Tories Cry Wolf over Warwick Hospital Again.

Well it looks like the Tories are crying wolf again over Warwick Hospital. Having been caught out last December making claims that were simply not true. They have included Warwick in their recent list of hospital’s that may be at risk. (The same list the prompted an apology and then a retraction in Kings Lynn)

Of course the Hospital is one of the most important assets our community has and if I felt it was under threat I would be out there with the Tories campaigning to preserve it along with most of the town.

I visited the Hospital last month with our shadow health secretary Norman Lamb and met hospital bosses for a full and frank conversation. A&E and Maternity in Warwick are not under threat and there has been investment in new services at the site especially in Cancer care.

In fact I cannot believe the Tories have made the same mistake twice. This highlights that they are all about spin and chasing headlines rather than tackling real issues. I though spin went out of fashion in British politics when Blair stepped down.

Story in The Courier this week.

Britain has no hope of meeting revewable targets Blair signed up to in the spring.

"Government officials have secretly briefed ministers that Britain has no hope of getting remotely near the new European Union renewable energy target that Tony Blair signed up to in the spring - and have suggested that they find ways of wriggling out of it". Stated the Guardian this morning.

An internal briefing paper for ministers, a copy of which was obtained by the newspaper, reveals that officials think the best the UK could hope for is 9% of energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar or hydro by 2020.

It says the UK "has achieved little so far on renewables" and that getting to 9%, from the current level of about 2%, would be "challenging". Revealed the Guardian.

Britain could make its renewable target and provide skilled jobs at the same time.

This is dissapointing. Its not as if the UK has a shortage of Wind, Tide and Hydroelectric opportunities.

The demand for Renewable Energy Technology is growing as opinion and regulation demand more and more energy is produced in this way.

Our closest trading partners, Europe and the US representing the biggest markets for this technology.

With some imagination and government investment Britain could be a world leader in this technology and meet our targets signed upto by Mr Blair earlier this year.

Fantastic Response to Parking Survey

I have had a fantastic response to my Parking Survey that has been going out in parts of Warwick.
Apart from the Guy Street, Cherry Street area where residents have done a lot of excellent work to get things changed, there are problems in the Packmores area and also along Watham Road.
All these hotspots are in the same residents parking zone although the problems are slightly different.
I shall wait until the last of the survey responses comes in and will write a report to the District & County Council outlining the problems you have told me about.
If you did not receive a survey and do have problems in Warwick or Leamington you can download a copy here.

Greening Britain's Housing

Whilst channel hopping tonight a Gardeners World Special captured my imagination. The program was dealing with how developments such as the Greenwich Millennium Village and BedZed and others around Europe are looking at how green spaces can be included in high density housing projects to increase the quality of life in the property and also its commercial value.

There are many benefits to the environment, the community, crime rate, property prices, the list goes on. Imaginative ideas such as placing the car parks underground and covering it with a communal garden & quality safe play areas.

Contrast this with some of the high density developments I have seen just in Warwick over the past few weeks. (Right) Unaffordable, cramped single occupancy housing surrounded by grey acres of car parking.

If we are to build the new homes we need for the future, then lets use a bit of imagination and create something really stunning, fit for the 21st Century rather than repeat the mistakes of the past.

Useful information on Street Parking.

The issue of parking in some streets in Warwick is a real issue as I explained in my previous post. I met with some residents yesterday for a photo shoot for the local paper and this morning a few of us were interviewed on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.

I have found some links to documents that residents might find helpful as they contain the guidelines that are used in planning street layouts. What has impressed me is how communities in Warwick are not just complaining to the council, they have been out measuring the roads and trying to come up with solutions that suit their own areas.

These documents may help anyone with similar problems to understand the guidelines that the council may be using and that way they are armed with the information and will not be blinded by science.

The link below is the Manual for Streets a joint publication produced by the 'Department for Transport' and 'Communities and Local Government'. Chapter 7 and 8 are the most interesting dealing with street geometry.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1509196

The following link is for a document from the institute of civil engineers and contains much the same information as the above only without pictures.

http://www.ice.org.uk/knowledge/document_details.asp?Docu_id=479&intPage=9&faculty=5

Parking Confusion in Warwick & Leamington

Changes to the way in which parking is managed in Warwick & Leamington start today and already there is confusion.
Some residents have not yet received their permits and many of the on street parking ticket machines do not appear to be operating yet. Recently painted double yellow lines were obliterated last week when roads in Warwick were resurfaced. Why they did not wait until afterwards to paint the lines is anybodys guess.
I have spoken to some of our Lib-Dem councillors who have told me that the parking wardens will be taking a soft approach early on as people get used to the scheme. I will be having a walk around later to see what impacts the new scheme is having and talking to some residents.
There will be a review of the scheme in a few weeks and it is hoped that problems can be sorted out then.

Email Me - If you are having problems in your street, this will help me understand any problems this is causing and I can pass these onto any review.
Download our Parking Survey and return this to me.
More information can be found on the Warwickshire County Website including maps of residents parking zones and road markings.

London Transport

I've been spending a few days working in London proof-reading & editing some technical documents for a software development bid we are working on. Its not the most exciting work but a good little stop gap until my next project starts.

It gave me the chance to catch up with Shaun in the evening, a friend I worked with about 7 years ago when we were working with Pfizer. Shaun is now at the University of London and is on his summer break doing some temporary work for Transport for London promoting the Oyster Card.

Oyster is fantastic, I have one and it gives me discounted travel on buses and tubes, capped at the cost of a day ticket if I use it a lot. Shaun told me that the buses are capped at £3 so if you make 3 journeys, you can travel around for the rest of the day on the buses for no extra cost.

Public transport in London is getting better all the time and I rarely bring a car into the city as it becomes a liability. Some of my work colleagues are a bit snobbish about public transport and prefer to use taxi's, but I love it its usually so easy and fast.

London have some ambitious projects planned to continue to improve the infrastructure. I would like to see a ring of Park & Ride around the M25 to make it even more convenient. It has to be stick and carrot, you need to give people a viable alternative to using their cars before they will make the switch. In may towns and cities this simply does not exist.

A good integrated transport system is an asset to any city and does contribute to the strength of its economy.

High Rising - Single out on Monday.

Some friends have a band, High Rising who are releasing their first single on Monday. Its worth checking out to add credibility to your MP3 player and help an up and coming band.

High Rising are stalwarts of the Warwick Music Scene, what you did not know Warwick had a music scene! Probably the most vibrant since the Beatles did their last gig at the Cavern and headed down to London. High Rising are more ground breaking than the Sex Pistols, crazier lifestyle than The Stones (Anthony once rode his bike into the canal), bigger than Arctic Monkeys, Louder than Metallica.... you get the picture.

