Monthly Archives: October 2009

Dreyfus had it easy

Posted on October 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

Signor Silvio Berlusconi has declared:

“I am without doubt the person who’s been the most persecuted in the entire history of the world and the history of man.” 

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Cameron’s clarion call

Posted on October 9, 2009 | 2 Comments

The Conservative party conference was by a considerable measure the best I have attended.  I have blogged already about the excellence of Manchester as a venue, but excellent also was the party’s own organisation, design and choreography.  As Steve Richards puts it in this morning’s Independent:

Tonally their conference was pitch perfect, conveying a seriousness of purpose and without a hint of complacent triumphalism.

David Cameron’s speech was excellent: a clarion call not only to his party, but to his country, giving a vision of how life could be once the dead hand of Labour’s big state is finally wrenched away:

I won’t promise things I cannot deliver. But I can look you in the eye and tell you that in a Conservative Britain:

If you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off. If you save money your whole life, you’ll be rewarded. If you start your own business, we’ll be right behind you. If you want to raise a family, we’ll support you. If you’re frightened, we’ll protect you. If you risk your safety to stop a crime, we’ll stand by you. If you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you.

Ask me what a Conservative government stands for and the answer is this, we will reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who can’t.

Family, community, country: I, for one, can happily go into battle under that banner.

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Posted in Conservative Party, David Cameron

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Tory truth or Labour la-la

Posted on October 8, 2009 | 3 Comments

The Telegraph this morning carries an intelligent article by Benedict Brogan on the issue of political honesty.  I strongly urge you to read it.

This week has been notable for a string of straight-talking speeches by a succession of shadow cabinet members, with George Osborne’s the most notable of all.  If there were any lingering doubts abroad before the week started that the Tories were going to take tough choices that would affect each and every one of us, they must surely have been dispelled by now.

Anyone who cares about the integrity of our political process, whether or not intending to vote Conservative, would, I hope, approve of this.  The present economic outlook is so appallingly bleak that whoever wins in May next year will have to make the toughest taxing and spending decisions for a generation.

There is no doubt that the Conservative approach of levelling with the electorate is not without its risks.  Nobody likes to be told that the next few years will be less comfortable than what we have grown used to.  That is probably why Labour, at its conference last week, funked the issue; and why Gordon Brown, even after abandoning his “Tory cuts v Labour investment” mantra, still felt constrained to reel off a string of uncosted spending pledges that he must surely know can never be fulfilled.

Nevertheless, Cameron and Osborne are undoubtedly right to tell the British people that it’s going to be tougher going for the next few years. 

And, in truth, they are saying nothing that that the British people don’t know already; but they are paying them the respect of treating them as adults.

The interesting, and crucial, question is whether, next May, the electorate will decide it prefers Tory straightforwardness to Labour la-la.  I think it’s grown-up enough to opt for honesty.

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Posted in Conservative Party, David Cameron, general election, George Osborne, Gordon Brown, Labour Party

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For the man who has everything

Posted on October 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

NHS

The exhibitors’ area at the conference is huge this year – the biggest I can ever remember. 

Yesterday, I went on a tour of the stands and met a number of the exhibitors, including NHS procurement (pictured), the Kennel Club, the RNID, where I took a hearing test in a blue telephone box and Sky TV, where I was given a demo of the new Sky 3D system (unbelievable, but requiring the wearing of rather outré spectacles; the photograph recording  the experience has been suppressed in order to protect the innocent, i.e., me).tshirt

The Conservative merchandising stand had a huge array of must-buys, including the obligatory teddy bears; somewhat over-the-top Christmas tree decorations; lurid, besloganned t-shirts and some fantastic retro posters, which I must get for the Association office.

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Posted in Conservative Party

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Home from home in Manchester

Posted on October 6, 2009 | 6 Comments

Albert-Square-Manchester

The city of Manchester has done the Conservative party proud this week. 

