I was fascinated to read on the Newbury Weekly News' website that the editor says that "The newspaper has expressed no views about Trinity School's record". Absolutely fascinating. So saying that the school needed "rescuing" in a big Page 1 headline is not expressing a view, is it? Saying on the website headline that the school is "troubled" and that it needs to be 'saved' isn't expressing a
This morning it was the monthly Citizenship Ceremony in our Town Hall when there was the usual nice atmosphere of expectant people, and I always sense the relief of anyone from Zimbabwe who is making the final last and important step to be able to stay here in safety. Another batch of good future citizens I am sure from Countries around the world from Zimbabwe and Togo, to India, Thailand and...
After banking and property, the first causalities of the credit crunch were always going to be those businesses that were struggling in the good times. The demise of Woolies has been mourned by many, but perhaps the more interesting question was how it survived for as long as it did. Car companies look as though they are the next in line in this domino collapse of our economy. But why are we surprised? For the last ten years, the Government has done everything it can to systematically destroy the industry. It has increased car and petrol taxes year on year, ...
It is really rather difficult to choose between the Alexandra Burke X Factor winning cover of Hallelujah and Jeff Buckley's haunting version. Buckley's is probably remembered more because of its use as a moving tribute to 9/11, ironically coming four years after Buckley's untimely death at the age of just 30. Anyway, the Alexandra version is below this video. Judge for yourself. They are different, but both rather good. For the record (pardon the pun), KD Lang did an excellent cover, but I suspect she won't be No 3 in the Christmas Chart.
I'm sure I'm getting less Christmas cards this year. Maybe I'm not as popular as I was last year (after all I have started this blog in the last 12 months which has probably offended a few folk with its right wing ideas). Maybe it's the credit crunch - people have less money to send cards - and it is at work where I've noticed a sharp decline. But it's not that less people are sending me Christmas Greetings, they are no longer doing so by post. I'm getting loads of those electronic messages saying that "my company's going to ...
Comment above.
As the Green-gate affair rumbles along in the background, it is hard for those of us who remember early 1970s America to ignore the parallel: an increasingly controlling Executive, fears for personal liberty - and a man at the top with serious personality dysfunction. Richard Nixon and Gordon Brown do share striking similarities of circumstance and character. They had puritanical backgrounds with domineering fathers, were intellectual prodigies, intensely private - and awkward in company and public. Both gave the impression of being somehow 'not quite right'. The 1960 anti-Nixon slogan 'Would you buy a used car from this Man?' seemed ...
My first task today was a totally enjoyable one - attending the Foundation stage Christmas performance at Durham Lane School. The Grumpy Sheep baaed and grumped around the field until the birth of Jesus, the joy of the shepherds and wise men and the singing of the stars cheered her up and she became the Very Smiley Sheep. Parents wiped away tears of pride, the children sang their hearts out and
The application to erect a 10m high phone mast was rejected at Planning Committee last night, on the basis that it would be an eyesore in that location. We had big support from the local residents, including 217 petition signatures, several letters of objection and one member of the public spoke. Both Stuart Bray and I attended the meeting and opposed the application. The committee concurred with the view of the officers, ourselves and residents and unanimously rejected the application.
Via Peter Black, and Alix Mortimer, comes this marvellous little quizlet which tells you exactly how many times the government or their little minions have lost your personal data in recent times. I am pleased to report that they have only definitely lost my data twice, with one further time when they might have lost my data, but we can't be sure. So that's a comfort, isn't it? It could have been MUCH worse than that!
The BBC reports: Nottingham's chief anti-social behaviour officer has been arrested over an incident of "violent disorder".
Investors in Madoff thought they could get rich quick never mind the unrealistic returns he was offering. Same as the Icelandic banks whose interest rate accounts were ludicrously unsustainable in the long-term. Now Brits have lost billions of poundsin the Madoff case. Is Gordon Brown going to freeze American assets here under anti-terror legislation or does [...]
I left Cowley St less than an hour ago, having spent the evening working on my next email newsletter for constituents. Actually, I am working on all 3 editions, one for the Whickham area, one for central Gateshead and one for western Gateshead. Rather ambitiously, I am hoping to get them all done by Friday. And just as I was about to leave the office, the draft Newcastle email newsletter arrived
In 2007, Christmas came early for a 39 year-old MP from Sheffield Hallam, when Nick Clegg was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats on 18th December. To mark his first anniversary as party leader tomorrow, Lib Dem Voice will be publishing an exclusive article by The Man Himself, as well as opinion pieces by a range of Liberal Democrats. Click back here tomorrow to read and enjoy, and to contribute to the debate on LDV's pages.
