Following my occasional series of recipes, I have added this for one of my Twiends who complained about the poor quality of a branded vegetable soup. This is a thinner soup with chunky vegetables. A recipe for a thicker, blended soup may appear tomorrow. 1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock (homemade or cubes) 100g Pearl barley 2 trimmed ...
Parliament, The Telegraph and Jo Swinson. Gosh! Thanks a lot. I wasn't expecting that at all. Obviously, I dedicate the awards to Jo herself and would like to use this opportunity to say fuck you Daily Telegraph (who at least respond to complaints promptly) and up your arse BBC (who don't). Congratulations too to ...
Mark Littlewood predicted on Radio 4 tonight that there was "barely a prayer" that a commitment to abolish tuition fees would be in the next LibDem manifesto. I hear he's willing to take bets at 8/1.
What's loosely termed the awards "ceremony" for the 2009 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards has just drawn to a glittering close. As the last firework fades in Bournemouth's night sky, I'm delighted to announce the winners: Best new Liberal Democrat Blog (started since 1st September 2008) Mark Reckons by Mark Thompson. Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award) Lee Green Councillor by Brian Robson. Best use of blogging/social networking/e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson MP for her live-tweeting from Parliament, plus engaging with the public through Facebook and website. Best posting ...
In the last few weeks it seems that the sporting press has been full of stories of cheating. Fouls, diving, doping, deliberate crashes. And then there was Caster Semenya. A vulnerable young South African, with an engaging air of shyness, from a small rural village in the far north of the country, near the Zimbabwe ...
Ok Sorry its a late post - but Mark Littlewood is on Radio 4's Westminster Hour right now talking about Lib Dem future.
7.30 Roundtable discussion 'positive portrayal' of young people / key speaker 9.00 Visiting school with Equality and Human Rights Commission 11.30 Meeting Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 18.00 'Equality in a Cold Climate' / Stonewall / Delga / Fringe / speaking 20.00 'Restorative Justice' / Women Liberal Democrat / fringe / chairing
There was I, all set to wind down from the keyboard, when this inspirational news descends from politicshome: The Independent says that Nick Clegg plans a new tax on homes worth over £1m in order to fund raising the basic starting-point for income tax. It's a wealth tax! A redistribution of taxation burden on to static capital accumulations and away from economically productive activity! Has anyone told Jock? Woohoo! If the party adopts this, I'll even overlook all that airbrushing nonsense...
Janet and I have been on holiday the past ten days. Updating www.dundeewestend.com from a ship in the Med has been a (rather significant!) challenge but we did have a great break! I have kept boring holiday snaps to a minimum! Above : Barcelona : Janet enjoys the sun! Above : Graffiti in Barcelona is as bad as anywhere else but the architecture is superb! Above : Not been in Malta since my honeymoon in 1988! But Valletta is very much improved. Above : Janet and I have visited Sorrento twice; raining both times! Actually, it was a really nice ...
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist Golda Meir There would be no one to frighten you if you refuse to be afraid Mahatma Gandhi In the beginners mind, there are many possibilities but in the experts mind there are few Shunryu Suzuki Treasure your relationships, not your possessions Anthony J. D'Angelo The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall Nelson Mandela I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that wont work Thomas Edison Be kind whenever possible, it is always possible Mahatma Gandhi Not everything that can ...
Sunday morning, far too early. I hadn't read my papers for the top secret Committee tasked with keeping you all in the dark over our plans for world domination, although I had left my cat at home so that you wouldn't suspect. Of course, I did say that I wouldn't report on it, so I won't. Needless to say though that I didn't win the vote on my proposal, and you've all got another year before it'll be too late for you to stop us. Nice chocolate and caramel square though...
I visited the Vote Cruelty Free campaign's exhibition stand here at conference today and signed up to support their campaign. It brings together a number of animal welfare organisations to push for improvements in how we treat animals. I'm very happy to support this organisation and these issues - promoting animal welfare is very important to me. I also attended a very interesting debate on education policy, organised by the National Union of Teachers and the University and College Union. Needless to say, the union leaders present - as well as the LibDem education spokespeople - condemned the announcement today that ...
