Nick Clegg has given up smoking

Our Liberal Democrat News Story of the Day award goes to the Daily Mail.

Rutland and Corby?

It sounds as though Liberal Democrats in the East Midlands are falling out over boundary changes. Or they are judging by the Rutland Times:

Rutland's Liberal Democrats want to reassure voters that they had nothing to do with a proposal to create a new Rutland and Corby constituency. 

A public consultation is under way into plans to cut the number of parliamentary constituencies by 50 to 600. 

In September the Boundary Commission said it had no plans to change the Melton and Rutland constituency but last week the East Midlands Liberal Democrats revealed its own proposals which includes a Rutland and Corby constituency. 

Vice chairman of the Rutland and Melton Liberal Democrats, Grahame Hudson, said the local group had nothing to do with the plans. 

He said: "I have no idea why we weren’t consulted on the proposal but we are totally against what the East Midlands Liberal Democrats put forward. 

"It makes no sense because there are no traditional links between Rutland and Corby."

The truth is that nowhere has "traditional links" with Corby. It is a steel town set down in the Northamptonshire countryside in the 1930s and a large proportion of its workforce came from Scotland - walked from Scotland, if you believe the folklore.

The present Corby constituency also contains wide swathes of countryside, and the seat's high-profile Tory MP  Louise Mensch lives in the pleasant town of Oundle rather than Corby.

But then when the iron and steel trades unionist Bill Homewood was Labour MP for Kettering, in the days when the seat included Corby, he lived in a bungalow here in Market Harborough.

Brian Paddick is feeling bullish

Or so the Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle says in its interview with the Lib Dem candidate in next year's London Mayoral election:

The Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate, the same man who was trounced with little more than 10 per cent of the vote the last time he went up against the big two, Ken and Boris, insists, this time, he is not here to make up the numbers. 

"You are going to see a different Brian Paddick - I am better prepared and ready for the fight," he says.

Lord Bonkers' Diary: The Gareth Chilcott Inquiry

Another day with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer.

Wednesday

The fashion nowadays seems to be to appoint prop forwards to conduct inquiries. Fran Cotton is to consider whether or not Market Harborough’s most famous son, Martin Johnson, should be allowed to stay in charge of the England rugby XV, while Gareth Chilcott is currently working on his report on the United Kingdom’s role in the Iraq War. In the latter case at least, I think this is an excellent idea – particularly after Len Hutton’s bosh shot at investigating the death of Dr David Kelly.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West, 1906-10.

Previously on Lord Bonkers' Diary

• The tramps of St James's Park
• A regiment of teachers

For Remembrance Day

Roger Alton makes a fool of himself on national television

No one who saw Roger Alton's attempt to defend the Murdoch empire on Newsnight this evening will forget it. Puce in the face, sweating like a pig, spouting nonsense. It was sad to see a man brought so low.

No doubt it will appear on Youtube soon. Until it does we will have to make with his appearance on Channel 4 News earlier this year in which he blamed Mumsnet for the closure of the News of the World.

By contrast with his performance tonight it is a model of calm rationality.

Loughborough's Carnegie library

Loughborough has an ornate Edwardian public library. It is rather like the one in King's Lynn, though not as fantastical.

And, as far as I know, they don't need bouncers at the Loughborough one either.

The similarity of the two buildings is not so surprising, as both are Carnegie libraries. As Wikipedia explains:

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, the Caribbean, and Fiji. Few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. 

When the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.

Lord Bonkers' Diary: A regiment of teachers

A second day on the, er, unique Bonkers Hall Estate.

Tuesday

I have, ever since serving on the Escape Committee at prep school, taken a keen interest in the latest developments in education and have been able to introduce many innovations to the village school. Vocational training, the teaching of foreign languages, shoes... we have been at the forefront of all of these. So I was intrigued to read of a school that will be drawing its staff from former members of the Armed Forces.

Funnily enough, here in the East Midlands there was once a regiment that was drawn entirely from teachers. Though it had its successes – one fellow won the VC at Rorke’s Drift for telling the encroaching Zulus to “Go back and walk” – on the whole the experiment was regarded as a failure. You see, rather than drill, practise throwing their blackboard rubbers or polish the leather patches on their elbows, the teachers generally preferred to sit around moaning about their pay and conditions.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West, 1906-10.

