I'm sure that it would have sounded better if Madonna had sung that, but you can't have everything. However, the federal nature of Liberal Youth presents me with an interesting dilemma. I have received a nomination for the position of English Convenor. It meets all of the requirements except one - I'm not the Returning Officer of Liberal Youth England. The constitution of Liberal Youth states that I shall organise elections to fill vacancies provided for under Article 6.1 (a) to (f). None of these are the English Convenor, and therefore, I'm loathe to interfere with the constitutional settlement of ...
No, we haven't gone blue Tory, and didn't stay at home reading a Sunday paper that I hear is shocked that Nick Clegg has more power than Peter Mandelson had. After the Whitsunday service we escaped to the bluebell carpets under the trees and in the verges of Ripley woods. Carpets on blue streching out dappled in the sunshine through the trees. Beautiful, and we thoroughly enjoyed the peace.
will ensure domestic bliss. you know it makes sense.
I'd like to see your election themed photos. A prize for the best entry. Entries must be received by 1st June 2010.
The ever excellent Malcolm Redfellow has another gem of a story on his blog about the author Henry Williamson, his Fascist leanings, his love of the Nazis and the fact that his North Norfolk house is for sale. I cannot really add much more than that which has been written by Malcolm, but I wanted to add my own local knowledge on the subject of Henry Williamson. From 2003 to 2005 I "adopted" Stiffkey, the wartime home of Henry Williamson. By adopted I mean I took responsibility for getting out Lib Dem leaflets to Stiffkey four or five times a ...
Around 9 pm this evening (Sunday 23 May) there was another accident on Rodford Way involving a car and a pedestrian. It was on the westbound carriageway just at the start of the junction with Chargrove. An ambulance and half a dozen police cars attended, and the ambulance crew were working at the accident site to stabilise the casualty. Police closed off both carriageways. The accident took place only a short distance from the site of the fatal road accident in November 2008, since when local people and councillors have been campaigning for improved crossing facilities on Rodford Way.
You've got to laugh. From the US via Political Wire: Voters dressed in chicken costumes will not be allowed inside Nevada polling places this year, the AP reports. State election officials added chicken suits to the list of banned items after weeks of ridicule directed at Sue Lowden (R). "The millionaire casino executive and former beauty queen recently suggested that people barter with doctors for medical care, like when 'our grandparents would bring a chicken to the doctor.'"
Shane Harris of The Daily Beast approves of Britain's new deputy prime minister: "Clegg should be applauded for challenging the conventional wisdom - much of it disproved by recent events - that more cameras, more DNA databases, and more digital monitoring actually preempts acts of terrorism." A Very Public Sociologist tries (and fails) to find a justification for the SWP's disruption of the talks about the British Airways dispute. "The social makeup of the student bodies at Oxford and Cambridge (and most other traditionally prestigious universities) reflect (sic) the massive class divide and laughable lack of social mobility in the ...
Just in case you wanted to know! Sunday Liberal Democrat Group Meeting in Stratford, when we sensibly re-elected Cllr. Hazel Wright from Studley as our leader. Tuesday Meet with a representative of the Arrhythmia Alliance (their website can be found here) who is new to the area and wanted to learn more about us. They are the organisation that arranged, with the Medical Centre and Town Council) for the defibrillators to be placed in several places around town (immediately outside The George being the most obvious). Wednesday Annual Council meeting - a couple of stories from that in an article ...
Been out socialising again today; goodness me! We went to the service at All Saints' this morning and then to a very nice barbecue to celebrate Pentecost. It was very hot but lovely!
This afternoon I joined many thousands of my Bengali neighbours at the annual A Baishakhi Mela in Weavers Fields, Bethnal Green. I missed the parade in Brick Lane but the Fields and adjacent Allen Gardens were a swirling mass of people listening or dancing to various groups brought over from Bangladesh or based locally, a mini-funfair ...
