Opinions

Just read David Laws book ’22 Days in May'. Should be a sell-out. He was.

Bastard is snide about Labour! Doesn’t he know that we were doing them an enormous favour by helping them better the terms they got with the Tories?

Opinions

Poor old Young. Tells it like it is, there isn’t a disaster. No need for massive cuts.

The press is having a nervous breakdown. The government is making it up as it goes along. The cabinet is falling out over Defence, Sports, Schools, Health and the EU. The LibDems are revolting, well more so than usual. But what are the pundits obsessed with? Splits in the Labour Party!

At this stage of the game all they want a futile gesture. A confession that everything is our fault and that we would have implemented bigger cuts.

What tripe. Just shows whose side they’re on!

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Leaving a Foreign Office School Helen Clark Head of Development at the UN was asked by a very senior FO Official where she was going “To Grimsby to give the Tony Crosland memorial Lecture” “Who’s Tony Crosland?” Said he! Shocking!

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The British Constitution is whatever government can get away with. If the coalition can get away with gerrymandering the electoral system and fixing itself in office until 2015 it can fiddle anything.

Here’s a crucial test of the Lords as defenders of the constitution. Let these bills through and it’s as much use as a condom machine in the Vatican.

Opinions

LibDem Lackies

Simon Hughes justified the LibDem abandoning its principles on Proportional Representation by saying that Cameron would never vote for it. Possibly true but they’d never vote for AV either yet that’s being foisted on us.

A referendum is about consulting the people not MPs. What they want is more important than what we want.

All the poll evidence tells us they prefer PR to AV. But they aren’t allowed to say that because the LibDems were too cowardly to push it.

Gutless too on university fees. Watch the way the amount universities can charge being edged ever upwards despite the LibDems being pledged to no increases at all. Gutless wonders.

Great Fiddle Bill

Goodbye to the Great Fiddle Bill to the Lords which the government is swamping to ensure it gets through.

It was good to see Cleggie turn up – not having been near the long debate. He’s been too busy defending the indefensible cuts but he had the decency to come for the last debate to show that he doesn’t understand this bill either

It’s designed to strengthen the executive against a smaller commons, and damage the Labour Party by Blitzkrieg redistribution.

Next the Fixed Term bill to ensure the Tories stay in power for five years however unpopular they get.

Opinions

What motivates 35 “top” business “leaders” to clamour for Tory cuts and denounces Labours plans to halve the deficit.

It can’t be economic sense because the cuts will damage recovery and put people out of work.

It can’t be a concern for the interests of their customers who’ll lose benefits, jobs and income.

It can’t be of concern for their own businesses because demand will fall and growth will slow. It can’t be a prospect of providing new jobs in the private sector – because they’re cutting those!

So what’s behind their grovelling?

They want Knighthoods, fat cat pensions, higher pay for top people like them.

Well done ASDA, B.T., Kingfisher, Carphone Warehouse, Mothercare, Boots, M&S, Diago, Next.

All run by people who’ll  lay down their companies for greed.

Opinions

The PLP dealt you a poor hand in the Shadow Cabinet shower. No reason for turning a problem into a disaster. You should have consulted me. Alan Johnson is wrong for Chancellor. He’s got a good tough law ‘n’ order image. Keep him at the Home Office. Ed Balls is right on the economy. He must be Chancellor. Yvette Cooper is brilliant, give her social security and jobs to fight the cuts. Bring Blunkett back to Education. Of

 It’s disastrous. Too little talent, too few people who voted for Ed in the first place.

There’s now more talent on the backbenches – me, Blunkett, Hain, Darling, Woodward, and Straw. Certainly more power and experience then in the numpty nineteen.  

In other news IPSAs reign continues. They’ve certainly wasted a lot of mine and my staff’s time trying to deal with the new rules. But they’re the new kids on the block and conscious to prove they’re usefulness when quangos are being killed off.

They want me to move my home 80 miles closer to Grimsby. They want a valuation, costing £700, on my London flat. They won’t say for what purpose they want it, and apparently they’re not going to pay for it. My questions about this go unanswered. 

Opinions

Austin Mitchell says: “Whatever Gordon Brown proposes for a quick fix on Pay and Allowances, the issue isn`t going to go away.

Opinions

Dear John

Thank you for your reply dated 12 November on the docks business rating issue. I am grateful for your full explanation of the problem with which you are attempting to grapple and for the efforts you are making to ease a burden which has been inconsiderately and ineptly imposed on port businesses.

Read more: Letter to John Healey November 2008

Opinions

Dear Paul

Thank you for your letter dated 31 October. 

Sorry to upset you.  I`m not really that nasty.  However, I can`t help noting that my desperate pleas to Treasury Ministers for help in a crisis, which was hitting the import of the Icelandic fish we live by on the Humber, got no response for three weeks, and then only a letter telling me nothing.  However, an attack on the Department and a Minister gets a response in three days.  I`ll bear that in mind.

Read more: Letter to Paul Myners

Opinions

Árni M Mathiesen: Hello

Alistair Darling: Hello

Read more: Transcript of conversation between Chancellor and Icelandic Finance Minister

Opinions

Thank you for your reply dated 22 October which comes disappointingly late.  The crisis has passed, resolved by non-Treasury means.

Read more: Letter to Lord Myners - Payments for Imports from Iceland

Opinions

Dave Cameron can’t behave for more than a week. It’s a few days of caring conservatism item back to “cut public spending and fire civil servants”. A few days of rally round in the emergency. Then back to his usual mudslinging. Why? Cos acting as little Sir Echo kept him off telly. So within days it was back to “cut borrowing and Labour’s to blame for the crisis. Not US sub prime, oil price creases or the EU recession.

Read more: No More Mr Nice Dave

Opinions

It's a bit late to say that you're insane to have come here when you could have done a useful job by running a brothel, or a focus group, or even influenced government as a journalist, meeting the great, calling Ministers to account and understanding it all.

Read more: How To Succeed In Politics Without Being Trying

Opinions

Before we can clear up the mess, let`s assess what went wrong.  Greed and gambling in our inflated financial sector did the damage but the lack of effective regulation allowed it to spread out from the badlands of shadow banking.  There the new cowboys: the hedge funds, the private equity capital and the liquidity factories played with new toys: derivatives.  Collateralised Debt Obligations, “structured investment” vehicles and securitisation.  They prospered enormously.

Read more: What Do We Do Now?A Way Out of The Crisis

Opinions

The Council are thinking of dropping the name North East Linconshire and are launching a consultation. As one of the areas MPs I have decided to launch an online consultation of my own.

I also want the views of people who live outside of the area so I have created two polls.

Read more: What is in a name? Vote now!

Opinions

Having put my application to be made PPS to the Fisheries Minister to all of the Leader (1.5 candidates) and Deputy (5.5 candidates), I now stand back as the only disinterested voter and watch the form.

Read more: Blog