Having been on the road so much lately I fear my mental blogs have never seen the light of day, but, as you can imagine, they have been myriad :-) Like so many of you I have had to endure the daily tirade of justifiable criticism on the doorsteps of the East of England. My normal response to "you're all the same" doesn't really cut the mustard........the electorate are tending towards the biblical view of sin - size doesn't matter! Hobnobs, sanitised moats, flipping, pruning 500 trees - all send the same message - our politicians are taking the proverbial. ...
Pathetic. I've just read Gordon Brown's article in tomorrow's News of the World. He still doesn't get it. He has nothing new to say. He apologises for all parties and says that outer London MPs won't be able to claim the second home allowance and that's about it. Oh, he says that anyone who has abused the rules will not be able to serve in his government - but that misses the main point. It is not that MPs have defied the rules - we have been told all week that everything they've done has been within the rules - ...
1)write a Focus newsletter2)have a nice long hot bath3)catch up on the latest depressing news about MPs' expenses4)All the above.I'm opting for 4. I like multi-tasking.
The latest opinion polls show the Labour Party in an unprecedented state of collapse. A BPIX poll shows Labour on just 20%, with the Tories on 41% and the LibDems on 15%. The share for others is a staggering 23% of the vote. The ComRes poll for the Indy shows the Tories on 40%, Labour on 21% and the LibDems on 18% and the minor parties on 21%. In even more catstrophic news for Labour, only 32% that Alan Johnson would be a better Prime Minister than Brown, with 49% disagreeing. Staggering. Pick a name at random out tof the ...
Unwilling to let the Telegraph have all the fun, the Sunday Times has been investigating the affairs of a couple of members of the upper house. There's Lord Ryder: A former acting chairman of the BBC has claimed more than £100,000 in expenses from the House of Lords by saying that a converted stable on his parents' country estate is his main home.Lord Ryder was given the money to cover the cost of staying overnight in London as he claimed he was living away from his "main residence" in Suffolk.However, inquiries by The Sunday Times have found that Ryder mostly ...
Quite honestly I think that we should all give up now.
Two polls out tomorrow show that Labour support is still at or above the 20% mark. That is one in five voters. Where the hell did the pollsters find them? Maybe they were polls of people attending Labour Party constituency meetings.
The MP for Bury North, David Chaytor, has been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after revelations in the Daily Telegraph. The newspaper disclosed that Mr Chaytor had claimed £13,000 of Parliamentary expenses to pay a mortgage he had already finished paying. The paper also claimed that Mr Chaytor had "flipped" his second home on six occasions. The news is obviously moving quickly, and Mr Chaytor has admitted to making an "unforgivable error." I asked earlier on for your ideas for questions you'd like me to put to Mr Chaytor if he accepts the invitation I made in the Bury ...
Well, what do you say about the 2009 Eurovision? Firstly, well done to Graham Norton - you've done well so far, given who's shoes you're filling. Great opening Azerbajan are the best so far, with Iceland 2nd and Germany 3rd, Romania 4th. Worst is France and Bosnia and Herzegovnia. Lots of dodgy outfits, especially Armenia.Not really keen on the Albanian Green Cross Code man in the all in one......And how is Norway the favourite?????Okay, Jade did good but a few bum notes there I am afraid, who was that pianist?
{Picture 3} The Liberal Democrats have launched their manifesto for Europe: "Choose a different, better future" Labour's recession is hurting people badly. - Unemployment is rising every day - People are worried their businesses could go under - Every week people are losing their homes - Ministers are too busy fighting among themselves to govern properly The Liberal Democrats will give people the help they need. We will cut income tax bills by £700 for the vast majority of people, and close loopholes exploited by the wealthy No one earning less than £10,000 will pay income tax at all 20 ...
{historyman} In another post Ziggy has reminded me of today's trade union march in Birmingham, designed apparently to lobby the government to "safeguard jobs." This morning I was rudely awakened by news of the event via Radio 4. Having a butcher's on the same corporation's website, I now note the following: "The police said there were between 4,000 and 5,000 protesters." Four to five thousand? Isn't that 0.007% of the population? Isn't that one in every fourteen thousand people? Famously 1 million people protested against the war in Iraq. Last night 14,479 people attended Milton Keynes Dons v Scunthorpe. Last ...
As many will know, the band Oasis are coming to Heaton Park to play three shows between 4-7th June. I am distraught to discover that due to the Radcliffe West by-election count on the 4th, and the Euro Election Count on the 7th, I can't go except on the 6th, which is sold out. However, lots of local people will be going, and lots more will be a bit concerned about how to deal with 70,000 people per night having fun in the park. Well now the answers to lots of frequently asked questions can be found here. Unfortunately they ...
How does storytelling on the meadows grab you? I know, lets see how cloudy it is first.... Chorlton Meadows Storywalk A storywalk with a difference follows the Chorlton Meadows trail with Ingrid Burney (of Chorlton Telling Tales Story Club) who will tell tall and sometimes true tales of tree and river. You will also explore the secret world of this part of the Meadows with Dave Bishop of the Friends of Chorlton Meadows. Meet at Ivy Green car park (opposite The Bowling Green pub). Suitable for children over 8 years old. Lasts approximately one and a half hours. Chorlton Meadows ...
