moorcraft

Liberal Youth Elections.

2009-03-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

Good old Harry has nicked a piece from the Liberal Democrat bloggersphere suggesting all is not well in the contest to be the next Chairperson of Liberal Youth.

As things are being reported, it would seem the current Chairman of Liberal Youth was giving a speech at the Liberal Democrat Spring Forum. Whilst in the process of entertaining the crowd with recollections of her accomplishments since being elected to the role, it looks like her rival for the job decided to heckle with a cry of “you've done nothing”. The reaction I have seen suggests some in LY are not happy with her interjection....

-----------------

The first thing to note is that, whilst CF members can accord themselves a little chuckle regarding these events, they are in no position to throw any stones on the matter. CF Elections are renowned for being poorly run and the hustings events can be quite intimidating affairs for those who have never previously witnessed them. The only CF Election hustings in recent memory I can remember being heckle free were the ones Nick Webb hosted in Bristol. I think the success of that event can be directly attributed to his decision to allow CF's most handsome, intelligent and god damm amazing man to chair them........Seriously, heckling is an unwanted part of any election event and it is pleasing to see the heckler getting some stick for her actions. Having said that, if this website is true then a part of me is looking forward to seeing how the proposed candidate responds to anyone brave enough to heckle him.......It could be cutting!

---------------------------

My doctoral thesis has seen me focus almost exclusively on CF and I have never met either candidate in the Liberal Youth Elections. I do occasionally come into contact with Sara on the Liberal Youth Forums however, where I join a handful of conservatives in posting regularly (some CF members have suggested to me I should not bother, but I think the standard of debate is high, I enjoy the occasional rant against the resident Labour troll and I have more in common politically with Orange Book Liberals then Tombstone Conservatives). I recall recently picking her up on a comment where she called the Conservative Party BNP Lite. I posted a reply inviting other forum members to indicate whether they agreed with her observation. As a mod, she removed my question and sent me a message saying she had done so because engaging in such a nonsense exercise would not be productive (or words to that affect). I personally thought this was an unnecessary deletion and that curtailing the debate by removing my post was strange.

-----------------

If I was a LY member, I suppose I would therefore cast a vote for Elaine, on the basis she has always been prepared to address my questions and has never deleted my comments! Forget what is best for the organisation, always cast a vote based on who has pissed you off the least :-)

London Spin - Pure Quality Journalism?

2009-02-28T02:01:00.000-08:00

I am sure I am almost certainly alone in wondering what happened to London Spin. Although the very personification of averageness, it did nevertheless make for an occasionally amusing and informative read. The libertarian attitude adopted to comment moderation in particular made the website always worth a couple of minutes, as did the names adopted by the pure quality journalists who contributed to it. This was particularly the case when CF Staffordshire's favourite blogger, Harry Cole, decided to turn his focus onto the real big issue of the day – the Ed University Rector elections. For a short time, London Spin was the best CF website on the internet.......what a depressing thought that is.

And then it was gone...into the ether...off to the great blog heaven in the sky. Most people probably are not bothered by this on the basis I suspect its readership could be packed into a phone box. Yet just like TBG, it went without any explanation...

That was until Recess Monkey posted a theory on his website that suggested London Spin had made a huge mistake in assuming Carla Jones was a journalist. You might recall that LondonSpin put something up suggesting Carla Jones was a journalist from the Daily Mirror who had taken to befriending CF members in the hope of finding another Matthew Lewis story. The blogpost went around like bloggersphere like wildfire. Tory Bear run the Curious Case of Carla Jones piece, CF reps and CCHQ officials sent messages to members pleading for her to be defriended. Even Iain Dale run a piece encouraging us all to bin this particular facebook friend...Recess Monkey however thinks everybody cocked up. Recess Monkey believes Carla Jones was a pseudonym adopted by a CCHQ staffer friend of his and that London Spin got it wrong...

Now, Recess Monkey has a habit of getting this kind of thing wrong (Thatcher is still alive and kicking at the time of writing...). However, if he is correct on this one, then the CF Bloggersphere has committed one big fuck up.

Either way, London Spin is no more........the truth or falsehood of the Recess Monkey story perhaps should determine whether this is a good thing or not. The Tory bloggersphere has remained silent on Hilton's post.........I suspect that will remain unchanged :-)

CF Campaign Video - Priceless

2009-02-22T04:52:00.000-08:00

It is rare I find myself speechless, but the video that has been produced to highlight the forthcoming London CF Campaign Day has achieved the feat. Tory Bear has it for you here...its well worth a watch.

