What a waste

A curious time of year, Christmas, a sense of suspended animation and anticipation all wrapped up in one.
This year, sensible people held their breath in anticipation as world leaders met to discuss the issues surrounding climate change and I can't be alone in my feeling of acute disappointment about the chance that they missed. Such a wasted opportunity! I feel a sense of embarrassment for all those of us who call ourselves politicians and who can't put our differences to one side in the interests of what is literally an Earth shattering cause. Whatever the individual deals done, the fact that they are not legally enforceable agreements weakens them immeasureably. As the head of my family now, I could weep for my children and grandchildren!!
There is some light at the end of the tunnel however - on Tuesday I met a senior politician - not a Liberal Democrat but respected by us - who will continue the fight to reduce the UK's carbon footprint and waste of resources - so long as there are good public servants - whatever their political colour - there is hope for the future!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish my readers a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year - after the year we've just endured, we all deserve it!

Jacky

......She's In (apologies to the EDP)

How strange - the Tory candidate for South West Norfolk easily withstood all that opposition from local party members and was formally adopted as PPC (again!)- and with an enormous majority!! I wonder why? After all that very public opprobrium and sabre rattling, all the 'outing' of the sins of her past and resentment that she wasn't local - she walked it!! She walked it, not in glamorous gold lame but in Tory uniform of Alice band and a dowdy blue frock!! Not so much 'spin' as homespun!!!

Am I a bit of a cynic (moi?)or do I detect slick Dave's heavy hand here? Of course it's a total coincidence that the senior members of the local party were called into Tory HQ just before the re-convened hustings isn't it? Well - isn't it????

No wonder I get an insane desire to giggle when they try to be taken seriously over the whole mess!

Value for Money?

I would like to know your opinions about the Local Government Review. For those of you who haven't really taken this on board - Central Government have been consulting for months on the abolition of District and County Councils and merging their responsibilities in either one single Unitary authority, or various different layouts - essentially with "Greater Norwich" as one unitary body at the centre but with several different ideas for another unitary body to cover the rest of the County.

If one of these plans succeeds, there will be far fewer Councillors. At the moment, each District has its' Councillors and the County has a different set of Councillors - except that sometimes, and in the case of the new County Council quite often, the same people wear two different hats - hence the expression "twin-hatters". Under the proposed arrangements, this double status would disappear - as would the financial advantage of being a twin hatter - instead of two lots of Member's allowances there would only be one.

I must hold my hands up at this point and admit to being a twin hatter myself for a brief period. However, when I realised the sheer impossibility of doing both jobs properly, I didn't stand for re-election at District level.

Contrast that with the actions of the Conservative members of Norfolk County Council who, although already Members of District authorities, stood as County Councillors and who have now flatly refused to allow discussion in public of Members' allowances in a public Scrutiny meeting.

There is no doubt that there are cost savings to be made in unitary authorities. The public would find it easier to understand where to go with matters if there was one council which dealt with everything. Duplication of effort would be avoided and the expensive senior management structures would be simplified.

Tell me what you think? Shouldn't this issue be properly aired in a public forum? Voters in Norfolk pay for their elected representatives - if you feel the need for a different approach, let me know!

A new lease of life

The start of a working week and, for as long as I can remember, I'm pain-free!! The sticks have been abandoned and the clips came out this morning so - I'm "up and at 'em" again. Before I move back to the business of campaigning, I will take time to reflect on my luck. I have good health and strength - not to say determination. I am surviving my recent "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and managing to retain a sense of humour which will always carry me through. I have good support from family and close friends and - crucially - I know how to ask for the help I need.I worry for people who don't, people who can't and for people who feel they shouldn't even try.
As my readers will know - part of my work is with International students in London. Many of these brave young people arrive at the college I'm involved with, straight from the airport, loaded with suitcases and with a boundless enthusiasm and optimism which brings tears to my eyes. When you talk to them about their lives at home you can understand why they want to train here and why so many of them intend to take our old skills and traditions back home when they finish their studies.
We are often too keen as a nation to put ourselves down and we should stop it! Britain IS Great and deserves celebration. We are a key player on the world stage and punch above our weight in Europe. Our current difficulties - political and monetary - are huge but nothing we haven't dealt with before. We just need a change in approach. During the Thatcher years, serious damage was done to British society. Our old patterns of care and support for each other in our communities was sneered at by "Loadsamoney" characters and we haven't really recovered. Tony Blair did nothing to turn around the decline in society - a whole generation of adults have grown up with a "devil take the hindmost" attitude with the obvious fallout on the most vulnerable of our people.
David Cameron's attempts to "spin" the image of his party are so superficial as to be laughable. Scratch the surface of the "Caring Sharing Conservatives" and what do you find? A party which preserves the priviledges of the wealthy, pays lip-service to equal opportunities but pillories only the female protagonist in an affair, encourages the bonus culture in banks and will repeal the Act which bans hunting with dogs.
"Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose!" I believe Dave - you can fool some of the people some of the time but some of us have had enough and will let you know! Even the diehards of your own party can't be bothered to pretend that your carefully manufactured image resembles reality.
It's Time for a Change in politics my friends - don't let the Tories assumed right to inherit go unchallenged - I don't intend to roll over and nor should you!!

