Welcome to Daily View. Today is the anniversary of Black Wednesday, and bunny hops for today’s birthday boys: Henry V and Russ Abbot.

2 Big News Stories

Wor Vince has fleshed out Lib Dem policy on how to respond to the parlous state of public finance – and Michael White approves.

Number crunchers at the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies, whose own estimate of the required squeeze will be published tomorrow, call his nine suggestions a “state-of-the-art shopping list”. As so often with Lib Dem ideas, it includes some which bigger parties are closing in on: trimming tax credit for better-off families, curtailing ID cards and the NHS IT system, freezing public sector pay (TUC please note) and ending £28bn worth of subsidy to public sector pensions (ditto).

Meanwhile, the US and Europe are starting to have differences on the future of climate change policy.

Europe has clashed with the US Obama administration over climate change in a potentially damaging split that comes ahead of crucial political negotiations on a new global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The Guardian understands that key differences have emerged between the US and Europe over the structure of a new worldwide treaty on global warming. Sources on the European side say the US approach could undermine the new treaty and weaken the world’s ability to cut carbon emissions.

Two must-read blog posts

Sara fisks Polly

Polly’s attempt to manufacture a causal link between the absence of the ISA and three horrific child murders does not stack up. The link between the ISA’s bureaucratic paedophile hunt and the incompetent failure of a council to protect a Baby Peter is simply the word ‘child’. Almost every recent case of child abuse or murder which has chilled us has been either ’strangers’ (Sarah Payne, James Bulger, Milly Dowler, Holly & Jessica) or family (Baby Peter, Victoria Climbié, Shannon Matthews). Yet despite the fact that cases of child abuse have remained fairly static over the last 30 years and all analysis points to the fact that the greatest danger to our children is in their own homes, the government decides to view over 11 million people as potential abusers and set up a huge bureaucracy to check on them.

Bernard Salmon gives a brief history of England. So brief that if I quote any of it, there’ll barely be any point in popping over to chez Salmon!

This Saturday’s trio of videos doing the rounds takes as its topic Minnesota’s new Senator, Al Franken, who eventually took his seat after a load of legal wrangles – as we covered here and here earlier in the year.

Al Franken was a controversial choice for a politician since he already had a career as a comedian and polemicist – you may be familiar with such fence-sitting, equivocating titles as Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) and Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot

Unsurprisingly, the American right hate him.

Now, however, he is Senator – and proving to be a good one too.

Here are three videos of his exploits. The first contrasts American Republican values with the tendency of the American Republican party to invoke Christian values.

The second gives an example of Sen Franken out in the field responding to a mob over healthcare issues. There is a disturbing trend for opposing political activists to shout down any sort of debate about healthcare in the US, so it’s to his credit that he actually managed to have a discussion of sorts:

Still with us? Sorry these have been a little long for this slot; the final one is much lighter. One of Sen Al Franken’s key talents is the ability to draw a detailed map of the US from memory. There are several examples of this on YouTube, but this recent one is much sped up.

(If you’re interested – there’s a version here with his spiel)

A piece in the Bournemouth Echo underlines just how important party conferences are to the resort’s economy – and just how huge an event conference is, even for the smallest of the three main parties:

It is estimated the event could boost the resort economy by £6.5 million, as delegates spend money in hotels, bars, restaurants and shops.

“That’s really working on the basis of about 6,000 delegates staying for an average of four nights,” said Peter Gunn, director of the BIC and Pavilion.

A few seconds with a calculator and those figures suggests delegates will be spending an average of £270 a night for the privilege of participating in Lib Dem training, networking, policymaking and carousing.

And the piece goes on to mourn the lack of any of the larger parties in town next year:

The Lib Dems are the only major party to visit Bournemouth this year, and none of the main parties are due in town in 2011.

But Labour confirmed in the summer that it would be returning in 2013, taking over the BIC and the Pavilion after a six-year break.

BIC bosses expect to hear in the autumn whether the Conservatives and Lib Dems will be returning soon.

Our next conference after Bournemouth will be Birmingham in March 2010 – and they’re so keen to welcome us to town they’ve prepared a special website, www.libdemsinbirmingham2010.com . At least, according to the Conference Directory, anyhow – it doesn’t appear the website is quite ready for use, just yet.

Thereafter, it’s Liverpool for the Autumn conference. No word yet as to whether they’ve forked out a tenner for a .com

Dates for your diary

Conference Timetable 2010

Spring Conference: Friday 12th – Sunday 14th March 2010, Birmingham

Drafting advice deadline (motions): Monday 4th January 2010
Motions deadline: Wednesday 13th January 2010
Drafting advice deadline (amendments, emergency motions): Tuesday 23rd February 2010
Deadline for amendments to motions, emergency motions, topical issues, questions to reports: Tuesday 9th March 2010

Autumn Conference: Saturday 18th – Wednesday 22nd September 2010, Liverpool

Drafting advice deadline (motions): Wednesday 16th June 2010
Motions deadline: Wednesday 30th June 2010
Drafting advice deadline (amendments, emergency motions): Tuesday 24th August 2010
Deadline for amendments to motions, emergency motions, topical issues, questions to reports: Tuesday 7th September 2010

There’s shortly to be a mayoral by-election in Bedford following the August death of the incumbent mayor and blogger Frank Branston.

Local Lib Dems are the first to name their candidate as Cllr Dave Hodgson, familiar to many attendees of party training as the membership recruitment and retention expert, spreading best practice to local parties up and down the country.

LocalGov.co.uk reports:

Cllr Dave Hodgson is leader of the Bedford Liberal Democrats group, and was appointed to Bedford BC’s cabinet as member for partnerships and IT by the late mayor.

He expressed his delight at being selected to stand, adding that he was committed to the borough.

‘We face enormous challenges such as the decaying town centre, regeneration of the bus station area and the need for a quality transport system,’ Cllr Hodgson added.

‘It will require each and every one of us to work together, if we are to succeed and bring about the changes that the borough so desperately needs.’

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, MP, has backed Cllr Hodgson for the role after the pair discussed key issues and priorities for the by-election campaign.

‘The Liberal Democrats go into this by-election in a strong position after coming first in the recent council elections,’ Mr Davey said.

The by-election is expected to take place on 15 October.

The Lib Dems are the largest party on Bedford Borough Unitary Council with 13 seats to 9 Conservatives, 7 Labour and 7 Independents. And as yet, it’s unknown who else will contest the election. Will another wealthy newspaper magnate throw his hat into the ring? Only time will tell.

Mayoral by-elections are vanishingly rare in the UK as only a few boroughs and towns are run by elected mayors, and so far, few of them have died or resigned. My brief research, however, indicates that this is at least the second – the first having been on North Tyneside in 2003, where the incumbent resigned following a scandal.

Mayoral elections are expensive at the best of times – one of my first party experiences was as a very green agent to a very experienced candidate in the first Mansfield mayoral elections. One of the key debates there was whether the party could possibly afford to be represented in the booklet prepared by the local authority with details of all candidates. Contesting the race in Bedford will not come cheap – the campaign will cover a population equal to some three constituencies by my reckoning. So I’m sure the local party will welcome your donations – find details for their local party officers here. Don’t forget to include your name and address to help them fulfil their PPERA obligations – and if you’re being really generous, it might help to include your electoral number.

One final aspect to explore: in 2007 when the mayoralty was last contested, the ballots were counted electronically. IT and business blogger Dynamoo was not impressed at the conduct of the count.