tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86218842024-03-08T20:05:08.090+01:00The Liberal DissenterProvocative thoughts and off-message observations from Simon TitleyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger340125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-74013807411148504812007-12-12T18:48:00.000+01:002007-12-12T19:17:13.786+01:00Watch this spaceAfter a two-year absence, I've decided to return to the blogosphere.I stopped blogging shortly before Charles Kennedy's demise as leader of the Liberal Democrats (although that wasn't the reason). With yet another new leader about to be elected, now seems as good a time as any to resume.Several people asked me why I stopped. No single reason. A mixture of other commitments, mainly, coupled with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1135263638528196302005-12-23T01:07:00.000+01:002005-12-23T00:50:53.256+01:00How times change... the City Council is everywhere and in everything. It supplies water, light and heat. It carries us about our business and watches over our health. It builds many of our houses and educates most of our children, and every year that passes it adds to its burden. Until 1835 it could not even raise a rate. The individual parishes alone had that power, and the only rate they could levy was the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1135256770306196842005-12-22T13:47:00.000+01:002005-12-23T00:00:51.346+01:00You gotta have faithReligious extremism is a growing problem in Britain (see my earlier assessment of the problem). It is portrayed in the media as a mostly 'Islamic' issue yet Islam does not have a monopoly of intolerance or bigotry.While street protests and terrorist attacks win the media's attention, the most insidious manifestation of this problem is the rise and rise of the so-called 'faith schools'.I had Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1135254331312672102005-12-22T13:25:00.000+01:002005-12-22T13:46:06.403+01:00Christmas readingLiberator 307 - out now! If you already subscribe to Liberator magazine, you should by now (Christmas post permitting) have received the latest issue.Highlights in this issue include:Former Labour MP Brian Sedgemore on New Labour's authoritarianism.John Pugh, Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, on the liberating state.Rebecca Tinsley on the continuing problems in the Congo.All the regular featuresUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1131540119063945632005-11-09T13:43:00.000+01:002005-11-09T18:07:03.220+01:00I bet he keeps coal in the bathAmid all the media comment about David Blunkett's departure from office last week has been an unpleasant recurring theme. Apparently the man had ideas above his station.Aren't there enough legitimate political reasons for opposing Blunkett, principally his instinctive authoritarianism? Instead, there has been a litany of snobbish remarks to the effect that a man who is not only working class in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1131537404460567372005-11-09T13:02:00.000+01:002005-11-09T13:08:15.890+01:00"Hello! I'm at the cemetery"This report from the Inquirer is a sign of the times:Undertakers in Ireland are noticing that more people are requesting to be buried with their mobile phone.The country has had a tradition of people being buried with some of their most treasured possessions probably as a continuation of some ancient pagan practice.According to AFP, some ask that their mobiles be buried with them in case they areUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1130492000973508372005-10-28T11:35:00.000+02:002005-10-28T11:54:06.360+02:00You too can have a policy like mineDon't let Labour home secretaries kick sand in your face!Treat yourself to a do-it-yourself ASBO.Only £1.99 each.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1130464063501644332005-10-28T01:36:00.000+02:002005-10-28T11:59:05.903+02:00Lend us a quid till the end of the weekThe controversy surrounding millionaire Michael Brown's donation of £2.4 million to the Liberal Democrats won't go away.The first signs of trouble appeared in May when the donor's name first became public. The story suggesting a breach of election law broke in the Times during the Liberal Democrats' autumn conference (see the original reports on 23rd, 23rd again and 24th September). The party Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1130407456769986012005-10-27T23:53:00.000+02:002005-10-28T03:35:48.586+02:00A wise choiceLiberator 306 - out now! If you are a wise person and subscribe to Liberator magazine, then the latest issue will be popping through your letterbox any day now.Highlights in this issue include:Nick Clegg, Lib Dem MP for Sheffield Hallam, on the dangers of political labels.David Rendel, former Lib Dem MP for Newbury, on the legacy of Thatcherism - the central role played by greed in British Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1130317538992098092005-10-26T11:05:00.000+02:002005-10-26T11:18:08.980+02:00Interesting factIn July 2005 alone, Israel seized more land in the West Bank than it surrendered in Gaza: it withdrew from about 19 square miles of territory while sealing off 23 square miles of the West Bank.Israel's continuing land grab is a disgrace. As is the silence from Washington and the European capitals, intimidated as they are by 'the lobby'. Israel's policy shares much with Apartheid-era South Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1130315572759543702005-10-26T10:22:00.000+02:002005-10-28T14:12:07.930+02:00Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Weblogs and SpamAfter a two-week absence from the blogosphere to attend to professional matters, I return to spend an entertaining evening deleting a large quantity of spam from this blog.If you blog with Blogger.com, you'll be aware that there has been a rash of automated spam content over the past month (for more details, see Blogger Buzz and Bayosphere). The motive behind this spamming is to pollute the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1128681358731982012005-10-07T12:03:00.000+02:002005-10-07T12:35:58.783+02:00Be afraid. Very afraidIt is even worse than I thought. George Bush is reported to believe he is on a mission from God. White House denials don't wash. The only consolation I can find is that, unlike a disturbingly large proportion of his countrymen, Bush has yet to claim he was abducted by aliens.At this point, even the most hardened Atlanticists should be thinking, "This is where I get off." Tony Blair's loyalty Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1128528740781676642005-10-05T18:12:00.000+02:002005-10-05T18:12:20.853+02:00And it's goodnight from them...Just how important is the Tory leadership contest? Whoever wins