Spoiling my eco credentials

I have a new car. It is another Skoda, this time a Skoda Yeti 4WD.

Whilst people might question why I am buying aq 4WD, I simply point out that my wife has to drive cross country to work, barely using any A or B roads and for my job, my school never closes, no matter what the weather. We were in school last week when all other schools were closed. So with both my wife and I needing to be able to get to work, we need a car that is capable of getting from A to B as ,to put it mildly, the weather last week did not make it easy at all.

Whilst people will question my eco credentials, I would simply point out that I do less than 6,000 miles a year and my new car will average more than 40 miles to the gallon.

Now all I have to do is work out how all the gadgets work.

A sign that any media source is not to be trusted is if they get excited about the release of school league tables

BBC East tonight almost wet themselves with excitement talking about the "incredible" High School league tables produced today.

Anyone who knows anything about education knows that league tables show only what is recordable, not what is important. The fact that BBC East, not noted for their fantastic journalism locally, reported this with such gusto and excitement rather underlines why I don't watch the BBC local news.

Flu - Will the new government be as inept and stupid as Labour ?

One of the things that has highlighted the utter incompetence of Labour to me and underlines why they do not deserve another chance in power has been their handling of the swine flu outbreak.

In the first place, they had a policy of mass over reaction in the media coupled with a complete lack of real action by the government when it came to taking real action. The government's overreaction might have made sense were it not for the fact that the UK government was pressing the World Health Organisation to not declare the swine flu out break as a pandemic. It might have also made sense had the UK government taken immediate action to prevent people flying to Mexico. As it was. the weekend that the swine flu story broke and the inital fears were that the death/kill rate was as high as 8-10%, the UK did nothing to stop flights. of course, in hindsight there may have been no need to cancel flights, but the government did not actually know this.

Then there was the doling out of tamiflu to anyone. This is never a good idea as it breed resistance. My own experience with my son having flu over Christmas was that although he was issued with tamiflu, the doctors advice was "don't take it unless absolutely necessary". Does this make sense to anyone ?

Then there has been the absolute lash up that has been the vaccination programme. After being told we were "as prepared as anyone in the world", it turned out we weren't. The fool that is our Cheif Medical Officer, Liam Donaldson, said that we would have a vaccine by july, then August, then September, then they didn't actualy arrive until the very end of October. And if we were so prepared and ahead of every other country, why did we not get our vaccines until three weeks after Australia ?

So the vaccination arrive, then we start the vaccination programmes by only getting 1 million people injected in the first month. An appallingly low figure. Following this, and hundreds of thousands of asthma sufferers, who were promised a jab as they are "at risk", find they are not entitled at all to a jab because this government changed the definition of asthma patients so that asthmatics who use inhalers are not asthmatics. Does this make sense ? Ask the Labour government.

To top things off, the government, it turns out, did not include in GPs' contracts the commitment that they would carry out vaccinations in the case of a pandemic meaning millions of children under the age of five will still not have got a swine flu jab.

According to an expert on the the local news today reporting on "What now for Swine Flu ?", swine flue will be the predominant flu strain for the next few years and he urged under 5s and vulnerable people to have jabs if they are offered. However, what was not mentioned is that annual flu jabs wear off and are not a "for life" vaccine. This means that under fives would need another injection next year. Will they be offered this as part of the annual flu jab programme ? Of course not, because under fives are not given a seasonal flu jab !

Whilst it might seem trivial and swine flu has not killed millions, it underlines that this government did very little right in the outbreak and had it been H5N1 bird flu or another serious flu, we'd all have died and Labour would not have had a clue.

Atlantic fronts to warm Britain up by end of the week - The end of snow is in sight !

Looking at weather forecasts from various sources, it is clear that by the end of the week most of the country will be having rain, as opposed to snow, and evening temperatures should be above freezing, meaning an end to the ice and snow.

And all I can say is thank goodness for that !

Tory bloggers on Zac Goldsmith

The latest revelations that donations from Zac Goldsmith to the Tory Party may have been covered up are in the papers, So what are Tories bloggers saying about it ?

As of 10:16 am

Iain Dale says nothing.

Guido Fawkes, who claims to be independent but leans heavily in his postings towards attacking almost anyone except the Tories, says nothing.

Conservative Home says nothing.

Tory Radio says nothing

And of all the other Tory bloggers, I could not find one mention.

In stark contrast, after revelations about Gordon Brown, this issue was being discussed on Labour Websites and blogs like Labour List.

Tories prefer Labour to Lib Dems

Apparently there are so few differences between the Lib Dems and the Tories that the Tories are specially organising fundraising to unseat Lib Dems rather than fighting Labour.

Perhaps Conservative voters should take note that when it comes to winning seats of Labour or the Lib Dems, the Tories prefer to attack the Lib Dems.

No wonder David Cameron wants to hug a hoodie

David Cameron told us a few years ago that we should be more understanding of the issue of those "hoodies" who exhibit antisocial behaviour. Now we know why. He employs people with the same credentials as your typical hoodie.

Surely Cameron would know or he would know who to ask ?

David Cameron has said in response to questions about whether his photo was airbrushed that "he hopes it wasn't". I don't think that he answered the question though.

He claims he was not responsibly for the photo so does not know about it. However, as leader of the Tory Party, surely he would know this or he would know who to ask ?

The fact is that if it had not been airbrushed, he would have answered immediately "no". As Stephen Glenn points out, the evidence of airbrushing does seem pretty clear. I'm sure I would know if a picture of me was airbrushed by the fact that that the photo would not accurately represent what I see in a mirror each morning. Is "Dave" saying he has no reflection ? Now that would make sense.

Lets use the snow to spell out the message of the sort of Britain the Lib Dems would like to see

The Lib Dems are all about empowering people to take action and make a difference, yet the law of the law really does seem to stand in the way of this. Just look at this article about clearing snow from your path or road. The truth is the law in this country prevents people from taking action themselves, puts artificial barriers in the way of people and communities taking independent effective actions themselves, and makes people even more dependent on and expectant of a nanny state that will do everything for them.

Why doesn't Nick Clegg take the snow as an opportunity to spell out the sort of Britain we want to see. Where people take responsibility for clearing snow from their driveways instead of fearing that they could be sued for doing so. A country where people know their rights, but also know their responsibilities. A Britain where we don't just moan about the lack of gritting, but where people actually bother to walk to the gritting boxes and grit the bit of their road themselves.

We hear on the radio and TV all the time about people helping each other out in the snow. People offering shelter, people taking medicines to the ill. People going out and doing shopping for the elderly and infirm. Yet too many people these days take the "there is no such thing as society" line, sit back and expect someone else, government, or the council to do everything for them and if it isn't done, then they still won't lift a finger to   help.

Utterly totally useless information from the Met Office - See which version of the weather forecast you would believe

Here is a copy of the screenshot from the BBC Weather website (information provided by the Met Office) giving the weather forecast for the next five days.

The first weather forecast is for Norwich (Norfolk) and features heavy snow on Friday and Saturday.

The second weather forecast is for Norwich International Airport which is actually just three miles from Norwich City centre and is actually within the boundaries of Norwich. According to them Norwich International is getting completely different weather from Norwich (which is the same place) on Friday and Saturday ?

Is it me or is this just totally confusing and further emphasises that the Met Office provide an unbelievably poor service ?

It is difficult enough making decisions about travelling without the Met Office providing two totally contradictory weather forecasts for the same place.

