POLITICS CORNER

[Tardis]

The Lancashire Police have already asked for 2%, LCC is asking for 1.97% (meeting now), Pendle is asking for a freeze (meeting tonight) and Barnoldswick Town Council has put their's up by 118%

Council Tax Stanley

I also found out that the Fire Brigade have frozen their part of the council tax. Both LCC and Pendle amounts confirmed

[Stanley]

The wheel of history turned full circle yesterday as Yulia Tymoshenko made a speech in Independence Square in Kiev celebrating the downfall of President Viktor Yanukovych. This was a re-run of 2006 when she led the Orange Revolution which deposed the same Viktor Yanukovych.
The weirdest thing was that when the public got access to the presidential compound they found what they thought was a zoo. It is reported now that it was the meat larder for banquets served in the floating banqueting hall on the nearby River Dnieper.

[Stanley]

The Scottish independence debate is warming up. Alex Salmond made a good point yesterday (LINK) when he accused the UK government of having squandered North Sea oil revenues. Margaret Thatcher used them to finance a pool of unemployment to drive down wages and attack the unions. I remember Wedgie Benn making a speech at the time advocating ring-fencing the windfall revenues and using them to modernise infrastructure and education but he was ignored.
Isn't it about time we, the English, were asked what our opinion is? Personally I think there is much to be said for independence as long as the Scots include the ancient kingdom of Northumbria in Scotland. God knows that allegiance to the South hasn't served us very well!

[plaques]

If you added the top two thirds of old Mercia as well as Northumbria you would really have something worthwhile.

[hartley353]

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Yulia tymoshenko a woman without one saving grace, and people actualy gave their lives to get her out of jail.

[Stanley]

You're right P. I was thinking that as I wrote but kept it simple. How about a line from Chester to the Humber......
One of my correspondents made the point yesterday that the Tories are on a win even if Scotland left the Union as they have no support in Scotland.

[Tripps]

Looks like the target for "net migration" will be missed, by a mile kilometre. Never mind - the goalposts can readily be moved. As a European politician pointed out recently, there is no such thing as 'migration' within the EU. Moving from Romania to London is now no different from moving from (say) Newcastle to London.
Remove this cohort from the figures, and another policy triumph emerges.

[plaques]

Should Scotland gain independence from the UK will the Queen still remain their "Head of State"? If not will she have a reduced expenses allocation? Also, would she have to pay tax in Scotland on her property and business interests? Nothing personal. Just thinking out loud.

[Stanley]

Migration.... I've got to the stage now that whenever statistics are quoted on any subject my crap detector starts up and I ignore them. Read Charlie Webster......
The queen, perhaps she could move permanently to Balmoral? Bucks house could be substituted for Downing Street. More railings!

[Tripps]

Half a league, half a league, half a league onwards......
The news from The Crimea becomes more alarming.
I have this tune in my head at the moment, from the Limeliters and it relates to the region. At least we will be able to pronounce the names of the towns correctly. ZHANKOYE

[Stanley]

I'm just watching it all and wondering what's actually going on. I think Putin has decided he wants the Crimea back.... Brinkmanship possibly.

[PanBiker]

There was going to be referendum in the Ukraine on whether or not to let Crimea go back to Russian territory. From what I have heard on the news this was very likely to happen if put to the vote. Russia already has a huge amount of military presence and assets in the Crimea and has had for a long time. They lost thousand of troops in WWII recapturing it from the Germans. Seems like an open and shut case to me if they would only get round the table and sort it out. Too much flag waving and cold war posturing going on for my liking, running the risk of escalation by words rather than deeds, total stupidity.

[Tizer]

I agree with all that Ian. The `West' looks at everything from its own perspective and fails to take account of the perspective from Russia. When Evan Davies said to William Hague "Aren't we in a bad position to criticise Russia after what we did in Iraq" (Today prog, Radio 4, this morning), Hague replied "That was different, the situation in Iraq was a threat to other countries". But the Russian people see the situation in Ukraine as a threat to them. And it shouldn't be a surprise when the Russians want to protect the home port of their Black Sea fleet. From their perspective, Russian interests and Russian supporters in the Ukraine are being threatened by unruly and dangerous elements. Western liberals think the rest of the world should be like them, do what they do, when really much of the world still lives a more medieval life even if they do carry mobile phones, watch TV and use computers.

For another interesting difference in perspective, take a butcher's at this news page (I think a butcher in Burnley has had a similar problem):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-26385240

[Bruff]

''The queen, perhaps she could move permanently to Balmoral?''

