Flip-flop Cameron's windmill taken down...after a week!

The windmill erected on the side of David Cameron's Notting Hill house has been taken down - just a week after it was put up to demonstrate his green credentials.

Of course, it's not the first of his environmental stunts which has backfired.

So which was most hypocritical?

Was it the photo-stunt of Dave saving the environment by riding his bike to the Commons - with his shoes in a following car!

Or how about his jet-flight to the Arctic for a global-warming photo-opportunity posing with huskies...

Or the windmill that lasted just a week?

A Channel 4 documentary shown this week revealed that in 2005 Cameron mocked the idea of wind turbines - calling them “giant bird blenders”.

The programme Toff at the Top accused Cameron of being a right-wing hardliner and an "out and out opportunist".

Now, where did I put those flip-flops?

Tory meltdown in Stoke over allegations of missing cash...

Half of Tory members in Stoke-on-Trent South have resigned from the party in a bitter inter-factional row between former political allies.

The split involves allegations of mismanagement of city council funds. Authority managers, the police and the Standards Board for England have been asked to launch inquiries.

Sleaze watch-dog finds Cameron guilty in cash for access row...

Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has ruled that David Cameron and his MPs are guilty of widespread abuse by using House of Commons and Lords dining rooms to raise cash for party funds to fight marginal seats.

I previously posted on Cameron's sleazy scam HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Parliamentary dinners with Cameron and other MPs were offered in exchange for hefty donations to Tory Party funds - clearly against anti-sleaze rules.

As well as ruling that Cameron and other Tories flouted Palace of Westminster rules over 'cash for access' dinners, the Parliamentary watch-dog also rebuked them for producing leaflets which advertised regular meetings in Cameron’s Commons office in exchange for a political donation of £50,000 a year.

The Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges ruled that the Tory leader, had been "ill-advised" in entertaining members of £50,000 a year Tory donors' clubs.

There's a full report on the ruling - and the embarrassing apology Cameron has been forced to issue in today's Independent.

Given the ruling, Labour MP John Mann (Bassetlaw) is now calling on Cameron and the Tories to donate to charity all the cash they raised through the scam.

Iran now refuses to release British Wren...

The Iranians are complaining that the British Government are putting too much pressure on them to release the British sailors they kidnapped last week.

As punishment for Britain not behaving correctly, they now refuse to free their only female captive - that's according to Bloomberg news agency.

This is despite strong hints yesterday by the Iranians that they would free Leading Wren Faye Turney today. I refuse to post the humiliating image that the Iranians released yesterday of their young captive with her head covered and smoking a ciggie.

I prefer the photo of a trained Wren ready to do her duty for our country. At 26, Leading Wren Turney is younger than my youngest daughter and I'm sure all our thoughts are with her family - and those of the male sailors held captive inside Iran.

The Iranians are guilty of outrageous international thuggery - particularly after their claims that the Royal Navy had infringed Iranian waters has been shown to be absolute rubbish.

The first coordinates the Iranian provided were not even in Iranian waters, so they quickly made up another set of coordinates. And all the time, the ship the Royal Navy had boarded - on behalf of the United Nations - was at anchor almost two miles inside Iraqi waters.

I'm sure every Brit agrees that our Government are absolutely right to pile the pressure on the Iranians to get our sailors back safely.

We must also totally isolate Iran on the world stage and show them it is their behaviour that is unacceptable.

Imagine if we Brits were holding Iranian sailors...?

Isn't it time we paid Special Constables...?

A celebration on the weekend of the work of 'Special Constables' makes me wonder whether they shouldn't be paid for the valuable contribution they make to keep our communities safe.

We rightly pay those who serve us as part-time soldiers, so why not pay Special Constables too?

In any event, it was well worth celebrating the valuable contribution to policing by the Special Constabulary over the past 175 years and to thank those who give their time freely to protect the rest of us.

About half the 168 Specials serving within the Lincolnshire attended the event, along with Lincolnshire Chief Constable Tony Lake.

They heard Cheshire Chief Constable Peter Fahy's keynote address in which he spoke of the amazing role of the Specials.

Mr Fahy, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on Special Constables said:

...We give these volunteers the same powers and the same uniform as full time officers. Across the country we are seeing the number of Specials increasing as more local people want to play their part in keeping their neighbourhood safer.

We realise that we need to bridge the gap between police and public and the Special Constabulary is a powerful way of doing this as it gets members of the public involved in the very heart of policing.

Should they be paid? What do you think?

Guess who says Cameron doesn't believe in anything...?

The former Head of the Conservative Party Research Department, that's who!

