Tweets on 2010-05-17

  • RT @libdemvoice: Special #ldconf live tweet coverage http://ldv.org.uk/19553 << must remember to tweet responsibly #
  • My prediction: all amendments will pass / be accepted and the final vote will be about 80/20 in favour. #
  • Another prediction: with queues everywhere, we're not starting or finishing on time. #

  • Hall is pretty chocka – this is the first of 3 blocks listening to Andrew Stunnell. http://flic.kr/p/82vYhh #
  • Stunnell: like Louis XVIII, Labour have forgotten nothing and remembered nothing. #
  • Stunnell: greenest, most radical, most redistributive programme for generations. #
  • Big, big round of applause for @drevanharris. #
  • Erudite crowd: first two speakers have quoted such diverse figures as Louis 18th and Woody Allen. #
  • In addition to LDV team, try @ChrisWhite17, @EdFordham, @StephMog, @po8crg, @joswinson #
  • Sharing a pew with @chriswhite17, baronesses Hamwee and Barker, and a new member from Notts. #
  • Applause for student speaker calling for our MPs *not* to abstain on fees, but to vote against. #
  • Heh, @camdenjo gets applause before even beginning to make her case for the Human Rights Act. #
  • Jo Shaw: Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve? You could do a lot worse. Featherstone and McMally will help greatly. #
  • Wouldn't have put "obloquy" in buzzword bingo for today. #
  • @prateekbuch sadly not. in reply to prateekbuch #
  • Man, these seats are not ideal for a four hour meeting. #
  • David Rendel: our amendment was shortened. What's left is not contraversial in this room. I want to debate what was removed. #
  • Rendel: there should be no further negotiations without a commitment to PR. #
  • Linda Jack is waving a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs with a menacing glint in her eyes. Nothing changes, eh? #
  • Eek. Tony Greaves is missing front teeth. #
  • Greaves: now is not time for triumphalism but magnanimity. << hear, hear. Not tenor of template artwork, tho. #
  • Greaves: time for triumphalism will be when we win again in 5 years time. #
  • Rep from Rhondda: it's Labour who have let down the valleys. #
  • Rep from Rhondda: No Lib Dems in Welsh office. None of the Welsh Tory MPs either. And no sign of agreement on Barnett Formula. #
  • Nader Fekhri is first to speak against the motion as a whole. Trenchant outlining of differences between parties. #
  • Mood in hall has changed a bit. Fekhri: tread carefully for you tread on my dreams. #
  • Ted Lord, former staffer on Conservative London Mayoral campaign, does a wicked impression of William Hague. #
  • Lorely Burt MP tells us the NEC is in her constituency of Solihull. #
  • @po8crg Linda Jack was against? I was too distracted by the props. in reply to po8crg #
  • Popped out of main hall for a bit to find dozens of people having their own fringe in the sunlight and cafes. #
  • No journalists, the tiny number of protestors have given up and gone home. Handful of our hi-vizzed brethen. #
  • Good news, #ldconf #tweetup tweetuppers: the pub is opposite the hall and open til 8pm. #

