I’ve never really been one for the fluffy stuff of environmentalism. I’m concerned about global warming and in favour of cuts to carbon not because, I’m sentimental about our green and pleasant land. But because, I really, really want to make at least sixty. And on my sixtieth birthday it is nice to imagine that I can say, “yhe my grandchildren can grow up to be my age, fullfill themselves, and live happily.”

Perhaps the reality of parenthood is different but it is my dream so far.

The biggest barrier to this dream at the moment is the threat that by the time I’m forty the world will be flooded, there won’t be enough food and temperatures will be spiralling because, the man made rise in temperature, has set of natural and uncontrollable emissions of carbon. So I think, cut carbon, avoid all of the above, live happily ever after, achieve dream.

What I’m saying here is environmentalism is for me and I dare say for most people pragmatic. Appeal able to many even those who currently aren’t “with it” because global warming poses a real risk to them and their current life standards.

Channel 4 News is broadcasting from the artic on the battle for oil below it, discussing the risk of a new cold war over supplies. I think the green agenda is missing a trick to outflank the right here.

From a purely security prospective do I actually want to rely on oil coming from Mr Putin, the Middle East which is hardly stable and Livingstones mate who’s tramping on local democracy a bit? Answer not really, and most Daily Mail readers probably aren’t keen on the idea either.

Most people don’t agree with the ideological/spiritual side to environmentalism, the science is hard to explain and open to contradiction. The security implications of reliance on Russia etc is neither hard to explain nor easily contradicted. Further they can appeal to all voters. Environmentalists and the Lib Dems should not be afraid to talk about the threat than reliance on oil puts our economy and national security in.

Cameron’s Conservative’s are angry and harping the end of civilisation in Britain, Labour do what ever they do in government or more to the point don’t do much and Ming and the Lib Dems pose real and radical reform in this instance on the environment (though there’s a lot more than just that proposed at conference.)

Cameron’s quick fire reactionary lots of rhetoric and no new ideas that the Mail so love might quietly announced the end of the Cameron project. According to Ian Dale the one real proposal that the quality of life policy group for the Tories have come up with is to tax the planes by the flight rather than the passenger, a policy we passed nearly a year ago. Lib Dems then are reconfirmed as the real party of innovation, radicalism and real alternatives.

Sounds to me like politics might be back to its normal pattern

The Observer today carries a small paragraph section reporting that the Conservatives will allow parents to set up their own schools and force local authorities to help fund them, of course it doesn’t mention if the schools will be able to have entrance exams and parents “top up” their schools receiving state money. We will see soon when the policy review panel reports back.

Also in the observer Nick Clegg gets a whole page to himself on the new Lib Dem immigration plans.

“You know your Conservative when Margret Thatcher rocks your boat and not Jordon.”

Where the hell did that come from, what awful crevice of Ian Dale’s head told him to write that, it makes Oedipus sound....... No not quiet but very nearly. I was never a big fan of tories but I had some respect for them. Other favourites are:

“When someone says "Change" you look in your wallet ......”
“You attack your own leader, but freak out when the BBC do it.”
“...you see Emily Maitlis's legs and all you feel is outrage.”
“. . . you read Ian Dale's diary and realise he's 'not one of us'.”
“you watch Star Wars thinking the Empire has a point of view.”
“... the majority in the country no longer agree with you”

At 19.00 hrs I posted that “the Cameron project is dead,” and Cameron could only win “if Brown screwed up”. At 20.55 a former aid to Thatcher John O’Sullivan said pretty much the same thing on Conservativehome, saying “Gordon Brown will probably win the next election and, if he does not, the likely reason is that he will have been defeated by events in the real world”, and “so “Project Cameron” has not really improved matters.”
Rather rudely he didn’t credit me as a source but if the Tories need political advice from me they’re welcome to ask, then grovel and beg. I’m always here for that.

There is also a facebook group set up to get Hague to take over as leader, hasnt this very nearly happened anyway.

