A little while ago I was incensed with being bombarded day and night by media stories about Cameron and negotiations about benefits for EU migrants. This is a blog, at the end of the day (good blogging term there), so I blogged about it. What came out was a knee-jerk […]
Read MoreThinking of Ireland and the Irish today
A really significant anniversary today – the anniversary of the Easter Rising at Dublin Post Office in 1916. It’s a moment to reflect on the awful events of the last one hundred years in Ireland and also in Great Britain. We should never forget our role in this appalling series […]
Read MoreClarkson: The BBC had no choice
I am reproducing in full the summary text of the BBC report on the Clarkson incident, below. I am just utterly breathless that anyone can think the BBC did anything except the completely unavoidable. They took the only action they could take in the circumstances. Louise Mensch came up with this comment: […]
Read MoreMy York conference diary
I’ve written this diary as a reminder to myself as to what I did at York. Also, as I am an elected representative, I feel duty bound to report back to local party members.Photo above is of Nick at his Q&A on Saturday. Friday 7th March I travelled to and […]
Read MoreEastleigh result – a geek writes…The Tories were wandering around like farts in a colander
Obama’s victory last year was based on data management, many field offices and keen volunteers. The ground war was won. The Lib Dems in Eastleigh had superb data management (based on decades of election work), very keen volunteers and unbelievably slick organisation. I had loads of messages and encouragement to […]
Read MoreUnfortunately, due to an accident of nature I cannot have Paddy Ashdown’s babies…
A fantastically morale-boasting article from Paddy in the Guardian today: For the rightwing press, this was the perfect story; the perfect storm in which they held all the thunderbolts. It rolled up, in a single attack, three targets that they have long loved to hate: the Lib Dems, the coalition, and […]
Read MoreAnother US state declares war on underpants
In May last year I did a tour d’horizon of bans on saggy trousers/visible underwear in the States. Now Tennessee has passed a law outlawing students from showing their underpants, and it awaits the governor’s signature. Needless to say, writing a blog with “Liberal” in its title, I think this is all crazy. But […]
Read MoreSuccess for Lynne Featherstone – the Mail takes its hatchet to her
I think Lynne Featherstone can use yesterday’s Mail as a badge of success. If the Mail feels the need to turn its big guns on her, which it did, then she must be doing something right. In one article they say the Home Office, supervised by Lynne Featherstone, is ‘telling Europe that […]
Read MorePolitics – cognitive bias on steroids?
The BBC’s Horizon recently broadcast a wonderful programme called: “How you really make decisions”. The BBC’s website has a detailed write-up of the programme’s themes: With every decision you take, every judgement you make, there is a battle in your mind – a battle between intuition and logic. And the intuitive part of your […]
Read MoreIn praise of French democracy
On board Eurostar, homeward bound after a Parisian Easter break, I am, as always, full of praise and affection for La France. In the area where we were staying, activity on behalf of the Socialist candidate, for the forthcoming Presidential election, was omni-present. I collected a sheaf of leaflets and […]
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