Liberal Democrat Voice (Free subscription) | 30/11/2009
Last Saturday at the Bloggers’ Unconference, our final interview of the day was with Jo Swinson MP – which was particularly kind of her, since she’d flown back from New York the day before, and must have been jet-lagged. Falling at the end of the day, the discussion we had with Jo was one of the [...]
Mars Hill (Free subscription) | yesterday
Further to my last posting , the evening was indeed successful, entertaining, and informative, although I wonder if it told us anything new. Most of the panel agreed that the idea of blogging and twitter being a major force in the next general election campaign must be put in perspective. People said similar things about the Internet in general in 1997 and nothing beats actually meeting voters and...
Mars Hill (Free subscription) | 30/11/2009
This evening I will be at a panel discussion at Portcullis House, hosted by Total Politics magazine on "Will 2010 Be Britiain's First Internet Election?" The panel will include Tom Harris MP, Iain Dale, Jo Swinson MP, Paul Waugh, and will be Chaired by Shelagh Fogarty, one of the Radio Five Live breakfast presenters. It promises to be an interesting meeting, especially as 2010 will see the...
North to Leith (Free subscription) | 29/11/2009
I watched Question Time on the BBC with some interest as it was broadcast from our very own ‘Edinburgh’. While Jo Swinson may have been bumped from the panel for a living breathing stereotypical Daily Mail columnist the other contributors defended their own particular flags (with the exception of Charlie Falconer getting a bit of a shoo-ing from the audience over the Iraq inquiry) fairly...
Liberal Bureaucracy (Free subscription) | 29/11/2009
I'm a busy man and not always the most organised, and so it shouldn't have come as a great surprise to discover that, on arrival in Edinburgh for the Bloggers Unconference on Friday night, it had taken place the previous weekend. Luckily, a full schedule of events was available to me, and I had already swapped blog comments with Jo Swinson before setting off, so my journey wasn't in vain. Friday saw...
Stephen's Linlithgow Journal (Free subscription) | 27/11/2009
Earlier this week Jo Swinson tweeted that she had been dropped from the BBC Question Time panel in Edinburgh less than 48 hours before it was scheduled. What we ended up getting was the Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, up against Blair's good mate Derry Falconer, David Davis of the Tories, comedian Marcus Brigstocke and Daily Fail columnist Melanie Philips. Apart from part of Lord Falconer's...
Mark Reckons (Free subscription) | 26/11/2009
It's #bbcqt day again and as usual the Live Chat on this blog will start tonight at 10:30pm. For the second time in four weeks the panel will not include a Lib Dem. This has caused someconsternation in the Lib Dem blogosphere, especially as Jo Swinson was dropped at 48 hours notice and in the week that the Iraq Inquiry has started (of course the Lib Dems were the only one of the three largest parties...
Caron's Musings (Free subscription) | 26/11/2009
Since I wrote this post yesterday, a steady flow of people have let me know either via Twitter or Facebook or the group on the new Lib Dem social network Act that they have complained to the BBC about Jo being dropped from tonight's panel and there being no Liberal Democrat on for two weeks out of four. Hell, some people have even done the old fashioned thing and told me via using their own voices,...
And another thing... (Free subscription) | 26/11/2009
LIBDEM MP Jo Swinson has been revealed through her Facebook page Twitter that she has been dropped by the Beeb from tonight’s Question Time panel. I know how she feels, though in my case it was a senior minister who ordained that I should not appear, despite the Beeb actually wanting me on the panel. This [...]
Liberal Bureaucracy (Free subscription) | 26/11/2009
And so the Labour Party Speakers Conference has concluded that political parties should be made to publish the number of women, ethnic minority, disabled and gay people are applying to be Parliamentary candidates. Let us not be under any misapprehension here, this is an attempt to impose a Labour solution on the body politic, regardless of the fact that other political parties see the solution to...
Caron's Musings (Free subscription) | 25/11/2009
Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs shadow minister Jo Swinson commented on Twitter this morning that she was a "bit miffed at being dropped from #bbcqt panel at 48hrs notice: Iraq inquiry this week and no Lib Dem on panel!" I may be wrong, but I have a vague recollection that this might not be the first time this has happened to her, either. What is reprehensible on the part of the BBC is that...
Caron's Musings (Free subscription) | 22/11/2009
I can only give you a quick taster of what happened at yesterday's Lib Dem Voice organised Lib Dem Bloggers' Unconference as I have to vacate the laptop as my long suffering husband wishes to harvest his crops on Facebook's Farm Town. The sooner we have more than one thing in this house that connects to the internet the better. His desktop monitor has gone and while I think his time might be better...
Caron's Musings (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect of the inaugural Liberal Democrat Voice Bloggers' Unconference (a bit Winnie the Pooh, but so what) in Edinburth this Saturday. Every so often an event comes along that is an I'll-do-it-if-it-kills-me must and this is it. It also marks the first time in a long time I will have attempted to be out for a whole day. It may yet end in tears, but I am not...
Les Bonner (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009
“Cosmetic surgery is a medical intervention with all the associated risks but you would never know that from the way it is advertised,” said the Liberal Democrat MP, Jo Swinson. Commenting on today’s Royal Society of Medicine report into the risks of cosmetic surgery, Jo Swinson said: “This damning report shows the need for better regulation of [...]
Liberal Democrat Voice (Free subscription) | 13/11/2009
What could be simpler: five categories, each with five links. And it’s Friday. 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Opinion: No to All-Men Shortlists (54) by Jo Swinson MP 2. Cambridge MP David Howarth to stand down (14) by The Voice 3. Lib Dem peer admits exploiting expenses loophole (33) [...]
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