Remember, David Cameron has done nothing wrong - "I was just following the rules"

Yet again, a Tory MP explains that he has done nothing wrong and was just following the rules.

Quite why a multi millionaire needed the tax payer to pay for a new mortgage on a property when hr was, at the same time, paying off a mortgage in full on another house seems slightly confusing to those of us who do not have a personal fortune of more than £10 million.

Still, if you are David Cameron, the sh!t does not appear to stick ? Why must Andrew Mackay step down for "just following the rules" but David Cameron seems exempt ?

The Tories claimed only a few days ago that they had audited themselves and had repaid anything they were not entitles to. Cameron came out of this review only having to return a small amount of cash and this extra mortgage, paid for by taxpayers was, according to the Tories own audit, completely in order.

So it begs the question, does the Tories own audit stand up to scrutiny and can we trust David Cameron ?

Derren Brown - Enigma

I went to the Norwich Theatre Royal last night to see the incredible Derren Brown in his latest tour titled "Enigma". I can only say this word is the perfect description for a man who blends 19th century spiritualism with 21st century use of ICT in order to create a show that leaves you speechless in awe at what he achieves so effortlessly on stage.

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Derren Brown is his own willingness to tell people he is neither a mind reader or a spiritualist and that he, like those who claim to have such powers, uses the arts of an illusion, deception and suggestion to create these effects. So whilst you watch in wonder it things seemingly happening because of spirits visiting the stage, you are also simultaneously aware of the fact that he knows that you know it is just an illusion, and in many ways that just makes you more amazed at his abilities.

His tour de force of an ending involving a prediction made over a year ago that mirrors the sequence of random things chosen by a random group of men on stage shows what a master showman Derren Brown is.

Would I recommend this show ? Without a question of doubt yes. Absolutely bloody brilliant.

What can we learn from the tears and crying on Britain's Got Talent tonight ?

One of the acts tonight on Britain's Got Talent, a 10 year old girl called Hollie Steele broke down in tears after, well lets put it nicely, messing up and forgetting her words during her performance.

Now everyone knows you get one shot at your performance on a show like Britain's Got Talent. Except, that is, if you are a ten year old girl who turns on the tears, and then says "Please !" when told that because it is a live show they would not have time for her to perform gain.

So what is the result of her tears ? She get her way and she gets to perform again. Fair ? Hardly. None of the other acts got a second shot. None of the other acts this week who also had wobbles or made mistakes got to go on again. That surely is the nature of the show.

For me, as a parent and as a teacher, you might imagine I would have sympathy for the ten year old and feel she should go on again. But actually, no, I didn't.

What it told me is that 10 years of age is too young to be pressurised by being on such a show. But it also worried be that the message sent out was that if you cry and beg you will get your own way.

So what was the result ? Well "brave little Hollie" got through to the final. The message from the show was that forget talent, forget getting it right first time, forget that talent is also the ability to perform without making errors, tonight Britain's Got Talent was about pandering to tears.


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Other stories people are reading on the Norfolk Blogger Blog

- Tories and UKIP in alliance in North Norfolk ?

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North Norfolk Tories endorsing UKIP ?

It has been an odd quirk of North Norfolk Tories that they have, for many years, attempted to deceive the electorate each and every local election by failing to put candidates up against certain "independents", who in return join the Conservative group immediately after the election and take the Tory whip. Of course, it does not just happen in North Norfolk. Here in Broadland too the Tories do similar things too. But in North Norfolk it seems that the Tories have now lost control of their group discipline so much that one of their members, Mike Baker, who I could possibly describe in many ways, but the nicest thing I could say would be that he is a colourful character, a man elected at various times as a Conservative, an independent, and who sits at present as part of the Tory group whilst supposedly remaining an independent (work that out ?), is standing in the County Elections as a UKIP candidate.

So what are the Tories doing about this in North Norfolk ?

There is a good chance that with him standing as a UKIP candidate in a Tory held division, the same division in which he is a District Councillor for about 50% of the electorate, he could possibly lose the Tories the seat. What is more interesting is that the Tory County Councillor for this division is also a member of the Tory District Council group and sits alongside Cllr Mike Baker.

Now I have been told by people inside the Tories in North Norfolk that it does cause some disquiet that they accept people not elected as Tories in to their council group, and even when the standards board found Cllr Mike Baker guilty of breaking rules and suspended him for several months the Tory group still welcomed him back with open arms. This is in sharp contrast to the line the Lib Dem group took when they threw out from their group a councillor elected as a Lib Dem who was also found guilty by the standards board.

