Graham Watson Video on U Tube, If you are unsure then follow this link and watch like I did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASZ2DdoS4U4
"The Office of the President-Elect" has its own website at www.change.gov. Impressive. Barack Obama is oging to make his weekly Presidential address, traditionally broadcast only on radio, available as a video on YouTube. He's issued an address as President-elect this week - click below.
Sadly, my computer died a few weeks ago, after a long and difficult service of architecture coursework and Focus design. As this website is updated solely from my desk, you will have noticed the interruption in service. However, a replacement computer is on the way, so I can resue updating the website, plus put together the latest edition of Focus soon. Thank you for your patience.
From Politics Home... "Mr Cable criticised George Osborne's warnings over a potential run on sterling as "a bit silly". "He's very good at the sharp debating points but I don't think he thinks through the economic logic of what he's saying," Mr Cable said. He added: "We've already had a very substantial devaluation. That is the nature of flexible exchange rates". Mr Cable also criticised the government for "walking away" from the banking sector after the liquidity injection. "Having taken a good and effective step in relation to the banking sector, the government are now walking away from it," he ...
Costigan Quist has an interesting post over at his cafe. He feels that the fox hunting ban is an example of; "fluffy bunny syndrome. Most of us don't care about animals for their sake. If we did, we'd care just as much about the battery chicken as our faithful pooch; just as much about the rat as the fox. We care about animals for our sake. We're very keen on treating animals well to make ourselves feel good and happy, but when giving an animal the most gruesome death imaginable fits into our cosy world view, we do it with ...
The first talk of the winter season entitled "Change in the Tay Estuary and its catchment" will be given by Professor John McManus, Emeritus Professor of Geology, University of St Andrews who, when he was at the University of Dundee, did an extensive study of the Tay Estuary. The talk is open to all and will be held in the Education Centre at the Botanic Garden on Wednesday 19th November at 7pm (note change of starting time).
Calderdale Council want to sell off our town hall. They claim it's surplus to requirements. Why could Brighouse possibly need a Town Hall when we are ruled from Halifax and always will be? I have a Facebook group, and am circulating petitions, with the aim of presenting lots of signatures to Calderdale Council's cabinet group on Monday. Any of you who is local and might be able to collect a few sigs, please let me know, and I'll email you the form (available in Word or Open Office format!). In other news, after watching Red Dwarf last night I was ...
There are a couple of interesting Tory stories doing the rounds on the blogsphere today. Firstly, the George Osborne saga continues apace with a Conservative peer, Lord Kalms, coming out in the Daily Telegraph calling for Osborne to be replaced. Guido openly wondered yesterday if the 'Labourgraph' was conducting a campaign against Osborne after a spate of articles calling for him to go; I have to openly wonder what is going on behind closed doors in the Conservative Party because a couple of papers traditionally loyal, The Times (well loyalish in this case) and the Telegraph, are running anti-Osborne articles ...
I'm pretty awful with money. I'm one of those great spenders, which isn't exactly helped by my bad memory and even worse sense. I've not been able to indulge for the last few months, though. My Educational Mantinance Allowance was late coming through by 3 months. It was a little agravating, especially as I managed to forget my PIN when I finally attempted to withdraw some of the massive shedload of money that had finally been payed to me. So I'm in the bank, in line for a new PIN. There are two Poles in front of me, one was ...
Over on Alix Mortimer's blog I promised Asquith I would look over a thread on a blog he has been posting too relating to discussions we have had before. I also promised a blog in response so here we go.... If I maybe permitted his indulgence I will deal with the point's he made on Alix's blog and the ones he makes on To Miss with Love. Starting with this; "It should have been obvious that Baby P's mother shouldn't have had a child. We will do no one any favours by tiptoeing around being nice & "sensitive", overlooking the ...
Earlier in the week, continuing my American theme, Stuart and I went to see W - the film about George W Bush.
London Liberal Democrats hold their conference today. People have been sending me the agenda and various promotional materials. (Whatever it says, I am not a speaker, by the way). The e-mails say that one of the conference themes is our preparations for the European elections. Another theme should be the London Liberal Democrat story and how the party plans to do better in elections for the London Assembly. This is especially relevant given that it is elected using AMS, a proportional voting system. People can use their party list vote to elect more Lib Dems to the London Assembly. That ...
A few years ago, straight after university, I was unfortunate enough to work in a call centre...I didn't last long. The pub across the road was frequented often at lunchtimes by me and the 5 other girls who started from temping agencies in the same week, where we would moan about not being able to find a job or just life in general. One lunchtime we started talking about bills. One of the girls had stupidly let herself be 'volunteered' by her housemates to be in charge of bills and she was forever chasing late payments and getting stressed. She ...
It's not often that you are genuinely suprised in Parliament these days, but I think most people were astonished when the Government announced on Thursday that it was going to keep the Post Office Card Account (POCA) with the post office - or at least when they read it in that morning's Guardian. Rumours were rife that the account was going to go to commercial rival Paypoint, with the possible loss of thousands more sub post offices. So what changed? The minister said in his statement that the legal advice in 2006 was that they had to put the contract ...
