I spent Christmas in Wales and by chance found David Lloyd George's grave, marked by the laying stone in the picture below. Lloyd George changed Britain (and Europe after the 1914-18 war) arguably more than any of his predecessors as Prime Minister and Chancellor. He embodied the radical passion of liberalism at its best. "Four spectres haunt the [...]
The Ideas Factory is a chance for you to pitch your own idea of what should be in the next Liberal Democrat manifesto. The proposal here is not the policy of the Social Liberal Forum. We will however be passing it - and the response it generates - onto the Manifesto Working Group. The Proposal James Graham: work with the industry to develop incentives to dramatically switch from supermarket use to home delivery. A couple of disclaimers to start with: this isn't an attack on supermarkets. Nor is it a fully fleshed out policy agenda. Ideally it could be achieved ...
Just after students from outside the EU have became the first guinea pigs for Labour's inane and insane national identity scheme, they have been hit with more red tape from Westminster. Students pursuing degree programmes in Britain will need to re-apply for a visa every four years, removing a guarantee that they would be permitted to stay for the duration of their course. At a time when higher education institutions are struggling to compete internationally, this is about as welcome for British universities as Evan Harris at a Daily Mail Christmas party. Diane Warwick of Universities UK warns: [A]lthough students ...
By Steve Webb and Jo Holland {reinventingthestatecover100} This article was originally published in Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century. We are grateful to Steve and Jo for allowing us to reproduce this article. Liberal Democrats are good at coming up with policies. Probably the best policy decision of New Labour - independence for the Bank of England - was actually a policy from the 1992 and 1997 Liberal Democrat manifestos. In many other areas, notably on environmental issues and international affairs, Liberal Democrat policies have set the agenda, only to be picked up in whole or in ...
I really don't know what to make of 'Being Human' except to say that I am loving it. It's uncharacterisable. It starts out like one of those 'This Life' dramas about good-looking young professionals house-sharing in somewhere slightly offbeat, in this case a shabby-chic bit of Bristol. Except that the housemates are a ghost, a vampire [...]
Gary Moore ... so many great tracks - Parisienne Walkways, Empty Rooms - and this - Still got the blues ...
There's been an awful lot of terminologically inexact harrumphing going on all week, in no small part I hope egged on by my contributions to the "debate" within the party. The "debate" that is, about neo-Thatcherite Tory entryist libertanarchist corporate shills who are either a. trying to capture the soul of the party for their wicked ends or b. seriously deluding themselves that it is possible to persuade the Lib Dems to be a truly liberal party. What I have learned this week is that: My unknown father must have been a Tory, perhaps even one of those grandee types ...
With the Convention on Modern Liberty now less than a week away, the Sunday papers have been filled with revelations about MP's making extraordinary claims on their Additional Costs Allowance. I can't help but feel the two are inextricably linked. I've spent pretty much my whole career defending politicians - first as a paid party organiser and, more recently, working for a cross-party pressure group. I still believe in representative democracy (although I'm aware it has its limitations), I still believe that political parties are necessary (ditto). I defend the right of MPs to draw out of pocket expenses (indeed ...
{IMG_1560} I took advantage of the mild weather today and went out for one of my regular ward walkabouts, today focussing on the area around Erleigh Road and London Road. I picked up a lot of issues on my way round and it was nice to catch up with people for a chat. I said hello to the proud owner of the new hairdresser's on Hatherley Road: so nice to see that empty shop occupied at last after years of lying empty. I spent the morning reading a summary of comments received during the scrutiny review into private rented housing, ...
The Labour Party circulated a leaflet recently claiming that Lewes District Council had failed to meet its "25% target" for social housing. They even said that Liberal Democrats "admitted" their claim. They're wrong on both counts, and here's why.The council doesn't have a 25% target for social housing. Our target for the year was to deliver 60 housing units. We've delivered 65 already, and think
Last week I was in Belfast. I heard a story that no doubt could be multiplied thousands fold in this great country of ours. The story was of a young woman, 17 years of old, living alone. She was entitled from the state to £40 a week. £20 of this was paid in food vouchers. If she did not spend up to the amount, she lost the rest. She found this difficult - during a week there were items such as milk and bread that she could not buy on a weekly basis. The past few weeks have been bitterly ...
