Fears about the rise of Lord Ashcroft were expressed by activists on the Conservative Home website this weekend.
One said: "The Ashcroft takeover of CCHQ - bought and paid for by him and chums' money - is a terrible threat to democracy." Another wrote: "There's not much difference between Ashcroft and the unions at Labour...Action needs to be taken, if only to stave off a NuLab spin campaign, but, more importantly, while the parties and parliament debate party funding this anomaly strains credibility."
Another, calling himself traditional Tory, wrote: "Buying a nominally democratic party and appointing yourself to offices to which you have never been elected is indeed totally unacceptable. We need to rid the party of this pernicious ethos before its reputation is permanently tarnished."
The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, also warned that the "cancer of gang culture" seemed to be spreading through some communities.
"It can only be solved by making sure that young people have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, rather than seeking respect by joining gangs and carrying weapons," Sir Menzies said.
"Education is crucial in this task. We need greater investment in early years education for the most disadvantaged children. The school curriculum must be diverse, with vocational elements to give maximum choice in employment. And grassroots youth and sports clubs should be properly funded," the Liberal Democrat leader added.
"There are 'no quick fixes' or simple solutions to gang violence."
Tory concerns at the growing influence of Lord Ashcroft have been heightened by a memo to candidates from the billionaire peer instructing them on how to run their election campaigns.
The former party treasurer has stamped his authority on the Conservative campaign machine with a letter ordering officials and candidates in target seats to be ready for a possible October election.
The mass email has fuelled concerns among some MPs that the tycoon has established an alternative power base in the party. Lord Ashcroft has moved into a large office in Conservative Campaign Headquarters in London's Millbank from where he will run the party's strategy for target seats.
Religious structures look so solid with their soaring spires, office blocks, and over the top titles that we forget how these seemingly solid edifices rest on such see through stuff as what Moses thought he heard in a burning bush, what Jacob experienced in a dream, what Ezekiel imagined in a vision. Why they don't tumble down like Humpty Dumpty is a puzzle.
But they don't because the heart of religion isn't things but an experience you might share if you make the effort. That's more profitable than arguing about whether God exists or doesn't and whether he's a she or an it or a who or a what.
...And that, in my humble judgment, is it. In a few cosy little homespun words, old Lionel has summed up there what I feel about faith.One day I might succomb, but so far I have resisted blogging (i.e posting) about my specific site statistics (although I have a little thing that gives my alleged "total visitors" in my sidebar). They are very low anyway, but I get the odd blip.
"Top Gear North Pole special", "Simone Clarke BNP ballet dancer", "the late Fiona Jones" and "Diana - witness in the tunnel" have had people hovering my blog around like bees round a honeypot, for some strange reason. At least two of those post took me a few seconds to rattle off and I never really expected more than a handful of people to read them. It's bizarre. You spend hours labouring away at a posting that gets two readers, then you fire off a "quicky" and a throng see it.
Stephen Tall has written engagingly about this strange phenomenum, in connection with a post he made about a possible gay subtext in Harry Potter.
I have read with some curiosity when other bloggers have told their readers how many unique visitors and page views they are getting.
In fact, when you look at typical site stats in detail you begin to wonder.
Often a "zero second" hit is recorded after someone does a search on Google and the results page shows a posting from the blog in question. Despite using several hit counters, it is unclear to me whether these "visitors" actually look at the blog at all. If they did it may only have been for a very brief period.
Also, there are certain sites which allow you to sign up and then put yourself on automatic pilot so that a window on your monitor (which could be minimised so that it isn't showing) is showing the sites of the other members of the club. The more you get your window to "show" other people's sites, the more your site is "shown" on other people's windows. This makes one's site stats look fantastic! Except, when you check the details, all that is happening is that a load of people are not looking at each other's sites. The site image is coming down the wire and displaying on a window but it is not necessarily being shown on a monitor and is probably not actually seen by a human being. It's a sort of mutual non-admiration society. Or indeed, a mutual virility inflation club. I have a sordid confession to make. I took part in such an inane activity for a month or so in the first half of 2006, until I worked out how crazy it was.