It is often noted in The Guardian for some reason, that HM The Queen's favourite part of her realm is The Forest of Bowland. This has resulted in at least one editorial in said organ arguing for the decanting of the Whitehall machinary and Parliament north to the forest lock, stock and barrel so she could look forward to the State Opening rather more (as well as it being a step to diluting, should one believe this is needed, London's hold over the rest of the country).

Of course this might just be The Guardian who have a 'thing' about the Forest. Only last week another leader noted it as one of Britain's least known yet 'enchanting' landscapes. There have been others - one on the marvellous Hen Harrier I recall. I wonder if there are plenty a Stoneyhurst boy there? Like JRR Tolkein, who some argue was so 'enchanted' by Hurst Green and surrounds it was this that inspired his 'shire'.

Richard Broughton

[Tardis]

Hmm, does no one yet understand "The Reason Why"?

[hartley353]

From my perspective I see little wrong in Putins actions up to date. Where I see the wrong is in western reaction to the news. They seem to relish the fact that it may go wrong, and can't wait to join in. Or offer subtle threats in the hope of escalation, it is about time we reined in our dogs of war, bear baiting has been abolished.

[hartley353]

The latest news on the Hen Harriers is that they have disappeared? Please play down Hurst Green one of my favoured fishing spots, when I stand on the metal footbridge and look up or down the river it is all so natural. The only downside is the quantity of farmers black plastic festooning the trees, maybe it could be removed if the Queen fished there.

[Stanley]

Hague on Iraq.... arguably Iraq was at its most stable for years under Saddam and the Ba'ath Party even though it was 'repressive' by Western standards. Incidentally, the Ba'ath Constitution was essentially the one we put in place in the 1920s when we reorganised the old kingdoms of Mesopotamia and installed Faisal(?) as a puppet king and Saddam did nothing that we hadn't done under the Protectorate.
As for the Crimea, I see many similarities between it, the Balkans in general, Iraq and Afghanistan. All of them 'rearranged' arbitrarily by the greater powers in the interests of tidying the map up, commercial interest and putative stability. All of them failures because tribal, religious and ethnic divisions were not recognised. All of them eventually more unstable.
Read the history. Go back to1095 when Pope Urban II proclaimed the first crusade, possibly one of the most arrogant and mistaken foreign policy decisions of all time (and incidentally, based on certitude!). Consider how that echoed down the centuries to the extent that one of Dubya's biggest gaffes was when he announced that the US and her allies were on crusade! Then wonder why we have never learned. Narrow self-interest combined with military power trumps common sense every time. Every time the 'West' makes assertions about its inherent superiority in knowledge and political superiority it gets a surprise when it finds out that the 'East' was doing quite well without us. Think of the number of times we have made claims about being 'the first' and then discovering that the Arabs, Indians and Chinese got there before us and in effect we stole their inventions.
On an entirely different subject.... Did you see Edwina Currie asserting (with certainty) that food banks encouraged people to be lazy and spendthrift on Panorama last night? I enjoyed Evan Davies' analysis of London and the imbalance between the Great Wen and the rest of the country.

[Bruff]

But the message has to get out there that anyone can simply turn up to a food bank and get as much food as they like as many times as they like. That food banks encourage laziness and spendthrift behaviour is an argument to encourge people to believe this. It's a similar argument to that also made by apologists for this Government, that of course food bank usage has gone up, wouldn't you get free food if you could?

Two things. First, you can only access a food bank with a letter or statement of your need provided by your GP, social services, or other agency. Once you have this, you can only get three days provisions when you turn up. And you can only access a foodbank three times a year. So, in any year, you are entitled to only nine days worth of food subject to you being assessed as in need. Quite what happens the other 356 days I don't know. Quite how this encourages laziness etc I also don't know. Second, the assumption that we would all hoover up free food if we could tells you a great deal about the mindset of the people making it (think Mrs Blair in that supermarket in Australia).

The former Health Minister's intervention on this matter is entirely consistent with this shabby administration's usual approach.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Quite! And one of the contributors to the programme made exactly that point about restrictions on use of the resource. 9.8million people out there have less than 60% of the average industrial wage and they are still falling back. At the same time inflation of prices of essentials is nearer 10% than the less than 2% hailed by the government as evidence the 'recovery' is working. An academic who wrote the government's own report on food banks said that the bottom line was that if you were already poor, in this system you are on a one way road to destitution. So, you commission a report and then ignore anything it says which argues against your policy.
See this LINK for a report about the address of Patrick Rock, one of the Tory Party advisers. It's all sub-judice at the moment but it looks as though once again, Mr Cameron is extremely unlucky in his advisers..... Why wasn't the arrest on February 12th made public?