It certainly seems very odd and does not point to North Norfolk Tories being very united. From a Lib Dem point of view though, it is all very amusing.

So is Cllr Baker now UKIP and not an independent ? Can he remain in the Tory group whilst standing against them ? Have the Tories got the backbone to do anything ? If they don't do anything it appears that the Tories might be officially endorsing UKIP in North Norfolk.

How many lies will the sanctimonious Greens tell in order to win votes ?

I was amused to read a link to one of my postings yesterday from a Green Party activists entitled "Lib Dem Barcharts Always Lie".

Interestingly he decided to take only one of my barcharts I produced as a bit of fun in order to justify that all Lib Dems are liars.

Why did he take only one of those graphs if, as he claims, all Lib Dem bar charts lie ? Well it does not take a genius to work it out. It's because the other bar chart is almost completely accurate, as was the one I produced last week. Had his blog an easy system for leaving comments I might have responded politely to him, but in the typical Green control freak way, his blog has one of the most god awful systems possible designed to stop people leaving comments.

So in essence, his headline should have the subtext "Only certain Lib Dem barcahrts lie and others that I choose to ignore tell the truth".

But in order to clarify matter a little bit more for the Green, after all the Green Party are not noted for their financial and mathematical knowledge (just check out their manifesto pledges which fail to add up). I should point out that not all bar charts have to start at 0%. It is interesting that this type of bar chart appears in Year 6 SATs tests regularly. Obviously the UK government have a point about not scrapping SATs in England if the Scots do not understand it !

It certainly sums up the sanctimonious pomposity of virtually every Green I have ever met. Their overt " we know best" attitude is both patronising, sanctimonious and misplaced. When looking through my Euro ballot paper I would have voted for almost any other party on the list except the Greens and the BNP.

The is another point though. The posting I made was also slightly tongue in cheek, with the point being that it is ironic that a Lib Dem produces a bar chart which does not show the Lib Dems in first or second place.

Sense of humour and the Greens ? Don't be silly !

Christopher Fraser ? Who ? I've never heard of you !

I wrote some months ago about the invisible man of Norfolk politics, Christopher Fraser, MP for South West Norfolk.

This man lost his previous seat to the Lib Dems in Poole back in 2001, but despite this, South West Norfolk Tories chose him ahead of an array of better qualified and often local people with an armful of credentials to be a decent local MP. Having been selected as the Tory candidate, he then refused to take part in public meetings during the election and is notable for his unwillingness to be contacted. The Eastern Daily Press have reported on an almost daily basis how he refuses to return calls.

Now, in the wake of allegations that the taxpayer was forced to pay out for shrubbery to go around his garden in South West Norfolk. The EDP reported today that locals in the village in which he owns a house were largely unaware that he lived there, indeed the paper also reported that many people believe he spends me time in his Dorset home than he does in Norfolk. Quite how his home in Norfolk qualified as a second home when it appears actually to be his third time is something of a mystery.

Well now it does not matter because he has gone. He will not stand again. Will the people of South West Norfolk be pleased ? Will they know ? After all, he was only notable by his complete invisibility as a local MP. To be honest in the rock solid Tory seat where a dog with a blue rosette on could get itself elected, a dog with a blue rosette on might be better known and could, in my opinion, do a better job !

Is Cameron's hollow level of concern about Tory MPs expenses going to be exposed by Kirkbride ?

A few days ago David Cameron made it clear that Andrew MacKay should step down for making a claim on a second home in London. In many ways you might argue that the MP for Bracknell ought to have his first home in his constituency and his second home in London. After all, your main residence shouldn't be the home you spend least time at.

So the question is , why is Cameron standing by Mr MacKay's wife and fellow Tory MP Julie Kirkbride. Her list of things that voters would find offensive is longer than those of her husband.

1) I cannot imagine that she did not know of her husband's arrangements for claiming his second home allowance. Am I really to believe that she was not an accomplice to his guilt ?

2) She claims her second home is in Bromsgrove (her constituency). Yet this is the home she had her family in. Surely, if her children and family are there, this is her first home not her second home ? Surely this is just a scam so she can claim on her Bromsgrove home which conveniently left her husband to claim on their London home ?

3) Why are taxpayers paying for her brther to live in her second home rent free ?

4) Why did she increase her mortgage by £50,000, which the taxpayers footed the bill for so her son could have his own room when her brother gets his own room rent free ?

5) Why does Julie Kirkbride's sister get paid as a member of her staff whilst living more than 100 miles from Bromsgrove ?

6) Why did her husband have the guts to face voters before agreeing to stand down but Ms Kirkbride refuses to do so despite David Cameron insisting she does ?

