Is lack of trust in politicans eroding our democracy?

Interesting post from Tim about the continual erosion of the trust (or what's left of it) between politicians and the UK electorate.

This year, as with every other year has been a constant drip of political cronyism, lies and deceit, eroding trust, connection and communication between political leadership and the electorate.anarchyintheuk.com, Sep 2009

Do read the whole post!

Something Rotten in the House of Commons

Watching cross party MPs turn on the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, was somewhat perplexing. On one hand, his lack of leadership was instrumental in allowing recent expenses scandals to take place. On the other, it is hypocritical of MPs to expect one man to take the blame for something they all seem to have been aware of, if not actively involved in; not dissimilar to seeing a gang of criminals blaming their crimes on the chief inspector of their local police force. If only he'd arrested them before they robbed that bank ...

It is impossible to overstate the significance of today's events. If Mr Martin does resign, he will become the first speaker since the 17th century to be forced to do so, and I'm sure the House hope this will draw a line under the whole affair. He will become a high profile sacrifice to placate a public who have lost all confidence in the democratic process and those who administer it. But will it be enough? Do we really believe the entire blame lies at his door? I think not.

The expenses system was drawn up by the very people who so readily abused it, yet, they seriously expect us to believe with one sacking honesty and transparency will be restored. This belief that we can be so easily hoodwinked smacks of extreme arrogance! These are the people we elected to represent us, they do not seem to be doing that. They appear to be more interested in lining their pockets and advancing their own interests, which really isn't good enough. We deserve better!

Politics used to be seen as a form of public service. That may be an old fashioned idea, and it may not have always been true, but that ideal did set the tone of the House; MPs were there to speak for the interests of their constituents, not to further their own. Unless we return to that old fashioned notion the voting public will continue to feel unrepresented and disenchanted with the political process, and that could have far-reaching and disastrous consequences.

Hazel Blears says 'newspapers no substitute for town criers'

Image via Wikipedia

"In a clear reference to the prime minister, who has been ridiculed for his appearance on YouTube, the strongly Blairite cabinet minister says such use of 'new media' by politicians is far less effective than old-fashioned campaigning. 'YouTube if you want to,' she says in an article in today's Observer. 'But it is no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre.' "
Hazel Blears savages Gordon Brown over 'lamentable' failures - The Guardian

While I agree with the central point Ms Blears is trying to make - that politicians need to reconnect with voters - I do think she is denigrating the use of new technology unnecessarily. As other politicians have shown, it can be a valuable tool in the political process. And it's one that will only become more so.

Every year thousands of teenagers who don't really remember a world without social media become eligible to vote. Of course, talking to them is incredibly important. At the same time, given the choice between reading a pamphlet handed out in the street, or watching a video on YouTube, they are nearly always going to choose the latter. The same is true of many older people who make up a significant percentage of users on many networks. A leaflet is easily discarded, if someone has gone to the trouble of clicking a link they are likely view at least a small part of the content the page contains.

To dismiss new methods of campaigning as less effective is very short-sighted; in effect it's giving up the chance to reach people who would not have accepted a leaflet, or talked on their doorstep. It would negate their chance to make an informed vote by denying them the opportunity to hear a range of opinions. While some might argue that these people should take advantage of more traditional methods, I disagree. If they expect us to make the effort to vote for them, politicians should reach out to us using the mediums of our choice!

To come back to my earlier statement; I can see Ms Blears' point, but if new media has proved ineffective, it is not because people don't want to engage with it. It's because it has been used ineffectively.With the exception of some governmental and political Twitter accounts and the e-petitions site, Labour-style new media has been all about them talking at us, there is little interaction which is contrary to it's whole ethos. It's supposed to be a conversation, but I haven't noticed much dialogue.

Sustainable Communities Act launched today

"The Sustainable Communities Act gives new powers to communities and their elected councils to drive government policy to tackle local economic, social and environmental issues. It was supported by 80 national organisations, 300 local organisations, over 1000 parish and town councils and thousands of individuals."

Today sees the launch of the Sustainable Communities Act which was brought in to give local councils and communities to find and implement local resolutions to local problems.  The effects of the act could be quite wide-ranging, but could include initiatives to tackle crime, unemployment and housing; the protection of post-offices, shops, police stations and other other important services; plans to improve or implement local transport systems. You can read more about the act here and here,  you will also find sample letters you can send to your local councillor if you wish to ask your council to get involved.