Last week I chose Itchycoo Park by the Small Faces because I had named it as one my three favourite songs when interviewed by Mars Hill.The Kinks' Waterloo Sunset has already been featured, so this week I am chosing the third of those songs: Paper Sun by Traffic. The singer is Steve Winwood, with Dave Mason is on sitar. And you don't get videos like this any more. It shows the four members of the group (completed by Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi) looking round the Horniman Museum in south London.As I wrote when discussing another Traffic song, they are ...
Today I was the "dignitary" at one of the Liverpool Citizenship Ceremonies. These take place (usually) at the register office and are the ceremony at which people officially are granted their UK citizenship. My job was to make a short speech and then hand over certificates and some lovely Liverpool medals. There were about 25 people taking part , plus some friends and relatives of course. Everyone was dressed up and looked really "smiley". I have sat and watched one of these ceremonies before, but this was the first time I had been booked in as the speaker. It was ...
For over 50 years, the Lloyd George Society or previously the Welsh Liberal Party have held annual residential weekend schools, originally intended for Welsh Liberal parliamentary candidates to bone up on party policy, though these days they are opened up to a wider group of the faithful, to discuss topical political issues and to socialise. It must be over [...]
Tomorrow is the start of Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Talking about eating disorders is a good start, if you're also able to support Beat, the Eating Disorders Association with a donation then you can give them some money by clicking here.
I've learned the sad news that a friend of mine died about a week ago of Breast Cancer. She was in her early fourties and died just six weeks after the first symptoms appeared and she was diagnosed. Terribly sad for all who knew her. If you read this blog, how about making a donation to [...]
I've just had the last of a lovely box of Charbonnel et Walker chocs, a present from Rich. They were a great gift. The chocs are all delicious, a perfect daily treat. The packaging is very simple so you get more, not less, than you expect. Best of all, the plain white box came with [...]
The article 'Russell admits secession poll lacks support' smacks of yet another SNP climbdown, this time over their much vaunted separation referendum proposal - click on the headline to view the full article in today's "Scotland on Sunday." Meanwhile the "Sunday Times" reports 'SNP backs down over drinks curbs' - another SNP policy down the drain, following hot on the heels of the local income tax retreat. Oh yes, and £2000 to every new home buyer, dumping student debt, etc, etc ... Personally, I'd welcome the SNP Government abandoning its referendum proposal - a total irrelevance in the current economic ...
Iain Dale likes to repeat and recycle the stories concerning the conman Michael Brown, who made a substantial donation (with the approval of the Electoral Commission), to the lib Dems before the last General Election. Stories on Iain' blog centre around "Will the Lib Dems pay it back" to "Lib Dems to be bankrupted", depending on how anti Lib Dem Iain appear to be feeling in any given month. So it was with some interest that I read today that Bearwood, a company owned by Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, is being investigated by the electoral commission in to its donations ...
Chris has acted on residents' concerns about a number of roads issues locally. He's raised with Dundee City Council the need for proper pedestrian crossing facilities at Pitkerro Road near to Morgan Academy and also on Arbroath Road. Chris has also been in touch with road safety staff at the Council about both Shamrock Street and Nesbitt Street being used a "rat runs" by some drivers, with residents concerned about the speed of some vehicles in these residential streets.
As I was surfing around catching up on news on the Scottish blogs I saw on my good friend and colleague, Caron's blog a great posting about Leith Harbour, read it here. I don't claim to be a Leither, I have only lived in Scotland since May 31st 2008 (although 4 weeks holiday every year for many years must count for something). But, I do love where I live and am sure as I am here longer I will call myself a Leither, it's an awesome area. I live on Western Harbour, next to Newhaven Harbour and close to Leith ...
If so, this website is for you.
And locks will be fitted to the stable doors as the horses disappear over the horizon. 'Strewth! LibDig This!
It has been announced that the Liberal Democrats Spring Conference in 2010 and Autumn Conference in 2011 will be held in Birmingham at the ICC.
