Gavin Whenman has tagged me for this desktop meme, so given that I am currently trying to encourage people to take part in a meme of my own, I have complied.
Bloody embarrassing. I feel like I’m showing people a picture of me in my underwear. All those scraggy files filling the things up.
Anyway, I tag:
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Loading ...Despite failing to promote it properly, my Liberal Drinks Pledge has been successful:
Still two more weeks to go before the deadline. It would be fantastic if this lead to dozens of Drinks starting up in the New Year. It’s easy-peasy to organise and we can help get your word out. What’s stopping you?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Although I fear that I may be in for a Rigellian Hotshot as a result, it is somewhat amusing to note that if you type Quaequam Blag into Google, the search engine comes up with the helpful suggestion “Do you mean Quaequam Blog?” It doesn’t work the other way.
Well, it made me chuckle anyway.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I’ve just found that when you type the word “procrastinating” in your Facebook status update, the website adds a space before the “g” at the end for no apparent reason. Why is this?
By the way, if you got a dictionary out and looked up “procrastinating” this blog post would be there.
UPDATE: The space is gone. What is this crazy shit? Is the government sending radio signals in my brain again?
UPDATE 2: It’s back again! See below:
And now it’s gone again:
Why?!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...This evening I attended the launch party of the Liberal Conspiracy, the latest brainchild of Sunny Hundal of Pickled Politics fame. Sadly, they didn’t supply us with sparklers or have any of those rubbishy indoor fireworks you used to be inflicted with at children’s parties, but a fun time seemed to be had by all.
As far as I can tell, I was the only Lib Dem there; to what degree I was the only Lib Dem who attended or the only Lib Dem who was invited was not clear, although I understand that a lot of people were at the Hackney Empire.
Sunny’s ambition is to produce nothing less than the hub of the liberal-left. First impression? It includes a lot of people I like and respect, but seems to lean more towards the left than the liberal, and that this is reflected by their ideals as well.
For example, the FAQ states:
You can join in as long as you somewhat share our broad goals and aims (social justice, equality, eradicating poverty etc.)
Where’s the emphasis on liberty? And:
The Labour party may represent the best vehicle for our political goals as they are in power, but our allegiance is towards liberal-left policies and ideas than specific parties.
Sure it may, but it may not. The inference I read in that statement is that the Labour party does represent the best vehicle for the liberal-left. From what I’ve seen so far, the left tail is very much wagging the liberal dog; indeed, their definition of liberalism doesn’t appear to get much more sophisticated that the Nick Cohen-esque critique of it meaning little more than moderate and middle class. Not so much a political philosophy as a belief in the importance of being nice.
The thing is, that’s almost the same definition of liberalism that I’m pretty certain David Cameron is thinking of when he calls himself a liberal conservative.
As for me, I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently and am reconciled to the fact that I am leftwing. I’ve been resistant to this, partly because it gets ingrained into you during your Liberal Democrat indoctrination that the party defies such lazy characterisation. At my first LDYS conference, Simon Hughes went on about how the party was “not left, not right, but forward!” I think I’ve heard him make the same speech at least once a year ever since.
Ultimately, equality is a leftwing concept and I believe in equality. As we’ve seen on this blog, it isn’t a concept that is without controversy within the Lib Dems. I plan to be returning to it soon following Andy Mayor’s laying down of the gauntlet this weekend (I have to say that I find it ironic being accused of being a paid up member of the “Church” of Leftology from someone who is demonstrably a member of the long dead cult of Manichaeism*, but that’s par for the course I suppose).
But even someone who is as unforgiveably leftwing in Andy’s eyes as myself believes that in the final analysis equality must always be subordinate to liberty. I wonder if the Liberal Conspirators feel the same way? Is it, in short, really liberalism - left or otherwise - that they really want?
I’m hopeful that they do. Sunny has showed himself to be on the side of liberalism time and again in recent years. If they plan to make progress, the robustness of liberalism will beat the mushiness of moderatism hands down, and we shouldn’t read too much into an FAQ on day one of a project. Lib Dems (of a liberal-left persuasion of course) could do worse than to help them hone themselves, and we know a thing or two about campaigning as well.
* I’m in despair at Lib Dems at the moment who seem determined to dumb down. The response on Lib Dem Voice to Chris Huhne’s interview on GMtv was to crow about his use of the word Gadarene. Many of his sternest detractors were Oxbridge graduate public schoolboys for fuck’s sake.
If you watched that interview unsuspectingly on the telly, I doubt you would even be aware of Huhne making a Biblical reference. I may have my criticisms of Huhne’s campaign and ability to communicate, and I know that to an extent this is Clegg-heads playing games but is it really so outrageous for party leaders to occasionally let it slip that they are rather more widely read than Janet and John?
Plus, nobody laughed at my bacon joke which was frankly fantastic. Philistines**.
** Presumably in Clegg-head Wonderland, that is too elitist a reference as well.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Is it just me or do both Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg sound pretty croaky at the moment? They both sound as if they are still recovering from the cold that was going round party conference.
If they are, they have my sympathy. I got that bug and it was bloody nasty.
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In their infinite wisdom, the Electoral Reform Society have asked me to be a judge for their blogging competition, which is currently going on. Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head.
Top prize is £700, which isn’t to be sniffed at. So why not have a go?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...After Pop Kylie, Indie Kylie and Disco Kylie… Roxy Music Kylie? Goldfrapp Kylie?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...(pardon me while I try shoe-horning this pun in place… ugh… there)
A welcome return to Craig Murray, still unbowed despite Alisher Usmanov’s attempts to shut him up. I think we should thank all the newspaper and broadcast journalists out there who have bravely and tirelessly reported this case beyond simply mentioning that Boris Johnson has been taken down as well. Does anyone know anyone?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...At Labour conference and struggling to type using a godawful metal keyboard which appears to not have a control key (clearly they have a problem with Labour delegates having even that level of power). Blogging will be lighter than last week, at least until I figure out how to access the free internet access.
Meanwhile, you might want to visit my guide to Lib Dem bloggers over at Our Kingdom.
Oh, and I get a name check on Iain Dale’s guide to political blogging on the Torygraph. It’s all gravy.
Anyway, Britain’s Got Talent Finalists the Kombat Breakers are about to start playing in the foyer so time I headed off in the opposite direction.
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