Really good weekend away in Leeds, running LibDem Youth & Students spring conference, which seemed to go well.

Speakers included Richard Allan MP, who talked on identity cards. Having sat on the committee scrutinising the ID cards bill, Richard is particularly well informed on this issue and detailed numerous reasons why they are a terrible – and potentially problematic – waste of money. He even drew on Little Britain, suggesting that the fallibility of the biometric identity systems could, in the future, result in trying to access health services only to be told, “Computer says no.” Richard proved once again that he’ll leave a significant gap (and more than just geek-shaped hole) in the parliamentary party when he stands down at the election.

Other speakers included Andrew Stunnell MP (the party’s chief whip in the Commons), Richard Stanforth of Oxfam talking about Make Poverty History (which LDYS is backing), and PPC’s Jon Neal and Greg Mulholland. There were loads of new faces and we had key training to prepare everyone for the general election.

I used to be an elected sabbatical officer at Leeds University Union so it was also good to be back there holding a conference in a section of the union whose renovation I approved before leaving three years ago.

FaxYourMP has been superseded by WriteToThem.com (currently in beta test). Enter your postcode and it will bring up all your elected representatives from district council level up to the European Parliament (although not parish councillors). You can then contact choose a representative and contact them for free.

(Via Nick Barlow.)

I’ve just been alerted to the happy news that I’m in today’s Guardian Backbencher. Last week, she asked for alternatives to the newly-announced EU referendum question (“Should the United Kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the European Union?”). I obliged…

WHEN TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT

Thanks to the countless readers who sent in their alternative questions for the referendum on the EU constitution. “Europe – Yes or No?” wasn’t quite what the Backbencher had in mind, though it does have a certain terrifying simplicity. But the winner is Will Howells with this: “Should the United Kingdom reject the treaty establishing a constitution for the European Union?” “That’ll confuse the No campaign,” he explains.

I didn’t pass judgment on whether Damian Hockney should stand down from the London Assembly when I wrote about his defection. However, UKIPwatch relays a good case, if true, for him to stand aside:

A UKIP spokesman said that in 2003, Mr Hockney had proposed a motion, passed by the party’s National Executive Committee, requiring any successful UKIP election candidate who later left the party to resign their seat.

‘UKIP asserts that Mr Hockney has a moral obligation, if not a legal one, to adhere to a rule which he himself was a vocal advocate of,’ said the spokesman.