My blog should be red? Think I will stick to orange thanks

Your Blog Should Be Red

Your blog is full of intensity and passion. You are very opinionated - and people love or hate you for it. You have the potential to be both a famous and infamous blogger.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

My wife wants a bigger one!

Bike that is! What else did you think I meant?

She has done a deal to buy a Harley Davidson Fatboy from a friend of ours. It is currently having a pink and blue paintjob applied to the tank and fenders but the upshot is that her Harley Davidson Sportster needs to go.

It is listed on ebay (see link) and is a beautiful bike. 2004 which means it is rubber mounted unlike older sportsters. Details as follows:

Blue/Black XL883C Sportster, 5,800 miles. Taxed until September. Stage 1, Windshield, Solid Saddle Bags, Custom Grips, Double seat with sissy bar and bag rack. If anyone is interested or knows of anyone who might like such a machine then please click on the link or post a comment to this message (for the right money we are prepared to sell it and remove from ebay)

Liberal Democrat readers please note this machine is NOT stored in a barn in East Lothian!

Tag Harley-Davidson Motorcycles

Sheffield United players banned from pubs

Brilliant Brilliant - long may this continue.

So now we know why Sheffield (Uniteds) season is starting to collapse around their ears. They have been down the pub too often. But don't worry all you Leeds fans although Warnock has banned them from pubs until the end of the season he is quoted as saying

"This is not an alcohol ban however, they can get drunk at home after the game if they want to."

Please feel free to carry on getting drunk!

Tag Football

British political system faces meltdown

Or so says the BBC in this article reporting on the launch of the report from The Power Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy. I have downloaded this and will have a good read over the next few days to see what is in the detail.

I assume that this is linked to Gordon Browns statement about being in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 which I heartily support.

However, most encouraging was the statement that

"The inquiry's Power to the People report calls for a shift in control from
ministers to parliament, and from central to local government. "

Tag Politics

Political parties can prosper even without a leader

At least according to this article in this mornings Guardian

Depending upon the outcome of the ballot this week this might not be a bad idea!

Tag Politics

I so hope that this is bollocks

This article in todays Indepenedent on Sunday left me gasping at the pure arrogance

Hopefully this is just journalistic rubbish - I hope so but I fear not.

To be selecting your office furniture before the result has been declared let alone before the ballot has closed smacks of arrogance. I also did not like the suggestion that all those who were going to get jobs (in the event of a Campbell victory) would come from amongst Mings backers. Lets face it we are still a relatively small parliamentary party and we cannot afford to waste any of the talents we have at our disposal. I would hate to see the likes of Huhne and Hughes cast out into the wilderness should Campbell win. Similarly I would not expect Hughes or Huhne to lose the talents which Campbell has to offer to the party.

Perhaps someone with "Gravitas" from the Ming Campbell campaign would care to comment on this story

Tag Lib Dems

Normal Service is resumed

Norwich crash 4-1 to Crystal Palace. Reading resume their march to the Premiership and the Championship title following their 2-1 defeat of Preston who themselves were unbeaten in 22 games. Meanwhile the race for the second automatic promotion spot is hotting up as Sheffield are starting to falter losing to QPR and leaving them 12 points adrift of Reading with 10 games to go. Both Watford and the mighty Leeds won yesterday. Watford are now only 7 points behind Sheffield and Leeds are 8 points behind with a game in hand. Were they to win this then they would only be 5 points behind. Come on you Whites!!

Tags Football Reading Leeds

Well I guess this is one way of trying to unify the party

It wouldn't be mine by a country mile

In my opinion people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Campbell clearly had dirty hands in Kennedys assassination and refused to answer the question on question time. Huhne had his hands bloodied but at least he had the guts to stick the knife in the front. Campbell seems to spend a lot of time getting others to do his dirty work for him. This (as I understand it ) was not the first time he had tried to bring down Kennedy and on both occasions his preferred solution to the leadership vacancy that would occur was a coronation for himself.

I also hope that this does not indicate that under a Campbell leadership Huhnes talents or those of anyone else will be wasted on the backbenches.

Tag Lib Dems

Leadership candidates use web to snare new support

According to this article in the Times Campbell gets 4/5 Huhne, 3/5 and Hughes 2/5 (although I think they missed the separate bloggers for Hughes site) for their campaign sites. I have to say that I thought the Campbell effort on e-campaigning was good although I agree with the comment on the difficulty to navigate but of the three I think this one was the easiest to sign up to if you just wanted information about the candidate and his policies.

Tag Lib Dems

Is Ming getting rattled?

