Wow: four agreed poster board sites; two thinking about it plus three window posters. All in one road!! Photos of some recent sites: Election
Four polls published tonight, as follows: ICM in the Guardian ... CON 33%(-2), LAB 28%(+2), LIB DEM 30%(-1) Opinium in the Express ... CON 34%(+2), LAB 25%(-1), LIB DEM 28%(-1) ComRes for ITV/Independent ... CON 32%(-2), LAB 28%(nc), LIB DEM 31%(+2) YouGov in the Sun ... CON 33%(-1), LAB 28%(nc), LIB DEM 29%(-1) All movement is within the margin of error, and the degree of stability in the polls is striking: the Tories are at 32-34%, Lib Dems at 28-31% and Labour at 25-28%. Anthony Wells' UK Polling Report 'poll of polls' shows the Lib Dems edging up: CON 33%, ...
I've commented before on how the rise of social media has given unhappy newspaper readers far more ability to express their views and gain a head of steam than was the case previously. There's been another example of this in the last few days over on the Daily Telegraph. The brief summary: Cristina Odone writes piece attacking Lib Dem MP Evan Harris; numerous people post comments disagreeing with her. Cristina Odone then writes follow up piece deprecating all the criticisms and suggesting they were from a 'rapid reaction force'; numerous people again post comments disagreeing with her. There is also ...
As polling day draws nearer (and as postal voters are already voting, as their ballot papers continue to be delivered), many people have asked me what I actually stand for, what makes me tick - why I want to be the Liberal Democrat MP for Hendon. It's a good, fair question! To avoid repeating myself, here is a piece that I wrote for the 'blog' that the Hendon Times has kindly given me on its website. I very much hope that this gives you some more insight into where I am coming from.
I wonder why the poll graphs shown by Sky News make Labour look slightly higher than the Liberal Democrats, when Labour are in third place in all three new polls out today? The Tories are also shown higher than they really are in comparison. The BBC News poll graphs are much more accurately displayed. Surely this is simply an error and not a subtle attempt to mislead the public Mr Murdoch?
The Cambridge News reports: LABOUR'S candidate for South East Cambridgeshire John Cowan has been suspended by his party - after a fresh series of allegations about his conduct. The latest claims about him, in a Sunday newspaper, say he boasted of his sexual exploits in online forums, and advertised for people to pose naked for his photographic portfolio. The Sunday Telegraph also reported that Mr Cowan, a former glamour model manager, said he did not want his children to marry a Muslim. The latest allegations follow revelations that Mr Cowan, 35, sent sexual emails to female figures in politics. As ...
I bought my Palm Pre last year and — with the exception of the battery life — I've been really happy with how it performs as both as mobile phone and as an applications platform. Dr. Roy Schestowitz makes a suggestion to Palm that they set the Pre 'free'. I can get behind that.
'Clegg unveils green energy vision' - headline on the BBC news web site in August 2008, and spoofed here For as long as I can remember, I have been concerned with our levels of energy use. I'm old enough to remember the tail end of 1973, when petrol rationing was introduced, and petrol coupons issued to my parents. In the event, rationing was informal (but effective), and the ration books unused, but the psychological impact of realising that something like petrol could be limited stayed with me. The power cuts didn't shore up my faith in the stability of the ...
With many thanks to Lisa & Cory, here's their very LibDem garden adjacent to Baxter Park!
The desperation is palpable, the Conservatives have gone into melt down over the prospect of a hung Parliament. George Osborne has said that a hung Parliament "is a vote for politics behind closed doors; indecision and weak government; a paralysed economy." Jeremy Hunt has said that rather than bringing about a new politics it would plunge ...
Pat Robertson, the American televangelist, is no stranger to controversy. He's been castigated numerous times for his outrageous responses to national and international disasters such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, Hurricane Katrina, and most recently the earthquake in Haiti. Robertson ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for President in 1988. In Britain, we're used to religion and politics sort of rubbing along together fairly well. There's an unspoken communication, a mutual nodding and shrugging that goes on; it's really rather sweet, like some old men watching two other old men play a game of chess in ...
Ghandi said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"
Daniel Neilson writes for Total Politics: If the number of posters is anything to go by, a different political landscape belies the serene seafront. Although Nigel Waterson won his fourth term in 2005 with a majority of 1,124 against Lib Dem Stephen Lloyd, it is the words 'Stephen Lloyd to Win' on bright orange placards that dominate the streets. They undoubtedly outnumber Conservative posters, especially in the middle class areas of Hampden Park and Old Town. The notable exception is the resolutely Conservative area of Meads, at the foot of the newly founded South Downs National Park.