Seriously, check out the myspace, listen to the songs and if you like what you hear follow the link to download the single, I would recommend the B side She's not worthy'. All for the bargain price of 79p!

http://myspace.com/highrising

Nigel Rock selected as PPC for Kenilworth & Southam

Nigel Rock was selected last night as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for neighbouring Kenilworth & Southam. Nigel is an experienced councillor on Stratford District. I shared a platform with Nigel some months ago for a question time event and I am confidant will be a real asset to the party in Kenilworth.

As many of the issues we face in this part of Warwickshire affect both constituencies and our District Council covers part of Nigel's constituency I look forward to working with Nigel over the coming months.

The Great Western Festival 2007 - Saturday July 28th.

This posting is an unashamed plug for a great event in aid of a great cause at the Great Western Inn, Coventry Road, Warwick.

The GW Fest is an all day music festival featuring a wide range of some of the best acts from this area. I was incredibly impressed last year with the standard of organisation and quality of the acts. Last year the festival raised over £4000 for Myton Hospice a local charity that relies on fundraising and voluntary donation to continue its fantastic work.If you do come along, come over and say hello, I will be somewhere near the sound desk making the recordings for the 'official bootleg'.

Ealing Southall - You really could not make it up !

This has got to be the most interesting by-Election in recent memory. We have had mass defections of local councillors, Tory MP's getting caught posting spurious messages on websites and a Conservative candiate that joined the party some minutes before being delcared as the candidate.

It transpires only days before Tony Lit's road to Jerusalem conversion to the Conservatives he was photographed at a Labour (!) fundraiser where it is alleged he donated £4,800 to the party. As far as we can tell he was not offered a Labour Peerage.

Parking Spaces halved in Warwick Parking shakeup.

Yesterday morning I went to have a look at the new road marking in Guy Street in Warwick. This is in preparation for the new Decriminalised Parking that will come into force next month.

Now the streets in this area, Guy Street, Cherry Street and Broad Street are popular residential streets of Victorian terraced houses. Each house is about the width of the length of a car. So it does not take a genius to work out that if each household has one car, there will be only just be enough spaces for all the cars.

Local residents have told me that plans were for double yellow lines to be painted along one side, and that is what I found when I arrived. This halves the parking spaces for these roads with no realistic alternative as to where people can park.

Now the roads here are narrow, yet for as long as I have lived in the area residents have managed quite well by parking on both sides, part on the pavement (that appears to be allowed in other local streets where marked) and still have space for service and emergency vehicles.

One proposal residents would like considered is to make each of the roads one way and for careful marking of parking bays on each side of the road part on the pavement to allow enough room for pushchairs. It will be tight of course, yet residents would be happy with this.

This was discussed at the Warwick Area Committee on Tuesday night and I hope that changes can be made before it is too late.

There is one glimmer of hope if changes cannot be made before it comes into force. There will be a review of the impact following the start of the changes and there may be an opportunity to rethink the parking in these roads then.

Of course in the short term this will not help residents who will simply have no where to park.

If you are affected by these changes in these streets or anywhere else in Warwick & Leamington please email me.



Details of the changes can be found on the Warwickshire County Website.

Lib-Dem Shadow Health Secretary Praises Warwick Hospital Turnaround.

Alan Beddow (second from right) and Norman Lamb MP (Right) talking to staff at Warwick Hospital.

I visited Warwick Hospital on Tuesday with Norman Lamb MP who is the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary. We had the opportunity to talk to Chief Executive, Glen Burley and Trust Chairman Graham Murrell to discuss the recent challenges the hospital has faced following its record £13.8M debt last year and the hospitals plans for the future.

Now there was a media storm some months ago along with some wild statements made by some of my political opponents which I can only describe as scaremongering.

Of course the hospital has faced serious challenges many created by the constant reorganisations and changes in government policy. There has been cost cutting and the hospital should never have been put in the position it has been.

I know from talking to people who work in the hospital that they have faced a very stressful time. I have the utmost respect for our local health professionals and it is largely due to them that the hospital has managed to turn this situation around.

So I was encouraged by our meeting with the hospital bosses on Tuesday, the debt has not gone away, rather has been refinanced which does spread the problem a little and the finances of the hospital are in a far better state.

More encouraging are the exciting plans in place that will secure the hospitals future on the Lakin Road site. Warwick Hospital plans to develop an ambulatory cancer unit, which will make treatments more convenient for patients in the area. The new centre is set to become the first in the country to receive the Macmillan Charter Mark for Cancer care. The hospital also plans to provide a new paediatrics unit on the site.

Norman Lamb agreed that the hospital has had a difficult year managing its debt and coping with constant government reorganisations. He agreed that the hospital must be commended for turning around the financial situation. Norman recognised that this required some tough decisions and it has been a difficult time for its staff. He was especially interested in some of the new plans for the hospital and agreed that the future now looked more secure and will deliver quality services to patients from the Hospital.

There are still issues with healthcare locally and I will be spending some time over the coming months talking to people across Warwick & Leamington to understand the full range of their concerns.

The hot issue at the moment is that many doctors’ surgeries are no longer taking blood samples and some patients now have to travel to the hospital for this service.

On the whole though the picture is encouraging and I am happy to report that Warwick Hospital is not going to close, A&E will remain as will Maternity and a full range of services.

If you have concerns about healthcare or the hospital please email me

Mail Me about this issue.

Sedgefield Labour Shame.

I have just been watching YouTube footage from the Launch of the Lib-Dem by-election campaign in Sedgefield. The footage shows a disgraceful attempt by a mob of Labour activists to disrupt the event. [See Report from the Northern Echo]

I cannot see how this helps the Labour campaign at all, there were Labour councillors in the mob who should know better and show a bit of respect rather than to be part of such a disgraceful display. They were behaving more like football hooligans than serious politicians. It is this sort of thing that switches people off from politics.

I am happy to say that my experiences in Warwick & Leamington are very different and on the whole limited to attacking each other only on policy and of course a little friendly rivalry.

Taking Liberties

I got home from the by-election in time to meet some friends from our local party at Warwick Arts Centre to see Taking Liberties. This film takes a humourous look at the serious subject of the erosion of our civil liberties and freedoms under Blair's Government.

Two things struck me about this film.

Firstly how many of our rights and freedoms have been taken from us, its all to easy to forget in the constant stream of media. These freedoms have been fought for since Magna Carta (did she die in vain) almost 800 years ago and are vital to the health of our democracy, yet in just 10 years of New Labour many of these foundation stones have been removed.

