Transport for London have released a revised tube map. They've added symbols for disabled access to the default map instead of making it a separate one. So far, so good. But they've removed the Thames. Now I've been a lover of Harry Beck's design since I first saw it as a child, and it is worth noting that the river has been a part of the schematic map since it was first created, back in 1931. Even the awful Hutchison redesign of November 1962 didn't try to remove it, so why TfL thought it was the right thing to do ...
A list of places I intend to be for the following week( is under the cut ) Some of those will probably fall by the wayside, though, especially given the distance between them and my limited mobility... Anyone got a spare chariot? It doesn't even have to have huge knives on the wheels...? By the way: if any of you are going to conference and wish to see me make a complete tit of myself by speaking to a packed hall, your best best is to vote for Greg and Gareth's Save Our Pubs emergency motion to be The Emergency ...
Tomorrow I'll be travelling to join thousands of Lib Dems from across the country in Bournemouth for our party conference. Last night, Islington Lib Dems previewed the conference debates at our latest Pizza & Politics evening. The Liberal Democrat party conference is unusual among the 3 main parties in that we do actually set party policy; ...
@JamesCousins on Twitter has drawn my attention to this story about an Uxbridge Conservative councillor who has been ousted by his local Tory party and barred from standing as a candidate by them because of a joke quiz he did on Facebook entitled: "How sexy am I?". This is a quote from Christopher White, branch chairman of Uxbridge Conservative Group: "There is the issue of your lack of judgment over inappropriate material being placed by you on the social networking site Facebook. With deep regret, we have decided not to reselect you as a council candidate for the 2010 council ...
Thousands of King's Cross residents are paying up to £130 too much for their water every year because Thames Water has not alerted them to the fact that they have the right to be placed on a cheaper tariff. Thames Water, responding to an information request from Jo Shaw and Lee Baker, local campaigners, revealed that ...
[IMG: nick-clegg] Nick Clegg's new pamphlet - The Liberal Moment - is certainly ambitious. Good. We need to make sure that the party doesn't end up in a comfort zone where 17-20% of the vote and a few dozen MPs is seen as an acceptable long-term position for the Liberal Democrats. But comparing this September's opinion polls with those of twelve months ago, the really remarkable thing is how little public opinion has changed. The Tories are in the low 40s, Labour in the mid 20s and we're in the high teens. That's an overall swing of about 5% or ...
An email pings in to The Voice's inbox to say: Which? is producing supplements for this year's party conferences, providing people with a one-stop guide to surviving Bournemouth, Brighton and Manchester... In the build up to the next General Election, it's important that the consumer voice is heard as each party develops its policies. All 45 million voters are also consumers, so each supplement includes the issues Which? wants to see on the political agenda - from better protection for savings to simpler energy bills and access to good quality dental care. Michelle Smyth, public affairs manager at Which? says: ...
In August I wrote about the lack of clarity and understanding shown by the Conservative PPC for Wallasey regarding the use of drugs and drug addiction. The Conservative policy regarding drug use is set out in their Plan for Social Reform, section 6.5.5 Tackling the causes of crime, drugs and alcohol. The Conservatives propose an ...
After work this evening I went to hear Vince Cable give a public lecture at Leicester University. The audience was a good mixture of academics, students and local Liberal Democrats. Speaking to the title "Is the Economic Crisis Over?", Vince gave his analysis of the causes of our current problems. They were the complexity of the financial instruments that the banks developed, the imbalance in the global economy (with high levels of savings in China and low levels in the West) and government complacency. He went on to say that, thus far, the government had absorbed the costs of the ...
I wrote this having completely forgotten I used to hide the bar on my old blog. Add this to your template in the CSS section: div.navbar { opacity:0.0; display:none; } That's it.
Cuts are coming. After this week that's clear. No longer is any mainstream political party pretending otherwise. What people deserve now is some straight talking about what cuts might be on the cards. The only party that's delivering that straight talking right now is the LibDems. Earlier in the week the LibDem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable outlined some early thinking about what might need to be cut, and his honesty and straight talking has won praise. You can read about those ideas HERE. The Economist's Bagehot blog declared Vince "the real winner" with "specific and credible ideas" for reining in spending. ...