Following the terrible news a few weeks ago about failure by Labour-run Haringey Council to prevent the death of Baby P, I was depressed an angry today to read that the Children's Services department of Reading Borough Council (which deals with safeguarding vulnerable children), and also controlled by Labour for many years, has been assessed 'inadequate' by Ofsted. This report comes within weeks of CSCI's independent report into RBC's adult care service which judged the Council a poor one out of a possible three stars. You can download the report for yourself here. The Ofsted report follows the tragic death of an 'at risk' three year-old child in October 2006 who ...
Latin American leaders have been urging Obama to the lift the trade embargo on Cuba. There's a chance that could happen. Since Raul Castro become President, Cuba has begun to open up with important economic reforms. Political reform is important, but however unlikely at the moment. Obama spoke of how he would be willing to talk to "enemies", which included that he'd be willing to talk to Cuba. Lifting the embargo should be negotiated however, it could perhaps happen in response to realising of political prisoners.
Labour MEPs voted today against Britain's opt-out from the Working Time Directive. Liberal Democrats voted to retain the opt-out so people can be free work the hours they want to work. The WTD imposes a limit on the number of hours an employee can work. The idea is to promote quality of life but the down side [...]
This appears to be an extremely important judgment. The fairness of Michael Shields' conviction in Bulgaria has been challenged since he was tried in 2005. I will look forward to reading the judgment in full but it appears to say that, in principle, the Queen (for practical purposes, the Lord Chancellor) can pardon and release someone convicted in another EU [...]
The sad case in the news today where a father has been convicted in relation to the death of four of his children when his modified Land Rover crashed and ended up in a river raises a question regarding modified cars which has been common for many years. The truth is that there are an enormous amount of modified cars on the road which are not safe either for the driver or for other road users. I was really aware of this problem when I was councillor for Fakenham on North Norfolk District Council and we had (and probably still ...
The good news for patriotic motorists is that under a Goverment plan they will soon be able to purchase number plates with national flags on. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, said the move was "great news for Scottish motorists". It is welcome news - a brief drive shows that a lot of people seem to have ignored this ban. It was equally welcome news the last time Labour legalised these number plates in 2001, when Transport Minister John Spellar said, "It is what the people of England, Scotland and Wales have asked for and strengthens their feeling of national identity." Any ...
I guess the simmering resentment present amongst the great part of the population towards whoever was going to win the X Factor should come as no surprise. In many ways I have to agree that Simon Cowell has rather spoilt the fun of the Christmas number one by monopolising it for the last four years, however the way that some people are going on about Alexandra Burke's version of Hallelujah really is a dreadful type of snobbery. Any number of people and Facebook groups are bemoaning the fact that Alexandra has done a cover of Jeff Buckley's song, whilst ignoring ...
The house in Bahrain where I am now staying used to back straight on to the sea. When I first started coming here, fifteen years ago, local fishermen used to gather driftwood under the back wall and mend their nets during slack periods. But following the construction of the kingdom's artificial Amwaj Islands and further land reclamation to [...]
"The Rose Theatre will be taken to the brink of financial ruin before receiving a penny more of taxpayers' money." according to David Lindsell at the Kingston Guardian. And he's right. But what he doesn't mention is that if I had not interrupted the Conservative Chair of Scrutiny last night, as he tried to bulldoze through his motion, then the theatre would have closed for good in two...
A grab from Politics Home's 'PH100' column; "The Lib Dems have been suffering from a squeeze in their rating in some opinion polls, falling as low as twelve per cent in one recent poll. Our experts and insiders on the PHI100 reckon this is not a reliable indicator of how they will actually perform in a general election: a warning to both the Tories and Labour not to take it for granted that the Lib Dems are really doing as badly as some polls have indicated. Forty five per cent of the panel reckon that the polls are under-estimating the ...
