29/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Ordinary British Decency
Prime Minister’s Questions today brought up the important issue of the Gurkhas. I was pleased to see David Cameron give Gordon Brown both barrels over this because the current state of affairs is just plain evil. I was also surprised to find that Nick Clegg, somebody for whom I generally have little time for, made the most poignant statement and it was this:
“Simple ordinary British decency means that soldiers who were prepared to die for this country must be allowed to live in this country.”
He is quite right. It’s so obvious that I wonder how anybody can even argue about it? This one doesn’t need debate. It needs action. Right now. If for no other reason than to prove the government still remembers what Simple Ordinary British Decency is.

20 MPH Or Bust
The Local Liberal Democrats are once again on their high horses, this time over the idea to reduce speeds on our roads to 20MPH in towns and villages. Sadly, this is a clear example of what is so wrong with Liberal Democrat thinking. Their first impulse when dealing with any problem is to slap a law, or a rule, or a regulation on it. Aren’t they supposed to be the party of liberalism?  Anybody with any common sense would agree that dangerous driving is a problem that must be dealt with and that slower speeds almost certainly equal less danger. But where do we draw the line? Why not 10 Miles Per Hour? Or Five Miles Per Hour? Or two miles per hour while a man walks in front of the car waving a flag and tooting a horn? In the end, you can reduce speeds as much as you like, but if there’s no enforcement of those speeds it is nothing more than words and hot air.

I put it to you, dear reader, that if people actually kept to the current 30MPH speed limit, drove sensibly with proper care and attention and avoided using mobile phones, sat navs and other distractions while managing their cars that would go a long way to reducing accidents too. The Highways Agency used to tell us in their adverts: “It’s Thirty For A Reason.” According to the Lib Dems they should have reasoned a bit longer. There is a place for a 20MPH speed limit; alongside schools for instance. I worry that if we give the Lib Dems a free run on this they’ll keep slowing and slowing and slowing us down until we’d get there faster on a Tonka toy (and safer too, those Tonkas take some breaking.)  I’m just saying, before we begin knee-jerk legislation and enforcement, couldn’t we think about making the current system work properly?

Dawn Chorus Day
I tend to work pretty late hours quite often and its not unusual for me to be going to bed at about the time dawn breaks.  The happy chirping of the birds can be annoying when all you want is to snatch a few hours sleep.  Of course, that’s a blinkered view of what is actually a rather wonderful phenomenon.  Nature, having laid still during the dead of night, wakes up and bursts into song to mark the start of a new morning.  Which is precisely what Dawn Chorus Day is all about.  The brainchild of town park champion John Smith and in association with the Friends Of Wisbech Park, we are all being invited to come and experience the Dawn Chorus in all its glory, eyes wide with excitement.  On Sunday May 3rd, at 3.45AM (that’s the crack of dawn this Sunday for the chronally-challenged) many local people will be gathering in Wisbech Town Park for a tiny adventure amidst the urban spawl.  I can’t claim to be a bird-watcher or a person who spends much time getting up close and personal with nature, but I’m certainly going to attend.  The world wakes up and sings.  Can you think of a better cure for our current economic malaise than that?  They’re even throwing in a free bacon roll for everybody who attends.  Now that is nourishment for the soul.

Click HERE to see the Dawn Chorus Day poster which has all the details and HERE to book a place!  I’ll see you there!

The Small Print (legally required during election campaigns.)
Published by Mrs D N Clark on behalf of Steve Tierney both of 111 High Street, March, Cambs PE15 9LH.

Posted in Liberal Democrats, Parliament, Wisbech, Conservatives | No Comments »

27/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Vote Blue On June 4th
If you live in the Roman Bank & Peckover County Division I will be asking for your vote on behalf of the Conservatives on June 4th.  I am sure you will hear my political opponents promise you the world on a silver platter.  I have already had a taste of some of the grand claims they make and grander criticisms of the present Conservative administration.  It doesn’t seem to matter how skewed their presentation or how invalid their comment.  They seem to think that if they promise you the Sun and the Moon and Six Miracles Before Breakfast that’ll somehow win them a seat.  In the end, I’m sure readers of this blog are well aware of the political merry-go-round.  You’ve heard enough nonsense like this over the last decade to be immune to it.  Nevertheless, this month you may be presented with dizzying spin from as varied quarters as UKIP and Labour and the Lib Dems.  I don’t want to get into that big-talking point-scoring political nonsense.  As a local candidate I just want to make a few simple, honest promises.  You’ll be able to reach me (locally) when you need help.  I’ll listen to what you say, I’ll push the things you want and I will work like a dog on your behalf each and every day.  There’s nothing grand or colourful about those promises, I know.  But you can take them to the bank.  Try me.  I won’t let you down. 