I have respect for Iain Dale as a blogger. He seems to have pioneered the "I have had loads of hits" trend of blogging. That's as well as the "I have been given loads of awards by loads of right-wingers" and "I have appeared for three non-seconds on "Last week in the Tynwald" on Manx Community Television (cable)" style of blogging. This would be accounted for by the fact that he does get loads of hits, does get loads of awards and does appear in all sorts of exalted places on the media. (I have or do none of those things, so it easy for me to talk!)
Good for Mr Dale, who works very hard at it. But things were put in perspective when I was interviewed by a political journalist who works on "Daily Politics" recently. I kept on saying "Iain Dale this" and "Iain Dale that" and "Iain Dale the other". In the end the journalist said with a mixture of puzzlement and frustration in her voice: "Excuse me, just who is Iain Dale?"
It is amazing what useless facts you can find on the internet.
I was musing away the other day and half-remembered a fact from my short-lived "braodcasting career". I worked fleetingly in commercial radio. When we sat down to broadcast with all the faders, switches etc in front of us, we used to push the fader away from us to open the audio channel it controlled.
I remember a wise old bird saying that he used to work in the BBC and that they opened the faders the opposite way - by pulling them towards them.
So if you worked in the BBC and commercial radio, as some people did, you must have had a nightmare getting yourself used to one method one day and then doing the other method the next.
I thought, perhaps, that this was an old wive's tale.
However, incredibly, I found it blogged about by a sound professional on record-producer.com:
'Broadcast practice' is in fact a term used by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation - the biggest public broadcaster in the world). It means that the faders on a mixing console work the other way round than normal. They are closed when they are at the top of their track, and open when they are closest to the sound operator.
The reasoning behind this is that in broadcasting it is the worst thing in the world for a channel to be open when it is not meant to be, with potentially millions of viewers and listeners hearing what they perhaps shouldn't. And it was considered more likely that an awkward elbow would push a fader towards the top of the track than the other way round. So it would be better for this accidental movement to close an open channel rather than open a closed one.
Having said that, the BBC now use what they call 'commercial practice', like everyone else.
And actually, you don't have to watch live TV or listen to live radio, from any broadcaster, for very long before you do hear an unintentionally open channel.
Perhaps the BBC were right in the first place.
It's just an idle question. I used to be "newspaper monitor" at our family home when I was around ten years old. I used to run to the front door to pick up the bundle of papers delivered by the lad from our local newsagents. Thursday was particularly exciting because we got all sorts of magazines also delivered on that day - "Bumper Bundle" day.
I started to take an interest in the look and shape of newspapers. I even had a collection of notable papers at one point (First man on the moon, first tabloid Daily Mail, Last old Sun, first new Sun etc) but they seem to have evaporated.
Recently, I was walking along on the Common and the sun was shining through the clouds so that you could see lots of what I now know to "crepuscular" rays. It was a hot late afternoon, there wasn't a soul around, and I had "Let Robeson Sing" by the Manic Street Preachers (a particularly soulful song) playing on my iPod. The thought did cross my mind that 'this is the nearest you get to heaven on earth'.
It has taken me several Greenham Common walks to realise why Greenham Common is so beautiful. In fact, it is very....er....flat. So, unless you look very closely at the flora and fauna, it is relatively unremarkable. But I have now realised that the really beautiful thing about it is the sky. Because the common is so vast and flat, it acts as a wonderful frame for the sky, which completely dominates you as you walk along. It draws your attention to the beauty of the cloud formations and makes you feel awed by them.
Storyville is remarkable; you're quite right. It has had eight nominations in the prestigious Grierson Trust documentary awards this year alone! It is also under imminent threat from a BBC management planning to cut 60% from its already meagre budget. This will mean that it ceases to commission its own material and can only buy in completed films. As one of the BBC's most critically successful strands* this would be an act of cultural vandalism. This is a series which builds international links, with films from 68 different countries featuring the work of directors from first times to Oscar winners.
A petition has been launched urging the BBC not to make these cuts which has already attracted more than 2000 signatures from all over the world. Visit www.savestoryville.org for further information and a link to the petition.