It's been hard to keep up with what is happening in Egypt this post offers one useful insight (although the comments are not really worth reading).
My last trip abroad in 2007 was to Egypt that the only real knowledge about it that I have. My very uninformed impression was that most of the Egyptians I met (who were inevitably almost all middle class and successful) didn't particularly like the regime but also thought there wasn't much chance of change any time soon.
As I say I have no special insight but thought that it was worth reading a very different perspective on Egypt to that which you get by going on holiday there.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Full council - a serious business - everything but the grass cut
This is my personal recollection.
Last night was full council and it was a meeting which included some cross party work and sensible discussion. But it also included the first round of the budget cuts being brought for debate. The Conservative, Cllr Stevens (he never seems to enjoy\ political disagreement, I think he would rather that we were in a board meeting, but is pleasant enough) presented a list of cuts that although incomplete are pretty dramatic. I am sure some of them are part of the management action that we would have undertaken but others are certainly not. It's very sad reading and I have as others have I'm sure spent the last couple of weeks since they were published poring over them.
Anyway I was prepared to accept at face value his 'assurance' that 'no-one on our side enjoyed making these decisions'. I like to give my opponents the benefit of the doubt, and at least he was accepting that they were choices, even if we would have made different ones.
But then Cllr WIllis, who ought to know better in a speech attacking Labour said (and I wrote it down verbatum, because I was so shocked). "These cuts, most of which are imaginary anyway...".
Imaginary cuts? That sounds better. Maybe I should explain that to the front line staff in Whitley who are already being made redundant and the children who are going to miss out on the support they have benefited from? Or the parents across the borough who will have to pay more for school meals or the elderly who won't be getting social care any more? Or the graffiti artists who will no longer get their graffiti removed (OK so that's one group that will be happy about a cut). This will be a budget in which everything but the grass will be cut. To suggest that this is all 'imaginary' is quite simply insulting.
Cllrs Lovelock and Orton on our side proposed an amendment that committed the council to seeking markets for its services to raise income. Many of our services are top-notch and there is a demand from housing associations, other councils and of course the private sector for what we do, and if we can raise income from this it will, as Mike Orton pointed out, spread overheads and raise the council money too.
Despite the Lib-dem's efforts the Conservatives accepted this amendment as it is just good sense, it proves that we are offering constructive alternatives, and once the detailed budget comes forward there will be more debate to be had. It will be hard as the Conservatives have a majority due Lib-dem collusion, but we will argue for the things we believe in.
Having at least reduced the impact of the motion we then voted against it. Despite the Conservatives trying to make out this was a volte-face this was our plan all along. As there is at least one former parliamentary candidate in both the Conservative and Lib-dem groups they should know that this is common practice in parliament too: you vote to amend a bill you don't like to reduce it's negative impact, and then you vote against it as you still can't support it in its entirety.
There was some light relief: Cllr Pugh managed to bring pigs, the EU and his age into a supplementary question on the progress being made on recycling of food waste. Apparently it is all Europe's fault.
Cllr Swaine accused us of proposing privatisation when in fact what we were suggesting comes closer to nationalisation (maybe borough-isation?) and Cllr Watson gave the standards board 'usual suspects' a good ticking off.
Last night was full council and it was a meeting which included some cross party work and sensible discussion. But it also included the first round of the budget cuts being brought for debate. The Conservative, Cllr Stevens (he never seems to enjoy\ political disagreement, I think he would rather that we were in a board meeting, but is pleasant enough) presented a list of cuts that although incomplete are pretty dramatic. I am sure some of them are part of the management action that we would have undertaken but others are certainly not. It's very sad reading and I have as others have I'm sure spent the last couple of weeks since they were published poring over them.
Anyway I was prepared to accept at face value his 'assurance' that 'no-one on our side enjoyed making these decisions'. I like to give my opponents the benefit of the doubt, and at least he was accepting that they were choices, even if we would have made different ones.
But then Cllr WIllis, who ought to know better in a speech attacking Labour said (and I wrote it down verbatum, because I was so shocked). "These cuts, most of which are imaginary anyway...".