Previously on Lord Bonkers' Diary

• The tramps of St James's Park

Look at Life: High, Wide and Faster

Another of these short films from the Rank Organisation - or at least the greater part of one. It must date from the mid 1960s, as Abingdon Station closed to passengers in 1963 and construction of the M4 began in 1965.

It is usual to treat Rank films as part of a cosy, backward-looking Britain of the 1950s. But the modernism here - celebrating the Beeching plan for the railways and the coming of the motorways - embraces a worldview that many would not feel wholly comfortable with today.

Occupy London discovers some demands - and they are good ones

Today's Guardian carries a report saying that the Occupy London demonstrators have finally come up with some demands - and they are making them of the City of London Corporation itself:

The Occupy statement says democratic reform is "urgently needed" for an "unconstitutional and unfair" institution. It calls for:

• An end to business and corporate votes in elections, which can outvote residents. 

• Removal of "secrecy practices", and transparent reform of institutions. 

• Decommissioning of the City of London police, with officers put under the Met. 

• Abolition of the offices of lord mayor, sheriffs and aldermen. 

• A truth and reconciliation commission to examine allegations of corruption.

The last one looks a bit silly: we are not living in apartheid South Africa and I would like to see some more prosecutions. But they are right in their implication that the City of London Corporation needs democratic reform.

I don't suppose that even an election under a reformed system would produce a very radical administration in the Square Mile, but other city corporations were reformed in the 19th century. The demonstrators are right to say that it is time London caught up.

Lord Bonkers' Diary: The tramps of St James's Park

The new issue of Liberator has arrived in the post, so it is time for Liberal England readers to spend another week with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer.

Monday

If I am up in town, staying at Bonkers House in Belgrave Square, and wish to know what is going on in the political world, I allow my morning constitutional to take me to St James’s Park. For the tramps who frequent that pleasure garden form an unrivalled source of news and gossip. There, over a stiffener of Special Brew or white cider, one may learn who is up and who down at the Home Office, how trade negotiations with Paraguay are progressing and whom the Minister for Fish was seen with at a soirée last week.

Quite why these gentlemen of the road should be so well informed has always been something of a mystery, but that mystery was solved this morning when I borrowed a footman’s Daily Mirror for the racing tips and saw its front-page story. It seems a Conservative by the name of Letwind (one of the Dorset Letwinds, I imagine) has been in the habit of working on his red boxes whilst sitting in the park and then tipping their contents into the nearest litter bin when he has finished. I know office space is at a premium around Westminster, but this does seems a trifle eccentric.

Now this practice has come to light, the Chief Whip will no doubt Have A Word with him, so I fear I shall have to fall back upon the National Liberal Club for political gossip in future.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West, 1906-10.

The stars over Exmoor

I was pleased to see a video report on the BBC News website about Exmoor becoming an international dark-sky reserve, even though it appears it is an old story.

The Daily Telegraph reported it back on 12 October:

Stargazers will be delighted ... by the news this week that Exmoor National Park has been designated an International Dark-Sky Reserve by the International Dark-Sky Association – only the second place in the world, after Mont Mégantic in Quebec, Canada, to enjoy such status. The park will now have greater powers to prevent light pollution and protect the night sky for a growing group of enthusiastic astronomers.

Pleased for two reasons. The first is that turning off unnecessary lighting can save energy and money.The second is that such lighting robs us of the sight of the stars.

Back in 2005 I quoted Timothy Ferris of NASA, who said:

"The loss of the night sky is most troubling for children. Whole generations of kids in cities and suburbs are growing up seldom if ever having seen the Milky Way and what a sky full of thousands of stars might look like."

"People often describe to me in glowing terms their experience in viewing the night time sky as if they'd seen something extraordinarily exotic ... something akin to observing Victoria Falls or the south pole. And I'm afraid that's the case for many people ... that they can count on the fingers of one hand the times they've seen a good night's sky."

I have seen a proper night sky on Lundy Island and in the West of Ireland, and it is an overwhelming sight.

From Coronation to satellite television

Looking for the Zeppelin memorial in Loughborough on Saturday I asked a man with a barrel organ and a woman who were selling poppies outside the Salvation Army hall. They directed me to this plaque.