Attacking Cameron’s lack of sincerity, Robin Harris told Channel 4's Despatches programme last night:

I think that David Cameron is an out and out opportunist, and although Michael Howard was accused of opportunism and I think practised it a bit over the Iraq war, he was not at heart an opportunist. He did believe things.

I don’t believe that David Cameron believes anything.

Obviously a man who'd done his research!

Nasty Party still for the privileged few...

Tory Shadow Minister Michael Gove's answer to Channel 4 when quizzed about the huge number of Old Etonians appointed to David Cameron's Front Bench speaks volumes.

Michael Gove's reply:

Well all that tells me is that their parents thought well enough of their children to want to invest money in their education. End of story as far as I’m concerned.

What a pity the Tories don't think well enough of ALL our children to support the Labour Government's massive increase in schools spending for the vast majority of children who are NOT educated at Eton (or Stamford Endowed!)...

Even under Cameron in the 21st Century, it's clear that the Tories remain welded to policies to benefit a privileged few, while Labour look after the many.

Cameron gets more Marks than women...!

Good to see Anne Snelgrove, MP for Swindon South, highlighting the Conservative Party's lack of progress at selecting women candidates, despite endless bluster from David Cameron.

Anne told the House of Commons:

I was very proud to be elected to this House in 2005, particularly given that I joined a 98-strong group of Labour women MPs...

Does my right hon. Friend think it time for a debate on how to increase the number of female MPs in this House, and does he share my disappointment at the fact that so far this year the Conservative party has selected 17 men and no women?

Leader of the House, Jack Straw replied:

A debate on this issue would be very important. I note that more people called 'Mark' have been selected as Conservative candidates than have women.

Currently the Labour Party has 97 women MPs (27% of the party), the Liberal Democrats 9 women MPs (14% of the party) and the Conservatives 17 (9% of the party).

At the current rate of change, it will take Labour around 20 years to get to 50-50 women and men, the Lib Dems around 40 years and the Conservatives around 400!

Spanish Practices: another Tory councillor resigns

Where does your "local" councillor live? For many people in Hastings, the answer is a long way from the area he was elected to represent. In fact several hundred miles away. In another country. In Spain.

Tory councillor Michael Lambrech has apparently explained that he lives in Spain 'for health reasons'. Ah, that's OK then.

But today, after months of farce, he's finally resigned his seat.

And that's sent the Tories in Hastings into panic: Without him the Tories didn't have enough support to force through their budget. So the oh-so-green Tories flew him back from Spain - just for the vote in the council chamber.

The Tory council leader was said to have accepted Mr Lambrechs' resignation 'with regret'.

Unfortunately (for them), he's the second Tory councillor in Hastings to resign in as many weeks. Another wishes to persue his career in London.

So the Tory majority on Hastings Council has been lost in a fortnight.

Ah well. At least the voters in Hastings didn't have the same problems as the good people of Crowland:

When Jim Speechley, former Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council refused to resign after he was convicted of wrong-doing, Crowland residents who wanted to see their elected councillor had to apply first for a prison visitor's pass!

The currants have gone and the bun is brittle...now see it on TV!

A hot cross bun baked in Deeping St James which has survived 186 years in a cardboard box is to appear on national TV after a story in this week's Free Press.

If, like me, you missed the star bun's appearance on Yorkshire TV's Calendar news the other night, there's another chance...

I understand from colleagues on Deepings Exchange that the bun will be on Channel Four's Richard and Judy Show, which goes out at 5pm on Friday.

Loved this extract from the Free Press story:

The currants have gone and the bun is brittle...

The truth behind Brown's Budget...

Now that the Gordon Brown has delivered his 11th Budget, it's worth looking behind the headlines and what it means for ordinary taxpayers.

A closer analysis reveals that today's Budget sets out increases in spending on public services; raises education spending to its highest ever levels; reforms the tax system to reward work, support families with children, and takes 600,000 pensioners out of income tax.

Full text of today's Budget speech HERE

Measures include:

· Further support for families, by increasing Child Tax Credit by £150 a year, over and above the commitment to increase it in line with earnings to the end of this Parliament. This raises the child element to £2,080 a year lifting 200,000 children out of poverty;

· Increasing the threshold for the Working Tax Credit by £1,200 to £6,420 to improve work incentives (resulting in almost £2 billion extra invested in tax credits as a result today's Budget).

· Child Benefit to rise faster than inflationin three stages to £20 per week. Child Benefit, just £575 a year in 1997 will be over £1,000 by 2010.

· Education spending to rise by £90 billion to 2010-11 the highest ever level, increasing UK education spending from 4.7 per cent of GDP in 1997 to 5.6 per cent by 2010-11.

· 600,000 pensioners taken out of paying income tax through an increase in pensioner tax allowances.