The choice of Kayne West's Stronger to accompany the images is an interesting selection. The use of the F word in the minute long clip should be well received by the blue rinse brigade. The best bit of all for me however is when the section with Patrick Sullivan comes onto the screen just as Kayne tells us we should “bow in the presence of greatness”

Priceless

25 Random Facts

2009-02-08T04:51:00.000-08:00

Iain Dale has followed Nick Clegg and produced 25 things you never knew about him...If its good enough for Clegg and Dale...

1 My first memory is falling off a yellow tricycle and cutting my knee open...

2 I had my bike confiscated from me when I was 6 because I was a very dangerous rider.

3 I cannot swim

4 I have a scar on my head from where I had stitches put in after my skull had an unfortunate meeting with an iron gate. Its fair to say the iron gate won that encounter...

5 I have worn glasses since the age of 7 and currently have a -10 prescription.

6 I have been to more then 50 countries in the world, but only got on a plane for the first time about 2 years ago

7 I have worked for 3 different elected representatives in 3 different nations

8 I am currently not a member of any political party or pressure group.

9 My first job was working behind the counter at Argos. I was moved upstairs to the warehouse shortly afterwards on the grounds I apparently was not interacting with the general public in a positive manner.

10 I was stabbed at school by my soon to be best man...

11 I failed more GCSE's then I passed and just about secured good enough grades to do my A-Levels. Having a MA and doing a PhD seemed a long way off back then.

12 I have, to my eternal shame, been escorted out of a football ground...It was not my fault though!

13 I have also had a pork pie chucked at my head at a football ground...but that was not my fault either!

14 I never got drunk before I turned 18

15 I have been squashed by Ken Clarke whilst trying to get into a lift.

16 I have been told by Joe Cole's girlfriend, Carly Zuker, that I am weird...

17 The first person I met in Conservative Future was Paul Bristow and the second was Andre Walker...No wonder I am scarred for life!!

18 I once told a hostel owner who had misplaced my booking that I worked for Lonely Planet in a bid to try and jog his memory where he had put it...The result was not quite what I expected!

19 I have slept in a temple

20 I have collected money for charity at a Chesney Hawkes gig

21 I have won an all in hand of poker against former world snooker champion Mark Williams

22 I once got chucked out of a gig for crowdsurfing...the recklessness of youth

23 I have never been arrested...but have encountered the police in places as diverse as Manchester and Singapore Airport!

24 I own more then 2,000 music albums.

25 I met first met my partner when I rented a room from her.

Twatters

2009-02-02T02:55:00.000-08:00

My old drinking partner and the architect of the best City CF Branch social that never was, Damon Lord, has always been quicker at recognising the potential of new websites then me. Although I introduced Dazza to the fine art of blogging, the journey has has taken his blog down leaves my humble effort trailing in its wake. That is why his blog is all snazzy and lovely, if impossible to leave a bloody comment on, and my blog remains on a bog standard blogger template. Anyway, Damon has been pestering me to join some website called twatter (or something like that anyway). I am told its where all the cool kids, and some old CF mates as well, hang out these days. It also seems that Gordon Brown's staff spend a bit of time there as well...

====

Damon got a message on twatter saying that 10 Downing Street were now following his updates on this website. I think I speak for the vast majoirty of Cardiff CF when I say this is a fantastic development on the grounds if ever there was a man who needed monitoring its Damon. What made the message a little bit more strange however is that it, apparently, arrived at 4am in the morning...

====
I am going to do something I should perhaps no better then to do and give Damon credence for telling the truth. If this is in fact 100% true then you have to ask what the hell people in 10 Downing Street are doing...The UK economy is going down the pan, Cameron is pasting your boss every week at PMQ's, you have no ideological direction, you have no political direction, you have no commonsense, you have no public support, you're facing electoral defeat and your boss has grand delusions about saving the world. What do you do...you spend your time registering to follow Damon Lord on twatter.

====
What a bunch of twats

The British National Party

2009-02-01T23:51:00.000-08:00

It seems a recent posting by Conservative Future Chairman Michael Rock has attracted a decent amount of coverage. Iain Dale and Harry Cole both run pieces on it...