It was not the right one, but it did allow me to shoot a photo that shows 50 years of history. To make things even more symbolic, the winning street was called Shakespeare Street, though I suspect it has been truncated by redevelopment since 1953.

News of the World surveillance targets: From Ainsley Harriott to Zoe Williams

Michael Crick has the full list of the alleged targets of surveillance by the News of the World. There are 153, but Crick has excluded those who "seem to ordinary members of the public".

Frankly, my dear, if you are not on the list you are simply nobody.

Six of the Best 200

On Radio Five this afternoon the solicitor of Milly Dowler’s family, Mark Lewis, accused Rupert Murdoch’s News International of behaving “like the former Soviet Union”. He also saidthat being snooped on by the Murdoch empire left him feeling like “the KGB are somehow following you”. Read more on Left Foot Forward.

 "Think about it. You are going to the House of Commons for one of the most important Q&As of your career. Would you check the basic facts before setting out? It seems that May didn’t." Liberal Burblings is surprised at the incompetence of Theresa May.

The Potter Blogger tells it like it is: "As far as I'm concerned, 38Degrees has lost its way. And I'm not going to have any part in it any more."

In a video, Pieces of Light shows us how the world appears to a seven-year-old.

Downton Abbey was neatly skewered by one critic as "Howards' Way masquerading as Howard End". Here Shiny Shelf is bemused at the rushed time scheme and perfunctory set-ups of its second series.

"I dreamt of you last night and I fell out of bed twice." On Night and Day, the Spectator arts blog, Samira Ahmed interviews Rita Tussingham and Murray Melvin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of A Taste of Honey.

Annette Brooke's bill on compulsory cycle helmets for children blocked

The website bikeradar.com reminds us that the Cycles (Protective Headgear for Children) Bill, put forward by Annette Brooke, Lib Dem MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, failed to receive a second reading last week. This means that it now has little chance of making further progress.

I am not sorry. I recall writing a House Points column saying I was against compulsion in 2004 when the Labour backbencher Eric Martlew brought in such a bill.

bikeradar.com quotes two good arguments against compulsion:

CTC believes any helmet compulsion law in Britain would, as has been seen in other countries who've adopted a similar law, reduce the number cyclists on the road and that it should be left to the individual, or parent, to decide whether one should be worn. 

RoSPA - the Royal Society for the prevention of accidents - don't believe it would be a desirable exercise for the police to stop 10-year-olds in the street who aren’t wearing helmets, especially in light of deep budget cuts.

If anything, the arguments against compulsion have become stronger since 2004. We now live in a world where children are routinely made to wear helmets when riding fairy cycles or scooters on the pavement.

If you make them compulsory then more parents will draw the conclusion that cycling is too dangerous for their children, with undesirable consequences for their health and independence.

Look at Life: Market Place - narrated by Sid James

Another of these shorts from the Rank Organisation. This one was made in 1959 and is narrated by Sid James, very much in his Hancock character.

Look at Life: In Gear

Another of these Look at Life films from the Rank Organisation, this one looking at Swinging London. The sourness of the commentary is notable, even if there is something in the thesis that not all London was swinging and that the beautiful people were on holiday from real life.

And I love old street scenes whatever the commentary. If you do too, see this video from The Purple Gang.

Liz Lynne to stand down as West Midlands MEP

BBC News reports that Liz Lynne told the Lib Dem West Midlands regional conference yesterday that she is to stand down as an MEP:

"Although I still find the work stimulating and worthwhile, the relentless travelling particularly to and from Strasbourg is onerous to say the least. 

"Stepping down now will also give my successor, Phil Bennion, enough time to bed down and make an effective contribution in the remaining two and and half years of this Parliament ...

"I will continue to support the Liberal Democrat party in any way I can. I remain a strong supporter of Nick Clegg's leadership and his work in the coalition government."

Her place will be taken by Phil Bennion, who was second on the Lib Dem list for the region at the last European Parliament election.

I served with Phil on the party's Federal Policy Committee some years ago. But then I am pretty sure I went canvassing with Liz in a GLC by-election in 1984.

Morrissey: That's Entertainment

Mozza channels the Modfather. Enjoy.