Health and Safety Corner

This gem from the political betting site.  Today has seen a new poll, which is heavily commented on which includes the following comment by antifrank   "Off topic, I’ve just been told by a train steward that he had to put my cup of tea into a paper bag: “health & safety, sorry sir”. I had three yards to walk with it.".

I attach no blame to the train steward who presumably faces some form of disciplinary action if he doesn't comply but....................

What happened to common sense and personal responsibility?   

UK economy cries out for credible rescue plan

The following letter has appeared in the Times today which undermines Labour's plans to tackle the growing debt - which will have to be paid back. The signatories include leading economists,. a Labour Peer and former members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

"It is now clear that the UK economy entered the recession with a large structural budget deficit. As a result the UK's budget deficit is now the largest in our peacetime history and among the largest in the developed world.

In these cirucmstances a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan would make a sustainable recovery more likely.

In the absence of a credible plan, there is a risk that a loss of confidence in the UK's economic policy framework will contribute to higher long-term interest rates and/or currency instability, which could undermine the recovery. In order to minimise this risk and support a sustainable recover the next government should set out a detailed plan to reduce the structural budget deficit more quickly than set out in the 2009 pre budget report............

The letter can be read in full here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article7026234.ece.

The real cost of Labour's failure will be shown in the huge interest payments which this country is already paying and will continue to have to pay. The problems facing the UK economy are severe, this is not talking down the UK economy, but being honest about the real extent of the problems we are facing. The average family is already paying £1400 more per year in tax, thanks to Gordon Brown's stealth taxes. Once again Labour have taken the country to the brink of disaster, now leading UK economists agree - there will be difficult times ahead.

Choose the most worthy eco-project. Entry two - Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Choose the most worthy eco-project. Entry two - Bumblebee Conservation Trust

For some great environmental projects clink on the link above. The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust and the Woodland Trust both have projects on this site. I support both organisations who do invaluable work. The winning project will receive the equivalent of £30,000.

Stop and Search powers ruled illegal

The Judgement yesterday in the European Court of Human Rights held that the random stop and search powers introduced by sections 44-47 of the Terrorism Act 2000 breached UK Citizens human rights now throws the Labour Governments anti terror laws into disarray. There were three key planks to the ruling, firstly the fact that since 2001 the whole of the metropolitan area of London was a "designated area" for the purpose of random searches, this power has to be renewed every 28 days. Secondly a high number of UK citizens had been searched by police, the power requires no element of suspicion, so you could in theory be searched just because the police did not like what you were wearing, or for any other arbitrary reason. Between 2001 and 2004 over 205,000 searches were carried out, with just over 1% leading to any kind of charge. This meant for the remaining 99% innocent people were stopped for no reason. The third being that there was no requirement that the person stopped was under suspicion. It is the last that is the most serious, as there was therefore no requirement that there be any justification for conducting the search. This has led to climate change protestors being searched under anti terror laws.

Lord Carlile the independent Law Lord in charge of reviewing the Government's anti terror legislation said on Radio 4 "As and independent reviewer of terrorism legislation I have reported repeatedly that it should be used much less. I have said year on year that its use could be reduced by 50% without damaging national security, and I remain of that view." What is of concern is that Ministers have ignored Lord Carlile's year on year reports.

We have fought two world wars for hard won freedoms, one of which is to be able to go about our ordinary day to day business without being detained, whether it is temporary or for a longer period, where there is no suspicion that we are doing anything unlawful. What the police need are effective stop and search powers where there is a suspicion that someone is engaging in terrorism.

PC Madness

I notice that Justice Secretary Brigit Prentice is calling for a boycott of shops that sell pink things for girls as being "sexist". My daughter has grown up on a farm and was given trains, tractors and "boys things" to play with as a child. Yet still her favorite colour is pink, she is not a child that plays particularly with dolls that is her choice, but she loves all things pink and I am not willing to impose my views on a small girl that has decided what she likes. I view this as a phase and one day she is likely to grow out it. The aim apparently of this campaign is to "challenge girls to fulfill their full potential". How boycotting pink is going to achieve this I am not entirely clear. I view the fact that as a single mother she sees me working hard, she knows the basics of what is right and wrong, and that she has clear boundaries as being far more important in helping her to fulfill her full potential. Parents choose what boundaries to give their children, but banning pink strikes me as a childish and arbitrary decision - why shouldnt a child be able to enjoy pink fairy wings.

