A Rebel With A Cause

I wonder what Esther Rantzen is up to these days? The celeb-turned-expenses-buster was due to stand as an MP against Margaret Moran in Luton, but since Ms Moran decided to cheat the electorate of their right to boot her out by standing down, a lot of people wonder what the point of Rantzen's candidature is. Maybe she won't end up standing at all, but one thing she has done is make it more likely that MPs from all parties can be effectively challenged even if they have the support of their local parties and in safe seats.

Take this example. The ultra-safe Labour seat of Liverpool Wavertree has selected the 28 year-old best friend of Euan Blair and girlfriend of junior minister Sion Simon to be their candidate - one Luciana Berger. Miss Berger though, as you may know, isn't from the area and seems to know little about it. In fact she even seems to not wish to learn.

But this being Liverpool Wavertree the local population have a dilema; this is rock-solid Labour territory. No other party can touch the majority built up by Jane Kennedy. So step forward Ricky Tomlinson, the TV star and Socialist Party member. Tomlinson is outraged at the outsider trying to be elected in his home seat. Tomlinson seems genuinely furious, enough to quit acting, take a pay cut and be the local candidate that people want. Tomlinson's fame and media pull could make this into another Tatton-style contest. He may not win but he could very well give Miss Berger a fright.

Is this a good thing? Are celebs and their like any better as politicans, can they enliven the political debate or restore faith in democracy? Who knows, but its gonna be fun finding out!

Brown the Father

Just when you thought you knew somebody. I know a lot of people believe it to be a cynical stunt, and others pointing out that he said he would never put his children in the spotlight, but I thought that Prime Minister Gordon Brown's interview today (click here) was a beautiful tribute to his daughter who died just ten days old.

Mr Brown doesn't do emotion very well in public but his words will chime with every parent in the country. His words about Sarah were fitting and there is no doubt about the way that Brown, clearly a proud Dad, felt about Jennifer and the impact she made on his life.

He spoke about how he dwells about what Jennifer would be doing had she still been here - going to school, learning to read or being a teenager - and which of us would not be doing the same, almost on a day-to-day basis?

Both the Prime Minister and David Cameron know the pain of losing a child; an unusual bond for two men in their positions.

His interview has really made me see Gordon Brown in a new light today; a surprising light - Brown the Father.

Political Betting vs. The Independent

I urge you to read this demolishion of the Independent's headline story today by PB.com, which goes to prove why it is the leading political website. Excellent article and, of course, spot-on. It's just a good job so few people read the Indy. I used to be a daily reader of the paper but things like this remind me why I quit it last year. I did phone up the Indy to tell them why I was ceasing my subscription and they really didn't care one way or the other - amassing losses clearly mean nothing to them.

New Local News Website

I am pleased to link to a new website that covers the news in Norwich South - www.southnorwichnews.co.uk - so please take a look.

You'd expect me to say this, but I particularly liked this extract from their article about the battle for the parliamentary seat:

if the by-election is anything to go by, this could be the year for the 30 year old high school teacher

The Only LibDem In Broadland?

I wouldn't want to be savaged for failing to mention the selection of Dan Roper as the new LibDem candidate in the "key seat" of Broadland for the next election, so I thought I'd blog something to make him feel important. As it happens I like Dan, who frequently comments on this blog, and I am sure he will put up a good fight.

However this effort from his website did make me laugh - even for the LibDems this is a bit of spin too far!

"It had been rumoured that the national party would "parachute" a big name into this key seat. However it soon became clear that Mr Roper had such overwhelming support from the local party that he was selected unopposed."

Are they honestly expecting us to believe that hundreds of LibDem hopefuls wanted to be selected for this top target marginal seat and were put off because the entire membership rallied around Dan? Surely there was ONE LibDem, somewhere, who would have made a contest of this?

Ridiculous - they know what we all know which is that the LibDems stand no chance whatsoever here. As good a candidate as I am sure Dan Roper is, the fact is that nobody else wanted to put their time and effort into this one. The lack of LibDem effort speaks volumes about their hopes here.

Come on, Dan, you're a decent guy so lose the spin and fight a positive campaign. This sort of stuff makes us laugh but the public must despair with statement like that; it's almost like you're taking them for fools. Either that, or you are desperate to convince yourself that you stand a chance ... which is it?