  • Ah. Now I understand. Our MPs must have pressed this at some point. http://flic.kr/p/82u2zx #
  • @iaindale wonder if it was the ash cloud? in reply to iaindale #
  • Think I just saw two people storming out. "Can't believe it's come to this." So not everyone happy. #
  • "I'm chair of my local party – probably because I didn't say 'no' quick enough." << big club, that. #
  • Ah – it was our last speaker who was telling voters on the doorstop to vote us to keep the Tories out. #
  • And now our first address from a cabinet minister. *wipes tear from corner of eye* An truly historic moment. #
  • "I come from Denmark – a country where we actually talk about things before we take decisions." #
  • Canterbury tories have apparently been heard describing the coalition as a Lib Dem arse grafted onto a Tory body. #
  • Hah, @prateekbuch rehashing his "counterfactuals" piece for LDV as an intervention. #
  • First Liberal power since 40 years before my birth, says @alexwilcock – let's not wait another 40 years. #
  • @markpack are you counting my beard or is it only beards on platform? Can't, unfortunately, drive in sandals. in reply to markpack #
  • No rolling back on equalities on my watch, says @lfeatherstone to rapturous applause. #
  • Featherstone: when I called for trans rights, the Tory frontbench were ok. But backbenchers cried "perverts" at me… #
  • Featherstone: …we are here to hold the Tory rightwingers in check. #
  • @markpack *looking round* there must be well ever a thousand here, have you really only seen 7 beards? in reply to markpack #
  • Cripes, Simon Hughes fires up hall into standing ovation. #
  • @markpack nice of @edfordham to paint his toes specially. in reply to markpack #
  • Ldv correspondent @chriswhite17 on the "anorak amendment" about local government. #
  • Labour gained seats on councils in Haringey and Doncaster despite their abysmal record there, says @ChrisWhite17. #
  • Graham Watson recalls David Steel telling us to prepare for government. It's been the most thorough preparation in political history. #
  • Watson: embracing Dan Hannan will be harder than hugging a hoodie. #
  • (predictive text mangled that to "hug a goodie" which is an odd mental image) #
  • A member intervention from Gedling, which I know is near Nottingham, but which the hall may not. #
  • @stephentall @helenduffett @markpack I'll help get him into the slot. in reply to stephentall #
  • Intervention speaker calling for justice for 5,000 dead and dying victims of contaminated blood. #
  • Increasingly despairing of this conference. Not one call for a reference back. And only one person edging towards a separate vote call. #
  • Dinti Batstone: Easy to be smug about women in parliament when you have safe seats. Just ask Kramer, Goldsworthy, Gidley. #
  • In 20 mins we move to the votes. Cor. Gotta fit in 9 amendment summators first. #
  • The businessmen Vince Cable described as "nauseating" are now writing him grovelling letters. #
  • And hall gets to its feet again for Dr Vince Cable. #
  • RT @CharlotteGore: RT @naomimc: Oh, embarrassing. Civil servant memo on how to talk to Tories…http://bit.ly/aIMCy2 << tory roleplaying! #
  • Ah, a constitutional nicety I had missed. All amendments have been accepted, so they don't get voted on or summated. #
  • McNally: typical Lib Dems: huge hall. Fancy set. Standing room only. Overwhelmingly positive speakers… And we make it a closed meeting. #
  • McNally: Tony Greaves came to see me and we had a full and frank discussion. Now you know what happened to his teeth. #
  • McNally: if the HRA is repealed, I walk. Huhne: me too. #
  • Huhne: never thought I'd see McNally and Greaves agree. Baroness Barker on my left: they often agree! #
  • Huhne: we kept our promise about who we would talk to. And we will keep a lot more promises in government. #
  • Very strong support for HRA. #
  • Cor. Almost unanimous on each of the 10 votes. At most, 20 people voted against the amended motion in favour of coalition. #
  • Clegg slams "North Korean" result. Never thought he'd hear Evan Harris say nice things about him. #
  • @LonelyWonderer McNally's joke. in reply to LonelyWonderer #
  • Clegg: even if you ignore the numbers, take it from me, the Labour party were, in their hearts, already preparing for opposition. #
  • Clegg: genuine suprise at how much agreement achieved with the Tories. #
  • Clegg: I know the stakes are high – for me personally as well as for the pastry #
  • Erm, that should have been: Clegg: I know the stakes are high – for me personally as well as for the party. #
  • Clegg: I have found your trust in me and my colleagues humbling. We won't let you down. #
  • Oh, there's Tom Brake! *swoon* #
  • @dr_nick Ah, yes, my tweets were showing up in a box on a website today. in reply to dr_nick #
  • @libdom I heard the police saying that too. But there's always some police at conference. in reply to libdom #
  • @dr_nick It was in the day time! in reply to dr_nick #
  • Just wrapping my nephew's birthday present. Bit worried that the over elaborate packaging will detract from quite a small present actually. #
  • And slightly freaked out by the sudden realisation that my cat is older than my nephew. And always has been. #
  • Think I just became 1,000th person to follow @evansmother #
  • @dr_nick well you could have told me! 🙂 ps am srsly worried Noah will be disappointed with present – will be like pass the parcel! in reply to dr_nick #
  • @libdom I've been working late in conference centres when Special Branch sweep the drains for bombs. Always entertaining, that. in reply to libdom #
  • @gedrobinson #ldconf usually votes on annual reports after the years have finished, too. in reply to gedrobinson #
  • @mithomas20 oh no, not again! in reply to mithomas20 #
  • @qwghlm … presumably canon printer works with … other sorts of operating system… are you sure printer is at fault? in reply to qwghlm #
  • @celticchickadee there were around 2,000 people there – more than at some of our ordinary conferences! in reply to celticchickadee #
  • @FrancisUrquhart @markpack was counting beards and sandals and came up with depressingly low figure 😦 in reply to FrancisUrquhart #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Tweets on 2010-05-16