Last night we took a night off from local and European politics and family worries thanks to an SOS phone call. Justice First needed help to transport drummers and drums to Ampleforth for a fund-raising social there. A trip to Middlesbrough first, to collect our 3 passengers and 3 drums. Waiting for our passengers to arrive at the designated meeting point we watched hundreds of students
This morning I was in Bedford, canvassing with Henry Vann, our young and impressive candidate for Bedford. I like visiting Bedford for several reasons. One of these is that Dave Hodgson and Christine McHugh and the rest of the team have everything briliantly organised. Another is that you usually find yourself speaking a little Italian on the doorstep. Today was no exception. In the afternoon I joined the team in the picture for a canvassing session in St Albans. This went well - and I was particularly pleased to get a few more posters up - the first of these ...
I did a hustings event at Brickendon, near Hertford yesterday evening. It deserves a post of its own, but this just covers the Campbell Bannerman case. David Campbell Bannerman is the lead UKIP candidate for the region. He is usually described as a relative of the great Liberal Prime minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. This has always confused me as Sir Henry was childless, and he and his wife were (I think) the only Campbell-Bannermans. Sir Henry was born Henry Campbell. He added the Bannerman to his name when left the estate of his maternal uncle (who was a Bannerman). His ...
There's a time in politics when you simply have to submit yourself to the electorate, stand back and humbly await their verdict. It is a bit like bungee jumping without being sure that the bungee is attached to terra firma. In a way, going through it is liberating in a fatalistic way.It goes for life as well. We all think we can control events (just as politicians can delude themselves into
Following a recent meeting between Bernie Ecclestone (F1 Commercial Rights owner), Max Mosley (FIA president) and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), Bernie pretty much admitted defeat, regarding the proposed two-tier rule structure for the 2010 season. There will be new regulations for next season, but without the two-tier element. This two-tier system would have given greater freedom and flexibility to those teams who kept to a budget of £40m, which did not include driver wages and engines. The other teams, such as Ferrari and McLaren, would have been restricted with what they could do, by being forced to opperate ...
As a Councillor I see a wide range of issues which come under the broad category of housing benefit fraud. There are the genuinely accidental ones, which are generally a pensioner putting the correct amounts on the complex form, but getting confused about exactly which disability benefits they are on (some count, others don't). The authorities are often unforgiving, demanding swift repayment regardless of hardship. Then there are deliberate frauds. People claiming rent for properties which they own, or complex webs within an extended family as to who owns what meaning that a close relative ends up with the cash, ...
{POLITICS LibDems 7} I have been dismayed and frustrated by Nick Clegg's "invisibility" in the past two or three days. Andrew Grice writes in The Independent today that the expenses row just might be good news for the Lib Dems - that this Party could be answer to the voters' call for a new politics. And I certainly agree with Mr Grices conclusion that the expenses row is a big opportunity for Nick - and a big test. I therefore trust that Nick will emerge in the next 48hours - and no later - with a clear, bold and brave ...
Like many local people I today noticed the offensive and racist graffiti that has appeared on the fence round the building site to extend Hornsey Girls School. I immediately contacted the Hornsey ward councillors (the school is just outside my ward) to see if they were aware. They were - and have already reported it urgently to the Council. I believe the Council are supposed to remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours, and this is pretty nasty stuff so I hope it is dealt with ASAP. This must be pretty depressing for Inderwick Road residents as the fence has only ...
Welcome to the second in our series of LDV Friday memes coming to you today, erm, Saturday. Ahem. Anyway, here goes... First political memory I can recall waving an old-fashioned white dishmop from the window of my grandparents' house, and calling out, "Look, it's Michael Foot!" I'd have been about four. After that, the next memory is the miners' strike, and my parents impressing on me the importance of turning out the lights "so that Arthur Scargill doesn't win". First time you voted Local elections, May 1995 - Church Ward, Sefton Borough Council, Liverpool. (I voted Labour.) First party election ...
To Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Please dissolve Parliament so we can have a General Election. Yours truly.
Sat 16th
17:03
Lib Dems hold inquest after their 'decapitation strategy' misses targets but could it work in Salfor...
The Liberal Democrats have begun examining the failure of their vaunted "decapitation strategy" to deliver the Tory scalps that the party had predicted. The Liberal Democrats have begun examining the failure of their vaunted "decapitation strategy" to deliver the Tory scalps that the party had predicted. Maybe we were trying for the Wrong Party, if at first [...]
Sat 16th
16:49What will the Political Map hold for new Labour in 2010, who will hold the balance of power.
Lots of questions to answer John? Will you resign if you lose overall control? Will you work with Independents? Will you work with the conservatives. Or would you work with the dreaded Liberals. You must be thinking ahead what are they doing, are they working together? what happens if the MPs scandal rubs of on to the voters.Lots of equations [...]
So Penny Chalmers, she who must be obeyed, of Coolhurst Tennis Club said I had to wear shorts to play tennis with Greg Rusedski when we 'opened' the new tennis courts. My office said yes - no problem. I said - cellulite! However - not having a track suit - I bowed to the inevitable. It was very heartwarming in a way - as the local crowd there were very kind (considering I am an MP and we are scum currently) but as a good guy - they seemed relieved and wanted to reassure me that they didn't see me ...
