I was amused to hear the other day that, after 60 years of trying, the best idea the Conservatives have for dealing with young people is 'national service'. Now this idea is not necessarily without merit and could be developed but it is hardly new and coming from the Conservatives it does rather smack of desperation - after all, the notion could have come from any Tory leader from about 1930 onwards. Coming from a supposedly progressive leader who supposedly represents change, it seems simply mistaken. Like Conservative economic plans for uncosted 'efficiencies' to tackle the gaping deficit, their proposal ...
So as I suspected people have come out and said that Jesus would vote for their own party. I found this interesting post on the subject by a blog called the devil's kitchen (I don't happen to know anything else about this person, I happens to come across it from twitter). In this post he mentions a couple ...
As I blogged previously, the day started off with a trip by Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam to try some dry stone walling on a farm in Nick's constituency. Then we had some time off whilst Nick did two big interviews at his constituency home before boarding the battlebus for the drive to Gateshead. On the banks of the Tyne is the wonderful Sage building where Nick held a town hall meeting with around 200 members of the public. Unlike Gordon Brown, when Nick holds a Q&A session the audience is not a hand-picked bunch of party supporters. Instead, ...
Today's key lesson of election campaigning is: always proofread your leaflets before you send them to the printer. Then get someone who understands the Twitter, the Facebook and all of the other internets to check them again. Oh look, tax is the headline election story of the day again, with Tory proposals to give a whole ...
From day one of meeting Ann Haigh and Peter Spencer I gaged that they really cared about the area they lived. Since then, I know and am convinced they do.From working hard to save The Roding Centre, now The Woollard Centre, and campaigning to save services like post offices and full opening times at the local tube station (sign the petition by the filling in the form to the left), they both work
I was planning a trip to Lamport for this afternoon, chiefly for its connections with the writer and illustrator Denys Watkins-Pitchford (or "BB" as he signed his books, reserving his full name for his illustrations - BB was a grade of shot used by wildfowlers). BB wrote natural history books and also wrote stories for children. He got a mention in my Masters dissertation because when his heroes run away to live in the woods in Brendon Chase they are careful to take a copy of Richard Jefferies' Bevis with them. And Watkins-Pitchford's illustrations, often using scraperboard, are very much ...
First, we can discuss war widows and abandoned women as much as we like – yet what about the other people. 1. The Lib Dem low earners that Mark Pack so skilfully discussed that prop up our local votes might not be winners with this tax. Particularly in big cities if they are married they'll both ...
Here are the contact details of my Labour opponent taken from his official election literature This from the man who in his first intervention in the Digital Economy Bill Debate said: "I am listening with great interest to my hon. Friend and I am a great follower of Star Wars. I realise now, however, that my hon. Friend has identified himself as Yoda." Hat tip to Love and Garbage who's also blogged about it.
Today was Orton's 99th farmers market. I spoke to Steve Dunning and asked if I could have an invite to the festivities at next months 100th market. Steve agreed that it was appropriate for either or both the MP and County Councillor to attend so that seems to have it covered! There was an event in the church at which I spent some time looking at an exhibit about a hostel in Uganda. I found this fascinating especially when I learned that Orton has links with the hostel and raises a significant amount of money in its support. I was ...
There are various of my fellow-travellers that think Labour are all fluffy bunnies. Let me tell you now that here in the North West the McGuire affair came as no surprise and we assumed it was what some people suffer locally writ large. In the fiercely fought marginal of Liverpool Wavertree this is what the Lib ...
It's long been an ambition of mine to get on BBC Question Time as part of the audience and I finally made it on Wednesday of this week when it was filmed at the HG Wells Theatre in Woking where I currently live. I was like a cat on a hot tin roof for most ...
So to a large extent I could repeat last week's post about the show as my review of this week's. After two weeks, it now looks like MoffWho will be, more or less, a series of remakes of the Welsh Series as if they'd been written by a competent writer. Not, necessarily, a *good* writer, but ...
Wszystkim Polskim mieszkancom Linlithgow i East Falkirk chcialbym przekazac moje wyrazy wspolczucia z powodu smierci Prezydenta Lecha Kaczynskiego i czolowych przedstawicieli swiata polityki. Lacze sie w bolu. Translation for my English readers. For all the Polish residents in Linlithgow and East Falkirk I wish to express my sincere sympathy for the death of your counrty's President Lech Kaczynski, along with other senior officials, earlier today.
Nick Clegg is right - it is nonsense for David Cameron to offer a £150 tax incentive for being married. Not only is it a daft idea to start with, it's also a derisory amount of money! I've never been married, but I hope, come the day, that my proposal doesn't centre on a £150 annual tax incentive for the woman of my dreams. Marriage has absolutely nothing to do with tax breaks. And anyone who is widowed, or left by an errant spouse, would lose this marriage tax break at their greatest moment of need! As Nick Clegg has ...