That's what Newsbeat, the radio news for young people, says. Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Take it away.
[originally posted 13 Sept 2009]I'm going back in time. I started off by watching Carl Sagan's "Cosmos", which was inspired partly by Bronowski's "Ascent of Man", which I then watched. In turn, Bronowski's series was made as a reaction and follow-up to Clark's "Civilisation".Both Cosmos and Ascent of Man were enjoyable surveys of their subject, and while I have a few minor factual quibbles and found both presenters slightly irritating, they pale in comparison to Civilisation.I've only watched the first episode of 13 so far, but it's just awful. Sure, Bronowski also had some rather quaint 1970s views, but Clark's ...
After last night there can be only one choice. On this 1967 recording from Finnish TV Spencer sings while Steve Winwood plays a mean Blues guitar. Life must have seemed good to Davis in 1967. He had a cheesy pop star haircut and the group he led had had two number one hits. Legend has it that the Winwood brothers favoured naming the group after the loquacious Davis so that he could do all the press interviews while they stayed in bed. Then Steve Winwood, who was nine years younger than Davis, left to form Traffic with some younger musician ...
Looking at the latest news, there is beginning to be a backlash to Nick Clegg's comments that the Liberal Democrats will abandon it's policy on tuition fees. Thank you God! Since the BBC reported Nick's comments last night I have been quite depressed and been at a crossroads in my political views. I believe that education should be free to all and that education should be delivered locally and
Another week at Bonkers Hall draws to a close. Sunday Earlier this summer I was proud to join the candlelight vigil for the delightful Mollie Sugden: her touching concern for her pussy was a credit to her and did much to engender the renewed concern for the environment that one finds in so many young people these days. But then "Are You Being Served" - How I used to roar! - was always more than just a comedy: historians agree that it did much to keep the flame of Liberalism burning in the hostile atmosphere of the 1970s. In particular, ...
You have until 25 November to give Ofcom your views of their proposed amendments to the rules governing Party Political Broadcasts. Ofcom's rules apply to the commercial outlets that run PPBs – Channels 3, 4 and Five, Classic FM, talkSPORT and Absolute AM. (The BBC and S4C have their own rules.) Aside from some tidying up and clearer processes, the changes proposed look sensible and are: to provide that the number of PEBs allocated to major parties and other registered parties should be determined having regard to the circumstances of a particular election, the nation in which it is held, ...
Because there is understandably much interest in Wales on the Liberal Democrats' position on tuition fees it is worth making a few points: 1. The official policy of the party is to abolish tuition fees and that remains the position of Nick Clegg, he has said so at this Conference. The issue is one of timing and ensuring that we have a funded manifesto in place that adds up and is credible. It is impossible to say at this stage what will be in that manifesto because things are changing so quickly, however we intend to abolish tuition fees when ...
And so, there I was for the beginning of Conference, having arrived a little early, and was talking to Annette Brooke, our MP for Dorset Mid and Poole North, who was due to open Conference. We chatted about how things were going and about what she was doing after Conference was over. I like Annette, and see her as one of the more unsung heroines. And yet she's a very sharp cookie indeed. To win the nomination to fight the seat was a challenge in itself, winning it was tough too, and yet she is still there. Once the opening ...
Iain Dale hosted the Tory "Open Primary" in Bedford a few days ago to select their candidate and did a good job of glossing over what seemed obvious from all the TV coverage. That being that the meeting appeared to have been packed with supporters of one candidate. People commenting to Iain's blog suggested that voters had been instructed by their Mosque to attend and vote for a particular candidate whilst the sudden interest (over 800 people turning up with undreds left outside) surpassed Tory estimates and previous open primaries, suggesting somethig different was happening in Bedford in order to ...