Judging by this article which went up on the Guardian website this afternoon I would say so.

This weekend is really the last push for people to finally make their minds up and get their ballot papers in the post by Monday at the latest and it is clear that Campbell is worried about Huhne and so he should be.

Having failed to execute a coup d'etat (not for the first time I understand) and having failed to achieve his own coronation he has been forced to fight a leadership campaign.

During that campaign Ming Campbell has not impressed me at all. I finally decided to support Simon Hughes after a lot of agonising but Chris Huhne impressed and Campbell went down in my estimation.

Should Campbell win he is going to have to work very hard to address some of his weaknesses and we are all going to have to work out how to deal with the constant questions about the next leadership election. The parliamentary party will also have to show some restraint and ensure that they do not waste a lot of effort on public jostling for position.

Tag Lib Dems

The honeymoon is over

Good news. Camerons honeymoon is over. At least that is the way it seems if you read the article in todays Guardian. The best quote in the article was as follows:

"Lord Tebbit, former party chairman, compared Mr Cameron's "purge" of Thatcherism to the actions of Pol Pot."

Even more amusingly Robin Harris a speech writer for Thatcher is quoted as saying "There are good reasons why every Tory leader since Margaret Thatcher has started by proclaiming the party's transformation into something kinder, gentler and more leftwing - and then conducted a sharp rightward turn."

Hmmm fascinating. I guess Mr Harris struggles to find the flaw in his argument - namely the thrashing the Tories have received at the last three general elections.

The article then goes on to say that his (Camerons) fate will depend on progress in the polls and performance at the May local elections. I know we are all used to regular changes of Tory leader but I am amazed that the press (albeit The Guardian) are talking about his fate as leader so soon after he was elected. Ho hum. Happy Days

Tag Politics

Dissident? Don't make me laugh

Prince Charles may disagree with many people and many policies but his is hardly the image that springs to mind when one thinks of a dissident. Apparently he regards himself as a "dissident working against the prevailing political consensus".

I find it hard to believe that the british constitution (unwritten though it is) was not a key part of the education of our would be Monarch. If he wants to get involved in politics then fair enough I say but only after he has removed himself from the line of succession.

What will happen when a future King Charles (or is it George?) is faced with a hung parliament and two parties with an equally large number of seats? Which leader will he ask to form a government first? Will it be the one who is most in tune with his policies? and whatever his decision will the british people respect it?

I should imagine that his mother is furious. Better still lets do away with the whole institution.

Tag Politics

Its Official! We are over it

According to the Guardian we are over the "leadership crisis" and are back at 21% in the opinion polls. In my opinion in no small measure due to the fantastic result achieved in the Dunfermline byelection. Even better Labour is down to its lowest point since the general election at 34%. Hopefully we will pick up some more good coverage when the new leader is announced.

Tag Lib Dems

Hughes for Leader (but he should appoint Huhne as his deputy)

It has taken me along time to decide but finally I have decided to plump for Simon Hughes as my first preference. But he might like to consider Chris Huhne as his deputy.

Ultimately for me it came down to Simons ability to communicate the Liberal Democrat vision across a wide range of topics. He is passionate and inspiring and I feel that these are essential qualities in a leader. He clearly needs to ensure that he has good people around him who can organise him and just as critically ensure that our policies are revisited in a methodical and structured way. Chris Huhne would be ideal for the job

Tag Lib Dems

The what classic punk band are you? Test

I couldn't resist taking this test and this is the answer I got

The Ramones (actually one of my favourite bands - see my profile)

This is where you belong in the annals of punk history!

You probably don't realize how cool you actually are.

You set the trend by not setting one.

You do what you want and are surprised when other people like doing it your
way. You may be simple but that's just fine.

Who cares, right? you'll go down in history as the stuff of legends, though
you have no idea why; as far as you knew, you were just some stupid person
having some fun, right?

Tag Music

Big Brother is watching you

An interesting piece by Chris Huhne in the Guardian this morning about the creeping encroachment on our freedoms under the current Labour government.

Locking up people without charge should not be an option in a modern democracy. Luckily enough MP's understand this to have defeated the notion that one can do this for 90 days. And yet Mr Blair still does not get the message and still wants to ram this through - lets hope enough MP's have the courage of their convictions and this measure is defeated again.

Then there is the abuse of anti terrorism legislation. Who can forget the absurd situation at the Labour Party Conference where Walter Wolfgang was arrested under the prevention of terrorism legislation for the "heinous" crime of having shouted 'Nonsense' during a speech by Jack Straw defending the governments policy on Iraq.

