The online voter registration site with no security certificate

I received a letter today from Broadland District Council encouraging me to register as a voter as part of their annual canvass of electors.

The form, which is actual rather confusing, seems to be encouraging me to register online if I have no changes to make to my details. The website itself is oneI have never heard of before called http://www.register-online.co.uk/.

The problem is, this website has no security certificate and Internet Explorer is encouraging me not to access this website, as can be seen by the screen shot below.

The issue of companies phoning local residents in an internet scam, claiming to be able to clear viruses from computers but actually downloading spyware on to PCs is something I have recently taken up with a local resident, so I am shcoked that the council should be encoraging me to use a website without a valid security certificate.

How many other companies are using http://www.register-online.co.uk/ as well as Broadland ?

Do dirty tricks justify dirty tricks ?

A couple of days ago Mark Pack highlighted that the leader of the Taxpayers Alliance (not an organisation I have much time for as they claim to speak for me with no legitimacy at all), who is also heading up the anti AV group campaigning against a Yes vote in the referendum next year, has registered the yes2av.org domain name. This clearly is underhand and speaks volumes about the Taxpayers Alliance of the head honcho uses these sorts of tactics. It's hardly open and transparent is it.

Anyone who cares about the state of politics, you would imagine, would decry these tactics, no matter who does it. But not Tories it appears. Yesterday Dizzy Thinks sited examples of underhand Labour campaigning, as if it is some sort of justification for what the "No" campaign are doing.

Do dirty tricks justify dirty tricks ? I hope not.

Personally, I am genuinely unconvinced by AV, and wonder also whether a "NO" vote might cause some Lib Dem MPs to make it clear to Nick Clegg that they are not prepared to work with the Tories anymore. This then leaves Clegg with the dilemma whether hea joins the Tories with a handful of other Lib Dem MPs, or does the decent thing and goes in to opposition. However, when I read of dirty tricks by the "No" campaign, it makes me more inclined to be "Yes" and to campaign for it.

Time for a Labour Conspiracy ?

I read only today the rather manipulated (in my opinion) story of Sunny Hundal, the man behind Liberal Conspiracy, joining the Labour Party. I note he wrote the article last week, but the picture of his online application was from five weeks ago (stage managed ?), leading me to believe that everything I have ever thought about the Liberal Conspiracy site is right.

For starters, it has barely ever been Liberal. Its ethos is always to support Labour. The biggest conspiracy is the name itself, which was always a misleading title seemed to me to be aimed at getting hitswhilst there was a Labour government, where the title Labour Conspiracy would have been a turn off.

Now that Mr Hundal has left, I am sure it will do his media work the power of good, and if it stops him turning up and speaking to the media as a liberal, that is certainly no bad thing, as I rarely felt he was ever someone who could speak for those of us who are liberal in persuasion.

So Mr Hundal, enjoy your time in a party that starts illegal wars, runs its fiscal policy by spending money the country does not have, and enjoy being in a party that introduced some of the most authoritarian powers every introduced. Liberal ? I think not.

So how about a name change for your blog ? How about a bit of honesty ?

Norwich traffic chaos gets worse

Yesterday afternoon I had to go in to Norwich. A five mile journey took 55 minutes at 1.30 in the afternoon (not exactly a rush hour). When I got there, virtually every car park was full, and to be honest, the hassle meant I would go elsewhere to shop if I possible could.

Now I explained why Norwich's roads are in such a mess at the moment a few weeks ago with both Norwich City Council and Norfolk County Council seemingly conspiring to make every journey in to Norwich impossible from the North of the City.  Since the, however, things have got worse. One of the main routes in to Norwich from the North, the Fakenham Road, is closed both ways. This means that buses from Fakenham, Drayton and Taverham (my area) have to be diverted, adding a lot of extra time to the journey and in doing so putting lots of people off using the bus (me included). On top of this though, they authorities have made things even worse by closing Castle Meadow in the centre of Norwich. This road is almost exlusively used by buses, with there being dozens of bus stops along this road. This means bus routes have been altered, again causing people to given up on buses and go by car instead. This explains why there is vitually nowhere to park in the city at the moment.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that doing four major road closures, all at the same time in Norwich is ridiculous, but seemingly Norwich City  (run by Labour) and the the Coutny Council (Tory run) can't work it out !

The oft repeated lie for lazy journalists

After the kids TV finished on FIVE this morning, I forgot to turn over and was suddenly presented with the a programme called "The Wright Stuff". This programme supposedly looks at "The stories of the day" and has a couple of generally ill informed, so called "experts" with no discernable qualifications to speak on the topic of current affairs other than the fact that they appear to be not exactly "A" list names.

This morning, the programme had on an American, who I have never seen before or heard of, who repeated the common line from journalists at the moment, a line that if they all repeat often enough, they start to actually believe. When discussing the government, this American said, as a statement of fact, "Lib Dems are leaving in droves to join the Labour Party !" .

