Tuesday, 13 May 2008

Public Meeting in Crewe

Bob Spink MP (standing at lecturn on left) speaking at the Public meeting in Crewe last night in support of Mike Nattrass (seated on right).

There was standing room only at the meeting in the Crewe Arms. About 80 people squeezed into the Gladstone Room to hear Mike Nattrass and Bob Spink talk about the effects of the EU on the people of Crewe and Nantwich and explain how only a vote for UKIP was a vote to get our county back.

Bob is one of the hardest working MPs and was praised by the late MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, with whom he had agreed on many topics, and a minute's silence was observed in her memory. He said that if Britain was not in the EU it would have billions to spend which could be used locally on services. Outlining UKIP’s raft of polices Bob, who travelled up from Westminster to attend the meeting, said these included a flat tax, which would remove 4.5 million people from taxation altogether, bringing back hospital matrons, more bobbies on the beat and the repeal of the Human Rights Act.

Mike Natrass Mike told the audience: "The other three parties are in denial." He said, "Any debate mentioning immigration and they don't tell the electorate that because of the EU people from 26 countries are able to freely come here." Crewe has many Polish immigrants. Mike said he liked Poles. He said: "But we don't need millions of them. Poland is being stripped and is having to import people from the Ukraine and China. We cannot plan our economy because we don't know how many are coming over the border and the EU is constantly expanding."

Mike thanked Bob for making the journey to Crewe and the formal meeting finished about 9.00pm but of course it continued in the hotel bar until much later.

Monday, 12 May 2008

topless in Crewe

Lovely sunny day in Crewe, lots of topless people walking past the office, all male unfortunately! The leaflet teams are out and the map of the constituency is starting to fill in nicely with yellow highlighter. Not to say this indicated Lib-Dem support, not in the least, it's just how we keep track of where our leaflet teams have been. Last week it was a little depressing as it had isolated spots of yellow here and there but its starting to look quite jaundiced now.

From Tuesday a campaign newspaper will also be going out and we will start with a green highlighter, of course where we have already delivered the introduction pack we might get green and yellow looking more like Blue! I must find somewhere that does purple highlighter to ensure UKIP colours are represented somewhere.

Had several people in the office yesterday after posters for their garden. The local UKIP'ers have said the have never seen so FEW Labour posters in any election before. There are also reportedly more Tory Posters but not a high number. It might very well be that the Labour vote stays at home rather than goes Tory. We did get a brief mention in the Sunday papers when a lady being interviewed admitted she was a life long Labour supporter but would never vote for them again, she was thinking about voting UKIP! The majority of visitors to the office were actually Labour voters who had finally seen the light.

Bob Spink is due in the constituency tonight and hopefully we will have a good turn out at out meeting in the Crewe Arms Hotel. 7.30pm kick off! Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Sunday, 11 May 2008

makin' my mind up time!

Friday May 16th 2008 will be an important day for me. Firstly it is my mother's birthday, so "Happy Birthday Mummy!" and secondly it is the closing date for applications to be on the UKIP MEP Lists for the 2009 Euro-elections. The UK is divided into twelve Euro Regions. Each region has between three and ten MEPs. Interestingly residents of Gibraltar vote in the UK South West region. In total there are 72 UK MEP's (reduced from 78 in 2004 since the number of MEP's is fixed so when new countries join the EU each existing country gives up some MEP seats).

So the question to ask myself is "Do I want to be an MEP?" If I had been asked 4 years ago tye answer would probably have been NO. However, circumstances change. Four years ago my children were at school and it was important to try and give them some stability. Now they are both older and could cope better with an absent father. Well apart from when Dad's Taxi was required of course! Also four years ago I was basically a political virgin. I had no idea how much influence the EU had over our daily lives and how rapidly that influence was growing. It is only while being a local councillor that i have seen the insidious way the EU is destroying our national identity and way of life.

I love Europe. After seeing how much happier (and healthier) my parents are no they spend several months a year in Spain I even harbour ambitions to retire to the sun myself one day. However, I loath the European Union and all it stands for. So maybe the answer to my question is YES I do want to be an MEP! The next question then of course is which Regional List do I go for? North East? Yorkshire? What about the East Midlands, they elected Kilroy after all and as a graduate of Loughborough University I do have educational links to the region, also I worked for 12 years for PERA which was based in Melton Mowbray, right in the middle of the Region. Think I might have to phone Derek Clark MEP!

Saturday, 10 May 2008

Sad and Desperate

Sad and Desperate, not the UKIP Campaign here in Crewe but the antics of the Labour Party who are facing the prospect of a formerly safe Labour seat slipping out of their hands. The Labour campaign appears to be built on two main planks. Firstly the Candidate is the daughter of the former MP and secondly that the Tory Candidate is a "Toff"

So Sad that they are still fighting the Class War in Crewe and desperate that they think they need the personal vote of the "Dunwoody Brand" to save the seat.

However, the late MP was held in such high esteem by her constituents because she spoke her mind and wasn't afraid to be unpopular with the Labour Leadership. I'm not sure if Tamsin is in quite the same mould as her mother. Tamsin comes into the campaign after loosing her (Labour) seat on the Welsh Assembly and so the campaign in Crewe is really a last attempt to save a faltering political career. During her 4 years on the Welsh Assembly Tamsin proved herself to be a true Nu Labour Clone and she has a record of defending unpopular Labour Policies, not attacking them. The local links to Crewe are also tenuous to say the least. In her campaign to win a Welsh Assembly seat in 2003 she made much of her "local links" to Cardiff claiming she was someone who lives in the community, works in the community and whose children go to school in the community. Thereby giving her a very real belief in a strong voice in Cardiff for Pembrokeshire.

As regards the sad, class warriors in the Labour Party. They seem to think it's a wizard wheeze to follow the Tory Candidate round the constituency with Labour Activists dressed as though they are on their way to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. Now coming from Hartlepool I appreciate that many old labour activists are still steeped in the politics of envy and class hatred but I had hoped that the country as a whole was growing out of that. Of course look at the number of Labour MP's with private educations and the even larger number who are sending their own children to independent schools and you realise the Nu Labour Leadership can't really allow the classs war angle to go to far as they themselves are pretty vulnerable. However, when has being a hypocrite ever troubled a politician?

Friday, 9 May 2008

"real” local politics

The situation regarding Chairs and Committee places at Hartlepool Borough Council is an interesting example of “real” local politics in this country. Labour, Conservatives and Liberal-Democrats are now so close together in almost all major policy areas that it doesn’t really matter which party you vote for. All three are taking their major policy direction from the European Union which now dictates 80% of all new laws introduced into the UK.

The Lib/Lab/Con is also united in their determination to hold onto the cosy club they have developed in Town Halls up and down the country. The lib/lab/con club operating in Hartlepool exists to make it very difficult for Independents or even worse any other political party, from getting any significant influence over the local government process.

The Lib-Dems and Tories would much rather see Labour controlling all the Committees in Hartlepool than have Independent or UKIP Councillors anywhere near positions of authority.

The “real” politics of the situation in Hartlepool is that Labour will remain in control for as long as the Liberal Democrats AND Tories continue to allow them to do so or until the combined seats of the Lib/Lab/Con are less than all the others on the Council. Having a majority of none Lib/Lab/Con Councillors is of course is extremely unlikely to happen as the three parties work quite closely together to keep out individuals and other parties not in their club. The use of a spoiler candidate in Grange Ward by the Tories for example gave the illusion of a democratic choice but actually have the overall effect of ensuring the Labour Candidate would be elected. A fine example of the Lib/Lab/Con working to support each other against outsiders.

A discussion on another forum has speculated it might even be hatred of me personally (and UKIP in general) that drives both the Tories and the Lib-Dems to support Labour. If Keith Fisher had beaten Carl Richardson and UKIP had succeeded in toppling Arthur Preece (who has NEVER spoken directly to me in the 6 years I have been a local Councillor!) it might have signalled a major change for Hartlepool Politics. However, I think the Tories and Lib-Dems would STILL have supported Labour as the Lib/Lab/Con would much rather have each other than some upstart independent or a new political party muscling into their play pen.

