I wasn't go to vote in the Lib Dem Presidential elections until ...

I wasn't going to vote in the Lib Dem presidential elections until I saw the Tim Farron video linked to below on Paul Walter's blog.

I have voted now and I have voted for Tim. I urge you to watch the video too.

The oft repeated lie for lazy journalists

After the kids TV finished on FIVE this morning, I forgot to turn over and was suddenly presented with the a programme called "The Wright Stuff". This programme supposedly looks at "The stories of the day" and has a couple of generally ill informed, so called "experts" with no discernable qualifications to speak on the topic of current affairs other than the fact that they appear to be not exactly "A" list names.

This morning, the programme had on an American, who I have never seen before or heard of, who repeated the common line from journalists at the moment, a line that if they all repeat often enough, they start to actually believe. When discussing the government, this American said, as a statement of fact, "Lib Dems are leaving in droves to join the Labour Party !" .

On what basis is he making this comment other than he heard other lazy journalists saying it ? I gather (to my surprise) that there was a surge in membership after the election and I cannot think of anyone who has joined Labour since the election.

Isn't it another case that lazy journalists like to make up stories about the Lib Dems in the hope that it will be true, and then cannot discern between their own lies and the substance ?

Note - For clarity, I am not a supporter of the coalition and I did consider leaving the Lib Dems after the coalition deal. If I had, I would not have joined Labour  as I don't like parties that start illegal wars.

I'm staying put, for now.

I am convinced by the coalition and our reason for entering it ?

No.

Am I convinced that some of our MPs didn't get stars in their eyes ?

No.

Do I think electors have been lied to ?

Yes

As a councillor elected as a Lib Dem, do I think it would further damage people's trust in my area if I resigned as a Lib Dem having been elected as one ?

Yes.

People are sick at the moment of voting for people who say one thing, then do another. "Vote Lib Dem to get ..." they were told. In my area, I intend to keep my promises even if nationally the party have failed to do that.

So until my term is up as a councillor, I will remain a Lib Dem and I will continue to oppose those things I was told we should be opposing in election literature delivered just days ago. However, I cannot  promise I will remain a Lib Dem after May 2011.

Do I want to remain in a party that goes in to a full coalition with the Tories ?

The rumours this afternoon suggest that Lib Dem MPs are now swinging towards the idea of a full coalition with the Tories. If this is the case, I am absolutely appalled.

I can understand the arguments for allowing the Tories to run a minority government. I can understand the arguments for allowing the Tories to have support on key issues like the Queen's speech, major issues in their manifesto, and areas where Lib Dems and Tories agree. However, I cannot see the need for a full coalition other than to tickle the bellys of certain Lib Dem MPs wishing for a ministerial car and the title "Right Honourable".

If we get in return immediate support for the AV voting system and AV+, then I could stomach it. But if it is to got to a committee, then to a referendum, and finally be allowed to be crushed by the Rupert Murdoch media empire who will use every sinew of their energy to oppose it, ensuring we have torn the Lib Dems apart in order to allow the Tories to rule with no change to our voting system, then our MPs will allow themselves to become the Ramsay McDonalds of the Liberal movement.

Do I want to remain in such a party ? Do I hell !

Tuesday Night Update - So much of me wants to just give up on the party, but in many ways, that is what our parliamentary party has done, and I think there should be some of us left after they do their Ramsay McDonald act and either lose their seats or join the Tory Party. Someone has to carry the torch for the Lib Dems, so I will, in all probably stay on.

Fifth hand delivered Lib Dem leaflet in Broadland

Yes, I know I appear to have skipped a leaflet, but I failed to count the tabloid that went out at the start of the campaign in my previous count up of leaflets.

So this is the latest leaflet going out in Broadland. My guess, with three days left, is that this is the final leaflet aside from "Good Mornings" and "Knock Up" leaflets in key areas.

Third hand delivered Lib Dem leaflet in Broadland

This is the leaflet we have finished delivering in my ward in the last few days.

Lib Dem hand delivered leaflet in Broadland

This was the second leaflet we delivered by hand last week in Broadland constituency

Lib Dem Freepost Leaflet in Broadland

Here is the front and back from the Lib Dem Freepost leaflet in the Broadland constituency.
I can't photograph the fold out centre as my camera is not to hand. I might have time to do it tomorrow.

