Last week saw the untimely deaths from cancer of two men who contributed significantly to British life, albeit in completely different ways.

Tim Garden – Air Marshal Lord Garden – was the Liberal Democrats’ defence spokesperson in the House of Lords, and his distinguished service in the RAF and at the Ministry of Defence gave real credibility to the party on defence issues. In 2004, the same year he became a life peer, Tim contributed his knowledge to the BBC series Crisis Command, acting as one of the contestants’ expert advisers. I met him once, briefly, in a packed lift at party conference in Harrogate. Sadly, I didn’t engage him in deep conversation about the threat of terrorism in the modern world or post-Cold War international relations; rather, we shared a joke about the maximum number of people the lift claimed to be able to carry.

Tim’s contributions as a member of the House of Lords were invaluable, both to the party and to the country, and he will be greatly missed. Fellow LibDem blogger Jonathan Fryer has written Tim’s obituary for The Guardian, and there are tributes in the comments on Lib Dem Voice.

Tony Wilson, the entrepreneur, TV and radio presenter, Ha&ccdeil;ienda manager, founder of Factory Records and journalist labelled Mr Manchester, died last Friday. Immortalised by Steve Coogan in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, Wilson was a genuine character whose promotion of bands – and of Manchester itself – contributed to the success (give or take some dubious business decisions) of acts like Joy Division and the Happy Mondays. His most significant cultural impact may have been in the late 80s and early 90s, but he continued to pop up on radio, film and television and his death is a sad loss.

There is an obituary on the BBC website. YouTube has various clips (including Tony Wilson Meets God from 24HPP). Here’s a section from the 2002 Granada Documentary That Tony Wilson:

“Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong then so can I.”

Hello. I had a lovely holiday, and now I’m back. I decided the blog was overdue for a makeover, so I’ve given it one. I apologise for the feet but they tickle me (though please don’t tickle them).

I still have some tweaking to do (the recent comments list will return), but nothing major. Let me know if you find any bugs.

That’s the marvellously becalming headline screaming from today’s Evening Standard boards. But I’m going to take the advice and will, fingers crossed, jump on a plane to Eastern Europe early tomorrow morning.

I’m a bit under the weather after some seriously long nights – I was awake for 29 hours on by-election night, from early morning delivery through the daylong campaign and the count (where I spotted Tory campaign chief Grant Shapps – I couldn’t quite see his box count sheet, but I’ve a suspicion it may have included the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4), to shooting a quick video with Ed Davey and a few drinks afterwards. Needless to say, the mood at Ealing HQ was very upbeat when we welcomed Nigel back, and the news of the great swing Greg, Ruth and the team pulled off in Sedgefield just added to the cheer.

Rather than catching up on sleep, I headed to a general election summit for party agents this weekend, where I did a number of training sessions. Really good morale there, and lots of fun had at David Cameron’s Conservatives’ expense as we read the weekend papers and caught bits of TV news. I got thrashed at pool, but you can’t have everything.

With the by-elections over, it’s back to relative normality next week, but first I’m off to Croatia, plus a couple of other countries, for some much-needed R&R.

Hello from the Ealing Southall constituency. The by-elections here and in Sedgefield poll tomorrow, so I’ll be able to get back to blogging about relatively normal things (and be able to take a holiday) very soon.

In the mean time, though, a quick note that Nigel Bakhai’s Southall HQ is very busy with Liberal Democrat members and supporters today but that we can, of course, always do with more help. So if there’s any way you can get here between now and the close of poll (10pm) tomorrow, please do. We’ll be open late this evening and from very early tomorrow morning, so please get across to Southall whenever you can. Directions to the campaign nerve centre are here. And, of course, if it’s easier for you to get to Sedgefield to help Greg Stone’s excellent campaign up there, please go as soon as possible – directions are here.