Gertsamtkunstwerk

Confession time

I don't know whether I should write this in very little type or SHOUT IT IN BOLD CAPITALS

Remember, I am a Chartered Public Finance Accountant. I have a degree, and a track record, in Politics.

I sauntered into the nearby TV viewing-food eating area at quarter to one. The place was literally packed to the hilt with accountants and what nots.

On the TV Gordon Brown was going on about borrowing, and national debt, and GDP and all that stuff.

"Oh, it's all the boring stuff!" I said.

I was looked at with a mixture of contempt, bemusement and horror.

Okay, I'm going to admit it. I think the Budget is the most boring event of the political year. I'm not even interested in how much Tobacco Products Duty is going up. Tobacco Products Duty in Poland, yes, Britain, no...

That's probably my bad, isn't it. But it's Economics - they make my head hurt. All those graphs, supply vs demand, law of diminishing returns. It's like Physics, really, isn't it. Impenetrable.

Numbers and words. I can deal with them. But not graphs and concepts.

Shudders

But I do know one thing - it was a bloody good budget for Hard Working Families, showing Prudence with a Purpose, and investing in public services.

I can trust Gordy on that one.

Unbiased objective neutral election blogging

You ain't going to find it here...

I am so going to blog this election. But in my own personal way...

Having campaigned tirelessly in 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2001, I am intending to take a somewhat lower key role this time around. The legs aren't really up to canvassing nor to leafletting, although I have volunteered for sedentary activities. But I am definitely going to blog it like mad. And probably do an 'Old Diaries' special, too.

I also going to definitely encourage comments, and the rules for commenting are a) no ad hominen attacks on me; b) only evidenced or humorous ad homs on candidates; c) any comments using words like 'Nazi' will be deleted; d) swearing should be justifiable by context. I will not delete comments or ban commenters lightly, but I will reserve the right to do so.

In between now and then there will also be numerous concerts and operas, football matches, a State visit by my sister and niece, a trip to Barcelona, and, er, work.

But, let battle commence...

Britain's Sexiest MP?

In the pink

I am so with the Zeitgeist - see my entry where I commented on the good looks of Ben Bradshaw and by implication, Stephen Twigg. Turns out that Gaydar held a poll to establish to Britian's sexiest MP.

Rebellious Lords, resurgent Tories, renewed turmoil in Iraq ... the PM is a man, to quote Wodehouse, who has been through the furnace. But Pendennis has news that will spread sweetness and light throughout Downing Street: the nation's leader is now officially a gay icon. The PM tops a new poll conducted by Gaydar, the website for the gay community, and AXM magazine, to find Britain's sexiest MP. TB scored a hefty 25 per cent of the vote, putting him ahead of faux blonde bombshell, Ann Widdecombe. For the record, Michael Howard came bottom with just 2 per cent.

Shall we have a straw poll? Hmm, bad wording there, I'm afraid...And if people respond, I'll repeat the exercise the weekend after the General Election.

My vote goes to Tony, because despite the aesthetic appeal of Ben and Stephen, and a few others, there is more to sexiness than just good looks.

I have met an extraordinary number of women who have the hots for John Prescott. And Gordon Brown's smouldering definitely does it for others. Not eligible, but Alastair Campbell has been known to cast a spell on otherwise sensible women.

Anne Robinson said

The Tories' main problem is that they don't have anyone you'd want to go to bed with.

Thinking, thinking, thinking...

No...I'm stumped.

But the single most disturbing thing comes at the end of Pendennis

Spotted jogging around Kennington last Friday afternoon: Peter Mandelson's special adviser, Roger Liddle. 'He was wearing a Lycra top that was much too small,' a startled onlooker reports. 'The top had go-faster stripes, but they didn't seem to be working.'

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Roger Liddle - he was very sweet and sympathetic when I got mugged, and I always remember such acts of kindness, but, in all truth, I am disturbed by this thought.

Won't vote, couldn't care less

Party leaders chat up the Cosmo girls

Over the years, I have been repeatedly frustrated by the political apathy shown by so many people, and by specific demographics.

A lot of people feel that their vote is meaningless, understandable if you live in a Constituency with a large majority for one or other party, especially if you perceive the incumbent MP to be useless.

Voting is just the first step to political engagement. Sometimes it seems to people that decisions taken are remote from and irrelevant to their lives eg the war in Iraq. MPs are influenced by the content of their post bags, and even more by the individual issues constituents bring to their surgeries. In my area, and, no doubt, similarly in others, there is enormous amounts of involvement by ordinary people. A minority of ordinary people, but, still...Many of the parks and commons have Management Groups made up of local users.