Moran is supposed to be a Labour MP but she is behaving like an English imperialist from the days of the Raj. She should buy herself a villa in Marbella and be done with it
During a debate on the issue of MPs expenses on 3rd July 2008 David Cameron's troops defeated an opportunity to go some way to fix the problem. Now that the issue has massively blown up in his face he presents himself, (during his hijack of his own European Election party political broadcast on 15th May), as the standard bearer for honesty, truth and righteousness. He must arguably be in the running for the title of greatest political hypocrite of the decade. The all party House of Commons Members Estimates Committee were asked in January 2008 to review MPs pay and ...
31) Richard Wilson, Don't Get Fooled Again: The Sceptic's Guide to Life (Cambridge: Icon, 2008, ISBN 978184831014). I'd describe this one as an introduction to critical thinking as applied to mainstream media, particularly its science reporting. I particularly enjoyed the mentions of Trofim Lysenko, whose story I didn't previously know. 30) Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (London: Bloomsbury, 2001, ISBN 9780747553557). Bourdain's memoirs of his life as a chef. Gives a real sense of how tough the job is; the chapter I found most interesting was the one on the patois used in US restaurant kitchens. ...
In a fascinating post, Charlotte Gore compares poker strategy to party politics. In Government Chasing their losses she makes the case for a general election this year. Assuming Gordon Brown reads Ms Gore's blog and then assuming he agrees with her, what would the leaders of all three parties have to do to ensure people actually voted? I ask that because right now a lot of people are probably thinking there is no point in casting an X at all. And if they do vote, they are likely to show their anger by supporting the smaller parties: Greens, UKIP and ...
It is not just the national press that is making hay with the MPs' expenses story. Regional and local papers are running with it too. Keith Vaz is MP for Leicester East and here is his local paper in pursuit of him: Normally, if you're looking to doorstep a politician you ride out to their home and knock on their door.With Keith "three homes" Vaz, however, it's hard to know which doorstep you should chose.Should it be the Leicester one, the modest semi-detached on Uppingham Road where he told the BBC this week that he lives? Or the more extravagant ...
I spent a full day campaigning yesterday and was delighted to have Party President Ros Scott along for part of the day. With the expenses affair now at its peak, it was instructive to see what people were saying on the doorsteps. First of all, it seems everyone knows about the scandal. No surprise I would think to anyone reading this blog, but there are some things which fascinate the politerati and never reach those who are not interested in politics. This, clearly, is different. Next observation. Question Time last Thursday will have had its best audience figures ever. Virtually ...
Liberal Vision has been re-launched as a collaborative blog, previously it was a website. It now has a new look and is updated daily. As well as looking very good, the posts are worth reading. Liberal Vision takes a classical liberal stance and its bloggers are all members of the Liberal Democrats. Charlotte Gore is its Director of New Media and presumably had much to do with the new design. So, well done Charlotte and all those involved.
All, Sorry if you've not seen me out and about as much over the past week, and the lack of updates on this site. I have not personally been campaigning following the recent sad event, and will not be restarting until Wednesday. I can still be contacted using the usual means. Regards, Philip
Many Councillors have blogs and they update them but is their actually a point of them doing this and are the general public interested? The general public go out and vote every four years and elect their councillors apart from that many people do not take an interest into what their Councillor is doing, so does this mean blogging is a wasted exercise. Personally I think its great that Councillors do blog, even if one person takes interest into the work of their local Councillor they wont be disappointed to find a blog that shows what that Councillor is up ...
Husband and wife MPs Ann and Alan Keen have been revealed to be claiming for a second home despite their neighbouring constituencies being just 10 miles away from Westminster. Alan Keen is the MP for Feltham and Heston, whereas his wife Ann is the MP for Brentford and Isleworth (the neighbouring constituency to mine). Questions are being asked as to why they were allowed to claim for a mortgage that was worth more than 100% of the property concerned, the appartment having cost £500,000 and their mortgage being £520,000. As well as this issue regarding their mortgage, they have been ...
Having bought a digital camera I though I would have a go at setting myself up as a poor man's Unmitigated England or English Buildings. This is Market Harborough Congregational Church, to be found at top of the High Street. I used to have a copy of John Betjeman's First and Last Loves, which contains a drawing he made of the building. The red brick building behind the chapel that you can glimpse on the left of the photograph is the Jubilee Hall. It was the polling station and the scene of the count when I captured Market Harborough North ...
Silly, silly bird: No related posts.
Oh for God's sake: Clip-on ties are replacing knotted school ties, as schools worry about health and safety worries, says a survey of school uniform suppliers.The Schoolwear Association says 10 schools a week in the UK are switching, because of fears of ties getting caught in equipment or strangling pupils.There are also claims that clip-on ties can stop pupils from customising the size of the knots in their ties."Worry about health and safety worries"? Now that is worrying.