That’s just one of many recommendations that have been given to Cameron on Conservativehome about where to go. There is actually a good and varied mix of solutions given to him perhaps representative of how varied his problems are. He seems to me to of now got lost, no longer on a ideological conservative path, but not the compassionate/liberal one he started on whatever it was called or meant to be. All of his policy comities have reported which leaves him the hard place of having to choose policies, and stick to them.

While we’re on the subject can anyone explain what the conservatives are actually doing about tax, first they weren’t doing anything, then they were bringing in green ones, then cuts for families, then Deadwood started up about tax cuts that weren’t tax cuts, then we had real tax cuts, the last headline I saw said possible tax cuts. Now I’m sure on the whole their tax proposals are consistent but I think that’s a fair list of headiness on their tax proposals. Let’s face it the Cameron project is no longer offering any direction, it’s bogged down in appeasing everyone and is now a dead horse.

Cameron may be the right guy to have if Brown starts screwing up, but he isn’t about to actually aggressively win the general election and certainly not move the centre ground of British politics, my advice, like Howard strengthen the votes and seats you have, on current performance your not going to win more.

The expected election in Australia hasn’t been mentioned yet and there seems to be lacks of politics going on here so here’s my quick brief to the Australian election should it come.

There are three main parties in Australia, the Liberal party led by nasty ultra conservative Howard, and Labour led by photogenic new leader Rudd. The Liberals are supported in coalition by the National Party, so despite a choice of three parties at a national level it is a choice between Howard or Rudd.

That said the Greens, Family First and Australian Democrats may manage to hold the balance of power, the Parliament compared to our own is a tad small so it’s conceivable it might be done. The Labour party need only 16 more seats to form a government out of the 150 available. The formation of a Labour government looks highly likely with Rudd a safely established 10% lead in the polls.

The perceived cause of the rise of Rudd support is the WorkChoice legislation bought in by Howard and its anti employee reforms (Redwood comes to mind) some half a million people are estimated to of protested against the Bill on a the organised protest day. The safety of universal and government provided health care has also been flagged up as a concern. Education also a concern, given the recent drought I imagine the environment will be to. On both health and education Rudd leads the polls as the most capable, if the environment is an issue the fact that Howard hasn’t implemented the Kyoto Protocol will also presumably help Rudd.

If you haven’t heard of Howard then he is a notoriously right – wing, leader as neoconservative as many of those who occupy the White House, one Liberal Candidate I would not back.

Russell Brand and several other comics are putting on a one of show to raise awareness/money to get the BAA investigation back in the stand. Tickmaster link here

This time last week I pleaded Lib Dem bloggers to be pleased for A level students rather than miserable “it was easier in my time.” And I can honestly say they did me proud so as promised celebration get you into my top ten, in no particular order are the submissions that I will place in order on Monday on how good they are.

A radical writes was the first submission although unfortunately as like me he is a student he can’t be judged but will gain a honorary place for being a fellow young liberal blogger. I would like to just mention on he’s subject about the class thing, that coming from a state school I would be careful to group the plight of state sector pupils together. There are of course inequalities (resources etc) and labels at play but the key factor at work is the individual pupil and their drive to succeed.

Next to submit on the subject was Hot Ginger and Dynamite nice to read how they celebrated in the dark days of 2001 before commercial pubs even better it begins with a good clean hook to newspaper editors of the, “in my day kind.”

Duncan Borrowman came in with a really sweet piece on his daughter ahhhhhhhhhhh, this blog is a real contender. The Proud Father tactic bound to get him high in the judges book.

Richard Baum gave all students a well done message and gave proper and mature commentary on the future of exams.

James Grahems piece on blondes was very good a visual masterpiece for all male A level students to enjoy, if only the cameras came my school.

Jonathan Calder put out a whole side of the argument which I hadn’t thought about. Until now I’ve passed on the bad exam related pun so here it goes full marks to him. (sorry needed that.) JC does have a good point though now I think about I realise it might be the reason I’m so proud to say I was interviewed for my course.