Fresh in this evening's crisp white Snowmail comes news that Channel 4 are calling for nominations for their annual Political Impact Award. It's obviously the season for it. We in the LDV cupboard are as much to blame as anyone, of course, but sooner or later someone is going to have to set up some gongs for Most Nondescript Award, Least Irritating Award, Best Named Award, Award Generating Most Intense Round of Self-Congratulation etc. Anyway, who can we nominate for Channel 4's offering: Anybody you think has made a major impact on the political scene over the last year. It ...
You hand over your personal details to councils, hospitals, employers and businesses all the time. But these institutions don't always keep that data safe. In fact, since HMRC lost its entire database of child benefit claimants in the post last year, not a week goes by without another high profile data loss hitting the headlines. But how does this affect you and your family? Take the questionnaire to find out here. It really is very scary. Hat Tip: Alix Mortimer
A large pile of WMD found in Iraq, with two even been used to target George Bush.
Pendle's Gordon Prentice is among many MP's who want to ban cigarettes from being displayed in shops. What is the point of hiding cigarettes. Children will only want to purchase cigarettes more if they are under the counter. Children have strange thoughts and opinions and hiding cigarettes isn't going to effect them the slightest. Pendle MP Gordon Prentice by supporting this proposal is only slashing the backs of local business people who make a living out of shops. If cigarettes aren't going to displayed people might not go into local shops or might not buy as much fags, leading to ...
I heard just before 4pm that there were already people queuing up for tickets to the public gallery for tonight's controversial planning application to plonk a totally out of place 26-storey skyscraper opposite Ealing Broadway station. I thought that queuing up 3 hours before the meeting starts didn't sound like the laid back Ealing style and my suspicions were proved right... it turns out that these early birds are employees of consultants paid by the developers behind the scheme, Glenkerrin. Packing the public gallery with paid stooges is a very clever tactic - albeit somewhat underhand - but it does ...
Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Redcar Ian Swales attended a family wedding recently and found he is now related to Gateshead Councillor Elaine Earl! Ian's nephew Simon married Elaine's daughter Kelly in a ceremony at Gretna Green. Elaine achieved a great result in last May's elections narrowing beating Brenda Clelland, wife of David Clelland, Labour MP for Tyne Bridge.
Alright, I had a bit of a go at the Parliamentary Candidates Association (PCA). I felt justified at the time, and whilst their Chair had a bit of a go back, I still need to be convinced that they're as effective as they might be. However, word has got out that I'm 'anti-candidate', whatever that might mean. If it means that I expect an organisation that has status in the Party to demonstrate
The Open Rights Group have a questionnaire which tells you right here. Yours truly got off lightly, with only one certain leak (I knew that TKMaxx shoe habit would come back to haunt me) and no possible leaks. But as one of society's carless, propertyless and largely moneyless non-stakeholders I am atypical. The moral of the story seems to be don't drive, don't get ill, don't have a mortgage, don't seek employment with any public service and don't allow your children to go on TV (and definitely don't have children). Oh, and on no account work seasonally on a farm. ...
While I consider going home tonight an putting on my CD of Hallelujah: A Soulful Celebration which is an excellent take on Handel not Leonard Cohen I see that the Steamie is telling us about Hamish MacDonnell - Labour's Boy Band. So I thought I'd look for an alternative group from the MSPs based purely on them appearing in various song titles. Fergus Sings the Blues - Deacon Blue Has to be Fergus Ewing SNP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber Angela - Motley Crue Angela Constance SNP for Livingston Jackie - Placebo Jackie Ballie Labour MSP for Dumbarton. Need ...
When China won the right to hold the Olympics, they heralded it as the event that would show China was becoming more tolerant, more open minded, more democratic and essentially less censored. China that "unblocked" websites in the run up to the Olympics as evidential proof that their promises to the IOC were being kept. However, less than five months later, the Chinese government are again blocking foreign websites for fear that they may report on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen square massacre when thousands of Chinese students and protesters were machine gunned to death in a Nazi style ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfApUdB3NjE My First You Tube Effort....
Last night was the special meeting of the Resource and Performance Scrutiny Commission, to consider the Executive's plans for Job Evaluation and Equal Pay. This has been an epic story of incompetence and the tragic mistreatment of staff. And it ended last night with the disappointing verdict from Scrutiny that the Executive's plans will be passed without comment. The five Conservatives all voted for this proposal, and the two Liberal Democrats and two Labour councillors voted against. The evening itself just re-hashed the same arguments on all sides. It's clear that nobody has moved an inch (me included) in this ...
