Author Archives: Helen Duffett

Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #129

By Helen Duffett | Sun 9th August 2009 - 6:00 pm

Welcome to the 129th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (2nd August – 8th August 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget, by the way, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
Helen Duffett

Boris Johnson brings the house down

By Helen Duffett | Sat 8th August 2009 - 11:50 am

The Mayor of London, who is in charge of the capital’s planning issues, was told to remove a wooden summer house at his Islington home because it was built without planning permission.

From the Times:

Council officers ordered Boris Johnson to remove the shed from a balcony at his home, a Grade II listed building in a conservation area of Islington, North London.

Islington Council wrote to Mr Johnson to tell him that the shed required planning permission because it was within the curtilage of a listed building.

“Planning enforcement officers advised Mr Johnson that the shed did not have planning

…

Continue reading »
Posted in London and News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Police told to ignore European Court of Human Rights over DNA database

By Helen Duffett | Fri 7th August 2009 - 11:13 pm

Despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last December, the Association of Chief Police Officers has written to chief constables in England and Wales advising them to continue adding the DNA profiles of innocent people to the national DNA database. They have been told that new Home Office guidelines will not take effect until 2010.

From the Guardian:

Senior police officers have also been “strongly advised” that it is “vitally important” that they resist individual requests based on the Strasbourg ruling to remove DNA profiles from the national database in cases such as wrongful arrest,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Big mad database and News | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

By-election results: 6 August 2009

By Helen Duffett | Fri 7th August 2009 - 2:46 pm

It’s been a quiet week, results-wise, but there are two bits of by-election good news:

Didcot has its first ever Lib Dem Councillor following yesterday’s gain from Labour.

From the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors:

David Rouane (Lib Dem) 152 (42.1%)
Labour 124 (34.3%)
Conservative 85 (23.5%)
Lib Dem majority 28
Turnout 12%

Lib Dem gain from Labour (Labour councillor resigned)

And another Lib Dem for Little Gaddesden Parish Council. Also from ALDC:

Little Gaddesden PC

LD Rob Irving 102
Philip Melville 97

Turnout 23%
(postal votes turnout was in the 40%s)

Congratulations to the new councillors and to everyone who helped with their campaigns.

Posted in Council by-elections | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2009

By Helen Duffett | Thu 6th August 2009 - 5:06 pm

The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run in conjunction with Lib Dem Voice, are back for their fourth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a budget lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Bournemouth. (There’s further information on the event over at the Lib Dems’ Flock Together site). Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.

This year’s awards are as follows:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs, Conference and Online politics | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Helen Duffett

Thousands of botched operations in Scottish hospitals

By Helen Duffett | Thu 6th August 2009 - 10:54 am

A parliamentary question by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that more than 3,000 patients’ organs were accidentally cut or punctured during surgery over the past five years.

From the Scotsman:

The figures, obtained by Ross Finnie, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, reveal a series of mistakes, including unintentional cuts during operations, and failure of sterile precautions during surgery.

The errors also include instances where “foreign bodies” were accidentally left in a patient’s body during surgery, and an “inappropriate” operation being carried out.

Mr Finnie, who obtained the statistics through parliamentary answers, said: “Most patients will accept that undergoing operations is not without a

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Scotland | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

South West under siege from Tory “lovebombing”?

By Helen Duffett | Wed 5th August 2009 - 5:36 pm

Lib Dem constituencies in the South West (map from the Independent)

The Independent has a piece today on the Lib Dems’ General Election prospects in the South West:

On the Cornish doorsteps, the Conservatives’ man for the Camborne and Redruth seat at the next election is detecting signs that his party is on the verge of a major breakthrough. “There is a feeling here that the Liberal Democrats have not delivered locally,” he says. “There’s everything to play for.”

His quiet confidence in defeating Julia Goldsworthy, the high-profile

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 22 Comments
Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrat General Election Team announced

By Helen Duffett | Wed 5th August 2009 - 3:27 pm

Nick Clegg has announced today the team that will advise him on strategy, resources and communications, as well as the planning and delivery of the Lib Dems’ General Election strategy.

From the Liberal Democrats’ website:

Nick Clegg said:

“I am delighted to announce the team that will lead the planning and delivery of our General Election campaign.

“I have asked John Sharkey, my adviser on Strategic Communications and the former MD of Saatchi’s, to Chair the Campaign, supported by Andrew Stunell MP as Vice Chair.

“John’s extensive experience managing major communications businesses combined with Andrew’s campaigning expertise will be a formidable combination steering the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in General Election and News | Tagged , , , , , and | 31 Comments
Helen Duffett

Anne Main sparks row among St Albans Conservatives

By Helen Duffett | Wed 5th August 2009 - 2:39 pm

From the St Albans and Harpenden Review: (Hat tip: Jonathan Calder)

The future of MP Anne Main has sparked a civil war among St Albans Conservatives.