On the eve of the prestigious Seafood & Wine Festival, Nick Perry, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, has been contacted with the stark message that Hastings fishermen have no more cod until January 2010. This is due to the UK Government's immoral position on the quota percentage for the under-10 metre sector. The ...
An envelope arrives in the post. It contains a ticket for a concert at Market Harborough Leisure Centre on Saturday night. On the bill? The Animals & Friends plus Spencer Davis. Yes, Spencer Davis is playing just around the corner from me, so I had to go. While I was on Harborough District Council I seconded the motion that got the Leisure Centre built. I always knew it would come in useful one day.
The Wapley Bushes Conservation Group is meeting on Sunday 20 September at the Shire Way gate at 10.00 am, finishing by about 12.30 pm. They will be doing some general conservation work such as tidying up a small stream that is the habitat of a very rare plant. Please come along and help! Tools are provided, but you'll need to wear wellies or stout footwear and appropriate clothing. If you would like more details please ring Paul on 01454 315851, but you can just turn up on the day.
David Marquand is offering the Liberal Democrats some advice, graciously for free, over on Our Kingdom. First of all he denounces us for having "more unelected legislators than elected ones" and concludes that this proves that we "can't be taken seriously as an agent of democratic change." Unbeknownst to anyone else until now, this is apparently the magic formula for testing whether party is establishment or not. On this formulation – praise the Lord! – Labour is the most anti-establishment party in the country. The fact that they happen to actually run everything is a mere detail that we can ...
This afternoon and this evening, spent time between Llanrwst and Llanddoged. Met some lovely people and again never met one Labour supporter. I think we identified one Tory. I have to say the areas we covered, we are running alongside Plaid which was very encouraging for me.
A load of manure has been dumped on Jeremy Clarkson's lawn. It was done by some Eco-protestors in protest at his "blasé" attitude to climate change. I would never leap to Clarkson's defence on virtually anything save his entertainment value. He's got a very amusing stock-in-trade and I enjoy his programmes and books. But I recoil from his views on climate change. Of course I do. But, he is an entertainer. He entertains very well. He can get away with dodgy views because it's Clarkson. So come on, you Eco-protesters. You're being silly. Clarkson and his family are entitled to ...
Hi all in an effort to improve my life i have moved my site to squarespace and the new URL please click herehttp://www.chrisjennings.me.uk
ATTENTION: features conference amendment! The Real Women policy paper which we'll be discussing on Saturday afternoon at Lib Dem Federal Conference is, on the whole, a very good one. It contains lots of proposals which will help make women's lives better, covering issues like safety, childcare, health and discrimination. But there is one significant part of the policy motion which is flawed and that's in the sections covering body image. Basically, the problem is that it seeks to use state legislation and regulation to tackle issues which can only really be addressed through processes of cultural change. As a result, ...
I am on the train from Newcastle to London, having just finished a full meeting of Gateshead Council. And what a great meeting it was! I feel energised and even more determined to put an end to Labour rule in the borough. And now that I have given up my Cowley St job, I have much more time to do it.Today's antics from Labour, led by Cllr Mick Henry, are good reasons alone why they should be
It is two days until the first game of the season for the Warlingham 4th XV and I'm feeling a mixture of optimism and nervousness. Optimistic, because it looks like I have got a massive squad of players available. Nervous because you can never tell whether they will all turn up. We also have a tricky season in store. I'm not entirely sure how we have managed to get thirty one names onto the team-sheet for a friendly against Croydon. Last time I think we travelled there with twelve. During the rugby season I seem to spend most of my ...
What to wear at conference is always a bit of an anxiety for me, and I guess other women candidates too. I've been far too busy campaigning to go clothes shopping recently, but packing induced mild panic: so I sublimated some of my last minute wardrobe worries with ordering a couple of extra things online. ...