Cracks in St. Andrew's Car Parks

The news that cracks have started to appeal in St. Andrew's Car Park is very worrying indeed, especially as this is a much trumpeted effort which has won awards in the past. I hope that the council are swift in their report on this because the public will naturally be concerned. I have submitted an emergency question to Council on Tuesday but am yet to hear if it has been accepted. In the meantime you can read more here.

Clarke votes for longer holidays

Charles Clarke must now justify why, yesterday, he voted for an extended 12 day holiday for MPs in February instead of the usual 7. Conservative MPs opposed the move which was only supported by Labour MPs.

MPs have ridiculously long holidays and to extend them is a slap in the face for British people who pay their wages. This government has a long list of problems to tackle, mostly of their making, such as reducing the deficit, tackling anti-social behaviour and improving the NHS. Surely this must keep them busy at Westminster?

But no, Charles Clarke and his Labour friends vote for more holiday instead of tackling our problems.

David Cameron has set out that the Conservatives will, in necessary, work through the summer holidays after being elected to get a grip on the problems created by Labour.

Mr Clarke's move is cynical - if Labour doesn't have anything to do, maybe they ought to get round to calling a General Election?

Second LibDem PPC quits

Following hot on the heels of Newcastle LibDem PPC Greg Stone, who quit because of rude remarks he made about female MPs using a false name on a website, now the LibDems have lost their PPC for Stoke, David Jack, after he apparently sent racist emails.

The one thing you can say is that Mr Jack realised his error and quit immediately rather than hanging on and fighting his difficult corner. People's trust in politics is bigger than any candidate's career.

UPDATE: Iain Dale blogs that this is not representative of the whole party but of the actions - which he denies, may I add - of an individual. I totally agree, after other candidates who have quit from other parties, I think we all accept that Stone and Jack say as much about the LibDems as a "bad apple" candidate says about the Tories or Labour. I do wish politicans and bloggers from all sides saw it like that.

Cameron's Right On Teachers

There isn't a single parent or pupil reading this that doesn't rate the quality of teaching as one of the single most important factors in the quality of our education system; in fact, most might rate it as the most important factor. An inspirational teacher makes the world of difference.

David Cameron today launched the Conservatives Draft Education Manifesto and the central plank of this excellent document is just that - quality teaching.

The most important part of this is the acceptance that we need to get rid of poor performing staff. The quality of teacher training, but also the support provided in school, is vital here - but at the end of the day, the teaching profession is still a vocation but a tough one at that. Some people will not cope with life in the classroom, like others do not cope with the court room, mechanics garage or press room. So the Conservatives will tackle poor teaching with more speed - good idea, after all those children do not get that time back, their education moves on. Nobody ever says to a kid, "OK, to be honest that teacher wasn't very good, so do you fancy doing year 8 again with a better one?".

Now, if we are going to do more to get rid of bad teachers we have to do more to replace them with good ones; exceptional, "elitist" you might say. I would, however, say that Mr Cameron and Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove are only part of the way to explaining how we do this.

We do want only those with high quality qualifications to be teachers; but we need to understand what is stopping them from applying at the moment. This is not meant to be an exhuastive list, nor is it based on anything other than my thoughts, but we need to be ready to tackle:

1. Poor behaviour and the lack of methods to tackle this
2. The culture of targets and inspections
3. False alegations and the impact of them
4. Lack of support from some parents
5. Constant government reform
6. Wages & Conditions

I am sure in time these will, one by one, be addressed fully.

However to be frank this is the best and most important education documents in a very long time and it deserves to be welcomed; it certainly was from people of all politics in my staffroom.

UPDATE: I understand Labour have slammed the proposals and the Unions have gone mad because they say sacking bad teachers may lead to a temporary rise in class sizes whilst the new teachers are trained up. I would urge Labour and the Unions to try that arguement with parents on the doorsteps or in the playground - the parents I know, including myself, would rather have a great teacher with more kids than a bad one with fewer.

UPDATE 2: Speaking to a friend who is "in" teacher training he has said that this could be done with no impact on class sizes at all - good to hear - as long as the incentives to teach are right and the Teach Now programme is implemeted properly. Great to see the party really thinking this stuff through - excellent eye on detail of policy.

Clegg's Haiti Moment

Nick Clegg is a careerist politican, we shouldn't forget that, but somebody ought to be briefing him on events and how to behave in the outside world. Mr Clegg, whom we should not forget cannot tell you how much the basic state pension is but can remember his exact number of lovers, has done it again - pushing the case for donating to the DEC on behalf of the victims of the terrible Haiti earthquake but then being forced to reveal he hadn't done it himself! (More here). Some are even saying that Clegg is getting better on policy but worse on being in touch with real-life; his decision to quit shopping at Waitrose because of the recession, a classic.