Over on the New Statesman website yesterday, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg wrote about what is going to keep him busy in the next twelve months. Read it in full here, but here's an excerpt to whet your appetite: I have never tried to hide my despair of Westminster. People in this country are governed by processes that feel totally alien to their lives; by the puerile and archaic pantomime that so often dictates the Commons; by a system that keeps power hoarded up in Whitehall. Our politics is broken. It isn't just our economy that's in tatters, or as ...
It's almost completely empty, other than the expensive items. The staff look miserable, the remaining stock looks pathetic. The Woolworths in Accrington has been here for as long as anybody can remember, and now it's dieing. It's truely one of the most sickening experiences I've had for a long time. Accrington Broadway is in a poor state, as I've said many, many times before. We've lost most of our decent stores to the economy, even during the up times. Now we're heading down, and somehow I look to Woolworths not as a tragedy in itself, but a warning to Wilkinsons, ...
The Madoff fraud on Wall Street, all 50 thousand million US Dollars of it, may get even worse if the Bayou Fraud precedent works as some people think it does. Basically Bayou was a pyramid scam that blew up in 2005 with a mere 450 million US Dollars wiped out for 'investors'. In cleaning up that mess, the precedent established in US law was that people who got out of the pyramid investment before it collapsed (and so made profits) had to pay back their gains. And people who invested in those investors even if the never themselves took a ...
For years, Chris Fox* has been the big kahuna of Liberal Democrat PR practitioners. In an impressive career, he's had some big corporate comms jobs. Now Chris has gone and got himself a real one, as communications supremo for the party. And here's his number one challenge: to get the Lib Dem narrative, the party's brand stories, back on track. Let's face it, 2008 has not exactly been a bumper year for the Liberal Democrats. Some of the counter-stories against the party have been self-inflicted. The worst was, surely, Nick Clegg's gaffe in an interview with Piers Morgan about how ...
Welcome to the fourth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren't one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk). The rules for inclusion here are simple: they must have been "dug" for the first time in the last seven days and they can't be Lib Dem-related or come from a Lib Dem blog. The top rated article of each category will be listed here, along with three runners up. For the purposes of this column, my ...
From Politics Home... "Mr Clegg called for more UK troops to be sent to Afghanistan, warned that unemployment is going to get worse before it gets better, and said that the Liberal Democrats advocated a model for the Royal Mail not dissimilar to that put forward by the government. "I think there'll be a great sigh of relief across the country that we're getting out of Iraq. I don't think Gordon Brown can wash his hands of the affair, he did of course sign the cheques for years." He went on to call for a "full independent inquiry into the ...
The BBC is reporting a study suggesting that we're all doomed the die is cast on childhood obesity by the age of five. A certain young elephant of my acquaintance suggests the drive to make us all miserable and feel like failures may not be the best way to go. I can't match a rant of that quality, but I will point out a possible mistake in understanding what the study's been saying. I'm going to take a bit of a punt here, having not read the full survey, but I'm quietly confident. What I think it's saying Children who ...
There is a new MSM Blog up here in Scotland. The Steamie is part of the Scotsman's production and it has a blogroll. However, despite notifying them of my existance on the 3rd of December they have yet to add me to their blogroll. Other blogs have been added in the meantime so I'm musing why the ommission. It is not because I'm a Lib Dem they have one of those already nor is it because I may be a future parliamentary candidate they also have links to a number of those. So I'm at a lose and won't pursue ...
As the The Mole reported on First Post the Conservatives were denied an opportunity to really haul Gordon Brown over hot coals about the rise in unemployment as the PM was busy announcing an eye-catching withdrawal of troops in Iraq. So, we were left with the unpromising contest of Harriet Harman and William Hauge for the last PMQ's before the Christmas break. Certainly not much prospect of a repeat of the hilarity of last week with the two rather dour stand-ins. Brian Donohoe, Labour, asked about energy prices. Harman said the energy companies should pass on price cuts and said ...
It says something about the repellant oiliness of Cameron and the monolithic self-righteousness of Gordon Brown that I am pleased to see Harriet Harman and William Hague at the ballot box today. Mind you, for technical reasons, I am listening from the next room. Hague ranges over the recession's effects on small businesses and the need to tackle unemployment - trying to cut Vince's ground out from under him? Good luck with that. Harman: Brown is "Superman" to Cameron's "Joker". The hubris of these people is unbelievable. I sometimes wonder why the entire Liberal Democrat contingent doesn't get up and ...
