Earlier today I met with Richard Hayward, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Luton Borough Council South ward by-selection, to campaign in the local area. You may have read this week in the local papers about local people's frustrations about the advertising hoardings that have now been on the Bailey Hill Water Tower for years. As a local resident, who only lives a stone's throw away from the water tower, Richard is working with myself and my fellow Liberal Democrat Councillors to get the hoardings removed. The Water Tower is one of our town's architectcural gems and residents should be ...
The Orpington by-election of 1962 was a political milestone. Eric Lubbock over-turned a large Conservative majority, panicking the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan, and the Liberal Party (which had almost died out a decade before) was revitalised. The term 'Orpington Man' was coined by the media as they tried to explain what had happened: a ...
Tory Candidate for Perth and North Perthshire Peter Lyburn is at the centre of a political storm tonight over an open letter to the Courier and the Perthshire Advertiser on the proposed Tory NI cut. This letter, submitted by Lyburn on Thursday, was apparently supported by local business leaders- but a number of the alleged signatories, including the President of the local Chamber of Commerce say that they did not agree for their names to be put to it. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Paul Shields, said that he felt disappointed that I've been misquoted and disappointed that ...
Peter Barron, the highly respected editor of the Northern Echo has tweeted this evening:"Lost count of the number of people who've said to me that they're going to vote Lib Dem in the past couple of days. Getting interesting."It certainly is, Peter.
So, apparently, there are some rather exciting polls for the Lib Dems in the papers this weekend. You may have heard the news. Just in case you haven't, here's a quick rundown, pinched from Lib Dem Voice: BPIX/Mail on Sunday: Lib Dem 32%, Conservative 31%, Labour 28% ComRes/Independent/Mirror: Conservative 31%, Lib Dem 29%, Labour 27% ICM/Sunday Telegraph: Conservative 34%, Labour 29%, Lib Dem 27% OnePoll/People: Lib Dem 33%, Conservative 27%, Labour 23% YouGov/Sunday Times: Conservative 33%, Labour 30%, Lib Dem 29% Heady stuff indeed. I was only just getting used to the sight of the Liberal Democrats in second place, ...
Sat 17th
21:55
2010 General Election Diary Day 12: Nice country you've got here, be a shame if anything happened to...
So, David Cameron is back banging the drum about how bad a hung Parliament would be, so you should all jolly well go and vote for him to stop this happening. As a public service, I offer this question free to any journalist who wants to ask it to David Cameron: Mr Cameron, you're against electoral ...
Nick Clegg's sterling performance in last Thursday night's live debate with the other two contenders for premiership had a tangible and positive effect on havering and disillusioned voters, as I found this morning while canvassing in Barton-le-Clay. They now know there is a viable alternative to the unappetising Brown or Cameron fare proffered unimaginatively by much of the media until now. By sharing the stage and glare of questioning live on TV, Clegg stepped into the limelight and came to the proper attention of many for the first time. He seized the opportunity and did not disappoint. Of course, Clegg ...
As the Liberal Democrats soar in the polls and Labour and Tory fall back, John Barnett's LibDem campaign in Dundee West is galloping ahead throughout the constituency. Here's John with some of the LibDem team (Munwar, Bill & Chris - with John on the right of the photo above) pictured in Nethergate near to DCA this morning, where John was interviewed by STV News.
Hello. Apologies for this being more of an occasional election notepad than I had hoped, but sometimes the campaigning takes up every last minute. Friday was great. So many people mentioned the prime ministerial debate and how it had convinced them to vote Lib Dem in the election. Nick Clegg had really impressed people, and the core Lib Dem pledges on fairness - fair taxes, a fair chance for every child, a fair future with more jobs and a greener Britain, and a fair deal from cleaning up politics - are really resonating. To check out Lib Dem policies in ...
Usually we here about the devastation caused for the people living near to a natural disaster but this one is having much more impact on people who've never heard its name before. Almost everyone seems to have a relative or friend who's stuck elsewhere in the world. I had a phone call tonight from relatives stuck in America who should have arrived home tomorrow morning but now are booked on a
Pinching myself hard, I find myself writing that, according to politicalbetting.com, the Liberals top the opinion polls in the latest results to be published (BPIX/YouGov survey for the Mail on Sunday). Ok we may want to take one poll (and especially this poll) with a dose of salts - but a pattern certainly does seem to be emerging... the entire country agrees with Nick! [IMG: liberals-in-front]
A photograph taken in Oakham by Martin Brookes.
Can I recommend Mark Pack's excellent analysis of the Lib Dem poll surge on Lib Dem Voice. A good balanced article with proper evidence related to history, not opinion.
Recently the story about Kingston Hospital has received more attention again (and not for good reasons). If you are a regular reader of my blog you will have seen me comment many times before about this however the report on newsnight tonight has brought it back to peoples attention. You'd really expect better reporting from ...
In an effort to prove that everybody loves him, despite tanking in the first leaders' debate, today David Cameron held a walkabout in his own constituency of Witney. He didn't bank on getting any flak, but he kopped some from an un-named voter unhappy with Cameron's failure to return thirty phone calls asking for help. So much for Cameron's pledge to help the marginalised in society. And, given that this man is a former soldier, so much for the Conservative's image of being supporters of servicemen and women past and present. See here and here for more details.
