The farce of local Government

I supported the Local Government Act and the reform of council processes away from committees to the separation of powers between the executive councillors and backbenchers. I was very wrong!

The fact is that this Government has removed the power for all Councillors to have a say on the issues of major importance to the Borough. The new licencing act is just such a case. It will give the impression to the public that Councillors have real powers to determine when and where alcohol is consumed. It will not! Instead we will have the farce of having all the responsibility heaped on us by the public and yet none of the power to do anything about it.

I am pleased that the Conservatives have committed to allowing Councils to return to the committee system. The committee system needs changes but it should now be bought back and these ludicrous so called 'reforms' dropped.

I presented two petitions to Council this evening concerning the Post Office closures in Berrylands. The rest of Council passed without incident.

Grove candidate

Busy day today with business meetings but also a meeting to finalise the Grove campaign having got a candidate in place. Not able to tell you who it is at moment but suggest you keep an eye on the website for further infomation. Whatever else we will select a local person who lives in the ward. Anything else would be a slap in the face to Grove ward residents. Clearly the Lib Dems will choose a ward resident as to do anything else would betray all they say about being 'local' campaigners!

I also had a very good group meeting prior to Council on Tuesday evening. The group in good hearts as we start the Autumn and Winter campaigning.

Family pretty much over the flu virus floating around but now looking forward to a break at half term.

Accident and Emergency

I had to spend a substantial amount of my weekend in casualty with my youngest daughter (2). We feared she had done something stupid and needed an x-ray to confirm or otherwise. Having not been to a hospital for years I have now had to go twice in three months with different children. I find them the most frustrating service imaginable.

I accept that hospital staff do a fantastic job but I will never understand why we had to wait 2 hours to be seen by a Doctor. We arrived, the triage nurse tells us that we need to see a doctor and he will tell us we need an x-ray. We waited an hour and fifteen minutes to see the Doctor who told us (guess what?) that we needed an x-ray. We had the x-ray done in fifteen minutes and the staff told us there was nothing wrong. We then had to wait another forty five minutes to see the Doctor again who told us there was nothing wrong. It seems the health service is divided into those who know what to say but do not have the power to tell you and those who have both the power and the knowledge. Why can't the triage nurse send my daughter for an x-ray?

However, only when you have sat in casualty do you begin to understand the problem. The sheer number of cases that came through the door that could have gone to a Doctor on the Monday morning was huge. There were grazed knees and stubbed toes where the nail had gone a funny colour. It is clear that the NHS has a long way to go on the reform path and there is also a big job to be done in changing the culture of the patients to understand what is and what is not a casualty case. That probably includes me as well because I discovered talking to someone in a pub last night that I could have taken my daughter to the minor injuries unit in Teddington and saved myself the wait!!!

The Past Week and atrocities in Iraq

The past week has been a slow blogging week for me and I hope that things can get back to normal in the week ahead. Apart from the party conference almost all the family have had varying degrees of catching this pretty ferocious bug that seems to be going around.

On the local political front we have also had a by election called in Grove. The good news is that we were intending to concentrate some fire at Grove over the next few weeks so our wider campaigning is not too disrupted. There are also a lot of issues around Grove that I am sure our opponents are not too pleased with at the moment.In any case the first job is to select a suitable candidate. I suppose the fact that out opponents were caught somewhat on the hop helps us a little.

I was saddened by the death of the hostage in Iraq. I am horrified by the cruel and barbaric way his life was ended I have become alarmed by the metaphor he has come to represent. There were times in the past few days when the method of his death became the focus rather than the sadness of his death. There have been many deaths over the war in Iraq but should The City of Liverpool and the England football team be holding two minute silences for him? I am not demeaning his death but it does worry me that they held these memorials when they never knew the man. What of those soldiers who died in Iraq and they never knew? What of the Iraqis who are dying? Who holds two minute silences for them?

Still on a happier note I spent an excellent Saturday morning delivering in St. Mark's ward along with 8 colleagues. We have an excellent organisation in St. Mark's that can deliver the entire ward in two days - pretty good going.

MORI have got it right?

It's not often that you come across an article that backs up some of what you had been saying.

In an earlier blog I had suggested that some of the fringe parties, like the Lib Dems, had been puffing up their expectations as to what they might achieve in a General Election. Now Bob Worcester of MORI, not my favourite pollster, has backed me up. In an article he has claimed that:

"(The Lib Dems) will put on about 20 seats, but I'm afraid the way the British electoral system works they are just a sideshow........When you ask people which party has the best policies on the issues they personally think are important to them the Lib Dems run a poor third on everything apart from the environment.

Questions: In your experience when a party gets bigger, as is the case with the Lib Dems, do policy contradictions and closer scrutiny inevitably lead to problems and a drop in support?

Bob Worcester: That's very possible and that would be consistent with the fact they are doing more poorly in areas where they have control of local councils."

As for the Conservatives he believes that:

"On virtually every issue the current Tory frontbench have eaten into the Labour lead. It is an important development because issues represent about 40 per cent of the determinant of which way floating voters vote. Image is about 60 per cent split between the image of the leader and the image of the party.

There's no easy answer to the Tory's problems but having said that the in-roads they are making into Labour's lead on policy is bound to have resonance.

I say that because those people on the margins, the floating voters, say those policies will attract them and that's where elections are won."

"When I can I will cut taxes"

Good speech by Michael Howard yesterday.

Finally we are getting to a core message that the public will understand. Getting the Government out of people's lives is a important thing to do. Cutting taxes is what we should also be about because it is clear that regardless of how committed you are to public services pumping more and more money into them is clearly not working. They need reforming and reshaping to serve the world of the 21st century and not the ideals of the post war consensus.

Was in Bournemenouth today for the Party Conference and was happily surprised by the upbeat mood and the belief. Particularly interested that pollling in our 130 top target seats has us winning 103 of them. It is clear that with a good national mood and hard work locally we can win Kingston & Surbiton.

Scary Kilroy-Silk

I listened to the highlights (if that is what they are) of Kilroy-Silks speech and I have to say that for an ordinary voter he must come across as a little scary. I am not sure that the electorate warms to politicians wanting to kill each other.

Redwood has made the point, and Kilroy Silk being a former Labour MP proves the point, that being anti Europe is not right wing.

Blair to undergo heart treatment

"If I am elected I would serve a full third term. I do not want to serve a fourth term."

How long before he is seen as a lame duck Prime Minister? I wish him good health tomorrow but the fight for his succession starts now. When he loses at the next election the Labour party will implode and who knows what will happen to the party then as the choice becomes between a right of centre party and two left of centre parties.

The Postage Police

I see there has been quite a bit of a fuss about the Post Offices in Norfolk that are going to be allowed to handle crime complaints over their counters - basically acting as a reporting point.

I actually can see some sense in this. In my own ward where they are trying to close Post Offices because of the decline in over the counter trade. I can't help thinking that if some of this joined up thinking had been applied earlier then perhaps we would not be in such a mess. I do think you would need to seriously consider what function the Post Office should then retain and also find what things the Council could equally provide through the Post Office network.

I see my own party is arguing that whilst this is fine it should not be seen as a replacement for police officers on the beat. I gather that David Blunkett has today announced he wants to recruit more community support officers. I have said this before but community support officers are great for a small and clearly defined set of priorities. They are good at building police/community relations and as a day time presence for kids to interact with. However, PCSO's do not operate at night. Some go into the evening but all are finished by midnight. They also have no powers of arrest.

Why is Blunkett increasing the numbers of PCSO's and not real officers? Probably because of the cost as they are considerably cheaper. My view is that we should not have cheap policing but good policing and visible policing. That means paying for more police officers; the Conservatives estimate we need another 40,000 police officers to really begin to tackle crime and start increasing the arrest rates.

....and when we have arrested them apparently David Blunkett says today that he wants to have weekend only prisons and part time sentences. Sorry, that is not good enough. Criminals need to be punished and no array of liberal nonsense will change my view of that. For too long we have been worried about the criminal and what we can do to help them. I am not saying we should not do what we can to rehabilitate prisoners but under this Government we seem to have forgotten about the ordinary, law abiding, citizen who has to put up with the anti social behaviour, burglary and violent crime.

Straw justifies Mugabe handshake

What is it that makes our politicians get to Westminster and then find it so hard to say "Sorry" I got that wrong?

Chocolate Bars

Ok, I know I have mentioned this particular subject before but really this nanny state that Labour has created is going too far. Now they have it in for chocolate bars as they apparently make large size bars and they are not good for us.

What annoys me is that people are entitled to make this decision for themselves rather than have Nanny Blair go around telling us what we can and cannot do. In the past month we have had an attack on sugar, salt, smoking, drinking, chocolate and now chocolate bars. If people choose to eat chocolate and get fat, or even zits, then that is a choice for them. (Zits - yuk - sorry about that!)

Are we now to deprive everyone of any pleasure in life of which the Government does not approve? Are we treat everyone as idiots? Are we now to say that pubs can refuse to serve you beer on the basis that you have had a pint and the next one would push you over what they determione to be the maximum number of calories you are allowed?

Had back to back meetings today and tomorrow looks no better although have a meeting tomorrow evening with Michael Howard at the Campaign for Social Juctice.

The Surrey Comet

The local newspaper, Surrey Comet, is currently celebrating it's 150th year. I have had quite a history with the paper.

I can clearly remember it when the offices were in Church Street, Kingston. You could see the presses from the window although I am sure they never actually worked. Somewhere in the Surrey Comet archives must still be pictures of me from around the late 70's or early 80's when I was Oliver at Wimbledon Theatre with what was known as the New Malden Operatic Society (NEMCOM). No idea whether they are still around. They were fun days with some fun people and really started off my fascination with music and theatre.

Never knew where the nickname came from but the Comet became colloquially known as the "Vomet" but where or who started that I have no idea.

As papers go it has changed a fair bit but still has that local edge. In fact there has been some good stuff I have helped with over the last couple of weeks. Helping bring the issue of affordable housing to the fore when approached by some nurses at Kingston hospital was one. Another has been the issue over the actions of our militaristic parking wardens, good to see others have picked up the fight as well. I was told by the Councillor responsible that there was nothing wrong; well that's not the perception!

Another busy day ended with a reception and a dinner for some Council visitors from Oldenburg, Germany. Links have been forged with them over a number of years and it would be good to see it move beyond the rather informal position we have now.

Busy day tomorrow with delivering in the morning.

Lib Dem Claims

What a dull conference the Lib Dems have had. As befits a small third party they have had little coverage having been forced off the news a number of times by events around the world.

One thing puzzles me though?

In 1996 the Lib Dems controlled 55 Councils across the country. Today they control 30! I know they are told by their campaign handbook to exagerate but are they so out of touch with reality that they believe their own press when they say the party is making advances? So for the record:

The Conservatives control 152 Councils compared with Labour's 92 and the Liberal Democrat's 30. In addition, the Conservatives have 8052 councillors, Labour has 6680, and the Liberal Democrats 4695.

In the European elections the Lib Dems came fourth and in the June local elections they lost control of more Councils than they gained. Yes, they may win Parliamentary by elections but let's have that in perspective as a couple of elections fought on the single issue of Iraq does not make a Goevernment.

What the elections in June told us was that as the Labour Government becomes unpopular the Lib Dems are beginning to lose their way in the Conservative South. The Councils where they lost control in the main they lost to Conservatives.

The Lib Dems are a protest party and if you really want to rid this country of the Labour Government then voting Lib Dem is a waste of a vote.

What would you do?

I have included this link but there are a number of different links that tell the story of Ken Bigley.

This story is that of the Mother's plea. In the last days we have heard the son, the brother, the wife and Ken's pleas himself.

During the course of this I, like many, have been distressed by the public beheading of the two Americans and the awful anxious wait of Ken's family. During the course of the day I have tried to imagine myself in their position were it my son, my father or my wife in this awful position. The simple fact is that it is unimaginable.

And what of the position of Blair? This is very difficult. As leader of this country, whatever the rights or the wrongs of the war, he cannot give in to the threat of terrorism, even if he had the power to do so. Like me he probably imagines the awful position he would be in were it his family in that position. It is the weight of office and not the weight of the decision to go to war.

It has been a bit of a sombre day as I have thought of this situation and it has played on my mind. I get the feeling that all in the UK's thoughts are turned to the Bigley's and Iraq. Even those of no faith are I hope praying tonight.

Welfare Society not Welfare State

I support this idea.

I have been following the establishment of the Centre for Social Justice with some interest. Working in the Charity Sector I see some of the real damage done by social security hand outs as well as the very real benefits they can bring.

The poorest will always need supporting but their needs to be a conversation as to whether that is done by central Government, the expensive way, or by the voluntary sector, the less expensive way. Indeed it may be that what IDS's think tank is suggesting is a return to the delivery, properly funded, of social care by the same bodies who started the whole social care movement pre Beveridge.

Still there is a long debate to be had on this subject and it is something I will return to at some point. However, I do like the phrase "Welfare society not welfare state!".

Finished off the day with an interview for Radio Jackie. My eldest daughter was typically scathing as to why a pop music station listener would want to listen to a boring politician!!

The truth about the Lib Dems!

OK, I know this is going to get a stream of Lib Dems complaining under their 'anonymous' non de plume. But, I would be failing in my duty as a Conservative candidate were I not to report a mass market newspapers view of the Lib Dems.

Click on the title for the editorial or click here for the "snake" article.

Have fun reading!!

The truth on affordable housing

It is emerging that my fears on affordable housing are being found to be true.

If you recall I was contacted by some nurses who were finding they could not afford the newly built "affordable housing for key workers" because the prices were too high to start with. New flats in Kingston are now apparently costing £230k. Even with 50% shared equity schemes nurses and teachers cannot afford the mortgage of £115k on a salary of £25k. I raised the midwives concerns at a Council meeting and lo and behold two days later the Council officers consult legal Counsel on their position and instruct the developer and Housing Association to stop selling until they could determine what was an 'affordable house'. To make it worse the rumour is that city lawyers are buying the reserved key worker housing because the allocation gets released when no 'real' key workers come forward.

The Council appears on the surface to have made an awful mistake but we shall have to work through what can be done. Were it found that the Council had not determined what was meant by affordable housing then it really does cast into doubt the whole handling of this issue. As I have said elsewhere this Council has really got no policy to encourage keyworker housing. I am not even convinced that Government has yet sorted out what they mean by the definition.

We all need these people to live, work and stay in Kingston. Kingston is an expensive place to live. We know that to live here the cheapest accommodation needs a salary in excess of £55k per annum to gain a mortgage. I will not even start on the issue of the damage of Lib Dem local income tax on any house with a joint income over £35k!!

Busy day today. Long group meeting with some important items. It is starting to be an interesting Autumn. I look forward with hope.

Lib Dem lies on free personal care

Cannot believe they are at it again.

Charles Kennedy has put out another press release saying they will have free personal care when they in power. They will never be in power at Westminster but they are in Kingston.

What do they do here? - introduce 1000% increases in charges and means test. They not only now say one thing on one door step and another on the next door step but they even allow their Leader to make claims they know they have already betrayed.

Sugar, Spice and the Nanny state

It has been a busy few days what with Association meetings, deliveries and good news at work on future contracts.

However the most startling news has been the growth in people coming back to us from the Lib Dems. The reception on door steps has been good but the returns on surveying against how people pledged at the last election has shown a marked increase in those happy to declare they will vote Conservative.

I am fed up with this nanny state Government. Means tests, form filling, telling us to do this and to do that, the monitoring, the evaluation, the target setting etc etc etc. But now it has reached a point of no return.

Last week the Government told us we were all eating too much salt. This week they are launching a campaign to stop us eating sugar. One almost wonders what the point of being alive is if there are pleasures that we can no longer enjoy.

I do not smoke, and I never have. But there is something idiotic about trying to ban smoking in public places. I have been in the US where smoking is banned in roof top retaurants and where one side of the street is for smokers and the other non smokers. The reality is that this suppression, like that of hunters, should not be what Government is about. But it is the contradictions that are the most striking. Whilst some talk of banning smoking the Government encourages drinking by extending opening hours; is there a difference between smokers lung and drinkers livers? Someone, not sure whom, said that 'all actions have a consequence' and I am afraid that sometimes Government would be wise to heed this advice. For every decision to give up one habit there is always the human desire to start another. Habits are comforting and sometimes people need a comfort zone. So 'leave our sweet teeth alone!'

Still, one thing did make me laugh. The Lib Dem spokesman on health claimed that the Government was ignoring binge drinking that was damaging health and fuelling violence and saying that the Government needs to do something about it. What was the Lib Dem solution? - "Clear labelling with numbers of units should be mandatory." What are they talking about? If they have nothing to say it would be better to say nothing!

The Westminster Hunt

Today we had the ban on hunting with hounds forced through the commons. There are two aspects to this issue and I object to both of them.

The first is that a Government with a huge majority are forcing through a ban on an issue for which there is no public interest and all the while the public services are not improving and we are being taxed to the hilt. The Countryside Alliance will argue this is urban MP's forcing through a ban on the country; they may be right. But actually the urban dweller does not care less about the issue. No one I have spoken to in Kingston & Surbiton in the past few months has raised with me their passion to have hunting banned. Instead this is a desperate Blair offering slops to the backbenchers of his party. But it gets worse...Blair then complains that the House of Lords might overturn it and he will have to force it through using the Parliament Act. Well excuse me but who made a complete mess of the House of Lords by half reforming it? If he had done what the Conservatives had argued for, a fully elected Lord's, then their objections would have been legitimatised.

But what of the real issue? I am against a ban on hunting. The simple reality is that destroying the way of life of our countryside when not understanding the delicate balance that exists is ridiculous. I am an urbanite. I visit the countryside but would not have the knowledge to know what is best for it. I am also prepared to accept the advice that a ban on hunting will lead to much more cruel and slower deaths for the foxes through poisoning, gassing, snaring and shooting where death can be slow. Those who believe that the fox will no longer be killed are deluding themselves because they are vermin.

But this subject will divide parties. The two major parties did not have 100% support either way and the smaller parties such as the Lib Dems were split down the middle, although being cynical you needed to look at where their seats were as that may well have determined the way they voted!

Lib Dem Utopia

The Lib Dems annouced their pre, early, draft manifesto. Being cynical I wonder whether they rushed it out to try and clear up the confusion of some of the more junior MP's declaring they wanted to privatise the health service.

In any case my slamming of their policies would be construed as political so instead I will take you to a national daily newspaper that tells it as it clearly is:

"All that was missing was a promise that under Charles Kennedy's benign rule, chocolate truffles would sprout from every tree, and elves and fairies would bring us our breakfast in bed."

Ticket the elderly

Had a busy day today.

Early morning photocall at the Post Office in Chiltern Drive and then lots of catch up on post during the course of the day. Constant stream of letters from residents with all nature of issues.

Meetings in the afternoon and then a meeting of one of the Conservative Group think tanks at the Council. This was followed with a ward meeting in Old Malden looking at action days and events over the next few weeks. Great enthusiasm for really getting things moving, inspired by good results at the June elections.

In an earlier blog I talked about traffic wardens being too rigid in the issuance of tickets and that some flexibility needed to be built into the system. Lo and behold I find that the Evening Standard have run a story that says a Kingston traffic warden was sacked because he refused to give a ticket to an elderly couple who he allowed to park on a double yellow line whilst the disabled husband got out of the car! If this is true it is absolute nonsense and the Council should be questioning whether it should be connected with such a lack of compassion.

Post Offices

Busy few days. Saturday had an Association lunch (60 people) and today had a family lunch with my parents-in-law. I also sing in the choir of Kingston Parish Church and this was our first Sunday back after the Summer hols.

The bad news is the proposed closure of three post offices in Kingston & Surbiton; one in Old Malden and two in Berrylands (Chiltern Drive and Berrylands Road). The really crazy closures are those of Old Malden and Berrylands Road, which both serve the elderly communities around them.

We will of course fight this closure as it is clearly mad. Given these campaigns are sometimes(though rarely) won it does make me think though that maybe the solution should be to make other provision, maybe from the Council, as a service to their residents. Stamps can now be purchased anywhere but what of the community feeling for the elderly pensioner who does not want their pension paid into a bank account?

One would hope that this type of campaign could be cross party, as no one agrees with the closure, but I suppose that will not happen. Interestingly the Lib Dems policy on the Post Office is to privatise it; something neither the Thatcher or Major Governments attempted. Trouble with the Lib Dem policy is that the reason they are closing thse Post Offices is they are losing money. Do the Lib Dems believe that privatising them will make them less likely to close non profitable Post Offices?

I believe that we need to find a new way of providing community services that are truly local and local authorities need to be given the power to innovate and attempt a birth of a new type of lcoal delivery of services.

Housing and crack dens

I heard today that a Kingston crack den that had been closed for three months under new legislation has reopened because the Council did not evict the tenants. I hope to God this is not true because the Police have invested a good deal of time telling residents around the den that the occupants would not be returning. Given the council Leaders stance on this it appears that he will have a good deal to answer for should this prove to be true.

Investigations continue and I will let you know what happens.

Eastminsters

You really could not make this up Blair soap opera stuff up! Clearly the very thought of Gordon Brown taken over made Blair break into a sweat and hardened his determination until someone other than Brown could be lined up to take over.

It's funny but my childhood recollections of when Margaret Thatcher reshuffled were that she really went for large scale changes. Again, it may be rose tinted spectacles but I am sure we never had only one Chancellor and two Foreign Secretaries in Thatcher's first two terms. But there we go, suppose it is the price of making deals in restaurants! (Of course having checked my facts I note thee Conservative Chancellors were in post for approx four years, with the exception of Nigel Lawson who was longer. As for Foreign Secretaries there were 6, including the short time John Major had the job)

Long day at work today. Had three meetings to attend; Conservative association, Citizen's Advice Bureau and Surbiton Neighbourhood meeting. The Neighbourhood meeting went on interminably. There must be something that can be done to speed these things up. If the length of meeting was commensurate with the amount of power we have then that would be fine but our power is pretty limited.

The minister for families and parking in Kingston

Having lost one member of your cabinet because they want to "spend more time with their family" is it not odd that you bring back another who only a short while ago resigned to "spend more time with his family". The people of this country are not stupid. What they see is a divided and confused Government more concerned with their own internal rows than running the country.

Tonight we had a council meeting debating car parking in Kington. The Lib Dems would have us agree to their being no new parking spaces in Kingston despite them signing up with a developer who wants to add 20% extra shops in Kingston. Madness, do we really want to kill retail in Kingston? The most complaints I get from Kingston residents is that shopping in Kingston is a nightmare because you cannot park. Facts and figures are one thing but a reputation is another!!

Good day but far too late to bed because catching up with correspondance.

Pensions Crisis or Taxation Grabbing?

I am fairly young - just - on the cusp - as it were!!

I put away money in a pension every month like a large number of people do. But the political agenda that appears to be emerging at the moment is around the punishment of those who took the sensible approach of saving all their lives.

Pensions have been hit massively by the changes Gordon Brown brought in; raiding pension funds by £5bn. As if to make matters worse they also then means test so that those who have saved and paid taxes in their working lives get hit again in their retirement lives. Is there anything more demeaning to a proud elderly person than having their affairs raked over through means testing?

Then look at what the Lib Dems did last week. Not only charge higher amounts to those with savings but also means test to check what they claim they have as income.

But what is at the root of all these claims is taxation. The simple fact is that Gordon Brown would not have needed to raid pensions if he had been honest on taxation and told us that all his extra spending would need taxation through income tax. So he charges pensioners for his spending.

The Lib Dems in Kingston would not need to create a new tax through charging if they were not spending on other things such as their local comic - Livin' Kingston. All the while the Lib Dems go on about a Local Income Tax. But a discusson on local income tax would not have begun if taxes were lower and Council tax had not been fraudulently abused by this Government. By arguing Local Income Tax you hide the penalising level of taxation we are having to pay generally. But then the Lib Dems are a party of high taxation and high spending, as we have seen in Kingston.

Do not get me wrong, I believe there is a strong argument for the ability to pay to be taken into account in Council Tax, but a Local Income Tax is not the answer. I have given my position on this before which you can follow through this link. I also gather that the Lib Dems want to give pensioners over 75 an extra £25 a week. This is not properly costed, rushed out a soon as they heard the Secretary of State for Pensions was resigning and amounts to an electoral bribe that they know they will never have to deliver. Most of all it does not end the pain of means testing for all pensioners.

Whatever else the link between inflation and pensions needs to be re established and a long hard look needs to be made at what encouragement can be given to help people save. I know there has been some discussion about schemes where the Government puts in a pound for every pound you put in. Maybe that is the way forward, but whatever scheme it is what we all want is certainty in retirement. As yet I am not sure we have that; young or old.

Back to work

I am back!

Great weeks break with some good weather. Children had a great time before they return to school tomorrow.

Also have had an eventful and action packed weekend. In amongst some delivering also visited a Chariot festival in Chessington - brightly coloured festival organised by the youth of a new Hindu temple in Hook.

On Sunday afternoon I acted as the civic representative at the induction of a new priest at St. John's Church in Grove ward. Good size congregation and Bishops there to welcome a new priest and family into Grove. The church in Grove really is at the heart of its community.

Saturday evening was at a supper party held by one of our Councillors on Kingston Council. They have served some 21 years as a councillor in Kingston. Being a councillor is reqarding but hard work and it is remarkable that someone should give this much of their lives to serve the community in which they live.

I noticed that another Government Minister has resigned to spend more time with his family.

I am not going to make the obvious point about him going before being pushed. However the more serious aspect is why it is that he needs to spend more time with his family - like a procession of Ministers going back 15 years have seemed to want to do. Are we suggesting that politics is for single people only? If we are then I fear for this country because we do need a mixture of people in Government who understand the pressures and demands of modern life and have bought up families and used schools, or had elderly or ill relatives who have needed hospital care. Only with those experiences can Government policy respond to the real needs of real people - and not career politicians who have only ever 'done' politics and only ever had responsibility for themselves.

Long day and sign off for a break

I'm signing off for a few days. Taking a holiday till next weekend with the family so 'maybe' no blogs but keep the comments coming and I will catch up on my return. See how the internet access goes. Sure lots will happen next week so some good blogs to come.

Long day with a long delivery this morning that seemed to go on for ages.

Great evening with some stunning Olympic results.

Crime and Punishment (Except if your a Lib Dem!)

My son came to work with me today. He is 5 and we do this a couple of days a year. Changes the office actually although he insists on a long lunch!!

We have had quite a lot from the Conservatives on local crime in the last few days.

We firstly had Theresa May announcing the launch of the Conservative Urban Alliance. Now that we are by far the largest, and growing, leaders of local government we are well placed to really tackle the issues of graffiti, vandalism and crime. I was staggered to read that fly tipping has rocketed by 43% in the past two years. They also have good examples of Conservative Councils restoring respect on the streets and launching new initiatives such as Westminster's Civic Renewal Scheme.

We also had Tim Yeo arguing for our policies to crack down on the yob and drink culture and illustrating how crime has boomed under Labour. Just look at the crazy increases in crime we have seen on the railways - 14% increase in violent crime and a 12% increase in sexual assaults

From the Lib Dems we have had another announcement of them going soft on crime.

Apparently the BBC is reporting the Lib Dems are considering a new policy to decriminalise crime for those under 14. They also want offenders to 'pay back' by doing work chosen by local people, face to face meetings between offenders and victims and reparation orders for adults. Of course, as the BBC points out, the children who killed Jamie Bulger were 10! They would not have gone to court. According to the Lib Dems Social Services should have dealt with them. I leave it to readers to decide whether Social Service are the right people to look after murderers, even at 10? But what happened to giving them a fair trial to demonstrate they actually did it because if this is 'decriminalisation' then trials are out!!

This whole thing is absurd and I know will anger many who believe that in fact what child criminals need is not being soft and cuddly but to understand the severity of their crimes. Where is the evidence that being soft on criminals has ever stopped re-offending because not imprisoning burglars is also a Lib Dem policy?

But the really odd thing is this issue of age. On the one hand we have the Lib Dems saying they do not want to criminalise those under 14 and yet they are also desperately keen for those of 16 to watch and participate in pornography - another awful Lib Dem policy.

I wonder if there is any connection between equalising these ages to conform with Europe as this was another issue the Lib Dem have been on about during the last week saying "we cannot influence EU law from the sidelines". If equalising laws mean the UK accepting you cannot be a criminal till your 14 (who ever you burgle or murder) then there are many who will say UKIP has a point! No wonder the Lib Dems do not talk too much to the public about their policy on Europe.

School Playing Fields

You really get fed up with this Government. Year on year the same policy is being announced again and again as if it was new. They hope that the public will forget they announced it the first time.

The latest is the apparent ending of the sale of school playing fields. Now I expect a ton of mail saying the Conservatives started this policy - we did and it was wrong. It ws particularly wrong in London. It was not just wrong because it deprived children of access to sport but it also deprived communities of the opportunity to use the facilities that during the 70's and 80's were closed to those who lived near them.

As I said what really stinks about this Government is the fact that the minute Michael Howard criticises the ridiculous political correctness of not having competitive schools sports, Blair and Charles Clarke unveil (read 'rehash') a policy they were supposed to already have!

The 2001 Labour manifesto said:

We pledge a sports entitlement for all children, giving them access to at least two hours a week of sport in or after school. Thanks to our ban on the enforced sale of playing fields and a commitment of nearly £1 billion to new sports facilities and 1,000 school sports co-ordinators, all children will be offered coaching and competitive games. This is a pdf so only go if you really want to


A cynic could ask why if they had introduced a ban on the enforced sale of playing fields (prior to 2001) that the sales of fields have continued. See this Guardian report (Aug 2004)which says:

The association claims that since 1998, more than 200 field sales have gone ahead, with only six rejected through the vetting procedure.

This same report also quotes the Education secretary as saying he will offer the:

"toughest-ever protection for school playing fields".

I am no avid sports fanatic. I cycle quite a bit but that is really because it is often easier to get around Kingston by bike than run the gauntlet of traffic humps and menacing wardens. In fact at school I frankly disliked sport. I was never really into rugby and cross country running used to go down the dreaded "pig farm alley". Never did know why it was called that as there were no pigs! However, this nation is becoming less healthy, as are many developed nations across the world. To halt that we do need to provide the opportunity to access as many forms of sport and healthy sport advice. Now maybe that is not through having school sports fields but through sports facilities being built on school sports fields. But if that is the strategy then the Government should be honest and not pretend that merely offering bullet proof guarantees about the sanctity of school sports fields will really improve the health of the school population.

In any case, the only kids at my school who enjoyed going out on a school sports field in the freezing cold of winter were in my view slightly mad!! They were good friends but I still doubted their sanity!

Charging for Personal Care

A few weeks ago I ran a blog item on the Lib Dem Council charging for personal care. I have a bit of an update on the hypocrisy that exists within the LibDems on this matter.

The proposal they are making is that those who currently receive personal care for very small charges would in future be means tested and a range of charges applied; up to 50% of disposable income. It is a monstrous suggestion. Made even more monstrous by the fact that the Lib Dems nationally are going round telling people they will not charge for personal care.

Charles Kennedy in a speech on public services on June 29th 2004 said:

"Yet when it comes to care of the elderly, Labour too support a right to charge. For the frail elderly in need of basic care: feeding, dressing, washing - for them dignity comes at a price. Dignity in old age should not be determined by the size of your bank balance. That is why Liberal Democrats would scrap the charges for personal care, wherever it is provided."

A Lib Dem MP, Sandra Gidley, and spokesman for Older people said:

"Britain's elderly should receive free personal care, unrestricted by discriminatory criteria."

Even the local MP, Ed Davey, said in January 2003:

"Personal care should be free on the basis of a person's need not the size of their bank balance. We are not talking about luxuries here: we are simply saying that for people who need this help, with feeding, dressing, washing and intimate care, it should be free at the point of delivery."

This is all great but why then is the Leader of the Lib Dems and the MP for Kingston & Surbiton allowing the Leader of Kingston Council to introduce this shameful policy of charging for personal care and letting him insult the elderly of Kingston who did the right thing and saved for their retirement:

"This isn't going to drive elderly people into poverty. You are not talking about the little old lady living in a rundown house. We are talking about people who are comfortably off and will still be comfortably off." Leader of Lib Dem Kingston Council in Surrey Comet

We will be doing all we can to get them to reverse this hypocrisy.

Pensioners in distress after failure of pension payments

This is really depressing. There seems to be hardly a person in the land, who is not in the Labour Government, who really wants to scrap pension books if pensioners want to retain them.

I accept that it may well be an outdated way of paying benefits to people but if pensioners are happier collecting money from the post office and controlling their 'cash' expenditure rather than having to control a bank acccount then what is the problem? The two main parties go on a lot about 'choice' so why does the Government not give pensioners the 'choice' on whether they have a pension book or not.

Now we hear that the computer, that doubtless cost us billions and was delivered late, locked up and refused to pay pensioners any money. Quite rightly the Conservatives are asking questions and I hope we get some answers fast!

The Compensation Culture?

Had a great weekend. Saturday spent delivering and a very good function in Berrylands with party members. All tremendously buoyed up and enthusiastic following the good results in Kingston from June. Sunday spent catching up on the small jobs around the house that do not get done during the rest of the year due to time commitments of Council.

Escaping from the fantasy politics of Saturday, Monday was about the compensation culture. David Davies followed up his speech of last week with some flesh to the policy.

It is notable and interesting that the former Master of the Rolls had recently commented that the compensation culture was a growing and dangerous path.

Like many things I can only relate personal experience. Five years ago I was involved in an accident at the lights at Tolworth roundabout. The lights changed green and the car in front moved forwards and then stalled. At 2 or 3 mph I went into the rear of the car scratching the bumper. Within weeks the insurance company was faced with a claim for a ‘written off’ car and driver whiplash injuries. Because of the way insurance companies work they settled for about £8k rather than fight an expensive case. Fighting it would be expensive in costs if not in the final outcome. Frankly that is an abuse and a shining example of the compensation culture.

However I think David is talking of wider issues to do with the review of the Human Rights Act. I believe it good practice to review all legislation some time after implementation to ensure that it does what it set out to do. All I have heard today is a procession of highly paid barristers, who undertake this work, saying how this is not acceptable. Still, I suppose we all get defensive when a proposal threatens our livelihood, no matter how good it is for the people we serve.

There are obviously genuine cases where compensation is due and it is the job of all of us to find a way where the rights of the genuine claimant can be preserved whilst curtailing the rights of those who abuse the system. Seems a pretty good mantra for a number of areas of life and politics.

Laugh a Minute Labour

I though I had to bring you this wonderful piece of news. The Labour party are getting so desperate they clearly intend to go into the next election saying "a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for the Conservatives". Clearly sending Mandelson to Brussels was a big mistake if this is the best strategy they can come up without him!

This is taken from the Daily Telegraph. I have felt moved to add my own editorial comment.

Warning over Tory-Lib Dems alliance

The Labour candidate in the forthcoming Hartlepool by-election has accused the Liberal Democrats of forming an alliance with the Conservatives.
In an email to party members Iain Wright said Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy would serve in a Government under Michael Howard. (Not that he will get the chance - ed)

He also accused the Liberal Democrats of moving closer to the Tories by following a right wing policy agenda. (Excuse me but since when has 'tax and spend' been right wing? - Ed) The email, which was released officially by the Labour Party, said the "real choice" in the forthcoming by-election was between the Labour Government and a Conservative administration.

Mr Wright, who is a Hartlepool councillor, wrote: "It is pretty clear that the Lib Dems and the Tories are moving together - Charles Kennedy's hostility to the Labour Party is so great it is easy to imagine him serving in government under Michael Howard. (Just one problem, amongst many, is that Charlie wants us to be a federal Europe - Ed)

"That is why the choice in Hartlepool remains between Labour and the Tories - in what ever guise they appear." (Now he is talking sense - Ed)

The married father-of-three added: "Here in Hartlepool the Lib Dems are desperately trying to pick up the Tories' votes. Their leading figures are proposing ever more right wing policies - including the destruction of the NHS and its replacement by a social insurance system." (Yes, but that is today's policy. In Brent East they changed their Council Tax policy as soon as they won - Ed)

Another Birthday - Education

Daughters yesterday and wife's today - Birthday. Great day in London as a tourist on a tourist bus with family. Dinner in evening.

