Arwen Folkes

Fingers Crossed for Henley

2008-06-26T08:13:00.003+01:00

Good luck to Stephen and the team in Henley today!

I have been frustrated by the fact that I can't get up there (family commitments and a big building project I have been managing outside my back door) but have been watching and reading every step with baited breath and sincerely hope that today we get a good result.

The widespread impact of a win today for us would be a great boost for the party, a great help to us in Cornwall and a real boost to Nick's leadership also. It is clear that Stephen Kearney is the best candidate by miles, I just hope the people of Henley see it that way too!

So Henley Team, give those Tories a bloody nose, they bloody well deserve it!

David Davis believes in the death penalty

2008-06-14T15:20:00.008+01:00

Have just come across a Facebook group ... David Davis believes in the death penalty and I imagined it was just some loony group until they posted this link to an article on the BBC website dated from November 2003
Tories' Davis backs death penalty.

Extract ... The death penalty should be brought back for some pre-meditated and cold-blooded murders, new Tory shadow home secretary David Davis says. This should apply in cases involving multiple murders where there is clear evidence and no doubt, he says.
This would not include the Soham case, but would include cases such as the Yorkshire Ripper and Moors Murders. However, both Mr Davis and Tory Central Office stressed the views were his own and did not reflect party policy. .... But Mr Davis, who was also interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph, stressed that this was his personal view and was "unlikely in my political lifetime to come to pass".

The article goes on ... "But the Liberal Democrats said the comments signalled a "shift to the right of terrifying proportions".

I suppose if a week is a long time in politics then five years must be a lifetime!

I appreciate it's not black and white ... 42 days and the death penalty are two different issues, but it's Davis' posturing as a champion of civil liberties that gets me ... surely a liberal person is liberal through and through and since the decision to not field our own candidate, Davis has extended his position to cover civil liberties as a whole which this article clearly points out is not essentially his real view.

What a shame our candidate isn't in the running as I am sure this would have made great focus fodder and we may have had an MP who truly defends ALL Liberal principles.

Update: Just saw Duncan Borrowman has posted a link to a petition for Lib Dems who believe we should be standing a candidate ... here

On a brighter note ...

2008-06-12T23:46:00.002+01:00

David "Call-me-Dave" Cameron's visit to Cornwall today has seen the press focusing on one thing ...

here and video here

more on this later ....

David Davis - the "libertarian"

2008-06-12T23:20:00.003+01:00

Bloody Hell! What a day.

David Davis' bit of theatre seems to be having the desired effect. I have to agree that it is good to see some conviction politics and I am pleased that a politician feels so strongly about something that they are bold enough to take this rather strange and peculiar step.

What I am not so sure about is our reaction to this in being so quick to announce that we will not be fielding a candidate. For several reasons.

Surely, as Liberal Democrats who intrinsically believe in civil liberties, our own candidate should be speaking for us and we should not be allowing a Conservative - however principled he may appear - to be doing that for us.

Surely, the perception of secret conversations late at night between us and a Conservative, striking a deal as it would seem, is not at all helpful to our own campaign and allaying the criticisms of others that we are close to the Tories.

Are we not strong enough to be shouting about our own position that we step aside when someone else is making a stand?

Surely we would prefer to have our own candidate in Parliament speaking up on matters such as this - and that is what we should strive for.

David Davis now looks like the libertarian to beat all libertarians and with our response we have green lighted that perception.

In my humble opinion.

Sorry Nick

For Rob Nolan - Truro City Councillor

2008-05-27T17:13:00.008+01:00

sorry.

:)

That's why they call them the blues ....

2008-05-27T17:01:00.003+01:00

So much has happened ...

2008-05-26T08:57:00.005+01:00

... since I last had a blog.

The Conservatives are spectacularly capitalising on a widespread protest vote against Labour, winning them their first by-election in over twenty years, the mayorship of London and delaying further the need to actually present any policies to the electorate. The trojan horse carries on it's journey towards uk domination without showing it's true colours in any shape or form.