Imaginary cuts? That sounds better. Maybe I should explain that to the front line staff in Whitley who are already being made redundant and the children who are going to miss out on the support they have benefited from? Or the parents across the borough who will have to pay more for school meals or the elderly who won't be getting social care any more? Or the graffiti artists who will no longer get their graffiti removed (OK so that's one group that will be happy about a cut). This will be a budget in which everything but the grass will be cut. To suggest that this is all 'imaginary' is quite simply insulting.
Cllrs Lovelock and Orton on our side proposed an amendment that committed the council to seeking markets for its services to raise income. Many of our services are top-notch and there is a demand from housing associations, other councils and of course the private sector for what we do, and if we can raise income from this it will, as Mike Orton pointed out, spread overheads and raise the council money too.
Despite the Lib-dem's efforts the Conservatives accepted this amendment as it is just good sense, it proves that we are offering constructive alternatives, and once the detailed budget comes forward there will be more debate to be had. It will be hard as the Conservatives have a majority due Lib-dem collusion, but we will argue for the things we believe in.
Having at least reduced the impact of the motion we then voted against it. Despite the Conservatives trying to make out this was a volte-face this was our plan all along. As there is at least one former parliamentary candidate in both the Conservative and Lib-dem groups they should know that this is common practice in parliament too: you vote to amend a bill you don't like to reduce it's negative impact, and then you vote against it as you still can't support it in its entirety.
There was some light relief: Cllr Pugh managed to bring pigs, the EU and his age into a supplementary question on the progress being made on recycling of food waste. Apparently it is all Europe's fault.
Cllr Swaine accused us of proposing privatisation when in fact what we were suggesting comes closer to nationalisation (maybe borough-isation?) and Cllr Watson gave the standards board 'usual suspects' a good ticking off.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
0.5% fall in GDP - time for action.
To mis-quote Miliband, the government is following the wrong policy at the wrong time. A fall in output of 0.5% of GDP in the last quarter is probably artificially low due to some snow and in general early estimates of GDP figures can be flaky. Having said that this was before the VAT rise, the petrol price hikes and the government's cuts agenda really started to bite.
Along with other economic indicators, like retail sales, service sector stagnation and don't forget unemployment going up this is a real worry.
It is time for a change of approach by the Conservative-led government. Any sensible government allows for changes of circumstances. Now, while many economists have been predicting that the Osbourne approach will cause problems, surely even Osbourne can see that today's figure indicate that the recovery is more than fragile, it's being stifled. In fact if there is another quarter of 'negative growth' we will be 'officially' in recession.
We only need to look over the water at Ireland. We do not want to end up in the same boat as them. Unfortunately Osbourne did think only a year ago that Ireland were doing the right thing. Lets hope he has learnt something since then. It's a sign of strength not weakness to change course when you are heading in the wrong direction.
Other wise we will all be the losers.
Along with other economic indicators, like retail sales, service sector stagnation and don't forget unemployment going up this is a real worry.
It is time for a change of approach by the Conservative-led government. Any sensible government allows for changes of circumstances. Now, while many economists have been predicting that the Osbourne approach will cause problems, surely even Osbourne can see that today's figure indicate that the recovery is more than fragile, it's being stifled. In fact if there is another quarter of 'negative growth' we will be 'officially' in recession.
We only need to look over the water at Ireland. We do not want to end up in the same boat as them. Unfortunately Osbourne did think only a year ago that Ireland were doing the right thing. Lets hope he has learnt something since then. It's a sign of strength not weakness to change course when you are heading in the wrong direction.
Other wise we will all be the losers.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Open letter to Mr Sharma: don't privatise our forests
 |
| New Forest - 2006 summer holiday |
"Dear Mr Sharma,
As you know we belong to different political parties and have different views about the future of Reading and the UK.
As such I know that as a general rule we may not have many causes in common. However I hope this will be an exception.
Our national woodlands are a treasure that everyone in our society shares. Many people in Reading West enjoy day trips or weekends to the New Forest, indeed I spent my main summer holiday there a few years ago. I am concerned that a national asset like this could even be considered as something to be sold off.
The proposed sell-off of English woodlands puts at risk the free and open access that everyone in our country has been entitled to whether rich or poor.
