I am a cautious soul for the most part. I moderate comments to this blog, generally because this is my space, and I set the rules. And so I discovered that the following comment had been left for me to publish; If you are interested in the authorisation process for Heathrow runway 3, check out my blog, which monitors the implementation of the new regime under the Planning Act 2008, which the runway will need to use: http://www.bdb-law.co.uk/blog You'll note that I have not hyperlinked the website address. I fundamentally object to a commercial organisation attempting to leech off of ...
Since [IMG: [info - personal] ] matgb has been getting into cookery, we have been watching a few cookery shows on the telleh. I'm going to talk about two different shows today: one that we like, and one that we were less impressed with. We both love The Hairy Bikers. For me, it's because they remind me of my dad. They're happy and jovial when cooking, they love their fresh seasonal ingredients and like to get them from the source, their food is great, and they like to take the piss out of Heston Blumenthal ;) Mat likes them because ...
Very tired and stressed today, so the next proper hyperpost won't be til tomorrow night. Instead, you get this, dealing with various points raised by Pillock and Zom (and anyone else who comments – I notice Sean Witzke just commented) in the comments to the recent posts. This might be a little disjointed, but ...
[IMG: Railway track] I know many of you are planning trips away for the Bank Holiday weekend. I wish I was! But if you're planning on travelling by rail from Birmingham – be warned – you may end up on a bus. Liberal Democrat analysis has found that over 1,000 miles of track is out of action. The West Coast Main Line is one of the worst effected, so if you're travelling from Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International, Coventry, Rugby, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Watford or London, please do check with National Rail Enquiries before you travel. It's also worth ...
As I am down in London this week, I am relearning to survive on commercially produced food from supermarkets and restaurants. Some of it is absurdly artificially overflavoured. Some is completely tasteless. I bought bread at a Tesco Express this morning. Frankly tissue paper has more flavour and body to it. We make our own bread back home. You can't beat it!I have been to Cowley St today for
David Miliband has been urged by US Human Rights campaigners to review the 'unfair' and 'lopsided' extradition treaty following the case of Gary McKinnon. Given the events that have taken place this week one can only hope that people in Britain will soon be calling for a long overdue review of the 'unfair' and 'lopsided' relationship ...
Thu 27th
21:08
In reply to 'Angry Harry' - Because the strive for gender equality is worth the effort...
In a recent blog post of mine, about the need for Feminism, the so called 'Angry Harry' , commented providing me with a link to a somewhat angry rant about how trying to achieve gender equality is a complete waste of time. I have replied to the comment, but I felt that it warranted its own separate blog post (but the comment forms the framework of this blog), as the claims on the website, are to be frank, quite absurd. I do agree, there will never be complete equality, but there needs to be greater equality. It is totally wrong ...
[IMG: Cleveland Tower, Holloway Head] This evening I was invited to speak at the Cleveland Tower Residents Meeting. Cleveland Tower is one of a pair of giant 32-storey residential tower blocks on Holloway Head, owned by Optima. About 20 residents came along to discuss issues largely related to Optima. The atmosphere was quite emotional due to an issue with a popular concierge. I spoke about the massive response I'd had to my recent residents survey, with issues largely related to anti-social behaviour, both in the block and the surrounding areas. I invited the residents to come and discuss their concerns ...
Lynne Featherstone has a posting describing a visit she paid today to a summer school that the independent Highgate School runs for children from state schools in Camden and Haringey. She says it is intended, amongst other things, to "raise horizons" and reports that: two of the girls from Haringey 6th form college, said it was fantastic to be able to learn in a learning environment where they didn't get put down for being interested in studying.This is all very depressing. Why can't state schools raise children's horizons off their own bats? And if you get put down for being ...
How far would you go to right a wrong or fight oppression? Civil disobedience? Criminal damage? Murder? Mass murder? Acts of 'terrorism'? And how do you define 'terrorism'? How many times has it been said that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter? Should we use only peaceful means to shrug off oppression? Were the ...
