Wednesday’s editorial for the Guardian – which I found online here – is one of those pieces you see all too often in the Guardian, the time honoured preparation of the nose peg. Hold your nose, disregard the stench and put the cross by the rose.

It tries to find some vestige of hope in the Labour party, one thing remaining that is still worth voting for. But it’s the penultimate paragraph and not its conclusion that rings truest:

The party’s activists and MPs are so obviously convinced of their own decent intentions and past record that they fail to see how Labour can appear to outsiders. They have lost sight of the need to explain their actions, to listen to voters, to change and to stand up to immediate sectional self-interest – business as well as strikers. This confusion is the fault of serving ministers as much as it is the foolish greed of Hewitt and Hoon. The buzzword inside Labour’s ruling circle is renewal, but it is hard to see what this means, other than a hoped-for election win. The party is not renewing in any visible way. Its manifesto seems cloudy and unoriginal and its political base narrowing.

And the most remarkable thing about the piece? The comments that follow it. The Guardian’s online commentators are not buying it, not a bit of it.

In a number of comments, its readers are exhorting their paper to switch to the Liberal Democrats.

Claire McW:

Surely the Guardian can’t officially support Labour in the general election after this week’s revelations? They don’t deserve your support and need to work out what they stand for whilst well away from power. Take a chance on the LibDems instead.

Bernie29UK:

I would also like to see the paper coming out in support of the Lib Dems.
Labour getting back in would be disastrous for reform.

BrotherBig

[…]
I would find it difficult to spend the next 6 weeks trying to pretend that everyone was born yesterday and that Labour on 7 May 2010 will be fresh and optimistic and nothing like the burnt-out case it was on 6 May 2010. Perhaps you would, too.

In which case, why not stop now, save yourselves the grief, and back the Lib Dems. At least they’re an unknown quantity backing social justice. Labour have an unforgettable 13 years in power demonstrating their inability to deliver the same.

In 2010, a Labour vote is a wasted vote. And a Labour editorial is a wasted editorial.

And on and on it goes.

Steve Webb MP has a piece in CiF today shoring up our progressive values in the face of more ill-thought out Fabian criticism.

It looks like he’s sowing seeds in fertile ground.

Are you up to speed with the mess the Tories made out of trying to use social media yesterday? They launched a website trying to criticise Gordon Brown for something or other. Part of the site included a twitter feed so that any twitter user using the hashtag #cashgordon could get their words on the site. Users quickly found out that these were not screened before going live, which meant you could get anti-Tory sentiment onto the Tory website. And then the more technically minded twitterati discovered that if you included some code in your tweet, you could make the Tory website do some unexpected things.

All this is covered in Mark Pack’s post here yesterday, Chris Keating’s post on his own blog and also this rather funny image on Flickr.

So far, so silly. Lessons, I’m sure, have been learned about the wisdom of setting up sites that invite user participation but don’t take the time to think through just what that participation could include.

But as t’Voice’s old friend Alix alerted us to in the comments yesterday, there’s a slightly more sinister side to the story too. Twitter user @jimmysparkle posted to say the Conservatives had phoned his workplace, alleged that he hacked their site, and threatened to sue.

conservative party phoned my workplace claiming they may sue me for supposedly hacking their website… tweeting != hacking. lol #cashgordon

Apparently the woman who phoned was a Laura Cooper, no idea if she was genuine. Claimed I hacked their site. Fail fail fail #cashgordon

This was enough to pique the interest of Sky journalist @niallpaterson who started digging. Before Paterson got involved, Twitter had unearthed that the name of the woman who phoned Jimmy Sparkle’s office sounded suspiciously like the name of the girlfriend of Samuel Coates, one of the Conservative web workers responsible for the site in the first place.

Paterson has clearly got some sort of denial out of CCHQ, because he was able to tweet the following:

But even in the cab home, i’m working – Tories confirm tonight that Lua Cooper DID contact @jimmysparkle but is not a member of staff

Ms Cooper is a “friend” of party worker, her actions were neither authorised nor condoned by CCHQ. She “felt strongly” abt hijacking of site

How very strange. The story so far seems to be: Tory worker sets up weak site. Weak site becomes magnet for vulnerability exploits. Tory worker’s girlfriend gets upset and phones twitter user’s boss to allege hacking. CCHQ hang her out to dry.

