Had a great Birthday. Started with delivery in Tolworth on Saturday morning (dedication?) and then took the kids bowling. No idea when I last did that! Eldest daughter won by some distance although I was clearly not trying!!?
Saturday afternoon was swooshed off for a surprise stay overnight in Lavant at West Stoke House. Great weekend away from the campaign and the mail.
Soon back to reality on Monday with a short bit of delivery in Grove and a Council group meeting in the evening.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Friday, January 28, 2005
News from the front
Been a busy week and not much opportunity to blog. Had some delivering to do early evening on Tuesday and then had a full council meeting followed by a Surbiton neighbourhood meeting on Wednesday. Lots of problematic issues including universally rejected traffic schemes, the council painting tennis courts blue and the application for a telephone mast.
Thursday had a long meeting on progressing some educational ideas and then a campaign meeting in the evening working on the General Election programme and checking where we were with current leafleting and canvassing activity.
Friday evening and some more delivery to complete and also had parents over for dinner as tomorrow is my……Birthday!
Thursday had a long meeting on progressing some educational ideas and then a campaign meeting in the evening working on the General Election programme and checking where we were with current leafleting and canvassing activity.
Friday evening and some more delivery to complete and also had parents over for dinner as tomorrow is my……Birthday!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Conservative asylum plans
It is quite instructive that since the announcement of the plans for a cap on the number of asylum seekers the phone at the Conservative Association in Kingston & Surbiton has been ringing with people wanting to tell us how much they support it. Not party members, just members of the public.
Whatever else happens the status quo is not acceptable and the Government itself accepts this since they were remarkably quiet and commented little since the announcement. The Lib Dems clearly have a policy that says we will take as many people into this country as those who want to come here, this is clearly not in the interest of either the people of this country or those who have a genuine claim to come here. The Lib Dems were quick to critiscise and have since tried to spin the idea that genuine refugees would be turned away.
The fact Parliament will vote on a quota figure every year means that the figure will be based on real demand. Were there an international crisis then of course Parliament could review that figure. Surely it is better for MP's to set and monitor the figure rather than allow the free flow we have now. It would certainly be better than surrendering powers to an EU wide asylum system that the Lib Dems want.
This is a complex area in which no one system will be right. But a system that misleads refugees as to what and what is not available to them is not a system we should be associated with. The current system is misleading and confuisng to both those that live in this country and those that seek to come here. From confusion can grow resentment.
A system based on clarity and transparency with figures set as to the total number of refugees we as a nation will accept might help create a more accepting attitude to genuine refugees but will also be a humanitarian way of dealing with them.
As for this Government signing away controls over immigration to the EU? What a surprise that after all the rhetoric we had from Labour over getting tough on asylum and immigration they now reveal the extent to which they have handed over powers to Europe without even noticing. Clearly work is going to need to be done to get those powers back!
Whatever else happens the status quo is not acceptable and the Government itself accepts this since they were remarkably quiet and commented little since the announcement. The Lib Dems clearly have a policy that says we will take as many people into this country as those who want to come here, this is clearly not in the interest of either the people of this country or those who have a genuine claim to come here. The Lib Dems were quick to critiscise and have since tried to spin the idea that genuine refugees would be turned away.
The fact Parliament will vote on a quota figure every year means that the figure will be based on real demand. Were there an international crisis then of course Parliament could review that figure. Surely it is better for MP's to set and monitor the figure rather than allow the free flow we have now. It would certainly be better than surrendering powers to an EU wide asylum system that the Lib Dems want.
This is a complex area in which no one system will be right. But a system that misleads refugees as to what and what is not available to them is not a system we should be associated with. The current system is misleading and confuisng to both those that live in this country and those that seek to come here. From confusion can grow resentment.
A system based on clarity and transparency with figures set as to the total number of refugees we as a nation will accept might help create a more accepting attitude to genuine refugees but will also be a humanitarian way of dealing with them.
As for this Government signing away controls over immigration to the EU? What a surprise that after all the rhetoric we had from Labour over getting tough on asylum and immigration they now reveal the extent to which they have handed over powers to Europe without even noticing. Clearly work is going to need to be done to get those powers back!