First and foremost, it is excellent to see Chairman Rock using the wonderfully revamped CF Website to make what unquesitonably constitutes a political post. Given that the recent history of CF has seen the organisation almost exclusively focused on electioneering and socialising, it is sometimes easy to forget that it is in fact a political organisation affiliated to the Conservative Party. This reconnection of the CF individual with his natural political animal is to be applauded and I sincerely hope a number of CF members follow Michael’s lead. Its about time CF members had a forum where political matters could be frankly and openly discussed.

The post itself concerns an issue which is particularly close to my heart; the continued and regrettable advancement of extreme nationalism in the UK. I was fortunate enough to spend some of my childhood in East Ham, one of the most wonderfully multicultural and vibrant parts of London. Those of you who know your geography will be aware that East Ham neighbours Barking, an area where the repulsive British National Party have unfortunately enjoyed considerable electoral success. Its electoral advancement, although still thankfully minimal, is not just confined to Barking and there are pockets of the nation where support for extreme nationalism has increased in recent times.

In his blogpost, Michael makes an often argued, yet still seemingly controversial, point regarding the ideological and political positioning of the BNP. Michael suggests the BNP should in fact be correctly classified as a left wing rather then right wing political organisation. Somewhat predictably, his views have been condemned by rent a cause Plaid AM Bethan Jenkins, who has historically never allowed reason, intelligence and facts to get in the way of a good rant against anything or anybody more right wing then the average Social Democrat. Given it is Miss Jenkins who has articulated the nonsensical criticism that Rock’s views are disgraceful, I think it is safe to assume they are in fact not. A good rule of Welsh politics, in my assessment, is to simply take the alternative view to whatever Bethan is proposing. It usually cannot see you far wrong and it almost universally leads you down the correct pathway.

For what it’s worth…I personally think it is also inaccurate to declare the BNP a left wing political organisation. I personally consider the BNP to be an extreme nationalist organisation with a diverse membership comprising of socialists, conservatives and, believe it or not, self professed liberals. I feel extreme nationalism cannot be adequately located on a left/right axis and it is futile to attempt to do so. As a consequence, I think all three mainstream political parties have historically lost voters to the BNP and I think all three will continue to do so unless the concerns of certain sections of our society are listened to and addressed.

In the recent past however, it is unquestionable that the BNP have performed particularly well in parts of the UK which may be described as traditionally socialist. I can therefore understand why some attempt to portray the BNP as a left wing problem. Barking and Dagenham may be many things…but traditionally conservative (that’s a small c there) they are not. Burnley, Bradford, Oldham and Stoke may be many things… but traditionally conservative they are not. I therefore do not think it is ridiculous to suggest that some adherents to socialist thinking do not find it a huge political jump to switch to extreme nationalism.

Equally concerning however is the rise in theoritical support organisations such as the BNP have been receiving in areas where conservatism flourishes. This has yet to transcend itself into electoral support and the extent to which it will do remains a moot point until we have some electoral data to dissect. Pinning my colours to the mast however… I do think the British National Party, if it fields candidates in parts of Alf Garnett Toryland, will find itself saving an alarmingly high number of deposits.

The most important part of Michael’s post was the title… We must all unite together to defeat the menace of the BNP. The BNP is a horrendous organisation that seeks to divide this wonderful nation. The fact they declare themselves the upholders of nationalism in this country makes me sick. It is however an organisation which has perfected the art of effective localised political campaigning. It hurts to type this, but the BNP do have the ability, in various parts of the UK, to out campaign the three mainstream political parties. This really must change.

For me, the way in which we endeavour to combat the BNP is totally arse about face. For example, why do we insist on supporting NUS No Platform Polices when it comes to the BNP? I say let them speak and trust that our arguments will win the day. Refusing them a voice only allows them to play the erosion of liberty card. Let them have a platform…and let us demonstrate to the watching masses that our beliefs and values are stronger and more credible then anything they can offer. In addition, why on earth do we persist with this, albeit good intentioned, notion that bussing a shedload of Anti-BNP campaigners into a community for a 24 hour campaign drop is somehow an effective move? Fighting the BNP is not like fighting a general election under normal rules of engagement. This sort of action achieves absolutely nothing other then to make those who have given the BNP a listen even more determined to stick with their newfound allegiance. The whole point people is that certain parts of the UK react badly to outsiders venturing in and ordering them around!!! Barking does not want a bunch of students descending on it telling it who it should or should not vote for. Places such as this need strong local community voices to emerge and fight the scourge of the BNP head on and within a localised context. The fight is a slow and extremely localised one…and we as political organisations owe it to those engaged in the fight to offer administrative support from afar wherever we can.

