Month: February 2012

Cross roads

[Originally posted at Bristol Running Resource, 26/02/12] We all know that safely negotiating the roads is step one for successful urban running. Some drivers are less likely to spot a runner than a cyclist. For runners, traffic awareness is vital. But what’s your approach to negotiating the roads […]

Orwellian tendencies

As Richard Morris noted earlier today, the Liberal Democrat blogerati are well represented among the entries for this year’s Orwell Prize for Blogging. Some great bloggers have entered their work, including Richard himself. The tone is lowered somewhat by the fact that I’ve entered again. While the Orwell […]

Appraising health reform

Blogging is a fantastic medium for providing a brief statement of your views. Or for building an argument involving a small number of points. Or, perhaps, for giving a high level summary of a more complex argument. But it’s not a great medium through which to appraise complex […]

An Elected Mayor for Bristol?

Yesterday evening the first public debate in the run up to May’s Mayoral Referendum was held at the Council House. Several hundred people braved some pretty foul weather to hear George Ferguson and Mark Weston argue for an Elected Mayor and Barbara Janke and Deborah Hallett argue against.  […]

The policy that dare not speak its name

Buses. Buses and markets. Markets for buses. It’s not a topic I have spent much time thinking about. But it’s been on my mind. And it’s my own fault. Last week I ran a session with some students discussing the economic critique of government and its consequences, mostly […]

The Localism Act – Issues and Questions

[Originally posted at Liberal Democrat Voice, 14/02/12] Last Wednesday the LGiU and Bristol City Council collaborated to host a day conference on the Localism Act. Yesterday I introduced some of the main themes from the Government’s perspective, as set out by Andrew Stunell. As the conference progressed many […]

The Localism Act – over to you

[Originally posted at Liberal Democrat Voice, 13/02/12] Last Wednesday the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) collaborated with Bristol City Council to run a major one-day conference on the Localism Act, which is now rapidly moving towards implementation. The audience comprised primarily local authority elected members and senior officers. […]

Is Liberal Left ludicrous?

That is how it was described on Twitter today by a prominent LibDem blogger. And that followed a post yesterday evening by another prominent blogger who offered a particularly derisive response to the news that Liberal Left will be holding an evening session at Spring Conference. The basic […]