Tagged: #fuckyeahnickclehh, batman, liberal democrats
...the Youth Policy Adviser for the Financial Services Authority; ...not afraid of commuting to London every day; she does it for her job and knows all about First Capital Connect first hand; ...a resident of Bushmead, not far from her brother, the local postie:-) ...mid Beds born and raised; ...ex services; she started her career with Army Special Intelligence at Chicksands; ...a former teacher (Harlington Upper School) and youth worker in Bedfordshire, during which time she was Beds County Branch Secretary for Unison; ...a grandmother ...a nice person ...the Liberal Democrat candidate to fight mid-Bedfordshire at the general election on ...
It had to happen eventually. The campaign was going so well, and everything in the election was going fine, but then the dark shadow from the past has risen to cast its pall over the whole affair. Yes, Jan Moir has risen from whatever pit of slime the Daily Mail store her in to launch ...
This morning along with residents, including parents of pupils at Blackness Primary School and representatives of West End Community Council, I attended a site visit at the Sinderins junction with a representative of the council's City Development Department. We discussed the safe functioning of the junction and in particular the pedestrian crossing West-East from the library to the Blackness Avenue/Hawkhill junction. After this, along with the same officer from the City Council, we met with residents of Pennycook and Sinderins Courts to discuss how residents can cross Pennycook Lane at its junction with Perth Road more safely.
So now the second election leaflet is now almost delivered. It focuses on action on taxes, remember the Conservatives on the district council decided to put the council tax up. It also focuses on action by the Lib Dem team. Action that is all year round, not just at election time.BHE2ndleaflet BHW2ndleaflet
Over at The Guardian's Comment is Free website, Lib Dem blogger James Graham pours a bucket of swill over Labour's panicked suggestions that Nick Clegg's about to jump into bed with the Tories. And another equal bucket of swill over the idea that Labour can take Nick Clegg for a patsy. Here's an excerpt: There are only two things I am certain of in this election. First, every vote for the Liberal Democrats is not just a vote for more Lib Dem MPs, but will strengthen Nick Clegg's negotiating position. The time for tactical voting has passed: it is time ...
Earlier this morning I added a comment on Lib Dem Voice that people should not get sucked into the whirlpool of fantasy coalition building. I did so because I am haunted by the General Election when Paddy, Kinnock and Major got drawn into this debate to our detriment. I remember it well. I remember the hype. I remember the endless TV and radio on discussions on hung parliaments and voting systems. I remember the feeling that this time it might happen. I was contesting Congleton. The media had picked up on us as a possible surprise. Edward Pearce was doing ...
Knocking on doors in March today with local campaigner Ann Elliott. Great to bump into ace deliverer Margaret assuring us that she'd almost finished her leaflet round!
OK so resident's parking for Camden Road area has been agreed to go ahead, the one way system is scrapped and the Thomas Street area is going back out with some alterations, including allowing permits for Walcot Parade residents, for more consultation. Following feedback from residents, the operating hours have been reduce from 8am to 7pm. The Council received 122 responses on the Camden Road scheme, 127 responses on the One Way scheme and 44 responses for the Thomas Street scheme. All can be viewed by using the links you will also see responses from Council officers to each comment. ...
Part 1 Part 2 Government & Democracy I had no intention of quoting from the Christian Party's draft manifesto - but before moving onto this final part of this long look at their policy platform, I thought I would share with you the reasoning behind this section of their policies on 'Government and Democracy': Jesus' biggest problem was with the 'big Government' faction of His day, known as "the teachers of the law and Pharisees". Like Britain's 'big Government' they placed regulation upon regulation, law upon law; restricting freedom and damaging society.Did you all enjoy that? Apparently the Pharisees were ...
You may remember that it transpired last month that Harborough District Council had been breaking its own rules by allowing its waste collectors Focsa to operate without a signed contract and without a bank bond indemnifying the council against any loss should it go out of business. Now, reports the Harborough Mail: A scrutiny panel meeting to discuss Harborough District Council's controversial decision to enter into a £25.9million waste contract without it being properly signed or backed by a bank bond is being delayed due to the General Election. A briefing note was sent to district councillors and officers last ...
It's been interesting watching the media coverage of the issue of no one party winning a majority at the election. Coalition government is on the agenda (though it is not a definite outcome of an election resulting in a "hung parliament"). Look at Scotland where there has been a minority government for three years. Wartime coalition is often brought in to the media coverage of hung parliaments.
Full marks for frankness if not for political independence: "It is my job to see that Cameron f****** well gets into Downing Street," proclaimed Tom Newton Dunn, political editor of the Sun, to a group of journalists from rival papers, recently. Newswer has more.