Time to say "Enough is enough"?

A quick trawl through the EDP today reveals the following proposals:

• a fare hike from £334 to £501 for all students (post-16) from September 2010
• the most needy students will have to cope with a rise from £167 to £334 per year (double!)
• an about face by David Cameronon his "cast-iron" pledge to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty
• a farce around the selection of South West Norfolk's Tory PPC
• on the very day my letter expressing concern about day care is published - £40m of spending cuts proposed, by the Tory County Council, in the budget for Adult Social Services, in day care, bathing services and enabling grants for voluntary agencies which provide the very "choice" which people are supposed to have these days. Add to those, cuts in private care home contracts and half a million to be "negotiated" out of care packages for the most vulnerable people of society
• Savage cuts in Children's Services budgets
• and....last but not least...the refusal of Tory County Councillors to have a public debate about member's allowances in a Scrutiny Committee at County Hall . Have they learned nothing from the MP's expenses debacle? Do they think that the public doesn't know that at least half of them have a pecuniary interest in retaining their "twin hatter" status by opposing unitary status for Norfolk/Norwich?

When I say "enough is enough" I mean that people want to see real change from the current red/blue, blue/red pattern. Choosing an MP isn't about going along with the patterns of the past - what do you say?

A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!!

As you may be able to tell, I'm going stir crazy as I can't drive at the moment! The pleasure of living off the beaten track is being tarnished slightly - isn't it odd how much one misses something when you know you can't have it? Even the bus doesn't stop anywhere within the kind of distance I can manage on sticks. Enough whinging Jacky - at least your condition is temporary!!
This has set me thinking about public transport within Norfolk. At one time, people who didn't/couldn't drive used the bus to go shopping or visiting family and friends. As our villages have dwindled away due to the gentrification of cottages for holiday purposes we have lost shops, pubs and schools. Due to the de-regulation of buses, loss making bus routes have been removed from schedules and the downward spiral is hard to turn back.
In some villages, enterprising Parish Councils have organised their own facilities such as shops or small buses but, as younger people move to the cities, this becomes hard to sustain. It really is a vicious circle, however you look at it - village houses are priced beyond local reach, shops close, pubs close, buses vanish - where will it end? I am lucky enough to live in one of the largest villages in Norfolk but it is becoming unique!!
Enough gloom - it's a beautiful day out there and I'm going to stand in my garden - using one of my dogs as a crutch if he'll put up with it, and thank the Lord for things I have got, plan to improve on what I haven't and recognise what I must do without for the time being!

Fascinating!

I've just been taken out for Sunday lunch by an old friend who knows exactly how independent I am and how far from my dotage. I'm glad of the help as, for the shortest time possible (believe me!) I am using sticks to keep the pressure off my knee and it's always nice to be taken out to lunch BUT.....

I now fully understand the title of a radio programme aimed at disabled or older people:
"Does he take sugar?"

Even in a town where I am well known as something of an independent "so and so", I have been treated as simple minded, invisible or otherwise incapable of managing myself - and that includes the behaviour of my old friend!

Do we really do this? When people show signs of weakness, do we unconsciously attempt to kill them with kindness or worse - with thinly veiled contempt? I think, as a people, Brits are kind and considerate but how long a step is it from that - to asking an older person, in public, if they have performed their bodily functions normally?