Alistair Darling has denounced Swiss banks. Their refusal to end centuries of secrecy is "intolerable". Sounds very odd, coming from a Government that's been more than happy to oversee one of the world's largest secretive tax haven operations, from the Cayman Islands to Jersey and beyond. Funny how, during the Brown Boom, Labour were more than happy with big banking bonuses, obscure financial instruments, 100%+ mortgages, and light-touch regulation. Now we're in the Brown Bust, Labour are busy blaming the bankers for everything under the sun, but still don't seem too interested in tackling tax havens (or doing much more ...
A few quick links here... Found via Douglas Wolk on Twitter - WFMU's Beware Of The Blog have 11 CDs worth of rockabilly, garage rock and exotica, as chosen by Lux and Ivy of the Cramps, for download. Everything from Ersel Hickey to Jack Nitzsche to the Stooges to Jan & Arnie. I'm fairly up on [...]
An uplifting piece for a change that brought a tear to my hard bitten old eyes. In the FT of 21st Feb there was a lengthy obituary to a Dutch Doctor, Willem 'Plim' Kolff, 1911-2009. In summary during the Nazi occupation of Holland he helped many people escape labour camps & worse. He also somehow managed to invent & build the world's first successful kidney dialysis machine. It didn't work first time & patients died. The first success was on a Nazi collaborator. Kolff said " We have to treat patients when they need help even if we don't like ...
No sooner do I write about the BNP 'threat' and Labour's woeful response to it but we see another example of how not to address it.Jacqui Smith is talking about the new proposals for a points-based immigration system, similar to that successfully employed in countries such as New Zealand. It is probably the best way of regulating the flow of migration into this country and, as Liberal Democrats,
Welcome to catchup, featuring only the crumbliest, flakiest posts from the last week, with no Flake wrappers stopping up the plug. Most read this week: Mark Pack using David Cameron's own words to prove that David Cameron is cheap, lurching to the left, and not sensible; yet another post about bloody Derek Draper; another wind-up post from the monstrously offensive Laurence Boyce; an excellent piece from Stephen defending Clegg's piece about fathers in the recession and still more comments on "Just Exactly How Wrong Was Chris Huhne?" {catchup2} Your comments this week were recorded in great numbers on several of ...
Manifesto commitments should always be taken seriously, and one of the key elements in juggling my ever-growing diary is ensuring that I attend one Regional Conference in every English Region, as well as the State Conferences in Scotland and Wales. It isn't always easy, as there are a limited number of weekends on which they can be held, and there are always clashes. Fortunately, with the exception of my own Region, East of England, there are two bites of the cherry each year, which does make it possible. This weekend saw the Spring Conference of Yorkshire and the Humber Liberal ...
I really don't know where this party campaign comes from? Where is our policy on this? When did we become apologists for the Daily Mail approach to European legislation? OK, it's taken me a week to respond.......I have allowed myself a modicum of time to calm down, but however much I try to understand.......I JUST DON'T! I am talking of course about the campaign to maintain the UK opt out on the Working Time Directive. Hmmmmm yes........an opt out that allows exploitation and abuse of powerless workers to continue. Of course, we are all for that aren't we? So, how ...
I was wondering how to put a sensible separation of the clear Liberal Democrat Budget proposals from those confused Conservative ones that were passed by Conservative and independent members of Bath & North East Somerset Council with the Liberal Democrats voting against and Labour voting abstaining. But I have been given a reprieve by my college Cllr David Dixon who's speech at...
Minster for 'Independence' has come very close to the language used over Local Income Tax when referring to the new responsibility in his brief. Compare Mike Russell's comments: "The bill would require a majority; where that majority came from it is far too early to say." with those of John Swinney conceding defeat on LIT earlier this month. "We cannot put together a stable majority to enable us successfully to steer detailed local income tax legislation through this parliament." So the Nats are unable to work from a position of minority Government. They concede defeat on their ability to do ...
1) Someone who believes that initiation of violence is always wrong, no matter who does it. Known as the Non-Aggression Principle (or the Zero-Aggression Principle). 2) Someone who seeks to distribute power equally (or more equally) to all people, rather than having it concentrated in the ruling classes (the state and the plutocracy and in some [...]
