Canvassing in Weybridge

 It’s not often you get 2 Cabinet ministers canvassing next door to each other – here with Theresa May is local Weybridge MP Philip Hammond !

Theresa May with Surrey CC Leader David Hodge.

  . . . and me admiring David’s hair without his hat on. . . . .

Baroness Thatcher passes away

I attended two functions with Mrs T ; didn’t get to speak to her at either one! But I did get tickets to see her live at PMQs (I went as a student in London with a friend) before it was regularly televised, a commanding performance.

She had just got back from USSR doing business with Gorbachev, and Kinnock had come back from USA, where Reagan had mistaken Healey for the UK Ambassador and gave Labour only 20 minutes. . . . .

Conservatives in Eastleigh . . . !

 The last by-election candidate I had a photo taken with went on to win, and hold the seat at the General election (Chloe Smith)…

So good luck to Maria tonight, there’s a number of different results possible!

Update: Unfortunately, despite a 14% drop in the LibDem vote, they managed to hang on

Council Tax 2013/4

 We have announced a further reduction (-3%) in Council Tax for 2013/4. This has been achieved by hard work in finding savings that do not remove services from the front line, and often, improve services by doing better for less. Other Berkshire Authorities are either raising Council Tax or freezing. We will be clearly the best value for money in the county, and we remain the lowest Council Tax outside Central London. Our reserves are also at new higher levels thanks to in-year savings in 2012/3.

 

Since 2007 we will have reduced Council Tax in real terms by over 20% and put £16 million back into the Borough’s economy versus the position had we simply frozen Council Tax in the last four years.

Cameron’s European Speech

I am pleased that the Prime Minister has lanced the boil of uncertainty and given proper focus to this issue. Local authorities often find European directives and legislation restrict their ability to act effectively in the public interest, creating a lot of avoidable red tape and bureaucracy as a result of all the regulations issued from Brussels. In turn, these can end up being gold plated in the UK, making the problem even worse.

These are tough times; Britain needs a fresh settlement to allow it and Europe to succeed in this increasingly competitive world.

Maidenhead Food Bank

 Visited Maidenhead’s Food Bank just before Christmas – they were stocked full and yet need more space – we’re doing what we can to locate some better premises.

It does go to show that the welfare state isn’t working terribly well when there’s a rising need, as there has been for the last few years, for direct food charity from local people to those who can’t afford to properly feed themselves and their families – and this in a pretty well-off part of the country.

2013 can be a year of the reality check, when the important things are recognised and the less important are put in their proper place.

 

Pinup of the Year 2012

Vote for me!

Vote !

Someone pointed out that I’m the only one who has reduced the burden on taxpayers; the others merely wish it were so!

Update : I came a very respectable third . . . .

Like London Buses

you wait ages for a blog post, then two come along all at once…..

A fascinating comment here : http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2012/11/seven-out-of-eight-trying-to-adopt-are-thwarted.html#more

about the different standards being applied for child protection, fostering and adoption by local authorities

I know of a woman who locked her baby in the washing machine and was able to keep them for a further couple of years before her drug taking took her over the limit.

When being assessed for adoption we were told that we needed to iron our bed sheets…

Time to put the child first?

With reference to EU budget negotiations

It’s pretty clear that Germany and the UK are in fact on similar courses in respect of the EU budget. Merkel faces elections soon and her folk are tired of bailing out Greeks and others with their hard earned Euros. That said, I’m amused at the european coverage of the EU budget negotiations.

The auto-translation of the Bild story runs like this :

“But neither Merkel nor French President François hollande admit to already satisfied – also by British Prime Minister David Cameron is massive resistance pre-programmed.”

Massive resistance pre-programmed. Fantastic stuff.

I think sometimes native journalists could be stimulated by the literal German approach. Good luck to DC and hope he returns with a result!

Further to my previous post – how is Whitehall doing….?

As if to lay bare the performance of Government, only when faced with court action to work through the awarding of a huge rail tender, does it transpire that Ministers haven’t been able to give the whole picture to the country.

Would have liked to have been in on the meeting when the new Secretary of State was told about the enormously costly and messy fiasco in his own new department.

Allister Heath has a way with words on this one, comparing how public sector cock-ups are dealt with far more indulgently than those in the private sector.

G4S to run the DfT anyone? Or Capita, Serco, PwC, KPMG, RBWM?