Pressure mounts on Kennedy

The Liberal magazine has launched a website calling for leader Charles Kennedy to resign

I wonder if Menzies Campbell has signed up yet?

The last POST?

From January 1st private companies are allowed to compete on an equal footing with are much loved - but monopolistic Royal Mail. The problem for Royal Mail - is they are "stuck" with the Universal Service Obligation - which means they have to deliver a letter to everyone within the UK at a Uniform tariff. This means a letter from Land End can get to the Highlands in Scotland - and even though it costs much more than 30p to get it there - that's what the consumer pays.

Now in its wisdom the Government have gone for some part liberalisation of the market - which effectively means private companies can cherry pick. I wonder if these companies will fancy delivering mail across the breadth of the country - or just fancy some profitable sity wide contracts.

Technology sometimes sucks!

Well I have now got through my second laptop in three months! Apparently my hard drive has broken - though how that can happen in the space of 12 weeks I don't know!!

And those chaps at PC World - just so hepful - well anything but really!

Going for gold...

No, it has nothing to do with Henry Kelly.

The weekend papers have highlighted the proposal that the party is thinking of having an A-list or "Gold list" of candidates for the next election.

On the conservativehome website I have drafted an articlepushing the nomination of someone I believe deserves to be included on any Gold List, if such a policy is going to be adopted......

Any guesses for who it is?

Labour rattled part two

The latest email requesting financial support for Phoney Tony. In fact the email had about seven links where you could click to donate funny.

She goes on about Cameron and Eton - someone suggested she went to Public School. Well what would you expect!!



Hello,

I'm Jo, a Labour supporter and you may have seen me on telly. Have you noticed the big news this week?

David Cameron (Dave to his friends), an old Etonian distantly related to the Queen, has been elected leader of the Conservative Party.

At last, it has dawned on Tory members that they need to be in touch with the reality of the modern world and the lives of the majority of British people!

As his first step, Dave is bringing back that icon of the new century William Hague to the front bench.

So I'm asking you to dig deep into your pockets. Let me explain why.

No one seems to know a lot about what Dave actually believes in but we have a few clues.
We do know that he first emerged as a special adviser to Norman Lamont, standing right behind him on 'Black Wednesday' as Norm was announcing a "turbulent day on the markets", or 15 per cent interest rates to you and me.

In his four years as an MP, Dave hasn't been notable as a champion of change and modernisation of the Tories' policies. On the contrary, like his Tory colleagues he voted against the extra spending on the health service and schools, opposed the Winter Fuel Allowance and voted against increasing maternity leave and pay.

He voted in favour of keeping fox hunting. He didn't just support the Tory manifesto earlier this year, with the policies to subsidise private health care and private education and the irresponsible focus on immigration, he wrote it.

Dave is passionate about one thing, not saying what his new policies will be. The one glimmer we do have is that he is looking at a flat tax.
This is the new idea sweeping Estonia which means that nurses and home helps pay the same tax rate as the millionaire. Alongside that he wants a new spending rule which would have one result - billions of pounds of immediate cuts in public services, just when we are seeing real improvements working through.
The Tories think that they have the whiff of power in their nostrils and they will be willing to do and say anything to get it. The Tory press are lining up as cheerleaders and we can expect multi-millionaire backers to throw any amount of money at the Conservative Party if they sense a real chance of victory.

So we need our supporters to stay with us too. Spend a few moments and make a donation. A tenner to help keep the Tories out of government? It's cheaper than paying 15 per cent interest on your mortgage that's for sure.

All the best,
Jo BrandLabour supporter

The Beast banished

The Beast of Bolsover has been chucked out of the Chamber today for being a naughty boy. During Treasury questions he commented,

"The only thing that was growing then was the lines of coke in front of Boy George and the rest of the Tories."

I know I shouldn't - but he does make me chuckle.

Balancing the budget...

The following was highlighted by Eupolitix. Now am I wrong - or does it seem that the French come off very well from being members of the EU, and the UK who is being pressed to give up its rebate... well.... not so well.... How interesting.

France will receive €89 billion from Europe’s coffers and the UK just €46bn between 2007 and 2013 using figures circulated by the British EU presidency.

EU diplomats report that figures used by the UK presidency show wide variations in national benefits from EU membership.

Luxembourg scoops the most – netting over €4000 per head under British proposals for the EU financing period for 2007 to 2013.

Belgians pocket €3794 per capita and the Dutch just €810, while Germans, who pay the most to the EU, take back only €940 per head over the seven years.

Britain benefits the least from EU spending with just €776 per capita in receipts forecast for UK citizens in the seven year period.

Labour rattled!

Message from Labour Party Chairman Ian McCartney sent tonight... A sign they are rattled me thinks:-


You may have watched Prime Minister's Question Time today. To me, it showed that Conservatives' current rebranding exercise is simply putting a new gloss on the same old Tory policies.

The Prime Minister made clear that it wasn't enough to say you supported education reforms - you needed to back that up with support for Labour's investment programme. Tony noted the Tories' new fiscal rule - the proceeds of growth rule - would mean immediate cuts in the Labour government's investment in frontline public services. The Prime Minister also made clear that Labour would never agree with the Tory leader's belief that we should return to selection at the age of eleven.

Let's be clear. The Tories may have changed their leader yet again but the fundamental divide between the parties remains the same. They opposed all Labour's extra investment in schools, hospitals and the police and are still committed to cuts to public spending, to axing the New Deal, cuts to tax credits, and to selection in schools.

Today's PMQs demonstrated the clear dividing lines between a Conservative Party putting a new gloss on the same old Tory policies and a Labour Party delivering economic stability and investment and reform in our public services.

We need to show Britain what these 'modern Tories' really stand for. Your support is vital.

The next Conservative Prime Minister

Time to unite - time to win

And our new leader is......

Five leaders here.... only two became Prime Minister...

Welcome Back

To the king of Tory blogging Iain Dale..... It's good to have you back. The blogging world hasn't been the same without you!

Back to drugs.....Cannabis "doubles" crash risk

Apparently the risk of having a fatal road crash is greater when drivers are under the influence of cannabis, a new study reveals. The population based case-control study by researchers in France involved 10,748 drivers who were involved in fatal crashes from October 2001 to September 2003. All the drivers underwent compulsory tests for drugs and alcohol, with 681 (seven per cent) testing positive for cannabis and 21.4 per cent (2,096) testing positive for alcohol. A total of 2.9 per cent of the drivers (2.9 per cent) tested positive for both substances. The research, published in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) estimates that driving under the influence of cannabis almost doubles the risk of a fatal road crash, though its share in fatal crashes is significantly lower than alcohol. A person's risk of being responsible for a fatal crash increased as the blood concentration of cannabis increased, known as the 'dose effect', supporting theories of a causal relationship between cannabis and crashes. The study team found that men were more often involved in crashes than women and tested positive for both cannabis and alcohol more often. Younger drivers also tested positive for both substances more often, as did users of mopeds and motorcycles.

On a lighter note

Have any of you seen the car Andrew Marr drives about on his Sunday AM show - I hadn't - until someone said it was the same as the one we had just bought.

I think our shade of grey is much more manly though!