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.

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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.