Picture from Conference

New Party President Simon Hughes and Leader in the Lords Shirley Williams stopping for photos with LDYS members while touring the stands in the Exhibition Hall.

From Left to Right:
Jamie Scott, Will Howells, Dave White, Baroness Shirley Williams, Ruth Martin, Simon Hughes MP, Myself and Nathan

Liberal Democrats Federal Conference

Here is a quick round up of my first conference

Best bit:
Apart from Chairing an Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP.

Worst bit:
Having to stand up during Liberal Future / Policy Exchange / Lib Dems need is more discipline and less diversity.

Overall opinion and description:
The constant references to the Orange Book pissed me off as did all those people handing out leaflets. I thought conference went on a little too long. Apart from that I enjoyed conference.

Best Stall:
The British Heart Foundation stall was fantastic you could find out what your height and weight and using this calculated whether you were overweight, obese etc.

Best Freebie:
At the Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation stall they handed out a measuring tape for measuring your waist which tells you the level of health risk.

Best Fringe:
Britain’s Future in Europe sponsored by New Politics Network, Euroandits in association with Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP with Michael White (Guardian) as the anchor man.
The best thing about this Fringe was that I got the opportunity to ask Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP a question.

Growing Up in Today’s World chaired by myself with a panel of Jenny Tonge MP, Matthew Jackson (Y Care International), Councillor Patrick Murray (The Liberal Democrats Peace Group) and LDYS)

Hero of Conference:
Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP for a fantastic fringe event on Sunday evening, brilliant speech on Monday and for donating a fiver to the LDYS NUS campaign.

On a personal note I must say a huge thanks to Martyn Hencher and Simon Drage for their fantastic efforts in selling more then 400 raffle tickets for the LDYS NUS campaign.

Young people feel ignored by politicians

I will comment on this issue when I have some more time I just logged on to check my email and came across this link to the Votes at Sixteen Campaign website.

Liberal Democrats Autumn Federal Conference 2004

I am off to Bournemouth today for the Liberal Democrats Autumn Federal Conference 2004.

As it is my first federal conference I am nervous and excited and not too sure of what to expect.

My plan for tomorrow is to travel down to Bournemouth with fellow Liberal Democrats such as Colin Ross, Jade Farrington, Safraz Rashid, Councillor Talib Hussain and others. Then spend the evening at Race Night, which is LDYS’s annual fundraising social event.

My timetable from earlier has now been changed a little the revised version is below.

Sunday 19th
09.00 - 10.30 Winning the European Constitution Referendum
11.00 - 12.30 Show me the money
13.00 - 14.30 The Agents' and Organisers' Association AGM
14.30 - 15.45 Policy training for PPCs
16.00 - 17.30 Managing your candidate
17.30 meeting with Dave Wood
18:15 - 19:30 Hijab & Kippa: The Impact of Secularism on Human and Civil Rights
20:00 - 21:00 An Audience with Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP
21.15 meeting with Dave Wood, Chris Keating, Nicky Sewell and Jade Farrington

Monday 20th
09.00 - 10.30 Time management for agents
11.00 - 12.30 Getting votes from your in-box
12:30 - 13:30 EU/US Relations
14.30 - 15.45 An introduction to agenting
16:00 - 18:15 LDYS Stall
18:15 - 19:30 Agents' and Organisers' Association Fringe
20:00 - 21.15 Can public service broadcasting survive the digital age?

Tuesday 21st
08.30 - 11.00 LDYS Stall
11.00 - 12.30 Organising VIP visits
13:00 - 14:00 Make Votes Count fringe
14:45 - 15:45 Freedom, Fairness, Trust (Pre-Manifesto)
15:45 - 16:00 General Election Presentation
17:30 - 18:00 FE & FFAC reports and Membership Levy
18.15 - 19.30 Reclaiming Liberalism
20:00 - 21:15 Electoral Reform Society Fringe

I have a lunchtime meeting with Chris Lomax due to which I may miss Organising VIP visits, Make Votes Count fringe and Freedom, Fairness, Trust (Pre-Manifesto).