I have a confession to make: last year, as I sat at the rally following Reclaim the Night London watching people cheer the speakers, I was fuming, and it still bothers me, six months on, whenever I think about it. I was fuming, and I'm still annoyed about it, because I sat there and I listened to the speakers talk about violence against women, and time and time again I was told that men who abuse and rape are evildoers, how male violence has to be stopped, and I thought, what about female perpetrators? What about all the victims of ...
Whilst the world tries to negotiate reductions in nuclear weapons and the West threatens unspecified reprisal if Iran develops them, Israel continues to deny that it has them and again jails Mordechai Vanunu, the whistleblower who exposed their nuclear arsenal to the world. He has already spent 18 years in jail, mostly in solitary confinement. This time he's been sent back to jail for
BBC 2 are running a superb series, "I'm in a Rock n Roll Band!". So far I've watched the lead guitar programme and particularly enjoyed the drummer one this week. On their website you can now vote for your favourite rock n roll band, role by role. Here's who I've voted for: 1. Drummer ..Starting with real basis for any band (so there!) The short list to choose from was: Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Phil Collins, Stewart Copeland, Dave Grohl, Mitch MItchell, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Lars Ulrich, Charlie Watts. I chose John Bonham because his drumming was such a ...
Twitpic has implemented an OAuth API. No more having to hand out passwords to all and sundy. Only I'm too much of a dunderhead to get it working. Perhaps it's a combination of heatstroke or this rotten head-cold, but I just can't see what I'm doing wrong. Any help much appreciated. The easy bit.It's easy to post the data to Twitpic $media_data = array( 'media' => '@'.$_FILES['media']['tmp_name'], 'message' => html_entity_decode($_POST['message']), 'key'=>'123465789132465' ); curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,$media_data); OAuth CredentialsUsing Abrahams OAuth library for PHP, it's easy to get the required OAuth data. require_once('OAuth.php'); // instantiating OAuth customer $consumer = new OAuthConsumer(OAUTH_CONSUMER_KEY, OAUTH_CONSUMER_SECRET); // instantiating ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 170th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (16th – 22nd May, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. ...
Over the next few weeks, I am going to post on the subject of electoral reform. This has been motivated by a series of debates I have had with a variety of people on the subject since the election. I have studied electoral systems in great detail over the last twelve months and am still amazed by many of the myths and misunderstandings that are still churned out to support the status quo. This series will look at various criteria for assessing electoral systems, one per post. If anyone wishes to suggest a criteria for discussion, feel free to do ...
Sun 23rd
19:47
VIDEO: Pseudo Napoleonic drummers and an acrobat suspended 100 feet above Newbury's Market Place
No, I wasn't dreaming. It was great to see this French street performance troupe, Transe Express, drumming down Northbrook Street (including going in and out of Ann Summers – cheeky devils!) and being suspended high above the Market Place. I was amazed by the size of the crane! Boys toys, or what?! It was awesome. There was a huge crowd who immensely enjoyed the performance. The climax saw all the troupe hauled high into the air and then swung around over the top of the Market Place crowds and adjacent rooves. On such a glorious day, it really was a ...
Commenting on the Home Secretary's agreement to an adjournment in order to consider medical evidence relating to Gary McKinnon, Jo Swinson MP said: "It is welcome that the medical condition of Gary McKinnon is at last being taken into account. "Labour's determination to press ahead with extradition without fully considering Gary McKinnon's vulnerable state was shameful. "Hopefully we will now see him tried in a British court, rather than being subjected to the ordeal of extradition and the threat of a maximum-security US prison."
I've been tracking the Unite/BA negotiations with some interest, especially after Derek Simpson thought it'd be acceptable to post a running commentary on the negotiations on Twitter. That perked my interest not only because of it's crass stupidity, but also it made me question what Unite were actually trying to achieve from the negotiations. Well they've now revealed one aspect of their demands and it's utterly disgraceful. When I started this blog I made a commitment to myself that I wouldn't swear in any of the posts. It isn't some moral thing, but I've always believed that you should be ...