I cannot find the story on the Harborough Mail website, but this placard suggests we have not heard the last of the Conservative-run Harborough District Council and its closure of public lavatories.
Because I know that some of you aren't clever enough to figger out from mere words whether I like something or not, I've started adding star ratings to my reviews of books, music, and films: [% stars(5) %] Excellentthis is at the pinnacle of achievement, or if not quite there is still very good but also so significant that it deserves moar starz. 5 star reviews will be very rare. [% stars(4) %] Very goodanything getting 4/5 is pretty damned good. Lots of my favourites don't get this. [% stars(3) %] Goodfor me to recommend something, it will normally need ...
A glorious day today which meant a full days leafleting (not that rain stops us but it is a lot more pleasant!) It also means a lot of people out in gardens to talk to I spent my day out in West Hull and this morning I was in a ward where our current Cllr Pat Ellis is standing down. Pat will be missed and she is the rock of our group. I spent quite a while talking to a man who Pat had helped on numerous occasions and at one point he was close to tears. Its at times ...
[IMG: 236] I love woods. I used to play in Manadon Woods when I was growing up, and my family now live near Ham Woods - see the picture, above, which I took earlier today. A great oasis of greenery, peace and calm. Two things provoked me to add this post to my blog. First was the fact that a number of my potential constituents in Plymouth Moor View have asked me to support the Woodland Trust's manifesto - to champion our woodlands. As a member of the Woodland Trust I am very happy to support the manifesto. I am ...
... is not looking too good! As a resident put it - more due to old age than vandalism! I have asked the City Council to repair it.
As a bit of a welcome distraction from the general election, a new music theme! And it is Sandy Posey, a superb singer who enjoyed success in the 1960s with singles such as her 1966 recording of Martha Sharpe's composition, "Single Girl." Now 65, she is still performing. We start with a rather better version of "I will follow him" than appeared in 'Sister Act'!
The Independent has the news: A veteran Labour MP who was deselected by his party more than two years ago has announced that he would stand at the General Election as an independent. Frank Cook, MP for Stockton North, attacked the Labour Party, saying it was no longer the party he joined nearly 60 years ago. Philip Latham is the Liberal Democrat candidate in the seat.
The Liberal Democrat campaign in Dundee West was in full swing again today - here's Dundee West candidate John Barnett with Chris Hall and Craig Duncan in Forest Park Road this morning. Getting very positive responses on the doorsteps - John is continuing to work hard for everyone in Dundee West.
[IMG: Plymouth Lib Dems on the Hoe (10.04.2010)] Lots of people have been in touch via twitter and email about the digital economy bill. I am pleased to report that whilst Labour pushed it through Parliament last week, the Lib Dems opposed it. If only the Tories had joined us then, together, we could have stopped it. Both Plymouth's Labour MPs voted to push the bill through with the minimum of scrutiny. Away from the computer and in the great outdoors, the weather here in Plymouth was beautiful today. Perfect campaigning weather. Good then that we picked today for ...
I don't know if she'll ever read this, but Happy Birthday to my friend Eleanor Anderson, a fabulous Lib Dem activist from Gordon. She was the candidate in Banff and Buchan in 2005 and she gave me so much support when I was Campaign and Candidates Convener of the Scottish Party. She was my campaign Mummy during the Livingston by-election. She and her husband Willie kept coming down to deliver lots of leaflets and look after us in HQ. I hope she's having a fabulous day! Anyway, now to my best of the net: Liberal Dose suggests we kebab Lord ...
As a rule of thumb I try very hard not to comment on the behaviour of other councils - mainly because I have enough to deal with here! I do believe, though, that this story needs as wide an airing as possible. Dick Puddlecoate has a bizarre, and quite scary story from the depths of South Yorkshire regarding plans being made by the local council and the NHS to burn an effigy of a fat boy - yes you read this right and its not a joke! It will be paraded through the streets before being burned at an event ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment Is Free website, LDV Co-Editor Stephen Tall has a pop at Labour's Lord Adonis for begging for Lib Dem votes, aguing that left-liberal voters have been let down by both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – so we're scarcely inclined to prop them up now. Here's an excerpt: There is a respectable argument for tactical voting, given our clunking electoral system. And if Lord Adonis really wants to pursue his "don't let the Tories in" scare tactic to its logical conclusion, it's very clear what progressives should do in Lib Dem-Tory marginals: vote Lib Dem. ...
Not a classical painting, but a video on the BBC website of Nick Clegg rejecting Lord Adonis's suggestion that there is little difference between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Those clever people at Lib Dem Voice have managed to embed the video (and several others) on their own site, but I cannot see how to do that.