If you came into contact with virtually any media outlet over the past week, you would be forgiven for coming away with the idea that Members of Parliaments are a bunch of money grabbing, self serving, corrupt, vain fools who never do anything for anybody but themselves. Yes, the expenses stuff is important and action has to be taken, but Parliament has done some good things this week which will make people's lives better. Firstly, Jack Straw has bowed to pressure from, among others, the Liberal Democrats, who vigorously opposed his plans to hold certain inquests in secret and quietly ...
People in Lancashire will have received or will be receiving a leaflet from Chris Davies MEP and team about the coming June elections and what Chris has been working hard to do in the last five years. Many reading this understand that Chris is a hard working MEP for the North West of England and he is the best representative the ethnic minorities have in the European Parliament from the North West. Chris is a hard working MEP and the Lib Dems are honoured to have him as a MEP in their party as many will tell you. Because of ...
Yesterday the Eritrean Ambassador H E Mr T Gerahtu called on me, and we had a wide-ranging discussion. He said that DfID is helping with clean water and sanitation in the suburbs of Asmara, and had sent a mission to Eritrea in March to assess the prospects for other work. Interdepartmental consultation on their report followed, and the time for decisions is approaching. On the MDGs, he said the World Bank had assessed Eritrea programmes for child health as the best in Africa, and I was pleased to hear they are signing up to the Advance Market Commitment for pneumococcal ...
Since the last score was recorded, we have had three games: i-1, 1-1, and 2-0 to JW, so he's now ahead 109-108.
{Oasis_Noel_and_Liam_WF} Many residents have expressed concern over the Oasis concerts which are taking place in Heaton Park on Thursday 4th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June 2009. (There is no concert on the Friday). As your councillors we have raised a great number of concerns to the event organisers and to Bury Council which is part of the event management group. Whilst I'm sure we all wish the concerts to be a great success, we do have to live here as well! The Local Area Partnership in Prestwich has had two presentations on the plans, and what measures have been ...
Mark Reckons has a fabulous post about how our electoral system has contributed to the Expenses scandal, with traditional Lib Dem bar charts and everything. The Expensesgate spotlight has turned on Dorries. Cue salivation from the entire blogosphere (apart from That Tory Blogger), an angry, CAPSLOCK-ridden response from Dorries, and the slow realisation that said response is actually self-incriminating, and she's doomed herself. I know it's cruel to mock the afflicted, but... *snerk* Never was there a more deserving case of being hoist by one's own petard. Beau Bo D'Or ( beau_bo_d_or_feed) has made an hilarious expensesgate video. Today's Awesome ...
It is difficult to put the boot in, to demand prosecution of expenses fraudsters, when you are in a grey area vulnerable position yourself, and the whole house is being condemned for the normal use of expenses, as if that were the same kind of thing as fraud. It is bothering me now that the frauds - of whom there have been a handful - are getting lumped together with those who are merely making use of the allowances they have been given as part of their job. However I am not in a grey place so I can spell ...
{Picture 3} The Liberal Democrats have launched their manifesto for Europe: "Choose a different, better future" Labour's recession is hurting people badly. - Unemployment is rising every day - People are worried their businesses could go under - Every week people are losing their homes - Ministers are too busy fighting among themselves to govern properly The Liberal Democrats will give people the help they need. Read the rest of this entry.
{PrestwichFestivalBookletweb} The Love Prestwich Festival kicks off tomorrow with the Prestwich Clough Day on Sunday 17 June 2009, and then runs right through to Prestwich Carnival on 21 June. Between these two main events are no less than 55 other events that make up the first ever Pretwich Festival. The Festival has been funded largely by the Local Area Partnership in Prestwich which brings together your local councillors with partners and community groups, together with voluntary donations and sponsorship. Its a brilliant way to celebrate the place we all live in, so why not go along to some of the ...
If there's an advantage that comes from not being either a current MP, nor an aspirant MP, it is at least that I can ask a question like this without being lynched by the baying mob. And I'm not going to delve in here to the issue of 'cheque-book journalism' - everyone will have their own views about when it's justified and when not. My personal view is that, though the issue of MPs' expenses is very clearly in the public interest, for the Telegraph to have paid a source some £100,000 for seemingly stolen information which includes personal and ...
Ronnie Fearn won a raffle prize again and Charlie did the washing up so business as usual. A good turn out both of Councillors and Cambridge ward supporters
A Poll out my ComRes suggests that the general public want a general election now. The results for the poll is: 65% want a general election now 33% don't want a general election now Personally I am among the people who think that a general election is needed now, I think the Prime Minister needs to bare the opinion of 65% of the people in the poll and see that as the reflection of opinion of the general public and call a general election now. Brown, make the right decision and call an election as the general public want one ...
Spent an enjoyable evening at the Victoria Institute in Caton near Lancaster last night. It was nice to be give the opportunity to speak positively about the European Union and the ludicrous position that somehow we're weakened by cooperation that gets wheeled out by the Eurosceptics. I met some lovely people and got to hear [...]
Andrew Mackay MP has been interview on Get Bracknell here. He stated that he has had 1 in 10 support from his Constituents via Email. He also states that he will individually phone those constituents that do not support him. Get Bracknell website for the Bracknell Standard also has the following survey (16th May 09). Should Andrew MacKay step down as Bracknell MP after he claimed unacceptable expenses? Yes, he has lost the trust of his constituents 79% No, he has done well for Bracknell over the past 25 years 13% An investigation is needed before a decision can be ...
