More centralisation

According to this report in the Guardian

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,1539302,00.html

local libraries may be nationalised.

This is a compltely backward step and once again flies in the face of the Government's claim to believe in decentralisation.

Local authorities are perfectly capabalbe of running their local libraries, and local input should play a big role in a successful local library which should be a community asset.

What they do need is investment. For the past few years local authorities have received no money at all to improve library buildings. Imagine how much could have been achieved if all th money that was wasted on the Dome had been invested across the country in local libraries and museums instead.

Until recently I was responsible for libraries in Oxfordshire. We made a lot of improvemenst despite the lack of capital. A key part in that success was because we encourage local librarians to use their initiative and respond to local need.

If the Government goes down the route proposed in their consultant's report it will be a further diminishment of local democracy and our local liberaries will be poorer for it.

Shoot to kill?

Before coming to the main point I want to make it clear that I have not read all the facts about yesterday's shooting and I am not making assumtpions about the rights and wrongs of this particular incident.

However I was struck by these comments reported in The Times:

Pc Norman Brennan, a campaigner for the victims of crime who has called for all officers to be routinely armed, said the shooting was an unfortunate consequence of being "at war". He said: "The long and the short of it is that this country is at war with terrorists and in war there are casualties. Normally in the majority of cases it is the enemy but innocent people will suffer. I am afraid it is tragic but that is part of any battle.

I am sure the family and friends of those wrongly shot by the Police and armed forces as a result of the 'war' will be delighted to know that they are an 'unfortunate consequence'.

It is utterly counter-productive for the security services to take anything other than the utmost caution in their use of force. Allowing the security services to drop their standards when it comes to use of force will simply exacerbate tensions with minority communities and provide those recruiting terrorists one more message to use.

It is just as wrong for an innocent person to be killed or injured by the security services as it is for them to be killed or injured by terrorists. The only justification for using potentially lethal force is if it is clear that there is an imminent threat to life, and one which cannot be stopped in any other way. Anything less and it is inevitable that the security services will join the terrorists in killing innocent people.

It does nothing for the families and friends of victims of terrorist attacks to know that more innocent people have been killed.

There is a real irony in the description of PC Norman Brennan as 'a campagner for the victims of crime'. He doesn't seem to be campaigning for the victim in this case.

A moving moment today

I happened to be at Buckingham Palace today when the two minutes silence was held.

It was a very moving moment as everybody and everything stopped and many heads were bowed.

I thought about those who had died a week ago and their relatives who have lost them, I also thought about the many thousands who have lost thier lives and loved ones in Iraq, Afghanistan and so many other places because of mindless violence.

I thought about the people I have met and worked with in East Africa, the Balkans and the Baltic and the courage they have shown in coming through such conflict and working for peace, liberty and democracy.

It is a moment I will remember.

And then they changed the guard, which I have never watched before. It was very colourful and cheerful and demonstrated, I thought, that life in London goes on.

Well done Mark Hunter

Just heard the excellent result from Cheadle.

Well done to Mark Hunter and the brilliant Lib Dem by-election team.

The Tories ran a very nasty campaign, even by their usual standards, and it is a very good thing that the electors of Cheadle saw right through it.

Very good article on the Times website by Simon Jenkins about the linkage between the decision to bomb Iraq with the bombings in London. I often disagree with Jenkins about issues but he has been spot on on this issue.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1688040,00.html

I have found listening to a lot of the statements by Blair, Bush and co. quite staggering. It really doesn't seem to occur to them that the pain and suffereing caused to each British or US family killed by a bombing is exactly the same as the pain and suffering caused to so many more families in Iraq and Afghanistan.

First Arnie, now John Major ...

A very honest and convincing piece from John Major in today's Guardian:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1522118,00.html

What is the world coming to?!

Even Arnie gets it

If you had told me five years ago that I would picking up my Independent on Sunday to read a choerent article on the importance of tackling climate change written by Arnold Schwarzeneger I wouldn't have believed you.

But it happened. And he is not alone, several US states and more than 400 town and city mayors have already started work to tackle pollution and emmissions.

Republicans in the Senate even voted against the Bush line.

Surely it is now only a matter of time before Bush has to see sense?

Live 8 - will it make a difference?

I sat and watched Live 8 pretty much all the way through yesterday (other than spending a bit of time ferrying boxes of envelopes around to local Lib Dem helpers).

