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Holes in the Brain?
No comments on Holes in the Brain?Can I recommend that anyone who is interested in drugs policy should have a listen to this Radio 4 documentary: The E Generation at 40. In theory the programme looks at the truth about the predicted health effects of “e” on the population 20 or so years after its explosion on to the rave scene in the late 80’s. But much more fascinating are the insights it offers up into the attitude towards drugs in…
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Review of the Year: The Lib Dems
2006 was an extraordinary political rollercoaster of a year for the Lib Dems. Some ups, some downs, occasional moments of traveling upside down, and some plummeting off scary vertical drops only to find oneself still strangely on the track when you reach the bottom. The average Lib Dem activist can be forgiven for feeling more than a little sick and queasy at the end of it. I am not going to rehearse the events of…
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Who wants to be…
I am tempted to blog an analysis of Charles Kennedy’s performance on the charity “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” programme tonight drawing wider political conclusions, but that would be, well, silly. Suffice to say, if you saw it you’ll know what I mean. 😉 Source: This content was originally posted on my old Process Guy blog.
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We’ve Cancelled Christmas
Yes, I and my fellow Luton Councillors are so concerned that Christmas, with its pagan symbolism and its stated objective of ramming Christian theology down people’s throats, will offend people of other religions or no religion at all have decided to stop the whole thing. So anyone attempting to celebrate Christmas tomorrow be warned, council officers will confiscate your mince pies. …er…except we haven’t and we won’t. Luton has not cancelled Christmas nor have we…
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The Local Government White Paper: A review
One of the things I have managed to do in the last few weeks is to sit down and take a proper look at the recently published Local Government White Paper and come to a considered judgment on it. An awful lot of the proposals in the White Paper are essentially about making local government better able to fufill the Government’s policy objectives. New Labour are struggling with “delivery”. They know that they rely on…
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Good news from Winchester
I read news that Martin Tod has been selected as PPC for Winchester. This is A GOOD THING. Congratulations to Martin who will be excellent as a candidate and when succesful very sound as an MP. Source: This content was originally posted on my old Process Guy blog.
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No posts, business, bears and lemurs
I note that it has been just over three weeks since I lasted posted on this blog. Looking back over that time causes me to reflect on a very busy couple of weeks. So what have I been up to? Well for once quite a lot of productive “real” work getting to grips with various websites and business things. But also a fair amount of proper Lib Dem stuff including two days of excellent “Next…
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Emanuel Wins
Fascinating article from the Chicago Tribune about the intense, forceful, and foul-mouthed Chicago congressman, Rahm Emanuel, who ran the campaign that has just won the Democrats control of congress. “The House that Rahm Built” Anyone who has been involved in the running of an election campaign will find some of the stories told in this article all too familiar. Two things from the article worth highlighting are; The deliberate organised recruiting of tough, credible, and…
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More Junk Mail
Today I got some more junk mail, from the same source as last time. This time thanking me for something I haven’t done. Most odd. Source: This content was originally posted on my old Process Guy blog.
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The speed of environmental politics
On Friday I was at a conference for Lib Dem environment portfolioholders in London. A really good event with lots of interesting speakers, including Chris Huhne MP, our environment spokesperson. I came away with a long list of new ideas. One of the highlights was the leader of Richmond upon Thames, Serge Lourie, who explained the thinking behind their proposals for variable residents parking charges based on the carbon emissions of the cars. He also…
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"Live in Luton"
Last Wednesday, with my councillor hat on, I went to the launch of the “Live in Luton” CD. A diverse collection of music by local people from a Luton based arts project. I’ve listened to it a couple of times since then and have been impressed by the range of musical talent the town has to offer. Tracks range from classical to hard rock. My favourite track is the “contemporary folk” from Nemo. The CD…
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The Norway Debate
Following the debate on Iraq this week I noticed the prominence of a number of historical parallels, including Suez, and in particular the Norway Debate of 1940. This gave me an excuse to distract myself with a little research. The story of this crucial parliamentary debate, which Roy Jenkins (in his biography of Churchill) calls “the most dramatic and the most far-reaching in its consequences of any parliamentary debate of the twentieth century”, has a…
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Nick Clegg in Luton
Last Sunday Luton Lib Dems were lucky enough to have Nick Clegg as our guest of honour at our “End of Eid Rally”. There were some anxious moments as the poor man was stuck on a non-moving train for at least 50 minutes. But we managed to keep the speeches going and our audience was made of stern stuff. So when he finally arrived over a hundred people got hear an excellent speech outlining the…
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NTL Hell
Maintaining this blog is proving difficult enough without the ongoing problems I am having with my NTL broadband connection. Just got off the phone to my third call to their technical support line in about a week. All very apologetic and they’ve booked me an engineer for Saturday. But as the last engineer I had booked didn’t turn up, we shall see if that helps. Source: This content was originally posted on my old Process…
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Tranquillity Sucks
According to the CPRE Luton is the third least tranquil place in the country, just behind Slough and Greater London. Am I bovvered? No, not really. Tranquillity is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Source: This content was originally posted on my old Process Guy blog.
