That was the title of a pamphlet which I researched when I worked for Emlyn Hooson QC MP (now Lord Hooson) back in the 1970s. Emlyn had been a top flight barrister, whose cases had included the Moors murders. He always said that this scarring experience convinced him that some people were born with original [...]
Entries from March 29th, 2007
Write to Ruth Kelly
March 26th, 2007 · No Comments · Hands off Herts
Many of you may have seen that the Government’s plans to open up our Green Belt to housing developers may net a single developer £3 billion! Talk about selling Hertfordshire for 30 pieces of silver.
Even if you weren’t in time for the official consultation responses, as well as signing the e-petition I believe it is [...]
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Whoever Thought That New Labour Was About Being Fair?
March 21st, 2007 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
It’s the first day of Spring and budget time again. It is always difficult to make an instant assessment of these occasions – but I think that the abolition of the 10p starting band to fund the headline cut in basic tax rates is very iffy politics.
One of the benefits of the 10p band [...]
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Gordon the Big Engine
March 20th, 2007 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
I was fascinated by Lord Turnbull’s unguarded remarks about Brown the Stalinist in the Financial Times. Fascinated that the former head of the civil service should be so naive as to imagine that anything so sensational would stay off the record – assuming he was being naive… And fascinated by the further insight into what [...]
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Blair, Brown, Cameron and Trident
March 14th, 2007 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
{mosimage}Tonight’s decision to replace Trident was premature. You have to wonder what David Cameron’s hidden agenda is in supporting Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in rushing this decision.
Blair wants his legacy – it says so much about his flaws that he can in successive days promote a reasonably ground-breaking Climate Change Bill and then push [...]
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Two and Three-Quarters Cheers for Gordon and David
March 14th, 2007 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
It’s great that Gordon Brown and David Cameron have got into a bidding war on green issues.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greenest of them all? Well Ming Campbell actually, but I am really pleased that Labour and Conservative parties are now engaging with these issues as well.
I joined Friends of the [...]
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Downing Street e-Petition storms into top five percent in less than two weeks!
March 12th, 2007 · No Comments · Hands off Herts
With over 600 signatures and still rising, our e-petition is now in the top five percent in terms of support on the Prime Minister’s website. Thank you for all those who have signed it.
If you haven’t signed it yet, I’d be grateful if you’d spare 30 seconds to do so. The petition is here. And [...]
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Meeting Lib Dems in Government
March 9th, 2007 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
We took the train (ever conscious of our carbon footprint) up to Edinburgh and back as part of the cycle of university visits. with my oldest son. I was also able to visit the new Scottish Parliament building. It is a remarkable complex of buildings and you can see where all the money went in [...]
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Same old Tory Party, Same old Nasty Party
March 9th, 2007 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
David Cameron can spin the Tories as much as he likes but you only have to scratch the surface to see it’s the same old Tory party.
Frontbencher Patrick Mercer may have been sacked for saying that he had met “a lot” of “idle and useless” ethnic minority soldiers who used racism as a “cover” [...]
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Hints for filling in the official on-line objection form
March 3rd, 2007 · No Comments · Hands off Herts
People including myself find the official on-line objection form very confusing – I fear almost deliberately so.
I hope the following helps.
Under Question 14, the relevants parts of the plan on which you might want to object are:
POLICY SS7 – covering the "strategic review" of the Green Belt round St Albans
POLICY LA2 – covering the eastward [...]
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