A quick scan over politicalopinions.com also show a trend on blogs to congratulate pupils. Submissions can be entered until Monday. On my part I got what I wanted and am of to Leeds and well done to all those who took exams, good luck GCSE students for next week, and as I’ve done them you can say what you want.

There is only one ever recorded violent other throw of government in US history which was successful. It occurred in 1898 in Wilmington North Carolina. It was the days when Democrats were the racist party and the Republicans the nice ones. In North Carolina it would other throw the rights that the Black community had won in the Civil War, a mob of democrats marched into Wilmington forced the Republican mayor out of town along with Black and White officials, the mob also killed 20 black civilians and burnt down houses. Unfortunately I can’t say this surprised me when I came across a article on the event after clicking random article on Wikipedia.

What did shock me was that it took until January this year for the North Carolina Democrat party to formally apologise for the event, that’s well over a hundred years. Really how did North Carolina miss that for that long????

So I watched the Dawkins show last night which was alrite. Better at least than the last show he did. His synopsis of existing spiritualism is quiet interesting and like one review I read I do think it deserves a series. (It can feel as if you getting the radical conclusion of each argument rather than the whole argument.)
There is though one fatal flaw, what his vision is, luckily the show isn’t based around what he proposes and he largely hints towards it.

His vision seems to be one of utter dedication to fact, reason and science, what he calls the enlightenment period. Now I haven’t actually made any large study of the enlightenment so I but I would suggest that it by referring to human reason they were referring to more than science. Science would be a tool for humans to further themselves but a tool for achieving this poetic project. You can’t help but feel that with Dawkins the Enlightenment is science and that is it.

If we are prepared to use human knowledge on tracing the laws of our physical world, I think we must also trust ourselves to decide what is right and wrong morally this unlike the psychical cannot be simply measured and defined. This point is what Dawkins seems not to grasp and in turns leads to his frustration and lack of understanding for “postmodernism” and New Religious Movements.

Following all that comotion about what colour the tree should be I wondered if anyone else spotted in Labour or red tape red on Channel four news on sunday. Is Cameron showing his true colours???

Jacquie Smith our wonderful Home Secretary was recently interviewed by the New Statesman. Apparently she says she’s no liberal, no shit. Actually she is in here own words, “a home secretary that is trying to make a difference to peoples feeling o security and enabling them to get on with their lives” at least that what she’s attempting.

This is a wonderful position to take, justifying anything as long as it has a popular mandate. The phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number comes to mind” something that Liberals played with in the early 20th century I believe and then abandoned precisely because it justified anything.

I assume my (and many other peoples feeling) that they are not safer with ID cards would be grounds for a opt out. Smith runs that to ground apparently what we need is, “a system which nationally, can ties people’s identity to a record of who they are.” Great my identity which I had always assumed was subjective to me is actually going to be recorded and defined by Jacquie. My political views a large part of my identity is the government going to record them, they could certainly track my movements to and from campaigns and conferences. Is it wisely going to inform me whether I am a Orange Booker or not? The central government can very easily find out who I am, I have a NI number, a passport if they actually need more I’m sure Google and Tesco’s along with most large companies can give it to them. The government doesn’t need to track my identity that’s mine thank you very much. Perhaps everywhere Jacqui goes she should be treated a druggie post the mistake at uni. She might find out them exactly how bad been tied to an identity is.

Well I believe that this is my first anti labour blog why? Well on large Brown has so far been so inoffensive. But this is precisely the problem Smith doesn’t show any opinion against our civil rights etc but she shows a completely lazy indifferent view to them, the view we should do anything necessary for security set a dangerous precedent.

It reminds us then the clear difference between Labour and the Lib Dems, it also reminds us why we need to be permanently aware of our civil rights, and we shouldn’t trust those in power to have the same reading of them, as with Smith or worse care about them at all.

