On the move to a new start

After nearly two years of blogging with blogger I have decided to move on to a new platform.

In future you can find me at www.kevindavis.org.uk or www.kevindavis.wordpress.com

Many more things I will be able to do and I look forward to seeing you all there.

This site will remain for a while as a signpost for those not on RSS and who lag behind.

Surbiton pub gains award

This local pub has gained an award. It appears dropping the name "Rat and Parrott" might have helped. Should the people who drink there be worried that the profits at the St. Mark's Tavern have surged by 700%?

The Publican - number one for licensed trade news, and Proud of Pubs - Award for Spirited publican

a UK bIll of Rights

It has become apparent that the Human Rights Act that the Labour Government signed us up to has become something of a joke. I am no legal expert but even if the HRA was working in the way it was designed then it is still a mess. It is a mess because its implementation has allowed the type of stupid cases that originate from Europe on a regular basis.

It has become the fear of the HRA that is the worse aspect.There was the recent case of the roof top protester who "had" to be given Kentucky Fried Chicken because not to feed him was against the Human Rights Act - there are many more examples. We are now afraid not to feed the chap because he might sue someone.

So why should Britian not have its own Bill of Rights? Germany have one so why not us?

But there is another issue. The HRA enshrines in UK law the right of Judges to argue that parliament, in setting a law, has acted in contravention of the HRA and therefore the law should be changed. I accept that Parliament frequently makes a pig's ear of framing new laws but the idea that a democratically elected institution is not able to make law unless the judiciary decides is absurd.

Before the HRA the system operated that EU Judges could decide whether new law was in contravention of the Convention on Human Rights and the Minister in London could decide what he was going to do about it. It seemed to work quite well and during the period between 1975 and 1996 only 316 cases were considered and in 16 of them a change was made. In the 18 months after the UK implemented the Human Rights Act some 431 cases were considered and in 316 of them the outcpme was affected.

At least a UK BIll of Rights would allow us the opportunity to clearly define what are the rights and responsibilites of UK citizens.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories want a UK Bill of Rights

UK parking system is 'inconsistent and confused'

I cannot believe there are many who will disagree with this report that MP's are investigating and calling for reforms of the parking system.

Interestingly I saw earlier in the week that one London Borough was introducing new parking meters that accepted credit cards. I am not able to find the site but have this reference in the US.

Abortion dates to be reduced

This was an issue that launched itself into the General Election campaign last year. It even featured at one the church hustings that were held. As I said then it is my personal view that the law should be reviewed as it is clear that the advnace of medicine has meant that unborn foetuses of much earlier dates than 24 weeks have a chance of survival.

Vote for a new Tory logo

 


Over at Conservativehome they are asking you to vote for what you think is the best new logo for the Conservative party. The result gets announced tomorrow at 9am.

Will it get taken away?

I found this washing machine dumped in Kingston. I have tried to report it to the Council using their website which has a "Report It" function. Unfortunately it will allow me to report graffiti and uncollected bins but not fly tipping. I have therefore had to used the dubious excuse that it has graffiti on the side and report it as 'graffiti'.

Will it get collected? I shall have a look again tomorrow and report back.

What a mess they have made of Memorial Square

Memorial Square in Kingston needed money spent on it. They have been spending over £500,000 upgrading the pavings but the contractor has made a total pigs ear of it. It was due to be finished in early 2006. Boards then went up saying it would be finished by the end of April 2006. They missed that target and then went away for the May Merrie. They are back now trying to finish it. But even when it is finished the standard of the work is rubbish. Badly filled in holes, uneven pavings - I just hope the Council is doing something about this appalling state of affairs.

More damage to cars - is it really a middle aged man?

Yet more damage has been done to cars in Kingston. This time the vandal struck in the Blue Bridge area in Grove ward. It is reported that the vandal was a man in a car - not what you would have expected and certainly not the same method used when he attacked my road (the cars were parked in driveways).

Apparently the Police have offered a £10,000 reward.

Update: I hope the Police in Kingston are talking to the Police in Bath who are today reporting a similar problem. Not paintstripper this time!