On what basis is he making this comment other than he heard other lazy journalists saying it ? I gather (to my surprise) that there was a surge in membership after the election and I cannot think of anyone who has joined Labour since the election.

Isn't it another case that lazy journalists like to make up stories about the Lib Dems in the hope that it will be true, and then cannot discern between their own lies and the substance ?

Note - For clarity, I am not a supporter of the coalition and I did consider leaving the Lib Dems after the coalition deal. If I had, I would not have joined Labour  as I don't like parties that start illegal wars.

Why would Charles Kennedy resign ?

The silly season is upon us and Labour politicians, desperate to breathe some life in to possibly the dullest leadership campaign in history are trying to make a story out of the possibility of Charles Kennedy defecting to Labour.

There are many reasons why CK would be unlikely to defect to Labour. These reasons have been discussed at length elsewhere in great detail, but for me, the main reason why Charles would find it hard to join the Labour Party is Iraq. Iraq was the defining issue during Charles Kennedy's leadership of the Lib Dems, and whilst Kennedy was putting his head above the parapet, Labour poured scorn upon him. This derision from Labour would be difficult to forget.

But more important than Iraq, Charles, like me, almost certainly feels that he still is a Lib Dem, its just that the parliamentary party doesn't look like the Lib Dems anymore. Charles, like Simon Hughes, are still true standard bearers of the Lib Dem cause, and we need them desperately to keep the Liberal Democrats true to the values we campaigned for at the General Election.

It's not Charles who should be leaving the party, it's that a number of Lib Dem MPs need to remember that they are Liberal Democrats, not Tories !

Ed Miliband plays the anti Lib Dem card

PoliticalBetting.comhttp://www6.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2010/08/18/would-edm-prefer-being-in-opposition-rather-than-government/ ran a thread yesterday about the statment from Ed Miliband that he would demand Nick Clegg's resignation if he were the Labour leader seeking to negotiate a coalition deal with the Lib Dems.

The is political postuing on a grand scale, but says more about Ed Miliband and Labour's very tribal, bearing grudges, style of politics andfails to address the realities of being a responsible politician.

As is well known, the Lib Dems said Gordon Brown would have to go if the Lib Dems were ever to form a coalition with Labout after this year's General Election, and this seems to be the basis on which Ed Miliband is now making his rather petty comments. But it ought to be remembered that Gordon Brown lost his majority. Some of his back benchers were calling for his resignation on the night of the election, and at the end of the day, he himself felt he should resign as Labour leader, meaning any claims that the Labour Party felt he could stay on as Prime Minister were undermined by his resignation.

But what about the circumstances after the next election ? What about if the Lib Dems pick up a few more seats. this is no improbable given that nobody seems to be able to accurately predict Lib Dem performance. A matter of a year ago Tory bloggers and activists were claiming the Lib Dems would be chopped down to a rump 25-30 seats, and in April of this year polls were predicting the Lib Dems would get 85-90 seats. The reality saw the Lib Dems lose a handful of seats by a handful of votes on a slightly increased share of the vote. So if the Lib Dems do better in 2015 than in 2010, what would Ed Miliband do ? Demand the resignation of a man who has proved to have done well ?

I think the statement from Ed Miliband speaks more of his desperation as the Labour leadership election gets closer. He knows he is behind his brother and is now seeking to be seen as the anti Lib Dem candidate. It might work, in the short term, but he will be pushing himself in to a corner politically that he might not be able to get out of.

Note - I write as a Lib Dem who is not a supporter of the coaltion agreement.

Where would the Lib dems be without Simon Hughes ?

I wonder how many activists and campaigners like me remain comfortable in the Lib Dems because Simon Hughes dares to say what many of our MPs are unwilling to say or actually have bought in to the coalition with the Tories so much, they actually don't want to say.

Today Simon says we will not enter in to an electoral pact with the Tories. We will stand candidates against the Tories, and it is part of our constitution that we have to field candidates.

Of course, this is not to say that the Tories will field candidates against Lib Dems, indeed, it probably suits the Tories more to step aside in seats where Labour could get back in. But from a Lib Dem point of view, and for those of us fighting Tories in local government, it is very nice to know Simon Hughes is fighting on behalf of activists.

Deluded Norwich labour - Any depths, any lie will do !

In Norwich we are in the unique position of having local elections this September because the labour Government decided, unlawfully as it turned out, to cancel the elections this May after they decided (unlawfully as it turned out) to impose a Unitary Council on Norwich which was contrary to all the criteria laid down under which a Unitary Authority should be created.

I don't want to go in to all the details, but Norwich's Unitary bid cost the Labour run council millions, no cost benefit was clearly identified that would justify the unitary council and the option the Labour Government went for was in contradiction to the rules the Labour government had made clear at the start of the process. So when the Labour government decided, pretty much on a whim to cancel the local elections this year in Norwich (without a hint of complaint from either the labour Party locally or the Green Party), Norwich's fate seemed set.

