Author Archives: Paul Walter

Paul Walter

Fun holiday snap quiz – can you recognise the location mentioned in a famous Liberal’s autobiography?

By Paul Walter | Fri 10th August 2018 - 10:45 am


I took this photo while on my holiday last week.

Can you guess where it was taken? It is a location mentioned wittily in a distinguished Liberal MP’s auto-biography.

Please use the comments field below to have a stab at the answer.

Comments will be held in our “pending” file until 3pm and then released to reveal the winner.

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Posted in Photo feature | 2 Comments
Paul Walter

Reporting Trump’s first year – fascinating insight into journalists on the ropes

By Paul Walter | Sat 28th July 2018 - 11:22 am

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I have a guilty secret.

Every so often, I retreat to Greggs for a Steak Slice, sausage roll, cup of tea and a read of last Saturday’s New York Times.

I get quite excited by the Anglo-American mixture of it all.

Why last Saturday’s New York Times? – I don’t hear you cry.

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Posted in TV and film | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Paul Walter

Catastrophic supply chain risks of a “no deal” Brexit

By Paul Walter | Wed 25th July 2018 - 12:37 pm

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It’s not fashionable but I’m willing to put in a good word for Theresa May. Albeit unnecessarily and misguidedly, she has worked very patiently to stitch together some sort of tenuous British cabinet negotiating position for Brexit. You have to admire her patience. I was also impressed but some of her words when she announced the Chequers deal to parliament on July 9th:

The friction-free movement of goods is the only way to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and it is the only way to protect the uniquely integrated supply chains and just-in-time processes on which millions of jobs and livelihoods depend. So at the heart of our proposal is a UK-EU free trade area that will avoid the need for customs and regulatory checks at the border and protect those supply chains.

Those words suggested to me that Theresa May and her chief negotiator, Olly Robbins, have “got” just-in-time and how vital it is to our modern economy.

For a long time, whenever I tried to explain my career, I could see people’s eyes glazing over. Trying to explain in the pub that I worked in “logistics” was a concept only people who served in the army understood. I used to say I worked “in computers” instead. It was much easier. So, it is quite nice to finally see my career having some relevance to current affairs.

I spent 35 years working in IT supply chains. This involved relying on daily trucks from the Netherlands. Day after day. The crux of the job was to reduce inventory to a bare minimum, to maintain high service levels for the customer and to minimise cost. I spent those 35 years focussing laser-like on that subject – cost, service, inventory.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 62 Comments
Paul Walter

Good weather to bury bad news?

By Paul Walter | Wed 25th July 2018 - 9:30 am

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Whilst enjoying listening to the county cricket commentaries I watched the news yesterday with half an eye.

Hello – did they really just do that?….

…I thought.

Yes, the government dumped out a plethora of inconvenient announcements just as MPs packed their sandals and beach balls for the summer recess. (What West Wing viewers will know as “Take out the trash day”)

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Paul Walter

“Vote Leave broke electoral law” – EU referendum needs to be annulled and re-run

By Paul Walter | Wed 18th July 2018 - 8:54 am

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I’m sure readers can think of examples where election results have been declared invalid by the courts and had to be re-run.

The classic example was the 1997 Winchester election. At the general election, the returning officer declared Mark Oaten the winner by two votes. The court accepted the former Tory MP’s case that the failure by the returning officer’s staff to stamp 55 ballot papers with an official mark, leading to their rejection, cost him a win – also by two votes.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 42 Comments
Paul Walter

++Lib Dems gain from Tories in Southwold and Reydon

By Paul Walter | Fri 13th July 2018 - 8:17 am

Congratulations to David Beavan and team on a stunning win in Southwold and Reydon.

This was a by-election for Waveney council caused by the sad death of Conservative councillor Sue Allen.

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Paul Walter

A dose of reality in the heart of one of the states that swung it for Trump in 2016

By Paul Walter | Tue 26th June 2018 - 6:06 pm

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Last year I had the privilege of boarding the Amtrak Hiawatha special from Chicago, Illinois to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to enjoy a visit to friends there. “Don’t mention politics” warned my host beforehand “My husband voted for Trump”. A lovely time ensued with only a tangential mention of Bernie Sanders, followed by a hasty subject change onto the safe topic of the excellence of Milwaukee’s many and varied beers.