Socks, the White House cat during the Clinton years, has died at the age of 18. Associated Press has an obituary:Things took a turn for the worse in late 1997, when then-puppy Buddy, a chocolate retriever, arrived. Relations between Socks and Buddy were cool from the beginning."I'm trying to work that out," Clinton joked at the time. "It's going to take a while. It's kind of like peace in Ireland or the Middle East."
Here's a short exercise for a Sunday afternoon: if you woke up today and were one of the following, how would you be feeling? 1) a Labour MP 2) a Tory MP It's not quite as straightforward as it seems. For sure, Labour MPs' self-confidence is going to be fragile just now - for the second time in a year, their party's poll ratings have crashed below the 30% level, conjuring up memories of the ignominy of Michael Foot's 1983 election defeat. And yet desperate times can also be quite exciting, too. Just think back to the febrile state of ...
Alistair Darling has told Alex Salmond if Westminster can make efficiency savings so can Holyrood. The First Minister has used the £500m cut that efficiency savings in Westminster in a number of ways. Either as a slight on Labour in Westminster to his own administration in Scotland or as a reason to pull out of putting Local Income Tax before the Parliament in this session. However, the one thing the Nats have not been prepared to do is acknowledge that efficiency savings can be made. Indeed when the Scottish Liberal Democrats suggested that some could be made to bring about ...
Over at the Mail on Sunday, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable ponders the question he is asked every day: why are profligate borrowers being rewarded by lower interest rates while thrifty savers suffer? Here's an excerpt: Interest rate cuts were unavoidable, though they have reached their limit and other policies are now more important - especially getting credit flowing to sound companies. Of course, it is necessary for the economy that people should spend, sensibly, since this also creates production and employment for others. There is a danger that fear is leading many people, and companies, to hoard excessive ...
{Appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour with Carolyn Quinn} I'm on The Westminster Hour tonight (Sunday): Radio 4, 10pm. If you miss the 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" as one of the categories of events you want to be emailed about. (If you are an existing Flock Together user you can also ...
Earlier in the week I went to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the cinema.
The Observer has a feature in which top chefs choose their top 50 recipes of all time. Gordon Ramsay has somewhat bizarrely chosen a recipe for Oxtail soup. Why would you do that when there's chocolate in the world? Raymond Blanc is thankfully more in tune with my thoughts with this dreamy chocolate mousse. This all got me thinking about my own favourite recipes. I love Delia Smith's fallen chocolate souffle with prunes in armagnac and creme fraiche. For the sake of balance, I should also include some non chocolatey treats... As far as cakes are concerned, Nigella does a ...
Councillor Frank Little has published political blogger and Assembly Member, Peter Black's answers to his 20 questions here.
The most stupid words of 2009 have already been written. They come from the pen of Hamid Ghodse, president of the International Narcotics Control Board, in his foreward to its latest report. He writes: "multilateral drug control should be considered one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century." The Board adminsters the prohibitionist policies of the 1961 UN Convention on Narcotics and its various additions; 95 per cent of UN member states have signed up to the rules restricting the use of 119 narcotic substances. The result has been an unmitigated disaster. Demand for narcotics has not diminished but ...
I have just nipped over to Tom Harris' blog whose adverts at this moment just show the dichotomy that is the modern Labour Party. At the top is an ad for caviar, truffles and foie gras, all of which are probably way beyond the pockets of the struggling households using the services of the other ad down the page - uSwitch.com. The headline on that ad is "Families face huge new energy price rises". I suppose there's something to be said for catering for all tastes... LibDig This!
You get a letter from your local NHS trust asking you to be screened for cancer (most likely you'll be a woman, being screened for cervical or breast cancer). If the test is 99% accurate, and you test positive, what are the chances you really have the cancer? Oddly, they could be less than 50%. These cancers are pretty rare, especially in younger women. Let's suppose for the sake of argument that one in a hundred women in your age group get the cancer (not unreasonable, but just an example). So your local NHS trust tests 100 women. Of those, ...