On his must read blog, Mark Easton reveals how the Home Office managed to waste six years of research and £6,000,000 reviewing drugs education in schools. What happened?It emerges that they had failed to follow two of the most basic rules of such research:• Make sure your sample is large enough• Make sure you have a control group for comparison This is troubling. For drug reforms to work, they
Despite very much liking these on ebay, and having the offer of some to lend from Jo - except she can't get them to me before I set off for Conference - I shall be heading off to Argos to buy crutches soon to ensure I have them in time. And then dropping Holly off at my mum's for her week-long sleepover. And then off to Hebden Bridge for their Liberal Drinks event. Whose idea was it to have it on the eve of Conference? I blame YOU John Beacroft-Mitchell! :P This blog is proudly sponsored by
If you ever wanted to know what Birmingham's city centre looks like from the sky then you can now view this 3D fly through built by Digital Urban using Google Earth. It actually looks fairly realistic and I was able to recognise individual buildings (even from the unfamiliar angle!).And while we are on the subject of fly throughs... Thanks to the Birmingham Mail, you can also see a fly through
At last, after several requests, there is a proper report on Sefton website about the state of the so called 'Cultural Centre'-the Library, Art Gallery and Arts Centre in Southport and the plans for the future. If you are interested please go and have a look. There have been time in the last couple of weeks when I have began to have an inkling about how whoever it was (Sisyphus ?) in Greek mythology felt. He was condemned to endlessly repeat the same task-in his case push a stone up a mountain and in mine repeat my request that the ...
I was always of the opinion that the Queen Mother was a rather spiteful women who did all she could to stop any kind of healing of wounds within the Royal family regarding the former King Edward VIII whilst holding back the modernisation of the whole Royal setup. On top of this, she lived a good life at our expense indulging her lavish tastes whilst employing people of questionable moral standards. So I was not in the least surprised today to read in the Queen Mother's offical biography that she disliked talk of money (so she could avoid any fiscal ...
Former Plaid Cymru Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas today called for the UK government to scrap the Trident replacement, arguing that the money should be spent on domestic affairs which would result in more money coming to Wales as a consequence of the Barnett Formula. It's a shame that Rhodri's former colleague, the other Rhodri didn't think so. First Minister Rhodri Morgan argues that it is inappropriate for the Welsh government to lobby the UK government on non-devolved matters, even if they have a trickle-down effect on Wales. There's a simple answer to this little predicament: independence. If Wales was an ...
The scandal provoked by MPs' dodgy expenses claims earlier this year led to unprecedented professions of interest in constitutional reform on the part of the three main parties. For the Liberal Democrats, unlike the other two parties, this was set in the context of a long record of advocating constitutional change; hence the party's contributions to the debate carried more credibility than most. However, amid the flurry of proposals for parliamentary reform, very little of the debate addressed the English Question: the issue of how England should be governed as a nation, taking into consideration the impact on England and ...
Oh dear, Ian Swanson is having his misogynistic and sexists wiles again. Remember back in July when I took exception to his failure to mention any potential female candidates to fill John Barrett's Lib Dem seat in Edinburgh West? Well he's at it again. The shortlist was announced yesterday, to be honest I was sitting on the news, at least until the party made any formal announcement. But the names are out in the Scotsman. In alphabetical order there are Mike Crockart, Paul Eadie, Siobhan Mathers and Euan Robson. All four are names that have been before the Edinburgh Electorate ...
Thu 17th
14:56
Sign the Downing Street petition to stop the "Vetting and Barring scheme" #StopVetting
I submitted a petition on Sunday to the Downing Street website calling on the Prime Minister to halt the implementation of the "Vetting and Barring scheme". As I have blogged about before I think the scheme is a complete overreaction and will cause bigger problems in society than it seeks to solve. However as of this morning I had still not heard anything from the Downing Street website and was starting to get concerned that they might be ignoring me. However a quick glance at the new petitions soon explained it. A Mr Oliver Hodson has beaten me to it ...