With Labour activists and Guardianistas wobbling over the startling revelation that if they don't win the election, the Lib Dems won't win it for them, I've written a short article on Comment is Free explaining why that doesn't mean the Lib Dems are about to jump in bed with the Tories and that Labour needs ...
The BBC reports: Gurkhas have joined in the election campaign in Maidstone to support the Liberal Democrat candidate for Ann Widdecombe's former Kent seat. Lib Dem candidate Peter Carroll set up the Gurkha Justice Campaign, which last year won the right for the Gurkhas to settle in the UK. Mr Carroll said the Gurkhas, who are based in Folkestone, travelled to Maidstone on Saturday. "They brought all their musicians and dancers and it was like a carnival." Readers of the best-selling Why Vote Lib Dem book will have had chance to read a short article by Madan Kumar Gurung, a ...
Again, apologies to my foreign readers for so much of the current content being political. It's only going to last until Thursday of next week, when the election happens, though. I promise to spend the whole next four years after that just talking about Batman. UK Election Trend look at the different possibilities and conclude ...
The first-past-the-post voting system that we use for Parliamentary elections works very well if there are only two main parties. Most voters select one or other, and a handful exercise their right to support tiny minority parties. The party with the most seats will almost certainly, in this case, represent the majority of voters in the country. But the UK has not been a two party state for some time now. Over the last 30 years or so, Liberal Democrats have been gradually increasing their share of the vote, up to around 20%-24%. In Scotland and Wales, the SNP and ...
Compare ... I just think it is disgraceful to try and frighten people in an election campaign ... You should not be frightening people in an election campaign, it is just not right." David Cameron in the second TV debate, 22nd April ... and Contrast "It's now all becoming clear – the great plan of Nick Clegg's is becoming clear – he's only interested in one thing and that is changing our electoral system so that we have a permanent hung Parliament, we have a permanent coalition, we never have strong and decisive government. That's what he wants to do ...
Last week saw a feeble flurry of attacks on the Liberal Democrats, and specifically our leader Nick Clegg, by the "right wing press". The Torygraph, the Daily Express, the Daily Fail and the Sun pounced and then drew back (no doubt in wait for another opportunity to attack again shortly). That is unsurprising. As someone who is in a centre-left party, a homosexual, a sceptic, and a Europhile it is hardly shocking to me to see them launching these sort of attacks. Par for the course, as they say. I've been a Guardian reader since, at least, the year 2000, ...
I'm one of over 220 Lib Dem PPC's standing up for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/camracharter.
If there's one thing worse than being talked about, it's not being talked about. That might be true normally, but perhaps not when the subject is hung parliaments and what the Lib Dems might do in the event thereof. Nick Clegg made a perfectly uncontroversial point on Sunday: that it would be inconceivable for the Lib Dems to prop up Gordon Brown as prime minister if Labour came third in terms of votes cast on 6th May. Of course it would be, no matter what the constitutional niceties might say about the right of an incumbent prime minister to try ...
Sorry, going a bit Jim Lloyd on you; (Archers' Fans will know what I mean). Having been to three forums in Keighley and Ilkley I have to say that I think the Labour parliamentary candidate, Jane Thomas, wants to have her cake and eat it. At each forum she has come up with aspirations that the Labour government could have made their own, but did not. For instance at the Keighley Pensioners' Action Group forum today she came up with a gem in response to the Action Group's stated aim of encouraging lifelong learning. She agreed with that, saying, "third ...
Check out my new campaign video which we've prepared to give people a bit more of an insight into me and why I'm standing as a candidate in the General Election in Reading West on 6 May. Big thanks to Kate, Mark, Elise and Jack for putting it together for us. Thanks also to Tom Lendrum a resident from Whitley who submitted to being interviewed as part of it.Enjoy!
Vince Cable's regular slot in the Mail on Sunday was out yesterday; here's a brief extract: I have been going on for ages about the way banks exploit the taxpayer guarantee. One simple step is to make them pay for it out of profits, and I was pleased to see the IMF recommend not one but two taxes: one to fund taxpayer guarantees for future support, the other on excessive pay and profits. But I disagree with the IMF's belief we must wait for other states. Britain is much more exposed to the risk of a fresh collapse, and we ...
Following the Leaders' Debates and the explosion in Nick Clegg's popularity, the right-wing press have tried ever more desperately to discredit the Lib Dem leader. Innuendoes about financial dishonesty and Nazi slurs haven't worked, so it's time to revive a tactic from a few weeks back. Since the start of the General Election campaign, the press have had their Leaders' Wives voodoo dolls out, taking particularly desperate stabs at Sarah Brown and Miriam Gonzalez Durantez. And by association, at the lives of all women who balance their lives with those of their families. Last night the theme hit a new ...