I live in a New Deal for Communities area, which has a board made up of local representatives, which is bringing an impressive range of improvements to the area. It's actually a damn good scheme. Many of the old Regeneration Scheems - City Challenge, Single Regeneration Budget etc were very centred on capital projects. Those ar eimportant, of course - Clapham Park NDC is due to spend tens of millions on transforming social housing. But we also have Street Wardens. Not a perfect cure-all, but definitely a plus for the area. We have preventive health schemes - cholesterol checks and salsa classes; we have a Job Club 'shop' where people can go for assistance in applying for jobs. There are training schemes in areas like catering and hairdressing. A very significant demographic target is women aged 18-34. Probably not Cosmo readers, to be honest.

But who are also the biggest beneficiaries of the Minimum Wage and improved rights for part-time workers? Women, many in the 18-34 age group. These are the sorts of things the Tories would get rid of, because they're not popular - with the Men in Suits and the Blue Rinse Brigade, who wouldn't dream of not voting.

Once upon a time Douglas Jay - a minister in the Sixties - was able to say

In the case of nutrition and health, just as in the case of education, the gentleman in Whitehall really does know better what is good for people than the people themselves.

This is rightly ridiculed nowadays as being extraordinarily patronising; however, sometimes the woman in Whitehall does know a lot, because people have told her. And now more than ever it is time for even more people to tell the woman or man in Whitehall how we want our public services delivered.

Knee-jerk Howard

Howard urges limits on 'too easy' abortions

On the face of it, what Michael Howard says is not entirely unreasonable.

And he pledged to vote to cut the legal time limit for late abortions from 24 weeks - where it currently stands except in cases of serious handicap or risk to the mother's life - to 20 weeks

There are many examples of babies born at twenty-odd weeks surviving, although the proportion is still low, and many that do survive only do so with profound multiple disabilities.

But I doubt for a moment that that is really what is on Howard's mind. Once again, it's a headline grabbing attempt to solidify the reactionary vote of Middle England, whilst not alienating the majority of voters.

The article states that 0.6% of abortions are carried out between 22 and 24 weeks. That's a very tiny number ; I am sure that if they were examined on a case by case basis, there would be overwhelmingly compelling reasons for most of them.

I am Pro-Choice and feel uneasy about abortion. I'm all for greater efforts to prevent.

Someone I know had a split condom incident last year, and, sensibly, decided to seek the Morning After Pill. She walked into Boots the Chemist and asked for it, only to be refused, and lectured - can you believe it - lectured - in full view and hearing of random strangers at the Pharmacy counter of a large Boots the Chemist. She eventually got one from an independent pharmacist (yay to independent pharmacists - the one near me has a very big sign in the window stating that Emergency Contraception is available here, shouldn't those bigoted Boots the Chemist who refuse to sell it also carry big signs saying "Reactionary Bigots working here won't sell the Morning After Pill")

This woman is approaching forty, experienced in life, intelligent, articulate, educated and confident, but she found it a humiliating experience.

I would imagine that a woman of half her age and quarter her confidence would have been so intimidated by the experience that she would have just given up. But Michael 'Headline Grabbing' Howard can't or won't address the real issues when he can savour a populist headline instead.

To buy it over the counter costs about £25. I was staggered - of course, it's also available from GPs, but just hope your split condom moment doesn't come at the start of a long Bank Holiday weekend.

Update: Monday's Mirror says what I said, only much much better.

Harry Potter for Chancellor?

Ooh, there's nothing to beat pre-Election Cabinet Reshuffle speculation LABOUR whizz kid David Miliband last night emerged as the hot new favourite to succeed Gordon Brown as Chancellor.

I don't know, it's difficult enough to cope with the Education Secretary being my age, but to have a Chancellor less than three years my senior is even more a sign of my ageing.

But I don't think he looks like Harry Potter  - just a geek, but there's nothing wrong with that. Obviously, one to watch during the upcoming campaign...

Reactionary populistic policy making on the hoof

Tories plan migrant health checks

It only applies to non-EU citizens entering for over six months or over a year, depending on the nature of the checks.

So no real deterrent again infectious diseases brought in by casual visitors or returning residents, or EU citizens.

Screening for treatable conditions is not a bad idea as a public health measure, but the Tories' planned spending cuts will jeopradise preventive health in general.

I expect they'll get all those unemployed dole-claiming doctors and nurses to do the immigramts' health checks.