Conservative Spring Forum
I have just returned from the Conservative Spring Forum, which I visited with a number of friends and colleagues this weekend.  It was an enjoyable trip which I found useful and interesting.  The agenda could have done with a bit more meat on its bones, to be honest.  Nevertheless, the speeches and presentations I attended were solid and intelligent.  In particular, I was lucky enough to be at the Freedom Association fringe event with the folk from FensCF when MEP Dan Hannan addressed the small but attentive audience with an impromptu ten-minute speech.  As usual when Dan Hannan makes a speech I was blown away.  Nor was I alone in this as the audience were clearly just as taken with his smart, confident and intelligent arguments.  The following day he had another speech for conference, presented here.  I have been a fan of Mr. Hannan’s work for some time (I very highly recommend his book, The Plan, to anybody interested in politics and democracy in the U.K.) and so it was a privelige to hear him speak and a stroke of great fortune to be able to do so from a few feet away!  Quite honestly, It made the weekend for me!

European Elections
We must not forget that on the same day that our County Council elections are taking place we will also vote on our European candidates.  I’ve heard a few ‘normally Tory’ voters suggest they may flirt with another party as a ‘protest’ over the whole Europe and refendum thing and I’d just like to say: Please Don’t.  Let me explain why.  Most Conservatives are sceptical about further integration with Europe and even those that aren’t want to support proper democratic procedure.  The only way to make Labour rethink its blind course of destruction right now is to deliver them a sound thrashing at the elections on June 4th.  If you vote for the ‘fringe’ parties you may think this works as a protest.  And of course you have a free vote and should obviously cast it wherever you choose.  But Labour will not be shaken by a few votes moving to parties with no power or influence.  That protest will do nothing to turn their arrogant grins upside down.  What will scare them and move them to rethink their position is a Conservative Landslide.  Add to this the fact that we really do have decent, honourable, hard-working candidates who we desperately need to get elected so they can bring some sanity back to Europe and you can see why I’d quite literally beg you to remember how important this European Election is.  The European Union is the Monster in the Closet, it wants to creep out at midnight when you least expect it and literally take control of your lives.  Give your vote to the Conservatives and we’ll have a real platform to tame the beast and put it back in its cage.

Irritating? Me?
In last week’s Cambs Times, Columnist Samuel Brakespeare called me irritating.  He did it in a subtle and ironic way, but still.  Irritating?  Me?  Surely not.  My first actual outing in the local press and I get called names!  Yikes.  I suppose it’s lucky I’ve got thick skin if this is what I have to look forward to!  I’m joking, of course.  I rather like the Fen Diary regular slot, which is witty, punchy and informed.  I don’t mind that I have been labelled as a potential source of ‘good sport’ there.  At least he took the time to read my blog and comment.  I just hope that as time passes I’ll be able to get the inimical Brakespeare to think of me as useful instead.  I’m a newbie in local political terms.  Maybe I’m naive too.  But I really do think we can move beyond cynicism and actually contribute something to our communities.  That’s why I got involved in local politics and that’s exactly what I want to try and help achieve.  If I can demonstrate this then I hope even the most professional cynics will agree I’m useful rather than irritating. 

The Small Print (legally required during election campaigns.)
Published by Mrs D N Clark on behalf of Steve Tierney both of 111 High Street, March, Cambs PE15 9LH.

Posted in My Campaign, Election, Europe, Conservative Future, Cambs. County Council, Conservatives | No Comments »

23/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

St. George
Every time the question about a national day for the English comes around it seems to get bound up in rhetoric of whether we should, or should not, be proud to be English.  Whether we (as a people) are given to this sort of celebration or not.  Whether we even have anything to be proud of.  Well, I am certainly proud to be English.  I am indeed given to this sort of celebration.  And I do believe that England has a great deal to be proud of.  Times are hard for many and they’re going to get harder.  One of the things that will help get us through is to remember our long, colourful history.  Another is looking at our communities and the decent, proud, generous people who live in them.  We sell ourselves short sometimes, getting bogged down in arguments about benefits cheats, teenage parents, corrupt bankers and knife crime.  Let’s try to remember our good points too.  A national day to keep that in mind is a good thing. 
Happy St. George’s Day!