The likely explanation emerging for the Liberal Democrat vote share in the general election coming in much lower than even the immediately previous polls suggested is that there was a late swing away from the party, partly due to Lib Dem supporters being less willing to turn out (see, for example, this from ComRes). It's natural to slide from that into a general story about the party peaking after the first TV debate and then being in decline during the rest of the campaign. However, there is a risk of missing the wider context – and is show by these ...
Enjoying the Summer weather? Good! See what a Liberal Democrat Government secures for you:-). Anyway, spare a thought for Clair, who has completed her West Highland Way charity walk to raise funds for SANDS who helped her friends when their daughter Catriona Rose was stillborn last year. You can sponsor her here. Dave wants to repeal the Digital Economy Act. The lovely Mr Doctor Chocaholic has information about Cabinet Committees. He says how it shows that the Lib Dem are pretty much hardwired into Government. I would add to that that it's quite weird (in a good way) to see ...
The question of whether or not uniform national swing (UNS) calculations are a sensible way of trying to turn national opinion poll vote figures into seat estimates has been much debated in the last few months. So how did UNS do this time round? Here is how the May 2010 result compares with a UNS projection based on the actual vote changes which occurred between 2005 (notional results) and this time: Conservatives: 305 seats*. UNS prediction: 291 (-14) Labour: 258 seats. UNS: 266 (+8) Liberal Democrats: 57 seats. UNS: 62 (+5) * Excluding Thirsk & Malton from calculations In a ...
Jo Lovelock speaks. Tremble all who hear her voice: "The people of Reading did not vote for this Con/Dem coalition, do not deserve this Con/Dem coalition and I am sure will take an early opportunity to say so through the ballot box." What Jo conveniently forgets is that it was in 2008 through the ballot box that the people of Reading kicked her party out. What they have had since then is an administration they didn't vote for, they didn't deserve and in 2010 continued to say so through the ballot box. It is about time that this council was ...
Left: William IV Right: David Cameron A remarkable resemblance. They are related.
The Lib Dems, along with their predecessor parties, have had years of being very democratic: elected reps passing policy at conference, most of which has then sat buried in a dusty policy document in a filing cabinet somewhere in the bowels of Cowley Street. Occasionally some policy or other gets plucked from obscurity to feature in an election manifesto or – the highest accolade – to be pinched by Labour or the Conservatives, rebranded as their own and even turned into law. Now the Lib Dems are partners in the coalition government, we're getting used to seeing big chunks of ...
I've only heard John Denham speak in person once, but the time I did (earlier this month) it was immediately clear why he's so often been rated by others as one of the better and more thoughtful Labour MPs. So it's good to see that he has become the new chair of Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform saying, An AV referendum is on the agenda because of the work Labour electoral reformers have done. We have to make sure the Labour Party maintains its commitment to the AV referendum and to success in the referendum if and when it comes. ...
Rather to my surprise I find I am the owner of a rare CD: Sandy Denny: The BBC Sessions 1971-73. Because, according to Wikipedia: A one disc compilation of Denny's solo BBC recordings was released on Strange Fruit Records as The BBC Sessions 1971-1973 in 1997 that due to rights issues was withdrawn on the day of release thereby creating a highly collectable disc (up until the release of the comprehensive Live at the BBC Boxset in 2007).I am surprised, because I am sure I bought it from a high street record shop - maybe even dear old Pendulum Records ...
I have never been a great fan of school league tables. Given that parents already have a pretty shrewd idea of which are the best local schools, they have struck me as an expensive way of telling us what we already know. So I was happy when Liberal Democrat policy was to abolish league tables - even though we knew that someone like the Daily Telegraph would produce them anyway. And I am not that excited to read this in today's Observer: A radical overhaul of school league tables is being planned by the coalition government, it has emerged. One ...
This is just a Public Service Announcement to help out Liberal Youth RO Mark Valladares. He is concerned that with the end of term and all, members won't be at the addresses Cowley Street holds for them. If you are affected, he wants you to contact Katy, the Liberal Youth Administrator asap to make sure you get your vital voting papers.