The second thing that struck me about this film was that the hero's of today's Britain are the ordinary people who have stood up and been counted, people who have found imaginative and intrinsically British ways of peaceful protest. I have massive respect for these men, women, young people & fearless old ladies who have risked much to stand up for our rights. In some ways I feel encouraged, it is people like this that has made Britain Great!

The Freedoms that are essential to a civilised democracy covered in the film include:

• Right to protest
• Right to Free speech
• Right to Privacy
• No Detention without Trial
• No Extradition without evidence
• No Torture

I hope Gordon Brown will repair the damage done to our freedom & democracy by doing the following.

1. Restore our right to protest outside Parliament, he might not like what they are saying but should rejoice that we live in a country where they can say it.
2. Clear the names of those who have been falsely accused of crimes, found innocent and yet are still being treated like terrorists.
3. Scrap the one sided extradition treaty with the US that allows us, any of us to be sent to America to face trial without a scrap of evidence being seen.
4. Stop turning a blind eye to extraordinary rendition flights being refueled in British airports and thereby being complicit in torture.

That's just for starters.

I shall climb off my soap box now, but do go and see this film!

Campaigning in Ealing Southall.

Nigel Bakhai the Lib-Dem Candidate for Ealing Southall.

On Wednesday I headed down the M40 to lend a hand in the Ealing and Southall by-election. Every time a by-election is called recently I cant stop remembering 'the only gay in the village' Dafid's line in Little Britain. "Its not just a by-election, us gays and straights can stand as well you know!"

Heartened by this and the news that the wheels had come off the Tory campaign so early in the contest, (having selected a candidate who had joined the party milliseconds before, thus alienating many of the local activists.) and ignoring my sat-nav as it tried to funnel me onto the M4 (yea right!) I trundled down to Southall.

My earliest memory of Southall was in the 70's aged about 7 sitting in the back of my parents car. I remember passing a large park that was packed full of Indians with turbans. Coming from a small village in Worcestershire where the nearest thing we got to an ethnic mix was my friend at school who had been on holiday to Spain that summer, I was fascinated by the colourful sight.

Southall had not changed much and I passed rows of interesting looking shops many with piles of fresh fruit and veg lining the pavement. A Tory radio car passed, I have not seen one of these for years. It announced a simple message, Vote Conservative for Family Values, Vote Conservative for Lower Crime. How they were going to achieve this was unclear.

My sat-nav, having recovered from my ignoring its instructions earlier had caught up and led me to the campaign HQ on a small industrial estate near the station. Like all Lib-Dem by-elections it all seemed incredibly well organised. I teamed up with three people from Simon Hughes office and armed with a huge pile of newspapers and a map we headed out to deliver.

We dodged the rain throughout the afternoon and managed to deliver seven rounds. The problem with delivering newspapers is that your hands get covered in print.

I really think we can win in Ealing and Southall, we have an excellent candidate in Nigel Bakhai and hope to help out again before the end of the campaign.
Oh, this Blog is worth a read Ealing Southall Watch.

Ridgeway School Rebuild Madness.

I attended a Governors meeting last night at Ridgeway School which caters for children with special needs from across the area. The hot topic on tonight's agenda was the rebuild of the school. Ridgeway is currently housed in old buildings that are considered 'not fit for purpose'.

The plan was that Ridgeway would move to the old Round Oak buildings in Lillington while the school was being rebuilt around it. Recently though we have learned of a decision to rebuild the school while it is open.

Have they gone totally mad!

The school is on a small site and most of the school would need to relocate to temporary classrooms while the building is demolished and rebuilt in stages. I can think of so many reasons not to do this, here are my top 3. (Politicians can only think upto 3. Look out for this when listening to them on TV and you will see what I mean.)

1. It will cost far more, temporary classrooms will have to be built with toilet facilities, access ramps, etc. Estimates suggest the build will take 60% longer, which of course means more labour costs.
2. There will be significant disruption, half the site will be closed off to the builders, half the school will be knocked down and rebuilt and then we assume the other half, so there will be a lot of moving around. Many of these children do not cope well with disruption and need a good routine.
3. Health & Safety. Some children have complex health issues. There will be dust and noise from the build. A classroom was shut this week due to asbestos. Some of the children are severely disabled.

It is unthinkable that children, many with a range of disabilities some of them severe, should attend school on a building site. I have discussed this with some of my colleagues on the County Council and the matter being raised at the Warwick Area Committee on July 10th. Members of the public can attend the meeting that will be held at 6:00pm at Shire Hall.

I am hoping that common sense will prevail.

Leamington Peace Festival

I had a great time strolling round the Leamington Peace Festival this afternoon. This is a fantastic event often hot and sunny each year and today we were very lucky with the weather. I was able to mix two different worlds, Music & Politics.

When I arrived Souler Rhythm were playing on the main stage. I did sound engineering with this band some years ago and we had some great times travelling around the country, doing gig’s in very different places. It was good to catch up with some of them briefly afterwards backstage.

I then did a tour of some of the stalls and was struck by how many campaigns we are involved with in Warwick & Leamington. We seem to have a great sense of political conscience here and play leading roles in so many issues. So it was good to talk to some of these grass roots campaigners and learn a little about the issues they are working on.

The message of the Peace Festival really is that we can make a difference by standing up and being counted, whether by signing petitions or getting involved in campaign groups. It may seem that we individually have a very small voice, yet lots of small voices make one huge one and that really does make a difference.

I then met up with some friends at the main stage to see Satin Dolls, they are playing at the ‘GW Fest’ at my local, the Great Western in Warwick on the 28th July to raise money for Myton Hospice.

Freedom of Information - We have won!

Great news, I have just heard that your lobbying of Lib-Dem peers has paid off. Despite reports a few weeks ago that Conservative peer Lord Trefgarne would take on the bill, no member of the House of Lords has come forward to sponsor it, effectively killing the bill off.

We mustn't be complacent: the Labour Government has shown little commitment to its own Freedom of Information Act and ministers are still muttering about watering it down. The Liberal Democrats will continue to support the principle of open government, and we will be monitoring for any future attempts to weaken the law - including any moves to resurrect David Maclean's bill.

Why I believe Freedom of Information is important.

There has been an exchange of letters in the Courier over the past few weeks between our Labour MP, James Plaskitt, me. I don’t usually like 'letters page debates' though in this case I feel the issue is important, let me explain why.

The freedom of information act means that we have the right to ask for information about how our government is running our country. Now the government is there to take decisions and spend our taxes on our behalf to provide the services we need. It is important to remember that our government is there to serve us.

So the fact that we can hold our government to account is a very important part of democracy. I believe that this should include our MP's who we elect to represent us in our government.

