Welcome to the 74th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13-19th July), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in traditional descending order: Read more »

Welcome to the 73rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th July), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Read more »

Welcome to the 72nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (29th June - 5th July), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 71st of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22nd-29th June), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 70th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (15th-21st June), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 69th - no jokes, please - of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (8th-15th June), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it - ooh-er, obviously - in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 68th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (1st-7th June), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

When I agreed to write this monthly round up of Labour and Tory blogging I said I would aim to “keep a balance between pointing to interesting postings that we Lib Dems may have missed and laughing at the folly of our opponents”.

So here goes.

Labour

There is only one place to begin this time: Crewe.

Let’s visit their candidate’s blog Tamsin Dunwoody - One of Us for a reminder of just how dreadful her campaign in the by-election was. “Don’t be conned by soft on yobs Tory Boy” and so on and on. It’s no wonder that so many voters decided she was not so much One of Us as One of Them.

And it’s no wonder, either, that For the Union, writing on Labourhome, was disgusted by the campaign:

The class warfare stuff, although cheap, is bording just about acceptable; but one thing horrified me (on an election leaflet):

“Do you oppose making foreign nationals carry and ID card?”

Regardless of the fact that I oppose ID cards in anyway, shape or form (the mere idea is distinctly alien to Britain) - “making”, “foreign nationals” is the language of the (far) right.

Nor was Newer Labour impressed by the campaign, but his posting is chiefly notable for conveying the authentic voice of the young activist in any party:

I had hoped to get up to crew (sic) today or tomorrow, but as it happens, I remain extremely hung over, and have a driving lesson tomorrow.

And then there are the party’s financial troubles. I don’t know if the Tribune website really counts as a blog, but its article on the subject is well worth reading.

With all this doom and gloom going on, it is no wonder that Lulu (again on Labourhome but probably not the popular chanteuse of the 1960s) is calling for Gordon Brown’s head:

So, he has to go. And better to go now with some dignity - simply admitting that Labour cannot win with him as leader - that to be dragged out in a coup in six months time.

We had better end on a lighter note. Kerron Cross reveals that Anglia Ruskin University has banned students from throwing their mortarboards in the air at graduation ceremonies.

On health and safety grounds, naturally.

Conservative

Over to the Tories and back to Crewe.

Chris Whiteside quoted a deluded Labour commenter on Nick Robinson’s BBC blog:

Everywhere around the Constituency, Labour posters are proudly on display with only a scattering of Lib Dem posters.

Nowhere is a ‘Tory boy’ Timpson poster to be seen, after all, this is Crewe and Nantwich and not the old Kings road!

I spoke to everyone I saw and all but one couple were voting Labour.

While Iain Dale brought us a dispatch from within the Dunwoody bunker.

Of course, May did not just see the Crewe and Nantwich by-election: it also saw the local elections. And Matt Dean explains how the Tories did so unexpectedly well in Southampton, winning 15 of the 17 seats that were up for election.

On a different not - in not a different planet - John Redwood wants the English people to have a vote on whether they wish to stay in the Union. Another sign that the Tories are changing from a Unionist party into an English Nationalist one before our eyes?

Why do we throw away so much food these days? Dizzy Thinks thinks it is because supermarkets have been forced to change from giving Best Before dates to Use By ones:

We have been so infantilised by state regulation that most people just read the date, check the calendar, then chuck it. Having the knowledge to know when something is ‘on the turn’ or, when something will be OK if you cook it properly has been lost to lives indirectly and unconsciously ruled by regulations.

All very sensible. But do not despair: the real Tory Party is alive and well out there.

Donal Blaney wrote in advance of the Carlton Club’s vote on whether to admit women members:

The decision tonight by the Carlton Club will probably go in favour of allowing women to become full members. In part this will be because the Carlton needs new members. In voting for change yet another bastion of tradition will succumb to the demands of those who place political correctness ahead of freedom of association.

Were I a member of the Carlton I would vote no.

