A posh-sounding Northumbrian

Brian Paddick on Sky News this morning appeared to play down standing for the Lib Dem Presidency, while giving some clues that he is hopeful of a Westminster seat.

If he does end up standing for the Presidency, as an eligible voter in that election I would have to choose between him and Ros Scott - both of whom have very significant strengths.

Brian would certainly also bring specific ouside experience to the Lib Dem parliamentary party, with greater credibility on dealing with crime and social disorder.

Browsing Conservative Home today I find an innocuous enough blog post showing the shortlist for a Conservative parliamentary selection.

It's a reminder of something I unfortunately failed to do with Lib Dem Voice -  to reduce the secrecy surrounding the candidate selection process.  My early attempts faced a strong backlash, not from the party hierarchy, but from the readers of Lib Dem Voice themselves who felt I was going too far too fast.

Some of the post-Henley debate is centering on the choice of a not-particularly-local candidate. I'd be interested to see if there is a greater appetite for candidate selection transparency now.

Candidate selection in England, in and out of byelections, has been a constantly thorny topic for the party, and there are many who think the time has come for root and  branch reform.

To quote Mayor Boris Johnson on the installation of fans on the London Underground, I was "chuffed to bits" to be invited to the launch of Total Politics magazine last night.

Hats off to publisher Iain Dale who battled illness to deliver a warmly received and witty speech. I particularly enjoyed his praise of one of the magazine's PR companies - "Olly Kendall of Insight Public Affairs tells us that had we paid ad rates for the media coverage we've had, it would have cost £30,000... He'll be after his fee, then." The coverage on the blogs has also been extensive, I'm sure they've earned that fee.

Having got a bit merry on the free champagne I somehow missed the piles of complimentary copies on the way out (and the opportunity to own a Total Politics jute bag... damn!) and so bought a copy in WH Smith on the way home tonight.  I largely agree with Mike Smithson's review, and have to confess I found myself skimming rather than reading. In all honesty I enjoyed the piece advising sharp-suited young politicos where to get those sharp suits the most - what that says about me, I don't know.

It's an exciting development however, and I'm sure it will go from strength to strength. Iain's previous venture, 18 Doughty Street, was wide open to the charge that it was 'Tory TV' - Total Politics appears to have lived up to its politically neutral mantra in the first edition, though a doting reference to Thatcher in the editor's intro did make me balk a little.