01/08/2009 by Samantha Hoy.

This post has been submitted by a contributor.  The author of this guest post would like to stress that it an expression of personal opinion and does not represent the opinion, official or otherwise, of the Cambs. County Council, of the owner of this blog (Steve Tierney)  or of any other person or body.  (Future guest posts by other contributors would certainly be seriously considered.  If you are interested - email Steve Tierney with details of what you’d like to write about.)

Being Too Clever For Your Own Good
By Samantha Hoy (FensCF Secretary)

“The council are closing off our road for four weeks to do the paths and road surface. I think I may have messed up their plans when I pointed out that the path in front of our houses belongs to the residents not the council.”

This is what I read on the status of the Facebook profile of an acquaintance. This then caused a huge row between us. Now this is not relevant to Cambs County Council as it’s in Norfolk but I felt the need to vent and a friend’s blog seemed the ideal place to do it.Basically, in Outwell there is a small road which is frequently used as it leads to the school, church and local shops. Because of this use of the road and path, holes have started to form and stones are coming loose.

The council have said that they will come and repair this at the request of the Parish Council. Now one resident who I shall name Bob, pointed out smugly to the council that they have no right to touch the path as the homeowners, whose front doors open directly onto the path in fact own the path. He is correct, it is in their deeds but it left me wondering why on earth would you turn down free repairs?

Many of you will know that it is a great headache to get councils to spend their already stretched budget on repairs, with many people campaigning for months to get a pothole filled. Anyone would have thought Bob would be pleased that he was getting work done, he cant do anything with the path himself (for example: put plants on it) as it is a right of way, so now the responsibility for repairs falls on the owners - and Bob himself.

I talked with him about the reasons, thinking perhaps he had a problem with the inconvenience or the noise, but no none of these are a problem; he just doesn’t want them to do it as it is his property. He says he wants to annoy the council to show them who is boss as they need to: “be told and know my property is my property.”

Now some of you may say: “Why should the council interfere with someone else’s property?” But this path is used by many people everyday and Bob has not asked his neighbours, or pedestrians or businesses on the street - he has just gotten on his high horse and told the council, who were (of course) all too pleased to be given a “get out” on the repair work.

What has Bob won? Perhaps some small amount of pride that he got his own way. But all the mums and children going to school lose and ultimately he will lose when someone falls on that path due to the uneven surface. Who will they sue? The council don’t own the path… Bob may regret the day he decided to be difficult just for the sake of it.

Posted in Guest Post, Conservative Future | 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 »

26/02/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Leverington Common
At the Leverington Parish Council meeting this week I witnessed the power of local politics in action!  A group of concerned villagers brought their case to the parish detailing a local traffic danger spot - Leverington Common.  Passionate, eloquent and impressive, they spoke with a united voice and made a clear and powerful case.  The Parish Council, to their credit, took the worries on board and vowed to work with them to convince the District and County councils of the need for investment in improvements that would help reduce the potential for a serious accident in the area.  I met the group after the meeting and listened to their very valid comments.  There was no doubt in my mind that this was a cause I needed to throw myself into.  As a prospective candidate for the County Council seat I really have no influence right now (you have to win an election first - roll on June 4th and a chance to make a difference!) but I promised them that I would stand right with them in getting something done.  This is another of those situations where the traffic authority wont do the work because there are other locations which need the resources and have a “higher record of accidents”.  While that sounds reasonable from a purely logical point of view, it does seem to suggest that blood must be spilt before work will be done.  Surely, with local folk showing such solidarity of purpose, we should be able to push for preventative safety measures too?  I think so, anyway, and that’s what I’ll be working towards.

National Service
This week, I have been asked to sit on one side of a structured debate panel at the Fens Conservative Future Pizza & Politics evening.  The motion being considered is : “This house would see a return of National Service.”  For anybody who has never been involved in a structured debate before, the point is to give both sides a good airing.  You can be tasked with arguing for a case which doesn’t necessarily reflect your own views (as I have… I’m arguing against, when I can see the value of National Service all too well.)  It’s an interesting chance to bring ideas into the public forum and get all sorts of takes on the argument.  While preparing my three-minute presentation, which is the opposite of my actual view, I found that I was not as open-minded as I had surmised.  All sorts of challenging arguments against are fairly difficult to equate with my own current opinion.  As such, I’ve had to revise my real-life stance from ‘in favour’ to ’sceptical’.  Here, then, is the absolute value of debate for debate’s sake.  Forced to think something through from the other side, and argue against your own personal position, is a genuine learning experience. If you have some time free on Friday night and are in the area, come along to Pizza & Politics.  It’ll be a very interesting evening.

Parliament At It’s Finest
The death of David Cameron’s son this week was a terrible tragedy.  I cannot express the sympathy I feel in words.  Parliament’s response, from all sides, was a fine example of decency and honour.  Even Gordon Brown, for whom I generally have nothing but disdain, sounded earnest and sincere.  In a moment of deep sadness parliament did us proud with their compassion.