Contradictions of the Tory Marriage Tax proposal - Explained via a short film

Yes, I am sure I could have done better, but this has taken me hours to do. Enjoy, share, pass it on to others please. It certainly highlight the unfairness of the Tories plans and the Lib Dems simple alternative.

Lets use the snow to spell out the message of the sort of Britain the Lib Dems would like to see

The Lib Dems are all about empowering people to take action and make a difference, yet the law of the law really does seem to stand in the way of this. Just look at this article about clearing snow from your path or road. The truth is the law in this country prevents people from taking action themselves, puts artificial barriers in the way of people and communities taking independent effective actions themselves, and makes people even more dependent on and expectant of a nanny state that will do everything for them.

Why doesn't Nick Clegg take the snow as an opportunity to spell out the sort of Britain we want to see. Where people take responsibility for clearing snow from their driveways instead of fearing that they could be sued for doing so. A country where people know their rights, but also know their responsibilities. A Britain where we don't just moan about the lack of gritting, but where people actually bother to walk to the gritting boxes and grit the bit of their road themselves.

We hear on the radio and TV all the time about people helping each other out in the snow. People offering shelter, people taking medicines to the ill. People going out and doing shopping for the elderly and infirm. Yet too many people these days take the "there is no such thing as society" line, sit back and expect someone else, government, or the council to do everything for them and if it isn't done, then they still won't lift a finger to   help.

I didn't like her anyway so her views rather justify my opinion

I was always of the opinion that the Queen Mother was a rather spiteful women who did all she could to stop any kind of healing of wounds within the Royal family regarding the former King Edward VIII whilst holding back the modernisation of the whole Royal setup.

On top of this, she lived a good life at our expense indulging her lavish tastes whilst employing people of questionable moral standards.

So I was not in the least surprised today to read in the Queen Mother's offical biography that she disliked talk of money (so she could avoid any fiscal responsibility) and she disliked Liberal Democrats !

Perhaps it is a badge of honour Lib Dems should wear.

No nominations please

I might be being very presumptuous even suggesting it, but anyone thinking of suggesting any postings of mine or thinking of nominating my blog for any Lib Dem Voice blog awards shouldn't bother.

Last year I wrote in Iain Dale's guide to political blogging that I felt the awards were too self congratulatory, rather too on message, and the judges rather self selecting in that the same people and the same "friends" get chosen every time. Those of you from the provinces (and I use that term loosely) and who don't get to conference really don't matter. Yes, I am sure I'll get comments decrying my views, but I would add that it would me hypocritical for me to seek votes or feign interest in these awards given my published views.

For my money, Stephen Glenn writes the best Lib Dem blog at the moment so perhaps he will get some credit for his good writing.

I am a Lib Dem (or so this website says)

Clicking on this website and answering the questions told me I am a Lib Dem. Interestingly my third choice is apparently "Green". Funny that as I don't support their policy of allowing people to stay out of work and earning a "citizens income" with no compulsion to work, I don't believe in the nationalisation of supermarkets and I don't support green plans to abolish stem cell research.

Beware of prank leaflets

Oh dear, it appears Lib Dems in Cornwall have been caught out after an "in joke" went horribly wrong after some prank leaflets. You can read about it HERE.

I have, in the past, set up dummy leaflets, but my tone has always to parody something.

When doing an all night print run in 2003 when we ordered take away pizza to keep us going (along with lots of diet coke), I set up a leaflet with my council running mate that printed bar charts showing which pizza would finish first along with quote like "Everyone knows in North Norfolk that there is no point in ordering an four seasons Pizza - Only the meat feast can beat the pepperoni here",

Obviously this is a lesson that Cornwalll Lib Dems will learn from, and quickly !

More lazy journalism from the BBC politics team

I am a fan of the BBC, but I also feel there is a large amount of laziness amongst journalists which is endemic within the BBC. Locally the BBC news team in East Anglia, and I am sure in other regions too, miss real political news stories and instead only print what is sent to them in press releases by the councils. This means we get a half baked version of the news, and this is true beyond the politics arena too. Too many journalists wait for a press release rather than finding a story themselves. So what does a BBC journalist do when sent to a Lib Dem conference if they want to be seen as a "go getter" or "investigative" ?