The question for me, though, is do we have a right to know if politicans donate to charities and, if so, which ones? Generally "no", but we do expect our politicans to practice what they preach.

p.s. I have donated; not directly the DEC website but to "bucket shakers" in the street whom must have mobilised very fast and give up their time to back this excellent cause.

Greens are petty and shortsighted when they reject jobs for the City

The decision of Green Councillor to work en bloc to reject a planning application for the car park of the disused Romany Pub on Colman Road for a new shop is nothing short of disgraceful and shows the party up for the shortsighted bunch they are.

Forget the jobs created through construction, forget the jobs created when the store opens, forget the virtual lack of local opposition and forget the need to clean up this site.

Don't worry about the fact we're in a recession and ought to be doing all we can to back business.

The Green Party rejected this proposal just in case Tesco are planning to buy the site after planning permission is granted. I am told that Tesco's have no idea about the site, haven't made any approaches and don't have plans for a store in the area.

So why have the Greens done this? Because their shortsighted attitude is going to drag this City down. I am furious with their petty actions; I hope all those in the area who are unfortunate enough to not have employment and may have applied for these jobs note who has denied them this opportunity.

At Last - CCTV in the Castle Gardens

A big word of congratulations to my Bowthorpe Conservative colleague, Cllr. Niki George, who has won his long campaign to get CCTV installed into the Castle Gardens to tackle anti-social behaviour (click here for more).

Cllr George has really pushed this inssue, including multiple questions to council; the re-buffs he got from Labour on the issue made him more determined to do this.

This kind of news shows why grassroots democracy is so important; it can pay off if you have the determination. Well Done Niki.

Winning the e-war in Norwich South

This excellent website seems to have taken a lot of time and trouble to review the online presence of all selected candidates in constituencies around Norfolk. He includes some very detailed feedback, including on websites, blogs, social networking and how they all link together. It is very thorough and Chris Bardell really does seem to have made something very up-to-date and useable here.

In an article in which the LibDems are described as just "adequate" and Charles Clarke is "uninspiring", it is good to see the efforts made by the Conservatives in the City coming out on top. We have put a lot of effort into our online campaign and it really does pay off - our doorstepping tells us this too. The Tory effort in Norwich South beats all of the other parties.

There are convincing wins for Brandon Lewis in Yarmouth and also Chloe Smith in Norwich North in their seats.

I am really convinced this is going to be an internet election and we are well ahead of the curve - with more to come still. I take on board what Chris says about the use of the facebook group - although my own page and the campaigners page does make up for some of this - so we clearly have more to do to improve further. Let's go for it!

Brown's Critics Go Wobbly

According to the BBC, the meeting of the PLP went by without note and the rebels stayed silent. I warned they wouldn't have the nouse to go through with the task of removing Mr Brown. Labour MPs have chosen their captain to go down with the ship.

However, what I thought was interesting was the degree to which Brown now relies not just on his cabinet as a whole but a few figures within it.

Note during today's photocall with the Prime Minister launching a stratgey to give out free laptops and internet access to low income families, there lurking in the background was ... Lord Mandelson and Ed Balls. The 2 men currently keeping Brown where he is.

Oh, and during all of this tonight's polls show significant Tory leads. Thank God Labour MPs don't wonder why!

Is our media really this predictable?

This excellent blogpost (click here) by Glasgow Labour MP Tom Harris is well worth a few moments of your time ... I hope our media isn't this obvious, but I think it probably is!

In defence of the Headteacher

The decision to close schools isn’t an easy one, and Headteachers seem to take the rap no matter what they do. If you close, the commeteriate launch at you on BBC News24, and if you don’t then parents will queue up to attack you if things go wrong for their children. Snow Days are a no-win for any head. But this year, with prolonged bad weather, it seems that much of society is taking it out on schools, and if doing this will make the weather better!

Now Tory blogger Iain Dale has waded in and asked why if some schools can open, others cannot. It’s dangerous to disagree with Iain, but I’m afraid he is totally wrong about this.

In direct answer to his question, some schools open and some close because they are all different depending on size, location of pupils, location of teaching staff, structure of the site and support of grounds staff. But I don’t think Iain understands the ways that schools work and blaming the legal side of things is only half the problem.