I have had a number of constituents mention the newly launched sQuid electronic purse. The e-purse can be used to pay for small value transactions like buying a cup of coffee, newspaper or packets of sweets. sQuid is an independent company and chose to launch this service in Dundee due to the City Council's role as the lead authority for the National Entitlement Card (NEC). Although sQuid issue their own card it can easily be added to an existing NEC and from this month forward new NECs that are issued will contain the sQuid product. One of the aims of ...
Youngsters in Bath will be among millions of people nationwide missing out on free swimming as a result of the government's ill-thought out package to provide free access to pools across the country. Only 60% of Council's are including both under 16s and over 60s; and 82% are providing free access to over 60s. Don said, "The reality is that millions of those eligible...
At the end of last month The Washington Post ran a piece from a former US military interrogator who worked in Iraq. It addresses head-on the question of whether torture is needed to fight terrorism: I joined an elite team of interrogators attempting to locate Zarqawi. What I soon discovered about our methods astonished me. The Army was still conducting interrogations according to the Guantanamo Bay model: Interrogators were nominally using the methods outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual, the interrogators' bible, but they were pushing in every way possible to bend the rules — and often break them. ...
Coming soon, watch this space!
The link is to the ministerial statement on opening the family courts yesterday. It is interesting to note that Jack Straw did not know about second opinions.
Anyone who followed my blog back when it was on MySpace (changed to blogger because of all the endless automatic emails trying to sell me stuff or get me to part with cash that took forever to get through each day) will know that I've been writing a long poem about the history of Blue Bell Hill in Kent (from prehistoric to present day)for the last couple of years. I think I have just about finished the words, just a rhyme or two left about the Jack-In-The-Green to go and then have the pictures/diagrams/maps and photos to get to grips ...
Justice minister David Hanson has agreed to the continued use of deliberately painful restraint methods in young offenders' institutions, secure children's homes and training centres. Despite the deaths of two teenage boys from restraint-related injuries and a ruling in July by the Court of Appeal that current restraint rules are unlawful, such methods have been approved for use over the next six months. An independent review was commissioned after the 2007 inquests into the boys' deaths and was published this week. Adam Rickwood (14) and Gareth Myatt (15) both died in privately-run secure training centres. The Guardian reports: Rickwood's mother, ...
Various people are committing themselves to doing happy posts for various lengths of time and various reasons at the moment. I figure I have been whining enough recently, what with the dentist and stuff, so I am going to do a whole week of posting positively on this blog. So, without further ado, here are the things which have made me smile this morning: Robert Llewellyn liked my post! (which you can find here, if you're not a TGTer and haven't seen it already) Steph is blogging again! And she posted a cute picture of Ros and Lembit! Taking Small ...
Wednesday: New reports from SCIENCE suggest that once mommies and daddies are even THINKING about having little baby elephants it may already be too late to stop their offspring turning into total PORKERS without radical re-educational brain-washing and extensive gene therapy... probably using LASERS... ...image of ELEPHANT strapped to giant-sized CHOPPING-BOARD as SINISTER figure of Mr Jamie Oliver adjusts the surgical food-i-mix to SLICE-&-DICE ELEPHANT: Do you expect me to TALK??? OLIVER: No, Mr Dome, I expect you to STIR-FRY! ...I'm drifting! Three MILLION years of EVOLUTION on the African plains taught you monkey-people at a GENETIC level: eat lots ...
Today's Daily Mail has the story: The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger is demanding an apology from Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg over comments that he made about her son's murder. Denise Fergus has condemned Mr Clegg over the speech in which he claimed the murder of her son had led to a destructive 'upswing in the number of children in prison.' In his speech to the think-tank Demos, Mr Clegg said: 'We know it was the disaster politics response to the killing of Jamie Bulger that led to a massive upswing in the number of children in prison, ...
Someone has left a comment on my blog and I will leave it up to the comment to tell you what this post is about: NOTE: Speaking of shoes and the White House, Skip Mendler of Honesdale, PA has a great idea. He suggests that everyone who is disgusted with the outgoing Bush/Cheney administration send a shoe to the White House. Just imagine a pile up of a million smelly old running shoes in the White House mail room! I think he's got something. Spread the word!So start sending the shoes!