It will be worth keeping an eye on how this story develops during the day.

UPDATE: A correction – although the person making the call was originally identified as Laura Cooper, it turns out her name is actually Lua Cooper.

In history, March 23rd was the day in 1903 the Wright Brothers applied for a patent on one of the earliest aeroplanes – and the day in 1933 Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany.

It’s birthday to Joan Crawford, Wernher von Braun, José Manuel Barroso, Marti Pellow and Russell Howard.

Today in history, two people who underwent pioneering surgical procedures died: Britain’s youngest ever liver transplant patient died, aged three, and in 1982, the recipient of the first ever artificial heart died, aged 61.

2 Big Stories

All yesterday, two huge political stories raged through the online world: the farce of a Tory attempt to use social media, #cashgordon, and foreshadowing of last night’s Dispatches, which showed three Labour former cabinet ministers in a very bad light.

The newspapers catch up with the latter, but don’t seem to be covering the former.

Byers, Hewitt and Hoon suspended over lobbying allegations

The Telegraph reports:

Three former Cabinet ministers, Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon, have been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over allegations they tried to sway policy decisions by lobbying the Government.

The Lib Dem party line on this horrid mess which embarrasses Parliament?

Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House, David Heath said, “MPs should not be using their positions to further their own interests over those of the people they should be representing. Liberal Democrats brought forward measures to restrict the influence of lobbyists in Parliament. Sadly, Labour voted them down while the Tories failed to show up. Labour and the Tories claim they want to clean up politics but the reality proves different.”

Official: British are better at cooking than the French

For a little light relief, the Guardian reignites the old rivalry between the French and the Brits:

More than 2,000 French people and nearly 1,350 Britons were asked about their eating and cooking habits. Their answers revealed that 72% of the British cook at home daily, compared with 59% of the French. One British cook in two spends more than 30 minutes preparing a meal while only a quarter of the French spend that long.

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:

• Liberal England liveblogged Dispatches

And depressing reading it makes too.

• Jonathan Wallace has Conference: the Movie

“Starring” Chris Huhne. Relive the highs and lows of last weekend in this blockbuster epic.

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.

One last word

Reading List has a blog post with a variety of links to other blog posts on the story of the B&B who turned away Huntingdon Lib Dem Council Group leader John Morgan and his partner.

As Twitter user @qwghlm points out,

The “Christian” couple who refused a gay couple a bed obviously didn’t have 1 Peter 4:8-9 to mind when they did so: Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. (ESV)

Of all the days in history I’ve had to write about so far, March 18th seems about the dullest. Nothing particularly interesting has ever happened today, so that’s a bit of a challenge for the day just leaving the starters blocks.

About the best the wikipedia page for today can offer up is that John Updike was born today and the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to transportation. Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube was disconnected and BSL was first recognised as an official British language.

2 Big Stories

Ashcroft’s lawyers silence ‘Panorama’

The Independent reports:

The BBC has shelved a Panorama documentary about the business affairs of the Tory billionaire Lord Ashcroft, because of a threat of legal action.

The Corporation has received what one insider described as “several very heavy letters” from Lord Ashcroft’s lawyers. There is now little or no prospect of the investigation being broadcast before the general election, if it goes out at all.

Plan to ban items from bins to boost recycling

The Guardian has a report on how Labour want to take even more responsibilities away from Councils, by legislating exactly what waste should be recycled:

Black bins for household waste could become a thing of the past under proposals to be published tomorrow to ban almost everything thrown away by households from being sent to landfill.

Paper and card, food, garden waste and plastics are all on a list of items that would have to be recycled, composted, or burned for energy. The move would represent a transformation in England and Wales, where about half of what people put in the bin at home or at work ends up in holes in the ground.

Presumably another stupid unenforceable Labour idea that will be floated and then dropped in fairly short order.

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:

• Joe Otten kinda likes the slogan

Sure the Tory slogan has the word change. They want us to think that they are Barack Obama. But of course Obama is a Liberal and a Democrat. And where is their change? And who is it for? Sure the Labour slogan has the word fairness. But they’ve been in government for what seems like 30 years, and where is this fairness? So maybe it sucks to have a slogan that must be explained. At least – unlike the other parties – we have one that can be explained.