I have some sympathy for Nick Robinson (bear with me now...) He does, on some occasions, have to form his analysis of political events extremely quickly, and then promptly figure out how to articulate it in a snappy way to an audience with the collective attention span of a hairdresser's goldfish. I reckon I'd fail miserably at such a task, so just as well that I have the luxury of getting my points across on a blog, several days after the event. Nonetheless, I am going to add another knife to those already inserted in his back, following his incorrect ...
For those of you who don't give a damn about my political opinion and just want to know which OS is most used on my blog, here are the figures from 00.00am on Sunday 18th April to 11.59pm on Saturday 24th April. Page Views: 580 Unique Users: 172 Most Used Browser: Google Chrome (30.42%) Most Used OS: WinXP (35.22%) Referrals: 213 Biggest Referrer: Facebook (92) Thanks to everyone who has read over the first week. I've really enjoyed writing the posts, so I hope you've enjoyed reading them. One thing concerns me though. With all those page views, I've had ...
The Spectator: coalition government passes fewer bills. A Very Good Thing. Amol Rajan (in the Indie): Cameron failing could see Conservative Party Break Up. Financial Times: Fantasy coalition cabinets. The Tory chooses all Tories. The Labour chap doesn't even try. A bit emblematic of their current campaigning styles ... LeftFootForward: Tories still refusing to admit ...
An article in the Observer yesterday caught my eye. It was based on research carried out by Norman Lamb, Lib Dem Shadow Health Secretary and the Lib Dem health team which revealed that NHS bosses at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust recently received mega bonuses. The Hospital Trust spent £240,738 on bonuses to top managers - more than any other NHS body that responded to to the survey. Eight executive directors shared another £186,117, as well as the £54,611 payment to the chief executive. With NHS budgets under severe strain and this set to increase these payments seem to ...
Today I joined my colleague, the Welsh Liberal Democrats Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Roger Williams on a visit to a small rural business in Brecon to highlight our party's commitment to provide support and encouragment for the private sector in Wales. Graig Farm produces award winning organic apple juice and the farm recently diversified to provide self-catering holiday accommodation. The Welsh Liberal Democrats want to force the banks to lend to viable businesses. We will support investment in the roll-out of superfast broadband and encourage closer links between universities and private business to ensure that Wales' best ideas ...
Yesterday both Mark Pack and I blogged about the Daily Mail and other tabloids paying paparazzi to stalk Miriam Gonzalez Durantez as she shopped at Rigby & Peller. Today it appears that the Mail have had second thoughts and pulled the article from their web site – only to replace it with something even more odious – a Jan Moir poison special. Ms Moir is obviously still preening from her nasty, homophobic character assassination of Stephen Gately last year, as this time she goes for a full house. In one page she manages to make snide criticism about women who ...
Much has been written over the last couple of days on Nick Clegg's commitment that he won't prop up Gordon Brown if Labour finish third in terms of vote share. Mark Reckons thinks Clegg is playing a dangerous game with the Tories, whilst Sunny Hundal points out how it could actually help Labour in Lab/Con marginals, and both points of view are correct. There is a third situation though, and it's one where I think Nick has made a tactical choice that could have actually damaged the chances of some Liberal Democrats getting elected. Just picture the situation. You're Colin ...
If no news is good news, then this week's by-election report is positively gospel. The only by-election reported to ALDC was for two seats on a Town Council in Westbury, and it featured no Liberal Democrat candidates! It took place on what would have been satirist Henry Fielding's 303rd birthday. One of Fielding's best known quotes is that 'the slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others' - and having read April 22nd's broadside against Nick Clegg in the right-wing press, one can only conclude that the same still holds... As there is so ...
Today's Evening Standard reports a local YouGov poll predicting that I am set to win Ealing Central & Acton. Under the headline, "Cleggmania sweeps across London with Lib-Dems set to take seats from Labour" the Standard today reports that "if YouGov's figures are echoed in actual voting on May 6 then out will go Labour's Glenda Jackson at Hampstead & Kilburn and Emily Thornberry, defending Islington South. The Lib-Dems would win both constituencies, along with Labour-held Ealing Central & Acton." This backs up what we are finding on the ground: that there is a great groundswell of support right across ...
My collage Julian has been arguing with Danny Finkelstein about what the Lib Dem surge might mean.
Liberal Democrats Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable, was in Redcar today to meet steelworkers with Redcar's Lib Dem Candidate, Ian Swales.
Back in July 2009, Mark Littlewood, once of this parish, posted on this website..... Can the LibDems get more votes than Labour at the next election? At the time he pointed to the Labour Party's continuing atrocious polling numbers and Nick Clegg's increasingly impressive performance as LibDem leader. He said "If the governing party staggers into the General Election with Brown still at the helm, their campaign could be a Michael Foot -style PR disaster" ...and "I'd expect Nick Clegg to have a strong showing in the campaign itself. He is a capable TV performer (by far the most important ...