Wednesday 22nd
09:00 - 09:45 A Strong, Independent and Well Financed BBC
10:05 - 10:20 Speech by Lord Dholakia
11.00 - 12.30 How to make sure you win on polling day
13:00 - 14:00 Growing Up in Today's World
14.30 - 15.45 Advanced FOCUS writing
16.00 - 18.00 LDYS Stall
18:15 - 19:30 Electoral Reform Society Reception

and on Thursday I will leave after Charles Kennedy MP's speech

LibDem Blogs - Aggregated! and Letters from Frankfurt

Just been looking through the stats of visitors to this blog and noticed that the referrers from LibDem Blogs - Aggregated! and Letters from Frankfurt have overtaken http://jadefarrington.blogspot.com/ which has been out of action for sometime now.

Both LibDem Blogs - Aggregated! and Letters from Frankfurt are not far from overtaking http://www.markramsden.blogspot.com/ which is still in the lead with 55.

Wolverhampton South West

I have just been looking through information on Wolverhampton South West which is the constituency in which the University of Wolverhampton is.

Wolverhampton South West is Liberal Democrats 339th target seat winnable in 2056 by when I will be 73.

Back garden conference for health party members

and the Liberal Democrats decide they want to have their conference at Bournemouth International Centre.

I wonder if Adam Parsons was invited to this conference!

Hartlepool



Although Colin Ross has the words Me, Dave and Adam in Hartlepool. It actually is me (Adam Nazir Ahmed Teladia), Colin Ross and Councillor Dave Radcliffe.

P.s. There is a reason why it is only Colin who has a smile on his face in this picture.

Hartlepool by-election

On Friday evening I travelled up to Hartlepool with my friends Councillor Dave Radcliffe (Selly Oak) and Colin Ross with the intention of helping out in the Hartlepool by-election campaign. There was lots of to do up there as we now know the by-election is on 30th September 2004.

After my experience of the Hodge Hill by-election this was a different experience and I wish I could have stayed up there longer and helped out more. Hopefully the little work I did do will have contributed in some way to getting Jody Dunn elected.

Jody Dunn has a blog for the duration of the Hartlepool by-election which can be read at http://www.jodydunn.org.uk/

jobpredictor

Adam Nazir Ahmed Teladia, Your ideal job is a Topless Model

Adam Nazir Teladia, Your ideal job is a Goal Scoring Superstar Hero

Adam Teladia, Your ideal job is a Trained Assassin

Adam, Your ideal job is a Bunjee Jumper

Tony Blair, Your ideal job is a between the hours of 12 and 1pm on days with a W in them

John Prescott, Your ideal job is a Chef

Gordon Brown, Your ideal job is a Nun

Alan Milburn, Your ideal job is a MSP

Peter Hain, Your ideal job is a Professional Hippy

Jack Straw, Your ideal job is a Playing for Aberdeen

David Blunkett, Your ideal job is a Rabbit Slayer

Margaret Beckett, Your ideal job is a … who are you kidding, you work?

Hilary Benn, Your ideal job is a Prostitute

Alan Johnson, Your ideal job is a Superhero

Alistair Darling, Your ideal job is a Traffic Warden

John Reid, Your ideal job is a Housekeeper

Paul Murphy, Your ideal job is a Permanent Temp

Geoff Hoon, Your ideal job is an Emperor of the entire world

Paul Boateng, Your ideal job is a between the hours of 12 and 1pm on days with a W in them

Patricia Hewitt, Your ideal job is an anything where you can kiss ass

Charles Clarke, Your ideal job is a Mime Artist

Tessa Jowell, Your ideal job is a Pirate

Hilary Armstrong, Your ideal job is a God

Ian McCartney, Your ideal job is a Rear End of Panto Cow

Conference Timetable

Yes because I am a boring git with too much time on my hands I have spent the day planning my timetable for conference.

I am sure it will change or not be followed at all.