They revert to one of two stories that have been used over and over again. Either they report about what delegates are saying "off record" about the party leader or they ask people who the Lib Dems should work with in a coalition government. Interestingly they never ask the second question to Tories or Labour members at their conferences ?

So why should I be surprised that BBC journalist Brian Wheeler went for the coalition question this year ? The party are united behind Nick Clegg, so there is no party leader story to make up this year, so Mr Wheeler went for the other option.

It's just another example of very lazy journalism from the BBC. How about something original ? How about some proper in depth political analysis ? I won't hold my breath.

One of the best reasons why you should have a Lib Dem MP

Irfan Ahmed points us to the a poll by Politics Home which shows that people who have Lib Dem MPs rate them as more local, independent, approachable, experienced, independent and perhaps best of all, they keep in touch more often than MP's of other parties.

If you are really undecided about whether to vote Lib Dem or not, take a closer look at the poll and put your "x" in the correct place.

Ros Scott's election - Good news for the party

I have to say as a non voter in the Lib Dem presidential elections (I was not sent a ballot paper), the result of the election is a good thing for the Lib Dems.

If Lembit had won, what would have been achieved ? More publicity for Lembit, but not another star name for the party. No, with the election of Ros, we get a brand new name for the party, another important visitor for target seats to get publicity from during elections, and for most activists, we get a president who is someone like us. Someone who knocks on doors on grotty rainy days when the cameras are not around, I know, I've door knocked with Ros in North Norfolk on more than one occasion and she is as good at it as anyone.

The result too is also very positive for the party. It tells any one of us that you don't have to be an MP to get elected to such a high position and it also tells us that one of the old adages about publicity is not true.

We are always told "all publicity is good publicity", I think in Lembit's case this has been shown not to be the case.

Have I been banned by Lib Dem blogs aggregated ?

I wondered why it is that I was getting no links from Lib Dem blogs aggregated so I had a look to see if I was having my blog postings listed on Lib Dem blogs. Rather surprisingly, I find out that I appear to have been removed as none of my postings for several days have appeared in the Lib Dem blog listings.

I note that on their "News" page they state that there are some problem about occasioanl postings not appearing if you use Feedburner as your RSS (as I do), but they don't say that all of your posts wil be missing or excluded.

Very odd indeed. I would hope that if I have been banned somebody in the Lib Dems would let me know, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is a much more major Feedburner problem than they are letting on.

Lib Dem "Robo Calls" were doomed from the start

As soon as party officials in the Lib Dems revealed that auto dialers would be used to to make "robo calls" to 250,000 homes, it was clear the party knew it was breaking rules about what type of calls political party's make.

On the day of Nich Clegg's speech to conference the party was spinning the plan as a way to engage with voters, but at the same time requests by the information commissioner for full information about the Lib Dem scheme were, according to the BBC at the time, being ignored on the basis that nobody was available to give the necessary details to them. This, at the time, smacked of the party trying to delay the information commissioner in stopping the party making the calls, but also seemed to highlight that the party was in the wrong, and it knew it. If what the Lib Dems was doing was fine and dandy I am sure the party would have been all too willing to provide the information commissioner with the full info at the earliest opportunity.

So it was with little surprise that yesterday the party was told not do make calls of this sort again, but slightly more surprise that the Lib Dems would not appeal the decisions. After all the Lib Dems were saying two weeks ago that this sort of telephone call was fine and that the part was doing nothing wrong.

So what has the result been ? I would imagine, like me, thousands of people annoyed at receiving a robo-call, and even more now put off the Lib Dems by a whole day of negative publicity when it was proved the party was wrong.

And to think, somebody got paid to make the decision to make the calls in the first place.

It's a Labour trick !

Some people seem to think Gordon Brown is the subject of a nasty campaign to unseat him by an unscrupulous group of Labour MPs. But given that it has taken so much coverage away from the Lib Dems ought we not give Gordon Brown some credit for his elaborate scheme to deny the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg much need publicity ?

P.S. Yes, I am joking.