Something to reflect on as I champ at the bit here, unable to drive for the moment and trying to arrange a family funeral!!

A sharpening of focus on health and social care.

One minute I'm recovering from an operation and writing about the needs of "older people" and the next minute, I've become the head of the oldest generation in my family, with the loss of my much loved mother.
Readers of this blog will understand that, in this time of sadness and reflection, personal issues will dominate my time. However, the human condition should always be at the forefront of any politician's thinking and I will return to my campaign and to this virtual diary - sadder but wiser - as soon as I can.
Thank you to those colleagues who have already sent their condolences to my family and myself.

Well the flesh was willing....

but the technology let me down! My laptop took exception to the smell of disinfectant and flatly refused to work in hospital. It's now receiving TLC in the hands of Dr Steve - my friendly computer man. I'm home again and feeling better than I expect the laptop does!!



While in hospital and bereft of technology, I read every newspaper that I could get my hands on - particularly the EDP - and was horrified to read of the closure plans for day centres. Apparently, closing well used day centres is all part of offering "choice" to older people throughout Norfolk. I protested against the privatisation of home care services while I was a County Councillor and now I find that day care is going the same way!! I'm sure that readers will remember the nightmare stories of elderly people sitting in their own excrement in bed, waiting for home "care" to arrive - of 24 hour gaps in the administration of medication or hot meals - often the only meal that person would have for the day! I am now registering my serious concern that providing individual budgets is all very well but if the infrastructure available for "choice" is piecemeal and of variable quality, all the money in the world will not improve the lives of vulnerable people.



I would like somebody to tell me what the choices are for older people and, for that matter, very disabled people, for whom consistency and high standards can mean the difference between a life worth living and one of pain and confusion.



The Conservative control of South Norfolk - whether it be District, County or Parliamentary levels - is failing the most vulnerable people of our society and it can't go on!

By the Way

My next post will be from my hospital bed - you can't keep a good Liberal Democrat down! Watch this space for my views on health and social care issues!

The Beginning of the End

Summertime is officially over and I for one was glad of an extra hour in bed this morning, while wondering at the same time if it was worth the effort of altering every clock, phone and piece of IT in the house!
It's always a time of reflection for me - the start of the winter months. I am doing a lot of driving around beautiful South Norfolk at the moment - talking to people. We are surrounded by the wonderful colours of Autumn but for many people Winter is already here. If you are unemployed, getting older or struggling to raise a family, the costs of cold weather are truly terrifying. If you are running a retail business, you are probably pinning your hopes on the pre-Christmas rush - will it happen, when people's priorities are more to do with keeping warm and/or eating at all?
How has this happened to Great Britain? We are not a Third World country - indeed China and India are developing at a stunning rate. The much vaunted "recovery" may well be happening in the Stock Market, or the Banks of the City (Tory heartlands both) but it certainly hasn't arrived in our market towns and villages!
Time for an election Gordon - don't hang on to the bitter end. Talk to the people of South Norfolk as I do - their bitterness is growing by the day!

Let's talk about the "E-------" word!!

Yes, I do mean expenses - MP's expenses that is. In my working life, if someone is recruited to undertake a full scrutiny and to report back, their brief is carefully prepared so that all areas of concern are dealt with. Nick Clegg is right to point out that the main issue - "flipping" of homes to bamboozle the tax man - has not been dealt with. If the review has not been thorough then it must continue - the centre of Government must not be as difficult to clean up as the Augean stables of old.
Senior Tory backbencher, Douglas Carswell MP this week declared that those who believe that climate change is happening are part of a "lunatic consensus" - how green are the Tories really? Watch this space!

Appealing?

I'm sending out my first letter asking for your help shortly - be warned! What I'm asking for is not the usual sort of support requested - although money is always useful of course - what I really want is for people who want to see a different sort of politics in South Norfolk to come out with me, or telephone people for me so that I can find out what REALLY matters to people in the constituency. You don't have to be a committee member, or even experienced as an activist - you need to want to be part of a winning team and I can't win without you!!!

I intend to make campaigning with me fun - at the same time as hard work - look at my profile on here to find my contact details and give me a call - I'll be looking forward to it.