Thursday, 8 May 2008

The Lib/Lab/Con is alive and well in Hartlepool

After the May 1st Elections I posted that the Tories “spoiler” candidates had saved the Labour Group from even bigger defeats. The Tories have now allied with the Lib-Dems to keep Hartlepool Council under LABOUR Control even though Labour no longer has a majority of Members. Labour are the biggest individual group with 23 from 48 Councillors but without an overall majority.

Today was the first (and possibly last) round of the annual horse trading over who will chair which Committees for the coming year. Remember this is very important as CASH is on the table in the form of “extra responsibility allowances” associated with being Chairman of a Committee.

Labour announced they were taking 12 of the available 16 Chairs. These were the Chair of Full Council plus the Chairmanships of Planning, Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee, Constitution Committee, North Neighbourhood Forum, Central Neighbourhood Forum, South Neighbourhood Forum, Health Scrutiny, Culture and Learning Scrutiny, Regeneration Scrutiny, Children's Service Scrutiny and Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny.

With the nod from Labour the Lib-Dems took 2 Chairs (General Purposes and Audit Committee.) plus Vice Chair of Full Council. The Tories, again with the nod from Labour took the last 2 chairs (Licensing and Contract Scrutiny).

So that gave Labour 12 Chairs (including Chair of Full Council), Lib-Dems 2 Chairs (plus the Vice Chair of Full Council), the Tories 2 Chairs and the Admin Group nothing at all.

The Admin Group, who are remember the second biggest group on the Council After Labour, proposed that the Chair of the Full Council should go to the Lib-Dems with a Labour Vice Chair. Plus Chair of Regeneration Scrutiny, Chair of Children's Service Scrutiny and Chair of North Neighbourhood Forum should go to the Admin Group.

Obviously the Admin Group proposal required the Labour Group to accept they were no longer in the Majority in Hartlepool Council and allow none Labour Councillors to take some positions of responsibility within the Council. The Admin Group proposals would have split the Chairs as follows.

Labour with 23 Councillors, 8 Chairs and Vice Chair of Full Council.

Admin with 10 Councillors, 3 Chairs.

Lib Dems with 6 Councillors, 3 Chairs including Chair of Full Council

Tories with 5 Councillors, 2 Chairs.

This seemed to be eminently fair and balanced and even still slightly over generous to Labour if anything. The Tories still got exactly what they wanted, the Lib Dems actually did better out of this proposal and the Admin Group was able to contribute. Labour still had the biggest slice of the pie but they lost overall control, reflecting the situation after the last elections.

The Labour response


"NO"


they refused to even discuss it.

The Lib-Dems and Tories then BOTH backed Labour.

Despite losing overall control on May 1st the Labour Group is going to hold onto 12 out of 16 Chairs, including the Chair of Full Council and all the Scrutiny Forums and all the neighbourhood forums.

Next time the people of Hartlepool vote Lib-Dem or Tory maybe they should remember that when it comes down to it the Lib-Dems and Tories both voted to keep the Labour Group in power.

The Lib/Lab/Con is alive and well in Hartlepool.

What price Democracy?

Let's hear it for the real alternative

Taxes going up and up and up!

Post Offices Closing Down!

Immigration out of Control

British Troops being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan

Waste incinerators on your doorstep

Economy in freefall


The list could go on. The 10p Tax fiasco show the Labour Government is failing and ignoring its traditional supporters. Desperate to divert attention away from its record in government the Crewe and Nantwich Labour Party hope that selecting the daughter of the late MP as their candidate will appeal to personal loyalty.

Why should Crewe and Nantwich elect a former Labour Welsh Assembly Member looking to cash in on family connections to restore her flagging political career? Make no mistake Tamsin would be no “chip of the old block” if it came to putting Crewe and Nantwich ahead of Party loyalty. Party, Party, Party will win every time.

So what’s the alternative?

It doesn’t matter if you vote Labour, Tory or Lib-Dem. All three take 80% of their policy instructions for the European Union Commission in Brussels. This effects almost every aspect of daily life in the UK.

So what is the alternative?

The UK Independence Party is the only real opposition!


UKIP is the only Party fighting in
Westminster and Brussels to regain control of our country from the European Union Superstate.

Only UKIP want to regain control of our borders, stop unlimited immigration, repeal the Human Rights Act, rebuild our links with the Commonwealth and scrap The Common Agricultural Policy, The Common Fisheries Policy and The Common Energy Policy.


UKIP don’t want what’s best for Europe.

UKIP want what’s best for Britain.


On May 22nd the only way to make a real difference is vote for Mike Nattrass and the UK Independence Party.

On May 22nd you are not going to change the government of this country but you can send a powerful message!

On May 22nd tell Gordon Brown and the Lib/Lab/Con that ordinary, decent, British people and saying “Enough is enough”


Vote Mike Nattrass – Vote UKIP!



Published by me on my blog in support of Mike Nattrass, the UK Independence Party Candidate
Crewe and Nantwich By-Election. Campaign Office 121 Nantwich Road Crewe

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Don't PANIC

Slight panic today over submission of nominations. My calculations based on the normal by-election timetable was that nominations closed between day 6 to 9 at the discretion of the returning officer. The days being calculated from Day 0 being the moving of the writ in Parliament. Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays are excluded from the day count.

The Council's Election Office have been so busy with local elections and then straight into this by-election that there has been no briefing meeting for Candidates/Agents and no official timetable has been issued so by my reckoning the Writ was moved on 30th April (Day 0), was received in the Constituency 1st May (Day 1) and that made Day 6 on Friday 9th May (Saturday 3rd, Sunday 4th and Bank Holiday 5th May all excluded).

I always like to get nominations in early so was aiming to do it today (Wednesday) which I thought was in plenty of time. However, according to the TV news this morning Nominations closed today, NOT Friday. The Agent therefore was outside the Council Offices this morning before they opened! Nominations in and accepted.

I am still convinced that Friday should be the day nominations close but our papers are in so I'll let someone else worry about it.

According to the Elections Office the postal Ballot Papers will be going out on Friday 9th May so I suppose they need a couple of days to print them (there are approximately 7,000) so to get them out Friday they did need to close nominations today! Of course the Royal Mail Election Addresses will not be delivered until week commencing May 12th so some people will have voted before they receive anything through their letter box unless it is hand delivered by activists this weekend or an individual letter sent to the postal voters before next Saturday.

Don't fancy licking 7,000 stamps over the next two days! That would really give me a sore tongue!

Challenger I and II in close company

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

UKIP MP and MEPs to speak in Crewe and Nantwich

Things in Crewe appear to be (mostly) under control. I do hope these are not famous last words!

Our first leaflets were put through letterboxes on Saturday and a little later in the campaign we will have a good old Routemaster bus, decked out in UKIP logos. Two public meetings have also been arranged.

Monday May 12, 7-30pm. Crewe Arms Hotel-opposite Crewe Railway Station. Special guest speaker Bob Spink, UKIP MP for Castle Point. This will be Bob’s first public meeting as a UKIP MP so I hope he will get a rousing reception.

Monday May 19, 7-30pm. Nantwich Town FC. The Weaver Stadium, Water Lode, Nantwich, CW5 5BS. Special guest speaker is Nigel Farage MEP, Party Leader who needs no introduction. Mike Nattrass MEP will be addressing the meetings as candidate and there will be other speakers at both meetings too.

So all in all not a bad day so far!

Polish Sausage

The sun is shining today and I am chewing on a Polish Sausage. There is a Polish Grocery shop right opposite our office and they do a mean line in spicy sausages!

Also discovered what "Czajnik bezprzewodowy" means in Polish (well I think I do) any guesses?

Well I think it means "Cordless Jug Kettle" because that's what it says on the other side of the box in English. This was purchased in the local TESCO yesterday as the office was sadly lacking in tea and coffee making facilities. Reading the rest of the box (yes I'm sad!) I discovered the kettle was made in China for Tesco Stores UK and is labelled in English and Polish as the main languages but CZ, H and SK translations are also in smaller print.