The conference centre itself is probably the finest I have ever visited: a light, vaulted and airy space that serves to reduce the frenetic atmosphere that usually pervades most of these events.  The fact that the conference hotel, the Midland, is located with the secure zone is a huge bonus: no need to keep passing through metal detectors, constantly unloading and recharging the contents of pockets.

The city centre looks magnificent, too.  It is no exaggeration to say that Albert Square is now a public open space to rival the piazze of many Italian cities.  The Town Hall, overlooking the square, was the venue for last night’s North-West regional reception, which was a tremendous function hosted, I am pleased to say, by Meurig Raymond, the Welsh deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union.  The wine, gratifyingy, was provided by the Co-op.

I took the opportunity of wandering through the Gothic corridors of the Town Hall, feeling strangely at home.  Unsurprisingly, on reflection: the interior scenes of the BBC serial House of Cards (set in the Palace of Westminster) were filmed there.

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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Time to behave like grown-ups

Posted on October 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

Spoke yesterday lunchtime at the Welsh fringe meeting, which was extremely well-attended.  There were speeches, too, from Cheryl Gillan, Nick Bourne and our new Conservative MEP, Kay Swinburne. 

Cheryl spoke about the need for a new and improved working relationship between Whitehall and Cardiff.  At present, the national and devolved administrations seem to operate to a large extent in silos, each oblivious to the other; sometimes, indeed, it is possible even to discern an unhealthy mutual antagonism.

This is not good for users of public services on either side of the border and is, frankly, silly.  We need a more mature, grown-up dialogue and a new spirit of co-operation; and that is precisely what the Conservatives intend to create.

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Posted in Cheryl Gillan, Conservative Party, Welsh Assembly Government

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Hasta la vista

Posted on October 5, 2009 | 2 Comments

Appallingly early start for Manchester means no blogging this morning.

I’m sure that there’ll be plenty to blog about over the next few days, but whether I get the time and opportunity is an entirely different matter.  I will try using the WordPress mobile phone application, though my experiments with it to date have been less than satisfactory.

If that doesn’t work, I’m afraid it’s a case of hasta la vista, but I will use Twitter more often to compensate.

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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Looking forward to Manchester

Posted on October 4, 2009 | 1 Comment

Manchester Early turn-in tonight; setting off early tomorrow for Manchester and the Conservative party conference.

Manchester is one of my favourite cities and I am looking forward to spending a few days there; the great Town Hall (pictured) is my second favourite High Victorian structure, after (naturally) the Palace of Westminster. 

Nothing epitomises more completely the confidence of the cities of mid-19th century Britain than their great civic buildings.  Manchester Town Hall is arguably the best.

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One day, two villages

Posted on October 4, 2009 | 1 Comment

One day, two villages at opposite ends of the constituency.

First was civic Sunday at Mochdre, where my friend Heather Evans is chairman of the community council.  There was a good turn-out at the village hall, followed by a buffet at the Mountain View, which, unfortunately, we had to pass up, because we were making our way to Llanarmon yn Iâl harvest festival, 40 miles away.

St_Garmon's_Church,_Llanarmon-yn-IâlLlanarmon is an ancient parish with historical links to the abbey of Valle Crucis, near Llangollen.  The service, which was packed, was illuminated by a huge candelabrum which reputedly was taken from the abbey at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries.

 Two villages; very different, but sharing the same community spirit – the sort we are constantly told is dead, but is alive and thriving in Clwyd West.

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Posted in Clwyd West

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Cameron’s cash

Posted on October 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

The more one thinks about it, the sillier Andrew Marr’s question to David Cameron about his personal wealth seems.

Everyone knows that Cameron is worth a bob or two; so, for that matter, are Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg.  That Cameron is worth more than the other two may or may not be the case and in reality is irrelevant; all three are significantly wealthier than most of those who are being asked to vote for them next year.

The question was obviously included in Marr’s rather frenetic interview to head off Labour accusations of BBC bias after Marr asked Gordon Brown about his alleged pill-popping last week.  Marr shouldn’t have asked that question, either.

The truth is that none of this froth cuts much ice with the electorate.  People will vote for the party and the leader they consider will be best for them, their families and their country.  That means talking about policy. Nothing else matters very much.

