The Liberal Democrat Deputy Leadership contest looks over almost over before it's started. My local MP, Simon Hughes already claims 25 supporters, and with 29 required to win. Tim Farron's challenge, however exciting and different, looks rather more Henley than Brent East. But the notable qualifications of both these individuals aside, there is a rather more fundamental question to ask about the job itself. Part of the Coalition's mission is to eliminate duplication and waste in government. The Liberal Democrat party could do the same to itself, and this role is a prime candidate. In opposition the position had a ...
Earlier today I blogged about the BBC's attempts at news creation, rather than news gathering. On tomorrow's front page, the Daily Telegraph shows them how it is really done down in the depths of the gutter press, with a crassly cynical story about the man of the moment, David Laws. [IMG: David Laws] Laws is accused of having swindled the taxpayer by 'paying his partner' £40,000 in rent for second home accommodation. Leaving aside the facts of the story, is it not astonishing that every time a politician seems to be doing well for his/herself, the Daily Telegraph just happens ...
If you like my linkblogging, a site you might want to bookmark is my Daily On Twitter. This site puts together everything that is linked in a 24-hour period by you and anyone you follow into a newspaper-style format, updated daily. (If you want to get one yourself, you have to trust it to access ...
The Telegraph, in characterisically reasonable fashion, are splashing tomorrow with an expenses story relating to David Laws, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The arrangements 'exposed' are clearly not ideal and are far from transparent- but it seems perfectly clear that the motive was personal, not financial. Consider these two things: 1) Laws is a ...
David Laws has apologised, promised to pay back up to £40,000, and referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner after the Telegraph published expenses claims showing he rented a room from his partner. The paper's story shows that David: David claimed between £700 and £950 a month between 2004 and 2007 to sub-let a room in a flat in Kennington, south London, owned by his partner who was also registered as living at the property; from 2007, David then began claiming of £920 a month to rent the second bedroom from a new house bought by his partner, who also ...
Following Labour's trouble in Redbridge, where a Labour candidate was elected and has then had to resign because they were a council employee and so barred from standing, the same again has happened in Barking. This time it is Goresbrok ward, where Labour's victory was particularly notable because it involved ousting BNP councillor and GLA member Richard Barnbrook. By-elections are due in both councils.
Yesterday, Lib Dem Chief Secretary of the Treasury David Laws was winning rave reviews for his poise at the dispatch box. Tonight he is in hot water after the Daily Telegraph revealed that he had been using his expenses to rent property from his long-term partner. David Laws has been a revelation to people both in and outside the Lib Dems since his appointment to the Cabinet. He is no longer the obscure Orange booker but a supremely talented minister fully on top of his brief and more than justifying the decision of Nick Clegg to nominate him to a ...
The following list of MPs backing different Deputy Leader candidates only lists those who have declared their support in public so far. If you spot any more, please do post up a comment along with the source of the information. Tim Farron Gordon Birtwistle Ming Campbell Greg Mulholland Tessa Munt Dan Rogerson Ian Swales Simon Hughes Vince Cable
...If I could vote that is! With Vince stepping down from the job as deputy leader of the Lib Dems, no sooner are we out of one election, we find ourselves facing another. This one however really only concerns 57 individuals. Which is a blessing in many ways - as I think many of us are "electioned-out". I am a bit disappointed that only two MPs have come forward so far.... Though I understand that several of the obvious choices (Norman Lamb is the obvious name that comes to mind)may feel that their roles in Government prevent them from stepping ...
So I do karate, and I do climbing, and my job is fairly physical. I'm not hugely out of shape. But I'm not fit either. I smoke, and I drink, and my diet isn't the healthiest it could be. So despite my activeness, my thighs are big and wibbly, and I am a size 14. The car going dicky again has spurred me into doing something about this. So I got my pushbike up from the cellar and pumped its tyres up and... Well, it took me less than half an hour to cycle home from work, which is three ...
As regular readers will be aware, my term as Liberal Youth's Returning Officer has been a challenging one. With a host of resignations leading to co-options and by-elections, the role has been rather more time-consuming than I had envisaged originally. After the last round of annual elections, and the criticism I took from a number of sub-optimally informed individuals, there were those who questioned my judgement in staying on. My response was that Liberal Youth needed some stability, and that having a battle-hardened Returning Officer might help achieve it. However, I have now changed my mind. Firstly, with a new ...
When I was a child, I used to really enjoy watching Diff'rent Strokes. I seem to remember it was on on a Friday tea time and the wee child actor Gary Coleman, who played Arnold, just made the show. He was so bright, so cheerful and charming, had incredibly good comic timing and brilliant facial expressions. I was really gutted to hear that he died today after suffering a head injury. He's the same age as me. It's a shame that in real life, he didn't get as many lucky breaks as Arnold. Here's a clip of him at his ...