But, of course, my host’s husband was not alone in Wisconsin. Whereas Obama won the Badger State by a handsome 205,204 votes in 2012, Clinton lost its ten juicy electoral college seats to Trump by 22,748 votes.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 34 Comments
Paul Walter

Theresa May – the Tories’ Harold Wilson?

By Paul Walter | Wed 20th June 2018 - 5:30 pm

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Mark Pack recently tweeted:


It is a very interesting parallel.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
Paul Walter

Wera Hobhouse slams lone Tory MP for pointlessly sabotaging “upskirting” bill

By Paul Walter | Fri 15th June 2018 - 7:10 pm

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse has slammed an ‘out of touch’ Tory for sabotaging her Bill to make upskirting a specific sexual offence today.

Having secured the Government’s support for her Bill to make upskirting a specific offence, it was expected to pass through the House of Commons today. The Bill comes off the back of Gina Martin’s campaign, which she started after falling victim to the crime last summer.

However, in a shocking move Tory MP Christopher Chope, known for objecting to the second reading of the Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill, defied the Government and Number 10 by opposing the Bill, preventing it from proceeding to the next stage.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Paul Walter

Lib Dems wins three seats on Southwark Borough Council in delayed election

By Paul Walter | Fri 15th June 2018 - 5:38 pm


Many congratulations to Humaira Ali, William Houngbo and Damian O’Brien on being elected to Southwark Borough Council in the new London Bridge & West Bermondsey Ward. This election yesterday was delayed from 3rd May following the sad death of Conservative candidate Toby Eckersley. Well done to the local Southwark team on achieving this great result while also helping in our very strong showing in the Lewisham East by-election. This result means that, overall in Southwark, we made a net gain in seats for this year’s elections.

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Paddy rallies the troops at Lewisham

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th June 2018 - 8:11 pm

It was great to spend a day campaigning for Lucy Salek in Lewisham East yesterday. It was my second time helping the campaign, greatly assisted by an off-peak Travelcard, which allowed fulsome use of the train, tube and bus. Tragically, there was a fatal incident on the line yesterday around Hither Green and Lee stations, meaning that I ended up, to my surprise, in New Eltham, at one point.

Anyway, our enormous HQ was brimming with volunteers all day. A hive of industry. There were people there from as far afield as Falmouth. It was particularly good to join in the traditional Blue envelope addressing work!

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Paul Walter

Time to back the Communication Workers Union campaign to outlaw low level letter boxes

By Paul Walter | Thu 7th June 2018 - 11:30 am


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We can afford to laugh about it. You’re delivering 200 Focii, and you come upon a floor level postbox. Oh dear. Do you kneel? Do you stoop down? Stooping down brings the blood to one’s head and risks back pain. I have about 40 floor level letter boxes on one of my delivery rounds. I usually need an extra shredded wheat in the morning before I do that round.

But there is no reason why new houses and flats should be built with low level letter boxes. British Standard BS EN13724 on mailboxes(which reflects the EU standard) says:

The height of the lowest mailbox aperture should be no lower than 700mm from delivery floor level and the height of the highest mailbox aperture be no higher than 1700mm from delivery floor level. Special circumstances allow aperture heights to be between 400mm and 1800mm from delivery floor level.

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Posted in News | 20 Comments
Paul Walter

How the government tried to win hearts and minds during the Northern Ireland troubles

By Paul Walter | Tue 5th June 2018 - 2:16 pm


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Available for the next 17 days on BBC iPlayer, there’s a very interesting documentary produced by BBC Northern Ireland. It chronicles the public service television adverts that were commissioned by the Northern Ireland office between 1988 and 1998.

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Posted in TV and film | Tagged | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

UK participation in Eurovision 2019 in Israel would condone “outrageous human rights violations”

By Paul Walter | Wed 16th May 2018 - 4:21 pm

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I’m just back from Lisbon where I was lucky enough to have a stageside position for the Eurovision Song Contest last Saturday. Apart from a nasty stage invasion during Surie’s performance (with which she dealt brilliantly), the whole thing went without a hitch.

Portugal were Eurovision Song Contest entrants for 53 years before they won it in 2017. As a result, they were desperate to welcome everybody to their country and to put on a fantastic experience. That they did. Apart from anything else, Lisbon must have been the most LGBT+ friendly capital city in the world during the last week or so.

This was a “bucket list” trip for me. A one-off. Any temptation to become an annual Eurovision camp follower was cut short with the prospect of a 2019 contest in Israel.