I called into the Newcastle North Lib Dem HQ yesterday to see how Ron Beadle was getting on. Whilst there I joined in the general merriment and hilarity about the totally contradictory claims about crime and public safety that had been found in the same Labour leaflet.Turn to page 2 of Labour's "Local Voice". It states, "With a Lib Dem reluctance to vote in favour of the power to break up teen
Ukip activists here in Plymouth very kindly delivered a really helpful leaflet recently that spelt out their policy offerings in full. I say "really helpful" because it helps to underline how the maths underpinning their fantasy manifesto is so poor. I'm not going to comment on whether I agree or disagree any of their policies; that's not what this post is about. I am just going to take a look at their sums. First off, they say we'll save £16 billion by leaving the EU (that's the figure I have seen from them from their literature this month). For the ...
too ill to go see nick at Sage today and only managed 2 hours on the doors croaking pathetically! keep the faith
Southeastern railways high speed service is seen as a great benefit to the local area, which I'm sure it is, fans include local blogger and professional taxpayer funded Labour politician Mark Nottingham and Conservative Cllr. Chris Wells, so a few weeks ago I thought I'd give it a go, unfortunately when I checked, there happened to be a bus replacement service from Ramsgate to Ashford thus making the journey, the typical weekend train journey we all know and detest but no problem I just travelled at a later date. Subsequently I have travelled on a weekend, when Network Rail and ...
Love and Liberty brings you Nick Clegg's and Vince Cable's answers to the question "Why vote Lib Dem?" Writing for the International Business Times (get him!), Stephen Tall looks at the Tories' tendency to forget the deficit and promise another tax cut every time they come under pressure. Meanwhile, Birkdale Focus discuss the Tories' problems in Southport: " remember the days when there 18 Tories and only 3 Lib Dems councillors in Southport. Today there are only six Tories and one of them is suspended, another has been suspended and the last leader got so fed up with the nasty ...
[IMG: Ugly. Drunk. British. And AWESOME. tee by DrHyde. Available from MySoti.com.] [IMG: Let's go clubbing! tee by DrHyde. Available from MySoti.com.] I designed some T-shirts. Please buy them, otherwise I'll have to stamp on a bunny.
I find the 'Labservative' thing that the Lib Dems are doing a little geeky. The truth is, the Conservatives and Labour are both offering the same with some tinkering around the edges, but the suggestion that they are a single hegemony by merging their names just sounds silly. The Conservatives are claiming that a vote for my old party would be a vote for change, but the more George Osborn says, the less credible he sounds. His policy on taxing the banks regardless of what other countries do should be evidence enough of this. It is time for a change ...
Off this morning to one of the regular street surgeries run by our Whickham councillors, this time in Swalwell. The sun shone and it was a lovely excuse to talk to residents with some issues. Then we headed back to the constituency office, where I bumped into one of my rivals for the MP position, who was wandering about on the front street. It was nice to meet him and I reiterated my desire for a debate in every area of the constituency. Then it was off to Rowlands Gill to deliver some leaflets with our team of helpers for ...
I've a short article for today's Guardian Comment Is Free setting out my reasons for failing to be wooed by Labour's Lord Adonis's appeal to Lib Dems to vote Labour. I have one thing in common with Lord A. – we were both once Lib Dem councillors in Oxford, he in the late '80s, me in the 'Noughties'. But our political journeys have been pretty different. He left the Lib Dems, seemingly mesmerised by Tony Blair's allure, to join Labour in the mid-90s. I left Labour in 1999, dismayed by Tony Blair's inability to convert progressive talk into legislative action, ...
Been too busy campaigning to watch the TV news this week? Then catch up here with three videos showing Nick Clegg on his election travels ... Nick sets out the Lib Dems' consumer manifesto: Nick charms pensioners in Cardiff: Nick laughs off Labour vote plea: Have you made, or seen, a good Lib Dem capaigning video that's up on YouTube? Let us know at voice - voice.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one), and we'll feature the pick of the crop.
£150 a year tax break if you are married? Income tax is all about balance. There are countless possible ways of setting thresholds and providing tax breaks, so certain principles must be used. For Liberal Democrats the key principle is one of redressing inequalities. I'm not so keen on using personal taxation to try to change people's behaviour. Other types of tax, such as the green taxes we support, can be used to encourage people to change their ways. But Income tax should be about a fair distribution of wealth, leaving people themselves to decide how they want to spend ...
How cool is this vid?: It's part of the campaign for a bid to hold the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention in London in August 2014, which, y'know, would also be cool. The Worldcon is the premier international science fiction event, and awards the prestigious Hugo Awards for achievement in the field of science fiction. 2014 will be the 75th anniversary of the first Worldcon, in New York in 1939, since when the event has been held every year apart from a break during the Second World War. It was last hosted by London in 1965, nearly fifty years ago.Y'know ...
