Willie Rennie was right: Alex Salmond did panda to China over Dalai Lama

So, now we know. Willie Rennie was right all along. Scotland's First Minister didn't put up any sort of a fight when China sent the boys round to talk about the Dalai Lama. Today's Scotsman has the details.

The Scottish Government didn't get involved in meeting the Dalai Lama when he visited Scotland between 21 and 24 June. Alex Salmond refused point blank to meet him, and nor did any other member of his Government. He had no problem giving time to the Chinese Consul General two weeks before, though. The Scotsman have obtained a record of that meeting and it makes no mention of any discussion taking place on human rights.

This is what the note says about the Dalai Lama's visit:

The Ambassador asked the First Minister about the Dalai Lama’s visit to Scotland in June.  The First Minister clarified that is a private visit at the invitation of the Conference of Edinburgh’s Religious Leaders and the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, amongst others.  The Scottish Government is not involved in the visit.  

It almost sounds apologetic. A "Yes, he's here, but it's now't to do with us."  Not "We welcome the fact that he's coming. He's an important figure in the world who stands for peaceful protest and human rights. I'm going to meet him. I know you don't like it, but that's the way it is. I hope that you'll reflect on the way your Government treats your citizens."

I feel quite ashamed that our First Minister showed himself to be completely devoid of spine in front of these people. Shabnum Mustapha, Amnesty Scotland's Director, said in January that there is direct evidence that raising the issue of human rights with China does reduce the amount of repression. Why did Salmond allow a full meeting to go by without doing so. It's not even as if he could have been thrown out - they were on his turf.

This is not the first time I've been ashamed of Alex Salmond. The way he sucked up to Rupert Murdoch made me many other Scots cringe.

I am, however, proud of my leaders, both in Scotland and London. Willie Rennie isn't the pandering sort and has spoken out vociferously on human rights. He's not been afraid to take on powerful bodies like the Catholic Church in support of equal marriage even if it means upsetting people.

Nick Clegg was happy to meet with the Dalai Lama even though the Chinese threw a bit of a strop about it.

Alex Salmond never really talks about the things that I care about - like poverty, children, human rights, equality. He often seems uncomfortable when asked about these issues. I'd much rather be part of a thriving union that does act on these things than an independent Scotland that ignores them because they might be a bit awkward. That's part of the reason I just don't get independence. I want a free, liberal society where everyone has a decent place to live and enough to eat and a decent education, where people aren't held back by their background. I want a Scotland that stands up against other places where governments abuse their own citizens. Those are my priorities and while they could be achieved as part of the union or by independence, I'm just not confident that all the people who are leading the calls for independence share my values enough to fight for them.

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Anna's been really keen that I should read the books that have captivated her imagination. The Hunger Games  was a firm favourite before the build up to the film which was released in March this year and I've just got round to reading it.

You know up front that a book which is essentially about 24 kids being sent into an arena to fight to the death is going to be disturbing. The Hunger Games is a televised spectacle that everyone is forced to watch as a grim reminder of the consequences of rebellion against the almighty and brutal Capitol. Reading this book in a real life backdrop of Big Brother (which I haven't watched at all this year) and the Olympics (to which I'm addicted and having separation anxiety at the thought of ending) gave it a further, surreal dimension.

You don't get much lower in Panem's pecking order than District 12 where the people live in cruel poverty. 16 year old Katniss Everdeen has had to hunt in the woods to keep her family in food since her father died. Yet again, we see a book where poor mothering is to blame for putting kids in danger. From Snow White to Bella Swan, you don't often find a lead character with two sane, loving and supportive parents and it's usually the mother who has most to answer for.

The book tells the story of Katniss's enforced participation in the Games. The other teenager from District 12 is Peeta, who went out of his way to show her enormous kindness when she was starving years before. However much you swear to yourself that you aren't going to get to like any of the characters because any of them could die at any time, Collins pulls you in and there are cases when you just can't avoid it. Katniss as narrator conveys the conflicting emotions she experiences very well.

There's so much in this book about injustice, unfairness, inequality and abuse of power. The opulent Capitol, where appearance is everything, could easily be modern western society and the Districts the developing nations. The book makes you wonder about how and when to challenge authority, why people comply with a regime that requires them to do terrible things like sacrifice their own children.

Questions are also raised about the workings of the media. You can recognise characteristics of modern tv networks and tabloid press in the build up to the Hunger Games and you have to ask whether what they do is acceptable.

The story itself is well paced, dramatic, poignant and, necessarily, gruesome. It also encourages the reader to look beyond the action in the arena towards the shortcomings in society both in Panem and where they live. It's definitely worth reading.

In which I take up reviewing for the Edinburgh Festival

We're officially on holiday at the moment. So far, that's meant mainly watching the Olympics and taking in a few shows in Edinburgh's Fringe.

For some weird reason, Festival Journal have asked me to do some reviews for them. Here's the first I've had published, about the Scottish Youth Theatre's promenade performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Botanics. Enjoy.

Rennie calls SNP amateurs over £400,000 Olympic vanity project

Remember last week I told you how Alex Salmond had blown £400,000 of our hard earned taxes on an extension of his ego in Pall Mall to promote Scotland during the Olympics? Great, except that they could have had home of the Scotland Office, Dover House, for free.

To add insult to injury, the club they'd taken over to create Scotland House wasn't even ready on time, leaving Sports Minister Shona Robison with nowhere to meet her Australian counterpart. Apparently they can't just do these things in Starbucks like the rest of us!

Anyway, they actually switched the venue to Dover House and for some reason (could it be because someone anticipated that could be controversial because of the amount of money Salmond Scotland House is costing?) it was changed again to Westminster's banqueting hall, which presumably they got for free.

Willie Rennie was scathing about the muck up, calling the SNP amateurs and saying Alex Salmond was cutting off his nose to spite his face, especially given that Salmond's Ego Scotland House looks forlorn and deserted much of the time:

This shows Dover House was more than suitable for the SNP government to use to promote Scotland at the Olympics.Yet they’d still prefer to blow £400,000 on a vanity project for Alex Salmond.

