Author Archives: Stephen Tall

Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall. He writes a fortnightly column for ConservativeHome and 'The Underdog' column for Total Politics magazine. He edited the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead, and is a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum. He was awarded the inaugural Lib Dem ‘Blogger of the Year’ prize in 2006, was a councillor for eight years in Oxford, including a year as Deputy Lord Mayor, and appears frequently in the media in person, in print and online. Stephen combines his political interests with his professional life as Development Director for the Education Endowment Foundation, though writes here in a personal capacity.
Stephen Tall

Local elections ’09: the LDV verdict

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th June 2009 - 9:00 am

What to make of 4th June’s local elections in England, how to sum it up? The clichés are easy: a mixed bag, a curate’s egg, et bloody cetera. The reality is simpler, in my view: Thursday’s local elections were, generally, pretty damn good for the Lib Dems. That’s not to gloss over the disappointments – and, yes, there most definitely were some (of which more, later) – but nor should those setbacks allow us to discount the very clear successes which were achieved either.

Let’s start with the good:

  • 1. The Liberal Democrats came second, with a nationally projected vote according to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Tagged | 37 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Saturday Open Thread (6 Jun ’09): what’s on your mind?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th June 2009 - 7:30 am

We don’t do an LDV Daily View 2 x 2 round-up on Saturdays, so instead here’s an open thread. What stories have caught your eye? What issues are on your mind? What did you think of the Lib Dems’ local elections performance? How do you think we’ll do in tomorrow’s Euro elections? What suggestions do you have for the new Lib Dem Voice poll? Discuss away in the comments below…

Coming later today: the LDV verdict on the 4th June local election results; plus this week’s Golden Dozen.

Posted in Daily View | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Just when you thought the last 24 hours’ news couldn’t get more bizarre…

By Stephen Tall | Fri 5th June 2009 - 4:23 pm

Labour’s MP for Norwich North Ian Gibson has quit the House of Commons with immediate effect, triggering a by-election. The Norwich Evening News has his full statement, in which he makes clear his anger at Labour’s handling of disciplinary action following the Daily Telegraph’s allegations over his expenses claims:

It has been my great honour to have served the people of Norwich North as their MP since 1997. … I wish to publicly thank the hundreds of people who sent me messages of support. The decision of the NEC leaves me today bowed but not broken. However, I believe that

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged and | 39 Comments
Stephen Tall

Local elections – Friday open thread

By Stephen Tall | Fri 5th June 2009 - 9:47 am

English local election results will be pouring in throughout the day. Lib Dem Voice will try and keep you abreast of what’s happening across the country, as we did throughout Thursday night with our open thread – many thanks in particular to those commenting who were able to break the good news that the Lib Dems had taken majority control of Bristol City Council amid disastrous results for Labour. Please do keep the news coming in from wherever you live.

As at 9.50 am, the BBC results scoreboard is telling me that the Lib Dems are the only party showing …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference, Europe / International, LDV Awards, News, Parliament and Party Presidency | Tagged | 130 Comments
Stephen Tall

Cabinet reshuffle – open thread

By Stephen Tall | Fri 5th June 2009 - 9:35 am

It’s going to be a fast-paced day today, with English local election results due to be announced throughout the day, and a simultaneous cabinet reshuffle. On this open thread we’ll update you on the shape of the new cabinet, sans Purnell. What do you think of the new appointments? Is it enought to save Gordon Brown from the chop? Over to you…

Confirmed so far:

Chancellor: Alistair Darling stays
Foreign Secretary: David Miliband stays
Home Secretary: Alan Johnson handed the posioned chalice, takes over from Jacqui Smith
Justice Secretary: Jack Straw stays
Leader of the House of Commons: Harriet Harman stays
Health Secretary: Andy Burnham …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 5 June 2009

By Stephen Tall | Fri 5th June 2009 - 7:00 am

Let me let you into the hidden secret of the LDV Daily View – it’s usually written very late the night before, ready to go live at the crack of dawn for your breakfast pleasure. This poses a problem when, as I am now, you’re writing at gone midnight not knowing whether Gordon Brown will have anyone left in his cabinet by the time you, dear gentle reader, are pouring milk over your cereal. But here goes…

2 Big Stories

James Purnell quits cabinet: is this the end of Gordon Brown’s premiership?
The resignation of the work and pensions secretary was a …

Continue reading »
Posted in Daily View | Tagged | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

BBC Question Time – LDV open thread, 4 June ’09 #bbcqt

By Stephen Tall | Thu 4th June 2009 - 10:20 pm

Ex-Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown is on duty for tonight’s BBC Question Time (10.35 pm, BBC1 and online), so we’re in safe – if lethal – hands.

