They Blog For You

I must admit that when I looked in detail recently at one of the Audit Commission's inspection I saw an inspection where the conclusions had been identified before the inspection started.A good way of saving money, therefore, is to stop such ludicrous inspections from even starting. [...]

The Parliamentary recess has given me a chance to reflect on which groups in society are being, and will continue to be, some of the worst affected by the Conservative/LibDem coalition government's brutal cuts. One of those groups is old people.There are 42,700 pensioners in Enfield. That's a [...]

A lot of my casework and the problems of constituents who come to see me at my advice surgeries stems from a background of poverty. As a result, child poverty is something very close to my heart, so when I found out that Child Poverty Action Group were holding an [...]

On quiet Fridays – or when charging around the constituency, as I am today - I often link to other blogs. Today I link to another excellent blog entry by John Redwood, my highly respected colleague.  He makes some points [...]

IS IT JUST me or has anyone else noticed the weird fanatical support being given to the Tory-Liberal Alliance by most of the LibDems’ online presence? Take this Tweet, for instance, from (I assume) a LibDem member. Now, I need no convincing of the need for a united front in politics; [...]

PFI costs a lot as the BBC have found (hat tip Bob Piper) - see link.The government claim it is value for money. The problem is that it is not.It is only calculated as being value for money by using an adjustment to the alternative public sector procurement cost. [...]

Liam Fox is expected to announce major reform at the Ministry of Defence.  Good. The armed forces themselves, as opposed to thousands of MoD pen-pushers, are likely to be able to make decisions over what kit to buy.  Excellent.  [...]

For some the £150 milllion fine on the Uk for not displaying the EU flag on projects which received “EU” money is the last straw. It is certainly more proof of Labour incompetence. I remember investigating the use of the EU [...]

It’s difficult to admit that it is only the Daily Mail that takes the swine flu monstrous scandal seriously. Tomorrow they will report my comments here yesterday and the links between the WHO experts who exaggerated the threat of this mild virus. No other paper has reported that a third of the experts advising the World Health Organisation [...]

THERE really isn’t a decent excuse not to support Eric Pickles’ initiative in publishing details of his own department’s spending on every item worth £500 or more. The opportunity it gives the media to run sensationalist stories about massages and trips to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on the public purse is less [...]

According to a YouGov survey, 62% of people think the idea of short term council house tenancy is a good idea. I wonder how many of the people who took part in the survey live in council houses? Interesting phone call this morning in which a little... [...]

Eric Pickles has moved the transparency agenda on today. He now leads government departments and quangos as the transparency champion in the public sector. They should follow his brave lead. Here are some quotes that I’ve just sent through to the Press Association: “Transparent budgeting is radical and has the potential [...]

I’VE LOST count of the number of times I’ve been told off by readers for having the temerity to attack the Tory-LibDem Alliance now governing us. Proper opposition is about agreeing with the government, not opposing it, apparently. Yes, well… Such adherents to “consensus” politics (shudder!) will no doubt be fuming [...]

“Comedy” writes Ed West “will always be Left-wing, being dominated by the young and the hip” [...]

My fortnightly rock show on Riviera fm can be head on the internet - www.riviera.fm and via the SHOUTcast application on iphone - download and search for Riviera fmNext show Friday 13 August 21.00 to ... [...]

My sincere admiration goes to Gillian Duffy, the lifelong Labour supporter from Rochdale, whose trip to the shops last April to buy a loaf of bread turned into the defining moment of the 2010 general election campaign. Given her very public humiliation at the hands of the leader of her party, [...]

Throughout the Thatcher era Labour claimed public spending was being cut. Each year it rose. In 1978-9, the last Labour year, total public spending was £75 billion. By 1989-90, the last Thatcher year, public spending was £200 billion. This was up every [...]

THIS is taken from the website of the The Society of Homeopaths: Scientifically it can not yet be explained precisely how homeopathy works… So the question arises: why is the NHS funding it? If a treatment cannot be scientifically evaluated and proven to work, why is public money being used to dispense [...]

This evening, I paid my annual visit to the Old Colwyn East Residents’ Association.  The meeting, which was well-attended, was also very lively.  The secretary, David Curtis (who is shortly to retire, which will be a major loss to the Association), read the minutes of the previous month’s meeting.  I was [...]

This is a press release that the Council of Europe issued this afternoon.As WHO Swine Flu advisors are revealed, PACE rapporteur renews call for greater transparency Paul Flynn (United Kingdom, SOC), former PACE rapporteur on the handling of the H1N1 pandemic, has welcomed today’s publication by WHO of the l ist of [...]