I was a bit puzzled when a Labour freepost leaflet landed on our doorstep two days ago. Seems they have been landing on doorsteps all over Leeds in the last few days too. I have seen them in Leeds NW and Elmet and Rothwell. The reason I was puzzled is that parliament has still not officially been dissolved so it seems remarkably early to be delivering a Royal Mail freepost. Also candidates have not officially been nominated yet so what happens if a candidate were to drop out? Who pays for the freepost then? What this does make clear is ...
MPs' expenses – the scandal that just keeps on giving: MPs' expenses: Margaret Moran sells taxpayer-funded Luton home for £177,000 profit The MP for Luton South, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over the expenses and lobbying scandals, bought the semi-detached property for £72,995. She "flipped" her second home designation to the house for just one year but in that time used £22,341 of public money on it, which included the installation of a new central heating system and bathroom, a complete overhaul of the garden and the redecoration of several rooms... Her three-bedroom house is now being ...
Here is a selection of issues making headlines during the past week: Wokingham candidate wants election lie detector tests Heatherwood Hospital is given one month to improve by the Care Quality Commission BENEFIT cheats have been ordered to repay more than £150,000 of over-payments made during the last year. An extra week has been added to a public consultation on the possibility of more than 3,000 homes in Binfield and Warfield Andrew MacKay to leave with £1.8m handshake Bracknell Forest Council has received £106,610 under the Government's Local Authority Business Growth Incentives (LABGI) scheme If you know of any other ...
Over on Conservative Home they have a review of Sefton as several sharp eyed folk have noticed. Describing the councillor with the highest allowance* claim in Southport as an excellent PPC they acknowledge that the Tory fortunes in Southport have slumped. I remember the days when there 18 Tories and only 3 Lib Dems councillors in Southport. Today there are only six Tories and one of them is suspended, another has been suspended and the last leader got so fed up with the nasty infighting he joined the Labour Party! I should also mention that a third former leader has ...
With the General Election underway and dominating the news, it could be easily forgotten that important local elections are being held on the same day. Eastrop residents will be asked to pick not just there MP, but also who will represent them in the Borough Council for the next 4 years. Of course I hope residents back the Liberal Democrats in both elections, if however your national politics make this difficult I hope you will still back me in the local elections. The decisions made in the Council chamber are often restricted by central government, when this is not the ...
via @binny_uk
Cross-posted from the International Business Times: It's not often you'll find me agreeing with Labour's uber-spin-doctor, and Tony Blair's apologist-in-chief, Alastair Campbell. But precisely because he helped write the New Labour election-winning manual, he is highly attuned to the failings in the Conservatives' attempts to plagiarise it, and in particular David Cameron's and George Osborne's habit of mistaking tactics for strategy. The latest example he highlights on his always-entertaining blog is the Tories' attempts to force Labour onto the defensive by promising to reverse the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions: The Tories assume that if they get a good ...
I don't know what I'm going to be able to write about during this election campaign. I want to help at least five Liberal Democrat candidates; I want to volunteer at Lib Dem HQ; I know my poor health's going to get in the way, as always. And I want to write about the election, not just getting pissed off with other parties but about my positive reasons to vote Lib Dem. So, in case I'm too ill, or too tired, or too busy, here's a start: Nick Clegg and Vince Cable's reasons to vote Lib Dem. It's about fairness. ...
I was out and about delivering another three rounds in Buckhurst Hill this morning (and yes I am still feeling very unfit). Looking at my map most of Buckhurst Hill have received our leaflet. Not bad for two-days work and a great start to our campaign.Whilst delivering one street a man came out to see what I had delivered. He turned round and told me he was a life-long Tory voter but he will
There has been positive coverage of Nick Clegg's visit to Cardiff yesterday. It seems the more people meet Nick the more they like him, and the FT have a great write up on him today. Here's some of the snaps from his visit Nick arrives in Cardiff And goes straight into a media scrum Before heading in to talk to local residents Getting grilled by Nick Robinson and a whole range of other media outlet, to get out the LD message Wondering why Nick is checking out a bag of real crisps.. watch the ITV Wales report for more
Last night the Conservatives revealed their much vaunted tax break for married couples - basically £3 a week (which my husband said wasn't enough - cheek!). It's been rightly called "patronising drivel that belongs in the Edwardian age" by Nick Clegg. He's already outlined how a tax break for married couples in principle lets down those who are widowed, or whose spouse leaves them, perhaps to marry someone else and get another tax break. The Tory plans are basically cynical tokenistic claptrap designed to appeal to the Daily Mail mindset and it appalle me that they can even think of ...