Schools are not businesses – you cannot operate on a skeleton staff and everything begins and ends with the bell, not when the boss chooses it.

Some teachers will find it harder to get into school. I work 15 minutes walk away from my school, but my colleagues come in from Diss, Thetford, Lowestoft and – sometimes worse in terms of travel – small Norfolk villages. If you are late, who registers your class? Or teaches period one until you arrive? Let’s double up classes I hear you cry! Great plan – so how many rooms can cope with 60+ kids at a time? In my school we have around 6 rooms that could cope with those numbers. If you cannot make it in at all you have 5 periods of cover to arrange. Every class needs a teacher in front of it and I bet you nobody could find a supply teacher for love nor money in the last week. So the moment 6 staff are away the school is in trouble, even for the biggest High School you only need to be missing double figures are pupils will either be unsupervised or badly supervised.

So let’s assume we have all the staff in school that day. What about the pupils? If you work in a small village school – as my wife does – the majority of pupils are probably walked in by their parents. But larger primaries (like my daughter's) and all High Schools (like mine) take their pupils from a large catchment area. To give Iain some idea, my school has pupils from Yarmouth, Diss, Cromer and Swaffham. You don’t get much more travel than that. So the kids struggle in, the snow falls and come 3.30pm they can’t get home again. Trust me, on Wednesday as the snow started to fall parents were turning up to collect pupils and others were requesting they leave school early. A few years back I can remember standing on the playground at gone 5pm still waiting for parents to collect all because we opened in the snow. No teacher pushes the kids out of the door at 3.30pm and doesn’t care what happens to them then. A 2-3hr bus journey home is unacceptable for 11 year olds.

So now let’s assume we get all the teachers in, plus the kids and that they can get home okay. What kind of learning do you think is going on? A simple rule of teaching is that it is impossible to get anything done when it is snowing outside. On Wednesday my double History lesson 9.05-10.30 was going great guns; the snow started and the kids ground to a halt. Even closing the blinds didn’t work! What should we do with them? Teach or babysit?

So now let’s assume we get all the teachers in, plus the kids and that they can get home okay, and that they are learning ok. What about the times when they go outside? We can’t trap 1400 High School kids inside during break and lunch; the playgrounds are almost un-patrolable. This is your chance, as a pupil, to pelt your least favourite teacher with snow – dangerously and yes, it can hurt – and get away with it because the chance of seeing who threw a snowball at the back of your head is nil. No wonder extra staff don’t want to go outside when some petty adolescents want to get their revenge on you with no chance of being sanctioned. I have know circumstances where teachers have been hurt (snow, ice, stones inside them etc) and yet nothing can be done to redress this.

So now let’s assume we get all the teachers in, plus the kids and that they can get home okay, and that they are learning ok and that teachers are willing to do duty. Now what about the school site? My school is based around several buildings and the pupils have to move between sites. Our site team are excellent and are out from 5.30 and yet you still cannot guarantee that things are safe. Yes, I’ve known pupils falling and the parental complaints that follow. Yes, I’ve known teachers falling and all of the fall out that follows. There have been legal issues, of course, but what about the genuine health & safety issue here?

And finally there is the argument that snow falling is one of the events that kids always remember, and the chance to tabogan or sledge is one of life’s great moments. Let’s give it to them.

Iain, it isn’t as easy to say “open” or “close”; it is a myriad of factors. Every school, every Head and every teacher is aware of the knock-on impact we have. It is the toughest decision anyone can make at 6am to decide to open or close.

This is an issue nobody will ever get right all of the time, but we have to trust the professionalism of our Headteachers rather than carping on when things don’t go the way we want them. Schools are odd because although nearly all of us have been through them, very few really understand how they work. Or to put in another way,

For every parents who complains that a school is shut, there is one who is concerned that their kids are not properly supervised on a site still covered in ice.

The BBC vs. Reality

When he's not talking about politics, Norfolk Blogger tends to be spot on. In this post, he highlights the massive difference between online weather forecasts from the Met / BBC. He's totally correct too; not only are there massive differences between different companies but areas only miles apart have totally different weather forecasts.

So today I am conducting my experiemet of comparing the BBC forecast to what is actually happening outside of the window in the City Centre.

The BBC said 9am would be "sunny". My window said it was "snow blizzard".

Not a good start. More later.

UPDATE: BBC says snow by midday; my window says clear with some sunshine.