In my mind, all mainstream political parties must support local candidates in such areas if success is to be achieved. It is here that selection is crucial. Disengaged political participants need to know their potential liberal, socialist or conservative representative understands them, their concerns and their way of thinking. They need to be authentic and embrace the local culture of these wonderful communities. Shipping in a careerist from 200 miles away may win you the seat, but it does not address the underlying problem. Finally, we need to recognise that success is not about seeing the BNP share of the vote dwindle to 1% or 2%. This is still far too high and no reason to stop our efforts. As mainstream political participants, we need to be constantly vigilant against the threat posed by extreme nationalism. We need to assist those in our local communities who are promoting community cohesion and fight tooth and nail against those who spread division and hatred. A liberal society is a tolerant one. We must all strive to defend that.

For this reason – political organisations such as the BNP are something all of us, conservatives, socialists, communists, libertarians and all other ideological creeds, must unite to defeat. It is a problem for us all to address and one we must if we are to tackle the continued advancement of extreme nationalism in our wonderful nation.

The BNP is a cancer of mainstream politics. Lets work together to beat it

Obama In Drugs Bust

2009-02-01T23:48:00.000-08:00

The New Zealand Herald is today reporting the sad news that George Obama, half brother to the President of the United States, has been arrested in Kenya having been found in possession of cannabis.

According to the NZ Herald, George Obama has lived a life of poverty in his homeland. He is not close to his famous half brother and he was not present at the inauguration ceremony. Aside from sharing the same father and surname, there seems little the Harvard educated President has in common with his impoverished sibling.

If this tragic story teaches us only one thing, it is perhaps just how fickle the finger of fate can be. One wonders whether, as Aretha sang her soul and left not a dry eye in the house, President Obama considered just how differently things might have turned out for him had fate played a different hand. I hope it is a memory that lingers long when the Obama administration come to tackle issues such as social deprivation and international development.

Lets Rip The Brits To Bits In London 2012

2009-01-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday wondering around the windy streets of Wellington. Whilst there, I popped into one of the many tacky tourist orientated shops that sells tat at inflated prices. I noticed that it stocked a T-Shirt with the amusing slogan “Kiwi's support 2 teams in Sport: New Zealand and whoever is playing Australia”. The absence of political correctness and the passion both nations have for sport ensures the rivalry between the 2 nations is a non-malicious, but deadly serious one. The jubilant scenes in pubs across New Zealand following the recent historic Rugby League win were perhaps matched only in their commitment by the drowning of sorrows in similar establishments across the Tasman. As for the jokes, the political incorrectness has to be heard to be believed.....

The isolated geographic position of New Zealand means its newspapers often cover in depth Australian news and sport. At the moment, the Kiwi journalists can hardly contain their glee. One of the main newspapers, The Dominion Post, published a story yesterday reporting on how 2008 has been a shocking year for Australian sport. The Rugby League loss aside, the cricket team has just been smashed by South Africa on home soil and, most embarrassing of all, the Olympic team finished behind the UK in the medal table. The shame at being beaten by us must have been almost unbearable for the poor Ozzies.

The response of the Australians was to run a recruitment advertisement/rallying call demanding that they “Rip The Brits To Bits in London 2012”. The advertisement features as Ozzie imitating a cockney accent and attempting to be obnoxious about Australian sport. The Dominion Post ponders what will happen if England win the Ashes...even going so far to suggest that England just may enter the contest as slight favorites!

As a proud Englishman, I do hope we can win the Ashes and give the Ozzies a throughly good spanking like the South Africans have just dished out. History has taught me however that one should never be confident about the result of the Ashes on the premise the English cricket team have an amazing tendency to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The one thing I do know is that the English cricket team will have the full support of the people of New Zealand, who like nothing better then to see their old enemy faltering.

One does wonder however what the response in the UK would be if the English ran a campaign saying “Lets Rip The Welsh To Bits” or “Lets Rip the Germans To Bits”. One suspects it will not be the same response of the expats over in New Zealand, which has been to laugh the advertisement off and say...

