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.

Family Christmas

I have managed to see all of my family this Christmas. My Sister had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago and so I took one of my teenage sons over to see the baby and to take my sisters two boys over to visit my mother. My youngest nephew had always been quite shy around me and my boys, since he has become a 'big brother' he has really grown up and sees his role as a great responsibility so it was really nice to get to know him.

Boxing day I went back round to my sisters where they had an open house with various friends of my sister and her husbands popping in. My Mom is especially pleased as this is her first grand daughter after four grandsons. My other sister had come up from London and was there, so it was good to get us all together on a really happy occasion.

This made me chuckle.

Live Music @ The Jug.

I popped down to The Jug & Jester last night where, The Tide, Men in Caves, Circle 3 & King Tide were holding a Pre Launch Party for a regular slot they are organising on a Wednesday night.

The live music scene in Leamington is starting to flourish again over the past couple of years and this is all due to the hard work and efforts of the people involved organising gig's and events, raising money for charity and generally encouraging up and coming musicians in the town. There is a fantastic arts scene in both Leamington & Warwick which is sometimes just outside the mainstream.

It was good to bump into a few old friends and I hope the regular slots starting in January are a success.

Protect our Back Gardens.

The Government’s current planning policies treat your back garden as a “brownfield site” - like an old industrial site - which means they are vulnerable to infill development.

This is an issue we have suffered from in Leamington especially and we need to be sensitive to the unique nature of our town and the knock on effects of increased traffic, growing parking problems and we need to protect many of the fantastic trees we have that help make Leamington a great place to live.

Liberal Democrats believe back gardens serve an important social and environmental purpose and have published a Bill in Parliament calling on the Government to protect back gardens and parkland from over-development. These local green spaces should be treated as the important “greenfield” sites they really are - not as old industrial sites as the Conservative and Labour Governments have labelled them.

Hill Close Gardens - Open Day.

This morning I walked in the crisp winter air along the Common to Hill Close Gardens, where they were having an open day. These gardens are unique and are probably the only remaining example of Victorian town gardens in existence. The new visitors centre is an ecofriendly building that uses a Ground Source Heat Pump, it was certainly very effective and the place was very warm.
The Gardens & The Visitors Centre are a fantastic resource for education, meetings and leisure as well as being a working example of how we can use ecotecnology.

I look forward to having some meetings here in the near future.

PPC Selection. - Warwick & Leamington.

Yesterday I was selected as the Lib-Dem, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Warwick & Leamington. This is the culmination of 12 months of training, going through the approval process and applying for my home constituency.

For those not familiar with the term Prospective Parliamentary Candidate or 'PPC' (and wonder what all the fuss is about just being 'prospective' as opposed to the 'real' candidate) this is a quirk of our election law that means we cannot be called an actual 'candidate' until an election is actually called.

(I think this may have changed recently, though until I am clear on this one, I am not taking any chances.)

A PPC is sometimes called a 'Parliamentary Spokesperson' and probably summarises best, what I shall be doing in Warwick & Leamington. It is my job to stand up for, comment and campaign on national issues that affect our towns.

If you live in Warwick and Leamington and would like to get in touch then please email me.

I would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement over the months, this really has meant a lot to me.

Lib Dem Transport Plan Praises our Railway

The Lib-Dem response to the Eddington report outlines a A 6-Point Plan for the Green Transport Switch which includes proposals for a bigger and better railway.

The report praises our own excellent local Chiltern Railway which I use a lot when travelling to London or Birmingham. The report suggests that one reason why Chiltern is able to provide such a good service is down to its long franchise term which allows it to make the long term decisions required to run an effective railway.

Other proposals include Improving Local Transport Services to include greater control at a local level, more bus and tram services and A Realistic Strategy for Road Transport that will cutting down on building new roads.

As our roads become ever more congested, the answer has to be to invest in a modern integrated transport system to encourage a shift from our roads.

Blair's sorrow over the slave trade, but what about human trafficking.

Tony Blair expressed his regret over Britain's role in the slave trade today, yet human trafficking is still trapping thousands of people into modern day slavery. I would like to see more action rather than just talk from Tony Blair.

The Government should sign the European Convention against the Trafficking of Human Beings and there should be an urgent provision of resources to support the victims of this human tragedy.

The Green Tax Switch

I took part in the Green Tax Switch Campaign on Saturday as part of a nationwide campaign to promote the Liberal Democrats proposals to switch to Environmental Taxation.

The principle of this new policy is simple. Less tax on good things like working hard to support ourselves and our families and more tax on Pollution.