Electoral Region: Yorkshire and the Humber Result in 2005: Con HOLD majority 14,117 (28.50%) Declared at 0345 BST May 28th 2010 Electorate: 75,829 Clarke, John Samuel (The Liberal Party) 1,418 votes (3.72% +0.66% on 2005) Horton, Toby (United Kingdom Independence Party) 2,502 votes (6.56% +3.49% on 2005) Keal, Howard (Liberal Democrat) 8,886 votes (23.30% +4.50% on 2005) McIntosh, Anne (Conservative) 20,167 votes (52.87% +0.99% on 2005) Roberts, Johnathan (Labour) 5,169 votes (13.55% -9.84% on 2005) Conservative HOLD with a majority of 11,281 votes (29.58%) on a swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat of 1.76% Turnout: 50.30% (-17.10% on 2005)
My hot tips for 2010 : Azerbaijan : Germany : But best of all - Israel :
So, the first appointments to the House of Lords under the Liberal Democrat - Conservative coalition government and the last before it is replaced with a democratically elected upper chamber. The list of the new Liberal Democrat Peers is as below; Floella Benjamin OBE DL - actor, presenter and campaigner for children's issues Mike German OBE AM - former Deputy First Minister (Wales) Meral Hussein Ece OBE - Local Government Councillor in Islington, advocate of equality issues Sir Kenneth (Ken) Macdonald QC - former Director of Public Prosecutions Kathryn (Kate) Jane Parminter - former Chief Executive of Campaign to Protect ...
As reported tonight in the Evening Telegraph, this morning I attended the graffiti clean-up by Scottish and Southern Energy of Electricity Sub Stations across the West End - the photo (below) is of me with some of the Scottish and Southern team at Milnbank Road. Tomorrow morning, the West End graffiti weekend graffiti clean-up by residents, councillors, community groups, and supported by the City Council, begins in earnest at the former Homebase site in Riverside Drive.
So, tonight, I'm cooking pizza. It's been a few weeks, I'm trying a new recipe for the base, but the standard sauce was planned to be in use. Mostly because I have a jar of it in the fridge from last time, and it's kept fine. I tested it about ten minutes ago, to be sure. It's fine. Bit settled, so give it a quick shake. I am now covevered in the remnants of what was a good pizza sauce. The sauce had kept well. The honey jar I'd put it in, apparently, had not. Shook the pot, bottom fell ...
Following the announcement of the coalition agreement, there has been much spin in sections of the media implying that a drop in Liberal Democrat support is supposedly inevitable. The result of the delayed Thirsk and Malton election- announced today - saw the Tories increase their vote by 0.2 per cent, a rise of five per cent for the LibDems and a decrease of 11.6 per cent for the Labour Party, thus showing what total cobblers some political commentators talk. Liberal Democrat support is doing well, and, judging by the Dundee LibDem membership increase in the past couple of weeks, the ...
Suddenly the British political chatterati are catching up with a fact that's been known by Lib Dems for years: David Laws is a deeply impressive politician. David's pivotal role in the Lib Dem negotiating team, combined with his unshowy economic and intellectual self-confidence, has quickly marked him out as an early star of the cabinet, earning an excellent profile in today's Guardian by Allegra Stratton. It's well worth reading in full, but here's a fascinating snippet: Laws is one of Ashdown's friends from "the winter days, not the summer days". He joined the party at the same time as Nick ...
Little Bowden has a mud wall, and do does Tur Langton. In fact, the books suggest that the village has a house whose walls are partly built of mud, so I shall have to go back and find it one day. And visit The Crown again too.
Oh gawd, I agreed to do BBC Radio Oxford paper review from 8am Sat. Early start to the weekend then. # Okay, BBC Radio Ox paper review done: Clegg as DPM, MPs expenses + books in home helps kids' education. Now looking fwd to breakfast in sun. # @GabrielleNYC What better way to start your day? in reply to GabrielleNYC # Got ID-ed on Sat buying bottle of wine. I'm 33. Best. Day. Ever. # @helenduffett @GabrielleNYC Think prob as result of scruffy summer wardrobe. # Newspapers, iced drink, garden, trusty rug, pack of cards, g/f. And nice view. Mmm. ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Some choice ... The problem with Labour's leadership election is that there are too many Milibands and not enough women. It would help if David and Ed had a sister - say Lilly Miliband - but even that would leave them a long way from balance. Because Andy Burnham is a Miliband too. It's not just that he looks like one: he also thinks like one. And he has had a very Miliband career: joined the Labour Party in boyhood, Oxbridge, researcher to Labour's good and great, found a safe seat, ...
With the resignation of Vince Cable as Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems in order to concentrate on his role as Secretary of State for Business, a new person needs to be elected to fill the post. Traditionally, the Deputy Leader has been a relatively peripheral figure. With the Party struggling to get even the Leader noticed in the media, the Deputy has had a mainly Parliamentary focus - standing in for the Leader at PMQs on occasion and helping to organise MPs and peers. Vince changed that. He was and is achknowledged by the public as a major figure ...