Paddy will be joined by Labour leader of the House of Lords Baroness Royall (had you heard of her?), Tory shadow secretary of state for defence Liam Fox (y’know the one who tells those tasteful jokes about the Spce Girls), journalist and historian Sir Max ‘fusty-but-rather-wonderful’ Hastings, and ex-GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips.

If you’re tuning in, you can join the simultanous online Twitter debate here at #bbcqt, or the LDV debate …

Continue reading »
Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV election prediction competition: what you’ve said so far

By Stephen Tall | Thu 4th June 2009 - 4:37 pm

On Tuesday we published our Lib Dem Voice competition to predict the results of the local and European elections taking place today, 4th June, and win a copy of LDV’s own annual, The Tangerine Book, and a limited edition LDV mug. The thread is here, and, to date, we’ve received 14 entries from LDV readers (who may or may not be Lib Dem members).

Here’s the average of what you’ve so far predicted:

1. Predict the Liberal Democrat share of the vote in the European elections. YOU SAID: 16.5%
2. Predict the turnout in the European elections. YOU SAID:

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

A final look back at the Euro polls

By Stephen Tall | Thu 4th June 2009 - 12:40 pm

Today is (in case you hadn’t realised) polling day – for much of England that means local elections, for everyone it means European elections – which means it’s our last chance to look at the polls for the Euros, and try and make some sense of them. There have been 11 polls in the last month asking voters to say which party they’ll choose on 4th June:

Here they are in chronological order:

>> Con 37%, Lab 22%, Lib Dem 19%, Ukip 7%, Green 4%, BNP 4%, Nats 5% (YouGov certain to vote, 10th May)
>> Con 34%, Lab 25%, Lib Dem 20%,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Polls | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Who’s winning the expectations battle?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 3rd June 2009 - 9:37 am

If there’s one thing which worries most party bosses before an election, it is how they manage media expectations of the results. For it is how the media reports this Thursday’s election results which will by and large determine whether the voting public believes the parties have achieved or failed.

Yesterday, PoliticsHome published its Phi100 Panel results of what a select group of politicians, journalists, think-tanks and bloggers think will happen on 4th June. You can see their findings here. I highlight it because it set some alarm bells ringing in my mind that the Lib Dems are being …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV election prediction competition: what will happen on 4th June?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd June 2009 - 1:45 pm

Just two days left ‘til polling day in what for many will be a double-election, with local elections taking place in much of England, and European elections being held across the UK. So what better time than now to launch our election prediction competition?

First let’s remind ourselves of the current state of play.

Local elections: Anders Hanson here on LDV has given a very useful synopsis of what to look out for, and which councils/mayors are up for re-election this Thursday. The last time local elections were held in most of these areas was on the same days the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 23 Comments
Stephen Tall

Guardian endorses Lib Dems in Euro elections (more or less)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd June 2009 - 9:54 am

Following the endorsement of its sister paper the Observer and its leading columnist Polly Toynbee, the Guardian editorial today all-but formally recommends its readers vote for the Lib Dems in this Thursday’s Euro polls:

The case for supporting the Liberal Democrats is now very strong. Anyone who believes Britain should be an engaged member of the European Union – who does not believe scare stories about the Lisbon treaty and who wants to back a party that campaigns on this – should vote Lib Dem. So should anyone who cares about constitutional renewal. Nick Clegg’s party has ancestral

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Swear-word cock-up in Cornwall

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd June 2009 - 9:21 am

Oh dear:

Liberal Democrats have apologised after a campaign leaflet was sent out which uses a swear word to describe a Cornish nationalist candidate. The paperwork was distributed on behalf of Anna Pascoe, Lib Dem candidate for Cornwall Council elections on 4 June.

It calls Mebyon Kernow candidate Stuart Cullimore a “greasy-haired twat”. He is considering what action to take.

The Lib Dems are investigating how about 40 of the leaflets were printed and distributed around Camborne. … Ms Pascoe’s agent, Joe Taylor, said it was not an authorised leaflet, but “some kind of prank that’s back-fired”.

