One of the very first Liberal Democrats I met when I came back to Scotland after 11 years in the East Midlands was Derek Barrie. We very quickly forged a firm friendship, based mainly on him taking the mickey out of me and referring to me (in public) as the Wicked Witch of West Lothian. In return, he became my Grumps. I had wondered if I might take a break from political activism, but he ruined those plans by dragging me in ever deeper to election training and preparations. When I later spent 3 years as Convener of the Scottish Party's Campaigns and Candidates Committee we worked very closely together on selections and elections. Our finest hour was the 2005 Westminster election where, along with Iain Smith, we tried to provide the best support we could to our candidates and campaign teams across the country.
Derek and I were also responsible for implementing the development day candidate approval system in Scotland way back in 2002. Together with a brilliant team of assessors, we approved the likes of a certain D Alexander and W Rennie.
As the Scottish Party's Campaigns Officer and later Chief of Staff, and ALDC's Scottish Officer for many years, everyone in the Scottish Party will know him and most of them will love him too. What they may not know, because he's kept it very quiet, is that he turns 70 today. Although he allegedly retired in 2008, he is working just as hard as ever he did. He was invaluable during this year's Council elections and has just taken over for another stint as North East Fife's Strategy Vice Chair. He is also on the Scottish Party's Executive and takes the minutes for its meetings.
So, I'm sure you'll all join me in raising a glass (a virtual one, it's early yet) to Derek and wishing him a wonderful day and a fabulous decade to come.
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Friday, August 03, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Nikki Thomson, 30 December 1967 - 28 June 2012
Many of you will know Nikki Thomson, a lifelong Liberal Democrat who fulfilled many roles in the Party. If you're in Liberal Youth and you've enjoyed Activate weekends, it was Nikki who first set them up way back in the 80s.
It's barely a week since Nikki told us the devastating news that her Cancer was terminal and that palliative care was the only option. That in itself came little more than a week after the official diagnosis. You will understand, then, how shocked her friends and family are to hear that she passed away at 2am this morning. It's been a devastating few week which Nikki dealt with much better than I ever could.
She was a warm, funny woman who did so much for her community and to help other people. I first got to know her on Cix in the mid 1990s. We found ourselves on Training for Trainers together and hit it off in person as well as online. In 1999, Nikki successfully proposed a motion to Liberal Democrat Conference condemning Nestle for the way they marketed their baby milk in Africa and committing the Party not to using their products in HQ. Nestle put up a fight and took a room in the nearby Sheraton Hotel, determined to put their case to Conference goers. A crowd of us, including Nikki, James Graham and I, went to pay them a wee visit and put our views robustly and politely to them.
After she moved up here from London in 2002, she took a leading role in organising the annual Meadows Festival, which is a superb and busy event. As well as that she studied for an MBA as well as having a really stressful job with the Edinburgh Tenants' Federation where she helped make sure tenants' voices were heard. She worked all hours with groups, advising them and helping them develop the skills to do what they needed to do - which at one point involved them rejecting a housing stock transfer.
In recent years, she'd been seconded to the Council where she worked as a Project Manager making council houses more energy efficient, saving both the environment and people's bank balances. She lived her radical, liberal values in everything she did.
She also sang with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and was a real help to me in encouraging a reluctant Anna to continue with her choir when she was having problems with motivation.
She also blogged occasionally at Nikki's blog. I'm updating what I wrote earlier because something had stuck in my mind about her writing about her choral work and the pleasure and pain it gave her and I couldn't find it. No wonder, cos I'd forgotten the main bit of the piece - it was written about gang culture and how long term investment in group activities for young people in creative and cultural activities could really help young people develop and grow up with a sense of purpose.
Apart from her Nestle triumph, there are another couple of memories I'd like to leave with you. The first was that 2 days after the devastating 2011 Holyrood elections, she sent me a really intelligent, wise, brutally honest vision for the way forward which I absolutely appreciated. She saw with real clarity exactly what needed to change and was able to express it in exactly the right way at an emotional time.
