Chester’s Inner Neighbourhood Policing Team have moved back in to the Town Hall after the installation of a lift has been completed.

The police helpdesk will now be open from today at 9am, and the opening hours will be Monday to Friday from 9am to 4.45pm. To contact the City Policing Team call 0845 458 6375 or email chester.inner.npt@cheshire.pnn.police.uk

This is why I referred to him as my active political hero:

“The debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the building of the mosque.”

“Instead, we hear lip service given to the property rights position while demanding that the need to be “sensitive” requires an all-out assault on the building of a mosque, several blocks from “ground zero.”

“Just think of what might (not) have happened if the whole issue had been ignored and the national debate stuck with war, peace, and prosperity. There certainly would have been a lot less emotionalism on both sides. The fact that so much attention has been given the mosque debate, raises the question of just why and driven by whom?”

“In my opinion it has come from the neo-conservatives who demand continual war in the Middle East and Central Asia and are compelled to constantly justify it.”

Link to full statement: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ron-Paul-Left-and-the-Right-bw-916167070.html?x=0

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!”.

In Chester over the last few years, there have been several instances of people being clamped and/or towed away for parking on private land; indeed, when I lived at Wharton Court in the City Centre, people would be clamped or towed on an almost weekly basis. This was eventually part satisfied when the management company introduced visitors passes, but still the problem remains in other areas of the City Ward.

Thankfully, this appears to be coming to an end – the Coalition Government are introducing proposals to ban clamping on private land, such as company or supermarket car parks, and will be included in a new Freedom Bill to be introduced in November. The legislation will also include measures to stop companies towing away parked cars on private land without permission. The rules will be brought into line with those in Scotland, where clamping on private land was banned after a judge said it amounted to ‘extortion’ and ‘theft’.

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.

The Plaid Cymru-Labour Coalition in the Welsh Assembly has approved a £7.5m package to Arriva Wales for “new seating, passenger information system, improved luggage facilities, additional space for wheelchairs and a full refurbishment of toilets.”, with Deputy First Minister and Ynys Môn AM Ieuan Wyn Jones claiming that:

“This Assembly Government investment in Arriva Trains will see a much better travelling environment for passengers with trains upgraded and modernised.”

Whilst I’ve no objection to these improvements being done, far from it, I do object to public funds being used. Taxpayers will not own part of Arriva, and where’s the package to Virgin and other train companies operating in Wales?

Arriva’s train service made a profit last year of £12.1m, and £33.7m in 2008-09. If a company refuses to modernise and improve its services and facilities when it can easily afford to, why should the taxpayer help it out when it’s still making more than the costs required?

Locums. Doctors who aren’t guaranteed work, and as such have to charge a premium if a hospital is short-staffed and need cover.

No real issue with that.

My problem arises when a Doctor takes (paid) holiday from work, and the entire duration of this holiday they work as a locum in another hospital, thus being paid twice for the same time period. Under the current system of Primary Care Trusts, surely a Doctor who plans to help out at another hospital, whose employing hospital can afford to let them take time off, should simply be ‘allocated’ to the hospital in need, rather than dragging up the NHS expenditure?

UPDATE: Similarly, a Doctor retires. Collects pension and lump sum. Returns to same hospital a month later as a locum covering the position he just left.

UPDATE 2: A key hospital, (not the Countess!) with no consultants all day. Thoughts?

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!).