Pushed for time, but want to keep up-to-date with how the campaign's going? Here are today's must-reads .... The UK's only hope is a Treasury of National Unity, say Lib Dems (Guardian) Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable has called for a cross-party "Treasury of national unity" in an interview with the Graunad today – but it's his onslaught on the business leaders who last week paraded in favour of the Tories' unfunded NIC tax-cut that's grabbed the headlines: "It is a sideshow, a diversion from the central issues. I think we went into this election with general agreement that ...
Each Friday during the election campaign, I'm one of a trio of pontificators on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight, alongside the Spectator's Anne McElvoy and the Mirror's Kevin Maguire, offering our verdicts on how it's all going. Our first outing was last night, and if (like me) you missed hearing it, then you can catch up via the BBC iPlayer here – the discussion starts about 21 minutes in. It went fine, thanks for asking, though some of my words of wisdom have been – alas! – discarded on the cutting-room floor. So you'll never get to hear my ...
I don't know whether to laugh or be insulted by the latest "policy" by Tory Party Central Office. £150 to get wed. £150. One hundred and fifty pounds. Now depending on where you look, the average wedding cost here in the UK is somewhere ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats will today set out their priorities for women in the general election at an event in Merthyr Tydfil. These include proposals to: · Stamp out discrimination in women's pay · Share maternity leave · Regulate airbrushing to protect vulnerable young girls from body image pressures. Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: "I am very proud that we as a party are able to encourage and foster a culture where women can feel confident to stand for election. Amy Kitcher is a hard working councillor and she has a track record of delivering for ...
Today I are bin mostly lookin' at skeptical-voter.org. They are assessing parliamentary candidates on their attitudes to science and stuff, and they are big Evan Harris fans, so they get points for that. They have a questionnaire for candidates which, even though I am a lowly council candidate and not a PPC, I decided to answer anyway. Health 1. Do you support the use of public funds to provide unproven health products such as homeopathy? I don't support the use of public funds to provide any unproven health products, but I do support the use of public funds for research ...
N ick Clegg was joined by his wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez on the campaign trail today. Nick and Miriam went to Whirlow Hall Farm in his Sheffield Hallam constituency to try their hand at dry stone walling. Much of the media this past week has been focussed on the leaders' wives. Whilst SamCam and Sarah Brown have been on the campaign trail pretty much from the start, Miriam has a full time job which she cannot abandon for the election. In today's Times, Nick says: "I would like to be with Miriam every minute of the day but she loves ...
A Head of State has a symbolic importance for the nation, that transcends the personalityand politics of the individual in office. I am therefore very sorry for the Polish people at the loss of President Kaczynski and the Polish delegation in the air crash at Smolensk. Looking at the list of victims, I knew at least five of them, though not colse friends, from my time in the British Embassy in Warsaw, which makes the tragedy more real to me. The massacre at Katyn was one of the most dreadful chapters in Poland's tragic history. It was not just a ...
(Actually Saturday is Day 5, so please pretend I remembered to set this live on Friday night as intended). Three new polls today, all with positive news for the Lib Dems: YouGov in the Sun ... CON 40%(nc), LAB 30%(-1), LIB DEM 20%(+2) Harris in the Daily Mail ... CON 37%(nc), LAB 27%(-1), LIB DEM 22%(+2) Harris in Metro ... CON 37%(nc), LAB 28%(+1), LIB DEM 20%(+1) All moves are within the margin of error, so it would be rash to read too much into them. But that said, it's notable that seven of the last 10 polls have shown ...
I've contributed the chapter on online campaigning by candidates to So You Want to be A Politician, which is edited by Shane Greer. The book came out this week and you can get your copy from Amazon here.
A lot of traffic in the blogosphere and on Twitter about the Tories' marriage tax proposals. Some of us are simply ahead of our time on these matters; back in January, I posted this: But it is the method of achieving these goals that should make Christians uneasy. Like all Tory policies, this one is based solely and squarely on financial foundations. When you pare it down to its core, this is simply social engineering by appeal to our bank balances. What exactly are we hoping will happen as a result of this policy? Are we hoping that marriages will ...
It seems that the internal issues in the BNP haven't gone away yet. After all the furore about the leaked membership lists over the last couple of years you would have thought they would have tried to get their house in order before the general election. Instead senior party officials are issuing death threats against each other (makes a change from issuing them to the oppostion) and parliamentary candidates are being dismissed. I very much hope this effects their preperations for the general election. The leaked email seems to suggest there may be a problem with literature production. And I ...
I mentioned before that the 2010 General Election probably has more parallels with 1992 than 1997, and I'm particularly starting to form this impression with regard to the opinion polls. Those of us who are old enough will remember how John Major's Tory government trailed in all but (I think) one of the surveys carried ...