Under these proposals the Liberal Democrats would, take 2 million of the poorest people out of tax altogether and save £1000 on the tax bill of the average family.

Of course all this needs to be paid for and so we would shift taxation to environmental taxes such as increased taxation on gas guzzling cars and taxing flights rather than passengers to encourage airlines to run full planes.

Full details of our new Green Tax policy can be found on our website.

Tory Tax Cuts - Below the surface.

Adrian Saunders Myspace site provides a simple comparison between the Tories "shall we, shan't we, well OK best throw in a bit of Green Tax" approach to taxation policy and the coherent Lib-Dem green tax switch proposals we openly debated and democratically voted for in Brighton last month.

The full extent of the chaos this has thrown the Conservatives into as they take their first few steps towards anything resembling policy is highlighted on the Conservative Home website.

Jack Straw, Headscarves & Community Relations

Cabinet Minister Jack Straw has said he would prefer Muslim women not to wear veils at all.
The Commons leader said he did not want to be "prescriptive" but he believed that covering people's faces could make community relations more difficult.

Another helpful suggestion from our New Labour Government. Have we learned nothing from the French! If we start to discriminate against head scarves then they will start to become a symbol of defiance. This can only worsen community relations.

I almost found myself agreeing with John Prescott

BBC NEWS UK UK Politics Prescott denies calling Bush crap

Its been a long time since I found myself agreeing with John Prescott and find myself dissapointed that John did not have the backbone to stand by his comments on the American President. Personally I felt that our Deputy Prime Ministers alleged comments summed up what a number of British people have been thinking for a long time, far better than anything our actual Prime Minister has had to say on the subject.

Ed Davey visits Warwick

Warwick Courier

Ed Davey, visited a number of businesses in Warwick last Friday along with a trip to the unique Hill Close Gardens. I played a minor role in these excursions by chauffeuring the party from Warwick to Leamington as we felt this would cut down time hunting for parking spaces and traipsing across Leamington during the rush hour. In the evening Ed joined a few of us for dinner in the Rose & Crown in Warwick where we discussed energy policy, (Ed having visited the British Gas Transco Control centre at the Warwick Technology Park earlier), Nott's County and the new campaign for next years council elections and beyond.

Two Jag's yes - Two wars NO!

BBC NEWS Politics 'Horror' at Prescott as acting PM

There is an irony here, Prescott can be trusted with Two Jag's but not two wars.

John Prescott: Traditionally stands in for Tony BlairOne of the UK's best known former Army commanders in Iraq says he is "filled with horror" at the prospect of John Prescott running Britain this summer.
Mr Prescott usually takes the reins when Tony Blair is abroad on holiday but Colonel Tim Collins says he should not be left in charge of two wars.

Coventry and Warwickshire Acute Services Review - NHS

Coventry and Warwickshire Acute Services Review - NHS

The local papers in Warwick & Leamington have stirred up a lot of controversy over the future of Warwick hospital over the past few weeks. From what I have read and the people I have spoken to, as far as I can tell, the reason Hospital is Millions of pounds overspent because the hospital attempted to meet government targets and bring down waiting lists, they undertook a number of treatments and the money to pay for all this work did not appear from the people who's job it is to pay for it.

Perhaps the people of mid Warwickshire are failing to follow Government guidelines by getting ill to often.

This emphasises to me, what I have long suspected, that the problems with the Health Service is not to do with the Doctors, or the Nurses (who in my opinion do not get paid enough for what they do) the problems are with how the whole thing is managed. If we are to find an answer to these problems, this is where we should look.

What has not been well publicised by the local press is the 'Acute Services Review'. This is a public consultation on how healthcare is to be provided in Warwickshire in the future. You can get involved by following this link. http://www.coventrywarksasr.nhs.uk/

Amplifico Appeal to complete their first Album.

The Amplifico Webathon with www.nexuslive.com!

Amplifico are a fantastic talented band from Scotland. I admire their attitude to by-passing the record companies and promoting themselves. They played at a small bar in Leamington last year and after the gig went round collecting email addresses and selling their home made CD's and have stayed in touch. These guys are building and engaging with their fan base themselves. They do not wish to be shackled to a record deal that would cramp their creativity.

They started work on their first properly produced album and unfortunately ran out of cash, so they are conducting a series of fund raising events to raise the cash they need to complete the album.

This will culminate in a webcast live from the Bongo Club in Edinburgh, on Wednesday 19th July 2006 and will be broadcast live on the web you can watch for free at http://www.nexusliveshow.com/, 9pm.