Though whether it is likely that he will be asked to join the Carlton is nowhere revealed.

* Jonathan Calder blogs at Liberal England and for the New Statesman.

Welcome to the 67th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (25th-31st May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the (belated) 66th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (18th-24th May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 65th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (11th-17th May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 64th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (4th-10th May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

With Mr Tall t’internet less and Mr Foster off in Greece, it’s my turn to complete this weeks Golden Dozen.

It’s the 63rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (27th April - 3rd May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

1. Peter Black: Tory compares Boris to Mussolini

2. Jo Anglezarke: Bumper mayoral blog round-up, she does it so I don’t have too.

3. Jennie Rigg: For Pity’s Sake, London Lib Dems!!!

4. Alex Wilcock: The Curse of Shapps Hits the BBC, before the BBC counted to 4 and corrected the article.

5. Jonny Wright: Paddick has flipped his lid, maybe he just used VoteMatch to make his mind up?

6. Linda Jack: The Candidate Trap………Crewe and Nantwich

7. Linda again with: Are we getting slaughtered on the GLA? - answer yes

Our my hand-picked quintet this week are:

8. Alix Mortimer live blogging the elections whilst appearing on the TV: BBC Elections 2008 live blog

9. Jennie (again) with: Blog a Free Book, your chance to get a free Penguin Classic if you are quick enough.

10. Alex Folkes: Talk Talk raises the online voting myth

11. Chris Richards: on migration on the problem with all those foreigners not only voting but running in the local elections.

12. and finally James Graham with his wonderful Cheezburger pic: …would the last person to leave London please turn out the lights

If you have any suggestions for next weeks five, please email them to

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When I agreed to write this monthly round up of Labour and Tory blogging I said I would aim to “keep a balance between pointing to interesting postings that we Lib Dems may have missed and laughing at the folly of our opponents”.

So here goes.

Labour

Disloyalty is common in politics, so its refreshing to come across Kezia Dugdale and her staunch defence of Gordon Brown’s decision to scrap the 10p tax band:

Pensioners and families are better off. Childless adults of working age are a little worse off. Would you rather it was the other way around?

Gordon Brown had to make a political calculation as to how best to lift the income of low earners, without spending so much that he had to do something extremely unpopular to pay for it. Most Labour MPs like it, 70 don’t.

I have not been back to check her blog since Gordon Brown’s U-turn, but I bet you will find she has written an equally staunch defence of his new position. I predict this woman will be in parliament before long.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so loyal. Take John Wiseman, for instance. Here is the Labour PPC for Westmoreland & Lonsdale writing on Labour Home:

I seem to be in the middle of a nightmare at present. The BNP are standing all over my home constituency. Everyone seems depressed where I am standing for parliament. Gordon has decided to take money away from his core vote, PPS’s are threatening to resign!! When are we going to wake up!!! There is hundreds of councillors who are going to lose their seats if Gordon doesn’t listen. I am asking please Gordon for the last time wake up and smell the coffee and save the party as in rectify the tax change!!!

Doesn’t he realise what our Glorious Leader is doing for the country?

Elsewhere in the Labour photosphere there have been some moving tributes to Gwyneth Dunwoody. Harry Barnes, the former Labour MP, came to appreciate her worth even though they came from opposite wings of the party. And Paul Flynn points out that she was:

the last of a generation of women MPs of exceptional talent who succeeded mainly because they were tougher than their male counterparts. Gwyneth was generously endowed with strength, guile, humour, courage and integrity.

Back on Labour Home, Mike Ion exposes links between the Pensioners Party and the BNP and seems to have dissolved them in the process.

And Theo’s Blog reports on a row about parking in Hampstead between David Aaronovitch and Tom Conti. Hampstead is like that.

Much as it pains me to say it, the Communist-turned-Blairite Aaronovitch appears to be in the right.