There are a number of issues that have been raised over the past week in respect to the expenses charged by Members of Parliament.These do deserve some form of commentary. It is generally accepted that the system by which MPs charge for the costs of being in London is unacceptable. It was intentionally set up as a cash cow to be milked by MPs in preference to facing up to giving MPs a salary
Both my regular readers will have been wondering why my blogging has been less prolific than usual recently. Well, it has nothing to do with the 1,400 miles I have travelled in the past couple of weeks watching Reading lose to Birmingham and Burnley (twice). These days I can blog from a moving train if needed, so that's no excuse. Though I drove to the match at Turf Moor. I don't suppose anyone
As reported in today's "Courier", I am pleased with progress thus far with the proposed new multi-storey car park in Hunter Street, in place of the existing surface car parking facilities. The City Engineer has advised me that the project has been advertised in the European Journal. The assessment panel has now been identified and the assessments will be done over the next few weeks. A detailed project programme is about to be prepared but the design, procurement and construction will likely be about 2 and a half years so the car park/retail unit can be expected to be complete ...
Looks like it isn't just a matter of the BNP using photos of supporters who aren't really supporters, for as The Mirror reported earlier this week: Bnp leader Nick Griffin was served with a legal claim yesterday for an £8,000 debt as he launched the far-right party's Euro election campaign. It follows the continued unauthorised use of a picture of UKIP leader Nigel Farage on the party's website.
This is, I must emphasise, entirely a personal opinion. I have not sought the views of, nor do I represent in any way, any other Party activist, member or supporter. I've been watching the debate over MP expenses with increasing despair. Forget the stupidity, venality and outright fraudulent behaviour of MPs of all parties, we all have our opinions on what punishment should be meted out. However, what has disturbed me almost as much is the stance of some leading Liberal Democrat 'internet personalities'. A group of people who, under most other circumstances are keen to express their support for ...
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Charlotte Gore, writing on Liberal Vision, openly wonders why The Spectator is urging Nick Clegg to take the lead in deposing the Speaker. The answer seems painfully obvious to me; it is an easy win but would be a totally phyrric victory for Nick and the party. I hate to break this to the blogsphere but nobody in the general populace actually cares that the Speaker is so obviously incompetent. If they do then I am still waiting to see the popular outpourings of anger against him; anger, which I highly suspect is confined to the Westminster Village and the ...
Sat 16th
11:54Serious question would a Liberal Democrat candidate who often stands against Hazel claim for one of ...
Don't think so do you!!
How about that for advanced notice. The last Saturday in March 2010 is the date chosen for the events. The Friday night will concentrate on bands and Saturday will be everthing else. It is obviously early days though. The next planning meeting will be 27th May at St Clements. 7.30pm start.
Yes I know it's difficult and perhaps a bit unfair yet `plague on all your houses` is the common refrain. We may live in a `politics bubble` yet most people have kids to attend to, work to go to, football matches to see and hobbies to work on without perusing the finer details. All they see [...]
Uber-blogger Alix Mortimer, writing on Lib Dem Voice yesterday, suggested that the expenses debacle was an excellent opportunity to make proportional representation (PR, or fair votes) sexy and vaguely relevant. Alix is right. It's a point I've attempted to make, though less well, over the last couple of weeks. Here's why we need a fair voting system for Westminster, and why Lib Dems shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking it's going to be a huge boost to the party. In case you don't know, our Westminster MPs are currently elected under a voting system called First Past the Post. Several candidates ...
The Times speculates that the Liberal Democrats are about to come on board the campaign to replace Michael Martin as Speaker with somebody more in tune with the public mood over MPs expenses. They say that the party's deputy leader, Vince Cable disclosed that there would be a party statement about Michael Martin next week after Chris Huhne, the Home Affairs spokesman, made an outright call for the Speaker to go: Asked whether he agreed with Mr Huhne's comments, Mr Cable told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "Neither Nick Clegg nor I are taking that view, because we ...
Guido draws attention to Simon Hoggart's observation in the Guardian that the MPs Expenses Scandal is as yet unnamed. Putting my communications hat on for a moment, the fact that this scandal does not have a name makes it significantly more powerful. Consider: Watergate. Watergate is the name of a hotel. It does not explain what the scandal was all about, who was involved or what crime was actually committed. In fact, "Watergate" obscures the details of the scandal, robbing people of understanding. We call this scandal the 'MP's Expenses Scandal' because that's exactly what it is. People are left ...
Matthew Engel in today's Financial Times has a pop at our current MPs, saying: The House of Commons used to be filled with men of renown. Sir Christopher Wren was an MP. So was Sir Isaac Newton - and John Stuart Mill. It's an easy jibe to make - 'MPs aren't as good as they used to be' - but his examples seem to me to be rather badly chosen. John Stuart Mill, I'll grant you, was a man of renown and an admirable, hard-working MP who used Parliament to promote the causes he believed in. But Isaac Newton? He ...
In defence of Hazel 15 May, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — odze @ 8:24 pm Much has been said over the last week about MP's abusing the their expenses. I have however reserved judgment on my local MP Hazel Blears, until the full details became/were made public.Sadly, though being physically tiny, but tall in character, it has [...]