  • Heh. Someone from the Anarchists tried to recruit me. #
  • Heading home before I buy and eat something fattening. #
  • @jamesgraham Erk – that photo was from last week's games night, dunno how it only just got posted. Never played Catan. in reply to jamesgraham #
  • Looking at the sunshine and thinking about beer gardens. And remembering I've probably had enough to drink this week. #
  • @lordbonkers pfff, she's got the tune wrong to The Land. in reply to lordbonkers #
  • Not for the first time, wondering how many case of RSI can be directly attributed to Popcap games. #
  • @thingsgretasays is that one for http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ ? in reply to thingsgretasays #
  • Late night print dash (@ Top Secret Lib Dem Print Cave) http://4sq.com/avX0pC #
  • @ChrispLOL no, Chris, it was a poll of our members' only forum which you cannot access without party membership. in reply to ChrispLOL #
  • @gedrobinson I'm sure it will come up. LGBT issues are specifically tackled in amendment 7. http://ldv.org.uk/19549 in reply to gedrobinson #
  • Getting early night before #ldconf #
  • Ah. Just discovered I haven't unpacked my #ldconf bag from March. Oh well, all the quicker to repack it. #
  • Grrr. There's not a box of 250 C5 Window envelopes anywhere in this city, and I've gotta get to #Ldconf #
  • Arrived in sunny Brum. #

  • Fair votes now http://flic.kr/p/82skjx #

  • Queuing to swap email for wristband. Alphabetical by surname – Epps, Foster, Graham, Hanson… http://flic.kr/p/82vsV7 #
  • Ooh, no, rounding a corner, I see this is F to K. Gareth is in the wrong queue. #
  • Whistling Rob Brydon's choices from Desert Island Discs. #
  • More people in the F-K queue than all the others combined. #
  • Earwigging on conversations. A surprising number of people around me are wrong. #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Liberal Drinks meeting at Special Conference today

We had an extremely busy day at LDV yesterday with a lot of opinion articles scheduled from a wide spectrum of writers.

In all that, there’s a good chance we might lose sight of our early morning post proposing a Tweetup / Liberal Drinks meeting at the end of the special conference on Sunday.

Full details are here: http://ldv.org.uk/19520

To keep our discussion tidy, comments on this post are closed. Please comment on the first blog post from this morning.

Tweetup / Liberal Drinks at special conference

We’re thrilled to be having such a busy day here at LDV with a lot of opinion articles scheduled from a wide spectrum of writers.

In all that, there’s a good chance we might lose sight of our early morning post proposing a Tweetup / Liberal Drinks meeting at the end of the special conference on Sunday.

Full details are here: http://ldv.org.uk/19520

To keep our discussion tidy, comments on this post are closed. Please comment on the first blog post from this morning.

Tweets on 2010-05-15

  • So who decides which Lib Dems get to be ministers? Is it Nick Clegg or David Cameron? #
  • Oh, dear. Look at the time. I guess I'm not going ringing tonight. #
  • And oh, my, listening to Any Questions – how fractious the audience is. #
  • @CoriS you don't want to know what's in the handbag in reply to CoriS #
  • @rfenwick Blame Duncam Borrowman in reply to rfenwick #
  • @rfenwick I'm glad you think so. Now I'll delete that joke before it grows legs and rebounds. in reply to rfenwick #
  • Who's up for a #tweetup at #ldconf Shall we meet at NEC Wetherspoons after the Deputy Prime Minister's speech? #
  • Watching "Bones". Hoping for a really grim autopsy montage. #
  • Ah, no. The vic is already fully skeletonized 😦 #
  • Ooh – a second vic with more flesh. Things are looking up. #
  • @dr_nick well, thanks for that! Haven't had one of those for years/ in reply to dr_nick #
  • I'm planning on going to the Tweetup at #ldconf http://ldv.org.uk/19520 #
  • Heading to electoral reform demo in Nottingham Market Square woefully ill prepared. No placard, no leaflets, no m'ship pad. #

  • If you like it then you gotta put a man on it. http://flic.kr/p/82cRma #
  • Ooh, we're gonna march! #
  • 12seconds – Small but vocal http://tiny12.tv/PRS04 #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Tweetup / Liberal Drinks at special conference

We’re thrilled to be having such a busy day here at LDV with a lot of opinion articles scheduled from a wide spectrum of writers.

