Liberal Burblings

Archive for the ‘Mark Pack’ Category

When they originally revealed their new “tree” logo, the Tories unveiled a Scottish and Welsh version, as well as an English version. There seemed to be strict rules on how the logo could be interpreted.

I was rather surprised, therefore, to read on the BBC that the Conservatives had played down their latest “Blue sky” version of the tree by saying that it was intended all along that the tree would change colour whenever anyone felt like it (paraphrasing). Here’s the BBC report of what the Conservative spokeswoman told them:

She told the BBC: “We are not changing it at all. When we launched the tree last year there were various colours on it.

“You can change the backdrop on it. You can change the colour of the tree to make it look like a winter tree and things like that.”

It is up to organisers of press conferences and other events to decide the backdrop to use, the spokeswoman added.

That old terrier Mark Pack has tracked down the Conservative style guide for the logo which appears to completely contradict the statement made to the BBC by that Conservative party “spokeswoman”.

The style guide does show this light blue version of the logo:

But that is a world apart from the following new dark blue logo with sky and sunshine winning the day:

Indeed, the style guide is extremely specific – it is 22 pages long – and says, for example, “Never use tints” and “Don’t create new colour logo versions!” (their exclamation mark!)

When they originally revealed their new “tree” logo, the Tories unveiled a Scottish and Welsh version, as well as an English version. There seemed to be strict rules on how the logo could be interpreted.

I was rather surprised, therefore, to read on the BBC that the Conservatives had played down their latest “Blue sky” version of the tree by saying that it was intended all along that the tree would change colour whenever anyone felt like it (paraphrasing). Here’s the BBC report of what the Conservative spokeswoman told them:

She told the BBC: “We are not changing it at all. When we launched the tree last year there were various colours on it.

“You can change the backdrop on it. You can change the colour of the tree to make it look like a winter tree and things like that.”

It is up to organisers of press conferences and other events to decide the backdrop to use, the spokeswoman added.

That old terrier Mark Pack has tracked down the Conservative style guide for the logo which appears to completely contradict the statement made to the BBC by that Conservative party “spokeswoman”.

The style guide does show this light blue version of the logo:

But that is a world apart from the following new dark blue logo with sky and sunshine winning the day:

Indeed, the style guide is extremely specific – it is 22 pages long – and says, for example, “Never use tints” and “Don’t create new colour logo versions!” (their exclamation mark!)

Thanks to Mark Pack on LibDem Voice for pointing out this absolute beaut of an article from the Telegraph.

Essentially, David Cameron is facing the prospect of a very rough ride when he faces his MPs on Wednesday. They now know that the Emperor has no clothes so they have a much freer rein to question and criticise him:

However Mr Cameron decides to proceed, he must first placate his MPs. As one of them said: “Suddenly it’s okay for us to say to him, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’” The Tory leader needs to provide a convincing answer.

Also, for those LibDems who haven’t already overdosed on schadenfreude, there is a classic Gordon Brown comment about Grant Shapps, who has incidentally been unceremoniously dumped from his role of running Tory by-election campaigns:

Veteran Conservatives, however, say the real question is why Mr Cameron put the inexperienced Mr Shapps in charge of the battle in the first place.

It was a decision that delighted Labour. Watching television coverage of the by-election on Friday morning at No 10, Gordon Brown saw the youthful Mr Shapps, an MP of only three years, talking about the defeat, and said: “If I’d known he was running it, I wouldn’t have worried.

Thanks to Mark Pack on LibDem Voice for pointing out this absolute beaut of an article from the Telegraph.

Essentially, David Cameron is facing the prospect of a very rough ride when he faces his MPs on Wednesday. They now know that the Emperor has no clothes so they have a much freer rein to question and criticise him:

However Mr Cameron decides to proceed, he must first placate his MPs. As one of them said: “Suddenly it’s okay for us to say to him, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’” The Tory leader needs to provide a convincing answer.

Also, for those LibDems who haven’t already overdosed on schadenfreude, there is a classic Gordon Brown comment about Grant Shapps, who has incidentally been unceremoniously dumped from his role of running Tory by-election campaigns:

Veteran Conservatives, however, say the real question is why Mr Cameron put the inexperienced Mr Shapps in charge of the battle in the first place.

It was a decision that delighted Labour. Watching television coverage of the by-election on Friday morning at No 10, Gordon Brown saw the youthful Mr Shapps, an MP of only three years, talking about the defeat, and said: “If I’d known he was running it, I wouldn’t have worried.

Here’s a suitably bleary-eyed photo of the Ealing Southall LibDem HQ front desk team at 04:02 hrs this morning. If I had been sharper at that early hour, I would have used the flash. But, the photo sort of makes up in atmosphere what it lacks in clarity. Incidentally, it was taken just after Mark Pack and team had departed with the first bundles of Good Mornings. I was the third person to sign in, and departed with my three large bundles shortly afterwards.

The Good Morning I delivered in Ealing Common is below. It is certainly the most glamorous Good Morning I have ever seen. A full colour tabloid!

It was a beautiful morning, when it arrived. I had an interesting time nature-wise. Between 4am and 5am near Ealing Common I saw:

• A rat (running across the road)
• Two squirrels
• Two foxes (one fat escaping with a full plastic bin bag, one very thin)
• One Jay

I was particularly taken by the Jay (example drawing below) as I don’t think I have seen one before. They are quite exotic-looking. I see that their habitat includes large parks in urban areas. As I saw the bird near Ealing Common, this tends to confirm my identification.

Gordon Brown launches his leadership bid very clumsily.