tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-348641682009-12-29T14:19:15.132ZBlogging about life, liberalism, and luton.Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.comBlogger213125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-47196253879109657482009-06-10T11:00:00.000+01:002009-06-10T11:01:09.734+01:00

You may or may not have noticed that things have been rather quiet on this blog lately. Well, it hasn't been because there hasn't been anything to write about!I have been very busy and have found it difficult to find the time to update it, even when inspiration has struck, or more accurately when something has wound me up. However, more recently it has been because a few weeks ago I made the

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-10404900287964691962009-03-31T19:11:00.005+01:002009-03-31T19:24:04.973+01:00

There are media reports today that Gordon Brown has prepared some goodie bags for the world leaders attending the G20 summit. Apparently this is an attempt to "showcase British creativity".Hang on a minute? Why on earth are world leaders getting goodie bags?Surely it can't be some kind of inducement to ensure a high turn out? Do the presidents and prime ministers of the world make decisions on

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-42073577921956809372009-03-27T11:23:00.000Z2009-03-27T11:23:02.985Z

I live in Luton and work in London.Like many thousands of others I do a regular commute each morning to get to the office and one each evening to get home. Because I have the benefit of living close to the rail station and the relatively good service provided by the Thameslink line I can be at most central London locations within an hour or hour and a half of leaving my home. This comes with a

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-75507303623371344742009-03-26T17:41:00.003Z2009-03-26T17:58:06.777Z

I've a number of things that I've been wanting to write about here for the last few days, and some for the last few weeks, but I'm finding it difficult to fit it in. Usual story.But I have got time to say a very well deserved congratulations to Alix Mortimer for being shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She says she is "dumbfounded, and a bit shuffly" about it. There really is no need. As she goes

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-38507726215370743552009-03-25T09:14:00.003Z2009-03-25T09:29:07.281Z

The lead story in the Luton News this morning is reactions to the welcome life sentence given to the murderer of PC Jon Henry who was stabbed to death in Luton town centre while on duty in June 2007.The murderer, Tennyson Obih, is a paranoid schizoprhenic.It is a reminder that so often at the centre of the most shocking and senseless of violent crimes is someone who suffers from a severe mental

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-66461182993117143602009-03-19T14:02:00.001Z2009-03-19T14:03:58.374Z

No.Oh. You want more? then go read this.

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-34863676397910274222009-03-17T13:30:00.000Z2009-03-17T13:30:00.382Z

The Government have closed its grant programme for solar energy.Part of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme provides grants for solar photovoltaic projects on public buildings. This has been so successful that the allocated share of the £50m for these projects has been used up. So what does the government do? Invest more money into the programme so that they can build on its success? No. It closes

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-88118390451743688652009-03-12T18:28:00.002Z2009-03-12T18:28:00.259Z

Well I've got to Thursday and I am still writing up the weekend's events at Conference. Time to knock it on the head.I broadly agree with what James Graham has written over at Comment is Free about the political impact. No need to say much more. I was impressed with the Leader's speech. Not only with the content itself but with the implications it has for the message and strategy of the Party.

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-50733898065488392072009-03-12T14:05:00.000Z2009-03-12T14:05:00.190Z

I thought Nick Clegg's speech to the Liberal Democrat spring conference on Saturday was one of the best leader's speeches I have heard for many years. I thought it was a speech of gravity, of great political intelligence, one that has altered my view of Nick and his leadership, and has strengthened my optimism for the future. My companion (as they say in restaurant reviews) was less impressed. He

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-36678284865040297702009-03-12T10:07:00.000Z2009-03-12T10:07:00.183Z

The row we never hadFor me theme of the weekend turned out to be the impact of Obama and the lessons to be learnt from the US election campaign. For many conference representatives however it would have been the policy moves we were making on education. If I felt these debates seemed overshadowed by other issues that is probably because of 'the row we never had'.Until the Federal Policy Committee

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-66483866042793541162009-03-11T10:17:00.000Z2009-03-11T10:17:00.167Z

Howard Dean got a standing ovation from the Liberal Democrat conference on Saturday morning. Yet it seemed to me that it was President Obama that the audience were in large part applauding. The 'Obama Effect' was a major theme of the 2009 Spring Conference and the sense of relief amongst Lib Dems that George Bush is no longer in the White House was most clearly felt during Dean's speech.I was

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-9806787583636165222009-03-08T21:39:00.003Z2009-03-08T21:46:04.579Z

This blogging during conference thing doesn't seem to work. I got halfway through my Howard Dean post when the battery gave up. I couldn't find a power socket. Then I got swept up in the conference whirlwind. Ho hum.But I am now home and will write up the happenings of Harrogate over the next few days.

