Conference time.

I've missed the last two conferences through injury and not being a tory respectively, so with this year's conference being on my doorstep I decided to rejoin and attend.

The events in the main hall are of course the usual dross, with a steady parade of PPCs and wannabe PPCs trotting up to deliver their bromides in the hope that they will get a few moments coverage to give them a boost.

My fringe calender is seemingly at risk of turning into a Donal and Dale tour, so I shall be adding a couple of other events for a bit of balace. Redwood tomorrow should be3 good, and if I think I will be able to resist the urge to call him a twat I might go and watch Richard Dawkins at the Conservative Humanists this evening.

Last night I went to a fringe about the future of Scotland under a Tory government, and overall, I came away thinking that There is a real possibility that played correctly, Scotland could provide the tories with the same opportunities that Quebec gives their Canadian counterparts, although of course Cameron is no Stephen Harper. One thoght which did occur however is that there seems to be limited consistency of principle. David Mundell said last night that the tories would oppose a referendum being held on Scottish independence because they disagree with the idea of scottish independence, yet to the best of my knowledge, tory policy remains that there should be a eferendum on the EU constitution despite the fact that they are opposed to the EU constitution.

This morning there was an Electoral Reform Society discussion about lowering the voting age to 16, and while I remain open to being convinced, they have yet to do so. The chairman, in a strictly impartial fashion honest guv, outlined the arguments at one point, but managed to contradict himself by both extending the "well you can do this that and the other at sixteen" argument while calling unified age of majority issues a red herring.

There was also ainteresting session on freedom and the internet, which basically consisted of a discussion of issues around blogging. Setting aside Guido's rather disturbing orange trousers, it was all good stuff, and I came away feeling rather less disturbed by my half dozen unique hits a week.