McNally elected to succeed Williams as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords

Lord Tom McNally of Blackpool has today been elected unopposed to succeed Baroness Shirley Williams as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.

Tom McNally has been a member of the Lords since 1995. During that time he has served as Party spokesman on Trade, Broadcasting and Home Affairs. He has been Deputy Leader in the Lords since 2001.He has served on the Select Committees on Freedom of Information and on the Public Service, as well as the Puttnam Committee on the Communications Bill.

He left the Labour Party to join the SDP in 1981 and served on the Federal Executive of the Liberal Democrats from the formation of the Party in 1988 until 1998. He also served as Political adviser to the Rt.Hon Paddy Ashdown 1988-98.

Professor Earl Russell Conrad Russell

Liberal Democrat peer Professor Earl Russell Conrad Russell died peacefully this morning, aged 67, after a long illness.

Conrad Russell was the fifth Earl Russell. His great grandfather was the Liberal Prime Minister Lord John Russell, and his father was the philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Educated at Eton and Merton College Oxford, Conrad Russell became a Lecturer in History at Bedford London and Reader in History from 1974-1979. From 1979 to 1984 Conrad Russell taught at Yale University in the United States. On his return to the UK, Conrad Russell taught at University College London, before becoming Professor of History at Kings College London in 1990 until his retirement in 2003.

Conrad Russell wrote widely, primarily focusing on political and parliamentary history. His publications include The Causes of the English Civil War (1990), The fall of the British Monarchies (1991), and An Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism (1999). Conrad Russell also wrote about the need for academic freedom, was a Fellow of the Royal Academy and a Trustee of the John Stuart Mill Institute.

In the Lords Conrad Russell focused on issues such as constitutional affairs, education and asylum. Conrad Russell was also the party’s spokesman in the House of Lords on Work and Pensions. In 1996 he was awarded the Highland Park/Spectator 'Peer of the year', and came top in the Party when the elections to retain hereditary peers were held in 1999.

Evening Courses

My local FE College is now running evening courses so they sent me a leaflet.

Evening Courses for Men
Note: due to the complexity and level of difficulty of their contents, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants each.

Topic 1. How to fill ice-cube trays. Step by step with slide presentation.
Topic 2. Lavatory paper rolls: do they grow on the holders? Round-table discussion.
Topic 3: Differences between the laundry basket and the floor. Pictures and explanatory graphics.
Topic 4. The after-dinner dishes and silverware: can they levitate and fly into the kitchen sink? Examples on video.
Topic 5. Loss of identity: losing the remote to your significant other. Help line and support groups.
Topic 6. Learning how to find things, starting with looking in the "Right" place instead of turning the house upside down while screaming. Open forum.
Topic 7. Health watch: bringing her flowers is not harmful to your health. Graphics and audiotape.
Topic 8. Real men ask for directions when lost. Real-life testimonials.
Topic 9. Is it genetically impossible to sit quietly as she parallel parks? Driving simulation.
Topic 10. Learning to live: basic differences between mother and wife. Online class and role-playing.
Topic 11. How to be the ideal shopping companion. Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques.
Topic 12. How to fight cerebral atrophy: remembering birthdays, anniversaries, other important dates and calling when you're going to be late. Cerebral shock therapy sessions and full lobotomies offered.

Evening Courses for Women
Note: Courses should be undertaken on a one to one basis with the tutor, as groups of women tend to be over talkative and/or "bitchy" with each other.

1. Silence, the Final Frontier: Where No Woman Has Gone Before.
2. The Undiscovered Side of Banking: Making Deposits.
3. Parties: Going Without New Outfits.
4. Man Management: Minor Household Chores Can Wait Till After The Game.
5. Telephone Skills: How to Hang Up.
6. Introduction to Parking.
7. Advanced Parking: Backing Into a Space.
8. Cooking I: Bringing Back Bacon, Eggs and Butter.
9. Cooking II: Bran and Tofu are Not for Human Consumption.
10. PMS: Your Problem ... Not His.
11. Bathroom Etiquette I: Men Need Space in the Bathroom Cabinet, Too.
12. Bathroom Etiquette II: His Razor is His.
13. Communication Skills I: Tears - The Last Resort, not the First.
14. Communication Skills II: Thinking Before Speaking.
15. Communication Skills III: Getting What You Want Without Nagging.
16. Driving a Car Safely: A Skill You CAN Acquire.
17. Household Dust: A Harmless Natural Occurrence Only Women Notice.
18. Oil and Gasoline: Your Car Needs Both.
19. Integrating Your Laundry: Washing It All Together.
20. TV Remotes: For Men Only.

