Cllr. Gavin Ayling

Last link

2009-02-16T00:56:00.001Z

This page won't last long, you'll be redirected.

But if you're not, go here:

The current blog

Error Message

2007-05-13T10:45:00.000+01:00

If you came here having seen my blog's error message then you'll understand my frustration at managing my own hosting.

Suffice it's in hand!

Blog Recovery

2007-05-07T21:41:00.000+01:00

For reasons I am still slightly scratching my head about my old WordPress blog has come back to life. Dataflame should still be congratulated on their assistance even over a bank-holiday weekend.

Anyway, the blog's back and it's redesigned at the old address:

www.gavpolitics.co.uk/blog/

Kiva.org

2007-05-05T15:58:00.000+01:00

I am slightly reticent to publicise this at the moment given that the BBC just has. But Kiva allows people to lend money to a specific cause in the developing world.

You can choose your cause from a list and, when the money is repaid by the donee, it can be redirected towards other good causes. Unlike charitable giving there are no expenses taken by Kiva and you can choose causes that you believe will help the country in question to progress.

Tories and the SNP

2007-05-05T12:27:00.000+01:00

I know it won't happen, but it should.

The LibDems are being described as 'KingMakers' but if the Conservatives in Scotland really believe in democracy, they can ensure the SNP's power is not watered down by going into coalition with them. A minority coalition of Labour and the LibDems is the last thing Scotland needs and exactly what they did not ask for.

The Conservatives could ensure that Scotland gets to express its opinion in Independence and also show the Scottish electorate whether the SNP is able to run the country as they claim.

Party	Seats
SNP	47
LAB	46
CON	17
LD	16
Others	3

Source of table

The announcement by Cameron that the Conservative Party in Scotland is going to be outsourced should enable this freedom. A unionist party is, today, as relevant as would be the Communist Party. Parties should stand on principle — I've said it many times since Cameron started abandoning it — but when something becomes irrelevant there's no sense in hanging onto it. If we were to leave the EU (one can dream) then pro-EU parties would share a similar relevance to the "and Unionist" part of the Conservative Party's name has today.

Let's see the SNP and Conservatives work in coalition in Scotland. Let's see bravery in our parties.

First Thursday-itis

2007-05-04T18:22:00.000+01:00

For the third year running I have been ill on the first Thursday of May...

I wonder if it's a coincidence or something to do with the elections!

Anyway, well done to all those Conservatives who have successfully defended their seat, or won a new one. Brighton & Hove Council's results are particularly heartening with the makeup changed from this:

Labour - 23 seats
Conservative - 19 seats
Green - 6 seats
Liberal Democrat - 3 seats
Independent - 2 seats

to this:

Conservatives - 26 seats
Labour - 13 seats
Greens - 12 seats
Liberal Democrats - 2 seats
Independent - one seat

And this despite the political nimby-isation of the planning process in Brighton & Hove particularly over the King Alfred.

The BNP as protest

2007-05-02T17:00:00.001+01:00

Is it any wonder that the BBC's Have Your Say implies the BNP will make gains tomorrow? In a country where political opinion (if not considered appropriate by the state) is illegal (evidence here and here), what chance of an honest, racist manifesto from the BNP?

People everywhere say "The BNP aren't racist — check their manifesto". But their manifesto could not be published if it were racist, so that's no argument surely.

I agree with those who say they will vote BNP, that the movement of Blair and Cameron to the middle ground has left an ideological hole on the political extremes (more commonly referred to as the location of the silent majority). But that doesn't mean that a vote for extremists is any less dangerous.

The BNP should be feared and if you must protest abstain or vote UKIP. Of course, if you realise what the local elections are about, a vote for the Conservatives is the right option (see my last post).

NH yeS - relevant?

2007-05-02T12:07:00.000+01:00

I watched a recording of the Conservative's Monday-night Party Election Broadcast last night and I must say I was confused.

The elections tomorrow are for local Councils: Borough, District or Unitary. They are for all sorts of services (depending upon the type of Council) from libraries, local roads and schools (Unitary) to Council housing, leisure centres and refuse/recycling collection (Borough and District). There's plenty to talk about, and plenty to be proud of for Conservative Councils.

So why was Cameron talking about the NHS? The NHS is the one public service thing that local government has little control over. Yes, it's important to show that the Conservatives are the ones who are more likely to reform the NHS (they always have been, despite the neglect of the 1980s), but that's not the fight these elections represent.

If you are voting tomorrow, then know this: Your vote will decide whether you pay for Council waste through your Council taxes or whether your Council works tirelessly to stop central government's policies from costing Council Tax payers too much.

You should vote Conservative tomorrow, not because we're saying warm things about the NHS, but because we almost always run Councils better than the LibDems or Labour.

Planning tonight...

2007-04-30T23:41:00.000+01:00

Would you believe the planning meeting only justed ended?

Christ!

Merkel's Admission

2007-04-30T17:29:00.000+01:00

In a letter that was supposed to be internal (i.e. not for leaking) Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany, the country that holds the rotating EU Presidency) admitted that the EU constitution was not dead and that it would be implemented by alternative means despite being refused by multiple referenda.