What is wrong with our legal system that takes 14 months for a traffic offence to come before a court of law ?

Ashley Cole, the footballer, adulterer and husband of Cheryl Cole, was found guilty of speeding by a court today.

Astonishingly, the arrest was made in November 2008 ! Why the hell do our courts react so slowly ? Why has it taken 14 months before this case was heard ? Is it any wonder people have no faith in the legal system ?

The fact is that the CPS and our court system is held in such low regard by people in general. I was told be a friend who is related to a barrister that he knows which cases, even when his client is guilty, that he will win based on which CPS person turns up. Apparently some are "utterly useless" and "do not understand the cases they are presenting and in some cases offer lesser charges because they do not have the knowledge to prosecute the more serious charges."

Rabbit in the headlights ? Cameron crumbles under the spotlights

It is not a good start to the Tories unofficial election campaign that under proper scrutiny, the sort of scrutiny he can expect every single day of a general election campaign, David Cameron appeared to flip flop, changing Tory party policy from the previous policy then changing it back again in the space of a few hours.

As the BBC reports

(Cameron) was forced on to the defensive over tax breaks for married couples after telling the BBC he hoped to bring them in but could not promise them.

Mr Cameron later issued a statement saying they would "definitely" come in.

Of all the things to worry about - Harman shows why she IS a political lightweight

With international terrorism in the news, the recession dragging on, Afghanistan returning British servicemen in coffins on a weekly basis and enough domestic matters to keep any government busy, what is Harman banging on about now ? Read HERE.

What about the blood on your hands Mr Major ?

John Major seeks today to criticise Tony Blair in his handling of the Iraq War. Much as I would like to agree with John Major, I cannot forget or forgive the fact that his government knew about the murder of 5,000 muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, was warned about it by then Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown, and the UK government let it be known that the "safe areas" would not be defended.

John Major will not be judged well by history, and I beleive in 16 years time when the 30 year rule is applied to government data and we find out the full facts, history will judge John Major's government to be even worse.

You can read more about what John Major's government knew and how they acted HERE.

This should suddenly make me popular with the movers and shakers in Lib Dem blogging

I've never really written in depth on this blog before about a particular subject which seems to energise a number of "top" Lib Dem bloggers. But since this subject seems to be a prerequisite in order to gain any recognition in the Lib Dem blogosphere , I thought I chuck in to the melting pot my opinions about Dr Who based on having watched the Christmas and New year episodes.

I, as people will read, am only a casual watcher of Dr Who. I probably catch a couple of episodes each series, so am in no way an expert on the subject of Dr Who. But watching the last two episodes really does make me wonder if the appear of the programme to 9 year olds is based on the fact that the plots seem to involved the same level of detail and thoughtful planning typically expected of a 10 year old child. Thinking about it, that's not really fair, because if a nine year old in my class had turned out the storyline for the last two episodes as a story plan, I would have been extremely disappointed and told him to do it again.

Things just happen in Doctor Who. Doors lock for no reason, planets long destroyed,  re-appear because of a diamond being found, spaceships lose power for good reasons and get them back for no good reason. Characters forget things for a reason then remember them for no reason, in short, events happen just because the writer decides on them on a whim whilst the plot development and the reasons for the events happening are completely glossed over by ludicrous science or simply the Doctor being clever.

The shame of it for me was that the final episodes were really well put together, brilliantly acted, full of fabulous effects but ultimately rather pointless given the fact that the writer Russell T Davies felt that he could allow more or less anything to happen in the story because it is science fiction and all the rules of cause and effect and plot development could be tossed away.

Whilst Russell T Davies might have revived Doctor Who, he has also left it as a niche programme with people like me, open to the idea of watching the show, finding is juvenile plots unchallenging and far too light weight. I will tune in to the next series of Dr Who. With the brilliant Steven Moffat as the man in charge of the scripts, the show should be a must see.

Where does gummer's decision to stand down leave Cameron's Green policies ?

Whilst it may have seemed fairly minor news when it was announced that John Selwyn-Gummer is to stand down as MP for Suffolk Coastal at the next general election, it does raise some questions about the Tories Green credentials and the future of Cameron's claims that the Tories can be trusted on the Green agenda.

Gummer is standing down to be a a campaigner on environmental matters, very noble. But when only 40 of David Cameron's MPs even voted to support the climate change bill, and with many of the possible new intake of Tory hopefuls being even more ardent global warming deniers, it must be ablow to Cameron that one of the few Tories who would support Camerons greener policies is to go.

Who will defend the Chinese government and at the same time attack the Labour Party ? Step forward the Daily Mail

You can always rely on the dictators friend, the Daily Mail to seek to blame the ills of the world on either the BBC, Europe, Immigrants or "liberals". Today, when dealing with the sad events concerning the execution of Akmal Sheikh, Leo McKinstry in the Daily Scum has managed seemingly to me have a dig at liberals, the government and an immigrants lack of links to the UK all at the same time.

In a ludicrous article where he ignores China's history of murdering tens of thousands of its own population, forgets the murders of journalists and those dissidents who dare to talk about corruption in the Chinese state, turns a blind eye to the murder of thousands of students in Tianamen Square in 1990, Leo McKinstry uses such quotes as

In contrast to New Labour's policy of appeasement and surrender, the Chinese Government acts vigorously to defend its people from the misery caused by the drugs trade.

Oh yes, Mr McKinstry, the Chinese really do care about their population. All those little girls left to die in hospitals, they care for them too don't they ?

He goes even further when he writes

In China, the death penalty can be invoked against anyone carrying more than 50g of drugs - and that is one obvious reason why China, proportionally, has nothing like the drugs problem that we have in Britain.

Oh, so its nothing to do with the relative poverty of China then ? Nothing to do with China doctoring figures and statistics so as to leave the impression that their one party dictatorship actually does care ?

So nice to know that when it comes to dictatorships, one newspaper can be guaranteed to believe every figure, statistic and piece of propaganda that comes from their propaganda ministry. We shouldn't be surprised of course. it was the Daily Mail that similarly swallowed Hitler's lies up to 1939, so the paper does have good form.

It does make me wonder though what the Daily Mail would have said had Mr Akmal Shaikh been called Adrian Smith, been white, not been muslim and lived in Tunbridge Wells.

I think we know the answer to this don't we.

The fact that the Daily Mail can seemingly support the putting to death of a man with delusional mental health problems ought to to shock us all. But to read what Mr McKinstry has written he ought to show a little bit more gratitude that he lives in a country where spouting bilious hate fuelled rubbish gets you no more than the wrath of a minor political blogger. If Mr McKinstrys lived in China, my opinion of his delusional mental problems would not save him from the from a fate many Chinese face very day. That of summary execution, torture, forced labour or death.

How to deal with idiots who phone 999 for no good reason

I don't think it takes an enormous amount of intelligence to know the difference between a good reason and a bad reason to phone 999.

The answer for people like THIS who phoned up 999 over Christmas because her cat was overly playful and was "doing her head in", is simply to send a police car round, arrest her for wasting police time, and then see how many other people think that the emergency services should be phoned for such trivial matters.

Sadly, the police release stories like this every few months, but until firm action is taken, it will get worse and worse.

I am, apparently, the number one Lib Dem blogger

Many thanks to those people mad enough to vote for me as number one Lib Dem blogger in Iain Dale's end of year poll. I suspect I may have been helped by a couple of notable bloggers either quitting blogging or leaving the party, but thanks all the same.