"I will only really believe it when I see it in print!" – so read a text message to me from one of the party's senior campaign strategists after news started spreading about the latest poll: BPIX/Mail on Sunday: Lib Dem 32%, Conservative 31%, Labour 28% ComRes/Independent/Mirror: Conservative 31%, Lib Dem 29%, Labour 27% ICM/Sunday Telegraph: Conservative 34%, Labour 29%, Lib Dem 27% OnePoll/People: Lib Dem 33%, Conservative 27%, Labour 23% YouGov/Sunday Times: Conservative 33%, Labour 30%, Lib Dem 29% The YouGov poll gives Nick Clegg the eye-watering personal ratings on doing well/badly as party leader of 81% versus 9%. ...
Ah, the Obamicon. Truly a gift that keeps on giving; saved me quite a bit of unnecessary Photoshopping too.
Liberal Democrats believe our transport system is too slow and expensive in getting us from 'A' to 'B'. There is too much traffic on the roads, trains and tubes are expensive and overcrowded, and buses are too few and far between. Transport should be affordable and reliable so people can have a real choice about ...
The sun was certainly shining today, and I'm not referring to the opinion polls (which I take with a pinch of salt). It has been gloriously sunny all day in Blaydon constituency. Useful for when we are out canvassing and delivering.My day started when I delivered a pile of letters that appeared on my desk last night. To my candidate Neil, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, or the bottom of
Philip Blond, director of the think tank ResPublica and a former theology lecturer, has just published a book called Red Tory: How Left and Right Have Broken Britain and How We Can Fix it . Blond not only looks something like a beached porpoise, he is also distinguished himself by his resurrection of old distributivist ideas that David Cameron has picked up on in his "Big Society" theme. I wonder if we can examine Blond's ideas to see where the Cameroons are coming from and where they are going. I've looked at some of Cameron's ideas before and found them ...
April 17th, 2010 BPIX - Mail on SundayApr 17Apr 10 LIB DEMS 32% 20% CONSERVATIVES 31% 38% LABOUR 28% 31% Political Betting has the story
The leaders' debates must be a particular strain for David Cameron because he is acting the whole time. Those who encountered him before he entered Parliament do not recognise the caring, frowning with concern character they now see on their screens. In truth, he would much rather be tossing a fag in a blanket or having the gardeners boy thrashed. And a little bit of the real Cameron can be seen in the arrogant way he pulled Nick Clegg back as he went to the audience at the end of the first debate - see the video. If Cameron is ...
SEFTON METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCILELECTION OF COUNCILLORS THURSDAY, 6 MAY 2010 The following is a statement as to the persons nominated for election as Councillors for the BIRKDALE WARD STATEMENT AS TO PERSONS NOMINATED The following persons have been nominated: Candidate's Surname Other Names in full Home Address in full Description (if any) Name of Proposer Decision of Returning Officer that Nomination Paper is invalid or other reason why a person nominated no longer stands nominated BRODIE BROWNE Iain Malcolm 27 Dunkirk RdBirkdaleSouthportPR8 4QZ Liberal Democrats John Pugh DURRANCE Terry John 368 Liverpool RoadBirkdaleSouthportPR8 3BZ U.K. Independence Party David Matthews HENNEY ...
Ok in my last post I did allude to the opinion polls that have been flying all over the place with one common thread, the Lib Dems are up. In fact a bigger up than I can remember in one election campaign let alone 48 hours, so we cannot assume it is rogue polls, they are all saying the same thing. So I'm not going to concentrate on the headline figures, if you're reading this you probably know that however in this morning's Harris poll for the Mail. It showed Nick Clegg as polling 81% for a strong leader and ...
With a BPIX poll for The Mail on Sunday: Lib Dems 32 (+12)Conservatives 31 (-7)Labour 28 (-3) These huge polling jumps are starting to look like a trend rather than a blip.
Many of us were intrigued about the story that Cameron told in the leaders debate about someone he met in Crosby. Cameron referred to an anecdote he had been told about a burglary in Crosby, during which the burglars set the house on fire, which tragically led to the death of the son of the homeowner. I had no recollection of any such incident in Crosby. I checked around with colleagues who have a greater local knowledge and the closest we can up with is this report about an incident that is nowhere near the target seat of Sefton Central ...
There are some headlines that we have waited a long time to write. Lib Dems Lead in Polls - that's one that the other two parties didn't think they'd see in this election. LIB DEMS LEAD IN POLLS I think we'll have it again! So, what happened? The size of the swing isn't going to surprise anyone whose been on the doorstep in this election. There's a huge tranche of undecided voters out there. What's going to surprise the other parties is that the undecided haven't just trotted meekly back into the fold. The big two spend an enormous amount ...
The morning of the "Prime Ministers" debate, YouGov already had a poll showing a 4% increase in the Lib Dem share on their previous daily poll, Now we have a new ICM for the Sunday Telegraph showing a massive 7% boost for the Lib Dems at 27%, over their previous poll four days earlier. The key point is, this poll was taken the day before and the day of the debate, with only a small part of the fieldwork done after the debate. http://www6.politicalbetting.com/ So all the evidence shows that a spectacular LibDem surge started before the debate - in ...
A relative aged 87 years old recently visited Usbekistan. That's quite an ahievement in and of itself – it's fairly near China! He brought back some of us family members the unassuming gift of Uzbek slippers. They've turned out to be wonderful. ...A sort of cross between a slipper and bed socks. They keep your feet warm while giving you a sort of freedom which you don't don't enjoy with normal slippers. They make you want to sort of dance..... I hesitate to show feet on this blog, but here are my Uzbek slippers: Uzbekistan 1 Western slipper manufacturers 0 ...