What's that you tell me? The dole queues are not full of idle health professionals?

Better get some more in from foreign countries, then.

Keighley, racist hotbed

Blame it on the Asians

I know someone who works in Keighley, at the front line of public service delivery - although, obviously, he lives in a posh area out of town. I must ask him about this.

Talk Radio

When getting into a taxi - or, in last night's case, a minicab - it is a matter of some dread when I realise the radio is tuned to a phone-in Talk Radio programme.

Generally speaking, the participants tend to be at the uninformed (= ignorant) and reactionary end of the spectrum, spouting off opinions close to hatred with little evidence that they actually know what they are talking about.

So it was with some dread that I realised that last night's minicab talk show topic was immigration.

One caller drew attention to the fact that very many immigrant workers are exploited and abused.

Another mentioned the fact that it would be impossible to staff residential care homes without immigrant workers.

The host said he had been speaking to a Birmingham industrialist who cannot find British workers for 'finishing' the vans he manufactures. He then quoted a figure that immigrants make a net contribution of £2.5 billion to the UK economy.

Swathes of the white working- under-class round here would like to 'send them all back'.

I said to Jimmy something about schools and hospitals, he mentioned hotels and catering. A Nigerian accent from the front piped up 'minicabs'.

It would be vaguely amusing to 'send back' all the 'immigrants' and see what happens in Education, the Health Service, service indutries, manufacturing etc. It would be even more amusing, then, to see the reactions of the supporters of UKIP/Veritas and swathes of the Tory party. You know, when the schools and hospitals all start closing and the elderly relative loses the home help or the place in that nice, convenient residential care home...

True Face of the Tories

Last night I was sitting in my seat at the end of the interval, and could not help overhear the conversation from the row behind. Couple, man and woman, mid-thirties to mid-forties. It emerged that he was an employee of the Conservative Party, from Tory Central Office. She was a weak Liberal, possibly originally from the South West.

I pricked up my ears at the discussion on policy. His contention is that there are five issues on which to fight the election - the Economy, Education, Health, Immigration, and laura norder. Broadly, I would agree.

It seems that the Tory message is going to be "We want clean hospitals." Can't disagree. But, as far as I can gather that's it. He quoted some statistics on the increase in MRSA deaths since 1997, which may or may not be true, but certainly need to be taken in the context of a) more patients being treated and b)greater awareness of MRSA. (And wasn't it the Tories who introduced the concept of hospitals being cleaned to a price, not to a standard?)

The girlfriend mentioned transport. He said that Labour had scrapped the Tories' roadbuilding plans. She said people - especially in London and the South East - regard public transport as important. His response "We're not interested in public transport. Our voters are not interested in public transport. We'll get rid of bus lanes."

So, that's Tory policy in a nutshell - hospital cleaning by magic wand, and abolition of bus lanes.

Direct from Tory Central Office.

(And too stupid to consider that the person sat in front of you at the ballet might just be a member of the Labour party and a blogger...)

Freedom of Information

It is immensely satisfying to see reams of papers being swallowed and macerated by the shredder

Thick or what...

80% of women under 24 will not bother voting at the next election

I could go to the polling station but I think I'll nip into Top Shop instead. Politicians aren't interested in me

If I do, I'll just vote for whoever my mum votes for

Me, me, me. So free, so independent. Happy to be told what to do. Happy for others to make decisions. Infantile, ignorant and stupid.

Not that voting really matters in itself. Very few constituencies change hands at any given election.

But people who don't vote don't engage. They have to accept decisions made by others. They have laws and policies imposed on them. Why should politicians be interested in them? It's a two way thing.

Poor little diddums. But at least they know how many Louis Vuitton wallets are owned by every Z-list loser of every reality TV show, because that really impacts on their real life...

Apropos of nothing at all

The thought occurred to me the other night. There will be a Coronation one day. The chances are, Liz will pop her clogs in the next quarter of a century or so. It will be fairly momentous when it happens. But in the well-established pattern, the old will make way for the new, and a King - be it Charles or William, or someone else - will take over.

I'm not a Royalist. In fact, I am an the antithesis of a Royalist.

But, the question is - should I watch it on TV, or take to the streets of London and take photos.

Vultures gather

A posse of cameramen is forming outside the office. No doubt awaiting the arrival/departure of the Secretary of State. Presumably on the assumption that he will leap out of the car and issue a full extempore statement on his current local difficulty.