Some people think that the vote to make MP's except from the Freedom of Information Act is all about MP's being able to hide how much they spend on expenses. I believe the issue is wider than that. I believe it is about accountability of Government including the role our elected MP's play in it.

Now of course there needs to be safeguards in this, to stop personal information being disclosed. I believe that there are already enough safeguards in place to protect this.

This question was raised to Baroness Ashton at the Ministry of Justice last week. The minister was asked whether the government propose to amend either the Freedom Of Information Act or the Data Protection Act to provide greater protection for information supplied by MPs to public authorities and replied that, ‘there are provisions within the Acts to protect such information where appropriate’ and that ‘the Government has not been notified of any improper disclosure of personal or confidential information communicated to public authorities by MPs’. (Lords Hansard 4 Jun 2007: Column WA157 & 158)

Even if the Information Commissioner had evidence of improper disclosure of correspondence, surely a better course of action would be to tighten up the provisions in Sections 40 and 41 rather than to significantly weaken the Act by exempting the elected representatives of that government?

That is why I am campaigning to make sure the Freedom of Information Act stays as it is.

The second reading in the Lords will be later this month and Lib Dem peers have promised to do all they can to stop this Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill becoming law. People are very concerned about how this weakens the accountability of our government.

You can help by following this link and write to members of the house of lords to ask them to vote against the change to the Freedom of Information Act.


More information can be found in these websites.


Campaign for Freedom of Information. - Lots of useful information.
Richard Allan's Blog.
Open Secrets Blog.

Visit to European Parliament and NATO

Wednesday and Thursday this week I visited the European Parliament and NATO as part of a delegation from the Liberal Democrat European Group. I had the chance to chat to many of our MEP's including Liz Lynne from Stratford who is the MEP for the West Midlands.

This was an extremely valuable couple of days, which informed me about a lot of the issues we face right across the European region and the leading role Britain plays.

On Wednesday we met a number of our MEPs and were able to have some very open and frank discussions with them. Key discussions include;

Andrew Duff who outlined the political backdrop across member states to the renegotiation of the European Constitution. Andrew was speaking in the debate on the constitution later that afternoon and he invited us to sit in the diplomatic gallery and listen to some of the debate.

Bill Newton Dunn discussed the scale and scope of international organised crime. This issue alone outlines how Europe is a vital part of addressing many of the issues we now face in the 21st Century. If we did not have an EU we would have to create one. One thing is sure, the international criminal gangs are working in an integrated way and our national and international governments need to be doing the same in order to keep up. Bill outlined some frightening facts related to Electronic crime, laptops are now stolen for personal data rather than hardware. Child Porn, The serious issue of Illegal Immigration, People Trafficking with 1/3 of Africans coming to Canary lsles drowning at sea. Bill also outlined the frustrations faced with getting member governmental organisations to work together, often it is the EU that get blamed in the media when it seems to me that one of the challenges Europe faces is that the National Governments of member states not taking them seriously. If they did Europe could achieve so much more.

Diana Wallis - A Vice President of the European Parliament opened up a lively debate on Single Seat issue, or the move of the parliament to Strasbourg each month, Diana also explained how MEP's have always had the sort of transparency our Westminster MP's are trying to avoid with the amendment to the Freedom of Information act.

Thursday we visited NATO where a member of the NATO staff briefed us on how NATO’s role has evolved to meet the changing political challenges over recent decades. NATO 1 was a response to the cold war, which then evolved into NATO 2 in the early 1990’s expanding and embracing former enemies, including Russia who is now a partner. NATO 3 is now responding to a post 9/11 world.

We had a fascinating briefing from a member of the Royal Marines, who explained the challenges faced in Afghanistan. He told us that morale of our forces over there is high, not least because public opinion at home is more in favour of that war than our actions in Iraq. There are massive challenges ahead in Afghanistan. Regardless of the morality of the war in Afghanistan, I am convinced that not only is Britain playing a key role, we are also leading the thinking and in my opinion are adopting a sensible approach to many of the sensitive issues, an approach that might not be adopted if it were left to some of our other leading partners.

A representative from the Home Office and the MOD also briefed us. I asked how Russia’s response to American stationing of their missile defense system in Poland and the Czech republic, in threatening to target European Cities fitted with their role as a partner of NATO. I sensed the question was being evaded and phrased the question again and they admitted that the Russian response was ‘not helpful’.

The past few days have been of immense value in helping us understand the reality of many of the situations we face and how important our role within Europe is to the UK and why we should not dismiss it as being a political sideshow that has little relevance to the security and prosperity of our country.

Leamington to be Concreted Over.

Well that's how it seems after reading the stories hitting the news over the past few weeks.

First we heard that a developer (George Wimpy) had been in discussion with the Cricket Club in Arlington Road and also the Tennis Club in Guys Cliffe Avenue with a proposal to build on their grounds.

Then we heard how the Binswood allotments could be under threat from development from the very same developer.

I attended the public meeting held at the Cricket Club a couple of weeks ago and heard both sides of the story. I can see that the offer being made to the club is very attractive, yet I share the concerns of many residents that we simply cannot carry on building inside the town, using up the open spaces that add to the quality of the town. As we build more houses we add pressure to the already overcrowded roads inside the town.

Of course there is also a desperate shortage of houses in this area, especially affordable, so this is a difficult balance to get right.

For anyone wishing to object to applications should they be made to build on these lands, the first port of call will be the Town Council and then the District. I will post on here if any of these plans get to the application stage so you get plenty of time to make your views known.

Freedom of Information - Except for our MP's - James Plaskitt Agrees.

Warwick & Leamington MP, James Plaskitt joined Labour and Conservative front benches in the Commons to vote for a special exemption for MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. This brings Parliament into disrepute.

How can we have one law for everyone, except for those responsible for making our laws.

Follow this link to see how you can help.

More interesting links on this subject.

Watch the progress of this bill through the house of commons.

• Excellent Blog by Martin Rosenbaum all about this issue.
• Richard Allen, onetime MP has an excellent Blog on this subject and explains why he thinks this is a Trogan Horse.
• Taxpayers Alliance Hall of Fame - List's MP's who voted for this bill (Including our very own James Plaskitt)

Let me know what you think... Email me at Alan_Beddow@yahoo.co.uk

Planning White Paper - Nice Words, No Content.

The 2007 Government Planning White Paper was published yesterday. Of particular concern to me was the impact that tinkering with the planning system may have on our environment, town centre economies and not to mention the architecture of our country.

I found the paper lacking in any real content, it includes a lot of nice words about sustainable communities and involving communities, yet fails to outline exactly how this will work. Of major concern to me is the replacement of the 'Supermarket Needs Test' with an impact test, yet I can find no detail of exactly what this is.