Firstly we discover the SNP Government spent a whopping £400,000 on a building they didn’t need to avoid using the UK Government’s Dover House even though it was free. Now we find out they couldn’t even get the building open and ready on time. When it comes to international relations the SNP are amateurs. Instead of courting the world’s most expensive tumbleweeds at deserted “Scotland House,” Alex Salmond should be working with his UK counterparts to drum up every bit of business interest he can for Scotland. It seems however, that Alex Salmond is prepared to take the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” to a whole new level.

 It is incredulous that he believes the Scottish taxpayer should foot the bill for his ego.

I hope that Willie doesn't treat this as a Summer story and let it drop now. I want to see Salmond questioned on this in Holyrood when it reconvenes next month.

Treasure is for boys, fluff for girls - in the 21st century?

Just in case you thought gender stereotyping was a thing of the past, have a look at this picture which is doing the rounds on Facebook at the moment.

So, if you're a boy, you are told that you should be interested in all sorts of fun things like helicopters, treasure, conkers, bikes, climbing and swimming.

If you're a girl, you're confined to fluff, bunnies, lipstick, butterflies and ladylike activities like skipping and dancing.

I can't believe that we're doing this to our kids when we are supposed to have a modern, equal society. The only person who will take any sort of comfort from this is Mark Pack because chocolate appears on both lists.

We've been through  My Little Pony, the (blessedly brief) Barbie phase and various cute little animal-in-my-pocket stuff. You have to go with where your kids are. But we started from a level playing field where we just put lots of things in front of her and let her play with what grabbed her.

Enforced gender stereotyping harms kids by limiting their expectations. You might remember me getting just a tad furious a couple of years ago when the Early Learning Centre marketed doctors' outfits for boys, nurses' outfits for girls. It's not only bad for girls, though.  I've seen a fair number of dads not just wince but actively express disapproval when their sons play with cloppy shoes and Disney Princess dressing up clothes. Conditioning either way is wrong. Seriously, I actually saw a dad wrest a bright  pink feather boa from his three year old son for fear it would make him gay. That must have been a really fun house to grow up in.

What on earth would be wrong with one packet of magnetic words with all those fun things that just said "Kids' Talk"? Then they could choose for themselves what they were interested in!

The Scottish Government experiments on my child!

It's a pretty anxious time for any parent with a child in the early years of secondary school in Scotland. The Scottish Government has introduced a new Curriculum, called the Curriculum for Excellence which aims to produce a new generation of responsible citizens, successful learners, confident individuals and effective contributors.

At primary school level, this has been embraced and has really given teachers the opportunity and flexibility to teach key skills in an imaginative way. Anna's primary education was excellent all the way through, but you could see in the last few years how the Curriculum for Excellence was making a difference. They were given innovative and exciting challenges which delighted them - for example, they'd maybe have to pitch an idea, Dragon's Den style. A far cry from the olden days when we copied things down from the board (not on slate, we'd moved on to jotters by the time I was at school) and  spoke when we were spoken to.

The problem with Curriculum for Excellence comes at secondary school level. My daughter and her friends have to sit the new qualifications in three years' time. The year above her has to sit them in two years' time. Only thing is, nobody has much of a clue what these exams will look like.

The SNP's abrasive Cabinet Secretary for Education is dismissive of criticism. You would expect that a  government minister would understand that parents are pretty anxious about the standard of their kids' education and show a bit of sensitivity to parents' concerns. That is not Mike Russell's style. Well, Cabinet Secretary, some of us parents aren't willing to accept your entirely unsubstantiated platitudes and assurances that it will all be fine. Our kids' education is a bit too important for that.

Until recently, Christine Jardine was the UK Government's Scottish Media Adviser, deep in the heart of Downing Street. She's now returning full time to Scottish politics. Many parents will appreciate this article she wrote on the new Curriculum for Excellence in this week's Scotland on Sunday. She argues that Scottish education has a bigger problem, too - it is consistently failing children from deprived backgrounds. We may well have free university education up here, but only 11% of students come from a deprived background. That's not good enough.

Christine writes:

While our government at Holyrood has been trying to rescue the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence, they have failed those who need our education system most. Social mobility does not appear to be part of their agenda. Yet if they were to look south, they would see a ­readymade programme to tackle the problem.

The Pupil Premium, which aims to improve educational attainment for disadvantaged children, is a key policy of 
the Lib Dems in the coalition. Its aim, put simply, is to give head teachers the power to help poorer pupils in the way that works best for them.

Nick Clegg has done something about this south of the border with the introduction of the Pupil Premium. The Scottish Government needs to act, too. You very rarely hear Alex Salmond talk about poverty and social mobility. It's time he and Mike Russell turned their attention from picking fights with Westminster and on to our kids' futures.

There's a surprise: reactionary, conservative parties scupper Lords Reform

Boy, was I annoyed with Nick Clegg yesterday. One thing about being on holiday in this country is that you can't escape news. Well, I could switch my phone off but it just doesn't work like that. So, I was not chuffed that he chose the first proper day of my holiday to announce the end of Lords reform. My half pint of pear cider in the Magners Pasture was rudely interrupted by details of his statement. At least there were two other Liberal Democrats we'd met by chance to discuss it with.

Clegg faced a really rotten situation. David Cameron couldn't persuade his coalition-hating right wing backbenchers to support the Lords reform that they'd all been elected on and had supported going in to the Coalition Agreement. What was he to do? In the event, he is the only leader to emerge from this with integrity and dignity.

There was no way that he could simply let it pass. His decisive action yesterday to scupper a pet project of the Conservatives, the boundary changes, is entirely appropriate. Cameron really wanted those boundary changes to happen, particularly as they would benefit the Conservatives disproportionately. Nick Clegg could not afford to just sit there and take a clear breach of the Coalition Agreement without any consequences. If they'd got away with it once, we'd have risked total impotence within the Coalition and that could not happen.