One of the things about having a major University in your patch is that there are a lot of bright and committed people around who are not necessarily easily contacted through classic campaigning. In Milton Keynes the Open University is holding a special hustings with a theme. That theme is "Technology and the next 4 years, how my party will utilise it and how we will interact with an increasingly online population". The meeting will be an opportunity to make contacts with politically interested OU staff, which will be of value in this election and the future. Showing that face ...
Before the debate on Thursday, John Redwood was predicting the whole thing would be dull. It turned out to be anything but. Nick Clegg came out the clear winner and the Lib Dems got an enormous boost in the opinion polls, overtaking Labour and moving into second place - only 3% behind the Tories according to The Sun. But what about the impact on the doorstep? Well, I have lost count of the number of people I have spoken to in the last 2 days who have thought Nick Clegg did well. And more importantly, our canvass returns are telling ...
To be honest I am a bit stunned. It has nearly always been the case that the Liberal Democrats improve their poll ratings as people see more of them during a General Election campaign, however the surge in the last few days is unprecedented. I understand that on the morning of the "Prime Ministers" debate, YouGov already had a poll showing a 4% increase in the Liberal Democrat share on their previous daily poll. Then there was a new ICM for the Sunday Telegraph showing a massive 7% boost for the Lib Dems at 27%, over their previous poll four ...
After my pro bono PR advice to the UK Libertarian party, I thought perhaps I would share some thoughts with the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dem media team seem to be doing very well but one thing they now need to look out for are attempts to divide Clegg from Cable. Labour and the Conservatives will be looking at ways to attack the Lib Dems while the media scrutinises every word that party representatives utter. Given Cable's prominence my guess would be they will look at anything that Clegg and Cable say to see if there are inconsistencies. Whatever happens, ...
Had to happen really. On Thursday night we heard about how Dave met a black man in Plymouth; and sure enough his local paper in Devon has tracked him down for a quote. Unlike his plunger-wielding counterpart in Ohio, our man Neal Forde goes on to contradict just about everything Cameron said in his little anecdote, clearly stating that "Britain needs immigrants". H/t to Left Outside for this gem. I'm still waiting for corroboration of those comparative figures re cancer patients in Britain and Bulgaria, and I haven't found anything concrete via the ONS or medical journals, though I'm sure ...
The "Big Society" idea of the Tories doesn't seem to stretch to politicians sharing power. The Tories claimed a Tory government would share power with the people. What they meant was that they want a majority so they don't share power with anyone.That at least seems to be the response to the Lib Dem surge in the opinion polls. David Cameron warned that his party must have a majority to take "
What a weekend for the first and greatest of the Doctor's enemies to return. Just as it looks like, after over half a century, the Daleky forces of authoritarianism and conformity might be losing their grip on British politics. And what could be happening when, after nearly half a century of symbolising Nazism, the Daleks have suddenly joined the Allies with Winston Churchill, exchanging their Noughties Bling livery for khaki drab and, perhaps, more besides...? If tonight's brand new Victory of the Daleks leaves you wanting more, here's my highly partial guide to the Daleks' top twenty stories (until today): ...
Sat 17th
18:28
Cameron didn't return "30 odd" calls from an ex-soldier constituent and gets berated for it during w...
An ex-soldier berated David Cameron for failing to help him today as the Tory leader staged a walkabout in his own constituency. The man, accompanied by his young daughter, confronted Mr Cameron as he canvassed voters in the town of Witney. 'I met you... years ago, my wife was pregnant with this one,' he said. 'Come back from Germany, nowhere to live, little one, just left the Army – got back from Kosovo. 'You gave me your card and you said 'give me a ring and I'll help you out'. 'Thirty odd phone calls and you didn't ring me back ...
No I'm not getting carried away with the opinion polls that are making the most exciting reading for this Liberal Democrat since he was old enough to vote. I took an afternoon off the campaign trail this afternoon to watch Livingston suceed in being the first team to win the Scottish Third Division title for a second time. Although it wasn't all plan sailing, despite being the dominant team we conceded a penalty for handball in the last minute. However, Roddy McKenzie, who could some of us doubt that our player with most appearances would fail, saved it to the ...
Four blogs have recently joined Ryan's Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Dale Cox - http://liberalendevour.blogspot.com/ – on Wednesday he wrote, "A good day to be a Liberal Democrat"; not much has changed since. Gary Watts - http://gwatts4council.wordpress.com/ – the Gary for Glebe Ward blog is about Gary, who is campaigning for Glebe Ward. Ronseal would be proud. James Ogley - http://jamesthevicar.com/wordpress/ – having started blogging in February 2003, he probably wins the prize for longeste pause before joining the aggregator. Shame for James that it's an imaginary prize. Matthew Holden - http://matthewholden.wordpress.com/ – another local election candidate who has taken to ...
Astonishing things going on in the polls at the moment. An ICM poll taken *before* the debate had Lib Dems up 7 and two others polls have Lib Dems overtaking Labour and only a few points behind the Conservatives. Anyone's bet where we go from here. Two reflections on the events of recent days: - the biggest change seems to have been the not very extraordinary change of *giving the Lib Dems fair coverage* - for 48 weeks a year the BBC can largely ignore us but for four weeks they are obliged by law to give us a decent ...
A couple more polls have been published showing support for the Liberal Democrats rising. One putting Lib Dems ahead of the Labour party, whilst the other 2 points behind Labour. CON 31%(-4), LAB 27%(-2), LDEM 29%(+8). CON 34%(-3), LAB 29%(-2), LDEM 27%(+7)This is more reasons to celebrate. But with under two weeks still to go, we must not be complacent and should word extra hard too ensure we
Today's Times reports that Two Tory rising stars fighting marginal seats in David Cameron's West London backyard face embarrassment over their community projects, lauded by the Tory leader as models for his vision of a "Big Society". They say that the Charity Commission has issued guidance to Joanne Cash after concerns were raised about her use of the word "charitable" to describe a social action project run and funded by her Conservative Association: Ms Cash hopes to become MP for Westminster North, a seat whose constituents include many of the gilded "Notting Hill set" that surround the Conservative leader. Shaun ...