Merkel's words are:

to use different terminology without changing the legal substance

This has shocked me for two reasons:

We are so used to the EU treating us with disdain, running rough-shod over democracy and pretty much being the bad guys that we have allowed this piece of news to go past almost unnoticed (forgive me if I missed it).
This passed without so much as a protest march by those great masses of unemployed who were able to turn out about Iraq

For some reason, when human rights are being eroded in the Third World, Amnesty International and the do-gooder foundation come out en masse. But when democracy is being bare-faced ignored, and when that ignoring is being done by one of the world's big three governments (450 million people qualifies it for that honour if you ask me) they are strangely silent.

Okay, I'll be fair. I am sure Frank Field and Tony Benn (those two Labour MPs we can all respect) were angered, but that's not good enough people.

My party may not realise it again since they were humiliated in 2001, but the EU is the most important political issue of our time. In 2001 we lost an election and anything associated with that campaign is now considered bad... What madness — CameraOn has seen that the media is more important than policy, so why are the 2001/2005 manifestos now so unattractive to the decision-makers?

Planning Committee

2007-04-26T17:48:00.000+01:00

On Monday Adur District Council's Planning and Regulatory Committee is meeting over a mammoth agenda of no fewer than twelve applications.

The planning agendas and minutes can be found on the Adur website here: Adur Planning Committee Agendas and Minutes

In order to help me understand the impact of applications on neighbours and the neighbourhood I use the excellent Live Local to view each of the applications using an aerial view. I also save these views as a 'collection' for each meeting. I haven't finished looking at all the sites yet, just those where interested parties have written or emailed, but the collection for Monday's meeting can be found here: Local Live Planning Collection for 30 April 2007.

Dumbed down education

2007-04-25T09:19:00.000+01:00

My best friend was not educated in England until he was fourteen. When he came here he had already started learning calculus.

Upon joining an English school he joined a class learning about negative numbers and... (pause for effect) what happens when you add them to positive numbers. Multiplication of negative numbers was yet to come.

So is it any surprise that we have a catastrophic lack of university students from the UK doing Mathematics and those science subjects that rely on it? Is it surprising that the most commonly spoken first language in Sussex University's Engineering Department is Greek and not English?

Today the BBC has an article highlighting the difference between English and Chinese university entrance examinations. Of course we must remember that India and China have fewer university places so the question must be tougher, but that should be balanced against the very simple fact that the Chinese will have learnt complex mathematical problems at a younger age and so what English students would consider difficult would already be second nature for competent Chinese students.

Let's ramp up the level at which we educate our most promising and gifted students rather than wasting them and allowing them to become disruptive once they're bored.

Two silly questions

2007-04-24T21:22:00.001+01:00

Does anyone really see red?

Why does Old Trafford have such a large ditch around the edge for Ronaldo to fall into?

Update (21:35): What a great game between Man U and Milan!

The problem with justice

2007-04-21T12:11:00.000+01:00

These people are clearly not valuable members of society but worse, they are not suitable to raise children. The judge should have banned them from raising children if only he had an alternative other than the Care system:

The Guardian story

The poor children...

Happy St George's Day

2007-04-20T21:18:00.000+01:00

I hope you enjoy it more than St Patrick's Day. Sorry, I do.

Oh, and if you believe democracy is better than any other alternative (and especially, casting votes being held by unaccountable people), take a look at the Campaign for an English Parliament.

Aishwarya Rai marries

2007-04-20T21:05:00.000+01:00

I admit that while I love Bollywood films I am not very good with the names, or faces even, of the stars. So when I say "Aishwarya Rai marries" that's not to suggest I knew who she was. Oh, and I'm also an avid fan of Miss Worlds who come from India, and that didn't help me either.

Anyway, that's not the reason for the post — of course it's not — I thought I'd show you this apalling piece of journalism that appeared on the BBC's 'In Pictures' pages about the happy event:

The exact details of the wedding have been kept secret, but its thought it will contain dancers and traditional Indian singing.

I don't think this needs my commentary, so I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Here's the context by the way.

... ize - Americanism?

2007-04-19T23:35:00.000+01:00

I watched some Never Mind the Full Stops this evening. I do enjoy it purely because it tells people off for saying "I was told to not walk" and other cardinal sins.

For example, Julian Fellowes accused people of spelling words like "surprise" with a 'z' ("surprize") of succumbing to Americanisms. But one of the contestants countered that it was in Jane Austen. So I thought I'd check it out.

And do you know, he's right? Search for "ize" in the following copy of Emma (from the Gutenberg Project) and you'll find surprize.

How marvellous my mother tongue.

Party Political Broadcast

2007-04-17T20:40:00.000+01:00

Update: I notice this video only work on Firefox. Get Firefox!

State of the Union

2007-04-17T09:28:00.000+01:00

Andrew Neil presented a piece for the Daily Politics yesterday about the West Lothian question.