Matthew Taylor, the former MP for Truro and St Austell who retired at the general election has been made a Lord in today's honours list. Many, many congratulations to him. Matthew was the only Lib Dem MP in Cornwall from his by-election in 1986 until the election of Andrew George and Paul Tyler in 1992. During that time, and since, he has been a steadfast campaigner for Cornwall and I know he will continue to represent the interests of the Duchy in the Lords. Matthew, who has also now taken up the post of chair of the National Housing Federation, ...
After months of uncertainty, the good news emerges that the future of Launceston Post Office in the town centre is secured. As local residents will know, the Post Office branch has been run by a company on a short term rolling contract for a couple of years. Proposals were brought forward to move it to Newport which would have been another blow to the town centre and all the shops there. Working together with the town council and local traders, Cornwall Councillor Sasha Gillard-Loft and myself persuaded the Post Office to halt that move and to look for a new ...
So, we will have a new regional Assembly Member. Step forward Veronica German, who will take over in South Wales East once Mike German's move to the House of Lords, announced in today's Dissolution Honours, is completed. After 11 years in the Assembly and 12 years on Cardiff Council, Mike takes up a new challenge as a working peer. As he puts it; "I was thrilled when, many months back, Nick Clegg asked me to join his team in the House of Lords as a working peer. Now at this very exciting period in British politics, it will be a ...
These are the revised refuse and recycling collection dates over the Spring bank holiday period: Monday 31 May –> Tuesday 1 June Tuesday 1 June –> Wednesday 2 June Wednesday 2 June –> Thursday 3 June Thursday 3 June –> Friday 4 June Friday 4 June –> Saturday 5 June Back to normal on Monday 7 June.
Dreadful news this morning about coordinate terrorist attacks on the two main Ahmadiyya Muslim mosques in Lahore, Pakistan. I wrote to Alastair Burt MP, the Minister who deals with south Asia at the FCO, as follows: You will have heard of the ghastly tragedy unfolding in Lahore, I know, and I'm writing to ask if the Government will take the lead in mobilising international pressure on Pakistan for a determined policy to remove the sources of terrorism, starting with the anti-Ahmadiyya laws, but I would also try to get them to pass new laws making incitement to religious hatred a ...
I just love the Eurovision Song Contest. Always have. Always will. You can get your whole year's supply of tackiness and camp in just a few hours and I don't understand how it's possible to watch it and not smile. Everthing about it is over the top, from the costumes, to the ever more crazy performances - last year there were giant flaming hamster wheels for goodness' sake, to the key changes, to the annual surprise when Norway votes for Sweden and Cyprus votes for Greece. The blatant Eastern European bloc vote got a bit above itself for a while ...
David Milliband recently announced the working title for Labour 3.0 as Next Labour. This is after the return to the original Labour title in version 2.9 and the new labour title of all other versions of Labour 2. Some of the developers are thought to be unhappy with the title though with Ed Balls and ... Read more
The coalition should of had a minister on the BBC Question Time panel last night. I also think Labour should of had a Shadow Minister on the panel to discuss the queens speech. However the BBC had booked Alastair Campbell (the Labour spin doctor) and while there is a strong argument to say he is not elected and therefore can't represent Labour its also true that he has been very much involved with Labour policy and is practically an unelected MP. I think a Minister could of point out Alastairs involvement with the Iraq dossier and could of taken him ...
BBC pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz never ceases to amaze me. Not only does he bring us the news about whose hydraulics are playing up, or who has a nice new shiny front wing, this morning he brought us some news about Lewis Hamilton. This driver seems to be going through a mid life crisis in his mid 20s. He managed to rehabilitate himself towards the end of last season, after the disaster of the opening race when he lied to the stewards but he seems to have lost all the ground he gained then. This season has seen him ...
The traditional British Dissolution Honours and new working peers' list were announced today, with nine new peerages for the Liberal Democrats in toto, including three former MPs: Richard Allan, Matthew Taylor and Phil Willis. The best-known name on the working peers' list is Floella Benjamin, the Trinidadian-born author and TV presenter and Chancellor of the University of ...
It is now being reported that in the tragic case of Louis Wainwright and Nicholas Smith, two teenagers who died back in March, neither of them had taken the now banned (but then legal) drug mephedrone. The case kicked off a media panic about the drug when it was rumoured that they had taken it. The political furore that then ensued ultimately led to the banning of the drug just before the General Election. There have also been other cases where initial reports have suggested the drug was involved only for it later to turn out not to have been ...
Nine new Lib Dem peers have just been announced ... Working Peers List * Floella Benjamin OBE DL - actor, presenter and campaigner for children's issues * Mike German OBE AM - former Deputy First Minister (Wales) * Meral Hussein Ece OBE - Local Government Councillor in Islington, advocate of equality issues * Sir Kenneth (Ken) Macdonald QC - former Director of Public Prosecutions * Kathryn (Kate) Jane Parminter - former Chief Executive of Campaign to Protect Rural England * John Shipley OBE - leading Local Government Councillor in Newcastle upon Tyne The sharp-eyed will spot an equal number of ...