Got to have a look at this site. (If it seems to take for ever to load, close that window and try my link again.)
I was really pleased to hear Nick Clegg raise the issue of Trident and the treatment of our troops during the first TV debate. For too long, the defence debate has been dominated by the Tories, claiming to be the only party who understands defence, and Labour who are happy to use troops but aren't interested in where they live, how much they're paid or what happens to them when they get home. Successive defence reviews in the 1990s tore the heart out of the military without really addressing the key issue of what armed forces are used for in ...
After the confusion of the ComRes poll which put the Lib Dems on 35% (it turned out to be just a poll of those who watched the debate), and the YouGov daily poll which put the Lib Dems above Labour, we now get the first news of the Sunday polls. And they confirm the definite swing towards Nick, Vince and the Lib Dems. ComRes for S Mirror/Independent on Sunday Con 31 (-4), Lab 27 (-2), LD 29 (+8) Oth 13 (-2) and Sunday Telegraph/ICM Con 34 (-3), Lab 29 (-2), LD 27 (+7) The key here is that the majority ...
Sigh; it's been another long long rugby match length phone call with Vodafone. Paul from the second line technical was an absolutely star but the reason the phone call was quite so long it that we were trying to untangle why my mobile broadband is so slow when connecting via a Sure Signal box. The background was a series of emails to and from Customer Services where the common themes were (a) inconsistent information about how Sure Signal and mobile broadband interact, (b) what sort of speeds you can get for mobile broadband via Sure Signal and (c) answering my ...
And no, I am not making these figures up! Communicate Research: Con 35% Lab 28% Lib Dem 24% Others 13% YouGov: Con 33% Lib Dem 30% Lab 28% Others 9% Average: Con 34% Lab 28% Lib Dem 27% Others 11% House of Commons Forecast (on national uniform swing) Conservatives 270 seats (+60 seats) Labour 267 seats (-82 seats) Liberal Democrats 81 seats (+19 seats) Others 32 seats (+3 seats) Hung Parliament (Conservatives short by 56)
"So, after about ninety minutes on television, the general public have now been won over. The third man in the role in five years – and the youngest ever – has won round a public who didn't realise how much they wanted change. I must admit, I still have my doubts – I wasn't sure ...
There's something about the way the volcanic ash story is developing that makes me feel we're in the opening chapters of one of John Wyndham or John Christopher's world-ending novels of the mid-20th century. Not that I'm claiming the eruption of an Icelandic volcano is the beginning of the civilization-ending apocalypse – though that's exactly what ...
I just watched Gordon Brown talking about international development in Milton Keynes, broadcast live across all the breaking news channels. If you switched off your critical faculties, it was a heartfelt plea for internationalism. I was jogged harshly out of semi-attention when he talked of the need to "Do something about torture". Well, New Labour did something about torture. They promoted it, they institutionalised a policy of employing torture to get confessions for their "War on Terror", they co-operated with the extraordinary rendition system. Oh, and while they were at it they sacked me and tried to frame me for ...
I've written before about why we need a fair voting system in a democracy, and this has been highlighted by the recent rash of opinion polls which place the Liberal Democrats ahead of Labour and not so far behind the Tories. Now, I should add a disclaimer here. I think the opinion polls are far ...
Friday: Seismic events are shaking the bedrock! For the first time in a hundred years, it is possible to enjoy clear skies over Great Britain as an enormous Paddy Ashcloud dominates the airwaves. Oh, and a volcano has stopped planes flying too. Britain needs CHANGE. Mr Frown and Mr Balloon say that they agree with Nick: we agree with Nick [IMG: Posted by Picasa] More and more people are saying that they agree with Nick: we agree with Nick too [IMG: Posted by Picasa] Let's see if we can't get EVERYONE saying that they agree with Nick! we ALL agree ...
It was great this morning to be out and about on Mill Hill Broadway talking to local people. Lots of people said that they now plan to vote Lib Dem. Of course, you can't please all of the people all of the time, and lots of people had questions about my party's policies - which is as it should be, since we are seeking to win an election and form a government. I enjoy answering such questions and really discussing the issues with people. I look forward to doing a lot more of that over the coming weeks.
It would appear that Nick Clegg's performance on the leaders debate the other night has even stirred up political activism in the canine world with this new blogger entering the arena. For a simple dogs take on the campaign trail go and read LibDemDog Mickey. He's 'barking mad' and he loves the phrase 'I agree with ...
I am not a member of the UK Libertarian party but after commenting on the swearing saga of 'Devil's Kitchen', I began thinking about the advice I would give to a party of 450 members. David Chiverton sets out his ideas on how to promote libertarianism here. And in the US, David Boaz explains on the Cato@Liberty blog what he thinks libertarianism is all about. His definition is pretty much what British classical liberalism is. To digress for a moment, I have always wondered why libertarians call for a small State or small government. Boaz explains perfectly why that won't ...
There are only EVER two stories in an election: CHANGE or MORE OF THE SAME. The BIG difference that Nick Clegg's acknowledged win in the Leader's Debate has made is that many people now realise that while the Labservatives are more of the same old sleaze and spin, EVERY vote for a Liberal Democrat is a VOTE FOR CHANGE. I'll say that again: EVERY SINGLE VOTE FOR A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT IS A VOTE FOR CHANGE. This may just be the ONE election under our corrupt and broken electoral system where EVERY VOTE COUNTS. Here's why: If you vote for Liberal ...