UK government use anti-terror laws against Icelandic bank

When I first saw this news story I thought I'd misread the headline, but no, it's true. Obviously, people who have invested in Landsbanki would dearly like to get their money back, but still, this seems pretty harsh.

Local councils request guarantees for Icelandic investments

The Times has published a list of local councils which may lose money invested in the Icelandic banking system. I notice my own local authority is among them - is yours?

What are your thoughts about the situation? Are you concerned about possible rises in council tax and/or loss of services. Would you support a government rescue package? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Bored of the US elections?

Pop over here and read Pete's thoughts about our own beleaguered leader who probably wishes dodgy friends and rebellious teenagers were all he had to worry about.

The Story of Thanet's Water

Thanet. It's in Kent which itself is just south of London. Here in this sleepy and largely mismanaged corner of the UK a storm is brewing.

Something called the China Gateway is being proposed. Allegedly the local district council (TDC) are invested in it as are county council (KCC) but it is a privately run venture backed with borrowed money to convert farm land into a warehouse site for Chinese companies.

The two big players are EKO LLP which is a project funded and run by the County and District councils and CGP the private firm that will make most of the money. This has raised more questions than answers and local bloggers are wondering if the authorities are able to keep interests separate. More interesting the company was established only to obtain the Thanet site (and one other) and obtain planning permission on it. If the planning permission fails the company goes bust.

But this build were it to go ahead will bring little or no work to the area. Nor will it bring inward investment from the building work and yet there is strong favour at all official levels. Meanwhile the pubic have an altogether different view.

The proposals involve turning 175 acres of countryside into a huge warehousing development for Chinese electronics on Manston business park.

To start with this project will be housed on top of the islands drinking water. People are upset about this. All the same the project leaders are trying their hardest to not spend money to protect the water supply.

There is a suggestion of increased flooding risk which itself threatens the water supply for the 130,000 people that live there.

A criminal investigation is under way because lost documents that turned up in a TESCO carrier bag show that councillors may have lied bout funding for trips to China. (Indeed other scrutiny suggest other minor misdeeds in this case indicating people not being honest). Word is that local newspapers refused to touch a story that hurt their biggest paying advertiser (the local council). So poor was the local paper's handling of the story that it led to an Assistant Editor at the Telegraph Media Group in London declaring journalism dead in Thanet but for a few blogs in quite earthy language on his blog.

Planning information is still being withheld although public opion is yet to deicide if this is incompetence or deliberate corruption. Vital reports seem to be missing. This is from a local planning committee that is no stranger to suggestions of misdeeds.

The planning application is going to go before the entire District Council by the slim difference of one person's vote on the planning committee.

The roads can not handle the traffic: China Gateway has over 4,000 car parking spaces and 566 HGV parking spaces so they obviously expect considerable extra traffic, the airport has capacity for 400,000 tonnes of freight and 1,000,000 passengers per year, they will have to invent a new word gridlock doesn’t get anywhere near it. says Local Businessman, Michael Child.

The local search engine Thanet Finder has set up a special page on it's blog portal to track the topic of the China Gateway.

Local environmental groups are worried The Kent branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England is against plans for a large industrial estate at Manston, which it believes will eventually expand and encroach on the countryside. says Kent News. Indeed many think it may already be too late after the hugely disruptive "Thanet Earth" project slipped though almost unnoticed only to start causing harm that was somehow not reported anywhere before.

Even Private Eye had a pop at our council over the Tesco Carrier bag mess. Yet despite all signs of back handers and misdeeds (not least of which is the failing to inform the public properly about planning) things continue apace.

Unsurprisingly it was a bit cramped in the hall when a local film maker Christine Tongue called a public meeting on the subject. Even non bloggers are getting a word in and that word is largely "no thanks".

Planning stories like this happen every day in every part of the world. Many go unnoticed by the press and when the press do notice they often say nothing because they don't want to offend the biggest source of money. What will scare you is that just 30% of the people voted in the last election and the suggestion sit that the current power in Thanet was put there by just 18% of the people or 23,500 people which is about the size one would expect for the political party's paid up membership (and their friends and family).

The budget in Thanet is in and it shows that even if those on benefits are treated most roughly the council will have a hard time covering the over spend. The truth is that the local council is not skilled enough to run the area - councillors from other councils point at Thanet's council and laugh. Yet even in more able districts of the UK the story is similar - businesses and authorities silently getting on with developments that any right minded local would oppose.

So what's the answer?

