There was a moving article on the BBC news yesterday evening about the way that English people may have to sell their house to pay for their care but if you live in Scotland then house sales are not a factor. It is an issue that is costly to the government and it is certainly contentious, but this one issue is a microcosm of the whole political agenda.
If you support the Tory views in general then you will support the idea of paying a few thousand pounds for social care. The problem with this is it doesn't help the poor. It is fantastic for those who have the odd £8000 to spare as they won't have to pay anything if they have to go into a care home. It isn't so good if you don't have a few thousand pounds to hand.
Maybe it is time to change from writing serious blogs to looking at soundbites and talking tough, as I feel the hand of destiny on my shoulder. There is only one poll that counts today as we put our cross in the box. In short, vote for the Liberal Democrats.
Change the world
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Eurosceptics try to have their cake and eat it
At the hustings meeting on Sunday a member of the audience commented that the EU closed our post offices (where was the UKIP candidate?). Now I knew that the Post Office had given arguments for closure on economic grounds. I knew that UK post offices were closed and Westminster was blamed. I knew that Adam Crozier was brought in to make the business more efficient. I didn’t know that the EU was to blame so I came home and made enquiries and the best place to look is http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/press/doc/post_office_closures.pdf
This document states that I am not to quote from it so I will summarise it. The EU does not close post offices and there is no EU legislation forcing post office closures. This is a matter for the UK Government and Royal Mail. Furthermore EU rules allow state aid for post offices
The EU directive which the Eurosceptics blame for the closures applies equally to all EU members. It doesn't mention any EU member countries by name. So if that directive allows Dutch and German companies to come over here and compete, it also allows Royal Mail to compete in Holland and Germany. Any denial of that is, I think, just the Eurosceptics trying to have their cake and eat it too.
Change the world
This document states that I am not to quote from it so I will summarise it. The EU does not close post offices and there is no EU legislation forcing post office closures. This is a matter for the UK Government and Royal Mail. Furthermore EU rules allow state aid for post offices
The EU directive which the Eurosceptics blame for the closures applies equally to all EU members. It doesn't mention any EU member countries by name. So if that directive allows Dutch and German companies to come over here and compete, it also allows Royal Mail to compete in Holland and Germany. Any denial of that is, I think, just the Eurosceptics trying to have their cake and eat it too.
Change the world
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
No more gaffes
The first leaders' debate set the scene for the election. The polls adjusted and have settled in a position which is wonderful for the Liberal Democrats. I spoke with a voter last week who was thinking that the polls may still be volatile but my opinion is that we have had no major gaffes and unless we get any more faux pas (everyone knows about Gordon and Rochdale) then what we have is what we will get on May 6th.
Francis Pym was famous for answering a question on Question Time about whether we need an effective opposition. He admitted that it was necessary for effective democracy and he was immediately sacked by Margaret Thatcher. Her position was that power was more important than democracy. I feel that we are now in a position to cast off the old system and democracy will win.
On Sunday the Tory candidate at the hustings meeting felt that there was an army of volunteers out there that would take over part of the role of government. They call it the 'big society' but they mean an active society. I'm afraid that power has been centralised for far too long for any great wave of volunteers to appear. Apathy is rife. Just take a look at the pattern of those who can be bothered to vote. If we really want to inspire people to action then we have to be serious about devolved power and a fair system to do this. Until the Tories recognise this then any call for a big society will sound hollow.
Gordon was right when he says that he doesn't get everything right, and neither does anyone else. It is time to strengthen our political system, so that gaffes aren't seen as such an important part of it.
Change the world
Francis Pym was famous for answering a question on Question Time about whether we need an effective opposition. He admitted that it was necessary for effective democracy and he was immediately sacked by Margaret Thatcher. Her position was that power was more important than democracy. I feel that we are now in a position to cast off the old system and democracy will win.
On Sunday the Tory candidate at the hustings meeting felt that there was an army of volunteers out there that would take over part of the role of government. They call it the 'big society' but they mean an active society. I'm afraid that power has been centralised for far too long for any great wave of volunteers to appear. Apathy is rife. Just take a look at the pattern of those who can be bothered to vote. If we really want to inspire people to action then we have to be serious about devolved power and a fair system to do this. Until the Tories recognise this then any call for a big society will sound hollow.
Gordon was right when he says that he doesn't get everything right, and neither does anyone else. It is time to strengthen our political system, so that gaffes aren't seen as such an important part of it.
Change the world
Monday, 3 May 2010
Gordon Brown visits Wray
I don't think that there is a big overlap between those who read my politics blog and those who read my photography blog so here is today's photography blog as a bonus...
These photos were taken in Wray village which is to the east of Lancaster. They have a scarecrow festival each year at this time and I was there yesterday. There are themes to the scarecrows. There were some TV detectives and televison entertainment in general was a common choice. The residents put certainly put on a great show.