The Lib Dems are going to cut taxes for all working and middle class families not just the few. This comes as the Conservatives announce their marriage tax break. The Tories are giving only £150 a year for couples who are married, the Lib Dems of course are promising £700 a year tax break to each individual who works and earns over £10,000 by raising the personal income tax allowance. Nick Clegg said: "Modern families come in all shapes and sizes. One-size fits all policies like tax breaks for married couples are just not right for our times. "Liberal Democrats ...
Although Labour, with Conservative support, managed to ram through the Digital Economy Bill, that's not quite the end of the matter as far as votes in Parliament are concerned. That's because one concession the Liberal Democrats did manage to extract was the provision that no 'technical measures' (i.e. cutting off people's internet connections) can be introduced for at least a year, and only then can be done so after a period of analysis and consultation. Parliament will get a chance to vote on these measure – even if the Government is a Tory or Labour one that doesn't want to ...
What a blinder! Miriam Gonzales Durantez is not giving up her very important post at DLA Piper to follow her husband around on the campaign trail; this is great news as it breaks the convention that if you are a woman married to a politician, that is your primary identity and everything else you do comes second Even Mumsnet thinks it's great that Miriam has drawn the line at weekend campaigning only. So, in insisting that she's not to be an electoral asset, she in fact becomes an electoral asset. One where principles and political strategy helpfully complement each other! ...
The BBC's Raymond Buchanan has just tweeted that the SNP is jumping up and down about fuel duty, calling it a "poll tax on wheels" and "indiscriminate". Apparently this is part of their campaign for rural motorists. They are right - a car is something you absolutely can't live without if you live in many far flung parts o Scotland. But what have they done about it? As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the SNP Government is dragging its feet on this. George Lyon, Scottish Lib Dem MEP has been working to try to secure a deal ...
Nothing quite like being awoken with a loud thud on the doormat, but this was not the laptop keyboard from eBay that I'm waiting for. Instead there's a huge quantity of electoral bumf, and that's not going to deliver itself so I guess I'd better get to work on that in the next hour or so. I'll leave it for a just a little while as I notice that Labour are doing the rounds near me at the moment, and it's pretty safe to assume that our bumf puts theirs to shame. Terry Rooney, "The Local Candidate For Local People", ...
A tax-break for married couples, is how the Tories are trying to spin it. The reality could scarcely be different – here are the groups of people the Tories are now officially classifying as undeserving: Two married teachers bringing up a child. A co-habiting couple who have lived together for years but not married. People whose partners have abandoned them and their children. A widow whose husband has died in Afghanistan. But perhaps I'm being unfair ... after all the Tories will reward some people at the expense of those clearly undeserving groups: Those happily married for 50 years. Over ...
Glenn Broadbent, a former Conservative by election candidate, seems to be urging people in Leeds not to vote Conservative. This could be put down to bitterness after the Leeds Conservative Party promptly stopped supporting his by election campaign in Farnley and Wortley in 2008 after comments that he made in facebook talking about 'imported scroungers' were reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post. Is this just a bitter former candidate or does this show deeper divisions within the Leeds Conservative party?
Years ago when I was an activist in Southwark,working in a small two-member ward, our candidates complained bitterly about the fact that scaffolding around a 30s block of flats had been left up for months causing break-ins and petty crime. I was walking by these flats a couple of weeks before that election, about to deliver ...
Interesting and insightful review by Malcolm Coles over at Econsultancy. The one real quibble I have with it is the focus on the national perspective; the real gains from internet campaigning in terms of directly reaching the public are to be had at the local level - and so when reviewing national sites, how they fit in with that is an important factor.
Amongst the plethora of writing on the 2008 US Election, I came across this observation: "After every debate [in the 2008 primaries and general election] the media narrative was determined by the first two questions and answers." (J. Heilemann & M. Halperin, "Race of A Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House", Penguin Viking). I decided to see if that hypothesis holds true for the recent Chancellors' Debate as a clue as to whether it will apply to our forthcoming Party Leaders' Debates. The first question, asked by a trainee solicitor, in the Chancellors' Debate was, "This is a job ...
Richard and I are very touched by the kind messages we've received since we told friends about our engagement. It just seemed right to have that certainty in our lives at a rather uncertain time. Setting a date and a venue will have to wait til after the election! Rich has been at my side ...
Mark Pack of Lib Dem Voice has the story: 'If you ram through a law about illegal copying online...'
So it turns out the Tory bribe to those married isn't really worth much at all. To start with it's only worth at the most £150 a year. With the average cost of a wedding around £20,000, it would take 133 years to get your money back. Secondly it is only available as a tax-break transfer. So if someone in the relationship is earning less than £6,475 you could transfer £750 of your tax allowance to your partner, both earning more than this and it's pointless. Thirdly the person receiving the transfer must be earning less than £44,000 a year. ...