Just over an hour ago, our fearless leader Nick Clegg left the stage to tumultuous applause following a frank Q&A with delegates. Below is the audio recording made by our intrepid reporter by sitting in the audience with a MP3 recorder. And with access to a loaned MacBook, I've been able to process the sound much more quickly. If you hear whispering and shuffling in the recording it's because a group of media delegates were chattering to each other all through the recording. How nice, then, that one of them subsequently pronounced positively on Clegg's performance. (At least, I think ...
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. Today, we turn our attention to the performance of the Liberal Democrat shadow ...
David Cameron argues in today's Observer that as far as 'progressive' (shudder) policies go, there is little distance between the Lib Dems and the Tories, and we should be working together. His case is very superficially convincing – until you remember their slogan from the last election, If You Want A Nigger For Your Neighbour, ...
The Animal & Insect Act Finally, in order to ensure absolute national security they passed the Animal & Insect Emergency Control & DisciplineAct. Under this new Act, buffaloes cows and goats were prohibited from grazing in herds of more than three. Neither could birds flock, nor bees swarm ..... This constituted unlawfulassembly. As they had not obtained prior planning permission, mud-wasp sand swallows were issued with summary Notices to Quit. Theirhomes were declared subversive extensions to private property. Monkeys and mynahs were warned to stop relaying their noisy morning orisons until an official Broadcasting Licence was issued by the appropriate ...
You just have that 'Eureka' moment sometimes. And mine was flicking that little switch on the memory card... As Jennie would put it, "Mwah ha ha ha..." It's 5 p.m. and you still have time to get away...
Alright, I was now up for Conference but the finishing touches were missing. Yes, it was time to go shopping. Fortified by a list from Ros, and with jaw pointed towards the town centre, I set off in search of stuff. For myself, I had a suit in mind and, as I strolled through the sunlit gardens, a thought stirred. A hat is what a liberal bureaucrat should have - a proper hat, not something garish or silly, or even practical, just something elegant. And so I searched. I picked up most of the things that Ros needed - where ...
Professor Richard Dawkins, famous for writing books like The God Delusion, has been speaking on the stage at Lib Dem conference on civil liberties. His opening lines were to state that, although he is not a member of the party, he has always voted Lib Dem since the party was founded. It helped, he said, that his MP is Evan Harris.
After a day of Linux updates on an incredibly elderly IBM Thinkpad, we can now finally bring you the audio recording of last night's highly successful fringe meeting with Mark Pack, James Graham, Neil Fawcett and Lynne Featherstone MP. And most unusually for fringe meetings in general, and definitely a first for an LDV fringe – our meeting got written up in the Guardian's Comment is Free.
Alright, Mark, time to buck up. After all, it's only a Liberal Democrat conference, full of old friends and other assorted nice people. So, make the best of it, smile sweetly and hum a happy tune. And that was how it ended up. It was a very good start to run into Joanne Foster, supremo of the Welsh Lib Dems, and then David Allworthy, an old friend, both of whom were nice to me. And it just got better and better. Dinner with Chris and Steph White, a bottle of wine and some lively conversation and all of a sudden, ...
I remembered vaguely that there was a remote family link with Donnington Castle, which we visited yesterday on the way back from Avebury, see www.sciway3.net/clark/beaufort/willisconnection.htm. The unfortunate John Packer, a staunch Parliamentarian, owned the castle at the start of the Civil War, but it was captured by the Royalists and held until the end of the war, then gratuitously demolished by the victorious Parliamentarians. He was forced to live in London. We also visited Roman Silchester, which had been an enormous centre and hub of communications from the 1st to the 4th century. There's a 2 km footpath round the ...
During recent canvassing and campaigning so many people tell me how they vote Liberal Dem locally but not nationally as they do 'such good work'. I have a simple reply to this yes I agree liberal locally do such good work and imagine what they could do nationally if given the chance. Its 90 years since the liberal democrats were in power so i think next year its time for that change that everyone always talks about. Next year voting liberal is a chance to get our country out of the mess the last 90 years has given us.