Stand And Deliver
Yesterday the Prime Minister put on his mask, strapped guns to his hips and laid in wait on the side of the highway.  The first carriage to come along was carrying the Middle Class.  Gordon leapt out into the road and shouted : “Stand and deliver!  Your Money Or Your Life!”  People might be forgiven for thinking Robin Hood had arrived, stealing from the rich (well, prosperous, anyway) and giving to the poor. 

Until the next wagon to happen by.  “Stick ‘Em Up!  I’ll be taking all your jobs, please.” Gordon ranted, aiming his six guns at a bunch of weary working class travellers.  “I know the prosperous employ everybody else, I just don’t care.  The public sector isn’t big enough yet anyway!”  Leering evilly, Gordon smirked: “Don’t worry, you’ll be looked after.  As long as you meet the criteria.  You need to be a teenager, out of work for six months or more, driving an eleven-year-old car, the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, born on the Sabbath under a blood red moon.”  Or something like that. 

Having now put the lie both to the Big Idea that the middle classes have nothing to fear from New Labour and to their Manifesto commitment against huge tax increases, Gordon Brown finally openly reverts to type.  It’s back to the Seventies with a hit parade of class warfare, economic ruin and social jealousy.  Since today is also William Shakespeare’s Birthday I think a quote is in order. 

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
- Shakespeare’s Othello

I’m aware that my metaphors are something of a mish-mash.  Much like that disastrous nonsense of a fabricated budget.  Give me strength.

The Small Print
At the end of April ‘09 we move officially into Campaign Season.  The run-up to the County Council and Euro-Elections mean that some rules come into force which I am advised I must adhere to since I am a candidate for the Roman Bank & Peckover county division.   As a consequence of this I will be obliged to include an amount of ‘Small Print’ at the end of every blog post detailing my Conservative affiliation and some other campaign-related details.  My posts will also be slightly delayed as they will need to be ‘approved’ by my local organising secretary.  She’s a good sport and I’m not particularly controversial, so I don’t anticipate any problems.  I’m only making this advance notification in case anybody wonders why small print suddenly starts appearing at the end of my posts.  It doesn’t mean I’ve sold out, or am under the dictatorial thumb of Big Brother.  It just means (like any good Conservative) that I want to stay within the law and do the right thing as a county candidate.  Somehow, I doubt that telling readers I’m a Conservative at the end of each post is going to be a big surprise to anybody.  But if it is I’d have to ask… what Blog have you been reading all this time? 

Three Thousand Readers
My latest ‘hits count’ for the blog website is three-thousand individual readers a week.  TWELVE THOUSAND a month?  Bloody hell!  (Excuse my French.)  Who are you all?  Thank you for reading but please… leave a comment once in a while!  It’s exciting to know my occasional rant encourages some inspection.  It’d just be nice to get some feedback!  Speak now, or forever hold your pieces.  <Ahem>
  

Posted in England, St. Georges Day, Budget, Labour Party, Cambs. County Council, My Campaign, Conservatives | No Comments »

19/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

In my last post I had a bit of a dig at local rivals the Lib Dems and their proposal to slash council tax rates.  My point was that it’s easy to say this stuff in opposition, but that I did not believe that from a position of power (which I truly hope, with all due respect to Lib Dem rivals, never comes to pass in Cambridgeshire) they would follow though.  In the spirit of fairness I did also say that I understood they were playing the “opposition game” and that I expected the Conservatives might not behave so differently in their shoes.

Well, lo and behold, while browsing randomly on the web today I stumbled upon this. 

Conservatives condemn Labour and Lib Dem
pact to hike council tax

Sure enough, down in Reading where the Conservatives are in opposition to Labour in the Borough Council, Lib Dems have voted with Labour to push through a rise, while Conservatives call for a freeze.  Now if that doesn’t prove the point I was trying to make, I don’t know what does.  In opposition, local government parties (including, sadly, my own on occasion) can promise the world.  In power, given the task of delivering, reality sets in.  The best laid plans of mice and men are found wanting.

I don’t think this is the fault of the parties in local government, actually.  The fact is, all parties want to try and offer great services for fair and reasonable costs.  The thrust and parry of politics on both sides can be inelegant, we disagree on some points of fair governance, but all want to achieve the best outcome for the electorate.  Even Labour, possibly with the exception of Gordon Brown’s cabal, who just want to cling to power forever like leeches on the skin of the country.