It is worth checking these guys out for their quirky original and very talented music.

These guys deserve to do well.

%20border="0"%20src="

Should we build more Nuclear Power Stations.

This is a debate that is starting to gather momentum.

There are many arguments for Nuclear power, on the surface it may seem to be a clean, efficient, carbon neutral solution to our energy problems. It is true that technology has moved on in the half century since the first power stations were built.

There are many arguments against, such as safety, radiation fears for those living nearby and the threat of terrorism, however there are two key arguments that clinch the argument for me.

Cost.

Firstly our nuclear industry has left us with a massive clean-up bill for historic waste of £56 billion and rising.

Secondly for a fraction of the cost of building the new nuclear power stations we would need could be used to build a range of different renewable power facilities across Britain in less time than it would take to build the Nuclear option.

This would have an added benefit in placing Britain at the cutting edge of the growing market in renewable technologies that would revitalise our industry.

By having a little imagination we can create something with a positive lasting legacy, rather than a huge cleanup bill for future generations.

Training and more training.

I seem to have hit a glut of training for the next few weeks. Last week we had the 'Moving Forward' programme in Worcester, including some Page Plus training. This weekend trogged down to Cowley St for one of the Get Set Go sessions, I have another two booked next month. I am very impressed with the standard of much of the training we get in the Party, the session today on Interpersonal Skills covered similar ground I have covered on some courses at work, only tailored for political situations. Commercially I could have paid hundreds for this standard of training. I would reccomend anyone however long they have been in the party to take advantage of the training on offer, its always worth topping up skills or just networking with other people and exchanging experiences.

So tomorrow, hoping to make a start on my pile of Focus, its ironic, the moment I get them all printed we get the wettest May on record.

Renew for freedom - MAY 2006 - renew your passport

renew for freedom - MAY 2006 - renew your passport

I have just submitted my application to renew my passport using the Passport Service Website. It took me 10 minutes to complete. This is part of a campaign to send a clear message to the Government that we do not wish to be part of the most intrusive ID card schemes in the 'free' world.

By renewing now, this means I do not need to be part of this scheme until 2016 by which time it will probably have gone the way of many recent government initiatives and either fallen into a state of chaos or scrapped due to lack of funding.

This is what has happened to two recent government IT projects I have worked on as a Project Manager in the past 12 months after many, many millions had been spent on them, a scheme to track 'Lorries' so they would pay per mile (sensible green policy) and a scheme to track Livestock which is part of an EU directive aimed at mitigating the impact of disease outbreaks such as foot and mouth. So my confidence that the government can implement an effective scheme to track people is not high.

Turn 9/11 rubble into a killing machine? Hello? - Comment - Times Online

Turn 9/11 rubble into a killing machine? Hello? - Comment - Times Online

Interesting story in the Times...

"On August 28, 2002, Mr Pataki’s wish was granted with the result that 24 tons of steel from the stricken buildings was taken to New Orleans and put to use by Northrop Grumman Systems in the construction of an amphibious assault ship."

The writer, Martin Samuel highlights the irony very well when he says,

"In this way, the 2,800 souls that perished as an indirect result of an interventionist foreign policy that achieved the exact opposite of its stated aims can be honoured by a vessel built to ensure that this flawed cycle of violence continues."

On a lighter note.

If the DVLA know exactly where any untaxed car is located among the millions of cars in Britain..... but we haven't got a clue as to where the terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the DVLA in charge of MI5.......

"Sensible Policies for a Better Britain!"

The Sun Online - Sun Says: Time to stop the madness

The Sun Online - Sun Says: Time to stop the madness

As to my previous Post, its interesting that our old friend David Cameron is showing his true colours, if he can still remember what these are. Now wonder the Tory members are confused, Left, Right, Green, Black, do we wear a tie, do we ride a bike, is it OK if we do ride a bike to have our chauffeur follow behind with our briefcase?

Another point of interest, that fine bastion of public information, The Sun is once again coming out in favour of the Tory's. As I commented not long after Cameron's leadership election, I am convinced that this is all part of a long running shift that will culminate in The Sun declaring their hand close to the next election in favour of the Conservatives.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Human rights law 'may be changed'

BBC NEWS Politics Human rights law 'may be changed': "Liberal Democrat constitutional affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said: 'The answer is to seek better collective protection, not rip up human rights obligations which have stood the test of time and are important guarantees for the rights of us all.' "

This is all part of a steady erosion of our civil liberties and rights as a human being that have persisted under Labour over the past 9 years. I know this is the party line, yet again I am reassured that I am in the right party.