I go through regular bouts of wanting to give up blogging, indeed I did give up earlier in the year (just as the local media were starting to take an interest, so I told them I had quit and they went away ), but I have kept going through lean times. Hopefully, with the election coming, I will be full of ideas and opinions.

Many thanks again to all the readers. Now I must go and see to my son who is two, still full of flu, and is more deserving of my time than even you dear reader !

Is almost everything about Cameron spin and falsehood ?

David Cameron, it appears, is worried about the Tories chances of having a working majority at the next election. Why else would he have made such an overt attempt to woo Lib Dem voters in his new Year statement yesterday if he wasn't confident ? The problem is, his statement is so hollow in the context of everything we know about the Tories and his motives.

Whilst he says that differences between the Lib Dems and Tories are much less obvious than they were before, that is only because the Tories have not had the opportunity to support illegal wars started by the Labour government. In truth, yawning gaps exist between the Lib Dems and the Tories on many issues, and Cameron knows this. So why did he make his statement ?

The truth is it is not about removing differences between parties, as Cameron claimed. It was about a cynical attempt to woo voters from the Lib Dems on a false premise that the Tories stand for the same things that the Tories stand for. Dishonest ? Of course, but when it comes to sanctimonious rubbish dressed up as proper political discourse, Cameron is truly the heir to Blair.

I know people in the Tories who have met or know Cameron, and finding one of them in private to say anything positive about him as a person is a real struggle. One ultra loyal Tory I know did a good job once of defending him. When I listed some of the things I had been told about Cameron, the reply I got was "I don't think he means anything by it. It's just his style". Some defence !

For me Lib Dem MP Dany Alexander summed up the difference between the Lib Dems and Tories best of all

"David Cameron seems to be confused about what a fairer Britain means. For the Liberal Democrats it means cutting taxes for the lowest paid, for him it means cutting them for millionaires."

Lib Dems shouldn't be fooled by Cameron. If you want an unfair Tory government whose priorities are to give money to the rich, cut from the poor and legalise fox hunting, then vote Tory. If you want a fairer Britain, the only way you will get that is by voting Lib Dem. The Tories offer only a fake liberalism.

I refer you to my post of two years ago

Two years ago I wrote about the lies peddled by the Countryside Alliance regarding hunting.

It appears two years on nothing has changed, indeed they CSA laim to have more support than ever for hunting. Can we assume therefore that their claims of doom, job losses, the mass culling of hounds and us all being overun by foxes were lies ?

The fact is, as I proved HERE, the Countryside Alliance are little more than a Tory front anyway. They actively campaigned against MPs who did not even support the hunting ban in 2005, highlighting that fact that they are a political orgnaisation more than a lobbying organisation whilst their claims to speak on behalf of the countryside are like me officially declaring that I speak on behalf of the people of India because I like a take away.

Swine Flu on Christmas Eve

I have, since swine flu first appeared last April, been highly critical of the government's preparations and plans for dealing with the pandemic. If you are unaware of my regular posting on the subject, click HERE to read the link to them.

So now having had to phone the pandemic flu line for my son who, on Christmas Eve, late in the evening, appears to have all the symptoms of swine flu (many thanks to the parent who sent their child to nursery with flu and gave it to my son), I am aware even more of the inadequacy of the service.

Phoning the main pandemic flu number involved listening to about 10 minutes of chatter and advice which was all very obvious before then being given another number to ring. Then I rang the other number (0800 1513100), only to be put through to a person, who never actually picked the call up. After having the phone ring off dead twice when they were "connecting me", I eventually went through the internet method of registering for Tamiflu. Now we have to wait 12 hours for a place in Norwich to open so we can get his Tamiflu.

I know it is Christmas Eve and we should make allowances. But for the national phone helpline to simply fail to connect callers and leave them with a dead phone line really is taking the mickey, especially when you are trying to deal with an asthmatic two year old who is running a temperature of 38.7c and is throwing up and coughing.

Of course, I hear you say, "But if he is a two year old with Asthma, he will have been entitled to a vaccine". The answer to that is no, he isn't. Because he takes a non steroid based inhaler, the government deem his asthma not to be asthma, so he does not get a jab. There must be tens of thousands of at risk patients across the UK who fall in to this boat who cannot receive a jab either because of very odd government rules.

Now I must get back to my son.

Merry Christmas to you all, accept for the health minister who set the rules that mean my son who is a high risk patient did not get a jab because of spurious and illogical rules. I hope the minister personally has a rotten Christmas and that he/she loses her seat in the new year.

Shame on you pay day loans companies

My son is watching the Childrens TV channel Cartoonito this morning. So of all the companies advertising on Christmas Eve on a children's channel, what is being advertised ? A "Pay Day" loan company offering to loan people money that would be in their account by 2.30 this afternoon, repayable at an interest rate of 2356% APR !

Talk about a shameful way to behave. Knowing that many parents will be finding it very hard this year to afford to buy gifts for their children and saying to those parents "We can give you some money ... at a price".

These companies that rip of vulnerable people (and lets face it, you have to be in a vulnerable mental or financial state to take out one of these loans) should be outlawed. They prey on other people's misery and make them worse.

Can I sust say who ever is behind the company advertising on Cartoonito today, I wish you misery and shame on you.

Update - Even worse, they are saying they will give "25% off" to people who apply today. This is not what you might feel to be 25% off though. For me and you 35% 25% means a quarter. But to this Pay Day loan company it means "25% off the 2356% interest rate" giving people only 2331% APR instead !

How accurate are the weather forecasters ?

Last Friday I checked the weather forecast before work. According to the Met Offce, Norwich International Airport (2 miles from where I work), should have been having a heavy snow shower. The weather was bright sunshine !

On Saturday, according to the weather forecast on TV, there was, by teatime,no snow in Norfolk. This is contrary to the fact that it had been snowing here (two miles from Norwich International Airport which gets its own forecast on the BBC Weather website) for three hours hours. The weather forecaster even told us that the East of Angland would be "dry,k with no snow sleet or rain". Totally wrong.

So I check the weather this morning. According to the Met Office it has been raining here in Norwich since  6am. Having got up at 6.30 I can categorically say it is not raining here, but look at the satellite images on the BBC weather website, and they are saying something completely different from what is the reality.

People are constantly criticised for choosing to go on journey rather than staying at home in this bad weather. But the truth is people do not trust the weather forecasts the Met Office give because they are so consistenly wrong.

This is the corrent forecast for now. So where is the rain ?

Mebwyon Kermow to protest over leadership debates ?

The Cornish Nationalists Mebwyon Kernow are set to mount a legal challenge to the plans by SKY, UTV and the BBC to hold leadership debates in the general election.

Despite the fact that they are not fielding candidates across the country and whilst it is clear they could never form a government, a spokesman for MK said "I cannot accept that we have been excluded. I know we could never form a government and I know that we get plenty of coverage in elections in Cornwall, but we want to get well known in other parts of the country too where we field no candidates and where we have no political concerns."

Note - This is al made up rubbish but perhaps Alex Salmond, who enjoys the privilege the MK don not have in the Scottish elections would like to make note. I don't believe for one moment that MK would be that childish as they are showing more maturity that the SNP.
Note to Alex

Iranians hack Twitter but don't know how to use Babelfish

A group almost certainly controlled by the Iranian government hacked Twitter a few days ago (which I missed at the time), according to reports.

Their text read like this

THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY

iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM

U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don't, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To....

NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?

WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST

Take Care.

