The future of parliamentary debate

After school I organised the first parliamentary debate for my A Level Politics group and I have to say that all of them did brilliantly - more confident, better prepared, wittier and straight to the point. They made a lot of our current MPs look like amateurs! The subject of debate was "Tony Blair's 10 years in power have been a sparkling success" - the motion was lost 7 votes to 5, which says a lot about the impact of Blair on 16-17 year olds who have only really known a Labour government!

Two girls took the role of Labour frontbencher and the Tory Leader of the Opposition. They not only made their own speeches but also took a barrage of interventions from backbenchers and from the other dispatch book. The two whips on either side took on the role of a cross between a cheerleader and a pitbull terrier.

The speeches were thoughful and based upon fact. It was interesting that Blair's fans took his record on crime and public services whilst those who opposed him concentrated on two key issues - Iraq and the NHS. The Labour supporters got rather annoyed by the constant Iraq references. Their frontbencher snapping from her seat: "Don't you lot have anything else to talk about?".

The opposition wanted to stick to Iraq, Labour wanted to move on ... more like real life than you'd imagine.

They soon got snappy as fellow MPs tried to put them off their stride and kept trying to refocus the debate to their point. Just like parliament!

Really this was the best I've seen in many years of teaching and I am now determined to work with these kids and, who knows, ending up at the National Parliamentary Debating Competition?

Best line: Labour whip: "I bet you Tories wish you hadn't had thrown all those mentally ill people onto the streets during your time in power - look, they've all ended up on your frontbench!"

Strangest point to make: Tory Leader: "20,000 years ago there were a fewer people than there are today."

Most disagreements: Labour and Tory frontbenchers: Has crime fallen or risen since 1997? Everyone had statistics to prove their point.

Clarke to stand - and lose - in Norwich South

Here is tonight's press release:

Responding to tonight's news that former Home Secretary Charles Clarke will seek re-election to his Norwich South constituency, Tory Leader at City Hall Antony Little said:

"It is right that Charles Clarke puts himself before the electorate so that local people can judge him on his record as both a government minister and a constituency MP."

"With Labour on the ropes nationally and David Cameron's Conservatives ahead in all the opinion polls, Norwich South will be a key seat at the next election."

Councillor Little, who stood against Mr Clarke in 2005, added: "With the LibDems losing council seats across Norwich and the Conservatives winning again, it is clear that only the Conservatives can beat Labour here in Norwich South."

"If people want to pass judgement on Mr Clarke's lamentable record as our local MP, or on Mr Blair's wasted 10 years in power when taxes have risen but services continue to suffer, they should do so at the ballot box by supporting the Conservatives and David Cameron's message of change, optimism and hope."

"The next election is already looking very interesting."

Council Agenda for Tuesday

Council Agenda for Tuesday, 7.30pm in the Council Chamber at City Hall

Presentation on Peak Oil
Lord Mayor’s Announcements
Presentation of Long Service Awards
Declarations of Interes
Public Questions
Petitions
Minutes
Questions to Exec Members
Proposed Vision Strategy for Norwich and the Council’s short term objectives (these focus on CCTV, wardens and the environment)
Budget Update
Capital Programme changes
Gambling Act response
Motion – Cllr Morphew on First Buses
Motion – Cllr Holmes on Climate Change
Motion – Cllr Morphew on Growth Point Status.

Enquiries, question and thought (as ever) appreciated.

Ian Gibson won't stand down

The not-very-surprising news that Labour MP Ian Gibson will contest the next General Election would not normally be note-worthy. But the comments of a close colleague and Norwich North resident bear thinking about. She is a Labour voter and big fan of Mr Gibson and yet on hearing the news declared "great, so we get an old, ill MP whose just hanging around to saddle us with the cost of a by-election."

Nice, but with phrases like "going out with my boots on" it shouldn't surprise him!

Capital Programme in Bowthorpe

I have just got the capital budget spending for Bowthorpe. For your interest:

1. Lighting scheme for Smeat Street, Clover Hill

2. Park Improvements for Atkinson Close, Chapel Break

3. New Park Equipment for Clover Hill (tba)

4. 5 a side football goals for Fourways (Earlham)

5. Rejuvenating Clover Hill Community Centre

6. Toad Crossings on Chapel Break Road

7. Road surfacing on Dereham Road (between Wendene and Gurney Road)

8. Cycling Scheme from West Earlham to City Centre

9. Pavement improvements on Rockingham Road

10. Play equipment via 106 money for Chapel Break and Three Score

Views on this welcome

My Question...

Thanks for the suggestions made for my question including those who e-mailed them. I have just laid down this, based upon the first "annonymous" suggestion:

Councillor LITTLE to ask:
The city's street furniture and many of our suburban areas suffer from a lot of grafitti, including much by a few graffiti gangs. Does the council believe grafitti is a symptom, measure and further encouragement of Anti Social Behaviour? Can the Executive Member tell us what the council can do to help crack down on grafitti across the City, including any plans to speed up the removal of it?

Picture is of a grafitti tag in Norwich.