[IMG: Pauline, Chris and the team with Floella Benjamin] As someone who's old enough to remember Playschool, I was gutted to miss meeting Floella Benjamin when she dropped in to Lee Green yesterday in support of Pete's campaign to become our next MP. Floella met up with Pete, Pauline, Chris and other Lib Dem candidates and visit the Manor House Library and Manor House Gardens.
After very publicly deciding to drop 'Devil's Kitchen' from my blog roll, I have reinstated its author in his new guise as 'Devil's Knife'. I have also added some other libertarian bloggers as well as reinstating Obnoxio the clown despite his fruity use of language and disturbing photo. It seems Chris Mounsey has had a re-think after appearing on 'The Daily Politics'. I have not been the only one to challenge the approach of some libertarian bloggers. I am thankful to David Chiverton for discovering that post and for his views on how best to promote libertarianism.
In February I asked, what if Labour wins. Right now that looks unlikely but there are several scenarios that could play out. Labour wins If Labour wins it will have a small percentage of the vote. This probably means it will have a slim majority. The Conservatives will then either implode with the anti-Cameroons taking their revenge or hold their nerve and wait for Labour to collapse in office as it argues over the direction it wants to take. The latter would be based on the assumption that then there would be an early election and that the Tories could ...
Here's my latest column for the Ham & High: I never imagined when I was at Highgate Primary School, playing kiss chase in Highgate Woods, going to Muswell Hill Youth Club, being dropped at my aunt's net curtaining shop in Wood Green High Road to play in the back whilst my mother went to work - or even later - when I was getting married at Haringey Civic Centre - that I would become the MP for Hornsey & Wood Green. It makes travelling around the area rather strange now, because it's not just my home but also my place ...
"I went to a Hull police station the other day. They had five different police cars, and they were just about to buy a £73,000 Lexus". David Cameron, Leaders debate, 15 April 2010 According to Humberside police the vehicle was "tested during a ...
I'm told that "I agree with Nick" was one of the most used phrases in the Leaders' Debate And apparently you can now buy T shirts to show you agree too! Here's the link
That Nick Clegg. He's a bit popular now. It being Saturday, Nick was joined on the campaign trail today by his wife Miriam and they visited the maternity wing at Kingston Hospital. This visit was arranged for two reasons. First the political. The department is under threat from Labour cuts. Local Lib Dems including Susan Kramer and Ed Davey have been campaigning hard to save it. The Tories think they're scaremongering and sit on the sidelines sniping. Second, the personal. This unit is where Nick and Miriam's third son, Miguel, was born just about a year ago. Nick and Miriam ...
The third season of 'Mad Men' came to an end on BBC 4 this week. As it is still running on BBC2, I will try and not give too much away. For anyone who doesn't know, 'Mad Men' is set in the fictitious ad agency Sterling Cooper in the 1960s. The characters aren't that pleasant which rather makes them like 'The Sopranos' but at least that show had something tragic about it. The characters aren't complex in the way the heroes, heroines and villains were from the epic and outstanding HBO show 'The Wires'. 'Mad Men' has become more melodramatic ...
Matt Chorley passes on the news via twitter that the Plymouth Herald have found the '40 year old black man' referred to by Tory leader David Cameron during last week's leaders' debate. If you remember, Cameron said: "I was in Plymouth recently and a 40-year-old black man... said, 'I came here when I was six, I've served in the Royal Navy for 30 years. I'm incredibly proud of my country. But I'm so ashamed that we've had this out-of-control (immigration) system with people abusing it so badly'." Except Neal Forde is 51, not 40. He served 6 years in the ...
I was out this morning with the Lib Dem team in Gateacre. We spent part of the time helping the Gateacre in Bloom people with a community clean up. Here's a picture of me weilding a litter picker cleaning up the stretch by the shops.
By-election supremo and past Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats, Chris Rennard visited my Campaign HQ in Manchester Withington to give his election seal of approval to the newly converted campaign offices on Gawsworth Avenue. Former party Leader Charles Kennedy describes Chris as "a quite extraordinary figure in British politics". He transformed the Liberal Democrats over the ...
In all the lead up to the election my colleague Simon Shaw always asserted that Clegg would outstrip the highest expectations in the debates. His confidence was based on the work that Frank Luntz did on Newsnight back in 2008. Mike Smithson makes the same point over on Political Betting and you can watch the video here. It must be said that since that event Clegg has come along way. His presentation has been improved in scores of local meetings. He will need all that experience next week. Foreign Affairs don't usually impact on voting (except the Iraq war -which ...
I've talked here quite a bit about the Faction Paradox books. These are (mostly) published by the small publishing company Mad Norwegian books, who also publish the excellent Doctor Who reference series About Time (the Revolution In The Head of Doctor Who) and various other 'cult TV' books. Normally, I've either bought their books from Waterstone's ...
[IMG: [personal profile] ] el_staplador lives in Woking. Woking has had the same result since 1983: Tories first, Lib Dems (or equivalent) second. Labour nowhere. But if you look at the figures, the Tory lead has narrowed every time, and turnout has dropped every time. It's a classic example of the electorate feeling disenfranchised; nobody bothers to go out and vote, because whoever they vote for the Tory wins. So, certainly in Woking, you should vote Lib Dem (and persuade others to do so) because the turnout is now low enough and the gap narrow enough for that Tory majority ...