Tories

Back to loyalty. You would have to be a very loyal supporter of Tony Blair indeed to write about the invasion of Iraq in these terms:

But in twenty years from now, even the most defiant anti-war protesters may concede that maybe, just maybe, when Iraq’s children are running around in the street with full tummies and free from the fear of brutality, when our children can sleep safe in their beds still free British citizens, that a good job was done by brave men and women.

A very loyal Blairite or a very stupid Tory. Step forward Mad Nad.

And then we have Dizzy Thinks and his remarkable take on Christianity:

If you start setting limits on earning that what would that do for wealth creation? What’s the point in trying to earn more money if a limit is set on how much you may earn? That’s not even socialism, it’s bordering on communism.

It’s a point of view, but maybe the Archbishop was thinking of camels and needles’ eyes? There are still some Church of England clergymen who read the Bible.

Then there are a couple of stories from Conservative Home.

First there is The story of how the party’s EU enthusiasts fixed the MEP selection process. You can see why the website is so cross: there are a lot of headbangers in the Tory Party and they deserve to have their views represented in the party’s decision-making process.

Then there is its guileless appeal to Help us make the ‘Nasty Ken video’. Conservatives, you understand, are really nice people, but Ken is so nasty that he forces them to be nasty too.

At least one Tory is on the side of the angels. Hunter and Shooter went on the demonstration against the parading of the Olympic torch through London:

The icing on the cake, when I got home, was to see that Gordon’s Gang were just too gormless to have seen this PR disaster unfolding all day, and actually allowed these Chinese security ‘guards’ to enter Downing Street, push people around in front of the TV cameras and organise the photo shoot! How weak! How pathetic! Gordon isn’t even master of his own doorstep, let alone the country! That’s one video clip I hope gets repeated endlessly…

And this just in… Mr Bean has a blog and is standing for the Conservatives in Manchester.

* Jonathan Calder blogs at Liberal England and for the New Statesman.

Welcome to the 62nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (20th-26th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

And the libdemmo-blogosphere has been lit up this week with the fate of Cllr Gavin Webb. Read all about it below:

1. Liberty Alone: Why has Gavin Webb been suspended from the party? including 33 responses…

2. Lanson Boy: Gavin Webb: suspended for saying what he believes in

3. Love and Liberty: Free the Stoke One!

4. A brief respite from the cause célèbre in Alex Wilcock’s second bite at the cherry with the acerbic “‘D’oh! conned again!’ say the World’s Stupidest MPs”

5. Orange by Name picks up the Gavin Webb story with Freedom of speech in the Liberal Democrats?

6. Bob Shaw (yes, Bob, you did make it in, thanks for asking): gets the gen Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

7. Finally, Jonathan Fryer changed the subject completely with Why I’ve voted for Ken

Our hand-picked quintet this week are

8. Appropriately enough a joint entry as Liberal Bureaucracy and Because Baronesses are People too tied the knot last week. Congratulations from all at The Voice.

9. Helen Duffett explains why Gordon Brown is the worst kind of small child and is plagued by UFOs

10. Paul Walters applauds Kelvin Mackenzie for putting his mouth where his money is and standing for his local council.

11. Richard Baum has delivered his own body weight in leaflets.

12. And finally, Lord Bonkers regales us with his tales of Gentleman’s Quarterly and the All-Cornwall L T Hobhouse Recitation Contest.

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Welcome, finally, to the 61st of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13th-19th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: Read more »

Welcome to the 60th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

Read more »

Welcome to the 59th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (30th March-5th April), together with a quintet hand-picked by, erm, me, that you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

Read more »

Welcome to the 58th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (23rd-30th March), together with a quintet hand-picked by Lib Dem blog readers you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

Read more »

When I agreed to write this monthly round up of Labour and Tory blogging I said I would aim to “keep a balance between pointing to interesting postings that we Lib Dems may have missed and laughing at the folly of our opponents”.

So here goes.

Labour

March began with Margaret Hodge attacking the Proms for being elitist. But how does Hodge’s attendance at arts events display her own democratic tastes? Fortunately we have her own blog to tell us. Here she is writing in February of this year:

Since I last posted here, I’ve seen Othello, Swan Lake, Nutcracker (Matthew Bourne’s exuberant production at Sadlers Wells this time), La Traviata, Much Ado about Nothing and Madam Butterfly at the ENO. Despite my very best endeavours, I have only been able to get to one of Barenboim’s concerts playing all the Beethoven piano sonatas

So why is Hodge turning her fire on the most democratic high art events we have?

I have complained before of the overwhelming dullness of Labour blogs. Things have not been much improved by the appearance of the Redcar Labour Party blog.

Most of it is devoted to rather unpleasant attacks on the local Lib Dems, but the very first posting is a classic of unconscious humour:

We believe in a stronger more resolute Redcar. A Redcar ready for the future; a Redcar that can link first class leisure with first class opportunity: A vision of education, innovation and expertise.

Tom Watson is interested in the news that Iain Dale’s new magazine Total Politics is being funded by Lord Ashcroft.

Writing on Labour Home, David Rowntree looks at the unwillingness of young people to join political parties:

In February 2003 up to 2 million people marched though London against the war. That’s more than 4 times as many people as all the political parties put together.

If all those people had joined their local party, they could have de-selected every MP who voted in favour of the war, and brought about a complete change in Government policy within a couple of years.

Bob Piper does not think that things are that simple. The Sandwell councillor says:

De-selecting a sitting MP now is almost as difficult as it was in the 1970’s, and don’t bother thinking about policy making. Even if you successfully moved a resolution through your constituency party meeting it would be highly unlikely to make it on to the Conference floor unless it gushed with buttock clenching praise of our glorious leaderships’ endeavors or had been neutered or butchered beyond recognition by a sub-committee of the conference arrangements committee.

And Brighton Regency Labour Supporter admits “It is a pretty miserable time to support Labour, at least it is if you judge Labour success by the recent polls.” He puts his hope in Ken Livingstone seeing off Boris.

Tories

My Nasty Tory Councillor of the Month was going to be John Ward from Medway, who resigned after calling for jobless people with more than one child to be sterilised. But first resigned and then he had his thunder stolen by Hugh Jackson from North Tyneside, who was suspended by his party after calling for the euthanasia of children in the council’s care to save money.

Apparently it was a joke.

But John Ward still makes the Dirty Dozen because he gave us the benefit of his wisdom on his blog. The posting which got him into such trouble was deleted from his blog soon after the story hit the national press, but now he is a free agent:

No doubt they think they’ve won a victory over me, but nothing could be further from the truth. Now I am unshackled from the various restrictions that are placed upon elected members (well, once my resignation has been accepted/confirmed) the gloves come off!

So no more Mister Nice Guy then.

Elsewhere on the Nasty Tory front we have Mad Nad — and she is not very funny either.

Writing of a plan to build a mosque in Oxford (scroll down past her expression of affection for Bob Spink) she says:

Apparently, the minaret … will stand taller than the dreamy spires.

Standing taller is all that matters, it’s the most important thing. Symbolic.

To the Islamist, America is a Johnny come lately, it’s England that matters.

Whereas anyone walking by may not even notice the towering height, casting a shadow over a dreamy spire, to the Islamist it represents a triumphant call to arms.

And the passer-by will think it’s just another innocent call to prayer.

Talking of unpleasant right-wingers, Iain Dale recently had a good story on the BNP’s attempt to recruit the English Democrats’ London Mayoral candidate.

At the start of the month Lee Jasper (Ken Livingstone’s “Senior Policy Adviser on Equalities“) was still in position. James Cleverly had some trenchant things to say on the subject.

Writing on Conservative Home, Graeme Archer offers a glimpse of school life in Hackney.

And finally, John “The Vulcan” Redwood shares his views on space travel.

Beam me up, Scotty.

* Jonathan Calder blogs at Liberal England and for the New Statesman.