I feel we will need to keep a close eye on this one and fear that a quest for faster decisions may result in the wrong decisions at the detriment of local communities and the character of our towns.

I will be involved in the consultation process on this and if you would like to tell me about concerns you have please email me alan_beddow@yahoo.co.uk and mark the email 'Planning White Paper Consultation'.

In the mean time you may like to look at these websites.

The White Paper.
Royal Town Planning Institute (discussion on the paper)

Target Culture

I spotted this on the BBC Website this morning. Police Condemn Target Culture. This is Blair's Legacy, too many public services driven purely by targets.

This is not just an issue for the police, people I have spoken to in Education and Healthcare have also told me of a target driven culture that distracts them from doing what we, the public actually want them to do, educating our children each acording to their ability, treating us when we get ill or keeping our streets safe.

Now I am not totally against performance measures, from my experience in commerce and industry I know the value of being able measure how you are doing against a plan or the industry. I also know that when you have organisations incented purely on meeting targets, often with their pay at stake that is exactly what they will do.

I have personally experienced this in organisations I have worked with and seen some appalling decisions that are completely in the worst interests of the business.

This is an example of 'New Labour' style of chasing headlines, lets hope the new political climate on June 27th will put an end to this.

Keep the Supermarket Needs Test.

I learned today that the governments planning white paper due to be published either tomorrow or Wednesday will abolish the 'Supermarket Needs Test'.

These are a set of guidelines that our local council can use to see whether there is a need for a new supermarket. This is important because too many supermarkets in an area can destroy town centre or high street trade. I have personally seen this in the town near where my mother lives, out of town supermarkets and some bad planning decisions have created a ghost town, even the pound shops are closing.

We have a vibrant town centre in Leamington and in Warwick we have a diverse range of specialist shops and traditional stores which are already under pressure.

If our council cannot say ‘No’ to supermarkets when they are not needed, how will they ever be able to stop them undermining our high streets.

I’m calling on the government not to scrap the ‘supermarket needs test’ and to give power back to our local community so we can save our town centre and help it grow into the hub of our sustainable, vibrant community.

Sign my petition. - Keep the Supermarket Needs Test.

Lib-Dem's make net gains in District & Town Council Elections.

At the third attempt at conducting a count of the votes from last Thursdays election we have held each of our previously held wards in Leamington.

In one of their target wards, Clarendon where I was standing, we managed to elect 2 new Lib-Dem town councillors and narrowly missed electing a Lib-Dem district councillor by just 6 votes. This puts the Lib-Dem's in control of Leamington Town Council.

This has been a good result for us here. We have held onto our current seats because we have a track record of working hard and getting things done, people have recognised that and have reelected their Lib-Dem teams with very high majorities.

We have elected two excellent Town Councillors in Clarendon and now control the Town Council, we have an exciting program of things we want to achieve in Leamington which will enable us to continue to improve the quality of life in the town.

Well done to all the candidates, some of them elected for the first time in our Town and District. We have an excellent team here born out by this afternoons results.

Warwick District Count Postponed until Tuesday.

So after a disturbing night last night and late night I get up and head into Warwick town square for a cooked breakfast at one of the local cafes. I had been running on adrenaline and then shear exhaustion yesterday and really needed the boost.

I then headed back to Leamington Town hall for the next attempt at the count. I was dismayed to find the machines still in place and after being assured the technical difficulties had been resolved were told that the electronic count would proceed again.

I spent two hours verifying rejected votes with one of my opponents, an activity that usually only takes a few minutes. I started to have serious concerns as to the nature of the rejections and the system as a whole, informed by my understanding of IT and the logic of how these things work. I expressed these concerns to my agent who had a discussion with the Electoral Commission representative. It seems I was not the only one with similar feelings of discomfort. This election is likely to be close in many wards and this is simply not acceptable.

The decision was made therefore to perform a full recount using the traditional method on Tuesday.

This is frustrating for all concerned, however all agree that there must be a count we all have confidence in.

Warwick District Count Chaos

Last night was a bit of an anti climax. Warwick District were trialling a new electronic counting system. Chaos did not ensue as many had predicted, chaos would at least created some excitement. There was nothing to see for hours and the whole thing seemed to be progressing very slowly. Many people were starting to get bored and after the excitement of the day the adrenaline was wearing off.
When the system eventually failed at around 2:30 with no results declared there was a noticeable lowering of the mood. I sensed a cross party rebellion forming. Credit to Chris Elliott the Warwick District Council Chief Executive who called all the election agents into a back room and after a short while they made the decision we all wanted. Go home to bed and start again with a manual count tomorrow at 1PM.
I was open minded about this system, working in IT I am usually in favour of technology, however having experienced last night I do feel we should stick to the traditional method of counting for the following reasons.

• The electronic system cant be cheaper than employing counting staff, as the cost of the equipment and vast army of Tekkies to keep the thing running must run into large sums.
• I am not convinced the electronic system is more accurate and as there is little to see provides the candidates and agents with no visible way of actually seeing what is going on. The beauty of the traditional system is that real votes are counted in front of all interested parties who have the power to call out mistakes. People have faith in this as they have an involvement.
• The count is part of the excitement of an election. Candidates and supporters go through the campaign, months of planning and work, leading upto the final week, election day itself which is immensely busy, then there is the count. It is an exciting time, watching the end of a hard run race, speculation, celebration and commiseration. Only those that have been involved will know what I mean, imagine watching three important world cup matches in one afternoon and compare that to just finding out the result later on in the news headlines.

On reflection the old system is part of the tradition in politics with which everyone has confidence and has evolved over time. The system we tried is so dull as to put people off politics for life at a time when we need to encourage more involvement.

If we are to make changes, which I am sure we need to, lets make sure there is visibility to all concerned which provides the confidence in the result, lets make sure the system is properly tested and finally lets make sure we keep the fun and excitement.

Lib-Dem's Visionary Manifesto for Warwick District.

On Tuesday I headed down to Leamington Town Hall for the launch of our Manifesto for the Warwick District Council elections to be held on Thursday May 3rd.

This sets out our vision for the district for the next four years, building on our legacy of jointly running one of Britain's top performing councils. Priorities include, helping to provide more affordable homes in the area, making our towns cleaner, greener, safer and promoting stronger communities. We would ensure that half of all new developments would be affordable homes, promote energy conservation and continued development of our world class leisure and culture.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Alan Boad said, "If you have a secure home, your children's educational achievements and your health will be better. If you mess up peoples start in life they will be doomed forever. This is the very foundation of a strong community."