Trust fund for former Surbiton boys who lost their parents in dhow tragedy

I am putting this report up because it appears the two twin boys who lost their parents in the dhow sinking in the Middle East came from Surbiton. They left in 2004 to go to work for WS Atkins in Bahrain. It may well be that someone who reads this might have know them. If they did they might want to contribute something to the fund that has been set up to provide for their future.

Too big to die

This is a quite amazing story of a local council who has been turning away grieving families from cremation because the cremator is too small to take "oversized" people. In one instance the family were made to travel 120 miles to a larger cremator. It sounds as if this is not just a problem because people are heavier than ever before but also because they are taller. This is a terribly sensitive area and one wouldhave thought that the investment would have been made where it needed to be made.

Is this a national problem? Is this something we need to do about in Kingston?

The Institue of Cemetery and Crematorium Management

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidates flee to the Conservatives

Following the earlier defection of two other Lib Dem PPC's we now have a Welsh Lib Dem councillor and PPC who feels more at home with the Conservatives. It cannot be too much longer before we see one of the small band of Lib Dem MP's decide their future is better with us.

Mr Kinzett said: "It is only David Cameron's modern compassionate Conservative Party that offers a realistic and progressive alternative to this tired, worn-down Labour Government.

"I know that I will be campaigning hard for a party which is serious about changing itself so it can change Britain for good."

ASBO's for animals?

The Sunday Times is reporting the antisocial behaviour of pets. One example is a couple in Surbiton whose own pet has caused about £7,000 of damage to their home.

“He has pooed in two pairs of my girlfriend’s expensive shoes and he
ripped the lining out of my £500 Hugo Boss suit which was hanging in a
cupboard. The scratched carpet was £600 to replace, the clawed sofa
£1,500, a set of vases £300, leather kitchen stools were £400 and vet’s
bills have been £800; he has also dug up four calla lilies at £70 each
and smashed a set of wine glasses. He wrecked a couple of my Paul Smith
shirts at £120 each and some Patrick Cox shoes."

Let's hope Mani the Cat is not let loose on the streets of Surbiton!

Rubbish collections

This is a road in Berrylands just after the collection of rubbish last Friday. This is not the first time that this has happened. It is probably not the fault of the bin collectors but more likely a result of the urban fox. Still, I would have thought that the bin collection contract would have the bin men tidy up this type of problem - obviously not?

Daily Mirror slams Kingston road humps

This story in Friday's Daily Mirror concerns a cyclist who had to get the bearings replaced on his expensive off road bike because of the road humps in Kingston. I drive a SMART car and am forever grounding on the damn things - who nows how much damage they are doing? I do not agree with some of these 4X4 cars but it is about the only thing you can guarantee not to get damaged by Kingston's traffic calming.

I really believe that the Council should now be consulting residents on the removal of road humps whenever they resurface a road (which I admit is not that often).

Happy Father's Day

Here, here to this article.

"I love my job, and I passionately want to have the chance, as prime minister, to help improve people's lives." Said David Cameron

"But the fact is that whatever I do or don't achieve in politics, nothing
matters as much as my family. Nothing is tougher, or will give me
greater satisfaction, than raising my children properly.

"Andit goes without saying that my children couldn't care less whether I
become prime minister or not. On fathers' day we should remember the
simple truth that a successful dad spends time with his children."

Electoral Commission says Kingston voters were "swindled"

This article in the Independent highlights the report from the electoral commission on the recent local elections. It specifically talks about Kingston and the anomaly that despite the Conservatives "winning" the election on votes cast the Lib Dems gained more seats and a majority.

Their natural conclusion is we should have PR. It seems such a simple argument but I am not convinced.

The reality is that one of th biggest distorting factors is the boundary changes of 2002. We could debate where the boundaries now go and how stupid some of them are but the more important facet is the distribution of seats. Kingston used to be composed of  both 2 and 3 Councillor wards. The Electoral Commission applied the principle that all wards should be of similar size and therefore all have three Councillors. This means that in terms of the total outcome of seats won large distortions can occur. Its impossible to predict what might have happened under the old boundaries becuase they changed so much. But clearly winning and losing two seat wards is less distorting than winning and losing three seat wards.