There is a fascinating insight in the Wales on Sunday today into Wales Labour's campaign to hold their two seats in the European Parliament. Matt Withers reports from Brussels that everybody, MEPs, support staff, and the Brussels press corps, believes that the forthcoming poll is going to be an absolute disaster for Labour, not only across Britain as a whole, but here in Wales. Labour, he says are concerned about the impact of a low turnout on their vote, about the fact that they are 20 points behind the Tories in the polls and that their lead candidates are largely ...
It's all kicking off on the "sleaze" front today. "Bearwood Corporate Services" donations to be formally investigated. Chris Grayling in expenses row.And the News of the World unearths (or perhaps "recycles") a trio of second homes issues:-Derek Conway's £85,000 claim for his "second home" which he had before he was re-elected to parliament in 2001 and which is just 14 miles from his other home.-
The newspapers are reporting this morning that Socks, the cat that moved from the governor's mansion in Arkansas to the White House with the Clintons has died at the grand old age of 20. According to this report, Betty Currie, the president's personal secretary, and her husband, Bob, took over care of Socks after the Clintons left the White House. It was near their home in Maryland that Socks was put to sleep Friday morning. "He could no longer stand and wasn't eating," according to family friend and presidential historian Barry Landau. Though much was made of the fact that ...
Canadian Radio covers the ban here: http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20090216-aih-2.wmv They got an interview with Pete Smyth, chairman of the Met Police Federation who describes it as 'barmy'. (see also http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20090216.shtml) Britain's getting a reputation for being a bit totalitarian.
Scotland on Sunday has this report outlining how young women who have left school are set to be denied access to the HPV vaccine which prevents the virus which causes cervical cancer becuase of a funding row between GP surgeries and the Scottish Government. There seems to be a fair amount of rancour between Nicola Sturgeon's Health and Wellbeing Department and GPs at the moment - they are also fighting about plans to extend GP opening hours. Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, it needs sorting and soon. We are all being reminded on a daily basis of what ...
The commentary piece is the latest issue of ' Liberator' magazine pulls no punches ! It suggests that those around the Liberal Vision project and those who share the classical liberal outlook should basically put up or shut up and, when they've lost the argument, they should clear off ! Not the most liberal stance one might take ! I am strongly opposed to LV and, from what I can understand from the myriad explanations of it, libertarianism. I am very reluctant to push out those I disagree with. Certainly I was shocked by the tone of the 'Liberator' article. ...
Yesterday Guido wrote a blog post about how he had the feeling that this Sunday a Tory scandal would be made public and it would be from a Tory front bench. I am happy to say that Guido was right about the hunch because Chris Grayling's the Shadow Home Secretary has claimed near enough the price of a property he bought days before becoming an MP. This news adds Chris to the list of people who have done Jacqui's A "Jacqui" for someone who doesn't know is the term used by the blogosphere for scam artists after Jacqui Smith was ...
9. Simon Hughes There are many clergymen who have achieved eminence at cricket; one thinks of David Sheppard, Andrew Wingfield Digby and Archbishop Makarios. Funnily enough, the Revd Hughes is not one of them. When I appointed him to the living at St Asquith's upon the assumption that he was the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Middlesex opening bowler who had performed well for me on many occasions. He turned out to be quite another chap. I have never held this against the Revd, but it is the other fellow who makes my XI. Earlier selections: Len HuttonC.B. FryDavid SteelViolent Bonham-CarterMike BrearleyL.T. HobhousePaul ...
Nick Clegg it is suggested on Jock Coates' blog is guilty of slandering libertarians. Certainly his response to a question about the differences between liberalism and libertarianism is less than enlightening. However, Andrew Withers of the LPUK loftily dismisses Nick as a social democrat. As if ! This seems the preferred insult of libertarian minded Lib Dems. In Tristan Mills' eyes I'm a social democrat. Charlotte Gore has implied that I feel that the Lib Dems aren't 'socialist' enough. Let's be clear, whilst the dominant philosophy that guides the Lib Dems is liberalism, the party was formed through amalgamation with ...
I have succumbed to a request by Neath Port Talbot Councillor and Welsh Liberal Democrat blogger, Frank Little to complete his 20 questions, which he has published here.
