Daily Referendum

The Ninety Ninth Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus Leaves in 5 Minutes!

2008-07-06T20:01:00.002+01:00

Got some time to kill but don't know where to go?

Why don't you climb aboard the Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus? There are still a few places left.

Click on STOP 1 and the Bus will take you to your first Mystery Blog location.

To get back on the Bus just click the Back Button and click STOP 2 to continue the Tour. I think you can work the rest out.

The Bus rolls out on Sundays and Wednesdays - enjoy the ride. If you have any suggestions for the next tour drop me an email by hitting the Contact button at the top of the page.

George Osborne's fuel tax policy.

2008-07-06T15:21:00.001+01:00

George Osborne came out with what will be another popular policy on the Andrew Marr show this morning. The idea of stabilising fuel prices by cutting the duty on fuel when the price of oil goes up, and increasing it when the price goes down is just the kind of policy we Tories need.

It goes without saying that both Labour and the Lib Dems think Osborne's idea is rubbish (until they steal it). However, the AA think this policy is long overdue and I'm sure that the vast majority of the public will agree with them.
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Doctor Who regenerates tonight - Who will be Who?

2008-07-05T18:12:00.006+01:00

Not long now until we see the extra long special tonight. Don't forget that it starts at 18:40 and will go on for over and hour. So set your Sky plus or recorder accordingly, it would be a shame to miss the start or finish. I've got a feeling that David Tennant will come back has himself, but you never know.

Not long now!

If you have time HERE is the Trailer for this week episode.

UPDATE: So now we know what happened to the Doctor, but who dies?

You can watch this week's episode again by clicking HERE.

William Hill - Conservative landslide at General Election.

2008-07-05T13:24:00.002+01:00

From William Hill:

BROWN BACKED TO GO THIS YEAR AS TORY LANDSLIDE ODDS HALVED

WILLIAM Hill have halved the odds about the Conservatives winning a landslide victory at the next General Election - cutting the odds about them winning 375 or more seats from 5/1 to 5/2 - while Gordon Brown has been shortened from 3/1 to 11/10 to leave office during 2008. He is 5/4 to go in 2010, 4/1 in 2009. Brown is also 5/6 NOT to lead Labour into the next General Election.

JOINT FAVOURITES FOR GLASGOW EAST

LABOUR are 5/6 joint favourites to win the Glasgow East by election with William Hill, despite reportedly havcing to find another candidate. Hills also offer the SNP at 5/6 and have the Tories and Lib Dems both at 50/1.

NEXT SCOTS LAB LEADER

William Hill make Andy Kerr 2/5 favourite to be the next Scottish Labour leader. They also offer 4/1 Margaret Curran; 6/1 Iain Grey; 14/1 Cathy Jameson; 20/1 Charlie Gordon.

HALTEMPRICE ODDS

JILL SAWARD, standing as an Independent candidate, has been backed to receive more votes than any candidate at the Haltemprice by election other than David Davis, with William Hill cutting her from 33/1 to 5/1 joint second favourite in the market in which Hills make Green candidate S Oakes 2/5 favourite, with National Front candidate Culnane 5/1. The Monster Raving Loony Party is 50/1 with former pop star Ronnie Carroll at 66/1.

TORIES HOT FAVOURITES

THE CONSERVATIVES are 1/ 4 favourites to win the next General Election with Hills who make Labour 11/4 - their longest odds since winning power - and the Lib Dems 100/1.

Has Gordon Brown lost control of his Government?

2008-07-04T17:55:00.004+01:00

Judging on last night's vote over the scrapping of the "John Lewis list", I think we can safely say that Gordon Brown has lost control of his Government. The vote would have also submitted MPs' claims to external audit, but over 140 Labour MPs voted against the reforms. 33 of them were ministers and another two were Gordon Brown's parliamentary private secretaries.

