Conservatives Slated For Telling The Truth About Debt.

There has been much made of the Shadow Conservative Health Secretary’s comments in recent days, and Labour’s eagerness to highlight what it says are the Tories secret plans to cut spending.

It strikes me that people need reminding of the indebtedness of this country, brought about by the wasteful and squandering incompetence of the Labour government.

All the details you need are here.

AFTER POLITICIANS, BBC SHOULD BE NEXT

On this evening’s BBC Six O’ Clock news, there was understandably, a significant focus on the ongoing MPs’ expenses scandal.  However, watching their pious coverage designed to illuminate Tory discomfort, we saw their reporter Robert Hall flying in a helicopter across the shires filming the homes of those MPs whose expenses claims are currently under scrutiny.

The BBC like using helicopters, as their ridiculous use of one following the Chancellor of Exchequer as he travelled the few hundred metres from his Downing Street home to parliament showed.

The BBC’s extravagance knows no bounds, whether it is paying the talentless Jonathan Ross £6m p.a, the 400 plus personnel it sent to the Beijing Olympics, or the booze-laden  ’green rooms’ it uses to entertain the plethora of third-rate celebrities it uses to fill our screens.

The BBC shouldn’t feel so smug, parliamentarians will eventually re-group, and shine a torch on their excesses.  Labour’s Lord Foulkes already seems to be on the warpath.

Their turn will come, I promise you.  Compelling people on fixed incomes to pay £142.50 a year on a low quality, politically biased service, will soon be examined by parliament…the public will demand it.

 

Nick and Suzanne on BBC Midlands Today. Do we really need two people reading the news?

 

 

 

 

LABOUR: BURYING BAD NEWS SINCE 1997

I see that the BBC is reporting that unemployment has shot up to 2.22m, after the figures were released a day early…by mistake.

What with the spotlight on the Tories and their outrageous misuse of MPs’ expenses, it was obviously felt by some in the government “to be a good day to bury bad news”.

Labour: Burying Bad News Since 1997.

In fact, when one thinks about it, the Jo Moore 9/11 disgrace was merely the McBride/Draper monster in incubation.

 

DESELECTION IS THE PAINFUL ANSWER

The latest revelations by the Daily Telegraph into the shameful behaviour of Conservative MPs and their misuse of the expenses system were to be expected.

However, given the rude financial health of some of these people, in a way it is more appalling  that some of the Labour antics.

If David Cameron is to be the next Prime Minister of this country, and I believe he will be, then he has to act now on this issue and clean up his own barn.

If I were a member of a Conservative Association that had as one of its MPs someone who wanted the taxpayer to fix the swimming pool or buy bags of manure, then I would campaign for DESELECTION.

There are plenty of able people out there who would take their place, I am sure.

The cancer in our political process is now clearly identifiable.  Action must now be taken to remove it.

YOU’RE ALL AS BAD AS EACH OTHER

As a Conservative Party campaigner, I must have heard this phrase uttered on the doorstep more times than I have had hot dinners (and I have had a few of them in my time!)

When I first joined the Conservative Party, I found this attitude very dispiriting, blaming the media for the increasing cynicism the public had for politicians and the political process.  I believed (and still believe) that this country would be better off, if it no longer was run by a party (Labour) that wanted to micromanage people’s lives in such a way that made social mobility difficult, if not nigh on impossible.

However, the disgusting revelations about how the political class have behaved in the area of their remuneration, is something that sickens me to the core.  Labour, Tory, or Lib Dem…they’ve all had a ball at the taxpayers’ expense.

The public have long thought that we’re all as bad as each other…and they’d be right!

What won’t wash with voters is the constant flimsy defence put up by the political elite that it is the system that is wrong and not their individual behaviour.  They will not have any time for the pleading of the country’s most important politicians that what people are guilty of are “mistakes”.

The public are not fools, they can see that what has happened in a lot of these cases is a deliberate attempt to mislead the House of Commons authorities.  Some of the revelations in recent days are about the personal actions that are clearly fraudulent.  The Speaker’s attempts to keep a lid on this issue for the last four years, is a clear indication that he knew that was happening was wrong.

Alas, the rules are such that criminal proceedings are very unlikely.  Yet any new system of regulation, has to include this sanction.

Grassroots political activists (of whatever party) devote hundreds of hours to convince voters that their party has an answer to the country’s ills, they do not knock doors and push leaflets so that elected politicians can spend taxpayers’ money on property speculation, home improvements, and consumer goods that most people have to save and get into debt for.

It is going to take years to get the public to trust in the political process, which is sad because given the state of the country, it is only the political process which bring about a renaissance.

This lack of respect shown to the public by the political elite, will I fear, never be forgotten.

Depressing…

MARGARET MORAN

One of the websites that Brandwood’s Labour Councillor “likes to visit” is that of Margaret Moran, the Labour Member of Parliament for Luton South.  

One can only imagine that his interest is in Ms. Moran’s campaigning activities and not her controversial past as a property speculator, both at home and abroad.

Although this is not surprising given that her biography states that she has over 20 years experience in housing.  (The public will expect that it is social housing she is interested and not her own).