My profile appeared in the local paper (Brighouse Echo) on Thursday, but in all the excitement about the leader's debate and the subsequent polls I forgot to blog about it LOL. I got equal billing with the other candidates, and quite a nice write up. Local reaction is starting to snowball positively, and I really think I am in with a chance. Unfortunately the Echo hasn't put it up on the website for me to link to, but... If you live in Hipperholme and Lightcliffe, or you know anyone who does, please tell them that I am a serious contender ...
I was on Radio 5 Live last night at midnight doing the paper review on Stephen Nolan's show. As I was driving to the studio I heard the breaking news about the YouGov poll in today's Sun which puts the Conservatives on 33%, the Lib Dems on 30% (a huge 8% jump) and Labour on 28%. Unfortunately, once I arrived at the studio, for some reason I could not fathom I was not able to get internet access working on my iPhone. I had wanted to run the figures through UK Polling Report's seat calculator before I went on air ...
Hello everybody – I'm so sorry this has been such a long time coming: We achieved a great victory at the recent by-election on 1st April by coming second with 389 votes – a massive 22.7% increase in our share of the vote. I am very grateful for everybody's help and support – I know it was tough. We have made excellent progress and given ourselves a great platform upon which we can build further successes. The results were as follows: Labour: 603 votes (35.2%) Liberal Democrats: 389 votes (22.7%) Green: 339 votes (19.8%) Conservative: 301 votes (17.6%) UKIP: 84 ...
Many local residents have voiced their concerns for the welfare or our local homeless. There is a belief that the homeless are too often neglected by the community because people feel uncomfortable about their situation. Although some relief is provided for the homless community in Lancaster – mainly meals and a place to stay in winter – the Council has chosen to pursue a priority of helping people not to become homeless in the first instance over those who, regrettably, already are homeless (Lancaster Guardian). I think it is right that we look at this issue in greater depth. If ...
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader ... Here's Tory leader David Cameron responding to Nick Clegg's stellar performance in the first televised leaders debate. What might he be thinking? The winner of our most recent caption competition, the "Why David Heath's not bitter" edition last month - according to The Voice's judging panel of one - was this old-ones-are-the-best from Simon Titley.
Last nght's canvassing was fantastic. So many people said they'd seen Nick's performance on the debate and were going to vote for me because of it. They love our message of tax fairness and they agree with Nick! On the opinion poll ratings we are now achieving, Ealing Central and Acton is one of the seats that is coloured gold on the swingomoter display behind Jeremy Vine's flailing arms. What we need to do to make that a reality is to get our message across to all those local people who didn't watch the debate. And that means continuing to ...
I had the evening off from campaigning last night. My niece and nephew were down so I held a BBQ,the first this year. Friends and family all came round. No break for Dad though, he left us to go out canvassing in his ward and returned after dark with a smile on his face.He knocked on one door and a man came to answer. Seeing Dad, he ran back indoors (I can assure you it wasn't the way my dad
Following the incredible YouGov poll result out today which puts the Lib Dems on 30% up 8 points and ahead of Labour, one thing that everyone is now wondering is if this is an outlier or a trend. We won't know for sure until we see more polls (ComRes has one in the Indy tomorrow so we should see that later today). One thing that I am hearing a lot is speculation that it is just a short term post leader debate bounce and it cannot be sustained. Maybe. However Paul Waugh floated a fascinating idea yesterday: The accepted wisdom ...
Some bloggy adminy points with some questions: 1) Thank you to the person who just paid for my account to be upgraded to paid; I'm always very grateful when people do this, while slightly bemused; it was on my to-do list for payday, but that's not for a few weeks, danke. 2) I've been doing some more tweaks to my layout, it's still nowhere near finished but it's better than it was. However, [IMG: [profile] ] mooism had problems with the tag cloud in the side column obscuring the text ox for commenting; this shouldn't happen in the code and ...
I've a short article over at The Guardian's Comment Is Free website giving my post-debate analysis. It was originally written about an hour after the debate concluded (immediately after I'd written up my Lib Dem Voice verdict – oddly, I came to the conclusion that Clegg won in both), though subsequently updated to include news of the ComRes putting the Lib Dems second. Thankfully, I stuck to a cautious tone, though I'd already heard off-the-record that there would be a poll today showing the Lib Dems in second place. The purpose of this article was to show that Nick ...
How many times are we reminded and told the Liberal Democrats can't and won't win, or that a Liberal Democrat vote is a wasted vote? Too many times, I suggest. It's a message that was suggested glibly by none other than John Humphreys on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme earlier this week, in a blatantly unfair remark. Too often the BBC, which is supposed to be impartial, allows commentators to deride and discount the Lib Dems as somehow irrelevant compared to the other two major parties. It really is time to challenge such comments, and, in the aftermath of Nick ...
Though I'm terribly excited about last night's 30% poll rating for the Lib Dems, it worries me that we have peaked too early and will run out of gas before the finish line. I will wait for more polling developments before commenting further... In the meantime, I've had a bit of fun with the debate transcript. ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] First came the hashtag "#iagreewithnick" Now you can buy the T-shirt! Awesome! Two party race, my a*s*!
Helping at the riverside litter pick
...that Simon Ashall has edited his post from last night and removed his derogatory comment abotut Rosie Sharpley. One can only hope that in the cold light of day, Mr Ashall has had an epiphany and realised that his comments have no place in politics and that that onlythings we should be talking about are ...