Sunday 19th

09.00 - 10.30: Winning the European Constitution Referendum
11.00 - 12.30: Show me the money
14.30 - 15.45: Policy training for PPCs
16.00 - 17.30: Managing your candidate
17:15 - 18:00: Reports of Parliamentary Parties of Liberal Democrats
18:15 - 19:30: Hijab & Kippa: The Impact of Secularism on Human and Civil Rights
20:00 - 21:00: An Audience with Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP
21.45 - 23.00: Football for the (real) fans?

Monday 20th

09.00 - 10.30: Time management for agents
11.00 - 12.30: Getting votes from your in-box
12:30 - 13:30: EU/US Relations
14.30 - 15.45: An introduction to agenting
16:00 - 17:15: A World Free from Poverty
18:15 - 19:30: Agents' and Organisers' Assocation AGM
20:00 - 21.15: Can public service broadcasting survive the digital age?

Tuesday 21st

11.00 - 12.30: Organising VIP visits
13:00 - 14:00: Make Votes Count fringe
14:45 - 15:45: Freedom, Fairness, Trust (Pre-Manifesto)
15:45 - 16:00: General Election Presentation
17:30 - 18:00: FE & FFAC reports and Membership Levy
18.15 - 19.30: Reclaiming Liberalism
20:00 - 21:15: Electoral Reform Society Fringe

Wednesday 22nd

09:00 - 09:45: A Strong, Independent and Well Financed BBC
10:05 - 10:20: Speech by Lord Dholakia
11.00 - 12.30: How to make sure you win on polling day
13:00 - 14:00: Growing Up in Today's World
14.30 - 15.45: Advanced FOCUS writing
18:15 - 19:30: Electoral Reform Society Reception

Oscars and Turkeys 2004

The Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) and Channel 4 will host the Oscars and Turkeys 2004 awards on 26th September 2004, which will celebrate and commiserate the best and the worst of policies, the most celebrated and the most regrettable political moments of the last parliamentary year.

Nominations for Oscars and Turkeys 2004 awards are available on the LDYS website.

Below is a list of the Awards and how I voted.

1. Best Labour Policy of 2004 (Oscar)
Increasing funding for AIDS research: Hilary Benn

2. Worst Labour policy of 2004 (Turkey)
Top up fees: Charles Clarke

3. Best Tory moments (Oscar)
The Quiet Man "The quiet man is here to stay, and he's turning up the volume!": Iain Duncan Smith

4. Worst spin 2004 (Turkey)
Real cost of Tory spending cuts: Oliver Letwin

5. Most effective opposition (Oscar)
Menzies Campbell MP on everything

6.Most welcome move (Oscar)
Leaving No 10: Alastair Campbell

7. Worst quotes 2004 (Turkey)
Oliver Letwin on his choice of local comprehensive schools:
"I would give my right arm to send [my children] them to a fee-paying school. If necessary, I would go out on the streets and beg rather than send them to the school next to where I live."

8. Best Critic of the War (Oscar)
Charles Kennedy

9. Best Defender of the War (Oscar)
Geoff Hoon

10. Best Cabinet Minister (Oscar)
Gordon Brown

Special Award:
The Frank Sinatra "I did it my way" Award (Oscar and picture of Frank)
Tony Blair going on holiday with colourful Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi.

LDYS Back NUS Over Tory Loan Plans

What personality elements make up your Personality cocktail?

How to make a Adam Nazir Ahmed Teladia

Ingredients: 1 part friendliness 5 parts arrogance 3 parts leadership

Method: Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Serve with a slice of emotion and a pinch of salt. Yum!

Username:http://www.go-quiz.com/cocktail/cocktail.php">Username:%20name="uname">

How to make a Adi

Ingredients: 5 parts pride 3 parts courage 5 parts instinct

Method: Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Serve with a slice of emotion and a pinch of salt. Yum!

Username:http://www.go-quiz.com/cocktail/cocktail.php">Username:%20name="uname">

Campbell: I may stand for a seat in Commons

Oh, God NO!