To say nothing of everyday life in a country where CCTV cameras and Number Plate recognition cameras are everywhere and where ID cards are to be introduced which will hold all sorts of data about our citizens with I suspect very few safeguards against abuse.

All of which puts me in mind of the TV advert I keep seeing where the long distance lorry driver is lost on the way to Albuquerque when pulled up by the woman in the middle of the road sat at a desk. She goes on to explain that she knows that they are lost because of the RFID tags attached to the goods.

There is something about this advert that puzzles and scares me. Puzzles me because I cannot imagine what the benefit is of advertising this technology to the general public (as opposed to corporations) and scares me because somehow the thought that my jeans could have an RFID tag in them and that ultimately the technolgy to link that pair of jeans to me and track me round the world is a possibilty that I find somewhat scary!

Don't forget big brother is watching you.

Tag Politics

Revised Pros and Cons

Just my opinion after reading the comments so far so I have only change my list if I agree with the comment that was made

Hughes Pros

The most passionate and inspiring speaker who communicates a positive Lib Dem vision

Bigger constituency majority.

Experience in parliament.

Deeper understanding over a broad range of subjects.

Energy and enthusiasm.

Best placed to make lead the Lib Dems in making inroads into Labour seats.

Hughes Cons

Not the most coherent when arguing policy detail (seems too long winded and unfocussed). His manner can appear a little disordered.

Lack of time keeping.

Setting unrealistic targets e.g. 100,000 members whilst president. Making them public (and possibly not following through on them).

Judgement e.g. the long equivocation over his sexuality and inability to make a clear stand on being bisexual and not gay (e.g. on Question Time). Also his inability to understand that (at present) the vast majority of the general public do not differentiate between gay and bisexual.

Huhne Pros

Experience as an ecomomist, journalist and MEP.

Great on Taxation and Economy.

Good on policy generally.

Strong on subsidiarity

Good organisational skills

Has created a credible campaign seemingly from nowhere.

Huhne Cons

Lack of experience as an MP.

Small majority (maybe his profile as leader will help but it will also make him a target).

Came across as weaker in non areas other than the economy.

Lacks passion and charisma in presenting his case.

Tag Lib Dems

Hughes bloggers fight back

After a slow start when all the visitors seemed to be pro Huhne the bloggers for Hughes made a sterling effort to fight back. I also had a phone call last night from a Hughes supporter who stressed two key areas. 1. The vision thing and 2. Who is best placed to lead a charge to take seats off labour at the next general election. I may revise the list of pros and cons later but in the end I think it will come down to which factors are most important to me to decide who gets that 1st preference.

Tag Lib Dems

Where are the Bloggers for Hughes? Are they running late?

Slightly worried since posting my pros and cons for voting for "Hughes vs Huhne" that all the comments on this thread so far "appear" to be from those who are pro Huhne and anti Hughes

Perhaps the bloggers for Hughes browse the net at different times of the day but whatever I would welcome their input into what so far appears to be a very one sided debate.

Tag Lib Dems

Hughes vs Huhne

Ok now comes the difficult bit. For reasons which I have already documented here Ming Campbell has now become my third choice which at least makes life a little easier. The difficult bit is weighing up the pros and the cons of the two remaining contenders for my first preference.

So here is a brief resume of my list of pros and cons so far

Hughes Pros

The most passionate and inspiring speaker who communicates a positive Lib Dem vision

Bigger constituency majority.

Experience in parliament.

Deeper understanding over a broad range of subjects.

Energy and enthusiasm.

Hughes Cons

Not the most coherent when arguing policy detail (seems too long winded and unfocussed).

His manner can appear a little disordered.

Lack of time keeping.

Setting unrealistic targets e.g. 100,000 members whilst president (and possibly not following through on them).

Judgement e.g. the long equivocation over his sexuality and inability to make a clear stand on being bisexual and not gay (e.g. on Question Time). Also his inability to understand that (at present) the vast majority of the general public do not differentiate between gay and bisexual.

Huhne Pros

Experience as an ecomomist, journalist and MEP.

Great on Taxation and Economy.

Good on policy generally.

Has created a credible campaign seemingly from nowhere.

Huhne Cons

Lack of experience as an MP.

Small majority (maybe his profile as leader will help but it will also make him a target).

Came across as weaker in non areas other than the economy.

Lacks passion and charisma in presenting his case.

So what does everyone else think? Are there other strong arguments for or against Simon or Chris that I ought to weigh in the balance before casting my vote?

Tag Lib Dems