Having snuck off for a few days in Croatia I have rediscovered the virtues of sloth when it comes to blogging. The sunshine helps lift the clouds of gloom that I feel as I contempate my own country, though this may be partly because the Croatians are more or less totally relaxed about anything, despite the fairly parlous state of affiars here. I think that they probably do not have a word as urgent as "manana" in Spanish. Certainly in the fifteen or so years that I have been coming here there is still much that remains totally unaltered. As ...
Another motion on the agenda at Bournemouth next month is The Future Of Devolution, proposed by the Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrats. This is OK as far as it goes, but there is one glaring hole in it, which is that the motion focuses only on Scotland and Wales. There's absolutely no mention of that big bit directly below Scotland and to the right of Wales - what's it called again? Oh yes, England. To have a motion about devolution which doesn't mention the single biggest bit of the UK seems somewhat naive, and possibly a little dangerous given the ...
I always thought that I was proud to be British/ English. I was proud to celebrate St George's Day, always attending St George's Day parade. I was once told I was the only person who didn't need to look at the words of the third verse (commonly referred to as the second verse) whilst singing the National Anthem. I stand in silence every year in remembrance of the fallen and I cheer the English
Is this really the headline we want to see as the Liberal Democrat response to Lord Turner's call for taxation to be used to curb the power of the City? The BBC News story that follows it: Mr Clegg said there were real questions marks about the "workability" of a UK-only bank tax, given that most banks operated across national borders and in many countries. "It has been debated for many years and it has a lot of practical problems," he told the BBC. There are a lot of practical problems with any ambitious policy. That does not sound like ...
I have been through the village of Castle Rising a couple of times on the way to the North Norfolk coast. This time I got off the bus there. What I had seen was the pub and teashop. What you see less well from the road are the 17th century almshouses (worthy of a post in their own right) and the castle itself. It dates from the 12th century and the enormous bulk of the keep is a remarkable survival. It had a chequered early history but has slumbered in rural obscurity for centuries. The castle is surrounded by a ...
The Guardian reports on a volient incident in Loughton, Essex: Racist attackers abducted a Muslim community leader at knifepoint, bundled him into a car and threatened his life unless he stopped running prayer sessions in a community hall that has been the target of a British National party campaign. Police have confirmed they are treating the incident as a hate crime and are investigating links with an earlier firebomb attack on the same man's home. ... A BNP campaign has been blamed for rising tensions in the area. The party has been leafleting the area warning of "Islamification" which it ...
One thing I do not agree with the Leadership of my Party (on a personal basis), or the Tories for what it's worth is on reducing the number of MPs that end up in the House of Commons. Currently an MP represents an area with approximately 70,000 people living there, what started me on this tonight is Councillor Chris White (for those on Twitter @ChrisWhite17) who is tweeting direct from Nick Clegg's latest Town Hall meeting in St. Albans. Now, if you want to see Nick Clegg's plan to Take Back Power and restore democracy go here. I agree with ...
I've finally got around to reading the new Lib Dem policy paper Real Women today. On the whole, I think it's pretty good stuff. It tackles issues that affect women, without making me as a man feel I'm engaged in a massive conspiracy against the entire female population. It proposes lots of sensible, practical ways in which to enable women to improve their own lives. But there are flaws in the motion that Lib Dem federal conference will be discussing next month when we get together in Bournemouth. There are parts of it which assume that some of the problems ...
At long last Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is relaunching one of Redcar's most popular attractions - the Coatham Boating Lake following an extensive refurbishment programme which has seen the restoration of the historic footbridge and the introduction of new wildlife habitats. New inflatable battery-operated boats for children will be available to hire for the Bank Holiday weekend, with plans to run the attraction until the end of September, and model boat enthusiasts have also been able to return to the waters for regular sessions. Work has included the introduction of a new feature promenade wall, which offers shelter and ...