It might seem a bizarre argument but as I posted a while back, it appears the Conservatives had a brand strategy and not a political one. Paul Goodman on 'Conservative Home' rather reinforces the point. Goodman says that the Tory "leadership underestimated Clegg, prepared no debate strategy to deal with him, and have been caught napping. Many of my fellow hacks will be sniffing around this weekend for stories about Tory splits, disloyalty, and panic. The Guardian/BBC/media left axis has an axe to grind, and a few Conservative commentators have scores to settle. Not for the first time, the leadership ...
Last Thursday's Leaders Debate will, I hope, go down in British political history as a true turning point. The point where it finally dawned on a generation of voters, many disengaged form the political process, that there IS another way. A third way. A fairer and more just way, without simply playing the other side ...
One of the huge blessings of modern life is that you can carry the complete works of Shakespeare around in your pocket, to be read whenever you like, or have got tired of Angry Birds. I last read Measure for Measure in 1995 and don't think I was paying as much attention as now. In any ...
As a parent, I know that finding a good, local school for your child is a daunting process. In Hammersmith, however, this most basic right has turned into an uphill struggle - in 2009 Hammersmith was amongst the worst performing London boroughs in granting parents a place at their first choice of secondary school.
There's straight-forward good news for the Liberal Democrats in today's Daily Mail: A Harris poll for the Daily Mail, the first in-depth survey of the public response, showed him decisively ahead of David Cameron and Gordon Brown on measures of energy, honesty and strength. The survey of over 1,000 people who watched the clash found 32 per cent intended to back Mr Clegg's LibDems – level with the Tories – and just 26 per cent Labour. Those poll results are dramatic – and reflect what we've seen in other polls too. But most striking is the Daily Mail's editorial reaction. ...
[IMG: image363953502.jpg] All, Just setting up for the event now. Remember - it's on from 10am this morning until 4pm at the High School. Free entry - so come along and find out how to save money on your energy bills. Philip [Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]
PR Week has a story this week about the new social media guidelines for civil servants during a general election: The Cabinet Office published General Election Guidance 2010 last week for government departments, which includes details about comms activities during the general election. For the first time, the guidance outlines that 'use of Twitter may continue for publishing factual information only'... Mandate head of digital Mark Pack said: 'The length and detail of the guidelines show how diverse and sophisticated government communications now are. The advice strikes a sensible balance between continuing flows of information which people expect, such as ...
"First they Ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." have the other parties finally decided to fight us...or then again maybe some haven't
The latest weekly bulletin from my colleague Sarah Ludford, Lib Dem MEP for London, has prompted me to think further about last weekend's tragic air crash in which so many distinguished Polish people died. In the hurly-burly of the election campaign, it is important to make time to also reflect on wider issues, as Sarah does in this piece here. I extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to all those affected by this latest Polish tragedy, including Polish and Anglo-Polish people living locally. Some of my previous thoughts on Polish politics on this site can be found here.
One of the more astonishing claims by Dave "Man of the People" Cameron on the TV debate on Thursday, was this gem: I was in Plymouth recently, and a 40-year-old black man made the point to me. He said, "I came here when I was six, I've served in the ...
Thanks to The Attery Squash, cited in Mark Thompson's blog, Markreckons, for this song, Vince Cable is Right about Everything. Relax, it's the weekend! Vince Cable is Right about Everything
I almost had an article published on the Guardian's Comment Is Free website on Wednesday, marking the launch of the Lib Dem manifesto. For convoluted reasons it never saw the light of web – but most of it stands the test of time. Except perhaps the line suggesting the party could never hope for Nick Clegg to be as well liked as his predecessor: that's the power of television for you. Quite rightly, many wise (and not necessarily old) heads have been counselling caution following the last 24 hours explosively positive headlines for the Lib Dems. The party has enjoyed ...
There is no doubt the the Liberal Democrats are about to have a whole world of hurt directed at them. I'm sure it's about to get really nasty for the Liberal Democrats. One issue that the parties will attack the Lib Dems over is that hot potato Immigration. What the papers are calling an amnesty for illegal migrants. However Lib Dem policy on immigration is not an amnesty or all illegal immigrants as is being quoted in the news today. It's is not relax as it says in the Daily Mail today but it is sensible and brave. The policy ...
Find out here.
Buy one at #iagreewithnick.
I have always been fascinated by psephology, and one of my favourite websites is http://www2.politicalbetting.com, where Mike Smithson dispenses much wisdom. Like most UK political websites, the bulk of his commenters have a right wing slant. The comments were dismissive of all the opinion polls saying that Nick Clegg had won the leaders' debate. Wait until the first regular YouGov voting intentions poll, they opined, and we would see the Tories are romping it. Well, the YouGov poll came out last night and is in itself now driving the news agenda. Tory 33, Lib Dem 30, New Labour 28 is ...
The newspaper reaction to the Leaders' Debate can be summed up by Alexander Pope's couplet in his Essay on Criticism: 'Tis with our judgment as our watches, none Go just alike, but each believes his own. So the Sun and the Mail thought Cameron had come out on top, the Mirror Gordon Brown and the dear old Guardian Clegg. The Sun's verdict on Cameron is doubly worrying (even trebly worrying, if there is such a word) in that, although their own opinion poll showed Clegg the "winner" by a huge margin, they managed not to mention him in most of ...
You've seen the debate. Now buy the T-Shirt :-) http://vingfaction.spreadshirt.co.uk/
Putting aside the euphoria of the aftermath of the first of the Leaders (wanting to be Prime Minister) TV debates, it appears the good news keeps on coming. Below are the latest results of the YouGov polling; Conservative: 33% Liberal Democrat: 30% Labour: 28% Others: 9% Fieldwork: 15-16 April. This is week one of the campaign so we do need to keep things in perspective. However, this is great news and shows what we in the Party are always saying, when we get our fair share of the media, and can put our Leaders out there in the public viewing ...