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...top marks for Sunder Katwala of the Fabians for this, reported by James Graham: When Cameron claims you can't put a cigarette paper between the Tories and LDs, it makes you wonder what he's smoking. Meanwhile, twittery excitement is growing about this afternoon's debate on civil libs. Richard Dawkins is speaking to his amendment in about half an hour: @bengoldacre #ldconf there's also dawkins doing amendment on libel in civil liberties session at 4pm, main hall, we're going thru his speech now But never mind the mere intellectual giants and dishy sci-geeks of our age. What could possibly be more ...
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Ah! Glorious sort-of Indian summer! I could aactually just about feel some warmth from the sun today. As I read my Observer, lulled by the trickles from the Kennet and Avon Canal and seranaded by Testosterone-charged Big screen football fans, I could actually feel the pheromones surging through my veins as I read that the Cleggster has been berating the Camster for being a "con-man". Well done Cleggie. If you want evidence for that audacious charge - read through my blog posts for the last three and a bit years. But then again, don't. Unless you are suffering from chronic ...
Peter Black's video diary of the first day is here. There are also views of other Welsh Liberal Democrat representatives at Freedom Central. Official bulletins are on the main party web-site.
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Spent this morning handing out flyers for the Save Our Pubs motion, which seemed to be incredibly popular. I got a couple of recruits helping me hand them out, even, although one of them was the crazy guy who came to rant about all politicians and demonstrate. He seemed a bit fazed by the number of Liberals who actually wanted to engage with him LOL. Other interesting things of note:Libel Law Reform fringe was very interesting. Evan Harris was as awesome as ever, Ben Goldacre is shorter than I thought he was, Simon Singh has very impressive hair, and Nick ...
Nick has rung the changes for this year's traditional leader's Q&A in front of the party conference – out goes the usual interview between Nick and a friendly lefty-liberal journo, and in comes the improvised 'Town Hall' format of audience questions. First up, Nick's asked if the Lib Dems will take part in political programmes if the BNP are invited to take part by the broadcasters. Yes, we will, he says: quite simply it's too late to ignore the BNP. Look at what happened in Burnley, he notes – once forecast to be the first BNP council, now a prime ...
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I see Alex Folkes filmed and uploaded my speech from yesterday's debate - so you can watch it on YouTube: You can find out more about the policy ideas at www.realwomen.org.uk.
It seems to be the time to set up a blog as have been elected for Buckhurst Hill East Parish Council and hopefully this will be a good forum to discuss issues. Firstly I would like to thank the voters of Buckhurst Hill East for their support. Result of the Election Gavin Chambers (LD) 614 (63%) Conservative 312 (32%) BNP 56 (6%) As you can see a resounding victory for the Lib Dems.
My wife is away visiting friends in Surrey this weekend. I decided to spend some time with my girls today, well that's what I thought. This morning after breakfast I received a text stating that I had to go and see the state of the underpass at the Flyover in Llandudno Junction. The place was in a terrible state with broken bottles and the stench of urine, my pictures are not great (they were taken from my mobile phone) and don't really show how bad it really was. Amongst this mess was approximately 30-40 beer bottles, 3 Vodka bottles, 2 ...
I am agog to hear the podcast of last night's LDV fringe event (hint), but in the meantime, some snippets of news from the jumping-up-and-down-on-the-sidelines school of conference reporting. First, David Howarth is plugging away the civil liberties message in the Guardian: ...I am still profoundly unconvinced by the Tories' conversion to the cause of freedom. First, Tory proposals have a tendency to smack of too little, too late. For instance, its surveillance proposals looked oddly similar to those to be found in the freedom bill. Scrapping ID cards? Getting rid of the ContactPoint database? Reining in councils' investigatory powers? ...
On to the penultimate entry. Saturday Towards its Northern reaches, the Bonkers Hall Estate opens out on to wild moorland. It is a desolate landscape of bog and heather, the haunt of red grouse, curlews and hamwees. Young Clegg is determined to go hiking there and, after giving him a stern warning about keeping to well-trodden paths, I wave him on his way. Later, driving in the Bentley, I come upon him floundering in the mud. "I'll send a man to pull you out," I cry as I motor past and think no more of it. Later, as I am ...
My co-panellist at last night's fringe, James Graham, has a report of the meeting over at Comment is Free.