Which begs one question. If you have the know how and intellect to be able to hack Twitter, why can't they learn to use the translation website Babelfish ?

X Factor winner is not the Christmas number 1

Funny that the internet campaign to stop the X Factor winner automatically getting the Christmas number one has succeeded. 

It's just sad that the vehicle for this project was a real dirge of a song by Rage Against the Machine that has the same record label that Simon Cowell is also linked to. Talk about self defeating !

Two Tory views on the #Kerryout online campaign

The supposedly independent #Kerryout campaign to see the Labour MP for Bristol East to lose a the next election has been written about by two Tory bloggers today.

The website, which ludicrously suggests it is an independent campaign (despite being set up and backed by known Tories) is a pretty low piece of work by any standards. To flagrantly bandy the word "independent" around is something the Tories like to do, particularly in local elections, but to claim in any way shape or form that this is an independent campaign stretches the idea of clean politics beyond what most people would call acceptable.

Still, Iain Dale eulogises about the campaign on his blog today, and bizarrely, decides to attack the Lib Dems in to the bargain. Let me explain it in context. The Tories set up an so called "independent" campaign, which they then use to raise money for the Tory candidate, and then from this level of dishonesty they attack the Lib Dems. You couldn't make it up !

Still, for a much more balanced view, and one which will strike a chord with many decent Tories and those who are genuinely independent, another Tory blogger,  Andrew Allison points out that this type of personal negative campaigning using front groups to do the nasty work of the Tories does politics and the Conservative Party absolutely no favours at all.

If Iain Dale thinks this is a success then heaven help political discourse and clean campaigning.

Be careful who you make friends with Africa

In the wake of the failure to get any sort of agreement in Copenhagen, African countries are reportedly very angry that no legally binding treaty has been agreed. It appears also that China was the main culprit in preventing a real deal being made.

So isn't it odd that African nations, who have readily accepted Chinese grants for building stadiums and "showpiece" buildings in return for access to the natural resources these countries have, are moaning.

If they are so very angry, we can assume that these African nations will sever their links with China ? Of course not. Africa is angry because they expected more. But will a one party dicatorship who murder thousand of their own population each year ever give a damn about anyone other than themselves ? Of course not.

Africa should be careful where they make friends.

A letter to my 16 year old self

Iain Dale has tagged me to write a letter to my 16 year old self giving myself 3 pieces of advice. So here I go.

Dear Nich,

Here is some advice for you.

Contrary to what you might think now about your future, you will actually go on to learn and be educated and you will realise it is what you were meant to do. I know you loathe school, can't wait to leave, and as a result have no desire to do A levels. But don't be too depressed when after two months at Norwich Union you realsie you have made a terrible mistake and wish you had gone on to further education. You will go to University and there you will meet some of the most amazing people you will ever meet, you will make the very closest of friendships, and you will not regret for one moment that you chose this delayed path in to education.

Accept that you cannot be popular with everyone and accept that some of those you count as friends really and truly are selfish arseholes. You know the only child who has everything handed too him on a plate ? You know to whom I refer. He will dump an you and your friends, play you off against each other and in general arse you around. You don't need his friendship or the friendship of his clique he will develop this year (you'll soon see the clique appear). Oh, but stay in touch with Andy. He's a bit misguided sometimes and yes, he will make a couple of monumental errors in his dealings with you over the coming years, but he'll always prove to be a good friend. You'll make many friends because for all your fears about wanting to be liked, people do genuinely like you when you don't try too hard !

Finally, you will really like yourself when you are my age (nearly 39), in fact, from the age of acout 25, you will really and truthfully have grown in to yourself. You will know that you don't have to always be the life and soul of the party, people will trust you implicitly, it's okay to be a little down sometimes, but the grey cloud that is over your head right now (and will be there until the age of 25) will go and be virtually banished accept on bad days. You grow in to yourself and in to your looks and you'll be tremendously happy in your late thirties, and so SO much calmer.

Oh, and to break a rule and offer a fourth and fifth piece of advice, don't get used to Everton winning league titles as this year (1987) will be their last for many many years and you will learn, despite all your hopes, that politics changes nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Cheers

Nich

Strange bed fellows

It appears the Global Warming deniers may get want they want and the Copenhagen summit might produce a fudged agreement that will do nothing to save the planet.

Strange that it should be the Chinese governmentment that is doing the global warming deniers a favour.

Strange bed fellows. It must be thrilling for them to know that the Chinese and the extreme right wing in this country have so much in common.

Sick to death of DJs eulogising about snow

If you tune in to local radio almost anywhere at the moment you seem to be greeted by an imbecilic DJs spouting on about how wonderful the snow is. What joke.

Snow is a miserable thing. It causes accidents, deaths, slow journeys, wasted fuel, events to be missed, plans to be canelled, and in general an enoprmous amount of disruption for anyone who has a life. Whilst I accept that childrens might like snow, for most of us it is the last thing we look forward to in the winter.

So why do local DJs seem to think we like it ? Because the average local radio DJ is extremely dim.

Green Christmas Hypocrisy

I noticed a house which sported a "Vote Green" poster in the recent Norwich North by-election has shown its owners up to be true to the values of the Green Party. In true "Do as I say, not as I do" style, the house is festooned with Christmas lights outside it.

Presumably the lights are all powered by someone inside the house on an exercise bike with a dynamo ?

I am fed up with hearing about how they deal with snow in cold countries

Listening to Radio 5Live in the way home from work consisted of travel and wqeather updates followed by them reading out stacks of emails from people in Canada, people who have family in Russia or people who live in Scandinavia telling us how we are so pathetic because they can cope with snow really well.

Of course they cope well with snow. They are guaranteed to have snow in Canada, Russia, Poland, Scandinavia, etc, and as a result, people know to fit studded tires (which would destroy our roads because they are only suitable for roads that have snow on them), the central and local government can confidently predict that spending hundreds of millions of pounds on snow clearing equipment will not be a pointless investment due to guaranteed snow. In the UK we can go several years without any serious snow. Any such investment in the UK could be one of the most expensive follys ever.

So who don't these people in cold places just keep their opinions on how we deal with snow to their own countries. We deal with snow badly because, to put it simply, we don't have snow very often. We live in a temperate climate that ranges from very warm for small perios of time to very cold for small periods of time with most of our weather simply being mild, miserable and cool.

Turkeys vote for Christmas

BA, whose average staff costs are apparently nearly double those of any other UK airline, are faced with 12 days of strikes thanks to the UNITE union's decision to oppose reforms that would give BA a fighting chance of surviving the recession and actually staying in business.

It seems that Turkeys really do vote for Christmas.

What's the delay Dave ?

David Cameron announced today that a Tory government would introduce a law preventing anyone who does not pay UK from sitting in parliament in the UK.

So here's a question or two.

1) Why does he not make it a rule for Tory candidates and MPs now ?

2) Why, dsepite repeated reminders at press conferences an in TV interviews ove the last three years, has he never sought to tell Lord Ashcroft (The Tory party's largest donor) that he needs to be registered for tax in the UK ?

It's all very well telling us what you would do, but how about acting on it first within your own ranks Dave ?

Taking Labour's Bitter Pill Will Not Make Us Better

To hear Labour big guns being rolled out to speak to the press over and over again over the last two days since the pre budget report has been a lesson in how to sound if you have run out of ideas.