The second, much happier set of memories was a couple of shows we went to see at the Festival a couple of years ago. The first was stand up comedian Toby Hadoke's Moths Ate My Doctor Who scarf. We were both big Doctor Who fans and we laughed ourselves silly that night - and enjoyed it so much that we went to see Hadoke in his Now I know my BBC show the week after. Two fun filled carefrree nights.
Stephen Glenn has also written beautifully about his memories of Nikki.
Her local Tory councillor has also written about her on his blog, which underlines her position in the local community.
And, finally, Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron made me cry this morning with this touching tribute.
It's barely a week since Nikki told us the devastating news that her Cancer was terminal and that palliative care was the only option. That in itself came little more than a week after the official diagnosis. You will understand, then, how shocked her friends and family are to hear that she passed away at 2am this morning. It's been a devastating few week which Nikki dealt with much better than I ever could.
She was a warm, funny woman who did so much for her community and to help other people. I first got to know her on Cix in the mid 1990s. We found ourselves on Training for Trainers together and hit it off in person as well as online. In 1999, Nikki successfully proposed a motion to Liberal Democrat Conference condemning Nestle for the way they marketed their baby milk in Africa and committing the Party not to using their products in HQ. Nestle put up a fight and took a room in the nearby Sheraton Hotel, determined to put their case to Conference goers. A crowd of us, including Nikki, James Graham and I, went to pay them a wee visit and put our views robustly and politely to them.
After she moved up here from London in 2002, she took a leading role in organising the annual Meadows Festival, which is a superb and busy event. As well as that she studied for an MBA as well as having a really stressful job with the Edinburgh Tenants' Federation where she helped make sure tenants' voices were heard. She worked all hours with groups, advising them and helping them develop the skills to do what they needed to do - which at one point involved them rejecting a housing stock transfer.
In recent years, she'd been seconded to the Council where she worked as a Project Manager making council houses more energy efficient, saving both the environment and people's bank balances. She lived her radical, liberal values in everything she did.
She also sang with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and was a real help to me in encouraging a reluctant Anna to continue with her choir when she was having problems with motivation.
She also blogged occasionally at Nikki's blog. I'm updating what I wrote earlier because something had stuck in my mind about her writing about her choral work and the pleasure and pain it gave her and I couldn't find it. No wonder, cos I'd forgotten the main bit of the piece - it was written about gang culture and how long term investment in group activities for young people in creative and cultural activities could really help young people develop and grow up with a sense of purpose.
Apart from her Nestle triumph, there are another couple of memories I'd like to leave with you. The first was that 2 days after the devastating 2011 Holyrood elections, she sent me a really intelligent, wise, brutally honest vision for the way forward which I absolutely appreciated. She saw with real clarity exactly what needed to change and was able to express it in exactly the right way at an emotional time.
The second, much happier set of memories was a couple of shows we went to see at the Festival a couple of years ago. The first was stand up comedian Toby Hadoke's Moths Ate My Doctor Who scarf. We were both big Doctor Who fans and we laughed ourselves silly that night - and enjoyed it so much that we went to see Hadoke in his Now I know my BBC show the week after. Two fun filled carefrree nights.
Stephen Glenn has also written beautifully about his memories of Nikki.
Her local Tory councillor has also written about her on his blog, which underlines her position in the local community.
And, finally, Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron made me cry this morning with this touching tribute.
"Very, very sad news. In the days when young Lib Dems and Lib Dems students were separate entities she was an enthusiastic and effective link. I was very fond of her. A proper radical. The party is poorer without her."
We all are. We miss you, Nikki.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Fun and frolics at Wagamama
I had an absolutely brilliant time at Wagamama in Livingston last night with Andrew, Stephen and Elspeth, It's my birthday on Saturday so we had an early celebration.