The thing is, what the Labour government did was actually unlawful, and their actions were struck down in court after an appeal by Norfolk County Council against he decision made by the government.

Now you would expect some humility from a person if they had acted unlawfully, perhaps some contrition ? but no, not from the Labour Party. Instead in their leaflets they try to whitewash the fact that the Labour government broke the rules, rode roughshod over democracy and the law of the land, and instead they seek to claim the moral high ground and blame everyone else for the fact that the Labour Government acted without following the rules.

Read the statement on their leaflets going out in Norwich.

Notice the phrases "Norwich people have been lumbered with the costly and unnecessary by-elections in all 13 wards".

These elections would have been considerably less costly if they could have been held on the same day as the general election, which is what would have happened if the Labour government had not cancelled the elections in May of this year. Do Norwich Labour mention that ?

They also claim the elections are "unnecessary". Why is this ? Do Labour think some councillors should be allowed to stay on the council for five years ? This statement is utterly ridiculous, but highlight why labour have gone from having two MPs in Norwich to zero in less than a year.

Nationally we see the Labour leadership hopefuls blaming everyone else for the mess the country is in financially. and locally in Norwich the Labour Party seek to blame everyone else for the mess the government made of local government in the City.

Come on Labour, show us you  have changed. Put your hands up, admit you made errors and mistakes and stop blaming everyone else. 

Double Dip Recession ? We were warned !

The US has downgraded its forecasts for the US economy and markets there are now planning for a double dip recession. Likewise, houseprices have again stalled and spending on the high street is down in latest figures released in th UK today. All the signs point to a raised liklihood of a double dip recessions.

Now a few months ago the Lib Dems were warning against cutting too deep and too early because of fears of a double dip recession, yet in coalition with the Tories, this is exactly what we have done.

So if we do get a double dip recession, what should I say ? We told you this would happen but ignored our own advice.

Agreeing with the Catholic Church

I've been very critival of the Catholic Church over issues such as shielding child abusers from arrest and standing in the way of equal opportunities, but it is nice to heap praise in them for the words spoken today by the Roman Catholic leader in Scotland.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has spoken out against the USA for their line of attack over the Al Megrahi release and accused the Americans of keeping bad company in their liove of the death penalty (keeping them more in line with Saidi Arabia and Iran then with free democratic states), but the bit I liked was the quote
"We shouldn't be crawling out to America, or having them come here and questioning us on our own territory."

Indeed yes.
Let's not remember that the USA refused to release information that would have given a clear understanding to a proper inquest result in to "friendly fire" deaths in Iraq. The USA also refuses to give any evidence to the Iraq enquiry, yet the USA expects us to send our elected representatives to speak to their Senators regarding decisions made in the UK. This is quite ridiculous, irresepective of the rights and wrongs of the decision.
Of course the biggest factor that is being ignored about the who Al Megrahi case is that by releasing him it prevented an appeal which would almsot certainly ahve shown him to be not gulty and highlighted much of the flawed evidence the US provided and undermined the USA contention that Libya was behing the attack when everyone knows the bombing was directed from Syria.

Remember folks, we went in to coalition with this man

This says it much more politely than I could.

I have not bought the Cameron myth that some Lib Dems have fallen in to, and these sorts of comments collowing on from his diminishing of Britiain's role in World War Two show Cameron to be less a thinker, more a plonker.

Not a campaign slogan I would wish to use

I am not the only Nicholas Starling who gets mentions on Google, with the head of the Association of British Insurers being called Nick Starling causing some confusion amongst children at my school when it is reported on the news that "We will be speaking to Nick Starling later about... " with children coming in to tell me "They said you would be on TV last night but it wasn't you", which is always quite funny.

However, Google brought my attention to Nick Starling, an Iraq war veteran who despite no doubt being brave, clearly has the sort political policies most ordinary people would run and hide from.

This particular Nick Starling is running for the position of Assessor in Nevada, and uses the slogan

" VOTE FOR NICK STARLING, THE NEW REPUBLICAN FACE THAT BLED FOR FREEDOM."

A slogan I shall not being using in my re-election campaign next year ! Likewise, voters in UK elections really do get turned off by campaign photos featuring people waerting sunglasses holding a machine gun.

Who decided to mess up traffic in Norwich North ?

You have to marvel at the stupidity of those responsible for scheduling major road works on three separate junctions and roads in the North of Norwich all at the same time as each other.

On the Fakenham (A1067) in to Norwich, traffic can come in to Norwich only (not out), whilst they have also decided to close access to Norwich from the alternative Aylsham (Cromer) Road (A140) at St Augustines (putting in a new route which is causing major traffic problems), and also reducing the number of lanes at Mile Cross Road from two to one.

In short, they have introduced three roads schemes all at the same time ensuring maximum disruption.

I suppose there might be those who argue that it is better to wreck traffic movement in Norwich at one time rather than stagger the road changes, but each of the changes in themselves are manageable, but put together they are ridiculous.