I believe this manifesto presents an exciting vision for the future of Warwick District with some exciting projects in the pipeline to help support the newer creative industries that will help offset recent losses at Ford. Other proposals include further regeneration of the 'old town' in Leamington. You can read the manifesto in full here.

Canvassing in Clarendon

The Clarendon Team. Nicole Alexander, Myself, Cllr Sarah Boad,
Robert Cunliffe & Cllr Eithne Goode.

As I have a few rare free moments I thought I would share some experiences from our campaign in Clarendon. Clarendon is a very mixed ward right in the centre of Leamington spa in Warwickshire. We have everything from multi million mansions to student flats, our main shopping area, award winning parks, the river and we even have a farm on the edge of the ward.

Our response has been fantastic here! I have had people stopping their cars in side streets to talk to us and the only people who have told me not to waste my time have been our supporters who have assured me of their vote and told me to talk to someone else.

It is proving to be a great way of picking up on issues that are a priority to our neighbours, with vandalism and anti-social behaviour being a key issue. My running mate, Robert Cunliffe is chair of a neighbourhood watch in the area and he has already raised some of these issues with them and the safer neighbourhood panels.

So we are optimistic of success in a weeks time, tons more work to do and I am really enjoying it!

200 years after abolition of Slavery - No time to Celebrate.

I have not posted for a while on here as I am snowed under with the local elections that are just 6 weeks away. However over the past few days I have seen headline capturing words from Tony Blair expressing deep sorrow over Britain's role in the slave trade, words from the Church and the usual suspects who love to publicly hang their heads in regret of long past events infront of ever present TV cameras.

Hypocrisy !!!

This is starting to really annoy me. OK I agree we should show regret, but a far better way would be to do more about the slave trade we actually have going on in this country today!

Exchange slave ships for Cargo Container's, replace West African's with Eastern Europeans and people from the far east (many of them children), change the setting from the plantations of the new world to farms, sweat shops and brothels across England and the shear human misery is the same.

I would like to see the same outcry against this that is happening right now as we have seen in recent days over a 200 year old event. This is the worst crime imaginable, women and children imprisoned & raped daily in our cities.

There is a lot of information on the BBC website.
Find out about the Poppy Project

What we can do!

• Be Informed
• Write to your newspaper, MP, MEP, Me, Tell your friends.
• Raise Awareness & Make a lot of noise
• Sign my Petition.

MP's Vote to Elect the Lords.

It is a historic day today. MP's voted by a majority of 113 to elect 100% of the house of Lords. Long awaited as we have only been looking at this since 1911.

I am in favour of this reform because Democracy requires the involvement of the people, it will make the second chamber more accountable and more effective. The second chamber will provide a direct regional influence in Parliament, to scrutinise legislation and executive action and to take a backstop role in preventing abusive amendment of the constitution without popular consent.

Of course, there is now the small matter of an Act of Parliament that will have to be written and the details of how this will work to be thrashed through - and which will have to get through the House of Lords, ironically enough - but it's a fantastic start.

For fun... Have a look at the Elect the Lords website and you can buy yourself the virtual peerage of your choice.

Or for a more detailed analysis have a look at the Democracy Wkki Site.

Home Office Watch - or why it may be illegal to wear a Red Nose in Parliament Square on Red Nose Day.

There has been a lot of news over recent months about the failures of the 'Home Office'. Now this is the office that looks after things like our Police, Passports and Immigration and our Courts and Prison Service.

It is so easy to let endless headlines wash over us, as just another set of failed institutions such as the Rural Payments Agency and the Child Support Agency. Yet the Home Office is too critical to the safety and security of this country to be ignored.

Nick Clegg the Lib-Dem Shadow Home Secretary has set up a website to track the failures of the Home Office. It is important that people are kept informed on these serious issues, such as;

• The fingerprinting of our children


• How the new passports can be cloned and our information read without even opening the envelope


• And how it could be illegal to wear a Red Nose in Parliament square under the 'Serious and Organised Crime Act'. You really could not make it up!

While at the same time, Prisons are overflowing, Sex Offenders committing crimes in Europe are going free and Serious mistakes are being made with Home Office accounting.

This insanity can not be allowed to continue, I urge everyone to check out the website and write to your MP, the Papers, Me, your local councillor, anyone... Lets not let this be ignored. Britain deserves a Home Office fit for purpose.

Harrogate Spring Conference

I have returned home from this years spring conference in Harrogate. It has been a chance to catch up on some training and some informative fringe events, this year I attended a couple of excellent sessions run by the Youth & Students, one on speaking in schools and colleges, very useful as I am attending a debate run by the North Leamington 6th Form next week and an interesting event yesterday on affordable housing, a particular challenge for young people in Warwick & Leamington. The guest speaker Theresa McDermot from Shelter told us, “The most progress over the past few years on housing has been made by the Liberal Democrats.”

I attended a few debates, the Trident debate I have already commented on and of course the Leaders Speech this afternoon. I felt this was the best speech I have heard Ming give as leader, he seemed a lot more relaxed than he appeared in Brighton in September and I felt the message was tighter and more reflective of the way in which our policies hang together. As I was sitting in a prime location I can be spotted along with Pat Wreford-Bush and Cllr Alan Boad from Leamington in the audience on the BBC coverage.

Of course it wouldn’t be a conference without a chance to meet colleagues from around the country in the bar and after spending some of the evening with Mike Dixon and his family, who are from the area I grew up in, I woke with a slight fuzzy head. Some would say I got off lightly.

So its now full steam ahead for the District Council elections in May.

The Trident Debate

Saturday Morning of the Spring Conference brought the much discussed debate on Trident.

The current Trident System has 20 years life left in it and the decision as to whether we replace Trident is not needed until 2014. In 2010 there is the next round of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Talks. Tony Blair’s New Labour party want to take the decision to replace Trident now.

This has been an emotive issue within the party and the debate was well argued from all sides. Now I am no great fan of Nuclear Weapons and though I was willing to be persuaded to vote against the motion by the debate, in the end I voted along with the majority of delegates in favour of the motion as I felt it was the best policy for the situation we are in now!

My three core reasons for supporting this motion are;

1/ We would cut our weapons by 50% now, demonstrating our commitment to the non-proliferation treaty.

2/ It keeps us at the negotiation table in the 2010 talks, which presents our best chance to be able to influence the outcome.

3/ Allows us to make the decision when it needs to be made in 2014.


It is important to note that Liberal Democrat MP's will vote against Labours position of replacing Trident Now! Doing so just so it can be part of Blair’s Legacy is a poor excuse in my book.

The fact that we can debate these issues openly in conference is one of the things that marks us out as being different than the other parties, where in recent years open debate has been discouraged.