In the last 24 hours I have heard Alistair Darling, Jack Straw and the quite awful Ed Balls all defending the PBR on the simple basis that "the Tories would be worse". This quite pathetic defence just highlight how vaccuous Labour are now and how utterly bankrupt they are in the ideas department.

So what will the polls make of it ? I cannot see anoything other than a decline in Labour's support on the basis that the PBR was not good for most people and it actually fails to address the urgent needs of the country.

People an accept a bitter pill if it will make you better. But as the BBC reports tonight, Labour's measures will do nothing to solve the crisis in the public finances whilst everyone will be feeling the pinch.

What has Roger Federer done ?

A few weeks ago the people at Gillette must have felt themselves very special. They had long term contracts in place with three of the most popular, wholesome and clean cut sportsmen in the world, and every advert for the company was adorned by their faces.

Since then, Thierry Henry has become known worldwide not for his style, verve and footballing skills, but for his cheating handball exploits eliminating Ireland from the World Cup.

Then Tiger Woods, it appears, decided to have extra marital relations with more or less anyone who fancied a go with the world's number one golfer.

I guess the question is now what has Roger Federer done ? The clean cut and rather affable Swiss tennis player is the only one of the three not to have done something that would spoil his image.

Why did you become a doctor ?

I would imagine that the main reason to be a doctor is that you want to save people's lives and make the ill healthy, but it appears I am wrong.

It seems the BMA think that the profession is made up largely of people who are worried about not receiving hefty performance bonuses on top of their £100,000 a year salaries.

I wonder how proud the medical profession will be of themselves when we find out in six months time how many under fives died of swine flu needlessly because they were worried about their bonuses ?

Where were all the celebrity Tory PPCs in 1997 and 2001 ?

Isn't odd that in 1997 and 2001, all these ex Generals and sons/daughters/brothers/sisters of the glitterati, TV presenters and celebrity journalists were able to keep themselves as far from a Tory rosette as was humanly possible. But as soon as the Tories start doing well in the polls, there is suddenly a deluge of people with "names" or "medals" who trot themselves out as Tories, seemingly without ever done a days canvassing or delivering in a no hope ward in their lives.

It must be galling for many Tories who remained loyal in the lean years up to Cameron's leadership election in 2005 that they should be punished and in some cases be tarnished (and I particularly feel for Iain Dale in the case) with not having had a good result in difficult circumstances, only for a newcomer who doesn't have the nerve or the passion to fight a no hope seat waltz in waving a Tory membership card and get selected for plum seats.

The first question I would be asking of these political celebs is where were they in 1997 and 2001. Where were they in the darker days of the IDS leadership when the Tories were languishing in the polls ? Were they out campaigning for the Tories and if they weren't why not !

Wanted : One Term MP

Orpington Tories are selecting a new Tory candidate for the seat held currently by the Tories.

Anyone who knows politics will be aware that an enormous amount of Ashcroft money was spent in Orpington in recent years to keep it in the blu column and with a little bit more luck the Lib Dems might have picked the seat up in 1997 and 2001. Given the Lib Dem strength there are the fact that the Lib Dems are still within a reasonable striking range of winning in Orpington, I think the Tories are advertising for a one term MP.

Global Warming Denial and Football Fan Excuses

I tweeted on twitter last night to someone last night that the arguments given by those who deny global warming are akin to those given by a football fan to justify their continued thoughts that their team still are the best, even after a heavy defeat.

Despite the weight of evidence, the melting of the North Pole, rising temperatures, freak weather patterns, flooding, more extreme hurricanes and cyclones, and a host of other evidence from a vast range of sources from across the globe, there remains this hardcore of mainly right wing groups, more obsessed with dollars that justice, who cling to fragments to justify their opposition to any thoughts that global warming is happening or that it is a bad thing.

The fuss over a few e-mails from one university in the UK (the University of East Anglia in Norwich) are being used to try and taint the evidence from thousands of researchers and scientists around the world. Yet when "The Great Global Warming Scandal" was debunked when a number of those whose contributions were taken out of context complained that the programme did not accurately represent what they said or felt about global warming, the Global Warming deniers don't see that as evidence that it taints "all" their arguments in the same way as some emails from the UEA supposedly does.

Then there are those who seem to think that global warming might be a good thing. Witness Nigel Lawson on Andrew Marr's programme this morning who seemed to be trying to justify his view that most people in this country are not that worried about a small rise in temperatures. Forget that a small rise in the UK means a small rise in Africa, leading to further drought.

For global warming deniers to claim that the emails from the UEA prove that the whole global warming argument is without foundation is like a losing football fan claiming that the 5th goal in a seven nil defeat was actually offside.

All the money in the world cannot but you innocence when you are guilty in Italy

How galling for the rich family of Amanda Knox, now convicted of the murder or British student Meredith Kercher, that running an expensive media campaign and spending over a million dollars during her defence, to find that the Italian legal system is not as flawed as the US system, and that money and fame does not ensure a not guilty verdict.

Now let's hope that the family of Meredith Kercher can get some peace, for despite all the fuss caused by Knox's family, it is poor murdered Meredith and her family who seem to have gone unmentioned in all this.

Weekly Flu Questions

Based on the report from Liam Donaldson on the weekly swine flu figures, there are almost as many questions as answers given the government's dreadful response to swine flu.

The government are apparently worried about the continued flow of under fives in to hospital because of their extreme reaction to swine flu.

Interestingly though, under fives are equally prone to hospitalisation from normal seasonal flu, so it is a mystery why under fives are not routinely offered the seasonal flu vaccine. I know someone whose three year old has been admitted to hospital in each of the last two years because of seasonal flu and still this child cannot get a seasonal flu jab because he is not in an "at risk" group.

Anyone with any knowledge of health issues (and they know this in the US) knows that under fives are at risk from any flu bug irrespective of their general medical condition.

The second issue is why there is still no agreement with GPs for immunising all children between six months and under five years. This is supposedly a priority for the government, but they have not even agreed a deal more than two weeks after announcing it !

The simple and obvious point that city bankers cannot understand

We are constantly told that if city bankers are not given bonuses, they will leave and work elsewhere. This is their justification for their greed and arrogance, and seemingly the world has bought in to this lie because nobody has bothered to question it. The problem is, the whole argument fails to hold water.

The argument goes that if we do not pay these people millions they will leave, and they may go abroad. The problem is with this argument that they live in the UK, most are UK citizens, and most really do not have the urge to work abroad. The opportunities to work abroad already exist for them so this argument is bankrupt.

So what if they left and went to work in Europe ? Well the problem is that they deal with UK banking, that is their area of expertise. They work in the London markets and although the markets are "world" markets, working from London has its advantages.

So what if they go and work for another UK bank ? Well does another UK bank have the capacity and money to take on all these extra bankers ? The answer is almost certainly no.

There is an argument for Wayne Rooney to be paid a vast sum of money. He has a unique talent that cannot be taught. Likewise some businessmen take calculated risks with their own money and makes deserved healthy returns. Whilst anyone moaning about the sums that Take That makes simply lack the ability to be singers and songwriters. But what do bankers do that is that unique ?

You are not born "a banker". Everything they do is trained and taught. Presumably, if bonuses were not there and they all left, a new generation of bankers could be taught the job ?

The problem is that there is no academic qualification to be a banker. No degree in banking, it is simply a job that actually many people could do, if they were given the opportunity. I am not saying that everyone would be good at it, but neither are all bankers (as we have seen).