Please don’t

People have lost faith in politics as it is.

I wonder if Alastair Campbell realises that being an MP requires meeting and communicating with real people.

One Big Weekend Birmingham

Radio 1 bring One Big Weekend to Birmingham on September 18 & 19 but unfortunately I won’t be able to go to any of it as I will be in Bournemouth for the Liberal Democrats Autumn Federal Conference 2004.

Although One Big Weekend is a free event, you need get tickets to get in.

Tickets will be available on a first come first served basis from Millennium Point in Birmingham City Centre (there is a limit of two tickets per person). Tickets for the Saturday Dance Day will be given away on Saturday 11 September. Tickets for the Sunday Bands Day will be given away on Sunday 12 September. The box office at Millennium Point in front of Thinktank, Curzon Street will open at 12pm.

Targeting the voters

After reading Hughes: fairness is our winning card and Labour aims at Lib Dems as Hain reveals strategy switch I have come to the conclusion that that the Labour vote is the vote to target at the moment because if any Tory voters were to switch they would have done so already. So with the government’s position and poor performance it’s the Labour vote that the Liberal Democrats need to target. However we need to keep those who switched from the Tories and convince those who vote for the loony left that if they continue to vote them they are wasting their vote and that if they vote us working class people benefit.

So overall with the loony left and Labour we need to target the left not the right. The Tory vote has already been squeezed so people who currently vote Tory will always vote Tory.

Hope this makes sense then again I am typing it fairly early in the morning

Email Read out on BBC Radio 5 Live

My email about the England football team’s result was read out on 606.

Here we go again!

So England didn’t beat Austria as many people expected so we get to hear all those things from England fans again. “Sack Erickson”, “Beckham should be dropped”, “Owen has lost his touch” etc.

And if England happen to beat Poland on Wednesday we will hear England fans saying, “Erickson is a tactical genius”, “Beckham is the best midfielder in the world”, “Owen is better then Raul, Ronaldo, Shevchenko, Crespo etc” and so on.

England fans should just realise that the players are not as good as we make them out to be and that from time to time England players have a bad day/game and wont win every game they play.

What's your personality type?


Results for me:

Your answers suggest you are a Realist

The four aspects that make up this personality type are:

Planner
Facts
Heads
Introvert

MEPs, the European Parliament and Public Opinion

The European Movement (EM) has launched the first in a new series of policy papers this week. "MEPs, the European Parliament and Public Opinion" by Michael Barry, an EM board member, takes an in-depth look at the role of MEPs and public reaction to the European Parliament here in the UK.

LDYS Race Night

Join the fun at Race Night, LDYS's annual fundraiser, from 8pm-11pm on Saturday 18th September at the Highcliff Marriott Hotel in Bournemouth.

To stand a chance of winning the grand prize, sponsor a horse. To get your message out to the Liberal Democrats, or just to let Liberal Democrats know how generous you are, sponsor a race! Or just come along and have a flutter.

To sponsor a race or a horse, or to buy advertising space in the Race Night programme, download the booking form. You can also sign up online to sponsor a horse (50p PayPal charge applies).

Scrabble

This has got to be one of the most clever E-mails I've received in awhile.

Someone out there either has too much spare time or is deadly at Scrabble.

DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters: DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters: BEST IN PRAYER
DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters: A ROPE ENDS IT
GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters: HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE: When you rearrange the letters: HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters: CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters: IS NO AMITY
MOTHER-IN-LAW: When you rearrange the letters: WOMAN HITLER
SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters: ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters: IM A DOT IN PLACE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters: TWELVE PLUS ONE

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE: PRESIDENT CLINTON OF THE USA: When you rearrange the letters (With no letters left over and using each letter only once):

TO COPULATE HE FINDS INTERNS

Yep! Someone with waaaaaaaaaaay too much time on his or her hands!

ArtsFest

For one weekend only, Birmingham's streets, squares and more than 14 indoor venues will be bursting with the best of the West Midlands' arts scene.