No sure if anyone caught this on the news yesterday but whilst this initially sounds like a good idea you cannot help worrying about some aspects. Elderly urged to take in jobless. As it is I sometimes wonder if this would not be a better thing for students rather than the unemployed. The unemployed want a job and students are frequently occupying privately rented housing that could be used for others.

We also have 'A' level exam results. For once I am going to agree with some of what David Miliband says. It is a great shame that every year exam results come out we denigrate the achievements of the students. However, there are caveats to this. I hear a lot from teachers who tell me that children moving from school to college or university end up having to play catch up on subjects such as maths because they are not of the required standard. Maybe that always happened but many think not.

The simple fact is that the world and the skills needed to succeed in the world have changed. Frankly, if the exams we are asking children to pass now are not different or improving then they should be. Students today have an array of tools available to them that were not there even ten years ago - computers, the internet etc. Schools have changed and students are changing as well. A colleague of mine calls them 'MTV' children who can sit in a room and have the TV, radio, computer etc whirring and still read Shakespeare. Does that mean that standards are falling? No; but it probably means that the exams and the pedagogy need to change. It may mean that we need to see the sort of realignment of exams that took place with the GCE/CSE merger. However, I am very worried about an incoming Conservative Government wanting to inflict more turmoil on education. Not that it does not need it but change brings uncertainty and this Government has spent its entire period in office meddling and changing education.

So to all those students in Kingston who have received or will receive their exam results I offer congratulations and hope that the exams that have been passed will offer the greatest chances for them to excel in their adult life.

Oh, and happy birthday to my wife.

Happy Birthday and "ending the war on motorists"

Today is my youngest daughters birthday - she is 2. Bit of a drama on the present front as the store (who shall remain nameless) told us the present was in stock but forgot to mention it was in Northampton!! Fortunately as she is 2 whether it is here today or tomorrow hopefully will not scar her for life!

The party announced a new policy on the motorist, ending the attacks that are unfairly being launched. The trouble is that the law abiding motorist gets caught up in these draconian road measures and the poor motorist who pays, along with smokers and those who drink, probably the highest level of taxation and fines in the country. In return he gets crumbling road surfaces, road humps and pariah status!

Spent an early evening getting soaked whilst delivering.

A Chessington team and phone masts

Had a fun evening with a groupf of Conservatives in Chessington. They had been particularly active during the times when we made a clean sweep in Chessington and took all the Council seats there. Lots of questions and answers on policy and what the party needs to do to get themselves into a position of winning the next General Election. Great evening with great company. Most exciting aspect is that they all want to participate in campaigning and help out. This means a starting team of 25'ish in Chessington!

The party announced it's policy on phone masts. Phone masts are a running sore in local government. Whereas Councillors get to decide planning applications for almost everything else because of some quirk they do not on phone masts. Phone masts cause the most public concern because of their association with health problems etc. They can also look damn hideous. There is a building on the A3 near Tolworth that looks dreadful with about a dozen of these things stuck on top and with no attempt at concealment. This is a good policy and I hope that one day we will extend our planning policy to stop the meddling of the Mayor for London and John Prescott in the planning process.

Death Duties

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and
taxes.

Benjamin Franklin, Letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 13 Nov. 1789

According to the Shadow Chancellor this is becoming more and more true under this Government. In places like Kingston it is beginning to have a serious impact on the inheritance that we leave our children. The simple problem is that the Inheritance Tax threshold (the sum at which we get charged) has obviously not been rising as fast as house prices. In 1997 only one Borough in the country had average house prices that qualified for Inheritance Tax; today there are 86.

A very interesting perspective on this comes from the Adam Smith Institute who have calculated "Tax Freedom Day" the day at which we, the workers, start earning for ourselves and stop paying the Government.

This whole issue of course links to Labours General Election commitment not to raise income tax and yet still pay for the massive investment in public services. Instead of income tax rising all the other taxes have had to rise instead and the most painful has been Council Tax. Now of course the Lib Dems will jump up and down and say "Local Income Tax". Is it the answer? Will it not merely lead to only the low earning and the very rich living in Kingston? The calculation I hear is that those earning over £30k per year will pay more and yet you need to earn over £55k per year to get a mortgage for a starter property in Kingston. My fear is that it would squeeze out the families we want to see live in Kingston.

In any case there is a difference between having "the ability to pay" element in any taxation and the need for Local Income Tax. Remember there was no pain in Council tax before this Government came to power. Maybe what should be happening is that the two main parties should be looking at how to reduce the burden of taxation overall rather than just focusing on one element - Council Tax / Local Income Tax. There are those who also argue for a local sales tax but for the life of me I cannot see how the implementation of such a scheme would work in practice.

But for now we are stuck with this Governments policy on taxation, tempered by the natural tax reducing inclinations of the Conservatives and the tax and spend of the Lib Dems.

I think there is probably an issue over who wrote the death and taxes quote first. Whoever it was did not, I imagine, believe that taxes beyond the grave would be higher than those this side of the grave!

A slow Friday and more allotment trouble

Quite a slow day really catching up with paperwork and administrative stuff that accumulates around you. Also my week of tax return filing. Always leave it till August when I supposedly have more time to put all the information together.

Have a catch up for you on my blog about the Tolworth allotments. It would seem that pressure is beginning to pay off. I have had it reported that someone turned up to cut the scruffy grass and then went away again after making a feeble attempt to cur back some of the jungle of weeds. Trouble is someone has now decided to dump a tree they have cut down. I will post some picture to the Blog and you can have a look as to whether you think it is acceptable for the Council to say "nothing to do with us!".

Remember this was where last year the Council ran an action day for the residents to clear up the area around their homes. Having cleaned it up they went away again and did nothing. The residents think that given how much tax they pay this is unacceptable and it should not be for them to go around clearing up public spaces. What is your view?

Across the allotments

Dumped Bike

Dumped Oven

Blood tests and money for schools

A very busy work day today.

This morning spent in Haringay at a school where we are working as part of an intervention team and this afternoon in meeting around a project called "Networking for Transformation" and the future provision of IT in schools.

This evening spent another two hours delivering to homes around the Fairfield.....

Not sure whether any of you have picked it up but there is a story on this evenings BBC online about Princess Diana's driver (Henri Paul?) having his blood tested again.
It also mentions the Al Fayed accusation that his son and Diana were killed as part of some conspiracy. This is tough but surely the time has come to let this rest. There is a part of me that can see Al Fayeds point of view, and were I to lose a child I am sure the truth would become an obsession for me. But there is also the fact the you have to move on and however much you may want to bring them back it will not happen.

On a lighter note have you seen the story about the McDonald's happy meal that comes with a free pedometer. Apparently they have been overwhelmed with the demand and have had to order more. Very interesting that it takes a private company to implement the Government's objective of healthy eating! Could be a model for other political strategies? Makes you wonder who has the real power?

Finally I gather that spending on education has risen by 26% since the mid 90's. Can anyone explain what this is about? If this is the case exactly where have standards risen by 26%? I am involved in education and surely the issue is not what is spent but where it is spent and just maybe if it was spent a little more wisely then taxes would not need to be as high as they are. If this is the case then why are schools budgets suffering as bad as they are? Why are schools about to suffer a crisis in their IT budgets (as they tell me they are!)?

There must now be a concerted effort by the two main parties, whether in Government or not, to increase the productivity of schools budgets by whatever means possible. The alternative is that spending on education spirals out of control with no demonstrable benefit.