New Priest for Kingston parish Church

On Tuesday I had the pleasure to sing at the installation of the new Team Rector (designate) of Kingston Parish Church (All Saint's), the church in the Market Place.

The Revd Jonathan Wilkes, aged 39, was ordained in 1996 and started his title in the Hackney Team, based principally in the church of St John-at-Hackney. In 2000 he moved to Paddington to be Priest in Charge of St Peter's, Elgin Avenue, and then in 2004 extended his ministry to become also Priest in Charge of St Mary Magdalene Church, Rowington Close.

During his years in Paddington, Jonathan developed his interest in community ministry, seeking ways to allow the life of the Church to be relevant and accessible to local people, as well as an enthusiasm for the open and creative use of Church buildings. He is strongly committed to the central place of children within both Church and Society.

He is extremely pleased to accept the post of Team Rector in the parishes of All Saints with St John’s and is looking forward to working with them to further their excellent commitment to the different communities that they serve. He has said “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity of coming to serve among the people of Kingston and greatly look forward to taking up the post in June.”

Jonathan is married to Linda, who is a teacher.

Where does your family come from?

Thanks to James Cleverley for this very clever website.

This surname profiler enables you to track the growth of your family surname by analysing the quantity of people with your name in a specific county. You can do a comparison between two years (1881 bottom and 1998 on top) to see that growth.

Are the Lib Dems anti nuclear?

Ming decided to have a go at Blair over the nuclear power issue. He argues that the issues of "cost and waste" should rule this out.

Both he and Ed Davey should know the facts without asking Blair because it appears they have an insider on the nuclear industry association. The NIA's Communications Manager is a Kingston Lib Dem Councillor, one Simon James. He spends his time promoting the nuclear power option and supporting organisations in the industry.

If you were a passionate environmentalist, and have as part of your portfolio responsibilites as an Executive member on Kingston Council the promotion of green travel and transport, would you not find promoting more nuclear power somewhat embarassing or hypocritical?

Kingston Council spends £3m on agency staff

A new report published by the GMB Union (not sure why boilermaker's are still worthy of a union but there you go) has shown that Kingston Council spends over £3,000,000 a year on agency staff. Compared with other London Borough's it is quite low but then we are the second smallest in London. The Union is complaining that there are too many people employed in this manner who are not getting the employment rights of full time workers. Is this an issue for Kingston Council?

The Japanese in Kingston

I have wondered for some time which stores we were missing in Kingston. Now I know - Uniglo!

Residents to face rubbish bag tax?

The Government's review of local government funding appears to be taking an absolute age. They started it before the last election to stop the row over the the rises in Council Tax, for which they were taking the blame. The guy running the review now and again sticks his head above the parapet, floats a controversial idea, and then dissapears again.

Now we have this latest idea. He wants us to be charged for the amount of waste we put out for the bin collection. The problem with this idea is that we would be reliant on the bin men weighing the waste before chucking it in the truck. They then have to record that information and we get sent a bill. I am sceptical this will work or is practical although to be fair they manage it in other European countries. Firstly it will massively increase the bin collection costs and secondly I really question how many people will argue over their bill. Are you confident that Local Government could run such a scheme and charge you the right amount?

But then look at this quote from the accountant leading the review:

"I am clear that if people want more
services, want to tackle difficult problems like congestion,
environmental sustainability and water quality ... you can't just
tackle those problems and say you don't want to pay more tax."

He clearly does not understand that we are already paying a lot more tax and getting nothing new from our local authority for the money.We do get some things from our Council - we get "plans". If you go to the Kingston Council website and search for the word 'plan' you get 3,860 results. The first results you see are:

Local Implemetation Plan
Chidlern and Young people's Plan
School travel Plans
Sports plan
Best value Performance Plan
Forward Plan
Community Plan
Unitary development Plan
Area Action Plan
Workplace Travel Plans
Urban design Action Plan
Borough Spending Plan
Religious Education Development Plan
Thames Waterway Plan
and it goes on and on and on.........

