Liberal spice

There is a site which aggregates LibDem blogs. At the moment it's a bit like being in the kitchen after a half-hearted party - everybody is talking about what would have made it more fun, and who should organise the next one.

There's been some talk of Liberal Democrat philosophy: what it is, what it's good for and where we might get some. A step along the way seems to be the labeling of types of LibDems, or factions maybe, depending on how aggressive the writer is feeling. So far I've seen mention of New Liberals, Economic Liberals, Muscular Liberals, and Tough Liberals. Recast, that's Baby, Posh, Sporty and Scary. Anybody seen a Ginger Liberal recently?

Might makes right (of way)?

I regularly cycle from my home in South Gloucestershire into the center of Bristol. I've found that SUVs, people carriers and pick-up trucks have taken over the Volvo's traditional role as chief peril to cyclists. As I peddled along yesterday I was therefore particularly pleased to see on a billboard that Nissan have launched their "new" Navara. The Navara is a dirty great black pickup truck; one of the really, really, big kind - the sort you only used to see on American television, charging around Texas.

Each advert consists of a picture of said truck, menacingly half shadowed, with a tag line in heavy capitals. Two of them seem disarmingly honest: "GIVE WAY SIGN", and "THE NEW HIGHWAY CODE".

So, it seems that Nissan have admitted the attraction of driving a big "street" pick-up: people will stop for you even if they have the right of way; the highway code doesn't matter if you're driving the biggest vehicle. Sounds about right to me.