Health and Safety Corner

In the radio I heard a story about a passanger on a train that was delayed. He went to the buffet car to ask for an egg roll. He was told that he was not allowed one for "health and safety reasons". When asked what those reasons were he was told that he couldnt have his egg roll because there might have to be an emergency evacuation and he might choke on it! A sign of the times that we live in. What this story shows is not only a complete lack of customer service, presumably by someone for whom that is part of the requirements of their job - but the fact that Health and Safety has become a by word for ridiculous decisions.

Remeberance Sunday

The sacrifice given by so many, so that our values and beliefs can endure and survive was so clear today in the Service I attended in Holywell. It is always with a sense of shock that I listen to the sheer numbers of those that sacrified their lives in both the first and second world wars, for our freedoms. Those sacrifices go on today, and I remember and salute both the injured and those who have laid down their lives for us.

Supporting jobs

Today it was great to see David Cameron in Holywell, there was real excitement that he was coming to talk to local businesses about how they could support jobs in Flintshire and how the Welsh Conservatives would support them. This is the third time that David Cameron has been in Flintshire and the second time this year. In May he spoke to 40 students from the Mold Alun school, today it was local businesses which spanned all sectors from manufacturing to tourism, construction to accountancy. David Cameron had visited Airbus in Broughton, but went on to talk to local businesses from Holywell, Mold, Flint and Deeside. What was so important about this visit was the fact that as well as visiting Airbus, he also took the time to meet people from all sectors of the economy, and to see how we can keep Flintshire working.

Afghanistan

The huge sacrifice made by Soldiers in Afghanistan continues, I heard the following passage on the Radio yesterday, it stopped me in my tracks. Having heard the email earlier in the week written by the Welsh Guardsman Rupert Thorneloe talking about the shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan the words of Siegfried Sasson seemed particularly relevant. The £121 million refurbishment of the Ministry of Defence's offices shows just how wrong this Government's priorities have been.

By SIEGFRIED SASSOON

I am making this statement as an act of willful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.

I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defense and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow-soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.

I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize.

Siegfried L. Sassoon, July 1917

The Leader - Political row brewing over Airbus Broughton

The Leader - Political row brewing over Airbus Broughton

Following the leader article today over the Broughton plant, about which so many lies have been told there have been some instructive comments on the Evening Leader's website. Some of the comments are as follows. "Mr Tami knows well that he is part of a totally discredited Labour Party...so anything goes...all of a sudden we have claims made that can only lead to the undermining of confidence in Airbus and worse causing worry to the workers and families...and he accuses the Tories of using spin!!"

That quote and others in the thread show that Labour's scare tactics are not washing with the voters in Flintshire.

This quote also was on the website "Seems like New Labour will try anything apart from the truth to gain votes...I honestly hope on a single Labour MP gets elected....".

The tide is turning against Labour in Flintshire. Voters are not willing to accept dirty tactics from Labour anymore, and will want to see some honest debate. Labour's record isnt good. 400,000 more children in child poverty. Mass immgration that Britain was not prepared for, when all our european neighbours took steps to limit the impact of a bigger European Union. The 10 pence tax increase. Motorists being hit every day in the pocket, and talking down the manufacturing business we have here in Flintshire.

Welsh You Gov Poll

Todays You Gov Poll is good news for Conservatives in Wales, but shows that there is no room for complacency. Manufacturing here in North East Wales has been hard hit by the downturn and Labour's immigration policy is blamed by the voter. It is clear that the open door policy of the Labour Government over more than a decade has caused a crisis of confidence in local communities. In her appearance on Question Time Sayeeda Warsi rightly pointed out that not enough resources have been targeted at communities where immigration has had very real impact. There can be no doubt that a cap on the numbers coming into the UK and tackling illegal immigration must be a priority. However this needs to go hand in hand with policies to ensure our children have the best education and become the next generation of engineers, and scientists with the vision and skills to grow the UK economy.

PMQs and Constitutional reform

PMQs today

Observations of Gary Gibson political commentator and blogger for Channel 4 News "The Prime Minister temporarily forgot himself and attacked David Cameron for talking about namby pamby (my phrase) constitutional stuff when the voters were really interested in public services and the economy....shortly before launching into an hour long statement on the Constitution." Hmmm

It is interesting that following a complete drubbing in the elections GB has suddenly found his passion for Constitutional reform. GB said the Govt was dealing with issues like "housing". In Wales Labour's record on social housing is totally dismal with less council housing being built in the years of devolution than under Mrs Thatcher.

European Elections Frank Field's Views

The following extract was posted by Frank Field today

"Labour supporters claiming that the European results were not a catastrophe for the party can only do so by inventing a new meaning for the word catastrophe. Whether one looks at them on a national, regional or local level the picture is pitiful.

The results reflect the collapse of support for the Government in the country. They also ring a clear verdict on the EU......

