Archive for the 'Current Affairs' Category
Midnight in Zimbabwe
June 30th, 2008Swindon’s Veterans’ Week has been a great success. I was very pleased to be present at the Civic Centre on Thursday for a Presentation by the Mayor of Veterans badges to Council employees (plus one or two Councillors!). We are extremely lucky in our Conservative Group to have two former RAF Warrant Officers […]
Walking The Plank
June 15th, 2008Michael Heseltine was right; David Davis’s resignation was a “new thing” in politics. Usually, we have seen it all before in some form or other, but Thursday’s announcement by the Shadow Home Secretary was a genuine surprise to all of us who had not been privy to his thinking in the hours since the Government […]
The great knife debate
May 30th, 2008More coverage of the unlawful use of knives in our society has resulted in yet another public safety proposal, namely a change in the design of everyday kitchen knives to blunt their ends. Apart from causing me great problems when cutting tomatoes, removing the shartp pointed end from kitchen knives misses the real point about […]
The End of The Beginning
May 23rd, 2008A truly great result from Crewe and Nantwich overnight; even if I hadn’t got up to check the result, I would have been awoken by a phone call from one of my Campaign Team at 3am. I think that we had to pinch ourselves to believe that a swing of 17.6% had been achieved. […]
Letting in the Ladies
May 21st, 2008I was unable to be present last night, but as a supporter of previous attempts to make ladies Full Members of the Carlton Club, I was very pleased with the decision of members to change the rules to allow this. Bearing in mind the onset of equality legislation and the Club’s political position, adherence […]
Stooping to be Conquered
May 20th, 2008(From the left: Cllr Graham Cherry, RB and Cllr Dave Sammels)
I have now recovered after a day at the Crewe and Nantwich By-election on Saturday. Joined by Cllrs Dave Sammels and Graham Cherry, we set off at a fairly early hour to get in a day’s campaigning. We were amongst over 500 Conservatives […]
Local Election Notes
May 5th, 2008The Local Elections in Swindon this year were a significant milepost on the way to the next General Election. The omens look good. We secured 53.8% of the vote in South Swindon, with Labour and the LibDems far behind on about 21% each. Turnout was down, which is always depressing, and it does not mean […]
Swindon Council Elections
April 21st, 2008The blogosphere is ever-changing; I note that some of my fellow political bloggers have chucked the habit. My aim was never to post on a daily basis, but to make a contribution every week or so. I am up to my neck in local elections at the moment. Its only ten days […]
Justice for Henry
April 13th, 2008It has taken over three months, but the last of the verdicts in the two trials at Bristol Crown Court that arose from the dreadful events of January 11th 2007 at The Ridgeway School has now been delivered. Sentences will be passed within the next few weeks. The investigation by Wiltshire Police has […]
Having Your Cake and Eating It
April 6th, 2008The start of a new financial year finally brings the baleful effects of the 2007 Budget into force. Gordon Brown’s final flourish as Chancellor was one of the most dishonest moments of his career to date. After ten years spent in complicating the tax system, he dared to declare himself as the great simplifier. He […]