A new policy!

I don't know about you but I think this is really interesting - and long overdue! Add credit card companies to it or increase their regulation and people will really notice that we a serious alternative to "red blue, red blue"!

http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Liberal_Democrats_back_radical_plans_to_give_power_back_to_consumers_&pPK=a71d2347-6c23-47f8-a6d7-9f0967e824b0

Fascinating!!

Is it me? Was the Labour conference disturbing? I think we all knew already that the Labour party would be approaching the next election as the underdog (we are now 2nd in the polls after all!) but to use "underdog"as a conference buzzword seems bizarre. The British people are generally kind and will support an underdog in some contests but, at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet, will they support a cringeing, whining creature begging for affection and offering its' belly for a scratch? I think not!

I do think however that Lord Mandelson's much vaunted phrase "If I can come back...we can come back" was a freudian slip - don't you? Surely the phrase he was thinking of was "If I can come back, anyone can" - bearing in mind his reputation, an insult to the electorate at the same time as insulting his own party!! Something of an "own goal" My Lord!

Another great speech attached as promised - this time from David Howarth MP - showing how our civil liberties are being undermined daily. We have the right to peaceful protest but , under Labour, we are "kettled" i.e. herded into contained areas

http://feeds.libdems.org.uk/~r/libdemnews/~3/MJdllzehyb4/news_detail.aspx

Wasn't it great to hear that our MPs were in the midst of the G20 protest?

The reasons I vote LibDem

I can think of no better way to demonstrate my preference for the LibDems than to offer you a few speeches from what was a very rewarding conference:

Nick Clegg MP

http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Speech%3a_Nick_Clegg_delivers_his_speech_to_Autumn_Conference&pPK=8751593d-e92b-47fa-b6d3-61cd48e7d55d

Vince Cable MP

http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Speech%3a_Vince_Cable%e2%80%

Chris Huhne MP

http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Speech:_Chris_Huhne_delivers_Autumn_Conference_speech&pPK=c2f75c18-5a46-4580-b55f-8be6448396f3

More speeches over the weekend!

It would be a crying shame if wonderful politicians such as these were not given their opportunity - at the next election - to turn around the state of the nation. Not for nothing was the rallying cry at the conference:

"TIME FOR A FRESH START"

Time for a fresh start in South Norfolk too - but then, I would say that, wouldn't I?

National Conference

Well - that was quite an experience!! For a person with a deal of healthy cynicism, I have come back from the conference in Bournemouth full of enthusiasm and determination to fight for the right to represent South Norfolk in Parliament after the next election. I think we've all watched orchestrated "standing ovations" at political conferences in the past - but these were the genuine article. We have such a great group of MPs - both in our Shadow Cabinet and on the backbench. They really do offer an exciting alternative to the red-blue, red-blue pattern we have been used to for so long.In the next few days I will go into detail - so watch this space!
By the way - not so enthusiastic about caravan dwelling but don't intend to go into ANY detail about why!!!

Election coming up !

Is it me, or is this Government insulting people's intelligence? As the cold wind of reality begins to blow around their sensitive areas they are proferring other parties' policies thinly disguised as their own - such as - this weekend - a referendum on electoral reform!! Surely to propose it to be on the very date of the next election is cynical in the extreme? Surely to notice suddenly that their promise to eliminate child poverty by 2010 is unlikely to come to fruition? Gordon Brown is covering himself in ineptitude and we are the only party to have been pointing this out with any accuracy. Time for a change - but not the obvious two party one I suggest - my party has taken an honest and credible stance and I believe the public know it!

Change in the air!

Well - Autumn arrived with a bang, right on cue and suddenly the caravan doesn't seem such a good idea! However, I've started so I'll finish and I shall hope the high winds today have dropped by then!!