Chairman Seema Kennedy and her two deputies, Matt Peck and Mary Zambra, asked Mrs Main to step down, and have now called a meeting of the local party’s 300 members on August 13, to vote on her de-selection.

But an opposing faction is backing the MP and trying to remove Mrs Kennedy and Mr Peck from their posts ahead of the crucial vote.

Defying clear advice from the party’s regional campaign director that

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Sats results: Record fall in English results

By Helen Duffett | Tue 4th August 2009 - 3:45 pm

Figures published today show that fewer 11 year olds have reached Level 4 in English, the standard expected for their age group. A fifth of 11 year olds did not achieve this level, in the tests taken in May.

The drop in results is the first since Sats tests were introduced in 1995.

From the Daily Mail:

“The depressing figures come despite Labour investing billions over the past decade in literacy and numeracy drives.
This September alone, around four in ten children – almost 220,000 – are expected to move up to secondary school without sufficient mastery of the three Rs.
They

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Oakeshott to challenge Tory peer’s home expense claims

By Helen Duffett | Tue 4th August 2009 - 12:49 pm

From the BBC:

The Lib Dems’ Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said he would be asking Lords authorities what address Lord Taylor claimed for between 2001 and 2007.

Lord Taylor told the newspaper he regarded the property in the West Midlands as his main home.

The Sunday Times alleged Lord Taylor claimed more than £70,000 in overnight allowances between 2001 and 2007 on the basis that his mother’s home in the West Midlands was his main home.

The paper claimed the house was in fact sold in 2001 after his mother’s death – but Lord Taylor said he regarded it as

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
Helen Duffett

Congratulations to Tavish and Kirsten

By Helen Duffett | Mon 3rd August 2009 - 7:10 pm

Congratulations and warmest wishes to Tavish and Kirsten Scott on the birth of their son, Archie.

From the Press Association:

“The wife of Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott has given birth to a baby boy, a party spokeswoman confirmed.

Mr Scott and wife Kirsten, a BBC journalist, have named the youngster Archie.

The couple married a year ago and announced the pregnancy in March.”

Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Banking bonuses to boom again?

By Helen Duffett | Mon 3rd August 2009 - 6:10 pm

Share prices surged today as Barclays and HSBC posted combined profits of £6bn.

The banks’ investment banking arms largely accounted for the growth, which comes less than a year after the banking system was rescued with taxpayers’ money.

From the Guardian:

“Barclays’ chief executive, John Varley, who described the tumultuous events of the last two years as “humbling”, stressed that bonuses would not be paid until the financial year ended and would be subject to tougher new rules. These are being devised by the bank’s senior independent director, Sir Richard Broadbent, who will brief major shareholders later this year.

“Varley said: “We don’t

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Helen Duffett

Should the Lib Dems have a male and female leadership team?

By Helen Duffett | Mon 3rd August 2009 - 1:27 pm

Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman is standing in for Gordon Brown over the summer and has chosen this time to air her views on women and political leadership. Yesterday she told the Sunday Times:

“Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it’s a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership. In a country where women regard themselves as equal, they are not prepared to see men just running the show themselves. I think a balanced team of men and women makes better decisions.”

Jo Swinson MP, the Liberal Democrat women’s spokesperson (and former Chair …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 26 Comments
Helen Duffett

Jo Swinson: “Ban airbrushing in children’s adverts”

By Helen Duffett | Mon 3rd August 2009 - 12:30 pm

“Real Women,” a new policy paper from the Liberal Democrats’ women’s policy group, has proposed a set of measures to protect women and girls from body image pressure and to encourage healthier lifestyles.

These include:

· Children to be protected from body image pressure by banning airbrushing in advertising aimed at under 16s
· Adverts aimed at adults to indicate clearly the extent to which they have been airbrushed or digitally enhanced
· Cosmetic surgery advertisements to give surgery success rates
· Modules on body image, health and well-being, and media literacy to be taught in schools
· Schools to include greater …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 51 Comments
Helen Duffett

Passengers demand return of bendy buses – after a week

By Helen Duffett | Sat 1st August 2009 - 3:45 pm

From the London Paper:

Commuters on the first route to get rid of the controversial bendy buses today declared: “Bring them back.”

Passengers on the 507 complained that the single-decker replacements were overcrowded and failed to provide enough seating.

One told of chaotic scenes when around 100 people crammed on to a Waterloo to Victoria bus during rush-hour.

Another, Andrew Cooper, 39, of Westminster, said: “There are hardly any seats. I’m not sure why they got rid of the bendy.”