A week after the General Election, we found we had Liberal Democrats in government! As well as Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister), Danny Alexander (Scotland), Vince Cable (Business), Chris Huhne (Climate Change/Energy) and David Laws (no. 2 in the Treasury) in the Cabinet, there are appointment in six other departments - including Andrew Stunell, Liberal Democrat local government veteran, at the Department for Communities and Local Government - and Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. However, the deal only applies to central government, not the parties in Europe - where we are part of ALDR and the Conservatives are ...
The BBC is reporting that Caernarfon-based Barcud Derwen which hosts live broadcasting of proceedings from the Welsh assembly is up for sale. They say that the group's directors engaged Business advisors Grant Thornton to find a buyer for the firm after deciding it was "unable at trade through its current cash-flow difficulties and should enter administration". They believe that a sale is being sought, either as a whole or of its 11 divisions in part, within a 10-day window, while the group continues trading. Barcud Derwen claims to be the largest TV facilities company outside London, with services including outside ...
#skynewsfail http://twitpic.com/1odxqw # Another #CombstockMegaFail leaves @Combstock heading for a Westlife gig, instead of the exit! #fb # Nick Clegg given double role by conference: he will be the next James Bond, and the next Doctor in his spare time. #behindcloseddoors # I'm at M40 Oxford Services. http://4sq.com/bVfHKW # Oh dear @SingInSilence. Oh dear indeed! # Really glad to catch up with some old friends I haven't seen since December... in some cases even longer, at #ldconf #fb # I'm at Bulmershe Leisure Centre (Woodlands Avenue, Woodley). http://4sq.com/crH7Sq # Watching Bruno on blu-ray over dinner! Everyone makes mistakes #fb # ...
The last general election was between three parties in different states of denial about the state of the public finances. All agreed there would be cuts, none wished to say on what, and all agreed front-line services would be protected. Were they all telling the truth the deficit could not be cut and the United Kingdom will eventually be having difficult conversations with the IMF. I think it unlikely the coalition will let that happen. But beyond the substance of what is to be done, they now have the communications challenge of adjusting expectations. Nick Clegg has started this process ...
Last weekend, I spent a bit of time putting together the website for the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Group and you can see this at www.taymemorial.com. With thanks to the Evening Telegraph for its article about this on Friday, we intend to update the site with news about the memorial group, its public appeal launch (due in September) and the history surrounding the disaster.
There is no doubt that Vince Cable has a very important job to do. He needs to propose how to split up the banks, make sure they are not too big to fail, that they are properly regulated and the retail and casino functions are split up. People's savings should not be put at risk by irresponsible banking behaviour of the kind we have seen recently. Ideally he should resist Tory urgings that the banks should be privatised straight away. Yes they should be privatised eventually when economic conditions are favourable, but not on the behest of his ideological counterparts ...
Over the past couple of days, I have received concerns from constituents in the West End about dogs left in vehicles during the hot weather. People should not leave their dogs in a parked car in such weather conditions. I firstly received a concern from one of my constituents that a dog was left for at least over an hour in Dobbie's car park at Ethiebeaton Park Monifieth on Friday. The SSPCA was contacted by the worried constituent and although the dog owner eventually turned up, the dog had been left panting and distressed for a considerable period. I don't ...
I am pleased to advise that a temporary repair to the fencing at the rail line I highlighted yesterday was completed very promptly this morning. This is most welcome in terms of public safety.
I saw the film Notting Hill for the first (of very many) times 11 years ago today, also a Sunday. How do I know this? Well, it was the day before Anna was due (although she didn't arrive for a wee while after that) and, being unable to resist anything Richard Curtis has written, I had to make sure I saw it before the baby was born. Seriously, if the whole film had been as funny as the first half hour, I swear I would have actually left the cinema with a baby. I've seen it many times since and ...