In all that, there’s a good chance we might lose sight of our early morning post proposing a Tweetup / Liberal Drinks meeting at the end of the special conference on Sunday.

Full details are here: http://ldv.org.uk/19520

To keep our discussion tidy, comments on this post are closed. Please comment on the first blog post from this morning.

Tweetup / Liberal Drinks at Special Conference

Plans are emerging for a Liberal Drink / Tweetup at tomorrow’s special conference.

It’s been a long old while since I was at the NEC (we had a fab time at a printing exhibition ten years ago when we were replacing a folding machine. Going to a conference that included machines that could turn trees into decks of playing cards was a little OTT for a standard folding machine)

However, a bit of a look at the NEC website suggests there is a Wetherspoons on site – and it’s not terribly far from Hall 3 where the special conference takes place.

So, I am proposing a Lib Drinks / Tweetup in the Wetherspoons at the NEC immediately after the speech from the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, which is due to finish the conference around 5pm.

If you’d like to come along, why not click here to let your twitter friends know.

Tweets on 2010-05-14

  • Alan Sillitoe deserves a statue, says Cllr Dave Oldham http://bit.ly/a1eunT #
  • There's only a few like @rfenwick who have left the Lib Dems in response to coalition – and the media is desperate to talk to them #
  • UK-born euromyths echoed by Wikipedia | EurActiv http://bit.ly/dAAZYc #
  • Grrr, mobile internet not working for me tonight. Have to stew in my own thoughts rather than the escapism of Twitter. #
  • Blowing hot and cold re coalition. This moment: cold. Ask me again in 40 mins. #
  • Blimey – more people at Liberal Drinks this evening than ever before. #
  • RT @lordbonkers: Can I just say that I cannot stand Julia Hartley-Brewer? << hear, hear #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Tweets on 2010-05-13

Powered by Twitter Tools

Daily View 2×2: 13 May 2010

closeup view of velcroGood morning, and welcome to your super soaraway Daily View on this, the first full day of Liberal government in the UK.

Today in 1958, Velcro was trademarked before going on to applications in haberdashery and space travel.

Birthday boys today include Arthur Sullivan, Armistead Maupin and Stevie Wonder.

2 Big Stories

There’s no doubting from the papers that today is all about the new inhabitants of Downing Street. From a Lib Dem perspective, there’s wor Vince, about to wage war on the banks. Or is he? Does the update to the Guardian’s article, filed 90 minutes after the article itself, herald the first hint of trouble in Paradise?

City is right to fear Vince Cable

Make no mistake, Cable’s appointment matters. David Cameron could have given him another economic job that would have kept him well away from anything to do with City reform. Last night it was mooted that the MP for Twickenham might be made chief secretary to the Treasury, and thus responsible for the delicate negotiations with Whitehall ministries over spending cuts.

Nick Clegg has proved he is no pushover

Jackie Ashley has praise for the Lib Dem leader’s achievements. But will it be enough?

By bringing in fixed-term parliaments and setting the next election for five years’ time, the Lib Dems hope to have had enough time to prove that they have made a difference, and are not simply mini-Cameroons. But it’s a big gamble. There is provision for another election sooner if 55% of MPs vote for one. A falling out between the parties, some rebellious MPs and a few by-elections could turn the arithmetic that way.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

  • Jonny Wright: tuition fees campaign misdirected
  • If, like me, you’re a student, and if, like me, you’re wondering how to get rid of tuition fees, then consider this. In power, Labour introduced the damn things. The Lib Dems want to scrap them, and if ever we’re in a position to do so, we will. Now, which party should you spent your efforts fighting against?

  • Dave Page: ID Cards to go
  • I joined the Liberal Democrats at the same time as I joined No2ID, the nationwide single-issue, non-partisan campaign against the Database State. For the last few years, I have been co-ordinating Manchester No2ID, a local group of the national campaign. I have worked with people from all political backgrounds, including fellow Lib Dems, Greens, Labour and even anarchists. Working across party lines, on a single issue, has been very refreshing and helped me see beyond party politics. Our monthly street stalls keep me in touch with people’s opinions, and lead to frank and open discussions.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.