The problem with our services is that there is never enough money to do everything, or even most things.  Why?  Because we waste too much of it on nonsense and because we have made it impossible, or at least very difficult, for people to do anything for themselves.  The government is constantly trying to give councils less money, while giving them ever more top-down ‘targets’.    We are burdened by a ridiculously expensive public sector which employs far too many, pays some of them far too much and encourages ever more waste.  On top of all this we insist on bailing out every failing institution which comes to the government with a cap in its hand and a sad face.  There is only so much money to go around (the ability of the Bank of England to print it with a Mickey Mouse logo notwithstanding).

I’d like to see Council Tax rates going in reverse.  Each year, your bill would tell you how much of a percentage LESS than the previous year it would be.  With the Labour government’s waste, over-regulation and poor practice, this is presently impossible.  A rise is necessary almost everywhere because we have to take care of people and that means more money.  When an election is finally called we can only hope that a Conservative government sweeps in with a massive majority and can then set about restructuring and stripping away the fat.  A lean, powerful, dynamic public sector will make lower council taxes possible.  I know it seems such a thing can never happen, but I remain hopeful that it can.  Falling Council Taxes.  Can you imagine?  You’d almost look forward to the bill.  (Okay… maybe that’s taking it a bit too far!)

Posted in Liberal Democrats, Labour Party, Election, Cambs. County Council, Conservatives | No Comments »

16/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Low Low Low Prices - Everything Must Go!
While browsing the web today I visited Nichola Harrison’s site. She’s a Lib Dem County Councillor and I often read her blog because she writes well, is clearly passionate and is often entertaining (perhaps unintentionally, I’m not sure.) Now I must stress that I seldom actually agree with her conclusions, but I do have a soft spot for people who can make a good argument and write from the heart. But her blog piece today, entitled: “If The Lib Dems Ran The County Council” just demanded a response. I apologise in advance for any readers who aren’t particularly interested in party versus party pieces, but I just can’t help myself.

The Lib Dems seem to be proudly trumpeting their claim that if only they were in charge the council tax rise would have been smaller. In opposition its easy to throw a figure and an ‘alternative budget’ (I use the term loosely) into the mix with grand claims. After all, you don’t have to implement it, do you? Then, should the time ever come that you do have to implement it you can introduce that hoary old chestnut “the circumstances are different now.” Of course they are. The circumstances are always different when a brash promise (or series of them) has to actually be realised. Now I don’t blame Nichola or her party for playing the opposition game. I suppose, if the Conservatives were in opposition, we’d probably do the same. But Nichola regularly bemoans the dangers of “party politics” interfering with actually doing the right thing (which, in principle, I agree with her about) while simultaneously playing the exact same game herself. (Which turns her argument to mush.)

Nichola then goes on to say:-

“The party believes that under the Conservatives the Council has become sloppy in the way it uses its resources, so that many millions are being wasted on unnecessary luxuries like the press office and glossy brochures, and on inefficient contractual arrangements for school transport and highway maintenance.”

I love that term: “The Party Believes.” Well, this blogger believes that: “under the Liberal Democrats the council would flush its resources away on pointless vanity projects and have nothing left to actually do the jobs the people who live in the county need.” Why is what Nichola “believes” any more valid than what I “believe”? Readers, you’ve seen the Lib Dems at work often enough around the country. You can make your own call. Would a Liberal Democrat council spend money wisely? I Doubt It.  

In principle, I would agree with Nichola that lower council tax is a good thing.  Who wouldn’t?  None of us want a big bill that we struggle to pay.  Or the sweaty brow of the District Council Enforcement Department leering over our shoulders.  But if slashing the bills means we cannot afford to pay for the services that the people of Cambridgeshire need, we can’t do it.  There are some very vulnerable people who rely on those services.  Who need more care, not less.  It’s the Labour Party who seem to think money can be conjured with the wave of a magic wand.  The Lib Dems are on board with that too, apparently.  I prefer the real world.  Fairy tales are all well and good, but when you have to pay for stuff you need actual money.  Not fictional money.  Slashing the budget in an “Everything Must Go” Closing Down-type sale is not (to my mind) smart management.  Even as an opposition ploy.  It helps nobody.