Apparently Polish Agency workers in Liverpool refused to cross the picket line of striking Post workers, instead they went to the pub. Very British.

Source www.libcom.org

Ina effort to invlove more of my readership in this blog and encourage good liberal things like dialogue and debate Ive set up a email liberalleslie@googlemail.com

Please feel free to email me any blogs you think i might like to post. (In your name of course) I want to leave the basic party bashing to my own posts but i would really welcome Philosophical/policy type posts again to encourage debate etc a liberal perspective is not neccessary indeed the more challenging your ideas the better, that said i get the final say on posts.

I am also attempting to launch my first community thing, please email any political jokes you might find, and I'll publish the good ones each week.
To kick things of
How do you know a plane full of union members?
It doesnt stop whining when it lands.

Thanks robert.

Was out surveying village x yesterday. The set up was pretty normal knock knock here’s a survey fill it in leave it in the letterbox over the next half hour or freepost it. Most people were out, of those were in most when the realised it was a survey on LOCAL issues were fine, the fact that we wouldn’t knock on the door was probably the clincher.

What was shocking though was the amount of people who weren’t interested, though in a extreme minority you would say we ask for your opinions on your street etc and they would still say I don’t care. Of all the people I’ve met in politics it is those that you knock on the door of and get a reply of “Don’t care”, “Your all liars” etc etc it is these I hold in most contempt. It might take good people to do nothing, but some people come across as so lazy they don’t qualify for good people. The don’t care attitude is for mostly a way of cleaning yourself of any responsibility for you, your country and community.

Democracy is pretty much the best system we’ve got, but it works on equal opportunity you have to actually turn up to vote to count. It goes without saying that lazyness in voters goes onto to create lazy and corrupt politicians.

The housing estate we were on was one of those big long winding ones only about 2 years old. As a result it backed onto a field that was interestingly empty, most interestingly was that at the end of a signposted dead end was a dropped curb, onto the field. As a local councillor said when they apply for planning permission they’ll care and of course and their councillors who can vouch for as hardworking will have to listen to them. For those local residents however it might be to late in other places they might not have a hard working representative. Still I live well out of said village so if the local residents don’t care why should I.

There goes my rant against the don’t carers, all is calmb. I do personally find it annoying that the whenever this topic is discussed it becomes the job of politicians to get people interested. This isn’t true, serious work can be done to mechanics of government to get people more involved and interested. But politicians as campaigners look for a majority of those who vote, voting at the end of the day is the responsibility of the voter.

This Thursday or Wednesday if you have internet, will see A level students across England Wales and Cornwall get their results and with it whether or not they’ve made into the university of their choice. I should know because I am one.

There will be of course the normal cries that the tests are getting easier and they don’t test real things, like the 23rd person in line of the throne. They will be people who open they’re results live on TV, which is a bit presumptuous if you ask me and but could create some great out take TV.

Well before any other Lib Dem blogger can get there I’m taking the ground. So yes they are getting ridiculously easy. Of course I knew the ins and outs of the French Revolution and the British benefit system long before I started the course. All those hours of work that students put in were there for their own entertainment. The stress, the unknowing of results and of course the constant exams since I turned sixteen has all been fabulously enjoyable.

Of course there’re issues about how hard exams are, that issue accompanies every exam. But let’s think about timing. The stress of finding out if you’ve got into your university is a tad stressful, it drives some to suicide and in all honesty after all the hard work and stress its just a bit callous to announce on the day their getting easier.

I was thinking of threatening Lib Dem bloggers if they declared exams were getting easier, but the best threat I could come with was tagging the road sign that appears on Norfolk blog. I will then use the carrot, on Monday following exams I will publish my top twenty blogs, for entry to it you will be required to sing the praises of freshers 07, points will then be awarded for how well it is done. Be warned that exaggeration and cynicism is reason for expulsion from the competition.