The reason I suggest that Brown has lost control, comes from the pathetic excuse he gave for not attending the vote. From the Andrew Sparrow at the Guardian:

Downing Street said today that Brown did not attend the Commons to vote because he had important government meetings and because he knew the option he favoured was going to be defeated by a significant majority.

This was a free vote, so Brown could claim that his own MPs could vote against him. However, It has been alleged that "Government whips were seen nodding Labour MPs through the lobbies in support of the anti-reform amendment". This of course means that the Whips were directing Labour MPs to vote against the Prime Minister's wishes. So who is in charge of the Government? Gordon Brown or the Labour Party Whips? It looks for all the world to be the Whips. And I'm afraid that on such an important decision "I was busy" is not good enough from the Prime Minister.

David Cameron said: "There is an urgent need for reform, which is why I led my shadow cabinet to vote against the John Lewis list. "Gordon Brown also had a real opportunity to show leadership and vote for change but once again he bottled it. "On the one hand, he expresses disappointment at last night's result, yet he didn't even turn up for the vote. His excuse that he was in a meeting is utterly feeble, particularly when his whips were herding people in to wreck the reforms."

Scotland - How to treat injured veterans - Free Buses.

2008-07-04T17:11:00.003+01:00

Yet again the Scottish Government comes up with a policy which England should have taken the lead on:

From New.Scotsman.com:

Soldiers hurt in battle go free on buses

INJURED forces veterans are to be given free bus travel throughout Scotland, the Scottish Government announced today. The move comes as a proposed extension of the concessionary fares scheme for elderly and disabled people. Finance Secretary John Swinney published the terms for the review of the scheme, but said there would be no change to the eligibility criteria for those who currently benefit from the scheme. He said the review, set in train by the previous Scottish Executive, would assess how the scheme has been operating since its introduction in April 2006, and look at ways to improve the scheme.

Mr Swinney said: "The concessionary fares scheme has been a widespread success, bringing free travel to elderly and disabled people across Scotland."We now want to look at how the scheme can be improved even further. For example, I want to ensure that eligibility is extended so that injured veterans in Scotland are able to benefit from free bus travel."

I hope this policy is taken up by Westminster.

Normal service has resumed.

2008-07-04T17:06:00.002+01:00

Right that's a very long and boring 4 day health and safety course out of the way. The courts should send yobs on these courses - that would be a real punishment. Anyway, back to blogging!

Slow Blogging, away on course.

2008-07-01T16:36:00.001+01:00

Sorry but blogging will be slow again this week. I'm on another bloody course until Friday. Managing bloody safety - yawn!!! I can't stand health and safety courses - I'd rather go to a Lib dem piss-up.

See you soon

Cheers

Steve
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Lord Darzi - How to wind up Doctors - NHS Review.

2008-06-30T09:01:00.003+01:00

The words both Doctors and Nurses dread to hear are, review, reform, overhaul, change, and shake-up. I've had similar experience of change during my service in the Royal Navy - and it was all bad. Poor managers refuse to accept responsibility if something is not working as well as it should be. It must be the system - the system needs changing - we must hold a review - blah, blah, blah... In the majority of cases the system in place works perfectly well when it is being run by a competent manager. Sadly, most government run organisations are lacking that vital ingredient.

I found (and I'm sure health staff are experiencing the same thing) that just when I got to grips with how the Engineering branch in the Navy worked, we would get a new Admiral and everything would change again. This change also tends to be driven by the Admirals need to be seen to be doing something, and I'm sure the same goes for Health Ministers. What people at the coal face want, is for those people on the surface who have no idea what is going on down below, to leave them the hell alone.

Doctors and Nurses must dream of the day when the instructions to change this or that stop coming down from the government. The NHS is a fantastic organisation lead by the wrong people. Doctors know where improvements need to be made (that's improvements - not changes) to the system and the government should leave them to get on with it for at least a couple of years. The fact that Doctors have already delivered a petition to Downing Street signed by a million patients rejecting the new polyclinics, shows how popular this review will be with those having to make yet more changes.

