Archive for the ‘Self’ Category

(This is an open response to Cllr Reggie Jones, a Labour Councillor for Blacon in Chester)

Oh what a delight it must be to live in Labour Land, where the Government should interfere, spy on, and be treated to jubilation and praise by its ever thankful population.

Or so Cllr Reggie Jones would have you believe.

Allow me to go through his latest claims one-by-one:

1) Low income households will lose the most out of the budget.

£2.13 per week. I’m not disputing that for some it can represent difficult decisions, but this is the same Labour Party who scoffed at the £2.83 per week marriage allowance in the Conservative manifesto. If £2.83 is an insult, then in Labour Land £2.13 must be nothing? Moving on to…

1a) Using the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) report as a critique of the Coalition’s budget.

Labour criticised the IFS report in their April budget, saying it couldn’t factor everything in. In Labour Land they are right, everyone else is wrong and there’s no room for disagreement.

2) Claiming that David Cameron is stepping away from free bus travel, television licences, and winter fuel payments.

Bus travel is being increased to 65 for all – like the pension age for all. Similarly winter fuel payments, and there’s no change to the TV licence being free for over 75′s. I’m afraid Cllr Reggie Jones is scaremongering. Scaremongering is rife in Labour Land, what with Labour sending out targeted cancer leaflets saying people would die if they voted Conservative.

3) The Coalition is abandoning those in need with fixed term social housing.

Social housing should be in place for those who need it most. Is Cllr Reggie Jones suggesting that those reliant on benefits should play second fiddle to a couple who have, through their own success, worked their way up the ranks at work and earn over £60,000 a year? That’s what the Coalition’s policy is to prevent – along with a married couple having a 4 bedroomed house whilst a family of 5 squeeze into a two bed. In Labour Land this is fine, as each bedroom is the size of a small bungalow.

Reality bites, and it would do the Labour Party a great deal of benefit to wise up to the fact that people don’t live in cloud cuckoo land, they live in reality. A debt-ridden reality where people are grown up enough to understand and accept the difficult truth. Britain has no money left (don’t take my word for it, the former Labour Treasury Minister Liam Byrne MP said it!).

The state is a safety net – not a wheelchair. The nanny state is dead – long live freedom and society.

Firstly, thank you for allowing me to speak Mr Chairman. The application on its own merits has flaws – it is a retrospective application, but not labelled as such; indeed, at least one student is already in occupation. Work began on this property after April began, as the former occupier did not leave until March 31st. There was the initial plan to have 5 bedrooms. This then changed to 4 after it was realised a tenant would be trapped in event of a fire. One defence of this application is that it’s not guaranteed to be just students. Where is the corresponding guarantee that it won’t just be non-students?

This call-in is about so much more than this single, solitary HMO – this is evidenced in the report. It’s about the wider impact on the Garden Quarter. 40% of all properties are student-led HMOs, with unknown figures for young professionals. 40%. Imagine your communities having a 60% occupancy rate for half a year. 6 months of neglect. That is the reason I have called this application in – the straw that broke the camels’ back was applied years ago – we now seek to squash this poor animal out of existence, despite the opportunity to follow HO 16 and limit the number of HMO’s in Chester.

The blame does not lay entirely with students, who seek an education – nor does it with private landlords who seek to run a business, and often in cases such as these provide retirement funds. The problem is that the studentification of Chester has gone on for so long. Chester ought to be a City with a University; not a University City where we are dependent on one organisation for the financial wellbeing of our City.

The report recommends approval because on its own it is harmless. As Cheshire West and Chester we are 4 Councils as 1 – we look at the wider picture. As a City Ward Councillor I want Ellesmere Port, Northwich and Winsford to succeed – it makes for a stronger Borough. The wider implications of this application being approved is that we continue to look at things on a case by case basis; not the greater impact. Do you really want 40% of a community empty for half a year – every year?

That is how residential amenity is affected and I urge members to reject this application.

Thank you.

Unfortunately the planning permission was granted, by a 5-1 majority, with 2 abstentions.

Members of the public got the chance to quiz their Councillors, find out what’s going on in the City and win a pair of tickets to Chester Zoo last weekend.

The Councillors took a stand at the Groves last weekend.

Councillor Richard Lowe said, “The event has proven to be a fantastic success. We now plan to hold more of these events in the hope the public will react positively to the non-formal setting of meeting room.”

“We spoke to dozens of residents over the two hours, and dealt with many queries from planning issues to pot holes to overgrown trees.”

