Conference Pics - Friday

Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg's arrival at the conference hotel - with the landmark Liver Building in the background.




Former leader of Liverpool City Council Mike Storey receives an award for lifetime endeavour from Nick at the Council Group of the Year Awards.

Ian Davidson - Nick Clegg's new best friend?

Amid all the tizzy surrounding the Euro vote tonight, one possibility hasn't gained much comment. It is that the amendment being proposed by Labour backbencher Ian Davidson will be called to the vote. This amendment calls for a referendum on both the Lisbon Treaty and on membership of the EU.

If it is called, the Nick Clegg can safely whip all Lib Dem MPs to vote for it as it is the only way that our favoured position of an in/out referendum can still proceed.

The Tories have indicated that they might withdraw their amendment to unify support around the Davidson amendment if that is called.

The fact that the Davidson amendment is allied to a Lisbon Treaty referendum makes it a bitter pill to swallow for those who don't want that, but it is a way out which avoids awkwardness of mass splits and resignations from the front bench.

Of course, if this is seen as a way out for the Lib Dem Leader, then look for either the Speaker to decide not to call Mr Davidson or for the Tories to press ahead with their amendment even so.

A tale of two votes

What do the Russian Presidential elections and the 'I want a Referendum' polls have in common?

They both lose huge amounts of credibility by pointlessly embellishing already strong results. As the PACE observers said with regards to Medvedev's victory, the result clearly showed the will of the Russian people, but there were a number of irregularities in the voting process and significant problems with equal access to the media for all candidates.

Similar problems exist with the IWAR polls. A very strong result is losing news time because some fool apparently decided to issue a press release with a statement that can't be backed up by the poll results. Not surprisingly, opponents of the IWAR campaign have jumped on this lapse.

The perils of news photography

I take thousands of photos a week. For each job, I'll try to get a large number of different angles and set ups so that my client has as much choice as possible. Clearly, there will some that are better than others. There are also many images which are simply unusable because people have their eyes shut or are pulling silly faces simply in the normal course of holding a conversation. To my mind it is unfair to publish these images because the person is not deliberately pulling a silly face. If they are doing so deliberately then they are fair game.

But if a picture is amusing because of the way a person is holding their body then I think that is fair game.

I didn't take this image and cannot immediately source who did as it was posted to a Facebook Group - I'll happily credit the snapper as soon as I know and am only posting it here to critique as part of the wider discussion.

UPDATE - the picture came from a Times WBLG caption competition but it was uncredited there so could have been a Times snapper or an agency.. Will keep on digging

It's all going horribly wrong for the All Blacks

Today really couldn't have gone much worse for the AB's. Losing at home to one of your relegation rivals with no bonus point to soften the blow. Seeing your star fly half stretchered off with a suspected broken leg. Watching as the line out collapsed yet again to gift the opposition a couple of tries. And not even being able to blame poor refereeing. The only dubious call he made all day in my view was to allow one of our tries which looked like a double movement.

The best thing about this match was that new boy Gavin Quinnell looked like a hot property. He made bullocking runs over and through the opposition to such an extent that at one point it took eight Coventry players to stop him (see top photo). The other player I had not seen before, Tim Collier, also looks a bit special.

As a friend put it to me afterwards, it really does seem all over now for the All Black's stay in League One. Two of their remaining matches are away at Northampton and, although we play our two closest relegation rivals once more each, we have to gain at least one other victory to have a chance of staying up.

Pics: It takes eight Coventry players to bring down Gavin Quinnell; Josh Lord stretches to score the first All Black try; Gavin Quinnell scores the second try; Sam Alford pulling a face

Paddick the East End boy

Brian Paddick was in Brick Lane yesterday for a visit to the Brick Lane Mosque and a meeting with local community leaders. He was joined by Party President Simon Hughes, Euro candidate Jonathan Fryer and local GLA candidate Rajonuddin Jalal.

First up, being Brick Lane around lunchtime, was a curry in a restaurant owned by a Lib Dem supporter.

After that, Brian met local residents emerging from the mosque after Friday prayers. The local Conservatives were along as well, but got nothing like the good response that Brian and Jalal were receiving.

We were then invited into the mosque to meet with community leaders and the mosque committee. This particular place of worship is renowned for its openness to candidates of all parties - giving them the chance to have their say and encourage worshippers to play an active role (for whichever party) in local politics.

Finally it was off to a local park where Brian laid flowers at the monument to those who lost their lives in the battle for the Bangladeshi language. Local TV stations were also present and Brian, Jalal and Simon all gave interviews.

Pics: Brian, Simon and Jonathan enjoy a Brick Lane curry; Brian meeting local people; Brian speaking in the Brick Lane mosque; Brian laying flowers at the monument.

Exclusive - How Nick Clegg prepares for PMQs

Nick Clegg was in Watford on Thursday to visit the West Herts FE college which has been turned from a failing institution to one officially regarded as excellent thanks to an inspirational new principal. While he was in Watford, he also met members and was asked what he really thought of Prime Minister's Questions.

As you know, some politicians love PMQs and others hate it. Paddy - never a lover of the Commons - didn't like it very much. Ming was famously taken to task by the media for a perceived poor performance and former Tory Leader William Hague really loved the event. So what did Nick think?

Well, he told members that he actually quite likes it. He said that there have been some performances which have been viewed as better than others but overall he thought he had done okay. He revealed that in order to prepare for the wave of barracking and noise that greets the Leader of the Lib Dems (and presumably the other leaders too) he had two of his members of staff stand right by him and yell loudly into his ears as he attempted to ask the question he was to put to Gordon Brown later that day. He said that once he could do that without stumbling, he was confident he could cope with the real thing.

Anyway, back to Watford and one of the unique factors of the West Herts College is that they have a decommissioned airliner fuselage in their grounds to help train cabin crew. Nick and Watford PPC Sal Brinton visited the fuselage to meet with trainee cabin crew and watch them demonstrating a safety announcement. Then Nick asked to see the cockpit before a Q and A with students in the rather more prosaic surroundings of a cafeteria.

Then it was off to meet members and open the new party HQ in the town.

Photos: Nick watches the cabin safety demonstration; Nick in the pilot's seat; Nick answers students' questions; Nick opening the new HQ