This is the real test for David Cameron. He talks of change (which is far from radical in terms of what real change could offer) but if he does nothing about Ms Kirkbride he will shown to be a hollow man who speaks but fails to act.

Telegraph Expense Allegations - The New Bar Charts

My ancestors would be turning in their graves at the BNP's distortion of the reasons why they fought and died for Britain

The thrust of the BNP's party election broadcast tonight's seems to be on distorting the events surrounding the last two world wars and trying to make it fit their version of history.

Oddly, the BNP claim that Britain was fighting to stop a European super state from 1939-45. They do mention, in passing, the Nazis. But fail to mention how many members of the BNP are or have been involved in Nazi saluting, or other pro Nazi activities. They ask "Are you proud to be British ?" I am, but not when I see history being re-written in this way.

They also ask what those who have fallen in world wars would think if they saw the immigrant walking our streets today, claiming this is what the last two world wars were about. Actually, I imagine my ancestors who died fighting for this country would imagine how lucky we all are to have a free press, the right to travel freely and the rule of law in place instead of thuggery, hatred and protectionism.

When the BNP opened their broadcast claiming that all the other political parties were up to no good (expenses wise) and the BNP were different. I have to agree. After all the Tories, Lib Dems, Labour and UKIP are all led by people who are not convicted criminals. The leadership and executives of these parties are not made up of people with convictions for violence, racism and possessing weapons.

The BNP has a right under our freedoms to sell their message. However, it is a shame that they chose to distort history. I am making use of my democratic rights to say how much I oppose what they have to say, and I don't doubt for one moment that should their kind ever come to power these freedoms would disappear as quickly as they did in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

On the ground in Norwich North

In the wake of the allegations against Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, I thought it would be interesting to share with you comments that I have heard from constituents of Dr Gibson since the news became public.

I work in the heart of Dr Gibson's constituency and live on the edge of it and many of my work colleagues form part of his core electorate, and the reaction from them was akin to being let down by a trusted friend. Ian Gibson has been able to position himself in recent years not just as a Labour MP, but also as the anti establishment champion of local people and it is those people who felt that Labour had let them down buy Ian Gibson hadn't who feel most upset.

"I vote for him because he seemed like one of us and not one of them", said one colleague.

"Of all the MPs I never expected him to do this", said another.

But summing it all up for me was one colleague who said "I don't like Labour but I would have voted for him, but not now".

If you had asked me a week ago if I thought Ian Gibson would be named by The Telegraph, I would have said it was highly unlikely. Sadly, and I mean this genuinely as a Lib Dem and constituent of his, I feel what has happened is a great shame. Ian Gibson is that rare thing, an MP who does a good job of nursing his constituency who transcends political bias and draws his support from people who are actually bitterly opposed to the political party they represent.

Should he go ? Probably yes. Is it a shame ? Yes, I think it is.

Star Trek

I went to see the new Star Trek movie last night and really enjoyed it. However, if there was one area I could fault it would have to be the dire accents.

The guy playing Checkov (is that how you spell it) seemed like an extra from "Allo Allo", speaking some sort of weird accent that sounded neither Russian not French, but somewhere in between. However, the worst criticism has to be for the usually very good and admittedly still very funny for Simon Pegg. He plays Scotty in a good comedy way, but his accent never really reached Scotland and got further and further south as the film progressed. We all like to criticise Americans attempting poor British accents, but surely Simon Pegg could have learnt something from those from the other side of the pond (the original Scotty and his fellow Canadian Mike Myers who does a great comedy Scottish accent ) or at least spoken to one of the many Scots living in the England in ordet to do the accent some justice.

As to the other actors, Kirk, Spock and the rest were great, but the best for my money was the guy playing Dr McCoy. Brilliant film though and well worth watching, even if you were never Star Trek fan.

Norfolk MPs with nothing to hide print additional costs allowances online

Four Norfolk MPs who clearly feel they have nothing to hide regarding their expenses have decided to print their additional costs allowances details for the last four years on their websites today.

You can find the details at http://www.normanlamb.org.uk , http://www.richardbacon.org.uk , http://www.iangibsonmp.org.uk and http://www.charlesclarke.org.uk .

Going against my better judgment and being proved right and wrong at the same time

I have always been a but reluctant to follow the crowd. This is probably why I am a Lib Dem and an Everton supporter too (my support for Norwich is a local thing, much like supporting England, but Everton are my first team). So when MP3 players started to become the ideal replacement for older music players, I was somewhat reluctant to follow, sheep like, all the way to Apple and their iPod. My wife was also less than keen on their rather box like simplicity and instead opted for another brand, and in an attempt to avoid lots of competing cables and chargers, I later bought the same as her.