As the campaign group 38 degrees says: "The sell-off will mean that in the future woodland could be less open to the public, and that woodland wildlife could suffer.
Our woodlands should belong to, and be enjoyed by, every single one of us,."
A vast majority of the public is against the privatisation of our woodlands, and as the representative of your constituents in Westminster I ask that you vote against the part or parts of the Public Bodies Bill that will enable a 100% sell off of our woodlands.
Please can you assure me that you will vote against such a change to the law?
Best wishes,
Cllr Rachel Eden"
Thursday, 20 January 2011
99 online sigs
Who will be 100? (We have hundreds off-line too)
UPDATE: It was Mr Adegoke Keshinro. Thank you for your support!
UPDATE: It was Mr Adegoke Keshinro. Thank you for your support!
The old brewery
Odd things happen when you are a councillor.
I had a call from BBC South who are putting together a program/news item on the old brewery, as they wanted to find someone who used to work there.
I guess I could have mentioned my dad who did a summer job there 30 odd years ago (we've put them in touch with the last union rep).
It was sad to see it closing last year but I hope the site will be used for something beneficial for the area. I know a lot of people are interested in it and we'll keep residents informed on www.whitleynews.org
I had a call from BBC South who are putting together a program/news item on the old brewery, as they wanted to find someone who used to work there.
I guess I could have mentioned my dad who did a summer job there 30 odd years ago (we've put them in touch with the last union rep).
It was sad to see it closing last year but I hope the site will be used for something beneficial for the area. I know a lot of people are interested in it and we'll keep residents informed on www.whitleynews.org
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Wikipedia doc - worth a listen
As we all know it's not real until it's on Wikipedia *right?
I know lots of people knock it, but it is a hugely useful website. I found this documentary very interesting.
I know lots of people knock it, but it is a hugely useful website. I found this documentary very interesting.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Cameron should apologise to NHS staff
I couldn't believe the BBC news top story today. "NHS change is needed, says David Cameron". Sure we could do with some more doctors, new treatments, better mental health provision, but I can't think of a single person outside of the Conservative party leadership (oh, I guess Nick Clegg), who would answer the question "What does the NHS need" with "Privatisation". When the BMA, Unision, the Patients Association, the general public (in opinion polls), the Royal College of GPs, all think you are wrong you should pause and think.
But then he does say "I think if we just carried on as we are, because there is so little incentive in the NHS to actually improve the health of the nation, I think we would face a very big crunch in two or three years' time.""
What?
I had lunch yesterday with a friend who is a doctor and my aunt works in the Royal Berkshire Hospital. It is insulting to suggest that they don't have an 'incentive' to improve 'the health of the nation' (pompous phrase meaning make people healthier I suppose!). I suppose they don't get a £10000+ bonus if they make people get better and change their lifestyle, but I am 100% certain they and the system they are in are fully aiming to improve the health of the nation.
Time for Cameron to take a long hard look at the Conservatives approach to the NHS and be honest about what he and Andrew Landsey are doing. Either that or apologise and change course.
I was with others protesting on Saturday about the NHS reorganisation. As it becomes more clear what the Conservatives are up to it will only whip up public anger further.
But then he does say "I think if we just carried on as we are, because there is so little incentive in the NHS to actually improve the health of the nation, I think we would face a very big crunch in two or three years' time.""
What?
I had lunch yesterday with a friend who is a doctor and my aunt works in the Royal Berkshire Hospital. It is insulting to suggest that they don't have an 'incentive' to improve 'the health of the nation' (pompous phrase meaning make people healthier I suppose!). I suppose they don't get a £10000+ bonus if they make people get better and change their lifestyle, but I am 100% certain they and the system they are in are fully aiming to improve the health of the nation.
Time for Cameron to take a long hard look at the Conservatives approach to the NHS and be honest about what he and Andrew Landsey are doing. Either that or apologise and change course.
