Archive for March 2010

Moran on ‘Dispatches’: My immediate reaction is anger

I watched tonight’s Channel 4 dispatches programme which showed the MP for Luton South, Margaret Moran, effectively being interviewed for a job with a fake lobbying firm, despite the fact that she is officially “off sick” and hasn’t attended the House of Commons since last April. I watched and I got angry. Even though I more or less new what was going to be in it and was not at all surprised at any of its revelations. I still got angry.

What can you make of a politician “too sick” to attend and play her part in the law making body to which she has been elected – a politician “too sick” to serve her constituents, to meet with them, turn up to constituency events and represent their interests – but a politician apparently not “too sick” to attend a job interview with a lobbying firm? What can you make of it but be very very angry.

But we shouldn’t just direct our anger at Margaret Moran, as self-serving and disreputable as she is. Don’t let anyone try to convince you that she is just one rotten apple in the barrel. The black sheep in an otherwise snowy white flock As much as she should be held responsible for her own misdeeds, her outrageous expense claims, she is also a symptom of both a rotten political party and a rotten system that let her get away with it.

The Labour Party in Luton have had plenty of opportunity to distance themselves from Moran. To condemn her actions. To take action against her. Liberal Democrats in Luton have provided some of those opportunities, through council motions and questions, to give Luton Labour politicians a chance to go publicly on record. Yet every time they stood behind her. Only very recently would they admit to the mildest of criticisms of her, and even then I suspect only as result of pressure brought about by the coming general election.

Remember also that Moran isn’t the only Luton Labour politician to profit from allowances and expenses while failing to fulfil the public duties they were elected to do (‘No-show councillor sacked‘).

But the Labour party nationally should be condemned for giving someone like Moran the opportunity to build a political career. Remember that the Labour Party at one time saw fit to make this woman a Government Whip, responsible for the conduct and behaviour of other MPs!

But more important than getting angry at the Labour party, is to get angry about the corrupt political system that they support. It is the way we do politics in this country that provides the space for people like Moran to gain positions of power and influence. So we should get angry about the way vested interests fund our politics. We should get angry at the way our unfair electoral system distorts the national debate, denies voters choice, and distances politicians from their electorate. Get angry with the way the establishment parties fight against transparency and openness. We should get angry and then work for, vote for, change.

OK, rant over. I feel better for that.

22nd March 2010 22:36 3 Luton, Politics

Final comments on the Dorries / Rantzen spat

Over the weekend the Rhodes / Rantzen / Dorries story rumbled on in the Tory press. Esther gave her account to the Daily Mail: “I thought TV was a nest of vipers… until I moved into politics“. The Sunday Express claimed that Rhodes left BBC Three Counties Radio before he was pushed: “Esther Rantzen’s Election Rival Faced Job Axe“. And there was speculation about the true motives behind the Telegraph splashing with the story.

I’ve got rather bored with this nonsense. The fuss seems to be no more than an unfortunate combination of over inflated egos and game playing by parts of the national media. The claims and counter claims have very little to do with the people of Luton South and the problems they face. So I will make some, hopefully, final comments on this and then move on.

A slightly pedantic point but Nadine Dorries’ constituency is not “next door” to Luton South as I have seen claimed in a number of the articles this week. It isn’t that far away but the two constituencies do not share a boundary. “Near by” would be a more accurate description.

The only real serious political point arising from this silly row, other than confirming my prejudices against independent candidates, is the background of Tory concerns that Esther is eating into their support. This is supported by the claims made by Rantzen in her Daily Mail article;

“The Tories certainly never wanted me there. On my very first day in the constituency, I was told to my face by Tory candidate Nigel Huddleston that if I stood, I would split the anti-Labour vote.”

I am happy for the Conservatives to get their knickers in a twist over Esther, but I would suggest that it is the Liberal Democrats that they should be worried about.

22nd March 2010 11:20 0 Luton, Politics

How Liberal / Authoritarian are Luton’s MPs?

At party conference last weekend Liberal Democrat Voice launched their new website, ‘How Liberal / Authoritarian is your MP? ‘ which has the simple aim of providing an easy way for the public to find out online how liberal or authoritarian are the views of their MP according to his or her voting record in parliament.

Their explanation goes like this:

“Liberal Democrat Voice has identified 10 key votes from the 2005-10 Parliament in order to rank all MPs according to how liberal or authoritarian their record is. All MPs are marked out of 100: the higher their score the more authoritarian they are. The lower their score the more liberal is their voting record.”

So how do Luton’s two MPs do?

Kelvin Hopkins scores a reasonable 23/100 having gone the liberal way in all but two of the key votes. Not perfect, but could have been a lot worse.
Margaret Moran scores an authoritarian 62/100. Which I suspect would have been a lot worse if she had bothered to turn up to half the votes that she missed. Why am I not surprised?

19th March 2010 12:16 0 Luton, Politics

More on Nadine versus Esther

This is all starting to get a bit soap opera, and more than a little uncomfortable, but here are links to the latest on the fall out for Nadine Dorries MP and Esther Rantzen from television presenter Stephen Rhodes declaration of his intention to stand as an independent in Luton South.