20 years ago I sat and watched Live Aid with a group of my teenage mates. This time it was with the missus and small children - quitea contrast!

What didn't change for me was the effect. Live Aid was one of the events that motivated me to get involved in politics 20 years ago. I watched the coverage and read the papers and decided that I could not see any reason why so many people should live in abject poverty on a planet where so many others are so rich.

I remember the tears rolling when they played that memorable footage over 'Who's gonna drive you home' by The Cars and the tears were rolling again yesterday when Bob Geldof introduced Birhan Woldu, one of the starving children featured in that film.

There has been a lot of questioning about the effectiveness of Live 8. Isn't Bob Geldof on an ego trip? Why should we listen to rock stars anyway? Will it make a difference?

In my view it is not Live 8 we should be questioning. It is politics and politicians. We should be asking how it is that G8 leaders can possibly fail to take serious action. Why is it that western governments will spend more money this year subsidising their own farmers than the entire total of African debt.

As far as I am concerned Live 8 has already worked. It has got millions of people listening to the arguments and issues. It will energise tens of thousands of people into actively campaigning. And it certainly can't have reduced the chances of the G8 summit achieving something.

And if the issue is important enough to persuade Roger Waters to step on stage with Dave Gilmour after their 24 year grudge, surely a few billion isn't asking too much?

Aliens in London

The new Doctor Who continues to impress as does their amusing use of the internet to promote the show.

http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk/

has it's own amusing take on the Ed Matts photo controversy.

Tory tactics

The Tories seem to be making a bit of habit of getting into trouble in the campaign so far.

First dear Michael got his crime figures wrong:

http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/oxfordshire/archive/2005/03/22/TOPNEWS0ZM.html

Then the Winchester Tory candidate got into trouble over a website:

http://www.thisiswinchester.co.uk/hampshire/echowinchester/news/ECHOWINCHESTER_NEWS_NEWS5.html

And the Tory campaign in Guildford is accused of racism:

http://www.surreyad.co.uk/news/index.html?article15090

And Ed Matts (an amusing chap - I remember him telling me how he wa definitely winning Oxford West & Abingdon and that my County seat was a gonner at the last election) is in hot water in Dorset:

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=628733&host=3&dir=62

And then it's back to dear Michael again - and this time it's MRSA figures that he is exagerating:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4449681.stm

I suppose you can't criticise these hapless PPCs - they are clearly just following the leadership line;-)

(And this is the guy who says Blair can't be trusted!)

From the blogs

A particularly hard-hitting clip on Tim Ireland's excellent Backing Blair site:

http://www.backingblair.co.uk/the_line/

It does contain some disturbing images so please don't view it if you are easily offended.

On a more humerous note:

http://www.gbjab.com/

is very amusing.

The campaign so far ...

I had intended to post regularly on the election campaign so far, but have been too busy. So this a brief round-up.

In the past week or so I have visited several seat we hope to win on May 5th, and overall the mood is very positive.

The highlight for me was visiting Folkestone & Hythe last week where we are running a very strong campaign to unseat Tory Leader Michael Howard. I drove into the seat from the west - through Romney Marsh - traditionally the weaker end of the seat for us. But even here I was greeted by a large number of Peter Carroll' stakeboards. In Folkestone itself the display was very impressive. There were hardly any Howard posters. Our candidate Peter Carroll is getting a lot of help from several Gurkhas - and boy can they deliver leaflets fast!

We are also doing well in seats where we are fighting Labour. The team in Watford are really boyant. It looks like many former Tory voters there have realised that the Lib Dems are the real challengers this time and are switching in droves. A brief visit to Brent East was also very positive - there are already more Sarah Teather boards up than we had by the end of the by-election. She has worked really hard since the by-election and the voters seem to be recognising this.

Another seat we are doing really well in is New Forest East. Again I was met with a very impressive poster display, and the campaign HQ is being deluged with requests for posters, offers of help etc.

Overall the feel is very positive with the Lib Dem vote solid and enthusiastic and voters coming across from both the other parties for poltiical and tactical reasons.

More Who

I'm still feeling very impressed with the new Doctor Who. The reviews seem to be pretty good generally. Even Sara Cox was singing its praises today on Radio One.

Nick Barlow's review says it all:

http://www.nickbarlow.com/blog/index.php?p=296

Anne Milton: Nurse. Mother. Dipstick.