Finally, Nichola Spells Out Her Party’s Priorities:-

highway maintenance and better traffic management
more police to tackle anti-social behaviour
better local youth services and
more support for voluntary and community organisations
free vegetarian pizza every Friday (I made this last one up.  Sorry.)

Well… uh yeah. Of course. That’s what we all want, Nichola. (Not the vegetarian pizza, obviously.)  That’s what is on every prospective councillor’s election literature, both Lib Dem and Conservative, I would guess. A wish list is a lovely thing. I share your values. I just doubt your party’s  ability to deliver them. Whereas the Conservatives have been delivering fairly consistently for quite some time. I do not claim the Conservatives are perfect. I want to work to help improve the party. I do not claim we are immune to mistakes. That would be Gordon-Brown style arrogance. I just trust Conservatives with my taxes before I’d trust anybody with a yellow rosette. In my experience, Tories Do It Better.  Now that sounds like a slogan for a T-Shirt.  Somebody call the printers…

Posted in Liberal Democrats, Labour Party, Cambs. County Council, Conservatives | 1 Comment »

15/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Local Action To Improve The A1101
The A1101, combining Leverington Road and on into Sutton Road is an infamous blackspot in our area for a number of reasons.The A1101 has too many accidents, too many near-misses, too much speeding and too much dangerous driving along it.  Everybody knows it.  It’s no secret.  The road has grown steadily in traffic flow and usage by heavy goods vehicles over recent years.  It is an important and busy trunk road from Cambridgeshire and into Lincolnshire. 

This week, a petition has been organised by one action group for one area of the road.   You have to admire them because they have fought long and hard to improve awareness of the dangers of the route.  So far, the response from the Powers That Be hasn’t been particularly inspired (in my humble opinion).  A few new signs saying things like: “XXX people have died in the last three years” and “Danger Of Death” or whatever are very dramatic and all, but are just a token response.  We need and deserve more.  It is vital that proper measures are taken before anybody else is killed.  It really is as urgent as that.

(Update: From the Fenland Citizen: Officials have pledged action including new warning signs, re-assessing the bends to see if double white lines can be installed and working in partnership with other agencies to place mobile speed cameras along the stretch.  Okay, that sounds a bit better than just the signs.  But I suspect more still will be needed!  Some traffic calming in built-up areas and some speed cameras would seem to be the least we could do!)

Also this week Leverington Road has made the front page of the local newspaper thanks to the inspired campaign of a local resident, Lisa Goddard.  Pitted with potholes and damage, vehicles thunder along the road causing unreasonable disturbance and discomfort for the residents unfortunate enough to live alongside.

I’ve made these points in writing to Fenland District Council and Cambridgshire County Council and I am now awaiting their response.  I hope the action they take will be speedy and positive.  It really isn’t much to ask that our main roads are kept in a good condition.  I want to be fair though.  Both our district and county councils are generally very good.  There is no reason why they cannot act promptly to address these issues now that the residents and I have raised them clearly and unequivocally.  I am confident this is what they’ll do.  It not… well, we’ll cross that bridge in a couple of months if we come to it.  If I need to put on my fighting gloves (metaphor) to get some action, I will.  I have been encouraged by the response from local councillors over this, though.  It looks like we’re all on the same page.

In the meantime, I’ve emailed Lisa Goddard offering my full support for any protest she wishes to stage (that is within the law, of course).  There is something wonderful about positive local activism.  People who are willing to stand up and be counted are a boon to any community and need our full support when they do so.  If any reader of the blog wants to offer Lisa their help, her number (shown on the front page of the newspaper) is 01945 587195.  I’m sure she’ll be glad of the additional support.

Posted in Fenland District Council, A1101, Cambs. County Council, Leverington, Newton, Tydd St. Giles | No Comments »

12/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Playground Antics
The schoolyard was a tough place, as I remember. Not ‘no food on the table’ tough, or even ‘five mile walk to the waterhole’ tough, but nonetheless kids can be mean. They say cruel things with little understanding of the hurt they cause to their peers. They can bully mercilessly, with little respite allowed to their victims. Usually, as people grow older and more confident the need to behave in this way is routed into other, more positive, outlets. Instead of being pointlessly mean, adults affirm themselves by the work they do, the life they lead, the part they play in society and family.  But apparently there are folk in the Labour Party who still lack that maturity.

