After some positive sounding, if not ultimately quite plain, news from the Tory conference; along with some more news of common sense policy pledges, it is good to see that the Tories can be trusted to revert to type at some point. This time it is the popular issue of benefit "scroungers" and the Tory plan to implement a "three strikes" rule

I hate to say it, but the Tories are sounding like a party heading for Government. While the Lib Dems have also done well in announcing some strong policies for the future, before conference season (a bit of a mistake, perhaps), the Tories have hit the nail on the head in getting their coverage at the right time. In the process they have already managed to thoroughly embarrass Labour on issues that Labour should traditionally be at the forefront of.

Just a short one today, I have a bigger post coming tomorrow (hopefully), but this is just a brilliant highlight of current events from Always win when you're singing. It's all about the Today program and an interview with George Osbourne. Check it out.

Here is the good old netcast. It's a bit of a bumper one today, and you can read the list proper over at Liberal Conspiracy. As for myself, I'm in another busy work period so blogging will continue to be light, especially as the political landscape is only just starting to hot up again.

Now for the extended list...

Tygerland, and no doubt many others, are quietly laughing and despairing at this interview of Sarah Palin.
Lib Dem Voice and Septicisle, and Unity highlight the latest findings from a complaint submitted by Sunny Hundal regarding Nadine Dorries.
Caron has some views about those wishing to block the safeguarding of children from preventable cancer.
Bob Innes reports, I'm glad to say, on someone in some power actually pushing to free up empty homes for use by people that need them.
Chicken Yoghurt has a short and sharp analysis of the ID card announcement today.
Lib Dem Voice reports that Lib Dem's MPs are the top social networkers online. Give yourselves a pat on the back.
CiF/Simon Fletcher thinks that Brown should be grateful for Boris being in the London job.

If there is one thing that this news of a renewed push by Compass and it's supporters of the Windfall Tax shows, it's that Labour are indeed in desperate times. It's not really that they're pushing for a potentially market destabilising tax at the height of an economic crisis, nor that they're actually ignoring their original mantra and reasoning for pushing for a windfall tax by also ignoring that Brown and Darling has done their first and only good deal on long term energy saving measures paid for primarily by the energy companies. No, it's all about the language they're using.

Calling for a windfall tax to help working families, Mr Woodley said "lagging the lofts won't stop us lagging in the polls". - BBC

Hello again! Haven't I been light on the ground with my blogging? For shame, much as certain other bloggers have said they've been experiencing a weariness in the current political climate I too have to say I am and it's affecting my motivation. Are we really moving forward in this country, is there any chance for a positive future in the next decade, or are we powerless to see authoritarianism take hold at the expense of liberty regardless of who gets in to power? It's all enough to just make someone get a bit fed up.

I will try and dig myself out of the rut though, and as we're starting to move towards another political season I hope there will be more I feel like discussing. On now though to the meat of this posting.

My extended list is as follows...

Your friend in the north defends the BBC license fee...just.
LibCync wonders if being too optimistic can be a bad thing.
Political betting.com states that Vince, Vince, he's our man, and if he can't do it no-one can!
CiF/Tim Footman joins the ranks of people thinking that Tim Berners-Lee is perhaps being a little too precious about how information is disseminated around the web, and just how "useful" such information is.
Decline of the Logos gives a unique account of their experience at the Lib Dem conference.
Kerry McCarthy MP asks who is going to shoulder the blame for the current economic crisis?
Olly's Onions decrypts the real feelings of Nick Clegg by the end of the Lib Dem conference.

So the Labour party is continuing to devolve in to chaos. Rather than accept this and sort it out once and for all, Gordon and the senior ministers in the party are actively pushing to continue turmoil and heighten the disillusionment. Hanging on the power by less and less of a grip, people are trying to save the administration with vacuous statements such as...

I hope people will stop distracting us from the task in hand, which is to respond to the real problems people are facing in our constituencies up and down the country. - Phil Hope

I happen to agree, this isn't the right time. Labour should be carving a new way forward, knuckling down to combat the threat of the Tories taking power in a way that the Lib Dem's are currently doing so well in my opinion. But can they really be expected to do that while they have a leadership that has brought the party to their lowest standing in decades?

Well, that's to assume the mighty were in fact mighty at all. Only 4 or 5 months ago Frank Field was leading the charge to hold the government accountable over the whole sorry affair of abolishing the 10p tax rate and making a fairly good name for himself, even if he did ultimately back out of keeping to his convictions. Unfortunately it may be less the case of standing up for the needy and instead simply standing up for the intrinsically working class at the expense of all other reason. Simply put, perhaps he managed to strike it right on the liberal front with one argument, but that doesn't make him a liberally minded person...as today's news shows.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Beijing olympics this year, I thought it was an amazing showcase of worldwide talent and really made me feel that we are all part of one world. Aside from a couple of incidents and controversies (how exactly did Beth Tweddle not win a medal?), it was an astounding event that was something everyone could be proud of. And of course, the main talking point was the ceremonies, the lavish, colourful and regimented displays of culture and personality that China put on. Who, we asked ourselves, could possibly top that? Well today we found out, the IPC can put on a fine show in collaboration with the Chinese...a massive statement to the olympians from the paralympians that anything you can do, we can certainly do better.

Over on Liberal Conspiracy there has been an at times hostile debate surrounding feminism due to the claims of Sarah Palin, Republican VP Nominee, that she is one. Why is this controversial, and why has it started any such debate? Firstly she is someone that believes abortion is a sin, and would appear to wish to ban abortions from taking place in the US if she had her way. This provoked Laurie Penny to claim rather audaciously yet innocently that you cannot be a feminist if you oppose choice (with regards to abortion rights). Needless to say I disagreed, and a lot of cussing and hostile feminist verbatim later the debate hasn't moved on. Why not? Well it's because, as I have perhaps only more recently realised, that the debate is fairly irrelevant to feminism and wholly relevant to liberalism.