Now, I know I said the other day that I wasn't too happy with the idea of using the boundary review to punish the Tories. I do however, understand where Nick is coming from. We have to wrap this up and move on. While I think people would expect there to be consequences - you can't break an Agreement and expect to get away with  it scot free - they don't want to see protracted public argument that would destabilise the Government. One clear, rational statement, presented in reasonable terms, was the right thing to do.

There is one aspect, though, of voting down the Boundary Review which really annoys me. Nadine Dorries, whose seat would have disappeared if they'd gone ahead, now gets a massive reward for bad behaviour.

It seems very clear to me that neither Cameron nor Miliband had the slightest inclination to ensure Lords Reform, which they both apparently support, actually happened. Nick Clegg was willing to negotiate with them. He offered Cameron the option of changing the legislation to include a referendum before Lords elections took place, but the Prime Minister wasn't willing to let the people have their say. He asked Ed Miliband how many days of Parliamentary debate he wanted to see and Miliband wouldn't even give him the courtesy of a reply.

The reality of the situation was that Nick was faced with a weak Prime Minister who couldn't control his own backbenchers and an unprincipled leader of the Opposition who was not prepared to enter into genuine negotiations. Nick acted decisively, rationally and intelligently.

I'm glad that he had some choice words of criticism for the Conservatives in his statement:

My party has held to that contract even when it meant voting for things that we found difficult. 
The Liberal Democrats are proving ourselves to be a mature and competent party of Government...
And I am proud that we have met our obligations.

But the Conservative party is not honouring the commitment to Lords reform...
And, as a result, part of our contract has now been broken.

Clearly I cannot permit a situation where Conservative rebels can pick and choose the parts of the contract they like...
While Liberal Democrat MPs are bound to the entire agreement. 
Coalition works on mutual respect; it is a reciprocal arrangement, a two way street.  

I have told the Prime Minister that when Parliament votes on boundary changes for the 2015 election Liberal Democrats in Parliament will oppose them.
When part of a contract is broken, it is normal to amend that contract...
In order then to move on. 

Lords reform and boundaries are two, separate parliamentary bills…
But they are both part of a package of overall political reform.
Delivering one but not the other would create an imbalance – not just in the Coalition Agreement, but also in our political system. 
Lords reform leads to a smaller, more legitimate House of Lords.
Boundary changes lead to a smaller House of Commons, by cutting the number of MPs. 
If you cut the number of MPs without enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Lords...
All you have done is weaken parliament as a whole…
Strengthen the executive…
And its overmighty government that wins.    

The Conservatives already know we're no pushover - we've forced Osborne to raise benefits in line with inflation when he didn't want to, we've insisted on more action on the environment and renewable energy than the Tories feel comfortable with. They know that we're a force to be reckoned with within the Government. That message doesn't really get across as well as it could to the general public. The challenge for Nick and his team is to ensure that it does, while balancing that with the need for the Government to look professional and competent. I'm encouraged by the way they did that yesterday.

My top ten highlights of the Olympics so far...

If you've been following my updates on Twitter or Facebook, you will know that I've become just a wee bit obsessed with the Olympics. On Friday, I actually spent the entire day, from morning until gone midnight, watching various sports. Ok, I was blogging and doing other work at the same time, but still!

I haven't been this captivated by a Games since 1980 when I was gripped by the rivalry between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. As a 12 year old, I had an immense crush on Coe, which I came to bitterly regret when I discovered he was a Tory! I was devastated when he missed out on 800m gold and remember thinking his Dad had been really hard on him.

Then, of course, Scot Allan Wells won the 100 metres by the tiniest of margins and a nation's eardrums collectively shattered when the screams of his wife and coach Margo as he was running were played back.

I have to say, I was a bit bemused by all the build up to 100 metres last night. Boys running fast for a few seconds doesn't really do it for me. It just can't compare to a tennis match or a triathlon.

I thought I'd share with you my top ten highlights of the Games so far. I have to say that narrowing it down to ten has been incredibly hard as there are so many moments I know I'll remember forever.

1. The Queen

Available all over You Tube, that scene at Buckingham Palace when she turns to Daniel Craig with an amused smile and says "Good evening, Mr Bond", walks with him to the helicopter and then is portrayed as having parachuted in to Olympic Stadium is pure bloody genius. The woman who has never given an interview and has been a monarch who has stuck by the rules for 60 years suddenly is spoofing herself. Utterly brilliant, never to be repeated and glad she let us see that side of herself. The rest of the Opening Ceremony was amazing and you can read my review of it here.

2. The excellence of women athletes

From Lizzie Armitstead's silver in the cycling road race to Victoria Pendleton in the velodrome, Becky Adlington in the pool, Beth Tweddle in the gymnasium, our 80% female equestrian team getting silver, Jessica Ennis in the Stadium, our Team GB women have done so well. The BBC should have no problem finding some to put on their Sports Personality of the Year list.

3. Katherine Grainger's gold medal

Yes, I know we won a whole stack of medals at rowing, but Katherine Grainger's was particularly satisfying because it's been such a long  time coming. I was a wee bit sad that, down to the scheduling, it wasn't the first British female gold at rowing, but it was great to see her so happy to have finally achieved her dream. The lessons that gives of the "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again" variety are clear. If you really want to do something, realise it's going t o be hard, it may take a long time, but stick with it.

4. Zara Phillips cross country round

One of the most exciting moments for me so far was Zara Phillips' cross country ride on her  horse High Kingdom. She was devastated the next day to have a fence down in the show jumping, but her cross country ride was skilful, gutsy and risk taking. The course in Greenwich Park was suitably difficult, hilly, muddy, with challenging fences. She rode it so well and came in within the time to give Team GB a much needed clear round. I loved it. I just wish we could see the whole thing. Because the rounds are 10 minutes' long they don't just follow one rider all the way around.