The Mayor of Baltimore responds to Chris Grayling's comments, and proves that she's got a sense of humour. Or humor, given that she's American. o present a television show as the real Baltimore is to perpetuate a fiction that dishonours our city. It is as pointless as boasting that Baltimore has a per capita homicide rate a fraction of that in the popular UK television show Midsomer Murders. (via Liberal Conspiracy) At this rate, I give it a week before Boris Johnson is putting out a statement claiming responsibility for the fact that London hasn't suffered an alien attack at ...
Three stories today – see if you can spot the blatant connection. First up, the first R: Remand. Lib Dem research today revealed that over a million kids have been convicted of a criminal offence over the last decade, with a further million cautioned since Labour came to power in 1997. Here's the breakdown of figures as revealed in an answer to a Lib Dem parliamentary question: * 1,033,454 children aged between 10 and 17 have been convicted of a criminal offence since 1997. This includes almost 30,000 10 to 12 year olds. * The number of 10 to 12 ...
As a bit of follow up to last night's post about rent-a-quote organisations, today throws up some interesting media guidelines on reporting the Taxpayers' Alliance (pdf file), from The Other Taxpayers Alliance. The flowchart on how to get a quote for your story is particularly amusing. (Original link from Anton Vowl on Twitter)
This weekend is Manchester Pride. It is a time for LGBT people to celebrate diversity with our straight brothers and sisters. I'd like to highlight one thing. The `Gay Village` has in its borders Sackville Park with a sitting statue of a man holding an apple. The statue depicts Mr Alan Turing. Why? Turing is often considered ...
Here's a new one to add grist to I Hate Ryanair's mill – truancy rates are on the rise as more parents pull children out of school to take advantage of cheap holidays, reports the Telegraph: Almost 68,000 pupils in England are missing classes every day, an increase of 7,000 compared with the same period last year, it was disclosed. The rise was fuelled by term-time holidays, suggesting more parents are looking for cut-price deals in the economic downturn. According to official figures, family breaks accounted for the largest number of school absences after illness. David Laws, the Lib Dems' ...
Nothing at all to do with politics in this post, just congratulations to people who've done well. To all the people who've achieved the grades they wanted in today's exam results - Congratulations to you all. A special mention goes to the two young people I know, my nephew Mark and the daughter of my fellow ward councillor, Hayley. I saw how much effort went into getting those grades and you
Over the last couple of weeks an anonynmous blogger calling themselves "Agent Orange" has sent me a couple of emails DEMANDING I answer them or be damned.Quite honestly, anybody who hides behind a pseudonym gets little truck from me, and especially given the company Agent Orange keeps. Below I publish Agent Orange's latest missive, just to take away from them the enjoyment of thinking they are a
Tracy Corrigan, who writes for the Telegraph on banking and the like, is excited. While walking her dog on Sunday she discovered that a Tesco Express is about to open, not 50 yards from her house. She foresees a future liberated from the boredom of ordering the same items week after week online because she ...
Yesterday, along with a number of other councillors (from both Dundee City Council and Fife Council), I attended a briefing with BEAR Scotland about the road maintenance and junction improvement project in East Dock Street and Broughty Ferry Road. Although to the east of the West End Ward, this major project will impact on the West End with an increase of traffic on Riverside Drive and possible congestion at the Swallow roundabout. This is because trunk traffic from the Tay Bridge going to the north of Dundee will be diverted via Riverside Drive and the Kingsway during the works. I ...
[IMG: IMG_0072[1]] I was contacted earlier this week by a constituent frustrated by the fact a skip had been "parked" on a section of double-yellow line on Granby Gardens for two weeks. As he pointed out to me in an email: "if I'd parked my car in the same spot two weeks ago and left it there, the windscreen would now be festooned with parking tickets, & I'd be facing hefty fines...what's different about xx skip company? why are they exempt from the law?" He's absolutely right. The law says that skips should not be left on 'restricted' areas at any time.So ...