Meanwhile, it's band practice at the Barracks. In a novel change from military band playing light classics and pop tunes, it's rock band with a nice medley of 50s/60s Rock 'n' Roll. If this is future for the Army, then I think it's a sad indictment of a relentless modernisation (dread word) of our public services. I blame Tony Blair.

In my indefatigable search for diplomatic number plates, I espied a car bearing the plate 1 M. Diplomatic ones are normally three letters. So, was this diplomatic, and, if so, which nation has the temerity to use just one letter?

Getting away with murder

Technically not murder, I'll admit.

But I would like someone to explain to me why drivers who kill get such short sentences, even though in many cases they follow a course of actions which any reasonable person knows makes them far more likely to cause a serious accident.

I am confused that someone who kills in a provoked, spur-of-the-moment retaliation often gets a much stiffer sentence than someone who deliberately and cold bloodedly takes a course of action that results in a death.

Boy racers' jail term cut

The ruling comes just one day after drink-drive lout Craig Smith, 22, had his sentence cut for causing the death by dangerous driving of Amy Gonzales, 18, in St Neots, Cambs.

3 years for gran's death, includes

An uninsured taxi driver who killed a great-grandad in a hit and run grins after being fined just £220.

Social Housing

The Mirror takes an interesting, if incredibly superficial look at Council housing. Of course, it is way more complicated than the story says.

For many years now Lambeth has gone down the road of diversifying its housing management stock. I think what the motivation is, absolutely regardless of political party is a genuine non-partisan desire to improve the living conditions of a large proportion of the boroughs residents. Traditionally, Lambeth's stock management was always decentralised eg with twenty or so Housing Management Offices, situated in the heart of the estates they are managing, compared with just five across Hammersmith and Fulham (at least, back in 1995 when I worked there). During the 90s a host of Tenants and Residents Associations formed themselves into Estate Management Boards, Residents Management Companies, Tenants Management Organisations etc. This was democracy in action. It was enabled by the Housing Department with a strong political steer, which realised that years of mismanagement had failed the residents.

As a side issue, in the Oval by-election of 1993 I was canvassing with Peter, our candidate at the time. He and I were well used to the rundown nature of Lambeth Estates, but one struck us as particularly bad. He engaged in conversation with one resident, an enthusiastic if passive supporter. He commented on how Lambeth had let her down, the appalling state the estate was in. Her response "Oh, we're not Lambeth, we're Duchy of Cornwall..." Peter and I were shocked. I mean shocked.

After self-management, the next step was wholescale stock transfer. It has been around for many years. In 1998 I audited a district council allegedly in the south of Buckinghamshire, who had transferred all but five properties into the private (or voluntary, I can't quite recall) sector, following a residents' vote. the five that remained were flats above a parade of shops whose residents had voted en bloc to remain with the council.

The Partington Estate, formerly a Manchester 'overspill' estate within the boundaries of Trafford was the first really large estate to go wholescale transfer. One of the reasons was that as, in effect, a whole town with a split personality, it made sense. Lambeth, like Manchester a large social landlord also attempted it on an estate-by-estate basis. One large estate in Central Brixton voted to transfer, the main attraction being that the RSL could borrow money freely on the open market, which could be spent on much needed repairs. Others declined to even get it off the ground. One of the main reasons being that RSL tenants don't have the same Right to Buy as council tenants. Also succession rights eg for unmarried, including same-sex couples, are less well-defined in many RSLs.

A major project was planned for North of the Borough to have a large-scale transfer that would finance improvements, not limited to repairs and capital investment - there was a wider regeneration agenda. An unholy alliance of LibDims and Trots scuppered it by spreading propaganda using the words 'privatisation'. Kirsty, who was Exec for Regeneration at the time was furious - the night the poll results were announced, she found young impoverished parents in tears, because they had believed in this scheme as hope for their future, only to see it scuppered by politically mismotivated carpet-baggers.

I am in a New Deal area with a ten year master plan for Regeneration. This includes demolition of some of the later-built locks, blighted by spalling concrete and flat roofs - the earlier, classic 1920s-designed LCC blocks are standing the test of time. In order to finance this some land will be sold off to developers, who will, no doubt, build Yuppie Flats, with the cachet of an SW4 postcode. Planning law means that 25% (I think) will have to be affordable - that might be RSL managed or it might be Shared Ownership. I am not certain how this will affect the number of units available for rent.

*Everybody* welcomes this initiative, *everyone* knows that some of the blocks absolutely have to go. *Everybody* supports investment in the basically sound remaining blocks. *Everybody* wants the area improved and cleaned up.