Please don't for one moment think I am saying being a banker is an easy job. I'm sure it isn't. But then again, neither is being a nurse, a teacher, a doctor, a fireman, or in the armed forces. But anyone who thinks that sitting behind a desk playing with other people's money, means they should be entitles to earn premier league footballer wages really is living on another planet.

In simple terms, bankers are not unique, they do not posess unique skills that only they have. They are just lucky, have the right school tie or the family contacts that got them a lucrative job.

Reason enough not to get elected to parliament

Looking at pictures of the new leader of the Labour Party in Wales, it makes me even more sure that attempting to get in to parliament is not for me.

Apparently Carwyn Jones is 42 years of age. I am turning 39 next month. If politics makes you look that old, that quickly, then I'm better off staying in the teaching profession !

Why aren't dangerous dogs treated as a lethal weapon ?

Following another tragic death of a young child at the hands of a dangerous dog, kept illegally, in the full knowledge of the fact that these dogs are killers, one wonders how many children will die before the Dangerous Dogs Act, a rushed and very poor piece of legislation, is amended or replaced.

It seems clear that what is needed is proper legislation that puts the onus on the police to take action, and where people who breed and keep dangerous dogs are not merely threatened with the dog being destroyed, but face a prison sentence that is commensurate with possessing a lethal weapon.

Millionaire wannabe Tory MP Zac Goldsmith is a non dom !

A few years ago nobody had heard of "non doms", but now most people have a good idea that those who are "non domiciled" in the UK and avoid paying UK income tax, now pay a fairly nominal flat rate of £25,000 a year and that is it. Now for anyone earning over £70,000 a year, being able to pay a one off £25k might seem like a bargain in order to avoid paying more in income tax. The problem is you have to have teams of accountants, generally have a home overseas, and be very wealthy in order to have the pieces in place for tax avoidance on this scale.

So it must be galling for the people of Richmond Park constituency to read that their Tory candidate,the multi millionaire Zac Goldsmith, is a non dom, and avoids UK income tax on his vast £200 million wealth.

No wonder the Tory Party were so keen to try to overturn a recent Lib Dem and Labour amendment to a law which would have made it illegal for non doms to fund in any way UK political parties as it would have cut off the vast sums Zac Goldsmith has poured in to Richmond Park constituency.

David Cameron and George Osborne have been talking tough on tax avoidance recently. Let's see how they act against one of their own "A listers".

I wonder if the Tory front organisation the Tax Payers Alliance will comment about this ? After all, surely those setting our taxes should also be paying the taxes ? However, it's hardly likely since it was reported recently that one of the senior people in the TPA is also a French resident who does not pay UK tax.

Five years to vaccinate the UK population from swine flu

The fool, Sir Liam Donaldson, who regularly every Thursday magnifies his stupidity by either stating the bleeding obvious about flu or contradicts something he said a few weeks before, further underlined just how poor our government have been in dealing with what is a very mild flu, by announcing that in the last month, just one million people have been vaccinated.

In simple terms, we have had around 5 million doses delivered to the UK, but have only managed to inject 20% of them. And if we keep up with the current rate, it will take 60 months to vaccinate 60 million people. That's five years !

God help us if H5N1 ever mutates to a human form. With a 60% kill rate, we'd all be dead by the time Sir Liam got to his final press conference after 5 years of vaccinations.

Why I've been away

Apologies to regular readers of my blog for my absence.

In simple terms, I am up to my neck in work, with PGCE students to monitor, classes to teach, plans to be written, trips to be organised, and keeping myself healthy and avoiding the flu.

So I may well blog this weekend, if I get the time, but perhaps not. As soon as I am on top of my work, I'll be back !

Brown and Cameron both in the wrong over photo opportunity on Remembrance Day

It's good to see that those in charge of marking the Day of Remembrance have told David Cameron and Gordon Brown that they were wrong to turn the act of remembrance in to a photo opportunity.

Quite why we should believe the Tory spokesman who claimed it was a "last minute decision", is beyond me. How many people just happen to turn up with a camera man with an expensive SLR camera with them in case you make a "last minute decision" ?

Four days later, not even the courtesy of a reply

Four days ago I emailed Norman Lamb MP and Andrew Lansley MP regarding an issue to do with swine flu vaccination. I e-mailed the exact same e-mail to both MPs, gave no further prompts and wondered who would get on to this issue, with the strong hope that both of them would bring the government to account over the fact that some asthma sufferers are being denied the vaccine because of "technicalities".

Norman Lamb replied within two hours, and I have received a subsequent e-mail from his office out of courtesy explaining that they will get back to me.

As for Andrew Lansley, not one word. Not even the courtesy of an acknowledgement.

Is this how the Tories deal with people ? Is this their "Open and accountable" face ?

Come on Mr Lansley. I gave you all the facts to take this story up with the appropriate minister. I have been impressed with your words so far on the issue of swine flu. It's a shame your office lack the basic manners to deal with people courteously.

First it was the VCR, then CRT, now it's the CD

Five of years ago we all marvelled at the pace of technology when it was announced that Currys would stop stocking video recorders.

Then manufacturers stopped producing cathode ray tube TVs.

Now one specialist manufacturer of audio equipment has announced it will stop making CD players, such is the dominance and better quality of digital music.

The fact that Blu-Ray players also play DVDs mean that DVDs still have some life left in them, but it does make me wonder what the next technology to be dropped will be.

Vince Cable in Total Politics

Vince Cable has been interviewed by Iain Dale for this month's Total Politics magazine.

The full interview is available to read HERE.

I love his refreshing honesty in dealing with a question from Iain which seemed to imply that he was inconsistent. Vince, unlike most politicians, simply says that he was proved wrong by the extreme financial mess we were in and he changed his mind accordingly.

If only a few more politicians could be less entrenched.

Iain Dale : "In September 2008, you said the government must not compromise the independence of the Bank of England by telling it to slash interest rates. A month later, you urged the Chancellor to write to the Governor of the Bank demanding a large cut in interest rates. "

Vince Cable "Yes, that is true and like a lot of other people, I realised in the autumn of 2008 that we were on the verge of a completely catastrophic failure of the system - a once in a lifetime experience. The whole banking system was in danger of going down and this was a system for which the Bank of England had not been prepared. The mandate of the independent Bank of England, which I supported, was not just concerned with those issues, it was concerned with a broadly stable environment. I had supported the independence of the Bank of England and I still do and I think its role will be increasingly important in future years when we get a lot of inflationary pressure. But that moment in September and October when they had to do something dramatic and where their existing mandate was simply about responding to and anticipating inflation rates, this was not actually the primary concern. And I was certainly the first person out of the traps saying that, although it was a departure from the line I had been giving before. "

M&S vs Diet Coke

Apparently the latest M&S Christmas ads are being complained about because they are sexist because Philip Glenister, very much in character as DCI Gene Hunt from Ashes to Ashes, says he wants as his Christmas present the girl from the ad who takes her clothes off.

Strange that those people who are complaining never moaned about women lusting after naked men in the Diet Coke ads from a few years back.

Question - What is the designation of an MPs first home ?

Please send your comments in on this simple question.

Should an MP have their first home in the part of the world they represent in parliament (not necessarily in the constituency, but locally) or should their first home be in London (if they are not a London MP).

Then the logical second question is, is your first home where your children go to school ?

Please comment and let me know your views.

And the winner is ...

Congratualtions to Norman Lamb MP, who responded to my blog posting about flu in less than an hour and a half.

Although I have known Norman for many years, I did not contact him personally about this and instead I sent an identical e-mail to both him and Andrew Lansley.