[Tardis]

Completion of the Todmorden Curve mentioned at PMQ's

On a side issue, there's also some pretty good news in the Lancashire telegraph from SELRAP about the re-installation of the railway, saying that it is economically viable, and was when Barbara Castle refused the funding for it and the lines were ripped up. (up to 50k travellers per week to Skipton and beyond, only 10k the other way)

[Stanley]

Ironical comment of the week: US Secretary of State John Kerry as quoted in the Times of March 3rd. "You just don't, in the 21st century, behave in a 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretexts". Really? How about Iraq and Afghanistan? It would appear that some incursions are more acceptable than others. Kerry was talking about the situation yesterday and it was noticeable that he only talked about the Ukraine, not including Crimea. Could it be that Putin's takeover of the Crimea is now seen as inevitable?

[PanBiker]

Completion of the Todmorden Curve mentioned at PMQ's

On a side issue, there's also some pretty good news in the Lancashire telegraph from SELRAP about the re-installation of the railway, saying that it is economically viable, and was when Barbara Castle refused the funding for it and the lines were ripped up. (up to 50k travellers per week to Skipton and beyond, only 10k the other way)

It said on the NW news that although the re-instatement of the Todmorden Curve was now complete, it may be put on hold due to the latest intentions of the Department of Transport regarding the distribution of rolling stock.

Apparently there is a shortage of trains and carriages on one of the SE lines so the plan is to take 9 engines and carriage set from the operators of the Trans Pennine line. This particular service is already oversubscribed every day with somewhere in the region of 60% of commuters having to stand on every journey, they are packed in like sardines as one traveller commented. Trans Pennine are not very happy about this as you can imagine but have been told that there could also be a plan to substitute their missing carriages by them from Northern Rail!

How much will this insanity cost? I would assume the carriages and stock will all have to be repainted with new livery. No operator is getting any more stock they are just robbing Peter to pay Paul. Upshot of course is that no matter what happens some of our trains and carriages are going South and will not be replaced.

I wasn't aware that the train operators don't have a say in the procurement of stock they get what they are given and a contract to operate it, all controlled by a bunch of idiots down South it would seem.

[Tardis]

I agree about the procurement. I didn't know the details, but I had understood that it was resolved with a temporary fix, whilst trains from Liverpool or Manchester are released to properly represent the service.

Better than it was, as originally I'd heard that trains wouldn't be available until after August 2014

[Stanley]

The Putin Plan for takeover of the Crimea seems to be on track. Force majeure seems to be just as effective now as it was in our historic empire building. I hear that President Putin has said that Russia couldn't ignore a cry for help from ethnic Russians in the Crimea. Funny thing is that I seem to remember the same reason for an incursion into a sovereign country in 1938 when Britain and France put up no objection at the Munich Conference to Germany under Hitler annexing the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
In local politics, I can't help wondering if the Pendle Tories are still being subsidised by The Noble Lord Ashworth. Money seems to be no object. In the last ten days I have had three expensive flyers delivered from the Tories, One full colour glossy example, one full colour broadsheet and another large flyer yesterday extolling the virtues of local Tory Mike Thompson (Tardis) who seems to have saved our buses and stopped fly-tipping. In addition they have two new websites and all this costs money. Could there be an election in the offing? More important, could the LibDems and Labour learn anything on how to resource these costs? Or is it simply that once more, money is being thrown at electioneering in Pendle. Our MP promised publicly that, if elected, he would be transparent and honest but so far no news on the funding front. (They don't half make smoke when you burn them.....) What concerns me about this is that in 1832 the Reform Act stopped the practice of buying 'rotten boroughs' and bribing the electorate to, in effect, buy the seat. In modern times we have seen another version of buying elections in that whoever can buy the most exposure in the media has an unfair advantage. There are caps on what can be pent in local elections but none on donated money being used to support a constituency. We see this problem even more clearly in US presidential and UK General Elections. Unbalanced funding tends to lead to unbalanced elections and this needs to be addressed.
Theresa May quite rightly condemned the Met after the latest report on the Stephen Lawrence case but to me the most disturbing aspect is that the enquiry reported that some vital evidence had not been provided by the Met pertaining to the corruption charge against a named officer. Are they still protecting their own by hiding evidence? The relationship between the Coalition and the Police has never been good and could possibly worsen. Not the route to good policing!