On a lovely sunny day in Bournemouth, what better than a stroll on the beach? Well, that's what Nick Clegg thought as he walked along the promenade this morning and joined in with a game of beach cricket. He made the obvious spin joke, so you don't have to.
Last Sunday it was Arts Fresco. Yesterday Market Harborough was again en fête, this time with Harborough Hoards and History Day to mark the reopening of the town's museum. Harborough Museum has been closed for months while it has been refurbished to house the Hallaton Treasure, which consists of 14 excavated hoards of coins and associated finds including a Roman helmet, ingots, tankard handle, jewellery, pig and dog bones and pottery. They date from c. 100 BC to 50 AD. The helmet is still being conserved, but will eventually be on display at the Harborough Museum. It is particularly interesting ...
Nick has this morning set out a clear plan to slash the cost of Government and is 100% right to do so. Westminster, Whitehall and the numerous unproductive layers of regional red tape, quangos and agencies are bloated and major savings can and shuld be found. Nick's plan will save £1.82 billion - a substantial amount and well worth having as a contribution to the savings we need to achieve. Equally importantly the plan will reduce the army of civil servants and bureaucrats whose main role is to stifle innovation, interfere in local decision making and waste significant amounts of ...
Planning to save rather than slash and burn cuts is what Nick Clegg has set out at the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth. And today it's the turn of the central bureaucracy which is far too top heavy. His proposals include cutting the number of MPs to 500 from 638. On the wider programme of saving we, all politicians, must not stick our heads in the sand and pretend that life has not changed. The country's debt is rising - fast - and any party that pretends otherwise is not being real. That's why Nick is right to set out ...
This morning I was in the hall bright and breezy for the Future of Devolution debate which was moved by Alistair Carmichael MP. When I say bright and breezy not quite early enough to hear Alistair moving the motion, after all it isn't every day one turns forty, but present for the rest of it. It started with Simon Hughes moving an Amendment calling for: "Urgent initiatives to address the democratic for England, and the replacement of the Barnett formula for allocation funding to the countries of the UK with a needs-based formula." This was accepted by the Welsh and ...
Nick Clegg has today launched a detailed plan for cutting the costs of government, "A Better Politics for Less": Balancing the government books isn't just the political equivalent of an accountancy exam; Liberal Democrats seek austerity for the purpose of delivering a better Britain. The best way to reduce government expenditure is through significant reform, identifying big ticket items that can be done differently or not done at all. Simply squeezing budgets year-on-year, without identifying how to deliver better for less will just hurt the public services people rely on. Unlike the previous Conservative proposals, these plans will both save ...
The big issue facing the party is how we deal with the crisis in the public sector finances and balance the undoubted need to cut the structural deficit with our commitment to a fairer and greener society. Vince Cable MP last week published a pamphlet setting out his thinking on the issue. As one would expect Dr Cable takes the issue seriously and argues that we should too. He believes that we may need to reduce Government spend by as much as 8% of GDP over five years and that we need to set out very specific plans about how ...
I've just been up on the platform at the Liberal Party Conference. With Derek Osbourne and Liz Green, Leader and Deputy of the Council and Roger Hayes, a former Leader, we gave a 20 minute presentation about what Kingston Liberal Democrats have achieved. We had spent ages putting together a presentation of dozens of photos which were flashed up behind us as we spoke. You should be able to see it on BBC i-Player. Search for BBC Parliament at 10.15am today.
Throughout this week at conference Freedom Central has asked different party activists to record on a flip their experiences of the day. First up is Matt Smith. I'll spare you all the one he did at 2am. Entertaining though it is. No related posts.
It's Sunday and we have reached Friday. Friday The names of every great Liberal are to be found in the Visitors Book here at the Hall. As a boy I was dandled upon the knee of Mr Gladstone (a first-rate dandler, as I recall) and had my hair ruffled by Sir Charles Dilke. I also spent an entire weekend hiding from Loulou Harcourt in the shrubbery, but this evening I shall pass over that without further comment. Later, when I came into man's estate, I was able to entertain Campbell-Bannerman, Asquith and Lloyd George myself. Since then I have played ...