We are employing people to sit around writing all these things. So if we are to have charging for the amount of rubbish we throw away how about we get a refund for all the useless plans the local authority produces.

Queen shot by Youth

Today is the 25th anniversary of the day the Queen was shot at by a youth as she rode past crowds on a horse. This in itself is not a remarkable story but it is interesting to muse what might have been had the gun not been loaded with blanks but with live bullets.

Had she been assasinated what would the country be like now? Would the country have changed? Only six week later Charles & Diana were to be married - would that have happened? The Falklands? Would Thatcher have continued to win? This year would have been the Silver Jubilee of Charles III.

You all get to pick the Conservative London Mayoral Candidate

The Conservatives have announced today that they are going to run the selection of a Conservative Mayoral candidate as an open primary - all Londoners get to vote. This is a high risk strategy - but then again finding a mayoral candidate is no easy task and engaging the public in the real election when it comes is equally difficult. It could be something like this might fire a greater interest in the voting mind. It will be interesting if the other parties adopt this approach.

I dislike Ken Livingstone; he is a bully and his fawning to tyrants and world leaders, that frankly no Government would want to officially speak to, distresses me and a good many others. Apart from the introduction of the congestion charge, which appears more about making money than doing anything real and lasting about climate change, what else has he done? He will claim the Olympics - but was that him? He will tell us "Safer Neighbourhoods" but even the public I speak to are beginning to doubt their effectiveness - just look at the two days off they all took at the same time in Berrylands.
Then there is the number of buses on our roads - let's not get started on the empty bus syndrome!

His electoral success has been in placing himself almost "beyond politics". He has become a celebrity rather than a politician and for this reason he has been succesful in keeping his post, even after he came back into what should have been a damaging Labour fold. He is the cheerful chappy, the only man who took on New Labour and beat their mayoral candidate as an independent. Given this you could argue that the Conservatives need a celebrity candidate, but do they?

So who should stand for the Conservatives. I gather Lord Coe is not interested - who would blame an Olympic champion wanting to run the games in his home country? Steve Norris again? Somebody from outside politics? It could even be you reading this if you are prepared to be a member of the party at the date you nominate yourself.

Think you can run London? Why not apply and click here.

Husband of Eastenders actresss jailed for Surbiton off-licence hold up

Can you believe that this chap donned a black curly wig to raid the Unwins store in Brighton Road. Still he has got a munimum of seven and a half years.

Drought order on its way

Hard to believe that we are facing a drought order now. It will mean that we have to halt all:

• Watering by hosepipe, sprinklers or other similar apparatus, of
  gardens, parks and any natural or artificial surfaces used for sport or
  recreation. (Private gardens and allotments are already covered by the
  current hosepipe ban.)
• Filling privately-owned swimming pools.
• Cleaning the exterior of buildings, other than windows.
• Washing windows with a hosepipe, sprinkler or other apparatus.

Lib Dems move the tax deck chairs around

I hardly know where to start with the latest Lib Dem announcement on taxes. Apparently they want to pretend they can just cut 2p of income tax (£20bn) and introduce higher taxes on polluting cars and hit the rich with super taxes (disguised as an ending to Capital Gains tax allowances). Of course as the BBC reports he is not prepared to say who the "very wealthy" are. And it's alright for Ming, he is wealthy enough just to dump his Jaguar. Many of those on low incomes are those with the most polluting cars and they cannot just change their cars overnight.

The trouble is when you move away from income taxes to sales taxes (which is what, in effect, the polluter tax is) then you run the risk that the tax yield will decline. IF the aim of the greener tax regime is to get people consuming less - as it should be - then you obviously want consumption, and thus taxation, to fall. And of course if taxation falls you then need to cut services. The Institue of Fiscal Studies has commented that :

"One dilemma they face here is that the more successful
environmental taxes are in getting people to pollute less and getting
people to drive less, obviously the less revenue you get in. That means higher tax rates for everybody who still ends up paying them."