We hear today that arch-blogger Guido Fawkes has uncovered a planned Labour Party attack on the Conservatives. Emails between Damian McBride and others (including lefty blogger and Labour-insider Derek Draper) show the depths they were prepared to sink to. Was the attack on policy? Of course not. How could it be? Their policies have consistently failed. Was their assault based on sound rhetoric and solid argument? Of course not. How could it be? They wouldn’t know honest debate if it grew horns and fangs and bit them in the (excuse my language) ass. No, Labour’s ‘big idea’ was to go for good old-fashioned character assassination. Lies, lies and more lies.

Among the various stories they planned to literally ‘invent’ out of thin air;- “David Cameron has an embarrassing disease.” “George Osborne used a prostitute.” “A Gay Tory MP was misusing his position to benefit a boyfriend’s business.” But the one that angers me the most is that they planned to make suggestions as to the state of George Osborne’s wife’s mental health. Now listen, I don’t approve of any of this rubbish and nor would any decent person from either side of the political spectrum. It’s playground bullying practised by adults and those responsible need to be dealt with promptly to demonstrate our lack of tolerance for this kind of infantile behaviour.  But Dave and George and the unnamed gay MP aren’t children, they are big enough and ugly enough to deal with this sort of mindless attack. They live in the political world, they know Labour make it dirty. Mrs. Osborne, on the other hand? What sort of slimy miserable scummy piece of filth picks on an innocent women, choosing her possible fragility as a source of ammunition? If one of Labour’s filthy spinners tried that on my wife I’d make John Prescott look gentle. Damian McBride has been sacked. Let’s hope it’s for good. Derek Draper needs to be next.

More Playground Antics
I’ve been involved in a debate over on ConHome about a new story “Police Swoop On Whitstable Graffiti Suspects”.  This was the story:-
A joint initiative between the police and Conservative-run Canterbury Council has resulted in a dawn raid on two teenagers who have been arrested on allegations of widespread graffiti. The police also removed plastic bags full of aerosol paint cans.

Quite a few Conservatives were applauding the police for their action and I can appreciate why.  Graffiti is a problem in many places and as adults we find the practice of it (and other antisocial behaviour) by youths worrying and sometimes frightening.  But I just want to make a call for a little proportion. 

It’s easy to jump on the ‘hoody-bashing’ brigade and assume kids have gone feral. But have you noticed it’s always ‘everyone else’s kids’ rather than our own?  Anybody would think we’d never been teenagers! Or that the men amongst us were all teenage boys who did nothing wrong.  Well, I’ll come clean.  I was a little tearaway!  I had a couple of rebellious years when I was a royal pain in the derriere and then some.  Not violent, or anything like that, but certainly the sort of young man who can be, um, ‘challenging’.  Some proper guidance (and punishment, where required) helped me grow out of it.

Without wanting to get all Eighties “pop culture” on this blog, let’s just take a look at the presumption that the young men in Whitstable were so bad they really did require a ‘dawn raid’ involving joint-police action at great expense to the public.

I remember being a teenage boy quite clearly. I was a graffiti artist too, involved in the ‘breakdance’ craze for a number of years. In my ‘crew’ there were fifty or so young men.  We hung out on street corners, lay pieces of lino on the floor, spun on our backs and so forth.  We painted colourful murals on huge walls. Mostly where people wanted us to. Sometimes not.  We probably swore a lot. We certainly played loud music from our ‘beat boxes’.

I think I’d struggle to name a single ONE of the teenagers I knew who didn’t do *something* some commentators would consider ‘deliberate vandalism’, or ‘contempt for the norms of society’ (except me, of course.  I was an angel.  Ahem.)  The more troubled youths ‘tagged’ walls all over town. Got into fights. Stole people’s milk from their doorstep. Climbed on school and government building roofs. Ran along lengths of front garden jumping people’s hedges. I could go on, but you get the picture. They were acting stupidly while navigating the difficult path to adulthood and responsibility.

And these were the GOOD kids. The breakdance group weren’t the ‘bad boys’. There was an altogether darker element involved in gangs and drugs and the like who thought the breakdancers were ‘goody goodies’ (I’m cleaning up the language a bit here.)

I still talk to many of those people now, via the wonders of Facebook and its electonic friends. They are businessmen and bankers and lawyers and accountants and builders and electricians and doctors et al. They are married, with families. They vote. They are governors in schools. They do charitable work.

