They Blog For You

It’s like Google, innit?  Let’s crowd source, and like, you know, do a wiki.  And like mashable, too. I suspect that pretty much sums up some of the thinking in Whitehall that went into the proposal for an on-line consultation [...]

A third of the NHS is to be privatised.  Handing over £80 billion to independent contractors  will create new waste and bureaucracy. Dumping new tasks on GPs for which they have never been trained will be an expensive mistake. This is the ideological madness that afflicts  politicians of all parties. Dogs bark. [...]

Armed police in Gloucestershire raid the home of a man who grows tomatoes - because they thought he might be growing cannabis.Meanwhile, our Human Rights judges refuse to extradite suspected terrorists to the United States - because the Americans might actually lock them up, something the British state increasingly dislikes [...]

I’M REALLY not impressed with this voting malarky in the House of Commons. Everyone welcomed the so-called Wright proposals for ending behind-the-scenes shenanigans, when whips of both main parties would appoint MPs onto select committees and the chairs of those committees would “emerge” through the usual channels. So now we have elected [...]

  I have been made the Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries. This is a long title, possibly one of the longest in Government. It also includes in effect two [...]

 This General Election will shape our future and we all have a choice to make.   Hull has been transformed since 1997. The number of pupils gaining 5 good GSCEs has gone from just 20% to over 65%; the number of patients waiting over 13 weeks for treatment has fallen by [...]

When you think you have heard everything a few new  titbits of news appear from the hopelessness of Afghanistan. Drug use among the Afghan Police show 68 per cent testing positive for cannabis. There is a similar percentage for the chaotic Army. Of course, Present Karzai has threatened that he might [...]

Delyn MP David Hanson has welcomed Labour’s moves to back a secure future for the Post...

Delyn MP David Hanson has welcomed Labour’s moves to back a secure future for the Post Office.  There will be more banking services for local people following an overwhelmingly positive response to the Government’s consultation on the future of the Post Office. The Labour Government is to provide £180 million of [...]

On the day that figures published by the Office of National Statistics show that the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell by 32,300 on the month, I wanted to draw your attention quickly to a website for organisations to sign up to help Britain's young people through offering work [...]

Delyn MP David Hanson today welcomed the Government’s agreement with the credit and store card...

Delyn MP David Hanson today welcomed the Government’s agreement with the credit and store card industry as good news for people in Delyn. The agreement means that, in the future, consumers’ most expensive debt – like withdrawing cash on a credit card – will be able to be paid off more [...]

Local MP Danny Alexander has criticised today's BIS Select Committee report on broadband which argues that the focus should be on providing basic broadband for all and allowing markets to deliver higher speed broadband – rather than putting a funding mechanism in place to support superfast broadband roll-out in rural [...]

CONSUMER Affairs Minister, Kevin Brennan, believes the Government's £4.5 million investment to tackle e-crime in the UK will help Welsh sport fans who buy tickets from unofficial online sources.Wales will benefit from the funding as the Office of Fair Trading will introduce new cyber enforcers that will be placed in [...]

MP Derek Wyatt was a panellist at the annual meeting of the UK IGF last Wednesday at the Dept. for BIS. He spoke about the 4th IGF at Sharm el-Sheik which was really a "Save its Future"... [...]

BUSINESS leaders have hailed the Government's flagship Train to Gain programme, saying it has helped them provide vital training to their staff during the downturn.Both large and small businesses have reaped the benefits of Government funded training support, which is backed up by figures released today by the Learning and [...]

CONSUMER Affairs Minister, Kevin Brennan MP, has today announced that he has accepted the Competition Commission's recommendation for a body to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP).The Code of Practice comes into force on February 4, 2010 and will be quickly followed by a consultation on how best [...]

CONSUMER Minister Kevin Brennan today announced plans to ban the use of an outdated law used to sell high-cost loans.Bills of sale are typically used for 'logbook' loans which are secured against the value of the consumer’s car.Consumer Minister Kevin Brennan said, "These bills of sale are archaic and allow [...]

MINISTER for Consumer Affairs, Kevin Brennan MP, has today launched a campaign to remind festive shoppers hitting the sales on the internet and the high street to remember their rights."At this busy time of year when you are rushing round buying presents it’s important to remember your legal rights if [...]

MINISTER for Consumer Affairs, Kevin Brennan MP, believes the banking overdraft system needs to be reformed in order to be fairer to consumers.The news comes after the Supreme Court overturned an earlier court ruling that allowed the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the fairness of charges for unauthorised overdraft [...]

Here is a good example of an announcment by Government that sounds good in theory and doesn't work at all in practice, in fact it is almost comical if it wasn't so depressing. Graham Hill from  [...]

The Home Secretary has now responded to my letter. It is set out below, interwoven with my original letter, and accompanied by comments from me, after consultation with Professor Nutt and Richard Garside (of CCJS at King’s College) This is still all in the aftermath to Professor Nutt’s sacking by the [...]