But going down the PFI route isn't the ideal solution. 'Privatisation' is an emotive, simplistic word, but one that is effective in LibDim Trotskyist Opportunist propaganda. The simple solution would be to allow Councils to borrow on the money-markets. To the limited extent that they are allowed to, they are low risk for the lenders. Why they can't borrow more is down to Economics - Local Authority borrowing counts against what we used to call the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement, but we don't anymore. And we know that high PSBR is a Bad Thing. I suppose strictly speaking, improving social housing is not an Investment-to-Save. But there is so much evidence that illustrates how vital good housing is for Health, Education, and Crime Prevention.

What Thatch did for women

Zoe Williams asks - Did Thatcher improve women's lives without meaning to?

Absolutely bang on the nail article.

About five years ago I was at a friend's house, along with about half a dozen other guests. Andrew and I, both broadly aligned with the Campaign Group, were the most right wing. I think two of the others were paid-up members of the SWP.

Conversation got onto the subject of Thatch, as it does, and we had this amazing male-female split. One of the Trot women commented that, growing up in the Eighties, much as one detested and condemned Thatcher's politics, nevertheless, she was an icon and role model.

Some of the men spoke of class betrayal. Some of the women, myself included, suggested that gender transcends class (my favourite way of baiting SWP-ers, who do not recognise gender politics and are probably the most patriarchal political party - well, except for UKIP).

All these women born in the second half of the Sixties knew that having Thatch as PM was a signal that women can do anything. The men came up with the litaniy of betrayals. We said we knew. We were not endorsing her policies. We never had done. But in the 1980s, it was no longer good enough for careers teachers (pah! I spit on your ignorance) to say "But women can't do that job" because hordes of teenagers would reply "If Margaret Thatcher can become Prime Minister..."

You youngsters probably never experienced that. The sad thing is that careers guidance, in many cases, is given by teachers who have gone from school to University to school and have less than no idea about life in any other environment.

Zoe Williams' last line is the clincher.

Students

Two stories on the Beeb Young Ones or rich kids? and One in seven UK students drop out

Obviously, being relatively short pieces, they over-simplify the issues. Undeterred, I will simplify further.

Years ago, when I were a stude, my cousin came to visit (and collect me) from my Hall of Residence, and commented on the high level of TV sets and cars. I pointed out that most people had received their TVs as presents. Many of the cars belonged to Ph. D students sponsored on a living wage by industry.

Then and now, students reflected considerable wealth disparities. East Midlands Finishing School, my alma mater, was renowned for its high proportion of Oxbridge rejects, and its very high intake from independent schools. The drop-out rate there is 2.5% compared to 14% nationally. Then, and I suspect now, a high proportion of students had been brought up to expect a University education - although not rich, as the daughter of graduates, I took it for granted.

I don't think dropping-out is necessarily something to be alarmed about. It depends on the reasons. My sister dropped out, as did two cousins - from different families. In each case, it was right that they went, and right that they didn't continue. And they had the maturity to make a mature decision.

I don't suppose the youngsters of today are much different from (ouch) eighteen years ago, when some of my contemporaries were funded by rich grandparents, others by parents suddenly relieved of the financial burden of school fees, others by parents who were plain straightforward rich.

Others struggled financially because there wasn't money to spare at home. Most of us worked, although spasmodically during term time. University rules forbade employment for more than two weeks during the entire year - I have no knowledge of that ever being enforced or even alluded to.

Student debt is crippling - and even, eighteen years ago, we were conscious of how cheap rent was in Nottingham compared to very many other cities, especially, but not exclusively London. Yet we calculated we couldn't live on the grant (or advised parental contribution) alone.

I think the expansion of Higher Education is a double-edged sword. Like Neil Kinnock, my mother was the first in a thousand generations to go to University. Come to think of it, my great-aunts attending, but being denied degrees from Cambridge was pretty groundbreaking in the immediate post WW1 years. They were driven and able, but many people of their ability and age-group did not get that opportunity.

The opportunity is there now for people with less academic ability, and, arguably, less drive. Perhpas it's the wrong choice for many people, who begin to realise that they are suited to a skilled trade or profession, not necessarily to academia. I think it's right that people should get that chance, but I suspect that careers advisers are often steering people into courses that award a degree, because they are seen as better than getting a skill which would give them a better job, with better pay, more job satisfaction, and making a greater contribution to society.

I think especially of the skilled end of the construction industry, which used to be attractive to intelligent young men, but no longer has that pull, so they do Computer Studies or Business Studies, or Accountancy, which leaves them with few skills, and no better educated than at eighteen.