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Busy day today. Another photo with the Alexandra Drive protesters who are against the parking restrictions they are trying to impose. This photo was from last week and the Informer. Today it was another paper. Agter that out delivering in Grove ward with our weekly In Touch leaflet. Quite chilly this morning but the Sun being out helped the delivery go faster.
Friday, January 21, 2005
The Christian View
I have attracetd a couple of comments about a site link on the right hand side that links to a website that claims to represent a Christian view of the Lib Dems. As I have said many times on this blog ultimately it is up to others to decide the truth or not of what is written here and the same is true of the site this blog links to.
I am a committed Christian. I have been attending church since I was seven and will have been attending the same church in Kingston for twenty five years this year. I am probably of the more conservative Anglo Catholic wing rather than the evangelical wing, so in religion I am not a hardliner. However, there are many reasons why the Lib Dems need to be exposed for the policies they squirrel away and never seek to speak about. I have already had some of these on my blog before such as the Lib Dem policy of allowing 16 year olds to buy pornography and making it easier to set up sex shops, as reported by the BBC.
So ultimately it is for voters to judge whether the document on the site mentioned has sourced what it says directly to Lib Dem policy papers and quotes or it has not.
I am a committed Christian. I have been attending church since I was seven and will have been attending the same church in Kingston for twenty five years this year. I am probably of the more conservative Anglo Catholic wing rather than the evangelical wing, so in religion I am not a hardliner. However, there are many reasons why the Lib Dems need to be exposed for the policies they squirrel away and never seek to speak about. I have already had some of these on my blog before such as the Lib Dem policy of allowing 16 year olds to buy pornography and making it easier to set up sex shops, as reported by the BBC.
So ultimately it is for voters to judge whether the document on the site mentioned has sourced what it says directly to Lib Dem policy papers and quotes or it has not.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Tax and Spend
Now we have clear water between the Conservatives and the other parties. The next Conservative Govenment would meddle less, provide value for money in public services by investing better and reduce taxation. Labour, if they win, are going to have to tax even more than they do now and spend more just as inefficiently. The Lib Dems are just going to tax more and more and particularly punish the middle class by introducing Local Income Tax.
"The middle classes...should pay more for a better society" (Charles Kennedy, BBC Radio 4, Today, cited on PA News, 24 September 2003).
Still I sometimes wonder why the Lib Dems ever worry about announcing policy because given the fact they are not going to be in Government and the fact that their Leader says they would never enter into a coalition then it must be quite difficult to discern why you would vote for them.
For the Conservatives the debate now moves on to where you reduce taxation. £4bn is not a lot in national tax terms but it indicates a path a Conservative Government would take. Seems we will have to wait until after the budget for that aspect but it does not stop speculation. For me there are a number of areas worth considering.
"The middle classes...should pay more for a better society" (Charles Kennedy, BBC Radio 4, Today, cited on PA News, 24 September 2003).
Still I sometimes wonder why the Lib Dems ever worry about announcing policy because given the fact they are not going to be in Government and the fact that their Leader says they would never enter into a coalition then it must be quite difficult to discern why you would vote for them.
For the Conservatives the debate now moves on to where you reduce taxation. £4bn is not a lot in national tax terms but it indicates a path a Conservative Government would take. Seems we will have to wait until after the budget for that aspect but it does not stop speculation. For me there are a number of areas worth considering.
- Raise the threshold at which income tax starts to be paid. Seems mad to me that if we have a minimum wage that those on it still pay tax!
- Raise the threshold for inheritance tax. I hate these double tax systems. You pay income tax when you are alive and then you pay tax again on the same money when you die. I would like to see its abolition but that is stretching the £4bn too far.
- Reduce Council tax bills and abolish the payment of Council tax for those households composed of people over the age of retirement.
Well that's a start but I suppose the debate may rage on for a while, at least until the election.
We had a Surbiton neighbourhood planning meeting with an awkward decision about a school car park being placed over a green area after the ned was revealed to be there by the CPZ imposed in the area preventing teacher parking. Tough one.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Back to the streets
Spent Saturday working but the campaign trail went back to the streets. Delivering this weekend in Chessington and now starting to build towards the General Election.
