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By Anne, 25 September 2010
Trapped as I was, watching Freesat via a cable snaking upstairs, I couldn’t switch rapidly to Sky News when the BBC fouled up, yet again, this afternoon at the Labour leadership coverage.
Who was it at the BBC who:
a. decided we didn’t need to hear each stage of the vote;
b. told Nick Robinson to talk through the listing of the results; and
c. decided not to focus on the display of figures so we could, at least, have read them?
Because that person should be fired – they are not up to the job!
But I do ask myself why I am surprised. Many many years ago, before the rolling news channels even existed, my younger brother told me he preferred ITN to BBC news coverage so I tried it and found he was right. They did it better, despite the commercial breaks.
So when I do dip into TV news these days – which is very very seldom – I always swither about whether to put up with the adverts to get the superior Sky news or go with the BBC for once. And, because I put the TV on some time before the results were due, I plumped for the BBC minus the adverts. Doh!
It isn’t even as if I wanted to hear Brown and Harman speak and I certainly wasn’t listening to them.
What makes it worse is that I am compelled to pay more than 1/52 of my pensioner income per annum for channels I seldom watch now they have dumbed down so much. I expect more, and deserve more, for my money!
My youngest and I watched the two Miliband faces when they came into the hall: one grim, one smiling. We differed over what that meant and I won!
So Miliband Minor got it because of a decent voting system. He’ll have to support AV now, won’t he?
By Anne, 22 September 2010
Well, from my perspective of the Liberal Democrat conference viewed solely on the Parliament Channel with no political comment, the upshot is that I saw none of my predicted fireworks.
And I will keep it that way by continuing my recent boycott of news channels of any description preferring to cast my eye over the headlines on the BBC homepage a few times a day to keep up with things. And confident in the knowledge that my younger daughter checks the Daily Mail site every day and would tell me if it ever mentioned anything of any importance!
The snaking cable is rolled up and put away because there is nothing else on TV except, oh no, I’d forgotten that: the Labour conference next week. Will I, won’t I? Probably not unless Diane Abbott becomes leader, of course, because that would be fun!
Today, again, I failed in ferreting out motion and amendment texts but I got the main drift of it all.
Trident
Members voted to push the coalition to carry out a full review of plans to replace Trident. Well done! As someone who marched with the CND in the 1960s, I think this is a step in the right direction!
It was reassuring to hear Nick Harvey MP – Minister of State (Minister for the Armed Forces) for the Ministry of Defence – say that the coalition agreement covers this. What an attractive man Nick is! And what a lovely couple he and his wife Kate make – she once dated my son and stayed with me in Brussels.
I’m really beginning to think that I should put a warning mark when I’m about to name drop, I do it so often, but what the heck!
Diversity
I have always been very suspicious of zipping and won’t repeat what Ming said to me about Blair’s Babes – oops, there I go again! And I have always kept well clear of the Women Liberal Democrats preferring to join the men’s group, were there one, which there isn’t.
Today I was almost, but not quite, persuaded that perhaps there should be some positive discrimination in candidate selection. But as Cllr Chris Ward said: “Positive discrimination is not positive.”
And I will always believe that it is the quality of the candidate which counts not the tokenism. Am I the only person who looked with an element of suspicion at the appointment of Baroness Warsi to Cameron’s cabinet?
Cllr David Buxton spoke eloquently through a sign language interpreter and informed us that, being deaf and dumb, he is prohibited from being a member of parliament. Time to change that, methinks!
So the conference came to an end and I must admit I’m feeling a lot more positive than I was about the Lib Dem role in government. But that might change when I dip in to the Tory conference, of course!
By Anne, 21 September 2010
Representatives not delegates
I could email the BBC Parliament Channel – time was when I would have – to point out that those attending the Liberal Democrat conference are not delegates – voting as instructed by the people who sent them – but representatives – trusted by their local parties to use their own judgement over how to vote. But I won’t!
Gone are the days when I cared enough to phone, email, or even (as I felt compelled to do once) hand a disk with an image of the correct bird logo on it to staff from BBC Scotland who were using the old version on the TV years after it had been replaced. It all takes too much energy and, frankly, isn’t my job, not that it ever was!