· Simplifying the tax system by aligning the upper earnings limit for national insurance with the higher rate threshold and over indexing both to avoid people losing out.

· Corporate tax rate cut from 30 per cent to 28 per cent from April 2008 together with other significant reforms to the corporate tax system;

· Measures to encourage energy efficiency and tackle climate change including an increase in fuel duty rates from October and increasing Vehicle Excise Duty on the most polluting cars, while cutting it for the less polluting.

· Extending the Financial Assistance scheme from its present budget of £2 billion to £8 billion so that all those who lose pension rights if their company goes bust will now receive help for the first time.

· An updated economic forecast, which shows that the UK economy is stable and growing, and that the Government is meeting its strict fiscal rules for sound public finances over the economic cycle.

And of course, the best news for years: the basic rate of income tax cut from 22 pence to 20 pence from April 2008 with the 10 pence starting rate removed.

It was heartening to see the strength of Gordon Brown, in firm command of the nation's growing economy, versus light-weight David Cameron, who's never taken a tough decision in his life...

Beware the fake 'jewels for fuel' scam...it's here!

Gangs operating a dispicable scam are fleecing kind-hearted motorists in Lincolnshire.

Five Romanians have already been arrested and one charged with fraud - but Lincs Police are warning motorists that more than one gang is operating in the county.

Over the past few days, Lincs Police have investigated more than a dozen cases of people parting with cash in exchange for ‘gold’ rings and necklaces that turn out to be poor quality fakes.

The scam plays on people's natural desire to help those in need: Motorists have pulled over, or been flagged down, to help a group of people whose vehicle has apparently broken down.

A member of the group then asks for cash to buy fuel and offers gold jewellery in exchange.

There have also been reports of people at petrol stations and supermarkets in the city, trying to off-load the jewellery onto unwitting motorists.

So far all the incidents reported are in the Lincoln area.

But police are warning motorists to be on their guard as more than one gang is operating the scam.

The five arrests were made after when two officers in plain clothes and an unmarked car stopped to speak to the occupants of a parked black Audi estate with its bonnet raised on the A15 north of Lincoln. One of them was charged with two counts of fraud by false representation.

Brown's big tax cut drowns Cameron...

Gordon the Iron Chancellor Brown saved the best 'til last...

Basic income tax down from 22 pence to 20 pence from next April.

The lowest for 75 years.

Follow that Dave...

He couldn't.

Andrew Pierce of the Daily Telegraph, speaking on FiveLive:

"It's the most radical tax cut since the early 1980s and David Cameron did a good impression of a drowning man when it was announced by Gordon Brown.

"David Cameron has been completely outmanouvred by Gordon Brown."

Tory Navy cuts sent strong signals over Falklands...

Talking of Tory cuts, I wonder if the movie planned about Margaret Thatcher’s role in the run-up to the Falklands War will mention the wholesale cuts to the Royal Navy announced just a few months before Argentinian invasion.

In 1981 the Thatcher Government revealed plans to cut a fifth of all destroyers and frigates, axe assault ships, and scrap the aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark.

The South Atlantic patrol ship Endurance was also to be scrapped. The news sent a strong signal to the Argentinians that the long-disputed Falkland Islands would not be defended if they were taken by force...

Vote Tory to slash your local services...

The real Tory agenda on public services is revealed in an article by Polly Toynbee in today's Guardian.

Despite Cameron's warm words, she finds that where Tories take control of local authorities, the result is cuts to local services.

In Hammersmith & Fulham, she exposes how the Tory council shut down a mental health day centre, cut vulnerable children’s budget and youth services, and cut occupational therapy visits for the sick and old.

She writes:

Plainly these ambitious young leaders still reckon cuts are the way to Tory success - and they are not hugging hoodies but cutting youth services by £317k. They are not green or clean, but cutting nearly £1m from street cleaning; nor caring for the weak, but charging £200 more a year for meals on wheels.

In Croydon, Polly Toynbee explains how the Tory council have just cut support for the voluntary sector and slashed a massive £6 million from social services.

In Harrow, the Tories have introduced a £12 daily charge on day centres for the frail.

In Havering, the Tories have just stopped school uniform payments for poor children.

In Westminster, the Tories are shutting down sheltered housing.

And after listing cuts in Camden, run by a Tory-LibDem coalition, Polly Toynbee asks:

Are they green? No, they have cut all night-time cleaning in Camden Town and Covent Garden.

If Polly Toynbee came to Lincolnshire, she could have mentioned that the Tories recently increased home care charges for some from £40 to £120 a week.
Had she gone to North Lincolnshire, she'd find Scunthorpe residents asking the Tories: where's my £40 rebate which they promised four years ago but never delivered.

Same old Tories eh...?