A Liberal Life

In his speech at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton this week, Sir Menzies Campbell gave an inspiring speech about the future of the party. Apathy and disillusionment are severe problems in Britain today and I know that many of you reading this email will be planning to dismiss what I say. "All politicians are the same", "all the parties are the same", "nothing will ever change" - I tell you what... with attitudes like that you're damn right! Things will never change if people continue to brush off the possibilities, if people give up on hope and ambition.

I am a Liberal Democrat because I believe that we, as a nation, deserve better. We deserve a free, fair and green country to live in and more than that... I believe that we can achieve it.

Ming concluded his speech with these words:

"I will lead this party into the next election with energy, ambition and determination. Because the stakes for this party have never been higher. And liberalism has never been needed more than it is today. So whenever people ask you: “Why vote Liberal Democrat?” tell them this:
We alone are prepared to break the cosy consensus of British politics and face up to the challenges confronting our society. To create a country that is free, fair and green.

[...]

Only we can achieve that free, fair and green society. Because only we believe in it – Only we will work for it – Only we will fight for it. The Liberal Democrats versus Labour and the Tories. Today, our party is not only the real alternative: It is the only alternative. Not two against one. But one against two."

To read the full speech go here.

Please don't dismiss me out of hand. Please don't hit "delete" without a second thought. Read what Ming has to say, think about what you can do to help. Even if that doesn't mean voting Lib Dem at the next election, tell your other friends what the Lib Dems have to say, tell people you meet that the political landscape needs to change and encourage people to vote with their feet. Literally. If there is an issue you care about, even just one issue, get out there and do something about it! Shout from the rooftops "No! I will not lie down and submit to this! I demand change!"

Thanks for reading. Now go do.

Google is funny

OK, so I am faffing instead of working (see "Thank You!" below) so I thought I would try the google name game.
How it works: You put "[your name] needs" into google and post the first ten results in your blog. I did this and the very first result was some other Holly doing the same thing!! Coincidentally she was the same age as me, interested in the same things and was also married. Spooky.

My results:

1. Welcome to the Addicted To Holly gallery. It is your #1 source for up to date pictures and it will fulfill all your visual Holly needs!

2. Holly needs home in Ridgeway, Ontario

3. Holly needs help in her Olympic efforts

4. Holly needs to go bak [sic] to neighbours

5. Holly needs a home

6. Holly needs a new home

(I'm beginning to spot a theme here)

7. Holly needs something

8. Holly needs to go to obedience and learn how to walk nicely on a leash because she does a lot of "drifting" from side to side investigating things

(Finally a laugh!)

9. Holly need motorcycle

10. Holly needs identification

:-/

Not as humourous as I was led to believe. Ah well, number 8 gave me a giggle.

Language

So, language usage changes over time. This is not a mystery, it is a mundane fact of life that everyone knows. Or at least, would if they stopped to think about it for a second and compared modern English to the thees and thous of days of yore.

So how come some people don't seem able to handle the idea that people in the modern world call themselves witches and that in the modern use of the word, witches do exist? Why are some people so detirmined to piss on other people's bonfires?

Thank you!

As you all know by now, I am terrible at getting my coursework done. I put it off until I almost crack under the pressure. I can't do this all on my own, I have help and I thought I would give credit where credit's due. So here are my top 10 procrastination websites!

10. Adult Fan Fiction
For those who missed it the first time I "came out": I write smutty Harry Potter fanfic. Here it is. I used to spend hours at a time reading other people's stuff on AFF, but I don't have time any more and a lot of my favourite authors have stopped writing. To be fair, so have I.

9. Home Office Watch
Essential viewing for any Brit. Informative and occasionally shocking.

8. Flickr
Mainly I check out my friends' photos, but it's good for a browse too. You can find pictures of anywhere in the world. Excellent for procrastination material.

7. Dave Gorman
I love Dave Gorman, he writes a fantastic blog, reluctantly!

6. The Lexicon
A fantastic site for losing yourself. Anything you can think of to do with Harry Potter is on here. Any little factoid from the books that you could want to know has been catalogued and numerous essays dissecting characters and events are there to entertain.

5. ROFL Cat
Side-splitting, hilarious pictures of cats! Funny every time you go back even if you've seen the images a dozen times already.

4. 20 Sided - The GM of the Rings
Hilarious comic strip of what might happen were D&D and Lord of the Rings to be reunited now. It's a long running strip, so there's a lot of content, but it's well worth catching up on as and when you have ten minutes.

3. The Rockstar Game
I love this game, I've been playing for years on and off. It is one of those things you can immerse yourself in to whatever level you wish. There have been times (between jobs!) when I have spent hours every day playing and writing on the roleplay forum. Because of how the system works, when I came back to the game recently after a seven month absence I didn't have to put many sessions in before I got a top 100 album!

2. MySpace
Obvious maybe, but true. I spend far too much time faffing here. Although not so much lately, it seems to have gone quiet in the last month or so. I dare say that will change though.

1. BBC Religion & Ethics
Ahh, my beloved religion forum. I am mostly found on the Pagan board. This community provides by far the most time away from my coursework (and job work these days!), I can while away hours chatting with people I have come to think of as friends. Alas, the site has come upon hard times, with the mods getting very strict about staying on-topic. But hopefully they will chill out again soon.

So that's my procrastination chart - a product of yet more procrastination!! Go ahead and check some of the sites out and say "hi" if you spot me in any of my guises!