Tour De France 2010 Stage One

We it is the first day of the mass starts, another day another country. After a rather wet Prologue yesterday the riders will leaveRotterdam then it is off island hopping along the coast before heading inland near Antwerp and over the plains of Belgium to Brussels.

I expect Tour favourite Alberto Contador to be paying close attention at the front. This may be the first stage of the Tour but he'll be remembering another coastal stage last year. It was only Stage 3 of the race but rounding a corner 31km from the line Mark Cavendish's HTC-Columbia team were pushing the pace at the front when a change in wind direction caused a break in the peleton. On 27 including all nine of Cav's team and Contador's then team mate Lance Armstrong but not the man himself. By the line the gap had grown to 40secs a time that can make a difference in General Classification (GC) so exect to see all the GC contenders, not just Contador, paying attention near the head of the race today.

Can We Form a Coalition with the Mayor?

I know that Jae Kay has had a few things recently to say about our party's public statements on Equal Marriage, here's hoping for an official federal policy position to be taken on this soon. I totally agree that allowing civil partnerships in religious places is just a muddle. For a start the only religious places liable to carry out such ceremonies are those that want to allow same-sex marriage anyway.

It makes me sad when I hear comments, like I heard earlier in the week, from fellow Christians that they merely respect the right of same sex couples to have a civil partnership, but not to allow them a marriage, also denying them the right to a choice between a religious or civil ceremony depending on their choice. They often claim that their religious organisation doesn't allow it, yet they are also ruling out the possibility that other religious organisations may be in favour and wanting to offer it. Yet we maintain a blanket ban rather than liberating the rules on what can be.

Therefore I think us Liberal Democrats who believe in equal marraige should breakaway from a coaltion with David Cameron and insist that Boris Johnson is installed at number 10. Why? Well at today's London Pride the following exchange happened on the platform at the start:

Peter Tatchell: David and Sam Cameron can Marry – Gays Can’t. End the Ban on Gay Marriage.

BoJo: If we can have a coalition between Tories and Lib Dems, why can't we have gay marriage?

PT: There you are – the mayor supports gay marriage.

So Boris is offering us a coalition that supports equality in marriage.

Reason Why the Fifth of May is Wrong Date for Referendum

It is just over 24 hours from when the announcement for a date of a referendum on AV for Westminster was decided to be up against next May's Scottish Election but already we can see how the SNP are going to use it. The SNP are talking about the lack of respect to the Scottish people, Fiona Hyslop going further cutting to the chase when she said:

"It's important that we see action and not just warm words on respect.

"And in terms of what this is saying in terms of how the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and the Scottish people are being treated, I think this is an example of the British Government just not working for Scotland.

"I think this announcement shows a bit of coalition chaos, where the parties in London seem quite prepared to have a referendum on a voting system that they don't really support but not have a referendum on independence to decide the powers that the Scottish people could have."

That last part is the bit that is going to be concentrated on not respect as that will be shoved out the window by the SNP at the earliest convenient opportunity. No there will be the name calling over why one referendum is good and proper and another is not. There will be no respect for the fact that the Lib Dem MSPs were elected to Holyrood Parliament in 2007 on the promise that they wouldn't hold a referendum on independence in the next four years.

That was a stance I disagreed with on the stand alone principle of it from my stance as a democrat. It has been exasperated now by our own leader the Deputy Prime Minister making two announcements of Westminster to piggy back the next two Scottish elections. In 2015 we already have the concurrent elections of a 5-year fixed term Westminster and the 4-year fixed term Scottish Parliaments, now there are plans to ride over next years Scottish elections too.

For a party that believes in devolution we are being perceived of going a strange way about it, strangling the distinct Scottish message of all parties our own included for the elections for the next eight years of Scottish life with two UK-wide debates simultaneously.

And Now....The Prologue

No it is not an Up Pompeii! reference to Frankie Howerd's Lurcio, even though I'm sure Woolwich educated Frankie would approve of a prologue on London Pride day. (Also I just had to include an image)

And although it is nothing to do with Italy it is strange that this year both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia have decided to start from the Netherlands (who actually may well be still partying like Brazilians after knocking the 6 times winners out of the World Cup). Oooh noo, please, it's wicked to mock the afflicted!

No it is that time of year that the French all head off on holiday, but these days on certain of their roads they are being joined by the Spanish, Dutch, Italians, Americans, Australians, Kazachs, Luxembourgers and of course a growing contingent of Brits amongst others.

So instead of tulips in Amsterdam, as the Giro started, Le Tour kicks off in Rotterdam. Here is the route.


The other glorious thing is that little Freeview box is enough to get me live coverage whenever I can get back in time to see it. As every stage will be having some live coverage on ITV4. Seeing as there are more Brits taking part that the last time we had a British national team in the field. We have British Team Sky headed by Bradley Wiggins who equaled the best British performances last year. And the winningest Brit in any tour with six stages last year Mark Cavendish going for Green with his impressive HTC-Columbia train.

Other Brits taking part are David Millar (Garmin Transitions), Charlie Wegelius (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummins (both Team Sky), Daniel Lloyd and Jeremy Hunt (both Cervélo)

But titter ye not, the Tour de France to mark the 100th Anniversary of its first mountain stages is starting in the flattest country in Europe.