He said: “I

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (May ’09)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 1st June 2009 - 6:52 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 41,636 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in May, our second highest total ever. That’s up by almost 35% on last month’s figure, and is an 80% increase on a year ago.

This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 June 2008 – 31 May 2009) to 267,369, an increase of 108% on the equivalent figure for 2007-08 of 128,191.

The 5 top-read stories during the month were:

1. By-election results: Tories fail against Lib Dems (17th November 2006)
2. Gurkhas win court case …

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

A look back at the polls: May ’09

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st May 2009 - 12:47 pm

We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV – of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. (And how true does that sentence read after the contrasting results in successive days from Populus and ICM, the former showing the Lib Dems as laggards, the latter as the real opposition.) Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends.

Here, in chronological order, are the results of the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Tagged , and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

That Staggers / Clegg interview in full

By Stephen Tall | Sat 30th May 2009 - 3:30 pm

This week’s New Statesman has an in-depth interview with Nick Clegg by James Macintyre – courtesy the Staggers, there’s a full transcript below, in which the Lib Dem leader confesses/proclaims he’d like to be Prime Minister, relates how Michael Howard and the Tories “kicked in the face”, and admits that his GQ interview with Piers Morgan was perhaps the lowest point of his “bumpy first year”.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

YouTube ‘cos we want to: McKay, Vince and Nads

By Stephen Tall | Sat 30th May 2009 - 1:50 pm

It’s the weekend, so why not sit back in your sofa/deckchair and enjoy the following three poltical videos from the past week…

First up, is Andreew Mackay the soon-to-be-former Tory MP for Bracknell and close aide of David Cameron, who was this week forced to quit after the extent of the anger of his constituents became clear. Initially Mr Mackay attempted to claim the mood of the meeting was very much in his favour – unfortunately for him, the video evidence suggested otherwise:

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

The LDV weekend meme: worst canvassing experiences

By Stephen Tall | Sat 30th May 2009 - 11:45 am

Twas the week before polling day, when all through the land
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

Well, we can scarcely complain that this election campaign has been dull. Far from. Trouble is, the single issue which has dominated the campaign for the forthcoming local and European elections has very little to do with either. There’s no doubting that the row over MPs’ expenses is a live issue on the doorstep.

On the basis of my doorstep canvassing experiences this year (more limited than in previous years), I’ve found it hard to discern how far it’s made a …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV meme | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

How well is Cameron dealing with MPs’ expenses?

By Stephen Tall | Fri 29th May 2009 - 7:20 pm

Until the last couple of days, received wisdom – both among the mainstream media and the blogosphere – is that David Cameron has had a ‘good crisis’, dealing firmly with those Tory MPs who’ve committed egregious expenses abuses (from moats to trees to duck islands) and being ahead of the curve on democratic reforms.

So I was intrigued to read this analysis by the London Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh today, which notes how this received wisdom is now beginning to be questioned, not least by Tory MPs themselves:

… as the days have gone on, it seems that Cameron has also

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #118

By Stephen Tall | Fri 29th May 2009 - 6:00 pm

Welcome to the 118th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (17th-23rd May 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down.

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 29 May 2009

By Stephen Tall | Fri 29th May 2009 - 9:20 am

2 Big Stories

Moves towards voting reform gain momentum

As the MPs’ expenses row rumbles on – today’s Telegraph villain is that arch-Eurosceptic Bill Cash – the recognition of the need for electoral reform is gathering pace. After yesterday’s clarion call by Nick Clegg for MPs to embark on a 100-day programme to rescue British democracy, today Labour stalwarts David Blunkett and Peter Hain have added their voices to those clamouring to ditch the archaic first-past-the-post voting system. Neither though subscribe to the Lib Dems’ stated single transferable vote preference, nor even for the Jenkins Commission’s AV+ …

Continue reading »
Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg’s 100 Day Action Plan to save Britain’s Democracy IN FULL

By Stephen Tall | Thu 28th May 2009 - 9:20 am

No, you weren’t dreaming – you really did wake up to news headlines dominated by the leader of the Lib Dems promenading the party’s proposals to reform the UK’s democratic processes. Full marks to the party’s media operation today – it’s a long time since an article by a Lib Dem has made such a splash.