• Alex Folkes notes the post Conference Lib Dem poll boost

Turns out that when people hear more from the Lib Dems, they support us more. Who knew?

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.

So despite conference taking our peers out for a friendly word in their shell-like, it seems the Digital Economy Bill has successfully cleared the hurdles in the House of Lords.

Some industry experts are relying on the bill passing simply because it runs out of time, the MPs fail to scrutinize it, and it gets through thanks to the wash-up.

So now is the time to write to your MP to insist the bill gets a proper hearing in the Commons.  38 Degrees have information and a campaign to help you do that.

Good morning, and welcome to Daily View. I’m standing in for your usual Tuesday host because Sara was rushed into hospital yesterday. Get well soon, Sara.

March 16th in history saw the resignation of Harold Wilson in 1976; in 1995, Mississippi finally ratified the 13th Amendment and officially outlawed slavery in US.

Today is the birthday of Isabelle Huppert and Jimmy Nail.

2 Big Stories

Police investigate Labour MP Ashok Kumar’s death

Police and doctors are investigating the death of a Labour MP whose body was found at his home yesterday.

Dr Ashok Kumar, 53, had been working as normal, with major commitments as parliamentary private secretary to Hilary Benn, the environment secretary. He was also campaigning for Corus steelworkers’ jobs in his Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. His body was found after anxious staff failed to rouse him by phone and called emergency services, who broke into his home.

Steve Richards has noticed something about Nick Clegg

Suddenly it is almost impossible to switch on the TV or radio, read a newspaper or a political blog, without Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, featuring in some form or other. For a long time Clegg despaired of being noticed in the media. Now he is almost as ubiquitous as David Beckham, with slightly more hope of being an active player this summer.

There is, though, a twist. Every time Clegg is interviewed in this period of unusual prominence he is asked a variation on the same question. Sometimes it is all he is asked in interviews lasting a considerable length of time. What, Mr Clegg, would you do in the event of a hung parliament?

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? It’s still close enough to conference that debates and speeches are still on people’s minds. Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Millennium Elephant’s unique take on the proceedings

The City of Brum is FAMOUS for MAKING THINGS, not least CARS including the famous cat-monster brand of Jaguar, but also all sorts of things from custard and chocolate and HP Sauce to jewellery and Bakelite. Also two of Great Britain’s famous failed banks were founded here (Lloyds Superbank wot we own, and Midland wot was bought up by the HSBC), but never mind that.

So it was GOOD to be debating the importance of reclaiming Great Britain’s position as a manufacturing nation there in the Iron City. And Captain Clegg made a point of this in his big speech too, saying we need a change from an economy based just on City bankers gambling.

• Caron Lindsay is slightly critical

I am going to be critical – but only about the quality of the video. Dark suit and black backdrop do kind of make him look a bit strange.

It really must be a nightmare to wake up on the morning of a keynote speech with a bad throat, but despite that Nick did really well.

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.

And Two Tuesday Bonus Links today:

• Electech has kicked off the official election barchart grumbling season
• Left Foot Forward have some information about SNP smears.

I don’t want to be excessively partisan, but for the second time this weekend at conference, I’m getting a really good feeling about the Liberal Democrats.

The first was when we heard that a senior, experienced MEP thought our party was the best way forward.

But the second has been our response to the Digital Economy Bill and a huge online campaign from internet activists within the party and of no party.

Yes, it’s true that our team in the Lords invited the anger of the online activist fraternity. A lot of resentment has been brewing about the Digital Economy Bill as a whole, and when even the Liberal Democrats seemed to be untrustworthy and in favour of censorship, that anger spilled over and was directed at us.

I live in a lot of online communities as I suspect many of you who read this do. And it turns out for a lot of those communities, I’m “the Liberal Democrat” people know. So I got those emails and tweets of concern. So it is my responsibility to make sure I take steps both to change the direction of our party to be more in tune with real online people, and then to let those real online people know what we are doing.

It turns out that Lords amendment, though poorly implemented, and scary in isolation, was actually well intentioned. It takes the censorship powers away from an individual minister, currently Lord Mandelson, and hands it to courts and due process. Really, though, we don’t want censorship at all.