It's Friday so...Tour de France 2010

Yes tomorrow is le Grand Depart in the 2010 Tour de France from Rotterdam. There will be cobbles, mountains and the thrills to come over the next three weeks.

So let's start with the classic* Kraftwerk song.



This year marks the hundredth year of the mountains as a part of the tour, yeah the Pyrenees were first included in the 1910 edition of the race. The Col du Tormalet is being climbed twice in this years tour. So here is one of the approaches to and descents from the summit quicker than the peleton will manage.



If your not convinced that the Tour is for you, bear in mind we have Brits in Mark Cavendish who will be competing for the sprints most days having won six stages last year and Bradley Wiggins going for a better place than his fourth overall last year as the head of the BSkyB team. Here are some of the highlights from last year.





*Yes I do have this on vinyl in my collection.

Crowded Fifth of May Next Year !?!

Anybody who's anybody in Scottish politics or with an interest in it will remember the last time Scotland went to vote for its own Parliament. Many recall it like a nightmare only we were in an upright position and awake all night living through horrendous images with no net result. One thing that was clear was that people did seem to want to give preferential votes to candidates however they wanted to do it on the wrong ballot papers, or indeed on only one side or the duel purpose Parliamentary ballot paper.

However, there is news that a referendum on AV for Westminster will take place on the first Thursday of May next year. A date which has long been in my diary as the next Scottish Parliamentary Elections. On Wednesday night at the Edinburgh Central hustings a question about the clash of an AV referendum and the fact that one of the four of us would be fighting for the seat did come from the floor, and what impact would it have on the campaign.

Personally I know first hand that voters expect their MPs or MSPs or candidates to be well versed on all areas of political influence, even if with devolved governance to Holyrood or Council level they may not necessarily have responsibility for that area of policy directly for the person they seek to represent. The number of times you have to say this is devolved, Westminster or council issue before giving an answer shows this.

My plans for the next year are to secure more Liberal Democrat representation in Holyrood. It is why I've put myself forward into the fray is the way I have for Edinburgh Central. In the Lothians it will be a bellweather indicator of how well the Liberal Democrat message is radiated with people. We'll be fighting to get across the message of what Liberal Democrats can do and in fact have been doing in the other levels of governance that represent the people. First and foremost next May will be about the governance of Scotland, I doubt any of the parties in either Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland will be concentrating on the referendum they'll be focusing on the more pressing issue of winning seats in constituencies and votes across the regions.

Also personally I'm not really geed up by AV. Is it really a step towards more proportionality or is it a road block in the way to more? An appeasement to lure in Lib Dems to give the Conservatives more than many of us wanted? I don't think it is radical enough, it doesn't give the people a say over who really represents them, merely which party representative does. It maintains party politics above the ability to vote for party but reject objectionable individuals.

In Linlithgow and East Falkirk where I stood in May AV wouldn't have changed the result, Michael Connarty won with 49.8% which with none transfers from other candidates would mean that he would have been secure even if he didn't pick up the remaining 0.2%. However, lets assume STV had happened across the West Lothian and Falkirk Council area.

The vote was*

• Labour 74,056 49.0%
  
• SNP 40,869 27.1%
• Conservative 17,162 11.4%
• Lib Dem 17,130 11.3%
• Others 1,794 (1.2%)

Now it would have given Labour 2 secure seats, however the third may well have gone, indeed a real propability, to the party that 27% of people who had voted for the second biggest party in all three seats; the SNP. Who because of the votes in excess of 45% for Labour in the three seats would not under AV had the change of winning their proportional share for over half of Labour's vote.

* This of course assumes no tactical voting had gone on under the restrictions of First Past the Post

They May Take Our Lives, But Never our...ANDY!!

So David Cameron lowered the flag of St. George over Downing Street on Monday as the English football team headed home after failing to end 44 years of hurt.

But now the tabloids are trying to persuade the English football faithful that Dunblane born Andy is actually English. Why? Because his maternal grandmother was both to a Berwick-Upon-Tweed solicitor and his York born wife.

So taking into consideration the dispute that the town to the north of the Tweed is actually Scottish and that it's designation has changed so often through history. That would leave Andy's mum Judy's mother, Eileen Edney being the offspring of indisputably English* Joyce Anderson.

So lets apply laws that England football fans and FIFA understand: so that rules out offside and what constitutes a valid goal. To qualify to play for you nation you have to have been born or have one of your parents or grandparents born in that country. For Andy Murray that is seven counts of Scotland.

Guess Andy isn't an English Rose after all, but that doesn't stop the whole of the UK supporting him, so he can be a thorn in Rafa Nadal's Championship hopes this afternoon.

Also if Downing Street can take down the English flag after a team goes out in the last 16 of a major tournament why aren't they raising the Saltire in honour of a Brit from another part of the United Kingdom who is two games further on and looking to get to the final ending either 72 or 74 years of hurt since we had a home grow finalist (Bunny Austin '1938) or winner (Fred Perry 1936).

* Hang on isn't York a Viking kingdom? Especially with a name like Anderson?