Spent time on Sunday with the children trying to get my son to read and work with numbers. Really frustrating as a parent as not really sure what they should be capable of and how you get what you take for granted over to them in a simple way.
I have a real passion about IT in education. I believe that the current IT strategy in schools is flawed and the Government cannot afford the cost of sustaining what they have spent to date. It concentrates on IT suites and lots of PC's when it really should be thinking about integrating IT into every lesson and classroom by using cheaper methods of IT such as thin client. It's complicated but it means you don't have expensive PC's but inexpensive "dumb" terminals that are low cost and only work when attached to the server, which could be held in a data centre that could be miles away. It will run word etc but it is held in the data centre. Anyway, the interesting question for education is this. Whenever Government talks about IT they tell us that it must demonstarte its effectiveness in raising standards but they never ask us to justify the use of books in the same way, why do they do this when clearly IT can have as big an effect on learning as the book does?
Sunday morning and evening spent at church.
Spent time on Sunday with the children trying to get my son to read and work with numbers. Really frustrating as a parent as not really sure what they should be capable of and how you get what you take for granted over to them in a simple way.
I have a real passion about IT in education. I believe that the current IT strategy in schools is flawed and the Government cannot afford the cost of sustaining what they have spent to date. It concentrates on IT suites and lots of PC's when it really should be thinking about integrating IT into every lesson and classroom by using cheaper methods of IT such as thin client. It's complicated but it means you don't have expensive PC's but inexpensive "dumb" terminals that are low cost and only work when attached to the server, which could be held in a data centre that could be miles away. It will run word etc but it is held in the data centre. Anyway, the interesting question for education is this. Whenever Government talks about IT they tell us that it must demonstarte its effectiveness in raising standards but they never ask us to justify the use of books in the same way, why do they do this when clearly IT can have as big an effect on learning as the book does?
Sunday morning and evening spent at church.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Malden Manor Primary Schools
Visited Malden Manor primary School today. I visited first about 18 months ago when they were discussing what do with a bunch of old buildings spread across a fairly large campus. At the time there were discussions about whether to knock down the nursery and sell it to a developer. Instead they made their plans and won money from the Government to carry these works out.
I am delighted for the school but it does reveal one of the real problems of the way this Government allocates money. A few years ago the Department for education discovered it had a capital underspend and called for plans to be submitted for funding with a six week deadline for close of applications. One Kingston school, by co-incidence, had just finished planning and costing a scheme for the school and therefore submitted and it was funded. That was great for the school but others looked on aghast as no account was taken of need or any other aspect.
Malden Manor is a great school that will have a wonderful school site in about 18 months time and they raised their funds without political help! Maybe there is a lesson there for us all.
I am delighted for the school but it does reveal one of the real problems of the way this Government allocates money. A few years ago the Department for education discovered it had a capital underspend and called for plans to be submitted for funding with a six week deadline for close of applications. One Kingston school, by co-incidence, had just finished planning and costing a scheme for the school and therefore submitted and it was funded. That was great for the school but others looked on aghast as no account was taken of need or any other aspect.
Malden Manor is a great school that will have a wonderful school site in about 18 months time and they raised their funds without political help! Maybe there is a lesson there for us all.
Licencing Act
I have been asked, elsewhere on this blog, what my views are on the new Licencing Laws and drinking in the town Centrex. These are important issues so I have created a blog entry about it.
Maybe I am getting older, or maybe it really is because we have many more drinking outlets in Kingston, but the town centre of Kingston, in common with other town Centres are becoming deeply unpleasant places to visit. I would have to check but I do remember reading somewhere that going back a hundred years there were some 14 inns around the ancient market place alone. Even I can remember when there were many more then there are now.
I was talking to an organisation that works with 'older people' and they make a very good case for Kingston not being a place where those in their late fifties onwards would choose to go at night. It is not just because there is little for that age group to do at night but also because town centres can be intimidating places when full of young people many of whom are in a pretty dreadful state of drunkenness.