Gordon Brown is very pleased with the changes, he claims that they are a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" and will have "an even more profound effect" than previous shake-ups. I'm sure they will, and I'm sure that health staff are dreading them.

The Ninety Eighth Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus Leaves in 5 Minutes!

2008-06-29T18:49:00.002+01:00

Got some time to kill but don't know where to go?

Why don't you climb aboard the Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus? There are still a few places left.

Click on STOP 1 and the Bus will take you to your first Mystery Blog location.

To get back on the Bus just click the Back Button and click STOP 2 to continue the Tour. I think you can work the rest out.

The Bus rolls out on Sundays and Wednesdays - enjoy the ride. If you have any suggestions for the next tour drop me an email by hitting the Contact button at the top of the page.

- Warning strong language.

Alan Johnson - Quote of the day (year?).

2008-06-29T15:03:00.005+01:00

From the BBC:

Health Secretary Alan Johnson hit back at Mr Brown's critics [Labour donors] insisting the prime minister had had a "good year".

Jesus H Christ, I would hate to see what kind of damage Brown could do in a bad year.

Zimbabwe's Ministry of Anti-Corruption - What a Joke!

2008-06-29T13:56:00.006+01:00

You really should take a look at The Zimbabwean government website, It's a bloody joke. Not only does it look like it was knocked up in some primary school project, but its content makes Iraq's Comical Ali look like a straight man. Here is one example from the ironically named Ministry of State Enterprises, Anti-Corruption & Anti-Monopolies:

Click to enlarge.

What's more, they have a feedback page on their site where you can complain (or give praise!) about the government. However you must leave your contact details. I can't see anyone rushing to fill out a complaint any time soon, can you?

Our Northern Rock - Zimbabwe business shame.

2008-06-29T10:27:00.009+01:00

Greg Hands over on Conservativehome's CentreRight section points out some disturbing news for us regarding business with Zimbabwe.

My take: The Independent on Sunday is reporting that six Conservatives own shares in companies that are doing business in Zimbabwe. But did you know that we the British public are doing business with Zimbabwe? Do your hands feel dirty? Well don't feel too dirty because you probably knew nothing about your involvement in supporting a brutal regime.

The Times reported on this statement from David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary this week: “I condemn anything that gives succour, either financial or moral, to the Zanu (PF) leaders.”

Well maybe David Miliband would like to explain why this statement appears on the Northern Rock Guernsey Limited website (A subsidiary of Northern Rock):

Northern Rock (Guernsey) Limited does not accept new account applications from residents of the African continent, with the exception of applications from residents of Egypt, South Africa and Zimbabwe. New account applications are accepted for existing Northern Rock (Guernsey) Limited customers and additional deposits are accepted into existing accounts already held.

So a bank owned by the British public is doing business with Zimbabwe. I think we can assume that the people likely to be taking advantage of Guernsey's tax-free status will not be those being beaten, raped or murdered for having the nerve to vote against Mugabe. This needs stopping now and any money held should be frozen.

UPDATE: Guido has some bad news for the Independent.

Doctor Who regenerates into Wendy Alexander!

2008-06-28T19:59:00.014+01:00

Doctor Who regenerates into Wendy Alexander! It all makes perfect sense - she's stepped down as Labour leader to become the next Time Lord. I know there was a surprise expected at the end of this episode but did anyone think that it could be the Doctor regenerating?

So as the 10th Doctor dies, who is really going to be the 11th Who? I'm going for either: Sean Bean, Shane Richie or David Walliams.

There again he could always come back as David Tennant through some trick of time (one second out). Or could it have something to do with his hand in that jar at Torchwood?