Victor Hugo once wrote that "On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées", which is usually translated as "There is no power on Earth that can resist an idea whose time has come". Amidst the Liberal Democrat euphoria after the decisive victory of Nick Clegg in the leader's debate, a few people have become rather excitable about the prospects for the party this election. The immediate, dramatic moves in the first opinion polls do not yet mean that the Liberal Democrats are poised for government. However, what they do mean is that the voters ...
[IMG: stingray] If a week's a long time in politics - how about ninety minutes? That's all it's taken to turn this entire General Election on its head - boosting the LibDem vote share to 30% What happens next? At a guess... 1. Labour plod on. 2. The Tories dog whistle (the Cameron vote share is now down at Howard/IDS levels) 3. Nick and the LibDems come under immense scrutiny (probably on personalities, not policy) We're way beyond hung parliament territory now. We're into WTF territory. The LibDems are now just 14/1 to be the largest party after May 6th. ...
The range just keeps on growing! I was sent another link to some more 'I agree with Nick' t-shirts this evening – you can never have enough if you ask me? Why not pop along and take a look and maybe treat yourself now that the sun is out a little bit more and summer ...
Sat 17th
02:03
Agent shown me the receipt - so now officially a candidate for election to the Parliament of the Uni...
Agent shown me the receipt - so now officially a candidate for election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Ok. In the past 24 hours (since the Leaders Debate as it happens ) we have received dozens of emails asking us to reinstate the link to the "Vince video" . To my knowledge the link was always there....and anyway I think that Nick has proven he is "de man" but hey... here is the link again (ps.. it is a year out of date....but you know that ....right ??)
Recently I blogged on the difficulty Greens have reconciling their disdain for economic activity with their policies on public services that seem to involve unlimited public spending. I concluded that by failing to support economic growth, the Greens would have to be, before too long, the biggest cutters of public services of all. Their manifesto has now been published, so let's see if it challenges what I said.In contrast, the Green Party is open about what we would cut, what we would defend, and about the fact that we need to raise taxation from 36 per cent of GDP in ...
The Telegraph is reporting on its front pages this evening that David Cameron is still claiming that this election is a two-horse race between himself and Gordon Brown. Did he forget where he was last night and what happened to him and Gordon? Has the fact that he got well and truly spanked by ...
No you read that right! Apparently Andrew Brons believes that as they're not as bad as al-Qaeda, and so should be taken off an EU proscribed terror organisation list. Way to go Brons. Actually, just ...
During the election campaign Lib Dem Voice is each day highlighting six blog-posts from the Lib Dem Blogs Aggregator which we think are well worth reading. But as the last 24 hours has been a little bit special, we're doubling that to a golden dozen today. Here's our pick from 16th April ... Nick Clegg wins last night's Leader Debate (Lynne Featherstone) "It can be different," says Nick. Did you see a debate? (Malcolm Gladwell) Not everyone enjoyed it: "I wasn't happy with this debate. I felt we were getting hundreds of soundbites that came so thick and fast that ...
Just a bit of fun. T-shirts to celebrate the poll rating of CON 33%(-4), LAB 28%(-3), LDEM 30%(+8) on the latest YouGovpoll. The most used phase doing the 1st leaders debate was 'I agree with Nick' mainly by Gordon Brown and now you can get the T-shirt here
As if the Facebook fan pages, the blog posts and the tweets and press reaction weren't enough, some bright swag has now decided to set up an online place for people to buy 'I agree with Nick' t-shirts on Zazzle. Want to join the greatest revolution since the Beatles took on God? Then visit Zazzle ...
How did Nick Clegg spend the day after his triumph in the TV debate? A Lanson Boy has the answers, following him to Warrington and Hull. The photo, showing Nick addressing a crowd in the former, comes from that blog too. Back from the USA, David Boyle has written a post on The Real Blog for the first time in a while. In it he draws a lesson from Nick's success: The best form of defence is attack, and there is no area where we can't formulate policies based on clear Liberal thinking which can be used to press forward ...
[IMG: John Prescott Tweet] It is little wonder that after 13 years in government, the Labour Party has not enacted any meaningful political reform. Labour and the Tories are completely happy with the way things are. A system that denies millions of voters across the country a real voice in the way their country is run. A system that means that tens of thousands of voters across Angus will be denied genuine democracy. John Prescott and the Labour Party should be ashamed of themselves for celebrating our broken political system. This is why we must have real change in this ...
Let's talk about how we are going to make things better for the country shall we? Lets talk about how we are going to make taxes fairer, jobs greener and society fairer for the majority and not the few. Lets talk about how a local candidate with a proven track record will work tirelessly to ...
Yesterday I didn't want to say Nick Clegg had won the debate as I am biased. I know that I am biased but what makes it all the more pleasing is to hear that everyone is talking about it and everyone is saying that Nick Clegg won. I am pleased with the way that Nick came over as a person as well as the content of his answers. One example of this was when the leaders shook hands with the audience. Gordon didn't make eye contact, David gave a cheesy smile and Nick was asking opinions and having a chat. ...
If you are concerned about climate change and you are not sure who to vote for to address your concerns, you might consider the following quotes on the Lib Dem manifesto. Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said: "The Liberal Democrats have set out the most progressive environmental policies of all the major parties, and they now have a real chance to make them count...This party could establish red lines on issues like Heathrow and coal power, and focus instead on developing the clean technologies that will define the 21st century." Friends of the Earth executive director Andy Atkins said the ...
