Filed under: Floods
As the Government prepares to hold its enquiry into the recent floods, bare a thought for the distress being endured by the victims of the floods. Those that have lost everything will be badly hit especially if they do not have insurance cover. Many thousands will no doubt be grateful for any support that can be provided, especially by organisations such as the Red Cross whose national appeal is well worth supporting.
Filed under: Society
Its only Tuesday and Gordon Brown having started the week assessing the flood damage, meeting flood victims, holding a press conference, attending Parliament and various meetings, has also found the time to launch his book “Everyday Heroes”. By all accounts, his book is very much about celebrating the work of people who he describes are ‘at the forefront of change but are seldom if ever in the public spotlight’. He also used his launch to call for a day 24/7 to celebrate the work of such heroes up and down the country. But he also went further when he said that “this is my idea of Britain and Britishness today – not the individual on his or her own living in isolation sufficient unto himself but the individual with a sense of belonging that expands outwards as we grow from family to friends and neighbourhood; a sense of belonging that then ripples outwards again from work, school, church and community and eventually outwards to far beyond our home town and region to define our nation and country as a society.’ What Brown has done today, is to highlight and define the future political battleground. It’s all about the broken society and who can fix it.
Filed under: Floods
With substantial parts of Britain currently underwater, there is a great deal of news about the flooding crisis and the announcement by the Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, of a huge £8 billion house building programme. No-one can doubt that there is a need to build more homes – demand has long outstripped supply and there is an affordability crisis in the country. My problem with any new commitment and new money to build homes, is that not enough attention has been given to the rather important area of infrastructure. By all accounts £300 million has been pledged to kick-start infrastructure for this new housing. But if building is taking place in areas where the infrastructure is in a parlous state then someone still has to ‘invest’ in the development of sound local infrastructure. Across the UK, the recent floods have shown that the UK’s infrastructure can no longer cope. Instead of pledging to build more houses, perhaps the government should go back to the drawing broad and take a look at the foundations upon which these houses will be built.
Filed under: Floods
This morning we heard that more than 48,000 homes across Gloucestershire and parts of Herefordshire were left without power after a flooded power station was switched off. The pictures from these areas are devastating. Thousands of people are now without food, water and their homes. This is now an ongoing emergency with public health consequences. So with this reality in mind, I am astonished by the response from our political parties to this crisis. Brown has called for a review into the floods, but this is no-where near enough. A review headed up by a ‘worthy’ figure will provide no comfort to the thousands affected because once the water’s disappear, householders will have months of domestic misery ahead as they deal with insurance companies and the bureaucracy this brings. Those with insurance will in the future face higher premiums – more so if they live on a flood plain, while those without cover will be up against it when it comes to sorting out the damage. The government needs to offer and provide real assistance and assurance to those affected. As a matter of urgency, the provision of food and shelter is the number one priority and the emergency service and volunteer groups are clearly doing all they can in this area. But the government should go one step further so that once the waters have disappeared, pressure should be put on insurers work flat out to help families rebuild their homes and lives. In the era of social responsibility it will also be interesting to see whether insurance firms will assist those without cover or will the government step in to help? As for the Conservative response, well, surely its all about ‘social action’….
Filed under: Floods
Its all well and good for Gordon Brown to say that lessons must be learned from the floods, but it’s a bit late to say so once the damage has been done. To be frank flooding is not a new occurrence in the UK, come to Essex Gordon and I’ll show you the impact of flooding, along with the homes which have been flooded because they were built on flood plains (thanks to house building targets set by your government). Having met with local residents during the week who have experienced flooding, it is pretty clear that this government hasn’t got a clue about this issue or the extent to which flooding is a major issue across UK. And why? Well its partly because no-one is responsible or accountable for co-ordinating anything to do with the issue of flooding. In my view this crisis could become Brown’s mini-Katrina because his response is too little, too late. By saying that the flooding has been an ‘emergency that no-one could have predicted’, will provide zero comfort to those families who are now homeless due to the floods. If Brown wants to come out of this looking like a serious can-do leader of our nation, he needs put a rocket up the various agencies and authorities to ensure that clear lines of responsibility are in place to tackle flooding emergencies. Brown and his Ministers should now muck in and supervise a nationwide clear up. Perhaps the biggest lesson he could learn from this crisis is that if he had invested in building new flood defences while he was Chancellor, he could have helped to prevent the extent of the crisis the county now faces.