Posted in Parliament, Conservative Future, Leverington | No Comments »

23/02/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Deflation
Governments live in fear of the word.  Banks tremble before its dark and awesome majesty.  They would have us believe that a deflationary environment is the worst of all things.  Of course, the picture isn’t as clear as all that.  During a period of deflation, money goes up in value.  Each day that passes, the money you have is worth more.  So if you have savings, or a good reliable income, or if you are a creditor, you will find deflation rather less than an unhappy situation.  If you are a low earner you don’t get all these benefits, but you do still find your lower wage goes a lot further as the cost of living drops.  The people who are really hurt by deflation would be anybody who owes a huge amount of money.  This is because the debt, with each day of deflation, increases.  Now, who do we know who really owes a lot of money.  Trillions, say?  Oh yes, it’s the government isn’t it?  But don’t worry, they can just print fictional money, pay what they owe with that, and force the country back into inflation again.  What do we call it when people deliberately play with the economy to make themselves consistently richer?  Corruption, isn’t it?

Gordon Brown Wants To Ban 100% Mortgages, Does He?
Well, of course he does.  Two thousand-nine is  ”invent a stupid initiative year” and he has to junk one out at least every forty seconds or he’ll lose a bet with Jack Straw.  Please, somebody tell me, what business is it of government to tell banks how much they can lend?  It’s private business, despite their best attempts to make it otherwise with our favourite high-street brands.  Government has a job, but this isn’t it.  What government should be doing is making sure that banks lend a reasonable amount that people can afford to pay.  If thats 100%, or 500% or whatever, fine.  The important thing is that the bank does due dilligence to make sure its borrowers are within their means.  Banks that deliberately lend more than somebody can afford, or who make no attempt to even check how much their customers can afford, should be directed to the courts - who should have the power to write off the debt due in its entirety.  Then, I suspect, we’d see sensible lending come back very quickly indeed.

Pizza & Politics
I’m quite excited about this coming week, and that’s because we’ve reached Pizza&Politics II (The Revenge of Pizza & Politics?)  Following the phenomenal success in March last year, FensCF are bringing their flagship event to Wisbech for another run of intelligent debate, friendly congregation and a huge amount of PIZZA to be Scoffed.  The event is aimed at anybody from 14 through to 30 years of age.  Coming To Wisbech on Friday 27th February 2009, 7.00pm to 9.00pm at the Oasis Centre.  Free Pizza, Free Soft Drink, Free Your Mind.  Special Guests:- Malcolm Moss MP and Stephen Barclay PPC.  Come along, it’ll be a great night!

Posted in Conservative Future, Wisbech, Credit Crunch | No Comments »

19/02/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Harriet Harman
There is some talk in the media right now about Harriet Harman being a ‘leader in waiting’ for the Labour Party. I hope so. I really do. Back when Tony Blair was Mister Big and Gordon was trying to oust him I remembering telling everybody it would be the best thing that ever happened to the Conservatives if he managed. (It’s obviously not good news for anybody that he’s destroyed the country, but most of that job was already complete back then, all he did as Prime Minister was put black icing on his rotten cake.) The thing is, whatever you thought about Tony Blair or his politics, there was something like-able about him. He was a good statesman and a good front-man. There is patently very little to ‘like’ about Gordon Brown. While he sat brooding in the background he was fine, but bringing him to the forefront of politics was always going to be a disaster. Well, Harriet Harman is just as bad, if not worse! Substituting her for Brown is a wonderful idea… for the opposition. In fact the only more detrimental figure I can think of as Labour Leader is Hazel Blears. Now if they chose Mandelson… that might be dangerous. People may not like him, but many do respect him. And these days he has more political weight than most of his team put together.Of course, they made him a Lord, so maybe they realised they needed to keep his ambition for the top position untenable…

Good Manners
David Cameron was interviewed by Iain Dale in Total Politics this week. The interview is very well done and extremely interesting. (You can read it here.) For the most part I enjoyed Mr. Cameron’s answers and thought he sounded confident and level-headed. There was, however, one exception, which worried me. This is the extract in question:-

Q: How will you defend the right to offend?
A: This goes back to the ‘do you listen’ question because on the one hand you don’t want someone inciting hatred of gays but on the other hand you want to live in a society where people don’t feel their free speech is restricted if it is about humour. So there is a balance. We all rage against political correctness and there’s lots of political correctness which is ridiculous- silly health and safety worries that stop children grazing a knee on an outward bounds adventure. We have got to get rid of that. But there’s one bit of political correctness which is terribly important and that’s about politeness. I have a disabled son and I don’t want people to call him a spastic. You are a gay man, you don’t want someone to call you a poof. If you have a black friend, you don’t want someone to call them something offensive. It’s about manners and I think what we’ve got to do is frame this debate in a sense of what is good manners and politeness and what is common sense.