The latest Honours List has been released, there is still no Liberal Democrat Peer from the West Midlands - this is doubly disappointing as this time, more than ever before, we had a superb candidate in Paul Keetch the former MP for Hereford.
According to the Number 10 website (and if they don't know, who does), here are the new Liberal Democrat peers: Working peers list * Floella Benjamin OBE DL - actor, presenter and campaigner for children's issues * Mike German OBE AM - former Deputy First Minister (Wales) * Meral Hussein Ece OBE - Local Government Councillor in Islington, advocate of equality issues * Sir Kenneth (Ken) Macdonald QC - former Director of Public Prosecutions * Kathryn (Kate) Jane Parminter - former Chief Executive of Campaign to Protect Rural England * John Shipley OBE - leading Local Government Councillor in Newcastle ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Vince Cable stands down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (55) by Helen Duffett. 2. Bright spots of the 2010 election result: growth in number of winnable seats (26) by Mark Pack. 3. Tim Farron runs for deputy leader; Campbell and Munt back him (28) by Mark Pack. 4. The Liberal Democrat special advisers (16) by Mark Pack. 5. NEW POLL: Who do you want to see as the next Lib Dem deputy leader? (47) ...
After the minor incident when Gordon Brown called an old lady a bigot, much was made of the fact that he very quickly blamed the encounter on a lady called 'Sue.' This was widely believed to be Sue Nye, his diary secretary. I expressed concern at the time that Sue could be in for a sacking. Or a Nokia to the face. Given Brown's temper, no one really knew what was in store for the woman who set him up with Gillian 'Where are all those Eastern Europeans coming from' Duffy. Well we can rest at ease now, as it ...
I've (un)fortunately been around a bit in the world of NUS politics, getting to see it from a number of angles over the years. I've seen more of what it does than most students. I can say the NUS has ... Continue reading →
Liberal Democrats are celebrating after they won all 28 seats in Today's deferred Kendal Town Council Elections - gaining three seats from Labour, re-gaining one from the Greens and one from an Independent. Liberal Democrats gained Strickland, Fell and Romney from Labour and won in Underley from the Independents. The Lib Dems also re-gained Far Cross ward from the Green Party. Tim Farron, Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said: Four years ago we didn't even have a majority on Kendal Town Council, now we have a clean sweep. Paul Trollope, our agent, and the whole team deserve huge ...
Well they are beautiful, aren't they? Unfortunately they only last a few days; hence the urge to photograph them.
There have been two election days since the last update, Tuesday 25th for the delayed elections in Camden's Haverstock ward, and Thursday 27th for Ryde South on the Isle of Wight and a variety of deferred- and by-elections for Town Councils across the country. In the first serious electoral test since the formation of the coalition, the Liberal Democrat team in Camden successfully defended three seats in the deferred elections in the Haverstock ward. A quick note on classifications; we are reporting this result as two hold and one gain despite there being three Lib Dem councillors on both the ...
[IMG: The winning Kendal Town Councillors] Liberal Democrats are celebrating after they won all 28 seats in Today's deferred Kendal Town Council Elections - gaining three seats from Labour, re-gaining one from the Greens and one from an Independent. Liberal Democrats gained Strickland, Fell and Romney from Labour and won in Underley from the Independents. The Lib Dems also re-gained Far Cross ward from the Green Party. Tim Farron, Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said: Four years ago we didn't even have a majority on Kendal Town Council, now we have a clean sweep. Paul Trollope, our agent, ...
Ian Swales MP will be holding surgeries on Saturday 5th June. Redcar constituents are invited to speak with Ian regarding issues or concerns by joining him at Redcar Library, Coatham Road, 9.30am-10.30am or at the newly-opened South Bank Library, Low Grange Health Village, Normanby Road, 11am-11.30am. Anyone wishing to attend either surgery can book an appointment by calling Ian on 01642 292847.
Department of Surgery King's College Hospital Vascular Surgery We received a referral for Lord Avebury from the haematologists. This gentleman has a MALT lymphoma diagnosed in 2006 and has recently been running a low haemoglobin of around 10. . We were asked to see him to exclude any source of bleeding from his arteries. He is known to have an aortic aneurysm which is palpable on examination but it is not tender. He has not had any symptoms of leakage such as acute abdominal pain or flank pain. He has had no haematuria, no obvious source of blood loss in ...
The Liberal Democrat candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth in the 2010 General Election has challenged the result. Elwyn Watkins has submitted a petition for a hearing of an election court, alleging a breach of the Representation of the People Act (1983). From the BBC: Mr Watkins claims that Labour campaign literature, published and distributed he says with the consent of Mr Woolas, constitutes a breach of the act. He said it was clear that some literature "contained numerous misleading and erroneous claims regarding my personal character and reputation, and that of my campaign". Under the act, anyone involved in ...