So what should I do with my life???

Over the last week or so I have been pondering over what my life after university should be but I still have no idea of what sort of thing I want to do let alone any firm plans.

If you have any advice do not hesitate to contact me.

NUS National Demonstration plans announced

The National Union of Students will be holding its National Demonstration 2004 on Thursay 2 December in Cardiff.

NUS is calling for all unions to join in solidarity with NUS Wales and the Welsh students’ unions in the fight against fees in Wales.

Devolution offers Wales the chance not to follow the deeply flawed Westminster example.

Motto for today

"Hard work never killed anybody" . . . . .but why take the risk!

Changes

As you may have noticed I have changed the Links bar around a little now that I have this fancy

LibDem Blogs Box that Ryan Cullen has created I have moved the links to other Liberal Democrat bloggers further down the Links Bar.

I have also added links to Neil Fawcett, Sandra Gidley and Steve Guy’s blogs.

Polidex

Polidex is an online trading game based on MPs. It's free to play, and a bit of fun. A few LDYS members have now registered and are playing. I am by far the worst.

Sandra Gidley

Sandra Gidley who is the Liberal Democrat MP for Romsey has started a Blog. An blog dedicated to her has already been running in the name of GidleyWatch.

Sandra Gidley was elected in a by-election in 2000 and retained the seat in 2001. She is in the Shadow Cabinet with responsibility for women and older people.

Another Picture from Conference

Left to Right: Cllr Patrick Murray, Jenny Tonge MP, Myself, Matthew Jackson and Chris Lomax

First Week at University

So I have finally started university. At the grand old age of 21 I am a student on the University of Wolverhampton Politics and Social Policy programme.

I am the only student this year with this weird combination so I have politics classmates and Social Policy classmates but no Politics and Social Policy classmates.

My Politics classmates are combining Politics with American Studies, History, Media and Cultural Studies or War Studies. Others may be combining with other subjects but I have not been introduced to them yet.
My Social Policy classmates are combining Social Policy with Deaf Studies, Social Care, Sociology or Criminal Justice again others maybe doing combinations with other subjects but I have not met them yet.

In my first week, which they refer to as Welcome Week but others may know as Freshers Week on Monday, I had to sit through a Welcome and Introduction to the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences and an Introduction to the University of Wolverhampton Students Union. Both of these were not very interesting and I thought the introduction to the University of Wolverhampton Students Union was too heavily based on developing a drinking and sex life while at University. Then at 4pm I had to go to a meeting with my personal tutor who is Dr Eamonn O’Kane who so far seems like a very nice guy.
I spent Tuesday in Subject meetings this was an opportunity for us to meet the tutors who would be teaching us on our courses and to get to know them and the syllabus a little better.
I spent Wednesday going round the stalls in the Sports Hall at the Freshers Fayre and then wasted 2 hours going to a session which took us through Being a University Student/What is Higher Education, Study Skills in Higher Education and Managing your time. The highlight of this session was the lady who did the Managing your time session she had a very bad cold but still manage to get as many jokes as possible in. I also went to an introduction to IT where I learnt a little about WOLF.
On Thursday I helped Andy Rolling a fellow Liberal Democrat at the university staff the LDYS stall at Freshers Fayre and now that I’m at University I don’t do Fridays.

Actually I do have A Global World lectures on Friday’s.

Life at Uni

I started university last Monday. So after welcome week we have now started the proper stuff so after two introductory lectures on Monday I had Tuesday off to cool my head down from all that hard work that I did in those two lectures.

My life at University of Wolverhampton started off in style as I turned up late for my first lecture but hey that’s what Uni is all about.

I don’t have much time now so I will come back to this.

I’ve got to go now or I will be late for my third lecture.

Bye for now.

P.s. I have added links to the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Wolverhampton Students Union do visit the sites.

Proper Jimbo!

Proper Jimbo! the blog of Mr James Blanchard is up and running again