This is simple. The problem does not lie in the Human Rights legislation which exists to protect us all as human beings. The problem lies in the Governments incompetent execution.

Calls for John Reid to Resign

BBC NEWS UK Cannabis found at John Reid home: "defense Secretary John Reid."

The government, facing one of their worst weeks yet in the run up to next weeks local elections were further blighted when a horde of Drugs were found at the home of defense secretary John Reid.

Coming after it was revealed that Charles Clarke had let immigrant murderers and rapists go free, Randy John "Two Shags" Prescott's revelations of romps with his secretary, Tony Blairs Cash for peerages claims and Patricia Hewitt's statement about the health service, what next!

Foresnsic Police experts confirmed that a stash of cannabis with a street value of upto 85 pence had been recovered from the home of the man responsible for our armed forces!

Just the one defection to the Lib-Dem's today - Polls are up though.

Robbie Rowantree, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate who is well known for his involvement in the Highland community has joined to the Scottish Liberal Democrats just days before polling in the Moray by-election.

"The Tories lack of any positive message confirmed they were so out-of-touch that the time had come when I could no longer remain a member of the Party. Contrast that with the Liberal Democrats who, under Nicol Stephen, have set out a radical, reforming, responsible agenda for the whole of Scotland". Commented Robbie.

From the Guardian we have the following...

Labour support has dropped to the lowest point since the party's heavy defeat in the 1987 general election, according to an ICM opinion poll for the Guardian. Its share of the vote has dropped by five points since March, putting it on 32%, two points behind the Conservatives.

The Lib Dems have risen by three points to 24%, a remarkable improvement for a party mired in scandal at the start of its own leadership election two months ago.

Yet another Labour Councillor Joins the Lib-Dems.

http://warwick-leamington-libdems.org.uk/news/37.html?PHPSESSID=9f0daa6c2eb73b8f2d63210f7dcf50f6

Labour Councillor Ann Holtom has today left the Labour party to join the Liberal Democrats. Councillor Holtom becomes the third Labour councillor to join the Lib Dems in as many weeks following moves by councillors in Brent and Plymouth.

Councillor Holtom said "I have become very disillusioned with the Labour Party.. I see the Liberal Democrats as the only party who are meeting the aspirations of Birmingham people".
Councillor Holtom is the third Councillor to join the Liberal Democrats within the last month. Councillor Shaukat Ali Khan and Councillor Mohammed Saeed disbanded the Peoples Justice Party to join the Liberal Democrats.

The Liberal Democrats are expected to make many more gains in the Local Elections on May 4th. Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Paul Tilsley said "In the middle of the local election campaign this is catastrophic and damming news for Labour. Ann has sent a clear message to voters, leave Labour and back the Liberal Democrats".

SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Disbelief as Hewitt claims 'best year ever' for NHS

SocietyGuardian.co.uk Society Disbelief as Hewitt claims 'best year ever' for NHS: "Disbelief as Hewitt claims 'best year ever' for NHS "

£600M in Debt and 7000 job cuts.

I really dont think anyone believes the spin any more.

Cameron's Problem:- BBC NEWS | Politics | Cameron sets Tories on journey of change

Here is David cameron's biggest challenge. On the one hand we have a party conference where he is urging his followers against a backdrop with the word "CHANGE"



BBC NEWS Politics Cameron sets Tories on journey of change

And then we have the Oxford English Dictionary which defines the word Conservative as:-

conservative
• adjective 1 - averse to change and holding traditional values.

Cameron urging the Conservatives to change would be like standing up at the Lib Dem party conference and urging the membership to be Intolerent, Biggoted & Narrow Minded.

Great Western Charity Gig - Sat 5th August

To raise as much money for Myton Hospice as we can. Myton Hospice represents a cause close to many people's hearts and has long been a respected charity not only in Wartwickshire but now also nationwide.

I have volunteered to help out at the Great Western Charity Gig in Warwick on the 5th August. Two of the bands I work with shall be there, The Jonesy Band and The Shanade Band, check out the website for more info. Hopefully there shall be a CD available of the bands material for sale along with other means to raise cash for this excellent local charity.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems launch election campaign

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems launch election campaign

It is well worth watching the Video clip from the BBC website. What I saw was a coherent and candid message that I found a refreshing change from the soundbites and rhetoric that we have become used to from the other parties.