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-19157821426400192802009-03-07T12:16:00.000Z2009-03-07T12:16:00.966Z

I've had a hectic few weeks - busy with one thing or another - so haven't been able to follow up on some of my recent posts - building on my arguments - as I had planned. But here I am in Harrogate for the Liberal Democrat spring conference with a whole weekend to concentrate on things liberal.Harrogate is one of my favourite conference venues. I love its poshness and gentility. Its yorkshire

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-73656926791898474852009-02-24T00:15:00.004Z2009-03-11T10:26:27.169Z

There has been a lot of reaction to the "Blues Under the Bed" editorial in the latest issue of Liberator Magazine. Part of Liberator's mission is to stir things up from time to time and it seems they have certainly succeeded in some quarters with this.Scarred as they undoubtedly are by the internal party battles of the 1990's, I often think the Liberator collective display a degree of paranoia

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-48963478826739865842009-02-23T00:15:00.000Z2009-02-23T00:15:00.290Z

I have blogged before about the Natural History Museums exhibition on Charles Darwin, the impact it had on me, and how it managed to spark off in my head a number of ideas. Amongst these were some about the role of collaboration and mentoring.For some reason I had always pictured Darwin as an aloof and solitary figure. The lone genius conducting experiments in his isolated country garden. Going

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-29586991803066675222009-02-22T00:15:00.000Z2009-02-22T00:15:00.905Z

Are debates between Liberal Democrat bloggers generating more heat than light?One of the great things about being a Lib Dem is that we are prepared to debate ideas. Yet lately I have been frequently questioning just how useful many of those debates are. So many sentences written, so many opinions offered, so few conclusions reached. One of the most frustrating things about many of these debates

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-2651624415108083852009-02-21T13:14:00.002Z2009-02-21T13:17:36.577Z

I have been enjoying all the attention in the media and other places that Charles Darwin has been getting because of his 200th birthday this year. Darwin has always been one of those figures from history that I have looked back at and admired. Yet, I didn't expect to suddenly feel a direct personal connection with the man in the way that I did the other week.Several weeks ago, being in London for

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-2263564494742919862009-02-20T00:25:00.003Z2009-02-20T00:29:36.641Z

James Graham has very kindly said that this blog is "criminally overlooked" in a bloggers' interview. Thank you, James. I suppose this means I really ought to write something.

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-65052357319364507542009-02-05T23:15:00.000Z2009-02-05T23:15:08.866Z

We often forget, or sometimes do not realise, the impact that other people can have on our lives. The way the actions of someone you dimly remember or barely notice at the time can profoundly shape the story of your life.I was reminded of this today by reading in my local paper, The Luton News, of the death of my former junior school headteacher. Trevor Herbert, who died aged 85, taught at

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-85890106428545073702009-01-19T19:17:00.000Z2009-01-19T19:17:53.148Z

On Saturday I joined around 300 fellow Liberal Democrats at the LSE for what has now become the annual one day policy conference. This year the day was titled "Creating a Progressive Society" and focused on economic issues, social mobility, and poverty.I was impressed by the venue. The LSE's New Academic Building is a stylish and well thought out piece of architecture. I imagine it works really

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-77588816693082498322009-01-19T19:08:00.001Z2009-01-19T19:09:00.576Z

The second of the two main sessions, chaired by Lynne Featherstone MP, looked at the issue of social mobility. This was picking up on the report from the Liberal Democrat inspired Independent Social Mobility Commission that was published this month. It was also a chance to respond to the Government's New Opportunities White Paper.Martin NareyThe first speaker was Martin Narey, the Chief Executive

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-6251052210408462892009-01-19T18:14:00.000Z2009-01-19T18:14:56.968Z

This is my fourth post about the Liberal Democrats one day policy conference Creating a Progressive Society held at the LSE on Saturday.The second of the break out sessions I attended was the one organised by the Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party on "The European dimension". Jonathan Fryer has already blogged about this and gives a good flavour of the session. I came away with two

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-45942696897945268572009-01-19T13:24:00.001Z2009-01-19T13:28:05.844Z

This is my third post about the Liberal Democrats one day policy conference Creating a Progressive Society held at the LSE on Saturday.The first of the two break out sessions I attended was "Reinventing the State: Who are the UK's poorest? How do we best help them?". This session, organised by the Reinventing the State group, was chaired by Duncan Brack and looked at the question "Who are the

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-83094315417898899132009-01-19T11:40:00.000Z2009-01-19T11:42:52.565Z

This is my second post about the Liberal Democrats one day policy conference Creating a Progressive Society held at the LSE on Saturday.The first of the two main sessions, following on nicely from the Leader's speech, looked at where the Liberal Democrats currently stood, both in policy terms and politically, in reference to the main theme of the conference. It was chaired by Sarah Teather MP.

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864168.post-87345596272357694182009-01-15T00:40:00.000Z2009-01-15T00:41:27.870Z

A little while ago I expressed some concern about Susan Kramer MP's plans to attend a particular London event. To add a bit of balance I am reporting on a different event that she has attended. One that I heartily approve of.Last week we heard that Susan had stood down from the Shadow Cabinet to "take up a new role leading the party's campaign against the expansion of Heathrow Airport". Not a

Process Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316978952197731545noreply@blogger.com0