Cllr Richard Lowe and ward colleagues Tom Parry and Max Drury have secured a number of bicycle bells to give away to City based cyclists. If you would like one please email Richard Lowe on richard.lowe@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

On Twitter last night, Iain Lindley, Rob Chilton and myself were discussing a 20 year old becoming an Australian MP. Rob felt he would lack experience, whilst Iain and I believed that if you’re old enough to vote, you’re old enough to stand.

To expand on this, the people of Longman, Queensland, voted for Wyatt Roy because they believed him to be the best candidate – if they felt that at 20 he was too inexperienced, they would have voted for someone else. Similarly, and Rob didn’t say this, if you say someone is too young to represent their area after being elected, you are doing a disservice to the electorate. Democracy enables people to vote for whomever they want – to restrict this on age limits is an affront to democracy.

Similar to Wyatt Roy, voters in Rice Lake, Wisconsin elected a 19 year old Mayor in April of this year – story below:

A young man wearing a Hollister T-shirt, shorts and sandals picked up election signs Wednesday in Rice Lake, Wis. The 19-year-old wasn’t a campaign volunteer. Romaine Quinn is the new mayor.

Quinn, who served one year on the Rice Lake City Council before being elected mayor on Tuesday, said, “Age, I don’t think, necessarily makes a difference, I mean, it’s about the issues.”

Judging by the talk at Maxine’s restaurant, he might be right.

“Apparently, a lot of people wanted change,” said 78-year-old Del Hanson, who voted for Quinn.

A couple seats down the counter, Richard Cerminar wished he could have cast a ballot for the young candidate.

“From what I understand, an extremely nice young man,” said Cerminar, who lives just outside Rice Lake proper.

Cerminar thinks Romaine’s big win had a lot to do with what happened on Manwaring Avenue and other roads around town.

“They cut down trees that were 40 and 50 years old and put in sidewalks nobody needed or wanted,” he said.

“They just didn’t listen,” said George Erickson. “Basically everybody on this street didn’t want a sidewalk.”

The “improvements” being made by the city are effectively taking away half of Erickson’s front yard.

It doesn’t help that the project got started late last fall and is still ongoing.

JoAnn Erickson said her front yard has been a muddy mess much of the past several months.

The Ericksons and their neighbors filled the council chambers to protest plans to put in sidewalks.

“The council wouldn’t listen, but Romaine was one that said, ‘I think we should listen to the people,’ and no, they wouldn’t,” Joann recalled.

“People want someone who’s proud to serve as mayor, but still humble enough to realize he’s no better than anyone else in town,” said Quinn, who takes political science classes at the University of Wisconsin-Barron County.

He cites Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican congressman from Texas, as his political role model.

The Ericksons voted for a young mayor once before. JoAnn said that was a “disaster.”

She’s not worried about Quinn’s fitness for the job or his age.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s got a head on his shoulders,” said JoAnn. “He’ll do fine. I’m sure he’ll do fine. It’ll surprise me if he doesn’t.”

During his campaign, Quinn told voters he wants to hold the line on taxes, replace the city administrator and, of course, reconsider plans to put sidewalks all over Rice Lake.

He beat incumbent mayor Dan Fitzgerald with 53 percent of the vote.

“Age, I don’t think, necessarily makes a difference, I mean, it’s about the issues.” – Thoughts? How much does life experience matter?

Over on ConservativeHome there’s a ‘Twenty Questions for the Class of 2010′ bit going on for new MPs. I’ve decided to introduce and adapt it here:

1. What is your earliest political memory? Margaret Thatcher leaving Downing Street. I was 6.

2. Complete the sentence: “I’m a Conservative because… I believe in liberty, ambition and competition”

3. Who is your political hero and why? Margaret Thatcher. She had a vision of what the future held for the UK, and went for it. Dr Ron Paul in active politics.

4. When did you decide you wanted to become an Councillor? I stood as a ‘paper’ candidate in Madeley, Newcastle Under Lyme in my last year at Keele in 2006, coming 29 votes short of the incumbent Labour Councillor (now a Tory!). When I moved to Chester 6 months later, I made a conscious decision then that I would eventually hope to be elected to serve my community.

5. What is your reading material of choice? Websites: Chester Chronicle, ConservativeHome, ESPN.com, Guido Fawkes, Charlotte Gore, Adam Smith Institute, WalesOnline. Print: Chester Standard, History Books & Sports Books.