Is the excellent Tim Ireland website which analyses the Conservative Campaign in Guildford, Anne Milton being the Tory candidate there.

The Tories seem to be willing to stoop pretty low to try and win the seat back.

You can find the site at http://www.bloggerheads.com/anne_milton/

I helped the excellent Sue Doughty a lot in the last election and have seen how hard she has worked since. Ms Milton will have to be pretty lucky to win this one.

Other planets have a North as well, you know ...

Well I loved it. Christopher Ecclestone is an inspired choice and Billie Piper an ideal companion. The TARDIS looked great, the production values and writing is fantastic, and there were just enough in jokes to keep the fans happy without detracting from the plot.

Can't wait for next Saturday!

Buy this book

No, don't worry, not another ALDC campaign manual of mine!

My very good friend from University days Mr Daniel Hall has just had his latest novel 'Killigrew and the Sea Devil' published under his pen name Jonathan Lunn.

This is the latest story in the Killigrew series which follows our hero in a seris of swashbuckling adventures that will appeal to lovers of Sharpe, Hornblower and the like.

If you read all his books you will even find a bit part character called 'Fawcett' crop up somewhere ;-)

I should think you can buy it via the Amazon link on the Lib Dem website, it was also on the shelves in Borders and Waterstones last time I looked. Well worth a read.

Library funding

I am delighted to see that a committee of MPs have raised the issue of library capital funding.

At present we have bene given the usual pile of Government targets that we are supposed to try and meet, along with recommended size of library floorspace for any given population, but the Government allocated no capital funding to expand libraries. Nope, not a dime.

In Oxfordshire nearly all our main town libraries are way below the size they should be, because of decades of housing growth.

Despite these constraints I am glad to say that we have ben bucking the national trend of decline and actually getting more people into our libraries, buying more books and lending more out.

We have been able to do some redevelopments by some pretty clever schemes thought up by our staff.

We have just been able to commit funding for a new library in Thame as well, which i am delighted about.

BUT - we are only scratching the surface. With some real cash we could transform out town libraries and turn them into local centres offering traditional library services and much, much more. Libraries should be the base for the delivery of range of council and infromation services. They should have faciltities for every age group - parent and toddler sessions, child and teen sections, homework areas, book clubs, pensioner clubs, IT access and the rest.

Libraries can play a serious role in supporting learning for children and adults, for expanding aspirations and informing and engaging people.

And it wouldn't cost that much to act as a catalyst for real and rapid progress.

The Government claims to want to see all this happen, but they haven't so far put their money where their mouth is.

Tax and spend

I see the Tories (and even Labour occasionally) continue to attack our tax policies, particularly Local Income Tax with shocking tales about how 'middle income' types will be worse off, alledgedly.

They then demonstrate this by showing how the average Headteacher, or households of several young professionals, would pay more than they do now.

Perhaps they ought to look at the IFS website (to which there is a useful link at www.axethetax.org.uk) and see where such people sit on the range of household incomes.

Without giving too much personal information away I was slightly surprised to see just how high up the income scale my household is. I would pay a bit more in LIT than I currently do in Council Tax.

Most households in my ward, families on incomes around or below national average, would pay a lot, lot less though. And quite rightly so.

One of the most shocking things about this Government is that after eight years those on the lowest incomes still pay a bigger share of their income in tax than those eanring the most. If Lib Dem policies move things just slightly in the other direction then this is a policy to be proud of.

And those who harp on about the losers should aquaint themselves with hte facts about what most households actaully live on. It's quite right that headteachers, and other households, in the top 10% of incomes should pay more.

Health matters

I am delighted that health is back at the forefront of the election campaign.

In Oxfordshire we are once again seeing serious problems in the local 'health economy' as the local PCTs struggle with budget problems as the end of the year approaches.

On top of that we have two Minor Injury Units in local Community Hospitals closed currently.

I do hope labour will be able to explain how such things are still happening after eigh years in power.

Not long to wait now ...

Yes, like quite a lot of Lib Dem activists I am getting very excited about the forthcoming battle between the forces of right and reason and the dark side.

That's right, only sixteen days until Doctor Who returns to our screens.

I know this because in an effort to prove that I am as sad as the rest of them I have now downloaded my Doctor Who screen saver!

Whether my children quite understand what they are about to be exposed to I don't know, but we have already moved the sofa a foot forward just in case.