Filed under: Constituency
Like most of us, I so look forward to my Fridays. And for most of us Fridays are one step closer to the weekend and an end to the daily routine of work. For me, Friday’s are merely the start of an action packed few days of constituency activities and today was no exception. I was lucky enough to spend my Friday day meeting with key figures from Essex Police and then later in the day with the Mid Essex Hospital Trust. As a candidate, to meet with representatives from such organisations is a real bonus because it’s my chance to ask all sorts of questions and discuss the issues that have been raised by constituents. This is off course what politics is really about – getting results and trying to make a difference on behalf of constituents. What a contrast to the daily politics we see and hear about whether its cash for honours scandal or even the fuss made over the recent by-elections.
Filed under: Cash for Honours
It looks as if all hell is about to break lose in Westminster over a leaked report that no-one will face charges after the 16-month cash-for-honours investigation. So after 16 months, a £1 million plus costly investigation and the police questioning of a sitting Prime Minister, we the public are none the wiser as to whether there is evidence to show a link between donating cash to a political party and ‘receiving’ a peerage(I think we can draw our own conclusion on this causal link). By all accounts Scotland Yard is preparing to make a public defence of its officers on the time and money spent on the investigation tomorrow, which is also when the CPS will also issue a formal statement on the investigation. However, the reality is this is now a major and serious news story which is not going to go away. At the start of the investigation the Assistant Commissioner, John Yates who headed this inquiry up stated that all the evidence would be released to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee who will waste no time in taking the evidence apart. This story will also reignite the whole debate about who funds political parties (taxpayers vs donors), as well as the wider debate about the ‘nomination’ for Peerages. I certainly welcome a debate about the later as this whole process has been damaged by many of the questionable appointments to the Lords we have seen in recent times. Not for the first time, this story has reinforced the public view that politics and politicians are miles away from the whiter than white world which politicians all seem to talk about.
Filed under: Drugs
The country has gone mad with all this talk about drugs. Yesterday’s big drug story was Brown at PMQs and the reclassification of cannabis. The other drugs story yesterday was the one on the back pages of today’s newspapers about golf and drugs. And as for today, well, its been a day for confession – that is if you are a government minister and have used cannabis. First it was the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, then the Chancellor, Alistair Darling and now everyone else in and around the government has confessed to having tried cannabis at some stage. Apart from demonstrating that our country is being run quite literally by a bunch of ‘dopes’, I do feel that this sudden rush to confess to drug use is a distraction from the more serious problem of drug use in our society today. Britain has a problem with all forms of drug abuse. I would rather see our Minister’s set the scene for a proper conversation with the country about its approach to tackling drug abuse, drug treatment and drug crime as opposed to this self indulgent ‘me too’ nonsense that has gripped the government today.
Filed under: Cricket
Back in the old days when the BBC was respected and trusted, the Beeb also used to have a good reputation for its coverage of a broad range of live sport. Alas, not any longer when it comes to cricket. So on the day of the first text match between England and India, in between meetings and phone calls (my day job), I will be watching SKY to cheer on Monty and the England team. Having grown up watching a fair bit of cricket as a kid, I recall that each time England played India it used to be a good morale boost for my grandparents generation because irrespective of the final result they would go away thinking that their team had won. This was off course until Norman Tebbit spoke about the famous cricket test!! Come on England……..
Filed under: BBC
A powercut in the Patel household this morning meant that not only did I oversleep, but that I also missed the woeful headlines on the BBC about the BBC. That was until I got in the car and listened to a very contrite Sir Terry Wogan speaking about restoring public trust in the BBC. Well in light of the scale of the BBC’s deception, Wogan and his colleagues have now got their work cut out. No matter how desperate the Beeb has been in its pursuit of popularism and desire to secure the license fee, there is no excuse for the blatant deception that has taken place. In my view the BBC now has a major reputational crisis on its hands which can only be addressed through major regime change and real accountability for the programmes it transmits.