As for taxing the rich, well the examples we have had of this is that the rich are those most able to find loopholes and move their money overseas at the threat of higher taxation. So the inevitable consequence of this proposal is a lower tax yield and cuts to services that will hit the very people you should be trying to help; the poor. What happened to the pledge to have a local income tax? That was going to cost everyone in Kingston a fortune.

George Osbourne, Shadow Chancellor, has commented:


"They are based on such flimsy costings - they
could only be produced by a party that knows it is never going to have
to introduce a real budget. It is not a serious piece of work."

Given the party now believes that lower taxation is good I presume we can now look forward to Kingston Lib Dems cutting back on their exorbitant spending and getting Council tax down? Where does this new belief in lower taxes sit with them blowing £6m on Kingston theatre?

I am afraid this whole proposal just looks like spin. As David Cameron said today: "I don't think making the top 1% richest poorer makes the 10% poorest richer." How right he is. You would have thought the Lib Dems would have learnt the Conservative lesson that going in to elections trying to cut taxes does not win elections!

The Resident pays as the Lib Dems bung money to the theatre

So now we know. The Lib Dem plan B for the Kingston Theatre – after the collapse of their year long negotiations with an Iraqi Billionaire – is to sink twice the amount of money into the theatre than they had before. They have apparently decided tobung the theatre the extra £3m they need. One presumes this is borrowed money and therefore it means that we, the Council Tax payer, will now be paying £42,000 per week in interest alone. If we have £6,000,000 sloshing around to pay for this should we not be having a debate about where it is spent. After all, the popular vote in Kingstonrejected the Lib Dems and supported the Conservatives. The Conservatives were againstpublic money being used in this way. Still I had warned that this would happen last month.

It appears the story has leaked and there will be something in the Informer this week. Who leaked I am not sure but I understand that Sir Peter hall attended a group meeting and wowed the Lib Dems. It appears the Surrey Comet might not have got the story.

What about:

• The holes in roads that have still not been patched?
• The decrepit school buildingsthat so many of our primary schools have?
• The environment, which was supposed to be at the heart of everything the Lib Dems do – and yet they employ a schools meals contractor some 200 miles away who is going to drive a lorry every day to Kingston! Why are they not spending this type of money to
  provide a real change to recycling so we stop being one of the worst
  improving Borough’s in the country?
• The elderly and disable paying more charges because of the Lib Dem attacks on them?
• The resident on low income who now has to pay the highest Council tax in London whilst the Lib Dems just hand over borrowed money to a theatre. Incidentally the interest charges alone will add nearly 1% to Council tax next year, when we already know it will be over 5%?

The list could go on and on.

Kingston deserves a theatre, but not at any
cost.

Priest reinstated

Some of you might recall a row that emerged when Christ Church, Surbiton Hill, held a service to ordain priests that were "irregular". My recollection is that they had some Bishop over from Africa who held the ordinations of some guy who had never been trained as priests - I am not even sure they questioned whether he believed in God! In any case the ordinations took place in Kings Charles' Road, Surbiton.

The Bishop of Southwark suspended the priest who arranged all this but now the Archbishop of Canterbury has reinstated him. So there is a right royal church row  going on and Surbiton is at the centre of it!

Starting Gun fires for Bromley by election

The by election following the death of Eric Forth has now started. I shall be going over to Bromley on a few days to help out as much as I can. If you want to help out then either contact me or go directly to the campaign website.

Safer Neighbourhoods?

I yesterday mentioned on the blog about a vandalised car in Berrylands. I tried to report this to the Safer Neighbourhoods team. Neither of their contact numbers worked (one seemed as if it was being picked up the put down again) and I am still waiting (24 hrs later) for at least an acknowledgement of my email.

Poll lead 10 points for the Conservatives as Lib Dems fall back further

Yet more good news for the Conservatives. The poll lead has opened up to 10 points, the largest since the 1992 general Election win. Six months ago we were ten points behind. To make life happier for the residents of Kingston the Lib Dems have also fallen further as they struggle to cope with the Conservative revival.

One of the most respected websites for polling predictions now has this to say about the state of the parties after the election and Kingston & Surbiton in particular.

Blair to reduce Council funding if anti social behaviour not cut.