Liberal Democrats in Pendle are delighted that the party have included opening the Colne-Skipton railway line in a new national policy statement to "roll back Beeching" and reverse many of the cuts made in the 1960s. The Liberal Democrats have today published a list of railway lines and stations to be reopened in a reversal of the Beeching rail cuts in return for longer franchises for train operating companies. The Liberal Democrats have proposed major reform of the current short rail franchise system to grant 30 year franchises with five year service quality checks. In return, train companies would be ...
I have found a very interesting post that I think all readers should read over at the Telegraph Blog, it is about how the Conservatives are gonna lose the next general election: 1. Alistair Darling announces US-style fiscal stimulus package offering tax cuts to millions in pre-budget report branded "emergency budget". Winter fuel allowance for pensioners increased immediately, range of tax increases immediately halted. All basic-rate taxpayers promised cheque in new year for several hundred pounds and told to spend it to help economy. 2. George Osborne makes a hash of responding to pre-budget report. Fails to quickly abandon Tory ...
An excellent editorial in this morning's Western Mail on the banning of Patrick Jones' poetry reading at Waterstones: "Do we live in Iran?" asked a bewildered Mr Jones. No, we do not, and this censorship should not have been allowed to happen. Waterstone's must have been aware of the content of Mr Jones' poetry - it is still for sale in their shops - so someone must have been satisfied that the work was appropriate for a public reading. Stephen Green, the man behind Christian Voice, has a right to object to the contents of Mr Jones' work, but Mr ...
Sarah Palin famously branded herself as a 'hockey mum' and asserted that the only difference between her and a pitbull was that she wore lipstick. Now Labour MEP, Eluned Morgan has taken up the cry with an assertion that 'rugby mams and schoolyard chat' are crucial to Labour winning back support in Wales. Remarkably she goes on to hit out at the relevance of some of Welsh Labour's key giveaway policies: "Let's look at some of the policies we were offering. A free bus pass for pensioners has been a real blessing to thousands, but the fact is that a ...
During the week Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg gave a speech to the Association of Convenience Stores about the future for Britain's shops: The supermarkets don't just have the planning system working in their favour, they've also got the tax man eating out of the palm of their hands. They say that every little helps but then [...]
Lisa Pontecorvo's memorial event in Edward Square was, like Lisa herself, slightly anarchic, unexpectedly fun, and firmly community-based. Two hundred plus people crammed into a marquee provided by Islington Greenspace (Lisa would heartily approve of this annexing of municipal resources for a community event) to hear a mix of spoken and musical tributes. Sadie Lambert [...]
The publication of the report from the Howard League for Penal Reform yesterday failed to excite much interest yesterday. It seems that if there are no cellars or shackles in the story the press does now want to know. The Community Care website does have the story: Although young people at the island's secure children's home, Greenfields, did not feel unsafe at the time of the inquiry, former residents reported "highly credible evidence" of "abusive" experiences.The Howard League report said: "Staff and young people told us that practices going back many years have given cause for serious concern. Particular concern ...
Some months after the lawyer for Nevres Kemal (the whistleblowing social worker) had written to the four ministers David Lammy (minister as well as the tragic Baby P's own MP), Patricia Hewitt, Ivan Lewis and Rosie Winterton and got no satisfactory response - her story finally came to me - can't say how. Concerned by what I heard - anything that links Haringey with serious failures in child protection automatically sets alarm bells ringing - I decided that the best and most direct action I could take would be to bring it to the attention of George Meehan who, as ...
How I miss the adreneline rush as, seated on my trusty steed, Starbuck, we charge o'er hill and vale with the baying of the hounds ringing in our ears, finally to flush out the fox and halloo as it's ripped to pieces by the pack. Life seems so leaden, so pointless, so grey now. Cards on the table, that's not strictly true. In all honesty, I've never been to a hunt, as hunter, saboteur or observer, and I can't imagine it's something I'd ever want to do. But our ludicrous inconsistency when it comes to animal welfare still needles me. ...
Remember this post? In it, I suggested people using twitter and wordpress and a plugin that copies your tweets to a blog also try using KB Linker to turn key words and phrases into hotlinks automatically. If you're wondering what words you use a lot, there's a helpful thingie at www.tweetstats.com that tells you about word frequency. You can find a handy tag cloud it worked out for me - the larger the word, the more frequently I said it. My top Twitter words are, it seems, "time, day, wondering, getting, watching." Not sure what that says about me. But ...
There is no doubt that the tragic events leading up to the death of Baby P present a huge challenge to government, both local and national. However, they also present a challenge to politicians who, in their role as tribunes for the public, have multiple responsibilities. I've now watched the incident at Prime Ministers' Question Time which has caused so much controversy, and I'll return to that