In spite of not having won Thirsk & Malton yesterday in the last of the General Election campaigns I think Howard Keal and the Liberal Democrats can give themselves a pat on the back. Howard increased the Lib Dem share of the vote by 5%, whilst the victor, Anne McIntosh only increased the Tory share of the vote by 0.2% and the Labour candidate was pushed down into third place, down 12%. The percentages are "notional" because the constituency is a new one, created (or recreated) from Ryedale and the Vale of York. However it is very clear that the ...
Thanks to Liberal England for drawing my attention to this item. Looking back over the whole career of Phil Woolas as a parliamentary candidate it does seem proper that his behavior should be scrutinised. As Elwyn says on his website: Lib Dem to issue legal challenge over Parliamentary election result The Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth at the recent General Election, Elwyn Watkins, is to formally challenge the declared result. The result, declared in the late morning of Friday 7th May 2010, ended in a wafer-thin majority of 103 for incumbent Labour MP Phil Woolas, following ...
Ever wondered how much of your working day is spent earning money for your own pocket, rather than paying HMRC? You probably haven't. I know I hadn't. The TPA have put together this little video showing at what point you actually start earning for yourself. It's really rather enlightening. I, like most other commentators who have published this, wonder how many people realise that this is the case?
Group Leaders Day Friday 18 June 2010 The 2010 Liberal Democrat Group Leaders Day takes place on Friday 18 June 2010 - at LGA House in Westminster, London. This is the day immediately preceeding the Lib Dem Local Government Conference on Saturday. Provisional Programme 10.30am Arrival, Registration and Coffee 11.15am Welcome and Introductions 11.30am Leading Success - Challenges for the Lib Dem Group Leader Speakers and Discussion 12.30am Lunch 1.00pm Joint session with the Leadership Centre for Local Government Introductions 1.45pm The Financial Challenge Irene Lucas, Acting Permanent Secretary, Communities and Local Government Steve Freer, Chief Executive, CIPFA (tbc) Andrew ...
The by election in Chadwell Ward caused by Mark Gittens ineligibility will be held 8th July
The Liberal Democrat candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth in the 2010 General Election has challenged the result. Elwyn Watkins has submitted a petition for a hearing of an election court, alleging a breach of the Representation of the People Act (1983). From the BBC: Mr Watkins claims that Labour campaign literature, published and distributed he says with the consent of Mr Woolas, constitutes a breach of the act. He said it was clear that some literature "contained numerous misleading and erroneous claims regarding my personal character and reputation, and that of my campaign". Under the act, anyone involved in ...
Fri 28th
13:23
Has Cable been reduced to a flex, and is this government following in the footsteps of Churchill?
It was Ross Noble's joke on "Have I got news for you" last night. Vince Cable is now a flex. You have to see it to appreciate it. It seems that it is David Laws who has got the driving seat position in the cabinet, for a LibDem. While Vince Cable, as the set-up to Noble's quip went, was given the Business department and then had $900 million slashed from his budget. "He's now a flex" etc etc In a similar vein, Alastair Campbell, who apparently carries round with him a framed portrait of David Laws (he is obviously smitten ...
[IMG: Portrait photo of Simon Hughes MP] Simon Hughes has declared his candidacy to be the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, replacing Vince Cable, who is busy doing other things. To the left of the party and much more in tune with my beliefs in liberalism, I think Simon would be the perfect choice to steer the party through this coalition. Whilst I still have many reservations about this (the coalition) Simon in his own words has said his "strength and breadth of experience to make sure that our party is a strong, supportive but independent voice within and ...
The decision by the government to refuse to allow any cabinet minister onto BBC Question Time yesterday has generated a fair bit of comment today. I had a bit of a debate with a couple of people on Twitter earlier but quickly realised that I was not going to be able to easily express my view in 140 characters. Firstly, I should say that I think whatever the situation, for the government to refuse to allow a cabinet minister onto the show is a mistake. It looks evasive and even in some ways potentially weak. This is compounded by the ...
BBC News reports:An election candidate who lost out to former Labour minister Phil Woolas by 103 votes is challenging the result. Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins came second in Oldham East and Saddleworth on 7 May following two recounts. But he claims Labour leaflets contained misleading claims about his reputation and campaign and has begun a High Court bid to have the result quashed.You can find more information on Elwyn Watkins' own webpage. There he is quoted as saying:"It is clear that Labour literature circulated within the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, specifically 'The Examiner' newspaper, an edition of the 'Labour ...
This morning, following Tim Farron yesterday, Simon Hughes became the second declared candidate for the deputy leadership of the Liberal Democrats. And if the report in the Independent is correct, he has almost won the contest already:Launching his candidacy in his south London constituency, Mr Hughes said he already had pledges of support from 25 Lib Dem MPs - just four short of the 29 votes needed to win the June 9 ballot.