A lot of Labour supporters – and Green supporters – have been up in arms for the last day or so, practically frothing at the mouth and screaming because Nick Clegg has said that if Labour gets the smallest share of the vote of the three main parties and the most seats, he would not ...
Through my work with Unsworth Junior Football Club, I have received the following letter from Barnsley Football Club who are holding trials for all age groups (U7s thru to U15s) at the end of May. The trials are being held in Stockport and you MUST register in advance. I have forwarded details of Barnsley Football Clubs Advanced Development Centres, for whom we will be hosting trials over the coming weeks. The information is provided below and there is also an attachment on which you will have a players details form for players to fill out and bring along with them ...
In New Labour's puerile and patronising 'Animated Manifesto Film' their first pledge is the desire to instigate a 'new industrial revolution'. This is followed by no explanation whatsoever as to how precisely they are going to do this. If you look deeper, however, the reality is damning. It is an acknowledgement that after 13 years of power many urban areas, especially in the North of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and South Wales, are still experiencing crippling poverty and high unemployment. The LibDems go one better; they at least acknowledge a truth that policy to tackle the state of the economy, ...
Three of the churches in Garston are again this year organising their annual "litter pick". Last near nearly 70 people were involved and the organisers say people are welcome to join in for the whole session, or just a part of it. It starts at the Long Lane Church at 9 am (with breakfast) and finishes at the Bridge Chapel on Heath Road around one (for lunch). The other church involved is All Souls. The Council provides litter picks (the long things you can use to pick up stuff without bending down!), gloves and bags and then comes and picks ...
Over the last year we have seen support for Labour in Luton South continue to fall following their wholy inadequate reaction to the expenses scandal and nationally have fallen into third place. From the canvassing we have been doing over the last few months we have found that the fragile Conservative vote in Luton South has started to collapse even further. Following on from Nick Clegg's clear and honest answers during the leader's debates people as choosing to vote Liberal Democrat for the first time. David Cameron's false rhetoric and talk about Change only serves to help the Conservative party ...
As a sign of our new found success, it's intriguing that some American blogs are starting to talk about Nick Clegg as well. As an example, here's the Daily Beast: For good or for ill, Clegg is certainly different. Part of his distinctiveness stems from his family background. His mother is Dutch, his father half-Russian, a combination that led the reliably right-wing Daily Mail to describe him as "by blood the least British leader of a British political party." His paternal grandmother, an aristocrat, fled Russia at the time of the revolution. Clegg speaks five languages and once worked for ...
From the Standard's leader column today:The transformation that Nick Clegg has effected in British politics as a result of the television debates is gradually becoming clear. Our poll today suggests that support for the Liberal Democrats in the capital has surged from 16 to 28 per cent, winning them three London seats from Labour including Islington, Hampstead and Ealing Central.This is an extraordinary trend, one that calls into doubt many old certainties about local political allegiances. Mr Clegg is apparently managing to persuade a remarkable cross-section of the electorate to consider voting differently, or voting at all.
OK, it's an unlikely scenario. But his local paper is running an online poll which shows a good deal of support for the Lib Dems. And yes, I know all the caveats about online polls, and don't see this as a likely turn of events. But the possibility is there. What would be the effect if this were to actually happen? If the Tories were to be leaderless in the house? This election is just throwing up so many surprises. It are can be May 7th now, pls? And then at least we'll all know where we stand. Hopefully in ...
Yesterday morning on my way to our campaign HQ I saw a boy of about 13 walking along my street wearing a Lib Dem sticker – he certainly wasn't old enough to vote but just seeing him seemed to summon up what's going on at the moment – 500,000 newly registered voters, most of them ...
I am in Blackburn on the trail of Jack Straw. Yesterday I spoke to several hundred local Muslims at a Blackburn fundraiser for CagePrisoners. I told them very directly that it was no good their salving their consciences by donating, if they then again gave their votes to the man who gave the green light to British cooperation with the extraordinary rendition policy, and who overruled the Foreign Office legal advisers to launch an illegal war in Iraq. While I was doing that, Jack Straw was committing a lesser but still very important crime. He was "Treating". Yesterday Straw fed ...
"Sir Stuart Bell, Middlesbrough's MP for the last 27 years, has shown the contempt he has for his electorate by opting out of Thursday's Hustings meeting at St Barnabas Church in Linthorpe, the one and only chance the people of Middlesbrough have to hear and question their general election candidates. His excuse? Church Commission business," writes Chris Foot-Wood, Liberal Democrat Candidate for Middlesbrough. "I have long argued that MPs should not be spokespersons for any outside body, only for the people of their constituency. I have made a cast-iron promise that I will NOT be the parliamentary spokesperson for ANY ...