Don't let anyone kid themselves that this was an unimportant election where voters felt they could make a clear protest vote. Unless something changes significantly on a national level these results would be reproduced at a general election.

Labour cannot win with the present Prime Minister. I was one of the seven who would not support his coronation after Tony Blair was shoehorned out of Number 10. But even I didn't think a Brown administration would be as inept as this one.

The Brownites are attempting to terrorise Labour MPs into inaction. If they succeed then we deserve our fate."

In Delyn Labour got 18.7% of the Votes with the Conservatives on 27.2% share it would appear that voters in Delyn agree with Frank Fields assessment that the Brown Administration is totally inept

Historic vote in the European Elections in Wales

Tonight was a historic night for Conservatives in Wales. At the counting centre in the Pavilion in Flint it was clear that the Conservatives and UKIP had polled well, however for the Conservatives in Delyn it was also the first time that we have polled more votes that Labour since boundary changes moved Prestatyn, a Conservative area into neighbouring Vale of Clwyd.

Not only that but the Flintshire result overall saw voters turning to the positive policies put forward by the Conservatives with Conservatives topping the poll in both Delyn and Alun and Deeside. A Plaid Cmyru MP described the results in Wales as "earth shattering and we are seeing Labour imploding". Were these results to be replicated across the board in an election in Wales in the same proportions it would mean that the Conservatives would gain 17 seats in Wales. I am delighted as I know Dr Kay Swinburn as our MEP will fight hard for the interests of Delyn, she has already been here a number of times and is aware of the issues facing Flintshire.

I believe that I have alot of hard work still to do to earn the respect and trust of every voter in Delyn, but this is a great result for the Conservatives and a miserable night for Labour. So miserable that the Labour agent at the count refused to stay and listen to the result being announced.

D-Day, ID cards, freedom of speech

Today I salute the veterans and their fallen friends for the great sacrifice they made. I remember talking to my Welsh grandmother as a teenager when a friend of mine tragically died. She calmly and with great sadness told me of the great number of her friends that never came back from the War. I have particular reason to be grateful for the sacrifices made by those who so bravely fought and died in the Second World War, my mother's family were living under occupation by the Nazi's. I have grown up hearing from her some of what that meant, her description of watching people starving and having to eat flower bulbs as food, the constant fear, the inability as a young child to play freely or say what one thought, for fear of doing the wrong thing. The hope brought by occasional snatches of broadcasts from the BBC, passed on by those who had been able to hear them. I also know her relief and joy when the city she lived in was liberated by the British and Americans from Nazi rule, something for which she remains eternally grateful.

I have therefore grown up with a deep distrust of State "controls" which may account for why I am so against ID cards, why political correctness is such a corrosive thing - freedom of speech is vital and yet now many fear that they can not say what they think out of fear of being branded an "ist" racist, sexist etc. The attempted introduction of 42 day detention without trial, a DNA database even for children, and the threat of the compulsory administration of medicines (vaccines) being discussed as a serious idea by a Labour AM here in Wales in the last week. The increasing surveillance society where cctv cameras on streets and roads track our every movement, and with the Government seeking to monitor emails and telephone calls on a huge scale. Local councils using anti terror legislation to monitor benefit claimants and parents sending their children to a particular school. Complicity in "extraordinary rendition" and collusion in the use of torture.

Our freedoms were fought for at great cost.

I want to thank those who gave their lives, I thank those who watched their friends die and have lived with that for so many years, those who came (and to continue to come home) maimed and injured. I also thank those who continue to fight to bring those values to other countries. You have fought for our freedoms at such great cost, and we owe you a duty to preserve the values that you fought for.

The dying embers?

The events of the last few weeks have been monumental. I have been out and about in Mold market talking to people in Delyn to find out what they really think, that has involved stopping people in the street and talking to them. The great thing about Mold Market is that it attracts people not just from Flintshire but from all over the country, and the views have been pretty forthright. There is a feeling of being let down by all politicians, from all parties. The events of the last few weeks leave many people thinking why arent we talking about immigration, why arent we talking about recession and the lack of help available, and why are politicians lining their own pockets at the expense of all of us who work hard and pay our taxes. They have let us down.. When canvassing in March this year on an estate in Delyn I was struck by the number of houses which had no lights on. Although I knocked on the door and expected no answer those doors were opened. Whether you can pay the next bill is the real question and that is why "it was within the rules" just doesnt wash.