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Posted in David Cameron, general election, Gordon Brown

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Too much of a good thing

Posted on October 3, 2009 | 2 Comments

I am horrified to discover that the Labour Assembly leadership process will last eight weeks.

Not sure if I will be able to stand so much excitement.

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Posted in Labour Party

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Who will chair it?

Posted on October 3, 2009 | 1 Comment

The Prime Minister has at last indicated his agreement in principle to a series of debates with the leaders of the other two principal parties.

So far, so good, albeit so late.

However, being Gordon, he can’t simply say yes.   It is clear from the PM’s letter published on the Labour Party website that the detailed terms of the debates remain to be negotiated.

Such as, no doubt the identity of the chairman or chairmen; I have a hunch that neither Adam Boulton nor Andrew Marr would be wholly acceptable to the Prime Minister.

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Posted in general election, Gordon Brown

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Red rag

Posted on October 3, 2009 | 1 Comment

The Telegraph reports that Gordon Brown was disappointed when Katherine Jenkins refused an invitation to sing The Red Flag at the close of the Labour party conference last Thursday. 

“Senior party figures” pleaded with Miss Jenkins to add a deperately-needed touch of pizzazz to the gloomy Brighton gathering but were told that she was unavailable:

“She keeps her politics to herself, and prefers to keep it to the voting booth,” says a spokesman for the Neath-born mezzo-soprano. “Katherine was already doing a whole day of programmes for Welsh radio stations that day.”

I do hope, for his own and his party’s sake, that Neath MP Peter Hain was not one of the “senior figures” deputed to do the pleading; he already has an unfortunate record of displeasing Miss Jenkins. 

Prior to the 2005 general election, Hain was obliged to issue an apology to a “furious” Katherine after using her photograph on his campaign literature.

Miss Jenkins’s manager commented at the time:

“Katherine has no political leanings whatsoever. People have been coming up to [her mother] Susan in the street and saying, ‘We didn’t know your Katherine was a Labour supporter.’

“I have spoken to Peter Hain’s agent who says he is anxious to get hold of Katherine to explain but she is not interested in an explanation. What she wants is an apology.

“This has really upset Katherine’s mam, who is anything but a Labour supporter. It has horrified her.”

In the circumstances, any approach by Hain to the diva would have been rather like waving a red flag at a bull.

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Posted in Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Peter Hain

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Vote for Huw Lewis

Posted on October 2, 2009 | 2 Comments

I can’t say that, during my brief sojourn in the Welsh Assembly, I ever took much to Huw Lewis.  He always seemed  a bit of a humourless, cold fish and never came over as the sort of person who’d be good company over a pint on a winter’s evening.

Huw has thrown his hat in the ring for the Welsh Labour leadership.  I had previously thought he’d be out in the cold and that the contest would be  between Edwina Hart and Carwyn Jones.

However, Huw has impressed me tremendously with this quote in today’s Daily Post:

“The Deeside Hub is living proof that regional identities do not start and stop at borders.

“We should not assume news of goings on in Crickhowell would be more interesting to people in Connah’s Quay than news of Chester.”

In other words, Huw has demonstrated that he has a reasonable understanding of what it is to be a North Walian.

If I were Labour, I would back him.

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Posted in Labour Party

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Blaney’s Blarney

Posted on October 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

Yesterday, Mr Donal Blaney, a solicitor and political commentator, was granted permission by the High Court to serve an injunction by Twitter – the first time this has ever been done.  The injunction required an unknown Twitter user to stop posting under Mr Blaney’s identity and to identify himself.

Today, I received from Twitter notification that Mr Blaney was following me, which I thought a bit of a coincidence.  In fact, given the particularly revolting content of the follower’s postings, it was pretty obviously the individual Mr Blaney is gunning for, who is self-evidently in flagrant breach of the injunction.

I have blocked Mr Blaney’s persecutor, who is clearly severely disturbed, from following me and wish Mr Blaney every success in suing the pants off him.

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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