Friday 11th December 2009

8:45

With an 8.45 start, I met the education boss of Wirral, Howard Cooper, with Cllr Phil Davies who is the council's lead spokesman.  Where to site Birkenhead's new Academy was one issue we discussed. 

I was anxious not to use the Park High school site as this threatens the long term existence of Ridgeway.  But there aren't many other suitable sites - the best one is off Borough Road, but we are told by two activists that the Resident's Associations here are adamantly opposed.  If we are to get the money for the school before the clamp down occurs ahead of the election we simply don't have time to challenge how representative these views are.  I have dug in and insisted that the University of Liverpool is the lead sponsor. 

10:00

Photo courtesy of JAMES MALONEY/LIVERPOOL ECHO

By 10 o'clock I was at Birkenhead Timber Supplies in Campbelltown Road.  Almost two years to the day the business was burned out of existence, but Barry Pilgrim has brilliantly fought back and rebuilt the business with his son keeping together the staff during this wretched period.  It was wonderful to salute his spirit and determination to maintain jobs in Birkenhead. 

11:00

Photo Courtesy of Jill Quayle, Tranmere Community Project

Just as poor education results are likely to lead to permanent poverty, so does very young single parenthood.  The Tranmere Community Project would take some beating as the most innovative voluntary group in the country.  Here I am discussing with Jill Quayle what young mothers have told her with respect to being in families as a teenage parent, as well as beginning to plan how parenting can become part of the national curriculum.

12:45

By 12.45 I was visiting the residents in Over Leasowe in Eleanor Road.  This property was donated to Age Concern who then sold it on to a Housing Association. The Association now wishes, possibly, to redevelop the site.  It illustrates that, what was seen originally as a new arm to the housing movement which would attack the bureaucracy of local government administration, these programmes are now in danger of becoming as bureaucratic as the body they replaced.

13:30

Then on to the Noctorum Pensioners' Christmas Dinner, although I'm not pictured eating my share of the spread.  Some of the Ridgeway pupils were on hand supplying an entertainment which stretched through the generations.

14:00

It was then off to Wallasey to meet Jon Ward our area police commander.  We discussed the changing nature of anti-social behaviour, from a small number of lads being out of order to one which is now more cruelly operated by neighbours from hell.  Jon, as always, gave me a number of ideas which I shall try and turn into legislation.

15:15 

The next stop out was to meet two tax credit officials, Darren Snowball and Anne Cadman, and a constituent who has been sorely messed around by tax-credits' inflexibility.  My constituent who is in the TA and fought twice in Bosnia and also served in Iraq deserves a first class service rather than the shabby treatment that has been handed out.  I will be doing the appeal with my constituent.

16:00

I was in the same building for my next meeting with Brian Simpson who heads Wirral Partnership homes.  It was interesting how WPH is reinventing the wheel.  They have found that there officer in Noctorum, working along with the police and confronting parents with the yobbish behaviour of their offspring, has had a dramatic effect.  These two agencies working together have simply informed parents that if the yobbishness continues their tenancy is at risk.  This is the way housing authorities used to behave. 

17:00

Then on to my surgery in the Treasury Building.  This used to be known as the Golden Tower. It proved itself unsafe and now all that remains is the little stump of the building in which I hold my surgery.  At WPH I learned they were taking down another tower block in Birkenhead. 

19:30 

The day finished in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King for SAMM (Support After Murder and Manslaughter)'s annual memorial service.  Linda McDermott and Roger Phillips read the list of those murdered and who came from the Merseyside area.  The list was painfully long, and with each name was a devastating tragedy for each family.  As the list was read I couldn't but reflect on the trendy prison reformers who keep asserting that the murder rate is dropping!

Here are some of the candles lit for those whose lives were wickedly snubbed out.  

Afghanistan

What must have gone through the mind of British and America troops in Afghanistan yesterday when reports came through of the British Prime Minister and the American President signalling a time limit to the Afghan War?

Relief perhaps that the nightmare might now have an ending. But no doubt incredulity too.

The Taliban have proven themselves to be determined fighters, but it is surely an own goal to assume they cannot read or listen to broadcasts. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot.

The Taliban now know that the political leaders of most of NATO's effort in Afghanistan want out at a certain date. Taliban tactics will change. If they can survive the next few years they know they will win unless NATO ceases to count voters at home that think this war can be over quickly.

Both British Prime Minster and American President have caved into domestic pressure in talking about an end date, and have therefore increased significantly the chances that troop sacrifices will prove futile.

Of course a political leadership needs to have an end-strategy in mind - it would have been useful to have had one before we went in to Afghanistan. But to announce the date raises huge questions about the people that are advising both men.

Both are surrounded by advisors who have never fought in a war themselves and therefore do not bring to any discussion the practical - as opposed to the technical - knowledge crucial for conducting successful warfare.

This crude political pandering sadly swamps the good news in the President's strategy. He sees the war as one of countering insurgency and that mean the NATO strategy is now one that might lead to a successful conclusion if not a win.

Parliament

Another bullet went into the foot of the House of Commons authorities almost as soon as they announced an appeals system for MPs feeling aggrieved over the arbitrary Legg judgements imposed upon them.

Sir Thomas Legg was commissioned by the Prime Minister to carry out a an audit on the expenses of Members over the past five years. The good Sir Thomas simply went about his task making up his own rules.

The House Authorities obviously realised what a clanger they have made here and have therefore wisely instituted an appeal process.

Reading the note about the appeal process and the press release and you could be forgiven for thinking that at last and for the first time the House authorities got onto the front foot on this whole issue. But immediately the lobby reported that the Speaker's spin doctor was spinning like mad that the appeal was merely presentational and that it was really to clear up queries about Sir Thomas' inability to add up correctly. Indeed MPs failing to pay the Legg fines will have reductions made to their salaries or pensions.

None of that appears in the official statement so here is another wonderful example of the Speaker shooting himself in the foot. Wouldn't a better approach have been to say that the House Authorities accepted that there was a need for an independent appeal but that it hoped those MPs using the appeal process would bind themselves in to whatever conclusion the judge - Sir Paul Kennedy - comes to. This might have voluntarily brought a conclusion to the whole issue.

Instead the nasty little spinning operation was at work feeding the media with the sort of rough talk they love to report.

It was of course a huge error for the Speaker to even think about appointing a spin doctor. If there is one group more despised than MPs it is spin doctors.

What the public wanted was a Speaker who would talk directly to them. Needless to say the appointment of a spin doctor never came before the House, it has never been approved, and was appointed arbitrarily by the Speaker.

So instead of getting on to the front foot on this issue, this front foot now bears another brilliantly crafted self inflicted bullet wound.