You can now view details of MPs' expenses as a wordcloud. The Open University's Tony Hirst, who produced the Google Map of MPs' travel expenses in April has created wordclouds based on the Guardian Datablog's spreadsheet. The more recherché items, such as moats and porticos, lack the prominence their studied refinement deserves, but the wordcloud is very telling: {mpexpenses-wordcloud} Charles Arthur writes in the Guardian: Cleaning, food, interest, mortgage, payments, repairs... those are the sorts of things that this debate has been about so far: the more often a word appears in the overall list of expenses, the larger it ...
In the seventh in a series of looking at each of the regions (and nations) for the European Elections I today examine Scotland
Today's Herald carries two opposing articles by George Foulkes and our own Jo Swinson on MP's expenses. Even I, who come at this from the position that most MPs are decent, hardworking people, am sick of being patronised by George Foulkes this week. He just doesn't get how angry the public are about this and the tone of his article implies that we should all just grow up and if we'd paid MPs more, none of this would ever have happened. On the other hand, Jo completely understands how important it is that MP's use of public money should meet ...
The headlines of the last few days have been dominated by the expenses scandal in both Houses, so here's my take on it. People are so disgusted with Labour, and the reverberations will continue for so many weeks, that it would be impossible for them to recover by the next election. The Tories are just as guilty, but are not likely to suffer defections and abstentions at the polls on the same scale, because they aren't in Government. The LibDems' offences are few and are peccadilloes by comparison, with no 'flipping' or claims for non-existent mortgages. The Euro-elections will be ...
Sat 16th
10:43Disappointing morning putting out leaflets in irwell Riverside today we faced high levels of abuse
Every door i went to i got. I hope you are not bloody Labour!!!!!!
It used to be that only the special needs kids wore clip-on ties. No longer! Turns out ties, as part of the school uniform, are being abused by children who use the variation that tying ties allows them to express some verboten individuality. That's not all. No Sir. Apparently we've only just begun to realise the terrible dangers of ties. You can be strangled! You could set it on fire with a bunsen burner! No, Clip On Ties are the way forward. 10 schools a week are switching, apparently. It goes to show how out of touch I am with ...
The Speaker should go. This is the man who moved to block freedom of information on MPs expenses. This is the man who is meant to hold the respect of Parliament and parliamentarians. This is the man whose first instinct last week was to shoot the messengers rather than address the crisis breaking all around us. There is to be a vote of confidence next week - but I hope for his as well as our sake - that he goes of his own volition before then. That doesn't deal with the MPs who have defrauded the system or evaded ...
A few weeks ago I arranged for Evelyn Davies (Head of Coldfall School) and two of her associates to meet with Jim Knight (schools minister) to make their case that SATs should be scrapped. And Evenly made a superb case. Coldfall had done a survey showing the level of concern from parents about sATs. So the news now that year 6 Science SATs will be scrapped is excellent - except the Government needs to go further. So far it is only science SATs that are to go - and they need to include English and Maths in the plans.
One of the standard claims of an opposition party is that it will 'Pay for budget priorities by eliminating wasteful expenditure'. After the 'events' of the last week or so the idea that there is 'wasteful expenditure' out there to be cut looks quite persuasive. I suspect the general taxpayer needs no persuading. Who will the enraged public trust to identify and carry out such a financial purge though? The claims of Parliament in general to be an efficient monitor of expenditures is not necessarily credible at this time. With massive tightening on public spending necessary as the credit crunch ...
It was great to see Parish Councillor Phil Duke getting stuck into the "farcical sitution" Andover Advertiser 14th May 2009 that has developed over the Smannell Road closure which is having an effect on the trade at the Smannell Oak. Our 2 Tory district councillors have been notably quiet over the road closure, you know the one that was sprung on the Parish Council and the County Councillor at the last minute. of course they would be as only 2 weeks ago a government inspector threw out the Tory led TVBC strategy plan and claimed that East Anton development had ...
"TRANSPORT FUNDING PROVES WASTE IN C-CHARGE DEBATE" SAY LIB DEMS Bury Liberal Democrats have reacted to the news that £1.4bn transport investment in Greater Manchester which has been made despite the rejection of congestion charging in last year's referendum. Speaking after news of the investment was made public, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesman for Bury North, Cllr Richard Baum, said "The fact that these improvements to transport are happening without a congestion charge finally exposes the pro-charge campaign's key message as a complete lie. They said that there was no Plan B, but there obviously was and this is it." Bury ...
Rather as Heineken is said to reach those parts other beers can't reach, the LibDems' Treasury spokesman Vince Cable gets to Middle England in a way none of his colleagues can. His prescience and common sense led the Daily Mail to beatify him some time ago, but now the Mail's columnist Peter Oborne has sanctified the MP [...]
I'm temporarily handing over control of my blog to YouTube. Hard n' Phirm have managed to lovingly combine humour, science and country music together, something which fills with me uncontrollable joy. Oh, then there's this, which also fills me with good cheer: Finally, a little closer to home, here's the Broken Family Band and they live in the genre, "Americana" and have been known to flirt outrageously with country (and women they come across). They're British and I heard them first on John Peel's show and they are, basically, to blame for this particular post. This song isn't my favourite, ...