We can cut Crime.

I had time to settle in before attending a briefing from Chris Rennard and the Parliamentary Candidates Association and then onto the ‘We can cut Crime’ rally in the evening.

The Rally was hosted by Nick Clegg our shadow Home Affairs Spokesperson.

It is shocking that 98% of young men coming out of prison go on to offend again. Clearly our current policy of simply locking up offenders is not working and it is the poorest communities suffer most from crime.

Yet in Liberal Democrat run cities and districts across the country we are cutting crime through a series of community initiatives that tackle specific issues at a local level. Baroness Scott presented a film she had made featuring some of these initiatives. In Watford, Vale of White Horse, Newcastle and in Liverpool for example where alley gating has cut crime by placing gates to back alleys across the city, incidentally the gates are manufactured by an organisation as part of a drug rehab project.

Nick outlined the long catalogue of Home Office failures and launched a new web site www.homeofficewatch.com I believe it is vital that we understand what is happening to our Home Office, as this is the department that is supposed to take care of many services that affect us, such as the Police and law & order.

Crime is one of the themes of this conference so I am sure there will be more on this in the next couple of days.

To get really lost you need SatNav!

I got badly lost on my way to the Lib-Dem conference in Harrogate this morning. My SatNav crashed. It did not crash straight away of course, no it was fine all the way to the York turning and having worked on a project in the town for 6 weeks last year I was familiar with most of the journey.

It was not even phased by the new bit of the A1(M), happily showing me skimming over ploughed fields at 70MPH. As soon as I really needed it, it crashed. By the time I pulled over to reboot it (technical term which means switching it off and then back on again, sometimes involving removal of batteries) I was way off my route. The SatNav then took me down obscure country roads to turn round, before taking me to the safety of the conference centre.

Still it was a nice early spring day and the scenery in this part of the world is stunning so I did not mind too much.

Question Time

Last night I took part in a Question Time style debate with special guest Ed Davey MP for members and friends across the region. Questions ranged from the threat to the greenbelt by new homes, climate change and the future of Trident.

This proved to be a very successful event and many of our members and friends commented to me afterwards how much they enjoyed the lively and interesting range of questions from the audience and the tone in which our local party chair, David Manuel involved the panel and the audience.

Panelists, (Left to Right) Nigel Rock, Councillor for Stockton and Napton; Alan Beddow, PPC Warwick & Leamington; David Manuel, Chairman; Edward Davey MP Kingston & Surbiton; Colin Ross, Regional Vice Chair; Phil Bennion, Regional Policy Chair.


My friends in the local party have been winding me up about this event for weeks, telling me that had some really tough questions for me and would not even hint at what they were. I researched the likely contenders and only one was asked, the Trident question, more on that in a moment. Question Time is a tough political test yet excellent practice as I have a similar debate booked for next month at a local school.

The first question was whether our stand on climate change could harm our electoral prospects. I pointed out that on climate change our poll rating is 10% above the other major parties in the polls and therefore boosts our prospects rather than harms them. Climate Chage this is the most serious threat to the future of our planet since the cold war. Our response is more than cycling to work in front of TV cameras and slapping a windmill on our roof. By making the public aware of the issues and encouraging a shift in behaviour we have the technology to make a real impact. I firmly believe that local councils can take a real lead on this issue.

Another question was about the threat to our greenbelt following a recent report that suggests we may need 1/2 Million new homes across the region. Warwick & Leamington have seen a significant amount of building in recent years and this is already putting pressure on our roads and infrastructure. I agree there is a serious shortage of homes in the region, especially affordable housing that helps keep a balanced economy. Any new homes should be build as part of an effective transport policy and include a range of housing and nearby employment opportunities so people can live close to where they work.

I welcome your thoughts on this issue so that I can feed your comments into our regional response to the proposals. Please see my earlier post for details. http://alan-beddow.blogspot.com/2007/02/is-our-geenbelt-at-risk.html

The question on the future of Trident will be debated at our spring conference in a few weeks time. Colin Ross presented a clear argument on denouncing nuclear weapons. You can read Colin's thoughts on his website. http://www.colin-ross.org.uk/news/001050.html. Though this is one of the most difficult issues I have had to consider. After reading papers on a range of views, I have to agree with the party's position. We are not saying that we should not get rid of our nuclear weapons. The decision only needs to be taken in 2014. Tony Blair wishes to take the decision now so it can be part of his legacy, a very poor reason in my book. Our proposals are to make the decision in 2014 when we have a greater understanding of the future threats whilst cutting our stockpile by 50% now. As Ed Davey pointed out, this keeps us in the next round of negotiation in 2012 and demonstrates our commitment to disarmament, representing our best chance of achieving reduction in proliferation.

The final question asked whether we may form a coalition in the increasingly likely event of a balanced parliament. I remember this question was asked in a fringe event at the Brighton conference last autumn. When asked whether we would do a deal with Labour the audience booed. The same question with the Conservatives was met with a louder boo. The party as a whole do not want a coalition. Personally I would like to see a scenario where the rapid change in British Politics over recent years is given the reformed democracy it desperately deserves. I also believe we should hold the balance of power and support the government, or not on an issue by issue basis, leading to consensus that would better reflect the views of the country. Ed Davey assured us that any decision could not be made by the Parliamentary Party alone, it would require the support of 2/3rds of the MP's and 2/3rds of the Federal Conference.

These are going to be interesting times.

Is our Geenbelt at risk?

Last night I attended the Planning Forum Meeting at Leamington Town Hall. We were given a presentation on the Regional Spatial Strategy. This is looking at where are we going to build all the new houses we will need over the next 20 years.

Government estimates show that we may need over 1/2 million new houses in the region in the next 20 years. No one can argue that we have a shortage of houses, especially affordable.

Figures do show that we have built the lions share of new houses in Warwick District over the past few years, a lot of people feel there has been too much building and not enough of it has been affordable.

The proposals could mean that between 11-15,000 additional homes could be built in the district. Surrounding areas would also have to build new homes which could put pressure on the green belt between the major towns and coventry.

So where should we build them?

I am concerned about the impacts on traffic in and around our towns and the pressure building will put on the green belt.

I will be looking at these proposals along with your local Liberal Democrat team and would like to hear your views.

If you want to get involved this is what you can do.

1. Log on to www.wmra.gov.uk


2. Go to Regional Spatial Strategy - Revision (second item down on the left hand menu)


3. Download the 'Spatial Options' document


4. Fill in the questionnaire. (this will be your submission to the consultation)


5. Email me with your views at alan_beddow@yahoo.co.uk. Mark the subject line 'RSS'

I can then add your thoughts to the Liberal Democrat submission to the consultation.

