They Blog For You

Douglas Hurd once said to me when he was Foreign Secretary that one of the  strongest reasons to support the British system of having one MP for each constituency (a lot of democracies use proportional systems with multi-member constituencies) is that it kept your feet on the ground. For him, [...]

A number of local people have contacted me about Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s ‘Fish Fight Campaign’, and so I thought it would be a good idea to set out my thoughts on the matter here. Throwing dead fish back into the sea is a terrible waste.  It is disruptive to marine ecosystems [...]

  The Newport Chartists would have said ‘Yes’ to AV. It was in my constituency in 1839 that 20 Chartists were gunned down. They were marching for democracy. All the points of their Charter were achieved – except annual parliaments.  They were impassioned because of the gross injustices of the franchise of [...]

I'd like to talk about sewage for a bit. Don't fear, I won't go into graphic detail. Even though I did have to get booted and hard-hatted for my recent visit to Deephams sewage treatment works on Picketts Lock Lane, I didn't have any close encounters of the unmentionable [...]

Greengauge 21 is a company that has long supported High Speed Rail, and has weighed in behind the HS2 proposal. They’ve recently published a report in which they argue that it would be possible for the government to link HS2 to improvements to local rail services that would give people [...]

Those of you who are already members of BBOWT (the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust) will already know of their concern about the impact of the HS2 plan on the natural environment. They’ve spelled out their concerns in detail on their web site which you can link to here. [...]

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, will be running the latest seminar in the series of her 'Next Generation' business seminars. Begun last year in collaboration with City College and Howes Percival LLP, these meetings bring together Norwich students, entrepreneurs and established local firms to discuss the skills and business [...]

The news from Fukushima is dreadful. But some of the honeyed words and contrived deception persists. 'Smoke' is reported from an unknown source. No radiation measure is published. There is no smoke without fire. Here there is smoke without a radiation leak. What is burning? Spent fiercely contaminated fuel rods are [...]

              The government has a target to cut the administrative overhead by 30% over the life of this Parliament. This is a demanding target, but one that can be hit. It will be easiest to do so, if full use is made of people leaving public service to retire or [...]

It's a long time since I've written a letter to the Guardian. Their untrue reports yesterday has prompted dozens of requests for interviews from the media. They lose interest when they hear what my opinion is. The letter reads:-   "Having never expressed an opinion, privately or publicly, on the subject, I [...]

The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has announced that it will conduct an inquiry into the strategic case for High Speed Rail. The Committee will investigate the core arguments for and against High Speed Rail.  This will include a critical analysis of the business case for HS2 and the argument [...]

The propaganda said that the Japanese nuclear reactors were the safest in the world. Today the cooling system on one reactor failed. Like all other japanese reactors it was designed to withstand serious earthquakes. It failed. Japanese authorities will release radioactive vapour into the atmosphere in a bid to prevent a [...]

Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 359   Lobbyists attack lobbyists. The house journal of lobbyists describe the lobbying body UKPAC to present a weak register. On a very busy day, I called into their woefully unimpressive presentation. I'm glad I did.  The Public Affairs Journal report:   "The register launched on 1 March [...]

It's Wednesday, so you probably know what's coming. Yes, that's right, a dissection of what's in the local papers! Well, not really a dissection, just me highlighting that the Enfield Independent today covered the news that Salmons Brook has been put on the list of flood risk prevention [...]

Please find below the replies that I have received from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, The National Trust and Natural England to the letters that I sent as part of HS2 Update 6 (see post dated 10-02-11). As you can see, all three organisations are concerned about the environmental [...]

The Mail on Sunday’s Robert Verlaik reveals that a wealthy Tory minister earns £2m subsidies in EU farm subsidies that his department tried to cover up. Further proof that it’s cuts only for some. Robert writes:- "The family of a Government Minister whose department has covered up details of who receives EU [...]

I still haven’t been told when the public consultation will start but rumours abound that it will be on the very last day of February.  I’ve been involved in a whole series of preparatory meetings: with representatives of local campaigns and amenity groups; with the District and County Councils, and [...]

I recently received a letter from Richard Benyon, Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, informing me that Salmons Brook has been put on the indicative list of flood and coastal risk management projects due to progress in England in [...]

Delyn MP David Hanson is urging his constituents today to save money on their household gas and...

Delyn MP David Hanson is urging his constituents today to save money on their household gas and electricity bills and reduce their carbon emissions by taking up the energy efficiency measures that energy companies in the UK offer. Following an agreement with the government in September 2008, the major energy [...]

I've no strong views as to which particular quangocrat should head up our state-run broadcaster. What I do find surprising is the widespread presumption that the candidate that ministers nominate for the role will automatically get the job. If you study the small print, there has to be [...]