Wikatack

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Look at the Wikipedia bio of the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, John Beddington.

Here's an excerpt:

"On 1st October 2007, it was announced by the Prime Minister that Beddington would succeed Professor Sir David King as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government ^[4]

As Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, Professor Beddington is responsible for the UK government policy to restrict public access to information about weather, climate and climate change, including restrictions on the distribution of observed climate data, climate analysis data, climate reanalysis data, computer models of the climate and results from computer model simulations of the climate. The UK's policies on climate change continue to severely restricted the ability of UK industry to understand the effects of climate and adapt to them."

Someones not happy with him!

Just goes to show the limitations of Wikipedia I suppose. Wonder how long it lasts.

I'm sure David King didn't acquire such cyber-enemies.

Rhodri Morgan: suicide is bad

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I've intentionally avoid the fevered and ultimately circular speculation on Labour leadership today in the blogosphere following Miliband's article.

However I thought these comments from Rhodri Morgan on World at One (R4), worth highlighting:

Gordon Brown should “to master this art of behaving in public the way he behaves in private where he is very charming, very communicative, and full of jokes and laughter and so on.”

“[Brown] has to learn of of the great Tony Blair and David Cameron trick of coming over to every mother in the land as their ideal prospective son-in-law.”

Funny, I thought that that Gordon could communicate with anyone and charm the birds from the trees.

GB as PM: well that's not easy to sell, but as prospective son-in-law? Truly only the most malevolent parent wouldn't dare to even allow their imagination to stretch so far.

a change of leadership in the Labour party would be “suicide.”

“Does any in the Labour party in their right mind want a general election this autumn by forcing a change of leadership which would then raise this issue that the new leader has absolutely no mandate?”

The temptation for Labour is to reel out clichés like 'a week is a long time' and convince themselves that things can change in 18 months.

The hard truth is that the economic situation won't get better and Labour won't get popular. Every poll from Blair on (minus the bounce) depicts a long-term decline. Worse still, the polls appear to have underestimated Labour's unpopularity if we look at the electoral tests Brown's Government have faced.

The electoral precedents of Governments holding on to the bitter end are not auspicious. I see only one ray of hope for Labour: the Brown bounce. The best way Labour can win is by changing leader and calling an election hoping the bounce will carry the day. Borrowing Mr Morgan's lingo, in short, Labour must commit "suicide".

The Kara

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A Sikh teenager excluded from school for breaking a "no jewellery" rule by refusing to remove a wrist bangle which is central to her faith was a victim of unlawful discrimination, a judge ruled.

As a result of the judgment in the High Court, Sarika Watkins-Singh, 14, will be returning to Aberdare Girls' School in South Wales in September - wearing the Kara, a slim steel bracelet.

...

Sarika, of mixed Welsh and Punjabi origin, of Cwmbach, near Aberdare, was at first taught in isolation and eventually excluded for refusing to take off the bangle in defiance of the school's policy, which prohibits the wearing of any jewellery other than a wrist watch and plain ear studs.

The judge declared that the school was guilty of indirect discrimination under race relations and equality laws. - ANANOVA

This is an important judgement and I hope it sends a signal out to schools nationwide. I remember at school a Sikh friend was subjected to exactly the same discrimination.

It wouldn't surprise me if this low level discrimination has occurred regularly in lots of schools for many years.

Windows? The new crime maps

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Jacqui Smith 'haled' interactive crime maps today (ePolitix.com).

In principle I'm very keen on the idea. Greater access to information = greater local and national accountability = democratic imperative to act = better public service.

However...

If they catch on, will the maps contribute to falling house prices in poor areas? Will they lead to increasing polarisation between local schools, situated in better and worse areas. Will they help lead to diaspora of aware citizens from more criminalised and disadvantaged areas? Will that process of regional segregation lead to a drop in accountability in the areas which need help because of the worsening economic profile of local people?

Does this initiative create digital broken windows?

Tory update: Tories decry Britain's 'Victorian' social divide. In other news Tories claim the crime map plan was stolen from them. Different party same story.