Elspeth is a long time fan of Wagamama and I've really enjoyed the meals I've had there but it was a new experience for Andrew and Stephen. I ended up mistakenly ordering a vegetarian dish, the yasai yaki soba, which had egg, beansprouts, peppers, onions and garlic with fried shallots, pickled ginger, sesame seeds and coriander vinegar. Despite the lack of chicken and shrimp, which Elspeth had, it was absolutely delicious - packed with very well balanced and individually defined flavours. I think I might even order that one again. Andrew and Stephen had the Katsu curry, which I'd tried before and liked - it's basically a big chicken nugget (or butternut squash and aubergine as Stephen had it) with curry sauce, a big pile of sticky rice and salad.
We'd ordered 3 side dishes, but ended up with 4 by mistake. Elspeth and Andrew weren't keen on the gyoza which, for their information, contained grilled chicken and vegetables, saying that they had a bit of a weird aftertaste. I have to say I've always had the deep fried duck version before so the softer, almost soft rubbery texture of the steamed ones was different. They didn't look very appetising to be honest - a bit like chyrsalises in a way, but they were fine to taste although by far the most bland dish of the night. We also had tori kara age - fried chicken with chilli and garlic and another delicious chicken dish from the specials menu that was packed with chilli and garlicky flavour. Our bonus prize was the ebi katsu - deep fried breaded prawns with a spicy chilli and garlic sauce. They really don't hold back on their garlic there - a practice I admire as I think there are some things you can never have too much of.
When it was time for pudding, I thought that I was going to be in for a difficult decision - I'd had the white chocolate and ginger cheesecake with the chilli and toffee sauce before and it was amazingly good. Vying for my attention, though, was chocolate cake with dark chocolate wasabi sauce which I'd also been very keen to try. Fortunately, my mind was made up for me because they'd run out of the chilli toffee sauce. The cake itself was soft and rich and topped with a thin layer of creamy frosting and while you got a kick from the sauce, the wasabi didn't overwhelm it.
All this was washed down by a lovely bottle of Pinot Grigio for the three non drivers. The company was excellent and lots of laughs were had. Mr Reeves only occasionally lets the world know on his blog what a smutty mind he has, but in real life that's very different.
It was the sort of night that makes you forget about the actual pain of turning 43 for a little while.
Elspeth is a long time fan of Wagamama and I've really enjoyed the meals I've had there but it was a new experience for Andrew and Stephen. I ended up mistakenly ordering a vegetarian dish, the yasai yaki soba, which had egg, beansprouts, peppers, onions and garlic with fried shallots, pickled ginger, sesame seeds and coriander vinegar. Despite the lack of chicken and shrimp, which Elspeth had, it was absolutely delicious - packed with very well balanced and individually defined flavours. I think I might even order that one again. Andrew and Stephen had the Katsu curry, which I'd tried before and liked - it's basically a big chicken nugget (or butternut squash and aubergine as Stephen had it) with curry sauce, a big pile of sticky rice and salad.
We'd ordered 3 side dishes, but ended up with 4 by mistake. Elspeth and Andrew weren't keen on the gyoza which, for their information, contained grilled chicken and vegetables, saying that they had a bit of a weird aftertaste. I have to say I've always had the deep fried duck version before so the softer, almost soft rubbery texture of the steamed ones was different. They didn't look very appetising to be honest - a bit like chyrsalises in a way, but they were fine to taste although by far the most bland dish of the night. We also had tori kara age - fried chicken with chilli and garlic and another delicious chicken dish from the specials menu that was packed with chilli and garlicky flavour. Our bonus prize was the ebi katsu - deep fried breaded prawns with a spicy chilli and garlic sauce. They really don't hold back on their garlic there - a practice I admire as I think there are some things you can never have too much of.
When it was time for pudding, I thought that I was going to be in for a difficult decision - I'd had the white chocolate and ginger cheesecake with the chilli and toffee sauce before and it was amazingly good. Vying for my attention, though, was chocolate cake with dark chocolate wasabi sauce which I'd also been very keen to try. Fortunately, my mind was made up for me because they'd run out of the chilli toffee sauce. The cake itself was soft and rich and topped with a thin layer of creamy frosting and while you got a kick from the sauce, the wasabi didn't overwhelm it.