Maureen Pullen, 48, of Winchester, said: “The bendy buses’ three doors allowed people to board much faster and brought down journey times.” Sine Msomi,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in London and News | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Helen Duffett

Road safety advice for Londoners: avoid Boris’s bike

By Helen Duffett | Fri 31st July 2009 - 1:37 pm

You might expect the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Chair of Transport for London to be a law-abiding, safety-conscious example to the rest of us.

Not when it’s London Mayor, Boris Johnson. At the recent “People’s Question Time” in Croydon, this was his answer to the decline of the traditional English pub:

“I have just one idea, if more people rode bicycles and fewer people drove cars you would not have to worry about the drink driving laws and I sincerely believe that. I have absolutely no prohibition about drinking a pint of two of beer

…

Continue reading »
Posted in London and News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 27 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 27th July 2009 - 11:35 am

2 Big Stories

MPs urge rail franchise reforms
A report by MPs has pronounced the rail franchise system a “muddle” and has called for its reform, including the nationalisation of East Coast trains.
From the BBC:

The Commons transport committee said operators were making profits in good times but forcing the government to step in when revenues fall.

And they charged “unacceptable” fare rises of up to 11% above inflation.

The Association of Train Operating Companies said four-fifths of passengers bought discounted tickets.

The MPs urged the government to run East Coast trains itself.

They said nationalisation could be a way of comparing

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

First Lib Dem win in Kensington & Chelsea – congratulations Councillor Caruana!

By Helen Duffett | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 12:00 pm

Carol Caruana signs in as councillorFantastic news from yesterday’s Colville by-election in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (unusually held on a Wednesday):

Carol Caruana is the first elected Liberal Democrat in the borough – with more votes than the Tories and Labour combined.

The results from ALDC are as follows:

Carol Caruana LD 634 (46.9; +16.8)
Con 330 (24.4; +3.2)
Lab 300 (22.2; -19.2)
Green 77 (5.7; -1.5)
Ind 10 (0.7; +0.7)
Majority 304
Turnout 24.0%
Lib Dem gain from Lab
Percentage change is from 2006

Congratulations to agent Robin Meltzer, who ran a cracking …

Continue reading »
Posted in Council by-elections and News | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Helen Duffett

Tall photographer stopped again by police

By Helen Duffett | Wed 22nd July 2009 - 7:34 pm

Last week I linked to the story of “too-tall” photographer Alex Turner, who was arrested by Kent Police after taking some photos in Chatham High Street.

Turner was stopped by police again on Sunday, and asked to show his ID.

The Register reports:

Turner, perhaps foolishly, returned to the scene of his earlier crime (Chatham High St) late on Sunday to see whether the local community “would be… equally protected from suspected terrorism by night as it would be by day”. The answer is yes. CCTV operators spotted him taking photos. A police car arrived and officers asked him to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 7 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 20 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 20th July 2009 - 11:44 am

2 Big Stories

Andy Burnham on “conflicting advice” about swine flu
There’s even conflicting advice on whether “conflicting advice” is actually conflicting…
From the Guardian:

“There isn’t conflicting advice. The advice has been clear all along that women who are pregnant should take extra precautions as they would anyway – they should really follow the advice about hand hygiene, they should consider avoiding crowded places. This is the advice we have given out all the way.”

David Cameron’s ‘new look’ Tory MPs are the most extreme for a generation
From the Mirror:

David Cameron’s claim to have modernised his party is today exposed as a

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Arrested for being tall?

By Helen Duffett | Thu 16th July 2009 - 1:31 pm

Dismayed, but not surprised, that police are still arresting photographers for taking photos in public places – without reasonable suspicion that these are connected with terrorism or other illegal acts.

Last week Kent police arrested 5′ 11″ Alex Turner who had refused to show his ID after being challenged in Chatham High Street.

From The Register:

According to his blog, our over-tall photographer Alex Turner was taking snaps in Chatham High St last Thursday, when he was approached by two unidentified men. They did not identify themselves, but demanded that he show them some ID and warned that if he failed

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 19 Comments
Helen Duffett

Chamali and Chandila Fernando join the Conservatives

By Helen Duffett | Thu 16th July 2009 - 11:16 am

The London Evening Standard has the story:

David Cameron today hailed the defection of a Liberal Democrat London mayoral hopeful to the Tories.

Barrister Chamali Fernando, 30, from Finchley, ran to be the Lib-Dem candidate for Mayor of London but was defeated by Brian Paddick in 2007.

Ms Fernando’s brother Chandila is also leaving the Lib-Dems to join the Conservatives. The 32-year-old business developer failed in his bid last year to become president of the Lib-Dems.

Mr Cameron said: “I am delighted to welcome Chamali and Chandila to the Conservative party.

“It is very pleasing that two people who have played such an

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 52 Comments
Helen Duffett

Cllr Milton Martin defects to Waltham Forest Lib Dems

By Helen Duffett | Thu 16th July 2009 - 10:43 am

A Labour councillor in Waltham Forest, north-east London, has defected to the Liberal Democrats after he and five colleagues were deselected by their own party last month.