So, you see, my point is that sometimes this behaviour is just high jinks and its part and parcel of the norms of society. Even though its irritating, expensive, annoying and occasionally criminal.  Every time I’ve ever known a parent tell me: “My child wouldn’t do that, they were brought up RIGHT” has always been the parent of the most evil little oik of the lot.  It would be wonderful if we lived in a world where kids melded directly into adults without the confusion and hot-blooded ferocity that are the teenage years.  Or would it?  There always has to be a period of learning, or adjustment, or getting to know your value and place in society.  Guidance and discipline can be given without tick-box criminalisation.

I’m not saying: “let them off the hook.” No way. Now that i’m forty all that stuff annoys the hell out of me, just like it does you. But keep a sense of proportion. Punish, but don’t criminalise. You run the risk of turning what is basically a good young man doing a stupid thing into something worse. In the immortal words of a band from the Eighties, the Blow Monkeys: “It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Go Archer!
I wrote to the Fenland Citizen last week, turning my blog post “It’s Not Big and It’s Not Clever” into a letter the paper could publish.  The Leftie and Independent supporters in the area were quick to fly to the defence of the district councillor in question, Mr Archer.  But (predictably) their idea of defence didn’t include any sort of actual debate, didn’t address the issue I’d raised, and came across (to me anyway) as blind partisan solidarity.  Well, that’s okay.  Blind partisan solidarity has its place.  I value loyalty as much as the next guy.  But couldn’t we have some actual argument too?  The two things aren’t mutually-exclusive you know. 

One person asked “What right does Mr. Tierney have to speak on behalf of Manea?”.  Even though nothing in my letter suggested I felt I had any such privelige.  Mr. Archer was having a pop at the District Council.  I live in the District.  It doesn’t take a genius to work out that unless the laws on free speech and democracy have changed utterly, I have every right to take him to task. 

Somebody else pointed out that maybe the Conservatives were afraid that Mr. Archer might be looking to take a County Council seat as well?  Uh-huh.  Doesn’t that just confirm what I said?  Mr. Archer doesn’t care a hoot about the pay of a district officer.  He just knows a populist flag to fly while pursuing his own self-promotional agenda.  I don’t mind independents at all.  They are healthy for our democracy.  But only if they have something genuine to offer.  If some of the people of Manea are happy with Mr. Archer’s recent performance, good for them!  I know a fair few who have been put off by this latest piece of grandstanding.  If he stands for county he might be in for a surprise.  And a trouncing.

Posted in Fenland District Council, Cambs. County Council, Conservatives | No Comments »

04/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

“I’m Just Nipping Down The IMF For Some Milk & Cheese”
In the 1970s, the Labour Party had so thoroughly trashed the economy of Great Britain that we sat on the verge of bankruptcy.  Strikes plagued our nation.  Working hours were curtailed while people struggled to pay their bills in the face of rising unemployment and hardship.  The Labour government, shame-faced and craven, stumbled weakly to the International Monetary Fund with their begging cap in hand and asked for help to bail us out.  It was an embarrassing, desperate fall for a country that had once been the most powerful trading nation in the world.  It spelt the end of Labour’s reign, paving the way for Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives to sweep in and quite literally save the country from destruction.  To this day some sections of society loathe Thatcher and this is because she had to make very painful and radical decisions to ‘fix’ the economy, cleaning up the mess left behind by her predecessors.  But fix it she did and Britain was returned to prosperity.  It wasn’t perfect, of course.  We had problems.  But we could afford to buy our groceries and pay our mortgages again.

Flash forwards to 2009.  After more than a decade at the wheel Labour have presided over yet another financial disaster.  It’s true that some elements of this one are global in origin.  But where is our manufacturing base?  Where are our entrepreneurs?  Where are the wealth-creators that are necessary to ride in on their white horses and save the day?  They’ve been taxed and over-regulated and demonised into oblivion.  It is not good enough that Labour always want to blame somebody else.  They have been in power since the last century! They have had ample opportunity to prove that a progressive left government can work and they have failed.

For the last few months I, and some other sceptical commentators, have been suggesting that Britain’s finances are even more dire than the government would like us to believe.  We’ve said that the country is already slipping into a state of technical bankruptcy, that we have been for some time, and that it is only a monumental credit bubble and some complex spin operations which have covered this up.  Time and again spokesmen and media have assured us: “This is not the case”.  Only a couple of months ago Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown both laughed off the idea that a new visit to the IMF would be necessary for the United Kingdom.