6. Who is your favourite political interviewer/presenter on TV or radio? Jon Humphrys – THE Devil’s Advocate!

7. If you could run any council department, which would it be and why? Prosperity – My main work background has been in business support, and small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy. Anything a Local Authority can do to assist this can only be of benefit.

8. Which non-Conservative politician do you most admire? Dr Ron Paul. (UK-wise, David Laws.)

9. Who would you least want to get stuck with in a HQ lift? No-one really; I’d like to think party politics don’t affect how I interact with people – outside of the Council Chamber!

10. If you were in the US, would you be a Republican or a Democrat? Depends on the leader. In the 2008 election, Republican.

11. What do you enjoy doing to unwind and relax? Reading, play on the Xbox, watch tv.

12. What is your favourite book? I don’t really have one I keep going back to, so pass!

13. What is your favourite film? Back to the Future – all 3.

14. What is your favourite music? Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Elton John, Elvis Presley, KISS… and Girls Aloud!

15. What would be your ideal meal and where would you eat it? My own marinated chicken, over Jamaican-inspired rice, at home, with my wife.

16. What is your favourite holiday destination? New York City.

17. What do you hope to have achieved in your first term as a Councillor? To be a Councillor who listens and responds to the needs of the community I serve, who isn’t afraid to provide ideas for the success of the City, and who can be considered to have put the residents first.

18. Tell us one interesting, unusual or surprising fact about yourself. I’ve met David Hasslehoff, and have an autographed copy of his autobiography. Does that count as unusual??

19. Tell us one interesting, unusual or surprising fact about your constituency. Chester Racecourse is the oldest sporting venue in continual use in the UK, with the first race occurring in 1540 – 470 years ago.

20. Share with us your most amusing story or favourite anecdote from the campaign trail. Constantly being told I looked too young to be a Councillor, but it was always followed by “it’s a good thing!”.

Over on the Beeb’s website there’s an article about how US President Barack Obama has defended the right of New York Muslims to build a Mosque several hundred feet away from the site of Ground Zero, saying “”Our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable..”

Surprisingly for this small state Tory, I agree with the big state Democrat.

Yes, Islamic fundamentalists are to blame for the attacks on the US on September 11th 2001; however Islam as a whole abhores these attacks. Preventing a Mosque being built in New York will create two things: disillusionment amongst US Muslims, and greater anti-Islamic sentiment, through the effective labelling of all Muslims as potential terrorists, which is not the case. Moreover, unless there’s a legal argument for the Mosque not being built, then it should be built.

Former Vice-Presidential nominee, and at this time the polls alternative for a Republican Presidential Candidate in 2012 to Ron Paul , Sarah Palin has said that “…to build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks”. Mrs Palin, it’s only a stab in the heart if you believe that Islam is an evil religion. It isn’t. Religion-based wars have taken place for centuries – indeed, the Papacy-induced Crusades began over 900 years ago.

The Mosque should be built, no question. If we start determining where only certain religions are allowed to build, and where others are unwelcome, this can easily contribute to an anti-Islamic sentiment, leading to the question: What kind of future are we preparing, where in wholly developed countries, we are still allowing religion to segregate one another?

I’ll leave you with the President:

“We must all recognise and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan, Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground. But let me be clear, as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practise their religion as anyone else in this country.

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.”

He told the group of US Congressmen, government officials and foreign dignitaries that America’s tradition of religious tolerance distinguishes it from “our enemies”.

“Al-Qaeda’s cause is not Islam,” he said, “it is a gross distortion of Islam”.

I couldn’t agree with him more.

You are a Social Liberal (80% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (81% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Over here – http://tgr.ph/d17FcP – Toby Young argues that Damian Green, Immigration Minister, is wrong for saying there are no plans to ban the burqa. I agree with Damian.

The article refers to how women are forced to wear the burqa in Iran. a) This isn’t Iran, it’s the UK, and b) in forcing women NOT to wear the burqa, would we (and aren’t the French) not simply taking a leaf out of the Iranian playbook in dictating what can/cannot be worn?

Some have argued that if you ban helmets/hoodies etc, you should be able to ban the burqa. Don’t ban helmets & the like. Personally, the banning of hoodies by some retailers has had an effect of labelling all hoody wearers as likely criminals. I sometimes wear a hoody, especially when running in the cold/rain; sometimes even as everyday wear. I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to remove an item of clothing due to a moral panic.