Like many of the 323,000 people who use Facebook in Wales I am outraged at the way that Welsh towns and Cities are being described as being in England by the geographically-challenged owners of the site. This morning's Western Mail has highlighted that the default settings for Cardiff have this problem but so do the settings for Swansea. I have now removed the hometown information from the sidebar so as not to have to suffer this embarrassment but cannot do so from basic information, and why should I have to? I have even changed my hometown to Abertawe in the ...
Thank you for your comments, supportive or otherwise. As Party President, my job is to consider the views of our membership so, rather than get into individual correspondence, I will be reading the more than 200 (as at 1 a.m.) responses I have received since the e-mail to members was issued. I am also out and about, supporting our campaigners in the South West. As well as playing my part in sorting out the current mess, the crucial elections in less than two weeks time are my key priority. Any decisions we make not only have to reflect feeling within ...
Bernie Ecclestone calling Ferrari idiots in today's Times seems to fly in the face of Max Mosley's protestations that the meeting between Formula One and FIA chiefs and the teams which took place at Heathrow yesterday was friendly. Ferrari have started legal proceedings in France for an injunction against the FIA's imposition of new rules for next season, which led to Ecclestone's outburst. James Allan has provided us with a much better explanation than I can give of what happens next which raises a couple of issues. The meeting yesterday apparently agreed that there wouldn't be a two tier F1 ...
It occurs to me ( and many others) that trust in parliament cannot be rebuilt without a general election. One of the many appalling features of our uncodified constitution is the power of the Prime Minister to choose the date of a general election. Gordon is in no hurry. I consulted my ancient edition of de Smith's Constitutional and Administrative Law to see if the Queen could dissolve
Okay, so it's not the most controversial headline you're going to read on a Lib Dem blog all week. But, still, I think it needs saying - because though we Lib Dems, especially in the blogosphere, tend to be quite good at criticising our leadership, MPs and other 'powers that be', I'm not sure we always spread the love when it's deserved. I kept my powder dry during the leadership campaign, didn't declare my voting intention, have never publicly disclosed it since. I felt both candidates - Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne - had very real strengths. I also thought ...
After the horrendous workload over the last few months Fiona and I decided to take a break for a week and we went to Morocco for the fist week in May. We didn't read an English paper throughout the whole time. When I touch down and picked up the paper I was in for a shock. As someone who makes a living out advising clients on how to make the most of the tax system I could be said to have a crumb of sympathy for some MP's who have played within the system. The main problem for me is ...
Wouldn't it be Scarier? raises an intriguing question about the Tory MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham.
David Chaytor, MP for Bury North, is at the centre of allegations this morning relating to his expenses. According to the Daily Telegraph he has claimed for £13,000 of "phantom" mortgage payments on a flat where his children lived. The paper also claim that he "flipped" his second home on a number of occasions. I am the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Bury North, and I've been looking forward to taking on Mr Chaytor at the ballot box ever since I was selected to fight the seat. In fact, I have challenged Mr Chaytor many times since my selection, including ...
This is going to be a longish post so apologies in advance but please stick with it as I think I have uncovered something very interesting. I had a thought when I was walking the dog yesterday. Could our First Past the Post electoral system have contributed to the scandal of MPs expenses? My reasoning was that in our system, there are a lot of safe seats. In a typical General Election maybe a hundred or so change hands between the parties. In a landslide this can go up but you still have maybe 2/3rds of MPs who have very ...
Paul Richard's book How to Win an Election was published in a new edition in 2004, as was this book review in the Journal of Liberal History Issue 45. Taken at face value, this new edition of Paul Richards's book is a failure. The blurb promises a guide to winning elections, yet a novice reading this book will not come away with the practical skills to have a chance of winning. But if you ignore the over-eager publishing hype on the back of the book and in the press release launching it, and instead take this book as a gentle ...
The BBC reports: Plans for a tunnel linking Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean have been unveiled by three architects who say it could put an end to a 130 year-old dispute between the landlocked country and its neighbour, Chile.The tunnel would be 93 miles long and run from the Bolivian border to an artificial island created in the Pacific Ocean from earth dug to build the tunnel. It would be good news for the Bolivian navy, if no one else. But that is nothing when you read about what might have happened in communist Czechoslovakia. Again according to the BBC, ...
An unpopular government forcing through an arguably pointless but massively expensive defence project. Sounds familiar, but this isn't Trident - our opportunity to keep a not-really-independent nuclear deterrent. This is Eurofighter - the European (and partly American) air-to-air fighter, probably the most advanced of its kind in the world. Ashley Vance wrote about this in The Register yesterday and popped up briefly on Today. His point is that Eurofighter, conceived in 1985, is as much a cold war relic as Trident, perhaps even more so. When are our armed forces likely to need state-of-the-art air-to-air combat ability? Hint: if it ...
The answer, surprisingly, is that they will all be competing at cricket next week. Qualification for the next ICC World Cup has just concluded, with Canada, Ireland, Kenya and the Netherlands joining the big boys in 2011. So, what are Bahrain et al playing for? World Cricket League 7, the lowest tier of the international cricket pyramid. But they're not just playing for promotion to the next level, they're all kicking off the qualifying phase for the 2015 ICC World Cup. It is entirely possible for a team to rise up through the divisions, as Afghanistan's romantic journey from League ...
You have to admire Barack Obama. He knows how to silence his competitors.What to do with Hilary Clinton? Bring her well inside the tent to prevent any Johnsonian exterior-to-interior tinkling.What to do with the person your main-man describes as "the only 2012 Presidential candidate who makes me worried" ? Simple. Send him to China for four years.Mind you, Jon Huntsman, the Sino consignee in
Most people who use and know the public Library in West Hampstead know it on the corner of Dennington Park Road. But for a time (4-ish years!) after it was bombed out of Westbere Road it sought refuge in the corner of Mill Lane and Fortune Green Road. The entrance is pictured here in Cholmley Gardens and has a small little plaque on the left hand side of the entrance. I've touched on this topic briefly before It's a small historical link but a nice little piece... I've also touched on the wider library story in Camden here ...
A am unsure on how i stand i bought these last night when i went shopping with my wife, to offer to my fellow ward councillors today while we are out delivering leaflets in the irwell riverside by election my question is.Can i claim them on my expenses. Hang on someone as just replied. Ask Hazel [...]
MPs Peter and Iris Robinson claimed about £30,000 for food in parliamentary expenses over a four-year period, according to the Daily Telegraph.Leaked expenses claims in the paper show the DUP couple claimed £160,000 in mortgage interest payments between 2004 and 2008.These were claimed for an apartment owned by the couple in London.Mr Robinson said the money was claimed legitimately but both he
Required reading for your Saturday morning if you want to understand exactly how we've got to where we are, from investigative journalist Heather Brooke in the Guardian: I did one request for travel information (refused), then for the names and salaries of MPs' staff (this was blocked personally by Speaker Michael Martin) and then finally one for information on second homes. Initially I asked for the details for all MPs, but this was refused, so then I narrowed it down to 10 - the leaders of the parties and a few ministers. This was in 2006. My request for details ...
A GREATER Manchester Labour MP claimed almost £13,000 in expenses on a flat where his children were living. David Chaytor, who represents Bury North, is the latest politician to be caught up in the MPs expenses storm.
Sat 16th
07:43It's funny as a Salford Councillor each month a get a form asking if i have any expenses and each mo...
So Hazel or any other MP who reads this Blog it's easy. You get paid to do a job and no you should not be out of pocket. But don't extract the urine out of the good people of this city. We are struggling to live, and we don't take kindley to people who lack [...]
When I was a school governor, year after year, the question would come up - how do we get more parents to turn up to the annual parents' meeting? Year after year, only two or three parents would turn up to this legally required meeting. They were far-outnumbered by all the governors and teachers who were on a three-line whip to attend.All sorts of ideas were tried to get more parents coming to
Sat 16th
07:31Morality i feel you should all cut and paste this post and send it to your MP, I think what we need ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Morality (from the Latin moralitas "manner, character, proper behavior") has three principal meanings. In its first, descriptive usage, morality means a code of conduct which is held to be authoritative in matters of right and wrong. Morals are created by and define society, philosophy, religion, or individual conscience. An example of the [...]
Public anger grows as more 'embarrassing' expenses claims revealed Another clutch of embarrassing parliamentary expenses claims were revealed today as the public mood over the revelations turned increasingly angry. Justice Minister Shahid Malik claimed for tens of thousands of pounds on his second home in London while renting his constituency home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, for less [...]
My earlier post on this simple and straight forward solution to the expenses crisis received some comments. Indeed, I have seen similar objections raised by Tories in the past, as they seem to jump like a cat off of a hot skillet at the idea of government-owned anything.Visions of buying up blocks of flats for £200 Million, all MPs living in the same place, security implications etc etc are
Forever delayed but back at last in the wake of the most important Wednesday of the Welsh political year (and I'm not referring to Lembit's council tax summons...)Here's Your Starter For Spring, All ConferringThe Assembly has of course been off on recess, which gave everyone time to get through the rest of spring conference season. Having survived Tory attempts to Welshify themselves at a cricket ground and Plaid's efforts to cast off the cottage burning we were first to the plate in the second half.The result was record turnout for a Welsh Lib Dem conference, a jam-packed policy agenda, a ...
I may write more about the MPs' expenses scandal over the coming days. It's a fascinating piece of car-crash current affairs, watching those who lectured us that "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" suddenly turn out to have had something to hide themselves. It's been a bad week for MPs, but hopefully, in the long run, a good week for politics, as the institution of Parliament, set in its arcane, superior ways, is brought down to earth with a thud. The Telegraph's circulation has risen - the main objective for the newspaper, of course - ...
The LibDems' Federal Exec meets on Monday May 18th. Within the assiduously democratic constitution of the party, the Federal Exec are actually empowered to do something. I have long since lost track of who is on this committee. And I can't remember them ever doing anything - or deciding anything - of significant public impact previously. On Monday, I hope to God this changes. Ros Scott - our newly elected President, with a crushing majority, and an unimpeachable public record and CV - is one of very few politicians that you should be able to trust to "tell it like ...