Ch ch ch ch changes (come and face the strain)

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Er... anyone find this pic slightly bizarre?

Perhaps I'm not quite with the programme.

Did I miss a meeting?

Perhaps Barak Obama IS YOUR NEW BICYCLE

The hangover just got worse

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"LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - UK energy supplier EDF Energy has raised its power prices by 17 percent and its gas prices by 22 percent, effective immediately, the company said on Friday."

Ouch.

If Brown had woke up to a morose morning, fragile and hungover from the catastrophe of Glasgow, EDF have just started rapping him on the head.

He has to say something better than business as usual and "by-elections come and by-elections go". He won't.

Guess what, PMs come and go too.

Stolen bike for sale

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David Cameron's bike has surfaced on ebay!

Seller barafranca0's item description:

"Well this bike is not *exactly* new but it is *nearly* new because it has only been used for a couple of photo-opportunities.

It is BIG and BLUE and despite looking quite well-balenced [sic] it leans oddly to the right.

It would suit a real commuter right down to the ground.

I want to sell it because It 'does not feel right'

I picked it up outside of Tesco. It comes complete with a lock (locked). Hardly a scratch on it to be honest.

Buyer should collect, directions to my South London lock-up can be found here."

Its the Q&A section that is truly priceless however:


I wonder whether Davie will match the current bid of £1,020? How much would he pay to rescue "an old friend".

Granted, he probably cares more about his bike than he does David Davis.

UPDATE: Ahhh a happy ending.

That is unless he cycles through any more red lights.

Jolly Roger

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One policy proposal in the pantheon of measures the music industry would like ISPs to take includes a monthly charge to some or all customers to 'allow' them to download illegal music. The revenue would be given to music companies.

Its not clear which 'companies' exactly, these funds would go to. One assumes it might be a little tricky to recompense indie outlets. Then again they don't pay lobbyists.

Beyond the reality that this measure is unworkable, what precedent does it set. Is illegal downloading illegal or not. Is it common to tax and ignore illegal activity while maintaining that it is illegal?

If consumers should pay a toll on downloads to offset the effect on sales revenues, shouldn't record labels also pay consumers back for the inadvertent promotion which freely available music delivers, and the revenue such promotion drives through generation of interest in and loyalty to artists, boosting sales of concert tickets, t-shirts, future record sales, etc?

Most importantly though, if they impose this measure, they cannot then claim the practice is illegal, as they would necessarily be receiving funds as a result of illegal activity, thus incriminating themselves for the theft of their own property!

I believe labels would be mistaken to follow this road.

BERR witholds report revealing huge decommissioning cost

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The Guardian reported on the response to the BERR Committee's fourth report of the session. The response reveals that over 40% of BERR's budget is spent underwriting nuclear clean-up (£400m).

I write to observe that not only has the Department failed to publish its response on its own websites, it may have withheld links to the report from the BERR Committee and the administrators of Parliament's web pages as the report has still not been published there.

I wonder why they would do that?

The NDA is stuffed full of ex-BERR employees. Its communications department alone has half a dozen press officers. Why do they need so many?

The Government has on its balance sheets approximately 1 million tonnes of Plutonium, which will cost approximately £100m to clean up. BERR reckon that if the waste is used to create energy it could be worth much more.

They face a choice, admit more budget deficit, or build the next generation of nuclear power stations. Gordon Brown has called this an example of the Government making the "difficult, long term decisions".

UPDATE: The response can now (13:00) be accessed from the Committee's website HERE. Who needs a morning to digest a report which has been commented on since last night eh?

Microsoft's CEO is... unhinged

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This video helps to explain why Windows Vista is useless:

"Give it up for me."

Oiling wheels with tar

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"The government consultation on a third runway ignores the potential impact of new railway lines on passenger demand, presumes that air fares will continue to fall and is based on questionable forecasts that oil will cost $53 a barrel in 2030 - less than half the current price - said the Stockholm Environment Institute." - The Guardian

It seems my previous PREDICTIONS on this matter are sadly bearing fruit.

The Government's complete failure to predict within a million miles of the ballpark of future oil prices will have huge ramifications for a frightening array of current policies.

Exclusive Tory dad plan

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The Tories just made an announcement on apprenticeships for low income males. Its couched in the language that sends their followers all gooey.

"If we want stable families there has to be a man holding down a good job on a decent wage. If you can hold down a job you can maintain a family." - Willetts

Small point though: why just men? Eh? Don't single mums need skills too for example, or are they meant to cling to the nearest man? I suppose they might as well if they can't get affordable childcare (affordable being less than the highest wage available to them).

You can artfully reshuffle a leopard's front bench but you can't change... etc.

Bad news

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I've just learnt that THIS SONG is the most played in the UK in the past 5 years. (Click and wince)

My indomitable faith in humanity has suffered a tiny but painful dent.

Conference police

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Sometimes I hear Lib Dems ridiculed by those that trawl conference season for having a relatively low security presence at their annual party conference.

Last year local authorities in the West Midlands and Manchester received £4.5 million and £6.5 million respectively to police one conference each.

To put that in perspective, Labour received £1 million more to police their party conference from central Government, than the Liberal Democrats received in total, for everything from their donors!

Worth considering next time a Labour or Tory member wheels out their extra protection as a justification of their all too tangible sense of self-importance.

UPDATE: I'm so in tune with Iain Dale's audience (PROOF)

The last ditch Parliamentary flurry

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Lib Dem Norman Baker has just pointed out that Brown broke his own ministerial code today by releasing 10 written ministerial statements (Politics Home). These form a third of the 30 (!!) statements released today.

Its a fair comment - this is a scandalous practice that has gone on too long.

I'd like to add my observation that about twice as many written answers were delivered today (Hansard).

No doubt that because MPs' offices won't have a chance to follow up the questions in Parliament, more answers than usual will be the terse one liners which avoid any pretence at an answer, that any reader of Hansard has come to expect from this Government.

Welfare shake-up

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I wonder if James Purnell's intern will be forced to clean graffiti and pick up litter in the evenings and at weekends in order to collect the JSA which incidentally hasn't risen one iota with the rising food prices and still stands at just over £6 a day.

Oh wait you can't claim Job Seekers Allowance when you are a full-time unpaid intern because you aren't actively seeking work (now defined by your availability to cart bins in daylight) even though you are applying for jobs and attending interviews.

Who said politics wasn't inclusive for all (whose parents can support them)?

Radovan Karadzic

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Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia.

This is a great day for international law, for Serbia and for the Balkans.

I believe is indicative of real change in the country. It will rightly enable Serbia to move closer to Europe if that is what the country wants.

Tony Wright

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I'm saddened to hear that Labour MP Tony Wright is to step down at the next election. I respect him for stepping down in the knowledge of his ill health.

I always considered him one of Labour's untapped resources, that should have made it to the front bench for a time at least.

I always suspected his sometimes monolithic but eternally monumental mission to improve scrutiny of the executive became a barrier to joining a Government which rapidly became a den of commensurate obfuscators.

If so it would be a sad indictment of an administration which began by creating FOI and the liaison committee, Wright's own innovation by his account.

Why you are feeling the pinch

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Why Cameron keeps his powder dry

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Politics Home's PHI100 panel of 100 experts concluded yesterday on why Cameron doesn't reveal many policy ideas. They said that he wants to be "all things to all people".

I think the question and possible answers are flawed because the real answer is that there is a synthesis of reasons.

The options were:

1. He doesn't want the other parties to nick his ideas.
2. He wants to be "all things"
3. He has no policies

Sadly, 3 is false.

1 and 2 are both true (so the questionnaire is already flawed). Yet it is the reasons why they are true that are revealing.

Cameron wishes to win through two methods to two different types of voters, and both mean he must keep shtum.

Essence
Cameron's was recently publicly compared to Obama by one of his comms bods. He admitted it was a bit "far fetched" (avoiding ideological alignment as usual). Yet his communications strategy is remarkably similar to the increasingly presumptive President.

Obama is not adverse to revealing opinions on policy, but then again he has to because of the intense and lengthy scrutiny his campaign endures. Look at what happens when he changes his mind, for example over receiving public money for his campaign, or where he has to vote for something unpopular like letting phone companies off the hook (geddit?) for collaborating with Bush's illegal wire-tapping.

Put it this way: many wavering American voters have told me they want Obama saying it would be so good for America (mind you I've only talked to young voters). Ask them which particular policy they look forward to seeing enacted and they often can't say what they hope to get in terms of concrete 'change'.

"Change" is obviously a buzzword, but it also encapsulates that feeling which is attractive to voters fed up of an old stagnant administration like Bush or Labour. It is the 'essence' of a tide of support.

If you create the feeling people imagine that you represent them and fill in the gaps. Its not a new political phenomenon, in fact its as old as the hills. The longevity of the monarchy is based upon this dynamic, that's why they don't make comments or pass judgement on current affairs (apart from Charlie worryingly). Queen Mum is the classic modern example beyond Her Majesty. Good old fashioned ethnocentric fox hunting xenophobe doesn't speak for 50 years and everyone imagines she is everyone's favourite old biddy.

So the panel are half right in their conclusion.

Gunpowder
Cromwell famously instructed his troops to keep his powder dry. I'm sure Davey C isn't a raving tyrant (though D. Conway or D. Davis might have a different take on that). However he has the same rationale, and good for him because in this respect as in many others the tide is turning in his favour.

Whitehall's structure as well as the think-tank culture practically militates against policy innovation from a dive-bombing Government. Why would civil servants reveal their ideas or innovations to ministers who resemble dying embers of a rather large fag end? Whitehall supremos will be watching Mr. Cameron, Policy Exchange and the like, and quietly penciling their own ideas ideas, ready to be banked in a fresh blue start.

The other side of the coin is that the (leftist in this case) think tanks like Fabians, Reform etc veer increasingly off the nu-Labour beaten track, looking to appeal to revitalise Labour and appeal to Labour's 'core voters' (imagining of course that they are it). The left is dead because Labour killed it. Labour can't raise it like Lazarus from its mortified slumber, until it itself dies and returns phoenix-like (I would carry on the Christ analogy but this is Labour we're talking about).

Note how the initiatives the Government's clanking rust bucket comms team churn out are now more slap dash than ever. Instant knife wielder ward rounds is an obvious case in point. It was RJ mixed with "lock-em-up" - the policies triangulate reactionary and enlightened persuasions, they just don't work. Why should they be tried and tested, why should the civil service care any more?

Why does this central slow-down matter to Cameron?

Answer: once he has the 'essence' and positive feeling secured through all manner of aspersions to persuasion, but few promises, in the election run-in he can blitz voters and journalists with an array of the best fresh ideas. There won't be time for us to evaluate them, and they'll not have to test them until the show is over.

And Labour will have little to fight back with.

How do we know this will happen: look at the election-that-never-was which Brown fluffed. Osborne was forced to set off one of his fireworks, and it helped achieve the aim of worrying Brown, who subsequently nicked their proposals on inheritance tax, air tax etc. (all originally Lib Dem ideas I might add).

But Brown also lit his powder that conference round, only he did it tactlessly. He forced Darzi to release his NHS plans too early, making the recent announcement of the health service constitution a damp squib. He should have saved it for after he called the election. Then again he has the cunning of a shrew and the wrong Balls to boot.

In their decline, Labour's supply of policy powder is now small and rather damp. As the next round of conferences looms, Labour look increasingly incapable and ill-equipped to play this game. Cameron has a good hand, and he knows when to reveal it.

Video: "Its time for some campaigning"

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This raised a few laffs. Slick too.

Labour conference collapse

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Labour have just announced the cancellation of their spring conference in 2009 saying that they want to:

"put the Party on a long term stable financial footing" (Note the capital 'p'.)

I doubt this is the truth.

They charge an absolute bomb to any organisation that wants to buy a pass or pitch a stand. Their stated alternative of "events in your local area" will not draw the same names. Hard hitting organisations won't bother with councillors' meetings hosted by a party that have hardly any councillors.

This can only mean one thing: there has been a diaspora of the usual corporate and charitable attendees ahead of Labour's September conference.

I think a rats/ship analogy is in order.

Guantanamo video

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A video of an interrogation of the child Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr has been released HERE.

Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve is interviewed by the BBC HERE.

Offscreen Expedition 08

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Check out THIS WEBSITE over the next few days.

I was directly involved for a short while with the Offscreen Education Programme, and its a brilliant organisation.

It originally emerged from the travels of some UK artists to the middle east and they art they produced along the way.

Now Offscreen are hosting and publishing the expedition of eight young artists from the middle east, travelling in the UK in order to express their impressions of Britain.

Also, read the BBC coverage HERE.

Elite sports: where's the dough?

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Quite a terse and revealing exchange in Parliament for all you written question sceptics:

Sports: Finance

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made towards the Government's target of securing £20 million per year of funding for elite sport from private sponsorship. [218384]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department continues to work with UK Sport and others in the development of proposals to secure funding from the private sector.

Er, so not enough then?

Labour website gaffe

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Oh dear, this is a direct quote from Michael Cashman MEP's personal website:

"Our Labour Government created Advantage West Midlands (AWM), the Regional Development Agency to tackle these challenges. each year AWM spends £...m on projects around the region. Over the next ten years that will be some £...bn.

How they spend it, where they spend it and when they spend it matters to everyone and especially Labour's local representatives - MPs, MEPs and Councillors."

I would have thought the amount they spend would also matter.

Then again considering the state of the public finances perhaps they'd rather not look.

"No you're fattist"

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I'm not sure what to think of Davey C's denunciation Fatypuffs (remember them?).

I think Clegg's call for an apology to the people of Glasgow is slightly overblown, but that's by-election politics for you.

Opinion
I'm sure the honest thing to say is "Yes if you are fat you will be more unhealthy and unhappy, and moreover it must have a variable effect on you socially depending on your self esteem, and yes its alright to say that because you can choose whether you're fat or thin".

However... politicians should only talk about their opinions in policy announcements if they (at least pretend they) will put those pronouncements into effect in Government.

Action
I'm sure the honest (L)iberal thing to do is:
- nothing -

Cameron's opinion in private is not illiberal. His opinion in public with the implicit call to action (direct or indirect) on the matter is fundamentally illiberal. So much for the 'liberal conservative'.

He's picked a good topic though. Had he been talking about ugly people he'd be beyond sight of the pail.

However I can't resist a caveat: If you are obese and then become thin, those fat cells are largely in place forever having grown the first time. You become fat again much more easily. This is one why child obesity is tantamount to bad parenting.

Secret MP: Stephen Colbert

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Is American faux-right wing political pundit / comedian Stephen Colbert.... an MP in the UK Parliament?

No, the second two pictures are obviously Conservative MP for Ludlow!

I'm a big fan of Stephen Colbert, that's why I can tell him from a the charlatan impersonator, Philip 'pseudo Colbert' Dunne (MP).

Visit Stephen Colbert's website HERE!


Next... Sven-Goran Erikson

Sir Keith Swaysalot

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Oh dear, so Labour Chief Whip Geoff Hoon's blatant promise of patronage to Keith Vaz has spilled over into the papers this morning.

I'm afraid this is just another one of those stories which will try the patience of political pundits everywhere who don't like being taken for fools by GB. Two top-line stories surround the 42 day vote now, the other being the DUP complicity (which I predicted).

Brown said Hoon was "thanking" Vaz. Perhaps he was thanking in kind. I loved Guardian Backbencher's comment that the idea of a whip cracking a joke was somewhat far-fetched.

I wonder whether we shouldn't just hand the ability to dispense rank and peerage back to the Monarch. A bit undemocratic and 'establishment' but patronage that has now worked to undermine our basic liberty stinks more.

Is this the worst name for a company?

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