Fri 28th
12:20
The Independent View: Will Lib Dem proposals to tackle tax avoidance help save the world?
What can we expect from the Government on tax avoidance and evasion? Cast your mind back to the Liberal Democrats' manifesto launch in April. A major theme was the plan to raise £4.6 billion by tackling tax avoidance. This has been reduced to a single bullet point in the coalition's Programme for Government, a promise to "make every effort to tackle tax avoidance, including detailed development of Liberal Democrat proposals." Vince Cable remains committed, telling the Telegraph soon after his appointment as Business Secretary that, "tackling tax avoidance by businesses is essential and this is an area that I will ...
In the latest in my Bill Withers instalments, today I turn my attention to that venerable institution, BBC One's Question Time. I'm not particularly interested in whether the coalition refuses to debate alongside Alistair Campbell, for the simple reason that the answer is obvious: the BBC is right, and the coalition are extremely stupid to ...
Simon Hughes, MP for Southwark and Old Bermondsey has announced his intention to stand for the position of Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. From his campaign flyer: Labour have made it clear they want to rewrite history, ignoring the reality of their time in office. They claim to be the only home for progressive voters. I will not let them get away with it. My experience representing an inner city constituency tells a different story: of too many broken promises and too many people failing to reach their potential. I am convinced that progressive liberal policy and values provide ...
The following article is written by Martin Shapland who is a Candidate for Chair of Liberal Youth. In an article on Wednesday, Richard Heinrich and Phil Jarvest – two of my competitors for the Chair of Liberal Youth – sought to open up a policy discussion about our Higher Education funding policy. For the record I do fully support our current policy to abolish fees. I believe that education is the great driver of social change and individual liberty. I believe that widening access to quality education is fundamentally important, not just at higher education, but at Primary and Secondary ...
Regular readers of this blog will know that I usually post a summary of the Eurovision entrants around this time of year. Alas, what with elections and then post-election holidays and then going to the pub a bit, this year there will be no blog post. I know, it's a tragedy. However, it's not all bad news. I'll be live tweeting along with the Eurovision final on Saturday night on my twitter account, so much of the, er, insight that usually finds its way onto this blog will be available there. Watch out for numerous Blake's 7 references. You can ...
Following the #bbcqt hash tag on Twitter is one of the great entertainments of the week. Yesterday's programme didn't let me down as Alistair Campbell without any sense of irony repeated Malcom Tucker's scriptwriter's joke about David Laws being a Bond villain from last week's Have I Got News for You without any attribution. Life really has started to imitate art... or maybe The Thick of It has political reality more nailed on than we ever dared to hope? Political CompassOne of the audience members on BBC Question Time put up a rather odd argument for Lab-Lib coalition and that ...
Of course, if newspaper paywalls don't turn out to work outside the existing niches such as the Financial Times, their impact on general online commenting habits will be very limited. But let's assume for a moment that paywalls work well enough to spread across various newspaper and other sites. A core feature of paywalls is that in order to get in someone has to pay via authenticated electronic means - and so for nearly everyone the website knows who they really are. Anonymous payments or carefully constructed alias payment accounts are theoretically feasible but the practical reality is that nearly ...
As predicted, Simon Hughes has just launched his deputy leadership campaign. He unsurprisingly has the backing of Vince Cable. Of course I am delighted he has thrown his hat into the ring and although I am a great fan of Tim Farron (I would see him as a future leader) at this time I think we need someone of Simon's stature and standing in the party to help provide the ballast and temper the undoubted euphoria felt by many on the right who seem a lot more comfortable cuddling up to the Tories. Simon, I think unfairly, was the fall ...
[IMG: Simon Hughes' Deputy Leader flyer] Simon Hughes, MP for Southwark and Old Bermondsey has announced his intention to stand for the position of Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. From his campaign flyer: Labour have made it clear they want to rewrite history, ignoring the reality of their time in office. They claim to be the only home for progressive voters. I will not let them get away with it. My experience representing an inner city constituency tells a different story: of too many broken promises and too many people failing to reach their potential. I am convinced that ...
Next month sees Bike week and to co-incide with that there is the GM Commuter Cycle Challenge. There ae a number of events and many of them are based around Chorlton. I hope to do the Loop The Loop, time permitting (and a son who turns 8 a couple of days later and may want pampering), but will be at a couple of these events at least.
Welcome to the ninth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. The equalities section continues a theme common throughout the coalition document: if this section was presented to Liberal Democrat conference as the party's policy in this area, people would be generally pretty happy with it. It doesn't include everything the party wants, but that is balanced out by it being a list of policies which the government is actually going to put into practice rather than being just a policy motion wish list. Added ...