It is here. I used to have a blog – called Swing Voter – which I used in the autumn of 2007 to think aloud about my voting choice. I am a genuine swing voter – Tory in 1992, Labour since, LibDem now. I almost joined Labour in 2007, but was repelled at the last ...
If you would like to support our campaign by displaying a poster you can now download them from our website. The link is www.johnbrigden.co.uk/media.html.
I only saw a headline for this yesterday but David Cameron has announced that he wants there to be a six month limit for new Prime Ministers who come to office without having been subject to a General Election. After this limit they would be forced to dissolve parliament and go to the country. This has set a number of thoughts/questions off in my mind: I cannot find any mention of this policy in the Conservative Manifesto. They only published it two weeks ago. Why is it not in there?We have a parliamentary system, not a presidential system. Although I ...
Elections aren't the easiest of things. I've been struggling to deal with the clash between working as part of the Liberal Democrat campaign team in Luton South and attempting to blog about the election. Last week it was the blogging that lost out. Lots to blog about but a lack of time or energy to do so. One thing I missed out on was my reaction to the second leader's debate shown on Sky News last Thursday. I thought there were some extraordinary elements to Sky's presentation. Other's have written about how they thought they detected an anti-Clegg bias in ...
A friend of mine has the journal kept by her grandfather when, as an army private he was sent to China to subdue the Boxer Rebellion. On the ship over there he and his pals amused themselves by playing cribbage and he used his journal to keep a meticulous record of his scores and to record his boredom at the dull routine of a troop ship. When he got to China he became fully occupied, had no time to write, and sadly his journal ends with a series of blank pages rather than a graphic first-hand account of warfare, vandalism ...
Amazing fact from Hamish McRae's column: the individual components of growth this first quarter are surprising. Government output added nothing - it was flat, having either been flat or falling for the previous five quarters. Construction was down on the previous quarter. Hotels and restaurants were down too. Manufacturing was up, but as we have ...
A few weeks back I was asked to write a brief article for Third Sector magazine, looking at the Lib Dems' stance towards the voluntary and charitable sector. I've not seen the piece, but on the assumption it must by now have appeared, here's my contribution: You can sum up Liberal Democrat values in two words: fairness and freedom. And those two words are at the very heart of how party members see the role of this country's thriving voluntary sector, a sector which shows civic Britain at its strongest. The way Charles Kennedy described it over a decade ago ...
The Times reports: The Liberal Democrats have benefited from a double-digit percentage surge in party donations since Nick Clegg's success in the first television debate almost a fortnight ago. The Times has learnt that the bulk of the increase in political funds has come from individuals — especially through the internet — who typically give around £20 each. The Lib Dems have the highest proportion of individual donors of any of the three main parties. ... One senior Lib Dem told The Times that the party started with about £4 million to spend on running its general election campaign, but ...
Lewisham Lib Dem Manifesto
Yesterday I made some attempts to talk about the parliamentary reform the Liberal Democrats would like to make, and how this reform might look like. Today I'd like to suggest how a new House of Lords might look like, fully elected by the public. The first part is this house would do exactly what it ...
Nick Clegg will today set out plans to improve family homes for the Armed Forces and make troops' pay fair. Announcing the plans, Nick said: The brave men and women of our Armed Forces have been left under-equipped and under-paid by Labour. The Liberal Democrats will change this. Gordon Brown has failed to give our troops all the kit they need to do their job. And he has failed to give them a decent wage for the work they do and a decent home to raise their kids in. "Someone spending six months fighting half way around the world to ...
A big kerfuffle this weekend about the Pope, with the rather juvenile suggestions made by junior Foreign Office wallahs, as to what the Pope might do, on his visit to Britain, amongst the suggestions he should launch a brand of condoms, bless a gay couple etc. Now for me, in the world I live, this sort of suggestion would be amusing in a refreshing non-politically correct sort of way, that would make most laugh, so exactly what is the British government saying sorry for? Yes now, the comments are in the public domain, the government has to apologise, since the ...
For part 1 please click here. Social Security Reform the benefit system to eradicate the risk associated with leaving the Welfare system and entering work. This would be accomplished by suspending benefit claims for a period of 9 months rather than closing them when an unemployed person gains employment. Within the 9 months period an unemployed person will be able to audit three jobs before their claim is liable closure. This is actually a pretty good idea, and far more generous to the unemployed than the current system, which takes away benefits after one job has been turned down - ...