I was with others protesting on Saturday about the NHS reorganisation. As it becomes more clear what the Conservatives are up to it will only whip up public anger further.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Busy couple of days
Petition now over 350, attended dinner with Ed Milliband at the Penta Hotel (great speech!) and protest march today against the NHS reorganisation, tax dodging gazillionaires and the cuts to the council's income.It was good to march with other trade unionists (there were far more from Unison there than my own trade union, the GMB, but I'm sure that will change), Labour activists and others who share our concerns.
It will be a long slow road though to even put the brakes on this government's plans: much less reverse the damage they are doing.
John Ennis addressed the gathering strongly about how Reading had a far worse deal than our leafier, Tory heartland neighbours, and yet our Conservative-led coalition have just meekly accepted it and haven't put Reading's case forward.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Reading comes together for tolerance
The Reading Council for Racial Equality organised a large number of community leaders to come together today to repeat our commitment to harmony in our communities. It was good to see so many people there including faith leaders, a representative from the Students Union, Councillors and a number of young people too.
Thanks to Rabbi Solomons for taking the photo!
Personally installing solar panels the pros and cons
This post is in response to a thoughtful comment on yesterday's post.
We installed an A-rated boiler 2 years ago and have also put in cavity wall and roof insulation. Our gas bill is just under half what it was before we did this, even with the price rises.
We've also got a back porch of a kind and there isn't space for a front porch. Given that our house is more or less as efficient as it can be we are considering installing solar panels on our roof.
We wouldn't normally have money burning a hole in our pocket - who does? But we've been given some following a bereavement and it's something we've been thinking about for a while.
First the cons: well this is about the other things we could have done with the money - even given we have made our house as energy efficient as possible from an environmental point of view we could invest in a green project, pay for the woodland trust to plant trees, pay for other people to have insulation.
From a financial point of view we could put the money in a building society, invest in shares, or offshore wind.
Well the pros: it obviously generates, some, electricity/heat in a more environmentally friendly way than the beauteous Didcot power station. It also stimulates the market and hopefully encourages investment to lower costs for the future, it will be great to educate our daughter about science and the environment with, and with the feed in tariff it seems a relatively good investment that is relatively low risk (your mileage may vary, do not take investment advice from blogs!).
Of course not everyone is convinced by whether feed in tariffs are a good idea. There is a lot to be said for and against them from a policy point of view. In my view the biggest argument for them is that they will encourage market entry and thus bring costs down in the medium term, the biggest argument against is that it might be more cost effective to just insulate every house in the country. For an individual though all this is irrelevant to making a decision.
Over all the only thing that I can think of that would be both a financially sound use of the money and also have similar green 'credentials' is investing in a green company like ecotricity or similar. However I'm not sure it is as low risk because of the madness of the stock market and it doesn't have the emotional resonance. So if the numbers stack up and are comparable or better to other uses I think we will go for it.
It's nice to think I am a rational creature and play with spreadsheets and ROIs and payback periods and opportunity costs but lets face it, most of the time most of us do things because we want to...
...still lets see what the cost is first!
UPDATE: worth reading the comments as John is a heating engineer and knows his stuff!
We installed an A-rated boiler 2 years ago and have also put in cavity wall and roof insulation. Our gas bill is just under half what it was before we did this, even with the price rises.
We've also got a back porch of a kind and there isn't space for a front porch. Given that our house is more or less as efficient as it can be we are considering installing solar panels on our roof.
We wouldn't normally have money burning a hole in our pocket - who does? But we've been given some following a bereavement and it's something we've been thinking about for a while.
First the cons: well this is about the other things we could have done with the money - even given we have made our house as energy efficient as possible from an environmental point of view we could invest in a green project, pay for the woodland trust to plant trees, pay for other people to have insulation.
From a financial point of view we could put the money in a building society, invest in shares, or offshore wind.
Well the pros: it obviously generates, some, electricity/heat in a more environmentally friendly way than the beauteous Didcot power station. It also stimulates the market and hopefully encourages investment to lower costs for the future, it will be great to educate our daughter about science and the environment with, and with the feed in tariff it seems a relatively good investment that is relatively low risk (your mileage may vary, do not take investment advice from blogs!).