Bring It On!!!

For those interested, the advert can be seen by clicking here

Tibet, China, Backpacking and Damon Lord

2009-01-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

It has been brought to my attention that my old mucker Damon Lord has published a blogpost reviewing his year. I understand that Laura Rose Saunders, Andrew Murphy, The Brothers and I, John Moorcraft, have been nominated as his heroes of the year...alongside the long suffering people of Tibet.

---------------------------------

First and foremost, I would like to state that I will not be making any cheap gag whatsoever about Damon nominating “the brothers” as his heroes of the year. I will leave my wonderful readership to amuse themselves with that one. I do think however that myself, Laura and Andrew have a right to be throughly cheesed of that we have to share the affections of Mr Lord with the Tibetan people. I believe we are clearly more important and our respective struggles against the complexities of the Russian language, the consumption of warm NZ beer and the destructive forces of Tudor the cat are for more arduous then anything the Tibetans have had to endure. I suggest Mr Lord goes away, considers these words and remembers them well when his heroes of 2009 blogpost gets produced!

-----------------------------------------

On a serious note. Damon is, of course, absolutely correct to highlight the plight of the long suffering Tibetan people. The politics of Tibet and the plight of its people is a subject that has long interested me and I therefore had to think hard about whether to visit China as part of my recent globe trotting activities. In the end, I decided to give into the wishes of my girlfriend and use the experience to enhance my understanding of Chinese culture and I have to say the visit was never anything less then fantastic. As backpackers who spoke only rudimentary Mandarin (as Damon will testify), we had understandable concerns that getting ourselves from A to B might prove a daunting task. The fact we decided to abandon the conventional tourist route in favour of the more remote and less visited Southern regions added to our anxiety as we crossed the border from Northern Vietnam. I believe both I and my partner felt the China section of our trip had the potential to go wrong. In some respects it did...Our first actions upon crossing the border were to participate in an “interesting” currency exchange with a bloke at the bus station...Some of the places we visited were more remote then anticipated and I found myself the constant focus of attention from the young and old alike who claimed to have never seen a ginger bearded white man before. The language barriers turned simplistic tasks, like purchasing a train ticket, into hour(s) long ordeals. The fact we arrived in the middle of the National Holiday Week did not assist with public transportation matters and the occasional outright racism of taxi-drivers and hostel owners (and even one Monk!) was an unexpected additional challenge. As for the squat bogs on a 29 hour sleeper train...they have to be seen and smelt to be comprehended, although my girlfriend suggests they were marginally better then some bits of Africa she has visited...

---------------------------------------

In other respects however, China was a joy and not really how I expected it to be. There is, for example, no obvious reason to suspect you're in an authoritarian state other then the occasional statue, renamed road or mean looking armed guard at a sensitive sight. The internet had no obvious restrictions on its use, other then the fact I could not access Tory Bear or Iain Dale for love nor money. I had to rely on the Liberal Youth forums for my international news! As for the tourist attractions, they will knock you sideways. The Stone Forest, The Chengdu Pandas, Emi Shan, Gulin, Yangshao and the mighty Dafo are all must see attractions that have more commonly visited places (like the Grand Palace in Bangkok) beaten all ends up for my money. The people, when not being racially abusive, are also some of the friendliest we met on the trip, perhaps surpassed only by the wonderful Samoans and the relaxed residents of Laos. Some of the most memorable parts of my journey stem from the period of time I spent backpacking around Southern China and I would go back tomorrow given a chance.

-----------------------------------------------

As part of our journey we spent an unexpected, and unwanted, amount of time in Chengdu. Chengdu is a smoggy, unattractive city with a huge population and very little of interest beyond the Panda research centre (a highlight of China full stop) and the best teahouses we come across in the country. It reminded me of Birmingham; lots going on, important hub, but not really a place tourists are going to flock to when they could go to see Dafo, The Great Wall or the Forbidden City instead. We stayed in a busy backpacker hostel whilst in Chengdu and I, being a chatty sod, ended up taking politics with some fellow travelers (I will recall my debate on the meaning of liberalism with a communist party official held on a public bus in a later blogpost). I always tend to avoid talking politics with backpackers on the basis most tend to read a bit of Michael Moore and then simply re-articulate his subjective opinions as if they are gospel fact. On this occasion however, I allowed myself to become engrossed. My sparring partner was a crusty leftie who gave up the rat race of London to teach English in South Korea. Her trip around China was one of many sabbaticals she had taken from the position and she had just arrived back in Chengdu having ventured off into Tibet.