Just in case anybody doubts that the Liberal Democrats got a lot of what they wanted out of the UK coalition then two articles in this morning's Times should help. First up is the result of the 1922 Committee elections in which David Cameron was given a bloody nose by Tory backbenchers who chose an MP from the right to champion their independence: Mr Cameron's belief that the 148 newly elected Tory MPs owe him a debt of loyalty took another blow when they helped to elect three other well-known rebels to key posts on the committee, set up to ...
Nick Cohen is very rarely right. He was wrong about Iraq and he's wrong about Jenny. Read this appalling article carefully and you'll see that he smears her for what he thinks she believes rather than for what she actually believes. One example: "Once baronesses start talking like this, it is only a matter of time before they embrace the "blood libel"..." She doesn't, she hasn't, she never
I was slightly surprised to hear that the national Tory/Lib Dem coalition refused to send a representative to sit on the BBC Question Time panel last night. The official reason given was that Labour's panel member came in the shape of the unelected Alastair Campbell, and that the party should have sent a front-bencher to ...
A Conservative victory in the delayed election for Thirsk and Malton constituency was never in serious doubt. What went on under the headline of a Conservative hold however is of more interest. If this was the start of a Labour fightback, the "socialist" brethren have some explaining to do. Labour slipped from 2nd to 3rd place and we saw a Labour to Lib Dem swing of 11.6%.To be honest, this is
Lolohai Tapui has been jailed for four months. If we jailed every illegal immigrant for four months, that would constitute over 300,000 prison man years. The Independent story is entirely condemning of Tapui and exonerating of Scotland. But who was really exploiting who here? £6 an hour, for God's sake! In the heart of Central London? Anyone who has had an 0207 phone number knows that anyone over the age of 18 who will work of £6 an hour is an illegal immigrant. I am not nearly as rich as Baroness Scotland, and we pay our student babysitters £8 ...
The Thirsk & Malton election was delayed because of the death of John Boakes. The name rang a bell and I identified the clanging as Commander Bill Boaks, the eccentric parliamentary candidate. Wikipedia has an interesting biography of him. I particularly like that the first time he stood, in 1951, he intended to stand against the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, whose constituency was
The Northern Echo's front page headline and story today about reductions in local police budgets is journalism at its most sensational. Despite "Durham Police Authority promising that its front-line service will be protected" the eye-grabbing headline reads "Budget cuts will hit police numbers", which is quite clearly not what the article below says.North Yorkshire Police say there will be no
We made the right choice to go into coalition - although I have to say that it took me a few days to come to terms with it! Our choice to go in to coalition is in the national interests, I am standing for Deputy Leader because I'm determined that it should also be in the Lib Dems' interests too. The role of the Deputy Leader will be quite different now that we are sharing power. There will be a role in Parliament, but it will be all the more important out in the country and in the TV and ...
I do love the irony of the Appleistas seeing Microsoft as the evil empire whilst the reality of Apple's exploitation and proprietary lock in is ignored. It's the technological equivalent of paying over the odds for designer branded goods manufactured in sweatshops.
Michael Caine says he supports the coalition government. He likes the idea of politicians controlling each other.
YPI (Youth and Philanthropy Intitiative) is a program developed in Canada and now in schools here which raises awareness among young people about philanthropy. On the ground - what this means is best described by the event I went to last night. The girls were in teams of about four or five. They had over a series of ten weeks chosen a local charity, visited and worked with them to understand what they were about and for this occasion - put together a presentation to judges (and us in the audience) to win the £3000 prize which would go to ...
There is a lot of coverage in the media last night and this morning for the row over last night's Question Time panel. The argument centred on the government's alleged decision not to field a Cabinet minister, in response to the appearance of Alistair Campbell as Labour's 'official' representative. [IMG: question time] I have written in the past about the frequent bias on the Question Time panel, although in those cases it was more from a Lib Dem perspective. However, I do believe this is another example of the BBC's tendency to take the moral high ground in rather wounded ...
If you had any doubt about signing up to buy a piece of the land threatened by Donald Trump in his Aberdeenshire development, then think about what he said yesterday about the man whose home his development could destroy. It made me so mad to see this hugely rich American describe Michael Forbes' home as a slum and to say that he lived like a pig. Michael Forbes loves his home and he has the right not to be forced out of it.
RT @neilwilliams66: Just dawned on me that Crouch End is now the most Lib Dem place in the whole of Greater London. Good work, team. # @neilwilliams66 ... and Lyn Weber polled the most votes any council candidate has ever done in Haringey's history in reply to neilwilliams66 # Only 6% Lib Dem voters strongly disapprove of coalition. Nick Clegg best rated party leader by pubic. Angus Reid poll http://bit.ly/cN1UjH # RT @mandateblog: Hip hip hooray: Mandate has won the PR Week Silver Award for Best Place to Work 2010 # @NoetiCat If you find some hasting tweeting by me ...
Thanks to Birkdale Focus.