5. The BBC coverage

The BBC coverage has been almost faultless. Comprehensive, informative and emotional, there's not much more we could have asked for. The only thing I would say is that I'm a bit fed up of Gary Lineker. He's so bland and his questions so inane. He really lets the side down. Clare Balding has played a blinder keeping Mark Foster and Ian Thorpe in line in the pool. She also had the good grace to genuinely apologise when some people interpreted her comments about being disappointed at Becky Adlington's result as criticism. I'm glad the rest of the world is getting to see more of Jake Humphrey. F1 fans already adore him and I'm so glad he didn't go to Sky.

Ian Thorpe, by the way, should be kept here and turned into an all round presenter, in between competing on Strictly Come Dancing. His honest and witty analysis of events in the pool has been fantastic. I'm also thrilled to see good use being made of John McEnroe, particularly on Gabby Logan's late night Olympic Report.

In terms of comprehensive coverage, the fact that you can get any sport you like on the red button is brilliant and the digital content is also superb.

6. The climax of the triathlon

A 2000 m swim in the Serpentine, a 50 k cycle lapping round Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, a 10 k run on top of it. That's what I call hard work. And, after two hours' grinding effort, the medals were decided by a dramatic sprint finish between Nicola Spirig of Switzerland and Swede Lisa Norden. We should have more of this stuff on tv, not just more boring football.

7. Beach Volleyball

Set in the heart of the British establishment. Horse Guards Parade, for goodness' sake, where the Trooping the Colour happens. It's filled with pop music and a beach atmosphere just yards from the seat of Government. I absolutely love it. 

8. Jennifer Pinches

Love the way she showed that the Olympics could have something for the geeky kids too.

9. Andy Murray

This has been the Summer where my support of Andy Murray because he's one of ours and he's a darned good tennis player has given way to actually really liking him as a person. It's not just the tears when he lost, but the way he got his head around it and came back and thrashed Roger Federer yesterday to win Olympic gold. 

Just generally about the tennis, it's been strange to see players at the All England Club  in coloured clothing and the traditional green covered with London 2012 banners.

10. Boris practises his flag waving skills

A nation cringed when Boris Johnson awkwardly waved the Olympic flag in the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing four years ago. I could not resist reminding you of his exploits last week, when he got stuck on a zipwire with two Olympic flags. For quite a while. Hilarious. Credit where it's due, he didn't have a strop, he saw the humour in the situation and just went with it. 

Boris will not run for Louise Mensch's seat

Good luck to Louise Mensch as she heads to New York to live with her new husband.

It didn't take long for Political Betting to kick off the speculation that Boris Johnson will fight this highly marginal seat for the Tories.

I don't think he will, however, for three main reasons.

First, he's only just been re-elected as London Mayor. Technically, he could do both jobs, but in a highly marginal seat, which he'd have to defend on new boundaries before the next mayoral election in 2016, this would be a huge issue. "Two Jobs Boris" would be on the front of every opposition leaflet. His charm and popularity would not be enough to counter that.

If he did resign as London Mayor should he be elected in Corby, the Tories are not, shall we say, the favourites for the mayoral by-election.

And if he resigned as mayor to fight the by-election, he could well end up with nothing.

Second, if he has leadership aspirations for the future, the very last thing he'd want to do is contest a highly marginal seat that's changed hands twice in five elections. He'll be after a safe seat - maybe Rifkind's when he retires, which must be in 2015, surely?

Thirdly, I suspect he is the very last person David Cameron wants to see back in the House of Commons. The "Boris for leader?" speculation is bad enough when he's not even in Parliament. It would seriously undermine the Prime Minister if Boris were actually eligible to depose him. Every single political journalist would be talking about it every single day.

I may well be proved wrong, but I just can't see Boris as candidate. And given that Sebastian Coe can't resign from the Lords, it won't be him either.

I expect that both parties will try to find someone who has some connection with the Games to be their candidate. Wonder what Labour supporter Danny Boyle's plans are for the next wee while....

Way to inspire a (sedentary) generation of nerdfighters (YOUR TITLE IS TERRIBLE -Ed)

Before I start, I should mention that somebody saw an earlier draft of this post and made some unremittingly frank comments within it. I've reacted appropriately to that feedback. I didn't notice the comment in the title before I pressed publish, but I decided just to leave it in anyway. If it makes one person laugh....

The motto of the London 2012 Olympics is "Inspire a Generation". They practised what they preach in the Opening Ceremony when the flame was lit by the next generation of athletes. But how do you get to those geeky kids who spend all their time in front of computer screen? How do you show them that sport might be something they might like to do?

 Easy. Especially if you share the same ideas as those kids but are an athlete yourself.

All you need to do is make the Nerdfighter sign on primetime tv  as British gymnast Jennifer Pinches did the other day.  What, I hear you ask, is a Nerdfighter? Well, that's what the community of fans of the Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, call themselves. Nerdfighters are, apparently, made of awesome and that's certainly the case with the one I know. This video will tell you more.You might also be interested in my review of John Green's latest novel, The Fault in our Stars.

Sure, as I was warned, some of those kids will watch the clip and then go back to creating Sherlock fan art or writing Hunger Games fan fiction, but, you never know, it might get a few interested in playing sport and keeping fit.Even just for a few hours a week.

John Green himself congratulated Jennifer on being awesome and living her dream.

And then Alex Day, another geek child's hero, went to GB House in the Olympic Park to have a blether with Jennifer. Please don't take the fact that I'm embedding it here as any sort of endorsement, because the approval of an old lady really wouldn't be in any way helpful, but the chat might make you laugh. There are also some interesting insights into the life of an athlete.



Oh, and by the way, John Green tackles the subject of religion and equal marriage,as we call it here, in this video. Let's just say the Daily Mail will not approve. Apparently he's coming to the UK in January. That will have the likes of Jan Moir and Quentin Letts foaming at the mouth. How exquisite.

Lords Reform dropped? Sulk a bit, then carry on...

So, if the Guardian is to be be believed, David Cameron is about to drop Lords Reform because there is no way to get it past the right wingers in his party who all stood for election in a manifesto that included changes to the Upper Chamber. If David Cameron isn't a bit scared that Peter Bone and Nadine Dorries have the upper hand in his party at the moment, then I'd be very surprised.