I don't know what made me laugh more - the idea of Simon Cowell having his body frozen, thinking he would be doing the nation a service, when he dies in case he can be brought back to life in the future, or Gordon Brown's reported reaction. I'm assuming that this is a leak aiming to make it seem like our PM actually has a sense of humour. He supposedly said that "I am not sure me coming back from the dead would be quite as popular as Simon." 'In fact, there may be a public campaign to stop me ...
I see that Mr Brown has this morning waded in to the debate about banks and mortgages, saying he wants to restrain banks from what seem to many people some of their more extraordinary excesses, such as 100% mortgages, mortgages six times your salary, and banks paying you to live in a house in anticipation of you paying them back when you die (OK, I made the last one up but would you really be surprised to hear that such a product was actually available!). This exercise looks to me as if it's about trying to reassure us that he ...
13) Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis, The New Becoming Vegetarian (Summertown: Healthy Living, 2003, ISBN 9781570671449). Part of the ongoing campaign to make sure I understand vegetarian nutrition well enough to do it in a healthy way. I enjoyed reading this a lot. The introductory chapters on the benefits of vegetarianism outline the usual well-worn arguments, but quickly give way to some very detailed advice about each nutrient, which is then pulled together into a vegetarian version of the food pyramid, followed by specific advice about particular needs in different life stages. I learned that I probably still need more ...
I've blogged before about the Equitable Life scandal. At a time when the Government is willing to spend billions on bailing out bankers or a temporary VAT cut, it's unacceptable that they can't or won't get on with proper compensation for the Equitable Life policy holders. In the latest of many inquiries, the Parliamentary Ombudsman [...]
{Lib Dem Bird} Managed to not get any where near the Civic office this week, unsure if that is a good or a bad thing. There were, however, some Environment issues which came to Cabinet. Namely the two proposals from the December Environmental Scrutiny: Environmental enforcement proposals: Which went as per RBC Officer recommendation, with the Lead councillor willing to push things onward, so all that we asked for (bar the naming and shaming) will be taken forwards. Increase recycling proposals: Which also went with Officer recommendations i.e. stick with the status quo, and our idea's were ignored - how ...
Tuesday08:15 Subordinate Legislation CommitteeConsideration of the Business Rate Supplements BillEnhancing the Scrutiny of Subordinate Legislation: Inquiry into the scrutiny of subordinate legislation and delegated powers - consideration of key issues09:10 European and External Affairs CommitteeUpdate on EU/EC activities in WalesScrutiny Inquiry: Patients' Rights in Cross-Border Healthcare -
Ah yes, Gordon Brown continues Labour's policy of fitting a very big padlock to a broken stable door after all the horses have bolted, moved to France, settled down, got jobs. had children, grew old, retired and died. That's progress, there. Oh, and by the way, you owe him £23K for the padlock.
{Jason Fruen outside the Trafford Centre} I really felt for Jason Fruen, an unemployed man from Salford, when I read the story about his search for a job. After losing his job for the second time in 6 months, Mr Fruen (pictured above) donned a human advertising hoarding and stood outside the Trafford Centre in the hopes that a potential employer would see his 'advert' and take a more direct route in employing him. While this technique has worked for Mr Fruen in the past (he tried it successfully last September when he was made redundant), I think it's a ...
Are debates between Liberal Democrat bloggers generating more heat than light?One of the great things about being a Lib Dem is that we are prepared to debate ideas. Yet lately I have been frequently questioning just how useful many of those debates are. So many sentences written, so many opinions offered, so few conclusions reached. One of the most frustrating things about many of these debates
Saturday: Well, so much for doing THAT on a weekly basis! Anyway, this week we were all much cheered when our subscription to the Doctor Woo DVD files finally arrived! Hooray! So I have settled my Daddies on the couch again and put on episode two... "The Cave of Skulls" Hang on, that's not right... I suppose the first and most obvious thing to say is that this doesn't mess with the established continuity. Well, okay, it does but not really. Let me explain: the "traditional" view says that the Earth is destroyed in the year ten million or so ...