There will be some – I see them already appearing in the LDV comments threads – who argue that what Nick Clegg is calling for is hopelessly Utopian. I disagree. What Nick is doing (successfully, in my view) is:

(1) setting the bar high for what is needed for genuine reform to improve democracy in the UK – unlike David Cameron he isn’t merely “seriously considering” fixed-term Parliaments, Nick is putting forward a legislative programme which will achieve them;
(2) putting clear gold water between the Lib Dems and the Tories – there is little wrong with what David Cameron has proposed (bar his knee-jerk opposition to electoral reform and an elected house of lords), it’s just that it’s wholly inadequate;
(3) demonstrating that if the political will is there, change can be achieved – if politicians are serious and united about the need for real reform, there is no reason why legislation cannot be expedited swiftly. As Anthony Barnett noted on open Democracy yesterday, “You could not have found an expert in the land who would have said that Labour could have passed the amount of very far-reaching constitutional reforms it pushed through in its first term. What matters is the will to change. That’s why Cameron’s careful let-out clauses speak louder to me than the fine words.”

For those who wish to devour the Lib Dems’ constitutional reforms in full, glorious, technicolor detail, they’re re-printed IN FULL below:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 25 Comments
Stephen Tall

Those Lib Dem donation figures in full (Q1, 2009)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 6:45 pm

The Electoral Commission has published the latest donation and borrowing figures for the political parties this week, and LDV’s own Mark Pack has already blogged his success in getting the Commission to report the figures accurately.

The Commission’s website does allow us, though, to gain a picture of the Lib Dems’ fundraising efforts over the years. Below is the full breakdown of cash and non-cash donations received by quarter since 2005, and annually between 2001 and 2004.

Overall, the figures show that the party’s efforts have stepped up a level during this time. Since 2004 – and most notably in 2005, with that Michael Brown donation – the party’s annual donations have never dipped below £2m. The first quarter’s figures for 2009 suggest this trend will continue, with some £823,751 received, almost double the equivalent figure for 2008.

Many of you may have seen advertised recently the position of Major Gift Fundraiser for General Election for the party on a one-year £40,000 contract, suggesting again that the party is starting to take its fundraising seriously, and not simply relying on membership mail-shots.

Lots of familar names on the 2009 Q1 list, with five/six-figure gifts coming from: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (£205,000), Paul Strasburger (£100,000), Lord Alliance (£50,000), Bryan Roper (£50,000), Margaret Roper (£50,000), Peter Bennett-Jones (£25,000), Charles Brand (£20,000), Kenneth J Douglas (£12,500), Ministry of Sound Ltd (£10,000) and David Evans (£10,000).

The most generous Parliamentarians I spot-checked were: Vince Cable (£11,700), and Chris Davies (two gifts of £5,000), with Susan Kramer and Andrew Duff also contributing £5,000 each.

Here are the full figures:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MEPs’ ‘reform and transparency’ rankings

By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 6:15 pm

Ahh, the European elections – those of you who’ve been paying especially close attention to the news in recent weeks may have caught a nano-second of coverage of the issues which will be decided by voters across the EU next week.

If so, you might have come across an analysis by the Open Europe think-tank – more about whom here – who this week published a ranking of all 785 Members of the European Parliament, scoring their record on promoting transparency and reform in the EU over the last five-year term.

The criteria Open Europe used for their scoring system are published here, and you can view the full Excel spreadsheet of all MEPs by clicking here. We’ve extracted the information relating to the UK’s 11 Lib Dem MEPs (out of 78), as below:

  • (4th out of 78) Ms Diana Wallis MEP UK Liberal Democrats, score = 42 (out of a maximum 60)
  • (6th) Ms Fiona Hall MEP UK Liberal Democrat = 40
  • (9th) Ms Liz Lynne MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 39
  • (12th) Mr Andrew Duff MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 38
  • (12th) Mr Bill Newton-Dunn MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 38
  • (18th) Ms Elspeth Attwooll MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 37
  • (23rd) Mr Graham Watson MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 36
  • (28th) Mr Chris Davies MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 35
  • (48th) The Baroness Ludford MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 29
  • (53rd) Ms Sharon Bowles MEP* UK Liberal Democrat = 28
  • (66th out of 78) The Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne MEP UK Liberal Democrats = 23

    • * Sharon replaced Chris Huhne on his election to the House of Commons in May 2005.