As a Liberal Democrat, I'm gutted that it looks like one of our major constitutional reforms, backed in some form by all parties in 2010 and therefore endorsed by the electorate, looks like it's dead in the water. When we've come up against a silly Tory plan we really can't live with, we've at least behaved like adults within the Coalition and made changes for the better.It's clear that we've succeeded, given the depth of the hostility towards us that openly emanates from the Tory backbenches.

David Cameron has abjectly failed to show that he leads a modern party. His true colours have come out. I doubt he was ever that keen on Lords Reform anyway, certainly not enough to put any effort into getting it through. His leadership looks weak and as under siege from the right as John Major's was - and he has far less in the way of political skill than his predecessor. It's not pretty. Bone, Dorries et al will be all pumped now and looking to scupper other Coalition measures they don't like, with equal civil marriage no doubt top of their list.

The Labour Party have chosen the path of unprincipled opportunism. They could still change their mind and decide to back the programme motion which would allow the legislation to proceed. I can't see it, though. They see their mission as one to destabilise the coalition and if that means voting against things they say they believe in, then so be it. Be clear, it's not about protecting the people of Britain from cuts because they would have pretty much done all the same things. We know Darling talked about raising VAT and for every £8 the Coalition has cut, Labour would have cut £7. It's about showing that Coalition doesn't work so that they and the Tories can go back to the bad old days of keeping all the power to themselves. Labour are supposed to be progressive, but they're hardly putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to enacting constitutional reform. I wrote a few weeks ago about how Paddy Ashdown led the Liberal Democrats into the lobbies for the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 when they could have brought Major's government down. Yes, we might want to harbour dreams that it could have led to a Labour/Lib Dem coalition with John Smith asn PM, but we can't be certain of that. The divisive election campaign that followed might have led to a withdrawal from Europe that would have been disastrous for people's livelihoods. At elast we were true to ourselves and what we believe in. Then and now, we act like grown ups, for the good of the country.

So, what should happen now? We should definitely sulk for a bit. We are quite definitely on the side of the Angels here and we have been wronged by people we'd made an Agreement with. We've stuck by that agrreement, endorsed by a Special Conference of our Party, when at times we would have rathered not, when it was clearly not in our electoral interests to do so.As Willie Rennie said after the local elections, any idea that we were ever in this for ourselves is clearly nonsense.

But sulking won't get us very far. So the other possibility is revenge. Do we scupper the boundary changes that we really don't want? I am not so sure.

If we have the chance to demand change, it has to be change that means something to ordinary people, not change that would give us a better chance of retaining nmore seats. What would be on my list? Well, first, scupper Theresa May's appalling family immigration rule changes. UK citizens should have the right to have their spouses live with them in this country regardless of income. End of. The web snooping stuff can join Lords Reform in the legislative bin, too. Let's not even waste the Committee's time. Bin this illiberal nonsense now.

What other prizes could we exact? Because of the Liberal Democrats, the wealthiest are now paying more tax, but not enough. Let's look again at the Mansion Tax, build a case for it in the country. Let's get a real campaign going. The wealthiest are not yet paying their fair share and we need to look at this again.

We have to resist any Tory moves to give a sub-inflation rise in benefits and the minimum wage. We held our nerve and insisted on the full whack last year and we have to do the same again.

And we must absolutely not give any ground  on equal marriage. In fact, we might want to take it further and follow Scotland's example and allow those religious bodies who want to carry out same sex marriage ceremonies to do so.

We must look again at mental health, an area Nick Clegg has done so much to break down stigma and make sure people have access to the right therapies. Let's look at where we could add to that, to really improve the quality of people's lives, particularly in light of the study this week that showed that people with Depression, stress and anxiety have a higher risk of premature death from heart attacks and strokes.

So, yes, we can allow ourselves some anger. We need to make sure that the blame for the failure of Lords reform is equally shared between both conservative parties. We need to remind people for years that we wanted democratic change, the others blocked it.  We must not allow this to break the Coalition, though, which is still the best possible Government for this country at the present time. We need to continue to behave like the honourable grown ups we are within the Government but we must be more robust about saying no constructively, emphatically and publicly.

Nick Clegg needs to take Cameron on a bit more, particularly on post 2015 policy ideas. They are fair game.

Of course,  it's not too late to reform the Lords. All the Labour party has to do is to say it supports the Programme Motion and we can get on with having a nationwide debate about it. If we have to agree to a refrendum in the process, I'm prepared to go with it. Will Ed Miliband's party have  the courage of its convictions to do that?  Even  if he does, the Tories will still have broken the Coalition Agreement and we need to make sure that they are seen to give us something in return.

Platinum Jubilee for Dr Barrie

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.

Michael Moore back on Facebook and Twitter

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore has done loads of good, cool stuff over the last couple of years. It took some skill to balance the demands of the Nationalists with the reactionary forces from the Tories and Labour and push ahead with the Scotland Act. Even as recently as last Christmas, the whole venture, giving Scotland the biggest devolution of power since the Act of Union in 1707, was said to be dead in the water. Mike kept going with it and ensured the Act passed both Holyrood and Westminster. A good job well done.

He also completely wrong footed Alex Salmond over the Independence Referendum  and got some proper dialogue underway.

With all that going on, it's hardly surprising he's not found the time to do much in the way of social media. It was good to see him back on Twitter for the first time in something like 745 days. His Twitter feed is pretty human and interesting. I remember when he did a 4 day sponsored walk for the Special Care Baby Unit where his daughter was cared for a few years back and tweeted all the way through it. He also has a new Facebook page to keep people up to date with his work. You can, of course, also read his weekly column on Liberal Democrat Voice. 

Telegraph: Women's Judo is "disturbing"

The talk of Twitter last night was a blog post from Telegraph journalist Andrew M Brown, who wrote of his feelings when watching Gemma Gibbons win her Olympic silver in Judo yesterday. Pride? Admiration? Nope. None of that.