Of course not everyone is convinced by whether feed in tariffs are a good idea. There is a lot to be said for and against them from a policy point of view. In my view the biggest argument for them is that they will encourage market entry and thus bring costs down in the medium term, the biggest argument against is that it might be more cost effective to just insulate every house in the country. For an individual though all this is irrelevant to making a decision.
Over all the only thing that I can think of that would be both a financially sound use of the money and also have similar green 'credentials' is investing in a green company like ecotricity or similar. However I'm not sure it is as low risk because of the madness of the stock market and it doesn't have the emotional resonance. So if the numbers stack up and are comparable or better to other uses I think we will go for it.
It's nice to think I am a rational creature and play with spreadsheets and ROIs and payback periods and opportunity costs but lets face it, most of the time most of us do things because we want to...
...still lets see what the cost is first!
UPDATE: worth reading the comments as John is a heating engineer and knows his stuff!
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Cuts and coffee
Today has been a mix of highs and lows. A low is the proposed swingeing cuts that were published by the council on Friday. Along with Cllr Chris Maskell and Paul Gittings I met with council staff this morning (still can't get used to calling them 'officers') to discuss the proposed environment cuts - including to graffiti removal, charging for green bins etc. Some cuts that are sad, but inevitable given the wrong decisions made by central government and some that I think are the wrong choice. I have asked for a copy of the budget book to see what the alternatives are - even when the national Conservatives have made a right Pickle of things councils still have choices they can make, my worry is that the current administration will make the wrong decisions.
I then nipped home to meet with someone from a solar installation company to discuss whether our house was suitable and to get more information. It's looking good, but we need to decide how much we can afford to pay and therefore how much we can install.
Went back into town for coffee with 3 friends and discuss all things "mum". And eat scones of course! It was lovely to catch up, as I hadn't seen them and their little ones since the end of November.
Reading buses did well out of me today...
It was nice to meet up but I have to say I'm very concerned by the cuts, and chatting particularly to Suzy as we left reinforced to me how much we all value the children's centres and the support to our families that look like they will be cut.
John Ennis has posted on the possible cuts to children's services on his blog in a lot more detail including information about a 'consultation' that is taking place.
I then nipped home to meet with someone from a solar installation company to discuss whether our house was suitable and to get more information. It's looking good, but we need to decide how much we can afford to pay and therefore how much we can install.
Went back into town for coffee with 3 friends and discuss all things "mum". And eat scones of course! It was lovely to catch up, as I hadn't seen them and their little ones since the end of November.
Reading buses did well out of me today...
It was nice to meet up but I have to say I'm very concerned by the cuts, and chatting particularly to Suzy as we left reinforced to me how much we all value the children's centres and the support to our families that look like they will be cut.
John Ennis has posted on the possible cuts to children's services on his blog in a lot more detail including information about a 'consultation' that is taking place.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Whitley Excellence Cluster - 120 signetures on the doorstep today
We have really started to get going with our campaign to save the Whitley Excellence Cluster's work. Paul and Kelly, our Church ward and Whitley ward candidates along with other activists were with me today to ask residents to sign our petition.
We had a really good response on the door step, and spoke to 120 people who signed the petition. Lots more to come I'm sure. We need to build the pressure to ensure that South Reading schools and local children don't suffer: it's the wrong cut in the wrong place.
You can sign the petition on-line and read more about the importance of the work being done here
We had a really good response on the door step, and spoke to 120 people who signed the petition. Lots more to come I'm sure. We need to build the pressure to ensure that South Reading schools and local children don't suffer: it's the wrong cut in the wrong place.
You can sign the petition on-line and read more about the importance of the work being done here
Thursday, 6 January 2011
THe late , great Pete Postlethwaite
I spent quite a bit of my childhood in 1980s South Yorkshire, including in coal mining areas so this scene resonates with me:
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Plumbing emergancy - sorted!
Sometimes things come in 3s. Last night we had a poorly baby, a blocked pipe (and a load of nappies in the middle of a wash - yuk!) and urgent council work for me to finish. It all added up to very limited sleep. Well we sorted 2 out of 3 last night, but that left a bit of a smelly situation.
