http://www.liberalconspiracy.org If there wasn't one before, it's time we started it... Fri, 16 May 2008 20:22:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Over the last few days, both Matthew Sinclair and Chris Dillow have written 'abortion debate' posts from the standpoint of the sceptic/uncommitted, a perhaps usual looking position in a debate where taking sides can almost seem obligatory, but a respectable one nonetheless and one that should be addressed. Chris is struggling ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/16/to-the-sceptical-and-uncommitted/ The notion that sport and politics should never mix is a curious, and also deeply political, one. Sport, after all, is just the waging of international politics by other means. Ask the East Germans. Rarely has the mix been quite as fruity as this weekend's end to the Italian football season http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/16/forza-viola/ 1) Consistency is not really her strong point, Bookdrunk said yesterday when Unity blogged the amendments Tory MPs are proposing to the HFE Bill. There's Mr Edward Leigh supporting amendments to reduc the limit to 12, 14 or 16 weeks and there's Nadine Dorries supporting reducing the limit to 20 ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/16/what-is-nadine-dorries-mps-real-agenda-pt-4/ Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments. The Guardian - Brown to compromise on 42-days, rather than lose further authority? Amnesty - What gets me, is that 21% of Britons quite like cluster bombs... Kevin ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/16/punch-judy-and-clusterbombs/ Leading Conservatives in David Cameron's shadow cabinet are taking money to run their private offices directly from commercial companies with vested interests in the portfolios they hold. But will Guido Fawkes blog these pigs at the trough? http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/16/tories-dont-declare-donations/ Scratch that... Paul 'Guido Fawkes' Staines sentenced to three months imprisonment curfew order. Shame... the buggery gag is a good one... humble pie at the Ministry of Truth. http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/going-down-going-down-going-down/ A quick interview with pro-choice MP Katy Clark on gearing up for next week's vote on the existing abortion time limit of 24 weeks: Remember this, says Katy Clark: the abortion debate we're having should not be about the 24-week time limit for the legal right for abortion. The issue is ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/sitting-on-abortion-in-labour/ This weekend has not been a good one for the dangerous freaks and dissenters among us. I spent it mostly in the garden under a scrap of boiling London sky, contemplating all the things I'm suddenly not allowed to do anymore. That, and reading the papers, most of which have ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/the-fritzl-case-and-media-hypocrisy/ Not 100% sure what delights Sunny has in store for everyone today... ('Sunny delights', GEDDIT!!! - Sorry, bit of a Glenda moment there, only to be expected when you're monitoring Dorries) ...but in the mean time, the list of amendments to be debated on 20th May is mounting up, necessitating an ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/hfe-abortion-related-amendments/ Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments. Dawn Teo - Why Edwards *hearts* Obama. Gail Collins - There is one scenario where Hillary wins. And yeah, it’s a bit far-fetched and involves the state ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/edwards-hearts-obama/ The Fixed Term Parliaments Bill, introduced by David Howarth MP, receives its second reading debate in the House of Commons this Friday. LibdemVoice urges readers to get active. http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/fixed-term-campaign-re-surfaces/ A survey on LabourHome has found that just under a half are motivated enough to campaign for the party. "Shoring up the core vote" seems to be the most popular policy going forward. Is the party top-brass listening? http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/labour-grassroots-survey/ Abortion, and of course the wider issue of reproductive rights, still seems to be an area that the left need to be pushed on. Yeah they will often make the right noises, but they will make excuses for anti abortion men such as Galloway, and yet I can't see them ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/15/are-lefties-guilty-of-ignoring-abortion-rights/ 1) On March 19th Nadine Dorries MP published a blog-post titled The Hand of Hope, which featured this image of a small hand apparently coming out of a uterus. She said: When the operation was over, baby Samuel, at 21 weeks gestation, put his hand through the incision in the uterus ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/14/nadine-dorries-mp-and-her-hoax-science/ Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments. Laurence Boyce - An account from the latest blogger audience with Nick Clegg. Random Acts of Reality - Ponders another shitty night in an ambulance crew. Dave Hill ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/14/gladiators-and-shitbags/ Until relatively recently, standard British usage meant that describing someone as 'a progressive' was more or less the equivalent to branding them a communist fellow traveller. Not any more; we are all progressives now, it seems. Isn't anybody willing to stand up for honest-to-goodness barking mad reactionaries these days? It's not ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/14/who-else-wants-to-be-a-progressive/ Whilst the weekend papers were regurgitating the ‘revelations’ in Cherie Blair’s autobiography (did you know Gordon & Tony don’t really get on? Yeah, I was stunned too!), the former Prime Minister’s wife was plotting to make an even more audacious attack on his successor. Why, you might ask, didn’t this ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/13/labour%e2%80%99s-useless-prisons/ The personal tax allowance is to be raised by £600 this year in an emergency measure to compensate those who lost out by Gordon Brown's decision to scrap the 10p tax band, the Chancellor announced today. http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/13/chancellor-raises-allowance-by-600/ "... but tragically Brown seems incapable of escaping from the neo-liberalism straight jacket he and Blair donned after the crushing defeat in 1992 which meant the interests of the market would always come first", writes Neal Lawson of Compass in today's Independent. http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/13/lawson-asks-brown-to-step-down/ Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments. Apologies for the absence of the review yesterday, it was my little boy’s birthday and we had many Spider-man related things to see to. New Mandala - There ... http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/13/from-bad-to/