From a musical point of view, Israel deserved to win last Saturday. The scoring system is, nowadays, fairly balanced between national juries and the vote of viewers throughout the 42 participating countries. So, they won fair and square.

On Sunday I was resolved to resist any 2019 Eurovision trip to Israel. While I might one day tour Palestine, Israel and Jordan as a triplet itinerary, visiting specifically Israel for Eurovision would feel like condoning injustice.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Paul Walter

Dr Michael Thrasher: “The Lib Dems have a strong basis for saying they are back.”

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th May 2018 - 6:44 pm


Dr Michael Thrasher has said on Sky News:

You would have to say the Lib Dems have done well.. The Lib Dems have a strong basis for saying they are back.

Hat-tip: Commenter, Michael1.


Posted in News | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Paul Walter

+++We’re now up 75 seats and four councils!

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th May 2018 - 6:24 pm




From the BBC summary at 18:21 with 149 of 150 councils declared:
Labour 2296 up 55
Tories 1330 down 26
Lib Dems 536 up 75
Greens 39 up 8
UKIP 3 down 123
Others 142 up 11

We have gained control of Richmond, Kingston, Three Rivers and South Cambridgeshire and won the Mayoralty of Watford.

Posted in News | Tagged | 17 Comments
Paul Walter

+++Lib Dems gain control of Kingston!

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th May 2018 - 6:18 pm



As intimated in my earlier post, it has now been confirmed that the Lib Dems have taken control of Kingston from the Tories – we won 39 seats to their 9!


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Posted in News | Tagged | 6 Comments
Paul Walter

+++Lib Dems gain control of Kingston

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th May 2018 - 5:49 pm

As intimated in my earlier post, it has now been confirmed that the Lib Dems have taken control of Kingston from the Tories – we won 39 seats to their 9!

As we reported earlier, we have also taken control of Three Rivers, South Cambridgeshire and Richmond.

Posted in News | 2 Comments
Paul Walter

+++ We’re now 76 seats up

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th May 2018 - 5:16 pm


The BBC now have these results after 146/150 councils declared:

Labour 2239 seats – up 58
Conservative 1319 seats – down 21 (no wonder they got their celebration in early)
Liberal Democrats 516 seats – up 69
Greens 35 seats – up 5
UKIP 3 seats – down 123
Other 142 seats – up 12

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Paul Walter

Last night it looked good, today it’s not looking bad either :-)

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th May 2018 - 4:04 pm


The BBC summarises the local election results so far as follows:

Labour 1837 seats – up 58
Conservative 1230 seats – up 7
Liberal Democrats 444 seats – up 49
Greens 34 seats – up 5
UKIP 3 seats – down 121
Other 142 seats – up 16

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Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
Paul Walter

Christine Jardine MP: Last week’s Commons debate confirms natural majority for the customs union

By Paul Walter | Mon 30th April 2018 - 11:54 am


From the back of an agricultural vehicle used to transport shooters, Christine Jardine MP addresses the gathered throng in a barn in South Fawley, North Berkshire

Well, it was certainly a venue to remember. Yesterday, deep in the North Berkshire countryside, in a barn on a farm in South Fawley, local people gathered to hear Christine Jardine MP, who had driven all the way from Edinburgh for the occasion. In order to project her voice over the seated audience, Christine mounted the back of handy large agricultural vehicle. She said she felt a bit like President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who famously addressed campaign crowds from the back of a train. (And yes, we know – “Jumping on the bandwagon…” – we got there before you).

Judith Bunting hosted the event, which was entitled “The Power of Creativity and Brexit“.

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Posted in Speeches | 4 Comments
Paul Walter

Brexit: No cake, but let’s welcome the prospect of a nice big bit of fudge!

By Paul Walter | Sat 21st April 2018 - 1:45 pm

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Along, I’m sure, with many LDV readers, I’ve read hundreds of articles on the subject of Brexit over the last couple of years.

But one piece of writing has finally encapsulated a precise sensible solution to the whole sordid, messy business.

David Shariatmadari is a writer and editor for the Guardian in London. In a post yesterday entitled “On Brexit, the views of the 48% must be respected too. That’s democracy”, he argued that:

Given that the UK is split, it’s only fair if the government delivers ‘Brexit in name only’, as is looking increasingly likely.