Although I'm an enthusiast for the possibilities for sensible use of the online world in political campaigning, it doesn't always go right for people: [IMG: Twitter scandal - Evening Standard] John Prescott's botched attempt to encourage 'click fraud' on Conservative adverts – unlikely to have cost the Conservatives much, if any, money but certainly earned him a round of bad publicity for Labour. The Conservative Party has slashed its online fundraising targets, reinforcing the general message that whilst talking up the marvels of online fundraising is good for getting media coverage (woo! like the US! woo! the future! woo!), in ...
Today there was massive success in an anti trafficking raid against a Romania trafficking gang. What made this raid such a land mark and so successful was the level of co-operation between the metropolitan police force, Interpol and the Romania police. A real sign of things to come with the hope that more joint operations and sharing of intelligence will lead to further co-operation, more effective anti-trafficking force and ...
The Stuart MacLennan fiasco has got me worried. Not about him in particular but about all of us. Let's face it, he was axed because the media would never let it go until the pound of flesh was extracted. The opposition parties, sensing endless free-hits, would also keep bashing away. Labour had no choice but to stop ...
I wonder how many Tory MPs would have stayed with their first wives if they'd got a tax break? Nick Barlow No related posts.
During the week, Comment is Free ran this piece from me (which you can think of as a companion to my ten tips piece): Beware random fluctuations that 'plunge', 'soar' or 'collapse' in a headline. Instead, track trends over time The volume of opinion polls hit record levels in 2009 and has continued to go up. So how to make sense of the blizzard of numbers? A good place to look to get a full picture of the polls is Anthony Wells's UK Polling Report. But here are some pointers. Rule one: carrying out an opinion poll is like flipping ...
Nick Clegg was in Cardiff yesterday where he pointed out an essential truth that, as far as this UK General Election goes, Plaid Cymru are an "irrelevant, two-bit" party. The response from the Nationalists' Ceredigion candidate was not just sad but historically inaccurate. He said: "The truth is that the Liberal Democrats offer about as much real change as the Tories. Plaid has already shown that, in a hung parliament situation, we can make a real difference. But we all know the Liberal Democrats' history - when they're facing the prospect of influence in government, they bottle it." The truth ...
Have a look at this fun Labservative website from Caron Lindsay. You can choose your own cabinet for Gorvid Camerown's government: Choose Cabinet" And you can join in the "Why I'm Voting Labservative" message board.
The Liberal Democrats don't have the big business or trade union financial backers that the other two main parties do, so we rely really heavily on individual donations from people. In Haringey the number of people who have given money to the Liberal Democrats in the last few years runs into the thousands. So if you're one of them - many thanks. And whether or not you are, you can make a donation now very quickly and easily using the PayPal system. You don't have to have a PayPal account - you can also pay by credit/debit card. Thank you! ...
President of Poland Lech Kaczynski dead. More to come on this story. EDIT @ 9.5 AM - story confirmed by Polish Foreign Ministry and Russian authorities. No survivors on the Tu-154 plane that had been taking high-ranking Polish politicians to the commemoration of the Katyn massacre, from what I can work out from this report in a Polish newspaper; Lech Kaczynski and his wife, the deputy speaker of the Polish parliament and the chairman of the Polish national bank were on board as well as other government ministers. EDIT @ 9.15 AM - BBC report confirms Kaczynski killed EDIT @ ...
I saw this in the Shropshire Star a few days ago, but did not realise what a remarkable discovery it was until a reader sent me a link to the report on newslite (slogan "It barely qualifies as news", which seems rather unfair) and its photos. It begins: An inquisitive family have uncovered a bizarre church which has been hidden under their Victorian home in Shropshire for 100 years. The Farla family made the discovery while investigating what was under a metre-long rectangle metal grid in their hallway. The hole under the grid was just big enough for son Gareth, ...
"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe". I was nobbut a bairn when the greatest band in the world broke up forty years ago, but the above lyrics put me in mind of ...
More details are emerging about Question Time events in Bracknell. On Monday 12th April from 9 to 10 am Radio Berkshire show with Andrew Peach which can be listen to on 104.1FM, 104.4FM, 95.4FM, 94.6FM. DAB and on the radio see listen live and listen again links on the top right of this page here. The 3 main parties will be represented at Easthampstead Baptist Church from 7.45pm on Tuesday 27th April. I am waiting for details on who can attend this event. There are also possible Question Time events being organised for the Look In which would be during ...