Many of us have travelled abroad and seen the so called "cafe society" and the Governments current legislation seeks to bring that sort of environment about through having the ability of 24 hour opening. The question must be"is our society ready to accept the responsibility this brings" and I must say I have serious doubts it is? The theory goes that the longer the time you have to drink the less likely you are to get drunk and that the ending of the "turning out" period at 11pm will mean a dispersal of any potential violence. It could also be argued that all you end up with is a longer period of problems needed to be addressed by an over stretched police force.
One of the other serious issues I believe is open to debate is the removal of the granting of licences from magistrates and giving it to Councillors for decision, with some delegated to council officers. I do wonder whether this is such a sensible move? I am all for powers devolved down to the local level but wonder whether councillors have the skills, or might even be accused of having an electoral interest, in granting a licence. Magistrates have no such considerations and specialise in the area of licencing applications.
Am I for or against it? On balance I am against it because I think it is ill though out and in itself will not address the bigger need for a cultural change to personal responsiblity and away from binge drinking.
Maybe I am getting older, or maybe it really is because we have many more drinking outlets in Kingston, but the town centre of Kingston, in common with other town Centres are becoming deeply unpleasant places to visit. I would have to check but I do remember reading somewhere that going back a hundred years there were some 14 inns around the ancient market place alone. Even I can remember when there were many more then there are now.
I was talking to an organisation that works with 'older people' and they make a very good case for Kingston not being a place where those in their late fifties onwards would choose to go at night. It is not just because there is little for that age group to do at night but also because town centres can be intimidating places when full of young people many of whom are in a pretty dreadful state of drunkenness.
Many of us have travelled abroad and seen the so called "cafe society" and the Governments current legislation seeks to bring that sort of environment about through having the ability of 24 hour opening. The question must be"is our society ready to accept the responsibility this brings" and I must say I have serious doubts it is? The theory goes that the longer the time you have to drink the less likely you are to get drunk and that the ending of the "turning out" period at 11pm will mean a dispersal of any potential violence. It could also be argued that all you end up with is a longer period of problems needed to be addressed by an over stretched police force.
One of the other serious issues I believe is open to debate is the removal of the granting of licences from magistrates and giving it to Councillors for decision, with some delegated to council officers. I do wonder whether this is such a sensible move? I am all for powers devolved down to the local level but wonder whether councillors have the skills, or might even be accused of having an electoral interest, in granting a licence. Magistrates have no such considerations and specialise in the area of licencing applications.
Am I for or against it? On balance I am against it because I think it is ill though out and in itself will not address the bigger need for a cultural change to personal responsiblity and away from binge drinking.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Social Justice - here and abroad
Spent Monday tied up in Council meetings for most of the time, mainly around the proposed Kingston theatre and then a meeting of the Conservative group of councillors in the evening.
Tuesday I attended the launch of the Conservative proposals for tackling third world aid and the role of the Department for International Development.
The launch was at the Centre for Social Justice at Hawkstone Hall. This is a very interesting church opposite Lambeth North tube station. It is the site where William Wilberforce started the Anti Slavery Movement, Lord Shaftesbury helped establish the Ragged Schools and the family of Abraham Lincoln built a tower in his honour. All were Conservatives. At this place is now the Centre for Social Justice, a Conservative centre looking at issues around poverty and creating a socially just world.
Tuesday was the annual state of the Borough debate at Kingston Council.
Tuesday I attended the launch of the Conservative proposals for tackling third world aid and the role of the Department for International Development.
The launch was at the Centre for Social Justice at Hawkstone Hall. This is a very interesting church opposite Lambeth North tube station. It is the site where William Wilberforce started the Anti Slavery Movement, Lord Shaftesbury helped establish the Ragged Schools and the family of Abraham Lincoln built a tower in his honour. All were Conservatives. At this place is now the Centre for Social Justice, a Conservative centre looking at issues around poverty and creating a socially just world.
Tuesday was the annual state of the Borough debate at Kingston Council.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Cumbrian rains
Very sad to see the impact of the heavy rain on areas of Cumbria, especially around Carlisle. It is difficult for some to argue that our weather patterns are not changing but as a lay person in this area you do wonder how much this is cyclical weather and how much is really global warming.
