In case any one was wondering (probably not - but you never know), I'm not in Brighton and will not be showing my face down there this week at the Lib Dem Conference.
Although I still retain a strong interest in politics and Liberalism, I am taking a bit of a sabbattical and working on building up my training business and spending quality time with my lovely wife and daughter.
Today was a rather special day as my little girl, Anna, started at Primary School. Qun and I really enjoyed taking her to and from school today and she looked a pretty picture in her school uniform.
With all due respect to our leader, that beats a Ming Campbell question and answer session anyday.
I wish all my friends at Conference well. I miss you and I hope we shall see each other again in the not too distant future.
I just need some more time to get over what has been THE most frustrating and appalling year in my political life - one I should never have experienced at the hands of fellow so-called Lib Dems. Given the recent fractious history of liberalism in this district it perhaps didn't come as a complete shock to outside observers and others who were Lib Dems once.
I take comfort in the fact that the other 19 years were enjoyable and happy ones and I've made quite a few friends along the way. Thanks to my optimistic disposition I am looking forward to the future and know that the best is yet to come.
I shall work on developing a more interesting style of writing which I hope will make my political and personal memoires an interesting read some day in the future. Then, perhaps, my side of the story can finally come out unfettered and undistorted by spin, the imagination of local journalists and editors and the need for internal procedures and protocols to work their way through.
2008 still cannot come a day too soon.
Monday, 17 September 2007
Yours Truly on BBC1 South East
Your's truly made a couple of brief appearances on the South East section of the Politics Show last Sunday.
Click on the link
here to see it all again.
I'm sure that some people in the Party and beyond will be ecstatic to see that I am very much still alive and kicking politically.
By the way, Jack Devine, you haven't got a clue what you are talking about. We've been way ahead of the other two parties for years on the use of the internet and modern communication techniques. That's why we've always punched above our financial weight in campaigning terms both in paper-based literature and in terms of e-campaigning.
Click on the link
here to see it all again.
I'm sure that some people in the Party and beyond will be ecstatic to see that I am very much still alive and kicking politically.
By the way, Jack Devine, you haven't got a clue what you are talking about. We've been way ahead of the other two parties for years on the use of the internet and modern communication techniques. That's why we've always punched above our financial weight in campaigning terms both in paper-based literature and in terms of e-campaigning.
Thursday, 13 September 2007
President Kennedy
I strongly welcome the news that Charles Kennedy is to be the new President of the European Movement and will be going out there to make the case for Europe. Something we should be doing as a whole in the Party.
I'm also pleased to hear that the European Movement will be having a formal relaunch. I certainly will want to get involved in that locally.
I'm also pleased to hear that the European Movement will be having a formal relaunch. I certainly will want to get involved in that locally.
Gladstone and the Treaty
A reminder of an inspirational quote by a Liberal leader in a bygone era:
"What do I understand by the Liberal principle? I understand, in the main, it is a principle of trust in the people only qualified by prudence. By the principle which is opposed to the Liberal principle, I understand mistrust of the people, only qualified by fear". W.E.Gladstone. Speeches and Addresses Delivered at the Election of 1865 reproduced in Brack and Ingham (Eds.) Dictionary of Liberal Quotations. Politicos (1999).
We do well, as Liberals, to remember this principle and to have the courage of our convictions at all times.
"What do I understand by the Liberal principle? I understand, in the main, it is a principle of trust in the people only qualified by prudence. By the principle which is opposed to the Liberal principle, I understand mistrust of the people, only qualified by fear". W.E.Gladstone. Speeches and Addresses Delivered at the Election of 1865 reproduced in Brack and Ingham (Eds.) Dictionary of Liberal Quotations. Politicos (1999).
We do well, as Liberals, to remember this principle and to have the courage of our convictions at all times.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
There Should Be A Referendum on the EU Treaty
I'm adding my voice to several Lib Dems who believe that there should be a referendum on the latest EU Treaty.
I'm a declared Europhile that recognises that although there are significant issues with the way in which the EU operates which certainly need to be reformed, the pooling of sovereinty with our fellow EU partners has certainly helped Britain to punch above it's weight on a range of international issues.
We need to go out and sell the benefits of the EU to the British people. For too long now we've allowed the crankies in the Tory Party and UKIP (amongst others) to bash on with their narrow, xenophobic vision of the EU and the role of Britain in the world.
Some of these guys live trapped in a golden era that never existed where Britain is still a huge power in the world. They've successfully poisoned the political atmosphere in the UK and stereotyped the EU as some kind of bureaucratic monster. Frankly we've been timid and have let them get away with it. It's time to get back out there again and campaign FOR the EU and for the Treaty.
Supporting a referendum would be thoroughly consistent with the political platform I stood on as Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham Perry Barr where we supported a referendum on Maastricht. I don't really see what has changed from that point in time.