Deputy Liberal Democrat Leader Simon Hughes addressed the press directly in his speech today, some of whom have ignored Lib Dem conferences in the past but have to attend now we’re in government:
“There is a very easy way to remember which party conference you’re at.
Labour conference – some members with loads of votes!
Tory conference – plenty of members – but no votes!
Liberal Democrat conference – I know it’s daring and radical – loads of members each with one vote!”
Marriage and civil partnerships
Conference today passed a motion calling for:
· the opening up of marriage and civil partnerships to both same-sex and mixed-sex couples
· allowing religious and humanist celebrants to legally solemnise and celebrate same-sex marriages and civil partnerships in places of religious worship, if they wish to do so
· allowing individuals who seek gender recognition or wish to change their legally recognised gender to remain in their current marriage or civil partnership
What saddens me is how anyone who voted or spoke against it can consider themself a Liberal Democrat but you’ll have gathered that from my previous posts!
Former London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick spoke movingly of having married his norwegian boyfriend in Norway but it being counted as only a civil partnership in the UK.
Things are changing though and my younger daughter and I were there at the first ever civil partnership ceremony in England between two transsexuals when that legislation came in – albeit by weblink – and I hope it won’t be too long before everyone in the UK who wishes to do so can get married.
Ministerial questions
It is still a bit weird to see four of our MPs sitting answering questions from the floor knowing that each is now in a position of power. And great to hear Steve Webb’s comment that he has just about persuaded his staff to stop calling him Minister when, in fact, they could be calling him Professor too, if he insisted upon it.
It is all the more weird because I have trusted these people and their colleagues for years and here they are helping to run my country. It is wonderful!
By Anne, 21 September 2010
I’ve just checked my account details on the Yougov site and see that I’ve been doing surveys for them since at least 2003 – possibly 2002 – because I received my first cheque for £50 in February 2004. Doesn’t time fly? And I’m £32 towards the next one too, having earned £200, so far. Some of the polls are quite interesting so I do recommend them.
Mind you, the real money-spinner, relatively speaking, is a survey company which sends genuine questions on genuine products and immediately pays into my Paypal account. When I started with them they paid in luncheon vouchers but Tesco took them quite happily. Now, a steady drip of pounds into the account is really useful if I want to pay out dollars for something online.
I often think that my answers must be frustrating for the pollsters because I couldn’t care less about the new variety of pet food or the latest super-duper all-lights-flashing washing powder. When you get to my age you know which products you like to use and are difficult to budge! Plus the fact that I am not swayed by brand names or their claims and usually don’t even notice the former. As for “designer labels” – everything had to be designed, didn’t it?
My ex2 headed for a work-related long-haul flight wearing comfy clothes – my suggestion – only to be ushered into the standard queue because it was assumed, by his outfit, that he couldn’t possibly be above that class. Why do men travel in a suit – how ridiculous is that? But he doesn’t care about such things either which is why we get on so well, despite being divorced!
Questions were changed in a poll after I remonstrated with the pollster because they assumed that I dye my hair. I have done so a couple of times but not for about forty years! In fact, my mother thought people were “common” if they did so and, although I wouldn’t go quite that far these days, I can think of some celebrities who appear to be trapped in that regular performance of topping up. Andrew Neil, what are you thinking??? It’s almost as bad as the comb-overs but I won’t go there just now!
What a lot of money and resources are wasted on hair products and makeup, etc – when is the green lobby going to catch up with that, I wonder? I set up White = Green (the Salt & Pepper Club) on Facebook but it hasn’t exactly taken off!
By Anne, 20 September 2010
Liberal Democrat Conference debate on education
I have no direct interest in education policies which come out of Westminster and haven’t had any since 1965 when I left school myself – not that I noticed them then! My three children have each been under the Scottish education system, at some point, but that is entirely separate.
So I came to the Education debate ignorant of what the coalition government has done since May having avoided it purposely because of my dislike of Tory policies.