The result of the Thirsk and Malton delayed election has just been announced: Anne McIntosh has been elected as the Conservative MP for the new constituency, having previously represented Vale of York. The votes cast were as follows: Conservatives: 20,167 (+1%) Liberal Democrats (Howard Keal) 8,886 (+4.5%) Labour: 5,169 (-9.9%) UKIP: 2,502 (3.5%) Liberal 1,418 From the notional figures, this result shows a 2.6% swing from the Conservatives to the Lib Dems, and a swing of 11.6% from Labour, with the Liberal Democrats moving from third place to second. Mike Beckett, Chair of Thirsk and Malton Liberal Democrats said: This ...
As Big Ben chimes seven, it's time to celebrate the day 151 years ago, that the famous bell was drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster. To show that cuts in Westminster are nothing new, the cost of the bell was reduced by recycling the metal from the previous, faulty bell: George Mears, then the master bellfounder and owner of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, undertook the casting. According to foundry records, Mears originally quoted a price of £2401 for casting the bell, but this was offset to the sum of ...
Ir is good to hear Tory Ian Duncan Smith speak so passionately about the absurdity of the employment trap, by which unemployed people can face marginal tax rates of "70%, 80% and 90%"(Guardian 27/05/10) through loss of benefits when they take jobs. Unfortunately his proposed solutions do not include the obvious - the Citizens' Income as proposed by the Green Party. Briefly, under this proposal every adult citizen receives as of right from the state an income of around the present level of the Jobseekers' Allowance, with a higher rate for pensioners (to replace state pensions) and a lower rate ...
Labour's dishonest and vindictive campaign to discredit the Liberal Democrats for doing the responsible thing and bringing liberal policies to a stable government took a new turn today. Labour activists in seats across Wales took to posing with large "under new (Tory) management" signs in front of Lib Dem offices – and a page was apparently added to the Welsh Labour website for "confused Lib Dems" to contact Labour. Labour members were also distributing leaflets about 'ConDem cuts to the Child Trust Fund', with Labour Party membership forms on the back. Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams hit back: "Why ...
The result of the Thirsk and Malton delayed election has just been announced: Anne McIntosh has been elected as the Conservative MP for the new constituency, having previously represented Vale of York. The votes cast were as follows: Conservatives: 20,167 (+1%) Liberal Democrats (Howard Keal) 8,886 (+4.5%) Labour: 5,169 (-9.9%) UKIP: 2,502 (3.5%) Liberal 1,418 From the notional figures, this result shows a 2.6% swing from the Conservatives to the Lib Dems, and a swing of 11.6% from Labour, with the Liberal Democrats moving from third place to second. Mike Beckett, Chair of Thirsk and Malton Liberal Democrats said: This ...
One Labour scheme suspended by the new Government has been the "Future Jobs Fund" (FJF). Aptly named given it was specifically designed to spend public money on temporary'socially useful' jobs in the public sector today, to give the appearance of action, not create sustainable employment. The future jobs in question then were those of Labour ministers. They and the usual suspects are dismayed. Happily for the unemployed, on that latter point it failed. Labour's record on youth unemployment is just as bad as their Conservative predecessors, even towards the end of the last boom after a sustained period of job ...
The Isle of Wight is the country's largest constituency. Ministers want around 70 or 80 thousand voters per constituency and the Isle of Wight manages to have an electorate of 103,480. I really don't think they mind having one MP. I would also guess that they prefer the present situation to having one and a bit MPs if this meant that they would share an MP with part of the mainland. The Tories are in favour of shifting boundaries to make constituencies the same size because this would improve the number of Tory MPs. However there is already a public ...
Sorry to say goodby today to Police Sergeant Colin Whitfield as he worked his last day. Julia and I really worked with him and his colleagues as a team. There was all sorts of information that we picked up as Councillors that we were able to share, and we could put out messages on our "e" newsletters that he asked us to get news out or ask for informaiton quickly. He was always ready to give a...
Did tonight show us the future of UK television political coverage? I sincerely hope not. First I watched Question Time. No Government minister on the programme..because, the BBC say, Downing Street said it would put up a minister but only if the Labour spokesperson was a serving Labour MP not Alistair Campbell... The BBC told the Government to sod off and it was up to them who they invited onto the show. First signs of BBC/government tensions? It was frankly silly of the Government to big up Campbell like that...but even sillier of the BBC to choose Alistair Campbell in ...
Saturday: Writing for Dr Woo has to be the official BESTEST JOB IN THE WORLD EVER™ but, in spite of this, it can be quite tough getting anyone to have a go. Apart from Miss Kate Bush who wrote "Kinda" and Mr Stephen Fry whose episode fell through, the only REALLY famous person was Mr Dougie Adams. But now with Mr Simon Nye, Mr Richard Curtis and Mr Neil Gaiman writing episodes, you've got to admit the Grand Moff has been really jolly successful at getting some famous and talented people to write for him. And also Mr Chris Chibnall. ...