My first speech of the new session in the Parliament was a call for action against Israel's continuing economic siege of Gaza. Nothing is being allowed through the checkpoints for reconstruction, for business, or to create jobs and foster hope (no wonder extremist attitudes grow). "1.5 million people are being subjected to collective punishment," I said. The following day the UN inquiry into Israel's assault on Gaza concluded that the incursion was "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity...and to force upon it an ever-increasing sense of dependency ...
Membership of the various European Parliament delegations that maintain links with our opposite numbers around the world has just been announced. I'm back as a full member on the delegation to Palestine and I'm a new, second tier, member on the one to Israel. More intrusive security checks at Ben Gurion airport beckon. Joy. I had better keep an eye on my blood pressure. The sense of outrage at the injustice experienced by Palestinians is never diluted by frustration at their inability to unite sufficiently to speak with one voice. To that may now be added the pleasure of observing ...
Over the last week or so, Lib Dem Voice has invited the members of our private forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions about the party and the current state of British politics. Many thanks to the c.250 of you who completed it; we're publishing the results on LDV over the next few days. You can catch up on the results of our exclusive LDV members' surveys by clicking here. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the satsfaction ratings with the Lib Dem ...
Adam Posen's discussion of the sequencing of exit strategies - and how they need to be coordinated at the G20. Credible commitments to medium-term fiscal consolidation should precede monetary tightening to pre-empt Volcker-Reagan policy mismatches, which drive up interest rates. The desired structure of the banking system has to be decided before tax policies are changed, since it plays a key role in revenue creation - but actual bank privatisation must wait until tax policies are clearly set, or else you end up driving away buyers. It touches on a discussion I've been having with Anthony over on Freethinking Economist: ...
[IMG: johnbarrett] News reaches me via the interweb that a shortlist of four has been drawn up as to who will be the likely Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West after the General Election. The lucky four are: Paul Edie (social care convener) Euan Robson (former Scottish Government minister) Mike Crockart (ex-policeman) Siobhan Mathers (party policy convener) Current MP John Barrett is standing down at the election. Rumours of a late bid from Irfan Ahmed have yet to be corroborated.
I haven't yet had either the time or the energy to read through the entire 92 pages of Nick Clegg's new pamphlet, "The Liberal Moment." I will do and I'll write more about it later when this horrible cold that's floored me these last few days has subsided a bit. What he does in those pages is quite simple - he basically says that it's time now for the Liberal Democrats to become the rallying point for those who want to see a society which has social justice, civil rights and fairness at its heart. He takes apart David Cameron's ...
Ankle did not miraculously get better overnight. Went to the hospital, had x-ray, no fracture (I told them there wasn't a fracture, and that seemed to be what spurred them into sending me for an x-ray). After 3 hours of buggering about they put a tubigrip on it, and told me not to use it for 48 hours and then gradually bring it in to use, with no running, climbing or other heavy use for at least 3 weeks. That's fine, I said, just hand me my crutches and I'll be off... Oh no, I can't have crutches. Apparently I ...
[IMG: mc-commons-cropped] Sir Menzies Campbell has taken part in a roundtable discussion attended by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, on the issue of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Commenting after the meeting Sir Menzies said: "This was a remarkable opportunity for an exchange of views on a non-partisan basis on one of the most pressing military and foreign policy issues of the time. "The opportunity for a cross the board reduction of nuclear weapons across the world and the promotion of the cause of non-proliferation has never been greater. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review ...
So there was me complaining about paternity and maternity leave divides in recent posts, to then see Jo Swinson post a comment on Facebook saying: "Jo Swinson MP has welcomed plans announced by the Government this week to grant six months' paternity leave to fathers, but said more needs to be done to allow parents to ...
Whilst I was away in Portugal, not only did I discover that Portugal have very liberal drug laws - possession of any drugs seems to be allowed but both Argentina and Mexico liberalised their drug laws. I was remind of this whilst waiting for my bus this morning and wondering why the bloke at the bus stop was smoking a spliff before 8am - not that I mind, I was more stunned by the earliness of it all.