The lowest dropout rate was the Royal Veterinary College - well, you need better grades to be a vet than you do be a doctor.

How practical is a smoking ban?

No butts, says mayor. Put your fag in the bin

There is increasing talk of a ban on smoking in public places. Whilst I see the advantages on health grounds, I would strongly oopose it.

Basically, I'll stop smoking in public places when all those people who opt to drive their cars, especially the ones driving cars larger than 1.4 litres, are forced to demonstrate why every journey has to be done by car and can't be done by public transport, walking or cycling.

Oh. God. No. Can. Not. Encroach. on the God given. Rights. of an Englishman. to. Destroy the Planet. (Or take her snivelling spoilt brats the half mile to school).

Let's ban smoking in pubs and restaurants, shall we? But before we do so, let's look at pubs like Wetherspoons that have separate areas, and see how empty the non-smoking areas are. See how willing people are to comply with sensible, moderate self-regulation.

Otherwise, how are we going to enforce it?

Ooh, let's have legions of council officials going round fining all the pubs, restaurants and back-street cafes that allow their patrons to smoke. Because councils find it so easy to employ Environmental Health Officers. How often does any catering outlet have a visit from Environmental Health anyway? You've seen Life of Grime. Which of those duties should Environmental Health neglect to enforce smoking bans in pubs?

Now Ken is talking about litter wardens. Actually I don't oppose litter wardens. We have Streetcare Agents round here - at least until the Lib Dems abolish them in yet another pointless cut. They are kept very busy with matters relating to fly-tipping, commercial premises without bins, and the detritus of fast food that attracts rats. Sure they can start clamping down on smokers.

One thing is for certain, they won't be working twenty four hours. We have Street Wardens. It's good that we have Sreet Wardens. They finish at 7pm. So anybody who feels intimidated going out at night is not going to be helped by the reassuring presence of Street Wardens. When people get assaulted at 8pm on a Friday night, as happened to me, the Street Wardens were very sympathetic - but it's after their shift has finished.

I shall be damned annoyed if a litter warden fines me fifty pounds for smoking at eleven o'clock at night, when I've tailored my journey to ensure the shortest walking route to reduce my anxiety of walking the streets. Anxiety at being mugged or worse. Not that that is actually a major risk - but it's that old Fear-of-Crime syndrome that affects people lives more than crime.

It won't be police enforcing this no-smoking. Civilians will want to avoid confrontration. So they will, naturally, find it easier to target the nice thirty-something woman coming home from a concert than the yobs who are causing greater problems than just dropping a cigarette end on the floor.

The laws on cannabis were relaxed partly as a recognition of the needless criminalisation of otherwise law-abiding people.

Of course it is important for Public Health to tackle smoking. Just as it's important to combat pollution, encourage healthy diets. And, increasingly, it only seems practical to introduce new measures when they can be self-financing, as I suppose, these fines will be.

I have noticed even in the past six months how many restaurants have started to separate smokers and non-smokers. More should do so. Restaurant owners are not stupid. They know the smokers are the ones who linger over the liqueurs and liqueur coffees. It's good business.

So, this is a policy targeted at me, and I have every intention of fighting it as militantly as the motorists fight against their regulation.

Ex-Blair aide barred from helping US health firm

I find The Guardian more helpful than Friends Reunited for keeping tabs on old friends.

I always liked Simon - the blond version of Liam Neeson. Good brain.

Disability Access

Disability law to 'name and shame' shops

And about time too.

Making public spaces accessible to people with disabilities is morally the right thing to do.

Economically, 9.8 million people can't be and shouldn't be ignored.

And thirdly, any place that is accessible for disabled people is better for all of us. I am not disabled but welcome accessibility. Occassionally I have suffered short term limiting conditions - sprained ankles, dislocated shoulder etc. Carrying luggage around - a suitcase, a weekend bag, a briefcase or rucksack of work - limits mobility. Many of you have had experience of poor accessibility for pushchairs and buggies.

Real LibDims

A party of sheer naked opportunism

The Lib Dems are an unusual party in that they start local and expand to the national. So, the right-wing agenda they applied to Lambeth ten years ago, and, especially in the past two when they have been running the council (Allegedly) is mirrored on the national stage.

Actually, I do them a disservice - they only peddled their right wing agenda in the North of the Borough. They had a different agenda in the South of the Borough. It was like two parties - Lib Dems (Vauxhall) and Lib Dems (Streatham).

But even I'm durprised at thei rplans to replace universal public service with vouchers, an insurance-based NHS, and other Thatcherite proposals.

