It looks like Menzies Campbell is the frontrunner to succeed him. I can’t really say I know enough about the other potentials (Oaten, Simon Hughes etc), I’d be up for Lembit Opik but I think he’s said he won’t run! nevermind.

So yeah bit of a tragedy for the Lib Dems, but I think it really had to be done. Kennedy wasn’t going to take them any further, he didn’t exactly perform perfectly at last years General Election (remember that interview where he got confused about the 50% tax rate that he was championing at the time?) and probably should have won the Lib Dems a few more seats. Although to be fair, a lot of that was down to the Lib Dems losing out through lack of proportional representation. I think they got about 21% of the vote, but like 10% of the seats in Parliament…

George Galloway!!! Oh my god this makes me so angry. This guy was elected by his constituents to serve them in the house of parliament, he is paid a salary and expected to DO HIS FUCKING JOB, but no…there he is “the big brother house” making a twat of himself on national tv no doubt, but more importantly failing to continue the process of representative democracy which we love so dearly in this crazy country of ours. Wanker.

Look at this in the Guardian for an example of how the people of Bethnall and Green who would normally turn to him for help now have no one to go to. Galloway’s defence was that as a politician it’s his duty to communicate with people and spread the word etc, but it turns out that Channel 4 aren’t going to allow him to talk about politics anyway; “He won’t be able to use his time in the house as a political soapbox”. Oh. Kinda pisses on that plan then eh George?

(Some stuff via Harry’s Place)

“Theresa May, what do you think about David Cameron’s pledge to “stand up to big business”?”
“The conservative party are moving to the future, we’re putting the interests of people first, we listen to the voters of this country and are changing as a party, the conservative party are a party of the future, a party of BRITAIN!!”

“Theresa May, whats your position on the palestine/israel conflict”
“The conservative party are moving to the future, we’re putting the interests of people first, we listen to the voters of this country and are changing as a party, the conservative party are a party of the future, a party of BRITAIN!!”

“Theresa May, what size shoes do you wear?”
“The conservative party are moving to the future, we’re putting the interests of people first, we listen to the voters of this country and are changing as a party, the conservative party are a party of the future, a party of BRITAIN!!”

“Theresa May, you’re a fucking idiot aren’t you?”
“The conservative party are moving to the future, we’re putting the interests of people first, we listen to the voters of this country and are changing as a party, the conservative party are a party of the future, a party of BRITAIN!!”

Etc, Etc….

It was hearing her on the Today program this morning that really sparked off my anger so listen for yourself here.

Anyway, that annoyed me. Have a nice day.

About 22% of U.S. adults believe Mr. Hussein helped plan 9/11, the poll shows, and 26% believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded. Another 24% believe several of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis, according to the online poll of 1,961 adults.

However, all of these beliefs have declined since February of this year, when 64% of those polled believed Mr. Hussein had strong links to al Qaeda and 46% said Mr. Hussein helped plan 9/11. At that time, more than a third said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and 44% said several of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis.

I know these stories come out all the time, but still; DEPRESSING.

LOL! To be honest, every time I see a Daily Express headling now, I think it’s some kind of mock up parody that someones made, with the words “bogus” “gay” “asylum seekers” etc. But unfortunately, it always turns out to be authentic…

Oh my god this made me so angry. Some kid wrote an amazing poem about Hitler, it’s seriously such a good poem, but this MP (Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside) thinks its offensive, and it should be banned, or at least have a “note with it explaining the context” HAHAHAHAHA. You really understand art don’t you Louise Ellman! Nothing pisses me off more than politicians trying to get inolved and censor thing they clearly know NOTHING about. If there was a note with every piece of art every produced explaining what its about and why and why you shouldn’t be offended…that wouldn’t be art now would it.

Louise Ellman You Suck.

All I can say is Well Played Sweden. I don’t think oil’s gonna last the planet much more than 50 years so it’s obviously time to start moving to alternative energy supplies.

I personally don’t see the problem with nuclear energy as an alternative, as long as they find ways to store/dispose of the waste, and keep the plants built away from people. Unfortunately we’re all going to run out of oil soon though, plastic will become extinct, transport only for the middle classes, food only for the countries with the most soldiers in oil producing countries…

NY Times: Buying of News by Bush’s Aides Is Ruled Illegal. Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush’s education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party. In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated “covert propaganda” in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

This is damn annoying. Seems like an example of the kind of thing that goes on all the time, but the public don’t find out enough about it. And it really annoys me every time some legal body rules a government has broken laws, but all they do is release a statement saying “these actions were illegal”. Then what happens? Nothing. George Bush should be in prison.

the Education Department has since defended its payments to Mr. Williams, saying his commentaries were “no more than the legitimate dissemination of information to the public.”

Ohhh, so paying someone to say Bush’s education policy is great - whilst this person pretends they’re an independent-minded journalist - is the dissemination of legitimate information. I see. TOTALLY.

The auditors denounced a prepackaged television story disseminated by the Education Department. The segment, a “video news release” narrated by a woman named Karen Ryan, said that President Bush’s program for providing remedial instruction and tutoring to children “gets an A-plus.”

Ms. Ryan also narrated two videos praising the new Medicare drug benefit last year. In those segments, as in the education video, the narrator ended by saying, “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.”

The television news segments on education and on Medicare did not state that they had been prepared and distributed by the government

The key point here is that the she ends it with “I’m Karen Ryan reporting”. Now this implies to everyone that she has no links with the people she is reporting on, and has looked at the policy critically and, using her years of journalism and political experience, come to the conclusion that it’s really good. Interesting that the report doesn’t end with “I’m Karen Ryan, and the Bush administration paid me to say that. Goodnight”. You see?

You may have noticed there have been fewer and fewer posts from myself here over the past couple of months and I’m afraid that the shortage of material reflects an inability to continue with the efforts I began here almost three years ago.

This is then, I’m sad to say, my final post as a regular blogger at Harry’s Place. I hope, possibly, to be able contribute the occasional ‘column style’ item if time allows at some stage in the future and I will remain a supporter, in whatever way I can be, of the various political initiatives I have associated with but I can no longer commit myself to the daily posts and day-to-day jousting that goes with this territory.

Just thought I’d say his insight will be missed, and I hope he finds the time to employ his skills elsewhere etc. That’s two of my favourite bloggers gone this month though! Ah well. Other people write at Harry’s Place now anyway, so the blog continues, the show goes on. My favourite recent post was one about George Galloway, Harry always had a lot to say about him and it’s (mostly) true so go read and be educated.

Dear Government of America,
You Suck.

Faithfully, Andy Stallard.