 I found myself wondering: is women fighting each other violently a perfectly wholesome spectator sport? This wasn't a bit of pretend wrestling. Gemma and her American opponent, Kayla Harrison, were properly grappling with each other, throwing each other with full force onto the mat. They both showed pure, naked, fierce, animalistic aggression of a sort that one doesn't naturally associate with women – or girls for that matter. Quite honestly my initial reaction was one of shock. I felt rather as I would if I'd bumped into two drunken women bashing ten bells out of each other outside a Yates Wine Lodge on a Friday night – a bit unsettled.

I'm not sure Brown really understands the nature of Judo and the skill involved. It's fast paced for sure, but has to be approached with control and finesse to make sure that you overcome your opponent but don't cause them any serious injury. Hardly the sort of savage free-for-all he was talking about.

If he had suggested that, somehow, seeing competitors of a certain race made him feel uneasy, he'd probably have been saved from himself by his editor. Making misogynistic and sexist comments is apparently ok, though. I know it's the Telegraph, but surely there are some standards. Or maybe posting this drivel arose out of losing some sort of office game and he had to pay a forfeit. It's about the only excuse.

Brown went on to say that he "couldn't help wondering about their soft skin being battered with bruises." I couldn't help thinking that every single sport involves some pain and possibly bruising at some point. Even other physical dancing. Ballroom dancing is probably ladylike enough for Mr Brown, but we're always hearing of injuries from all the contestants, male and female on Strictly Come Dancing every year.

Maybe Brown lives in a wee bubble where women do what they do in Jane Austen novels, play the piano and pick flowers. Or a Disney movie, maybe, where they get the forest animals or enchanted household items to do the housework. Even the privileged women of previous centuries had to give birth practically every year, no mean physical feat. For poorer women, life involved a lot of hard physical labour, because not only did they have to give birth every year, they also had to work the fields, feed their families and do all the domestic tasks. The Industrial Revolution swapped tough rural poverty for hellish working lives in the factories for men, women and children.

Brown would do well to remember that the Olympics are taking place in Stratford of the 21st century, not Stepford of the 1970s.

Rennie questions Salmond's £400k on "London embassy" for the Olympics

The Scottish Government, understandably enough, has decided to showcase Scotland to the representatives of business and government from all over the world who are currently visiting London for the Olympics. Showing Scotland off is never a bad thing, especially when we are hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2 years' time.

They have, bizarrely, blown £400,000 on hiring the Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall and renaming it Scotland House. There, according to First Minister Alex Salmond, visitors can see:

what a great place Scotland is to have a holiday or do business in, and what wonderful food and drink and culture we export all across the globe – not to mention our pride in our sporting history, personified by heroes like Eric Liddell.

That's all very well, but it turns out that they were offered the use of  Dover House, where the Scotland Office is based not just at cheaper cost, but at no cost whatsoever. Not only that, but that building overlooks Horse Guards Parade, so they would have been able to take in the Beach Volleyball at the same time. What possible reason could they have had for refusing that offer?

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

It’s a bit rich for Mr Salmond to complain about a lack of funds for schools and hospitals while spending almost half a million pounds on a plush London address during the Olympics. Spending the equivalent of a nurses'  annual salary every day on the exclusive Pall Mall address when Dover House was available free of charge is a colossal waste of money.

An invitation was made to the Scottish Government to use Dover House to promote Scotland, something that both the UK and Scottish Government are keen to do during the Olympics. It is one of the government’s finest buildings and Michael Moore has already hosted receptions there this week to take advantage of its prime location to promote Scotland on the world stage.

To say Dover House would not have been suitable simply makes no sense. It smacks of putting party politics ahead of taking advantage of the Olympics to benefit Scotland.

Alex Salmond and other Scottish Ministers' divisive language on the Olympics, where he talked about "Scolympians" going for gold, without recognising the rest of Team GB, seems churlish and mean-spirited. Is he seriously suggesting Scots should be proud of gold medal winning rower Heather Stanning who was raised in Lossiemouth, but not of her Cornish partner Helen Glover? One minute the SNP tell us that independence shouldn't scare us that we'll still keep the Queen and the pound and stay British. The next, we're only to be proud of Scots athletes and not the rest of the team to which they belong.

Scottish taxpayers may well have something to say about their money being unnecessarily wasted on Scotland House. It's one thing to promote Scotland, another to make the venture a divisive vanity exercise.

Nick Clegg says no to Tory plans for more welfare cuts

Newspapers have been reporting for months that the Liberal Democrats were not prepared to sign up to Tory plans for £10 billion of welfare cuts in a spending review that would draw up plans for spending into the next Parliament. Today's Independent says that Nick Clegg himself will ensure that this Government only produces spending plans for 2015-16. The electorate will then decide in the 2015 election whether they want to pursue further cuts in welfare or a heavier burden of tax on the wealthy. 

The report says;

The Liberal Democrats' opposition means the review will have to be watered down. Before the election, the Coalition will need to agree detailed plans for the 2015-16 financial year – for example, so that local authorities can fix council tax levels for that year. But a detailed agreement on across-the-board cuts well into the next parliament now looks politically impossible. "It is proving too difficult; we are not going to reach agreement," one Liberal Democrat minister told The Independent.

It's an encouraging sign that Nick Clegg is seen  to be blocking further cuts to a welfare budget that has already taken a huge hit in this Parliament. We already know that David Cameron's ideas on further cuts include denying Housing Benefit to the under 25s, a step that is hideously unfair.

If the Independent report is accurate, Nick Clegg's actions will ensure that such measures will not be implemented ahead of the 2015 General Election. That in itself is a good sign and something that Liberal Democrat members can take heart from. I do, however, think that it's important that he and other senior Liberal Democrats spell out exactly why that draconian approach to welfare is wrong. Nobody else is going to tackle the Tories' ill informed prejudice about benefit claimants. Somebody needs to speak up for a compassionate welfare system that supports those who, through no fault of their own, are unable to find a job or are too ill to work, but also liberates people from being trapped on benefits by making work pay.