What should I ask at the next Full Council meeting?

Every month each Councillor gets the chance to pose a single question which the Executive Member or Committee Chair responsible must answer. To this point each month I have had an obvious question to ask because of various issues that have arisen around the ward. The question could be about a specific issue which the council had so far not answered (e.g. parking on Bishey Barnabee Way) or about general strategic council wide issues (e.g. time spent to improve run down council housing stock).

I believe in avoiding nasty political point scoring (unlike some Labour and LibDem Councillors) and as this really is the "nuclear option" for finding out information I also think the question should be something you couldn't find out easily any other way.

So, with the deadline looming on Wednesday I'd like to know what you would like answered from the City Council. I can't guarantee I'll choose a question from this blog, but it would be good to ask something suggested by a blog reader.

You can, of course, ask your own question at council by e-mailing it to andy.emms@norwich.gov.uk - you'll even get a supplementary question too! You need to be a resident of Norwich to do so and you'll have to turn up at the Council Meeting on the last Tuesday of the month to ask it. It is however your way of getting an answer straight from the horse's mouth!

Ian Oakley selected for marginal seat

Ian Oakley is one of the nicest people in the Conservative Party, if not the country. It also happens that he is one of the hardest workers and best campaigners too - and that's useful because he's just been selected for the country's tightest three-way marginal seat in Watford.

I worked closely with Ian for many years in various adventures around Hillingdon Council and I know he'll give it 100% and be a real asset to the party as both a candidate and then as an MP. Ian won't be put off because of the tough fight ahead of him in Watford - it'll make him more determined to fight hard and win.

Ian may not be an A-Lister but he knows Watford back-to-front and I am so pleased for him. The LibDems should have been assured of victory in this seat, but with Ian's selection the whole contest is wide open again.

Go for it, Ian!

Anne McIntosh selected for safe seat

The news from CH.com is that Tory frontbencher Anne McIntosh has been selected for the very safe and newly created seat of Thirsk and Malton. I have always argued that Anne deserves a good berth because of her excellent parliamentary record - just the sort of MP we need. I am, however, sad that another MP whose constituency disappears - John Greenway - is now left without a seat to fight. 'A'-List or no 'A'-List we need to support those who have given dedicated service to the party. I hope that John is given what he deserves by the powers that be at CCHQ.

But, well done Anne - I'm sure it was well deserved.

Are the LibDems going to drop their opposition to Tesco ... or are they going to play it both ways again?

One of the big issues that dominated the campaign in Town Close last year was that of the proposed Tesco Express being built on the site of the Arlington petrol station on Unthank Road. The Greens, naturally took against the plans. So too, with little impact, did the LibDems. The Greens subsequently snatched the formerly rock solid LibDem ward and left local activists reeling.

Today a LibDem Focus leaflet graces my letterbox - not a particularly good one and now rather irregularly delivered but one story stood out for me. An update on Tesco.

Chris Thomas, the sitting Councillor who faces the fight of his life next year, claims to be pleased that the application was rejected before adding:

I have had letters from residents who are not car owners and who would welcome an opportunity to shop daily at a small supermarket which they feel with complement the specialist shops.

So that's clear then ... not. Are the Town Close LibDems therefore in favour or opposed and, in particular, is Chris Thomas in favour or not? Or, like on so many issues, are they planning to play this one both ways depending on which doorstep they are standing on?

Or is there a more wholesale change on the way? The LibDems have lost voters hand-over-fist to the Greens in the Golden Triangle and many of these residents are unlikely to return to the fold anytime soon. So if the LibDems detect a significant minority in favour of the Unthank Tesco (but who don't like to shout about their opinions) could they switch policies in time for next May and hoover up those votes?

I don't know, but I do know that the Town Close LibDems are desperate.

They may think that the votes of the anti-Tesco lobby are lost to the Greens and political pragmatism draws them to a pro-Tesco position as the only way of holding their seat?

Door Knocking & Bond

Today was a mixed bag with a relative lie-in (well up at 7.30 and back into bed by 9) followed by a trip with the UEA Conservatives to offer some mutual aid to the Norwich North Conservatives. We went door knocking on one of the new housing developments in the area and two things struck me - firstly the sheer volume of property turnover in such areas, much worse than it ever was in Bowthorpe in my humble opinion. And the second was how many people are now willing to stop and talk politics on the doorsteps on a freezing November afternoon. Overall very good for the Conservatives but with a noticeable number of Green voters too - on today's canvass they beat the LibDems for third. Interestingly we had Iraq re-appear as an issue (it had died down) but also the state of local parks, housing and anti-social behaviour are consistently topping the list.

This evening Lou & I managed to get out and see the new (well, re-made) Bond film. We both think that Craig made an excellent Bond and it was a great film. Much less formulaeic than other Bond films with loads of twists and turns - plus a bevvy of beauties and gun fights galore. Obviously I loved every moment, but the fact that Lou enjoyed it too (and she doesn't "do" Bond films) says a lot for how well it was made. Plus you get to hear Dame Judy Dench's opinion of backbench committee MPs...