From the Waltham Forest Guardian:

Cathall member Cllr Milton Martin made the switch after he was spurned by the party in a major cull, it has been confirmed.

He said: “It’s true that I’ve crossed the floor and I’m no longer part of the Labour group.

“It’s to do with the deselection but it’s a long story and it’s also to do with a catalogue of things that have taken place over the last

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg in Twitter-only interview: 4pm today

By Helen Duffett | Wed 15th July 2009 - 12:12 pm

From the Independent:

Twitterers and readers of the Independent are to interview Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg on Wednesday, in a question and answer session delivered purely through Twitter. It will take place live on Wednesday July 15th at 4pm (BST).

So we’re looking for Twitterers around the world to join with us to help put questions to Mr Clegg – we are working with Tweetminster, the estimable company that focuses on UK politics and brings news and commentary together with its Twitter service (of which, more soon), and we will launch the first ever (well, so far as

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 15 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Wed 15th July 2009 - 11:25 am

2 Big Stories

BNP shunned at European Parliament opening
The Times reports on the British National Party MEPs taking their seats yesterday at the opening of the European Parliament:

The new members, Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, avoided the European anthem and were allocated places 780 and 781, towards the back of the Strasbourg chamber with kindred MEPs from the neo-fascist parties of Belgium, Bulgaria, France and Hungary.

They were immediately shunned by their fellow non-aligned MEP, Diane Dodds, the Democratic Unionist, who refused to take up seat 782 next to Mr Brons. It remained empty throughout the opening session of the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg at Reuters: the highlights #askclegg

By Helen Duffett | Tue 14th July 2009 - 11:51 pm

Nick Clegg received hundreds of questions yesterday during his “Ask Clegg” event with Reuters. It was an online version of the Lib Dem leader’s Town Hall meetings, where members of the public were invited to ask Nick any question they liked.

These were received in a variety of ways, including via the Reuters website, on Twitter and even from Christian Payne (aka @Documentally) in the back of a London cab:

Continue reading »
Posted in Events and Online politics | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Helen Duffett

Brian Coleman was wined and dined before awarding contract

By Helen Duffett | Tue 14th July 2009 - 1:19 pm

Such hospitality – it’s astounding!

Not only did Asset Co treat Brian Coleman (London Assembly Member and Chair of the London Fire Authority) to three dinners and a Harvey Nicks hamper before the LFA awarded it a £12 million contract – but also Mayor Boris Johnson continues to give him house room at City Hall.

After his huge taxi bills and refusal to publish his expenses at the same time as the other Assembly Members, Coleman has outstayed London’s welcome – but when will Boris do something about it?

Adam Bienkov at Tory Troll has the story:

The London Fire Authority have awarded

…

Continue reading »
Posted in London and News | Tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Nick live online now in virtual Town Hall Meeting #askclegg

By Helen Duffett | Mon 13th July 2009 - 1:18 pm

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg is taking questions live now at an online social media event at Reuters.

Watch here, but most importantly, put your questions to him!

You can do this at the Reuters website, or via Twitter – remember to include the hashtag #askclegg in your tweets so that they will be picked up and passed on.

I’m at Lib Dem HQ with Lynne Featherstone MP, chair of the Liberal Democrat Technology Board, and we’ll be passing on questions from grassroots activists gathered here.

You can also ask questions in the comments thread below – until 2pm today.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

UPDATED: Facebook disables Tom Brake’s account

By Helen Duffett | Fri 10th July 2009 - 11:17 am

Tom Brake has now managed to get in contact with Facebook who have advised him that his account was automatically suspended when their system detected an unusually large amount of traffic to and from his account.

Clearly, a social network originally set up for networking amongst university peers needs to evolve to cope with new types of users and their networks, balancing communications amongst large groups with safeguards against spam.

Facebook say they are working hard to get Tom’s account back up.

Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, has had his Facebook account disabled just hours after he used …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Peter Martin
    @ Kira, The words you quoted were from Peter Davies'. Not me. I wouldn't agree with raising VAT on energy to 15% right now. I'd leave it as is. The point ...
  • Peter Martin
    “‘why can’t social care and NHS spending be treated as ‘investment’’. Of course, that wont wash”. I'd agree if were talking about re...
  • Peter Martin
    There's really only two fiscal rules that make any sense: 1) If inflation caused by an overheating economy is the main issue, then governments should tax mor...
  • Peter Davies
    @Kira Collins You seem to have missed the bit about raising tax allowances. That primarily helps those on low wages....
  • David Wright
    According to this well-argued article (by Lib Dem councillor Mark Ellis), a simple wealth tax wouldn't work, but tax on TRANSFER of wealth could, if current tax...