The Telegraph has followed up their original article by digging up comments about Rantzen made by Dorries after they “clashed” while both appearing on the BBC’s Question Time programme in December 2008; “Tory MP Nadine Dorries’s scorn for Esther Rantzen: ‘a bully who thinks she’s a star’“.

The Daily Mail has joined in with “Tory MP Nadine Dorries ‘in plot with BBC DJ to stop Esther Rantzen being elected’“.

And this is how the local press is reporting the Telegraph’s story; “Radio presenter and Tory MP accused of ‘anti-Esther plot’“.

19th March 2010 02:17 0 Luton, Politics

Rhodes, Rantzen and the Nadine Dorries connection

I am not really sure what to make about this latest development in the Luton South election. The Telegraph today is running with a story about the connection between the newly declared independent candidate, radio presenter Stephen Rhodes, and the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, Nadine Dorries. Apparently, neither of them have much time for Esther.

18th March 2010 03:07 0 Luton, Politics

Twitter

I have finally given in to something that I have been trying to avoid for a long time.

Unconvinced by certain evangalists that it was the solution to almost everything and with a contrary desire to avoid following the herd I thought I could stay away from it indefinately. I was naive. It’s powerful pull was too strong.

Yes, I have signed up to Twitter.

You can find me at: http://twitter.com/andymstrange

To be fair I can see the logic of the service and how it can play a useful role in my ongoing project to simplify my online life.

Still it did take a stern talking to – thanks Helen – for me to realise that I would have to bow to the inevitable. I’ve just now got to start joining it up to my other online services.

17th March 2010 20:09 0 Geek Stuff

“We’ll be the change that works for you”

The Liberal Democrats have released their election campaign song, “We’ll be the change that works for you” by The LD Community Choir.

It is available for download from iTunes at:

www.itunes.co.uk/theldcommunitychoir (you will need to have iTunes installed to use this link)

I will make no further comment other than “let’s get it to No. 1!”.

17th March 2010 17:00 3 Miscellany, Politics

Another independent joins the fight to be Luton South’s next MP

Stephen Rhodes, a presenter on BBC Three Counties Radio, has today announced he is to run as an independent candidate for the Luton South seat at the general election. That is according to local news sources: ‘Radio presenter to stand as election candidate‘.

This brings the number of independents with the declared intention of standing in Luton South up to four. With the three main parties, UKIP and the Greens that all adds up to a lot of choice for the residents of the constituency.

According to Wikipedia one of his qualifications for representing Luton in Parliament, alongside an admitedly successful broadcasting career, is being “the voice of Family Fortunes from 1987 until 1999″ and a stand in for Richard Madeley.

16th March 2010 21:24 1 Luton, Politics

Some photos from Spring Conference

I’ve been busy catching up with stuff since getting back from Birmingham on Sunday. Conference was very enjoyable and my impression was that it was also politically successful. Not yet managed to write about some of the interesting things that came out of it. But I did have my camera with me, so to give you a flavour of the weekend, here is a somewhat random selection of photos of politicians making speeches.

View these photos on Flickr.

16th March 2010 16:03 2 Politics

In Birmingham for Lib Dem conference

I am in Birmingham for the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference this weekend.

The Conference just before a general election is always a bit different. Many people who are usually here are back working in their constituencies. The level of policy debate diminishes as the party concentrates on making it’s pitch to the voters. There are no key policy changing debates. No serious rows in the conference hall. Instead a, hopefully clear and persuasive, articulation of our election themes.

My key impressions so far are that Birmingham works really well as a party conference venue. The prices are reasonable and not as extortionate as they sometimes are at these things.

Second that the level of media coverage is higher than I was expecting. A good sign. I’ve seen Newsnight’s Michael Crick out canvassing the views of conference goers. ITV are filming in the lobby of the conference hotel.

I did end up sitting behind Nick Clegg during Vince Cable’s, very good, speech this morning. I was in a direct line with the leader and the TV camera. So I may have ended up on telly myself!

13th March 2010 15:07 1 Politics

Review: Michael Cockerell’s ‘The Great Offices of State’

I’ve just finished catching up on, courtesy of iPlayer downloads, the BBC 4 documentary series ‘The Great Offices of State‘ filmed by journalist Michael Cockerell. Unfortunately the series is no longer on iPlayer so you will need to look out for the repeats if you want to watch it.

The series consisted of three programmes each looking, as the name suggests, at the three great offices of the British state; the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the Treasury. It made good use of archive footage and interviews with the key players, both ministers and civil servants, to look at the history of those departments from the 1970′s to the present day.

I do like the documentaries that Cockerell makes. They are well filmed, intelligent and have an appealing sympathy for the subtleties and humanity of politics. On top of this is the amazing access he gets. This was no exception. Where I do have a criticism is that they can be a little light on analysis. Fortunately, in this series we had Peter Hennessy to fill in.

So what did we learn?

Firstly, that tensions between politicians and civil servants are inevitable, but that most of the time these are of the friendly, respectful, necessary, and appropriate kind.

