I was intrigued to see this news item just after the Euro elections. The Daily Telegraph of the 12th June stated that Ukip leader Nigel Farage had unwittingly become the star of a mobile ad campaign for Europe’s largest infidelity dating site
Part of the charm of Nigel Farage is that he cultivates the Jack the Lad image. Like others (e.g. Boris Johnson) he is a clever man who occasionally plays the fool. Behaviour which is unacceptable is laughed off- but papering over the cracks can only go so far.
Victoria Milan is apparently specially designed for men and woman who are currently in a relationship but seek some excitement and spice on the side through a discreet flirt or affair.
It would be difficult to see any member of the mainstream parties being associated with such an organisation
Author: Brian Riley
Shallow Puddles
We’ve recently taken out a subscription to the Spectator.
One of the joys of this magazine is the weekly competition and at the beginning of the month readers were invited to invent proverbs that sound profound but have no meaning (although if you search hard enough you can find meaning in everything). The best entries contained just the promise of profound meaning. Thus my favourite is “the shallow puddle floods no meadows”. Other enigmatic sayings to commit to memory and use again are:
When you don’t know where you are going , every route is a shortcut.
The overcoat of deceit will not deter the lizard of oblivion.
Beware the bridge that stops halfway across.
A chiropodist will not remember you by the colour of your eyes.
Watch this space for shallow puddle usage
South Cosford and Beyond
Last week saw a by election in the South Cosford ward of Babergh District. The ward covers 4,311 hectares and holds 2,139 residents in 905 houses. The average age is 41 y.o. Hadleigh North (which is represented by two District Councillors) contains 3,417 residents in 1,510 dwellings. The average age of the residents is 42.5 years.
The seat was previously held by Dawn Kendall (Conservative).
The results were as follows: Robert Lindsay, (G) 346, David Talbot Clarke (C) 330, Stephen Laing (UKIP) 219, Angela Wiltshire (L) 72. Majority 16. Turnout 54.7%.
The turnout was quite high for a local election – so full marks to all the workers who knocked on doors and delivered leaflets.
Mr Lindsay will be the only Green on Babergh and the question is will he sit on his own (unattached from any political grouping) or will he align himself to one of the groups – Conservative (unlikely), Labour, Liberal Democrats or Independents? Perhaps the key question is what sort of Green is he – a mango or a melon? Mangos are yellow on the inside and are therefore closet Liberal Democrats. The melons are red on the inside and therefore closet Socialists. One spends money without policies whilst the other spends money with abandon.
There are enough questions here to keep a psephologist happy for days. Why did UKIP come third and did he take votes away from the Conservatives. And what was the effect of the Liberal Democrats not having a candidate?
Nationally the conservatives have managed expectations and have done better than expected – especially in East Anglia where we retained three seats in Brussels. Yesterday’s Spectator web site suggested that there is a sense that the national results have given critics in each party the opportunity to say what they’ve been planning to say all along, but possibly without the impact they’d hoped for.
Meanwhile the economy is picking up and this may be affecting the voting.
The number of young people not in education, work or training (Neets) in eastern England has fallen to a pre-recession low. In a fresh boost to the local economic outlook, there were 79,000 16 to 24-year-olds considered Neet in the first quarter of 2014, the lowest figure since 74,000 in the second quarter of 2008. At its peak, the number of young people in the region classed as Neet was 121,000 in the third quarter of 2011. Nationally, the percentage of teenagers in Neet is at its lowest since records began. The news comes after it emerged last week that total unemployment in Suffolk fell by almost a third in a year. The number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in the county reached pre-recession levels when falling to 8,592 in April, a 32.3% drop from 12,607 in April last year and the lowest since 8,486 in October 2008.
Recalling with bite
MPs have come together to say that they need to regain our trust. And they’re right. Many of us think that politics in the UK needs improvement. MPs can be sent to prison, can fiddle their expenses or break their promises and we can only get rid of them on election days.
Now we’ve got a chance right now to make things better. It looks like the government is making plans to announce new powers to sack – ‘recall’ – MPs who don’t do their job properly.
However the new plans could put the power to sack MPs in their colleagues’ hands – not their constituents. Some MPs think this is not good enough. They’re backing real recall – so if enough people wanted to hold a by-election to sack their MP in between elections, they could.
A real recall law is not the answer to all of our democracy’s problems. But it’s a step in the right direction. And above all, it puts the power into our hands rather than MPs’.
Real recall won’t mean that by-elections happen every day. There would be checks and balances in place so that MPs can get on with their jobs. It’s only the bad MPs who will need to worry.
We need to send the government a clear signal, which means the petition needs to be big. Every signature will build the pressure.
Here’s what Conservative MP, Zac Goldsmith said:
“As an MP, I’ve seen how public pressure can force the government’s arm – and they’re particularly sensitive about public trust in MPs right now. A massive petition could give David Cameron and Nick Clegg no option but to go back to the drawing board – and produce recall with bite.”
Please sign the petition now calling for a proper recall option on:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/recall-2014
Please also see The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10850163/Let-voters-sack-underperforming-politicians-MPs-say.html
Building on the Flood Plains
Last week the Chairman of Environment Agency suggested that developers should consider building “floating” homes to combat the risk of flooding, The comments from Lord Smith of Finsbury come after the agency was criticised for its response to the flooding on the Somerset Levels.