Seriously, do spare a thought for all those who have put serious work towards the exam results on Thursaday and if your also getting results then good luck,

Liberal Leslie can exclusively reveal the truth between Cowie’s shocking attacks on Cameron today.

In 2005 Cowie like all good millionaires gave half a million to the most inefficient political party of them all, the Conservatives.

In early 2007 Cowie who made his money in the transport sector never growing up from his love of trains went to Indai to see how they travelled. There he came into contact with the startling good looking Hermit Brainy Blonde Bombshell. He immediately fell in love and joining in mediation with her saw the errors of his ways. Reconnected with his ethics he was shocked he had supported such a right wing agenda.

Just three weeks ago he returned to the UK to set his yin yen balance straight and decided to give half a million to charity. This though was not enough, because to be good, he had to slightly more than just cancel out his donation to the Conservatives. As a result he didn’t join everybody else to stick the boot into Cameron but waited a week so Cameron would believe he was in the clear. It was then that Cowie announced his donation would go to charity and he thought Cameron was a arrogant Old Eaton, aka Posh twat.

Cowie has not made his conversion public and instead hid behind the Eton stuff and the now relentless Conservative attacks on Cameron to avoid any religious persecution.

Ask yourselves this, why do I believe in Global Warming? If you don’t then pretend you do. The most likely answer and the most credible is that all the science and scientists said it is happening and that humans are the cause of it. This causes you to believe that certain things should be done even compulsory or at least encouraged or discouraged though taxation. These actions are justified because of the science. But how can you know yourself for sure that the science is right. Our climate science might in truth be as real as the idea that the sun orbits the earth. That’s not what I want to discuss really and when it comes to global warming that could kill of human life I’ll trust the scientists.

Of course this points out how our ideas including political come out of our own subjectivity and experiences. When it comes to ideology the truth of your ideas are even less objective and scientifically provable than the science of global warming. The effect is though even more vast, a politicians ideology will drive them in their action even more than climate change policy, it will as well drive their reaction to the problem to.

So how can these resulting actions [ideologically driven actions] be justified when they stretch so far on people’s life on such subjective grounds? How can I in another way justify my own liberalism? The answer cant lie in some justification like the existence of God given rights because that is based itself on subjective ideas that aren’t objectively provable to be forever true. In this case very few of all the possible answers could stand up to the attack of being subjective.

In that case, why I am still a confident liberal? Despite not finding some provable forever true answer, the fact that we can ask the questions and create reasonable answers to them. The fact that people can look in themselves and explore their subjectivity is itself an adequate answer. The fact that we can ask ourselves moral ethical questions and learn and improve on them is the justification of liberalism.

Watching a BNPTV interview with Nick Griffen, shows how bad the TV is doesn’t it, doesn’t help that I don’t have digital; the Muslims must have taken it. To be honest for a Oxbridge graduate he’s particularly uncharismatic and in coherent. He even fails to get me a dirty liberal worked up. I expected to be at least angry at the man for being vile, and full of hate. Perhaps the evil liberal propaganda is beginning to win him over and he’s going soft. I dunno to be honest regardless of his views this man doesn’t have the skill to be the future of politics.

In the effort to give my readers some sort of exclusive news hot of the press I can tell you this, BNPTV is badly filmed and Nick Griffen is fatter than I expected.

The BNP at the mo are holding their festival get together, on pics on the BNP site I saw five people present, on a anti BNP site there was a dog as well.

Apparently there a dark plans afoot to change Lib Dem policy to back out of our commitment to equalise the minimum wage for under 18s. Based on the idea that under 16s are worth less than other 18s.

Having worked both minimum wages I can say that’s tripe, when I left work on day as a 17 year old and came back the next 18 year old adult that I was, my productivity did not improve. The idea that under 18s work is worth less is ridiculous, if it is justified on the matter of skills lets just take a rain check, firms that pay minimum wage, do not require skilled workers. A hours work is a hours work who ever works it.