Now this seems to suggest that the Conservative Leader (leader of the party I’m a member of and support) thinks that we should ‘legislate’ good manners.  Perhaps I’ve misunderstood his comment.  I certainly hope so.  Good manners are important.  Vital even.  But it’s the place of friends, family and parents to teach and enforce it, not government.  The state should have no say whatsoever in what people are allowed to say, think or feel.  Each one of us has a right to be a jackass if we wish.  Free Speech is not free if you only get to say what people want to hear…

The Spring Forum
The Conservative Spring forum is just around the corner.  I haven’t been before but this year I’ll be attending, along with a considerable contingent of the Fens Conservative Future group.  You’ll know them.  They’re the guys and girls who will be wearing the T-Shirts that say “Putting the Party In Politics”.  I expect a couple of days of political discourse and a couple of evenings of mayhem.  We won’t be painting the town red though.  We’ll be painting it blue.

Posted in Parliament, Conservative Future, Conservatives | No Comments »

28/11/2008 by Steve Tierney.

You might think that since this post of my blog features two items, one being the Pre-Budget Report and the other being a local Conservative Future matter that I’d feature the ‘bigger’ national issue first. Not so. I am primarily a local activist. My first concern is going to regularly be local issues. If the day ever comes that I ascend to ‘higher levels’ of government then that would be the time I’d change my focus, but presently I have a different job to do and I intend to keep my focus there as is appropriate.

FencCF AGM
I got a hard lesson in politics this week. That lesson is “you never know how an election will go.” Of course I knew that already. But knowing there are pins on the floor and stepping on one of them are two different things entirely!

Our local Conservative Future group, of which I’ve been proud to be secretary for the last year, had its first Annual General Meeting. All the officers were up for re-election, except myself. (I’d already indicated my wish to step down due to (a) being too old to hold the office in a CF group that plans to become an official ‘branch’ and (b) other commitments including my forthcoming work as a prospective county councillor.) The “hot topic” was the election of a new Chairperson for the group. The office was held by Samantha Hoy during our first year and she was standing for re-election. The other candidate was Gavin Philpott, a long-standing member of the group. Now I should stress for people who don’t know these two that you couldn’t wish for a finer pair of candidates. Sam was the founder of FensCF and is an awesome lady who I’m sure will go very far in Conservative politics. Gavin is an intelligent, articulate and thoughtful guy who has proven his worth throughout the group’s first year. If I’d been a betting man I’d have put my money on Sam winning a second year as chairperson. Not because there is anything ‘wrong’ with Gavin (quite the opposite.) But because the group has grown so well and achieved so much with Sam as chairperson that the rule “if it ain’t broke…” seemed to apply. Well, democracy spoke loudly and clearly and Sam’s supporters (I count myself as one of these) were surprised to see Gavin elected. One of our patrons, Councillor Simon King, said quite eloquently: “To those who lost tonight, it is never a pleasant thing to lose. But the democratic election can be seen as fair and honest, you should take comfort in that fact.” (I paraphrase here, but I hope I’ve got the gist of it.) Despite the fact that I am extremely saddened that Sam is no longer chairperson, I am absolutely certain that Gavin will ’step up to the plate’ and do an excellent job. I should also point out that Lucy Heighton was elected as Vice-Chairman, Samantha Hoy was elected as Secretary and Paul Dunham was re-elected as Treasurer. Gavin Philpott was chosen as the group’s Executive Rep.
Many thanks should go to our guest Alex Agius (CF Area Chair) who attended to Chair the meeting for us and did an exemplary job of it.

The Pre-Budget Report
I suppose the Prime Minister must have a whole host of experts, both economic and political, to suggest how to approach something like the pre-budget report. It must be a careful balance of “how best to help the country” and “good political strategy”. But if that’s the case… where are they getting their experts from? It is hard to imagine a more pointless collection of iniatives than that suggested this week. I was really sorry to hear Ken Clarke (somebody for whom I have a great deal of respect) on Daily Politics this week agreeing that VAT was a good route for the government to take for a fiscal stimulus. Good route? It was a bloody stupid route. The good route would have been (if its wise to spend money we don’t have at all, which nobody has yet convinced me of) to increase the Personal Allowance for tax. Or to reduce company contributions for NI and encourage more employment. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they chose VAT over the horrific alternative of ‘tax credits’ (an oxymoron if ever there has been one) but still…. I despair of the government doing anything REAL to help people during these tough times. I really do. Roll on a General Election.

Posted in Conservative Future, Credit Crunch | No Comments »

20/11/2008 by Steve Tierney.

FencCF and the License Fee
Last night (Wednesday) I went to the FensCF Meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the debate about keeping or scrapping the BBC License Fee. Sadly, I was in the losing group this time (I quite like the BBC, whereas most of the rest of the group wanted to scrap the license fee in a second.) But the debate was invigorating! Something of a ‘return to form’ for FensCF with Samantha Hoy taking a firm hand of the chair and Lucy Heighton handling the discussion.

Keep The Pound
I came across this cool logo on the web, which is “free to use”. Feel free to grab it from here and display it yourself if you share the sentiment.

Posted in Conservative Future | No Comments »