Climate Change - Early Day Motions - Cameron's Green credential shows true colours. (Warwick & Leamington Liberal Democrats)

Climate Change - Early Day Motions - Cameron's Green credential shows true colours. (Warwick & Leamington Liberal Democrats): "Lib-Dem MP, Chris Huhne, has written to David Cameron, asking him to demonstrate that his party is as united in tackling climate change. All Lib Dems have signed two Early Day Motions in support of tackling climate change and in favour of the Climate Change Bill currently passing through Parliament. In contrast, fewer than half of the Conservative MPs have signed the motions to date. David Cameron himself has not signed either.
Warwick & Leamington Liberal Democrats supported these Early Day Motions recently following a talk by local expert, Matthew Rhodes. We sent letters to the Prime Minister & key Government ministers asking them to support these motions. It is disappointing that David Cameron and the Conservative party have failed to live up to their new so called Green credentials so early on by failing to support these bills."

HM Revenue & Customs

Its getting to that time of year when we complete our tax returns. I called my tax office this morning to check a few details. Government departments get a lot of bad press for example the CSA or Benefits Agency. My experience with HMRC was very positive, they had instant records of last years conversations, my current tax status, knew what they were talking about and offered simple advice that I actually understood. They were able to make changes on the system as we spoke.

The Internet Tax Return is also excellent, easy to use and as they often end up owing me money, a check lands on my doormat within days of completing it.

Well done HMRC... Whatever it is they are doing, they are doing it right.

Blue Man Group

Blue Man Group

I went to see the Blue Man Group in London yesterday with some friends. This is a stunning show and I would recommend to anyone if they get the chance.

Using complex home made instruments, they create a rhythmic backdrop for their unique blend of performance art, mime and comedy. Each piece of performance exploring relevant themes of humanity in the 21st Century with the audience participating on a range of levels.

Well worth going to see, expect something really different.

Guardian:-The scramble for schools

http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1730412,00.html

A rather damning article in the Guardian that shows just how bad the situation has got. One parent considering selling a kidney to pay for private education, another having been refused their 5th choice school, appeals consultants making a fortune helping parents (those that can afford it) get the places they want, house prices going through the roof near sought after schools.

Where does this leave the bright kid from the council estate, or the mother of the child with special needs that can only get a place in a failing school with little in the way of the support she needs.

I did not have the benefit of choice when I went up to the High School.

Along with my friends from the local area, I went to the local school which was a short walk away. Some from surrounding villages arrived by school bus. There was never a question as to whether I would get a place or should I apply for a different school. I had a choice of subjects to take at O Level and further choice of A levels. Many went onto University, some to Oxbridge (one came from the local council estate). Writing this now and looking back makes it sound as though I was somehow privilaged, perhaps I was, yet this was the local village comprehensive high school in which I got an excellent education.

Snow in Harrogate.

Two days after coming home from the snow in the Alps we have some impressive snow falls in Harrogate where I am attending the spring party conference. We seem totally unable to cope with snow in this country. As I walked to the hotel last night the pavements were becoming treacherous as the temperature dropped.

I attended a consultative session on International Law, quite a complex issue. Our table was discussing the question of when is it right to intervene in the affairs of another state. We agreed that intervention could be anything from Diplomacy, International Aid, Sanctions, Peacekeeping or Military Action. The intervention needs to be appropriate to the situation. Military action should be a last resort in extreme cases. We all agreed that genocide is a situation where we have a responsibility to act.

Next up was a 'Meeting the Challenge' session hosted by some of our key women. I especially enjoyed Lynne Featherstone, I am a bit of a fan of Lynne, I love the way she communicates with people in a down to earth way, she is passionate about a style of politics that everyone can identify with.

This session was followed by the introduction of Ming Campbell as our new leader. Whilst Ming was my second choice I am confidant that Ming has the drive and ambition to lead us to greater success.

Three Valleys

I got back from another successful skiing trip this afternoon. Marek and David had rented a small apartment near the Three Valleys for the week. Stuart and I joined them for a few days as I had to be back for the party conference and Stuart has been on short term passes since the birth of his daughter a few years ago.

Now the sensible approach would have been to have warmed up on a couple of nursery blue slopes to rid myself of all the bad habits I have developed since I last went skiing a couple of years ago. Not so the other guys who are more experienced skiers than I. So a half hour trip up two gondola's later and I step out into a cafe and lift station 2.5KM up. Stunning scenery and slight altitude sickness for a couple of moments until I acclimatise.

