The email I received from the Liberal Democrats...

The historic victory for our motion in the House of Commons was a victory for justice.

It was a day when we could all feel great pride in being Liberal Democrats.

It was also a great day for Nick Clegg who said that, "This is an historic victory for the Gurkhas who have served our country so bravely.

"This Government has now lost its moral authority. From the first moment I challenged Gordon Brown on this over a year ago, he didn't understand that there was a simple moral principle at stake.

"People who are willing to die for our country, should be allowed to live in our country.

"The Government must listen to Parliament and scrap these shameful rules immediately and grant justice without conditions to all retired Gurkhas."

There is a great analysis of the vote on the Politics.co.uk website and you can see the BBC website report here.

There is more information about the campaign on the party website.

Many people were angry about the way in which Gordon Brown and his Immigration Minister Phil Woolas had failed to listen to public demands for fair treatment for the Gurkhas.

If you want to make a donation to help us achieve the small 5% swing that we need to defeat Phil Woolas in Oldham East and Saddleworth at the next General Election, you can donate to the party here .

No doubt you will be doing all that you can to help us in the crucial European elections (and local elections in much of England) on June 4th. Over 30 million Liberal Democrat leaflets are currently being printed for the European election campaign. Thousands of our council candidates are producing leaflets for their area. Nick Clegg is making 44 different campaign visits across Britain as part of his current campaign tour.

Our next Party Election Broadcast featuring one of Nick's town hall meetings will be broadcast on May 5th - do watch out for it.

Thank you for all that you do to help our party.
Best wishes,

Chris Rennard

Chief Executive, Liberal Democrats

Stuff StalinBrown, vote Liberal Democrat as soon as you get the chance.

You know me. I don't do stuff about my past. But sometimes, just occasionally, you have to.

When I was in the fifth form, in Hong Kong, at a school called St Georges, which was a school for the children of British forces families, and the families of those who worked at civil service jobs in places you didn't talk about, way back that long ago, I messed up in an English lesson.

We all do it, I suppose. I didn't pay attention to the work the teacher told us to prepare, and I completely forgot that I was supposed to have prepared for a debate, although to be fair to myself, I really didn't remember the teacher telling me what I was supposed to prepare for.

The children of Ghurka soldiers were in our classes, and they were very fine people. You knew their dads were soldiers, and you knew whose side their dads were on. You knew if they were against you, it would be really bad, because they were quite dangerous. There was all the mystique about the Kukri, and how, if they drew it, there would be blood before it was put away. But they were on our side, because we nearly beat them once, ages ago.

And now, a political party I used to believe in, and recruit for, back when it was not taken over by nasty little creeps like Blair and Mandelson, yes, you know which party, has behaved disgustingly badly. They didn't just sell out. Labour betrayed the Ghurkas. Shame? Yes, I feel ashamed. I want to go to the people who joined the Labour Party because of me, and ask to be forgiven. Because if they are still supporting these dreadful people that are pretending to be the Labour Party, they should stop. Right now, and forever.

Back to the English lesson. I was told I had been expected to debate in defence of South African apartheid. I really didn't realise that was what I was supposed to have prepared for. I stood up and apologised for not having understood what I should have prepared for, and I told the teacher that if I had realised what I was supposed to be doing, I would have refused to do it. There were several Ghurkas in our class, and they were our friends. I said racism was disgusting, and that I would never even pretend to defend it as an exercise. Then I sat down. The teacher said nothing to me.

I know all about debating clubs now. Oxford has one. I didn't go. It's frivolous, and full of jerks who turn up later in government. And they are the ones who can make themselves believe that torture is OK, and letting the Ghurkas down is a good way to save money.

They are wrong. They always were. They have no shame. I am glad I am not like them.

But I wonder, is it good bokeh, bad bokeh, or just plain out of focus?

A really lovely Greek Orthodox church in Monemvasia, which is an incredible place. Natural light only, no flash. The walls and ceiling have recently been re-plastered, and I think it will be worth another visit, if they paint them in the usual way. On the way out of the church, we noticed a small sign that said "No photography".

This young person has chosen a rather obvious hiding place.

Here is another of my panoramas, taken on a Canon Eos 450D, and assembled using the free program Autostitch. As you will see, it covers more than 360°. Clicking on the thumbnail will get you the full image, which is two and a half megabytes, so not for users with a slow connection.

I'm glad we climbed the rock the hard way, up the (reputedly) one thousand steps. There's a road up the other side, and a coach park, but that really wouldn't be the same.

Sunset in Nafplion.

moar funny pictures

That's me on the right.

I was on RYA sailing courses, on a 44 foot yacht in the Aegean. I don't talk about these things in advance, to reduce the risk of burglary. I now have certificates that say I am a Competent Crew Member and a Day Skipper. So does Mrs Walrus. The Walrusling was too young to take Day Skipper, but is a Competent Crew Member. Go Walrus family! Woot!

We had splendid sailing weather a lot of the time, in contrast with some unfortunate Russians the week before us, who had no wind for their whole week.

Oh, yes, I'm back. Hello everyone!

My title is actually the title of a very good book that I read a few years ago. I see Amazon are knocking out used copies at a very reasonable price.

And here's a rather good video of the book's author, for the all the believers out there in blog land...

Have a nice day!

"Bring us... a shrubbery!"

I spent quite a while this morning planting shrubs. Then I took this picture with my Canon Eos 450D, using the 10-22mm zoom at its widest angle. Notice how much fits in, and the lack of distortion, it's a brilliant lens.

Before Santa brought me this lovely lens, I used to stitch pictures together with Autostitch, like this...

I know it's hard to see the shrubs in the first picture, but they will show up nicely once they are surrounded by gravel, as planned, and as the garden develops I will be posting better pictures. I'm also considering putting a webcam up for the duration of the building work we will be having done in the next couple of months...