But what makes me really proud of the party is how so many of our internal party democracy systems have worked so well to address the issue once it was raised.

Bridget Fox, one of our party’s more impressive prospective MPs, was alerted to the problems by angered Islington constituents. She leapt into action and rousted 25 fellow PPCs into expressing the concerns and anger to the party’s parliamentarians.

The parliamentarians responded – and a debate began.

Danny Alexander MP (Vice Chair, Federal Policy Committee) makes significant commitments, saying the party will try to further change the Digital Economy Bill in the Commons and to draw up new policies after the election.

Bridget wrote an excellent emergency motion which found favour with internet activist and wavering party supporter Cory Doctorow and submitted it to conference. Lib Dem conferences are carefully designed to let real party members discuss issues. And because we understand sometimes things come up at short notice and don’t fit into long timetables we reserve some slots for emergency motions.

And then party members working together at conference selected Bridget’s amendment for debate, and that’s what led to this morning’s debate. You can find a written summary of that here by our own Iain Roberts and a full audio recording of the debate here.

And then party members debated the motion and voted overwhelmingly in favour.

In what other major party would that be possible? Which other party still has conference policy debates? Which other parties have leadership teams prepared to enter into debate, and not hunker down with a bunker mentality and try and defend the indefensible against all comers?

The motion we have passed is excellent, and sets in train a new IT policy working group and more detailed work on intellectual property law. Result!

We must not however rest on our laurels. There is more work to do to rebuild our reputation in the eyes of many digital activists. Some people are still contacting me with links to the original stories, weeks after the picture began to change and the party began to respond. So those of us who live online lives need to go back to our online communities and spread the good news. We need to make sure that the working groups, once established, take the right positions on digital freedoms. And we need to keep up the pressure on our parliamentary parties to do the right thing when they have the opportunity to improve the Digital Economy Bill.

Exciting news live from the LDV Broom Cupboard in Birmingham’s ICC.

News reaches us that Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott has defected to the Liberal Democrats and will be joining us here at party conference.

The MEP said today: “I have been around the higher circles of the Conservative party for long enough to fear that on Europe Cameron says one thing in opposition and will do another in government.

“I have long fought against totalitarianism and the extremism and religious persecution it brings. It was wrong of Cameron to associate with MEPs who have extremist pasts in his new European alliance.”

I guess Liberal Democrats will be partying like it’s 1999 2000.

Update: here’s the full text of Edward’s resignation letter to David Cameron …

Dear David,

I am resigning today from my appeal against expulsion from the Conservative Party and from the Party itself to join the Liberal Democrats for three reasons:

1 I have been around the higher circles of the Party long enough, most recently serving on both the Euro-election and General Election strategy committees at CCHQ, to know that Euro-scepticism is in the hearts of most Conservatives. Your decision to split from the mainstream EPP and create the new ECR group has been universally condemned, even by right-wing commentators such as The Economist as a “shoddy, shaming alliance” . You say you will not ‘bang on about Europe’ and your spokesman make warm noises. But I fear that on Europe you say one thing in opposition and will do another in government.

2 You continue to refuse to accept that Michal Kaminski, who now leads the ECR and against whom I stood and won re-election as Vice-President of the European Parliament last July, has had ‘anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist links’. You say that you are against extremism at home , yet you propitiate it abroad.

3 My family, friends and those who work with me will all confirm that I have sought in good faith an amicable resolution of my dispute at all levels in the Party. I have written to you on several occasions without a reply and have pursued the appeal process to which you submitted me in the diminishing expectation of fairness. I have stated my case modestly in the media. Last weekend your lawyers made clear that the appeal would continue to be rigged by you, despite your public pretensions to decency and fairness. As my friend Henry Porter put it in the Observer, your response has been ‘thuggish and panicky’ . You say one thing in public and do another in private.

My reasons for joining the Liberal Democrats are that in Nick Clegg they have a leader whom I like, admire and respect. They are internationalists, not nationalists. They are committed to politics based the values of fairness and change, but you are committed to power for its own sake.

Yours sincerely,

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP
Vice President of the European Parliament
Responsible for Democracy and Human Rights