From Bedfordshire on Sunday: Snubbed tory leader Nicky Attenborough has launched a scathing attack on her party claiming Monday's open primary to elect a mayoral candidate was 'hijacked'... In Mrs Attenborough's email, copied in to Tory chief David Cameron and leaked to Bedfordshire on Sunday, she says: 'Exactly why should anyone become a member of the Conservative Party when they can walk off the streets into any selection meeting and choose the most unsuitable candidate, if they want, without knowing anything about them, or go to a meeting with the leader without having to pay £20 for the privilege... 'What ...
The suns shining here in Bournemouth, and if the weather is any judge of the Lib Dem's mood it's an accurate one. Daran Hill posted on Wales Home on Friday that the Welsh Lib Dems should be underestimated at their peril. Unsurprisingly, I think he is right. But there is more to the Lib Dems and they face challenges that are different in character to the ones Daran posed. I don't agree with him that the Euro elections this year were some sort of exclusive calamity for the Lib Dems in Wales or elsewhere. All the mainstream parties underperformed. Labour's ...
I sat down to watch the debate on Devolution from Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth a bit grumpily because I had forgotten the time and missed Alistair Carmichael's opening speech. In virtually any debate, I'd always class Alistair's contribution as the best, even if I disagree with him. He's down to earth, natural and funny and really good at these Conference speeches. I was pleased to hear Kevin Lang, PPC for Edinburgh North and Leith, being called to speak, just behind Edinburgh West's talented organiser Bev Hope. Kevin, too, can always be relied upon to deliver a passionate, well argued ...
Last night's opening rally at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth was a far slicker affair than usual and was held in the main hall for once, which meant that at last there was enough room for everyone. Introduced by party president (Baroness) Ros Scott and compered by Sarah Teather MP (who made some pretty ...
Well it's my second day at the Liberal Democrats annual conference here in Bournemouth and the weather is great, really hot. Yesterday was a quiet day at the conference and a chance to reacquaint myself with some old friends. It was enlivened by the Conference Rally, a traditional event to start the conference, which was enlivened by a great speech by Charles Kennedy as well as some very risque jokes from Sarah Teather MP, our spokesperson for Housing. Floella Benjamin also spoke, which reminded me of bygone days watching Play School, it great to have such inspirational people supporting our ...
Who knew the Lib Dem blogosphere was so dangerous? Yesterday I said I'd reveal the person who admitted to internet piracy during the bloggers' interview with that nice Mr Clegg. Since then, pressure has been applied. Spill the beans and I could be forced to undertake a number of dubious activities for Lib Dem Voice or face the consequences. I will say that the self-confessed criminal admitted to illegally watching videos featuring sweaty men in very tight lycra. It wasn't possible to obtain these videos legally in the UK; something the person in question was none too happy about. But ...
Considering the times we live in: new media, 24/7 news cycles etc, you would expect that there would be some sort of rapid response from the Conservative Party countering Nick's attacks this evening. After all, reports and hints of what would feature in his opening speech at the conference were cropping up roughly 24 hours ago, and in the hours before the speech they were widespread. However, there is nothing. Tory Bear couldn't even pull out something worthwhile. Instead, TB tries and fails to twist Clegg's worlds on tuition fees into something they're not: Liberal Lies? Smoke it somewhere else ...
I'm finding this conference an odd experience. It's my 23rd Autumn Conference (Well the first was technically an Assembly, but you know what I mean) and the first since 1993 that I haven't been working for the party. For the last few years my conference diary consisted of numerous training sessions, meetings with seats and the occasional fringe on behalf of the Campaigns Department. There was at least one where I never actually made it into the Conference Centre at all. This one's different. My conference diary has lots of gaps in it and I've got time to be sitting ...