UPDATE: From the BBC's Doctor Who website:

If you've just watched the thrilling cliff-hanger to The Stolen Earth, you're probably wondering how we could possibly wrap things up in just one more regular episode.
The answer is - we can't. That's why next week's, episode, Journey's End, will run for an amazing 65 minutes! That's almost 50 per cent longer than a regular episode, and even longer than the first two Christmas Specials.
Make sure you're glued to your TV at the slightly earlier time of 6.40pm on Saturday 5th July so you don't miss a moment of epic action.
If you can't wait that long, however, tune in to BBC One tomorrow just before 1pm to see a bonus trailer for the episode. We'll have it online here at the Official Site straight afterwards too.

You can watch this week's episode again by clicking HERE. And next week's (episode 13) trailer by clicking HERE.

Gordon Brown's Anniversary Video (What a difference a year makes).

2008-06-28T12:58:00.003+01:00

I've already commented on Gordon Brown's first year in power (A year of cock-ups and misery), but I think this video from Eyebrow Magazine is worth a look. Poor old Gordon.

Hit tip Guido.

Andy Kerr - 1/4 favourite to replace Wendy Alexander.

2008-06-28T12:12:00.002+01:00

From William Hill:

KERR FAVOURITE TO SUCCEED ALEXANDER

ANDY KERR is 1/4 favourite to succeed Wendy Alexander as leader of the Scottish Labour Party with William Hill, who also offer:
11/4 Margaret Curran
20 Iain Gray
20 Fiona Hyslop
20 Patricia Ferguson
20 Cathy Jamieson
25 Pauline McNeill
25 Rhona Branklin
33 Sarah Boyack

Let battle commence.

Wendy Alexander to step down as Scottish Labour leader.

2008-06-28T09:43:00.008+01:00

From the BBC:

Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander is expected to announce she will stand down, the BBC understands.

So that is one Labour leader down and one to go. Wendy has realised that she has damaged the party and caused it embarrassment - when will Gordon Brown realise that he is just as bad, if not worse. Rumour has it that Wendy may also stand down as MSP for Paisley North. Wendy won the seat with a 22% (5,113 votes) majority in the 2007 Scottish Parliament Elections, so it will take a massive swing for the SNP to grab Paisley North from Labour - though under the current political climate an SNP win is far from impossible.

UPDATE: Wendy has stepped down as leader of the Labour Party, but will not be stepping down as the MSP for Paisley North.

Lib Dems will force Gordon Brown to step down.

2008-06-27T17:32:00.003+01:00

I've been thinking.... dangerous I know, but I was pretty convinced that Labour would get rid of Gordon Brown by the end of May. I was wrong obviously, but by God they had enough reason to chuck him. It seems that nothing short of a total disaster for the Labour party (a party killer) will remove Gordon from number ten. So I was trying to think of a situation that would trigger senior ministers to ask Brown to do the right thing and fall on his sword.

And then it hit me: It will happen the day that the Lib Dems are shown to be on an equal footing or ahead of Labour in a major poll. It would be unbearable for many Labour MPs to be considered the country's third party. The thing is, that scenario may not be that far away. We have already seen the gap close to five points in some recent polls.

So I say that if you want to know when Gordon Brown will step down.........watch the polls!

Gordon Brown - 11 years of high taxes and service cuts.

2008-06-27T13:34:00.008+01:00

There are two things that all political parties see as their main campaigning priorities during a General Election: Health and Education. Labour claim to have a great record in both these areas. I beg to differ:

HEALTH:

Hospitals: The number of NHS hospital beds has fallen by 32,000 since Labour came to power. Last year saw a record cut in numbers, despite fears that this leads to overcrowding in the remaining wards and a higher risk of superbug infections. Daily Mail.

Maternity Wards: More than 2,000 maternity beds have been lost since 1997. Research by the Conservatives found that last year, 42 per cent of maternity units had refused to accept women in labour on at least one occasion. Telegraph.

GPs: The government's policy is to consolidate doctors' surgeries into a series of giant health centres, or polyclinics. Thousands of small practices will be closed and patients will be processed in buildings containing up to 50 GPs. The new clinics will also house some services at present provided by hospitals, which allows the government to claim that it is bringing healthcare "closer to home". The net effect will be a massive reduction in convenience. Guardian.

