Six of the Best 234

"What can the Lib Dems learn from the NHS debacle?" asks Thinking Liberal. "There were some quite radical elements of official, conference approved policy (like abolishing Strategic Health Authorities), but little awareness amongst members of the implications of official policy. The original Bill was probably quite a well crafted compromise between our official policy and Andrew Lansley’s ideas (Paul Burstow certainly thought so). But as soon as the heat was applied, official Lib Dem policy counted for nothing – it had not been engrained on members’ and activists’ consciences."

Jonathan Fryer celebrates multicultural London Liberal Democrats.

"Why have allotments become so trendy? Where did the idea come from that everyone could have a plot of land to grow their own food?" David Boyle has written a short ebook on the history of the allotments movement.

Andy Boddington on 24dash is aghast at the Planning Inspectorate's decision to allow a windfarm next to Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire.

"While Archbishop John Sentamu played to the crowd by cutting up his dog collar live on TV to show his anger at Mugabe's terror in Zimbabwe, Rowan Williams quietly travelled to Harare, met Mugabe and handed him a dossier of human rights abuses perpetrated by government thugs.  Rowan preached in a packed football stadium, condemning Mugabe's murderous regime for what it is." The Church Mouse pays tribute to Rowan Williams.

Wartime Housewife has a recipe for Staffordshire oatcakes - which are nothing like Scottish oatcakes: "One popular story suggests that they are a distant cousin of the flat breads of India and some claim that local soldiers took such a liking to flatbread so much that they tried to emulate them on their return to Staffordshire."