The Council has decided to change the days on which recycling is collected and this will affect residents in many parts of Launceston. SITA, the contractors, have streamlined their routes and from 2nd November, all recycling in the Launceston area will be collected fortnightly on a Tuesday. The earliest collections will be at 7am and will stretch through the day. Normal household waste collections will not be affected. They will continue to happen every week as at present. Garden waste collections will not change. At the moment, garden waste is collected on the same day as recycling (but by a ...
Here's my absolute, most important top tip for people attending conference – pack sensible shoes. I cannot emphasise this enough. You will be spending much of your time on your feet, and you will be schlepping wearily from venue to venue. Bits of Bournemouth are hilly, so you will also be trekking up a small cliff to switch from conference hall to fringe meetings. If you just pack strappy shoes, or dress shoes, or the ones that look good with your suit but are murder on your toeses, you will spend the week in agony. Pack comfy trainers. Include the ...
Meeting about Wallington Library Wall Cllr. Bailey & I met with Steve Winsor the library manager and Iris Tomlin & Graham Fudge of the Friends of Wallington Library and Gardens to discuss the wall in front of the library entrance. Plants had previously adorned the top of this wall however the plants were regularly vandalised or ...
[IMG: guidobeer] A swift reminder of the TWO Liberal Vision events at this year's hotly-anticipated Liberal Democrat Grand Conference. Come to both. They are as follows: EVENT 1 - GUIDO! GREG DYKE! LORD TEVERSON! TESSA MUNT! All there to answer YOUR questions.Sunday 20th Sept 1300-1400 Highcliff Marriott Hotel : Purbeck Suite (Bournemouth) Moats, mortgages and mayhem: the expenses scandal Come and join the discussion about the biggest political scandal of the year. How has it changed the attitudes of the electorate? Have the Lib Dems done enough to put our own house in order? With Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes), ...
As speculation grows as to when or even if Rhodri Morgan announces his retirement, the various candidates are already lining up their campaigns. Betsan Powys reports on her blog that two websites are already registered ready for the battle ahead. Carwyn4Labour.com is registered to Carwyn Jones, National Assembly, Cardiff, Wales, CF99 1NA just six days ago, whilst Edwina4Labour.com was created and registered yesterday. Betsan says that the administrative contact for Edwina's site is Mark Ronconi of Business Web Marketing of Upper Killay in Swansea which is interesting because that surname also crops up in relation to a member of Andrew ...
[IMG: hayek] The Road to Serfdom is well known as an inspiration to classical liberals, libertarians and free market conservatives. However, on publication it was praised with great warmth by John Maynard Keynes, the economist and government adviser, often taken as a mascot by social liberals and social democrats. Hayek's intention at that time was to reduce the influence of socialists and expand the appeal of classical liberalism in all parties. Hayek suggests that state welfare, public services, and regulation of the economy, are compatible with democracy and individual rights, so long as they are not part of an attempt ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: "We're back. Sorry it took so long" - with that simple message Habitat returned to using Twitter on Tuesday after its unfortunate experience with Twitter earlier this year. Having been widely criticised before, this time Habitat looks to be working hard to get things right. Immediately following that initial comment - which hits just the right note - Habitat then got stuck in to responding to many other people, using Twitter as a two-way tool. Messages such as "We'll try and respond to all @replies but we're expecting a lot today, so bear with us" ...
The BBC News online scrolling headline at the moment says: BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Brown's spokesman says PM has 'full confidence' in Baroness Scotland. In football parlance us fans knows that 'full confidence' from the board usually comes a matter of days before the manager leaves the club by 'mutual' agreement. She may be hopeful that the Raith Rover's fan isn't a football club board, after the news that the Attorney General's housekeeper did not have the legal right to work in the UK. Or then again...