LibDems can't agree on Unitary

I enjoy Nich Starling's blog and he has an excellent post here in which he joins me in slamming the Council for spending £27,000 on the Unitary survey. Nich says that few people he knows in Norwich are clammering for Unitary - well said that man.

But the Fakenham Councillor from North Norfolk fails to mention that the LibDems in Norwich are in favour of Unitary and voted for all this money (and much more) to be spent.

The LibDems are all over the place on this issue. Nich, who (shall we say) takes a lot of interest in Norwich and Broadland issues, demonstrates this in spades.

We know that Norwich LibDems are in favour and Broadland LibDems against. So will they campaign against themselves in 2007? We'll have to wait and see!

The way politics works

Blairites hate Brownites. Some Blairites pretend to like Brown because they want jobs in his next government (the one he'll have without the need to win a general election). Some Blairites will just keep their mouths shut. The party looks like it might rip apart.

Then the public decide that they like Cameron more than Brown and Labour people of all shades get worried. They all start to back Brown to try and brow-beat Cameron down. The party suddenly becomes very united and all and sundry say Brown will win by default. Hence Blears saying that Blair will back Brown today.

So what happens now? An unchallenged Brown leadership? No. When Labour feel they've been ghastly to Cameron enough and nearer the time of Blair's departure, all these people who have been nice to Brown will suddenly turn again.

Expect a contest between Brown, Reid, Johnson and McDonnell.

Milton Friedman has died

One of the great men of the capitalist free market economy has died today. CH.com has a nice obituary in the way of his quotes here.

12% of people know about the Unitary issue ... Labour claim it's a triumph!

From the gushing press release from Norwich City Council and the equally gushing story in the EEN today, you might be forgiven for thinking that the City has come out overwhelmingly in favour of Unitary status.

However, when you read the small print the story becomes very different. The figure that struck me was that 88% of people who responded said they knew little or nothing about the issue! Shouldn't the council be spending money educating and informing people about this rather than commissioning dodgy surveys?

In fact the survey, with all of its inherent bias, came out 41-25 in favour. But if 88% don't know about the issue, how can we even trust or believe that result?

Answer: we can't. But Unitary is now hanging by a thread and Labour are willing to cling to any straw they can.

Action for Bowthorpe Tree Belts

After a lot of campaigning I was pleased to recieve this e-mail:

Major tree works are planned to a number of tree belts in Bowthorpe this winter. The belts in which we are set to carry out work include:

· Rawley Road to Cloverhill Road
· Rawley Road to Beloe Ave
· Joe Ellis Ct
· Wendene (Both sides including areas covered by Braithwaite Close and Anwick Ct)
· Tippett Close
· Chapelbreak Road oppersite Astley Road
· Rear off Edrich way / The Columbine

Bowthorpe Cycle Way (Inc Stylman Road)
Bowthorpe Park
Chapel Break Centre

The work, scheduled to start later this month, will involve both thinning and coppicing operations. Thinning is the removal of selected trees to relieve overcrowding and to allow for the future growth of remaining specimens. Coppicing is the process of cutting back woody plants close to ground level and allowing the stumps to re-grow. The overall result will be more open, lighter, less oppressive tree belts that are more encouraging for wildlife, and safer, healthier individual trees.

Well Done Norwich City Council!

Proud to be supporting our community

Last night's meeting of the Bowthorpe Community Partnership started to discuss the response to recent tragic events. I am pleased that all councillors, from both councils and both parties, have agreed that the way forward is a mass community petition that asks for a full safety review of all of the major roads - including Clover Hill Road, Chapel Break Road, Three Score Road, Bishey Barnabee Way and Dodderman Way.

It will make a powerful statament if we can make a unified stance on this - and I'm also glad that the BCP agreed to front this. A local man from Three Score is taking the lead and Councillors will be pleased to support him.

Lewis gets going in Great Yarmouth

It was good to hear from Yarmouth PPC Brandon Lewis about his plans to start campaigning for the seat. His website is changing over next Monday but you can read about his reaction to being selected HERE. It sounds like he has some great plans and has already got an action day and a parliamentary event organised. That's some going! I am surprised that the media seem to have overlooked him so far - although I'm sure he'll change that pretty quickly!

Norwich Tories select candidates

Over at the NorwichConservatives.Com site there is a news update with the local government selections.

Sitting Councillor Eve Collishaw will fight for Catton Grove again


Long-time resident and campaigner John Wyatt will build on his best result in Town Close for many years


Popular local resident Vic Hopes goes for Eaton after halving the LibDem majority last time.


Campaigner Niall Baxter heads for success in Wensum Ward...


Also UEA student Kristofer Wilson is standing in University Ward and Carrie Chandler is selected in Mancroft. Lakenham, Nelson and Thorpe Hamlet members will decide on their candidates in the next few weeks.

Never Forget their Sacrifice

Thanks to ConservativeHome for this graphic. A reminder of what today is about.

Today is not about the glorification of war, it is about the sacrific of those who died for freedom.