Pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio and TV this morning and there’s only one story filling up the front pages and the airwaves…

Helen Duffett selected to fight for Romford at the General Election

On re-checking the news feeds surrounding me at the Media Centre at the heart of LDV Towers, I see this critical story has been missed by the mainstream media. We shall not make the same mistake.

Lib Dem Voice’s very own Helen Duffett has indeed achieved what has so far eluded Iain Dale (albeit in a slightly more challenging seat). Helen’s been selected as the Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the key Lib Dem target (ahem) of Romford.

Good luck Helen – give ’em hell. If anyone can do it, you can.

Tory councillor loses appeal against suspension

Brent councillor Bertha Joseph defected from Labour to the Conservatives back in 2007. Tory High Command may today be wishing she hadn’t.

Last October we reported how Cllr Joseph, then mayor, had been suspended for spending charitable donations on clothes for herself.

Joseph appealed against the decision, and news has now come in that her appeal has been rejected.

The decision means she will not be able to perform council duties until the end of the suspension period, including constituency work and any formal business of the council. However, she can still stand as a candidate for election.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• SNP councillor defects to Lib Dems, Caron reports.
  

  …recent threats by the Holyrood Government to take away care of the elderly and schools from Councils prompted [Alex Dingwall] to leave the party he’d been a member of for 31 years.

• Stephen Glenn receives emails from hysterical American right-wingers, so we don’t have to.
  

  “If President Obama, congressional Democrats, and homosexual activists get their wish, your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals who may very well view them with sexual interest.”

  And then the world will end.