They are also apparently at odds with the views of the Environment Secretary, who said last month that building on flood plains was “obviously idiotic” and should not happen.
Building floating homes are not the only solution to building on flood plains. The photograph from my archives shows our house in Brunei. The car was parked underneath the house and we also used the space to host Irish Country Dancing evenings.
Labour’s VAT attack Advertisement
It’s not nice to be triumphal but the newspapers have been enjoying themselves over the latest advertisement from The Labour Party. The Spectator on Friday reported that Labour has a long, hard slog to arrest the public’s loss of faith in its economic competence. The party’s latest advert hasn’t helped. It shows David Cameron and Nick Clegg as two peas-in-a-pod whose VAT hike has put £450 on the annual shopping bill. There’s one big problem with the advert: it makes its claim in front of a whole bunch of foods on which VAT is not payable. Basic food is subject at zero per cent. Even the chocolate-chip biscuits. There are some 24 products in the picture and 18 of them are VAT exempt: Fresh fruit and vegetables (peas, sweetcorn, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, red onions, beans, red cabbage, carrots, grapes, apples) eggs: all zero-rated. Even the chocolate chip biscuits are zero-rated. Canned and preserved vegetables have the same VAT liability as their unprocessed equivalents. So, which goods attract 20 per cent VAT? The three cleaning products, the cola, the lemonade and the beer. It doesn’t end there. Labour might be complaining about the VAT rise, but to pay an extra £450 as a result of the VAT increase, you’d need to be spending £21,000 on goods attracting VAT at the full rate – something that would mean you were in the top fifth of income earners – and likely to be spending £40,000 a year on goods and services The Sun’s editorial on Saturday describes the advertisement as a “schoolboy error (which) is the latest cheap shot in a shallow election campaign that doesn’t bear close scrutiny. And it’s highly embarrassing for leader Ed Milliband who just days ago claimed he was cleverer than David Cameron”.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/05/labours-vat-attack-misses-the-mark-you-dont-pay-it-on-food/?utm_source=Coffee+House+Evening+Blend&utm_campaign=3c5baf92a3-coffee_house_evening_blend_9_may&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7aaa2a4d70-3c5baf92a3-62533301
Responsible Citizenship
Pope Francis:
Let us not forget that “responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation”
Quoted by Bishop Robert McElroy, an auxiliary in San Francisco, gave the above address at Georgetown University on 28 April 2014 and reported in The Tablet this week.
Reusing the Dog and Bone Box
I saw this in Hintlesham on Sunday. It seems a great way to reuse old telephone boxes, recycle previously enjoyed books and promote community togetherness – all at minimal cost.
Women’s Cycling Tour& Hadleigh
On Sunday May 11th, the fifth and final stage of the Women’s Cycle Tour will pass through Hadleigh en route to Angel Hill in Bury St Edmunds.
There will be a programme of rolling road closures along the route as the tour passes through the District. Suffolk County Council has advised that there will be TEMPORARY NO PARKING RESTRICTION areas in Hadleigh along Benton Street, High Street, Bridge Street and Gallows Hill. Vehicles parked in these designated areas between 8.00am-2.00pm on Sunday 11th May 2014 may be towed away.
As soon as the race has passed through the town the parking restrictions will be lifted.
South Suffolk Leisure, working in partnership with Hadleigh Cycling Club will be supporting the Women’s Tour. They will be promoting family health & well-being. There will be lots of FREE healthy tasters and GOLDEN tickets for all the family. There will also be information available on how to get involved in cycling and many other physical/sporting activities as well as a CYCLE 4 Your SWIM which is a family friendly 5K cycle ride starting and finishing at Hadleigh Pool & Leisure. There will be clues to collect at each check point and successful completion of the 5K journey on Sunday 11th May will unlock a free afternoon swim for the family.
Free Compost Giveaway
National Compost Awareness Week runs from Monday 5th to Sunday 11th May.
A variety of events and activities are taking place throughout the county to celebrate the magic of composting!
To celebrate the week and to thank Suffolk residents for supporting green waste recycling services, officers will be giving out free bags of compost, whilst stocks last, to Suffolk residents visiting selected Household Waste Recycling Centres across the county.
Green fingered residents will be able to pick up a 25 litre bag of soil improver together with information on home composting and local authority green waste collection services, at six Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC). The Hadleigh HWRC will be giving away compost on Wednesday 7th May, 10am – 3pm
Composting is nature’s way of recycling organic materials to make a nutrient-rich soil improver – to help your garden bloom and your vegetables flourish. You don’t have to be green-fingered to feel the benefit – by making use of your garden and organic kitchen you’ll be doing your bit to help the environment by making peat-free composts containing recycled material. When sent to landfill, organic waste breaks down without oxygen, producing methane which contributes to global warming. An average household in Suffolk could divert 150kg of organic waste a year from landfill by home composting and significantly more if you use a composting system which deals with cooked food waste as well!
Compost Advice ‘Clinics’
There will be a number of ‘Compost Clinics’ during the week where Suffolk Master Composter volunteers will be ‘on call’ to show residents how to compost at home and to offer free trouble-shooting advice.
Further details can be found on http://www.suffolk.getcomposting.com or by calling 0844 571 4444 .
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