Actions may speak louder than words, but it's the words that can be replayed time and time again on You Tube and repeated on leaflets. It's important that we start getting our distinctive, Liberal Democrat approach across now. It's too late if we leave it until the 2015 election campaign. I've written before that Nick needs to be openly critical of Tory plans post 2015. We know how effective he was before 2010 over the Tories' planned marriage tax break, which the Liberal Democrats have prevented, and in making the case for the raising of the tax threshold, which we've implemented.

There will no doubt be discussion and debate around this at the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference in Brighton in September, if not as the Independent article suggests, on the floor of Conference itself, certainly around the fringe.Our party gives its members a role like no other in making policy and developing ideas. As we are putting together ideas for 2015, maybe now is the ideal time to join, or re-join and be part of that process. 

Family hopeful of fresh investigation into son's death

Stuart and Margaret Graham are lovely people. They're also two of the most courageous and tenacious people I've ever come across.

You wouldn't have thought, would you, that the first conclusion the Police would draw when a young man is stabbed in the chest was that he committed suicide? Incredibly, that's what the investigating officers from Fife Constabulary decided when their 23 year old son Colin Marr died suddenly after a row with his girlfriend at his home in Lochgelly.

For a long time, the Police just refused to accept that there could be any other explanation. Willie Rennie has been helping the Grahams in their quest to find out the truth of what happened that night since 2008. It took a long time for their concerns to be taken seriously. It's not easy to challenge the heart of the establishment, but every parent will understand why they felt the explanation of their son's death was wanting and their need to get to the bottom of what happened. The way they have kept going when a succession of doors was slammed in their faces is a huge credit to them.

A fatal accident inquiry last year was unable to decide whether Colin's death was suicide or homicide. A new independent review by retired senior CID officer David Swindle reached the same conclusion and made five important recommendations which are:

•          A review of the fingerprint and forensic evidence

•          Five key witnesses to be re-interviewed

•          An uncooperative witness to be interviewed

•          A review of the crime timeline

•          Actions previously identified but never carried out to be pursued    

Yesterday, Stuart and Margaret were interviewed for BBC News after Willie and fellow Mid Scotland and Fife MSP John Park called for the re-investigation to be carried out by another Police force given the criticism of Fife Constabulary. They are asking Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland to meet with the Grahams to discuss the next steps.

Margaret Graham said yesterday:

It's five years, almost to the day, since my son, Colin, died at home from a stab wound to the chest.  This report confirms the suspicious nature of his death.

I share Mr Swindle frustrations at the “basic and serious failings” in the investigation.
There are many lessons for Fife Police contained in this report but to find the truth about my son’s death there five key recommendations that give us hope.

As Fife Police have been criticised so heavily in this report Colin’s family want another police force to continue the investigation.

Following this independent review and the recent Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI), it is clear that Colin's death was not suicide.  We don't know exactly the details of what happened but we've believed for some time Colin did not take his own life.

It's now five years on from Colin's death and this report provides an opportunity to get to some of the truth about what happened on that sad evening in Lochgelly.

This is the second time in 12 years that Fife Constabulary has been found wanting in the way it investigated a suspicious death. Last week former Fife detective Richard Munro was jailed for five years for withholding evidence in the murder of Andrew Forsyth. This led to Stephen Johnston and Billy Allison serving 10 years in prison for a murder they did not commit. 

It's not hard to see why an outside force needs to come in and look at all the evidence relating to Colin's death again. Let's hope that the authorities take swift action to set this in motion. The Grahams' ordeal will never be over, but now that the failings of Fife Constabulary in this matter have been officially recognised, they and we need a re-investigation we can all have confidence in. I also think it's high time Stuart and Margaret Graham received a decent and heartfelt apology for the fact that it's taken so long to even get to this point. Why do the authorities have to be so hostile when challenged?

Amnesty Scotland tells Russia: stop arming Syria

Campaigners protest at Russian Consulate in Edinburgh. Photo: Shabnum Mustapha

I was up early on Saturday morning to join an Amnesty Scotland protest outside the Russian Consulate in Edinburgh. The event was to mark 500 days since the start of the uprisings in Syria which have seen so many  lives brutally taken. There as a mix of particpants, with the youngest at just 10 months, to symbolise the 24 lives needlessly lost every day. It goes without saying that little children like Zain here should be happily toddling around, not being indiscriminately murdered by a horrible regime. 

What do we want the Russians to do? Well, they could stop giving the Syrian Government arms for a start.Amnesty Scotland Director Shabnum Mustapha added that:

We are calling for an immediate arms embargo on all arms sales to the Syrian government, we are calling for the situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes, and we also want a freeze on the assets of the president and his associates.

What started as a protest for freedom and rights has ended in terrible bloodshed.

The event attracted a fair bit of media coverage, on the BBC , STV, the Scotsman and many local papers across Scotland.

Shabnum Mustapha herself had a long article in the Scotsman on Saturday in which she wrote:

We were disappointed that the extended UN supervision mandate in Syria did not include a stronger human rights component which would have improved monitoring and reporting of human rights violations on all sides. Amnesty has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, to freeze the assets of the Syrian president and his associates and to impose an immediate arms embargo to stop the transfer of arms to the government.

We have also been consistently calling for the international community to unite to end the violence. With Russia and China vetoing a UN Security Council resolution last week (the third one they have vetoed since the violence began), the international community has collectively failed the people of Syria. By the end of today, another 24 lives will be lost.

I've finally put my money where my mouth is and actually joined Amnesty. I've been meaning to do it for ages but never got round to it. Amnesty Scotland has done so much great work in the past year, on Guantanamo, Egypt, Syria and equal marriage.

To sing or not to sing? Scots athletes and the national anthem

Scot goes Pop has gone all outraged at the controversy over Scots athletes not singing God Save the Queen before their matches. He quotes former javelin gold medallist Fatima Whitbread as saying that people have to feel British if they are competing under a British flag.