So it was looking like my day today was going to be tricky as I had still a grouchy baby, cleaning, more council stuff and it was first day of term for my husband's school. Thanks to the wonders of the freegle cafe however I knew that there is a very helpful plumber in the Reading area called John Stumbles. Well he was of course busy this morning as he's very popular but he managed to fit me in in between other jobs just now, came over and quickly and efficiently fixed my blocked pipe (washing powder had somehow formed a 'cake'...lovely), charged me £30 (which seems extremely reasonable to me) and had an interesting and thoughtful chat about politics.
Plus he has a sense of humour - his business is called YAPH - which stands for "yet another plumbing and heating engineer".
Needless to say I would recommend him!
So it was looking like my day today was going to be tricky as I had still a grouchy baby, cleaning, more council stuff and it was first day of term for my husband's school. Thanks to the wonders of the freegle cafe however I knew that there is a very helpful plumber in the Reading area called John Stumbles. Well he was of course busy this morning as he's very popular but he managed to fit me in in between other jobs just now, came over and quickly and efficiently fixed my blocked pipe (washing powder had somehow formed a 'cake'...lovely), charged me £30 (which seems extremely reasonable to me) and had an interesting and thoughtful chat about politics.
Plus he has a sense of humour - his business is called YAPH - which stands for "yet another plumbing and heating engineer".
Needless to say I would recommend him!
December 2010 - councillors report
Summary:
Council
I sent apologies for the Environment Scrutiny and Cycling Liaison as they clashed with a funeral.
However they discussed some important things, you can see the environment scrutiny information here and the Cycling Liaison papers will be available with the 'TMAP' (traffic management advisory panel).
Out and about in the ward:
We held our regular monthly surgery at the beginning of the month at the South Reading Youth and Community Centre.
I held a special additional surgery at Christ the King primary (and saw their nativity - excellent performances all round, but my favourite was Herod's song!)
I continued to push for the new play equipment for Kennet Island to be installed quickly.
Labour party and campaigning
The weather has reduced our campaigning somewhat but I've set up an on-line petition and web page for the Whitley Excellence Cluster campaign and we'll be doing more on that this month.
Every household in Whitley however has had leaflet from us either in December or at the very end of November wishing you a happy Christmas and giving some information about our activities. Thanks to our lovely volunteers and the sterling efforts of Kelly, our brilliant candidate.
Looking ahead to January:
January is back to the usual. I am determined that the Hartland Road markings will be sorted soon, and the lead petitioner and I will be writing to all affected households shortly. I predict my biggest campaign will be the Whitley Excellence Cluster but there is also a meeting of full council, a number of Labour party meetings and of course lots of other activities already.
In general I'm hoping this month will be a quieter month on the personal front and a busier month on the council front!
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
VAT - "the wrong tax at the wrong time"
Went to fill up on petrol yesterday aswe returned our hire car this morning and there was a surprisingly large queue. Of course everyone wanted to get in before the VAT rise.
I notice that retailers are hoping that it wont have too big an impact after the first half of this year, well taht's a bit of a worry as it's the first half of this year that we need to have strong growth for the recovery to stay on track...
As for whether it is the wrong tax. Well given the Conservatives still seem reluctant to tax banks any more it seems odd that they are focusing on VAT. What gets me is not that they are hitting the poorest hardest and letting the rich get away with it (although I obviously don't agree with it) but that they keep saying they aren't.
I notice that retailers are hoping that it wont have too big an impact after the first half of this year, well taht's a bit of a worry as it's the first half of this year that we need to have strong growth for the recovery to stay on track...
As for whether it is the wrong tax. Well given the Conservatives still seem reluctant to tax banks any more it seems odd that they are focusing on VAT. What gets me is not that they are hitting the poorest hardest and letting the rich get away with it (although I obviously don't agree with it) but that they keep saying they aren't.
Monday, 3 January 2011
Brazil - not perfect but...
...a country that is worth admiring. I have watched the last couple of years of the presidency of Lula Da Silva with admiration, and have been looking for a definitive biography for a while (if any one finds one please let me know!)
The new president, Dilma, had a tough election campaign but has a great legacy to build on. Here's hoping...
The new president, Dilma, had a tough election campaign but has a great legacy to build on. Here's hoping...
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