I have an interest here. Some politicians spout on about this subject without any knowledge but I have children and despite this spending increase I see the problems that the schools still face every day.

More law and order stuff

Seems like the Police theme is going to last right up to the next election.

Spent some time today out on a ward audit with the Safer Neighbourhoods team. Police Sergeant, Council Officer and myself doing a drive and walk around the ward identifying areas where there is the potential for trouble and where action can be taken to improve the safety and environment of residents.

It was a fascinating time discovering potential issues around the Berrylands Station and walking through virtually unknown alleyways off Surbiton Hill Park. Also looking at the problem of the green triangle at the end of Alexandra Drive. What it actually demonstrates is that whilst Berrylands is in fact a pleasant and safe place to live there will always be an unpleasant side to the most sedate area. Unsurprisingly many of the local issues are low level and involving young people and clearly there is a big job for the Police in engaging with this problem.

I am confident that our Police, despite all the constraints, are doing as well as they can. Release them from the bounds of bureaucracy and do away with the avalanche of initiatives and who knows how law and order in our communities might be transformed? I noticed that today the Government tried to spin the law and order debate back their way by launching another new idea. Who are they kidding? Can't stop spinning! Arrests for all offences proposed

Also had a meeting with council officers on the grass-cutting contract and the dreadful state of the recycling site on Raeburn Avenue. I have been promised new lights, signs and some new cleaner recycling bins as a way to improve the environment around the site. I shall keep my eye on this one!

Spent a couple of hours delivering this evening – another stifling warm evening despite the slight breeze.

Cut the forms and keep the Police

Today was police day. On the homefront I met our new Borough Commander and nationally the party was launching our policy of zero tolerance policing and the end of 'sociological mumbo-jumbo' blurring the distinction between right and wrong.

Our new Borough Commander is a change for the Borough. She seems very focused on the problems we as a Borough face but is also open to new suggestions on how policing can be improved in the Borough. She is also experienced in Kingston having worked here before. It was a valuable first meeting and I feel a new approach to the actions the Police can take to tackle some of the serious issues we have over anti social behaviour and drunkenness, especially in Kingston town centre.

Whichever way you put it the Police have an impossible task. The Government have introduced "safer neighbourhoods" as a way of getting more localised and visible policing and yet as I have mentioned in an earlier blog there are inherent risks in what they are doing and how they are doing it. At the same time they are expected to put more police on the streets to tackle anti social behaviour and fill in more forms at the same time.

Which is I suppose where the Michael Howard speech comes in. It is frankly incredible that from March next year the Police are expected to fill out a form every time they stop someone - this is ludicrous. I hear all the cries about how civil liberties are likely to be abused and how will we know that the Police are being even handed in the way they deal with ethnic minorities etc etc. But are we really going to be surprised when the Police are not on the streets because they are filling out forms to provide ethnic monitoring, or the nurse is not attending to someone in casualty because they have to fill out a form to show they are meeting some target? Does everything that public servants do need a form to monitor it? Is a form the only way we can be sure that the ethnic minority groups are not being stopped more than others? There has to be a better way - and in the meantime we should let the Police get on with their job and the nurses and doctors with theirs and if the other parties do not trust these people to do this then they should be honest and say they 'do not trust the Police'. In any case there is a vast difference between 'stopping' and 'searching'. Currently if the Police 'search' someone they do need to fill out a form and this would continue. What the Conservatives are against is extending this form filling to every time an officer 'stops' someone.

Hysterically of course the Government jumps up and down and screams about it all and how MH cannot possibly afford this - which is total baloney. Given how much taxation has risen in this country and how much this Government is spending of our money it is a nonsense. I say "cut the forms and keep the Police".

The Lib Dems? Well once again they managed to condemn the whole thing as a disaster clearly indicating they think filling out forms is a good idea. They also put out what they called a 'well worked set of proposals' which basically amounted to adding in more cost for a bunch of national quangoes called a National Police Agency, a National Border Force and a Financial Crime Directorate. More forms, no more Police except they might offer 'softer' jobs for those nearing retirement to stay on longer. Please....We have had this silly approach for too long. We know all about the Lib Dem Plans to not jail first time burglars and giving prisoners the right to vote, what people write to me about what they want done is more Police and fast, fair and forceful enforcement of penalties.

So a good Police day all in all and finished the day off with a trip to the cinema to see Harry Potter - great movie - but after all that crime maybe all I wanted was a bit of escapism!!

Humidity High

What a humid day it has been. The threat of storms but nothing materialising. Really pity my wife that during the Summer holidays, with four children, when it rains it is so diffcult to keep them amused without it costing a fortune.

Sources tell me that tomorrows Surrey Comet will be an interesting read - not sure what but something about opening out a debate and internal strife within the Lib Dems. We shall see! We hear so many stories of the rows and dissent within the local Lib Dems that we have lost track now. Still a good platform is building for us to fight the local elections in two years time.

As rain held off did some delivering this evening into the Grove ward area. We are getting a pretty good response over there for what was a pretty solid Lib Dem area once. A number of new party members and deliverers. Clearly things are improving for us locally even though the polls are not moving nationally.

Raeburn Avenue recycling

Great Day today. Some delivery this morning and then entire family round to lunch - Brother from Manchester and youngest brother and wife from Lidd. Spectacular day, threatened all sorts of rain but came to nothing. Exhausted at end of it but good to get family together more than once during a year.

Long day tomorrow sorting out the appalling Council grass cutting contract with council officers as well as trying to do something about the recycling centre at Raeburn Avenue This issue has become even more ridiculous and has almost nothing to do with recycling anymore as the degree of private dumping of fridges etc has reached ludicrous proportions. Real quandry though - we all support recycling but.... there must be a better way of doing it. Perhaps if the door to door recycling was better we would not need these static sites?

Slow Summer Saturday and Fireworks

Bit too hot to do things quickly today. Attempted a fast delivery of leaflets around Grove ward and then felt too hot. Will go back Sunday evening and complete.

Took the children out cycling through Bushey Park and back along river and then a slow evening.

Noticed the issue about fireworks. Doubtless lots of organisations and parties will be trying to grab this as their success. Fact is there is a lot of ill feeling surrounding fireworks and their innappropriate if not dangerous use. Actually think the regulations have got things broadly right although, if I heard the radio report right the idea that you single out special events (New Year, Diwali etc.) but give them each seperate curfew times does seem a little potty. Still, I am sure we all believe that our MP's know what they are doing!! Also a little unsure about the six month's in jail bit! Seems a bit steep when so many seem to get off so lightly for doing much worse.

Big Brother - Poor Politics

I am sitting here watching the closing moments of Big Brother.

Politicians moan and complain about how they wish they could get as many people interested in politics as they are in Big Brother. The fact is of course that policians do not really put themselves on the line in the same way the contestants of BB do. Open, naked honesty cannot ever suit some politicians - especially the naked bit!

But there is a difference between honesty and blatant opportunism that gives politics and politicians a bad name. Let me give you an example.

The Lib Dems have claimed that they want to give all elderly people in England free personal care. In fact a Lib Dem MP called Gidley has said: "Britain’s elderly should receive free personal care, unrestricted by discriminatory criteria." You can see it on their website - click here

And yet in Kingston the Lib Dem Council is considering implementing a means tested tax for domiciliary care; care for those with terminal diseases or those too old to run simple tasks for themselves. In fact they might charge up to £400 per week for those with most savings and the highest need for care. This is outrageous, but not only am I outraged but so is Age Concern Kingston and the Kingston Centre for Independent Living. But this is the nature and style of the Lib Dems, promising the popular knowing that it is not deliverable without pain - like the idea of a local income tax. But it is also just so damn mean. Can the Lib Dem Leader of the Council really believe it is fair to say "it is fairer to charge wealthy people for the cost of their care than charge everyone through council tax." Surely that is what a caring society is about, using taxes to care for the frail and vulnerable, not just the poor?