This week the Daily Telegraph has a story with the headline: “Britain should not fear asking for IMF cash.”  Following a briefing from a senior Labour cabinet member it argues: “Britain should not be afraid or ashamed of taking money from the International Monetary Fund.”  Apparently, the IMF is all different now.  There should be no ’stigma’ attached when one of the once-richest countries in the world has to beg for help.  Again.  It’s just a loan after all.  Another loan.  So, there we have it.  Full circle.  The Labour Party have mismanaged their way back to bankruptcy and begging and they are trying to fool the voters into thinking it doesn’t mean anything.  It’s just a little household shopping trip, apparently. 
“Darling!  I’ll be back soon.  I’m just nipping down the IMF for some milk and cheese.  Do we need anything else?”

We do need something else.  A new government.

Posted in Election, Europe, Recession, Parliament, Credit Crunch | No Comments »

03/04/2009 by Steve Tierney.

G20 Hype
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s all about the G20. Obama this and gazillion fiscal stimulus that. It’s very exciting, all the stocks are riding high on the optimism of it and yet its still almost completely worthless. What we needed was some good old-fashioned common sense, a little protection for the poor, some belt-tightening and a bit of community spirit. You know, the stuff the British used to be good at. Famous for, even. What we got was yet more great buckets of cash poured down whatever black hole fund the IMF fancies next week. And where will all that new money come from, because most countries sure as hell don’t have it? The printing press. Of course. What scares me is that the current leaders of the free world don’t actually seem to have any ideas between them. Well, none that don’t involve conjuring up money that you and I will have to find for the next decade or more. It’s a sad day when I thank the French for having the common sense to say “non” to Yet Another Massive Global Stimulus, but that’s where we are. Of course, it’s all just a huge media stunt anyway. Gordon Brown Saves The World again. Just in time for his specifically-delayed budget to bribe his core electorate and a few floating voters to gift him another ‘bounce’. If it wasn’t all so horribly predictable it might almost be funny. For Gods Sake get this madman off the levers of power. He’s like the Wizard Of Oz, all flashing lights and impressive colourful shows … covering a grand illusion. When the curtain comes down it’s just going to reveal a sad man, bereft of any true strength, fighting to retain the pretence of power that was never truly his to command.

Youth Activism
Where are the Young People engaging with politics? It’s never been a ‘youth’ activity per se, but each year that passes the die-hard faithful get scarcer and, quite frankly, they get older too. Despite the fact that they have been campaigning sometimes for several decades, they still provide all the verve and the passion in local politics. Political parties must get younger people involved. By that I don’t just mean the Camerons and the Cleggs - the people who are in politics as a career. I mean the earnest, hard-working people who leaflet and canvas and debate simply because they care about where their nation is going and want to be part of the solution… whatever that might be. When the brave ‘old guard’ are no longer able to fight the good fight, who is going to be active in politics then? Those brave politicos will leave a gaping void if nobody has come up behind them, learning from them, gaining wisdom from their association. Sure, each of the main parties has its ‘youth group’. Most colleges and universities have active political scenes. But we need more than the ideologists and the intellectuals, we need the youths from normal working families, small towns and villages across the country. It’s called balance. It makes a difference.  Some people seem to think that the death of old-fashioned party politics and ‘tribal’ voters is a good thing.  They think that the way is paved for some new political nirvana.  If that’s so I have yet to see the evidence.  Rather, we seem to be sliding towards a miserable world where nobody cares about anything except their ‘five minutes of fame’ or their latest fix of reality TV.  A world without a passion for freedom and good governance doesn’t sound like heaven to me.  It sounds horrible.

Dan Hannan
Many people will have seen MEP Dan Hannan’s excellent speech from a week or so ago. It became an internet phenomenon literally overnight. That’s partly because Dan said things to the Prime Minister that many of us have wanted to say. It’s partly because Dan is a good speaker with charisma and gravity. But mostly it’s because he clearly means every word he says. He’s genuine. It’s so refreshing in these days of spin and glitz and fakery that people feel drawn to it. This is how politics sounds when it’s done right. And by right I do not mean that I agree with his comments (although I do.) I mean that politicians must have the surety and the integrity to mean what they say and stand by it. Too often, of late, people doubt that is true. If a change is coming then politicians like Dan Hannan will be at the forefront of it.

Posted in Europe, Recession, Credit Crunch, Conservatives | No Comments »