Now, nearly 5 years later, our MP3 players were on their last legs and my wife decided she wanted a new one for her birthday. Somewhat inspired by seeing someone elses new iPod Nano in a flashy colour, my wife decided that the Apple iPod was the way to go, and again to avoid clashes between competing cables and pc based media players, I too have bitten the bullet and bought an iPod Nano.

Now for me, this is a big step. I have always slightly resented that fact that any one company can have so much of the market in the way Apple do. On top of this I react strongly to those who would buy anything with an Apple logo on it. There are some people I know who would buy cat shit if apple sold it as iCatShit.

So how am I getting on with it ? Well, sort of okay. The gadget itself is a simple and fairly straight forward device. My problem is the iTunes software. I am at a loss as to why some parts of it are counter intuitive ? Why did it refuse to recognise my iPod all afternoon until I went through several lengthy procedures in order to reset parts of the system until it again recognised my iPod ? It's not a great problem overall for me to work out a way around some of the problems. But for anyone not PC savvy, it would have been a nightmare and Apple's support both in terms of printed instructions and web support is not that impressive.

In truth, I am getting on with the iPod fine, but it is always somehow slightly satisfying to find that something you were resistant too (in this case the software) actually does justify why you have been against it for so long.

Bar Chart Time

Update - This is intended to be slightly tongue in cheek. For all those who take it seriously and want to do % instead, I could ahve done this for MPs being accused of serious expenses fiddles (flipping, etc), and as I read it not one Lib Dem has "flipped" his or her second home. Indeed one Lib Dem MP is accused of getting Sky TV, which to me does not seem like an offence at all.

Quote of the year from disgraced Tory MP Andrew MacKay

On Radio Five Live at about 5.15 this evening they were interviewing a reporter from Andrew MacKay's constituency regarding his somewhat dodgy second home expenses. The reporter told Five Live that they spoke to Mr MacKay yesterday before the Telegraph printed its allegations to him and before any stories about him were known, and Mr MacKay told them words to the effect of

"I have checked all my expenses claims fore the last four years and am sure I have done nothing wrong".

But perhaps worse is the fact that he claims to have checked his expenses and he saw nothing wrong in what he did. Doesn' this say something about his judgement ?

Pressure being ramped on on Mr Speaker

A growig list of MPs are now coming out openly and saying they will vote against Michael Martin in next weeks confidence vote in him.

Lib Dem MPs Norman Lamb and Chris Huhne have today openly come out and other are expected to follow them in supporting the motion put forward by a Tory MP.

All I can say is it can't come soon enough.

The true cost of "Tory Dogma" over common sense when it comes to privatising council services

The "big thing" for Tory councils at the moment is to try and make out that they are attempting to save money for tax payers by privatising and outsourcing services that most people would consider to be essential core council jobs. However, it is far from clear if this ever saves money, and in the long term it can cost council tax payers considerably more.

Take for example Broadland District Council who privatised and farmed out their legal services jobs a few years ago ? Do they pay less now ? Do they hell. One Broadland Councillor told me that they now pay tens of thousands more now for legal advice than they used to when it was in house. On top of that, access to legal people for informal chats in council offices, often an important way for councillors to gather information, is no longer possible.

So why is the relevant ? Apparently some Norfolk councils and Essex County Council are also privatising core services too. What will be the benefits given the example of Broadland Council ? Probably none, and possible it might be detrimental, not only to the council coffers but also to local democracy. But it will allow the Tories to make out they are doing something.

The problem is though that certain core services that some councils want to push out to private companies involve highly trained staff with lots of qualifications who actually work for less than the market rate in order to work in local government. Whilst a lot of these people can be transferred across at these lower wages, they will, working in the private sector, inevitably have to be paid the market rate sooner or later and, as a result, it costs more in the long term to get them to do the job as private sector employees.

But who cares. It the electorate will buy in to the idea of making cuts and privatising, isn't that all that matters ?

Michael Martin sickens me

Listening to "Mr Speaker", Michael Martin, during the commons debate on expense today was absolutely sickening.

Mr Martin, a man not averse to taking full advantage of the expenses system and perhaps, in some eyes, being seen as just as bad as those MPs now caught out by The Telegraph, decided to launch a fierce verbal attack on Labour MP Kate Hoey and Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, both long time campaigners for greater exposure of MPs expenses.

What made Mr Martin's responses to Ms Hoey and Mr Baker was the way he chose to lecture other MPs about their conduct but then criticised personally Kate Hoey for going on Sky news to talk about the expenses issue and accused Mr Baker of giving the press "exactly what they wanted to hear".