Since I spent a whole evening doing this video back in the Autumn, I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention again. Enjoy (unless you are a Tory)
It's been a while since we last reminded readers about this, so now seems a good time to publish the information again. You may have noticed that next to some people's comments is a small picture of themselves, such as: [IMG: alt=] If you want a picture to appear next to your comments you need to do two things. Visit Gravatar.com, create an account and upload a picture. Post a comment, ensuring that your email address that you've used on Gravatar is the same one that you've put in the comment field. One thing to watch out for – the ...
Vince Cable speaking in today's Guardian says that businessmen on inflated salaries lecturing the rest of Britain on how to run the country are "utterly nauseating" and "being used" by the Conservative party. This is of course in response to 80 of them signing the Conservative co-ordinated letter on the single issue of National Insurance contributions. As Vince says: "I just find it utterly nauseating all these chairmen and chief executives of FTSE companies being paid 100 times the pay of their average employees lecturing us on how we should run the country. I find it barefaced cheek." As is ...
OK so if you haven't noticed the election is definitely under way. We have been busy delivering leaflets and most importantly knocking doors. We have done a complete knock across Walcot and have spoken already to hundreds of residents. We still have more to do as you could probably imagine not everyone is in when you first call. So today I have leaflets to deliver, then I am taking some time this afternoon to cut the grass as the great weather has made it grow very quickly! Then if all goes to plan I intend to finish any outstanding deliveries ...
Tuesday was this blog's sixth anniversary and so the one day of the year I talk blog stats. But it was also the day the General Election was called, so I've been a bit busy this week. I've therefore merged this weekend's list with the annual number round-up. So here we go. The previous five years' figures are in brackets, last year's first. 3 (3, 2, 2, 2, 2): number of servers this site has been hosted on 2 (2, 2, 2, 2, 2): number of blogging applications used 1,157 (1,123, 977, 873, 588, 226): total number of posts 1,742 ...
BBC gets tougher on Today prog – Cable wins!
Just listened to an interview on the today programme with departing Labour MP Bob Marshall Andrews. He was referred to as a 'serial rebel' and in times gone by as a maverick. He was pulled up by the interviewer for referring to the government as 'they'. His comeback was masterful. (and I paraphrase) All governments should be they. Parliament is there to hold them to account. Compare this attitude to Hull Norths Labour MP Diana Johnson who has never once voted against her government (and was rewarded with a junior job for her efforts) and think about who you would ...
The nomnations have gone in for the locals at least and the contest begins in earnest. We have 57 candidates standing in 20 wards. We could have had more but we decided that there were a few non target wards where we knew independents were putting up and we wanted to give them the best possible chance against Conservative and Labour incumbants The local election should not be about ego's or school boy playground antics ("Only the Conservatives have committed to fielding 65 candidates" the Conservative leaflets proclaim or roughly translated "I have a bigger list than you!"). This local ...
Who should you vote for? UK General Election quiz Green 68 Liberal Democrat 65 UK Independence 20 Conservative -6 Labour -16 You expected: LIBYour recommendation: Green Click here for more details about these results Hmm. Problem is the glaring omission of policies towards science/medicine/etc. from the questionnaire, which I think are quite important, and which also mean that I could NEVER vote Green because they are lovers of the Woo (sorry, JimJay). So, luckily, I am left with the Lib Dems. For reference, VoteMatch gave me: Lib Dem 72% Green 57% Labour 43% Tory 34% Of course, neither of them ...
Here are my three my pledges as a PPC for Keighley and Ilkley constituencty, on UK child poverty, International development, and Children's rights: 1. UK child poverty: Around 4m UK children are denied a childhood free from poverty. Living ...
Click here to see the video wall
Sat 10th
00:32
If yesterday was Spring, today was summer out on the doorsteps. Found more poster sites.
If yesterday was Spring, today was summer out on the doorsteps. Found more poster sites.
It is exactly one year ago that I was selected by the Keighley Lib Dems to be their candidate for the general election. And this week finally, the elections have been called. It's been a heck of a year demanding and exhilirating in equal ...
Not only have Labour chosen a candidate for Broadland that nobody has heard of and has done no noticable campaigning across the constituency, but at a public meeting last night to discuss one of the main issues in the constituency (The Rackheath Eco Town which the Tory council is forcing on the area), The Tory candidate was there, Lib Dem candidate Dan Roper was there, nut absolutely no sign of the Labour Party candidate. You have to ask, have they given up already ?
I have written previously about the Morecambe Independent Party and one of my concerns is about their beliefs. They present themselves as putting Morecambe first but I am not sure what this involves. Do they put Morecambe first by supporting everything that is happening within the town's boundaries and nothing outside this area? What happens when the discussion is purely about Morecambe? Do they get involved at all when the discussion does not concern Morecambe? What makes them tick? Well they are in the news this week because their cabinet member on the Lancaster City Council has stepped down because ...