Dentists: Nearly 80 per cent of the population no longer has an NHS dental service. But rather than going private here, increasing numbers of people are heading abroad. It may be cheaper but, as Olga Craig discovers, the personal costs can be horrific. A survey, last week, of 5,000 patients and 750 dentists revealed that Britain is now so woefully short of state-funded dentists that one in 20 people say they have resorted to some style of DIY dentistry — a handful agonisingly pulling out their own teeth with pliers — because the soaring cost of private treatment is way beyond their means. Telegraph.

EDUCATION:

Schools: Figures published in February show that schools are being shut at a rate of nearly one a day, mainly in rural areas. Since 2002, some 1,704 schools - primary and secondary - have been shut in England. Those on sites which have now been sold will never re-open. Daily Mail.

League Tables: Britain’s young workers are among the lowest achievers at GCSE or equivalent in a league table of countries published today. The results show that Britain has plummeted to 22nd of 29 countries, from 14th place 40 years ago, despite its pupils attaining ever-higher grades. They raise fears that an underclass is emerging, increasingly unsuited to the job market as manual work declines and competition grows from abroad. Times.

Truancy: Truancy rates among pupils in England rose last year to their highest level since records began in 1997, new government figures showed yesterday. Nearly 230,000 pupils were classified as persistent absentees, meaning they missed more than 20% of school. Overall the number of missed lessons - including those lost to illness - decreased, but unauthorised absences rose to 1% of all school hours, indicating that 63,000 pupils were skipping class on an average day. Guardian.

What I want to know is where has all the money gone? According to Brown we have had "record spending" on health and education, if so, then it looks like a massive chunk of that money has been wasted. You know, I really do think that Labour know nothing about money handling or the economy. When we were doing well financially Brown spent more and more and he even borrowed money to continue spending beyond our means.

Now we are heading for a very sticky patch, Brown has nothing in the cupboard but a pile of loan agreement forms. For God's sake, Gordon Brown is now depending on the Unions to stop his party from going bankrupt. They can't even manage their party finances - what hope have we got that they can run the country's?

UPDATE: As if by magic from SKY: The Prime Minister has reacted to the Labour party's poor performance in the Henley by-election saying: "by-elections come and by-elections go".Responding to the news that Labour came in fifth place, behind the BNP, Gordon Brown added: "Of course we have to listen to what people say. "But my main job is to improve our public services, to get the economy moving forward, to make sure that in the health service and education people have the best services that they want and I am going to continue to do that." Yeah..... right.

Gordon Brown now only 3/1 to be gone by year's end.

2008-06-27T08:15:00.004+01:00

From William Hill:

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MR BROWN - YOU'RE ON THE WAY OUT

BOOKMAKERS William Hill have cut the odds about Gordon Brown being out of office as Labour leader before the next General Election takes place, from 5/4 to 11/10 following the Henley by-election.
And Hills have also slashed the odds about him standing down before the end of this year to 3/1 from 5/1.
'Although Mr Brown is a slight odds on chance at 4/6 still to be leader when the General Election comes round we haven't taken a single bet of £100 or more for him to do so for months' said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe.
LABOUR are now 5/2 with William Hill to win the next General Election - the longest odds they have been since coming to power in 1997 - and Hills now make the Tories red hot favourites at 2/7 to win the next Election - their shortest odds since LOSING power. The Lib Dems are 100/1 outsiders.
Hills offer 5/1 that Labour WILL put up a candidate against David Davis at the forthcoming by-election.

WILLIAM HILL:
YEAR OF GORDON BROWN DEPARTURE FROM PM OFFICE

2008 3/1
2009 5/2
2010 5/4
2011 33/1
2012 50/1
2013 50/1
2014 20/1
2015 20/1
2016 20/1
2017 16/1

Henley voters give Gordon Brown an anniversary present.