I've been thinking a lot about the responsibility of offering to stand for election as an MP. Because I work at Westminster I have met and talked to a lot of MPs, of all political persuasions and, with some exceptions, they are hard working and commited people with a vast range of talents. There is great sadness that the cynical behaviour of a few has damaged the entire edifice. I have experience in a number of sectors which, in my view, equip me to be a good representative for South Norfolk people, but I am also driven by a wish to turn the reputation of politicians around - ambitious though that may be. We are a great democracy in the UK - we only have to look at other parts of the world whose people are suffering from dictatorship or civil wars to know that the alternatives to democratic government are unthinkable. I'd like to do my bit to improve MP's image and hope I get the opportunity

Spent the day with international students again yesterday and found myself quite moved by their bravery and optimism. Most of them are under 20 and have travelled alone half way round the world, drawn by our great capital city and civilisation, to study and qualify. They will take that experience back to their own countries but in the mean time - they are having FUN and making friends - great to see and worth the effort of leaving rural Norfolk to work with them!

A small hiatus.....

...well it's hard to make research on-line interesting to read by other people, so I haven't bored you all with it. A lot of political work is unseen - but that isn't a euphemism for covert! If I am to stand up and argue for my constituents, I have to be very sure of my facts! I am going to Bournemouth for our conference - taking my caravan which will become my "battle bus" next Spring - and will be stocked up for late night chats on each conference evening. I already have our policy documents from LibDem HQ and am looking forward to debating the detailed proposals.

If any reader would like to suggest matters to raise, either formally in debates, over the supper table or in the inevitable bar - do let me know!!

Preparation for Bournemouth

On Saturday morning I joined other Norfolk LibDem colleagues to discuss the policy proposals due to be debated at the Bournemouth Conference. Broad agreement but we wouldn't be LibDems if there weren't divided opinions on some key issues! I look forward to the formal debates.

On a more prosaic note - I'm yet to decide where I'm staying in Bournemouth - if all else fails, there's always the caravan!!

Westminster

I've been doing so much "virtual" stuff on the laptop today that I'll be delighted to travel to London tomorrow - train strikes or not - and meet and talk to real people. I'm meeting a colleague who does extensive translation work for the EU- from her mountain top home near Granada - aren't computers both a boon and a curse? We truly are in danger of becoming hermits!

It's also a working day for me so I will be talking to lots of international students about their study plans in the UK.

I'm also going to Westminster to meet a charity who wish to press the Government to tighten up the control on emissions from supermarket refrigeration. I have worked hard on Climate Change and its' causes for more than a year and can't believe that although domestic freezers have been cleaned up, those used by some major supermarkets have not!

I've pre-booked my train ticket so - fingers crossed!

Next Steps

Well, a busy time is planned now - I want to get myself out and about - meeting as many people in the constituency as I can so, if you have a meeting or an event coming up or you have ideas that you would like to discuss with me - let me know. It doesn't have to be a Liberal Democrat specific matter - I want to hear at first hand the things that South Norfolk people find important - no matter how they have voted in the past. If you send me a message I'll get right back to you

Firming up ideas

It's pretty clear to me that I have to take up the cudgels on behalf of people who are suffering from the decision to privatise home care services. I'm absolutely behind our policies on choice for the consumer - as long as the choice is real and offers all the services even the most demanding and vulnerable people require. I now have details of quiet suffering behind closed doors which is unacceptable in today's society. I will be asking pointed questions of the Conservative administration at County Hall!

End of my day off!

Well, for once I'm managing to both cook and eat a meal at a normal time, without any new e-mails, phone calls or texts! I suppose I should be worried but, hey, it's Saturday and I've been seeing old friends and catching up - wonderful!

It has been fun to build this blog from scratch and, although a professional would have done something slick, it's a family affair as my daughter took my pictures for me. It needs more work though.

Tomorrow begins a new week and lots of contacts to make with South Norfolk people who are full of ideas for campaigns that matter to them.

Lots of good stuff.....

....to report! I'm collecting together the views of people about things that concern them in South Norfolk. I want to pick two really important matters to campaign for and to involve as many local people in those campaigns - come on folks - I'm willing to do a lot of shouting on your behalf!!!

I went to a great garden party in Swardeston which raised money for our campaigns. Wonderful strawberry tea and a tramp around the Common to walk off the calories! Liberal Democrats seem able to raise money and have lots of fun at the same time! A rare skill - any ideas for something you might do - doesn't matter how wacky as long as it's legal

See you tomorrow

So - off we go!!

We have until May - not too bad if you say it quickly! I really believe I can do it and these pages will be my record of whether I'm right or not. All I have to do, Dear Reader, is to carry you along with me - let the fun begin!!