An American we met in the bar the night before expressed his view that the ski area, "It's HUUGGE, I mean its HUUGGE Man!" Americans typically see anything European as quaint yet Huge was a far better description, three valleys each side around 1KM up, serious amounts of skiing just to get back to the lifts. Marek and David seemed intent on doing the whole area in just one afternoon and so, discretion being the better part of valour I punctuated some runs with well earned breaks in the sun at the various bars and cafe's dotted around the mountain while they went off on kamikaze missions.

I don't know where Marek & David get their energy from. Their approach to the apres ski being very similar, we ended up playing pool with some young snow borders from Yorkshire. The lads regaled us with tales of how many times they had almost killed themselves off piste and felt we would be impressed with the volume of strange coloured drinks they were pouring down their throats.

By around 2:30 they inevitably started to loose the ability to stand up straight, muscle strain coupled with alcohol poisoning. Marek and David were Cossack dancing and doing hand stands round the pool table. The young lads were starting to see us as a threat. We were chatting to their women, two attractive 18 year olds, showing a genuine interest in them as people with respect, were holding our drink, winning at pool and managed to sprint back up the hill to the hotel. The following evening when we asked them how they had got on that day they informed us that they had such bad hangovers they had not gone out all day, we casually mentioned that we had been up on the first lift to catch the virgin snow. They avoided us after that.

Odds on Huhne ahead

Well my vote is cast for Chris Huhne. This was a difficult choice with three excellent candidates to choose from. I feel that Chris has the fresh ideas to take the party needs to move forwards.

The political betting website today shows Chris ahead so my early investment may well pay off.

And so to the Slopes.

Just finished delivering my last round in our latest Focus. As I walked round a few streets of Victorian terraces, I mulled over the possibility of presenting an emergency policy motion at the conference outlawing those brush type letter box draft excluders that are the bane of our lives and leave us with red raw knuckles.

I am off to the slopes tomorrow for a few days skiing before the conference at Harrogate. This comes as a nice little break as I finished my recent project in the South West of England yesterday. I shall miss the countryside and the interesting characters I have met. On my return I am looking forward to my next project working on the Livestock Register in York.

BBC News | UK | Tests spark fears of genetic underclass

BBC News | UK | Tests spark fears of genetic underclass

This is an issue that sparked my interest this week. Advances in genetics can have many benefits in helping identify people with a propensity for various conditions which help in the application of preventive medicine or early detection of a condition. There is a grave concern however that the government may allow Insurance companies to use this information when setting premiums. This is the thin end of the wedge leading to people being penalized or even denied insurance, the opportunity of home ownership or pensions on the basis of their DNA.

There is a Privacy issue at stake here, in that people have the right to the privacy of their DNA along with issues surrounding Equality, Fairness and as our genetic code is directly related, Race. This is an issue that we as Liberal Democrats need to make a clear stand.

I wonder whether anyone else has any thoughts on this subject.

Dumfirmline - Local Issues.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems celebrate bombshell win: "The winner, Willie Rennie, said the result would 'rock the foundations' of Downing Street, but ministers said it was due to 'local issues'. "

Heaven forbid that the electorate should start voting for their locally elected representatives on 'local issues'.

And the winner Tonight

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Lib Dems deliver blow to Labour

Just finished watching the Question Time on the leadership contest. I ran a points system for the contestants, awarding points for 'style' based on good points made and delivery and awarded points for winning a particular argument or good policy.

My personal points are:-

Ming, 2 political points and 8 points for style.
Chris, 2 political points and 4 points for style.
Simon, 1 political point and 5 points for style.

This is going to be a difficult one. For me between Chris and Ming. As you may know I have £20 riding on Chris yet am prepared to vote for Ming. In my book Ming has pulled level with Chris after being slightly behind.

Overall the party won tonight. I am still convinced that I am in the right party and am more determined to fight for it, regardless of who is leader. With such talent we really deserve to triumph as it appears we have in Dumfirmline.

That is the result tonight. Anyone who believes that we are a party in 'meltdown' has been sent a clear message.

It is an exciting time to be a Liberal Democrat.

Thanks Tony

PM Question Time

Listening to this as I crawled through the Bristol Ring Road tonight I couldnt help wondering how much Tony's rebuttal of the Tory Leaflet in the Dumfirmline By-election was better than anything we may be able to get out and at no cost. I was also pleased that Tony helped respond on our behalf to Cameron's claims to be a Liberal. Had I been a Lib-Dem back bencher in the commons today Tony would have got one of the loudest cheers from my part of the house.