Okay, a message for all those attending Lib Dem Conference in Bournemouth this coming week. Here are the photo ops I am running which are open to all Conference members to attend: Sunday 20th 3pm-4pm: Lynne Featherstone, knife crime Monday 21st 10.30-11.30am: Simon Hughes, environment/carbon footprint/Guardian 10:10 Monday 21st 12pm-1pm: Tim Farron, fair trade/farming Tuesday 22nd 2.30-3.30pm
I'm always pretty dubious of political histories written by one side or another - just one reason why I wouldn't attempt to write one myself. Nick Clegg's new pamphlet, The Liberal Moment, certainly suffers on this score. It pushes a certain view of the Labour and Conservative philosophies and histories which, whilst not wrong, is clearly biased. To be fair to Nick (and I must be that), he does make clear that he accepts the broad church nature of the main British political parties, and that the boundaries between parties, not to mention competing philosophies, are far from being distinct. ...
The CAB has launched a new Islington telephone advice service for local people needing help with legal or money problems. Call 0844 856 3537 between 10am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Thu 17th
11:34"Science reporting: Is it good for you?" - event review - Ben Goldacre and Lord Drayson debate (#Sci...
I attended an event last night at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (the place where they do the wonderful Christmas lectures from) which was a debate between the science minister Lord Drayson and the "Bad Science" writer and blogger Dr Ben Goldacre. I am a big fan of Ben's and I follow his "Bad Science" column and blog regularly. I have also read his book of the same title and would readily recommend it to anybody who wants to try and understand more about the scientific process and how it can be misrepresented in the media. However I did ...
If you clicked on this hoping for some in-depth political analysis from a seasoned commentator drawing on the full range of German daily newspapers - then stop reading here. Hardbitten politico I am not; my grasp on the minute-by-minute situation as a time-pressed mother of a toddler with no voting rights (as a UK citizen) is tenuous. Nonetheless, in these pre-election weeks, it would be hard not to pick up on the political vibes in the air and catch some of the excitement; even the discussions round the sandpit in our local park have been touching on party politics in ...
While everyone else heads off to Conference, I'm heading north for a few days, to hopefully get to spend some time in the Lake District when it doesn't feel like a holy tome's worth of rain is falling around me. There are a few posts cued up for when I'm gone to keep you happy, but I'm sure you'll all be too busy in Bournemouth to care.
To the more eagle eyed amongst you - you will have noticed a distinct lack of blogging this week. There is a reason. I have a new website. I know - not before time. This one has stood me in good stead over the years - but it is time for change. Hopefully what you'll notice is that the site brings together my blog and website content into one place, whilst you can also now easily find information related to the particular areas within the constituency. For the more techie amongst my readers - it's one WordPress site, which brings ...
Interesting to see Nick publically admitting to a Lib-Lab pact of sorts in the 1997 General Election: "in 1997 we even agreed an informal pact not to campaign hard in areas where the other was more likely to defeat the Conservative candidate"(Page 31 of The Liberal Moment, in case anyone's interested). Nick does make it very clear that such a pact is not on the cards now.
Thu 17th
10:29
Keeping children safe - sign Downing Street Petition against new vetting and barring system
As you'll be aware, many of us in the Liberal Democrat blogosphere and beyond have been very concerned about the Government's plans to vet every volunteer who comes into contact with children. I, as the most over-anxious mum on the planet, wrote about how I didn't see how this system would make my child safer and how, actually, it could do a whole load of harm. Having been convinced of the iniquities of the system, it's then been harder to work out what on earth we could do about it. Mark showed how difficult it will be to campaign against ...
Ben Macintyre writes for Times Online on the history and reasons for keeping secrets. As regards the 10,000 people who kept the secret of Bletchley Park for all those years I note that the secrets I promised to keep whlest working for British Transport Police in the 1990s are still fully secure in my head!
James Graham has been making much noise proclaiming the end of Equi-distance thanks to a pamphlet written by Nick Clegg that's been published by Demos. He might be right, but it doesn't seem that way to me from what I've seen so far. Then again, I wasn't able to listen in to the briefing given to us bloggers, so perhaps this is why I've not yet put it into the proper 'context' so to speak. It's the most overt appeal to disillusioned Labour voters I've yet seen - specifically those 'New Labour' voters that fell to the charms of Tony ...