2008-06-27T08:00:00.004+01:00

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Not only did Labour get hammered into 5th place behind the BNP and the Greens, they also lost their deposit. No wonder William Hill have slashed their odds for Gordon Brown down to 3/1 for him to be gone by the end of the year.

Very well done to John Howell MP and everyone involved in this fantastic result. It's marvelous that the Conservative share of the vote increased in the face of a very strong Lib Dem campaign.

From the Times:

John Howell (C) 19,796 (57%, +3.5%)
Stephen Kearney (LD) 9,680 (28%, +1.8%)
Mark Stevenson (Green) 1,321 (3.8%, +0.5%)
Timothy Rait (BNP) 1,243 (3.6%)
Richard McKenzie (Lab) 1,066 (3.1%, -11.7%)
Chris Adams (UKIP) 843 (2.4%, -0.1%)
Bananaman Owen (Loony) 242 (0.70%)
Derek Allpass (Eng Dem) 157 (0.45%)

C maj 10,116 (29.1%)

0.81% swing LD to C

Turnout 34,761 (50.3%, -17.6%)

(2005 C maj 12,793)

The Great Wind Farm Swindle - Seven Thousand White Elephants.

2008-06-26T19:25:00.006+01:00

This is a post I wrote a while ago, and now seems like a good time to put it back up:

The government has blown (excuse the pun) half a billion pounds subsidising the wind turbine industry. "So what, it's a worthy cause" I hear you say. Well, it turns out that it is anything but worthy and more worryingly, it is a total waste of our tax money. It is alleged that energy companies are receiving subsidies for wind farms that will never make any money, because they have exaggerated the potential of sites with not enough wind.

The government are miles away (or kilometres as our EU friends prefer) from achieving the target of providing 20% of our energy from renewable sources by 2020. Despite blowing (there I go again - sorry) half a billion pounds of our money, the energy companies have failed to provide even 0.5% of our requirements. For a wind farm to be viable it must have a load factor of 30 per cent. But Jim Oswald, an engineering consultant, found that the average across the country was 28 per cent.

Michael Jefferson, policies chairman of the World Renewable Energy Network believes that the subsidies are encouraging energy companies to exaggerate the amount of potential wind energy a farm can supply. Mr Jefferson said: "We should be putting our money where the wind is and that is quite often not where the development pressure is."

In a previous post about nuclear power’s life-cycle emissions it turned out that the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions for nuclear plants are lower than that of wind farms. Now it turns out that on average these farms are not even financially viable.

For God's sake (and ours) let's stop pandering to the EU green brigade, and get some nuclear power plants built.

Inequality Minister, Harriet Harman's positive discrimination

2008-06-26T12:58:00.003+01:00

I take it that employers can now write: "White men need not apply" at the bottom of job advertisements?

Can you imagine the uproar if any other group of people were treated with such inequality? God I really dislike Harman. How the hell can she be the Equalities Minister and discriminate against white men all at the same time. It's a bloody joke.

Should white men now ask before an interview whether any women or ethnics are applying for the same job, so that they can save themselves a wasted day?

Why is it about the word Equality that Harman doesn't get? When it comes to job interviews, everyone should be treated equally i.e. The person most suited to the position gets the job.

No wonder Labour are so unpopular with chimps like her running the country.

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Would Winston Churchill agree with David Davis?

2008-06-25T22:33:00.003+01:00

Wise words from some bloke called Winston Churchill:

We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practise - let us practise what we preach.

March 5, 1946
Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

The Ninety Seventh Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus Leaves in 5 Minutes!

2008-06-25T20:22:00.001+01:00

Got some time to kill but don't know where to go?

Why don't you climb aboard the Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus? There are still a few places left.

Click on STOP 1 and the Bus will take you to your first Mystery Blog location.

To get back on the Bus just click the Back Button and click STOP 2 to continue the Tour. I think you can work the rest out.

The Bus rolls out on Sundays and Wednesdays - enjoy the ride. If you have any suggestions for the next tour drop me an email by hitting the Contact button at the top of the page.