The story of the Tesco carrier bag was broken because a blogger was handed what the paper's refused to touch. Even the Assistant Editor at the Telegraph Media Group in London suggests in his blog that the blog format is the only way forward. Informed and insightful local blogging could be the only power on earth able to slow down the damage the current system is doing. It costs nothing but a little time to blog and you area needs you.

Please note I blog about Thanet but much of my information is sourced from other blogs and news sites and is only as accurate as my sources. I add this now because one or two of Thanet's rich types have got a bit trigger happy with the legal team, as it were.

A Mandate for the Malicious

 The Register are covering the story of John Pinnington, a former headmaster who has lost his job because an enhanced security check revealed unsubstantiated rumours about him.

"A recent landmark ruling by the High Court takes the UK one step closer to becoming an “informant society” along the lines of the former East Germany or Soviet Union."

I have no idea about the veracity of the allegations against Mr Pinnington, but the idea that someone's life can be ruined by little more than tittle tattle is not only shocking, but against everything the UK legal system is supposed to stand for. I have children at school so of course I agree with security checks, but I'm more concerned about dedicated and talented teachers leaving the education system only to be replaced by those who are squeaky clean but otherwise second rate.

Teaching is a poorly paid occupation with, in many cases, a high level of stress and responsibility. At the time of writing, the profession finds it hard to recruit graduates with good degrees. Adding yet another disincentive will only serve to further deter the very people who would be of most benefit to young minds. Why on earth would these people want to teach when they can earn considerably more doing a job which does not expose them to the risk of public humiliation and ruin!

What is (or should be) of concern to us all is the idea that an individual is no longer considered innocent unless proven guilty - a system which has served us well for centuries - instead gossip and spite are seen as proof of guilt. In an ideal world, no one would ever make false allegations against another person. However, out here in the real world people do, even children. The law should serve to protect the innocent from such claims, not to give a mandate to the malicious.

David Davies resigns on point of principle

David Davies, Conservative MP and shadow home secretary has resigned following the government victory in the 42 day detention vote.

"He told reporters outside the Commons: 'I will argue in this by-election against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government.'"

Read the full story

Further Reading on the Great Data Debacle

Contributor Matt, has been promising to post his article about the recent loss of child benefit data by Revenue and Customs, but he is a naughty blogger and hasn't. So, here pop over and read it here. Then, take a look at his post discussing the wider implications of the data debacle, and the technological side of the proposed id card scheme.

Sheer Incompetence

The personal details of 25 million people have been lost by the Revenue and Customs department. Those numbers include almost every child in the country, along with the bank details and national insurance numbers of their parents. And this government seriously expect us to trust them with our data when they launch their id card scheme!

Judge not, lest ye be judged

A leaked document published in The Times yesterday outlines a government proposal to encourage council employees, doctors and charity workers to inform the authorities about anyone they believe may, possibly, be violent.

What a great idea! Lets not worry about silly, little things like evidence, or being innocent until proven guilty, lets just lock up anyone who looks a bit funny, or acts in a manner we don't agree with. It doesn't matter if they haven't actually done anything illegal, it's best to be on the safe side. And I'd like to get the ball rolling with the following tip off.

I have discovered that an organised group in this country have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people over the last few years. None of the group's members are in the least bit sorry for this. In fact, several have stated that they feel a sense of pride and would happily do the same thing again. Clearly, this bunch have a major capacity for violence. The leader even admitted that he believed God had made him commit these acts. Now, if that isn't a sign of mental illness I don't know what is. 

If the powers that be wish to curb the activities of this gang they will find them hanging around Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament. Well, all except the above mentioned leader, he has fled the country.

The Stealthy Erosion of our Civil Liberties

Writing for the Comment is Free section of the Guardian, Henry Porter discusses the current UK government's track record on civil liberties - or, more accurately, the apparent removal of many of our freedoms by stealth.

I feel quite strongly about this subject, and have written about it in the past. I'm not a great believer in conspiracy theories, and I don't spend my time fretting that the government is out to get me, but, this gradual erosion of basic rights and liberties - which go back centuries in some cases - is deeply worrying. Maybe, this government are telling the truth and are only doing these things because they believe they will protect the people of this country. Maybe, they would never dream of using these powers for any malign purpose, but that doesn't mean a future, less ethical government would behave in the same wa.

We are in danger of losing freedoms our forebears fought long and hard for, and sadly, a large number of people seem to be prepared to let this happen. Some, are simply unaware of the situation, others feel it's all for the greater good. 'If you have nothing to hide . . .' they say. To them I ask this: If you have nothing to hide, why do you have curtains at your windows? Why don't you tell every Tom, Dick and Harry your PIN? Why don't you discuss your entire medical history with the queue at the bus stop? Is it possibly because some things are private?