All the news thats fit to print

Apparently the third biggest political story in the UK today, and worthy of tweets from C4, is that a Tory advisor, who has no public recognition at all, got an £80 fine for getting abusive over not having a train ticket ... in 2008 (click here).

Aside from the fact that this is ridiculous to even make the headlines, and before LibDems everywhere start leaping up and down, haven't we seen this before (click here) ... only with somebody far more senior and in a far worse position?

Things like this make me despair of the British media.

Don't get excited

The Hoon-Hewitt plot (backed by Norwich MP Clarke) has set Wesminster alight in the snow today. And yet from the excitement of lunchtime it has all fizzled out. Why? Because Labour MPs are spineless and unable to act in the way that the Tories did in 2003 or the LibDems in 2007. Most of their MPs would rather go down to defeat with Brown and have a post-election bloodbath than do so now in the hope of producing a leader who may just save them a few extra seats. OK, that's fine by me and probably fine by Cameron too.

So let's not get too excited; it'll all come to nothing, as usual from Labour.

Does Brown believe this stuff?

So, Gordon Brown tells Andrew Marr: "Everything I have ever won in my life I have had to fight for."

You can understand the political line of attack behind this; portray Gordon Brown as the great battler in life, compared to David Cameron who has had everything presented to him on a silver platter. In the Downing Street bunker that line made total sense I'm sure.

The trouble is: it doesn't work.

It doesn't work because the class warfare stuff is failing badly.

It doesn't work because Cameron is open about his background and his rebuttle about the importance of family and education is good.

And it doesn't work because it isn't true.

Gordon Brown was selected for a safe Scottish Labour seat and even now will not struggle to get re-elected come the next election. He didn't have to fight for the Labour leadership in 2007 either, prefering a cornonation to an election. In fact, in many ways the opposite it true. Brown shows every signs of hating battles, even choosing to put off an election when he may have won it.

I am not saying he hasn't has problems in his life (his eye sight, for example, and the loss of his daughter) but to portary Brown as one of life's great battlers just isn't true.

If he said this line for political advantage he takes the British people for fools; we can see through it.

If he said this line and believed it, well, that's much more serious ...

10 for 10: Predictions for the New Year

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope the next year brings about much joy and success. As is the want of bloggers, my 10 predictions for the first year of the new decade:

1. Norwich City will be promoted to the Championship, and it will be through one of the automatic places

2. David Cameron will be Prime Minister with an overall Conservative majority and will do so with a swing and a parliamentary result that defies all predictions and re-ignites the debate over voting reform. His new cabinet will look strikingly like his Shadow Cabinet; Gove, Fox, Lansley, Osbourne, Grayling and Hague will all keep their positions in government. The bigger shake-up will be at the middle and junior ranks. Chloe Smith will become a government minister.

3. Gordon Brown will not be Leader of the Opposition come next New Years Eve; he will quit in the hours that follow the General Election and in the next few weeks he will also stand down as an MP prompting the first by-election of the new parliament. David Milliband, Alan Johnson and Harriet Harman will be the candidates for the new Leader; Cruddas will be out of parliament and Jack Straw will not win enough support. Harman will win.

4. Nick Clegg will, despite a poor overall result (the LibDems will lose seats), cling on as LibDem Leader pointing to some spectacular gains from Labour as his defining moment. Their gains will not include any in Norfolk or Suffolk.

5. The overwhelming majority of newspaper websites will be "pay-to-view" by the end of the year.

6. The Queen will still be monarch with no signs of being otherwise, but Prince Charles will prompt a political controversy with the new government.

7. Local Government Reorganisation in Norfolk will come to nothing, but nobody will take any political responsibility despite the massive cost involved.

8. Diplomas will stay despite the new government's radical education policy.

9. Matt Smith will prove a more popular Doctor Who than David Tennant, to the surprise of pretty much everybody.

10. The new MP for Norwich South will be ...

Last Christmas

As this is likely to be my only spare time for a good few months yet, I am spending it excusively with my family and so blogging / twittering / Facebook will be non-existent; except if there is a political crisis or amusing story involving a celebrity and a farm animal.

So I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. 2010, eh? Scary!

p.s. As one Christmas card said today, "this could be our last under Labour" - I don't think so, it'll just be our last under Labour for a very, very, very long time ...

Ho ho ho

MORI humiliate pretty much everyone

Overnight political hacks have been having much fun (best summarised here) about a new MORI poll which was claimed to have a narrow Tory lead of 3%, which would fall within the margin of error and could have meant that Brown was level pegging with Cameron, but ended up being a whopping 17% Conservative lead.

The joke was, of course, on everyone - Tories who were scared that the rumours were true were buzzily doing some "expectation managing" and critiquing the work of MORI (regular readers will testify that I hold MORI in no regard at all when it coming to polling; I don't care for the 17 point lead in the same way I didn't care for the 6 point one) and Labour were spinning this was the fightback and that Gordon could still win.

Then the real result was announced and some Tories were left to delcare that MORI was, in fact, spot on and Labour were attacking the MORI methodology.

This has led, rightly, to some saying that the political commentararti ought to wait for results before speculating and looking fools.

In the last few weeks things have gone well for Labour in the narrtive if not the events; Brown has done well-ish at PMQs, the polls were narrowing and the Tories seemed to be underpressure on a number of fronts. Locally here in Norwich the activists were getting bullish, their MPs had a spring in their steps. Good news gave them hope; optimism.

And now? Things have pretty much fallen apart again - the polls are pretty much back to where they were, Cameron is back on the policy frontfoot and the government continues to stumble from disaster to disaster. And Labour MPs? Once again the storm clouds gather over their heads.

Labour in Bowthorpe

The Bowthorpe page on the Labour Website says everything about their ideas for - and chances in - the community.

Hewett Fingerprint Scheme Is Good For Security

The decision by the Hewett Nursery to install fingerprint technology to aid security is very welcome indeed, and parents have backed the move in this story in the EEN. As one of my kids attends the nursery I knew about this a while ago and think it to be a thoroughly good thing.

One person did comment to me that the best security is human-to-human contact; a key worker who knows the child and their carers and uses their professional sense. I wouldn't disagree but this technology just adds that extra bit of security and should be seen as a complement to security arragements rather than replacing the old ones.

I was also told that these ideas "de-humanise" schools and turnback the open culture of schools and nurseries. I can see the arguement there, but if you are a regular at the school then they will hold your fingerprint and you are only one click away.

Either way I think this is the way that schools and nurseries will go; for the security of my daughter I think its a good thing but I don't know how far security will have to go in the future.

Evening News Website Layout Leaves Something To Be Desired

I am not taking anything away from the seriousness of this story in the EEN about pornography on school computers but somebody should really have thought about the layout and choice of picture on the website.

Didn't anybody think the choice of splash headline "Norfolk Schools Computer Porn Shock" next to a large picture of LibDem Councillor Mervyn Scutter could lead some people to making the wrong conclusion?

Cllr Scutter is, of course, outraged at the discovery that some porn sites are missed by the Net Nanny - but you'd only find that out by clicking on the story and reading it.

It reminds me of a headline in the Uxbridge Gazette, way back, which was "Strip Club Outrage" alongside pictures of the local MP and Council Leader ...

The Pre-Election Report

Today's efforts from the Chancellor have left me both baffled and poorer.

Aside from the politics of keeping putting off the "tough choices" until you assume somebody else will be in power to deal with them (I'd assumed that Darling had been doing this for years), I cannot work out what this has done or what it is for.

It wasn't a blueprint for economic recovery nor a plan for jobs and growth. It raised taxes (later) but only uses this money to pay for extra spending rather than paying down our debt.

No vision; no hope. So it's interesting to see who Labour chose to hit. In one of George Osbourne's best speeches, he pointed out that anybody with aspirations, those who wanted to buy their home, those who wish to save for pensions won't find any comfort from Labour.

I have finally agreed with the BBC's Nick Robinson; this is the politics of 20 years ago, of big government (Labour) versus small government (Conservative) and of attacks of middle income, Middle England.

And on the issue of the election date? Will Labour really want another budget before the poll if this is the sort of news they have to deliver? Don't book any holidays for late March...

Greens Elect New Leader

After Adrian Ramsay's resignation as City Hall's Green Leader, the party has now elected Cllr. Claire Stephenson as Leader and Cllr. Samir Jeraj as her Deputy. There has been a small re-shuffle of frontbench positions too. I hope Cllr. Stephenson uses this as a chance to return to the days when the Leader of the Opposition is also the Chair of Scutiny. My big wish for the Stephenson Leadership is that she starts to flesh out what a Green-led Council would look like; the Greens have a habit of abstaining a lot and failing to produce their own budgets etc.