I eventually found the conference motion online – although it involved scrolling through a pdf file – but the proposed amendments eluded me. Things were very different in Scotland when I had sole responsibility for their party site, I can tell you, but that’s another story!
So I took Evan’s word for it – ex MP Dr Evan Harris (what were they thinking when they kicked him out?). And the proposer, Cllr Peter Downes, whom I don’t know, made a very good speech so I decided that I would have voted against amendment 2 (whatever it might have said!). And conference backed me, or rather Evan and his colleague. against the advice of Schools Minister Sarah Teather, which can’t be bad! But that’s typical of Lib Dem conferences – policy comes from the bottom up not the top down the way it does in the other two main parties.
Wales’ answer to Sarah Palin?
Am I the only one who thinks Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, looked a bit like that dreadful (and dreaded) mad woman Sarah Palin when she was speaking, I wonder? What a good speech that was!
Green taxation debate – I am that little old lady!
A young Lib Dem has just told conference that I’m the one who will suffer from some green policies. She is right! I used to pay the slightly higher charge for my fuel in order to be green but I am not doing that any more because I cannot afford it. And here I am upstairs in my bed with my laptop on my knee, one cat and the dog on my bed, TV plugged in to a cable snaking its way downstairs, because this means I don’t have to turn on the heating.
But I cannot follow this debate properly because I cannot see what it is they are debating. I suggested to the BBC, last year, that they should show motions and proposed amendments on screen on the Parliament Channel but nothing has come of it – they don’t need it for the other main conferences, after all!
Doesn’t the party want to attract members by allowing them easy access to such things?
Nick timed his speech just right to coincide with my youngest returning from her first proper day at university – freshers week was last week. And I know where my priorities lie…
By Anne, 20 September 2010
Liberal Democrat Conference debate on strategy
You’d think that ex MP David Rendel and Lord (Tony) Greaves had read the paper I presented to the then Chief Executive of the Lib Dems a few years back. In fact, Tony did read it at the time – and approved of it – but his speech yesterday was based on his own strongly-held views which tally with mine. Nothing much has changed despite my efforts back then.
So David and Tony (and others) had to state the obvious yesterday. The Lib Dems are in coalition and what this actually means must be spelt out, every day, until the media has to sit up and take notice whatever their own agenda may be.
David painted a picture of himself and his wife deciding which film to see at the cinema pointing out that if he goes along with her choice it doesn’t make her right and him wrong. Next time they might see his choice of film – they compromise. I once spent a very enjoyable couple of hours sitting beside David at a Lib Dem dinner in Brussels, but that was about fifteen years ago!
As for Tony, well he spelt it out. There are two kinds of policies: party policy and government policy. And Lib Dems should be “shouting to the rooftops” when their policies come into being.
The compromises must be open and transparent, new rules are needed and he made a plea that the “strategy of explaining has got to change”. It is the far more honest way, he claimed.
My paper was titled “The Scottish Factor” because it was written during the period when the Lib Dems were in a partnership government in Scotland from 1999-2007. Yes, in government, with ministers responsible for matters in Scotland. Not underlings to Westminster, actually in charge.
I suggested that press releases relating to devolved matters such as Health, Education and Law should contain a paragraph about what the Lib Dems were doing in government in Scotland. And that the spokespersons should be correctly named – ie “for England and Wales”. My advice was ignored and the media continued to ignore the Lib Dems.
And I spent a lot of time screaming at my TV or radio when a Lib Dem interviewee or panelist did not counter the charge that the policies were mere theories with the fact that some had already come into law in Scotland. My advice had been ignored and party VIPs were too ignorant to be able to attack false claims from opponents and interviewers.
Few people outwith Scotland, for instance – even party members – ever knew that it was a Lib Dem minister who was dealing with the foot and mouth outbreak north of the border. And our ministers were never properly feted at Federal conferences so the media ignored them. Jim Wallace, Deputy First Minister and Justice Minister for Scotland, was senior to party leader Charles Kennedy – just think about it for a moment!