One of the aspects that seems to have been missed is my concern about over development for new housing. I remember when some relatively recent flooding took place in Kent there was a good deal of talk about how the development of Greenfield sites, that had previously been flood plains that alleviated the build up of water after heavy rains, had probably been as much of a contributory factor to the problems of flooding as global warming. But it is not just housing, I gather that turning these sites into animal grazing land has the same effect and I guess it could have been an issue in Cumbria.
I am sure there is something in this and we need to be very wary of Government targets to build more and more housing in the South of England, just the sort of areas that would suffer from flooding due to their relative height against sea level.
One of the aspects that seems to have been missed is my concern about over development for new housing. I remember when some relatively recent flooding took place in Kent there was a good deal of talk about how the development of Greenfield sites, that had previously been flood plains that alleviated the build up of water after heavy rains, had probably been as much of a contributory factor to the problems of flooding as global warming. But it is not just housing, I gather that turning these sites into animal grazing land has the same effect and I guess it could have been an issue in Cumbria.
I am sure there is something in this and we need to be very wary of Government targets to build more and more housing in the South of England, just the sort of areas that would suffer from flooding due to their relative height against sea level.
Catch up days
News dominated by only one subject at the moment. Having seen some more film of the strength of the water and the debris it contained I now know why there were so many deaths.
End of another busy week. Wednesday had campaign team meeting which was pretty up beat and a good start to the New Year. Campaigning recommences next week and will keep us all very busy.
Friday spent out an about around Kingston picking up an appalling survey of areas where the local Council is really letting people down. I have sent out an press release, with photos, which you can check out here.
Saturday was spent catching up with correspondence and doing some work on campaign strategy. Also have spent some time up dating the website.
Sunday was Epiphany Sunday. In the afternoon popped into a children’s Epiphany party at St. John’s and in the evening attended the Epiphany Carol Service at All Saint’s, Kingston.
End of another busy week. Wednesday had campaign team meeting which was pretty up beat and a good start to the New Year. Campaigning recommences next week and will keep us all very busy.
Friday spent out an about around Kingston picking up an appalling survey of areas where the local Council is really letting people down. I have sent out an press release, with photos, which you can check out here.
Saturday was spent catching up with correspondence and doing some work on campaign strategy. Also have spent some time up dating the website.
Sunday was Epiphany Sunday. In the afternoon popped into a children’s Epiphany party at St. John’s and in the evening attended the Epiphany Carol Service at All Saint’s, Kingston.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Tsunami debt
I found this article in The Times and was frankly staggered by the figures being presented as the amount of total debt that the countries owe. What I would like to see is how long it will take to pay off these debts. UK Government borrowing averages about £36.4 billion; worth bearing in mind when looking at these figures.
I have no problem with the principle of paying off third world debts (although I question whether the term "third world" is necessarily right in some of these instances.) I am however very much in the camp believes that there needs to be safeguards in place to prevent the accumulation of future debts within these countries and that future loans are spent on the evident need for infrastructure and not on weapons and palaces etc. The question is how do you do thuis without appearing to run their economies for them and becoming part of a new form of economic colonialism?
I have no problem with the principle of paying off third world debts (although I question whether the term "third world" is necessarily right in some of these instances.) I am however very much in the camp believes that there needs to be safeguards in place to prevent the accumulation of future debts within these countries and that future loans are spent on the evident need for infrastructure and not on weapons and palaces etc. The question is how do you do thuis without appearing to run their economies for them and becoming part of a new form of economic colonialism?
Monday, January 03, 2005
The End of the Year
A great New Year weekend. Spent Friday night at home with the family. Had one of those embarrassing moments where forgot that most of the food shops would be closed Saturday (New Year’s Day) and so had to “live off the Camels’ hump” in the freezer. Sunday had lunch with my parent’s before my brother went back to Manchester.
Monday we went off for a walk ready to prepare for return to School and work on Monday. Been a great holiday but all good things come to an end.
This is an important year for the country and for Kingston. For the Conservatives it gets off to a flying start tomorrow. Until then I have some deliveries to finish off this evening in Berrylands!!!
Monday we went off for a walk ready to prepare for return to School and work on Monday. Been a great holiday but all good things come to an end.
This is an important year for the country and for Kingston. For the Conservatives it gets off to a flying start tomorrow. Until then I have some deliveries to finish off this evening in Berrylands!!!
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