I hope too that Andrew Lansley will respond and take the issue up as I have been impressed with the work he has done on highlighting shortcomings in the government's flu vaccination programme.

The true cost of the Conservatives problems in South West Norfolk may not be known for some time yet

The local news today has been full of the smiling face of Liz Truss in the wake of the confirmation of her selection as Tory candidate for South West Norfolk. Congratulations to her. However, depite the seemingly "resounding" victory she achieved, it seems there was a price in terms of how many people in South West Norfolk Conservatives feel further alienated from David Cameron and Mrs Truss, and also in financial terms.

It appears, from reading e-mails sent to me and from comments to my blog, that Mrs Truss appears to have won her victory very much on the back of a concerted campaign from Conservative Central Office. People have commented on being phoned several times from a phone bank (presumably in London), and a massive "Get Out The Vote" campaign also being run from CCO. This, of course, does not come without its costs. But what is the cost to Mrs Truss locally ?

If comments I have received are anything to go by, there a a good number of Tories in South West Norfolk who feel absolutely disgusted by the methods and tactics of the Tory party in London who have in effect forced an A lister with no local roots on to them, in great part by intimidating locals by saying that they would in effect impose another candidate on South West Norfolk if they dared deselect Mrs Truss.

One wonders what a good candidate with strong local credentials might be able to achieve in South West Norfolk if they chose to stand as an independent if Mrs Truss's party fail to back her with the delivering and canvassing required at the next general election. The so called "Neanderthals" and "turnip Taliban" might just choose to send the Tory party a message in response to the barbs the Conseravatives have thrown at the good people of Norfolk.

The truth about the Swine Flu Vaccine - Asthmatics are NOT a priority

The government, and that idiot Liam Donaldson perpetually peddle the lie that "People with health conditions such as asthma are considered a priority and will get their swine flu vaccinations as a matter of priority". The fact is, they are not.

The department the Department of Health uses to define an asthmatic is that they are someone with "a chronic respiratory disease that requires repeated or continuous use of inhaled or systemic steroids". the fact is that many tens of thousands of people in this country (possibly more) use non steroid based inhalers. This is being used by GPs as a justification not to give Swine Flu jabs to people who are asthmatic. Even those people who use asthma inhalers and those where the doctors own records indicate that the person is an asthmatic.

The problem is that for many young children, and those who are not able to take a steroid based inhaler, even though they are actually asthmatic, they will not being given the swine flu vaccine.

So what is being done about this ? I shall be emailing both Andrew Lansley and Norman Lamb, the Tory and Lib Dem health spokesmen and I will see who takes this issue up. It seems that thousands of people in an "at risk" group are being ignored because of a loophole which the government knows exists.

Liz Truss selection confirmed

Liz Truss has won her selection confirmation in South West Norfolk.

As for the Tories, their attacks on Norfolk people as "Turnip Taliban", and worse, I predict will come back to haunt them in Norfolk in future years.

Whilst the wind is with Cameron, he might get away with it, but in the long term, we Norfolk people will not let the Tories forget that using stereotypical attacks against people from Norfolk like some poor comic will not win us round at the ballot box.

Iain Dale endorsement

My wife came home from work today having been told by a number of her work colleagues that someone had written something nice about me in the Eastern Daily Press last Saturday.

Not buying a daily newspaper and usually reading the EDP at work, I don't often see the Saturday edition, so I phoned my parents and was surprised to read that Iain Dale was talking about the ongoing problems the Lib Dems and Tories are having in the Broadland constituency.

The are Lib Dems having to reselect in the wake of April Pond switching to Norwich North during the recent by-election. But the Tories too have potential problems if, as is rumoured, Keith Simpson is "kicked upstairs" to the House of Lords and Cameron tries to insert an A lister from London (as has happened in South West Norfolk), Broadland is a very interesting seat to live in.

The Lib Dems ought to be able to win this seat within two elections and if the right candidate is chosen, perhaps sooner, so it was nice to hear that the "one credible candidate the Lib Dems could choose" is, erm, well, me, or so says Iain in his EDP column.

Thanks Iain for the kind words but no thanks. Politics is a dirty business these days and the thought of spending four days a week away from my family in London is not an option I would look forward to.

Still, I really appreciate the compliment.

Let's give Simon Cowell some credit

After all the slagging off of Simon Cowell this week, let's at least give him some credit.

It takes an enormous amount of hard work to take a group of largely talented people, give them an all time classic song, and yet still produce a a cover version of that song which genuinely is appalling.

Still, Simon Cowell has managed to achieve this through his release of the X Factor contestants cover version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Political Opportunist Of The year Award Goes To ...

The MEP for the North West who thinks it appropriate to stand for the UK Parliament in a London Borough.

Stand up and collect your prize Nick Griffin.

Cameron and the Camera Man

It seems a very odd world that when Gordon Brown tries to do the right thing and write a person handwritten letter to a mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan, he is castigated. And when he further goes out of his way to phone her, he receives more bile from the Murdoch Press. Yet when David Cameron takes his own personal cameraman to a war memorial in order to gain extra publicity shots, he seems to get off with none of the major media organisations taking up the story.

Biased BBC ? I should say !

Forget Performance Related Pay in the MOD, all Performance Related Pay Is Flawed Anyway

The was a lot of fuss yesterday about Performance Related Pay (PRP) in the Ministry of Defence yesterday, but little discussion of the reason it was introduced and the very fact that virtually all PRP is flawed.

Looking in to the details of the MOD PRP system, it appears that staff were effectively robbed of the pay increase they might have expected in the past with the promise of a performance based system that was designed not improve performance but instead, like all PRP system, was designed to save money.

When I worked at worked at Norwich Union in a team of 10 people, we were sold the idea of PRP being introduced that would "reward people for their efforts". When you looked at the system itself, it was nothing of the sort.

Of the ten people in a team, only a maximum of two could receive the top rating of "1", a further two could receive a "2" and three people could receive a "3", meaning that three people had to fight it out to get the remaining two "4 ratings, leaving one more person to get "5". Put simply, you were not and could not be rated on your performance because you were forced in to bands. if everyone in the team did the same work and every worked to the best of the abilities, one of those outstanding people would still have received the lowest rating of "5" whilst his or her colleagues, doing exactly the same work to the same standard could receive the top rating of "1".

In short, PRP is not a means of rewarding people for the work they have done. It is a means of paying people different salaries for doing the same job.

I know of a Council, for example, that allows its HR department to choose which council department should receive the highest "one off" performance bonus each year and, surprise surprise, the HR department wins the award almost every year.

So let's not criticise staff in the MOD for getting PRP. Let's castigate those morons who thought PRP should be introduced in the first place.

What is the Tories obsession with sex ?

The furore over the possible deselection of South West Norfolk Tory PPC Liz Truss is ongoing, with various newspapers now covering the story in some detail. The problem is, whenever they need a comment on the issue, they turn to the usual suspects in the Tory blogosphere, Iain Dale, and ConHome . And sadly every single time they seem to turn the issue to one of sex rather than one of trust. It seems the Tory blogosphere is obsessed with talking about sex.

The one thing they have missed is that South West Norfolk Tories are not going on about sex at all, and it seems odd for me, a Lib Dem who has campaigned in South West Norfolk against the Tories there to be defending them whilst the Metropolitan Tory blogs sling mud and barbs at Norfolk using the sort of stereotypical rubbish that anyone who really knew the county would know to avoid. Indeed some of the insults might easily be used by other political parties to highlight just what the Tories really think of Norfolk people.

