FibDems

The 'Say No to Ming' Rally was very well attended by the FibDem faithful

He does after all provide us with this description of last Thursday's result as a 'mixed bag'.

Obviously this bag of sweeties didn't have Wurther's Old Original as a look at the results shows:

In Wales they achieved an enormous swing which saw their representation increase from 6 to a mind boggingly humumgous 6.

England was even better as they stormed to losing 246 council seats in a night of ecstatic celebration.And in Scotland they overtook all expectations by becoming the (fourth) largest party by increasing their overall total by minus 1 seat.

Maybe Ming was referring to Scotland when he referred to the results as a 'mixed bag' - a 'mixed bag' of target seats for all the other parties.

Old Porridge does take some delight in seeing the seat at the core of Michael Moore's constituency shape up to be a Tory gain next time round. One wonders when Michael will realise that being Ming's former chief of staff and current foreign affairs spokesperson may not be that rewarding, particularly since the council took on a brighter shade of blue.

The swing to the Nats in Argyll must have Mr Alan Reid wondering if he can airbrush out all mentions of that nice Mr Lyon from future leaflets. But since the council has gone semi-yellow and shut out the Fibs it may not leave the best impression of a party in decline.


Finally our old favourite Jo Swinson looks a dead cert for the chop as her core seat of Strathkelvin and Bearsden saw Labour not only take the prize but the Fibs crash to FIFTH place! They also lost control of the council in spectacular fashion.


Maybe Messers Reid and Moore and Miss Swinson will read the runes about Ming but the signs are that the party is in denial. Leaving them to regret not dusting off their CV's now.

Ming had suddenly become less keen on using bar charts

The Aberdeen Leader is the Fib Dem newspaper for Aberdeen Central, an oxymoronic title if ever there were one given the Fibs' dismal third place finish in 2003.

On the back page of the paper is a small piece endorsing the Lib Dem candidate, one Councillor John Stewart, who just so happens to also be the council candidate for George Street/Harbour.

This raises the interesting prospect of him earning close to £70,000 to do both jobs part time if elected, which I am sure the hard working taxpayers of Aberdeen would be delighted about.

Anyway, the piece endorsing him is a soundbite from one Matthew Maguire, an Aberdeen resident.

When one looks at the bottom of the paper, where the tiny print reveals the location of the printer and the name of the election agent, one discovers that Mr Stewart's election agent is a certain Matthew Maguire...shurely shome mishtake?

Also, as we previously reported in Edinburgh North & Leith, the paper is printed in Peterborough, which slightly undermines the Liberals' "Green Pledges" which feature prominently inside.