There will be an informal meeting upstairs at the Salutation Inn in Nottingham city on 14th September. 7.30pm
There will be a buffet at 8pm.
All welcome. See Nottingham Lib Dems for details.
The starting point for the discussion will be the Brighton Federal Conference Agenda, so please bring yours with you if you have one.
Please forward to anyone likely to be interested!
Edit: recording of interview here.
I’ve just been in to Radio Nottingham to record a quick interview about the new Charles Kennedy revelations in today’s Times.
I just missed hearing Matthew Taylor’s interview on WATO as I headed out to the BBC, so I didn’t hear until afterwards that he refutes some of the allegations made.
As it was, I went in prepared with a few factoids – and I got some of them across, I hope.
In particular, “the party is bigger than one man” – mentions of the Dunfermline by-election, the recent local Ashfield by-election, which saw Austin Rathe become a councillor, and the even more recent Derby defections.
Unfortunately, they didn’t let me get as far as my “hope the Conference isn’t overshadowed by these stories” piece, as I had a little bit prepared on all the other wonderful things that will be happening in Brighton in just over a fortnight: Tax Commision and Meeting the Challenge. Actually maybe that’s all for the best because I don’t necessarily have enough facts at my fingertips for either of those topics.
I will listen in to the interview shortly and see if I can judge how I did. Radio Nottingham is on the internet, if you feel sufficiently curious to tune in yourself. They’re already billing me as “senior Lib Dem” in the headlines. Drivetime has started, and my section will be broadcast between 5 and 6.
Just one further thought: my own Shetland gin confession last night couldn’t have been worse timed, given today’s CK story:
Charles Kennedy struggled with a severe alcohol problem throughout his period as leader. He did not drink excessively every day, colleagues said, but every so often would go on a spree of very heavy drinking. Contrary to a mythology drawn from a caricature of a Highlander, whisky was not his tipple of choice. Nor did he care for champagne, despite at times being dubbed “Champagne Charlie”. He drank gin and tonic, or wine.
That nice Mark Pack just left me a welcome comment.
Most important fact in his post was a link to the place on the Lib Dem website where you can nominate people for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year award.
I popped right over and typed in the following:
I would like to nominate Liberal England http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/
It’s a great blend – news of the day, liberal perspectives on current events, with some nerdy historical preoccupations occasionally. And Lord Bonkers every now and again is the icing on the cake. Best of all, although it’s detailed, and informed, and clearly its author has a huge knowledge base to draw on when he wants to, it doesn’t get to a weight of policy that makes it unreadable.
Now I see that nice Dr Pack also left a similar comment on — where? Liberal England. A post with a naked – naked! – appeal to be nominated! Well, he deserves it.
This post should very definitely not be considered an appeal to be nominated on my own behalf. I don’t think that would be appropriate for this blog. I’m only very seldom what you might call a Lib Dem blogger.
I’ve just been googling “mark pack” to see what comes up and see if there’s an appropriate link I can use for him, or something that would explain who he is to my readers who don’t know him. (He works for the Lib Dems, is a very talented and hard working guy who I have a lot of respect for.) Best is the eBay auto-ad
Mark Pack
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Mark Pack items.
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| Two blog meets at Brighton Conf | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bloggers’ Reception Sunday 2100-2300 Gloucester room Hilton Metropole |
Blog Meet 2 Tuesday 1900 Evening Star 55/56 Surrey street |
|
Following an endorsement from Tristan that having a meeting in a pub as well as going to our posh reception would be a good idea, and following a recommendation on a nice pub not too far from the conference centre, and after having a wee peak at the agenda, my suggestion for a second meet is in the box above.
The pub came from a recommendation on Cix. When I saw they had a microbrewery and their own coffee beer, I knew that was the pub for me. Tuesday seems best as Monday is too close to the reception and Wednesday is Glee Club!
Would anyone care to join me there on the Tuesday of conference week?
Bloggers’ Reception
Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards
Come and see the inaugural Liberal Democrat bloggers awards being presented and hear from some of the top Lib Dem bloggers, including Lynne Featherstone MP.
21.00-23.00,
Gloucester Room Hilton Brighton Metropole
There’s a Bloggers’ Reception on the Conference Agenda. Now, isn’t that posh. It’s a little more formal than the whole meet-in-a-pub idea, but hey.
Those of you who have been waiting with baited breath will no doubt be delighted to know that I have fixed my accommodation problem for the Brighton Lib Dem conference, and booked a nice looking Gwesty which Googlemaps assures me is 0.9 miles from the conference centre. This was achieved thanks to the Conference Delegates Booking Bureau, Peter‘s suggestion, almost entirely by email. Which was nice.
People from Lib Dem Blogs have been posting their maps of the countries they’ve visited. I did mine back in January. Not very impressive, compared to some of the Lib Demmers turning the world red.
It wasn’t quite pelting it down today, but the programme I was listening to whilst stuck in all-but stationary traffic on the M1 this afternoon was about various global efforts to beat drought. Dew ponds in the South East. Tenerife schemes to use greenhouse (real greenhouses, not metaphorical “greenhouse effect” greenhouses) heat to evapourate sea water to remove the salt and give pure water. A scheme to put 50 robot-piloted boats on the seas of the world making artificial clouds to combat the greenhouse effect.
