the sandals are off

This post on Sunday Trading caught my eye. It is often debated in conjunction with the debate  on whether we are still a Christian nation. Very topical when one ex-Prime Minister has just publicly converted to Catholicism and our own leader has come out of the closet as an atheist! But I actually think the two questions are quite separate.

I’m an Anglican, but I believe in a secular state which protects religious freedom. I am also comfortable with Liberal Democrat proposals to disestablish my church. Experience shows that religion and politics do not mix well. Applying religious beliefs to political views is always open to interpretation. My moral code stems from my beliefs - such as ‘all men are created equal’ (a big one for me) - but I know atheists who still accept the same moral code because their conscience informs them too. And yet there are bible bashing Christians in the United States who support the death penalty - something which as a Christian I find abhorrent. So I believe that the state and politics should be secular - and that politicians and political leader can be of any faith or none - provided that they respect my right to my faith. Being secular is not the same as being atheist. I would always resist attempts to secularise the Christian festival of Christmas. Shame on those who promote ‘Winterval’ and ban religious Christmas cards. It is our faith and our festival - take part if you wish. But if you don’t believe, respect those of us who do.

On Sunday trading - there is another issue (other than the religious one). For most Britons, whether you are a churchgoer or not, Sunday is the quieter day when people get to rest and spend time with family. Or at least it is unless you work for a retail giant. I have no problem with anyone who wants to work on Sunday. But I have a big problem with the huge numbers of retail staff who are made to work on Sunday by their greedy employers. Let’s face it, retailing is not the best paid profession - and many employees working on a Sunday are working their normal rostered hours - they are not all getting double time. The current Sunday trading laws at least try to limit the hours that people have to work - but I would like to see a situation where no retail employee worked on a Sunday unless it was because they genuinely wanted to. Too many are cajoled and press-ganged by an environment in which if you didn’t work on Sunday you would be seen as ‘not a team player’ and likely to be passed over for promotion.

And so to Boxing Day. For so many of us, we can at least look forward to a well earned two day break at Christmas. Take pity on the shop worker who, at the busiest time of year, is now pressured into taking only one day - so that the sales can start in earnest on Boxing Day. I urge you to think before shopping on Boxing Day. If we don’t shop on Boxing Day, the stores won’t open - and the staff will get a well earned break next year.

Tuesday the 18th of December 2007 will be remembered as the start of an exciting new era for the Liberal Democrats. We have had the Ashdown years and the Kennedy years, both of which represented significant leaps forward in our electoral success. I believe that the Clegg years have the potential to be our finest yet. I am excited by his pledges to engage with people in public meetings, to try to reconnect with the people. We really do have a distinctive and different message for the British people - and I look forward to the future with relish!

Scanning Lib Dem Blogs today, it is pleasing that we now seem to have passed the point where we are all boring each other to death ‘bigging up’ our preferred leadership candidates - and found other stuff to talk about! This is largely due to NuLab pushing the self-destruct button once again over party funding. Vince Cable is clearly going to end up being talked about as a potentially great leader we never had. His performance over the last week has been heart-warming to say the least. I applauded his decision to boycott the visit of the Saudi king. PMQs have been worth watching again and the Stalin to Mr Bean transformation will live long in the memory.

Turning to the Huhne-Clegg battle, I cannot help being struck by how fortunate we are to have had such a close choice between two excellent candidates. Some of my fellow bloggers have devoted countless bytes to posts along the lines of ‘candidate a wiped the floor with candidate b’ or ‘it’s a clear choice’. I was half-waiting for ‘only [insert name of preferred candidate] can win here!’ I think ‘it’s a two horse race’ was used by someone.

Nonsense. It was a close fight between the two, and I for one have absolutely no idea who is going to win. I cast my ballot for Huhne - and I am satisfied that he is the man who edges it for me, but only by a few inches. For a more balanced and reasoned view I recommend this post by Cicero.

The sharp-eyed will have noticed that I have had the honour of being selected as the PPC for Wycombe. I look forward to the future with relish because whoever wins the contest will represent a bold step forward for this party - and I would be proud to serve either of them!

The rise of, increasingly violent Homophobia in Europe — and its neighbourhood — is deeply worrying. It is high on the European Parliament’s agenda following a crucial vote in April to condemn the rising phenomenon. Sadly, only one British Conservative MEP voted for the resolution, the rest present voting against or abstaining. This is in sharp contrast to Liberal Democrat MEPs , all of whom voted for the resolution. Sadly, that solitary Tory was not one of my North West colleagues.With their failure to support a resolution condemning discriminatory remarks by political and religious leaders targeting homosexuals, the Tories have shown their true colours. Tory apathy in the face of rising homophobia should come as no surprise as, today, the Conservative camp is rife with contradiction.Whilst Cameron attempts to paint a glossy image of a gay-friendly party in the UK, he is also desperately trying to get into bed, at European level, with Poland’s openly homophobic ‘Law and Justice’ party. I just hope the British public see Chameleon Cameron for who he really is!!!

Saj Karim, 9 June 2007

David Cameron’s recent speech on immigration was incredibly impressive - sensible, rational and positive, it persuaded me that he is a leader who has changed his party and will change this country.

Saj Karim, 26 November 2007

There’s been a lot of ‘outraged of Libdemland’ blog posts about the ‘calamity’ document. Some have really gone off at the deep end suggesting that some cardinal and unforgivable sin has been committed. Now let’s be quite clear on a couple of things. First off - the title of the document is unacceptable - and I think Chris’s shock on being confronted with it was genuine. That said, who has not taken part in an election campaign during which some over-zealous supporter has overstepped the mark and had to be reigned in? It is unfortunate, but let not the sense of outrage act as a smokescreen to prevent us debating the content!

The Huhne campaign has sought permission to issue the document (minus it’s offensive title), with very good reason. The document is actually already in the public domain (thanks to Guido), and contains a collection of quotes which seem to suggest some inconsistencies which it is fair to ask Nick Clegg to address.

So no, I don’t think Chris Huhne has behaved disgracefully at all. I think he is right to bring these questions out and expect Nick to answer them. And if Nick can find similar inconsistencies in Huhne’s quotes and speeches, he would be equally within his rights to bring them out for discussion too!

And nothing I have seen has changed my view that Huhne gets my vote for leader. We are not the ‘nasty party’ - but neither should we be the ‘too nice to be challenging party’ either!