Instead of standing up for these people I gather from Lib Dem Watch that our own MP was leading the jeering and the abuse thrown at the Labour candidate at the Leicester East by election whilst he was trying to give his vixtory speech.

And now it has grown even worse as the Kingston Lib Dems attempt to betray an election pledge to provide a day center for the elderly in Chessington and instead build a dementia unit on the site. A centre that they might move again in a few years - what happened about caring for people!

I am sorry to sound negative, I am not personalising this, but hypocrisy should make people angry. Being elected brings responsibility and if you are not able to stand up for people: rich, poor, young, old, drug user, alcoholic, whatever, then you should not stand for election.

So what are they going to do with the Big Borther house at the end of this series? Maybe there are some politicans that ought to spend some time there and get to know what real people are like! Maybe being publicly voted out of office for the way they behave in the house might sharpen up their acts a little?

Have they really increased 'Police' numbers?

Another hot day. Not so much hot as steamy! Clearly not as steamy as it must have been at the FA board meeting today!

I noticed today a wonderful example of Lib Dem nonsense. They attacked the Conservatives for arguing that some Police forces were reporting that they would have funding deficits by the end of the year. One such Chief Constable on the Today programme this morning agreed with this. And yet the Lib Dems manage to argue that our policy to have 40,000 extra policemen is half baked but then not put forward an alternative. See for yourself..... Lib Dems have no policy on Police force

But I will tell you what really worries me about this Governments and Livingstones strategy for Police. I actually think the new neighbourhood Policing (6 officers per ward) is very good but I worry about its sustainability. The new PCSO's are great people undertaking a difficult job but.....they are not Police Officers, having no powers of arrest. The really worrying thing is that here we have brave PCSO's who are now going to be the 'Police on the Street' and yet we pay them significantly less than the poor police officer stuck in an office filling out the forms for Whitehall bureaucrats. There is something wrong here and I cannot help thinking this is policing on the cheap that is also putting the less well paid PCSO's in the front line. My Father was a Police officer for thirty years so I have a bit of an idea about the problems they face but as he says the irony is that this type of policing we were doing thirty years ago!! Nothing new there!!

Yet more deliveries tonight which worked up a sweat. Having the young girl from France staying I decided to take my wife to dinner and leave the children behind. Went to a great restaurant called 'The Italian Taste' in Victoria Road, Surbiton. Great meal, great atmosphere.

Business, Tourism and Sewage

What a day!

Had a very good business meeting this morning and really mapped out the future development of education. For those who do not know I run an education charity and one of the projects is how we can really use technology, in a sustaniable way, to transform the delivery of education - no small agenda. Sadly though not an agenda this Government gets because change relies on decentralisation to entrepreneurial head teachers rather than the over centralising instincts of Labour.

The young French girl staying with us also took her first visit to London. Our city is apparently "big", "exciting" and the "best place in the world". We cynical British sometimes forget the asset we have in London. Despite all the problems of Mayor Livingstone, and the horrors he will send over the next four years, this is a great place to live!

Did you hear the monstrous wash up from my article about the rain and delayed trains? Apparently Thames Water pumped a million litres of sewage into the Thames and now there has been a massacre of the fish we have seen populate this once foul river. What is going on? I will tell you. So desperate have the Government been to increase house numbers in london that they have built like mad without attending to the infrastructure issues that are inevitably there. My view is it is about time the developers started paying premiums to pay for the extra drainage and sewage required to accommodate these homes. If developers do not like it then do not build the homes. Do you think it will stop them?

Rail privatisation and the failure of trains

Ok..I admit it...rail privatisation was a disaster and the last Conservative Government made a mistake. It was not a mistake to privatise it but it was a mistake to use the method they did to privatise it. I heard on the radio this week that in fact fares will have in real terms fallen during the ten years of privatisation, whereas they rose by over 100% in the ten years before privitisation.

I still believe though that the real mistake was made by the post war Labour Government that took state control of the railways from the private sector. Name me a single industry that thrived and is still in existence from those awful dark Labour days after the second World War? Even the health service, created at the same time, is not thriving and educational attainment has stagnated.

Tonight though I faced the nightmare we commuters face from time to time. It rained - and therefore the trains have to stop running. I admit it rained a fair bit and there was flashing and thundering, but in the 21st century do the public services, private or public, really need to stop because of rain. Tonight a twenty minute journey took almost two hours. A fellow commuter was rung by their partner and the partner clearly asked where were they? Their reply was "in hell". That is what it is like in our cattle trucks they call trains. Yet the Government sets targets for reliability and punctuation - what about comfort? We all need to lose weight, but does my rail ticket include a proportion that is dedicated to causing me the most discomfort by sweating it off in a coach load of poor commuters?

Lib Dem Watch and women doctors

I feel obliged to keep all my residents completely informed of where the best information can be found for the coming election. I would therefore urge all those who have an interest in really seeing what the Lib Dem party is about to visit a new Blog called Lib Dem Watch - Click here

Did anyone see the news article today that says that the President of the Royal College of Physicians (Dr Carol Black) feels that there are going to be too many women doctors and that it will weaken the profession to be too female dominated? Now, there was an awful lot said about women not wanting to do the more difficult medical specialities and that medicine would become like teaching which has mostly women and no influence (their views not mine!) but..... can this really be right? Are they saying we now need to introduce an equal opps movement for men? Mens rights? I think the heats getting to everybody.

Spent a frantic hot day at work and then an even hotter couple of hours delivering more leaflets - nothing glamorous about being a parliamentary candidate. Still it is the stuff of politics actually meeting people, must remember this time once elected and recall that keeping that contact not only makes it easier to do your job but keeps your feet firmly on the ground. But that is not just about holding special surgeries at which few turn up, but also continuing to knock on doors.

This evening was a warm evening and dinner with the family and Linda (a young girl from France staying for a couple of weeks to help out with the four children over the holidays).

Lots of correspondance to catch up on so another late night beckons.

A hot Summers day in August

Some might argue that politics slows down in August. Not if you are a candidate fighting a large majority - quite the opposite. August is a month to get things delivered and to get things done.

So today has been a delivery day and a long hot afternoon spent in Old Malden and Grove wards delivering leaflets and survey canvass forms. Really getting a fantastic response from this with lots of offers of deliverers and poster sites - things are looking up for Conservatives in Kingston & Surbiton, despite what they say nationally.

Saw a really rather idiotic article in the Sunday Telegraph claiming that the reason the Princess of Wales fountain was not working was that some people were not treating it as a memorial but as an item of fun and allowing children and dogs to paddle causing dirt and some such. If the thing was a memorial why did they not take into account that litter might get into it. Which fool allowed them to design a monument that could be clogged by rubbish!!

The American elections are going to be very interesting and there is a very thoughtful piece about John Kerry in today's Sunday Telegraph that really stood out as exposing the mess that Kerry has got himself in over Iraq. Despite the press I understood where Michael Howard was coming from with his "..if I knew now about what I was told then I would not have voted for it position" but Kerry's position is bizarre...click here and it should take you there.