I blamed, and still blame, the ignorance and arrogance of the Westminster bubble and its attitude to the diaspora which includes Tony’s home patch in Pendle along with Brussels, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh. It was pointed out to me, at the time, that the population of London is greater than that of Scotland. Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? London is England’s Glasgow and where are London’s farmers, fishermen, rural transport and ferries, or rural post offices? And everyone in London is minutes from a hospital – the list of differences is endless so there is no comparison.
The Federal Party didn’t listen to me and never trumpeted what was being achieved. That was stupid because, apart from anything else, it was a fantastic campaigning tool!
I began to wonder if being in government was an embarrassment to the party so I retreated and stopped caring. It was either that or blow a gasket! And I am no longer an active member preferring, for the sake of my blood pressure, to keep out of things. Which is why I’m watching only the Parliament Channel just now and avoiding all the discussions and interviews.
All I can really do is hope that the powers that be have not only listened to what Tony, David, and others said yesterday but will actually act upon it.
The party has the opportunity to say: “Look, look, we did that!” or “We had to let that through but it doesn’t mean the policy was right!”. And it has to start saying it now and, as speakers in the debate said, not leave it to six weeks before the next General Election.
The party machine, from Nick downwards, must lift its eyes from its navel and look out to all the campaigners on the ground and give them the right materials now, today.
But will they do that? We will have to wait and see, won’t we? As for me, I won’t be watching too closely after this week because, after all, there’s a lot more to life than politics…
By Anne, 18 September 2010
Well, that was exciting – not! I watched the Lib Dem conference on the Parliament Channel but there were definitely no fireworks.
I couldn’t work out why it was so dark in the hall until it dawned on me that they are probably being positively green which is, of course, a Very Good Thing so let’s hope that was the case.
Of course, it’s what goes on outside the hall which is the interesting part of such conferences. But the BBC doesn’t cover that unfortunately so I have to use my imagination based on my own experience.
And, having stayed in the official conference hotel in the past (when I was a lot wealthier than I am now), I was often the one buying all the drinks – alcohol is available for residents 24 hours a day! By bedtime – usually in the wee small hours – I’d have collected quite a lot of cash from the non residents.
There was one occasion when I headed for my bed well after five in the morning only to find fellow representatives still milling about in the hotel and that my son had barely preceded me to the other bed in our twin room.
And do I wish I was there now? Of course I do!
By Anne, 17 September 2010
 Liberal Democrats believe in equality for all although I've met a few who still baulk at the fact that this actually means lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people too! When will they grow up?
It is ten years since I was last at one and I’m not heading to Liverpool today for the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. But I’ll be there in spirit and cheering on the doubters who will speak out on my behalf.
It is nice to see some of the people I know – and more importantly (I always add this!) some who even know ME – actually in government again. Others were in a partnership government with Labour in Scotland from 1999 to 2007, of course, although this was never trumpeted by the wider party despite my having written a paper on the subject which was approved by a lot of those in the diaspora. I’ve been somewhat disillusioned since then and didn’t bother renewing my membership for a while and am only a member now to support my son who is still active in the party.
I do have a lot of sympathy for Nick and his fellow Lib Dem cabinet members. I believe they had no other choice but to go into coalition with the Conservatives given the circumstances which the ludicrous first-past-the-post voting system threw up. But I’m not happy about it.
This year, for the first time, all the media will be there in droves. And some of them will be surprised because, unlike the other two main parties, Lib Dems are truly democratic and the leadership has had a few rough moments when representatives have voted against something they’re keen on putting into policy. I predict that fireworks are going to fly!
Since I’m still lurking upstairs in my bedroom so that the heating can remain firmly off – although my hands were a bit chilly, first thing, this morning – I must stir myself and connect up the cable which will allow me to watch the coverage on my TV rather than in a corner of my laptop screen. I’m off to do that now, that is once I’ve had some breakfast…
By Anne, 31 August 2010
 Balta from Unst, Shetland, by Jessie White The painting from which I have taken sections to use as headers is by my great great aunt Jessie, sister of my great grandmother. It is signed J W Crockett – Jessie White Crockett. The small island of Balta lies off Unst across the mouth of Balta Sound in Shetland and when I was there, in 1961, it was populated by puffins.
