September in the U.K. is the season for political and academic conferences, with highlights ranging from a speech by Bill Clinton to seminars on siphonic roof drainage and positive air pressure transients.
Issue: 11/02
In the U.K., late September is the political conference season. All three major political parties hold seaside conferences where party delegates from across the country debate with their political leadership the content of the party's platform for the coming year. The parties rotate through Brighton, Bournemouth and Blackpool each year. This year the governing Labour Party held its conference in Blackpool. The conference was notable for a bravura performance by Bill Clinton as the guest international speaker, unaccountably accompanied by Kevin Spacey, who must have found the whole process more confusing than a visit to K-Pax. Both were later to be found in the Blackpool McDonalds, presumably undergoing a reality check. Clinton's speech, where he introduced himself as the representative from the Arkansas CLP (Constituency Labour Party) and received a standing ovation, was excellent and proved once again that there is life beyond the Oval Office.