I wonder how much time is given to planning as many of the scarecrows had a political theme. I know that you could have guessed the date of the general election but we have only known that it was 6th May for a few weeks.
These photos show Gordon Brown in his setting and as a close-up and if you look closely you will see that plans have been amended in the past few days. If there is a prize for a topical scarecrow then I think this one won.
Happy snapping
These photos were taken in Wray village which is to the east of Lancaster. They have a scarecrow festival each year at this time and I was there yesterday. There are themes to the scarecrows. There were some TV detectives and televison entertainment in general was a common choice. The residents put certainly put on a great show.I wonder how much time is given to planning as many of the scarecrows had a political theme. I know that you could have guessed the date of the general election but we have only known that it was 6th May for a few weeks.
These photos show Gordon Brown in his setting and as a close-up and if you look closely you will see that plans have been amended in the past few days. If there is a prize for a topical scarecrow then I think this one won.
Happy snapping
Morecambe Hustings
We had our hustings meeting in Morecambe yesterday and it was it was good to see a packed hall taking part in the democratic process. I am grateful to the organisers for playing their part. I have read the manifestos of the three major parties but it was interesting to see how the candidates interpreted their policies and to see how well they spoke in front of an audience.
I am afraid that the event was not completely positive. The UKIP candidate had a prior engagement and regular readers will know that I would have liked a few answers from this particular candidate. 'Prior engagement' may be a euphemism for not wanting to answer any questions but this possible eupemism pales into insignificance when compared to the absence of the sitting MP. A simple explanation was given - she declined the invitation.
Why should she do this? I had heard that she had better things to do. Well what could be a better use of her time? She may consider that she will get in the newspaper for her refusal to attend and that all publicity is good publicity. I don't think they will publish my letter (see Wednesday's blog entry) and they may not mention her non-attendance at all. However I do want the voters to know that she couldn't be bothered to turn up. Possibly she feels that she cannot articulate her policies. We don't know so we will have to come to our own conclusions.
Change the world
I am afraid that the event was not completely positive. The UKIP candidate had a prior engagement and regular readers will know that I would have liked a few answers from this particular candidate. 'Prior engagement' may be a euphemism for not wanting to answer any questions but this possible eupemism pales into insignificance when compared to the absence of the sitting MP. A simple explanation was given - she declined the invitation.
Why should she do this? I had heard that she had better things to do. Well what could be a better use of her time? She may consider that she will get in the newspaper for her refusal to attend and that all publicity is good publicity. I don't think they will publish my letter (see Wednesday's blog entry) and they may not mention her non-attendance at all. However I do want the voters to know that she couldn't be bothered to turn up. Possibly she feels that she cannot articulate her policies. We don't know so we will have to come to our own conclusions.
Change the world
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Most defensive action
Following on from a story about doctors, police officers and council officials, I heard a wonderful story from a friend. This week a health and safety course was taking place in a room that did not have a screen for a projector. The teacher who was not used to the room wanted to project against a wall that had a large framed print on it but he didn't want to take it off in case anything happened.
I think he was too used to having risk assessments written in triplicate and then getting the forms countersigned to show that the assessments had been authorised. The friend just took the frame off the wall and placed it out of the way.
I hope I don't get a reply about this blog entry saying that my friend's actions were disgraceful and no action should have taken place without a risk assessement.
Change the world
I think he was too used to having risk assessments written in triplicate and then getting the forms countersigned to show that the assessments had been authorised. The friend just took the frame off the wall and placed it out of the way.
I hope I don't get a reply about this blog entry saying that my friend's actions were disgraceful and no action should have taken place without a risk assessement.
Change the world
Saturday, 1 May 2010
More defensive actions
A Couple of weeks ago the headline in the local paper was about the closure of playgrounds because the council cannot afford to improve the safety surfaces. So 19 have to go with the hope that others can be improved. Yesterday I wrote about defensive policing and defensive medicine. Here we have defensive actions from a council. There is an argument that says that the council has a case to answer if children are injured on a park. There is an argument that medical negligence should lead to compensation. There is an argument that police actions should be accountable and relevant compensation should be paid when errors occur.
The problem with these arguments is that society is stagnating. Inaction wins the day. Paperwork becomes more important than hands-on work. In practice we have play areas closing, police officers not making the decision that they want to but the decision that defends them if they are held to account. It means that we have to be admitted to hospital even if it is against the better judgement of the doctor.
Change the world
The problem with these arguments is that society is stagnating. Inaction wins the day. Paperwork becomes more important than hands-on work. In practice we have play areas closing, police officers not making the decision that they want to but the decision that defends them if they are held to account. It means that we have to be admitted to hospital even if it is against the better judgement of the doctor.
Change the world
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