Jessie Frances Davina White (1848-1907), a doctor’s daughter, was born in Dunfermline, Fife. In 1886 she married Robert Findlay Crockett in London. He was 35 and came from Cluny in Aberdeenshire. They separated soon after their marriage and she spent the rest of her life with my great grandparents. My great grandfather was a Congregational minister.
Her nephew – my grandfather – wrote coyly of the marriage. Robert had become a Congregational minister in the south of England: “He neglected her from the start and within a year was bringing a youth of the congregation to their home.”
Jessie left him, he lost his job and was almost prosecuted but ended up being reinstated. It is not clear what his congregation knew but it would have been shocking enough that his wife had left him, I suspect. My grandfather continues:
“At various times up to 1907 my father received letters from Anglican and Presbyterian authorities asking about Crockett, who was attempting to receive ordination with them. In one instance he saw a Bishop who had enquired and told him he would only discuss the matter in Crockett’s presence; Crockett refused to come, and that was enough for the Bishop. About 1920 Crockett died suddenly.”
We can only imagine how it affected both Robert and Jessie. He spent much of his life in debt – my great grandfather had helped him out when they first married – and unable to pursue the career he had chosen. And she was the deserted wife: “There were times when memories and frustration overwhelmed her and she needed special care.” No wonder!
Not many would judge me nowadays for having attempted marriage twice and failed both times. Things have moved on, thank goodness, from when people lost their jobs because they got divorced and the stigma of illegitimacy has also receded in my lifetime. But things need to move a good deal further because people are still being denied employment because of their sexual orientation as if it were anyone’s business but their own.
Sex is fun – it makes one feel good and does wonders for one’s mental and physical health. Why should it only be allowed within a heterosexual marriage? There are those who overdo it or abuse it, of course (and that can happen within marriage too), but that isn’t a reason to condemn the rest of us who practise it. Even gynaecologists and urologists shy away from suggesting women masturbate when it could aid, if not cure, their period problems and leaky bladders!
I grew up believing in the fairytale that I would meet a man, fall in love and live happily ever after. It didn’t happen and I later discovered that what had appeared to be a fairytale marriage for my parents was, in fact, a submissive, loyal and dutiful wife pretending that she didn’t actually mind her husband’s infidelities. And my two brothers and I have clocked up, so far, 8 marriages and 6 divorces between us. Who knows what caused us to be so “abnormal”?
Yet I know couples personally who have achieved what has proved impossible for me and they have remained true to each other for decades. Some have children and some of those couples are gay.
Men fall for men, women for women – some for both – but how dare anyone say that they must deny themselves sex or a relationship because they are single or happen to fall for the “wrong” gender. Can anyone decide who it is they fancy? It is outwith our control, of course it is, yet the way so many are told they should be celibate for their whole lives you’d think they had a choice.
What really angers me is that what happened in my family in the late 19th century is still happening to others in the early 21st and it is time for the world to grow up and learn the real facts of life. Heartbreakingly, I know this won’t happen in my lifetime but let’s hope that by the 22nd century it will finally have been relegated to where it belongs: in the past.
By Anne, 21 July 2010
Wondering what day of the week it is (my students are on holiday so every day is the same!), I turned on Radio 4. And there was a Lib Dem peeress – Liz Harris – speaking in favour of Joe Public paying for them to travel first class. Well, I’m sorry, but if they want to go first class then let them, but why should Joe pay for it?
Perhaps a few journeys with Joe would mean an improvement in rail journeys for all when they discover how us mere mortals have to live. They have the power to change things so they should get down amongst us to see what things actually need changing not lording it over us. I didn’t wait to hear how any vote went needless to say, but reached for my laptop instead.
And they wonder why Joe is scunnered with the lot of them!
As for “Today”, I do wish the presenters would stop chatting amongst themselves about items. They are dumbing down – bring back Jack de Manio, I say! Hey, his name was Giovanni Batista de Manio according to Wikipdedia!
Time for some breakfast…
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