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today set out plans to improve family homes for the Armed Forces and make troops' pay fair. Liberal Democrats would double the number of forces' family homes refurbished each year and ensure that no service man or woman goes into harm's way on less basic pay than a new recruit ...
In a recent interview with the Islignton Tribune, failed New Labour candidate for Islington South and Finsbury, Emily Thornberry, was quoted as saying: "Where I do part company with [the LibDems and Jeremy Corbyn, Labour candidate for Islington North who voted against ID cards] is on CCTV and ID cards. What's wrong with having an ...
Classic Tommy Cooper
Want to keep up with what's happening in the media but too busy campaigning? Here's a handy guide to a trio of today's most essential stories ... The media obsesses about hung parliament possibilities ... Nick Clegg used his appearance on the BBC's Andrew Marr show to make the obvious point that the Lib Dems would not prop up a Labour government if it finished third in the popular vote but ahead in terms of number of MPs: This triggered some obsessive press speculation. The reason for Nick making the point as strongly as he did is clearly spelled out ...
One photo is worth a thousand words. I saw this on the BBC news last night, and fortunately so did "danzi94" on Twitpic. Looking at many LibDem blogs, you can't deny Nick knows his audience. I do hope he sees off Harold Saxon and the Sontaran in the final debate on Thursday. Talking of Doctors and the BBC, Julien Temple's documentary Oil City Confidential on BBC4 last night was magnificent. At their peak, Dr Feelgood were a band that kicked serious arse, and Temple's film is a joy from beginning to end; it's hard to get anything emotive or poetic ...
Around the time my children were born and I was struiggling to make ends meet, I became acutely aware of the fact that those at the bottom pay a higher share of tax than those that are better off. This must change. The LibDems propose raising the tax threshold to £10,000, which would put an extra £700 back into the pockets of those earning over £10k. Millions would be taken out of the tax system entirely. That money can be saved, invested in children, paying the bills or spending in Chorlton shops. This would be funded by closing some of ...
People like me take great delight whenever we hear the words "constitional" and "crisis" in the same sentence. It's probably because one day I'd love to see the joke that is the British mostly uncodified constitution unravel before our very eyes, because it makes no allowances for certain provisions. Clearly, one of those provisions would ...
The deadlines coming up this week are: Deadline for submitting new requests for proxy votes (except for medical emergencies proxies) : 5pm on Tuesday 27 April Publication of notice of poll for local government elections: Not later than Tuesday 27 April Publication of version of electoral register used for determining entitlement to vote: Wednesday 28 April Deadline for appointing counting agents and polling agents (local elections): Wednesday 28 April BBC TV debate between party leaders: Thursday 29 April (8:30pm) For a full timetable see General election and local election timetable, 2010.
We have to break out of this ever-repeating cycle of boring press conferences where Nick Clegg is asked which of the other parties he'd be prepared to cosy up to in the event of a hung parliament. With our current poll rating and the clear indication in this YouGov poll that a Lib Dem government would be widely tolerated and a Lib-Lab coalition would be the next best thing Nick Clegg has to start saying he would ask other parties to support him as Prime Minister if he receives a considerable mandate in percentage vote share. People are already ...
Despite the desperate efforts of Labour to claim if people vote LibDem they will get Cameron or the Conservatives' desperate efforts to claim that if you vote LibDem you will get Brown - this time actually if you vote Liberal Democrat - you will get Liberal Democrats. And that's why the old parties are in a spin. They don't know how to deal with a new politics - only that old unfair, scaremongering, discredited type of politics. You can tell from the roar of anger by old parties at the Liberal Democrats daring to do well - and their outrage ...
So what was Nick Clegg playing at yesterday morning on Andrew Marr's show? This is exactly what he said: "It is just preposterous the idea that if a party comes third in the number of votes, it still has somehow the right to carry on squatting in No 10." "A party which has come third - and so millions of people have decided to abandon them - has lost the election spectacularly (and) cannot then lay claim to providing the prime minister of this country." I suppose in a narrow way he is not ruling out the possibility of forming ...
One of the most enjoyable events of the election so far has been the 'Question Time' arranged at Banbury School by one of the sixth formers: well chaired, with a packed room, it also drew some of the sharpest questions to date. One of the things that struck me during it was the number of ...
As the last full week of the election campaign dawns, I thought I'd do a quick ready reckoner of what the four main political parties offer Scotland. Please don't expect this to be in any way objective, but it will be fair. The Liberal Democrats: If you vote Lib Dem, you get Nick Clegg. Yesterday on Andrew Marr he was brilliant, answering questions openly and honestly and sounding like he he could run the country. Go here and watch the whole interview. Fair taxes: taking everyone earning less than £10,000 out of tax completely and giving everyone else £700 a ...