This is the same Mr Speaker who refused the advice of his own legal advisers and spent extra tax payers money seeking a second legal opinion on whether he could challenge previous attempts to allow public scrutiny of MPs expenses. He is also the same person who now six months after he was ordered to reveal the full details, has still failed to do so.

To call in the police to deal with the whistle blower rather than to ask the police to investigate possible fraud by MPs shows just how out of touch Mr Martin is.

The problems with parliament and expenses start with the systems within parliament, and Mr Martin, it appears to me, is more concerned with defending these indefensible systems and not with ensuring parliament is relevant and trusted by the electorate.

"I was working within the rules"

Everyone now knows that the rules concerning parliamentary expenses for MP were perverse, yet the constant flow of MPs claiming "I worked within the rules" seems totally at odds with everyone elses moral compass.

We all know now that MPs were working withing the rules, but we are all concerned that so many MPs lacked the common sense and decency to see that their expenses claim were totally indefensible to the electorate.

No wonder we have been told for many years that out MPs are the least corrupt in world because there was no need for overt corruption when there was a legal method for them to be corrupt.

Why was the UKIP Party Election Broadcast made for school children ?

My wife said to me as the UKIP election broadcast was being broadcast, "Why is the voice over sounding like it is being broadcast as a programme for school children ?".

A good point, and after rewinding it on Sky+, I couldn't help but agree. A slow deliberate slightly condescending voice over with some rather amateurish graphics spoke as if the person watching is a little bit thick. Explaining rather simple facts slowly, like someone was explaining to their grandmother how to use digital TV for the first time.

Rather bizarrely and in complete contrast, Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, appeared to be entering a competition to see who could say the most words in 30 seconds, such was his hurried delivery.

Now I know UKIP are not as well off as other parties, but with such a simple message to sell and one that ought to appeal to so many people (including me to some extent), they could have done better.

Phil Woolas - New Labour Toady gets does of his own medicine

Wasn't it nice to see Labour Minister Phil Woolas looking embarrassed and unsure of himself when outflanked and our campaigned by Joanna Lumley on the Ghurkas issue today.

Phil Woolas is know to many Lib Dems as the man who allowed his campaign for election in 1995 to become dominated by innuendo, questionable electoral practises and ultimately saw the start of the way Labour had campaigned for the last 14 years. "Never let the truth get in the way of a chance to win votes", has been Labour's mantra since the 1995 by-election in Littleborough and Saddleworth, and in 1997 along with many other New Labour Toadies, Mr Woolas got himself elected.

Since 1997 Mr Woolas has been notable within Labour ranks for his unstinting loyalty, be this supporting illegal wars in Iraq, imposing laughably low increases to pensions, making students pay more, breaking election promises, supporting ID cards or any other number of things that would have been inconceivable back in his days as a student activist, Mr Woolas has defended New Labour unstintingly. .

Does opposing the rights of people who have served this country's armed forces with honour fit with Mr Woolas' previous membership of the Anti Nazi League ? To me, it seems slightly odd. But even more so, someone who was head of the NUS systematically supporting over a number of years things that have put ever more burdens on to students seems to me to be the actions of a man who would do anything to prove his loyalty.

But today, he was put on the spot, couldn't rely on a spin doctor to prepare and brief in the way that New Labour Toadies have become used to. And wasn't it good to see !

Now let's hope that the Lib Dems in Oldham East can pull their fingers out and finally unseat Mr Woolas next time because in my opinion, if there is any new Labour MP who deserves to lose his seat, it's Mr Woolas.

Down to League One and justice has been done

Sorry to mention Norwich City on this blog rather than my Norwich blog, but my thoughts on this need as wide an audience as possible.

Let's not make excuses for Norwich's relegation this year. In truth, yes, we have had some abysmal refereeing decisions in so many games this year that it may well have cost us points, but in reality Norwich are down to League One for one reason, and that is because we are a bloody poor team, reliant on loan players and lacking any real backbone and spine aside from Sammy Clingan and perhaps Gary Docherty.

Norwich are apparently going to ask fans not to ask for their £72.20 rebate for going down to be refunded. Sorry, I am having it back. Call me what you like, but it is nothing to the names I would like to call those wearing Norwich shirts today.

What the headline should really say

The fact is that this story should be titled "Labour MP scared he will lose his seat". Do you think Mr Clarke would be so concerned if he had a 17,000 majority ?

With a slim majority of the Lib Dems in Norwich South, Clarke really is starting to look more and more scared by the day.