Robert Buckland Weblog

Last week’s decision by the Cabinet of Swindon Council to serve notice to withdraw from the Safety Camera Partnership with Wiltshire Police has been described elsewhere as ground-breaking.  The decision, which is subject to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee and approval in Full Council, means that the £330,000 or so spent by SBC on the Partnership [...]

Swindon Community Radio is going from strength to strength and last week, I was delighted to have used an hour of airtime (last Tuesday between 6 and 7pm) to focus on Special Educational Needs as the week’s “Hot Topic”.  In a programme entitled “Every Child Matters – apart from mine!”, local campaigner Deidre Holland and [...]

The last weekend of British Summer Time found me walking the streets of Swindon with my team, delivering thousands of leaflets door to door.  It was concerning to see a number of repossession notices on properties – a sure sign that the recession has started to bite.  An online poll in the Swindon Advertiser about [...]

This weekend’s weather has served to lift my spirits.  I spent an energetic day helping with a mass leaflet delivery in West Swindon, followed by a small clear-up of an overgrown hedgerow in Middleleaze with Shaw and Nine Elms Councillor, Nick Martin.  My thanks to all those who took part; we shifted thousands of newsletters, [...]

There are some weeks when the burden of work becomes almost unbearable and this is one of them.  A particularly heavy case coupled with all the other responsibilities of life is making me tired and a little irritable.  The financial hurricane continues unabated, and we watch as the political and economic assumptions of the last [...]

I was delighted to hear about the resignation of the pusillanimous Sir Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police Commissioner this week.  Even the manner of his going was lamentable.  Instead of taking responsibility for his mistakes and errors of judgement, Sir Ian chose to use the lack of support from Boris Johnson as an excuse.  Once [...]

The fact that members of the United States House of Representatives have to submit themselves for election every two years has a significant impact upon their ability to lead public opinion.  With only a month to go to the elections, the timing of this week’s vote on the £700 billion US Treasury rescue package couldn’t [...]