It's not Vote Blue, Go Green, instead Vote Blue, "Go Brown!" seems to be the real sentiment amongst the electorate. Of course, understandably, the Conservatives are citing this as a true turn around to their way of thinking - not so Dave, it's a run of luck which hopefully people will see through before too long... and certainly question once your policies start appearing ... if ever they do! (by the way, pic from Facebook group,)

Here in Cornwall, the Boundary Commission has recently decided that our new Unitary Authority will have the same number of councillors as our old county council which is totally against the wishes of cross party consensus, the electorate and nearly everyone else.

I was pleased to chair a meeting of the Lib Dems in April that agreed the LD position of the majority of Cornwall Liberal Democrats as being that of supporting a council with a higher number of councillors. The reasoning for this was reflective of the geography of the county (largest towns being on circa 23k pop. and an abundance of small rural communities) and the need to enable a greater diversity of councillors (young working people who's voices are needed will find it very difficult to stand for this super-councillor role). Also, most importantly, we were listening to the wishes of the electorate.

It is typical that this "consultation" across the county has been ignored and the "new council" will largely take the form of the old council - certainly in terms of member representation. I am cross about this - Cornwall is a unique place with unique needs and apparently men in suits have seen fit to ignore us once again.

Sunday Walking

2008-05-26T08:44:00.001+01:00

I love Cornwall ... here's why!

The Best Weekend ... (part2)

2008-05-26T08:14:00.001+01:00

A wedding ... in fact the loveliest wedding I have ever been to (excepting my own of course).

Kate, Colin and Ben got married at the Tubestation in Polzeath on Saturday. No, there has not been an amendment to Marriage Law in Cornwall allowing trio's to get wed ... just that 3 year old Ben was very much a part of the day and it was very much the wedding of their family.

I was brought up Roman Catholic (lapsed since I should add) and this wedding ceremony was unlike any other I have ever attended ... Bride and Bridesmaids entered to the sound of "Here Come the Girls" and the whole ceremony was upbeat and full of heads bobbing along to song. I am not sure I have been converted to this form of worship but I definitely got it and thought it was just refreshing in more ways than one.

Congratulations guys, the day was fab and the reception equally so ... I am not sure who enjoyed the creche more - us or our boys!!

The Best Weekend ... (part1)

2008-05-26T07:55:00.004+01:00

... and still Monday off!

It really has been a fab weekend, firstly the lack of the predicted bad weather was a bonus. The weekend began with the arrival of Nick Clegg MP in Cornwall. His trip was organised by the Cornwall Committee, of which I am now chair (since March) and in the main by Alex F which was not because of nepotistic tendancies, just that Alex had a fair bit of experience and our Cornwall Organiser has been away campaigning in by-elections.

The trip went extraordinarily well and I know has been gratefully received by Lib Dems and residents in Cornwall. For the leader of a party to have made it down here in the first six months since election is a testament to how important Cornwall is to our party ... no appointment of an imaginery shadow cabinet minister for the Lib Dems.

I took on the organisation of the County Dinner to welcome Nick on the Friday evening and Nick's speech was inspirational and definitely hit the right spots. I'll be honest, after wholeheartedly supporting Nick in the leadership, I had been a little in doubt of his ability of late, but spending the evening talking to him and seeing how he has conducted his visit to Cornwall has completely reassured me. In fact, I would go so far to say that we are lucky to have found such a good leader and the emails I have received from Lib Dems who were there that night have backed that up.

PS.
After finding that hotels were as dull and expensive as ever, thought we should do something a bit different and a bit more real. Local produce served by local caterers, venue local community village hall, music provided by some of Cornwall's extremely talented young musicians. It went terribly well and I sincerely hope that other constituencies in Cornwall will consider doing similar as the community impact of this dinner has been considerable.

Back to Blogging

2008-05-26T07:41:00.000+01:00

I had taken sometime out from blogging as I realised I was trying to find things to blog about rather than blogging about things I'd found.

Also been reading bro-in-law's recent blogging so thought I'd get back on to it too.

This will not be much to hubby's liking as we are in the middle of building an extension and I am already a bit over committed with various chairmanships and employment - but at least this won't cost him any money! ;)