Fuckwits for Justice

Steve Bell, brilliantly, conflates the Fathers 4 Justice and the Toffs For Hunting in The protesters in the Commons

As far as the Fox Hunting issue. Banning fox hunting is the right thing to do, but not at the expense of Parliamentary time for legislation that improves the human lot.

That having been said, one of my reasons for banning hunting is the evidence offered up over the years of hunts going wherever the scent takes them - across railway lines, through school playgrounds, across arable land etc. More prosaically, when I was doing agricuture audit, I decided to shut my mouth and open my ears on the issue, and to my astonishment as a Townie, I discovered that livestock farmers viewed hunting as an impractical way of culling foxes.

As for the Fathers for Justice, it has been quite amusing reading in the tabloids - the tabloids, not some feminist liberal chattering class paper, the tabloids - about the nature of some of these guys: convictions for assault and criminal damage against the mothers of their children, convictions for indecency, neglect of the children of their current relationship, boasting of sexual conquests in front of young children...Delightful.

Apropos of the Buck House protest, Jimmy said that on TV they showed a group of Batman's supporters cheering him on, including one drinking from a can of beer. My instinct as a politician/protestor is to laugh at the bad PR. His instinct as a father is a somewhat deeper condemnation.

Of course, there are situations - of which I have anecdotal evidence -where non-custodial fathers struggle against the efforts of the mother to even get to see the children, and they have my sympathies. But the thrust of these people's campaign is that the system conspires to prevent them from seeing their children except, perhaps, in supervised access. They ignore the anecdotal evidence of the courts failing to restrict the access of violent or abusive fathers, to the despair of the mothers, who have witnessed the violence and abuse.

And then there are non-custodial fathers who fail to understand their responsibilities, believing that all they need to do is shower their child with presents and trips to McDonalds and that makes them a father. Even though they don't know the names of their kid's teacher or best friend, or don't see the point of visiting the kid if it's recovering from an appendectomy.

And then there's the 'silent majority' who struggle to make those horrendous round trips every other weekend, who make those, ultimately unsatisfactory phone calls, and who spend their time trying to maintain their relationship with their children rather than staging stunts.

Party members

Give them back a say

Two cheers for Stephen Byers. I agree with what he says. But it has rather come from the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious.

And well done Lancaster University for a study on what any half-intelligent party ex-activist knows for certain - the slogging on the streets matters.

I cite 1992 General Election. In Streatham we worked and worked and worked. I personally canvassed one street four times: on the final Sunday, one chap my own age answered the door and said he had been expecting me, he wanted a Vote Labour poster for his window, like everyone else. I assured him that I personally had already visited three times.

Very many intelligent, in touch people say, "I'm not voting for them, they haven't bothered coming to our door." At first it sounds like petulance. Actually, it means that they perceive that that particular party don't believe they stand a chance in that election in that ward or constituency.

Post election analysis showed that the swing in Streatham was above the national average. Other seats, where Labour should have won and didn't, which became key marginals for 1997, which ensured a Tory victory in 1992, had a much lower level of activity.

At some stage I shall read the Lancaster study. Psephology is a truly fascinating subject.

The LibDims have proved it time and again in by-elections, when they have shiploads of people coming from Outer London to campaign in a miserable council by-election in some grotty part of Inner London in a wet and cold November.

1998 Local Elections. My ward, we barely leafleted each household once. Frankly, you could put up a donkey with a red rosette, and she would be elected - and she was. The Dims did nothing, the Tories targeted a handful of blocks inhabited by aspirant young owner-occupiers. Turnout barely crept above 20%. In another ward, Tory-held at the time, all three parties believed they could win it, and all three parties threw in the troops. Turnout approached 60%, still barely respectable, and Labour triumphed.

Ten, thirteen years ago, we used to discuss politics at meetings. Then the modernisers decided to remove the politics from politics and many with a fire in their belly just stopped going. I shall be going to my branch meeting on Thursday, but only because the 'guest' speaker is the Minister for Housing and Planning and London (and owner of the Dome). I say 'guest'; he happens to be a BaSH Branch member.

My heart bleeds

'Distressed' Thatcher flies home

Good. The 'distressed' bit, I mean. Not the 'flies home'. (Broomstick spotted approaching Heathrow?)

Unreconstructed Lefty

I am sowly blitzing the house, throwing some things out, putting others in the loft (just to prove that men do have a use - grin), and finding a 'proper place' for yet more.

