Monthly Archives: March 2009

Tweets on 2009-03-19

  • The Metro newspaper is ten years old today?! No way! #
  • You can never tell how long the planning committee will last. I thought we’d be done by now. #
  • Ooh. A member has just moved “that the question not be put.” Never had that here before. #
  • Hmmm. Chamcery Lane fire. Strange haze over Nottingham. Coincidence? I think not. #
  • Not really enjoying hearing a sparrow necropsy on #bbcr4 whilst I’m cooking dinner. #
  • @having tomato, onion, chick peas, apple, clementine #5aday #
  • @charltonbrooker does that mean manic cleaning shortly before filming? #

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Freedom is in Peril

All-round good-egg Jonathan Calder has a deliberative piece today that eventually links to this piece in the Guardian about a very old wartime poster that has suddenly found new favour.

Two things struck me about the article.  

One was the nice little detail that the Nottingham Emergency Planning team have a copy in the Emergency Control Centre in the Guildhall on Burton Street.  (I’ve never been in that room, but it must be the easiest room to find.  The Guildhall is a complete rabbit warren, but every floor and every corridor has a sign in it pointing out the direction to the Emergency Control Centre.)

The other interesting thing is the words from other posters.  Yes, “Keep Calm and Carry On” is a good phrase.  And “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory” certainly rings out a wartime feeling.

But the phrase that really has legs at the moment is the middle one. Freedom is in Peril. 

This time the enemy is within.

Tweets on 2009-03-17

  • @meryl_f if Square Cam were working, it would be showing lovely sunny day. #
  • @owenblacker well, durr. How else are they going to find another one? #
  • 6.30, still light, birds tweeting. Spring! Woo! #
  • Heading to group meeting for briefings from 2 of the Council’s most senior managers. Hoping there will be biscuits. #
  • @willhowells specialist subject? Presumably they can’t prepare the questions for that overnight? #
  • @artesea thanks 🙂 but I was still in meetings this week 😦 #

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Bristol council candidate killed in car crash

News reaches the voice that a talented local campaigner died last week when his car hit a tree.

A man who died in a car crash in Bristol has been named locally as community figure and Liberal Democrat candidate for Horfield – Tony Lewis.

Mr Lewis, aged 48, of Rodbourne Road, Manor Farm, was involved in an accident in Pen Park Road, Southmead, just after 6.10pm on Tuesday.

As reported by the Bristol Post, his Renault Clio hit a tree and a parked car.

Mr Lewis, who was also chairman of Manor Farm Action Group, has been described by his colleagues as a “champion for his community”.

Councillor Barbara Janke, leader of Liberal Democrat Group said: “Tony will be a sad loss to Liberal Democrats in Bristol.

“We all held him in high regard for his dedication and commitment to his local area and to Bristol. “We all will miss him as a valued colleague and a fighter for local democracy. We send his family and loved ones our sympathy at this sad time.”

Tweets on 2009-03-16

  • @documentally Not in the party? Whaaaaat? @helenduffett not have her membership pad with her? #
  • OK, I understand why my nose is running, but why does my jaw ache? #
  • Buying a spirit-level. Wooooooh! #
  • hmmm, is.gd short links haven’t been working for me for a few days. Wonder why not? #
  • …and then in a twinkling of an eye immediately after complaining about it, is.gd suddenly started working fine. I know I’m being watched. #

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Catchup to 15/03/09

Welcome to Catchup, bringing you the tastiest nuggets of LDV from the last fortnight, apart from Conference, which we caught up here.

We started the period with a debate about fairtrade. Good? John Pugh MP thought so; Julian Harris wasn’t so sure.

We learned where thousands of Lib Dems will be trekking to conference over the coming years.

We learned the Government had caved on individual voter registration – and Mark Pack explained why that was a good thing.

Our peers came out top. Ros Scott unleashed hell. Bob Russell MP campaigned to save pubs.

Guest contributors included Hywel Morgan, pointing out a rather ridiculous mistake by the BNP, Charlotte Gore thought Modern Liberty was rubbish, Geoffrey Payne kicked the bankers. York Membury gave us a historical perspective of life after Labour and Joe Taylor urged Lib Dem councils to ditch their in-house propaganda sheets. Whilst on the subject of local government, we also had two pieces on the subject of alternate weekly collection from Iain Coleman, who made it work in Cambridge, and a piece from the FT saying Lib Dem AWC plans cost them 24 seats in Waverley in 2007.

Laurence Boyce generated more heat than light when he decided to quit the party – over 70 of you had opinions about whether he should climb down off the parapet or jump; a good number of you had something to say about this week’s Question Time and a number of you had suggestions about how to improve the nation’s sales personnel after Mark Pack listed the worst sales calls he’s had recently.

Perhaps the most striking piece of writing this week was Karin Robinson’s beer fuelled rant in which she told us – “Yes you can!” and a number of us popped up in the comments to doubt whether actually we could.

It’s been a twitter-heavy fortnight: we urged you to tweet at conference and we reported back when you responded by the thousand. Even twitter-sceptics like our dinosaur editor-at-large Stephen Tall were secretly impressed.

CommentIsLinked@LDV
We linked to Jonathan Calder in the Guardian
Vince Cable warning about China
James Graham keeping his pecker up

Numerology
@LibDig Pig #13
94% of conference reps fooled by Kate Winslet
Golden Dozens: 108, 107, 106.
Haggis Neeps and liberalism #2

In our private members’ forum
Aberdeenshire expulsions
Postponed election technicality
Private landlord campaigns
Ron Paul foreign policy analysis