My message to both sides of that particular argument is that they need to get over themselves. If Kim Little and other Scots and Welsh athletes had been sniggering or crossing their fingers or showing disrespect as God Save the Queen was being played, they would be fair game to have a go at. They didn't, though. Their "crime" was to stand there perfectly respectfully.

My view of the anthem is that, rightly or wrongly it's the UK national anthem, not the English one. Others feel it's an English song. But they grew up with it being played as England's anthem at sports events so it's hardly an illegitimate view.

If I go to church, I don't repeat any responses which indicate a personal belief, because I don't have one.To profess otherwise would be disrespectful both to myself and to the church. I'm not prepared to avow things that I don't mean and I'd hope that any religious celebrant would understand that. I do, though, sit, stand or kneel along with everyone else and behave in a respectful manner.

I don't recall the likes of Jenson Button's or Lewis Hamilton's loyalty to their country  ever being questioned when they don't sing along to God Save the Queen when they win before they head back to the tax havens where they live. I don't, therefore, see why Kim Little and her Scottish and Welsh colleagues are getting it in the neck for not singing along.

Having said all of that, for the nationalists to play the victim over the controversy is just as silly. The team management are absolutely fine with the decisions of the Scottish and Welsh national anthem. The Daily Fail has a highly subjective interpretation of a British Olympic Association statement, saying that they were furious and that the statement was "terse". What the BOA actually said (apologies for link to Fail) was:

It's an individual choice (as to whether or not to sing), but the most important thing is to show respect

Not a million miles from what I said above and I'm neither terse nor furious.

Now, can we all just get on with enjoying the Games. David Millar, Robbie Renwick, Hannah Miley, Kim Little and many other Scots are doing us proud along with all the 541 athletes in Team GB. We will see all sorts of excellence from all over the world over the next two weeks. Let's get our heads out of our belly buttons and look outward, not manufacture rows where none exist. We should be challenging the rubbish in the Daily Fail, not allowing it to set our agenda.

Women's Beach Volleyball should be compulsory viewing

Two days into the Olympics and I'm loving it as much if not more than usual. Saturday was a really busy day for me - a demo, a meeting and an underage driving lesson for Anna - so I only managed to settle down for the swimming finals in the evening.

Yesterday, however, was a veritable cornucopia of sport. Along with the normal F1 (and the less said about the winner of that race the better), I watched Lizzie Armitstead win a thrilling silver in the pouring rain in the women's cycling road race. Then there was dressage. There is something very therapeutic about that and I marvel at the relationship between horse and rider that allows such fine, detailed movements. Then there was a little bit of Archery. Who knew that could be so exciting? In the evening there were the swimming finals - Ellen Gandy's excellent 5th place, Becky Adlington's fantastic against-the-odds bronze medal and France making Europe proud by beating hot favourites USA and Australia in the 4 x 100 men's freestyle relay. I'm such a soppy git and was in tears as Gandy walked out to take her place for the final. These next two weeks are going to make me cry, a lot, I can tell.

The event that had me really jumping up and down and screaming, though, was a thrilling beach volleyball match between British women Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin. Their Canadian opponents won the first set and looked on course to win the second and therefore the match until a gusty fightback from the British pair led to a deciding third set. This was eventually won by a pretty narrow margin by the British pair after some excellent and determined play.

It was really strange seeing the heart of Establishment London, Horse Guards Parade, the scene of the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony transformed into a sandy beach for what's seen as quite a frivolous sport. By the way, I challenge anyone who thinks it's frivolous to actually try playing it and see how far they get. Everyone who works in the Scotland Office will get a fantastic view of proceedings.

However, the different dress codes for male and female players have annoyed the hell out of me. Men get to play wearing a t-shirt and baggy shorts and are a lot more dressed than they would be on a real beach. Spectators might be forgiven for thinking, though, that there must be some rule specifying that women's outfits must cover no more than 2% of their bodies which is a cue for a significant part of the country to ogle. The bikini bottoms don't leave a huge amount to the imagination, and close ups on the backside are required from the cameramen who want to make sure we have a view of the signals team mates give to each other behind their backs to indicate tactics. 

The Leer Factor in this sport is significant, in real life as well as on social networks. These women were being ogled by, to be honest, most of the country. Is this typical objectification of women? Probably. It has a saving grace, though. These women are a fantastic example of what the female body in prime condition should look like. There is no place for the emaciated lollipop with silicon-enhanced boobs which provides the unattainable standard for girls today, a standard which, if they can't reach, drives many to desperation and depression.

If these Games lead to this generation choosing sportspeople as role models, that won't be a bad thing. They eat healthily, keep themselves in excellent physical condition, work incredibly hard and show unfashionable discipline and self control. It was quite funny to see ex footballer Gary Lineker be told in no uncertain terms by Lizzie Armitstead that, no, she wouldn't be having a massive party to celebrate her silver medal because she has an event midweek (the time trial) to prepare for. 

I still have issues with the Leer Factor and the double standards in dress for men and women, but, you know what, if these Games lead to men and women taking note of what healthy female bodies look like, then it might not all be bad. Maybe we should make women's beach volleyball compulsory as well as compulsive viewing. 

One thing is for sure - with the excellent performance of our female competitors in the opening weekend, there will be no excuse for an all male BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist again. 

The achievements of Team GB's female athletes are being celebrated by the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation by way of their Go Girl campaign. WSFF CEO Sue Tibballs said:

The London 2012 Games is a great opportunity to celebrate our female athletes – and to be inspired to get active. This is a celebration so we want our supporters to have fun. But there is an important point to be made. Female role models are essential to inspire young girls to be more active, particularly in a culture that tells them that it is more important to be thin than fit.

With only one in ten teenage girls and one in five adult women currently doing enough physical activity to maintain their health, we are launching Go Girl as a celebration not just of our elite athletes but of the idea of creating a nation of active, healthy and sporty women.

They have a Facebook page that you can like here and you can follow them on Twitter here. Hat tip, by the way to The F Word.