Today saw the publication of Nick Clegg's Demos pamphlet, The Liberal Moment, outlining his thoughts on progressive politics over the past century, moving forward to the future. The party's media office made the trusting (and canny) move to give a group of Lib Dem bloggers advance sight of the document, which means there's already been a vigorous response around the blogosphere. In chronological order, here are the posts to date (we'll add others as they appear): STOP PRESS: Nick Clegg ends Lib Dem equidistance (James Graham) Ultimately, I don't think the Lib Dems can hope to replace Labour until we ...
The Britain in Bloom results are out. Islington has scooped an impressive 10 awards, including Best in London. This is a proud achievement for any borough, but how fantastic for our small, densely populated one. Especially when you think that for all those years under Labour, the Council never bothered to enter, and criticised ...
You can tell it's a pre-conference week... on Monday, the Lib Dems' deputy leader Vince Cable launched the party's response to the fiscal crisis, while today Nick Clegg has published a major pamphlet with think-tank Demos outlining his thoughts on progressive politics. Titled The Liberal Moment it's available for download as a PDF dcument here. Nick also has an article in today's Times setting out his ambiton for the Lib Dems to replace Labour as the progressive party at a national level. Here's an excerpt: Today I am publishing a pamphlet, The Liberal Moment, in which I make a simple ...
With Brown finally admitting the need for cuts (despite the fact he knew it all along), there are prominent divisions amongst the Labour ranks that are appearing. As MPs start to strategically think about their own position, key ministers are starting to clearly think about the direction Labour should take and a possible Leadership bid. However, ...
Hi, well I posted yesterday on my other blog, but i just wanted to say again that my blog URL has changed to this address. I am also testing if the filter through to Lib Dem Blogs is working before I post my first blog on this site. Thanks
"Nick Clegg's suggesting that his party can lead the Left seems presumptuous. Yet his is right to make it and has made it in the right way." So says the lead editorial comment in this morning's Times. It comes on the day that Nick launches his pamphlet The Liberal Moment with Demos as well as writing an article in the Times outlying his themes. It opens with the questions: "Are you one of the millions who turned to new Labour in 1997? Were you excited by the progressive promise? Did you believe that the ideals of fairness, social mobility, sustainability, ...
Good morning. Today we remember the deaths of Hildegard von Bingen, and, centuries later, Laura Ashley; and today's birthday girl is Tessa Jowell. Two big stories A surprising number of newspapers seem to be leading with a story about how soon, we will all have the right to register with any GP we choose. I struggle to see why that's made so many front pages. Instead, my picks are the Independent's story about racism in the US, with President Carter weighing in on opposition to President Obama's current policy platform: After lurking near the surface of political discourse in America ...
Only a quick set of links today – we're busy at work at the moment – but I'll do a spotify playlist on Friday, my next Beatles review on Saturday, and probably a BFAW on Sunday. I may well post a lot this weekend actually – my wife's going away for the weekend, and a ...
I haven't got the time to read all of Clegg's Demos pamphlet until sometime next week, but the summary and the bits I have managed to read aren't exactly filling me with great confidence. It would appear that somehow both Liberal Democrats and Labour are 'progressive', despite disagreeing on almost everything. Apparently the 'lifeblood of progressive thought' (and I wish I had enough time to dissect that particularly bizarre metaphor) includes 'civil rights and internationalism', which would be two of the main issues we've been pointing out that Labour – the party of ID cards and siding with the neo-cons ...
Mark Oaten's autobiography "Screwing up" is published on 26th September and a large edited extract appeared in the Independent yesterday. From the extract, the book seems worth a read if only because it seems to have been approached from the viewpoint of searing honesty: Yet in the end the harsh truth was that there was no-one else to blame. Not a male escort, not the News of the World, just me. This is about the fifth iteration of all this. I was surprised, looking back in my archive, that it was actually June 2006 when Mark produced a Newsnight film ...