The consultation will progress through till March 5th

Decriminalisation of Parking Enforcement

A busy evening last night, I attended the Warwick area committee where they were discussing changes to the way parking is managed across our towns. This is where Parking Enforcement moves from the Police to the Council. This will involve residents parking zones, new road markings and enforcement.

I have been interested in this for some time and am pleased to see that some of the comments residents made to me have been considered in the proposals.

Of course whilst everyone involved has made every effort to ensure the changes take place smoothly, once people are deprived of their illegal spaces and the free for all we currently have, chaos will ensue for a while until it all settles down. There will then be a review to iron out the knock on effects. These changes are set to be introduced in August 2007.

Details of the plans can be found on the Warwickshire County Councils Website.

Restorative Justice - Warwickshire VIP

I visited the Victim and Witness Information Partnership (VIP) this afternoon and had a very encouraging discussion on how we can make more use of Restorative Justice. This is something that has captured my imagination for years and seems total common sense.

For non-violent crime's rather than just slapping on an ASBO, the offender can face a Community Justice Panel where they are made to explain and apologise for their actions.
I heard how this can have a positive effect on the victim in terms of getting closure or understanding why this happened to them and for the offender it makes them confront the consequences of their actions. Part of the sentence can include a program of reparation to make amends for example repairing damage, community work and education.

The Warwickshire VIP is a ground breaking organisation pulling together many agencies within the justice system and has been used as a model elsewhere in the country.

The benefits of employing this type of justice are clear and I plan to spend some time with the Youth Offending Team to see how we can provide more support to the work they do in our county.

An Inconvenient Truth.

Last Night I joined some of our local party members at the home of Alun Wyburn-Powell and his son Christopher for a screening of Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth".

Al Gore you remember came a very close second in the last US presidential election. Al has been a passionate campaigner for environmental awareness since college, difficult yet essential in a country where many live in a state of denial. This is a film that everyone should see.

The evidence that Al Gore clearly presents is overwhelming, yet he closes by telling us that we do not need to go from denial to despair without going through the stage of actually doing something about it.

All it needs is personal and political will.

The Bedworth Patriot

As I mentioned in my previous post, whilst canvassing in Bedworth I came across a BNP leaflet 'The Bedworth Patriot' which I liberated to add to my collection. (sad I know)

The lead story caught my eye as it features Leamington. It seems that the BNP are livid that Lib-Dem Warwick District Council allowed the Sikh community to put up Diwali lights along with the Christmas lights in Leamington. "It is a disgrace. Only the BNP stands up for our culture and traditions".

Leamington Spa is proud of its diversity and any part of our community who wishes to celebrate their traditions and customs are welcome to do so.

Bedworth by-election

I spent yesterday morning campaigning with Alice Field who is standing in a by-election in Bedworth. I believe Alice would be a superb councillor for Bedworth and would help address what local people see as the neglect of their town by the borough.

In this seven way election many people told us that they had voted Labour in the past yet they were unsure now.

As Colin Ross experienced the day before, we often found ourselves working the same roads as the BNP whilst in one road Labour were delivering.

Tunecast.. !!!

My Tunecast has arrived. This is a little box made by Belkin that you plug into your MP3 player and it transmits your tunes to your car stereo... FANTASTIC!!! does exactly what it says on the tin. I can now play my eclectic collection of music, including tunes I have harvested from MySpace, Demo's I am working on and sadly you may think 'Political Podcasts' on my travels without all that tedious burning them down onto CD.

Up until recently these devices that only transmit a few feet were illegal we have my friend Don Foster, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath & Shadow Culture Spokesperson to thank for changing this, he felt that the Wireless & Telegraphy act needed amending to move with the times.... Nice one Don!!

Warwick Hospital - not as bleak as the Tories make out.

I attended the Warwickshire NHS PCT Board meeting in Warwick yesterday and found this to be an informative meeting. The new Chairman Bryan Stoten was very clear in his criticism of what he termed 'hysteria' surrounding the future of the hospital. He said that there were no plans to close A&E or Maternity. Bryan went on to say that he had been concerned that for about 3-4 months there had been almost a delight by certain groups in spreading doom and gloom about the hospital and making claims that were simply untrue.

I have watched the Tories marching around Warwick & Leamington for some months now under the banner of 'Save Warwick Hospital' when clearly the Hospital is not under threat. Bryan Stoten's comments along with recent local newspaper headlines confirm what I have suspected for some months now, that the Tories are marching under an empty banner.

Now 'Save the Hospital' is a great banner to march under even when there is no threat to the hospital and a cynic might question the motives of the local Tories, I fear they may have shot themselves in the foot over this one when the local paper comes out with headlines such as "Hospital pours scorn on Conservative claims that A&E might be closed."

UK Rubbish Mountain the size of Warwick

A friend and former Parliamentary Spokesperson for Warwick & Leamington, Linda Forbes sent me an interesting news story this weekend. It seems that the UK's Landfill is now the size of Warwick.

I was discussing only this morning how by garden composting and recycling my newspapers and bottles my weekly rubbish has reduced significantly, yet I am concerned with the amount of plastic packaging we get from our supermarkets each week. The UK throws away more rubbish than any other European country.

We clearly have to do a LOT more to reduce the volume of rubbish we throw away each week. I would like to see our supermarkets using less packaging and more ways of reusing the packaging we do get.

You can read the full story from the Local Government Association on the Warwick & Leamington Lib-Dem website.


http://warwick-leamington-libdems.org.uk/news/000062.html

Saddam's Death

Whilst I am not a big fan of the death penalty, considering Saddam ordered the indiscriminate deaths of thousands of innocent people I did not loose much sleep worrying about it. I did find the way he was executed distasteful and detracted from the seriousness of the crime and the sentence. It was an indignity for the rule of law.

Shopping Choices can make a difference.

My first shopping trip of the new year has reminded me of one of my new years resolutions. I want to be more aware of the choices I make while shopping.

Recently I had my Carbon Footprint measured and was surprised to find that around 50% of my personal contribution to the destruction of our environment comes from food. The majority of this is down to transport costs and as more of our food is flown across the world small choices we make in our shops can make a significant difference.

Another way we can make a difference is by choosing FairTrade products. It only costs a few pence more to buy FairTrade coffee and sugar for example, yet by doing so we are supporting thriving communities in developing countries, not through hand outs but by paying them a fair price for the crops they grow.

I really believe that many of problems in the world can be solved by lots of small solutions. As consumers we have the greatest power in the choices we make and simple things like thinking about where our food has come from sends a powerful message to the industry that supplies it.