---------------------------

For those reading this who do not know, Chengdu is often used by backpackers as a launchpad into Tibet. It is the administrative hub of a neighbouring province and offers the potential to get yourself on an organised tour or to persuade a foolhardy lorry driver to take you in if you make him a financial (or alternative...) offer he cannot refuse. I and my partner, for very different reasons, really wanted to make the journey from Chengdu to Tibet. However, it soon became apparent this would not be permitted by the authorities. During our visit, we were consistently refused permits by the authorities to enter the Tibet region and all backpacker hostels would only sell organised tours to “local tourists”. The only way into Tibet was to go without the permission of the authorities.......This generally involves giving lots of money to a lorry driver in order to persuade him to risk letting him let you kip in the back of his lorry whilst he transfers goods into the region. The risks involved are huge and obvious for both the lorry driver (who if caught is going to face a world of pain) and the backpacker (who is at risk from the lorry driver turning them in, being caught by the authorities at a checkpoint or suffering illness/death on what is an arduous journey into Tibet). Unsurprisingly, most backpackers who make Chengdu do not bother pushing on into Tibet, believing the rewards that await them are not worth the potential costs of getting caught. As for ourselves, we decided not to go................

------------------------------------------------

This was not the decision of the person I ended up sharing my political conversation with however. She described her somewhat interesting journey into the special administrative region of Tibet and the fear she felt as the authorities approached the transportation she was travelling in at a checkpoint. She suggests it was a humbling and philosophical experience for her, a former UK dweller of the Home Counties, to come into close contact with tanks...She did make it into Tibet however and recounted conversations she had with a very generous, warm hearted and resilient people. She showed me photographs she had taken of people who claimed to have been the victim of human rights abuses and told us the emotional stories of some of the people she had met on her journey.

-------------------------

For the record, I do not think the individual I met was correct to push on into Tibet at the time she made her journey. I think it is important backpackers respect the challenges journeys into difficult parts of the world pose and respect the fact political circumstances in such areas can change rapidly. Nevertheless, I did listen to her stories with immense interest and I would by fibbing to say I was not a little bit envious and very much moved. The conversation reaffirmed an already entrenched view that there is far more to politics then the tittle tattle of Question Time and far more to life then the endless pursuit of wealth.

--------------------------------------

I left China with a firm belief that life for the ordinary Chinese citizen is not as bad as we in the West perhaps perceive it to be. Indeed, I believe I saw more genuine happiness and contentment traveling around China and talking with subsistence farmers then I normally see when doing the London commute. However, I also left having seen and heard, albeit from sources other then my own senses, some of the things that are down in that country that the world turns a blind eye to. I felt a bit like Winston Smith when he clapped eyes on the proof in 1984...I knew about Burma before visiting the Golden Triangle. I knew about the harsh poverty in Laos before seeing the peasants at work. I knew about the affects of Agent Orange before visiting the Ho Chi Minh War Museum. and the factories flogging goods made by those affected. Seeing and listening to confirmation of its occurrence however somehow makes it more real and the childish nature of UK politics more futile.

-------------------------------------------------

As China emerges from its authoritarian past to take a position at the top table of 21st century international politics, I do hope and pray pressure is put on its leaders to resolve the issues surrounding the special administrative region of Tibet. The world has perhaps failed the ordinary citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia (Somalis, Puntland and Somaliland), Israel, Palestine, Haiti, Burma......(the list is a long one). We must make sure that Tibet at least does not remain on the list. The emergence of China is a golden opportunity for our political masters to achieve something big. What odds that they blow it?

CF Christmas Party

2008-12-24T00:07:00.000-08:00

On the premise I recently decided to move to NZ, I feel I can be excused not attending the annual CF Christmas Party. Its a shame, because it looks like it was really banging this year...
-
Richard Holloway, Mr Sceptical Conservative himself, has put some photos up for those of us unable to attend. They are worth a gander...I should warn you that there is not a single stereotype regarding the composition of the young conservative movement confirmed in any of these photos. Not a single stereotype...whatsoever...
-
I say bring back TottyWatch.