I was surprised, and pleased, by the programme's fairness and avoidance of pretending that English Nationalism is anti-Scottish or that the unrest building in England is to do with anything more than democracy.

But I was disappointed that no-one representing the English case mentioned the fundamental problem underlying it all; something that the Labour MP Douglas Alexander pretended is not a problem: England is no longer governed by a democracy. Yes, as Mr Alexander, Menzies Campbell and Paddy Ashdown said, English MPs greatly outnumber non-English MPs, but the fact is laws have been passed by casting votes from Scottish constituency MPs.

This is not democracy and the tendency of English people to be calm and collected when describing injustice is, while admirable, dangerous when it comes to this sort of thing.

The UK is not a democracy and we must shout it at our British government.

New blog

2007-04-13T23:28:00.000+01:00

MJW of "...the hillside" is a new blog to me but I like him.

So take a look.

But then how could I dislike someone who themselves dislikes Ken Livingstone?

Who cares?

2007-04-11T20:00:00.000+01:00

So there's a moral hoo-har and there's probably a part of me that thinks I ought to care, but I've yet to meet anyone face-to-face who could care less that the Navy personal kidnapped and then left to their fates by the UK government were allowed to profit from their ordeal.

Isn't this just another example of the media getting carried away with stories that interest the media?

BBC News

Being Gay in Brighton

2007-04-11T12:23:00.000+01:00

I feel I am fortunate to have been born in Brighton. Many naturally right-wing or extreme left-wing people who are not exposed to homosexuals have a default position of fear... A fear of the unknown. For this reason I have always understood, if not agreed with, homophobia far more than racism (which isn't even a hatred/fear of the unknown so much as a hatred/fear of someone who looks different).

So I am pleased to have been brought up in Brighton so that I can look at the world with rational rather than bigotted eyes. Bear that in mind before you jump to criticise Brighton when you read what I am about to say. Yes, Brighton has a large gay community, but that's a great thing.

I heard the saddest thing on the radio last night: A caller named 'Martin' said that he is definitely gay -- he is 33 and has been open since he was 17 or 18. But now he is considering striking up a straight relationship because he cannot find the companionship he yearns for on the 'scene'.

It seemed to me that the 'scene' is not the best place to start long-term relationships and he hinted at that when talking -- but he didn't know where to go to find a gay partner rather than just sex.

I hope he knows, having spoken to the DJ and the station's researcher, that this is not the solution -- he cannot be honest with himself and any future female partner if he succumbs to what he considers "normal". What unfair social pressure there is.

Now for you who do not live in Brighton and don't know Daffyd in Little Britain, not all gay men are accurately portrayed by the stereotype you may get from seeing Gay Pride on the news, or some of the dodgy open-air shows you see in Blackpool...

Oh, and for clarity I am straight.

Google Quote of the Day

2007-04-10T15:28:00.000+01:00

The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.

John Maynard Keynes

Source

Vegetarian meat

2007-04-08T10:39:00.000+01:00

I recorded Channel 4's Animal Farm documentary series and started watching it only this week.

There are many features I would love to discuss with you, but as today is a religious day, I will ask you a question that unusually for this topic, does not ask any moral questions at all.

During the second episode of the three-part series one of the co-presenters had a nose grown in a lab using his own cellular material. This is famous because of the human ear added to a mouse a while back. This was added, not for fun but to prove that an organ grown in this way will be accepted by the host body and that blood vessels will connect. Basically, by attaching it to a mouse, scientists proved that a nose or ear grown in this way could be successfully attached to the unfortunate person that has lost theirs. This is unambiguously good news and, aside from the initial experiment, uncontroversial stuff.

The possibility then, is that if you can grow organs for transplant, you could just as easily grow organs for food. If you could grow a rump steak using cells from a living bovine, no animal needs to die to feed you genuine meat. Again, entirely non-controversial and in fact less controversial than killing an animal to eat it.

But my question to you is this: If no pig has died then what possible moral objection could a Jew or Muslim have? If no bovine has died what possible moral objection could a Hindu have?

Happy Easter!

iTunes Infuriates

2007-04-06T23:04:00.000+01:00

Gah! I get so annoyed with iTunes.

I am now actively abusing it. Take this album released in 2003, for example. None of the music on the album is within copyright and so the only payment that need be made is to the musicians and Apple. So how much is it?

Well the price on iTunes (no delivery remember) is £9.48 for the album or shockingly, £22.91 if you buy each track separately. The same album can be duplicated onto a CD, have a label printed and inserted into the case, artists paid their dues and be shipped from the United States using good old fashioned aeroplanes for £5.99.

Perversely, it's cheaper to have it shipped from California than it is from New Jersey, but that failure of logic aside, how can Apple justify that? When Apple sell it they pay the same amounts to the artists (one assumes, if not less for having such a large potential market) and have none of the overheads associated with storage or media creation. And what's the betting that the non-copyright (remember) classical album will be crippled with DRM?

If you have iTunes installed and you are tempted to buy an album — listen to it on iTunes but for the love of all things frugal, buy it in CD form.