Indeed, this is a comment left on the article:

“Why should we have to tolerate people walking round dressed head to foot in black with slits for eyeholes, they could be a burglar, terrorist or anything else really, when we operate a ban on ‘hoodies’ going into shops etc., why are these people allowed to swan around in burkas, I think people should accept the traditions of the country they move to, not try to usurp it.”

And therein lies the problem. If people assume the worst of a burqa – that the person is a terrorist, they want fundamental Islam to take over the UK, that the woman is oppressed – what chance do we have of having a society of greater respect, something which many believe to be missing from modern-day Britain.

How many burqas have you actually seen? I’ve seen many more Muslim women in headscarves – does this suggest that Muslim men are tyrannical oppressors? Hardly. The burqa is part of Islamic culture, and yes, in Iran it is mandatory – this doesn’t mean all Muslims who wear the burqa have come from Iran – just because you see women wearing one, don’t assume they’re oppressed.

The state should not play a role in dictating what we wear/don’t wear in public (save for having to wear something!).

Local Government

• Government will work with local authorities to freeze Council Tax for one year in 2011/12 if local authorities keep increases in spending to a minimum. The terms under which authorities will be compensated for a commitment to freeze or reduce Council Tax will be outlined by the Government in “due course”.
• The Government will monitor lending from the Public Works Loans Board more closely to “ensure the fiscal risks around local authority borrowing decisions are better understood”.
• There will be a two-year public sector pay freeze in 2011/12 and 2012/13 for those earning more than £21k per year, with a £250 flat rate pay rise each year for those earning less than that threshold.
• Local authorities will have a role in working with business to lead local economic development, further details of which will be outlined in a Government White Paper later in the summer. In addition, Regional Development Agencies will be abolished by through the Public Bodies Bill.
• Action will be taken to ensure that top public sectors workers earn no more than twenty times more than the lowest public sector earners.
• Housing Benefit will be capped at a maximum of £400 per week for a four bedroom house, saving £1.8bn by the end of this Parliament.

The Economy
• The UK economy is predicted to grow by 1.2% in 2010, 2.3% in 2011, 2.8% in 2012 and peaking at 2.9% in 2013.
• Consumer Price inflation will increase to 2.7% by the end of 2010, before falling back to target (2.5%).
• Public sector net borrowing will be £149bn this year, £116bn in 2012/13, £89bn in 2012/13, £60bn in 2013/14, £37bn 2013/14, falling to £20bn in 2015/16. Current Government borrowing as a share of GDP is 10%.
• According to OBR predictions, the structural current deficit will be eliminated by 2014/15, with a projected surplus of 0.8% of GDP in 2015/16.
• Unemployment is forecast to peak this year at 8.1% and then fall for each of the next four years, to reach 6.1% in 2015.

Public Spending
• There will be an average 25% reduction in non-protected departmental spending (i.e. all budgets except NHS and international development) over the next four years.
• No further reductions in capital spending were announced, although capital spending will be reassessed in the upcoming Spending Review.
• Detailed spending totals for each government department will be reviewed in the Spending Review and announced on 20 October 2010.
• Current spending will be reduced by £32bn per year by 2014/15. As part of this, £11bn will come from welfare reform savings.

Tax
• VAT will increase from 17.5% to 20% on 4 January 2011.
• The higher rate of Insurance Premium Tax will also rise from 17.5% to 20%, while the standard rate will increase from 5% to 6%.
• The personal income tax free allowance will rise to £7475.
• Capital Gains Tax will increase to 28% for higher rate payers.
• Corporation Tax Rates will be reduced by 4% to 24 pence in the pound by 2014/15 and small companies’ Corporation Tax will be cut to 20% next year.
• From January 2011 a levy will be imposed on banks, and the UK operation of banks from abroad.
• The Employer National Insurance contributions threshold will be raised by £21 a week above indexation in April 2011. National Insurance rates are available here.

Benefits and the Elderly
• A review of the increase of State Pension age to 66 will be accelerated.
• New and existing receivers of disability allowance will be required to undergo a medical assessment from 2013 onwards.
• The link between the State Pension and earnings will be reinstated from April 2011, and there will be a guaranteed annual increase of at least 2.5%.
• Benefits and tax credits will be linked with the Consumer Price Index, rather than the Retail Price Index, which will save £6bn per year by the end of this Parliament.
• Child Benefit will be frozen for the next three years.

I’ll offer my own thoughts on this later.

Yours?

After my post “Are you left or right wing?” I was asked by a commentator to see where I am on the Nolan Chart;

Here’s the answer: