Monthly Archives: August 2010

One of the surprises of recent months has been the emergence of proposals for substantial change in the way the NHS is managed. They emerged gradually and quietly in Opposition, in contrast to the Education changes which were well heralded. They contain two principal elements. The first is part of the general policy of cutting [...]

There is something of the Nimby in all of us. As an MP I am very conscious that in many cases I am expected to be chief Nimby, to come to the aid of those who want to save a view, protect a greenfield, avoid the eorision of green gaps and Green Belts. All the [...]

There may be delays in moderation over the bank holiday owing to my schedule. Worry not – things will appear shortly afterwards.

More than half the issues which constituents bring to me are matters decided by the local Council, not by Parliament. In recent years there has been an escalation in representations. People are more likely to write to the Prime Minister about something to be settled in Parliament, and more likely to write to the MP [...]

The UK in the era of comprehensive state education has had very different views on school size depending on the age of children. A typical local authority provides small schools for 5-11 year olds. This means they can be close to the homes of the parents. The Head can know all the children in the [...]

According to punk Keynsians a large public deficit stimulates an economy, whilst public spending restraint or cuts pushes it back into recession. In the UK Mr Ed Balls has warned that there could be an economic hurricane hitting as a result of the Coalition government’s “cuts” in public spending. In the US Ben Bernanke has [...]

The good announcements just keep pouring out from Eric Pickles and the local government department. Yesterday he said Councils should look again at the rash of signs that have appeared all over our streets warning, advising and requiring motorists to perform in certain ways. As a convinced localist, or course, all Eric can do is [...]

The IFS have re entered the political row over the impact of the budget. This intervention will be seen as helpful to attempts to destabilise Lib Dems from the Coalition by claiming the poor will do badly from the Budget at a time when Labour’s main political strategy is to try to detach leftwards inclining [...]

Numerous bloggers have taken up the challenge to answer my question, do you value the £10,000 of public spending which is your average share of the total? How would you like your share spent? It is time to look a bit more at what we all get for our money. Some of you have been [...]

When US troops left Iraq recently, some were criticised heavily for saying “We won”. It wasn’t that kind of war. The understandable wish of young people in a dangerous job to claim their presence had been worth it, the soldier’s wish to be on the winning side, seemed inappropriate to politicians and armchair generals. Their [...]