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Tory tax rise means thousands more families to lose their child benefit Up to an extra 750,000...

Tory tax rise means thousands more families to lose their child benefit   Up to an extra 750,000 people will become higher rate taxpayers tomorrow (Wednesday), meaning that thousands more families will lose their child benefit in 2013 Labour will warn today.   Following changes announced in last June’s Budget by George Osborne [...]

    O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!"    The 'giftie' gave Lembit many gifts but denied him self-awareness. Today I watch the playback of Tuesday TV programme on two cases of unfair treatment by newspapers. Paul Gasgoine's ex-wife had been grossly libelled and she engaged [...]

From today – 1 April – the NHS in Norfolk will enjoy an extra £54 million, to support key Government priorities such as the Cancer Drugs Fund, investment in talking therapies for those with mental health conditions, 4,200 extra health visitors, and support for carers' breaks. Spending on healthcare in our [...]

It’s difficult to get excited about the AV referendum.   It will probably be won not because of the merits of the AV system, not even because most people necessarily understand what it means, but because by 5 May the Tories, who are campaigning hard for a ‘no’ vote, will be very unpopular.   However, [...]

This morning we held a press conference for our 'Right to Know' campaign at St Stephen's Club. In attendance was Tanya, whose story cannot fail to move anyone to tears. The conference began with a video,  I shall post the link shortly, along with t... [...]

Total of British Soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 362   Today I've discovered a new heroine. I was chairing this morning's session of a Westminster Education Forum conference on scientific research. It was held in the swish location of Over-seas House in St James's Street London. The first of six speakers in my [...]

14 March 2011   £2billion bank bonus tax to create 110,000 new jobs   Labour is today setting out the key tests for George Osborne’s Budget next week and calling for immediate action to boost jobs and growth in the economy and to help hard-pressed families with the rising cost of living.    In a joint [...]

Although I didn't get to bed until 2am following the Glee Club at the Lib Dem Conference I did manage to attend the St Patrick's day parade (mainly because I packed everything away before going to bed).The parade was bigger and better than last year, but I will take a [...]

After a busy week, I can at last catch up with the blog! On Thursday I attended and spoke at a leadership conference at the RCN (Royal College of Nursing). It was a great day to do this as the Department of Health announced on Thursday morning, t... [...]

      It's a seductive dream and worth a try. Pulses race at the thought that Newport best-loved icon could be listed as World Heritage Treasure. Unfortunately the local paper last night exposed the idea to mockery by claiming that the bridge compared with the Taj Mahal! Even I as the bridge's greatest [...]

  A bracing start to a Sunday Morning. The splendid BBC Wales Politics show 'Sunday Supplement' began with a forensic probe into the Big Society. They chose a great point to start by playing this from this week's PASC meeting.\   Q138 Paul Flynn:  Every idea that you’ve come up with has been [...]

What a cheek!   Osborne asks if he didn’t increase VAT, what alternative is there to raising the £13bn for cutting the budget deficit - the usual Tory canard of TINA (there is no alternative).   What nonsense – there are plenty of alternatives, all of them preferable to hiking VAT which will hit [...]

I've blogged before about how important our local parks are so I won't go on about it too much today. I will however emphasise that, if you're living in a flat without a garden and you have young children, having a park near you, or any area of green [...]

The following copy letter has come into my possession. It is from Mrs Penny Maws, legal adviser to Dr Roy Spendlove at the Division for Miscellaneous Projects. She is writing to Dame Lucy Doolittle, the Director of the Unit for co-ordinating cross cutting initiaitives and partnerships.   I am still finding it difficult [...]

It’s not just rising unemployment, nor higher inflation, nor deepening cuts, nor falling pay; it’s all four.   And who are the main victims?   It’s the low-to-middle earners around the average wage.   Contrary to Daily Mail delusions of grandeur that Middle Britain nestles round doctors, managers, accountants and lawyers on £50-100,000, [...]

Remember John Major's Citizens' Charter initiative?  An attempt to empower people against the vast, faceless bureaucratic state, you'd be forgiven for not even being aware of it at the time it was launched in the early 1990s. Today the Coalition outlined plans to "radically decentralise power".  How are today's [...]

  Pity the right wing columnists now they have no Labour Government to kick around.  What can they do? Get desperate, is the answer. A correspondent send is this drivel from last night’s Argus. Columnist Mike Buckingham writes   “Had I the temperament to be a civil servant working in the passport office – [...]

At least they know how unfair it all is, judging by the prohibition on drinking champagne at receptions at the Tory party conference while the rest of the country burns.   Yet it’s breathtaking that the Coalition can let the phrase ‘social justice’ pass their lips when the facts undeniably demonstrate [...]

David talking to Action for Children in Birmingham’s ICC at this year’s Conservative Party Conference. Picture taken by Jamie Jones. To find out more visit Action for Children’s webite. [...]

THEM CHEEKY young scamps over at Political Scrapbook have put together this entertaining video based on Dave’s inspiring [ahem!] conference speech. Watch it to the very end where Yours Truly puts in a short appearance and PS hit upon an ace idea for a compilation album. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBQunIVbIBI [...]