As many of my more regular readers will be aware, some time ago I applied to be an audience member on BBC Question Time when it was being broadcast in London. I was unsuccessful on that occassion as one of the researchers that i spoke to informed me that as a member of a political ...
what is the world coming too? in a fairly settled state like the UK we know little of what bubbles over in Somalia, Thailand, Haiti. States where there is much turmoil in the role of the state! what was started by new labour was the idea of incluing people in the evolution of the state and how government relates to the public. the idea that even in a semi dictatorial state blair wanted the facade of inclusion. nieghbourhood partnerships gave us something towards this (although they did actually start to get the wheels of inclusion in motion a lot better ...
Young people present an interesting challenge to membership databases. They are, in relative terms, highly mobile, and in the case of students, prone to having two addresses, one for term time, the other during the holidays. It has been brought to my attention that, with ballot papers due to go out fairly soon, there may be those who will be somewhere other than the address held by Liberal Youth HQ. If you are affected, please contact Katy, the Liberal Youth Administrator as soon as possible. Also, please retweet this to anyone who might be interested... * hat tip to Richard ...
Martin Kettle recently wrote in the Guardian today of David Cameron: The Tory leader is exploiting every opportunity the political situation presents him to drag his party rapidly towards the liberal centre. I believe in leading from the front, he said, and he is telling the truth. The many policy concessions to the Lib Dems, especially those which cauterise the Tory right's pet issues like Europe, the Human Rights Act and inheritance tax only make sense in that light. The right's indignation is eloquent proof of what is happening. The control grab over the backbench 1922 committee is the work ...
You can see why the Guardian would not like Big Society ideas. Ideologically, they challenge the left's assumption that progress consists in more and more areas of social life coming under the supervision of government. And economically, both the newspaper and many of its readers rely upon the public sector for their income. But it will have to do better than it did yesterday in its attempts to combat those ideas. On Friday the novelist Zadie Smith gave an interview to the BBC's Today programme. The following day her comments on the Big Society and multiculturalism were pulled out by ...
Anti Social Birdsong Chauffeured my two girls to and from Radio Ones Big Weekend yesterday, so ended up having a late night last night. I am the first to say that birdsong first thing in the morning is one of natures gifts to us mere mortals, but 4.30 this morning a blackbird sung his heart out and hasn't stopped yet (10.15) I just hope whoever he is singing for is worth it!!!! Bangor was buzzing yesterday and will do today, Chris Moyles and his sidekick Comedy Dave (Radio 1 DJ's) has done us locals proud by promoting North Wales. I ...
There has been a welcome lack of triumphalism from the Tory visit to Afghanistan and, unless I have missed it, a welcome lack of posing in body armour and camouflage gear. The talk has been of speeding up the training of the Afghan National Army so we can leave. This is of course a figleaf - the Afghan National Army is an anti-Pashtun alliance with US weapons, and will never be able to control the country. But the pragmatic desire to get out of there, whatever the excuse, is welcome. I have been much heartened to see Bill Patey very ...
The Welsh Assembly Government claim that arrests were made because animal rights activists are intimidating officials. This film shows that landowners are being arrested for insisting that legal procedures are carried out. One other question, did all of those officials and police officers disinfect their footware before entering onto the land? How concerned is this possé with biosecurity? I understand that those people arrested were later released without charge.
I cannot understand all the huffing and puffing from senior Labour figures and some constitutional pundits about the proposal that the five year fixed term of future parliaments should not be curtailed unless 55%, rather than a simple majority of MPs, vote for it. It seems reasonable to assume that a major change, such as the highly desirable move to a fixed term for parliaments, should involve other consequential adjustments. If the prime minister is no longer able to bully his critics into line by the threat of a dissolution (or, strictly speaking, asking the monarch for a dissolution) than ...
I was driving through Lancaster late last night and if you know Lancaster you will know that there is a long downhill slope from the south into the city. A cyclist (without lights or helmet) was mostly keeping up with traffic. He must have been doing over 25mph. When we got to the lights in the centre of the city he sailed through even though they were on red. I think lights and a helmet are a good idea. Lights may help to prevent accidents and the helmet may prevent injury. However going through red lights may not be such ...