The agenda Reports from the Campaign for Gender Balance and the Diversity and Equality Group this morning, then a Scotland/Wales double-act in the form of the policy mortion on the Future of Devolution (short version: more of it please!). There's a presenttation from Kingston's Lib Dem group (go Mary!), speeches from Norman Lamb and Ed Davey and a policy motion on the paper "Thriving in a Globalised World – A Strategy for Britain". And that's just before lunch. Afterwards Tavish Scott returns to the podium for his speech, His Leaderness does his Q&A, this year in the same style as ...
So I and possibly half a dozen other people voted against the ban on airbrushing, which was not surprising given the one-sided nature of the debate, and the near-universal, it seems, misunderstanding of JS Mill's harm principle. With hindsight I should have tried to speak myself. The harm principle is a prohibition on banning things that don't cause any harm to others. It is not a sufficient justification for banning anything. Some bans are worse than the harms they would prevent. And many bans are wrong because they are ineffective at preventing the harms they are intended to prevent. The ...
My usual trip around local and national news sites and local political sites saw this complaint by the local BNP. They are complaining that a local news website is not allowing them to advertise, although the local Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are. After attending the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum yesterday, maybe the government does need to do more to protect us from
There is a piece in The Observer today by David Cameron entitled: "A Lib Dem-Tory alliance will vanquish Labour". In it he argues that The Lib Dems and Labour have a lot in common and that we should not be "drawing dividing lines where they don't exist". Here is a quick snippet: Politics works best when instead of hiding behind false divisions we seize opportunities to work together to get things done. That's what Nick Clegg and I did with the Gurkha issue. We had different answers as to how best to repay those who had given our country so ...
Mark Littlewood will be on the London regional scetion of BBC1's Politics Show with Simon Hughes MP and former mayoral candidate Brian Paddick at 1.3opm.
Family birthday time today.
There are some conflicting reports coming from Liberal Democrat Conference regarding our position on Tuition Fees. I am not at conference and am deeply worries by what I hear.
BBC's Newsbeat reports that a study led by the US' Texas Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Centre has concluded that watermelon "has same effect as Viagra". I wonder when I can expect my first spam™ offering me a deal on watermelons?
The Shropshire Star continues its return to form: A pony wandered into Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and walked through the corridors after escaping from a nearby field. Staff and patients were left astonished when the black-coated animal, named Beauty, was discovered inside the hospital yesterday afternoon.
People from Hastings and St Leonards, and from around the country, signed up in support of local fishermen last weekend. They were signing a petition to the Minister for Fisheries, urging him to re-instate the percentage of the Channel quota allocated to the under-10 metre sector in February this year. This was seen by local fishermen ...
Conference rallies are by their very nature there to inspire the troops. Ones just before heading off into the autumn and winter before a General Election even more so. Last night after the build up through the week of first Vince Cable's and then Nick Clegg's pamphlet's many of us were already somewhat inspired about the future months before taking our seats. The evening started with Ros Scott introducing Chris Rennard who got a standing ovation before he even opened his mouth. After 27 years of service to the party there was probably hardly anyone in the hall that didn't ...
Well I turned up to the Blogger's interview with Lionel and Schnauzoo in tow, they both got on well with Millennium. Met he fellow blogging interviewers in the lobby then headed up through the maze to the room where we were to meet the Leader to pose our questions. Both Linda and Jenny gallantly making their way on crutches. Once we were all assembled with Nick Clegg in position Daddy Richard produced a yummy chocolate cake (as well as the muffins us Scots only normally hear rumours of like Brigadoon). So before the questions started I had a happy birthday ...
For this weeks walk, I decided to find a route that linked two open spaces that are quite close to me in a non-obvious way. You could walk between these two spots in about ten minutes or so, but I thought it would be more interesting to find a big loop. Officially, this isn't a circular walk, as it starts and finishes in two different places, but it wouldn't be too hard to make it into a circuit to and from North Station. As it is, however, it starts from Cymbeline Meadows, just off the Avenue of Remembrance, loops round ...