The Telegraph did a piece on the Liz Truss story which went under the headline "Having an is no barrier to being an MP", says Shadow Womens minister. I agree, and I am sure that South West Norfolk Tories would agree also. The fact is though that it is an issue of trust because she did not share this information with the local Tory Party at the meeting.

It seems clear from virtually everything I have read that locals in South Norfolk are not talking about "the sex" or "the marital affair", but are instead deeply upset that they were treated like fools who could not be trusted to make sensible judgement based on being given the full facts. It might have been any issue, one not involving sex, it might have been a failed business, a scurrilous comment or a failed marriage, quite frankly it did not matter what the issue was. It was the fact that nobody bothered to tell the members first. If the local members are not told who the candidates are in advance (which I gather they were not), they couldn't look people up on Google. But should they be expected to ? Should you have to believe that candidates might keep potentially embarrassing information from you just because you don't have the ability to come already briefed to the selection meeting ?

So I would stress to those metropolitan Tories from outside of Norfolk. Get over the affair and start dealing with the issue of trust, and whilst you are at it, stop labelling and attacking people in Norfolk. If that's what you think of us all, you certainly don't deserve our votes.

Update : Ironically, I was also phoned today about whether I was interested in being the Lib Dem candidate in South West Norfolk. Sadly, I am too busy, but it appears that my views are closer to a lot of those in the Tory Party in SW Norfolk than many would have thought.

Liz Truss - Can the Tory blogging mafia spin their way through this one ?

As one commenter to my blog wrote

"Yesterday's headlines were "Liz Truss Comes out Fighting" (Iain Dale) and "Liz Truss Wins Over local paper" (Con Home).

They should have waited a day for Saturday's EDP !

I think this finally does for Liz. Even Iain Dale cannot spin this one."

What the Tory spinners failed to notice (from only looking at the online editions of the EDP) was that there was also a column in yesterdays EDP which absolutely castigated Liz Truss and those who from on high in the Tory Party, and outside of Norfolk, were dictating what they should and should not think. This article was totally overlooked by Iain Dale and Con Home.

The inconsistencies too in Liz Truss' story about when she became a Tory (at university she claimed) when everywhere else it says she was a Lib Dem at university and that she left the Lib Dems after leaving University did not add up.

Then we turn to today's EDP front page which leads on the headline that Elizabeth Truss is accused of "more hypocrisy and deceit as new revelations emerge".

Now come on Iain and Con Home. Spin your way through this.

The fact is that Iain and Con Home still don't get it. Whilst for many people the issue might be the affair she had, the truth is for the majority of people it is an issue of trust. And what is clear is that in the current political climate, being able to trust your candidate and MP is vital. Clearly people in SW Norfolk Tories have lost trust in Lizz Truss.

UPDATE - For those incapable of reading, can I refer them to the final paragraph and get over the issue of her marital infidelity. That, in itself, is not the issue. The issue is clearly one of trust and honesty, and this is where Mrs Truss appears to have her problems.

Tories absolutely 100% spot on over swine flu

At last one of the opposition political parties has broken the cosy consensus over swine flu and dared to question the way the vaccination programme is being handled in the UK.

Andrew Lansley has questioned why, in the light of evidence from the US, all those under the age of 24 are not being targetted with the vaccine, and further evidence on the BBC website would back up that view.

It is clear that those with underlying medical conditions are more at risk than other groups, but in particular those under the age of five are at just as big a risk as many people with underlying medical conditions. Currently 81% of under fives admitted to hospital for swine flu have no underlying medical condidtions. As the evidence shows, this age group, who are also twice as likely to need medical care and an intensive care bed, are being largely ignored by the government.

Despite government claims that under fives with medical conditions such as asthma are being targeted for the vaccine, I know that many children with asthma, using inhalers BUT who ahve not been officially diagnosed because many children under the age of three are not "officially" asthmatic until further test are undergone when they have "developed", will NOT GET THE VACCINE ! This is another one of the little lies this government and Sir Liam Donaldson have peddled in order to maintain that they know what they are doing.

I hope the Tories go further in asking the government why doctors surgeries have not even been told when they can expect the vaccine (meaning they cannot even start the process of booking appointments), and why it is that all doctors surgeries, irrespective of size and the number of patients they have, will all get 500 vaccines delivered. Surely any idiot could work out that larger doctors surgeries require more vaccine than smaller ones ? Apparently not, as it seem Sir Liam Donaldson really is as stupid a man as you can find. Remember it was Sir Liam Donaldson who said in September that we were "tantalisingly close to beating swine flu", and before that in early Ausgst he said we would be vaccinating by the end of August. Worse still he was saying in June we might have vaccines by late July. Oh dear !

So well done to Andrew Lansley, who has put the Lib Dems to shame in the silence that they have shown over this issue.

The cosy consensus would have had us believe that because things are not as bad as they might have been over swine flu that they government have done well. In truth, they have shown a massive degree if complacency and Sir liam Donaldson has shown himself to be a prize fool.

NatWest/RBS double talk

For months RBS, owners of NatWest, have been selling NatWest to the public as the bank that has more staff, more branches open, the most helpful staff and cares most about customers.

Today we read that NatWest are to shed up to one third of their staff.

It's investment banking that made the losses at RBS/NatWest, but it is the staff in wholesale banking who lost their jobs. What's more is it is customers, ordinary people like you and me who suffer and get worse service and less branches.

Isn't that an odd sort of logic ?

What are you saying Mr Dale ?

Iain Dale has printed his Eastern Daily Press column today on his blog and makes a rather astonishing parallel between the Liz Truss situation in South West Norfolk and that of a gay man.

Quoting Iain directly he says

" I wrote on my blog that the social outlook of those Tories who sought to deselect Liz Truss over her past affair with an MP was ‘neanderthal’. It’s the same social outlook which caused a few – and I emphasise, a few – North Norfolk Tories to swallow hard when I, a gay man, was selected as the candidate there in 2003."

Now I find this analogy rather odd and also rather disrespectful.

What Iain is saying is that there is a direct link, an equation, which puts as equal the peoples perceptions of gay people with person who breaks their marriage vows and has a long term affair with another married person. Am I the only person who finds this odd ?

My own views on gay people is not any different from my opinions towards heterosexual people. I have many gay friends, indeed my very best friend has recently announced his intention to marry (and I mean marry because they are going to Canada to do it) his male partner next year. Yet Iain Dale seems to be saying that the social outlook that people have towards a person who cares not one jot about her marriage vows, her promise to her partner and the vows her lover made to his wife is equal to the social values of someone who dislikes gay people. I disagree.

I am not a great fan of those people who think that marriage vows are something that can be ignored. It is a solemn promise to act in a way that is wholly loyal to your partner. It is not to be taken lightly. People are perfectly entitled to view people who break these vows with suspicion, as someone who may not keep to their word, and as someone who puts themselves selfishly above others. However, if you view someone who is gay with the same suspicion simply because they are gay, then this is wholly wrong.

For Iain Dale to equate the two is absolutely wrong. He may feel as a gay man he can get away with it. But I know many people who feel that the equation between a gay man and a marriage cheat is unfair.

Someone being gay is not an issue and should never be. Someone who breaks vows and solemn promises is, for many a real and justified position to take. When the issue of trsut is so important at the moment when talking about politicians, anything that causes people to lose trust is a justified position.