Nick Clegg today launched a new pamphlet - The Liberal Moment. You can download a copy from the party website. There it is billed as follows: This pamphlet is about the future of British politics. Specifically, it is about the future of progressive politics in Britain. It is obvious to most people that Labour's time is up. This Government displays all the hallmarks of a government running out of road - tired, ideologically incoherent, and internally fractured. The question for progressives is what comes next? Is it inevitable that the red-blue/blue-red pendulum of British politics must swing again away from ...
Just to let those of you in Colchester know, the next meeting of the Castle Neighbourhood Action Panel will be on Wednesday 23rd September, starting at 5pm in the North Committee Room of the Town Hall. Any residents can come along and raise issues that they want the NAP to deal with, or if you can't make it to the meeting, then please leave a comment or email me with your problem and I'll raise it for you. For more information see the Colchester Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership website.
I would never have believed that those six (seven?) words would ever pass my lips/fingers... but they have done. A couple of months ago I wrote this post in which I laid out my case that the system in this country was severely failing the working class. Yesterday Iain Duncan-Smith's work for the Centre for Social Justice ...
When unemployment fell in Wales compared to England there were many vocal Plaid Cymru bloggers and others claiming credit on behalf of their party leader. He was being hailed as an economic miracle worker or better despite the fact that the figures themselves were illusory. In fact the actual number of people in real jobs as opposed to the those registered as officially unemployed, and those who were economically active both fell. Well now that unemployment in Wales has risen by 7,000 over the three months to July, bringing the total to 116,000, at a rate slightly above the UK ...
It was written long ago, "your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And where there is no vision, life shall perish from the earth." Not least to my own surprise, I find myself this morning probably more confident than ever before that Liberal Democrats are the party that dares to dream and has ...
Today back in 1978 the Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin. I was at university and remember the sudden flowering of hope that many of us felt on that day. That is not to say ...
This is the continuation of my series of posts in response to the Lib Dems' Quality of Life consulation paper. Part one can be found here. Part two can be found here. 16. How can we actively promote 'good neighbour' policies? Noting that word "actively" my response is that we shouldn't. More equal societies tend to be more trusting societies but I'm not sure there's much we can or should do to force people to be good neighbours. The one thing we could do is scrap all legislation that is designed to tackle this thing called "anti-social behaviour." Criminal behaviour ...
Oh dear. Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I know people hate it when blogs get redesigned, so I've done my best to make sure it's not too drastic - everything's still in the same place and It's mostly recognisable as the same site. The old design for this blog was looking tired. The colours were washed out and bland and didn't really say anything. I also had concerns about contrast and readability especially for things like... .... quotes, which used to be practically unreadable Any problems or difficulties please let me know.
I've just had a quick skim through A Liberal Moment - Nick Clegg's pamphlet for Demos which sets out a pretty robust argument for a liberal approach to the current economic, political, social and environmental crises. The pamphlet sets out a convincing case for the Lib Dems being the holders of the progressive flame. The first part is a reflection on what happened to british politics at the start of the last century and looks at what lesson might be drawn. Much of the material is familiar - at least to anyone who ever takes any notice of what Nick ...
With his Demos pamphlet published today, it has to be said that Nick Clegg has ruled out any chance of doing a deal with the Conservatives in the event of a hung parliament following the next election. That isn't quite the same thing as saying he has ruled in a deal with Labour but it does look as if our latest flirtation with equidistance has come to an end. In The Liberal Moment, Nick Clegg makes it clear that while he sees progressive liberals (the tradition of which he squarely places the Liberal Democrats within) as enemies of conservativism, he ...
Two teenagers were cleared today (16th September) of planning a Columbine type attack on their school in Greater Manchester. The prosecution had based their case on the teenagers' diaries and the case began when this 'fantasy' was mentioned in a phone call to a friend. there were no weapons and the defence did say that at no time was anyone in danger. So where does danger start? There is a joke when someone is cautioned (and what they say may be taken down and used in evidence) by a police officer and the answer given is "trousers". An alternative is ...