Secondly, that each department, each organisation, has its own culture, traditions and character. Politicians would be wise to understand and respect these – if not always to totally go along with them.

Some ministers are better than others – politicians are not all the same – but that this is not a function of party. (Oh and that David Blunkett is an arse, but then I already knew that.) Also that some senior civil servants are better than others and they are not as dull as the stereotype would suggest.

That the Home Office is a troubled organisation tackling an impossible agenda and has declined in influence, but that the recent split that took away many of its functions and created the Ministry of Justice was probably a mistake.

That the Foreign Office, has also declined in power, losing out to the office of the Prime Minister. This has meant a decline in the influence that the FO’s way of doing things has on policy. This is probably also a bad thing. The Iraq war etc.

That the Treasury, the oldest of the great offices, remains the big beast in Whitehall with huge amount of knowledge and power. But that it is a cautious institution and not necessarily at its best in a crisis.

Finally, we learnt that Chancellors fall out with their Prime Ministers, that Foreign Secretaries get out ranked by their Prime Ministers, and that Home Secretaries resign.

9th March 2010 21:48 0 Politics

Times article on Esther Rantzen

This morning The Times has got another one of those puff pieces on Luton South independent candidate Esther Rantzen – “Esther Rantzen faces formidable obstacles to win over Luton“. It also includes a 2 minute video of Esther on the campaign trail.

The article is not as annoying as the Telegraph article I wrote about last week. It has a more realistic view of Esther’s chances in the election, is only rude about Luton in an incidental manner, and doesn’t mention funny shaped vegetables. It also sums up the Margaret Moran situation well:

“Margaret Moran, Luton South’s Labour MP, had few peers when it came to snouts in the parliamentary trough. She managed to “flip” her second home three times in four years, lavishing taxpayers’ money on each and claiming £22,500 for treating dry rot in her partner’s house 100 miles from her constituency. Unfortunately, just as Ms Rantzen declared her candidacy last May, Ms Moran announced that she would not stand again and has not been seen in Luton or Westminster since.”

However, while the journalist does mention the Labour and Conservative candidates, the article again fails to mention the Liberal Democrats at all. Which given the reality of the situation in the seat is ridiculous. Maybe I am expecting too much from The Times. They are after all part of a journalistic establishment that can’t help but see the world through a binary Labour/Tory perspective.

One final thought. Watching the video I am struck by Esther’s genuine enthusiasm for the election campaign and her enjoyment in getting out and about and meeting people. What is not at question, at least, is her commitment.

9th March 2010 11:26 1 Luton, Politics

Geek or nerd?

The description I have given this blog in an attempt to succinctly sum myself up is;

“The blog of Andy Strange; lutonian, liberal activist and occasional geek.”

The first two descriptive terms are understandable and accurate. But what of the third? I confess to having a moment of doubt. Am I really an occasional geek? Perhaps I am actually an occasional nerd? What is the difference between the two?

I consulted the internet in order to help me to define my terms.

Unsurprisingly the internet disagreed with itself. However, it did seem to agree that both terms are associated with people of high intelligence who have an intense interest and knowledge of a particular subject or field of study. It also agreed that this was accompanied with a lack of social skills. Please note that I qualify each term with ‘occasional’ when applying them to myself.

However, it does seem that the term ‘geek’ is more often associated with an interest and knowledge of technology, especially computer technology. Which is what I was intending to convey.

So that’s all right then.

I did rather like the definition of ‘geek’ given by the Urban Dictionary;

“The people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult.”

Also I have learnt that, whether you are a geek or a nerd, the key things is not to be a ‘dork’!

8th March 2010 15:38 0 Geek Stuff

The Best of Luton

At yestersday’s Luton Cultural Services event I also met Jim who runs the ‘The Best of Luton‘ website. This resource aims to be a directory of best businesses in the town. So I thought I’d give him a bit of a plug.

3rd March 2010 15:40 0 Luton

Happy 2nd birthday Luton Cultural Services Trust

Yesterday I attended a wonderful event to celebrate the second anniversary of the formation of the Luton Cultural Services Trust.

This independent charitable organisation was formed by Luton Borough Council to run Luton’s libraries, museums, and arts service and to promote the cultural life of the town. Tuesday’s event – ably hosted by the Trust’s Chair, Nick Gibson, and Chief Executive, Maggie Appleton – showcased the work that the Trust has been doing across the town over the past two years and gave partners an opportunity to talk about their experiences of working with the Trust. We had a very mixed range of contributions including from a local theatre group, a local GP, the British Museum, animated video and a brilliant poetry recital from a ten year old user of the town’s libraries.

I have been involved with the Luton Cultural Services Trust from the very beginning, something which I will write about in more detail at some point, but even I was impressed by the breadth and extent of the Trust’s activities. Activities which also mirror the diversity and vibrancy of Luton. The work that the Trust does is really fantastic and I am very proud to be associated with it.

Also attending the event were three of the candidates for Luton South; Liberal Democrat candidate Qurban Hussain, Esther Rantzen (although she had to leave early), and independent Joe Hall.

3rd March 2010 11:41 2 Luton