They Blog For You

No, it’s not about HS2, but I was pleased to get a letter from Philip Hammond the other day which told me how much Buckinghamshire was going to get from George Osborne’s £200 million pot-hole repair fund that he announced as part of his Budget Statement last week.   Bucks will be [...]

  Once the darling of the middle-of-the-road voters Nick Clegg has had a hideous 48 hours. Anyone can forget a microphone in the pocket,but his comment will return to haunt him. If he is to recover a separate identity for the LibDems his confession  of no differences between the two parties will [...]

Just a quick one to alert you to on online petition: http://www.frontlinenhs.co.uk/.Yes, I know there are lots of online petitions, but let's face it, it's a very easy way for you to register your support or opposition for something. I could be asking you to stand in the cold and [...]

                  Mr Huhne has brought out a publication entitled  “Carbon Plan”. In it he says: “Climate change is one of the greatest threats to both UK and global security and prosperity…..without action to curb emissions there is a very high risk of global warming well beyond 2 degress relative to pre-industrial [...]

Just a quick one as I've talked a lot about fuel recently, but, as today is Fuel Poverty Awareness Day 2011, I wanted to draw your attention to the Home Heat Helpline: 0800 33 66 99.If you are worried about your heating bill then please, please call this number. There [...]

On a very windy, cold, Friday morning,  150 local people turned out to welcome the IPC to Mid Bedfordshire, as they arrived to take a look at the site proposed for the Covanta incinerator. The IPC officials were left in no doubt as to how strongly ... [...]

An interesting press release from British Weather Survey on George Osborne's forlorn attempt to blame it all on the weather.BLAMING WEATHER FOR UK’S STALLING GDP IS BEING ECONOMICAL WITH THE TRUTH George Osborne blames the weather for the 0.5% fall in GDP period October to Dec, but just how big [...]

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, this week joined the campaign to require energy companies to give discounts to more of their most vulnerable customers. She highlights Save the Children's recent report into the extra cost that people on lower incomes pay compared with higher income families for goods and services. [...]

Another cold, still day in Clacton. Looking out to sea at the massive wind turbines built off our coast, I wonder how much energy they're producing right now?  Not a great deal, if non-rotating blades are anything to go by.    [...]

letter from Dame Lucy Doolittle to all departments Dear Colleague,             I am writing to urge all departments to stress in all their output the importance of tackling climate change vigorously. I have been disappointed to see the lacklustre response of some in the media and amongst the commentariat to the bold [...]

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, today welcomed a round-up of the actions taken to date in the coldest early winter since 1993, announced by the Transport Secretary. She has previously called for sufficient gritting in Norwich through the snow and cold snap. Chloe Smith said: "I am glad to see today's [...]

So cold in London this morning, on my way into work through St James Park I snapped a picture of the frozen lake .... the ducks and swans were skating. [...]

The word "cold" doesn't really do the freezing temperatures that we're shivering our way through any justice. Arctic would perhaps be a better description. Whatever you want to call it, weather like this makes it easy to sympathise with the more vulnerable people in our society - the low income [...]

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, who suffered travel disruption like everyone as she moved between Norwich and Westminster, has today called for sufficient gritting in Norwich through the snow and cold snap. Chloe Smith said: "The Transport Secretary has given his assurances that there is enough salt stockpiled to last the UK [...]

  In the face of a mountain of evidence the mind dead bigots still spout nonsense. Lesson: excess winter have very little to do with the cold. 30,000 additional deaths included fewer than 25 from hypothermia. There is no correlation between cold weather and peaks of high deaths. But it is a [...]

Soldiers die. Politicians lie. At last a blast of cold truth on the deepening futility of the Afghanistan. The Pentagon has exposed the lie in the chronic optimism of Britain's politicians and general. The last hope for an honourable end was success for the 'surge'. It's failing. Almost all indicators revealed [...]

What a wonderful morning! The exodus of Irish delegates from the six-monthly meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly allowed British MPs a free morning. It was a glorious morning of winter sunshine with the seagulls dancing across the waves at Douglas.   It luckily co-incided with a rare meeting of the House of [...]

What a wonderful morning! The exodus of Irish delegates from the six-monthly meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly allowed British MPs a free morning. It luckily co-incided with a rare meeting of the House of Keys. Reading the agenda, it struck me that they could have arranged it especially for me. There [...]

"The reply to a Parliamentary Question, just received, provides a much simpler and much fairer alternative to the Government's widely criticised plan to withdraw child benefit from higher rate taxpayers.  The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, presenting the Comprehensive Spending Review on 20 October, said: 'I simply cannot ask [...]

The local government Minister, John Hayes, hinted strongly in my Commons debate on local enterprise partnerships in the South West that pressure is being applied to Devon, Plymouth and Torbay councils to get their act together and work with Somerset to form a partnership covering all 4 areas. If true, [...]