CO2; Good Start But More To Do

According to a report by the BBC, Norwich South is ranked 450th out of 646 Westminster constituency for its CO2 emmissions (where the 1st constituency has the most CO2 emmissions), above Norwich North (365th) but below Great Yarmouth (530th).

As the worlds delegates meet in Copenhagen, this report on the BBC reminds us all about the importance of taking action as individuals at grassroots levels. This report shows us that Norwich South is doing better than most areas but has much work to do in terms of reducing our CO2 output.

Local people need to take action to reduce their own carbon footprint, which is why more and more people are taking the 10:10 challenge to reduce CO2 by 10% next year.

There is a temptation for some parties to use a big stick to force people to cut emmissions. I would rather see governments and councils using the carrot; such as Conservative plans to reward residents for recycling and provide funding for better insulation.

Bullying in Schools; Why are few ever excluded?

Amazing press release of the day - Official Government figures have revealed that just ninety pupils across the country were expelled last year for school bullying, despite a new survey finding half of all 14-year-old children have been bullied.

Across Norfolk less than 5 pupils were expelled last year from state secondary schools. In over two-thirds of local authorities across England, not a single child was expelled for bullying. In Norfolk 40 pupils were suspended from state schools – meaning the disruptive students returned to the school where they caused misery for their classmates.

Since 1997, Labour Government rules have deliberately made it more difficult for schools to expel pupils, undermining the authority of head teachers and meaning bullies end up back at the same school as their victims.

Bullying makes far too many children’s lives a misery. But the Government’s own figures show that in the vast majority of cases bullies are returned to the same school as their victims after a short punishment, rather than being expelled.

The key to tackling bullying is giving Norfolk’s teachers the powers they need to crack down on bad behaviour. But under Labour, the balance of power in the classroom has shifted too far in favour of disruptive pupils.

Conservatives would give Norwich’s schools the power to take a zero tolerance approach towards serious offences such as bullying. We will give our teachers the tools they need to maintain discipline in the classroom before it spirals out of control.

How about these 2 for good luck?

At a fundraising event we held tonight I met 2 people who claimed to be the luckiest Tories around; everytime they move to a constituency it is won by the Conservatives from Labour.

The pair moved back from abroad into West Norfolk in 2000 - just months before Henry Bellingham re-captured the seat for Hague's Tories from Labour.

They then moved to Norwich North in 2008 - just months before Chloe Smith siezed the seat from Labour in a dramatic by-election gain.

They have then come to Norwich South in 2009 - ...

Who is reading this blog?

Apart from you, right now, obviously.

I have just got to grips with the data provided by my Stat Counter and it is very interesting; although the sort of stuff that I shouldn't look at too much for fear of becoming obsessed.

Wading through everything, it turns out that I am getting visitors from the House of Commons, European Parliament, CCHQ, UEA and - biggest group - Norwich City Council!! Maybe they are keeping an eye on me!

Labour's Ipswich Choice for Norwich Seat

If Labour shot themselves in the foot by ousting Ian Gibson, then smacked themselves over the head with a mallet with their amateruish by-election campaign, they have done some almost medically impossible with the choice of John Cook (click here for more) as their General Election candidate.

Proving that all parties have issues with selections, Cllr Cook is an Ipswich Borough Councillor who lives and works miles away and whose association with Norwich is a decade old. Now rather than being able to take the fight to MP Chloe Smith, I understand Cllr Cook has already run his campaign into a brick wall as questions about his living and political arrangements surface.

Does Cllr Cook plan to move to Norwich, in his own property, and if so ... when?

If he doesn't, this must surely show that he doesn't believe he can win and won't commit to the City.

Does Cllr Cook plan to move his family with him when he does this to make Norwich his full time home?

Again if he doesn't and simple lodges or stays with somebody then how can he really claims to stand up for local people without understanding our City or its services?

Does Cllr Cook intend to stand down from his Ipswich seat now so he can focus on the campaign ahead in Norwich?

If he doesn't then questions may be asked about how he can represent one area miles away from campaigning in another. Will Cllr Cook continue to claim allowances in Ipswich whilst seeking to be elected in Norwich?

I am not saying Cllr Cook is a bad candidate but he certainly isn't a clear clean choice. Labour will have to spend the first few weeks of this campaign sorting out those issue during which time Miss Smith (not only to let the moss grow) will be consolidating her by-election lead.

What do we think young voters care about ... and what do they really care about?