Gave a video presentation on Power of Information to event in Australia http://bit.ly/rXocz #poit #openaustralia #theyworkforyou
It must be the silly season, as the story of Mr. Simpkins and the copulating confectionery graces the inside pages of the national papers today. The story came from a letter to the Mail, which turned it into a piece of editorial with the positively restrained headline of 'Father's fury over 'pornographic' sweet wrappers'. The Sun's ...
[IMG: Stationers Park - Mayfield Road gate] Earlier today I went to Stationers Park to meet with the Council's Head of Parks to discuss what can been done about security following the recent vandalism (see previous post). As a result its been agreed that the Parks department will convene a meeting between the police, local residents and parks officers to try look at ways of ensuring residents get a better response when there are problems in the park. I hope this meeting will help local residents on Mayfield Road and Denton Road get action and commitments out of the Council ...
One of the big gripes about the way that first past the post works is that it guarantees jobs for life for MPs who represent safe seats. Nick Clegg is right to bring this issue up again today as being one of the reasons why the expenses scandal had became so ridiculous and why politics across Britain has become so stagnant. Naturally, in debates about this, commentary is going to focus on Wales and Scotland, which have alternative voting systems, in both cases the Additional Member System (AMS). People cite this as a system which provides proportionality as well as ...
On 25th August Teignbridge Council will be posting voter registration forms to all 57,000 households within the district, marking the start of this year's annual canvass of electors. Households will be required to submit details of all eligible persons who will be resident at a property on the qualifying date of 15th October 2009.
This has been one of my main interests in politics for many years now. A New Zealand academic has offered up some useful suggestions. On his Liberation blog, Bryce Edwards has been summarizing and commenting on chapters from Informing Voters? Politics, Media and the New Zealand Election 2008 (edited by Chris Rudd, Janine Hayward and Geoff Craig of the University of Otago Politics department). He says that "'Vote for Me'", the chapter by Dr Claire Robinson on political advertising, is one of the most interesting in the book. Having read a lot of Dr Robinson's material and had the benefit ...
One of the most common blogging questions I get asked is: I'm thinking of starting a blog. What would you recommend? The basic answer is simple: for a straight-forward blog, particularly if you don't have much in the way of technical skill (or you have the skill but not the time), either Blogger or WordPress.com blogs will do a basic job and they do it for free. However, if your blog either becomes a bit of a success and you want to do more with it, or if you've got any very particular requirements, you're likely to pretty quickly run ...
People working is generally considered a 'good thing' by government. But that doesn't always work out. Some people end up unemployed and this is generally considered 'bad'. This is my understanding of economics in the form of a weak opening paragraph. So you would think that the government would be keen to get those who find themselves unemployed back into work and contributing to the economy again. They make a lot of noise about wanting to fight unemployment and get people back into work. But for some people, getting into work isn't that easy, particularly if you've been made redundant.. ...
There's an interesting discussion between Alex and Mark in the comments on this post about Daniel Hannan's latest bit of controversy. However, beyond the question of whether Hannan was using the name of Enoch Powell as a codeword or dog whistle for various people on the hard right, there's an interesting question of what his overall aim is. Is he just riding the fifteen minutes of fame he got from his YouTubed rant about Gordon Brown, grasping all the wingnut welfare he can before the short attention span moves on to someone else, or is he trying something more? It's ...
Matthew Parris writes in today's Times that Gordon Brown has resigned. Before you hurry back to your constituency to prepare for an election, let me clarify. Parris writes: Weird-sounding to say this, I realise, but I have the strongest of impressions that Mr Brown has already resigned. I'm not sure on what level I mean that — whether perhaps I just mean he is resigned; or that he has taken a mental step still to be followed up by action; or that an agreement has been reached but has yet to be disclosed. But of one thing I'm strangely sure: ...
A bear in Colorado fell into a skateboarding park overnight and they had to put a ladder in for it to climb out! The BBC has the pictures.