If the lib Dems could not fundermentally get into bed with the Tories this does not mean they could not if need be to form part of a government. For this would be the will of the electorate.Fundermentally I don't beleive in private air flight though if I were rich and famous and for personal security this was needed I may have to do I something I fundermentally disagreed with. What is the
Opening today's South Wales Evening Post at 7.30am this morning (I know, don't ask) I was taken by a single paragraph story on page two in which the Labour Party are accusing the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats of abandoning an agreement to tackle the BBC on their failure to focus on policy in their coverage of the General Election. Fortunately, Liberal Democrat Voice has the full story here together with a blistering riposte to Labour's presumption: We have discussed your proposal, however, we do not think that it is appropriate for political parties to seek to dictate the nature ...
Thousands of postal ballot papers across Linlithgow and East Falkirk (and indeed the country) will be arriving on doorsteps, including mine, over the next 30 hours. Many people are likely to be filling them and sending them off when they receive them. I obviously want the majority of them to look like the above. Read this blog, read the Liberal Democrat Manifesto to find out what I'm standing for if you don't already know.
On his retirement as Liberal Leader David Steel talked of the part luck had played in his career. As a young MP he had won a high place in the ballot for private members' bills, and his subsequent Abortion Act made him nationally known. That was good luck. Then in 1983 the Liberal/Social Democrat Alliance almost, but not quite, pushed Labour into third place. With over 13 million votes there was no doubt that Mrs Thatcher and the Conservatives were the winners, but the Alliance's 7 781 000 were very close to Labour's 8 457 000. That, said Steel, was ...
10. Girl from Mars (Ash) (-1) 9. I Am the Resurrection (The Stone Roses Stone Roses) (-1) 8. Disco 2000 (Pulp) new entry) 7. Don't Look Back In Anger (Oasis) (-) 6. The Fear Lily (Allen) (-4) 5. Live and Let Die (Guns N' Roses) (new entry) 4. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns N' Roses) (+2) 3. Generation Sex (The Divine Comedy) (+1) 2. Die Walkure - Ride Of The Valkyries Wagner. (+8) 1. Dog Days Are Over Florence + the Machine. (-)
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] [IMG: cameron-fingers.gif] It's the same old Tories! Julian Lewis, Tory shadow minister for Defence, may get the sack (should Cameron have the balls) after he stated that the age of consent for homosexuals shouldn't have been lowered to 16. He added that this puts young boys at risk of catching HIV... Which if Mr Lewis had bothered to check with UK Health Protection Agency, he'd of found out that you are twice as likely to contract HIV from heterosexual, compared to homosexual sex. This came after Chris Grayling, Tory shadow Home Secretary, said that Hotel owners should be ...
vote LibDem get Clegg and Cable # Support Liberal Democrats, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! – http://bit.ly/5vBDFC # @sshrpe on Craig's post he says YouGov have admitted it. in reply to sshrpe # @sshrpe "Anthony Wells, A Consumer and Political Analyst based at YouGov" http://bit.ly/aZyv7D in reply to sshrpe # has been un-friending LibDems on Facebook. It's not that I don't like you, just that were not really friends. # @nationaltrust hopefully it will arrive soon. Grey and raining in Newark at the mo. in reply to nationaltrust # @matgb I'm just getting too many "vote x on ...
The title isn't meant to antagonise the SNP supporters, I still cannot get my head round why he wants to participate in one debate, snub another and threaten court action on the Prime Ministerial debates? Anyway, back to The Hub Sunday 25th April at 10.30am - the Sky debate live. As a mere audience member (I know how to enjoy a little time off from the general election campaign) I was to be there at 9.30am, I arrived by taxi, no buses at that time of morning from home, to find the Conservatives handing out playing cards - was very ...
I came across the clip on the Lib Dem Voice website and am up a gum tree that there is a photo of Vince and I halfway through the video!
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, our parliamentary candidate. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. As we get close to the election I will of course cover that, but there are other things going on in the borough as well to cover. I'd like to begin with an endorsement of my candidacy, this time from the former Labour chair of the County Council and mayor of Broxtowe Maureen Tewson. Maureen said: "I'm backing David Watts in this election. I've seen David work as a ...
There are many problems with our electoral system and the majority of voters don't get the candidate that they want but there is a real sense that things will change after this election. The local Labour candidate gives us a headline in her leaflet that asks for Liberal Democrats to support her. 'Lib Dem Supporters could hold the key' is the headline and in the body of the text she tells us that 'it is clear that either Labour or the Tories will form the next governmnent'. I mentioned this lack of reasoned argument recently but it is worth repeating. ...
Unfortunately there are issues between LibDemBlogs and MyCouncillor blogs. I hope to have these fixed in the next few days.