Given her emergence as one of the sows with her snout allegedly in the trough, one would have thought that she would keep her head down.  Quite the opposite in fact, as she threatens to sue the Telegraph for its reporting of the allegations.

Knowing what a pious class warrior the Labour Councillor for Brandwood is – “Treat everyone as you want to be treated yourself”, I know that normally he would be the first to criticise those whose hands were caught in the till.  However, as Ms. Moran is cut from the same socialist cloth as himself, I don’t expect him to remove the link from his blog any time soon.

 

Margaret Moran MP (Left): Outside the "Fair Deal" World Shop, Luton

 

 

 

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS…BUT ONLY IF THERE ARE VOTES IN IT

Yesterday, like the majority of the country, I was pleased to see that our image tarnished MPs partially redeemed themselves in the eyes of the public by successfully challenging the Labour Government’s discriminatory policy on the rights of Gurkha veterans to settle in the United Kingdom.

Useful to Labour: Gurkhas in Kosovo (1999)

Moreover, like the vast majority of British people who were disgusted by Labour’s arrogant dismissal of the Gurkhas’ protest, I supported their case because I admired their devotion and their selfless sacrifice on behalf of a country which for years paid them a pittance, and not as some are suggesting because I am some sort of narrow-minded racialist.

Yesterday, 28 Labour MPs joined the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats trooped into the opposition lobby, sending a clear message to Gordon Brown that his government’s policy was discriminatory and immoral. Alas, Steve McCabe MP was not amongst them.  Indeed Mr. McCabe was in his place as a Government Whip and one of the tellers.

What was particularly disappointing about Steve McCabe’s refusal to accept that the Gurkhas had a case, was the fact that only recently he was appealing to Brandwood veterans, Bevan Boys, and Land Girls to contact him with their accounts of wartime Britain.  A laudable project which will result in a book produced by local 6th form students and something I am keen to read when completed.

Yet, one can’t help but think that if all the living Gurkhas and their families lived in his constituency with the right to vote, he would have been more interested in their plight.

I’ll leave that for others to decide…

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN FOR AN EU REFERENDUM

Ahead of the European elections on 4th June, David Cameron has launched a campaign to get Gordon Brown to honour his pledge to give the British people a referendum on the EU Treaty.

In their 2005 election manifesto, Labour promised to hold a referendum on the EU Constitution.

David stressed the Lisbon Treaty was a “re-branded” version of that Constitution and attacked Gordon Brown for having “flip-flopped”:

“First he was against the Constitution, then he was for it; one day he promised a referendum, the next he backtracked. While he has chopped and changed, our position has remained exactly the same. We are the only major party to have consistently said that it is up to the British people to decide on our future in Europe.”

David promised that if the Constitution was not in force at the time of the General Election, a Conservative Government would hold a referendum on it, urge a no vote, and reverse Britain’s ratification if successful.

He explained, “I believe that if you make a promise in your manifesto, and the country votes on that manifesto, then you are honour-bound to keep that promise.”

You can join our campaign by signing up to our Facebook page or downloading our ‘EU-turn’ widget .

SOFA DUMPED IN STREAM AFTER RESIDENTS CLEAN-UP

Brandwood Conservatives’ latest ‘InTouch’ for Druids Heath features a recent successful City Council organised clean-up attended by Druids Heath residents.

The clean-up, which was also attended by myself and Cllr. Mark Hill, involved removing litter from the banks and items dumped in stream itself.

On Friday, I received a telephone call from a resident who informed me that some local children had taken a sofa from outside a house in Ashwater Drive and pushed it in the stream that only recently had been cleared by local people.

Not only was the sofa dumped in the stream, the foam cushions were pulled apart and strewn all over the bank.

After reporting the incident to the City Council’s Chinnbrook Park Ranger, I am pleased to say that today the sofa was removed.

The youngsters who did this need to understand the impact their mindless actions have on those members of the community who appreciate the local environment.  Local residents have identified the school that these young people attend, and I shall be writing to the headteacher of the school concerned to ask if this incident could be brought up in school assembly.

Whilst many children on Druids Heath suffer from many social disadvantages, they are luckier than most young people in Birmingham in that they have this wonderful open space and resource on their doorstep.  Schools and parents have a role to play in instilling this message.

My thanks to the Park Ranger and Brandwood’s Environmental Warden for the excellent and speedy response in getting the sofa moved.

PLANNING APPLICATIONS W/E 25/04

Details of applications registered for Brandwood Ward – week ending 25/04/09, have now been released by Birmingham City Council.

Application Number: S/01406/09/FUL
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Date Application Received: 30/03/2009
Date Application Registered: 22/04/2009

Location: 7 Lindsworth Approach, Lindsworth Post Office, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3QH

Proposal: Installation of ATM machine

Consultation Starts: 22/04/2009
Consultation Ends: 18/05/2009

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Application Number: S/01407/09/ADV

Date Application Received: 30/03/2009
Date Application Registered: 22/04/2009

Location: 7 Lindsworth Approach, Lindsworth Post Office, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3QH

Proposal: Installation of internally illuminated ATM surround.

Consultation Starts: 22/04/2009
Consultation Ends: 18/05/2009

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For further details about these applications and how to comment, please visit Birmingham City Council’s Online Planning Register – entering the application number.