Ah the wonders of globalisation

Monday, 5 May 2008

It's raining in Crew

Well here I am in Crewe. Its just after lunch and the rain is coming down. The UKIP Campaign Office is up and running at

121 Natwich Road
Crewe
CW2 6BA

our telephone number is 01270 211007

Broadband is on line and webpage is being set up as we speak. Not as far along with leaflet distribution planning as we would like since we couldn't get ward maps from local council on Friday as they were busy with local election count and they are closed today for Bank Holiday.

We've seen the some Labour activity as their HQ is just down the road from ours and of course they have selected the daughter of the former MP to as their candidate. Labour might not support the hereditary principle in the House of Lords but there appears to be a developing hereditary element in the House of Commons. Just look at how many husband/wife teams of MPs there are and how many MPs are sons, daughters, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, etc of former or even sitting MPs. Some newspapers talk about a developing "Political Class" in the UK but to me its getting more like a family business. At least the people of Hull had the good sense to reject John Prescott's son to replace his father but I'd put money on Prescott Junior popping up again somewhere soon.

Cameron is rumoured to be in town tomorrow so maybe the pace will be hotting up.

Saturday, 3 May 2008

All aboard for Crewe

Arrived home in time for the local election results but also to learn that in total disregard of all tradition and convention the Labour Party have moved the Writ for the Crewe by-election before the late Ms Dunwoody has been laid to rest.

As a gesture of respect to the deceased it is usually accepted that no direct campaigning will take place until after the funeral. When the Lib-Dems started early ion Bromley they were rightly criticised of not even waiting until the former MP Eric Forth was cold before they were jockeying for his seat. However, in the case of Ms Dunwoody it is here own party that have started to campaign rolling before she is in the ground.

As a result of this I will be on the train to Crewe in the morning. As UKIP Campaigns Director I'm responsible for ensuring we fight a professional campaign and comply with all the regulatory issues. The Candidate is the West Midlands MEP Mike Natrass and poling day will be May 22nd.

So it looks like it might be another hiatus for blogging! Catch you all when I get back when I hope to have the reports ready on my Tall Ships Challenger experience. It was definitely an experience I can tell you that. Of course the possibility of the Fastnet Race 2009 has now come up..........but that's definitely a story for another day.

Friday, 2 May 2008

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my son Edward who is 16 today! We shared a cake this afternoon as I was away on the ocean wave on my birthday on Monday (28th April) and it is difficult to have a birthday cake when the deck is at 35 degrees.

Proportional Representation in Hartlepool?

I can't help but play with numbers, it's just the way I am. That's why 1,000,000 visitors to the tall ships is giving me such a hard time and why Council tax increases always seem so hard to justify in real numbers. However, enough of that!

I've just played a little numbers game of "What if Hartlepool Council was elected on a proportional representation single basis".

Of course it's not an exact science since the number of wards contested by each party come come into play but based on the number of votes cast last night it needed only average of 865 votes to elect one of the 7 labour Councillors returned last night, 1,175 to elect one of the three successful Independents, 1,334 for each of the Lib-Dem, 2,121 for UKIP's success and 2,131 for each of the two Tories.

Translate that into proportional representation based on average votes cast per ward contested and then multiplied up to estimate the result for all 15 wards and the Proportional representation make up of the seats won changes to

Labour 3 Seats (Down 4),
Independents 4 Seats (up 1),
Liberal Democrats 2 (no Change),
UKIP 2 (up 1) and
Tories 3 (up 1).

The Tory figure is actually most suspect because although they stood in 11 Wards out of 15 they got almost half their total vote in just two wards (Park and Throston).

The other surprise is that the PR Calculation would have given the BNP a seat. Of course this is why demands for PR are resisted by the main three parties. Labour would loose seats but the Tories wouldn't necessarily gain them and the Lib-Dems remain the same so none of those three would benefit by a fairer election system and so it will never happen!

UKIP get second Councillor in Hartlepool

Hello everyone, I'm back from life on the Ocean wave and straight back into the swing of politics.


Starting with some extremely good news, well I think so, I'm sure some people might not be quite so pleased!

Martyn Aiken was successfully elected as a member of the Hartlepool Unitary Authority Council last night. Martyn polled 396 Votes and won the seat with a majority of 8 votes over Labour (388 votes) and the sitting Liberal Democrat Councillor who trailed behind in third place with 321 votes. The result was a testament to hard, prolonged work in the ward. Martyn Aiken and the Hartlepool UKIP team under Chairman Eric Wilson who have repeatedly leafleted and canvassed the ward over the past two years. It is long, hard slog that wins local elections, a lesson UKIP appears to only recently have taken on board. If at first you don’t succeed then try, try, and try again!

UKIP’s existing Hartlepool Councillor, Stephen Allison (elected 2006) is now looking forward to Martyn Aiken joining him in Hartlepool Council Chamber. Having another seat in the Chamber will make quite a difference to the effectiveness of Hartlepool UKIP as this mean motions can now be proposed and seconded by the UKIP Group. This obviously was not possible when Stephen Allison was the sole UKIP representative on the Council.

The night also held some disappointments for UKIP Hartlepool. Our second target seat was held by the Liberal Democrats on 419 votes with UKIP second on 417. The sitting Councillor retaining his seat by only 2 votes (after three recounts). Well done George Springer for all his hard work. To para-phrase the Governor of Califonia "He'll be back!"

The third target seat was Rossmere which was held by the sitting Labour Councillor with 488 votes. UKIP were again in second place with 373. Dave Pascoe, the UKIP Candidate has worked this ward very hard and improved his vote every time. He was within striking distance of winning the seat and could very well have taken it but for a last minute spoiler candidate put up by the Tories, who finished last in the ward but took nearly 200 votes, well in excess of the 115 Labour majority.

The Hartlepool Labour Group owes a huge “Thank You” to the Hartlepool Tories for putting up spoiler candidates in several wards. The Labour Chairman and the Labour MP’s Election Agent could both quite easily have lost their seats apart from the intervention of the Tories in wards they couldn’t win but where they did have enough influence to split the vote sufficiently to ensure sitting Labour Councillors were re-elected. Hartlepool Council a Labour/Tory Alliance? Well politics do reportedly make strange bedfellows.

Friday, 18 April 2008

Life on an Ocean Wave

Blogging has almost stopped for the past couple of weeks. First it was getting everything sorted for the local elections, then it was helping out down in London on the Mayoral Campaign, followed by a bout of "man flu" that I'm still struggling with. Unfortunately blogging will be out of the question next week as well as I will be spending the week before the mast as a crew member on a Tall Ships Challenger. It even makes a special note in the crew handbook that there are no facilities for charging Mobile phones available on board......wonderfull......I'll even be away for my birthday on April 28th so no cake and presents for me.

I'll blog my adventures upon my return on 1st May. Until then here's hoping for a fair wind and sea room!

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Brown to go?

According to The Spectator Labour Back Bench MP's are giving Gordon Bron until May 2009 to improve or they will force a Leadership Election. Obviously they don't expect a General Election in 2009 if they are going to wait that long, unless they think a bounce in the polls from a new Leader might just be the thing to galvanise the NuLabour faithful (if there are any lefty?) to go out and vote in the June Euro-Elections and so they could get both humiliations (oh please I do hope so.....) over with on the same day?

A Political Betting Website is tipping Andy Burnham as a possible Labour Leader at 14/1. No mention in the betting (apart from 100/1 bar) of the MP for Hartlepool? However apart from both being 30 something I don't think there are any other common characteristics between the two MP's.

Burnham is a Cambridge graduate who has risen quite fast since becoming an MP only seven years ago. He’s articulate, self-deprecating and quite convincing.

Wright isn't (
a Cambridge graduate), hasn't (risen quite fast since becoming an MP), isn't (articulate), definitely isn't (self-deprecating) and is in no way convincing! Although I suppose he convinced enough people that the Hospital was safe so maybe I'll have to admit he's convincing enough to fool some of the people, some of the time.

blogger downside

All is not always rosie here in blogersville. A post that I thought appeared quite innocent has recently cost me a good friend. Just shows you always need to be careful what you release into cyberspace. I thought I'd learned my lesson over a certain tongue in cheek post about common purpose but obviously not. Ah well, chalk it up to experience!

Monday, 14 April 2008

MEP CANDIDATE SELECTION PROCEDURE

The Tory Party has once again shown how it is completely
committed to political correctness by reportedly insisting
that in the event a man gets the most votes in the ballot
of members for places on the MEP Candidate list in any
region then the second place must be given to a woman.

This has resulted in several male candidates being placed
third on their regional lists behind a female candidate who
finished several places below them in the ballot.
An alternative selection procedure has been suggested and
I have managed to get hold of a copy.


CONFIDENTIAL DO NOT COPY
MEP CANDIDATE SELECTION PROCEDURE 
All potential candidates will be invited to attend a
selection event which will result in the first draft
List. The list will be split by region. The list is
subject to ratification by Call Me Dave and by a full
ballot of the members. All potential candidates will be
required to sign a legally release indemnifying the
party from any injury damages or loss however so
arising from attendance at the selection event.
To obtain a place on the list every candidate will be
issued with a 15cm (6 inch in real measurements!)
steel dagger, honed to a razor sharp point and with
a slashing edge. All Candidates will then be placed in
a large room and the lights turned off.
On the signal to commence all candidates will attempt
to stab all other candidates in the back. Candidates
attempting to plunge their knives into a rival’s chest or
straight between the eyes will be disqualified. The only
permitted alternative to a stab in the back will be a
single slash to the throat.
Candidates forming groups for mutual protection will
immediately be disqualified unless the group is
registered in advance with Call Me Dave and is approved
by him.
Some candidates may, at the discretion of Call Me Dave,
be issued with either two knives, a stab proof vests or
a set of low light vision goggles. Some candidates may
receive all three. The decision of Call Me Dave to
award additional equipment will be final. No discussion
will be entered into.
Candidates who are selected for early elimination by
Call Me Dave, or who question any aspect of the
selection process, will have their knife replaced by a
small cod or other suitable fish (as an illustration of
how Tory support for the Common Fisheries Policy has
been a disaster for the UK). In exceptional circumstances
some candidates may also be fitted with illuminated
bulls-eye targets on their back with an LED message
“STAB ME” running around the target.

When the total number of candidates still capable of
stabbing a rival has been reduced to the number required
for the list then the first round selection procedure
will be deemed complete.
Unsuccessful candidates who have survived the process
will be given first aid and returned home after signing
a total confidentiality agreement. Candidates receiving
fatal wounds will be buried with full Party Honours and
nominated for an “Unsung Heroes” Award at the next Party
Conference. Prior to the lights going out all candidates
will have been required to sign a new "Last Will and
Testament" bequeathing their total estate to the Party
to be used as Call Me Dave thinks best.
Call Me Dave and his Old Etonian and Oxbridge Chums will
retire to a behind closed doors session to place the
survivors into a ranked list split by region. The criteria
for sorting the list will be confidential. At this point
additional "wildcard" candidates who have been allowed to
bypass the initial elimination process may be added at the
discretion of Call Me Dave. Any candidates that become
surplus at this point due to additional candidates being
inserted above them in the list will become "reserve
candidates" Call me Dave’s decision will be final.
The full ranked list will then be published and a Ballot
of members will be necessary to approve the list. The
members will be asked to approve the full list as it is
published, no discussion of individuals on the list or
rankings will be possible due to the unavoidable
complexity of the selection procedure.
Ballot papers will be returned to Party Headquarters.
Votes unreservedly approving the list will be placed into
a box for counting. Votes that do not approve the list
will be shredded immediately after opening.

The Complete list will be published on the Party Website as
soon as final approval by the membership ballot is verified.
Due to the fluid nature of British Politics the list will
need to be subject to continual review and upgrading as
circumstances change (for example a C List Celebrity or one
of Call Me Dave’s Mates requiring first or second place
on a winnable list). Call Me Dave’s decision is at all
times final. No discussion will be entered into.
 
 

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Actions Not Words

Received my St.Hilda Ward Labour Party Candidate's Election Address this week.

He is promising to "assist in the forming of steering groups to make The Central and The Headland a better place for all to live in." A couple of comments come to mind. Firstly I am sure the residents of St.Hilda Ward who reside in Bakers Mead, West View and Powlet Road are pleased to note that they don't need any special consideration. (Grammatically of course that promise should be plural as Central and Headland are two places). I'm sure existing bodies such as Resident's Associations, The Conservation Area Advisory Committee, the TMO on Central, the Parish Council on the Headland and the NAP Group will all be pleased to know another group is going to be set up to talk about things. Maybe the Labour Candidate has his slogan the wrong way round, it should be "Words not actions"

He is also promising to hold regular surgeries in both the Central and the Headland Area. Wonderful stuff! All three existing Councilors already do that so I'm not sure why he needs to promise it? Maybe his surgeries will be bigger and better? Most surgeries actually have very few people turn up, I think this is a good thing as it shows resident's can easily access their Councillors without the need of a pre-arranged time or place to go and see them. His final promise is a quarterly newsletter. Well I have been producing a Ward Newsletter for several years and I'd be happy to let him have some back copies should he like to look through them. I'd be a little bit more impressed if he had been producing and distributing a Newsletter before he was elected rather than promising to do one if he is elected.

Sunday, 6 April 2008

family sunday

As I'm going to be in London all next week I decided we would have a family Sunday. I dragged my daughter out of bed, my son away from the TV and even convinced Sandra that the ironing could wait (not that she needed much convincing). I offered RISK, Monopoly or Mah Jong. The decision was RISK which is always dodgy in my family.

Edward's tactical strength is basically zero, he just wanders round the world without any attempt to disguise his mission. As I held Australia with a gatekeeper army on Siam he just kept bashing away at me and so drained me of strength without achieving his mission. Rosie sat in North America getting 8 army re-enforcements every go until she had overwhelming strength on the board. Sandra ramped straight through South America, Africa and most of Europe before I managed to retain enough strength from Ed's bashing at me to allow me to take out some of Sandra's entrenched positions. Sandra reacted by attacking me at every opportunity. The result was Ed attacking me, me attacking Sandra and Sandra attacking me as well, but luckily she had to go through Edward to get at me. All this time Rosie sat in North America getting stronger and stronger until she burst across Europe and won the game by destroying her mother completely. Just shows that keeping your head down, provoking no one to attack you and doing nothing is not just the best policy for being a local councilor but it also works as a wining strategy in RISK.

We then had a family tennis tournament on the Wii at which the kids destroyed the parents. Followed by Wii boxing where Edward pummelled me into submission as i flailed about failing to land many punches. Apparently the Hospital A & E departments are filled on a Sunday by middle aged men with Wii Injuries brought about by being weekend Dads. I can quite believe it!

Sunday, 30 March 2008

Why can't this country do things right anymore?

In an earlier post about the chaos at Terminal 5 I speculated why was it this country can't seem to run large capital projects anymore. It was bit of a rhetorical question but interestingly the same question was asked in one of today's Sunday Papers.

The answer the columnist came up with was very disturbing. Basically he said starting 40 years ago and continuing to this very day there has been a sustained attack on our education system. The Grammar schools, which has been gutted by successive governments in the name of educational choice, were a conveyor belt that took children of academic promise and turned then into solid middle class professionals, the Doctors, Dentists, Engineers, Surveyors, Architects, project mangers, bank managers, etc, all those desperately needed professionals that are vital to keep our society going. Unfortunately it has taken 30 years for us to notice the supply well has gone dry. However, as the people who qualified in the 60's and 70's get older and retire then their replacements are not coming through and hence major projects are being left increasingly in the hands of people without the education or training to carry them through.

The "Operations Director" interviewed on the TV over the Terminal 5 debacle was a perfect illustration of the tend. He was young, clean cut, obviously at home in front of the media and totally incompetent if judged by the standards of how well Terminal 5 Operations were being managed. He probably had a degree in Classics from Oxbridge and an impeccable pedigree, exactly the sort of chap one always had on the board, the problem being there are no longer the professional highly competent, practically educated and trained Grammar School boys available in the levels below him to ensure the general direction he provides get translated into workable, real life solutions.

The worry thing about this theory of course is that its taken 30 years for the shortage too become apparent and so it could well take 30 years to put it right, even if we started now. The perfect analogy being the crippling shortage of skilled tradesmen caused by the UK's decision to stop training apprentices. The UK Skills gap that exists because of that decision has never been closed and probably the shortage of skilled professionals will be the same. Of course if we want a Media Studies Graduate then no problems! If we want an Engineer, Project Manager, Surveyor, Brick layer, Plasterer, plumber, electrician, etc then that's a bit more of a problem! Lets all hear it for Education, Education, Education!

Saturday, 29 March 2008

Tall Ships Board

Just an aside from a Councillor at the North Hartlepool Neighborhood Forum on Wednesday

"I'm on the Tall Ships Board myself, but we haven't had a meeting yet........."

Well they had better hurry up if they plan on contributing anything to the event. Surprisingly I wasn't asked if I would be interested in being on any of the committees. Of course as someone who started sailing when I was about 6 years old I suppose I wouldn't have anything to offer and no doubt Hartlepool Council is full members who hold RYA Qualifications as Day Skippers and who have actual experience of sailing as a crew member on board these vessels?

Terminal 5 Teething Troubles

I wonder how many people were like me and thought of the London Olympics while they watched the chaos at Heathrow Terminal 5. I could visualise a complete catastrophe of an opening ceremony with the Olympic flame turning up late, the stadium only half built and any members of the public who had tickets being sent home as the health and safety police hadn’t completed the risk assessment and put in place the required emergency plans.

Maybe Seb Coe could explain it all away as “teething problems”

This country’s record on major projects is not exactly an example to the rest of the world at the moment. Wembley stadium was years late and millions over budget; the millennium dome was an embarrassment and now Terminal 5. What is wrong with this country? Maybe if we spent less time being politically correct and more time doing the jobs that need doing then we might get somewhere! The London Olympic Authority should be concentrating on getting the infrastructure in place to enable the games to be held, however there are much more important things to consider such as the ‘gender equality’ present in the construction industry. Lord Coe and his team are currently recruiting two Employment & Skills Managers (Women’s Project) to proactively promote construction related employment opportunities for women, assist in removing the barriers facing women wishing to enter the construction industry, broker on-site construction related work placements and direct employment for women and offer additional support to women on-site to ensure retention and career development.

According to the Olympic Delivery Authority Website (http://www.london2012.com) “Understanding gender specific schemes will be new to many contractors and to the construction industry as a whole. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of supporting women/under-represented groups in gaining employment within the industry and also facilitating relevant training and development opportunities. In addition, they will have experience in educating and assisting companies to place women/under-represented groups into construction jobs.”

The salary on offer for these jobs, a quite modest £35,000. However, from such little acorns might empires of politically correct jobsworths can be grown.

Hartlepool’s own major project, the tall ships race looks at the moment to be relatively free from too much political correctness, although the aim for Hartlepool to “make its mark by setting a world first. The first Tall Ships' Race with the environment at the forefront” could ring some alarm bells. How long before the Council Taxpayers of Hartlepool are picking up the bills for a Tall Ships Race Office Climate Change Manager?

The “work steams” announced in the Hartlepool Mail also caused me some concerns. Event technical, fleet technical, event management, visitor accommodation/marketing all seemed to be fairly sensible but two others, finance/legal and safety advisory made me wince. As an experienced project manager (and qualified health and safety advisor) I know financial responsibility cannot be delegated to a sub-committee and both financial and safety issues need to be part of each group’s own working brief otherwise they can easily spiral out of control.

Terminal 5 might take several weeks to sort out their teething problems but at least they will have that time. The London Olympics (and the Hartlepool Tall Ships) are one off projects. Get either of these wrong and there are no second chances.

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Happy Birthday Rosie.......Love You!


My Baby Girl Rosie is 17, Happy Birthday! Here she is cutting her cake yesterday (Her birthday was 26th March) with her proud parents and grandparents (Baby brother Edward is missing from the picture as he is at HMS Caledonia this week on a Meteorology course). We had to take the candles off for the photo as the glare from 17 flames was too much for the camera to cope with.

Unfortunately for Rosie the expected car didn't appear for her birthday. She did get a copy of an insurance certificate with her as a named driver for her mother's car and that cost over £500. Apparently ALL her friends got mini coopers for their birthdays! Well her friends' parents must have more money than sense! Rosie's car of choice is a RAV4 and I wish her well in her quest for one. She's watching one on e-bay at the moment, £400, R Reg, 110,000 miles on the clock. Rosie tells me the Insurances is only £75 A MONTH.

Seventeen years ago Rosie was just 9lb 8oz, she's a bit bigger than that now and seventeen years ago i could sit for hours just letting her grip my finger. This morning I had to watch her get into the car, full of 17 year old invincibility after one lesson and set of to drive to college. The journey lasted almost 10 yards before her mother yanked on the handbrake and managed to stop the car about 6 inches from a brick wall. I knew it was too soon to let Rosie drive on busy roads at 8.00am but what do I know, I'm only her father! Hopefully the scare might mean she admits so needs quiet roads and lots more practice, however she is a 17 years old woman so admitting her dad "might" be right is going to be very hard for her to do.

Monday, 24 March 2008

The wonder of Woolworths

Has anyone seen the latest Woolworth's TV Ad? It's includes a section on "boy's toys" and another section on "girl's toys" The two sections were each over very fast but it seemed to me the boys toys were cars and the girls toys were pink! I will take more notice next time it's on.

My wife and I have two teenage children, one girl and one boy. (Sorry, I should say "partner" not "wife" as using the word wife might imply a totally non-PC belief that a married couple are somehow a better arrangement for child rearing than single parent, same sex couples, or a multi gender nurture sharing matrix). Based on observation over many years my "partner" and I know that the male child and female child are different. Not that one is better than the other, just they are not the same! On the whole boys do want to play with toy guns and model cars while girls like dolls and make-up. As they get older then the boys move more into computer games and the girls develop the female fascination with shoes (and handbags).

I wonder if the Politically Correct Brigade will be complaining about the Woolworth's Advert? After all it could be interpreted as a nice piece of gender stereotyping!

The PC lobby ignore the fact that girls and boys on the whole prefer to play with different toys. Political correctness says that shouldn't be allowed to make a difference. I am all in favour of both sexes having equal opportunities but the sexes ARE different. Some boys might want to play with dolls (I had an Action Man myself, isn't that a type of doll?) but as the PC Brigade will say, how will men get in touch with their feminine side if they are not made to develop caring and nurturing facets of their personality? As regards what side of their personality girls display as "Ladettes" then the least said the better!

These comments of course will be interpreted by those who have the PC Mindset to allege that I am a rampant sexist and display out of date, redneck thinking. In my opinion one of the problems with Britain at the moment is Political Correctness! There are 1,000's of people out there now working in the "discrimination industry" and it is in their interest to find more and more ways to keep themselves in work! IfWoolworth's want to advertise boys toys and girls toys then I say good luck to them! If the children don't want them then they won't pester their parents to buy them,Woolworths will lose money and withdraw the products. Of course saying "parents" could leave me open to more allegations of being None-PC! What about kids with only one parent, or kids living in alternative lifestyle scenarios? What is the Politically Correct term for "parent" these days? Can you even say "Children" or "Kids" or should it be "young adults" or by saying "young" am I being ageist? HELP!!!!!!

Sunday, 23 March 2008

Hartlepool's Voice in Westminster

Another good week in Westminster for the voice of Hartlepool! After a by-election campaign dominated by promises that "Hartlepool Hospital is safe" which were dropped almost as soon as the ballots were counted, Iain Wright MP announced his intention to be Hartlepool's Voice in Westminster NOT the governments voice in Hartlepool. With this in mind wouldn't you have expected him to be vocal in the condemnation of the Post Office Closures? Something many members of his own Party are speaking out against on the streets of Hartlepool. Hartlepool's voice was noticeable only in its absence as he dutifully voted with the Labour Party whip AGAIN. So much for Hartlepool's voice in Westminster!

Friday, 21 March 2008


Which way is the bus above travelling? To the left or to the right?


Can't make up your mind?

Look carefully at the picture again. Still don't know?

Primary school children all over the UK were shown this picture and asked the same question.

90% of them gave this answer: 'The bus is travelling to the right.'

When asked, 'Why do you think the bus is travelling to the right?' They answered: !Because you can't see the door to get on the bus.'

How do you feel now??? I know, me too. Little smart A***S!!


Not Good Enough for Eldon Grove but OK on the Headland!

Hartlepool Planning Committee this week rejected an application to put up an industrial style sports building in Eldon Grove. It is a shame the same aesthetic sense wasn’t applied to the horrible shed erected to the rear of the Headland Borough Hall in the name of sports development.

As one of the Committee who spoke against the Eldon Grove Carbuncle I fully supported the development of tennis in Hartlepool but could not support a building like the one proposed. This is totally out of place in a residential street and in my opinion was a building of zero architectural merit. Hartlepool Council should not allow eyesores like these to be erected.

The Planning Committee agreed and the application was unanimously rejected. It’s a great shame the same standards are not applied right across the town. The Sports hall to the rear of the Borough Hall is also out of place and totally out of character for the area. This Headland Sports Hall was erected with Regeneration Money and replaced another sports Hall that had been allowed to fall into disrepair. I also spoke against the design of the sports hall on the Headland but we were told we had to accept what was on offer or we would get nothing. We ended up with a lowest cost, industrial cladding, building which is already starting to look shabby.

Hartlepool planning committee seem to apply one set of visual standards to areas like Eldon Grove and another set of standards to the Headland. Try and put UPVc Windows into a house on the Headland and there is an outcry! Put up a tin shed and the residents are told to be grateful for what they get.

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Smoking, Gardens and Consultants

After Planning today I visited the new "Member's Lounge" in the Civic Centre. It looked very nice and is very shiny and new. The old members Lounge was the only place in the Civic Centre that still used to smell of cigarette smoke, but that was reportedly because of its direct access to an outdoor garden/patio area. The new lounge is n the first floor so no outside play area for the Councillors. I wonder who gets the garden office now?

PS I was also told today that Hartlepool Council now uses that many consultants that we are employing Consultants to advise on which consultants to employ. The lunatics are definitely taking over the asylum!

Tuesday, 18 March 2008

Park and Ride

Durham City has a successful park and ride scheme in place. Maybe the Tall Ships Office could learn some lessons from them? In the first 12 months of the £10 Million scheme, the Park and Ride buses, which operate from three edge-of-town car parks on key arterial routes into the town, carried more than 600,000 passengers.

A TEN MILLION POUND scheme carried 600,000 passengers in twelve months. Hartlepool Tall Ships Team are talking to a couple of Farmers about using some fields to set up a scheme to carry a similar number of people in three days!

http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/pressrel.nsf/Web+Releases/508F60B12DDD94ED8025723A004753B1?OpenDocument

Invitation to Tender

My spies tell me that there will be One Ladies WC for every Five Hundred prospective visitors to the Hartlepool Tall Ships Event. The Tall Ships Team are also looking at a couple of Farmer's fields for Park and Ride Schemes. If these field are out near Elwick then that could be convenient for the Ladies Loos as the ques will probably stretch that far out all the way from the Marina.

Let's also hope it dosen't rain. I've parked in a field when its been wet and needed a tractor to get me out again. Also "Park and Ride" so 1,000,000 people, let's assume half come by car (though how else will they get there? Train? Bus? Walk?). Assume 4 in a car and you have 125,000 cars to park. Let's hope they are big fields to take care of the "Park" element.

That leaves the "Ride" Assuming 100 seater coaches taking 30 minutes for a round trip. That will need 5,000 coach journeys to get everyone into town. 100 coaches will give a capacity to move 20,000 people an hour so it will need over 25 hours to get everyone in and out. To get people in and out in 4 hours will need to move 125,000 people per hour, or just over 600 coaches! That of course assumes all coaches run at full capacity!

However, don't worry about the details while there is the opportunity for The Tall Ships Empire in Hartlepool Council to continue to grow. The Tall Ships Team are now looking to appoint the favourite tool of the public sector Empire Builder .... "Consultants"

The Hartlepool Mail carried the following advertisement (under Public Notices of course not Job Vacancies)

The Tall Ships Races
Hartlepool Quays
7th - 10th August 2010
Invitation to tender to provide sponsorship services


Hartlepool is delighted to be the only UK port hosting The Tall hips Races in 2010.

Tenders are requested from experienced consultants interested in bidding to provide sponsorship services to assist the Tall Ships Team in delivering a successful event.

For further details please contact the Tall Ships Office on

tallships@hartlepool.gov.uk or (01429) 523420

Deadline for submissions is 12noon on Friday 4th April 2008
(Interviews will be held on Friday 11th April)

Eurovision Song Contest 2007




Compare the map above with the participants in 1957 to see how the Euro - zone has grown and Grown and GROWN in the past 50 years.

The dark green are the "Big 4" countries, that automatically qualify for the final since they pay most of the costs of the contest (Yes the UK is not only a major funder of the European Union but we also fund the Eurovision Song Contest. I hope the BBC Licence Payers are happy with that!).

Medium Green are Countries that qualified for the final due to the 2006 results. Light Green are Countries that qualified from the semi-final. Red are Countries that didn't qualify from the semi-final and Yellow are Countries that have participated in the past, but not this year * indicates Debuting countries for 2007 and † are Returning countries

Power Station Visit



Councillors, Residents Representatives and Power Station Employees at the recent site tour of Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station.

The Station Staff were to a man (and woman) 100% enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about their power station. The visit was extremely interesting and definitely confirmed my view that a new power station would be a massive boost to the economy of Hartlepool.

Saturday, 15 March 2008

Passport Application

Dear Minister,

I'm in the process of renewing my passport but I am a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.

How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?

How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?

How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money to themselves if I fail to claim in good time. Do you people do this by hand?

You have my birth date on numerous files you hold on me, including the one with all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30-odd years. It's on my health insurance card, my driver's licence, on the last four passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes and boats over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done every ten years and the electoral registration forms I have to complete, by law, every time our lords and masters are up for re-election.

Would somebody please take note, once and for all, I was born in Maidenhead on the 4th of March 1957, my mother's name is Mary, her maiden name was Reynolds, my father's name is Robert, and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and the day I die!

I apologise Minister. I'm obviously not myself this morning. But between you and me, I have simply had enough! You mail the application to my house, then you ask me for my address. What is going on? Do you have a gang of Neanderthals working there? Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to activate the Fifth Reich for God's sake! I just want to go and park my weary backside on a sunny, sandy beach for a couple of week's well-earned rest away from all this crap.

Well, I have to go now, because I have to go to back to Salisbury and get another copy of my birth certificate because you lost the last one. AND to the tune of 60 quid! What a racket THAT is!! Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day? But nooooo, that'd be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some tosser to confirm that it's really me on the goddamn picture - you know... the one where we're not allowed to smile in in case we look as if we are enjoying the process! Hey, you know why we can't smile? 'Cause we're totally jacked off!

I served in the armed forces for more than 25 years including over ten years at the Ministry of Defence in London. I have had security clearances which allowed me to sit in the Cabinet Office, five seats away from the Prime Minister while he was being briefed on the first Gulf War and I have been doing volunteer work for the British Red Cross ever since I left the Services. However, I have to get someone "important" to verify who I am -- you know, someone like my doctor... who, before he got his medical degree 6 months ago WAS LIVING IN PAKISTAN...

Yours sincerely,

An Irate British Citizen.

(With Thanks to Geoff who sent me this by e-mail this morning......how true it all is!)

Eurovision 1956


Thank you for those people who have contacted me after my comment about Israel and the Eurovision Song Contest. Looking into the Contest's history is actually quite fascinating and there are many parallels between the European Song Contest and the European Union itself.

The Eurovision Song Contest was first held in 1956 in Switzerland and was broadcast as a Radio Programme. The countries coloured green in the map above where the 7 countries originally involved (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Switzerland). Austria, Denmark and the UK were going to compete but were disqualified as they failed to register a song before the contest closing date.

The contest was won by the Swiss entry. The voting system allowed juries to vote for any competing song, including those of their own country but as Luxembourg failed to send any judges the Swiss delegation (as the host country) were allowed to vote twice. The scores for this Contest have never been made public and only the winner was announced, no other placings were revealed. The winner, coincidentally, was Switzerland!

The song “Refrain” was sung in French and was never released commercially which has caused suggestions that it actually placed very low and was chosen for political purposes. Rumours placed Germany second thus justifying Germany hosting the second Contest, and a possible third place was mentioned for Belgium.

So incompetence, unrepresentative juries, behind the scenes deals, secret voting and alleged fixing for political purposes. It appears from reports that all these were evident in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956. With a pedigree like this the Eurovision Song Contest could almost be a model for decision making in the European Union today.

Friday, 14 March 2008

The Barcelona Agreement

Come on now! Admit it! How many of you have heard of the Barcellona Agreement? Shame on you iof you missed the announcement! It has been quietly going about its business for more than a decade. However, it's not surprising if you missed the news about its formation. The European Union operates mainly in secret and behind closed doors and accepts its long term aims will take generations. Slow creeping growth often means its intrusion into more and more of our daily lives go unnoticed. The Barcelona Agreement began the process by which Cyprus and Malta became EU Member states and Turkey is a “Candidate Country” following close behind.

The “Barcelona Group” was set up at a Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Barcelona on 27-28 November 1995. Formally known as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership it is a wide framework of political, economic and social relations between the Member States of the European Union and Partners of the “Southern Mediterranean”. Originally 12 countries were included. Two (Cyprus and Malta)are now EU Members and one (Turkey) is a “Candidate” Country undergoing negotiations to join. On this basis it must be a reasonable bet that the European Union will ultimately expand to include the other Barcelona Group Members. This will bring Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia into the European Union at some point. Libya has had observer status since 1999 so it too must be on the eventual membership list.

I remember the first time North African and Middle East Countries appeared on the Eurovision Song Contest. Several people asked then how long Israel (for example) had been in Europe. The answer is obviously since the Barcelona Agreement in 1995.

Wealth beyond my wildest dreams

I am so excited. I've just literally been offered the opportunity to invest in seven oil and gas wells. This once in a lifetime investment opportunity came to me via the telephone from a very excited salesman, (who kept calling me Mr.Allen), and doesn't require me to part with any money at the moment. All I have to do is visit their website, log on using the personal ID assigned to me and the unique password that again is assigned only to me. Once I've logged on then I will be able to see the exciting opportunities for wealth beyond my wildest dreams that are available only to me!

Apart from getting my name wrong, I asked the nice man where he got my number from and where he was based. I am registered with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service) which is supposed to block exactly this sort of nuisance phone call. Unfortunately it doesn't work for callers from outside the UK!

Suffice it to say I won't be logging onto their website and entering my unique ID and Password. I might not know much about computers but logging onto an unknown website in this way seems like a fairly good way of by-passing the virus checker, the "firewall" and all my other on-line security methods and thereby opening up my computer to all sorts of nastiness!

Mind you it was nice to know someone thinks I'm worth targeting! I wish I had half as much money as some people think I have! Well must go now as I'm collecting my winnings from the Spanish Lottery. I was surprised as I don't remember buying a ticket but as the nice man said they entered on my behalf which is why they need a small deposit from me to release the full winning amount. So it must be my lucky day. The chance to investing in seven oil and gas wells and winning a lottery I never even entered! Seems too good to be true!

Former MP spotted

The last post got me thinking about Peter Mandelson (Something I try not to do very often as it makes me shudder). When he left Hartlepool after stepping down as MP he made the usual remarks about Hartlepool having a special place in his heart, how he loved the town and its people, etc.

Apart from the briefest possible visit to sell his house I don't think he has been with 100 miles of the town since he left. I'd love to know if anyone has actually spotted the guacamole eating former MP in Hartlepool (or even the North East) since he left?

Of course the same question could be asked of Tony Blair in relation to Sedgefield. Has "Our Tone" been a regular visitor to Sedgefield since his resignation? I did hear the new MP for Sedgefield on the radio the other day where he appeared to say that Sedgefield has been neglected for years and he was going to put it right. When pressed about the statement he back peddled quickly saying Tony Blair had been a brilliant MP for Sedgefield but of course he was very busy as Prime Minister and had lots of other things to do.

It's not just North East Safe Labour Seats that get taken for granted! Safe Tory seats are often handed out to high fliers in the same way safe Labour seats seem to attract Labour cabinet ministers. The possession of a safe seat allow the politicians to get on with their real priority, their political career, without having to waste too much time bothering about their constituency and getting re-elected since they know they are safe. Any constituency seen as "safe" for one party is a "lost cause" for the others. No party will waste resources on safe seats they don't need to keep sweet in order to win and no party will waste resources on lost causes that they have no change of taking. Let's hear it for the Marginals!!

It's all the fault of the North East

It occurs to me that the refusal by the Labour Government to allow a referendum on the EU Constitution (sorry, I mean the "Lisbon Treaty") is all the fault of the Labour voting North East of England. The last time Labour allowed a referendum it was too planned to anoint the new North East Assembly. The overriding result was an 80% NO Vote. This was achieved in the face of Labour Politicians actively campaigning on the slogan that “a NO Vote was a Tory Vote”

Now, hated of the Tories is passed to most north east babies while they are still in the womb. In fact the politics of envy, the chip on the shoulder brigade, the “working class hero” hatred is too intense to be rational in many cases. I have come across people who hate the Tories with such intensity that religious suicide bombers could appear to be moderate when compared to them. With this in mind then you would think anything that even hinted at supporting the Tories would have been a sure fire way of getting the YES Vote out in droves. Unfortunately for Labour it didn’t work. A huge majority of the North East population do indeed hate the Tories but they seemed to hate the European Union inspired Regional Assembly even more. So there you are. No Referendum for us on the EU and its all the fault of the North East of England. If they couldn’t be trusted to vote the right way then how could the Labour Party risk allowing the rest of the country a say.

PS Hartlepool of course gave the Labour Party two fingers in its Mayoral referendum as well. I was told, but as I wasn’t invited I can’t say if it’s true, that the Labour Candidate had a marquee on his lawn and a breakfast of strawberries and champagne laid on ready to celebrate his election as Hartlepool Mayor. After all, the good sheep of Hartlepool could be relied on to elect the Labour Candidate couldn’t they? The subsequent election of a man in a monkey suit put pay to the political ambitions of that particular labour supporter and probably cost him the chance to replace Mandelson as MP for Hartlepool when that individual left for pastures greener in Brussels.

Climb the Pole.......Go Iain GO!

The control of the UK by unelected Brussels Bureaucrats is now almost totally complete. The Lisbon Treaty continues its progress into UK Law without a referendum of the people who couldn’t be trusted to vote YES and so were denied the chance to vote at all. Twenty Nine Labour MP’s did do the honourable thing and vote for a Referendum. Two of these MP’s were from the Teesside area, Frank Cook (Stockton North), and John Cummings (Easington) were both Labour rebels and backed the Referendum Amendment. Frank Cook of course has already been deselected by the Stockton Labour Party and I think I heard that John Cummings is retiring at the next General Election. This means both of these MP’s are free to listen to their constituents and truly represent their views rather than just parrot the party line and give priority to maintaining their position on the greasy pole.