I think it's time we sketched out our views on a new democratic contract. We all know about PR but what about the balance of power between Central Government and Local Government/Regions and Scotland/Wales? People are asking serious questions on the subject on OUTeverywhere (partly by my prompting). What are the answers apart from on the `make ...
If you glance at the headline of the last posting `Lynne, where should a lapdancing club be sited?` and mistakenly thought `Lynne, where do you sit on lapdancing clubs?`!
Engineers say a forest of 100,000 "artificial trees" could be deployed within 10 to 20 years to help soak up the world's carbon emissions. According to the BBC Website. These are huge grey things about the size of shipping containers that could line our motorways. My question is... Why dont we just use real trees.!
The Guardian hosted a seminar yesterday, co-sponsored by Unlock Democracy, on Moving towards an Elected House of Lords, at which the star performer was the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, interviewed by Guardian journalist Jonathan Friedland. Although there was inevitably quite a bit of discussion about the Government's 2008 white paper on the issue, the Secretary ...
With conference season approaching, it does leave me to wonder what they achieve beyond being a get together for the party delegates. In particular though, with Labour and Tory conferences being about talking from the leadership and listening for the delegates, are they a shop window for the public on the way parties operate and are they part of the problem with politics today ? Taking the conferences in order, the Liberal Democrat conference is always the first to be held, but it is also the most democratic and open of all the party conferences. The Lib Dems do actually ...
I visited Highgate School summer school this morning. Highgate, which is one of the foremost independent schools in the country, for a long time was relatively segregated from the rest of the community of schools in Haringey. With the arrival of a new head a little while back, Adam Pettitt, that changed hugely. Combining its community responsibility and its academic status - Highgate now runs a summer school for children from other schools in Haringey and Camden from years 10 and 12 - to raise horizons, benefit from top academic input, learn life skills like negotiation, team-working and so on. ...
How long have people been talking about the effects of global warming and climate change on the environment? Well there was the Limits to Growth argument in the 60s/70s, which pessimistically (but could be proven to be quite correct) theorised that the world would eventually run out of resources. This argument was however, taken over by the 1987 WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development) definition of sustainable development, which saw environment and economic development as compatible. The Limits to Growth argument has returned in deep ecologist movements, but the WCED definition of sustainable development remains central to political discussions ...
Published today is the Patients' Association report today that says that patients are often treated rudely, left to wet themselves, have their call buttons taken away, etc - and that it is nurses who deliver such abuse. Let me first say that many nurses do a brilliant job and are often very hard pushed for time. They have a lot of clinical work to do, particularly on high-dependency wards, but also have to spend a great deal of time form-filling. Clearly, however, there are something like 200,000 patients each year whose treatment is completely unacceptable. We would all be horrified ...
The Times carries this story; "The BNP has not declared a single donation, despite claiming at the time of the European elections to have a vast war chest. In the elections in June, the far-right party achieved its best result, gaining two seats in the European Parliament after a aggressive leafleting around the country. In May Nick ...
I am genuinely sad, Channel 4 have announced next year's Big Brother will be the last. What will I do - I may need counselling, but how else will I get my entertainment fix late at night through the summer months. Hopefully it will just be rested and will make a comeback at some point.
A new Yougov poll of Scotland puts the Lib Dems on 16% in Holyrood constituency voting. I'm sure we can do better than that, but it's a good start. There've been some fairly dire polls this year (that 9% one was very unpleasant indeed) but clearly our message about the SNP's failures on Megrahi is ...
Thu 27th
10:14
Tarantino re-writing Gunfight at the OK Corral couldn't have done any better than this
Post of the day, bar none, comes from Scott aka loveandgarbage, who actually finds a worthwhile use for twitter in his total destruction of Tory A-list candidate and writer of vapid s&f novels Louise Bagshawe. Scott's posts on Lockerbie and the al-Megrahi case, written with first-hand experience and taken from the legal rather than the political angle, have been of a consistently high standard, but here he excels himself. This is a blog that deserves to be far better known; read the post and marvel. Funny that we should have been talking about Bagshawe amongst, er, other things, yesterday, annajaneclare; ...