There is also the point that this would actually be good for adults. If I was a employer I would like the different wage, because then instead of employing a unemployed adult, on state benefit, I could pay less for a 16 year old still living with parents who give him pocket money. The same minimum wage is good for both adults and children.

Lastly, these are the people that party policy tells us should vote, on the account that they pay tax and can join the army, but god forbid they should earn the same wage as a eighteen year old.

Irrelevant of whether or not Ming is capable, which so far he has proved to be, the Lib Dems collectively put him there in a fair and free vote that we all knew would last until after the next GE. Linda's critism of Ming then perhaps ask us what in the Lib Dems we think of collective responsibility. It has to stand to make internal elections mean anything that we all sign up to the result or at least keep our misgivings private, this is the basis of collective responsibility. We all need to respect that point. It isn’t right that Linda whatever her misgivings and her motives should not make them public. They should shall we say be kept in the family. Voice them as much as you want to the Lib Dems but the world today. Obivously collective responsability has its limits, but this isnt the case here.

This is the basis of cabinet governments and of the democratic system within a organisation, we have to accept the outcomes. If your local party accepted a PPC that you didn’t like, you wouldn’t march around telling voters not to vote for him while wearing the yellow badge. The same applies with our leader. It’s pointless for us to promote democracy only to attack the outcomes.

Actually it’s this parties democratic process that I think will keep Linda a PPC somewhere and certainly on the FPC.

On the practical level in less anything catastrophic happens Ming will lead us though next GE, a leadership election before that would do us more harm than good. After the GE there will be a automatic leadership contest, in line with our constitution, this is the time for Mings critics to speak up and publicly.

Good slightly similar blog on Liberal Brublings, I thought this up on the train way before I got home so he had a unfair advantage.
Here for Linda Jacks blog on Jackgate.

Sorry to bring Leigh back into the mix and once to be a day behind but here’s a quote from the Conservative MP that should make Alan Duncan REALLY MADDDDD!!!!.

Oh and yes you can put me on record as saying Liegh is full of shit. As Duncan shows saying a swear word and saying you can put that on record, IS REALLY HARD HITTING!!!!.

So the quote, when told he had the worst record on gay issues he said,
"I had to giggle as I read the accompanying letter, which informed me that I came last equal with 0% ... I wear it as a badge of honor - the gay vote is not big in Lincolnshire. I was even thinking of mentioning it in my election address."

Says it all.

Recently made referece to anti Cameron comments by Cornerstone Group member, Edward Leigh found a full blog on the subject on the cornerstone group and it is well worth a look.

He starts of all good about it not been that bad at the mo, well and good. Then comes this.

"First Conservatives must give up self-loathing and self-flagellation. We are not the nasty party. And if some people think we are, it’s not because we’re right-wing, but because sometimes we’ve been nasty to each other."
Actually I think the Tories are nasty on both counts, they're nasty to each other and their nasty to other people. Alan Duncan called us shits thats nasty. On the subject section 28 was nasty, as was most of their 2005 campiagn. Maggie was voted in, if anything because she was going to be nasty to the unions.

Then comes this comment in reply to is Dave actually a conservative.

"Of course he is. Cultural and social attitudes often determine our personalities more than policies. Look at his attitude to hunting, for instance, or the monarchy, two things most Labour MPs - apart from Quentin Davies – despise, secretly or not so secretly. Cameron is strongly in favour. He’s to the right of me on both Trident and Iraq. I voted against the war. He voted for. I would go for a cheap cruise missile option for our nuclear renewal. He favours the £20bn Trident option.He’s obviously a Eurosceptic, opposed to the single currency and agreeing to a referendum on the EU Constitution posing as a treaty. His background and social milieu is all High Tory and traditional, as is his own family life. Where does he choose to send his daughter? To a faith-based school."

As he puts it,

"Our David in his heart of hearts is a High Tory."

Well its official the tories haven't changed, Dave is still a nasty tory.