The issue isn't whether anyone has anything to hide. It's a simple matter of living free from state monitoring and interference. Or, to put it another way: When you get up in the morning you put on clean knickers/pants, you wouldn't expect your mother to come around to your house to check you had. If she did you would feel very silly, and rather offended. Surely, she should trust you as a grown adult to put clean underwear on in the morning? Well, yes she should, and the government should trust us all to behave like responsible citizens too! The money spent on badly designed and intrusive schemes would be better spent on more police officers to enforce the laws we already have.

In my previous post I quoted Shami Chakrabarti, I'll repost the quote here because I think it is pertinent.

"If you throw live frogs into a pan of boiling water, they will sensibly jump out and save themselves. If you put them in a pan of cold water and gently apply heat until the water boils they will lie in the pan and boil to death. It's like that." - Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty

If, like me, you would rather not go down the boiled frog route, try the following links:

• No2ID – campaigning against id cards and a state database.
• Charter 88 - campaign for a fair democracy.
• Liberty - UK civil liberties and human rights organisation.
• The Big Opt Out - campaign to protect the confidentiality of medical records.
• Leave The Kids Alone - campaigning to end the practice of finger-printing children in schools.
• The outcome for the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Call me old fashioned about education and the Labour leadership

The Local Education Authority (LEA) in Brighton and Hove have introduced a lottery system as a way of allocating places at over-subscribed schools. Supporters of the move say it will bring an end to the system of a child’s education depending on their postcode. Detractors, many of whom are parents who deliberately moved to live close to popular schools say it is unfair.

Will it work? Possibly. Will it be any more fair than the existing system? Probably not. After all, it is likely that a number of brighter children will now find themselves being educated at schools which are some distance from their homes, and which are not of the same standard as their local establishments. However, here’s a novel idea - instead of targets, initiatives and the reworking of existing systems, why don’t the Education Department make a genuine attempt to bring all schools up to an acceptable standard? Of course, that would require real investment and a return to the days when teachers were employed to teach, not to fill in forms, meet targets and juggle ever increasing levels of bureaucracy, so it will probably never happen.


Former government ministers, Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke (Remember him? He was the Home Secretary who looked like Big Ears.) have spoken out against the Chancellor Gordon Brown - most likely successor to Tony Blair - warning of a defeat for Labour at the next election. The duo have launched a website where Labour supporters can discuss the future of the party. I have to say I agree with some of their points. What exactly are Gordon Brown’s policies? Does he have any? And why is it such a foregone conclusion that he will succeed Blair anyway? Shouldn't there be some kind of election with a variety of candidates, or is that just a silly old fashioned notion?

New Poll: Troop withdrawal timetable

Margaret Becket, the UK foreign secretary announced this week that British troops could be withdrawn from Iraq as early as next spring. What do you think? Is it too soon? Not soon enough? Should it include Afghanistan?

Vote in the poll which you will find in the sidebar, and air your opinion by leaving a comment here.


ps: you can find the result of the last poll (Labour leadership) in the post below.

Laws to silence bloggers...

This article is based on another written by me entitled: UK council member banned from blogging. In that article I reported how Thanet District Council had silenced councillor David Green for the simple act of blogging.

The power to do such a thing comes from something called the Standards Board for England. This will go some way to explaining the appearance of this post at the councillors blog:

The full text of The closure notice

This blog is closed for the time being.

The author is under threat by the administration at Thanet District Council of referal to the Standards Board for England over certain remarks made that were critical of the Council and its actions.
These were:

Remarks on this blogsite that criticized the proposals for Ramsgate and Margate Libraries.

The "tone" of an email that criticized the actions of the Chair of Council in refusing to allow questions to Cabinet members at Council meetings.

Remarks on another blogsite cricizing failure to publish the detailed reasons behind the collapse of Turner Offshore.

The author belives that these were nothing more than acceptable political comment, but is obtaining advice.

If you look to the wikipedia for any input it will tell you this (and a bit more no I've added a few edits).

The Standards Board for England was set up under the Local Government Act 2000. It enforces the code of conduct for English local authority councillors, which all local authorities are required to have. Members of the public can complain to the Board if they believe a councillor has breached the code.wikipedia

However, I think you will find this bloggers description just a little more enlightening.

what is the Standards Board of England, well this is a piece of nonsense ironically by that highly respected Labour figure, John Prescott, which to be honest I had never heard of, and is meant to police ethical standards in local government, outlawing as an example car owning councillors from discussing parking schemes.
Big News Margate

It boils down to a way to cripple local councils and to remove every elected representative who stood on a particular issue.