Irfan today, has made a post about Liberal Youth. Unfortunately, it seems like he's taking his information solely from Tory Bear. Right. To be honest, I wouldn't take any info from Tory Bear, who focuses solely on the negative (obviously). I'm not a member of the Liberal Youth Executive in London. I am a member of the Executive in IR Cymru, the Welsh wing. And having been working closely with some of the people in London, I can assure Irfan that the team is acting brilliantly, this year. Okay, there are the usual problems with delayed communication and the occasional ...
Or, when homophones attack! I woke up this morning to find The Today Programme announcing that Lord Turner, Chair of the Financial Services Authority, wanted attacks on bankers with excessive bonuses. Woozily, I heard that because people like Fred Goodwin were "socially useless," it would be fine to vandalise his Edinburgh home, as happened a few months ago, or perhaps give the man a good going-over with a baseball bat. If the FSA Chair - who's worked with these scum for so many years - has now concluded this is the only language they understand, who was I to disagree? ...
I know that Lynne needs to keep up the edge on the opposition by taking part in as many community campaigns as possible. I guess it's called representing people. I can't help but find her latest blog unhelpful: Can she tell me: a) where in her area would a lapdancing club be sensitively situated? b) How is it different ...
Tory MEP Dan Hannan is in trouble again. In an interview with reason.tv (an internet TV channel) he cited Enoch Powell as one of his political influences stating that he: Understood the importance of national democracy, who understood why you need to live in an independent country and what that meant, as well as being a free marketeer and a small government Conservative. Of course the reason why Mr Hannan's remarks could be construed as contentious is because of what Enoch Powell is so famous for, his "Rivers of blood" speech in 1968 which did much harm to race relations ...
Nick Clegg has today penned an article for The Daily Telegraph urging the Labour and Tory parties to take action to reform Parliament in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal. Here's an excerpt: The new political season is beginning. Spring and early summer were defined by the expenses scandal, but what will the autumn be like? Will demand for change continue or will the political establishment succeed in sweeping it under the carpet? ... In the spring I set out a100-day plan for radical change: giving people the right to sack their MP, getting big money out of politics, ...
[IMG: Obama website screenshot] I've recently answered a few questions about political parties and their use of social media, sent to me by Vincent Bailey, a student at Cardiff University completing a masters degree in Political Communication. He is looking at the use of new media by the main three parties in the UK, with reference to the Obama campaign. As it's a topic of wider interest, I thought I'd share my answers to his questions more widely: Firstly, it would be impossible to do a study of this kind without mentioning Obama after the success of his campaign last ...
Even before Labour's NEC has decided whether the shortlist for the vacancy as Labour PPC for Darlington will be open or all-female, and some three months before local members are expected to get a vote on the matter, the Northern Echo reports today that it "understands that Roger Baker...will succeed Alan Milburn to defend the seat at the next General Election."Apparently, Roger Baker, as well as
Earlier this month, Lib Dem Voice asked our readers – who, I cannot emphasise enough, may or may not be Lib Dem supporters – what you think the next general election holds in store for the Lib Dems? Here's what you told us: 24% (116 votes): An increase in % vote and an increase in seats 22% (103): An increase in % vote but a decrease in seats 12% (57): A decrease in % vote but an increase in seats 42% (201): A decrease in % vote and a decrease in seats. Total Votes: 477 Poll ran: 7th-24th August 2009 ...
I am sorry to say it, but past experiences in a Lib Dem world so to speak, has really made me think that true equality is never attainable. To achieve this, we would have to destroy the entire culture that our society is based upon, and start afresh, in a world where women are not seen as the originator of sin, or that their two most suitable locations, is that of the kitchen and the bedroom. Of course, there are other women in the Liberal Democrats. But, what I am really referring to, is the way that I and most ...