I don't usually reproduce other posts in full but this one from the Speccie about a BBC Politics Show poll is well worth reading:

The Politics Show conducted a fascinating poll into the concerns of voters aged under 20. The Recession Generation are primarily concerned with, well, the recession. Economic recovery, public spending and tax came top of their list of priorities, closely followed by health and education. It’s clear that younger voters have exactly the same concerns as the wider population, and encouragingly for the Tories, those polled prefer David Cameron to Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg by a clear margin of 8 percentage points. The Liberal Democrats attracted only 18% of voters, indicating quite how damaging their tuition fee u-turn has been.

Popular myth dictates that younger voters are consumed by tackling climate change. Intriguingly, climate change came towards the bottom of the list of pressing concerns. Has emerging scientific contention engendered a more general scepticism? Have economic realities created a sense of realism? Or has the relentless noise of Green campaigners initiated ‘green fatigue’? As the great Copenhagen shindig draws near, and ever more ludicrous soothsayings about the world ending next Tuesday are made, the political consensus seems out of touch.

When I did a meeting at the UEA last week I said that in my discussions with students, fees actually came a long way down their agenda behind the economy, jobs, crime and transport. Too often politicans, and the media, decided what they think young people ought to be ineterested in - often its the environment, drugs and international aid. This poll appears, and I realise its only one survey, to reject that suggestion and say that young people focus on the same things that other groups do. I must admit to being very surprised that climate change came so low amongst young people but it shows that the people set the agenda rather than politicans.

As for the voting intentions that didn't surprise me at all; most students I have met both in formal meetings and in the Square/Hive tell me they are as fed up with Labour as everyone else and will be voting Conservative to make sure we are rid of Brown and Clarke.

Rumbling on ...

The debate over "real life experience" rumbles on. Today after work I had a very productive hour with the Sabbs at UEA discussing student issues - from housing to student finance and back to parking at the UEA. Aftewards leaving campus I met a gentleman who not only recognised me (!) but had also read the posts below. I believe more-or-less word for word here is what he had to say about it:

"I want an MP who has recently worried about bringing up kids and how to pay their mortgage. No political party is perfect, I don't agree totally with any of you, but at least we can pick the candidate who know what life is about."

To balance up the arguement, an email I ahve recieved:

"Your attack (I, by the way, deny this is an "attack") on other candidates who don't have jobs is a nonsense. The question is, will our next MP have the right instincts when it comes to voting on going to war, tackling climate change and child poverty. Political instinct is worth more than any job you might hold for the moment."

Interesting stuff. Keep it coming.

PB's Super Six on Norwich South

There are very few people left who really believe that "only the LibDems can beat Labour here" (including very senior LibDems who say to me privately that they don't expect to win). I was speaking to Costessey residents in the last week who desperately wanted Labour out - surely a good target then for the Libs? No, they wanted a proper change and were voting Conservative. You can only be sure to get rid of Brown by voting Tory, they added.

And now PoliticalBetting.Com's Super Six Predictors have had their say; these are the best political tipsters on the site.

2 say it will be a Conservative gain; 1 for Labour, 1 Green and 1 LibDem.

Hardly scienfific and hardly authorative but nobody can say this is anything but a wide open race. People who say otherwise are deliberately misleading the voters.

What experience do Green Councillors have?

There is a very funny and mischevious letetr in today's EEN (sadly not online) which encourages Rupert Read to stand to be the new Green Leader on the basis it is only right that a philosophy lecturer can top the experience of a politics graduate who has never held a proper job (!)

That got me thinking if a party leader should have what we now fondly call "real life experience" to do the job properly. I'd like to hear what you have to say on that issue.

But a glance at the publicly available register of interests for 2009 show the following as the professions or jobs for the 13 Green Party Councillors;

Cllr Janet Bearman - no job
Cllr Tom Dylan - Employed by the Green Party
Cllr Bob Gledhill - Full Time Green Party Councillor
Cllr Adrian Holmes - Software Developer
Cllr Howard Jago - no job
Cllr Samir Jeraj - Admin support for another Green Councillor & UEA Student
Cllr Tom Llewellyn - Development Manager at Norwich Buddhist Centre
Cllr Stephen Little - Full Time Green Party Councillor (also on Norfolk County Council)
Cllr Ruth Makoff - UEA Student

Cllr Peter Offord - Tutor
Cllr Adrian Ramsay - Deputy Leader of the Green Party
Cllr Rupert Read - Lecturer at UEA
Cllr Claire Stephenson - Teacher

I wonder which of these people think has the experience to be the next leader?