This must be one of those spoof stories trying to divert attention from the Government's troubles. Blair now wants to cut the budget of Council's that do not tackle antisocial behavior. Surely cutting the budgets of the Councils will lead to more anit social behaviour. Kingston has a relatively low crime rate, even though it is rising in some of the serious crimes, but has a low issuance of ASBO's. There are two issues to this. Some argue that low numbers of ASBO's indicates there is not much for the Council to do. Others argue that we ought to be tougher. Kingston Coouncil takes the former attitude; as witnessed by their cutting of a dedicated ASBO officer on the estates. Resident's I speak to want a much tougher line. But then on the other side who can blame some of the youth for their antisocial behaviour when the Council gives them so little to do. One young person I spoke to last week argued that they get £10 a week pocket money and yet going to the cinema would cost half that.

I gather that the epetition from a Kingston Youth Movement to do something about the youth service in Kingston has now raised 151 signatures from across the Borough and London, including MEP's, GLA Assembly members and members of the Youth parliament. Yet not a single Lib Dem Councillor has signed it - and this party has a Mayor who tells us that Youth is her number one priority in her mayoral year.

To show how bad it is getting the enclosed picture was taken this morning at the top of Manor Drive in Berrylands.

Rich, Happy and Clever in Kingston but surprises in Berrylands

The Surrey Comet is reporting an interesting Government website that provides ward by ward analysis of the Borough. The statistics include education, housing, salary etc. Not surprisingly it reports that Kingston is rich, happy and clever.

The most surprising element is that concerning Berrylands. Could you have believed that Berrylands has the second lowest proprotion or owner occpupied property; second only to Norbiton. In fact 40% of Berrylands is rented accommodation against 10.5% across Kingston. It also appears that contrary to the view that Berrylands is an area of retired people this has changed radically over the years.

These are not especially new figures just a new way of presenting them. You can see the site here. It is interesting to put in your own postcode and see the local area in which you live.
 

Today is tax freedom day!

The third of June is the date, this year, on which the people of the country have worked long enough to pay off all their taxes and are now working for themselves.

This day is calculated annually by the Adam Smith Insitute. Not surprisingly it has been getting later and later since the current Government came to power but interestingly started getting later at the low point of 1994, when it was the 22 May. Apparently it is the latest it has been since 1988.

Left turns at red lights proposed

I accept that this new ten point transport plan is an interim position but is this really the best we can do?

What do we do about knives?

I made some recent comments about the problems of knives in the light of another awful killing at a school in London. I was aksed what I would do about it. There has also been this very interesting article in the Telegraph today that was written by the Director of a charity working with kids in West London.


For those who follow such things the Conservatives in the Lords have been trying to table amendments that would mean tougher sentences for those found on the streets carrying knives. On top of this the Government is now talking about a five year prison term for those carrying knives. I believe this is the right approach.

Incidentally I think it rather odd that considering all the recent furore over the knife amnesty the Met Police website has nothing about it on their home page.

Incidentally there is a piece in the Surry Comet this week, backed up a letter from Cllr Derek Osbourne, the Lib Dem Leader, whcih claims that Kingston is safer than ever before. Whilst it is true that overall crime numbers have fallen it is nevertheless a little worrying that we have seen large increases in rape (which the paper acknowledges) burglary and robbery. There has also been a slight rise in Gun crime and a fall in homophobic crime. Cllr Osbourne chooses to use the comparison with other Borough's rather than the direction of trend. Looking more locally it is surprising that there have been increases in drugs offences and criminal damage in Berrylands. I guess the criminal damage might be explained by this.

Labour do not do.....

An excellent new website has been started from the Conservative Home stable which aims to catalogue the failures of this Government. It has quite a tally from even the most recent months.

Scandal of the bad administration of tax credits

The scandal of the working family tax credits is a real disgrace. I am not sure whether ministers resigning is ever going to be the answer because the real fla is the total failure of the system. The problem is that we have a system that works out how much you are due based on your salary but should your salary rise during the course of the year (as most people's do) then the amount you can claim goes down. However, because you only get a single anual reminder from the Tax Credit department it means that you could end up owing back months of over payments, unless you write to them to tell them. Of course, as with most bureaucracies you have to rely on them doing what you ask and frequently they do not. What then happens is that they demand money back when they should have made the adjustment in the first place. I am fairly sure they wrote off millions during an amnesty on this issue.