After explaining that the Irish impasse will probably lead to the UK “both in a customs union and closely, if not entirely, aligned with the single market”, he concludes:

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Posted in Op-eds | 50 Comments
Paul Walter

+++Three Lib Dem by-election gains from the Tories tonight

By Paul Walter | Fri 20th April 2018 - 12:16 am


We’ve been live posting some of the results tonight but here are the headlines:

The Liberal Democrats have picked up three seats from the Tories in today’s by-election results:

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Paul Walter

Thatcham West by-election results – Live post to be updated as the results come in

By Paul Walter | Thu 19th April 2018 - 11:46 pm

There were two by-elections in Thatcham West, Berkshire today.One was for West Berkshire Council, caused by the disqualification due to non-attendance of a Conservative councillor. The councillor in question also resigned from Thatcham Town Council causing a second by-election on the same day.

Here’s the turnout numbers from West Berkshire Council:

This post will be updated as the results come in.

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Paul Walter

++Stunning win for Dr Kate O’Kelly in Chichester and two other encouraging first-time performances in yesterday’s by-elections

By Paul Walter | Fri 13th April 2018 - 8:30 am


Many congratulations to Dr Kate O’Kelly and the team for a superb win in the Rogate by-election for Chichester District Council yesterday! This was the first time that the Lib Dems have contested this seat in eleven years, and my goodness what a stunning performance going from zero to 55.8% of the vote!

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 17 Comments
Paul Walter

We’ve given an eye-wateringly broad “Snoopers’ Charter” to big corporations

By Paul Walter | Thu 29th March 2018 - 9:40 am


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As Lib Dems we have campaigned long and hard for curbs on the government’s power to snoop on our internet data.

Yet, most of us (not all) have personally given an eye-wateringly broad “Snoopers’ Charter” to big corporations – namely Facebook and Google.

I know, I have checked on my data held by Facebook and Google. You can do it too. Facebook had all my photos, posts, friends etc etc going back to February 2007. The data was 354 megabytes in size. That’s equivalent to 71 copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 12 Comments
Paul Walter

Vince explains his ‘blue, white and pink’ remark

By Paul Walter | Mon 12th March 2018 - 4:30 pm

Vince Cable was on robust form this morning, being interviewed by John Humphrys on Radio 4’s Today programme. He commented on the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s statement that there is “light at the end of the tunnel” regarding the country’s deficit.

Vince acknowledged that the government is roughly in balance on its day-to-day spending. He said, however, that the government would be very foolish to assume that they have turned the corner and that there’s no need to worry about the country’s finances. He added that the government should take advantage of its low lending rate to invest in the economy.

Vince explained his speech in Southport yesterday. Humprhys focussed on this statement from Vince, referring to Brexit voters:

Too many were driven by nostalgia for a world where passports were blue, faces were white and the map was coloured imperial pink.

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 35 Comments
Paul Walter

The secret world of Whitehall – and other BBC Michael Cockerell gems

By Paul Walter | Thu 8th March 2018 - 12:25 pm


British Houses of Parliament
If you’ve missed them when they were originally broadcast, YouTube has a wealth of BBC political documentaries for you to watch at leisure.

I missed Michael Cockerell’s “The Secret World of Whitehall” when it was originally broadcast. All three programmes from the series are on YouTube in full:

Episode 1 – The Real Sir Humphrey – This looks at the role of the Cabinet Secretary, chronicling the historic evolution of the role through its various job holders.

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Posted in TV and film | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Paul Walter

A longer read for the weekend… Sir John Major’s stunning speech on Brexit in full

By Paul Walter | Sun 4th March 2018 - 12:47 pm

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We don’t often feature speeches from members of other parties. But this speech made on Wednesday by Sir John Major is worth reading through in full. The text was published by the Mirror. At the bottom of the text is a video of the speech from the Guardian channel on YouTube:

I would like to express my thanks to the Creative Industries Federation, Somerset House Trust, and Tech London Advocates for the opportunity to speak here today.

Brexit matters to our creative industries. They express our culture and values – but give so much more.

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Posted in Speeches | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Paul Walter

The 2017 general election – the much overlooked rebalancing of British democracy

By Paul Walter | Sat 3rd March 2018 - 3:03 pm

The British Election Study has been issuing data concerning the 2017 election based on their “face-to-face” process. They maintain, for example, that the much-acclaimed “Youthquake” of 2017 was in fact a myth.

But I was very interested in this graph, tweeted by James Kanagasooriam:

There are a number of conclusions to be drawn from this graph. Much has been made of the fact that the Tories had quite a chunk of Remainers voting for them – particularly in the South of the country.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
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