All this was washed down by a lovely bottle of Pinot Grigio for the three non drivers. The company was excellent and lots of laughs were had. Mr Reeves only occasionally lets the world know on his blog what a smutty mind he has, but in real life that's very different.
It was the sort of night that makes you forget about the actual pain of turning 43 for a little while.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friends' David Schwimmer to marry British Photographer
Twelve years on from his character Ross's fateful marriage to Emily in London, former Friends Star David Schwimmer is to marry a British photographer Zoe Buckman.
The Ross and Emily wedding scene was one of the most iconic from the 10 years of the hit comedy series.
I'm sure he'll get the bride's name right at his own nuptials.
Good luck to the happy couple!
By the way, just in case this passed you by, if, like me, you often want something to make you smile in the evening and switch over to Friends on E4 at 8pm, that joy is soon no longer going to be an option.
UPDATE: It was a bit ironic last night that the episodes of Friends on E4 were the ones at and immediately after Ross and Emily's wedding.
The Ross and Emily wedding scene was one of the most iconic from the 10 years of the hit comedy series.
I'm sure he'll get the bride's name right at his own nuptials.
Good luck to the happy couple!
By the way, just in case this passed you by, if, like me, you often want something to make you smile in the evening and switch over to Friends on E4 at 8pm, that joy is soon no longer going to be an option.
UPDATE: It was a bit ironic last night that the episodes of Friends on E4 were the ones at and immediately after Ross and Emily's wedding.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Happy Birthday, Stephen Glenn
Forty years ago today, in Northern Ireland, the phenomenon that is Stephen Glenn was born. He was raised in the beautiful seaside town of Bangor, home to some of my favourite relatives, but he doesn't seem to know any of them and made his mark in both athletics and then bowls over there.
I first came across him in the run up to the 2003 Holyrood elections and started a trend that has been a bit of a recurring theme in our friendship - driving him to unfamiliar locations in the pouring rain and dumping him with a pile of leaflets.
This man's capacity for work is incredible and I expect there will be quite a custody battle for him in the build up to the election.
He's also been this blog's sugar daddy, always on hand to provide technical support.
I am just relieved that he hasn't mentioned having a Cold. When he came over to pick up the cuddly toy that's representing me at the Blog of the Year Awards tomorrow night, I was probably at my worst with the cold that's laid me absolutely low this week.
Anyway, he's in Bournemouth where some people are throwing a 5 day birthday party for him. If you're in Bournemouth, then you're sure as hell not going to be reading this, but if you aren't, go to his blog, or tweet @stephenpglenn and wish him a happy new decade.
I first came across him in the run up to the 2003 Holyrood elections and started a trend that has been a bit of a recurring theme in our friendship - driving him to unfamiliar locations in the pouring rain and dumping him with a pile of leaflets.
This man's capacity for work is incredible and I expect there will be quite a custody battle for him in the build up to the election.
He's also been this blog's sugar daddy, always on hand to provide technical support.
I am just relieved that he hasn't mentioned having a Cold. When he came over to pick up the cuddly toy that's representing me at the Blog of the Year Awards tomorrow night, I was probably at my worst with the cold that's laid me absolutely low this week.
Anyway, he's in Bournemouth where some people are throwing a 5 day birthday party for him. If you're in Bournemouth, then you're sure as hell not going to be reading this, but if you aren't, go to his blog, or tweet @stephenpglenn and wish him a happy new decade.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Conrad Carruthers,welcome to the Big Siblings Club
My good friend who lives in Kinross celebrated the birth of her new nephew this weekend. I wish many congratulations to the happy family on their new arrival, Cameron. As an older sibling myself, I also wish to welcome 2 year old Conrad to the Big Siblings Club. I know that he will be an excellent big brother and will lead Cameron into all sorts of mischief in years to come. Today is also his second birthday, so I hope you had a fantastic day, Conrad.
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