Have we actually had a drought anywhere other than the South East? We had quite a long period without rain, but my garden never got to the cracked earth stage I remember from childhood. We’ve not had a hosepipe ban up here as far as I am aware. And we’ve had rather a lot of rain in the last few days. Our waterbutt, which, due to a diy failure, only collects the rain that falls directly into it through its gaping open top, is half full. If it had actually been collecting roof rain it would unquestionably be full. And that’s without us even having to divert our bathwater. Mind you, the sort of torrential rain we’ve been having in fits and starts over the last few days is not the sort of rain that helps replenish water stocks. When it falls too fast, too hard, it just slips off the top of the soil and contributes to pluvial flooding.
And another thing. Thames Water, the wrath of whose customers is falling on them for not repairing their pipes fast enough – when we went down to London to see the Queen, I was amused to see that Thames Water were coming into some flack in the Evening Standard for, erm, repairing their pipes. The line the paper was taking was, wasn’t it awful that the evil water company were daring to close MAJOR London thoroughfares MERELY to dig up and repair century-old mains water pipes. A somewhat inconsistent line to take when in previous days the company was being roasted for allowing a vast percentage of its water to escape its pipes into the ground (where, of course, it actually helps top up London’s parched water table.)
Lib Dem theme from YouTube
New diary entry from Lord Bonkers.
Somewhat surreal afternoon driving up the M1 in tipping rain with spray everywhere listening to Radio 4 programme talking about skin problems brought on by sunlight. Just as the motorway slowed to standstill, with rain slewing down on every front, the automatic wipers spurred into a frenzy, Barbara Myers and Dr Tony Bewley were just getting going on what sun creams are best.
Polymorphic light eruption is the name of one of the diseases, but it could be so much more!
Off home shortly, listening to the middle east debate starting at 9pm. It seems to have bumped Adam Hart Davis’s Engineering Solutions off the schedule.
A bit late, I’ve signed up at the Environment Agency on some pledges. An interesting mix for people to sign up to. You too can sign, click here.
1. I promise I will take a shower instead of a bath.
I haven’t had a bath in years!
2. I promise I will put a water saving device in my toilet.
We tried this and found it didn’t have nearly enough flush power to deal with… you get the picture. So we thought we’d have a policy of flushing less frequently, but that stained the bowl and smelt bad. So now we’re back up to frequent full flushes. We will get a better design of toilet when we refurb the bathroom.
3. I promise I will turn the tap off when I brush my teeth
Oh, I don’t know how long I’ve done this for, but it’s certainly since before I left home ten years ago.
4. I promise to use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones
How many batteries do I use? My phone, my laptop are obviously rechargeable. I do have many radios with ordinary batteries, one or two torches. Clocks and remote controls don’t really work with rechargeables. So I don’t really do this, but I don’t consider myself a big battery user.
On this point though, it’s worth remembering that dead batteries really shouldn’t go in the domestic waste. Save them up and take them to your tip every so often where they can be reprocessed, and all the nasty but valuable chemicals can be reused and recycled safely.
5. I promise to use a reusable bag when I shop, rather than plastic carriers.
I have several reusable bags.
Do I remember to take them with me to the shops? Only occasionally!
6. I promise to air my washing in public – not in the tumble dryer
Oooh. I’m really bad on this one. What with doing all my laundry at the laundrette, it’s really tempting to bung the whole lot in the dryers before I leave and then (theoretically at least) I can just put it away when I get home. Even in this hot weather I’ve been tumble drying my jeans. Very bad. And there’s no question that I’ve put enough coins into the laundrette to have bought myself a washing machine at home several times over. We just have nowhere to put it.
7. I promise I will boil only the water I need, rather than filling the kettle every time.
Yes — more or less. None of the kettles I use most often has a water guage, so the one at home gets filled with a pint glass every time – half a pint to drink, the rest to make sure there’s enough water in there to boil safely. It’s an old kettle and if its too full or too empty the automatic switch is unreliable.
8. I promise I will share my car journeys to work with a colleague, cycle or replace those car journeys with public transport at least once a week.
Hmmm… sort of… I try and go to the Council House by bus. There’s an excellent service from close to my house to the city centre. I can get in very quickly and there’s a bus every five minutes or so in the day. But… the Council car park is very tempting. Particularly if I’m coming home late, when the buses are less frequent, or going somewhere other than home after the trip to the council.
My commute pattern to Chesterfield by car is at such strange times and frequencies that I don’t think there’s much mileage in trying to share that journey. Although for the last few days I’ve been giving a lift to a keen young member who’s interning in the office.
9. I promise that I will pay back the environmental impact of any air travel I take
Have never done this yet. I don’t really have a plan to do any flying this year — except it would be nice to visit two friends in the Geneva area later this year, and we’re vaguely planning to do a European city visit around about December. There are offsetting links on the Environment Agency website.
10. I promise I will organise or volunteer for an environmental project in my local community.
I really should. But maybe after the elections next year.
Just back from a very stimulating two day tour of sustainable and green energy installations with other councillors and senior officers from the City.
Lots to talk about, but no time tonight.
So I will leave you with a photo of a series of “Hybrolights” – solar and wind powered street lights – and a new word:
Pluvial – pertaining to rain
Niles's Blog 