Surprisingly (sarcasm here) the MP for Hartlepool was not on the Rebel list. Looking at the voting record of the Hartlepool MP is appears the only time he has ever voted against the government whip was in his first few days in the Commons when he accidentally went through the wrong lobby. With blind loyalty like that he is surely destined for high office very soon!

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Ward Surgery

Well another Ward Surgery tonight where a grand total of zero members of the public turned up. Every month we hold these non-events and every month almost no-one comes. All around the country there must be 1,000's and 1,000's of hours wasted in Councilor's Ward Surgeries that no-one ever goes to. Add in the cost of venues and the printing (in 10 languages) of Ward Surgery notices and I'll bet the amount of money wasted is immense. However, Ward Surgeries are one of the sacred cows of local politics! Just try and do away with ward surgeries and the flack really starts coming at you!

In my opinion Ward Surgeries are like Village Shops and woe betide anyone who tries to take them away. Of course no-one actually uses a village shop for their main grocery purchases, but everyone likes the thought of a Village Shop being there just in case they forget something in the weekly Supermarket visit and so need a local convenient place to buy a pint of milk, box of matches, birthday card, etc.

Ward Surgeries also remind me of a small village I drive through regularly on the way to visit a client in Hull. The regulars in the local pub had dwindled to almost zero and were so few that the pub couldn't maintain draft beer on tap due to sales being so low. As they lacked a decent pint the trade dropped off even more until the Landlord said enough is enough, closed the pub and applied to turn it into a private house rather than a public house. The result, massive outcry, the claim the pub was "the heart of the community" and a petition to the local planning committee demanding the application be refused.

The application was deferred for 6 months. The Landlord kept a diary of his customers and beer sales in this six month period. The only time any significant sales were recorded was in the two meetings held there by "regulars" to discuss keeping the pub open. The pub is now a very nice private house in an impressive location set back from the A19 between Thirst and York.

Councilor's Ward Surgeries are rather like this pub! Surgeries are "vital in the Democratic process" but no-one actually uses them, it's just seen as nice that they are held!

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Remote Control


Anyone who thinks the EU and the Lisbon Treaty are just an irrelevance to them should paste the link below into their browser, switch on their speakers and watch the Video. It lasts 20 minutes but is definitely worth it

www.NoRemoteControl.org

Hate Crime

In common with many people I have been appalled by the decision to restrict service men and women wearing their uniforms in public to prevent then being abused over the UK's involvement in Iraq. This is not the first report of this nature! I remembered reports that injured service personnel in NHS Hospitals were being denied treatment by some staff, who again objected to British Forces Iraq and Afghanistan.

Consider for a moment what would happen to a group of teenagers verbally abusing and spitting on an individual from a different race or of different sexual orientation. These would be "hate crimes" and would be dealt with quickly and firmly. Can you imagine the outcry if gay men were told that if they went out flaunting their sexual orientation then they deserved to get beaten up or if to prevent assaults people of one race or another were advised to stay off the streets!

Service personnel should be able to wear their uniforms with pride and any yobbo abusing them in the streets should be dealt with in the same way as anyone abusing someone of different race or sexual orientation. Unfortunately while "gay bashing" is (quite rightly) illegal there is obviously no law against abusing our service men and women. Similarly hospital staff refusing to treaty a gay patient would be in big trouble! Why then can they refuse to treat injured services personnel? Possibly because our armed forces go where they are sent, do the job they are told to do and get on with it without the benefit of a politically correct lobby behind them. Even remembrance day parades are being scaled down by the PC Brigade. I would give every one of out boys and girls who serve in Iraq or Afghanistan a medal the size of a dustbin lid, the freedom of their home town and no serving soldier, sailor or airman should ever need to buy a drink while home on leave. It dosen't matter whether you think we are right or wrong to be in Iraq (personally I think we are dead wrong and sholud never have been there in the first place). What matters is our armed forces deserve and have many times over earned our support, respect and admiration.

Monday, 10 March 2008

Holiday Inn or Express Hoilday Inn

Spent the weekend in London with my daughter, Rosie. Two reasons for the visit, shopping for shoes of course, plus she wants to be a Solicitor and there was a careers conference at the London School of Law which she was booked to attend to tell her all about it.

Her conference went quite well, from what she told me, which as I am her father means she told me what she wanted me to know. She has decided to go to Cambridge and then become a Commercial Law Solicitor. Her chosen firm pays £38,000 a year to their trainees in the first year, £45,000 in the second year and then the sky is the limit. I pointed out it was very, very competitive but with the supreme confidence of youth that didn’t bother her at all. I suppose as she is on target for 5 Grade A A levels she probably has the academic qualifications she needs. I did also find out she was very shocked when everyone asked her if she was a Geordie! Rosie unfortunately shares the common delusion that she herself has no regional accent……Bless!! As the young people say.

We had booked to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Old Street, which is the chain I usually use. We were allocated a smoking room. However my “Priority Club” Membership definitely specifies “NONE Smoking Room only” so we were upgraded and transferred to the Holiday Inn Kings Cross. This was a massive mistake! Rosie now knows that Holiday Inn Express isn’t like Holiday Inn “Plus”, she’s discovered proper Holiday Inns are actually much nicer than the Express Holiday Inns. The rooms are better, the en-suites are better and the breakfasts are definitely better. Rosie will now expect Holiday Inn every time, which of course means twice the price!

The final nail in the Holiday Inn Express Coffin was the discovery, by Rosie, of how comfortable the real beds are. She had always stayed in a family room with a pull out sofa bed and she has slept there. Now she has experienced a real bed the pull out sofa is definitely gone for good. Money no object to my little girl!

Saturday, 8 March 2008

Heugh Breakwater and £170,000 Consultancy Fees

Hartlepool council's appetite for spending on Consultants now includes £170,000 to look into sea defences for the Town Wall area of Hartlepool’s Headland. The appointed experts may even consider the need for the erection of a breakwater! Having lived or worked on the headland most of my life I was under the impression we already had a breakwater. A big stone structure that sticks out into the sea near the paddling pool? Isn’t that a breakwater? As regards the need for it then I’m fairly certain the Victorians didn’t build it on a whim!

It will take 18 months to prepare this report. If they would like to give me a ring I can show them the Heugh Breakwater in about 18 minutes. Alternatively they could look at the numerous reports that have been produced on this matter going back over the last 30 years at least. I found on line references to reports as far back as 1978 when "Central Design and Modeling Services" carried out an investigation into effects of abandoning the Heugh breakwater.

More recently the Heugh breakwater was extensively discussed (and a report prepared) by the Culture, Leisure and Transportation Portfolio meeting on Tuesday, 14th November, 2006.

Why is it that there always appears to be plenty of money for Hartlepool Council to bring in consultants and have studies carried out but after all the talk and the fees are paid the Council rarely seems to actually do anything!

Saturday, 1 March 2008

Come in under a lorry and your welcome. Marry a British Soldier and you get deported!

This story was reported on Radio 5 Live on Friday 29th February and is an absolute disgrace. The British government should be ashamed!

Six years ago a Canadian woman met a British Soldier while he was stationed in Canada. They married and she went with him on his next posting to Germany. They now have two boys, aged one and two, who both have full British passports.

When the family moved to the UK several months ago she applied for full citizenship but it has been rejected since she applied after she arrived here. She now faces being sent back to Canada to apply again from there, a process which could take up to a year.

Her husband is a serving soldier so her two you boys will either have to be left with carers in the UK or go to Canada with her. Of course a none-British Citizen removing underage British Children from the UK is also difficult if not downright impossible.

This government doesn’t hesitate to send our servicemen and women into harm’s way. Unfortunately the same government don’t seem to think there is any responsibility on them to also look after the dependents of these service personnel. So while this government of this country protects the “human rights” of illegal immigrants, criminals and welfare tourists the full weight of the law is being brought down on the wife of a serving British soldier! If this lady had hijacked a plane or come in underneath a lorry through the Channel Tunnel then there would have been a queue of do-gooders fighting to help her. To call this a disgrace is an understatement.