This post from Ryan has been spotted by the BBC:

Some bad news for those Lib Dem leaders who believe they have finally cast off the image of the party as full of anoraks and train spotters. One internet blog from a conference visitor – if not a windup – details the excitement he experienced driving to conference. “On the way across the country I managed to spot consecutively number plates 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287 and 288 a consecutive record for myself. The only problem was that I failed to find 281 first”. How on earth can Charles Kennedy compete with that once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Oh no, it’s not a windup.

Update: Former LibDem blogger Hazel’s on the site too – with photo.

Several LibDems, including Adrian Sanders MP, are jointly documenting this year’s autumn LibDem conference. See http://libdems2005blackpool.blogspot.com/.

As I’m not in Blackpool, I’ll be reading this (and others from LibDem Blogs) to keep up.

"There are things I will not tolerate: students loitering on campus after school, horrible murders with hearts being removed… and also smoking."

As the Government’s confused partial smoking ban trundles closer, it seems that the number of exempt pubs could rise by a third as they stop serving food to escape the new restrictions. The proposal to ban smoking in pubs where meals are served is based on the well-known scientific fact that second-hand smoke is more harmful if you are eating.

Meanwhile, GNER trains are now entirely non-smoking following the abolition of designated smoking coaches. According to GNER, this is

in direct response to passenger wishes and follows detailed research which showed that more than 90% of GNER passengers do not smoke and that most wanted smoking on trains to be abolished.

You can be sure they carried out this predictable research after spotting the problem of East Coast Mainline trains passing from England, where smoking carriages would be permitted, to Scotland where, from next year, they would be illegal.

The unintended consequence? Judging by my experience last night, smokers are now saved the effort of traipsing to coach B for a fag: they just light up wherever they’re sitting. And as there are no ashtrays in coach D, the smoker in question blew his tobacco detritus onto the seat opposite. Charming.

Says the Press Assocation (feed via icTeesside),

Lord Paddy Ashdown, currently the top international administrator in Bosnia, was an agent for the British MI6 secret service in the 1970s, according to a report published on the internet and picked up by Bosnian newspapers.
[…]
The Cryptome list also includes the former head of Ashdown’s public relations office, Julian Braithwaite, stating that he was an MI6 agent in Sarajevo in 2002.

Gosh. And we all thought Jeremy Thorpe had the most interesting secrets…

Update: The source (via Hot Ginger and Dynamite) and comments from Jonathan.