    It is, I guess, to our group’s credit that more than half their number appear in the top 20. It’s certainly a relief to know that no Lib Dem MEP appears in Open Europe’s list of “MEPs arguably ‘Unfit for public office’”. However, two Tories and two Ukippers do make the EU-wide list of eight named and shamed:

    Mr Ashley Mote MEP – United Kingdom – Independent, elected as Ukip
    In 2007 Mote was convicted of 21 charges of benefit fraud84 for falsely claiming for than £65,000 in benefits. He was given a 9 month prison sentence, which he served, but because it was less than 12 months he was allowed to return as an MEP.

    Mr Giles Chichester MEP – United Kingdom – Conservative
    Giles Chichester paid more than £400,000 in European Parliament office expenses into a company of which he was a director.

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    Lewes Lib Dem councillor defects to Tories

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 2:20 pm

    Yesterday, my LDV colleague Mark Pack blogged of Labour-to-Lib Dem defector in Merseyside. Alas, this week’s defection news isn’t all cheery for the party:

    A Liberal Democrat councillor defected to the Conservatives saying his dedication to his town was not recognised by his old party. Robbie Robertson, who represents Newhaven Valley on Lewes District Council, announced his decision to cross the floor after his party raised council tax by 16% in Newhaven.

    He said: “I am a dedicated and hard working councillor but sadly in my present position my skills are not utilised.

    “Becoming a councillor was for me

    …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Local government and News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Clegg to clamp down on Lib Dem Lords’ allowances

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 1:50 pm

    Mea culpa, gentle reader, this is definitely not breaking news… After a bank holiday of back-breaking gardening and a Tuesday of work-fuelled meetings (my colleagues can add their own excuses), LDV failed to bring you news of Nick Clegg’s plans to clamp down on allowances claimed by members of the House of Lords – an issue of more-than-passing-interest to Lib Dems following the resignation of party chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard amid allegations that he had profited personally from the scheme by designating his Eastbourne flat (rather than his London house) as his main residence.

    This from Sunday night’s …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 15 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    At least the trains are running on time (Or are they?)

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 1:18 pm

    The news isn’t all doom ‘n’ gloom, y’know – even in the Telegraph:

    Trains are more punctual than ever, Network Rail has claimed, with more than nine out of 10 arriving on time over the past year. The figures are the best since the industry started collating punctuality statistics in 1992. Last month the performance was even better than the yearly average, with 93.5 per cent of services classed as running on time. The industry’s definition of punctuality is based on commuter services operating within five minutes of the timetable and for longer distance trains, 10 minutes.

    However, Lib Dem …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 7 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDV Members’ Survey – MPs’ expenses (6): your views about the Speaker

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 25th May 2009 - 10:20 am

    Almost a week ago, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 240+ of you who completed it; we’ve published the results in full on LDV over the last few days. You can catch up with all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.

    1.

    LDV asked: Now that the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, has resigned a handful of Liberal Democrat MPs have been suggested as the new Speaker. It has …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    LDV Members’ Survey – MPs’ expenses (5): how Nick Clegg’s performed

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th May 2009 - 10:30 am

    On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 240+ of you who have so far completed it; we’ve been publishing the results on LDV over the last few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.

    Today we’re publishing the result that always prompts a bout of nerves in the leader’s office – how LDV’s party member readers view Nick Clegg’s performance. LDV …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | Leave a comment
    Stephen Tall

    Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #117

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 23rd May 2009 - 7:50 pm

    Welcome to the 117th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (10th-16th May 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

    As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down.

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Best of the blogs | Tagged | 1 Comment
    Advert

    Recent Comments

    • Tristan Ward
      Geoffrey is right which is of course the reason at the last general election so many of those who actually did vote labour dis so with so little enthusiasm and ...
    • Nonconformistradical
      "Many people driving around in fifteen year old cars is an economic reality. " What's wrong with a fifteen year old car if it has been maintained properly. I...
    • David Raw
      @ Chloe In privately owned institutions supplying personal care too often the prime driver is profit not people, that's certainly been my experience....
    • Chloe
      Many people driving around in fifteen year old cars is an economic reality. Public transport outside of large cities is almost nonexistent at unsociable hours. ...
    • Chloe
      Of course David that's understandable. Sadly, too many times we've heard the usual PR statements rolled out. Robust measures will be put in place. Lessons mu...