I think Anthony Hook and others are right, and sorry Ming, I think you are wrong on this one.
I'm a declared Europhile that recognises that although there are significant issues with the way in which the EU operates which certainly need to be reformed, the pooling of sovereinty with our fellow EU partners has certainly helped Britain to punch above it's weight on a range of international issues.
We need to go out and sell the benefits of the EU to the British people. For too long now we've allowed the crankies in the Tory Party and UKIP (amongst others) to bash on with their narrow, xenophobic vision of the EU and the role of Britain in the world.
Some of these guys live trapped in a golden era that never existed where Britain is still a huge power in the world. They've successfully poisoned the political atmosphere in the UK and stereotyped the EU as some kind of bureaucratic monster. Frankly we've been timid and have let them get away with it. It's time to get back out there again and campaign FOR the EU and for the Treaty.
Supporting a referendum would be thoroughly consistent with the political platform I stood on as Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham Perry Barr where we supported a referendum on Maastricht. I don't really see what has changed from that point in time.
I think Anthony Hook and others are right, and sorry Ming, I think you are wrong on this one.
Friday, 7 September 2007
Better - But Still Too Many
I'm pleased to hear that the number of executions appears to be falling in China(although I am always sceptical of figures issued on "sensitive" subjects by the Communist Regime - they don't have an impressive track record). I genuinely hope that China is gradually weaning itself off the death penalty.
If only the US would take leadership on this issue and abolish the death penalty. Then it might look less hypocritical when criticising the Chinese Communist regime's human rights record.
If only the US would take leadership on this issue and abolish the death penalty. Then it might look less hypocritical when criticising the Chinese Communist regime's human rights record.
Titan Rain - Oh Really?
Strange claims are surfacing that elements of the Chinese "Peoples Liberation Army" (an Oxymoron if ever there was one given the PLA's performance around Tiananmen Square in 1989) have targeted British Government computers.
There has been wide speculation for years that certain ultra-nationalist elements of the PLA have wanted to engage in "asymmetric warfare" against the US. Indeed, the military approach of the PLA has always contained a guerilla approach to combat against a larger enemy. This was deployed effectively during both the Chinese Civil War, against the Japanese (although a recent biog of Mao has cast doubt that the Red Army did much fighting against the Japanese during the occupation of China from 1937-1945) and would have been deployed as part of a "People's War" strategy against both the US during the Korean War and the Soviets in 1969 had there been an invasion.
I agree with those who comment that the claims appearing in the media appear to have little credibility. Had they been credible then at the very least I would have expected to see the Chinese Ambassador getting a pretty big and public flea in his ear from the British Government and the Chinese Military Attaches being sent on a plane back to Beijing.
I would also have expected the British Government to have imposed economic sanctions against the Communist regime as well.
None of these events has happened so I can only be truly sceptical of the claims.
That said, there are some serious headbangers amongst the Chinese military, some in high positions and we should be vigilant that they do not gain the upper hand when the Chinese Communist Party loses its absolute grip on power as certain elements of the Red Army tried to do with the collapse of Soviet Communism.
My analysis is that this is good old fashioned right-wing anti-communist propaganda which deflects from the core problem in China. That core problem is that the human rights record of China is not matching the promises made to the IOC in 2001 and that pressure and potentially sanctions should be applied to encourage Beijing to both ratify the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and release all political prisoners.
There has been wide speculation for years that certain ultra-nationalist elements of the PLA have wanted to engage in "asymmetric warfare" against the US. Indeed, the military approach of the PLA has always contained a guerilla approach to combat against a larger enemy. This was deployed effectively during both the Chinese Civil War, against the Japanese (although a recent biog of Mao has cast doubt that the Red Army did much fighting against the Japanese during the occupation of China from 1937-1945) and would have been deployed as part of a "People's War" strategy against both the US during the Korean War and the Soviets in 1969 had there been an invasion.
I agree with those who comment that the claims appearing in the media appear to have little credibility. Had they been credible then at the very least I would have expected to see the Chinese Ambassador getting a pretty big and public flea in his ear from the British Government and the Chinese Military Attaches being sent on a plane back to Beijing.
I would also have expected the British Government to have imposed economic sanctions against the Communist regime as well.
None of these events has happened so I can only be truly sceptical of the claims.
That said, there are some serious headbangers amongst the Chinese military, some in high positions and we should be vigilant that they do not gain the upper hand when the Chinese Communist Party loses its absolute grip on power as certain elements of the Red Army tried to do with the collapse of Soviet Communism.
My analysis is that this is good old fashioned right-wing anti-communist propaganda which deflects from the core problem in China. That core problem is that the human rights record of China is not matching the promises made to the IOC in 2001 and that pressure and potentially sanctions should be applied to encourage Beijing to both ratify the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and release all political prisoners.
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