It is the time of year when everyone gets overexcited by blogging awards. The Total Politics poll. The Lib Dem Blog of the Year. The Mrs Joyful Prize for Raffia Work. I am pleased to find that I was suspicious of the Lib Dem awards when they first appeared. This year Nich Starling has gone so far as to ask people not to nominate him. He writes: Last year I wrote in Iain Dale's guide to political blogging that I felt the awards were too self congratulatory, rather too on message, and the judges rather self selecting in that the ...
If you go down to the Pleasance tonight, you better go in disguise. If you do down to the Pleasance tonight, you're in for a big surprise. For every blogger that ever there was* Is gathered there this evening because Today's the day the MacBlogosphere has its fringe meet up. Yeah, rumours that I will once again be propping up the bar at the Pleasance Courtyard may well be true. I've only talked to a few famous people there over the weeks Marcus Brigstocke, Lionel Blair, Paul Merton, Mike McShane, Stephen K Amos, Peter Duncan, Jon Richardson. But tonight I ...
My friend Caron wrote yesterday that the passing of the Senior Senator for Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy was the lose of a great liberal. Maybe it is because my first memory of him was somewhat different that the many liberal things he did were tinged with a rather darker side in my eye. One of Ted Kennedy's last acts for to write along with 6 other Senators that letter asking Scottish Justice Mnister Kenny MacAskill not to release al-Megrahi. That letter cited the feelings of the American families. However, the man was also the same man who said the British should ...
his morning I'm too busy to write anything substantial. This has been caused by – would you believe it – having an oversupply of work. How excellent. But I just thought I'd pass some comment on a few of the things that caught my attention... Very sad news about Senator Kennedy. I hope America gets his dying ...
I have personally lost all faith in the people who run Liberal Youth; I know many will think that I am just saying this because I am a reader of Tory Bear but that is not the case. The problem is the Executive of the LY is run by a group who seem to think that youth politics is a joke, and anything is acceptable as long as it "helps" the party. I ask what the LY has done in comparison to Conservative Future on the campaign side of things. The Tories have been organising regular campaign days up and ...
Personally I liked a post from Guido that he posted yesterday and for that reason want to highlight some parts of it. Guido writes... Cameron rarely speaks about freedom, the Tories sound more like technocratic managerialists than freedom fighters...This comes following comments by a Tory party donor that Cameron and the Tories will set the people free. I agree with Guido, Cameron does rarely speak about freedom and that's why I would like to raise some questions. Cameron and the Tories are fighting for the end of the ID card system but I ask why? I know the simple answer ...
OK, so I went to Leeds Pride and had a really good time. And I'm tempted by Manchester Pride on Saturday. The thing is... Well, the two things are:I have to be at work for four, and I'm not sure I can be arsed marching and then dashing back to the car to get to work on time; andI have had 2 invitations to join marching groups, and I'm not sure which one to accept if I go. This is complicated by the fact that both people who have invited me to join their marching group could conceivably fit into ...
Even though we all knew that serious illness would take his life, it was still a shock to wake up to the news that Senator Edward Kennedy had died. Less charismatic than his two brothers he may have been, but in over 40 years in the American Senate he achieved so much, always motivated by a burning desire to help the underprivileged, and at the same time make society freer and fairer. In common with those great English and Welsh Liberals, Gladstone and Lloyd George, he had flaws, more publicised in the age of international mass media. His Liberalism never ...
Annie Lennox has informed us that politicians are "useless". She is deeply cynical of our politicians so it is not surprising that she has ruled herself out of becoming a politician. She has done politics a favour and encouraged people to become more involved but this rallying cry looks hollow to me. If you become a politician then you immediately fall into the useless category. If she is so passionate about her political causes then she should think about what she is saying. One of her causes is the rise of HIV in Africa. She feels that HIV would decrease ...