Alun School students

I have been questioned by Alun Students several times in the past, and always found their questions to be searching and well thought out. During the Welsh Assembly campaign in 2007 questions from those studying politics in Delyn were some of the hardest that I came across. David Cameron's visit to Mold today was great to see. He too faced those students, and I was delighted by both the quality of the questions, and of the answers to them. It really was wonderful to see the enthusiam in the Daniel Owen Centre. After the meeting there was a real feeling of excitement and interest in what had happened in that meeting. Having been out on the doorstep and in Mold market during the last few weeks there is also a similar engagement and feeling of involvement from some, with complete antipathy to politics from others, nearly all of those I have spoken to feeling totally and utterly let down. The expenses issue has undoubtably damaged politicians from every party, but here in Delyn there is a real interest in the issues, which is encouraging to see. It promises to be an interesting run up to the election, whenever that might be.

Sam

Following on from the death of my son I would like to thank everyone for the support that so many people have shown to me. It has been a devastating time and my daughter and I have a huge hole in our lives.

There are two fantastic organisations who can provide help and support to those who have been through the loss of a child. Both www.uk-sands.ord and www.fsid.org provide help lines, sources of information and support for families and children.

Oppression and UK policy over Tibet

This is an extract from the New York Times article headed "Did Britain just sell Tibet"

"Last month, for example, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, asked China to give money to the International Monetary Fund, in return for which Beijing would expect an increase in its voting share.

Now there is speculation that a trade-off for this arrangement involved a major shift in the British position on Tibet, whose leading representatives in exile this weekend called on their leader, the Dalai Lama, to stop sending envoys to Beijing — bringing the faltering talks between China and the exiles to a standstill.

The exiles’ decision followed an announcement on Oct. 29 by David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, that after almost a century of recognizing Tibet as an autonomous entity, Britain had changed its mind. Mr. Miliband said that Britain had decided to recognize Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China. He even apologized that Britain had not done so earlier.

Until that day, the British had described Tibet as autonomous, with China having a “special position” there. This formula did not endorse the Tibetan claim to independence. But it meant that in the British view China’s control over Tibet was limited to a condition once known as suzerainty, somewhat similar to administering a protectorate. Britain, alone among major powers, had exchanged official agreements with the Tibetan government before the Chinese takeover in 1951, so it could scarcely have said otherwise unless it was to vitiate those agreements.

After the People’s Republic of China joined the United Nations in 1971, British politicians refrained from referring to their country’s recognition of Tibet’s autonomy to avoid embarrassing Beijing. But that didn’t make it less significant. It remained the silent but enduring legal basis for 30 years of talks between the Dalai Lama and Beijing, in which the Tibetans have called only for autonomy and not independence — a position that a conference of Tibetan exiles in India reaffirmed on Saturday.

Mr. Miliband described the British position as an anachronism and a colonial legacy. It certainly emerged out of a shabby episode in colonial history, Francis Younghusband’s cavalier invasion of Tibet in 1903. But the British description of Tibet’s status in the era before the modern nation-state was more finely tuned than the versions claimed by Beijing or many exiles, and it was close to the findings of most historians.

To read the full article click here http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/opinion/25barnett.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=tibet&st=cse

I have blogged before on Labour's failure to implement ethical foreign policy.

There are a number of organisations that help those in Tibet. If you want to take a stand then you can donate to any of the following

- http://www.tibet.com/Action/index.html

- http://www.freetibet.org/

- http://www.tibetnetwork.org/

- http://www.tibetanchildrenseducation.org/

Hidden Costs

Still reeling from the Pre Budget report, I opened my email last night to find a copy of this enclosed from an official Treasury briefing note.

"VAT is a tax on the final consumption of goods and services, collected at every stage of
production and distribution. It is charged on the majority of goods and services at the
standard rate of 17.5%. The proposed changes will reduce this to 15% from 1 December
2008 until the end of 2009. The standard rate will then return to 17.5% from 1 January
2010, and subsequently increase to 18.5% in 2011-12."


Clearly this was no "mistake" by the Treasury. The hidden tax bomb - well that is something that you will have to decide for yourself. The Government has to repay the enormous and irresponsible debt it is going to mortgage the nation for. It is also clear that the burden will fall on taxpayers who will have to pay it back. I suspect this is one of a number of hidden tax increases. All the previous estimates as to how much the Government has to borrrow have proved wrong, so why should any of us trust them when they say they "dismissed" this as an option. Hmmn well just how are they going to pay the unaccounted for £100 billion black hole in their current estimates? Needless to say I forwarded the entire document to the Chester Chronicle and the Flintshire Evening Leader last night, probably the only time that they have got a National front page story from me before the news had broken. As with so many policies coming from this Government this potential change will hit those on lowest incomes the hardest, and will make Flintshire businesses less able to compete in the world economy - apparently when we will be emerging from this devastating recession.