This evening I piled a pull of stuff out of the filing cabinet. Most of it to be put in an orange bag next to the green bin, some of it to be transported to work and put in Confidential Waste, and among the rest, a couple of gems.

The Labour Party Song Sheet, with The Red Flag taking pride of place, followed by The Internationale, Jerusalem, We Shall Overcome etc etc.

And, a total find, my 1995 Labour Party Membership card. And what does it say on the back?

To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service

Pure poetry!

Who's the daddy?

The Mirror poses the vital question:
Is It Mine?

Reading this makes me realise what a snob I am. This is a typical chav dilemma round here. However, when it concerns middle-class professionals, I am all sympathy, even empathy, thinking 'what a difficult situation to be in'.

Analyse and discuss...

Just for the record, I am posting this post from my home PC...

The Guardian comments on the coverage. I half heard on the radio yesterday some refernce to a comment from Anne Atkins that his situation was - I don't quote - a resigning matter.

I repeat what I, and many people wiser than me, have said before - most people have some mess in their life. It seems, however, that we expect our politicians to be without mess, to have chosen a life partner when barely out of adolescence and to stick with same til death they do part, breeding perfect children, and magically owning perfect siblings, parents, in-laws, friends etc. Apart from being an unrealistic expectation, and one likely to deter real people from entering the public arena, it has a more fundamental flaw.

If by chance we had this 'perfect' politician, with no history, and no emotions, we would have a politician with no understanding of the reality of most people's lives, and no understanding of why ordinary people do not comply with statutory or societal edicts and expectations.

On the voyeurism aspect, I think we have to accept that it is a normal part of the human condition. If we have less handwringing, and more acceptance that all lives are messy, we can move on, and perhaps a more generalised acceptance will lead to less appetite for it. I'm not even saying that people should change their personality moral code.

In the past it, in some cases in my lifetime, the following have been considered scandulous: a young unmarried woman being in the company of a man without a chaperone; co-habiting; platonically housesharing with the opposite sex; birth or even conception outside of wedlock; divorce. Can you imagine the scandal sheets even beginning to sell on an exclusive that some male politician houseshared with a woman when they were students, or that some unmarried female politician was seen with a male colleague without a chaperone. Things are only scandulous because we want them to be! Can you imagine the scandal even in the 1950s if someone had foretold that within thirty years there would be a woman Prime Minister - a woman! - who was married to a divorcé Even by the mid-Seventies, it was clearly not regarded as an issue.

John Two Jobs Prescott

Prescott leaps to aid of kayaker

Not only is he running the country in Tone's absence, but he also acts as Caped Crusader.

A true working-class middle-class hero. We salute you Prezza!

Shortness of sentences

I'm surprised at three and five year sentences for manslaughter. I find manslaughter an interesting conviction. People have been given 20 years, or have walked, after such a conviction. I agree with the vast range of sentences, which generally reflect the differing circumstances.

I suppose in each of these two cases, neither killing was in any way pre-meditated - say compared to someone who kills whilst on a burglary, or by drunken or dangerous driving. In each case, they killed as a result of some sort of provocation - an instantaneous reaction.

But I feel queasy about the shortness of those sentences. when you consider the length that, for an example, an abused woman might get for killing her abusive husband. I wouldn't regard that woman as a danger to wider society. These two men are clearly a danger to wider society, and I would far rather see them locked up than even a murderer who has committed a 'crime of passion'.

Home educating increases

More parents choose to educate children at home

I really strongly oppose this. I know that anecdotal evidence does not prove an argument, but...

As a councillor I had an ongoing irresolvable case of a family that wanted rehousing. the reason was that the kids were being bullied on the Estate where they lived. There were no criminal incidents, no police involvement. Just name-calling and taunting alternating with ostracising. I found the parents to be very weird and angst-ridden. The children were home educated. I then met the children. they were even weirder than the parents. I'm not justifying the bullying that came from the local kids. but part of going to school is about learning to mix. Many home educators cite guides, swimming etc as situations where their children learn to socialise. But it simply isn't the same.

I didn't go to nursery or playgroup. My mother is an intensely private person, almost to the point of being anti-social. So I rarely had friends round, whether as a toddler, or even into my teens. My two toddler friends - the daughter of a family from church, also called Geraldine, and the boy next door, Andrew - who were the same age as me, both moved away before I started school. I made a really good friend at swimming called Owen. I felt closer to him than anybody at school. But there was no encouragement to develop that friendship. Although we were only six, it was a little bit of a romance - entirely innocent, of course, not even any kissing!

I eventually became a social being when I went to secondary school. You have to there. At that age.