Effectively if I seek election on the issue of parking fines the one thing I can not vote on is parking fines.

This is indeed a fine way to remove all opposition by radical "independent candidates" and those with well established views.

The Deputy Prime Minister is accused today of undermining local democracy and stifling free speech by imposing "draconian" rules on thousands of councillors.
telegraph.co.uk

To abuse a quote: They take our votes and we fall back, they take or freedom and we fall back, they take our right to free speech and we "fall back"! No more! The line must be drawn here. This far and no further!

It is rumoured that Cllr Green directly accused the Council of corruption (something that I have been saying on my Thanet related blogs since 2004). So they invoke the Standards Board and silence him.

It seems while we were all napping the UK government has taken the same path as the US into anarchy but with an added form of paranoid dictatorship.

There is particular concern about the board's belief that councillors should not be allowed to debate a subject if they have already made up their minds on the issue — the crime of "predetermination."
telegraph.co.uk

Once it was the UK that was the leading example of democracy for half the world. Now we are an example of power gone mad.

In another example, John Pickersgill, a member of Derwentside council in Co Durham, organised a local referendum on plans to build more wind turbines in his ward. His survey found that four out of five local people opposed the proposals.
telegraph.co.uk

I have no shame in saying the UK government scares the **** out of me.

Fortunately I was able to announce at thanetcouncil.info the return of Mr Green to blogging but without another word on the gagging. I wonder if his right to speech is not so free as it should be.

Further reading: here

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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill and the Germans...

The "Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill" bares an uncanny resemblance to another bill passed prior to World War 2.

The Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz in German) was passed by Germany's parliament (the Reichstag) on March 23, 1933. It was the second major step after the Reichstag Fire Decree through which the Nazis obtained dictatorial powers using largely legal means. The Act enabled Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his cabinet to enact laws without the participation of the Reichstag.

-- Enabling Act, wikipedia

Having written to Mr R. Gale (my MP) I have gotten a reply. I asked him for his views on the subject but instead I got copies of the current paperwork on the topic.

I shall have to assume that this means that he is calling a safety and not voicing an opinion.

"...you will note that Her Majesty's opposition - which of course I am a member - made stringent efforts to oppose the offensive sections of the Bill but the government has of course used its majority to force many measures through..."
Roger Gale MP

He claims that the Labour party used it's majority to force the issue. This "majority" is so slight that they require the support of the Conservative party to be sure to get a bill through (especially if the "back benchers" revolt).

So what's going on here? Have Labour suddenly found power that commentary has over looked or are the big three secretly in favour of this bill?

Mr Gale voted against the Bill during it's third reading on 16 May 2006 (He also voted against ID cards on 16 & 21 Mar 2006).

I doubt, then, that this issue of what is happening on a party political scale reflects directly on Mr Gale but it gives me cause to worry nonetheless.

Catch up on the issues here and here. This article contains substansive text taken from another article by the same author found here.

Who should be the next Labour leader? Have your say

Spadger recently posted about the question of who should be the next leader of the Labour party, and therefore the next PM, at least for a while anyway. At the moment, Gordon Brown is the favourite to succeed Blair, but is he necessarily the best man for the job? Is he your choice, or would you prefer someone else? Maybe, you would like to see a younger candidate, or do you think a more mature politician would serve us best?

If you have an opinion about the subject why not vote in our latest poll, you will find it in the sidebar on the right. If your choice isn't mentioned, pop back to this post and leave a comment.

Update: the poll is displaying a little oddly, but it seems to work ok.


Technorati Tags: vote+for+next+labour+leader, gordon+brown, labour+party, labour+leadership+elections

PM is a job, not a title!

Prime Minister Blair. If I hear/read those words once more I think I will scream. He is not Prime Minister Blair. PM is his job not his title. If he were a baker or a newsagent he wouldn't be known as Baker Blair, or Newsagent Blair, so why do some people insist on giving him a presidential style title. (OK we all know he would probably like one, but he doesn't have one.)

He is not the head of state, he is the (current) leader of the Labour party and due to the success of said party in recent general elections, he is the PM. When he steps down as leader, the Labour party will still be in power because the British public did not vote for Prime Minister Blair, but a significant number did vote Labour.

Oh, I feel so much better now :-)


Technorati Tags: tony+blair, prime+minister+blair, the+labour+party, uk+politics, uk+government