is most unlikely to become prime minister. And if recent form is anything to go by, the winner is likely to be overthrown in just two years' time.BBC1's 6pm news last night got it right. The speeches of Ken Clarke and David Cameron were considered somewhat newsworthy, but not as much as the death of Ronnie Barker, which took top Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1127697614389142272005-09-26T02:16:00.000+02:002005-09-28T11:55:12.196+02:00Britain's premier holiday resortI am happy to report that I am now back in the world of broadband, having given up on the 'facilities' at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Some were blaming the contractors hired to install the internet connections, others the party's conference organiser for failing to check whether things worked properly before the conference started.But given that Blackpool's Winter Gardens is used by various Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1127301687300432882005-09-21T13:16:00.000+02:002005-09-21T13:21:27.306+02:00Blackpool UnpluggedSo much to say, so little bandwidth.Internet connections at the Liberal Democrat conference have been at best inadequate, at worst non-existent. I shall report at more length shortly.In the meantime, one Blackpool story tells you all you need to know. A Liberal Democrat MP was travelling in a local taxi yesterday and struck up a conversation with the driver about Blackpool's plan to revitalise Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126612779250174282005-09-13T13:58:00.000+02:002005-09-13T18:55:22.633+02:00Monochrome in Channel, continent isolatedEverybody's talking about the new Berliner format of the Guardian, so I may as well join in.I bought my first edition yesterday in Brussels. Although the 'international edition' of the Guardian is printed on the continent rather than air-freighted from England, any reader purchasing this edition in the Eurozone must pay 2.80 euros (about £1.90), rising to a whopping 3.50 euros (£2.35) on Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126446124301907862005-09-11T15:42:00.000+02:002005-09-11T15:42:04.343+02:00Those people don't countYesterday I suggested you read Actually Existing's analysis of the Katrina disaster.Now Phil Edwards has written a follow-up. I cannot recommend it highly enough - the quote from Alasdair Gray's novel 1982 Janine is worth the price of admission alone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126373588471097042005-09-10T20:05:00.000+02:002005-09-12T10:05:29.260+02:00And if you don't like sport...Hands up anyone who remembers Les Kellet.Last year, Jonathan Calder reminded us that the popularity of sports can go down as well as up. He cited speedway and show jumping as examples of sports that once commanded the nation's attention but no longer do so.One sport that Jonathan didn't mention, but to which his argument applies, is wrestling (the 'all-in' variety with Big Daddy and Giant Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126369147566406362005-09-10T19:10:00.000+02:002005-09-10T20:38:23.166+02:00Bullying MannerA forgotten figure of post-war British politics is Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Tory Attorney-General from 1954 to 1962, then (as Lord Dilhorne) Lord Chancellor from 1962 to 1964. He was a notoriously aggressive prosecutor of Official Secrets cases - the satirist Bernard Levin nicknamed him "Sir Reginald Bullying-Manner" (and later "Lord Stillborn").His daughter, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126347990940293112005-09-10T12:26:00.000+02:002005-09-11T01:11:13.306+02:00A dysfunctional stateEveryone in the USA from the President downwards seems to agree that the response to the Katrina disaster was, at best, inadequate. Disagreement is about the "why" and the "who", and that debate seems to be taking a predictably partisan course. Needless to say, the White House and Fox TV are leading the smear campaigns.For a more intelligent analysis, read this Actually Existing posting. Phil Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126267454595625352005-09-09T14:02:00.000+02:002005-09-09T14:05:42.706+02:00Biting the hand...Some conservative bloggers and media in the USA (such as this ignoramus) have been criticising foreigners for not offering to help after Hurricane Katrina, and for failing to return past favours.Well, excuse me. I think they'll find the facts don't fit their prejudices. A more liberal American blogger debunks some myths here. Meanwhile, Euractiv.com reports that any reluctance to provide help wasUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126262776280609082005-09-09T13:24:00.000+02:002005-09-09T13:30:09.886+02:00Hurricanes: a scientist writes...Q. Was Hurricane Katrina cause by global warming?A. Probably not.Global warming presents probably the greatest threat to the future welfare of mankind. People in the developed world must be persuaded to change their behaviour to avert a catastrophe and it sometimes seems that the only way to do this is by shocking people with dramatic events. But unsubstantiated claims don't help the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126171199812783212005-09-08T11:54:00.000+02:002005-09-08T12:08:17.496+02:00Europe uncoveredGiven the tendency of British parliamentary media coverage to focus on Westminster and neglect other places, you may be unaware of a significant achievement this week by a British Liberal Democrat MEP.Chris Davies, leader of the British Lib Dem group in the European Parliament, has succeeded in getting all five British group leaders to put their signatures on a call for greater transparency in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126141828354519022005-09-08T02:07:00.000+02:002005-09-08T03:32:27.586+02:00Land of the free?It's funny how fashions in economic dogma change.Not long ago, we were taught to look up to the German economic system as a model. Now, to read some commentators, you'd think that this very same system is a basket case (despite the fact that, last year, Germany overtook the USA as the world's largest exporter).Next, it was the so-called 'tiger economies' of the Far East that we were expected to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8621884.post-1126138581535684802005-09-08T01:30:00.000+02:002005-09-08T02:36:08.553+02:00Born AbroadImmigration is one of those political topics that always seem to generate more heat than light. So it was interesting to see some data rather than bigotry for a change. This Wednesday, the BBC published a report it had commissioned from the IPPR, based on data from the 2001 census, which examined the foreign-born population (whether naturalised or not) resident in the UK.One's attitudes to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0