There is something rather irritating about having to sit next to someone on the train who is busy putting their makeup on. Elbows and arms flying because they didn't get round to doing these things before they left the house. Whatever next? Perhaps people end up having a wash or getting dressed on the train!Rant over, especially since I have just moved seats. I was amused this morning by one of
Last week I started using the average table by Political betting of what the gamblers think is going to be the outcome of the next general election and then doing some commentary. I will continue doing that every time the table is released over at Political betting. Table from Political Betting. Looking at these results the Lib Dem average hasn't changed from 43.5 and neither has the Labour average changed from 242. The only change that you can see from the averages is the Conservative average has dropped from 341 to 337. The Conservatives with all these low poll results ...
Simple: get them a copy of The Tangerine Book. With added explanations of hash tags, ICM polling methodology and policy bits too. You can buy it online right now at Lulu.com. Go on, you know you want to.
Well now I'm really getting worried about an early General Election. Brown's done a surprise visit to Iraq (again) to announce the withdrawal of UK troops (again). This time though there's no figures, no talk of numbers. He might actually mean that all the troops are actually coming out. For real this time. Of course everything Brown does now will fuel election speculation so it's probably best to be cautious until they start buying up billboard space... oh wait. They're doing that already. We all know he's got a simple computer programme telling him when to call a general election. ...
Via Press Gazette: The NUJ has accused the police of abusing its stop and search powers after a photographer was detained for 45 minutes whilst she was covering a wedding in London Docklands. Jess Hurd was taking photos of a traveller wedding last Wednesday - on UN Human Rights Day - for a long term documentary project on the persecution of travellers when she had her camera taken from her and was detained under section 44 of the Terrorism Act. The section covers those thought to be "carrying out hostile reconnaissance for a terrorist assault". Hurd was spotted by police ...
With the year drawing to a close it's time to get off the fence and finally announce the recipient of the 2008 Scunner Broon Award for Stupidest Political Quote Of The Year. As has been discussed previously, it's been a difficult one to judge, what with the number of exceptional individual candidates, the broad body of work of Sarah Palin and, ultimately, a winner whose reason for opening his big
It is not for me to call for the resignation of the Welsh Conservative Leader as the Western Mail has done today, that is a matter for his party. However, it is worth noting that the whole expenses affair now has its own name and a small place in political history. The paper has allocated a 'gate' suffix to its story, labelling it 'iPodGate' in the manner of all political scandals since 1972. Nixon has a lot to answer for. Update: Jonathan Morgan has now come out into the open and effectively challenged his group leader's authority. It seems that ...
There are times when reading the obituaries really hits home, today was one of those days. Kerryn McCann the Australian marathon runner and I would have been starting out taking athletics seriously at about the same time, she was a little over 16 months older than me. Her last race was probably her best, not in terms of time that had been in London 6 years earlier, but in terms of effort. the mother of two had battled with Hellen Cherono Koskei of Kenya over 26 miles in the Commonwealth Games marathon in her homeland of Australia. With a mile ...
Last week, I had the pleasure of bringing new members to the Liberal Democrats, all three of whom who would add value to their local Liberal Democrat associations and to the Party as a whole. Mike Penrose (an international development consultant), Rabbi Deborah Kahn Harris and Dilek Aygun (a Haringey Turkish community activist - pictured), were headhunted by me with a view to ensure that high value members and potential candidates like these three, found a home in the Liberal Democrats. This was also allied to the fact that all three of them exuded liberal values and two of whom ...
Local Lib Dems have selected Naomi Smith as their next Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in the seat of Cities of London and Westminster. Naomi is already well known among young Lib Dems, as she is President of Liberal Youth as well as a party trainer. Possibly less well known is that Naomi shares at least one unusual skill with Paddy Ashdown - they can both speak Mandarin Chinese. In this most multicultural of constituencies that could come in handy. Congratulations, Naomi.
It's all very well being the Honourable Lady Mark, but what is the job description? Tonight, I had the opportunity to get some advice from the only prominent Presidential consort that has registered on my radar, the extraordinarily fragrant Lady Dholakia. Ann was an ever present presence besides Navnit during his two terms as Party President and, over dinner in an Italian restaurant between
