Late Tuesday night, I was on Tony Livesy’s BBC Radio 5 Live programme alongside Henry Hill of the Dilettante blog talking about today’s Coalition re-up. Here’s what we said…
Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
Okay, so we should probably say something positive as well — but, still, it’s quite a handy reminder of how important the Lib Dems are to the UK’s government right now:
I took part in a 5-minute discussion on BBC Radio Scotland this morning with the Telegraph’s deputy political editor James Kirkup on the current state of the Lib Dem / Conservative Coalition government. Here’s what we had to say: (Available for next 7 days here on iPlayer from 2:09.)
France’s Fifth Republic has a new president, Francois Hollande. I shed few tears for the man he replaces, Nikolas Sarkozy — while his economic policies were preferable his grubbing for National Front votes (and not just in the last fortnight) saw him descend to the same sectarian level as George Galloway from the opposite political extreme. Combined, though, with the [ Read More ]
The Observer’s Andrew Rawnsley has a well-balanced and judicious write-up of last Thursday’s local elections for all three main parties — noting that ‘two out of three of the main parties have responded in a rational fashion. The exception is the Conservatives.’ Here’s what he has to say about the Lib Dems: Catastrophic is not too strong a word to [ Read More ]
Nine out of the 10 English cities asked on Thursday if they wanted their councils to be run by a directly-elected mayor said no. Only Bristol opted for change, while Doncaster overwhelmingly voted to retain its elected mayor. The status quo, as so often in conservative Britain, won. Oxford’s mayoral referendum: May 2002 Ten years ago, on 2nd May 2002, [ Read More ]
I mentioned a month ago I was standing for election to Oxford City Council, the first time my name had appeared on a ballot paper since 2004. So I thought I ought to finish the story, and let you know how I got on… Headington Hill and Northway Electorate: 4,882, Ballot papers issued: 1,232, Turnout: 25.24% Greens 156 Labour 589 [ Read More ]
Those lovely people at Politics.co.uk — the folk who rated this website 10/10, and said it was “one of the top political blogs going” (I point this out merely for the purpose of full disclosure, you understand) — asked me for my thoughts on the Lib Dems’ chances in the upcoming local elections. Here’s what I wrote… A year ago, [ Read More ]
Earlier this week I appealed to the Tories’ principle and pragmatism in recanting their opposition to House of Lords reform. It reminded me of this 3-minute video I recorded five years ago, when — in the naive assumption that the Commons voting for an elected second chamber would make it happen — I put forward my reasons for wanting to [ Read More ]
Here’s Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg saying that the Leveson Inquiry is the best place for culture secretary Jeremy Hunt to give evidence about his role in the BSkyB takeover bid… (Available on the BBC website here.) And here’s Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes calling for an inquiry into whether Jeremy Hunt breached the [...]