Croquet Prescott

Should Prescott have been playing croquet last week? I am split on this as the guy should be allowed a life outside of politics but then......should he have been playing whilst the boss was a way and he was in charge of the country?

The Pope in Auschwitz

"In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can
only be a dread silence - a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to
God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all
this?" he said in a speech in Italian.

By chance I am currently reading a fascinating BBC book called "Auschwitz - The Nazis and the Final Solution". It is interesting because it is interviewing those Nazi's who, as they near the end of their life, are prepared to talk more openly about the motivation for what they did - one presumes the word redemption comes into their minds. It also is interesting how many of them truly believed that what they were doing was right because their Government, on which they pinned so much hope after the first world war, told them it was right.

Could it happen again? Who can say with any certainty. I think probably not in Europe because as the recent Iraq war has demonstrated there is a certain degree of cynicism towards Government and politicians. But a state whose democracy is weak and whose people cling to a hope for a better life may yield the same opportunity for the growth of such evil once again. History tells us that the oppressed often look for those to blame and eke out their revenge.

Polls get even better as Yougov predicts Lib Dem meltdown

The Telegraph reports this new poll today and has a comment from the election poll guru Anthony King. It is being discussed across at ConservativeHome.

"Only eight per cent of YouGov's sample," writes Anthony King, "would
like to see him (Ming Campbell) in Downing Street - the lowest recorded for any Lib Dem
leader since the Liberal Democrats effectively replaced the old
Liberal-SDP Alliance in 1990."

In fact the LibDems are nearly being caught by the "others"!

However the bit that caught my eye was the last paragraph and my concern that all parties need to do soemthing to address this problem and I have heard little that enthralls me.

"As must be evident, far fewer voters than in the past are bewitched by
any one party. Far more are bothered and bewildered by the whole lot.
Labour is clearly in trouble but so is Britain's whole political class."


The Conservatives now have the largest lead over Labour since the 1992 general Election victory.

K5 to stay

Huge congratulations to the people of North Kingston who have fought off the scrapping of the K5 bus route. A really very good piece of work that showed good Councillors working together with their residents. Cllrs Cunningham, Doe and Thompson (all Tudor ward) arranged a public meeting that the bus company were obliged to attend and hear first hand the anger of wide sections of the North Kingston community; 200 attended.

This victory has been reported this week in the Surrey Comet

'Wrong parties' won local polls

....and the BBC are telling me the wrong party won?



The interesting part of this article I have copied below:

"The six London councils where the party with the largest
share of the vote did not win were Haringey, Kingston, Islington,
Camden, Brent and Hounslow."

I gather that Hounslow is now Tory run - which I find amazing!

It appears the elections really were a get out of jail for the Lib Dems in Kingston. Still with a one seat majority I am yet to be convinced that proportional representation would be the way forward. Seems to me that the move, in 2002, to all 3 seat wards was a retrograde step that helps to distort this affect.

Still, as ever, I am willing to to keep an open mind and listen to the case for PR.

The return of the Lido

This blog will I know probably lead to a flurry of complaints about how the Conservatives closed Surbiton Lagoon, but in any case there is some interesting history here.

This article appeared in todays Daily Telegraph giving a perspective on how successful outdoor pools are continuing to be.

Berrylands had its own Lido, curiously named 'The Lagoon'. I remember this site as although I lived in New Malden my parents/grandparents brought me over once or twice to visit. My only real recollection was the expanse of white concrete and terracing and the fact the water was freezing.

The pool was built prior to the war and in the 80's its low quality construction let it down and they closed it. I suppose the comfort for me know is that the surrounding residents do not have to endure the level of traffic and disturbance a pool would cause on the old Lagoon site. Clearly it was built there in a world where the motor car did not predominate.



The site as it is now:




For information on Lidos that are still open then click here.