Over at the Wales on Sunday, David Williamson writes an interesting analysis of Welsh Liberal Democrat prospects that raises more questions than it answers: A hung Parliament in Westminster could well give Mr Clegg the opportunity to negotiate a splendid deal. Is there a party around that wouldn't want Vince Cable in their cabinet? Is this a "make or break" juncture of historic opportunity in the history of the Lib Dems? South Wales West AM Peter Black has no time for such pre-election hyperventilation. He said: "I've been through at least three or four 'now or never' moments during my ...
In what must be the strangest story of the day so far the Sunday Times reveals the exact extent of the break-down of comradeship within the Labour Party as they slide towards a decisive election defeat: Labour party staff could be forced to undergo DNA tests in a bid to uncover who tampered with ballot boxes during a row over selection for a safe seat. In a move that has been labelled "bonkers" by insiders, Ray Collins, Labour's general secretary, wants to collect samples from all workers at the party's Victoria Street headquarters who could have been involved in spoiling ...
To all my Muslim friends and colleagues.
It's Sunday. It's 7am. It's time for the Daily View, today with a special Trojan Horse supplement. 2 Big Stories Obama attempts to revive Middle East peace efforts So reports the BBC: Mr Obama will first hold separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the White House says. The three men, who will be in New York for the UN General Assembly, will then hold joint discussions. The move comes after US envoy George Mitchell's latest round of shuttle diplomacy ended without agreement. Clegg Hits Out At Tory 'Con Man' Cameron Mr Clegg accused ...
I argued some years ago that the strategy of those who oppose the BBC does not hold water. Those with an axe to grind against the BBC attack it when it has popular programmes for appealing to populism and comprting with commercial broadcasters but when the BBC commits itself to minority interestests it gets attacked for not justifying its license fee due to lack of viewers. This hollow line of reasoning has been shown in its full colours by the ever excellent Liberal Burblings who points out the total hypocrisy of the Tory spokesman at the Royal television Society's Conference. ...
In Thursday's Guardian, Jackie Ashley posed the above question, as far as I'm concerned, it is a rhetorical question, we have NO CHOICE but to lead. We have the Policies, we have the People, we have the Passion.
More pressure on the attorney-general. Again from the Sunday Times: The attorney-general, Baroness Scotland, is facing serious questions about payments of £170,000 that Cabinet Office rules say she was not entitled to receive. Scotland is already at the centre of a row after she was found to be employing an illegal immigrant as a cleaner. It emerged yesterday that she has for years been receiving an allowance intended for peers who live outside London, despite saying her main home is in the capital.
You have to laugh. From the Sunday Times: In a move that has been labelled "bonkers" by insiders, Ray Collins, Labour's general secretary, wants to collect samples from all workers at the party's Victoria Street headquarters who could have been involved in spoiling ballot papers in the bitter contest for the constituency of Erith and Thamesmead. Among the candidates running for selection was Georgia Gould, 22, the daughter of Lord Gould, one of the architects of New Labour. The selection process was marred by claims that she was being "parachuted" into the safe seat by the Labour party machine and ...
UK Censuses are usually held every ten years, in years that end with a "1". So, the next census is due in 2011. Sixty-five thousand households in Lancaster will soon be receiving census questionnaires. No, the city hasn't slipped into a time-warp. It's going to be a 'guinea pig', testing out approaches for the real UK-wide census which is still scheduled for 2011. While I understand the need for testing things out in advance, I do wish that Glenn Watson, the man in charge of this mini-census, could have phrased things slightly differently when he was saying why Lancaster had ...
For some reason I've been hit by hundreds of comment spam this evening, so apologies if you post comments and they don't come through straight away – I'll work on fixing it all tomorrow. Off to bed now. [IMG: Share/Bookmark]
I have just got back from seeing the Animals and Spencer Davis, so here is the obligatory indistinct snatched concert photograph. I went out of curiosity but enjoyed it far more than I expected. It was every bit as much a Spencer Davis Group show as an Animals show. We got Keep on Running, When I Come Home, Somebody Help Me, Every Little Bit Hurts, I'm a Man and - as the encore even after House of the Rising Sun - Gimme Some Lovin'. The Animals consisted of John Steel, the band's drummer since it was formed (he was playing ...
